Category: News
Sheriff’s department investigating suspicious package sent to judge
The Lake County Sheriff’s Department is investigating a suspicious package sent to a Lake County Judge Tuesday afternoon.
Officers, including a K-9, on February 24 were called to the mailroom for the package, according to a release issued by the department. The Lake County Hazardous Materials team determined the package wasn’t incendiary nor contained dangerous materials, though the post office labeled it “hazardous,” the release said.
The incident is under investigation, and no further details are being released.
Indiana bill militarizing the National Guard passes Senate
A bill that would allow for the militarization of the Indiana National Guard passed the Senate Tuesday, after seven Democratic amendments failed Monday.
House Bill 1343, authored by State Rep. Steve Bartels, allows the Indiana National Guard’s leader, the adjutant general, to establish a “military police force” that could make arrests, conduct searches and seizures, carry firearms and exercise other police powers.
The bill outlines that to become a member of the Indiana National Guard military police force, the adjutant general will make sure the members have security clearance and no felony convictions. Anyone appointed to the military police force has to complete army or air military police occupational training, according to the bill.
The governor may deploy the military police force “to exercise police powers throughout Indiana” during times of war, disaster, or “at any other time the governor considers necessary.” The governor would have to provide reasonable notice to local law enforcement agencies in the area, according to the bill.
Bartels, R-Eckerty, previously said the military police force will merge six different units that exist within the Indiana National Guard.
If a governor chose to send the military police force into a community, the mayor there wouldn’t have a way to stop the action, Bartels previously said. The bill also doesn’t give a timeframe for how long the military police force could be deployed, he said.
“I think this is very proactive. I think it helps us deal with situations that are unpredictable. It’s probably past due, in my opinion,” Bartels previously said.
On Monday, State Sen. Fady Qaddoura, D-Indianapolis, presented an amendment to remove the militarization of the Indiana National Guard from the bill. He also filed an amendment to state that the Indiana National Guard military police force could respond at the request of local law enforcement or a local government body.
State Sen. Shelli Yoder, D-Bloomington, presented an amendment to state that the general of the military police force has to meet or exceed the minimum standards of the law enforcement training board. She also filed an amendment that no later than 60 days after a deployment of the military police force, the adjutant general should submit an after-action report to the legislative council.
Yoder also filed an amendment to a portion of the bill addressing the military family relief fund to state that an applicant qualifies if he or she demonstrates difficulty in paying for transportation, communication, child-related expenses, debt payments and bills.
Yoder filed another amendment to change that if the applicants’ and applicants’ spouses’ combined federal gross income exceeds four times the poverty guideline, they would qualify for the military family relief fund. The bill language states that the combined income exceeds two times the poverty guideline.
All the presented amendments failed.
From the Senate floor Tuesday, Yoder said House Bill 1343 “is being presented as a public safety bill” that addresses Indiana National Guard powers, cyber units, imitation firearms, and armories and boats. But the bill has a “quite rewrite” of the military family relief fund, she said.
The military family relief fund isn’t a life-long benefit, but offers a one-time emergency grant so that a veteran or military family can pay for housing or utilities in the event of hardship after returning from deployment or combat injuries flare up and impact employment, Yoder said.
“We can do better than treating basic support for veterans as something that’s laced with shame,” Yoder said. “We have to stop saying that we already do a lot for our veterans when the language in 1343 simply does not do a lot.”
State Sen. Vaneta Becker, R-Evansville, said she’s concerned about the bill, given the recent federal agent response in Minnesota as part of President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement.
“I know that’s not the intent, but it happened. Two people were killed that shouldn’t have been,” Becker said.
Becker said she received a lot of communication from constituents opposing the bill. A sheriff in her district also reached out to her to express his opposition to the bill, she said.
The sheriff told Becker there’s a reason there’s a separation between the military and police because one unit fights the enemies of the state and the other serves and protects people, she said. When the military becomes both, then the enemies of the state tend to become the people, the sheriff told her.
“I think that’s something we should think about,” Becker said, as she encouraged the senators to join her in voting against the bill.
State Sen. Scott Baldwin, R-Noblesville, who sponsored the bill in the Senate, said he disagreed with the characterization that the military family relief fund portion of the bill was hidden because the bill has been publicly available and discussed publicly throughout the session.
“This is just good, responsible, fiduciary control of the state’s funding. This isn’t an attempt to try to make things hard on military families,” Baldwin said.
In response to the comment about “people killed who shouldn’t have been killed,” Baldwin said he would like to reject that conversation because it didn’t happen in Indiana and “happened under a completely different set of circumstances.”
“We can debate whether that should’ve happened or shouldn’t have happened, but this is Indiana. This bill was contrived before any of this media attention was drawn to National Guard presence in states,” Baldwin said. “We thought about getting better before any of that happened.”
The Indiana constitution allows the governor to deploy the state police and National Guard “nearly broadly,” Baldwin said. The bill allows that deployment to be “professionalized” with training on how to respond in situations that require a police response.
“The basics of this bill, they stand. We want to get better,” Baldwin said. “On Indiana’s worst day, the National Guard is going to be there to protect Indiana, alongside the state police and local law enforcement. This legislation is nothing other than preparing Indiana for its worst day.”
The bill passed the Senate 38-10, with Becker voting with all Democrats present against the bill.
akukulka@post-trib.com
Roki Sasaki permite tres carreras en su primera salida de primavera con los Dodgers
Por DAVID BRANDT
SCOTTSDALE, Arizona, EE.UU. (AP) — El lanzador derecho de los Dodgers de Los Ángeles Roki Sasaki recibió muchos batazos y tuvo dificultades para encontrar la zona de strike en su primera salida de los entrenamientos de primavera el miércoles, al permitir tres carreras, tres hits y otorgar dos bases por bolas en una entrada y un tercio de labor contra los Diamondbacks de Arizona.
El lanzador japonés, de potente recta, intenta ganarse un lugar en la rotación tras una actuación destacada como relevista en la postemporada del año pasado, cuando ayudó a los Dodgers a ganar una segunda Serie Mundial consecutiva.
Sasaki mostró su habitual recta poderosa el miércoles —ponchó a tres—, pero solo 17 de sus 36 lanzamientos fueron strikes.
Sasaki permitió un sencillo de fuerte contacto al primer bate Geraldo Perdomo, y Tim Tawa recibió base por bolas. Con un out, Nolan Arenado conectó un doble de línea al jardín izquierdo que impulsó a Perdomo. El venezolano Ildemaro Vargas siguió con otro doble, que remolcó a Tawa y Arenado para poner la pizarra 3-0.
Tras una visita al montículo del coach de pitcheo Mark Prior, Sasaki ponchó a Jordan Lawlar y Ryan Waldschmidt para terminar la entrada.
Sasaki abanicó a Druw Jones abriendo la segunda, luego dio base por bolas a Aramis Garcia y fue retirado del juego. Su recta alcanzó un máximo de 98,6 mph.
El espigado lanzador de 24 años llegó a su año de novato con mucha expectativa en 2025, pero no lanzó mucho durante la temporada regular, y terminó 1-1 con efectividad de 4,46 en 36 entradas y un tercio erráticas. Apareció en 10 juegos, abrió ocho, y se perdió más de cuatro meses por un pinzamiento en el hombro derecho.
Sasaki regresó en septiembre y se convirtió en una pieza clave del bullpen durante la postemporada, al permitir apenas una carrera limpia en 10 entradas y dos tercios y consiguió tres salvamentos.
Sasaki acordó un contrato de ligas menores con un bono por firmar de 6,5 millones de dólares la temporada baja pasada, convirtiéndose en el 13er jugador japonés en unirse a la franquicia.
___
Deportes en español AP: https://apnews.com/hub/deportes
Watch: Congressional Testimony Abruptly Cut Off After Covert Iran Ops Revealed
Watch: Congressional Testimony Abruptly Cut Off After Covert Iran Ops Revealed
Damon Wilson, the head of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), was interrupted by a member of Congress during a House oversight hearing on Tuesday after revealing that his agency “began supporting the deployment [and] operation of about 200 Starlinks early on” amid the violence which swept through Iran last month.
Before he could finish the sentence, he was cut off by the ranking member of the House Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs, Rep. Lois Frankel, who told Wilson: “You know what, I’m going to interrupt you – we’d better not talk about it.”
Wilson’s comments had been prompted by a question from Frankel, who requested details of what appears to be a new and apparently secret initiative by the State Department to provide Starlink terminals to Iranians.
Wilson appeared to take credit for both the recent unrest and Iran and subsequent media framing of the chaos. “What we’re seeing today, the Endowment has been making investments over years that have ensured that there have been secure communications, including Starlinks… that allowed information to go both in and out of the country,” he stated.
According to the New York Times, the Elon Musk-produced internet systems had been smuggled into the country by a “ragtag network of activists, developers and engineers [who] pierced Iran’s digital barricades.” It is clear now that the NED was at least partly responsible for funding and coordinating that network.
With Starlink emerging as a key weapon in the information war waged against Iran, it’s unclear how anti-government actors have managed to smuggle the devices into the country. But a recent incident in which a senior Dutch diplomat was caught trying to sneak multiple Starlink units and satellite phones through security at Iran’s Imam Khomeini Airport gives a hint.
The National Endowment for Democracy was founded in 1982 under the auspices of then-CIA Director William Casey to topple socialist and independent governments through the direct sponsorship of NGO’s, media organizations and political parties. “A lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA,” NED co-founder Allen Weinstein said of the Endowment’s work in 1991.
Despite its mission of promoting transparency and “fundamental freedoms” abroad, the NED is now a dark money group which conceals the names of its local partners under a “duty of care” policy announced in 2025. During his congressional testimony this February, Wilson insisted the policy was necessary for the security of grantees on the ground.
The NED’s work to smuggle Starlink terminals into Iran is therefore a covert operation aimed at promoting unrest. And according to Wilson, it is now a key part of the Endowment’s most aggressive initiative.
Iran “has been a huge priority for the Endowment. Iran has been, since I arrived at the Endowment, our fastest-growing program,” Wilson told Frankel. “It’s now one of our largest programs globally, that involves both direct partners – Iranian groups – as well as our core institutes.”
Watch: “I’m going to interrupt you…”
National Endowment for Democracy leader cut off in Congress after boasting of ‘deploying’ 200 Starlinks to Iran amid violence
The US intel cutout’s president said Iran was his group’s top target
Full report from @MaxBlumenthal & @wyattreed13 here: https://t.co/zaA52ugnFn pic.twitter.com/ifkzMgw4Uy
— The Grayzone (@TheGrayzoneNews) February 24, 2026
Wilson said his organization was instrumental in bringing about the 2022 “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement, which saw Iranians initially mobilize against the Islamic Republic’s mandatory hijab law before the protests deteriorated into violent riots.
“If you think about the impact of our work in Iran, the reason the Women, Life, Freedom movement began with a simple headscarf – that story of Mahsa Amini could have been lost as a regional story in Iran. But NED partners helped cover that story, get it out to the world, and get it back into Iran,” Wilson said, referring to the Iranian Kurdish woman who died in police custody from an apparent medical condition after being detained for violating the mandatory hijab law.
Violent regime change riots erupted again this January 8 and 9 across Iran, resulting in the burning of police stations, hundreds of mosques and worship sites, government buildings, marketplaces and lethal mob assaults on unarmed guards as well as police officers. The violence only stopped when Iranian security services imposed an internet blackout and neutralized thousands of Starlink terminals.
The Iranian government has provided the names and identification numbers of over 3000 citizens who were killed during the two days of rioting. But as The Grayzone reported, the NED-funded NGO, Human Rights Activists in Iran, initially claimed the death toll was over twice as high.
Now, as mainstream outlets like The Guardian cite dubious monarchist sources to exaggerate the death toll even further, the NED’s Wilson has revealed that his organization is working with “human rights networks” to “provide international media and other credible sources of what’s happened.”
These US-funded groups were involved in “documenting 17,000 deaths,” Wilson claimed, adding that “upwards, potentially of 30,000, remain under review by our partners right now.” As The Grayzone reported, the claim that Iran killed 30,000 people in just two nights originated with an opposition activist closely tied to the self-styled ‘crown prince’ Reza Pahlavi, heir to Iran’s ousted yet still CIA-tied monarchy.
Asked by Frankel whether he had any recommendations about “hard power” options for the US against Iran, Wilson insisted that his role was not to provide policy advice. He was much more comfortable boasting about NED’s role in shaping anti-Iran media narratives, such as the one blaming the country’s leadership for persistent drought conditions:
“Part of what we see manifesting is a response that our partners have helped tell the Iranian people the story, that the regime has squandered their own resources on supporting proxies throughout the Middle East, to the point where they cannot manage their own water supplies for Tehran. And these stories have not just emerged, they are ones that have been covered, documented, and shared with the Iranian people consistently through our work.”
Elsewhere in his testimony, Wilson appeared to take credit for the election of a right-wing government in Bolivia – and that his NED did so to ensure US control over the country’s mineral wealth: “In Bolivia,” he declared, “our partners prevented lithium from falling under Moscow’s control.”
Wilson also revealed that NED is funding and training media in Nicaragua with an eye on undermining the country’s socialist-oriented Sandinista government. “We have an incredible suite of Nicaraguan journalists with coverage networks inside the country,” he boasted.
Rep. Frankel closed the session by suggesting that the US government was mirroring many of the repressive tactics the NED condemned abroad: “Political enemies being imprisoned by autocratic leaders. Masked men going into homes and terrorizing people. Certainly can understand why so many people are fleeing their countries. Unfortunately, it sounds very sad, because it sounds like the story that’s going on here.”
Tyler Durden
Wed, 02/25/2026 – 17:50
Corte Suprema de EEUU falla contra empresa privada de prisiones en demanda por trabajos forzados
Por LINDSAY WHITEHURST
WASHINGTON (AP) — La Corte Suprema de Estados Unidos falló el miércoles en contra de una empresa privada de prisiones como parte de una demanda que asegura que los inmigrantes detenidos en una instalación de Colorado eran obligados a trabajar a cambio de un pago de un dólar diario.
El fallo unánime supone una derrota procesal para GEO Group, pero no es una decisión definitiva. La empresa impugna una demanda de 2014 que sostiene que los detenidos en Aurora tenían que realizar labores de limpieza sin goce de sueldo y llevar a cabo otros trabajos a cambio de una remuneración mínima para complementar sus escasas comidas.
La compañía defendió sus prácticas y argumentó que el caso debía desestimarse debido a que, como contratista del gobierno, tiene inmunidad contra demandas.
Después de que un juez discrepó, GEO Group solicitó que la Corte Suprema le permitiera apelar rápidamente la decisión. Pero los magistrados se negaron.
“De ser encontrado responsable en última instancia, sin duda que GEO puede apelar… pero GEO debe esperar hasta entonces”, escribió la jueza Elena Kagan. Los nueve magistrados coincidieron con el resultado, pero dos de los jueces, Clarence Thomas y Samuel Alito, discreparon con los motivos.
Una abogada que argumentó a nombre de los detenidos en Colorado celebró el fallo. “La decisión unánime de la Corte Suprema reafirma una regla sencilla: contratistas del gobierno como GEO no son elegibles para la inmunidad soberana y deben seguir el mismo principio de ‘un caso, una apelación’ que rige a cualquier otro litigante”, subrayó Jennifer Bennett.
GEO Group, con sede en Florida, es uno de los principales proveedores de detención privada en el país y administra o posee alrededor de 77.000 camas en 98 instalaciones. Sus contratos incluyen el nuevo centro federal de detención migratoria en el que el alcalde de Newark, Nueva Jersey, Ras Baraka, fue arrestado durante una protesta en mayo de 2025, antes de que se retirara el caso.
Se han presentado demandas similares a nombre de inmigrantes detenidos en otros lugares, incluido un caso en el estado de Washington, donde a la empresa se le ordenó pagar más de 23 millones de dólares.
___
Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con la ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.
‘Terrifying and tortuous’: Former Oswego High School students sue district for allegedly failing to stop sexual harassment by teacher
When Jillian Lake was a student at Oswego High School she followed a routine. She woke up in the morning, got dressed and drove through the community she’d grown up in.
But inside she was consumed by fear. She worried she would be ostracized if anyone found out she’d reported harassment to the school district that she said she faced from a popular teacher. So she forced herself to put on a brave face when she walked into the building.
“Going to school every day was terrifying, not only for the sheer fact of the teacher being at that school but also the fact of anyone finding out that I had come forward in the first place,” Lake said Wednesday at a downtown news conference. “It was just absolutely terrifying and torturous.”
Lake is one of four former students suing the Oswego Community Unit School District 308 for allegedly showing a “reckless disregard for student safety” and failing to properly investigate grooming and sexual misconduct they say they experienced at the hands of Sean Staffeldt, a former teacher and coach for football, wrestling and track.
“The fact that this was allowed to go on this long and was minimized repeatedly by the district, frankly, it’s outrageous,” said attorney Cass Casper of Disparti Law Group.
When reached by phone by a Tribune reporter, Staffeldt said he hadn’t heard about the lawsuit, which was filed Wednesday in Kendall County Circuit Court. However, he said, “No, that’s wrong,” in reference to the allegations of sexual harassment and abuse. He said he would need to talk to his attorney.
According to the lawsuit, Lake first met Staffeldt in a driver’s education class in 2018 during her sophomore year. Lake and the other women were minors when most of the alleged abuse took place, from roughly 2012 to 2020.
In that class, Staffeldt allegedly showed “favoritism” by having Lake sit next to his desk and made sexually inappropriate comments such as, “You better not wear those short shorts around (the football players) that you wear around me because it would be like throwing meat to a pack of dogs,” the suit said.
The suit said Staffeldt recommended Lake for the position of football manager, where she stayed until November 2019. He allegedly asked her during football practice if she and her high school boyfriend had sex, and when she declined to answer, according to the suit, he responded, “I have to watch a lot of porn.” He also regularly rubbed her shoulders and said she was “tense” or “tight” around her lower back and butt area, the suit alleged.
During her senior year, he allegedly kissed her on the outer corner of her lips after asking her to come into a secluded coach’s office, the suit said.
Theresa Komitas, a spokesperson for District 308, said in a statement that as of Wednesday afternoon the district hadn’t been formally served with the lawsuit and that it wouldn’t provide further comment until the district “has reviewed the official documentation.” She didn’t respond to follow-up questions asking about Staffeldt’s employment history.
According to the lawsuit, Staffeldt worked at the district for 12 years until he resigned in 2020 after students and staff members came forward with reports of sexual harassment. However, in 2017, the suit said, the district issued Staffeldt a written warning directing him to “maintain professionalism” and prohibiting him from hugging and touching students.
Casper said the district “took no meaningful action” to prevent abuse moving forward. He said that, to his knowledge, there’s been no criminal investigation into Staffeldt’s alleged actions.
“Despite all these red flags and warnings, the district allowed Staffeldt to continue teaching and coaching with unfettered access to female students for years,” Casper said.
Even after students reported harassment, Casper said they still didn’t get proper support from the district. Lake, for example, didn’t receive a follow-up from a counselor or social worker, he said. Another plaintiff was pressured to finish the year online or switch schools after reporting harassment, Casper alleged.
Natalie Grimm said she was diagnosed with anxiety and depression after what happened to her. She moved out of Oswego, and her parents also moved because Staffeldt lived nearby.
“Every day I’d have to drive home and pass his house,” she said. “I was terrified to go home every day.”
Anne Marie Fish, a former student at Oswego High School, speaks about the filing of a lawsuit against Oswego Community Unit School District 308 on behalf of herself and three other former students on Feb. 25, 2026. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)
According to the lawsuit, when she was babysitting for Staffeldt in 2019, she allegedly walked in on him watching pornography and masturbating, at which point he stared at her. The suit said she had warned him she was coming over. Staffeldt allegedly then tried to hug Grimm and asked her if she ever masturbates, the suit said.
She said she struggled with the idea of speaking up but felt empowered when she learned about other women’s experiences. Mostly, she’s frustrated that the district hasn’t reached out to the victims or made a robust public statement.
Anne Marie Fish, another plaintiff, said she’s choosing “truth” because the district didn’t do its job to protect girls.
During the 2013-14 school year, Fish said she received frequent emails from Staffeldt, allegedly using affectionate language such as “Love you Fish,” the suit said. He also allegedly instructed her to meet in a private equipment closet because he didn’t want anyone “spying on him.”
The women said they want the district to put policies in place to protect students, such as mandatory training and enforcement on grooming behaviors. They also said they want more support for victims who come forward.
“We are refusing to let it be minimized. We are refusing to let it be forgotten,” Fish said. “You (the district) protected a reputation. We are protecting students. You avoided accountability. We are demanding it. This is what courage looks like. This is what leadership looks like. If you won’t lead, we will.”
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/25/oswego-students-lawsuit-sexual-harassment/
Renuncian polémico fiscal general y defensor del Pueblo de Venezuela
CARACAS (AP) — El polémico fiscal general de Venezuela, Tarek William Saab, un cercano aliado del depuesto presidente Nicolás Maduro que ha sido blanco de constantes críticas de opositores y organizaciones de derechos humanos, renunció al cargo, anunció el miércoles la Asamblea Nacional, de abrumadora mayoría oficialista.
También renunció el Defensor del Pueblo, Alfredo Ruiz. Ambos funcionarios ocupaban sus puestos desde 2017 y fueron ratificados por el legislativo unicameral en el 2024.
Saab, que en su misiva no mencionó las razones de su renuncia, sorpresivamente fue seguidamente designado como Defensor del Pueblo encargado “mientras se cubre la vacante” de Ruiz, un licenciado en educación.
Un Comité de Evaluación de Postulaciones elegirán a quienes ocuparán esos puestos de forma definitiva.
Saab dimitió mediante una misiva dirigida a Jorge Rodríguez, presidente del legislativo unicameral y hermano de la presidenta encargada Delcy Rodríguez, quien fue juramentada el 5 de enero ante la Asamblea Nacional, dos días después de que Estados Unidos depuso y capturó en la capital venezolana a Maduro. La entonces vicepresidenta era, de acuerdo con la Constitución, la primera en la línea de sucesión.
Saab, que en su juventud fue reconocido por defender los derechos humanos, destacó que cumplió “con hidalguía y honor este cargo en medio de una circunstancia histórica de excepcional desafío para el presente y futuro de nuestra patria”, donde “jugamos el rol constitucional de preservar la paz y proteger los derechos humanos de nuestro pueblo en un periodo de agresiones inimaginables”.
Ruiz renunció citando motivos de “índole personal, familiar y de salud que debo atender”. El defensor entre sus atribuciones destaca la promoción, defensa y vigilancia de los derechos humanos.
Fetterman Slams Dems For ‘Yelling And Screaming’ During SOTU
Fetterman Slams Dems For ‘Yelling And Screaming’ During SOTU
More than 70 Democrats skipped President Donald Trump’s 2026 State of the Union address Tuesday night, with some participating in rival events. But, most of the caucus did show up at the Capitol, delivering a masterclass in theatrical contempt: stone-faced silence, open heckling, and a near-universal refusal to applaud anything the president said.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), however, chose to be the adult in the Democrat caucus by standing and applauding when Trump said something he agreed with.
He then condemned the “yelling and screaming” from some Democrats, adding “I don’t care if it’s a Republican or Democrat, it’s a president. Just don’t do that.”
“For me, you know, I, I never checked to see what, what the rest of people in my party would stand up and clap for,” Fetterman said after the speech. “I clapped with a lot of those things that it seemed like others.”
He stood for the family of Iryna Zarutska, the 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee who was brutally stabbed and killed by a career criminal on a train in Charlotte, North Carolina, who should have never been on the streets.
He stood for Enrique Márquez, a political prisoner freed from Venezuela, who was reunited with his niece during the speech.
He also stood for veterans in the audience that Trump recognized.
He even stood when Trump honored Erika Kirk, the widow of Charlie Kirk, who was shot and killed while speaking in Utah last September.
The contrast with his colleagues was stark. Trump made the split visible in real time.
At one point during the nearly two-hour-long speech, which broke Trump’s own record for the longest presidential speech to Congress, Trump invited every legislator to make a simple choice.
“One of the great things about the State of the Union is how it gives Americans the chance to see clearly what their representatives really believe,” he told the chamber. Then he set the trap. “So, tonight, I’m inviting every legislator to join with my administration in reaffirming a fundamental principle. If you agree with this statement, then stand up and show your support. The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.”
Republicans erupted. They stood, clapped, and whistled for two solid minutes. Democrats didn’t move.
“Isn’t that a shame?” Trump asked, before speaking directly to the Democrat side of the aisle: You should be ashamed of yourself, not standing up.”
🚨 BREAKING: Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) says he was one of the Democrats to stand up for Iryna Zarutska and Erika Kirk at Trump’s State of the Union
“Even Erika Kirk. Can’t we just be more kind to a WIDOW? How can’t we acknowledge that?” 💯
“I clapped for the family that lost… pic.twitter.com/VMCMIBY8VC
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) February 25, 2026
Fetterman also believes he is the only Democrat who shook Trump’s hand when he entered the chamber.
🚨RESPECT: Sen. John Fetterman was the ONLY Democrat who shook President Trump’s hand during last night’s epic SOTU.
pic.twitter.com/sbXLW3dPug
— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) February 25, 2026
The evening did produce some genuinely bipartisan moments, and one came as a surprise to Trump. He called for a ban on congressional insider trading, arguing that lawmakers shouldn’t profit from information unavailable to ordinary Americans. “As we ensure that all Americans can profit from a rising stock market, let’s also ensure that members of Congress cannot corruptly profit from using insider information,” he said. Both sides of the aisle stood. Trump looked genuinely caught off guard by it. “They stood up for that? I can’t believe it,” he said, scanning the chamber. “Did Nancy Pelosi stand up if she’s here?”
.@POTUS: As we ensure that all Americans can profit from a rising stock market, let’s also ensure that members of Congress cannot corruptly profit using inside information. Pass the STOP Insider Trading Act WITHOUT DELAY.
“Did Nancy Pelosi stand up? Doubt it.” 🤣 pic.twitter.com/sTKvLYTcms
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 25, 2026
The line illustrated something broader about the evening: Trump came prepared to draw contrasts, and Democrats handed him every one he needed. The party that spent the night signaling its refusal to engage left the Capitol having demonstrated, in full view of the entire country, exactly what Fetterman had tried to warn them about.
Tyler Durden
Wed, 02/25/2026 – 17:30
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/fetterman-slams-dems-yelling-and-screaming-during-sotu
Vrabel pide más personal en el centro de repeticiones de la NFL para reducir errores
INDIANÁPOLIS (AP) — El entrenador de los Patriots de Nueva Inglaterra, Mike Vrabel, instó a la NFL a aumentar el personal en su centro de mando de repeticiones para garantizar que las revisiones de todos los partidos se traten por igual.
Vrabel habló en el Scouting Combine de la NFL el miércoles y le preguntaron sobre los comentarios de principios de esta semana de Troy Vincent, ejecutivo de la liga, quien señaló que la temporada pasada se cometieron algunos errores en las repeticiones en partidos disputados en la ventana de primera hora de la tarde del domingo, cuando hasta nueve encuentros se jugaron de forma simultánea.
“Tenemos que asegurarnos de que cada partido se trate igual — desde el juego estelar del domingo por la noche hasta el juego estelar del lunes o del jueves, o si es uno de esos partidos de la 1:00 que es el sustento de nuestra liga”, manifestó Vrabel, quien es miembro del comité de competencia.
“Así que, si es algo de lo que debemos ocuparnos en la temporada baja, problemas de personal que hay que resolver para que esas jugadas se revisen, tenemos que ser realmente buenos con la repetición porque va a haber errores en el campo. … Tenemos que llegar a un sistema de repetición que sea lo más cercano posible al 100% de precisión”.
Vincent indicó que esta última temporada hubo 322 pausas para revisiones por repetición, incluidas 171 que se determinaron desde el centro de repeticiones en Nueva York. Comentó que cinco de esas jugadas se gestionaron mal, y que la mayoría ocurrió en la ventana de la 1 de la tarde hora del Este, cuando se disputan más partidos al mismo tiempo.
“Fueron cinco después de que, por así decirlo, dimos un paso atrás y respiramos — cuatro de ellas (fueron) en la ventana de la 1:00”, dijo Vincent. “Es simplemente el volumen y uno piensa: ‘Ah, si tuviéramos que hacer esa otra vez, con solo mirarla’”.
Al menos una de esas jugadas resultó crucial en la carrera por los playoffs. Vincent citó una revisión por repetición en un partido de la Semana 14 que revirtió la decisión en el campo de una intercepción lanzada por Aaron Rodgers, de Pittsburgh. La determinación le costó a Baltimore 46 yardas de posición de campo, y los Ravens finalmente perdieron el partido 27-22 cuando un posible pase de touchdown para tomar la delantera, de Lamar Jackson a Isaiah Likely, fue declarado incompleto tras la repetición.
Esa decisión no fue una de las cinco a las que se refirió Vincent, pero sí señaló que ameritaba más debate sobre qué es o no es una recepción. Una victoria de Baltimore en ese partido le habría dado a los Ravens el título de la División Norte de la AFC en lugar de los Steelers.
Un aumento de personal en el centro de mando de repeticiones durante las franjas con más partidos no resolvería todas las desigualdades en comparación con los encuentros de mayor perfil, que cuentan con muchas más cámaras utilizadas por las cadenas de televisión.
El gerente general de los 49ers de San Francisco, John Lynch, ex comentarista y nuevo integrante del comité de competencia, afirmó que eso también debe abordarse.
“Sí creo que es algo a lo que queremos aspirar como liga”, expresó Lynch. “Creo que se puede lograr cierta uniformidad exigiendo a los equipos que tengan cámaras fijas y cosas así. Sé que todo eso se está discutiendo, pero es una realidad que en los partidos de la 1:00 hay múltiples juegos desarrollándose al mismo tiempo. Así que la sede de Nueva York no va a tener toda su atención puesta en ese partido. Y, dentro de eso, está el elemento del que hablé: simplemente no contar con la cantidad de cámaras y ángulos. Esa es una realidad y algo que tenemos que resolver, porque cada partido es importante en nuestra liga, no solo los juegos estelares”.
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Deportes en español AP: https://apnews.com/hub/deportes
As primary looms, Illinois Republican governor candidates say they oppose abortion-is-murder bill
Opposing abortion has been an Illinois Republican litmus test for decades, but even the party’s four candidates seeking the GOP nomination for governor are walking away from recently filed legislation that would criminalize the procedure as murder and make women who undergo an abortion and those who assist her eligible for the death penalty.
Darren Bailey, Ted Dabrowski, Rick Heidner and James Mendrick have all positioned themselves as pro-life and criticized Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker’s efforts to make Illinois a haven for women seeking abortions after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, leaving the legality of the procedure up to individual states.
But the four say the package of bills introduced by downstate Republican state Sen. Neil Anderson goes too far, as it would classify a fertilized egg as a “person” and criminalize the disposal of eggs used in in vitro fertilization with no exceptions for rape, incest or the health of the woman.
Anderson’s legislation, which has no co-sponsors, also would allow family members to sue over the death of an unborn child, leaving open the ability of a sexual assault perpetrator to sue his victim if she has an abortion. Overall, Anderson’s proposals have virtually no chance of passage in the Democratic-controlled General Assembly.
But as the March 17 primary election approaches, it has nonetheless forced GOP candidates to address a subject in which they have fared poorly in the politically critical Chicago suburbs, where moderate suburban women voters are a powerful voting bloc. Already, Anderson’s sponsorship of the bill led to his removal from the leadership team of Senate GOP leader John Curran of Downers Grove.
Bailey, a former state senator and the party’s unsuccessful 2022 challenger to Pritzker, sought to downplay the issue of abortion in his previous run despite his focus on his downstate evangelical Christian credentials, saying no change in abortion law was likely because of the Democratic legislative supermajorities.
Shortly after Anderson filed his legislation, Bailey, who has said he is trying to become more attuned to suburban voters this time around, released a statement asking the lawmaker from Andalusia to withdraw the legislation from consideration.
“When women and families are facing a crisis, they need understanding, support and real help, not the threat of jail time. Criminalizing women in these situations doesn’t solve problems, it deepens hurt and pushes people away from the alternatives and support that could help them,” Bailey said.
“We should be leading with compassion and practical solutions that strengthen families and build trust. I am pro-life, but I believe we also have to face reality: Approaches like this pull people away and make it harder to move Illinois forward,” he said.
The three other candidates during a forum Tuesday night hosted by WFLD-Ch. 32 also said they could not support Anderson’s legislative package. Bailey did not attend the discussion.
Dabrowski, a conservative policy analyst, has frequently touted himself as “pro-life” and has labeled Illinois as “too extreme” on abortion. That includes leaders encouraging women from out of state to have the procedure performed in Illinois and allowing the use of taxpayer dollars to fund abortions for women who are poor — a policy approved by the late GOP Gov. George Ryan a quarter century ago.
But of Anderson’s legislation, Dabrowski said simply, “That’s extreme too.”
A first-time candidate for office, Dabrowski has sometimes had difficulty speaking to GOP voters on the issue.
At an event in Marengo last month, Dabrowski said he believed his candidacy would appeal to the “disenchanted,” including “a lot of suburban moms who have seen their rights taken away over their kids, whether it’s in the schools or whether it’s in the hospitals, rights over abortion and things like that.”
After the forum, Dabrowski said he was speaking about parental notification laws, not about curbs on a woman’s right to obtain an abortion.
Earlier this month, he told voters in Champaign that “even safe, legal, rare sounds good now, you know, which is crazy,” using a phrase that President Bill Clinton used in 1992. After the forum, he said Clinton’s terminology “would be a big, big step” in Illinois.
Heidner, a real estate developer and video gambling operator with a controversial history, appeared to adopt Bailey’s 2022 stance in the forum, saying, “We can’t really change anything here in Illinois.”
“I’m pro-life but when it comes to incest and it comes to rape and it comes to obviously the woman’s health, that’s a whole different story for me,” he said. He called for more incentives and programs to encourage adoption as an alternative.
Mendrick, the DuPage County sheriff, said that “absolutionism is never right on either side,” apparently confusing the pronunciation of the word “absolutism.”
“There always has to be wiggle room and leeway for special exceptions,” he said. “What if (giving birth is) going to kill the mother? What if it’s rape or incest?”
Abortion was one of several issues brought up at the wide-ranging, hourlong forum at the station’s Loop studios. The three also had divergent views on taxpayer assistance on efforts to retain the Chicago Bears in Illinois amid overtures from Indiana.
Republicans have largely used the Bears’ consideration of an incentive package to move the founding NFL franchise to Hammond as a way to try to mock Pritzker’s policies for losing business to other states.
But Dabrowski was alone in saying he opposed a state legislative proposal aimed at giving the Bears long-term certainty over the property taxes they would face in developing the 326-acre former Arlington Park International Racecourse into a team-financed stadium, along with an entertainment and residential district.
“We should do all the public infrastructure that’s fair and necessary that the public benefits from to support a stadium, but we shouldn’t give the Bears anything and certainly we should not give them (property tax) breaks,” Dabrowski said. “I love the Bears. I want them here. But taxpayers have done their share in Illinois for decades.”
Pritzker has said the state is open to paying for hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructure work, such as improvements for highways, water and sewer, as it would for any major project. Pritzker also supports negotiated property tax legislation.
Heidner said he favored using tax breaks and taxpayer-financed incentives to move the team to Arlington Heights.
“For me, it’s very simple. They’re going to produce hundreds of millions of dollars worth of tax dollars. We have to give some of it back to them so that they can afford to build everything,” Heidner said. “To lose all that income and lose our beautiful Bears because we don’t want to help them with money that they’re going to produce?”
When Dabrowski complained to Heidner that “taxpayers have to pay for that. We can’t keep doing that to our people,” Heidner responded: “This is not giving tax dollars away. These are giving tax dollars that they’re going to create a partnership.”
Heidner also wrongly maintained that “right now we’re getting zero property taxes at the old racetrack.” In actuality, the Bears are paying about $3.6 million in real estate taxes on the Arlington Heights property under a 2024 agreement.
Bailey has been more circumspect on what he would support to keep the Bears, chiding Pritzker for the potential of losing the team but maintaining the team’s Soldier Field lease allows plenty of time for negotiations.
Mendrick, who has made fighting illegal immigration a major campaign theme, combined that with the Bears.
“I believe we should be keeping the Bears,” he said. “If we simply clean up our sanctuary state policies … we could support the victims and have the football stadium.”
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/25/illinois-gop-candidates-oppose-aborton-murder/
