Category: News
Yes, that was Chicago conductor Giancarlo Guerrero performing with Bad Bunny
Four minutes into Bad Bunny’s halftime show during the Super Bowl on Sunday, the camera panned over two rows of grinning string players.
Leading them with graceful, sweeping beats and a sparkling hibiscus flower on his lapel? Giancarlo Guerrero, the chief conductor of Chicago’s own Grant Park Music Festival, the free orchestra series that plays at Pritzker Pavilion every summer.
Speaking with the Tribune on Monday after the show, Guerrero said he was “still in shock.” His team received a call from Bad Bunny’s manager on Jan. 31 inviting him to be one of more than 700 participants in the halftime show. During that call, Guerrero learned that the 31-year-old Bad Bunny (born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio) not only asked for a Hispanic conductor, but for Guerrero specifically.
“Apparently, he was aware of my career,” Guerrero said.
Guerrero, 56, was born in Nicaragua but largely raised in Costa Rica. His family emigrated to escape the proxy Cold War conflicts that ravaged the nation from 1978 to 1990.
He eventually attended graduate school at Northwestern University and has become a fixture on local podiums, not only in his post at the Grant Park Music Festival but in frequent guest appearances at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. (The organization confirmed that Guerrero is slated to return this fall.)
In an image taken from video, Giancarlo Guerrero, far left, the chief baton of Chicago’s own Grant Park Music Festival, leads a group of string players during Bad Bunny’s performance of the halftime show for Super Bowl 60 on Feb. 8, 2026, in Santa Clara, Calif. (NFL)
Guerrero’s Super Bowl appearance had to remain top-secret until Sunday — besides, of course, from telling his wife and two daughters, who are “huge (Bad Bunny) fans.” His older daughter, who lives in Chicago, even flew to Puerto Rico last year to catch the megastar’s homecoming concerts there.
“When the girls get in the car, as you can imagine, they control the radio. So I was very aware of his music,” Guerrero said. “As soon as I got the invitation, we called both of our daughters on FaceTime. It took a while for them to realize that this was not a joke.”
Guerrero flew to San Francisco on Tuesday to begin rehearsing his spot in the show. When he had a chance to meet Bad Bunny one-on-one, Guerrero learned he was a classical music fan.
“That’s why he didn’t want to just put some sort of fake string orchestra (onstage). He wanted a real string orchestra, with a real conductor,” Guerrero says.
Guerrero is on camera for roughly 30 seconds while leading a corps of San Francisco-based musicians in the opening of “Monaco,” off Bad Bunny’s 2023 album “Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana” (“Nobody Knows What Will Happen Tomorrow”).
Bad Bunny used the moment to address the audience directly for the first time, introducing himself by his legal name.
“I’m here at Super Bowl 60, and it’s because I never, never stopped believing in myself,” he continued, in Spanish. “You should also believe in yourself — you’re worth more than you think.”
The Pan-American message of Bad Bunny’s set resonates with Guerrero’s own programming in Millennium Park. The music of American and Latin American composers has been at the core of the conductor’s repertoire, not just with the Grant Park Music Festival but at other posts in Sarasota, Florida, and in Nashville.
Giancarlo Guerrero, the conductor for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducts a concert by the CSO and Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra on April 25, 2024, at the Symphony Center in Chicago. (Vincent Alban/Chicago Tribune)
In the forthcoming Grant Park season, he will lead new works like Peruvian-American composer Gabriela Lena Frank’s “Conquest Requiem” and American composer Julia Wolfe’s “Liberty Bell,” as well as classics like Leonard Bernstein’s “Symphonic Dances from ‘West Side Story’” and Charles Ives’ “Variations on America.” Last season — Guerrero’s first as Grant Park artistic director and principal conductor — his roster included music by Brazil-born, Chicago-based Clarice Assad and the blockbuster Mexican composer Arturo Márquez.
Column: Most Super Bowl halftimes are bonkers. Bad Bunny’s was close to art.
Guerrero and Bad Bunny share another overlap: Both have won six Grammys. Guerrero’s last win was in 2021 for best orchestral performance for a Nashville Symphony recording that featured Ives’ “Variations on America.” Bad Bunny hit that total after the most recent Grammys, where he racked up three awards — including album of the year for 2025’s “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS” (“I Should Have Taken More Photos”).
And just like the young Puerto Rican sensation, Guerrero is in demand around the world. He caught a flight at 3 a.m. after the show to head to Florida, where he is also the music director of the Sarasota Orchestra. Future engagements will bring him not just all across the U.S. but to Poland, Germany and Portugal — all before summer kicks off again at Grant Park.
Guerrero sees parallels between Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl appearance and what he and others do in classical music.
“I mean, this guy can go from one style to the other without blinking an eye. It reminded me a little bit of what we do, going from contemporary music, to Baroque, or to Romantic music,” he said. “That shows you the level of talent this guy has.”
Hannah Edgar is a freelance writer.
Russia Vows ‘All Possible Assistance’ To Cuba As US ‘Strangles’ The Population
Russia Vows ‘All Possible Assistance’ To Cuba As US ‘Strangles’ The Population
Russia warned Monday that the United States is “strangling” Cuba through long-running sanctions, as well as the current de facto oil blockade on the Latin American island-nation in full force.
As a result the Kremlin is exploring ways to get urgent assistance to the Cuban people, as the economic situation and national infrastructure worsens after Havana’s number one energy source, nearby Venezuela, has cut off supplies in the wake of Maduro’s ouster by US military intervention.
“The situation in Cuba is indeed critical… We are aware of this, and we maintain close contact with our Cuban friends through diplomatic and other channels,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at a Monday press briefing.
He added that “the stranglehold imposed by the United States is already causing a lot of difficulties for Cuba” and this has resulted in the two allies discussing “possible ways to resolve these problems or at least provide all possible assistance.”
Blackouts across various parts of Cuba have persisted and even grown worse in the last weeks, given power plants are struggling to keep the lights on, as The Associated Press recently described:
The smell of sulfur hits hard in this coastal town that produces petroleum and is home to one of Cuba’s largest thermoelectric plants. Yet, even as the plant cranks back to life, residents remain in the dark, surrounded by energy sources they cannot use.
As tensions deepen between Cuba and the U.S. after it attacked Venezuela and disrupted oil shipments, so have the woes of Santa Cruz del Norte.
People in this town east of Havana are plunged into darkness daily and forced to cook with coal and firewood, but not everyone can afford this new reality.
This is after President Trump in mid-January vowed there will be “zero” oil and outside money going to Cuba, and threatened that its leaders must “make a deal, before it is too late.” Washington has labeled the island a “national security threat” to the US – a viewpoint hearkening back to the Cold War.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla has lashed out, saying Cuba faces “a total blockade of energy supplies” by the US, which violates “all principles of international trade,” creating “extreme life conditions” for the Cuban population.
The crisis is rapidly impacting various industries, and most recently “Cuba has warned airlines it is suspending jet fuel supplies for a month, an official at a European carrier said Sunday.”
BREAKING Cuba has warned airlines it is suspending jet fuel supplies for a month because of an energy crisis, an official at a European carrier says pic.twitter.com/gc7SOVgXVA
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) February 9, 2026
Russia isn’t the only one rushing aid to the island. Mexico has been pressured to also cut energy supplies, but at the same time President Claudia Sheinbaum has reportedly ordered two Mexican naval vessels to transport over 800 tons of aid, including food and hygiene items, to Cuba.
Tyler Durden
Mon, 02/09/2026 – 15:40
Injunction against sitework for Amazon data center in Hobart has hearing Wednesday
An injunction filed by a group of Hobart residents to halt early aspects of sitework for an Amazon data center is slated for a Wednesday court hearing.
The hearing takes place at 10 a.m. in Lake Superior Court in Crown Point. The injunction was filed by four Hobart residents against the city of Hobart.
The four residents in their lawsuit are seeking to stop earthmoving activities related to the proposed Hobart Data Center campus at 61st Avenue and Arizona Street.
The Hobart residents, Angelita Soriano, Albina Venegas-Roman, Barbara Koteles and Joseph Conn, filed the motion for preliminary injunction on Feb. 5, citing violations of local law and due process.
Hobart City Attorney Heather McCarthy could not be reached for immediate comment on Monday.
The motion filed by the four Hobart residents asks the court to void a fill permit approved by the Hobart Plan Commission on Nov. 6 and to prohibit Hobart Owner, LLC, from conducting any grading or earthmoving on the property located southeast of 61st Avenue and Arizona Street.
The petition, filed against Hobart Devco and now known as Hobart Owner, was for a fill permit for an 168-parcel located south of 61st Avenue and Arizona Street intersection, court documents state.
A majority of the plan commission on Nov. 6 voted “yes,” approving a request by petitioner Todd Leeth for a permit at an 168-acre parcel located south of the 61st Avenue and Arizona Street intersection.
According to the court filing, the plan commission on Nov. 6 approved the fill permit without a legally required site plan, drainage plan or a complete fill permit application which are actions residents argue directly violate Hobart’s municipal code.
The lawsuit challenges the city of Hobart’s Plan Commission decision to convert a site plan review application into a fill permit during a public meeting, despite the application lacking basic information required under city ordinance. Residents allege that approving earthwork without a site plan prevents meaningful public review and undermines environmental and infrastructure protections, court documents state.
The filing also notes that Indiana courts apply a heightened standard when government actions are plainly unlawful, allowing injunctive relief to protect the public interest even before final judgment.
The plaintiffs are represented by attorney David E. Dearing of Dearing Law Firm.
Depending on what happens in Wednesday’s Lake Superior Court hearing, the four Hobart residents may also consider filing a second injunction in regard to the Hobart Plan Commission’s 5-3 vote taken Feb. 5, Soriano said.
The vote taken by the plan commission on Feb. 5 approved a fill permit request from Langan Engineering and Environmental Services on 605 acres eyed by Amazon for its future data center, referred to as Hobart Tech Park.
The four residents in early December filed the first lawsuit seeking to vacate multiple actions by Hobart city officials that have “prepared” the way for the possible construction of an Amazon data center on more than a square mile of farmland within city limits.
The plaintiffs allege the two municipal bodies, the Hobart City Council and the Hobart Plan Commission, violated their “due process rights under the constitution of the United States and the State of Indiana.
Soriano, during the Hobart City Council meeting on Jan. 21, announced that she and three other homeowners had filed a second lawsuit against city officials regarding action taken by city officials on Jan. 7, which included approval of the $47 million contribution.
Hobart Mayor Josh Huddlestun has called the $47 million upfront cash payment Hobart received late last month “record-breaking.”
“Hobart secured the largest publicly known upfront cash payment ever for a private development on private land in the country. The developer (Amazon) will pay $47 million in community enhancement payments. These dollars are not part of the levy and not part of any TIF (Tax Increment Finance) district. They (funds) go straight to the city and can be used to serve the whole community,” Huddlestun said previously.
Deborah Laverty is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
Barrington Area Chamber of Commerce announces 2025 Business Awards recipients
The Barrington Area Chamber of Commerce announced its 2025 Annual Business Awards at the Annual Dinner Celebration on January 29.
According to a news release, the event, held at Avante Banquets & Conference Center, attracted nearly 200 business and community leaders to celebrate business in the Barrington area.
The Community Partner Award was presented to Barrington Area Volunteer Connection in recognition of its outstanding impact on the Barrington community. Shefali Bhuva and Sam Adams-Lanham accept the award. (Barrington Area Chamber of Commerce)
“Our Chamber Business Award recipients exemplify the dedication, leadership, and service that strengthen the Barrington business community,” 2026 BACC Board Chair Robert Finley, of Virtue Asset Management, said.
Finley announced the following awards:
BAVC, which recently celebrated five years of service, engaged over 2,100 area residents in community service, fulfilling hundreds of nonprofit needs representing over 100 local nonprofit organizations, the release said. As research has shown, volunteering can improve your self-worth, sense of purpose, and accomplishment; BAVC raises awareness of nonprofit services and needs, provides guidance to local nonprofit organizations, and enhances the quality of life in our communities.
“Next, the Business Excellence Award, which recognizes a business committed to outstanding service and quality. The Business Excellence Award goes to The Greggory,” Finley said in the release.
Led by seasoned restaurateurs Gregg Horan (Gibsons Restaurant Group) and Bill Veremis (Rosewood Steakhouse Group), and partner Executive Chef José Sosa (Gibsons Italia); the Robb Report just ranked The Greggory No. 33 on the list of the 50 Best Steak Restaurants in North America! Centered around live-fire cooking in an open kitchen, according to the release.
The menu features prime cuts of beef, fresh seafood, and homemade pastas, combining long-standing culinary traditions with unmatched warmth and personality. Their top-tier food and hospitality have resulted in this national recognition, the release said.
The Innovator of the Year Award was presented to Brian and Julianne Long of the Catlow 1927 Foundation in recognition of their vision and dedication to preserving a historic community landmark. (Barrington Area Chamber of Commerce)
“Finally, our Innovator of the Year Award,” Finley said in the release. ”This award singles out a local entity that contributes programming or services that challenge, enhance, and change our communities for the better. The Innovator of the Year Award goes to The Catlow 1927 Foundation.”
According to the release, Brian and Julianne Long bought the Catlow in 2023 to keep a vital part of the town’s history alive. Designed by Alfonso Iannelli, a protégé of Frank Lloyd Wright, they launched the Catlow 1927 Foundation to fund the expansive and detailed restoration of The Catlow Theatre to its glory of 1927. Once open, it will host an array of shows and live events that will help revitalize and enrich downtown Barrington for generations to come.
“Our award recipients play a vital role in making the Barrington area a great place to live, work, and grow,” Finley said.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/09/barrington-area-chamber-of-commerce-awards/
Lyons Township dance team brings home 2nd place trophy from state
It’s been a recent tradition that Lyons Township High School’s competitive dance team goes to the Illinois High School Association state meet.
You can set your calendar by it. If there is a state meet, Lyons will be competing. It’s been that way since 2018.
But for the first eight appearances in the Class 3A competition, the Lions never brought back a trophy.
Thanks in part to Dracula and a couple of seniors, that all changed on Jan. 31 when the team finished second in the state at the meet, which was held at the Grossinger Motors Arena in Bloomington.
Lyons came up with a performance that drew a 96.60 score from the judges, just a small fraction below champion Lake Park’s 96.88.
For those unfamiliar with the dynamic during the awards, there are 10 teams that make the finals in each division. After the competition, the drama gets thick as third, second and first place winners are announced. No one knows if they finished 10th or in the top three until the announcement.
So, the teams all sit on the floor in a circle and wait. And the people running the show milk the drama as much as they can to heighten the tension.
The team from Stevenson in Lincolnshire was the first to be announced, taking third. After the Patriots accepted their awards and took their photos, it was time for the second-place team to be announced. It was Lyons.
“After the third-place team was announced, it was definitely a rollercoaster of emotions,” Lions coach Brittany Smith said.“Our thoughts were, it’s anybody’s game, now.
“There is that little bit of doubt and there is also that hope. But we were happy knowing that we put our best foot forward. But it was anyone’s game going into the whole weekend.”
The result was a historic trophy.
What made this year’s team so special?
Smith said rather than use an outside choreographer, seniors Hayden Frazier and Nora Foley came up with the team’s creative ideas.
“They were really good about utilizing everyone’s individual skill,” Smith said. “Everyone was able to work with each other.
“In the past we brought in choreographers and learned it over the summer. And once the season started, we would piece it all together. But having the kids do it – and knowing what everyone can do – that really made a difference.”
Smith said it’s rare to let the students have so much creative control but she felt strongly that Frazier and Foley were up to the task.
“We were at state last year and they said, ‘we have an idea,’’’ Smith said. “These two kids have choreographed shows with our Eurythmic Dance Company at our high school. Their attention to detail is great.”
This year’s theme was “Dracula,” and it took on an avant-garde side.
“It had a darkish undertone to it,” Smith said. “I don’t even know how you would describe it. So many other people said this, too, that it was something very different. No one was doing that style of music or choreography, so that helped.”
Other members of the Lions roster are Kassidy Powell, Reese Morgan, Alexa Farmer, Payton Gourley, Caroline Kethum, Liza Shorrock, Julia Diennes, Maddie Dienes, Alexis Jain, Aara Maheronnaghsh, Campbell McCarthy, Failenn Daley, Siena Giordano, Bella Holcer, Samantha Sexton, Maeve McCormack, Maddie Carmody, Natalya Thomson, Greta Newlin, Lily Martin, Karina Singh, Lucia Nemeth, Peyton Carmody, Brooke Manley, Maya Bylsma and Elaina Stoltz.
There was no break after the Lions brought home the IHSA trophy. They had a few more practices and then headed to Florida, where they competed on the national level.
Lyons took fifth at the Universal Dance Association meet in the Large Varsity D1 Jazz division in Orlando on Feb. 6-7 with an 88.4125.
“We have been to summer camps that the UDA sponsored and we have qualified for the nationals but never took the jump to actually compete,” Smith said. “But this is the year we felt like we could do it.”
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/09/lyons-township-dance-team-award/
Not Clear Whether Vaccines Cause Autism, Needs More Research; NIH Director Says
Not Clear Whether Vaccines Cause Autism, Needs More Research; NIH Director Says
Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,
The director of the National Institutes of Health said in a new interview that there’s a dearth of high-quality research into vaccines and autism and that the health agency is funding research that will determine the causes of autism.
Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, the NIH’s director, told EpochTV’s “American Thought Leaders” in an interview released on Feb. 10 that he has read studies that have found no connection between the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine and autism. Bhattacharya sees the studies as robust.
“For other vaccines, there actually isn’t this kind of rich literature,” he said.
“‘Do vaccines cause autism’ is a poorly formed question,” Bhattacharya added later.
“Do I believe that we know that there are some vaccines that cause autism? The answer—I don’t think that’s true. Do we know for a fact that every single vaccine in the combination it is given doesn’t cause autism? Also, I don’t know that we know that. These are things that are worthy of research.”
A small number of studies have found indications that autism can be caused by vaccines, while others have identified no increased risk in autism following receipt of the measles shot.
Bhattacharya, during a Senate Health Committee hearing on Feb. 3, told Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) that he does not believe autism is caused by the measles vaccine. Sanders pressed for a broader answer.
“I have not seen a study that suggests any single vaccine causes autism,” Bhattacharya said.
President Donald Trump has directed health officials to study autism, noting that more kids than ever are being diagnosed with the disorder. One of the efforts, led by the NIH, is called the Autism Data Science Initiative and involves investing more than $50 million in projects aimed at pinpointing autism causes.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has also said that the government is looking into potential links between autism and vaccines.
“We’ve invested a tremendous amount of money in trying to understand the etiology of autism, because there’s millions of families around the country that have children that … they would love to be able to help, but we don’t really have great answers, both for the cause and how to sort of reverse whatever problems there are. And of course, there’s a whole range of phenotypes … ranging from very, very severe autism to much milder, and so you can have different answers and different biology,” Bhattacharya told The Epoch Times.
“We need to have better science underlying all of these conditions, and that’s something I’m investing in to make sure that the next generation of folks who have these conditions will have better answers provided to them.”
A baby after receiving a vaccine for hepatitis B and other diseases, in an undated illustration photograph. Riccardo Milani/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images
Bhattacharya also said he views the NIH’s role as funding research that will provide answers to key questions.
“Even if some people think that the question is already settled, if there’s a lot of the population that doesn’t agree, then, in my view, the right, respectful thing to do is to—rather than just to censor them or argue with them to marginalize them—is to provide more, better, scientific answers to the questions that they have,” he said.
Some organizations, such as the American Medical Association, say existing literature makes clear that vaccines do not cause autism. Certain groups maintain that all or many autism cases are caused by genetic factors.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which for years said that vaccines do not cause autism, said in 2025 that the available evidence does not support that stance.
Kennedy has said multiple times that the available studies are poorly designed and do not disprove a vaccine-autism link.
Some parents of children with autism say that their children were harmed by vaccines, and the government vaccine injury program has paid families who suffered problems associated with autism following vaccination. Researchers with Children’s Health Defense, founded by Kennedy, said in a Jan. 31 paper that epidemiological and other evidence demonstrate that aluminum in vaccines can trigger autism in certain people.
“I don’t know the answer,” Bhattacharya said in the new interview.
“I don’t understand how people can so confidently say they know what the answer [is] for a biological condition that is so heterogeneous and [has] so many different hypotheses. That’s the way I’ve been approaching it.”
The CDC recently downgraded recommendations for six vaccines to shared clinical-decision making, or advising parents to consult with doctors before having their children vaccinated, while keeping in place routine recommendations for the measles vaccine and seven other shots. Bhattacharya said that he favors vaccinating children with most of the vaccines recommended by the government, because they protect against infectious diseases.
“Now it may be that for some kids with different kinds of susceptibility in different areas, there’s going to be some risk, and you have to take that into account,” he said. “And so there should be a sort of a shared decision-making kind of thing for vaccinations.”
Tyler Durden
Mon, 02/09/2026 – 15:20
Democrat Lawmakers Seek Pentagon Probe Of SpaceX Over Potential China-Linked Investment
Democrat Lawmakers Seek Pentagon Probe Of SpaceX Over Potential China-Linked Investment
Authored by Sean Tsang via The Epoch Times,
Two senators are urging the Pentagon to find out whether investors tied to China hold stakes in SpaceX, one of America’s most important defense contractors and a key provider of military launch services.
In a Feb. 5 letter to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Andy Kim (D-N.J.) said recently unsealed court records and media reports raise concern about whether Chinese money reached SpaceX through intermediaries and offshore entities.
“These [alleged] ties could pose a national security threat, potentially jeopardizing key military, intelligence, and civilian infrastructure,” they wrote.
The senators argue it could trigger U.S. safeguards meant to keep foreign adversaries from gaining leverage over companies that handle sensitive national security work.
Warren and Kim cited media reports describing a market for SpaceX shares that allegedly included Chinese investors, sometimes using middlemen and structures in places such as the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands.
A Delaware court last year backed a fund manager’s decision to remove a Chinese investor from a fund set up to buy SpaceX shares, according to court filings.
Iqbaljit Kahlon, who managed the fund, had admitted Leo Investments, a publicly traded Chinese company, as a limited partner.
SpaceX told Kahlon the fund could not purchase shares if Leo remained involved, prompting him to remove the investor and return its $50 million. The fund was structured as a special-purpose vehicle (SPV), a common way for investors to pool money to buy shares in private companies like SpaceX. SPVs let multiple investors combine capital into a single ownership stake, making it easier to trade smaller slices of stock without the company having to deal with a large number of individual shareholders.
In the letter, the senators said that as SpaceX is privately held, the public can’t see how much of the company is owned by China-linked investors or whether any such holdings are large enough to influence the company.
In April 2025, the U.S. Space Force awarded SpaceX a National Security Space Launch Phase 3 “Lane 2 contract” with an anticipated value of about $5.9 billion, and it projected SpaceX would receive 28 missions—around 60 percent of those Phase 3 Lane 2 missions over fiscal years 2025 through 2029.
Space Force’s “Lane 2” missions are its highest-priority launches, carrying the most demanding, least risk-tolerant national security payloads—often major military and intelligence satellites—into harder-to-reach or higher-energy orbits with complex security and integration requirements.
The senators warned that Chinese investors could “potentially gain access to nonpublic information about the company, including ‘details on its contracts or supply chain,’ giving China access to information and technology that could undermine US national security.”
The Epoch Times reached out to SpaceX and the Department of Defense for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.
Review
The senators said their concerns merit the Pentagon to conduct a Foreign Ownership, Control, or Influence (FOCI) mitigation review.
The Pentagon’s security arm, the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA), defines a company as operating under FOCI when a foreign interest has the power—directly or indirectly—to shape management or operations in a way that could enable unauthorized access to classified information or harm performance on classified contracts.
SpaceX launches the Falcon 9 Fram2 Mission from Launch Complex 39A of NASAÕs Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on March 31, 2025. Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo/Getty Images
The DCSA says it evaluates factors such as the extent of foreign ownership—including “substantial minority” positions—and the foreign government’s record on espionage and technology transfer.
The senators also asked the War Department to coordinate with the Treasury to consider whether any China-linked investments should be reviewed by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), the interagency panel authorized to review certain foreign investment transactions for national security risk.
They requested a response by Feb. 20, and asked the War Department to answer questions such as: how many SpaceX shares are owned by China-linked and other adversary-linked investors, whether any such investors have access to nonpublic information, and whether SpaceX is subject to FOCI mitigation requirements.
Policy Backdrop
The lawmakers framed the request against the Trump administration’s “America First Investment Policy.”
The policy explicitly calls China a foreign adversary and warns that the country can use both visible and concealed investment routes—sometimes via third-country funds—to pursue sensitive technologies and strategic leverage.
The Chinese investment ties are “at odds with the administration’s policies on foreign investment from countries of concern in strategic industries,” the senators wrote.
They also said that the matter became “even more salient” after SpaceX announced it had acquired xAI, expanding the combined company’s footprint across AI, rockets, and satellite connectivity.
Tyler Durden
Mon, 02/09/2026 – 14:40
Gary man convicted of most charges in rape trial
A Gary man was convicted of most charges Friday in a rape trial.
Damian Donaldson, 38, was charged with 15 felonies, including rape, burglary and strangulation. He also faced a half-dozen misdemeanors.
Among several allegations, court records state he sexually assaulted a woman, broke her windshield, and poured marinara sauce in her gas tank in October.
The jury convicted him of rape, attempted rape, criminal confinement, burglary, two counts of stalking, two counts of intimidation, three counts of domestic battery, one count of strangulation, one count of neglect of a dependent, and five misdemeanors.
He was acquitted of intimidation, strangulation and misdemeanor interference with the reporting of a crime.
His sentencing date is March 5.
Donaldson did not show up Tuesday for opening arguments and the trial’s first day. The next day, he appeared back in court, claiming the jail did not transport him. Prosecutors disputed this, presenting evidence — including a jail call to the victim — where he said he wasn’t going to court.
The case was further complicated since the woman indicated in November that she would stop cooperating with police and prosecutors. She ignored a subpoena served last month, ordering her to testify.
Both prosecutors and Det. Olivia Vasquez said they would do the trial without her. They accused Donaldson of launching an intimidation campaign from jail, including contacting her repeatedly personally, or through others, and threatening to call child protective services unless she would help him squash the case.
Deputy Prosecutors Infinity Westberg and Jessica (Arnold) Woodward told jurors during the trial that Donaldson and the victim had a tumultuous “on-and-off” relationship with children, according to court documents.
They argued they had a stack of evidence implicating him, including multiple 911 calls dating back to a different incident in April, bodycam footage, and “limited” information from his cell phone.
Hours after the Oct. 28 assault, one preteen child recorded Donaldson on a cell phone threatening to kill the woman and damaging her windshield and headlights.
Defense lawyer Roseann Ivanovich said Friday she argued in closing arguments that Donaldson admitted damaging the woman’s vehicle and she made the rape allegation in anger.
Woodward played a jail call to jurors where Donaldson and the woman’s conversation grew heated. During the assault, she accused him of trying to get her to perform the sex act for 20 minutes.
Her story didn’t change in those jail calls, Woodward told jurors.
On Wednesday, after Donaldson claimed the jail didn’t take him to court, jail administrators sent a document saying he told an officer he wasn’t going.
Ivanovich asked for a mistrial, which Judge Salvador Vasquez eventually denied. He is not related to the detective.
Gary Police responded at 8:18 a.m. Oct. 28 after the reported rape. They found her damaged vehicle and a broken pasta sauce jar outside.
The woman said Donaldson showed up around 1 a.m. at her back door uninvited.
He claimed the Indiana Department of Child Services would take her children if police were called. She allowed him to wait for a ride, but soon doubted why he was there.
The kids woke up during their argument. After they went back to sleep, he grabbed the woman’s face, trying to get her to perform a sex act. When she resisted, he choked and raped her instead.
“(If) you don’t do it, I’ll kill you,” he said.
The woman had a previous protection order filed in Cook County.
Donaldson was later charged with a stalking case on Nov. 12 after pressuring the woman against testifying. Prosecutors filed to dismiss that case earlier this week.
In the April 17-19 incident, the woman said he punched and choked her in front of the children, smashed her vehicle windows with a pick axe, smashed in the front door and various windows with it, knocked holes in her walls, then swung the pick axe at her.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/09/gary-man-convicted-of-most-charges-in-rape-trial/
Lavrov’s Rare Rebuke Of Trump: In Reality, Relations No Better Than Under Biden
Lavrov’s Rare Rebuke Of Trump: In Reality, Relations No Better Than Under Biden
The Kremlin has lashed out at the Trump administration in a rare moment, revealing its impatience and dissatisfaction with the way trilateral talks focused on ending the Ukraine war are going.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in a fresh interview also accused Washington of sabotaging efforts to improve bilateral relations while undermining negotiations to end the war in Ukraine. The charge is ironic, given it is typically the West which mounts the same accusation at Moscow.
“Despite all the statements by the Trump administration about the need to end the war… it does not challenge all the laws that Joe Biden passed to punish Russia after the start of the special military operation,” Lavrov said in an interview with TV BRICS.
“In practice, the opposite is happening: new sanctions are being imposed, a war is being waged against tankers on the high seas, in violation of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea,” he said in reference to recent actions involving the US seizing shadow fleet tankers.
The Trump administration also slapped sanctions on the two Russian oil giants Lukoil and Rosneft – in a controversial action last fall.
Moscow is also likely disappointed that President Trump hasn’t pressured Zelensky into making serious territorial concessions using the significant leverage Washington has over Kiev.
Lavrov asserted that Trump reneged on certain “understandings” reached directly with President Putin at the Anchorage summit in August.
“Beyond what they claimed to offer on Ukraine … we also see no positive outlook on the economic front,” Lavrov said in the interview. “Washington, in our view, is seeking control over global energy supply routes serving major economies across multiple continents.”
Russia wants to cooperate with the US toward achieving peace, Lavrov continued, but he went on to say that “the Americans themselves are creating artificial obstacles on this path” – or in essence, sabotaging peace.
This kind of criticism by Russia has typically been reserved only for Europe. EU leaders have remained much more out in the open in terms of imposing extra ‘obstacles’ and conditions on US-proposed peace measures. So this kind of directly taking aim at Trump is a break from past rhetoric.
On Europe and its newly investing in defense, Lavrov has said, “We have no intention of attacking Europe. There is no reason to do so.”
“If Europe acts on its threats to prepare for war against us and initiates an attack on the Russian Federation, it will face a full-fledged military response from our side, with all available military capabilities,” the Russian top diplomat added.
Tyler Durden
Mon, 02/09/2026 – 14:20
Naperville residents receive college/university degrees, named to honor rolls and dean’s lists
The following Naperville residents have completed college/university degrees or have been named to their school’s dean’s list, honor roll or similar academic achievement list.
Names, degrees and honors appear below as provided by the respective schools.
GRADUATIONS
University of lllinois-Chicago: Matthew James Macbeth Miller, bachelor’s degree, Psychology.
ACADEMIC HONORS
University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh: Trevor Morris.
University of Wisconsin-Green Bay: Bella Brozek.
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse: Grace Petrina.
St. Mary’s University in Winona, Minnesota: Xara Gin.
College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia: Joe Torrico.
St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota: Skylar Fildew, Isabelle Hicks, Amaia Wood.
Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa: Ian Altekruse, Allison Anderson, Vartan Avedoumian, Mikayla Doxie, Fabi Gipson, Cale Rester, Isabella Schreiter.
Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington: Ellen Hoover, Martin Howley, Ell Macias-Torres, Connor Sintes, Lauryn Albertini, Gavin Anderson, Celina El Ghossaini, Abby Hulsey, Kaylee Miller, Jackson Stanton, Bella Zakrzewski.
University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Tyler Auer, Drew Donovan, Avery Chapman Dunn, William John Giuffre, Zoe Alexandra Kennedy, Benjamin Peter Kujawa, Matthew Kyle Ligeski, Connor Robert Nelson, Sydney Notestine, Kailey Rex, Conner Schreier, Bode John Smith, Logan Zbigniew Swistak.
University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa: Emerson Arens, Caiden Atwater, Luke Belber, Teagan Bernstein-Meachum, Scott Boscarino, Bobby Brady, Madison Byrne, Josephine Casina, Margaret Casina, Colin Duckworth, Willard Einspar, Noah Erazo, Parker Fults, Kennedy Harvey, Ashleigh Hunt, Ava Lucibello, Ava Madejczyk, Riley McGrath, Grace Niketas, Emily Patton, Will Poedtke, Joe Quinn, Erin Schneider, Julia Springer, Tyler Sternstein, Jacob Switt, Mitchell Teske, Abby Von Der Linden, Owen Wilkey, Zephyr Windmiller, Zachary Zuspann.
Iowa State University in Ames: Cambell Eileen Cavins, Anthony Cotner, Elizabeth Hope Gresham, Libby Dorothy High, Amanda Malina, Sebastian Perez Aburto, Esra Agun, Franklin Austin, Jacob E Bach, Brennan Bahr, Owen D. Barth, Drew A. Berger, Aleksi Tobias Bishop, Brandon Bloedorn, Addison Brackey, Curtis J. Burke, Cambell Eileen Cavins, Yarae Chung, Anthony Cotner, James Michael Croucher, Ethan Czyzewicz, Megan Claire Donson, Genetics, Zachary Druce-Hoffman, Joseph Daniel Dubsky, Riley V Gallagher, Nicholas Gregori, Elizabeth Hope Gresham, Ella Grace Grumbles, Matthew Hassell, Libby Dorothy High, Zach Highhouse, William Hofemann, Jacob Housour, Jordan Huettl, Zachary D. Huffstetter, Nathan Patrick Hurley, Brooke E. Jable, Megan Virginia Johns, James Kahl, Alexander Kamer, Michael Young Kim, Bartek Zygmunt Kurpiewski, John M. Larounis, Amanda Malina, Katherine Rose Mitchell, Mallory G. Moore, Luke Edgar Mulligan, Rudra Mahesh Naik, Marvin Nguyen, Cooper Osburn, Zachary J. Petzold, Ty Lamont Randle, Prakeerth Regunath, Emerson Sabado, Andrea Elizabeth Schmit, Anthony Serio, Maia June Simon, Elijah Alec Sutherland, Allison M. Treacy, Jameson Turas, Nojus Urlakis, Julianna K Williams, Luke William Wolfe, Bodhi E. Wyzkiewicz, Junhan Zhang.
Northern Illinois University in DeKalb: Gigi Bibian, Joseph Boccuzzi, Kurt Brown, Kevin Culkeen, Liam Ebert, Electrical Engineering, Paul Eldridge, Niko Epps, Daniel Fedorenko, Patricia Geno, Nicholas Grdina, Mari Green, Eric Guzman, John Houston, Kristen Janiak, Endo Luvsannyam, Ajaraj Mahida, Luke Mallard, Brie McDaniel, Jessica Rosenwinkel, Caitlin Roskos, Alexis Rostar, Yousef Saadeh, Jamie Saran, Eric Schaschwary, Kaitlyn Skidmore, Star Stevens, Olivia Story, Starlynn Sutton, Aditi Venkatesh, Ben Whitlock, Kamyla Wilson, Brian Zhan.
Milwaukee School of Engineering in Wisconsin: Brett Storoe, Joseph Loduca, Paul Majka, Nicolas Picha, Brendan Pacocha, Thomas Kiefer, Zoe Kirkman, Rose Fritz, Lachlan Lad, Tyler Patti, Connor McDonald, Benjamin Messier, Reed Hefley.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/09/naperville-residents-graduates-honors-list/
