Category: News
Lamine falla un penal y Barcelona cae 2-1 en Girona para dejar a Real Madrid en la cima
GIRONA, España (AP) — Lamine Yamal falló un penal y el Barcelona se desmoronó el lunes al sucumbir 2-1 en su visita a Girona, con lo que dejó pasar la oportunidad de superar a Real Madrid en la cima de La Liga española.
Fue la segunda derrota en menos de una semana para el Barça y lo dejó segundo en la tabla, a dos puntos del Madrid.
Una victoria lo habría colocado por encima de su archirrival pero, en su lugar, se agudizan las alarmas para el técnico Hansi Flick, cuyo equipo cayó 4-0 ante Atlético de Madrid en la Copa del Rey la semana pasada.
“El equipo ahora mismo no está en un buen momento”, reconoció Flick tras la derrota en el estadio de Montilivi. “Necesitamos calmarnos, volver a ser lo que hemos sido. Le daremos al equipo dos días libres para que podamos verlo de nuevo a su mejor nivel”.
La segunda derrota se produjo pese a que el Barça se adelantó temprano en la segunda mitad.
Lamine estrelló en el poste su lanzamiento desde el punto penal al filo del descanso, pero a los 14 minutos del segundo tiempo Pau Cubarsí conectó el centro de Jules Kounde desde la derecha y colocó su cabezazo de forma perfecta en el ángulo superior.
El gol fue el número 100 de los azulgranas en todas las competiciones esta temporada y lo convirtió en el segundo club de las cinco grandes ligas domésticas de Europa en alcanzar el centenar, después del Bayern Múnich.
Sin embargo, los anfitriones no bajaron los brazos y se enchufaron en el partido apenas tres minutos después.
El barcelonista Joan García ya era el más exigido de los dos arqueros, pero no pudo evitar que el centrocampista francés Thomas Lemar definiera de primera, con el interior, desde corta distancia tras una buena jugada del atacante ucraniano Vladyslav Vanat por la banda izquierda.
Ambos equipos sacaron los colmillos por el segundo tanto decisivo y fue Girona el que concretó cuando faltaban tres minutos por cuenta de una acción colectiva armada entre el argentino Claudio Echeverri, Joel Roca y Fran Beltrán.
Beltrán anotó con un disparo raso desde justo dentro del área, una acción en la que los jugadores del Barça reclamaron una falta de Echeverri sobre Jules Koundé en la frontal del área.
“Para mí, hubo falta sobre Koundé. Pero son decisiones que no controlamos”, señaló el zaguero azulgrana Gerard Martín. “Necesitamos centrarnos en nosotros mismos, ser autocríticos. No estamos jugando bien”.
Roca fue expulsado en los segundos finales, pero no hubo más goles.
La victoria puso fin a una racha de tres partidos sin ganar para Girona y lo hizo subir tres puestos para ubicarse 12do, con los mismos puntos que Getafe. Apenas siete puntos separan a los 11 clubes del octavo al 18vo en La Liga.
“Estamos en una situación con diez equipos por salir de ahí abajo”, manifestó Míchel, el técnico de Girona. “Tres puntos ante el Barça son más de tres puntos. Ellos ganan el 90% de los partidos. Lo normal es que sigan ganando a todos y tú les ganas a ellos. Es un paso importante”.
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Deportes AP: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Illinois Republican governor candidate Darren Bailey rebukes national GOP for post mocking Pritzker’s weight
In an unorthodox political move, Republican candidate for governor Darren Bailey is rebuking his political party’s national leaders for posting a meme on social media mocking Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker’s weight.
The Feb. 14 posting on X by the Republican National Committee was designed as a cartoon Valentine’s Day card, declaring, “My love for you is bigger than JB Pritzker.” It shows a gluttonous generated image of Pritzker holding a huge cheeseburger in one hand and a large slice of pizza in the other, sitting at a table piled with food. Hearts appear in the background while one in the foreground displays the saying, “Be Mine.” The RNC handle on X has 3.4 million followers, and the Pritzker post received 1.2 million views.
Bailey, the GOP’s unsuccessful 2022 nominee against Pritzker who is seeking a rematch as he runs against three rivals in the GOP primary, responded to the RNC’s post by citing his own personal struggle with weight and said that “this kind of rhetoric isn’t helpful.”
“It doesn’t solve problems, it just creates more division,” Bailey said in an X post of his own. “We can and should have real debates about policy, priorities, and the future of our state. But attacking someone over their weight is unnecessary, unproductive, and has no place in our politics.”
A call to the Republican National Committee was answered by an automated response saying no one was available for comment. Monday was the President’s Day federal holiday.
Bailey, in two campaigns for governor and during his tenure as a downstate Republican state lawmaker, has not been shy about criticizing Pritzker. He has mocked the billionaire business owner and heir to the Hyatt hotels fortune as having “soft hands” and having “never worked a day in his life.” Just days before the RNC posting, Bailey posted an image of Pritzker dressed like a king, standing in a bathroom, with the tagline “Flush Pritzker.”
But Bailey has not attacked Pritzker over his weight. That has largely been a role carried out by President Donald Trump, who endorsed Bailey’s 2022 run for governor and encouraged him to run again after a family tragedy in an October helicopter accident.
Pritzker has been a vocal critic of Trump as the governor has extended his national footprint in a potential 2028 Democratic bid for president, even as he seeks a third term as Illinois’ chief executive.
During a 2024 Ohio campaign rally, Trump accused Pritzker of being “too busy eating” to lead his state, adding that “he wants to eat all the time.”
As Trump stepped up his criticism of Pritzker’s ultimately successful fight against the president’s efforts to deploy the National Guard in Chicago to assist federal immigration agents, Trump said the Democratic governor “ought to spend more time in the gym.”
And during a White House event on Nov. 25 for the traditional pardoning of two turkeys around Thanksgiving, Trump labeled Pritzker “a big fat slob.”
“I was going to talk about Pritzker in size, but when I talk about Pritzker, I get angry because he’s not letting us do the job,” Trump said, referring to Pritzker’s efforts over the National Guard. “So I’m not going to tell my Pritzker joke. They have a very cute little joke, some speechwriter wrote, some joke about his weight. But I would never want to talk about his weight. I don’t talk about people being fat. I refuse to talk about the fact that he’s a fat slob. I don’t mention it.”
Pritzker, who has visibly been losing weight, has responded to Trump’s criticism, saying in August, “It takes one to know one on the weight question, and the president, of course, himself, is not in good shape.”
A post from the national GOP X account featuring an AI-generated image of Gov. JB Pritzker eating was criticized by Republican candidate for governor and former state lawmaker Darren Bailey. But Bailey has embraced the support of President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly insulted Pritzker about his weight, including in November when he called the governor “a big fat slob” during a White House Thanksgiving turkey pardoning ceremony. (X)
“I would say also that his personal attacks on me are just evidence of a guy who’s still living in fifth grade,” Pritzker said. “He’s the kind of bully that throws invectives at people — and because he knows that what he’s saying is actually commentary on himself.”
Bailey has toned down his invectives against Pritzker and Chicago in his second bid for the GOP nomination as he faces rivals Ted Dabrowski, Rick Heidner and James Mendrick in the March 17 primary for the right to challenge Pritzker in November. Pritzker has no competition in the Democratic primary.
The downstate farmer, who in 2022 referred to Chicago as a “hellhole,” has said in several interviews that his campaign this time around is based on “more listening and less talking.”
Meanwhile, in a new TV ad, Dabrowski doubled down on his anti-immigrant campaign, attacking Pritzker’s warning to Trump that “if you come for my people, you come through me.”
“But who are Pritzker’s people? They’re the more than 1,700 illegal alien predators Pritzker helped escape from ICE. They’re the people whose health care, rent and college tuition you pay for,” Dabrowski says in the ad. “Well, I have a message for you, governor. I’ll be coming for you and going through you. Your days and the days of sanctuary living for ‘your people’ are over.”
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/16/gop-pritzker-cartoon-bailey-illinois/
“Meat Grinder”: Behind The Burnout And High Turnover Rates In The AI Industry
“Meat Grinder”: Behind The Burnout And High Turnover Rates In The AI Industry
Authored by Autumn Spredemann via The Epoch Times,
Across the artificial intelligence (AI) supply chain, insiders describe a precarious, high-turnover workforce with limited support and stability.
This “invisible” human labor that labels data, evaluates outputs, and filters harmful material has become a revolving door of talent that navigates high-pressure gigs and burnout. Moreover, workers and industry experts say this talent churn can degrade the very AI models workers are paid to improve.
Across the board, workers who are hired to support, evaluate, or operationalize AI systems face similar challenges: high-stress environments that often involve complex tasks, unrealistic timelines, job instability, and low wages.
It’s no secret that the tech industry has long suffered from high turnover rates. Numbers vary, but many studies put the average rate of talent churn in the tech sector at between 13 percent and 18 percent.
This becomes clear when considering the cost of replacing tech talent, which can be up to 150 percent of a worker’s salary, including recruitment expenses, onboarding time, productivity losses, and impacts on customer relationships.
Some believe that the loss of institutional knowledge alone makes worker retention critical.
“People love to talk about the ‘magic’ of AI, but the work culture behind it is a meat grinder. I’ve seen talent turnover in model evaluation hit record highs because the work is repetitive and psychologically draining,” Barry Kunst, vice president of marketing at Solix Technologies, told The Epoch Times.
“When you lose a lead researcher to churn, you don’t just lose a body; you lose the ‘why’ behind the model’s safety guardrails,” Kunst said.
This is why he’s adamant about AI workforce stability, which he said correlates directly with model reliability: “If you’re rotating contractors every six months to keep labor costs low, your data governance will fail, period.”
Sovic Chakrabarti, the director of digital marketing agency Icy Tales, said, “Team turnover is more common than people expect.
“In some groups, especially those tied to model training, evaluation, or data labeling pipelines, churn can happen every few months. Short contracts, project-based funding, and constant reorganization mean people cycle in and out quickly,” he told The Epoch Times.
A technician works at an Amazon Web Services AI data center in New Carlisle, Ind., on Oct. 2, 2025. Noah Berger for AWS/Reuters
Chakrabarti has worked on the development and support side of AI systems long enough to see patterns that, as he put it, “rarely make it into public discussions.”
“That [workforce] churn absolutely leads to lost knowledge,” he said. “Important context about why a dataset was filtered a certain way, why a safety rule exists, or why a model behaved oddly in testing often lives in someone’s head.”
When that person leaves, documentation rarely captures the full story, according to Chakrabarti. “New hires inherit systems without understanding the original tradeoffs, which can quietly introduce risks,” he said.
The Human Cost
Burnout rates among information technology (IT) workers are high. LeadDev’s Engineering Leadership Report 2025 found that 22 percent of the 617 polled engineering leaders and developers felt critically burned out at work.
An additional 24 percent of respondents reported feeling “moderately” burned out, while 33 percent reported low levels of burnout.
Some of this is driven by job-security fears after two years of layoffs at big tech companies, but the pay for many of the workers fueling the AI revolution is often low.
The Alphabet Workers Union (AWU), Communications Workers of America (CWA), and TechEquity led a study on the working conditions of U.S.-based data workers and found conditions similar to those of tech contractors in developing countries.
In a survey of 160 U.S. data workers, 86 percent worried about being able to pay their bills, and 25 percent relied on public assistance to get by. The same group reported a median hourly wage of $15, with a median annual salary of $22,620.
Eighty-five percent of the study group said they’re expected to be “on call” for work, but only 30 percent reported being paid for this time. More than a quarter of respondents reported spending more than 8 hours per week on call.
“If there’s anything I wanted the general public to know, it is that there are low paid people [in the United States] who are not even treated as humans—just little more than employee ID numbers —out there making the 1 billion dollar, trillion dollar AI systems that are supposed to lead our entire society and civilization into the future,” Kirn Gill II, a search quality rater working on Google products at Telus, told the CWA.
Chakrabarti said the work culture behind AI fuels these challenges.
“There is real pressure to keep labor costs low. I have seen unrealistic timelines, understaffed teams, and expectations to ‘do more with less’ while the stakes keep rising. That tension creates stress, especially when the systems affect millions of users,” he said.
Chat GPT app icon is seen on a smartphone screen, in Chicago, on Aug. 4, 2025. AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato, File
He added that being part of the shadow workforce behind AI can also be psychologically demanding.
“You carry responsibility without always having authority or time to do things properly. … As tools evolve, roles shift fast, and many people feel replaceable even while being essential,” Chakrabarti said.
Nicky Zhu, an AI Interaction Product Manager at Dymesty, agrees that the cost-containment pressure on data workers is “unrealistic” and is fueling the burnout phenomenon.
“Companies employ contractors instead of using permanent staff, mandate 60-hour crunch weeks, and expect rapid learning of intricate systems. I have witnessed multiple capable engineers exit the field of AI completely because of the high levels of instability and the unmanageable workload,” Zhu told The Epoch Times.
Zhu said the mental strain associated with data work is often unacknowledged.
“Staff are regularly exposed to disturbing material during safety testing, including assessing harmful content. Knowing that your work impacts millions of users increases the stress. The combination of rapid AI development, job uncertainty, and high turnover is mentally overwhelming,” she said.
In the data worker conditions analysis, respondents reported limited or no access to mental health benefits, despite being what the study authors called a “first line of defense, protecting millions of people from harmful content and imperfect AI systems.”
Only 23 percent of data workers surveyed reported having employer-provided health benefits.
The International Labor Organization noted that large language AI models such as ChatGPT and Claude still require “invisible workers” who fine-tune AI responses, mitigate biases, and eliminate toxic or disturbing content behind the scenes.
“As a result, workers are routinely exposed to graphic violence, hate speech, child exploitation, and other objectionable material. Such constant exposure can take a toll on their mental health and trigger post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and reduced ability to feel empathy,” the International Labor Organization stated.
Revolving Door Risks
A knock-on effect of AI’s constant labor change is an increase in cybersecurity risks.
“Labor turnover literally impacts the quality, safety, and reliability of models,” Janero Washington, education director at ACSMI Cybersecurity Certification, told The Epoch Times.
“Large turnover interferes with domain knowledge, delays in the iteration process, and the probability of missing key details in the development.”
Washington said this could have a “direct influence on the accuracy and strength of [AI] models, particularly during deployment phases.”
He added that low labor costs are the primary pressure point in AI projects, which tend to prioritize cost-efficiency over balanced investment in skilled labor.
“It may result in corners being cut, including overworking teams, unrealistic deadlines, or having to use less experienced hires to keep budgets,” he said.
Zhu has seen firsthand how workforce churn affects the efficiency of AI tools: “Knowledge is lost faster than it is documented. Important information about model edge cases, limitations, safety procedures, and related details is lost when contractors leave after six or 12 months.”
When she started her current position, Zhu found that three teams had attempted to resolve the same set of problems using an AI feature that had already been built.
“Still, no one had documented the rationale for the different design decisions. Ultimately, we had to remake previously developed design solutions for problems that had already been solved. This is an all-too-common reality for the industry,” she said.
The data security platform Cyberhaven observed that 24 hours before a layoff or employee resignation, organizations can experience a 720 percent surge in data exfiltration. This includes everything from downloading sensitive files to forwarding emails or copying customer lists, all of which can have significant consequences.
Washington said that critical knowledge or details can be easily lost when a data team is reliant on a short-term contract or experiencing a high talent turnover.
“This affects continuity of knowledge of datasets, edge cases, or versioning issues, causing inefficiencies and possibly a rework of the same issue,” he said.
Chakrabarti agreed. “When teams are stretched thin or constantly rebuilding, issues get patched instead of deeply solved,” he said.
Tyler Durden
Mon, 02/16/2026 – 17:45
https://www.zerohedge.com/ai/meat-grinder-behind-burnout-and-high-turnover-rates-ai-industry
Multiple people injured Sunday night in Merrillville shooting
Merrillville Police are investigating a Sunday night shooting where multiple people were injured.
Officers responded around 9:07 p.m. February 15 to the incident in the 7800 block of Rhode Island, according to a release the department posted on its social media page. The release didn’t say how many people were involved, only that “individuals sustained apparent gunshot wounds” and that all the parties were “accounted for.”
Merrillville Police Chief Kosta Nuses didn’t return a request for comment by deadline.
The release said the event was “an isolated incident” and that there’s no threat to the public.
Anyone with any information on the shooting is asked to contact Detective Van Rite at avanrite@merrillville.in.gov or by phone at 219-769-3531, ext. 349. Anonymous tips can be sent to investigations@merrillville.in.gov.
Gold for Elana! Meyers Taylor, 41, wins Olympic monobob title at Milan Cortina Games
CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — Elana Meyers Taylor has won World Cups, won world championships, already was the oldest woman to win an Olympic bobsled medal, recruited dozens of people to the sport and twice pulled off comebacks after becoming a mother.
There was only one thing missing.
Not anymore.
The 41-year-old Meyers Taylor finally has Olympic gold — her first, and one that made her the oldest American woman to ever hear “The Star-Spangled Banner” blare in her honor at the Winter Games. Rallying in the fourth and final heat, Meyers Taylor won the women’s monobob title at the Milan Cortina Games on Monday night, dropping to her knees in tears when the result became official. The winning time: 3 minutes, 57.93 seconds.
Germany’s Laura Nolte was second and Kaillie Humphries Armbruster of the U.S. was third.
Meyers Taylor had medaled five times before — three silver, two bronze. She was the most decorated Black athlete ever at a Winter Olympics even before this win, and her place in history got a whole lot more dazzling on a frosty night in the Italian mountains. And this medal, her sixth, tied Bonnie Blair for the most by a U.S. woman in the Winter Olympics.
But gold made the moment all the more sweet.
Nolte led by 0.15 seconds going into the final run, with Meyers Taylor second and Humphries Armbruster third — 0.24 seconds off the lead. Barring big mistakes, gold, silver and bronze would be theirs in some order; nobody else was within six-tenths of a second of Humphries Armbruster, nor within about a full second of Nolte’s lead going into the final heat.
They go in reverse order in sliding. That meant Humphries Armbruster went first among the final three, then Meyers Taylor, then Nolte.
Humphries Armbruster finished in 3:58.05, knowing she was assured of her fifth career medal when she crossed the line. As the sled skidded to a stop, she was already on her feet — throwing her arms into the air, knowing at least bronze was coming her way.
U.S. coach Brian Shimer, often stoic, started punching the air in celebration. And then the scene was set for Meyers Taylor, who held on to no worse than the silver spot and wrapped herself in an American flag after hopping out of the sled.
Nolte had the lead going into the last run. She just couldn’t hold it.
Kaysha Love, the world monobob champion for the U.S. last year, had big trouble in her second and fourth runs and finished seventh with a final time of 3:59.27.
Humphries Armbruster won the gold medal in the inaugural running of monobob at the 2022 Beijing Games, with Meyers Taylor winning silver.
They became the first 40-something females to do so in women’s Olympic bobsled history. Meyers Taylor — who already was the oldest woman to win a bobsled medal, having been 37 at the Beijing Games — is now 41, and Humphries Armbruster is 40.
This is the fifth time that Meyers Taylor and Humphries Armbruster have competed in the Olympics. Each has medaled in each of their previous four appearances; Humphries Armbruster was also on the Canadian Olympic team in 2006, but did not race in those Turin Games.
They’re now 5-for-5. And Meyers Taylor, finally, has the golden moment.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/16/olympics-monobob-elana-meyers-taylor-gold/
Subdivision entry gates, gifted fountain conferred historic landmarks in Park Ridge: They ‘are both significant structures’
A fountain and a gate, both about a century old, are now Park Ridge historic landmarks after the City Council voted Feb. 2 to approve officially giving them that distinction.
The William H. Malone Fountain was built in 1926 as a public donation by the city’s second mayor. It is located near Rita’s Ice on Northwest Highway, was designed by local sculptor John Paulding and paid for by Malone as a gift to the town. Malone, who was also a developer, also built the Pickwick Theater, which is the first Park Ridge structure designated as a historic landmark.
The fountain is currently shuttered for the winter, but is operational.
The gates at Berry Parkway were erected sometime in the 1920s as the entryway to an early subdivision. The gates are wrought iron and greystone.
Both the fountain and the gates are currently maintained by the city’s Public Works Department, though the gates had, prior to 2024, been maintained by area residents.
Joan Mattingly, chair of the Historical Preservation Commission, said the gates have long been held in high regard by neighbors in the area.
“The community there is very close knit,” she said. “They’ve bonded together to support the gates and to keep the community special.”
For the most part, the recognition is ceremonial, though it encourages upkeep and public interest. It does not prohibit future changes to the property or the items.
Mayor Marty Maloney asked whether, at some point in the future, the city or a developer could remove the now-landmarks.
“The city has options. Any City Council in any given town can landmark an item and take away that landmark. That is extremely rare and extremely controversial,” Drew Awsumb, the city’s director of community preservation and development, explained.
Awsumb said the intent of landmarking the items is to preserve them. So while these things could be moved elsewhere, there would have to be a public meeting and another vote.
City Council members approved the landmark status without much discussion.
Awsumb said the gates are in “acceptable condition” and “well preserved.”
The last thing the city gave landmark status to was the Maine Township Town Hall, done in 2023.
After the City Council meeting, Mattingly praised the city’s decision to landmark the two familiar structures. She said she hoped the votes would inspire more people to request landmark status on old items of significance to the town. Typically property owners have to request landmark status.
“(The Historic Preservation Committee) cannot landmark on its own,” she wrote in an email, “but must wait for an owner of a property or structure to request landmarking. Advocates in the community are much appreciated!”
She said while the city of Park Ridge isn’t that old, there are historically significant landmarks around town worthy of designation as a means of protecting important sites. Park Ridge was incorporated as a city in April 1910.
“The two newest landmarks, the Malone Fountain and the Berry Parkway Gates, are both significant structures that should be specially recognized,” Mattingly stated. “Though I don’t think either of these elements are in danger, landmarking provides an extra layer of protection. If an opportunity to develop the little park outside Rita’s comes along, there will need to be conversation with the Historic Preservation Commission along with various city departments before the Fountain can be torn down or relocated. The same with the Gates.”
Jesse Wright is a freelancer.
Mellizos: Pablo López termina temprano sesión de bullpen por dolor de codo
FORT MYERS, Florida, EE.UU. (AP) — El derecho de los Mellizos Pablo López terminó antes de tiempo una sesión de bullpen con Minnesota el lunes debido a lo que el mánager Derek Shelton describió como “un poco de dolor en el codo”.
López, que cumplirá 30 años el próximo mes, lanzó poco más de dos entradas antes de detenerse. Se le consideraba adelantado en su preparación para unirse a Venezuela para el Clásico Mundial de béisbol.
López ha sido el abridor del día inaugural de los Mellizos las últimas tres temporadas. El año pasado quedó limitado a 75 entradas y dos tercios, con tres estancias en la lista de lesionados por problemas en el isquiotibial, el hombro y el antebrazo.
El All-Star en 2023 había realizado 32 aperturas en cada temporada de 2022 a 2024, la primera de esas con Miami antes de un par con Minnesota.
“Decidimos, por un exceso de precaución, sacarlo del terreno y asegurarnos de que esté bien. Le haremos algunos estudios de imagen, simplemente por lo importante que es y lo importante que es para nosotros”, explicó Shelton a los reporteros en las instalaciones de entrenamiento de primavera del club.
López registró marca de 5-4 con efectividad de 2.74 la temporada pasada. Ganó 10 juegos en cada una de las tres temporadas anteriores, coronadas por un máximo de su carrera de 15 en 2024.
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Deportes AP: https://apnews.com/deportes
3 killed, including suspect, in shooting during Rhode Island youth hockey game
PAWTUCKET, R.I. — Three people, including the suspect, were fatally shot during a Rhode Island youth hockey game Monday, authorities said.
Pawtucket Police Chief Tina Goncalves told reporters that three other victims are hospitalized in critical condition.
“It appears that this was a targeted event, that it may be a family dispute,” she said. Goncalves did not provide details about the suspect or the ages of those who were killed, though she said it appeared that both victims were adults.
Authorities were continuing to try to piece together what happened and speak with witnesses, she said.
The shooting happened at Dennis M. Lynch Arena in Pawtucket, a few miles outside Providence.
Outside the arena, tearful families and high school hockey players still in uniform could be seen hugging before they boarded a bus to leave the area. Roads surrounding the arena were shut down as a heavy police presence remained and helicopters flew overhead.
Pawtucket is nestled just north of Providence and right under the Massachusetts state border. A town of just under 80,000, Pawtucket had up until recently been known as the home to Hasbro’s headquarters.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/16/rhode-island-hockey-rink-shooting/
Indiana Senate fails 12 amendments to electric affordability bill
An Indiana House bill designed to help electric utility affordability statewide saw no changes after the Senate’s votes on amendments Monday.
State Rep. Alaina Shonkwiler, R-Noblesville, authored House Bill 1002, which would allow residential ratepayers to be placed on budget billing plans on July 1, and utilities will be prohibited from disconnecting low-income customers’ services during periods with extreme heat warnings. The legislation also ties utility profits to performance metrics, including affordability and service restoration, and utilities will use a three-year rate plan.
The bill introduces “performance-based ratemaking,” Shonkwiler previously said, and ensures that utilities are rewarded for delivering results that benefit Indiana residents.
Before the bill’s second reading, 19 amendments were proposed but only 12 were heard on the Senate floor Monday. State Sen. Eric Koch, R-Bedford, said nearly all proposed amendments would trigger a “recommit” if passed and have to go to the appropriations committee, but the deadline has already passed.
The bill would die if a recommit was triggered, Bedford said.
“House Bill 1002 is too important to the ratepayers of Indiana to be killed and defeated, and I would urge your defeat of this amendment for that reason,” Koch said about multiple amendments.
State Sen. Rodney Pol Jr., D-Chesterton, on Monday, proposed seven amendments, including one that would eliminate sales tax for utilities’ residential customers. His amendment failed in an 18-27 vote.
“I’ve been hearing nonstop from my constituents in Northwest Indiana that the high price of utilities have put many of these folks in a dire situation,” Pol said. “They feel that they have to choose between paying their rent, paying for their heat or paying for groceries. Two out of three isn’t bad, but in that situation, it doesn’t keep you alive.”
Pol also introduced an amendment that would create 12-month payment plans for residential consumers who have delinquent accounts, which failed in a 17-31 vote. He also introduced an amendment that would require utilities to include rate explanations on customer bills, which failed in a voice vote.
The Chesterton-based state senator also proposed an amendment that wouldn’t allow tax breaks for data centers, which failed in a voice vote. Pol proposed another that would create a “reasonable payment arrangement” to any residential customers, and the amendment failed in a 14-34 vote.
Pol introduced an amendment to allow net-metering in Indiana, which he said had previously been sunset. The amendment failed in a voice vote.
The final amendment Pol introduced would not allow utilities to terminate service if customers had a medical necessity. Koch told senators that the IURC already allows for two 10-day periods without disconnection for those with medical necessities.
Pol’s final amendment failed in a 20-28 vote. Koch said all of his amendments would trigger a recommit.
“I wish I got some notice,” Pol said. “I don’t think (House Bill) 1002 should die at all. I think that all of these should be applicable to recommit to (the appropriations committee) Thursday, and we should be able to vote on these.”
State Sen. Fady Qaddoura, D-Indianapolis, also introduced multiple amendments during Monday’s session, including one that wouldn’t allow the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission to issue a final order that would result in a more than 3% average rate increase.
“The IURC is an appointed board, and we give them unlimited authority to approve any utility rate increase,” Qaddoura said. “I don’t think it’s appropriate that we get held accountable by the public for the increase of utility rates in Indiana, yet we leave the decision-making process to the IURC with no regulations.”
The amendment failed in a 16-31 vote Monday.
Qadourra also had another amendment that would lower taxes on utilities year-after-year, which he introduced after Pol’s amendment to eliminate sales tax failed. The change to legislation had the same result, failing in a 16-31 vote.
State Sen. Andrea Hunley, D-Indianapolis, also proposed multiple amendments that failed on Monday. The first would create rules for investor-owned utilities and would require the IURC to approve the sale or transfer of any portion of those utilities.
Hunley believed that would help prevent “monopoly utilities” from being sold to out-of-state firms or international conglomerates, she said. The amendment failed in a 13-28 vote.
Another proposed amendment would not allow utilities to collect fees when restoring service to customers who lost power, but it failed in a 20-28 vote. Hunley’s final proposed amendment failed in a 23-26 vote and would’ve prohibited utilities from passing lobbying, legal or investor-relation activity fees to customers.
“I don’t think our utilities should be allowed to pass the cost of a steak dinner with their investors to us as ratepayers,” Humbley said. “It has no fiscal impact to the state. It’s just about what fees can carry into our utility bills.”
House Bill 1002 is expected to be on its third Senate reading at a later date.
mwilkins@chicagotribune.com
The Obama Administration’s Prostitution Scandal And The Ruemmler-Epstein Connection
The Obama Administration’s Prostitution Scandal And The Ruemmler-Epstein Connection
Remember Obama’s 2012 Colombian prostitution scandal? Turns out, Jeffrey Epstein was involved…
Newly released Department of Justice documents from the Epstein files have exposed a previously unknown connection between a 2012 White House advance-team scandal in Cartagena, Colombia, and Kathryn Ruemmler – the former Obama White House counsel who later became Goldman Sachs’ top lawyer.
Ruemmler resigned from Goldman late last week, after the latest Epstein document dump revealed her extensive, affectionate, and years-long correspondence with the convicted sex offender. The emails show she called him “Uncle Jeffrey,” accepted expensive gifts, and turned to him for advice on sensitive legal and reputational matters – including how to respond to a 2014 Washington Post report that accused her of helping suppress evidence of prostitution involving a rich kid White House aide whose daddy was a huge Obama donor.
The WaPo report, by all accounts, cost Ruemmler a job as Obama’s Attorney General.
The 2012 Cartagena Prostitution Scandal
In April 2012, ahead of President Obama’s trip to the Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia, at least 20 Secret Service agents, military personnel, and others were involved in hiring prostitutes. The scandal led to multiple firings and disciplinary actions.
A lesser-known element involved Jonathan Dach, a 25-year-old Yale Law student and unpaid White House advance-team volunteer (son of prominent Democratic donor Leslie Dach). Hotel records obtained by investigators showed a prostitute was checked into Dach’s room at the Hilton Cartagena shortly after midnight on April 3, 2012.
Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan briefed White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler on the evidence. The White House conducted a review, interviewed advance-team members (including Dach), and publicly declared “no indication of any misconduct” by White House personnel. Dach was later cleared and went on to work at the State Department.
More recently, Dach was found to have ‘chronically violated state rules’ in his role as former chief of staff to Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont (D) by using a state vehicle as his personal car for nearly two years “and driving at speeds constituting reckless driving under Connecticut law.”
The 2014 Washington Post Revival and Ruemmler’s Response
In October 2014, while Ruemmler was in private practice at Latham & Watkins and reportedly under consideration to replace Eric Holder as Attorney General – WaPo published new details. Reporters Carol D. Leonnig and David Nakamura revealed that the White House had received specific evidence (hotel records and witness accounts) implicating a White House advance-team member but had not fully investigated or disclosed it.
On October 9, 2014, Epstein emailed Ruemmler: “Doing fine. Was talking to reporters until late in the morning last night. Trying to isolate/contain wapo.”
On October 17, 2014, Ruemmler forwarded Epstein a draft of her response to the Post reporter and asked for his input. In the draft she downplayed the allegations, writing:
“The whole thing is ridiculous – they had to obtain the record ‘under the table’ because the last thing the Hilton wanted to do is to voluntarily give over info implicating the privacy of their guests. The procedure for checking in prostitutes is hardly rigorous.”
Epstein replied with suggestions, including the line: “Important point.”
Ruemmler ultimately withdrew from consideration for Attorney General on October 24, 2014 – one week after the email exchange.
Finally, here is the letter that then-Obama White House Deputy Press Secretary Eric Schultz sent in coordination with Ruemmler, to Carol Leonnig who wrote the WaPo article exposing Jonathan Dach’s prostitution scandal, where they beg her to “from this point forward refrain from using Mr. Dach’s name,” as “He has served his purposes for your reporting—repeating his name in connection with these allegations only deepens the wounds he has already suffered.”
Beyond the obvious questions over the Obama admin prostitution scandal cover-up – which Congress/DOJ should finally ask – the most important question is: why did Obama’s top lawyer summon the help of disgraced pedophile Epstein in planning her defense against the Obama admin’s biggest prostitution scandal?
Tyler Durden
Mon, 02/16/2026 – 17:10
