Category: News
China Intel Officers Offering Western Gov’t Insiders Cash For “Low-Level Information”
China Intel Officers Offering Western Gov’t Insiders Cash For “Low-Level Information”
Submitted by The Bureau’s Sam Cooper,
Chinese intelligence officers are offering Westminster insiders strikingly large sums of money for what looks like low-level political gossip – using “head hunters” on LinkedIn to offer paid “research tasks” – and effectively flooding Keir Starmer’s government ranks with inducements to betray the people of Britain, in Beijing’s efforts to build long-term relationships to undermine the West.
That is the stark picture painted in an extraordinary new espionage alert issued by MI5 and circulated inside Parliament, which warns that officers of China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) “offer large financial incentives for seemingly low-level information in an attempt to build a relationship and encourage the target to gain access to more non-public sensitive information.”
The preferred methods of payment — cash drops in China or cryptocurrency transfers — are highlighted as a warning to British politicians to think very carefully before entering into any such financial relationship with Chinese-linked actors.
The unorthodox disclosure from counter-intelligence officials that are usually tight-lipped to a fault comes on the heels of the collapse of the Christopher Berry and Christopher Cash insider-threat case — a generational scandal The Bureau has reported on extensively, and which involved alleged suitcase-cash payments, and cultivation of a Westminster researcher with access to prominent critics of China in Conservative MP ranks. MI5 does not name Berry or Cash, but the tradecraft it describes could be read as a point-by-point guide to the methods exposed in that case.
The briefing, titled “Security Service Espionage Alert: MSS tradecraft and methodology,” sets out, in unusually explicit language, how a specific “group of highly active officers” from China’s secret police service have been trying to penetrate the “UK democratic system” — especially Parliament and the ecosystem of staffers, consultants and think-tank analysts around it.
MI5 begins with a blunt statement of intent. The Chinese service, it says, “seek to collect sensitive information on the UK to gain strategic advantage,” and the alert has been triggered by “recent examples of attempts to target UK Parliament for intelligence gathering.”
That line alone resonates with what has emerged in the media leaks explaining why the explosive insider case was dropped under Keir Starmer’s government, in which senior national security appointees reportedly played down the risk of non-classified political information being spilled to Beijing through the Cash and Berry pipeline. Reporting in British media has suggested that Starmer’s government opted to preserve trade relations with Beijing rather than allow the damning insider case to proceed in court, a move that has infuriated the U.S. government, which warned that Starmer’s government risks fracturing the Five Eyes intelligence alliance by failing to protect elected officials targeted by Beijing.
What the MSS wants — and why “trivial” titbits matter
The first section of MI5’s pointed alert to British officials is headed, “What do they target?”
MI5 says MSS officers are focused on political and economic material, “particularly of a classified or non-public sensitive nature.” But crucially, they have a “low threshold for what information is considered to be of value.” Because their collection effort is broad and sustained, “individual pieces of information fit into a wider collection effort and create a cumulative impact.”
That is exactly how the Berry–Cash pipeline was described in court documents. Berry, a young academic, allegedly channelled “real-time political intelligence” from his former teaching colleague — a parliamentary researcher embedded with Conservative MPs who were seen in Beijing as potential China hawks — into the hands of an MSS handler known only as “Alex.” Those reports, British officials revealed in documents, later surfaced at the very top of the Chinese Communist Party.
The new MI5 document seemingly seeks to underline warnings from that episode. Political insiders are warned not to assume that because something is unclassified, or feels like mere “parliamentary gossip,” it is safe to share for money.
Under the section “Who do they target?”, MI5 draws a map of the political class that extends far beyond elected MPs. “Individuals with direct access to information on the UK democratic system are high priority targets,” the paper states. Where possible, officers approach such people directly. But echoing the Berry–Cash model, MI5 stresses that the MSS also “conducts analysis to understand a target’s social and professional network and potential access, cultivating individuals who are one step removed from the ultimate target.”
That line could easily describe Christopher Cash, the parliamentary researcher who worked for rising Conservative MPs such as Tom Tugendhat — a prominent China hawk exploring ways to tighten laws against Beijing’s infiltration under Rishi Sunak’s government, and someone Chinese officials reportedly viewed as a potential future leader of the Conservative Party.
The Service’s assessment makes clear that the Chinese secret police are seeking to corrupt the entire ecosystem around Westminster, not just MPs.
Parliamentary staff manage the flow of papers and private correspondence, giving the MSS a near-real-time view of Parliament’s internal machinery. Economists shape the forecasts and policy options on which ministers rely, and can become influential public intellectuals in their own right, making arguments that may tilt debate in Beijing’s favour. Think-tank employees and policy analysts prepare drafts and advice that later reach Cabinet tables, providing early insight into government decision-making. Geo-political consultants sit at the junction of business and politics and, as the alert and recent U.S. indictments highlight, can profit from advocating policies that benefit Chinese commercial and diplomatic interests. And a wider cast of professionals identified in the MI5 alert — researchers, lobbyists and aides — act as connective tissue around MPs and peers, giving Chinese intelligence indirect, lower-risk, clandestine access to Britain’s political core.
In the Berry case, it was precisely this one-step-removed structure — a researcher feeding an academic, who in turn reported to “Alex,” an MSS agent working through a front company in China that promoted investment in Britain — who, British officials say, served as the conduit for real-time intelligence on the Conservative leadership race to Xi Jinping’s close ally on the Politburo Standing Committee, reportedly Cai Qi.
The MI5 alert spells out potential criminal exposure under the National Security Act, emphasizing that even unclassified information can trigger prosecution if shared with a foreign intelligence service. It highlights three main offences that could apply to Westminster insiders caught up in Chinese approaches:
Section 1 – Obtaining protected information: Covers any material gathered for or on behalf of a foreign power, even if not formally classified.
Section 3 – Assisting a foreign intelligence service: Criminalizes any act that knowingly helps an intelligence operation of a hostile state.
Section 17 – Obtaining a material benefit from a foreign intelligence service: Targets those who accept money or other advantages—such as travel or consulting fees—in exchange for information.
. . .
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Tyler Durden
Wed, 11/19/2025 – 20:55
Trump firma ley para publicar archivos del caso Jeffrey Epstein tras resistirse durante meses
Por SEUNG MIN KIM
WASHINGTON (AP) — El presidente de Estados Unidos, Donald Trump, firmó el miércoles un proyecto de ley que obliga a su gobierno a liberar archivos sobre el delincuente sexual convicto Jeffrey Epstein, cediendo a la presión política de su propio partido después de inicialmente resistirse a esos intentos.
Trump podría haber optado por liberar muchos de los archivos por su cuenta hace meses.
“Los demócratas han utilizado el tema ‘Epstein’, que les afecta mucho más que al Partido Republicano, para intentar distraer de nuestras asombrosas victorias”, afirmó Trump en una publicación en redes sociales al anunciar que había firmado la iniciativa de ley.
El proyecto de ley requiere que el Departamento de Justicia libere todos los archivos y comunicaciones relacionadas con Epstein, así como cualquier información sobre la investigación de su muerte en una prisión federal en 2019, dentro de 30 días. Permite censurar información sobre las víctimas de Epstein por investigaciones federales en curso, pero la dependencia no puede retener información debido a “vergüenza, daño a reputación o delicadeza política”.
Fue un giro notable de los acontecimientos para lo que una vez fue un intento descabellado de forzar la divulgación de archivos del caso por parte de una extraña coalición legislativa de demócratas, un antagonista republicano del presidente y un puñado de antiguos leales a Trump.
Pero durante el fin de semana, Trump dio un giro brusco sobre los archivos una vez que quedó claro que la acción del Congreso era inevitable. Insistió en que el asunto Epstein se había convertido en una distracción para la agenda del Partido Republicano e indicó que quería seguir adelante.
“Simplemente no quiero que los republicanos pierdan de vista todas las victorias que hemos tenido”, expresó Trump en una publicación en redes sociales el martes por la tarde, explicando la razón de su abrupto cambio de postura.
La Cámara de Representantes aprobó el proyecto con una votación de 427-1. El Senado lo aprobó posteriormente por unanimidad, omitiendo una votación formal.
___
Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con la ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.
Indian Prairie District 204 board OKs more renovations at Waubonsie Valley, Neuqua Valley high schools
Indian Prairie School District 204’s board on Monday signed off on some more construction work at Waubonsie Valley and Neuqua Valley high schools, as the district’s major facilities overhaul continues.
The two bids approved Monday — which include stadium renovations and other improvements — amount to roughly $10.5 million, per figures from the district.
The Waubonsie Valley project approved Monday, set to come in at around $4.5 million, includes stadium improvements like a new turf field, bleachers, lights, goal posts, a concession stand, fencing and bathroom upgrades, per a district memo. Work is set to begin in the spring and be completed for the start of the 2026-27 school year — in time for the first football game of the season, the district says.
The Neuqua Valley improvements also include a stadium renovation, with a new turf field, goal posts and a resurfaced track, according to a memo from the district. The renovations also include two additions to accommodate incoming freshmen, who will be brought back into the main high school building after many years of taking classes at the Birkett Freshman Center.
The Neuqua work, for which the approved bid was just under $6 million, is also slated to start in the spring, the district says. The football stadium work is expected to be completed by the start of the 2026-27 year, and the rest of the work by the start of the following school year.
Bids for both were approved by the district on Monday.
The two high schools — as well as the district’s other schools — are currently undergoing significant renovations, largely funded by a $420 million bond sale referendum question overwhelmingly approved by voters last year.
The continuation of an existing 37-cent property tax per $100 of equalized assessed value, which was to expire at the end of 2026, is providing the money needed to repay the bonds while keeping the tax rate flat.
About half of the total referendum dollars are going to upgrades at Waubonsie and Neuqua.
Waubonsie, for example, is also getting an auditorium overhaul and a redesigned main office, atrium and commons space, among other upgrades. The board on Monday also OK’d an application for partial occupancy of the auditorium.
And major work at Neuqua is bringing freshman students — who have for more than 20 years spent their school days at the separate Birkett Freshman Center — back to Neuqua’s main campus starting in 2027. That project is also set to free up Birkett for other uses, like housing the district’s STEPS and Gail McKinzie programs. STEPS, or Supportive Training Experiences Post-Secondary, is a job training program for students with special needs. Gail McKinzie High School, also part of the district, offers a credit recovery program.
The $420 million in bonds are set to be issued through 2029 to fund projects through 2032. Payments to repay the bonds will continue for 12 to 15 years after the projects are completed.
mmorrow@chicagotribune.com
Network Of California Democrat Party Insiders Under Investigation For Fraud
Network Of California Democrat Party Insiders Under Investigation For Fraud
Initial reports of an ongoing fraud investigation in Sacramento by the US Department of Justice revealed that Gavin Newsom’s former Chief of Staff, Dana Williamson, was being indicted on 23 felony counts. Crimes include conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, bank fraud, wire fraud, filing false tax returns, and making false statements to the IRS.
The charges allege she orchestrated a scheme to siphon approximately $225,000 from a dormant campaign account belonging to former Attorney General Xavier Becerra (referred to as “Public Official 1” in the indictment), using it for personal gain through fake consulting fees, shell companies, and laundered payments. However, new information shows that Williamson may not have acted alone.
At least three other California Democrat insiders and two unnamed suspects are potentially implicated in the investigation. Charges against two of them have been formally filed so far, and the investigation continues to grow as authorities sift through evidence involving “The Collaborative”, a prominent alliance of Democratic-leaning political consulting firms in California headed by Williamson.
A longtime Democratic power broker in California’s Capitol, Williamson worked as an adviser to former Gov. Gray Davis and as a Cabinet secretary for former Gov. Jerry Brown before opening her own political affairs firm. She served as Xavier Becerra’s campaign manager when he ran for state attorney general in 2018. Becerra most recently served as President Biden’s Health and Human Services Secretary and is running for California governor.
She was named Newsom’s chief of staff in late 2022, a job she held for about two years. Gov. Newsom’s office said Wednesday they put her on leave in November of 2024 after she informed them that she was under criminal investigation.
Other suspects include Sean McCluskie, the former Chief of Staff for Xavier Becerra. He also served with Becerra when he was California Attorney General.
Then there is Greg Campbell, a close associate of Williamson and a well-connected lobbyist and consultant who rakes in campaign finance from massive corporate clients. He has worked as senior staff for the last five Assembly Speakers including in the role of chief of staff to Speakers Toni G. Atkins and John A. Perez.
And Alexis Podesta (no relation to John Podesta). She has not yet been charged with any crimes, and her attorney said she is cooperating with the investigation. Podesta is a Sacramento-based political consultant who served as a secretary under Gov. Jerry Brown. She is also a member of the board of the state compensation fund. She has worked for PG&E and Disney, and is listed as a managing director and member of The Collaborative, the group led by Campbell and Williamson.
California’s capital is reportedly in shock as the corruption charges net party elites and power brokers. The Williamson investigation was launched three years ago under the Biden Administration and has nothing to do with Trump, meaning no political bias is being applied against Democrats.
The investigation also exposes the elaborate web of bureaucrats and funding networks festering in state politics. So much cash flows through these political groups and organizations it is likely that we are only seeing a surface glimpse of the rampant theft taking place.
If you have ever wondered how it is possible for hundreds of billions of dollars to flood into states like California and yet none of their fundamental problems, (including their homeless problem) never seem to get fixed, this is one of the reasons why. Democrats are charged with similar crimes nearly three times more often than Republicans. Politics has become a racket, and the Democrats are particularly adept at it.
Tyler Durden
Wed, 11/19/2025 – 20:30
Trump firma proyecto de ley para publicar archivos sobre Jeffrey Epstein tras meses de resistencia
Trump firma proyecto de ley para publicar archivos sobre Jeffrey Epstein tras meses de resistencia.
East Aurora School District 131 board approves $39.7 million tax levy
The East Aurora District 131 school board recently approved a $39.7 million tax levy for the district, for taxes payable in 2026.
Including its roughly $6.6 million debt service levy, a portion of which the school board opted to use operating funds to abate, the district’s total levy amount comes to just under $46 million.
At a school board meeting last month, Associate Superintendent and Chief Financial Officer Michael Engel explained that property values within the district are 80% residential property, 14% commercial, 5% industrial and 1% from the state railroad.
But property taxes aren’t the district’s main source of funding. State funding is, Engel explained.
In the district’s 2025-26 budget, for example, state funding accounted for 68% of the district’s roughly $263 million in expected revenue. Local sources, on the other hand, make up about $58 million of its anticipated revenue, and federal sources amount to about $25 million.
Of the almost $40 million levy the school board approved for the district, about half is set to go toward its education fund. Operations and maintenance and transportation make up the next largest portions, at over $7 million and $5.6 million, respectively. The levy also funds special education, the district’s municipal retirement fund, provides some working cash and more.
The district’s tax extension in 2024 was about $37.8 million, not including bonds, Engel said, making the district’s request a 4.99% increase over last year.
But the district will not necessarily be given that full amount, Engel said. Property values — and therefore the amount the district receives in property taxes — will likely be affected by new construction, and will therefore raise the district’s levy increase over 2.9%, which is the Consumer Price Index, or CPI, a measure of inflation set by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
But it would likely not increase to the full 4.99% hike, Engel said. And the actual tax amount property owners pay is not set until after property values are assessed.
The district is also abating a portion of its debt service levy using operating funds, meant to reduce the cost to taxpayers.
At a school board meeting in October, Elizabeth Hennessy, a managing director at financial services firm Raymond James, explained the district’s options for abating a portion of its debt service levy to reduce the cost to taxpayers. To do so, she explained, the district transfers Evidence-Based Funding money it receives from the state to its bond and interest fund to make debt service payments.
The district has previously abated a portion of the levy, she explained, and if it opted not to do so or abate less this year, the district’s debt levy would go up, and its overall levy would increase by more than the CPI of 2.9%.
Hennessy presented the district with three options for this year: abating around $700,000, abating $350,000 or not abating at all.
“These abatements aren’t for free,” Hennessy said. “They’re reducing dollars that are going to kids, because we’re moving it from Evidence-Based Funding into the bond and interest to pay the debt.”
Board member Annette Johnson said she supported the $350,000 abatement, pointing to the value she sees in reducing some of the costs to taxpayers.
“I think it does help, you know, grow our neighborhoods and create some momentum for people to come and buy their houses on the East Side,” Johnson said at the meeting.
Engel emphasized that the funding from the levy in discussion would be used for next year’s budget, not the one passed in September for the 2025-26 school year.
He also pointed to the district’s moving from Tier 1 to Tier 2 in terms of what it gets from the state’s Evidence-Based Funding as a consideration for how much it decides to abate.
Evidence-Based Funding became law in 2017. Essentially, the Illinois State Board of Education combined multiple grant programs for school districts into one and now distributes it as “evidence-based funding,” according to the state board. The goal of the program is to provide equitable funding for districts in low-income communities and help them achieve adequate funding levels.
That funding relies on a distribution formula with tiers ranging from 1-4. A lower designation indicates that a district needs and receives more state assistance, according to the state board. A Tier 1 designation, for example, is given to districts that are furthest from “adequate” funding. And, as districts receive more funding, they are expected to get closer to “adequate” funding levels.
East Aurora had been considered a Tier 1 district for the Evidence-Based Funding grant program for all years on record since 2018 (funding remained flat in 2021), per figures from the Illinois State Board of Education. But this year, the district’s state designation was adjusted to Tier 2, according to the state board.
To give one-third of what it expects to get from Evidence-Based Funding — in the case of the highest abatement option — would be “quite a bit,” Engel said.
At that meeting, the board ultimately opted for the $350,000 abatement option, which got final approval from the board at its Nov. 3 meeting along with the tax levy.
According to Engel’s presentation, the next step is for the district to file the levy with the county clerk by Dec. 31. From there, in spring 2026, final property values are released, abatements are finalized and taxes are billed to taxpayers. The first installment is due in June, he noted, and the second in September.
mmorrow@chicagotribune.com
Steve Kerr elogia a Erik Spoelstra como una ‘gran elección’ para entrenar a selección de EEUU
Por TIM REYNOLDS
MIAMI (AP) — El entrenador de los Warriors de Golden State Steve Kerr no ve la necesidad de pasarle públicamente la estafeta como seleccionador olímpico a Erik Spoelstra de Miami.
Y es que Kerr cree que Spoelstra estaba listo para el desafío inminente desde hacía mucho tiempo.
Kerr, el exentrenador de la selección olímpica de baloncesto de Estados Unidos, enfrenta el miércoles por primera vez a Spoelstra desde que el segundo fue oficialmente contratado por la federación nacional para hacerse cargo del equipo. Kerr dijo que no tiene ninguna duda de que Spoelstra está listo para el desafío y todo lo que conlleva.
“Fue una gran elección”, dijo Kerr antes del partido entre Golden State y Miami. “Es uno de los grandes entrenadores de todos los tiempos. Gran conocimiento de lo que es FIBA, la diferencia entre entrenar a un equipo durante siete semanas y entrenar a uno durante nueve meses, todo eso. Tiene el pulso de todo. Va a ser genial”.
Spoelstra estará al frente de Estados Unidos en la Copa del Mundo de 2027 en Doha, Qatar, y en los Juegos Olímpicos de Los Ángeles 2028. Kerr dirigió a los estadounidenses en la Copa del Mundo de 2023, cuando terminaron cuartos en Manila, y los guio hacia el oro olímpico en los Juegos de París en el 2024. Spoelstra formó parte del equipo de Kerr en ambos torneos.
Este fin de semana, Estados Unidos comenzará su caminó para conseguir un boleto a la Copa Mundial en el sur de Florida. Un plantel de 12 jugadores disputará los dos primeros duelos del calendario de eliminación de 12 partidos y se reunirá para entrenar en la Universidad de Miami antes de volar a Nicaragua, sede de su primer duelo el 28 de noviembre.
Los partidos de la eliminatoria se extenderán hasta marzo de 2027.
Spoelstra indicó que aún no ha buscado a Kerr para preguntarle de cómo cambió su mentalidad de la NBA al baloncesto internacional. Lo hará, en algún momento.
“Lo he dicho antes, pero estoy increíblemente agradecido por haber tenido la oportunidad de estar en su equipo durante los últimos dos veranos”, dijo Spoelstra. “Todo el equipo, lo pasamos increíble. Fue una experiencia de vida… Todos crecimos a partir de eso, sólo desde una experiencia de desarrollo de entrenamiento de baloncesto. Son las mismas cuatro líneas y dos canastas y un balón, pero es un deporte diferente, FIBA. Y fuimos humildes en ese primer año y el segundo año, creo, las experiencias que tuvimos el verano anterior nos ayudaron para esa aventura olímpica”.
La selección masculina de Estados Unidos ha ganado las últimas cinco medallas olímpicas de oro. Spoelstra tendrá la tarea de extender esa racha.
___
Deportes AP: https://apnews.com/hub/deportes
Nine years later, man sentenced for shooting of Tavon Tanner
Huddled around a pair of tables on the second-floor cafeteria of Chicago’s Dirksen U.S. Courthouse, mother Mellanie Washington and daughter Taniyah Tanner spoke about future plans. They prattled about diplomas to be earned, careers to build, healing to last. They laughed. They reminisced.
It was a moment more than nine years in the making.
In a hearing Wednesday afternoon, a federal judge handed down the maximum sentence to a man who earlier this summer admitted to the 2016 shooting of Washington’s son and Taniyah’s twin brother, Tavon Tanner.
U.S. District Judge Jorge Alonso sentenced Terrance White, 32, to 10 years in federal prison after White pleaded guilty in June to attempted murder in aid of racketeering activity for the nearly decade-old shooting of then-10-year-old Tavon. White was also ordered to pay nearly $279,000 in restitution.
“(The) sentence here is not going to make up for what he did,” Alonso said Wednesday as he handed down his order, with Washington and Taniyah watching from the courtroom. “(It) will never make up for what he did.” Tavon did not attend the hearing.
“He (Tavon) did not want to look at him,” Washington told the Tribune. White, who is currently serving a separate long-term sentence for a state murder case, sat in the courtroom in white and red striped prison garb.
“It’s been a struggle to get to this point,” Washington said following the hearing, Taniyah sitting to her right. “It’s like (a decade). That’s a long time. … It seemed like it lasted forever.”
On a warm night on Aug. 8, 2016, in the city’s Lawndale neighborhood, Tavon had been sitting on the front porch of his family’s then West Side home, gazing at the moon, when out from the darkness, shots came out of nowhere. A bullet struck Tavon near the base of his spine.
As he lay bleeding on the floor, Taniyah stood next to him and cried, “Twin, don’t leave me! Twin, don’t leave me!” His mother prayed out loud into the phone as she dialed 911.
Tavon spent weeks in the hospital, where for a while it was uncertain whether he would live. Then, they didn’t know if they would find justice.
In the wake of the shooting, police had initially arrested and sought charges against White, but he was ultimately let go, according to Chicago police Detective Patrick Munyon, who, along with Detective Kevin Lynn, started working on the case the night Tavon was shot. But the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which was separately investigating the violent street gang that White was a part of at the time, caught wind of White’s arrest. After meeting with Lynn and Munyon, ATF took over the investigation.
White was indicted in July 2021.
In White’s plea agreement with prosecutors, he admitted to a murder attempt that led to the moment a bullet pierced Tavon in the back. The agreement recounted that in August 2016, White — then a member of the Four Corner Hustlers street gang — watched as a fellow gang member was killed. In turn, the agreement states, White sought to take revenge against the person responsible, who, according to federal and county court proceedings, pleaded guilty to the murder in 2022 and is now serving out a 45-year sentence in state prison.
In his pursuit of retribution, White went to his target’s residence on the city’s West Side and shot into the first floor, per his plea agreement. However, as White opened fire into the home, Tavon was on the front steps. White’s target was not injured.
White’s plea agreement and a sentencing memorandum filed by prosecutors ahead of Wednesday’s hearing stated that Tavon was shot by a bullet that White fired. In a separate sentencing memo, White’s attorney maintained that at least two other gunmen went with White to seek revenge that night and that it is unclear which of their bullets struck Tavon.
As he reviewed the facts of the case on Wednesday, Alonso said it didn’t matter whose bullet it was that hit Tavon.
“(White is) responsible for all of that when he made that plan and carried it out,” he said.
The Tribune first met Tavon’s family two months after the shooting. Asked then what he remembered from the night he was shot, Tavon covered his face with his shirt.
“Holding it in’s not good,” his mother had told him gently.
“I’m mad about it,” Tavon replied at the time, lowering his shirt. “It just makes me sad.”
In May 2024, Tavon graduated from St. Patrick High School. Under a blue suit tailored just for him and a green graduation gown, stretched the scar Tavon carries with him that runs the full length of his abdomen.
Tavon Tanner reflects after his graduation from St. Patrick High School at Holy Name Cathedral on May 16, 2024. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune)
In their memo, prosecutors stated the seriousness of White’s offense “is difficult to overstate.” They pointed to not only the events that took place the night of the shooting, but laid out a long criminal history, including previous firearm convictions prior to the shooting.
Defense attorney Jerry Bischoff at Wednesday’s hearing said White was “remorseful and regretful” for what happened.
White is concurrently serving a 57-year sentence in the Illinois Department of Corrections after a jury last year found him guilty of the 2017 murder of a 30-year-old North Lawndale man, according to Cook County Circuit Court records. He was sentenced for the murder conviction in early June, but within days, filed to appeal the judgment, court proceedings show.
White’s sentencing comes as Four Corner Hustler boss Labar Spann faces trial after being convicted in November 2021 on sweeping gang racketeering charges.
Ahead of the order, Assistant U.S. Attorney Tiffany Ardam read aloud two victim impact letters, one from Washington and the other from Taniyah. They listened from their seats. Lynn and Munyon, who stayed in touch long after that August night and have since become like family, sat on either side of them.
“We are 20 now,” Taniya’s letter read. “I’m thanking God we made it together. … I wonder, have you ever thought how it would feel if it was you or one of yours?”
Tavon started a plumbing apprenticeship this week. Next, he wants to apply to be in the plumbing union.
After the hearing, Lynn and Munyon joined Taniyah and Washington downstairs at the cafeteria tables as they caught up.
“I was restless last night,” Washington said.
“Well, you know what, though?” Munyon replied. “Now it’s (the) past. Now it’s time to focus on all of these things. Diploma, careers … on living.”
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/19/tavon-tanner-shooting-sentence-federal-chicago-court/
What we learned from the Chicago Bears, including Devin Duvernay laughing off a coach’s dis on his big return
With their third straight win in the books, the Chicago Bears turn their attention to another predatory defense in the Pittsburgh Steelers, much like the Minnesota Vikings and New York Giants before them.
“They’ve got some werewolves on the outside that shows up,” Bears coach Ben Johnson said. “Between 56 (Alex Highsmith) and 90 (T.J. Watt), I mean (they have) some of the best first steps I think you’ll see in this league.
“So when you have both sides that you’re concerned about, that’s where you’ve got to be pretty creative as a play designer to make sure that they don’t affect the game in a negative fashion.”
For Caleb Williams, that means resisting dropping back too deep in the pocket “because they (Watt and Highsmith) can run around tackle in a hurry,” Johnson said.
Watt (6) and Highsmith (5½) are second and third on the team in sacks. Watt has a special incentive to get to Williams on Sunday: If he does, he will pass brother J.J. in career sacks — T.J. has 114, J.J. 114.5 — and J.J. is calling the game for CBS.
“Yeah, they’ve got some guys on that side of the ball,” Williams said.
He counted sack leader Nick Herbig (6½), cornerback Jalen Ramsey, defensive tackle Cameron Heyward and linebacker Patrick Queen among the playmakers who keep the Steelers in contention season after season.
“You see why they’ve been where they’ve been for the past I don’t know how many years, why they haven’t really had a losing season in a bunch of years,” Williams said.
Wide receiver Rome Odunze said the Steelers will be another among several tough defenses they’ve faced, with more to come.
“We need to tighten the screws a little bit,” Odunze said. “Understand this next half of the season is definitely going to be one where we’re facing great opponents.”
Here are four things we learned at Halas Hall on Wednesday.
1. Are the Minnesota Vikings chewing on sour grapes?
Vikings special teams coordinator Matt Daniels looks on during warmups before a game against the Bears on Sunday, Nov. 16, 2024, U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. (John Autey/St. Paul Pioneer Press)
Vikings special teams coordinator Matt Daniels gave the Bears some bulletin-board material — two days after the game.
The Vikings squandered a 17-16 lead with 50 seconds left Sunday when Devin Duvernay broke off a 56-yard kickoff return to help put the Bears in range for Cairo Santos’ game-winning 48-yard field goal and a 19-17 victory.
“No disrespect or anything, a lot of respect for what the Chicago Bears, their unit, Devin Duvernay, all this and that, but I mean, it could have been anybody,” Daniels said Tuesday. “If you’ve got a son or anybody, like, all he did was just catch it and run back to the field and everybody just kind of got washed inside.”
Daniels said his players “got greedy” by trying to be the one who made the tackle and losing containment.
“It wasn’t anything that they did, more so than a lack of us maintaining our leverage and keeping the football inside shoulder,” Daniels said.
When asked Wednesday if he heard Daniels’ comments, Duvernay reared his head back and smiled.
“At the end of the day, it’s on the players and coaches to be prepared for all situations, and whether they were prepared or not,” Duvernay said. “I mean, I’m just doing my job, just trying to make a play when opportunity presents itself.”
Added long snapper Scott Daly: “All I know is that Dev made an amazing play, (Josh) Blackwell made an amazing block. When our number was called in the end, we were able to put ourselves in position to make the game-winning kick.”
Duvernay said he chose to brush the comment aside, laugh it off and chalk it up to a difference of opinions.
“That’s what he wants to believe, wants to go by, then whatever helps him sleep at night,” he said.
2. Luther Burden III ‘steadily’ has earned more involvement.
Bears wide receiver Luther Burden III (10) runs for a 16-yard gain on a reception in the third quarter against the Vikings on Nov. 16, 2025, at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
Burden ran 21 routes and was targeted five times against the Vikings on Sunday, both season highs for the rookie wide receiver. He converted them into three catches for 27 yards — not his biggest game but a sign of progress nonetheless.
Burden played 33 snaps in each game against the Vikings and New York Giants, which represented 44% and 49% of the offense’s snaps, respectively. Burden was inactive against the Cincinnati Bengals, but he played 11 offensive snaps (17%) in Week 8 against the Baltimore Ravens.
“You get what you earn,” Johnson said. “He’s earned the increased snaps.”
Coaches evaluate Burden throughout the week.
“He’s steadily climbed,” Johnson said. “It’s the route-running detail that (is) showing up, the consistency and making sure his alignments are right, his assignments. He’s doing a real good job with that.
Burden credits the extra time he has put in with Williams.
“Him and me outside the facility, I’m in here real early,” he said. “Me working with (receivers coach Antwaan Randle) El. I’m over here at 6 in the morning every day going over the game plan with El. And shoot, just pretty much keep my head down and working every day and proving this is where I belong.”
3. Cairo Santos goes solo once again.
Cairo Santos pumps his fist after kicking the game-winning field goal as time expired against the Vikings on Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025, at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. The Bears won 19-17. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)
The Washington Commanders signed Jake Moody off the Bears practice squad Monday, meaning all field-goal duties once again fall squarely on Santos.
“I was super fired up for Jake,” Daly said. “He came in and did a great job. He was coming off the situation in San Francisco where I think he just needed a fresh start.”
The 49ers released Moody on Sept. 9, and the Bears signed him to the practice squad three days later.
When Santos had a right thigh injury last month, Moody learned that he would be filling in for Santos during the weekend leading up to the Oct. 13 “Monday Night Football” game against the very same Commanders. He booted the game-winning field goal.
Santos had a game-winner himself Sunday against the Vikings.
“Moody came in on short notice and handled business — wins that game for us,” running back D’Andre Swift said. “Cairo’s been doing that on a consistent level for a long time.”
Johnson said it says a lot that Santos was voted a captain.
“We had a number of really good special teams players and yet he was the one that got the most votes to be special teams captain,” he said. “And when you see how they react in the locker room to him receiving a game ball (in Minnesota) or making one of those game winning kicks, I think it’s pretty special.
“When he talks, they listen.”
4. Injury updates.
The Bears’ top 3 linebackers — T.J. Edwards, Tremaine Edmunds and Noah Sewell — all sat out practice Wednesday. Edwards has missed the last two games because of hand and hamstring injuries. He also missed three games at the start of the season with the hamstring injury. He has appeared in five games this season.
Sewell (elbow) has started seven games and has been the second linebacker with Edwards sidelined. Sewell had 10 tackles Sunday.
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Edmunds (groin) has started all 10 games and has four interceptions. He appeared in all 17 games last season and has been a steady presence in the middle for the Bears defense. Edmunds played every defensive snap in the win over the Vikings.
Additionally, safeties Jaquan Brisker (shoulder) and Kevin Byard (rest), and defensive tackle Grady Jarrett (rest) sat out practice Wednesday.
Center Drew Dalman (knee), running back Travis Homer (hamstring/knee), cornerback Tyrique Stevenson (hip/calf), running back D’Andre Swift (hip) and right tackle Darnell Wright (pec) were limited in practice.
Stevenson and Brisker had a pretty violent collision during the game Sunday, but both later returned to the game.
Additionally, cornerbacks Jaylon Johnson (groin) and Kyler Gordon (calf) were limited participants, but both still technically remain on injured reserve. The Bears opened Gordon’s 21-day practice window Wednesday, five days after they did the same for Johnson.
The two would need to be added to the 53-man roster before they can appear in a game.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/19/chicago-bears-devin-duvernay-luther-burden/
Russian attack kills 25 in Ukraine as President Zelenskyy meets Turkish leader
KYIV, Ukraine — A large Russian drone and missile barrage on Ukraine’s western city of Ternopil killed at least 25 people, including three children, authorities said Wednesday, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy went to Turkey in search of diplomatic support for his fight against Russia’s invasion.
The nighttime attack hit two nine-story apartment blocks in Ternopil, located around 120 miles from the Polish border, according to Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko. At least 73 people, including 15 children, were injured, emergency services said.
At least 19 among those killed were burned alive, including three children aged 5, 7 and 16, Klymenko said. Two dozen people are still unaccounted for, he said on national television, and rescuers expect to work at least two more days to complete the search of rubble.
Russia fired 476 strike and decoy drones, as well as 48 missiles of various types, at Ukrainian targets overnight, Ukraine’s air force said. The bombardment included 47 cruise missiles, with air defenses intercepting all but six of them, the air force said. Western-supplied F-16 and Mirage-2000 jets intercepted at least 10 cruise missiles, it said.
“Every brazen attack against ordinary life indicates that the pressure on Russia (to stop the war) is insufficient,” Zelenskyy wrote on the messaging app Telegram.
Zelenskyy meets with Turkish president
Zelenskyy met with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara later Wednesday as part of his efforts to diplomatically isolate Russian President Vladimir Putin and bring more international pressure to bear on him. Putin has so far resisted making compromises, despite U.S. pressure.
In brief statements to the press, Zelenskyy and Erdogan expressed their commitment to finding a peaceful settlement. Turkey is a key broker in the Black Sea region, preserving relations with both Ukraine and Russia.
“We count on the strength of Turkish diplomacy, on (how) it’s understood in Moscow,” Zelensky said.
Zelenskyy said before the talks that he had seen “some positions and signals from the United States” about the war. He didn’t elaborate. Tough new American sanctions on Russia’s oil industry, devised to push Putin to the negotiating table, are due to take effect on Friday.
A senior Turkish official initially said U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff would join Zelenskyy in Turkey, but backtracked later in the day and said Witkoff wouldn’t be coming. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity Tuesday because he wasn’t allowed to speak publicly about the arrangements.
U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll and other high-ranking Army officials are in Ukraine to help with peace talks, according to two U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive plans. Driscoll is scheduled to meet this week with Zelenskyy, one of the officials said. Ukrainian officials confirmed that Driscoll was meeting officials in Kyiv, but made no mention of any discussion of renewing peace talks with Russia.
Romania and Poland scramble fighter jets
Ternopil sits in a part of relatively peaceful western Ukraine, where many people from the east and south moved to as they fled danger along the front line.
Almost 50 people were injured in Russian strikes on three other Ukrainian regions.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said it attacked Ukrainian energy facilities and military-industrial targets, including long-range drone depots, in retaliation against strikes by Kyiv on Russian territory.
Two Eurofighter Typhoon jets and two F-16s were scrambled in Romania when a drone entered the NATO member’s airspace during the Russian attacks, Romania’s Ministry of National Defense said.
The Polish military said that Polish and allied aircraft were deployed in the middle of the night as a preventive measure. Poland’s Rzeszów and Lublin airports were closed temporarily to prioritize military aviation, the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency said.
In northeastern Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, Russian drones injured 46 people, including two girls, the head of the regional military administration, Oleh Syniehubov, wrote on Telegram. Drones hit several city districts, at least 16 residential buildings, an ambulance station, school and other civilian infrastructure, he said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Wednesday that Ukraine fired four American-supplied ATACMS missiles at the Russian city of Voronezh on Tuesday. All four were shot down, the ministry said, but the debris damaged a private house, an orphanage and a gerontology center. There were no casualties, the ministry said.
Ukraine’s General Staff on Tuesday reported firing ATACMS missiles at Russia without offering details.
Associated Press writers Stephen McGrath in Leamington Spa, England, and Konstantin Toropin in Washington contributed to this report.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/19/russia-attacks-ukraine-zelenskyy-turkey/
