Category: News
Indiana House approves bill expanding immigration enforcement
The Indiana House approved Thursday an immigration bill allowing local and state police to enforce federal immigration laws and for those officers to cooperate with federal agents amid warnings from those opposed that it would do little to keep communities safer.
Senate Bill 76, authored by State Sen. Liz Brown, states that the enforcement of federal immigration laws may be carried out by federal, state or local law enforcement. Under the bill, the Department of Correction will provide training to all sheriffs-elect on how to cooperate with the United States immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The bill was amended in the House Judiciary committee last week by State Rep. J.D. Prescott, R-Union City, to more closely align with the bill he proposed last year, which he called the FAIRNESS Act: Fostering and Advancing Immigration Reforms Necessary to Ensure Safety and Security. Brown was criticized by Attorney General Todd Rokita after the 2025 session for not advancing the FAIRNESS Act when it reached a Senate committee she chaired.
“Senate Bill 76, also known as the FAIRNESS Act, is a strong, comprehensive measure to ensure full cooperation with federal immigration enforcement and ensure we don’t have sanctuary-style policies in Indiana,” Prescott said.
The bill allows the Attorney General to sue a government agency, school or jail that doesn’t comply with federal immigration officials with a penalty of $10,000 for each violation, and a government body couldn’t be sued for complying with the bill.
If someone is detained under an immigration detainer request, the bill states that the governmental body should give the judge authority to either grant or deny the person’s release on bail as well as record in their file, comply with and inform the detainee of the immigration detainer request.
The bill prohibits an employer from recklessly or intentionally hiring or employing an undocumented immigrant. The bill allows the attorney general to sue employers who hire undocumented immigrants and report the person to the United States Department of Homeland Security.
Further, the bill requires the legislature receive a report with data with the number of Hoosiers who aren’t citizens and are enrolled in or receiving benefits through the Indiana Residential Care Assistance Program, public assistance and welfare programs, family assistance services, Medicaid and Community Mental Health Services.
If a law enforcement officer, government body or educational institution is sued the attorney general shall defend the party, the bill states. It also removes mens rea standard when it comes to governmental or educational institutions for violating the citizenship and immigration status information and enforcement of federal laws.
The bill allows the governor to withhold state grants or funding to a city that doesn’t comply with the law.
Prescott proposed an amendment to state that if an employer provides evidence of “reasonable diligence” to check an employee’s work eligibility then the employer hasn’t broken the law. The employer section was further amended to state that an employer should engage in “diligence to confirm work eligibility” of an employee. Undocumented immigrants are already ineligible for most benefit programs. The only non-citizens who may qualify are lawful permanent residents, or Green card holders; asylees; and other legal residents under temporary protected status, according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.
The bill was further amended to allow someone subjected to an immigration detainer request to challenge the immigration detainer request by proving he or she was misidentified or that he or she has citizenship.
State Rep. Earl Harris, D-East Chicago, said he opposed the bill because it will force local police officers, schools, and hospitals to become federal immigration officers.
The bill’s employer provision will also harm the manufacturing and agriculture industries, Harris said, and should be further worked through with major employers throughout the state.
“This blends lines. It also diverts local resources,” Harris said. “We don’t need to do this. Immigrants have played a huge role in this country.”
State Rep. Carey Hamilton, D-Indianapolis, said she opposed the bill because it will force “already stretched” local police departments to become federal immigration officers, which will pull local police away from responding to crimes.
Further, local police officers acting as federal immigration agents will harm the community’s trust in the local officers, Hamilton said.
“This bill does nothing to keep our communities safe. Our community police did not sign up for this. Our taxpayers did not agree to subsidize ICE. Our communities can’t afford to have public safety resources diverted away from public safety,” Hamilton said.
State Rep. Matt Pierce, D-Bloomington, called the bill a “trick bag” because it will impact many facets of local governments and institutions. Further, Rokita will be in charge of enforcing the bill, Pierce said.
ICE agents have been captured on video as “poorly trained, incompetent, not able to follow the constitution or the laws of our country” and have killed U.S. citizens, Pierce said.
“What we see is chaos and violence on the part of the federal government being spread throughout the land,” Pierce said. “We are a nation of immigrants … and yet we vilify and sow hatred against new people coming here.”
State Rep. Cherrish Pryor, D-Indianapolis, said the United States was made up of immigrants from many different countries. In our current political climate, Pryor said it is troubling that “a country that was founded on immigration … is now saying, basically, we don’t want certain immigrants to be here.”
Pryor said she’s concerned about the profiling of people, undocumented immigrants, legal residents and citizens alike, as police officers work to enforce immigration laws.
“Civil rights are being trampled upon,” Pryor said.
State Rep. Tim Wesco, R-Osceola, was the only Republican to share his thoughts on the bill Thursday. Each president since former President Barack Obama has signed immigration executive orders after Congress failed to pass an immigration bill, Wesco said.
“I have a message for Congress: take your power back. Take your constitutional authority back from the executive branch. Republicans and Democrats must work together to hold the executive accountable regardless of his party,” Wesco said. “We are tired of being governed by executive order.”
Wesco said he supported the bill because “it’s Congress’ law and respects the Constitution.”
In closing, Prescott said the bill “gets us to a place where we as a state are not a sanctuary state.”
“We are going to cooperate with ICE,” Prescott said. “What this bill does is make sure that we don’t have a situation like what’s happened in Minneapolis by making sure that we do comply and follow federal law.”
President Donald Trump’s Border czar Tom Homan claimed Thursday that the surge of federal immigration officers in Minnesota will end, but seemingly contradicted himself by saying targed raids and mass deportations would continue. The surge, which led to the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, resulted in 4,000 arrests — many of those included people without criminal records, children and U.S. citizens.
The Indiana legislature has vetted the immigration bill for 18 months, Prescott said, as he filed similar legislation last session that passed the House but didn’t advance in the Senate. Prescott said the chamber of commerce and manufacturing associations were consulted on the employer aspects of the bill.
The bill passed 60-28, with State Reps. Ed Clere, R-New Albany; Mark Genda, R-Frankfort; and Danny Lopez, R-Carmel; voting against the bill with all Democrats present.
As legislators cast their votes, protestors could be heard chanting “do the right thing.”
The bill heads back to the Senate for final approval since it was amended in the House.
Tottenham nombra a Igor Tudor técnico interino hasta el final de la temporada
Associated Press
LONDRES (AP) — Tottenham nombró a Igor Tudor como entrenador interino el sábado, después de que Thomas Frank fuera despedido hace tres días.
El exentrenador de Juventus asume el cargo hasta el final de la temporada, en un momento en que los Spurs están apenas cinco puntos por encima de la zona de descenso en la Liga Premier.
“Es un honor unirme a este club en un momento importante. Entiendo la responsabilidad que se me ha confiado y mi enfoque es claro: aportar mayor regularidad a nuestras actuaciones y competir con convicción en cada partido. Hay mucha calidad en esta plantilla y mi trabajo es organizarla, darle energía y mejorar nuestros resultados rápidamente”, manifestó Tudor.
Juventus despidió a Tudor el 27 de octubre tras tres derrotas consecutivas y una racha de ocho partidos sin ganar, con el gigante italiano en el octavo puesto de la Serie A.
El croata, de 47 años, estuvo anteriormente al frente de Lazio, Udinese, Marseille, Galatasaray, clubes en Croacia y en otros lugares.
Tudor es el sexto entrenador principal en menos de siete años en los Spurs desde que Mauricio Pochettino se marchó en 2019.
“Igor aporta claridad, intensidad y experiencia para asumir el mando en momentos difíciles y generar impacto. Nuestro objetivo es sencillo: estabilizar el rendimiento, maximizar la calidad dentro de la plantilla y competir con fuerza en la Premier League y la Liga de Campeones”, señaló el director deportivo de Tottenham, Johan Lange.
Frank fue despedido después de que no lograra dar continuidad a su éxito previo con el rival londinense Brentford.
A pesar de llevar a los Spurs a los octavos de final de la Liga de Campeones, Frank ha dirigido una desesperada campaña a nivel nacional. La derrota 2-1 ante Newcastle, recibida con abucheos de los aficionados locales, dejó al club sin una victoria en la liga en 2026.
La derrota en casa ante Newcastle amplió una pésima racha a una victoria en 11 partidos en la máxima categoría del fútbol inglés.
Los Spurs cayeron al 16º puesto de la clasificación, dos lugares por encima de la zona de descenso.
Frank fue nombrado al final de la temporada pasada, cuando Ange Postecoglou fue despedido pese a llevar a Tottenham a su primer trofeo en 17 años al ganar la Liga Europa, y a asegurar la clasificación a la Liga de Campeones.
El próximo partido de Tottenham será en casa ante el rival local Arsenal en la Liga Premier el 22 de febrero.
___
Deportes en español AP: https://apnews.com/hub/deportes
Demented: Councillor Pushes Kids To Send Valentine’s Cards To Illegal Male Migrants
Demented: Councillor Pushes Kids To Send Valentine’s Cards To Illegal Male Migrants
Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,
A Green Party councillor in the UK has sparked outrage by announcing plans to take her young grandchildren to deliver handmade Valentine’s Day cards to adult male asylum seekers at a migrant camp.
This comes amid widespread local opposition to the government’s decision to house hundreds of illegal migrants in a former military base, and fresh revelations about horrific crimes committed by similar arrivals.
Anne Cross, an East Sussex County councillor, made the announcement at a heated public meeting, claiming it would help “dispel fear” by encouraging people to “hear the stories” of the migrants. “There is nothing like getting to know people and hearing their stories in order to dispel fear,” she said. “My grandchildren and I painted some Valentine’s Cards at the weekend which we are going to be presenting to the men at Crowborough as a welcome.”
A British Green Party politician is calling on British kids to send Valentine’s Day cards to the illegal migrants being housed in asylum centers and migrant hotels across the country to “share the love.”
Her grandkids have already written their cards
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) February 13, 2026
The camp in Crowborough, a former army cadet training site, has been repurposed by the Home Office to accommodate up to 540 male migrants who arrived via small boats. Local residents have protested the move, with demonstrations highlighting concerns over safety and community impact. The additional policing costs alone are projected at £5.62 million, according to Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne.
Cross urged community representatives to “stand with all those who share the love,” but her plan has been met with fierce backlash. Sussex Weald Conservative MP Nus Ghani called it “disturbing” and “highly irresponsible,” pointing to “widespread concern locally” and a lack of “regard for safeguarding” when involving children with “single adult men.”
Unfazed, Cross insisted the cards would be anonymous and that “there has been much misinformation about the men who will be housed in the camp and this has created a climate of fear.” She added, “But there is no evidence children or women are at a higher risk from people seeking asylum than other sections of our society.”
This naive stance ignores a pattern of sexual crimes linked to asylum seekers across the UK. Just days ago, details emerged of a chilling case where Ahmed Müller, a 23-year-old Afghan national who arrived illegally by small boat four months prior, was convicted of abducting, raping, and filming a 12-year-old girl in Nuneaton.
The victim described the ordeal: “He was trying to strip my clothes off. He said nothing. He was laughing. I was saying, ‘Get off me.’ But he didn’t say anything. He just carried on. He was saying that he was going to kill my family. I was scared. He took photos. It felt weird. Why was he taking pictures of that?”
Müller showed no remorse, even blaming the child by claiming she demanded he film the attack. Immediately after, he used a government-issued debit card to buy a drink, which helped identify him. Warwickshire Police initially withheld his identity as an illegal migrant, citing “community cohesion,” and threatened a local councillor with contempt of court for trying to reveal it.
As reported on GB News, Crowborough resident Sammy White slammed Cross’s idea as “downright dangerous,” noting, “These men have very little respect for women and children.” She expressed being “appalled” at the councillor’s plan to deliver cards to asylum seekers in Crowborough.
‘This is downright dangerous. These men have very little respect for women and children.’
Sammy White says she is ‘appalled’ that a Green Party councillor has said she will be delivering Valentine’s cards to asylum seekers in Crowborough. pic.twitter.com/L3XWZ2Qstd
— GB News (@GBNEWS) February 13, 2026
Cross, elected in August 2023 and proudly captioning a family photo “AnnMa’s crew” with a kiss emoji, defends the gesture as a common practice among refugee charities. Yet, with Afghan nationals committing sex crimes at a rate 20 times higher than the British population since 2021, and over 37,000 imported in that time, such actions expose the reckless hypocrisy of open-borders advocates.
The government’s dispersal of migrants into houses of multiple occupancy (HMOs) means families could unknowingly live near potential threats.
This episode underscores the failures of unchecked mass migration, where virtue signaling trumps child safety and community concerns. Until borders are secured and deportations ramped up, these dangers will persist, eroding the fabric of British society.
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Tyler Durden
Sat, 02/14/2026 – 10:30
Alza del precio del café cambia rutinas diarias de algunos estadounidenses
Por MATT SEDENSKY
NUEVA YORK (AP) — Durante años, era un viaje diario a McDonald’s para tomar una taza de café con 10 sobres individuales de azúcar y cinco de crema. Más tarde, eran caramel macchiatos de Starbucks con leche de almendras y dos dosis de jarabe.
El café ha sido un ritual matutino para Chandra Donelson desde que tuvo edad suficiente para beberlo. Pero, desanimada por el alza de los precios, la mujer de 35 años de Washington, D.C., hizo lo impensable: lo dejó.
“Lo hice a diario durante años. Me encantaba. Esa era mi rutina”, comenta. “Y ahora ya no lo es”.
Años de aumentos constantes en el precio del café han llevado a algunos en este país de amantes del café a cambiar sus hábitos: eliminan las visitas a cafeterías, se pasan a preparaciones más baratas o lo dejan de tomar por completo.
Los precios del café en Estados Unidos subieron un 18,3% en enero respecto de hace un año, según el más reciente Índice de Precios al Consumidor publicado el viernes. En cinco años, informó el gobierno, los precios del café aumentaron un 47%.
Ese incremento extraordinario ha llevado a algunos a tomar medidas extraordinarias.
“Antes pensaba: ‘No hay manera de que pueda pasar el día sin café’”, comenta Liz Sweeney, de 50 años, de Boise, Idaho, una ex “adicta al café” que ha reducido su consumo. “Ahora mi auto ya no va en piloto automático”.
Sweeney solía tomar tres tazas de café al día en casa y pasar por una cafetería cada vez que salía. Sin embargo, a medida que los precios subieron el año pasado, dejó de ir a las cafeterías y redujo su consumo a una taza al día en casa. Para compensar la cafeína, abre una lata de Diet Coke en casa o pasa por McDonald’s para comprar una.
Dan DeBaun, de 34 años, de Minnetonka, Minnesota, también ha recortado sus visitas a cafeterías, consciente del gasto creciente en un momento en que él y su esposa ahorran para comprar una casa.
“Lo que antes era un café de 2 dólares, ahora es de 5 o 6 dólares”, señala DeBaun, quien ahora compra café molido en Trader Joe’s y llena un vaso térmico para llevarlo a la oficina.
Datos de Toast, una plataforma de pagos utilizada por más de 150.000 restaurantes, revelan que el precio mediano de un café caliente regular en Estados Unidos había subido a 3,61 dólares en diciembre, con una amplia variación según el lugar. El precio mediano de los cold brews fue de 5,55 dólares.
Prácticamente todo el café que se consume en Estados Unidos es importado. Aunque los aranceles afectaron algunas importaciones de café en 2025, finalmente se eliminaron. Se culpa a problemas climáticos —sequía en Vietnam, lluvias intensas en Indonesia y clima caluroso y seco en Brasil— de reducir los rendimientos de los cultivos de café y elevar los precios globales.
Dos tercios de los estadounidenses beben café a diario, según la Asociación Nacional del Café. Para muchos, es una parte tan indispensable de su rutina que el alza vertiginosa del precio no ha provocado más que quejas.
La asociación del café afirma que sus encuestas muestran que el consumo de café, en términos generales, se mantiene estable pese a los aumentos de precios. Pero, presionados por el costo de todo, desde el alquiler hasta la carne de res, otros están cambiando su hábito.
Sharon Cooksey, de 55 años, de Greensboro, Carolina del Norte, visitaba su Starbucks local la mayoría de las mañanas entre semana para tomar un latte de caramelo, hasta que redujo el gasto el año pasado. Primero, se pasó a preparar Starbucks en casa. Luego, descubrió que el café Lavazza era alrededor de un 40% más barato y cambió a esa marca.
“¿Puedo comprar una bolsa de café por 6 dólares?”, se dijo a sí misma. “Fue como si acabara de descubrir otro mundo. Se me abrió el multiverso en el pasillo del café de Publix”.
También ha notado que el costo de lo que prepara en casa ha subido un poco, pero no es nada comparado con su hábito de ir a la cafetería. Una bolsa de granos que le dura semanas le cuesta aproximadamente lo mismo que un latte.
Cooksey extraña el aspecto social de visitar la cafetería, donde los baristas la saludaban por su nombre. Pero le ha sorprendido descubrir que, en realidad, prefiere el sabor de los cafés que prepara en casa.
“Me condenarían si no supiera tan bien”, dice ella.
Al crecer, Donelson miraba con envidia cómo su madre hacía una salida diaria por café (también a McDonald’s, también con 10 sobres de azúcar y cinco de crema), y ella replicó el hábito. Pasó de la universidad a la Fuerza Aérea y luego a un empleo gubernamental como estratega de datos e inteligencia artificial, pero en todo ese tiempo el café siempre estuvo presente.
Notó el aumento del costo de su rutina, pero la mantuvo hasta que un cierre del gobierno detuvo sus cheques de pago el otoño pasado y necesitó recortar gastos. En busca de un sustituto matutino, se decidió por una mezcla de Republic of Tea con un buen chorro de miel.
“Veinte centavos por taza frente a 7 u 8 dólares por taza”, afirma. “Las cuentas simplemente cuadran”.
___
Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con la ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.
European nations say Alexei Navalny was poisoned by the Kremlin with dart frog toxin
LONDON — Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned by the Kremlin with a rare and lethal toxin found in the skin of poison dart frogs, five European countries said Saturday.
The foreign ministries of the U.K., France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands said analysis of samples taken from Navalny’s body “conclusively confirmed the presence of epibatidine.” It is a neurotoxin found in the skin of dart frogs in South America that is not found naturally in Russia, they said.
The countries said in a joint statement that “Russia had the means, motive and opportunity to administer this poison.” They said they were reporting Russia to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons for a breach of the Chemical Weapons Convention.
They made the announcement as Navalny’s widow Yulia Navalnaya attended the Munich Security Conference in Germany as the second anniversary of Navalny’s death approaches.
Navalny, who crusaded against official corruption and staged massive anti-Kremlin protests as President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest foe, died in an Arctic penal colony on Feb. 16, 2024. He was serving a 19-year sentence that he believed to be politically motivated.
“Russia saw Navalny as a threat,” British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said. “By using this form of poison the Russian state demonstrated the despicable tools it has at its disposal and the overwhelming fear it has of political opposition.”
Navalny’s widow, said last year that two independent labs had found that her husband was poisoned shortly before he died. Navalnaya has repeatedly blamed Putin for Navalny’s death, something Russian officials have vehemently denied.
Navalnaya said Saturday that she had been “certain from the first day” that her husband had been poisoned, “but now there is proof.”
“Putin killed Alexei with chemical weapon,” she wrote on social network X, calling Putin “a murderer” who “must be held accountable.”
Russian authorities said that the politician became ill after a walk and died from natural causes.
Epibatidine is found naturally in dart frogs in the wild, and can also be manufactured in a lab, which European scientists suspect was the case with the substance used on Navalny. It works on the body in a similar way to nerve agents, causing shortness of breath, convulsions, seizures, a slowed heart rate and ultimately death.
Navalny was the target of an earlier poisoning in 2020, with a nerve agent in an attack he blamed on the Kremlin, which always denied involvement. His family and allies fought to have him flown to Germany for treatment and recovery. Five months later, he returned to Russia, where he was immediately arrested and imprisoned for the last three years of his life.
The U.K. has accused Russia of repeatedly flouting international bans on chemical and biological weapons. It has accused the Kremlin of carrying out a 2018 attack in the English city of Salisbury that targeted a former Russian intelligence officer, Sergei Skripal, with the nerve agent Novichok. A British inquiry concluded that the attack “must have been authorized at the highest level, by President Putin.”
The Kremlin has denied involvement.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/14/alexi-navalny-case-of-death-poisoning/
Win or lose, baiting the Chicago Bears could pay off for Portage. Here’s why.
Even if the Chicago Bears hibernate at another location, Portage’s pitch for a stadium could end up benefiting the city.
Lou Weisbach, the man behind the financing for the proposed stadium, is connected with a capital C.
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Long-beleaguered Gary is serious about the Bears. Are the Bears serious about Gary?
He’s CEO and cofounder of Stadium Capital Financing Group. He founded and was CEO of HA-LO Advertising Specialties. He’s heavily invested in fighting cancer through the American Center for Cures. Over this year’s Super Bowl weekend, Weisbach was given the Steinberg Denicola Health Humanitarian Award for health innovation as director of that charity. Weisbach has worked in politics at the national level.
“I kind of know all the players,” he said. He counts Bears President and CEO Kevin Warren as a friend.
Weisbach not only knows people and money, he also knows how to sell a product – and he’s sold on Portage.
At $5 billion for the proposed Portage stadium plus a $2 billion sinking fund, Weisbach knows who can sink that much money into the project.
“All the money comes from a single source. It’s not a lot of money for that source,” he said. And that source isn’t the taxpayer.
“There’s no public funding,” he said Thursday. “Thinking out of the box is what the future is.”
Weisbach’s method is so different from the way stadiums have been financed in the past that there are patents pending on the method.
So why Portage? “It just kind of happened because of a chance meeting I had with Andy” Maletta, executive director of Portage Economic Development Corp., who set up a meeting with Mayor Austin Bonta and others. They asked him to help in any way he could.
“It’s been joyous and fascinating,” he said.
“I know a lot about Portage for a lot of reasons,” Weisbach said. “I’m impressed with a lot about Portage, including its location and being on the water.”
The city’s leadership is “delightful, down-to-earth, easy to talk to and honorable,” he said, unlike their counterparts in some places he’s known.
Weisbach is working to build stadiums in other locations globally, but not for any of the other sites wooing the Bears. That’s a long list of suitors, too. Hammond and Gary want the Bears to come to Northwest Indiana. Arlington Heights wants the Bears; the team even bought land there. Even Iowa decided to jump on the Bears stadium bandwagon in a last-minute what-the-heck move.
Long-beleaguered Gary is serious about the Bears. Are the Bears serious about Gary?
The Bears have a decision to make, and the plethora of options isn’t making that decision easier. The team wants a 70,000-seat stadium, which means Soldier Field will have to soldier on and not Bear down. A domed stadium, like the one Weisbach hopes to bring to Portage, would make attending games in cold weather a lot more comfortable for the fans as well as the players.
The Bears would gain rent-free use of the stadium, Bonta stressed.
So what are the odds of Portage attracting the Bears?
The city’s leadership began thinking about the Bears early on, then figured there was a 1% chance of attracting the team when the Bears purchased land in Arlington Heights. But when negotiations there became more complex, Portage’s odds improved.
Weisbach is realistic about Portage’s chances and won’t give odds. “It’s only one decision-maker here,” he said.
What sets Portage apart from the other contenders is that it’s the only one that doesn’t involve taxpayer dollars.
“Logically, if this is viewed on a reasonable level, we’ve got the best proposal,” Weisbach said. Taxpayers are fed up with funding teams owned by billionaires, he noted.
Maletta, of course, agrees. He’s even magnanimous enough to say the Bears already have a nice headquarters and a training facility in Lake Forest. Portage officials would be happy – overjoyed, truly – just to get the Bears to play games in Portage.
Weisbach, the numbers guy, knows that’s only about 10 games a year, depending on playoffs. He and Portage officials vow it would be a Super Bowl-worthy stadium.
WeCreate Media CEO Wade Breitzke speaks as renderings are displayed behind him during a news conference in Portage concerning the proposed Chicago Bears stadium and development in the city on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (Kyle Telechan/for the Post-Tribune)
But it’s not just about the Bears games. The arena would be busy at other times, too.
“The numbers work,” he said, even without the Bears.
In the Chicago area, there are about 100 concerts a year, he said. There’s revenue, food and merchandising to consider. “Basically, that’s the security, the revenue for a lot of those.”
“The numbers in this case work beautifully, and it’s very exciting,” Weisbach said.
People putting up the money for major entertainment events benefit from escalation. Look at Taylor Swift 10 years ago vs. now, he said. The Portage stadium would have one of the most advanced sound systems, and Bears fans wouldn’t have the same parking issues as at Soldier Field.
“The fans will feel much safer in Portage than they do in Chicago,” he added.
Plans for the stadium call for building a high-rise of condos for not only players and opponents to stay in the night before a game, but also top entertainers like Taylor Swift, Rihanna and others. After all, what are pro athletes if not entertainers? “We’re doing some really upscale things in that area,” Weisbach said.
The condo complex would be connected to the stadium by tunnel.
If the stadium isn’t built for the Bears, there are other professional teams that could come to Portage. A domed entertainment venue has advantages that include major concerts not being rained out. “The model works just as well to do that,” Weisbach said.
“We have a great story to tell, and there’s no holes in the story,” he said.
Bonta holds out hope that Halas Harbor, as his team calls the proposed stadium development site, will come to fruition.
Portage Mayor Austin Bonta speaks during a news conference concerning the proposed Chicago Bears stadium and development in the city on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. (Kyle Telechan/for the Post-Tribune)
“In a remarkably short period of time, Indiana has moved from conversation to credible competition,” he said in a statement Friday. “That progress represents the governor’s leadership and the coordinated effort of state, regional and local partners who recognize the magnitude of this opportunity.”
“By continuing to work together and advancing the Halas Harbor proposal through a fiscally sound, privately financed approach, Indiana has the opportunity to deliver a historic outcome that strengthens our economy, our region and our future,” he said.
Portage Redevelopment Director Dan Botich sees the city’s proposal and its Wednesday news conference as bringing positive attention to the city and its economic development potential.
The news conference brought Chicago TV stations’ cameras to the city, which cements Portage’s claim to being close to downtown Chicago – less than an hour by rail or highway, 85 minutes by boat.
People who visited that Marina Shores news conference were a stone’s throw from Indiana Dunes National Park. Portage has two beaches in the national park – West Beach and Portage Lakefront Park. The latter is the national park’s most-visited beach.
Botich dreams big. The stadium could host NCAA tournaments and others, he said.
The site is big, with plenty of room for not only a stadium but also a famous Chicago-based chocolate manufacturer and others.
Maletta said the pitch Wednesday shows the city’s thoughtfulness, professionalism and opportunities. “We know it’s a special place,” he said.
To developers, his pitch is a familiar refrain: “We’re open for business.”
“I think it’s like this. Nobody is really debating Portage has one of the best locations for a higher-density, very transit-oriented site, taking advantage of its proximity to the highways, Lake Michigan, again the water with the marinas,” Bonta said. “Everybody realizes that something amazing could happen here on the north side of Portage.”
“The fact that what’s being discussed, debated, talked about is what kind of thing do we want to have here, that’s a big change in the city of Portage,” he said.
When he ran for mayor, he talked about how the residents can have nice things. They can lure amenities.
The fact that the debate is not about whether it can happen but will happen really shows a change in Portage, he said, including confidence in the city.
“The vision for this property remains what it’s always been, essentially a smaller city based on the train, based on the water, a place where we have the opportunity to do a more walkable combination of commercial and residential that really takes advantage of the water and the train,” he said. The Marquette Greenway, a trail that will connect Chicago to New Buffalo when completed, will run through the site.
It has taken the city years to acquire the land needed for large developments to occur. Attracting the Bears would just make it all happen faster and enhance that, Bonta said. “That’s the direction of this land, no matter what.”
The city has been calling it the Hillcrest development site but began using Halas Harbor in hopes of attracting the Bears.
The city’s marina is a key part of the development site. “How do we create a stronger boating culture between the private marina, the public marina and Burns Waterway,” he said, is a challenge facing the city. “Or Bears Waterway. We may need to rename it.”
Crossing that waterway means building a bridge. “We never wanted to build a bridge to nowhere,” he said. But increasing connectivity in the city – for the Marquette Greenway as well as vehicular traffic – requires tying the site near the South Shore Line station to the rest of the city.
“Connectivity was that piece. Do we either get the bridge built with some development, even if not the other site, built on the other end, and we gradually build the rest of the Hillcrest site, or do we get another development to star on the north end and it continues south?”
“If the Bears choose our site, then we have the ability to solve the connectivity issue and the development issue simultaneously, so that’s the opportunity for us,” Bonta said.
“This has always been envisioned as a high-density, walkable site taking advantage of the highway, the water and the train. The Bears enhance that, and maybe make it happen faster, but if the Bears do not come, the mission is still to have that particular kind of development here,” he said.
“We’ve had calls about other people interested in the site now that they know it is here,” Bonta said.
Getting the Bears to play in Portage would be the big touchdown, but even a field goal is getting points on the city’s economic development scoreboard.
Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/14/baiting-bears-pay-off-portage/
In Latest Blow To Free Speech, German Courts Could Issue “Speaking Ban” Against Top AfD Politician
In Latest Blow To Free Speech, German Courts Could Issue “Speaking Ban” Against Top AfD Politician
German courts are currently deliberating whether leading Alternative for Germany (AfD) politician Björn Höcke could be hit with a “speaking ban” during a campaign event in the city of Lindenberg im Allgäu.
The move could signal a worsening of free speech in Germany, with Höcke using the legal proceedings to make the case that his fundamental rights are being violated.
“Democrats of all countries, look to Germany! Right now, German courts are seriously deliberating whether I should be issued a speaking ban for political events! I am entitled to the fundamental right to exercise freedom of speech. I am a member of a constitutional body. I am the opposition leader of a German parliament,” wrote Höcke.
“And then there is also the party privilege: So in the future, a supposedly neutral administration should be allowed to decide with whom a party may conduct election campaigning and with whom not? That is absurd! What we are witnessing here is yet another attack on parliamentary democracy in Germany,” he added.
Demokraten aller Länder schaut auf Deutschland!
Zurzeit verhandeln deutsche Gerichte ernsthaft darüber, ob ich ein Redeverbot für politische Veranstaltungen erhalte! Mir steht das Grundrecht auf Ausübung der Meinungsfreiheit zu. Ich bin Mitglied eines Verfassungsorgans. Ich bin… https://t.co/19MBqc8Tjr
— Björn Höcke (@BjoernHoecke) February 11, 2026
The move to ban Höcke from speaking comes after the city of Lindenberg im Allgäu lost its initial effort to ban the campaign event entirely. Now, the city is shifting its strategy to specifically bar Björn Höcke from the stage.
The city originally attempted to cancel the AfD’s rental of the town hall entirely. However, the Augsburg Administrative Court blocked this move during urgent proceedings, declaring the total revocation of the hall inadmissible. Crucially, the judges noted that “as a milder priority measure, a ban on speaking for Mr. Höcke” was a legally viable alternative.
According to a city spokesperson, Lindenberg is now pursuing this option, according to the BR news outlet.
In response, the Westallgäu-Lindau AfD district association has signaled its intent to challenge this speech ban in court. In a court hearing expected to take place in Augsburg today, a final ruling is expected to be issued.
The dispute centers on a rally scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 15, in the municipal Löwensaal, where the AfD intends to introduce its candidates for the upcoming local elections on March 8. The city moved to reclaim the hall once it became clear that Höcke, the Thuringian AfD leader, was on the guest list.
City officials justified the move by stating they expected “criminal statements as well as statements approving of the Nazi dictatorship and anti-Semitic statements” from Höcke, specifically citing his two previous convictions for using a prohibited Nazi slogan.
While the Administrative Court found the city’s concerns to be “understandable,” they ruled that canceling the rental outright violated the principle of equal treatment for political parties. The court maintained that the administration’s arguments were “not sufficient for such a step.”
As the legal battle continues, local tensions are high. Opponents of the AfD have organized rallies and a demonstration, with at least 2,000 participants expected to gather in Lindenberg.
Lindenberg is not the only municipality fighting a “Höcke appearance” this week. A similar battle is unfolding in Seybothenreuth, Upper Franconia, where Höcke is slated to speak on Saturday. The local municipality is also attempting to block his speech, and a decision from the Bayreuth Administrative Court is expected this Thursday.
Tyler Durden
Sat, 02/14/2026 – 09:55
Cinco países europeos afirman que opositor ruso Navalny fue envenenado y culpan al Kremlin
Por JILL LAWLESS
LONDRES (AP) — El líder opositor ruso Alexei Navalny fue envenenado por el Kremlin con una toxina letal derivada de la piel de ranas dardo venenosas, afirmaron el sábado cinco países europeos.
Los ministerios de Relaciones Exteriores del Reino Unido, Francia, Alemania, Suecia y los Países Bajos indicaron que el análisis de muestras de Navalny, quien murió hace dos años, “ha confirmado de manera concluyente la presencia de epibatidina”. Se trata de una neurotoxina presente en ranas dardo venenosas de Sudamérica que no se encuentra de forma natural en Rusia, señalaron.
Los países señalaron en una declaración conjunta que “Rusia tenía los medios, el motivo y la oportunidad de administrar este veneno”. Añadieron que estaban denunciando a Rusia ante la Organización para la Prohibición de Armas Químicas por una violación de la Convención sobre Armas Químicas.
El anuncio se hizo al tiempo que la viuda de Navalny, Yulia Navalnaya, asistía a la Conferencia de Seguridad de Múnich, Alemania, y cerca del segundo aniversario de la muerte de Navalny.
Navalny, que encabezó una cruzada contra la corrupción oficial y organizó protestas masivas contra el Kremlin como el adversario más férreo del presidente Vladímir Putin, murió en la colonia penal del Ártico el 16 de febrero de 2024. Cumplía una condena de 19 años de prisión que, él consideraba, tenía motivaciones políticas.
“Rusia veía a Navalny como una amenaza. Al utilizar esta forma de veneno, el Estado ruso demostró las herramientas despreciables de las que dispone y el miedo abrumador que tiene a la oposición política”, manifestó la secretaria de Relaciones Exteriores británica Yvette Cooper.
La viuda de Navalny dijo el año pasado que dos laboratorios independientes habían determinado que su esposo fue envenenado poco antes de morir. Navalnaya ha responsabilizado repetidamente a Putin por la muerte de Navalny, algo que funcionarios rusos han negado categóricamente.
Navalnaya declaró el sábado que había estado “segura desde el primer día” de que su esposo había sido envenenado, “pero ahora hay pruebas”.
“Putin mató a Alexei con un arma química”, escribió en la red social X, y calificó a Putin de “asesino” que “debe rendir cuentas”.
Las autoridades rusas aseveraron que Navalny se enfermó después de un paseo y murió por causas naturales.
La epibatidina se encuentra de forma natural en las ranas dardo silvestres y también se puede fabricar en un laboratorio, como sospechan los científicos europeos que fue el caso. Actúa en el cuerpo de forma similar a los agentes nerviosos y actúa como el gas sarín, causando dificultad para respirar, convulsiones, ataques epilépticos, disminución de la frecuencia cardíaca y, finalmente, la muerte.
En 2020, Navalny fue envenenado con un agente nervioso en un ataque que atribuyó al Kremlin, que siempre negó su implicación. Su familia y sus aliados lucharon para que fuera trasladado en avión a Alemania para recibir tratamiento y recuperarse. Cinco meses después regresó a Rusia, donde fue arrestado de inmediato y encarcelado durante los últimos tres años de su vida.
El Reino Unido ha acusado a Rusia de incumplir reiteradamente las prohibiciones internacionales sobre armas químicas y biológicas. Ha acusado al Kremlin de perpetrar en 2018 un atentado en la ciudad inglesa de Salisbury contra un exoficial de inteligencia ruso, Sergei Skripal, con el agente nervioso Novichok. Una investigación británica concluyó que el ataque “debió ser autorizado al más alto nivel, por el presidente Putin”.
El Kremlin ha negado su implicación.
___
Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con la ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.
Orbán señala que la UE, y no Rusia, es la verdadera amenaza para Hungría
Por JUSTIN SPIKE
BUDAPEST, Hungría (AP) — La verdadera amenaza a la que se enfrenta Hungría no es Rusia, sino la Unión Europea, afirmó el primer ministro Viktor Orbán en un discurso ante sus simpatizantes el sábado, al tiempo que su partido nacionalista intensifica una campaña anti-UE de cara a las elecciones nacionales.
A sólo ocho semanas de la votación del 12 de abril, Orbán y su partido Fidesz afrontan su desafío más serio desde que el mandatario populista de derecha recuperó el poder en 2010.
La mayoría de las encuestas independientes muestran a Fidesz por detrás del partido de centroderecha Tisza y de su líder, Péter Magyar, incluso cuando Orbán ha hecho campaña sobre la premisa no sustentada de que la UE enviará a los húngaros a la muerte en la vecina Ucrania si su partido pierde.
En su discurso del sábado, Orbán comparó a la UE con el régimen soviético represivo que dominó Hungría durante más de 40 años del siglo pasado y desestimó la creencia de muchos mandatarios europeos de que el presidente ruso Vladímir Putin representa una amenaza para la seguridad del continente.
“Debemos acostumbrarnos a la idea de que quienes aman la libertad no deben temer al Este, sino a Bruselas”, expresó, en referencia a la capital de facto de la UE en Bélgica.
“El alarmismo sobre Putin es primitivo y poco serio. Bruselas, en cambio, es una realidad palpable y una fuente de peligro inminente”, sostuvo Orbán. “Esta es la amarga verdad, y no la toleraremos”.
Orbán ha sido un firme opositor a la ayuda militar y financiera para Kiev desde que Rusia lanzó su invasión a gran escala hace casi cuatro años, y ha mantenido relaciones estrechas con Moscú al tiempo que adopta una postura combativa hacia los socios de Hungría en la UE y la OTAN, a los que retrata como belicistas.
En diciembre, manifestó que no estaba “claro quién atacó a quién” cuando decenas de miles de fuerzas rusas cruzaron las fronteras de Ucrania en febrero de 2022.
El gobierno de Hungría lleva mucho tiempo enfrentado con la UE, que ha congelado miles de millones de euros en financiación para Budapest por la preocupación de que Orbán ha desmantelado instituciones democráticas, erosionado la independencia judicial y supervisado una corrupción oficial generalizada. A cambio, Orbán ha actuado cada vez más como un obstáculo en la toma de decisiones de la UE, amenazando de forma rutinaria con vetar políticas clave como la entrega de apoyo financiero a Ucrania.
A medida que se acercan las elecciones, ha retratado cada vez más al partido Tisza como una marioneta creada por la UE para derrocar a su gobierno y servir a intereses extranjeros, afirmaciones que Tisza ha negado tajantemente. Magyar, el líder del partido, se ha comprometido a reparar las tensas relaciones de Hungría con sus aliados occidentales, reactivar la economía estancada y devolver al país a una senda más democrática.
Elogios de Orbán a Trump
Orbán acusó el sábado a corporaciones multinacionales como bancos y empresas energéticas de beneficiarse de la guerra en Ucrania y de conspirar con su oposición política para derrotarlo en las elecciones.
“Está bastante claro que en Hungría el negocio del petróleo, el mundo bancario y la élite de Bruselas se están preparando para formar un gobierno”, declaró. “Necesitan a alguien en Hungría que nunca diga no a las exigencias de Bruselas”.
Orbán prometió que, en caso de que su partido obtenga la mayoría de votos por quinta ocasión, continuará con su objetivo de librar a Hungría de entidades que, argumenta, vulneran la soberanía del país.
Atribuyó al presidente estadounidense Donald Trump —quien lo ha respaldado de cara a las elecciones— la creación de un entorno en que pueden ser expulsadas “falsas organizaciones no gubernamentales y periodistas, jueces y políticos comprados y pagados”.
“El nuevo presidente de Estados Unidos se ha rebelado contra la red global de negocios, medios y política de los liberales, mejorando así nuestras posibilidades”, dijo Orbán. “Nosotros también podemos avanzar mucho y expulsar de Hungría la influencia extranjera, junto con sus agentes, que limitan nuestra soberanía”.
“La máquina represiva de Bruselas sigue operando en Hungría. La limpiaremos después de abril”, concluyó. ___
Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con la ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.
After ‘Olympic curse’ hits Ilia Malinin in his free skate, the ‘Quad god’ sets his sights on future
MILAN — Ilia Malinin need only to have looked into the stands on Friday night, where Nathan Chen watched as the American figure skating sensation known as the “Quad god” fell apart in his Olympic free skate, for inspiration about what might come next.
The overwhelming favorite to win gold, Malinin fell twice amid a calamitous program that he seemingly had perfected over the past year, sending him tumbling from first place all the way off the podium and allowing Mikhail Shaidorov to claim gold instead.
It bore an eerie resemblance to the scene that unfolded at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.
Chen, who like Malinin had been groomed by Hall of Fame coach Rafael Arutyunyan, was considered the favorite along with Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu to stand atop the podium in South Korea. Instead, Chen fell once during his short program and struggled through the rest of it, leaving him so far behind that not even his winning free skate could earn him a medal.
One month later, he won his first world title. Four years later, Chen won Olympic gold in Beijing.
“I can’t go back and change it, even though I would love to,” Malinin said, candidly. “You have to take what happened or what you’ve learned from this and really just change or decide what you want to do for the future, and how to approach things.”
What made the 21-year-old Malinin’s fall so stunning was not just that he has been the dominant skater of his generation, building an unbeaten streak stretching back more than two years and claiming the past two world championships with relative ease.
It’s that everything was setting up perfectly for him.
One by one, the skaters before him Friday night had problems of their own, falling on ice shared by speedskating that some lamented was not the best of surfaces. Italy’s Daniel Grassl crashed out of podium contention, as did Adam Siao Him Fa of France.
Shaidorov was the only one who managed a memorable performance, and he had started the night in sixth place.
So Malinin, whose free skate clinched team gold for the Americans on Sunday, headed out one more time with a big buffer between him and the competition. He need only have put together a dialed-back version of the hardest planned program of anyone — as he did at the U.S. championships last month — to win his second gold medal of the Milan Cortina Games.
“That first quad and several of the quads, they felt really ideal,” Malinin said. “I was prepared well enough.”
Yet the problems began after he landed a quad lutz. Malinin doubled up a planned quad loop, fell on another quad lutz — preventing him from doing the second half of a combination sequence — and made a mess of his final jumping pass. What was supposed to be a high-scoring quad salchow-triple axel became only a pedestrian double salchow, and Malinin even fell on that.
“It’s really difficult when everyone assumes that he will get gold. There’s this pressure,” said Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama, the last man to have beaten Malinin way back in 2023, and the men’s silver medalist for the second consecutive Winter Games.
“His performance, if I may comment, was a little bit unusual. But it really proves that this is the Olympics. Things can happen.”
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Malinin acknowledged the pressure had gotten to him during a relatively poor short program in the team event. And he still seemed to be a little off in the free skate the following night, even though it was enough to give him at least one gold medal from Milan.
“We saw that even he is human,” Grassl said, “and these things can happen to anyone.”
Malinin was nothing if not noble in defeat.
He gave Shaidorov a hug as he walked out of the arena, whispering in his ear, “You deserve it.” Then he answered the same question, over and over, for dozens of TV crews and reporters from all over the world: What just happened?
“It’s almost like I wasn’t aware of where I was in the program,” Malinin said. “Usually I have more time and more feeling of how it is, but this time, it all went by so fast, and I really didn’t have time to make those changes or make that process different.”
“I was really confident, just feeling really good about it,” he said, “and then it’s like it’s right there, and it just left your hands.”
The end of one disastrous free skate will hardly be the end for Malinin, though. He’s still the reigning world champion, the best figure skater of his generation, and again the overwhelming favorite to win Olympic gold four years from now in France.
“The pressure of the Olympics really gets you. People say there’s an Olympic curse, that the Olympic gold medal favorite is always going to skate bad at the Olympics,” he said. “It’s really not easy, but I’m still proud of being able to get to the finish.”
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/14/ilia-malinin-quad-god-future-olympics/
