It’s fish fry season in Worth

This week is the start of the weekly fish frys at Marrs-Meyers American Legion Post 991, 1100 S. Depot St. in Worth.

The dinners are served 4 to 7:30 p.m. Feb. 20 to April 3. On the menu are cod, catfish, shrimp or chicken fingers; soup; salad; baked potato; fries; desserts; and coffee, tea and soft drinks.

Dinners cost $18 for adults ($19 for carryouts), $10 for children 12 and younger and free for kids younger than 3. No orders are taken by phone, and no doggy bags will be provided. Details are at 708-448-7006.

Black history showcased in Robbins

Robbins Block Clubs invites the community to Black History in Robbins, a free, family friendly event from 2 to 5 p.m. Feb. 28 at the Robbins Community Center, 13800 Trumbull Ave. in Robbins.

The event  will “highlight Robbins’ rich and often overlooked role in African American history,” a news release notes. Historian Larry McClellan will give a presentation at 3:30 p.m. on Robbins’ place in the Underground Railroad, and Robbins’ own historian, Dawn Anderson, will talk about the town’s broader history and legacy.

The Midwest Underground Railroad Network is co-sponsoring the event. Admission is free, but local vendors will sell dinners for $20 for adults and $10 for children 12 and younger. Information is at 708-856-2055.

Cook County clerk seeks election judges, technicians

The Cook County Clerk’s Office seeks election judges for the March 17 gubernatorial primary election.

Suburban Cook County residents can apply to be an election judge or polling place technician, especially those who live in southwest communities, such as Palos, Lemont and Lyons townships, as well as Elk Grove and Leyden townships in northwest Cook County.

Judges, who are paid $250, greet and sign in voters. Technicians, who are paid $400, work with the judges to monitor supplies and equipment and help with setup, breakdown and maintenance of electronic equipment; they receive some training.

In addition, bilingual judges are needed for districts that have large numbers of people who may not be proficient in English, so those who speak Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Polish, Spanish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Gujarati, Korean and Tagalog are urged to apply.

Election judges must be a registered Cook County voter or eligible college or high school student. Applications should be submitted soon to allow for a required training class. Do so at www.cookcountycoerk.com/work.

Andrew alum publishes book of poetry

Paige Cihocki, a 2022 graduate of Victor J. Andrew High School, has published her first book, “Life Through My Eyes,” a compilation of poems written in the past year.

She attends the Transition Program, for students with specialized learning needs, in Andrew’s Ultima program. The book allowed her to express thoughts that normally are difficult to convey because of her cerebral palsy and autism, reflecting the emotions she experienced. “I wrote this book to have meaning in my life, and I hope others can do the same,” she shared via a news release.

Her book is sold online for $11 at Lulu.com. Cihocki hopes to write another book.

Palos Heights mayor offers State of the City

Learn more about what’s happening in Palos Heights with Mayor Bob Straz at noon Feb. 24 at the Palos Heights Recreation Center, 6601 W. 127th St.

The Palos Heights State of the City luncheon is hosted by the Palos Area Chamber of Commerce. Tickets cost $12, and pizza and salad will be served. Tickets are available at go.rallyup.com/2026phsoc.

‘Disney’s Newsies’ takes stage at Beverly Arts Guild

The Broadway musical “Disney’s Newsies,” inspired by the Newsboys’ strike of 1899, will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 26 and 27 and at 3 p.m. Feb. 28 and March 1 at Beverly Arts Center, 2407 W. 111th St. in Chicago.

The show tells the story of a group of young newspaper sellers in New York City who organize a strike after publishers William Randolph Hearts and Joseph Pulitzer increase distribution prices, hampering the newsboys’ livelihood.

“Power of the Press,” a panel discussion moderated by Tracey Baim, executive director of Press Forward Chicago at the Chicago Community Trust, takes place after the Feb. 28 performance. Panelists include Southwest Publishing journalist Kelly White, South Side Weekly executive director Malik Jackson, Block Club Chicago co-founder and Executive Editor Jen Sabella and “Newsies” director Melody DeRogatis.

Performance tickets are sold at ci.ovationtix.com/36129/production/1244806. Information is at thebeverlyartscenter.com or 773-445-3838.

Moraine Valley Jazz Ensemble to perform

The Moraine Valley Jazz Ensemble gives a free concert at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 27 in the Dorothy Menker Theater in the Fine and Performing Arts Center at Moraine Valley Community College, 9000 W. College Parkway in Palos Hills.

Special guests will be Liam Teague, a world-renowned steelpan player from Trinidad, professor of music and director of steelpan studies at Northern Illinois University, as well as Jaden Teague-Núñez, his 17-year-old son, who was the first steelpan player to win the Crain-Maling Foundation Chicago Symphony Orchestra Young Artists Competition.

The concert is free and open to everyone. Information is at 708-974-5500.

Send news to communitynews@southtownstar.com.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/18/around-the-southland-fish-fry-season-opens-in-worth-black-history-showcase-in-robbins-more/ 

Former Chicago police Detective Richard Zuley once spent time on a special assignment at the Guantanamo Bay detention center, but on the witness stand on Wednesday, the retired investigator took a position seemingly at odds with a facility notorious for the human rights abuses of the interrogations that unfolded there.

“Rapport works,” Zuley said. “Interrogation doesn’t work.”

Zuley spent more than three hours testifying at the Leighton Criminal Court Building after he was called to the stand by Cook County prosecutors fighting off a petition that asks a judge to vacate a murder conviction. He denied beating and coercing witnesses and suspects ¯ saying he favors a more gentle approach — even as defense attorneys grilled him about a history of internal complaints and lawsuits.

Through Zuley, the unusual post-conviction case has linked the troubled U.S. detention center in Cuba with the shooting death of a child in Cabrini-Green in 1992. The retired detective’s account followed testimony by former Guantanamo detainee Mohamedou Ould Slahi, who in November said a team led by Zuley tortured him in the early 2000s until he falsely confessed to planning to attack the CN Tower in Canada.

Former Guantanamo prisoner Mohamedou Ould Slahi talks at a press conference in Nouakchott on Oct. 22, 2016. Slahi wrote a bestselling book about his experiences at Guantanamo and said he forgives those who tortured and detained him without trial for 14 years. (Stringer/Getty-AFP)

Anthony Garrett, 67, alleges he was coerced into confessing to murdering Dantrell Davis, a 7-year-old boy who was shot in the Cabrini-Green housing complex while walking to school with his mother on Oct. 13, 1992.

Years after his involvement in the Davis case, Zuley went to Guantanamo Bay on a special assignment while called into duty as a lieutenant in the Navy Reserve, though Garrett’s defense attorneys were precluded from questioning him about his time at the detention center.

“Have you ever interrogated a civilian?” Eric Bisby, one of Garrett’s attorneys, asked Zuley on Wednesday.

“Not that I believe, no,” Zuley replied.

“Not that you believe,” Bisby replied, “or no?”

“Let’s just say no, because it doesn’t work,” Zuley answered.

When answering questions from prosecutors about the investigation into Dantrell’s killing, Zuley said he gave Garrett food, and the two talked about their shared military background.

“For lack of a different word,” Zuley said, “I liked him.”

Later, Zuley said, Garrett spoke in a weak voice and said: “You’re right, I didn’t mean to kill him.”

But that account contrasts with Garrett’s, who argued in a motion for post-conviction relief that Zuley and his team of detectives beat him over the course of two days.

Garrett’s attorneys previously told a judge that eight men have been exonerated in connection with Zuley’s investigations, and on Wednesday, they questioned him about a number of his past cases, including the infamous massacre at a Brown’s Chicken restaurant in Palatine.

Zuley was initially part of a task force investigating the attack that killed seven people in 1993, but he served a one-day suspension from the Police Department for filing a false report.

Garrett has alleged Zuley has exhibited a pattern of misconduct, in part relying on Slahi’s account of the former detective’s time in Guantanamo. His attorneys have alleged that Zuley exported a “sadistic interrogation plan” from his time at the Chicago Police Department and used it to torture Slahi, Garrett’s attorneys have alleged.

Cook County prosecutors are defending the conviction, arguing that evidence supports Garrett’s guilt.

In November, Slahi described almost dying while having water poured on him in a freezing cold room.

Zuley sought to emotionally manipulate him, Slahi said, by telling him the U.S. had captured his mother and put her in a prison with men.

Former Guantanamo Bay prisoner Mohamedou Ould Slahi speaks about his experiences under CIA interrogation via video from his home in Mauritania on Nov. 30, 2017, to an anti-torture group in Raleigh, North Carolina. The North Carolina Commission of Inquiry on Torture, a self-appointed citizens group, heard from torture opponents over two days of testimony. (Emery Dalesio/AP)

He said he was beaten and sexually assaulted.

Slahi said interrogators took him out on a boat at one point, and waterboarded him with saltwater until he threw up.

“I told you not to (expletive) with me,” Detective Richard Zuley reportedly yelled at Slahi after the torture on the boat. “I told you not to (expletive) with me.”

Slahi was never charged with a crime and was eventually released from Guantanamo after a lengthy legal battle. He authored a memoir about his experience that was made into the 2021 film “The Mauritanian.”

After Dantrell was killed, police had arrested Garrett on a tip, though his attorneys argue that he had people who could give him an alibi.

In 2023, the Illinois Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission, a body that reviews claims of police abuse, referred Garrett’s case to a Cook County judge for an evidentiary hearing, finding credible evidence of torture.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/18/cpd-detective-zuley-testimony-guantanamo/ 

The Iowa athletic department apologized Wednesday for a security breach that allowed a fan to interfere in the handshake line and approach Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg after the Hawkeyes’ win over the ninth-ranked Cornhuskers.

Videos posted online show the individual coming out of the stands as fans rush the court. The person appears to heckle and point his camera phone at Hoiberg, who swiped at the phone with his right hand. Hoiberg’s hand appeared to inadvertently strike an Iowa staff member who was going through the line. Hoiberg reached back to grab the staff member’s arm and pointed to the individual who had come toward him with the camera.

“The University of Iowa Athletics Department implemented its court‑intrusion guidelines following last evening’s Iowa vs. Nebraska men’s basketball game,” the athletic department said in a statement. “Unfortunately, an individual gained access to the court through a restricted area, directly confronting Coach Hoiberg and putting Nebraska players, coaches, and staff in a reactive situation.

“We apologize for this incident and will conduct a review of our procedures and security measures to determine what adjustments may be needed to further strengthen our protocols and help prevent similar incidents in the future.”

The Big Ten said it discussed the situation with both schools and would take no disciplinary action against Hoiberg. The conference said it appreciates Iowa’s efforts to address postgame security protocols.

Nebraska athletics and Hoiberg declined to comment.

Iowa won 57-52. Nebraska has lost four of six after a 20-0 start.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/18/fred-hoiberg-nebraska-iowa-security-breach/ 

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Pitcher Ryan Borucki grew up rooting for the Chicago White Sox.

Scott Podsednik and Mark Buehrle were among the Mundelein native’s favorite players. He even wore No. 56 with the Toronto Blue Jays in honor of Buehrle.

“I actually played with Edwin Jackson when I was in Toronto and I told him I had his jersey when I was like 9, and he was like, ‘Don’t tell me that,’” Borucki joked last week at Camelback Ranch.

Borucki is in Sox camp this spring as a nonroster invitee.

“Definitely a dream come true to be able to put this uniform on,” he said. “As a kid, I used to always put it on, acting like I was on the White Sox in my backyard. I’m very excited about the opportunity.”

Photos: An inside look at Chicago White Sox spring training

The 31-year-old left-hander is 15-12 with a 4.28 ERA in 187 career outings (21 starts) over eight big-league seasons with the Blue Jays (2018-2022, 2025), Seattle Mariners (2022) and Pittsburgh Pirates (2023-25). He has 214 strikeouts and 97 walks in 256 1/3 innings.

“Every spring training when I come in as an NRI, it’s control the controllables,” Borucki said. “Just pitch my game. Show what I can do and the rest is up to them. I’ve just got to try to make the decision as hard as possible for them.”

Manager Will Venable said Borucki is “firmly in the mix” as an option for the opening roster.

“We brought him in here to give him every chance to make this team,” Venable said last week. “We know he’s an experienced guy who has done it for a long time.

“He is a guy who helps us as far as his performance on the field. He’s also somebody who has been around a long time and can help these young guys develop their routines and their attack plans, especially for a left-handed pitcher. Definitely excited to have him here.”

Borucki went a combined 1-3 with a 4.63 ERA in 39 relief appearances in 2025 for the Pirates and Blue Jays.

“It was a decent year,” he said. “I had a little bit of a back injury that kind of stopped a little bit of momentum. Just getting back to who I was as a pitcher.

“What I do really well is get lefties out. I’ve done it my whole career. This spring I’m really working on righty attacks because I’m so good against lefties, I see a lot of pinch hitters.”

He’s sharpening his splitter to be an equalizer against right-handed hitters.

“I know my game,” he said. “I’ve played long enough to know who I am. Not going to try to do too much and wherever the chips fall, they fall.”

White Sox pitcher Ryan Borucki, a nonroster invitee, runs a drill during spring training at Camelback Ranch on Monday, Feb. 16, 2026, in Glendale, Ariz. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)

Borucki said he had plenty of options in the offseason, but the Sox were at the top of the list from the start because his parents still live in Mundelein.

“Home for me and just being around family,” he said, “and especially for me — I have a daughter now, I live in Florida — so we don’t get to see my family very often. So if I’m able to be with the White Sox and being around family is all you can really ask for.”

Borucki is thrilled to carry on his Chicago-area connections.

“We’re Chicago everything,” he said. “When I got drafted, my love for the White Sox kind of deterred a little bit because I was with the Jays and then it’s a job to you, you know what I mean? But we are an all-Bears family, White Sox, Bulls, everything Chicago. I don’t steer away from Chicago. I love this city. It means so much to me, and, like, I’ll just watch Bears highlights of this past season. I still get chills.

“I’m very proud of where I come from. I am very proud of being from Mundelein and just being able to represent, being a Chicago guy, the best way I can.”

Munetaka Murakami’s Cactus League debut set

Infielder Munetaka Murakami is in line to make his Cactus League debut Friday in the Sox opener against the Chicago Cubs at Sloan Park in Mesa.

While Venable said the coaches “are still working on some stuff” for Friday’s lineup, he said the four Sox position players participating in the World Baseball Classic — Murakami (Japan), infielders Sam Antonacci (Italy) and Curtis Mead (Australia) and catcher Kyle Teel (Italy) — will play. Reliever Seranthony Domínguez (Dominican Republic) also is taking part in the WBC.

The Sox also announced Jonathan Cannon as Friday’s starting pitcher.

“I kind of knew I was going to start one of the first couple of games,” Cannon said Wednesday. “Me and (pitching coach Zach) Bove were in contact this offseason. That went into my preparation a little bit. I knew I probably was going to get just one live (batting practice before the start of games). I threw a live before I came out to make sure I was prepared and ready to go.

“At the end of the day, spring training is about getting ready for the season, going out there and proving yourself. You are going to get opportunities and just taking advantage of that. So whenever those opportunities come, just doing the best I can.”

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/18/chicago-white-sox-ryan-borucki-mundelein/ 

While watching humans reach new world records in the Winter Olympics this month, it dawns on me that some birds, insects and spiders in northern Illinois deserve medals of their own.

The red-eyed vireo, which flies from South America to the United States in spring to nest, wins gold for its singing prowess.

In late April and May, the vireo starts singing from trees and continues singing all summer long, even in the heat of the day. One source says a single male belted out more than 20,000 songs in one day. He sings, “Here I am over here, right over here,” incessantly as if he’s not sure anyone knows he’s there.

This vireo actually is singing its song to woo a mate or deter another potential romantic partner from intruding on its territory.

The peregrine falcon, once endangered in the United States, has a couple of great flying records. It can fly 60 mph in a straight-level flight when pursuing its prey, perhaps a sanderling flying along the Lake Michigan shoreline. As it dives straight down toward its potential meal, it may reach 200 mph.

Downhill skiers only reach up to roughly 80 mph, although one French skier, Simon Billy, clocked in at roughly 153 mph while pursuing his sport.

Hudsonian godwits make Olympian migrations every year. (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

But wait. There’s a common arachnid called the orb-weaving spider native to Illinois and other Midwestern states that has the falcon beat. This spider species lunges at speeds equal to a human sprinting at 1,700 mph, according to Nova.

Move over, peregrine falcon. The orb-weaving spider gets the gold. Extra points go to this docile, non-venomous spider that eats mosquitoes, gnats and flies.

After ski jumpers do their tricks in the air, they have to land on their feet to stay in the competition. Squirrels are quite the acrobats themselves. Many times, I’ve watched a squirrel jump from a tree limb onto a bird feeder, then practically hang upside down trying to get a seed. They’ll even try to land on squirrel baffles, large, round metal structures placed beneath the feeder.

They often miss their mark or fall off the baffle. However, one intrepid squirrel figured out how to climb up the pole about a foot beneath the baffle, then jump out away from the pole in mid-air, toward the edge of the baffle. As it jumped, it twisted its body so it could grab the top of the baffle and pull its whole weight up atop the baffle. There was the feeder right above with plenty of food rewards for its efforts.

Studies have shown that squirrels need to learn the best way to navigate, and some do fall during their education. So in that way, they are similar to the ski jumpers who also fall during practices and competitions.

One of the fascinating feats of figure skaters is when they twirl so fast that they appear like spinning tops. Professional figure skaters spin about 300 revolutions per minute. But the hummingbird again gets the gold. It can beat its wings 70 times per second, which translates to 4,200 times per minute.

Cross-country skiers require muscle and stamina when traveling up and down snow hills during competition. This year, many of them did a 50-kilometer race, which translates to about 31 miles. At the end of the race, some collapsed from exhaustion.

The monarch butterfly, however, which only weighs about as much as a potato chip, travels at least 50 miles at one time, flying over mountains and rivers during its annual migration.

The gold medal winner for best all-time flyer is the Hudsonian godwit, which breeds in southern Alaska and west-central Hudson Bay in Canada, near the Arctic tundra. Each fall, this bird migrates across North America and then southward across the Atlantic Ocean to northern South America, and finally to Argentina to spend winter.

In spring, the bird flies north over the Pacific Ocean 6,000 miles to Nebraska in one continuous seven- to eight-day flight, rests and then flies farther north back to the breeding grounds. We lucky Illinoisans occasionally see this bird in a small group feeding in wetlands on its journey northward or southward. The last time I saw a Hudsonian godwit was on a May day at Ethel’s Woods wetlands near Antioch. It is a beautiful, regal-looking, long-legged shorebird.

It is amazing to think that the Hudsonian godwit species, which can live to be 20 years old, travels 20,000 miles annually in migration and can fly 6,000 miles at a time without stopping.

Nature certainly has its own true Olympians.

Sheryl DeVore has worked as a full-time and freelance reporter, editor and photographer for the Chicago Tribune and its subsidiaries. She’s the author of several books on nature and the environment and co-author of a coming book on “Birds of the Midwest,” to be published by Timber Press. Send story ideas and thoughts to sheryldevorewriter@gmail.com.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/18/outdoors-column-olympians/ 

Japan’s Top Toilet Maker Is ‘Undervalued, Overlooked’ AI Play Over ‘Cryogenic Etching’ Technology, Activist Investor Says

Tyler Durden
Wed, 02/18/2026 – 18:00

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/japans-top-toilet-maker-undervalued-overlooked-ai-play-over-cryogenic-etching-technology 

No ‘Gentlemen’s Agreement’ With Russia To Continue Compliance With New Start Treaty: Top Official

Tyler Durden
Wed, 02/18/2026 – 17:40

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/no-gentlemens-agreement-russia-continue-compliance-new-start-treaty-top-official 

GLP-1 Anti-Obesity U.S. Drug Market In Four Charts

Tyler Durden
Wed, 02/18/2026 – 17:20

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/glp-1-anti-obesity-drug-market-four-charts 

GLP-1 Anti-Obesity U.S. Drug Market In Four Charts

Tyler Durden
Wed, 02/18/2026 – 17:20

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/glp-1-anti-obesity-drug-market-four-charts