Category: News
The US Economy In A Nutshell: A Few Winners, Everyone Else Loses Ground
The US Economy In A Nutshell: A Few Winners, Everyone Else Loses Ground
Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,
Maybe this arrangement isn’t as stable and sustainable as the winners imagine.
Here’s the US economy in a nutshell: corporate/state concentrations of financial, market and political power are the winners, and everyone outside these fortresses is losing ground. The Wall Street Journal is generally viewed as pro-business, and so it’s particularly striking when the WSJ published this:
The Economic Divide Between Big and Small Companies Is Growing: Economic fortunes of low- and high-income Americans are diverging–same pattern happening with companies. (WSJ.com)
–The growing divide between the fortunes of small and large businesses mirrors the divide that has emerged over the past year between low-income Americans and their high-income counterparts.
–Large, publicly traded companies in the S&P 500 saw net income increase by 12.9% in the third quarter, contrasting with faltering small-business profits.
–Small businesses are facing economic headwinds, including high inflation and cautious consumers, leading to job cuts; 120,000 jobs were shed in November.
In other words, the small circle of winners and the larger circle of those losing ground describes both households and enterprises: small businesses–lacking the concentrated financial / political power to exercise monopoly-cartel control of their market and protect their fiefdom by buying political influence–are in steep decline–and this is in “good times,” i.e. the economy is expanding, not contracting in a recession.
As in the household sector, the winners are doing splendidly while everyone else loses ground. The media–controlled by the winners, of course–tout the winners as if they’re the norm rather than the outliers in a winner take most economy.
The quasi-monopolies and cartels of Corporate America reign supreme: trillion-dollar valuations, soaring profits, unmatched political and market control. Small business, whose interests are diffuse and widely distributed, are reduced to tax donkeys struggling to pay soaring rent, wages, utilities and overhead costs without the market muscle of monopolies / cartels to force consumers to pay higher prices for degraded goods and services.
The top 10% of households are also doing extremely well, accounting for fully half of all consumer spending as their earnings, passive investment income and assets all bubble higher.
A few of these top earning households are blue-collar households with workers earning top pay due to scarcity of their skillsets, but most are working in the state / corporate sectors with the power to pay high wages and benefits regardless of what’s happening to the bottom 90%.
While large corporations are adding employees, small businesses are shedding employees to survive.
Wage growth mirrors this asymmetric distribution: the post-pandemic stimulus trillions that boosted the mid and lower income workforce has reversed while wages for the top tier are rising.
The point here is that entities with financial, market and political power don’t need a thriving bottom 90% to increase their dominance. They have no real need to care what’s happening to the bottom 90%, as they can extract higher taxes, rents, subscriptions and prices while degrading the goods and services they provide because an economy dominated by monopolies and cartels is a TINA Economy: there is no alternative, as the world outside the monopolies and cartels is a barren landscape stripped of the functionality required to participate in the economy.
We’re constantly assured an economy where the gains follow an extraordinarily asymmetric power-law distribution is a wondrous engine of sustainable growth that benefits everyone, but the facts don’t support this fairy-tale PR promoted by the winners to placate those losing ground.
Maybe this arrangement isn’t as stable and sustainable as the winners imagine.
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Tyler Durden
Sat, 01/31/2026 – 12:50
Cortes de energía afectan a Ucrania y Moldavia mientras Kiev lucha contra el frío invernal
Por SUSIE BLANN
KIEV, Ucrania (AP) — Cortes de energía de emergencia se extendieron por varias ciudades ucranianas, así como en la vecina Moldavia, el sábado, dijeron funcionarios, en medio de un compromiso del Kremlin con el presidente de Estados Unidos, Donald Trump, de pausar los ataques en Kiev mientras Ucrania enfrenta uno de sus inviernos más crudos en años.
El ministro de Energía de Ucrania, Denys Shmyhal, dijo que los cortes fueron causados por una falla técnica que afectó las líneas de energía que conectan Ucrania y Moldavia.
La falla “provocó un apagón en cascada en la red eléctrica de Ucrania”, activando sistemas de protección automáticos, manifestó.
Se reportaron apagones en Kiev, así como en las regiones de Zhitomir y Jarkiv, en el centro y noreste del país respectivamente. El corte interrumpió el suministro de agua a la capital ucraniana, dijeron funcionarios, mientras que el sistema de metro de la ciudad fue suspendido temporalmente debido a la baja tensión en la red.
Moldavia también experimentó importantes cortes de energía, incluyendo en la capital Chisináu, dijeron funcionarios.
“Debido a la pérdida de líneas eléctricas en el territorio de Ucrania, se activó el sistema de protección automática, que desconectó el suministro eléctrico”, dijo en Facebook el ministro de Energía de Moldavia, Dorin Junghietu. “Animo a la población a mantener la calma hasta que se restablezca la electricidad”.
Convertir el invierno en arma
El apagón a gran escala siguió a semanas de ataques rusos contra la ya debilitada red energética de Ucrania, que han provocado largos períodos de severas carencias de energía.
Moscú ha buscado dejar a los civiles ucranianos sin calefacción, luz y agua corriente en lo que va la guerra, en una estrategia que los funcionarios ucranianos describen como “convertir el invierno en arma”.
Aunque Rusia ha utilizado tácticas similares en los casi cuatro años de guerra, las temperaturas durante este invierno han caído más de lo habitual, trayendo dificultades generalizadas a los civiles.
Los meteorólogos dicen que Ucrania experimentará un período brutalmente frío que se extenderá hasta la próxima semana. Las temperaturas en algunas áreas caerán a -30 grados Celsius (-22 Fahrenheit), dijo el Servicio Estatal de Emergencias de Ucrania.
Trump dijo el jueves por la noche que el presidente Vladímir Putin había aceptado una pausa temporal en el ataque a Kiev y otras ciudades ucranianas en medio del clima extremo.
“Le pedí personalmente al presidente Putin que no disparara sobre Kiev y las ciudades y pueblos durante una semana durante este frío extraordinario”, informó Trump durante una reunión de gabinete en la Casa Blanca. Putin “aceptó eso”, dijo, sin detallar cuándo se hizo la solicitud al líder ruso.
La Casa Blanca no respondió a preguntas sobre el alcance y el momento de dicha pausa.
El portavoz del Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, confirmó el viernes que Trump “hizo una solicitud personal” a Putin para detener los ataques a Kiev hasta el domingo “con el fin de crear condiciones favorables para las negociaciones”.
Se espera que las conversaciones tengan lugar entre funcionarios de Estados Unidos, Rusia y Ucrania el 1 de febrero en Abu Dabi. Los equipos se reunieron a finales de enero; la primera vez que se sabe que funcionarios de la administración Trump se reunieron simultáneamente con negociadores de Ucrania y Rusia. Sin embargo, no está claro cuántos obstáculos para la paz permanecen. El desacuerdo sobre lo que sucede con el territorio ucraniano ocupado, y la demanda de Moscú de posesión de territorio que no ha capturado, son un tema clave que impide un acuerdo de paz, dijo presidente de Ucrania, Volodymyr Zelenskyy el jueves.
El enviado presidencial ruso Kirill Dmitriev dijo en las redes sociales el sábado que estaba en Miami, donde anteriormente han tenido lugar conversaciones entre negociadores rusos y estadounidenses. Las agencias de noticias estatales rusas informaron más tarde que Dmitriev planeaba reunirse con una “delegación estadounidense” pero no proporcionaron más detalles.
Rusia atacó activos energéticos ucranianos en varias regiones el jueves, pero no hubo ataques a esas instalaciones durante la noche, dijo Zelenskyy el viernes.
En una publicación en redes sociales, Zelenskyy también señaló que Rusia ha centrado su atención en atacar las redes logísticas ucranianas, y que drones y misiles rusos golpearon áreas residenciales de Ucrania durante la noche, como lo han hecho la mayoría de las noches durante la guerra.
Trump ha enmarcado la aceptación de Putin de la pausa en los ataques como una concesión. Pero Zelenskyy se mostró escéptico, ya que la invasión de Rusia se acerca a su cuarto aniversario el 24 de febrero sin señales de que Moscú esté dispuesto a alcanzar un acuerdo de paz a pesar de un esfuerzo liderado por Washington para poner fin a los combates.
“No creo que Rusia quiera terminar la guerra. Hay una gran cantidad de evidencia en contrario”, comentó Zelenskyy el jueves.
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Stephen McGrath colaboró desde Leamington Spa, Inglaterra.
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Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con la ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.
El papa recibe invitación para visitar Perú en evento en el Vaticano
Por NICOLE WINFIELD
CIUDAD DEL VATICANO (AP) — El embajador de Perú ante la Santa Sede invitó públicamente al papa León XIV a visitar su segunda patria el sábado, en un 2026 que se perfila como un año importante para los viajes del pontífice, pues se analiza la posibilidad de que visite África y América del Sur.
En los últimos días, el presidente de Guinea Ecuatorial y el embajador del Vaticano en Angola confirmaron que ya se realizan planes para un viaje papal este año, además de que se rumoran paradas en Camerún y Argelia. No se han anunciado fechas, pero funcionarios del Vaticano dicen que la visita a cuatro países de África probablemente tendría lugar en algún momento después de Pascua.
El propio pontífice ha dicho que quiere que su segundo viaje como papa sea a África, especialmente a Argelia, que tiene un significado especial para la orden religiosa agustiniana a la que pertenece. El país africano también desempeña un papel importante en las relaciones cristiano-musulmanas que el Vaticano está ansioso por destacar.
León también ha expresado su deseo de visitar tres países de América Latina, ya sea en 2026 o en 2027: Argentina, Uruguay y Perú, país del que es ciudadano y donde vivió durante dos décadas como misionero. Argentina, en particular, ha esperado una visita papal, después de que el papa Francisco nunca regresara a su patria tras su elección en 2013.
El sábado, el nuevo embajador de Perú ante el Vaticano, Jorge Ponce San Román, invitó públicamente a León a visitar su país durante una ceremonia en los jardines del Vaticano para inaugurar un nuevo mosaico y una estatua dedicada a la Virgen María que Perú patrocinó.
Con todos los obispos de Perú presentes, Ponce dijo que él y sus conciudadanos “lo esperamos muy pronto en Perú”.
El papa no respondió, pero en sus breves comentarios en la ceremonia recordó que Perú era “un país tan querido para mí”.
En una ruptura con el protocolo habitual, León luego se quedó para un almuerzo tipo buffet que la Embajada de Perú organizó para los diplomáticos invitados y funcionarios del Vaticano en los jardines. Durante cerca de una hora, León se sentó con Ponce y los obispos peruanos en un lugar sombreado y oculto donde los empleados de catering preparaban cócteles de pisco sour y platos de ravioli con huancaína, la típica salsa cremosa peruana.
A pesar de una lluvia ocasional, la fiesta tuvo un ambiente alegre y relajado, y la prolongada presencia del pontífice sugirió que se siente muy a gusto con sus compatriotas peruanos.
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La cobertura de temas religiosos de The Associated Press recibe apoyo a través de la colaboración de la AP con The Conversation US, con financiación de Lilly Endowment Inc. La AP es la única responsable de este contenido.
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Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con la ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.
Israel violates ceasefire, striking Gaza tent camp and killing 30 Palestinians, including children
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Hospitals in Gaza said Israeli strikes killed at least 30 Palestinians including several children on Saturday, one of the highest tolls since the October ceasefire, a day after Israel accused Hamas of new truce violations.
The strikes hit locations throughout Gaza, including an apartment building in Gaza City and a tent camp in Khan Younis, said officials at hospitals that received the bodies. The casualties included two women and six children from two different families. Another airstrike hit a police station in Gaza City, killing at least 14 and wounding others, Shifa Hospital director Mohamed Abu Selmiya said.
The strikes came a day before the Rafah crossing along the border with Egypt is set to open in Gaza’s southernmost city. All of the territory’s border crossings — the rest are with Israel — have been closed throughout almost the entire war. Palestinians see Rafah as a lifeline for tens of thousands needing treatment outside the territory, where the majority of medical infrastructure has been destroyed.
The crossing’s opening, limited at first, will mark the first major step in the second phase of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire that took effect on Oct. 10. Other challenging issues include demilitarizing the strip after nearly two decades of Hamas rule and installing a new government to oversee reconstruction.
Egypt, one of the ceasefire mediators, in a statement condemned the Israeli strikes in the “strongest terms” and warned that they represent “a direct threat to the political course” of the truce. Qatar, another mediator, in a statement called Israel’s strikes a “dangerous escalation” and said continuing them poses a “direct threat” to the political process.
‘We don’t know if we’re at war or peace’
Nasser Hospital said the strike on the tent camp in Khan Younis caused a fire, killing seven, including a father, his three children and three grandchildren.
Atallah Abu Hadaiyed said he had just finished praying when the explosion struck. “We came running and found my cousins lying here and there, with fire raging. We don’t know if we’re at war or at peace, or what. Where is the truce? Where is the ceasefire they talked about?”he said, as people inspected ruins including a bloodied mattress.
Shifa Hospital said the Gaza City apartment building strike killed three children, their aunt and grandmother.
“The three girls are gone, may God have mercy on them. They were asleep, we found them in the street,” said a relative, Samir Al-Atbash, adding that the family were civilians with no connection to Hamas. Names were written on body bags lined up at the foot of a wall.
Shifa Hospital said the strike on the police station killed at least 14 including four policewomen, civilians and inmates. The hospital also said a man was killed in a strike on the eastern side of Jabaliya refugee camp.
Hamas called Saturday’s strikes “a renewed flagrant violation” and urged the United States and other mediating countries to push Israel to stop them.
“All available indicators suggest that we are dealing with a ‘Board of War,’ not a ‘Board of Peace,’” senior Hamas official Bassem Naim said on X, questioning the legitimacy of the Trump administration-proposed international body meant to govern Gaza.
Israel’s military, which has struck targets on both sides of the ceasefire’s dividing line, said its attacks since October have been responses to violations of the agreement. It said Saturday’s strikes followed what it described as two separate ceasefire violations a day earlier, in which Israeli forces killed three fighters who emerged from a tunnel in an Israeli-controlled area of Rafah and four who approached troops near the dividing line.
The number reported killed Saturday was several times higher than the daily average since the ceasefire began. As of Friday, Gaza’s Health Ministry had recorded at least 520 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire since the start of the ceasefire. The ministry, part of the Hamas-led government, maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts.
The war began with the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 people hostage. The remains of the final hostage in Gaza were recovered early this week.
Magdy reported from Cairo and Metz from Jerusalem.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/31/israeli-strikes-gaza-ceasefire/
Activist Judge Blocks Key Parts Of Trump EO On Verifying Citizenship To Vote
Activist Judge Blocks Key Parts Of Trump EO On Verifying Citizenship To Vote
A federal judge on Friday blocked key provisions of President Trump’s executive order that requires proof of US citizenship for voter registration.
Signed on March 25, Executive Order 14248 directs the Election Assistance Commission to require in its national mail voter registration form that voters provide documentary proof of US citizenship, such as a passport. The order also directs federal officials to take measures to prevent illegal immigrants and other noncitizens from voting in federal elections.
The commission, established by Congress in 2002, helps local officials administer elections.
On Friday, 82-year-old US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly (Clinton) – who was previously presiding judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court – ruled that provisions requiring citizenship verification “are inconsistent with the constitutional separation of powers and cannot lawfully be implemented.”
Kollar-Kotelly said that the US Constitution “does not allow the President to impose unilateral changes to federal election procedures,” insisting that the framers gave power over election rules “to the parts of our government that they believed would be most responsive to the will of the people: first to the States, and then, in some instances, to Congress.”
“They assigned no role at all to the President,” she added.
She also struck down part of the executive order directing heads of various federal agencies to “assess citizenship” before giving the federal form to “enrollees of public assistance programs,” adding that the National Voter Registration Act requires agencies to give said form to those receiving their services.
The preliminary ruling applies to three separate lawsuits brought by plaintiffs; League of United Latin American Citizens, League of Women Voters Education Fund, and the Democratic Party.
About That Judge…
Judge Kollar-Kotelly is an unabashed left-wing, pro-surveillance state, anti 2A activist. Her father worked in US foreign assistance programs in Mexico, Ecuador and Venezuela in the 1950s. In 2004, she issued a FISA court order allowing the NSA to continue spying on domestic metadata. In 2009 she issued a ruling blocking visitors to national parks from carrying concealed weapons, and in 2016 she denied a preliminary injunction against Washington DC’s ban on concealed carry permits. In 2017, she blocked the enforcement of Trump’s ban on transgenders in the military.
In 2024, Kollar-Kotelly sentenced a woman to 57 months in prison and three years of supervised released under the FACE Act for blocking access to an abortion clinic, and sentenced another woman (Paula Harlow) to two years in federal prison and 36 months of supervised release for the same thing. She also found a J6 protester, Dominic Box, guilty on six charges. Box was pardoned by Trump before he could be sentenced.
Kollar-Kotelly notably criticized Trump over blanket pardons for those involved in the January 6th incident.
More recently, she issued an order blocking the IRS from sharing taxpayer information with ICE.
Tyler Durden
Sat, 01/31/2026 – 12:15
La NBA suspende 25 juegos a Paul George de los 76ers de Filadelfia por violar política antidrogas
Por TIM REYNOLDS
Paul George de los 76ers de Fiiladelfia ha sido suspendido por 25 partidos por violar los términos del Programa Antidrogas de la NBA, anunció la liga el sábado.
La NBA no reveló la naturaleza de la violación ni la sustancia involucrada. La suspensión de 25 partidos, según los términos del acuerdo entre la liga y la Asociación Nacional de Jugadores de Baloncesto, indica que esta fue la primera violación por parte de George.
La suspensión le costará a George —nueve veces seleccionado All-Star— aproximadamente $11,7 millones de dólares de su salario de $51,7 millones, o alrededor de $469.691,72 por cada uno de los 25 partidos que se perderá.
Se espera que George sea elegible para regresar el 25 de marzo, cuando Filadelfia reciba a Chicago. Los 76ers tendrán diez partidos restantes en la temporada regular en ese momento.
Filadelfia entró el sábado con un récord de 26-21, sexto en la Conferencia Este. Los 76ers tienen una marca de 16-11 cuando George juega, 10-10 cuando no lo hace.
George ha promediado 16 puntos en 27 partidos esta temporada para los 76ers, esa media de anotación es la tercera más alta del equipo detrás de Tyrese Maxey (29,4) y Joel Embiid (25,7). Tuvo uno de sus mejores partidos de la campaña a principios de esta semana, con una explosión de 32 puntos impulsada por nueve triples en una victoria el martes sobre Milwaukee.
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Deportes en español AP: https://apnews.com/hub/deportes
President Trump moved fast to cut a funding deal. It’s a striking change from the last shutdown fight.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump moved quickly this week to negotiate with Democrats to try and avert a lengthy government shutdown over Department of Homeland Security funding, a sharp departure from last year’s record standoff, when he refused to budge for weeks.
Some Republicans are frustrated with the deal, raising the possible of a prolonged shutdown fight when the House returns Monday to vote on the funding package. But Trump’s sway over the GOP remains considerable, and he has made his position clear at a moment of mounting political strain.
“The only thing that can slow our country down is another long and damaging government shutdown,” Trump wrote on social media late Thursday.
The urgency marked a clear shift from Trump’s posture during the 43-day shutdown late last year, when he publicly antagonized Democratic leaders and his team mocked them on social media. This time, with anger rising over shootings in Minneapolis and the GOP’s midterm messaging on tax cuts drowned out by controversy, Trump acted quickly to make a deal with Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York.
“Trump and the Republicans know that this is an issue where they’re on the wrong side of the American people and it really matters,” Schumer told reporters Friday after Senate passage of the government funding deal.
The crisis caused by Minneapolis killings
Senators returned to work this week dealing with the fallout from the fatal shooting of ICU nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis by federal immigration officers, as well as the killing of Renee Good in the city weeks earlier.
Republicans were far from unified in their response. A few called for the firing of top administration officials such as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Stephen Miller, the White House chief of staff for policy. Most GOP senators tried to strike a balance, calling for a thorough investigation into Pretti’s killing while backing the hard-line immigration approach that is central to Trump’s presidency.
But many agreed that the shootings threatened public support for Trump’s immigration agenda.
“I’ve never seen a political party take its best issue and turn it into its worst issue in the period of time that it has happened in the last few weeks,” said Sen. John Kennedy, R-La. “Some things have to change.”
Democrats quickly coalesced around their key demands.
Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said there “was unanimity” around core principles of enforcing a code of conduct for immigration officers and agents, ending “roving patrols” for immigration enforcement actions and coordinating with local law enforcement on immigration arrests.
It helped that Trump himself was looking for ways to de-escalate in Minneapolis.
“The world has seen the videos of those horrible abuses by DHS and rogue operations catching up innocent people, and there’s a revulsion about it,” said Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va.
“The White House is asking for a ladder off the ledge,” he added.
Avoiding the painful politics of a shutdown
Republicans are also trying to promote their accomplishments in office as they ready for the November elections and the difficult task of retaining control of both chambers of Congress.
But the prospect of a prolonged shutdown shifted attention away from their $4.5 trillion tax and spending cuts law, the centerpiece of their agenda. Republicans had hoped the beginning of this year’s tax season on Monday would provide a political boost as voters begin to see larger tax refunds.
Republicans are also mindful of the political damage from last year’s shutdown, when they took a slightly larger portion of the blame from Americans than Democrats, according to polling from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
“The shutdown was a big factor, negative for the Republicans,” Trump told Republican senators at the White House in November.
On a practical level, this funding standoff threatened to destroy months of bipartisan work, including long hours over the holiday break, to craft the 12 spending bills that fund the government and many priorities back home.
“We saw what happened in the last government shutdown in regards to how it hurt real, hardworking Americans,” said Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. “I don’t want that to happen again.”
A two-week funding battle begins
The agreement reached this week, if passed by the House, would avoid a prolonged shutdown and fund nearly every federal department through the end of the budget year in September. But it would not resolve one of the most difficult issues for Congress and the White House: DHS funding.
Instead of a full-year deal, funding for the department was extended for just two weeks, giving lawmakers little time to bridge the deep divides over immigration enforcement.
Democrats are pressing for changes they say are necessary to prevent future abuses, including requiring immigration agents to wear body cameras, carry clear identification, end roving patrols in cities and coordinate more closely with local law enforcement when making arrests. Many Democrats also want tighter rules around warrants and accountability mechanisms for officers in the field.
Those demands have met stiff resistance from Republicans. Some are opposed to negotiating with Democrats at all.
“Republicans control the White House, Senate and House. Why are we giving an inch to Democrats?” Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., wrote on social media.
Republican senators said they would take the fight to Democrats by introducing their own bills, including restrictions on “sanctuary cities,” to show their support for Trump’s policies. That term is generally applied to state and local governments that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
“We’ve let the issue get away. We’re not leading. We’re trying to avoid losing rather than winning,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who held up the spending bills until Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., agreed to give him a vote on his sanctuary cities bill at a later date.
Thune acknowledged the difficulty of the next two weeks, saying there are “some pretty significant views and feelings.”
“We’ll stay hopeful,” Thune told reporters about the upcoming DHS fight. “But there are some pretty significant differences of opinion.”
Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro and Kevin Freking contributed to this report.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/31/president-trump-funding-bill-shutdown-fight/
La NBA suspende 25 juegos a Paul George de los 76ers por violar la política de drogas de la liga
La NBA suspende 25 juegos a Paul George de los 76ers por violar la política de drogas de la liga.
Djokovic y Alcaraz buscan hacer historia en la final del Abierto de Australia
Por JOHN PYE
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — En un momento de agotamiento y euforia, Novak Djokovic reconoció a Margaret Court entre la multitud y le agradeció por quedarse despierta hasta tan tarde para verlo acercarse a una sola victoria de convertirse en el tenista más condecorado de todos los tiempos.
Court, de 83 años, estaba entre los asistentes VIP en la Rod Laver Arena para la épica victoria de Djokovic en cinco sets sobre el bicampeón defensor del Abierto de Australia, Jannik Sinner, en una agotadora semifinal que terminó después de la 1:30 de la mañana del sábado.
Por ahora, comparten el récord histórico de 24 títulos de Grand Slam en individuales. Eso podría cambiar el domingo.
La victoria agotadora de Djokovic sobre Sinner preparó un enfrentamiento por el campeonato contra el número uno del mundo, Carlos Alcaraz, el español de 22 años que busca convertirse en el hombre más joven en completar un Grand Slam de carrera.
Alcaraz y Sinner se han combinado para bloquear el avance de Djokovic hacia su 25to título importante, dividiendo los últimos ocho majors equitativamente entre ellos.
En su entrevista en la cancha para cerrar el Día 13, Djokovic agradeció a Court por quedarse para presenciar cómo ponía fin a una racha de cinco derrotas ante Sinner, y también rompía una serie de cuatro derrotas en semifinales en los torneos de Grand Slam.
“¡Algunas leyendas se quedaron despiertas hasta las dos de la mañana!” dijo. “Muchas gracias por estar aquí.”
Djokovic posee casi todos los récords disponibles para él, superando las marcas establecidas por Roger Federer y Rafael Nadal. Tiene uno más que Serena Williams, quien ostenta el récord de la era Open femenina con 23.
No ha ocultado el hecho de que solo está en Australia por el codiciado 25to.
Algunos analistas debaten la grandeza del conteo de títulos de Court porque ganó 13 de sus 24 títulos importantes en individuales antes de que comenzara la era Open profesional en 1968.
No Djokovic. Para él, los números hablan por sí mismos.
Después de vencer a una mitad de la rivalidad “Sincaraz”, Djokovic tiene la oportunidad de enfrentar a la otra en la 11ma final de su carrera en Melbourne Park. Ha ganado las diez anteriores.
Djokovic, de 38 años, dijo que estaba adolorido y cansado y que probablemente no practicaría mucho el sábado, priorizando la recuperación.
Alcaraz también dijo que se enfocará en la recuperación después de luchar con calambres y una pierna derecha adolorida en una victoria de cinco sets y cinco horas y 27 minutos sobre Alexander Zverev. Fue la semifinal más larga en la historia del Abierto de Australia.
No fue el partido más largo en la historia de Melbourne Park; no es sorprendente que Djokovic tenga ese récord con su victoria de 5:53 sobre Rafael Nadal en la final de 2012.
Djokovic se cruzó con Alcaraz entre las semifinales de cinco sets y lo felicitó por seguir adelante. Alcaraz estaba en una bicicleta de ejercicio enfriándose y Djokovic todavía se estaba preparando para su inicio retrasado de la noche.
25 el objetivo para el ’26
Cuando estaba estableciendo metas para esta temporada, Djokovic dijo que se preguntó a sí mismo: “¿De acuerdo, qué es lo que busco de mí mismo?”
“Me imaginaba realmente jugando contra Jannik y Carlos en las etapas finales de los Grand Slams y luchando por ello”, dijo. “Muy afortunado de ya conseguirlo en el primer Slam del año.”
Djokovic admitió que tuvo suerte de llegar a las semifinales, después de recibir un walkover en la cuarta ronda antes de que Lorenzo Musetti se retirara durante su partido de cuartos de final después de ganar los dos primeros sets.
Contra Sinner, hubo momentos en que Djokovic parecía agotado y casi sin energía, pero su resistencia fue fenomenal. Sinner no pudo convertir ocho oportunidades de quiebre en el quinto set — solo logró dos de 18 en el partido — y Djokovic convirtió la primera oportunidad de quiebre que tuvo en el set decisivo.
Alcaraz también estuvo inestable en el tercer set, tomando un tiempo médico por lo que pensó que era un aductor lesionado en su pierna derecha. Resultó ser más probablemente calambres. Será su primera final en Australia.
“Solo tengo que hacer lo que sea necesario para estar lo mejor posible para la final”, dijo Alcaraz.
Djokovic no ha ganado un major desde el Abierto de Estados Unidos 2023 pero, mientras otros pueden haber descartado sus posibilidades, él nunca dudó de que podría alcanzar ese nivel.
“Hay mucha gente que dudó de mí… muchos expertos de repente querían retirarme”, dijo. “Quiero agradecerles a todos porque me dieron fuerza. Me dieron motivación para demostrar que estaban equivocados.”
Uno para la historia
Djokovic apunta a convertirse en el hombre de mayor edad en la era Open en ganar un título importante. Alcaraz apunta a ser el más joven en ganar títulos en los cuatro Grand Slams.
“Siempre hay para mí, también para Carlos — por su edad y todo lo que ha logrado — la historia está en juego”, dijo Djokovic.
Elección difícil
Nadal, quien estará en la final, fue preguntado el sábado sobre a quién preferiría como campeón.
“Siento que tengo que apoyar a Carlos”, dijo Nadal sobre su compatriota español. Pero “Si Novak gana, estaré feliz por él. Es espectacular lo que está haciendo en esta etapa de su carrera.”
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Deportes en español AP: https://apnews.com/hub/deportes
Yorkville D115 voters to decide on $275 million bond measure for new school buildings, high school improvements
Starting as early as 2028, some students in Yorkville School District 115 may be taking classes in brand-new buildings.
In the upcoming March 17 primary election, voters in Yorkville School District 115 will be asked whether they approve of the district issuing $275 million in bonds to pay for two new school buildings and a significant addition to the district’s high school building, among other renovations.
The district got here after years of rising student enrollment and a growing overcrowding problem, explained District 115 Superintendent Matt Zediker on Friday.
“That’s what really drove the process,” Zediker said of the overcrowding issues.
Zediker took over as the district’s leader in 2024, but Yorkville 115’s student population was on the uptick for years prior, he said.
The Yorkville area has added almost 10,000 new residents since 2010, according to the most recent available figures from the United States Census Bureau. And surrounding Kendall County is the fastest growing county in the state.
That growth has extended to District 115, where enrollment has been steadily ticking upwards in recent years, according to figures from the Illinois State Board of Education, all while overall statewide public school enrollment continues to shrink. The district currently serves just over 7,000 students — who come from Yorkville, and from nearby Bristol, Montgomery, Oswego, Plano and Newark.
According to Zediker, the last building the district constructed was in 2009. But Yorkville District 115 grew from around 5,000 students in 2010 to roughly 6,000 around a decade ago and currently sits at around 7,000.
So the district is making a pitch to voters, asking them to approve of the district selling $275 million in bonds so it can build a new elementary school and a new middle school and make significant additions to the high school in hopes of accommodating the growing student body.
The district was initially considering iterations of the project that were smaller in scope — for example, making an addition to an existing elementary school rather than constructing an entirely new building and doing fewer renovations at the high school building — but settled on this version of the project following a survey of the community this fall.
“I think we have come up with a community-driven plan that addresses our overcrowding … while not putting the district in the same position we’re in now, which is (that) our backs are against the wall,” Zediker told the Yorkville City Council at its meeting on Jan. 27.
Zediker recently made a pitch for the referendum question to Yorkville’s City Council, at which he touted the district’s almost 97% graduation rate — which is over the state average — and the district’s high student-to-administrator ratio.
“We are not a top-heavy administrative organization,” Zediker said at the meeting. “We do not take taxes for a bunch of additional administrative costs.”
He also pointed to the district’s “healthy fund balance” and relatively low per-student spending, but also cited concerns, like the district’s state funding levels.
“We’re at the point where this is unsustainable,” Zediker told the council at its meeting in late January. “Every building is overcrowded, with even more growth projected.”
In an interview with The Beacon-News on Friday, Zediker said a top priority the district heard from the community was reducing the number of times students move between school buildings throughout the school day, thereby reducing safety concerns, particularly when it comes to high school students walking back and forth across Game Farm Road throughout the day.
The proposed additions to the high school, for example, would mean all high school students are brought into a single building, Zediker said.
The additions to the high school would include an auditorium, a fieldhouse and a new academic wing, per the district.
Because of the proposed new elementary and middle schools, all grade schools would serve kindergarten through fifth grade, and all district middle schools would serve grades six through eight.
The district would also turn Circle Center Grade School into an early childhood center. The plans also include tearing down Yorkville Grade School — which Zediker said is currently one of the smaller district schools — to use for green space and parking. And Bristol Grade School may be sold or repurposed, he noted.
That would mean a net decrease of one school building, but Zediker noted that the renovations would still result in an increase in the number of students the district’s facilities would be able to serve.
Zediker said the district is expecting about 800 new students over the next five years, and that the district believes the additions would house growing student numbers for the next 12 to 15 years.
“Part of the challenge is, we want to build enough to accommodate current overcrowding, but also future overcrowding, but we don’t want to overbuild,” Zediker told The Beacon-News. “Because that wouldn’t be a good use of taxpayer dollars.”
In addition to the $275 million the district is seeking to obtain via bond issuances, it is also planning to use $20 million in reserves to fund the renovations. The referendum dollars can only go toward capital improvements, not operational expenses.
The district has said the property tax impact would be around $577 annually for the average district household. Residents can calculate the estimated property tax impact of the ballot question on their home at this link: https://ssccust1.spreadsheethosting.com/1/08/b1686179bb92c40f/Yorkville%20115%20Referendum%20Bond%20Tax%20Calculator%20122325/Yorkville%20115%20Referendum%20Bond%20Tax%20Calculator%20122325.htm.
Should the referendum question be approved, Zediker said the district is aiming for construction to start in the coming fall, with the goal of students starting classes at the new elementary and middle schools in the fall of 2028.
But, if it’s not approved, the district would likely revisit the matter — namely, by putting a modified referendum question on the ballot in November.
Zediker said it would be important for the district to “figure out what it was that … didn’t resonate with the community” if the March referendum question fails, and to use that information to devise a new question for the November election.
“This is all about the community,” Zediker said on Friday. “I want to hear what they have to say. And if they say that this isn’t the plan that they want to vote for, then we’ve got to listen, and we’ve got to figure out what they do want to vote for.”
mmorrow@chicagotribune.com
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/31/yorkville-d115-bond-measure-new-school-buildings/
