Category: News
Morton Grove man shot after confronting 2 men breaking into his vehicle. Police chief pens letter discouraging victim engagement.
A Morton Grove man was shot after he confronted two men believed to be breaking into his vehicle parked at the man’s home, an incident detectives continue to investigate and the Morton Grove police chief personally addressed – discouraging such victim engagement.
According to a police department news release, officers responded around 2:44 a.m. on Jan. 25 to the 7300 block of Palma Lane on a call of shots fired related to a burglary to a motor vehicle.
Morton Grove and Niles police officers arrived on the scene. They discovered a man had been shot and “provided lifesaving interventions” to him, including the application of a tourniquet, the release states.
The man was taken by Morton Grove Fire Department ambulance to a local hospital, authorities explained in the release.
The man was not identified, and he was reported to be in stable condition when he was taken to the hospital.
Authorities explained in the release that an early investigation revealed that two male offenders were trying to break into a vehicle parked on the block. The man eventually shot had identified the vehicle being burgled as his own and he confronted the would-be thieves.
“At that time, the offenders battered the victim and discharged a firearm, striking him in the leg, before fleeing the scene. The offenders were observed leaving the area by witnesses in a dark colored sedan,” according to the release.
Information about the two men and the vehicle they allegedly fled the scene in was “promptly” shared with regional law enforcement, the release explained.
The same day as the incident, Morton Grove police Chief Michael Weitzel penned a “letter to the community” where he referenced the Palma Lane reported shooting as well as what he called a similar incident Jan. 7 that took place on Reba Court.
The chief acknowledged that, in Illinois, “private citizens have a statutory right to use proportional force to defend their property. The victim in this case (Palma Lane incident) did what he believed was necessary to protect his property under extremely stressful and rapidly unfolding circumstances.”
He said such incidents “highlight the very real danger of confronting individuals who are engaged in criminal activity.” But he noted that sometimes criminals won’t hesitate to used deadly force, “as we saw in this case.”
“While citizens have legal rights to defend themselves and their property, we strongly encourage residents to prioritize their personal safety and contact the police rather than physically confronting suspects,” the chief wrote.
Weitzel acknowledged residents’ concerns about the two shooting incidents and, while they are similar, declined to state they are connected. He said both shootings remain under investigation, including the use of law enforcement partners and technology.
“It is also important for the community to understand that the Morton Grove Police Department is not only responding to these incidents after the fact, but is actively working to deter them before they occur,” the police chief wrote. His department “remains committed to aggressively investigating these incidents, bringing those responsible to justice, and providing a sense of safety and security to the victim of this crime and to everyone in this Village.”
Anyone with information related to the incidents is asked to contact the Morton Grove Police Department at 847-470-5200.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/03/morton-grove-man-shot-during-vehicle-break-in/
St. Norbert’s School in Northbrook celebrates its Blue Ribbon award
The color of the day at St. Norbert School in Northbrook on Friday, Jan. 30 was blue, as the school celebrated its Governor’s Blue Ribbon School award with an assembly in the church’s gym.
Bright blue ribbons adorned trees outside of the school on Walters Avenue and stood out against the snow.
The U.S. Department of Education started the Blue Ribbon School awards in the 1980s as a way to give national recognition to high-achieving schools.
Students cheer at the Blue Ribbon Award Celebration in the gym serving St. Norbert School on Jan. 30, 2026 in Northbrook. (Karie Angell Luc/Pioneer Press)
Last August, however, the department quietly discontinued the program, according to previous reporting. Illinois took up the mantle, and is honoring 28 schools, 15 public and 13 private, with the Governor’s Blue Ribbon School Award program. According to the Illinois State Board of Education, the awards honor public and private K-12 schools with exemplary academic performance.
Scott McDonald, director of communications and marketing for the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Office of Catholic Schools, said that a St. Norbert’s official told him, “We received an email in June 2025 and August 2025 letting us know that we would be a 2025 National Blue Ribbon School. Then, in very late August we learned that the national program was terminated. The State of Illinois then created its own Blue Ribbon School program, and we were recognized on Oct. 10 by the state.”
In the north suburbs, the Blue Ribbon Award winners include, according to the Illinois State Board of Education, St. Norbert’s, The Academy at St. Joan of Arc in Evanston, Regina Dominican High School in Wilmette, Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart in Lake Forest and Sunset Ridge Elementary School in Northfield.
A bulletin board exudes good news for the school as parents walk the hallways to the gym for the Blue Ribbon Award Celebration at St. Norbert School on Jan. 30, 2026 in Northbrook. (Karie Angell Luc/Pioneer Press)
St. Norbert School has 218 students from pre-K (age 3) to eighth grade.
There is a religious education program at the church for students attending other schools, but that did not factor into a Blue Ribbon status evaluation, said Jack Shepherd, St. Norbert School principal since last July 1, who called the Blue Ribbon achievement “a big deal.”
The banner on stage at the Blue Ribbon Award Celebration at St. Norbert School on Jan. 30, 2026 in Northbrook. (Karie Angell Luc/Pioneer Press)
Shepherd credited Margaret Hoody, former principal and currently director of curriculum and student services, for providing a pivotal role in the school’s quality.
“I’m just stepping into it. I did not do the work behind it, that would be all Dr. Hoody,” Shepherd said.
“It’s a great honor for the school, great way to showcase our school to students, the curriculum that we use, the dedication of the staff.
“But we take pride in our religious education,” Shepherd said.
What makes St. Norbert School different?
“It is a really close community,” Shepherd added. “I felt that since the day I stepped in. People support each other, the parents and community support the school tremendously and we just have a really great community of kids that get along and work together to make sure things go in the right direction.”
Blue ribbons are on trees outside of St. Norbert School on Jan. 30, 2026 in Northbrook. (Karie Angell Luc/Pioneer Press)
For Friday’s award festivities, children were brought into the gym, where silver and blue balloons adorned the stage.
A banner and check presentation were revealed. Students wore special blue t-shirts and celebrated with dancing and glittery pompoms, plus popsicle treats at the end.
Rev. Christopher Gustafson, pastor of St. Norbert and Our Lady of The Brook Parish, offered words of prayer from the stage podium.
Earlier, he acknowledged the fact the Archdiocese of Chicago has recently closed some Catholic schools in Chicagoland.
He was asked whether earning Blue Ribbon School status, which Gustafson said St. Norbert School has enjoyed before, would reinforce the likelihood of the archdiocese keeping the school open.
“I think they recognize, the archdiocese does, that we’re a great school, we have great leadership and we fortunately have the resources that not every other parish has,” Gustafson said.
“And that makes a difference because the scholarship money from the government has been withdrawn, so we have some great donors and others that help us in an endowment.
“So our hearts go out to all those children and their families but we want to celebrate that we are blessed and do our best to welcome whoever we can into the fold,” Gustafson said.
Gobierno británico envía expediente a la policía sobre relaciones de político con Epstein
Por JILL LAWLESS
LONDRES (AP) — El gobierno británico anunció el martes que envió a la policía un expediente en medio de acusaciones de que un político del Partido Laborista pasó información sensible a Jeffrey Epstein.
Los detectives están evaluando si el político, Peter Mandelson, debe enfrentar una investigación penal por dar información reservada al difunto delincuente sexual.
El primer ministro Keir Starmer dijo a su gabinete que estaba “horrorizado” por las revelaciones en los archivos de Epstein recién publicados y estaba preocupado de que aún haya más detalles por emerger.
El gobierno de Starmer está elaborando una legislación para expulsar del Parlamento a Mandelson, una figura destacada del laborismo durante décadas, y despojarlo de su título nobiliario “Lord” que acompaña toda membresía vitalicia en la Cámara de los Lores.
Los más de tres millones de páginas de documentos relacionados con Epstein, publicados por el Departamento de Justicia de Estados Unidos, han traído revelaciones sobre Mandelson, de 72 años, quien ocupó cargos gubernamentales de alto nivel bajo gobiernos laboristas anteriores y fue embajador en Washington hasta que Starmer lo despidió en septiembre por sus vínculos con Epstein.
Los archivos recién publicados contienen detalles sobre los contactos de Mandelson con el desacreditado financiero, incluidos correos electrónicos que transmiten fragmentos de información política, algunos de los cuales los críticos dicen que podrían haber violado la ley. La policía dice que está revisando informes de mala conducta “para determinar si cumplen con el umbral criminal para la investigación”.
El portavoz de Starmer, Tom Wells, declaró que el gobierno envió a la policía su evaluación de que los documentos contienen “información financiera probablemente” sobre la crisis financiera global de 2008 y sus secuelas que no deberían haberse compartido fuera del gobierno.
Entre las revelaciones en los archivos:
En 2003-2004, documentos bancarios sugieren que Epstein envió tres pagos que suman 75.000 dólares a cuentas vinculadas a Mandelson o su pareja Reinaldo Avila da Silva. Mandelson ha dicho que no recuerda haber recibido el dinero e investigará si los documentos son auténticos. Pero renunció al gobernante Partido Laborista el domingo para no causar “más vergüenza” al partido.
En 2008, Epstein evitó el enjuiciamiento federal al declararse culpable de cargos estatales en Florida de solicitar y procurar a un menor para la prostitución. Fue sentenciado a 18 meses de cárcel.
Correos electrónicos y mensajes de texto muestran que la amistad de Mandelson con Epstein continuó después de la sentencia del financiero.
En 2009, Epstein envió a da Silva 10.000 libras (aproximadamente 13.650 dólares a las tasas actuales) para pagar un curso de osteopatía. Mandelson dijo a The Times de Londres que “en retrospectiva, fue claramente un error en nuestro juicio colectivo que Reinaldo aceptara esta oferta”.
También en 2009, Mandelson, entonces secretario de negocios, parece haber dicho a Epstein que presionaría a otros miembros del gobierno para reducir un impuesto sobre las bonificaciones de los banqueros.
El mismo año, Mandelson envió a Epstein un informe interno del gobierno que discutía formas en que el Reino Unido podría recaudar dinero después de la crisis financiera global de 2008, incluyendo la venta de activos gubernamentales. Mandelson escribió: “Nota interesante que ha ido al PM”.
En mayo de 2010, Mandelson envió un mensaje a Epstein diciendo que “fuentes me dicen que el rescate de 500.000 millones de euros” está casi completo. El mensaje fue fechado horas antes de que los gobiernos europeos anunciaran un acuerdo de 500.000 millones de euros para apuntalar el euro.
Starmer ha ordenado al servicio civil que realice una revisión “urgente” de todos los contactos de Mandelson con Epstein mientras estaba en el gobierno.
El secretario de Salud, Wes Streeting, indicó que la amistad de Mandelson con Epstein fue “una traición en muchos niveles”.
“Es una traición a las víctimas de Jeffrey Epstein que continuara esa asociación y esa amistad durante tanto tiempo después de su condena”, dijo Streeting a la BBC. “Es una traición no solo a un primer ministro sino a dos” — Gordon Brown, el líder del Reino Unido entre 2007 y 2010, y Starmer.
Epstein murió por suicidio en una celda de la cárcel en 2019 mientras esperaba juicio por cargos federales en Estados Unidos que lo acusaban de abusar sexualmente de docenas de niñas.
Se envió un correo electrónico solicitando comentarios sobre los documentos a Mandelson a través de la Cámara de los Lores.
___________________________________
Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.
Customers, Don’t Expect Electric Bill Relief In 2026: “The Cake Is Baked”
Customers, Don’t Expect Electric Bill Relief In 2026: “The Cake Is Baked”
By Robert Walton of UtilityDive,
Rising energy demand, inflation, grid investment, extreme weather and volatile fuel costs are increasing the cost of electricity faster than many households can keep up, and there are no easy fixes, experts say.
Mitigating the problem would require threading a needle of policy alternatives, but even with the right policies, it will take time to reduce customer energy burdens. The U.S. Energy Information Administration puts the national average residential price per kilowatt hour in 2026 at 18 cents, up approximately 37% from 2020.
“I don’t see hidden costs that can be suddenly squeezed out of the system,” said Ray Gifford, managing partner of Wilkinson Barker Knauer’s Denver office and former chair of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission. “You are talking about an industry where most of the costs are fixed, and the assets are long-lived.”
Energy affordability has recently become politically salient, but for many low-income people, “the energy affordability crisis is not new,” said Joe Daniel, a principal on the Rocky Mountain Institute’s carbon free electricity team.
In 2017, 25% of all U.S. households — more than 30 million — faced a high energy burden, defined as spending more than 6% of income on energy bills, according to a report from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. For the poorest, it can be much higher. Households making less than 30% of area median income paid about 11% of their income for electricity alone, according to data from the Department of Energy covering the years 2018 to 2022.
The Department of Energy’s Low-Income Energy Affordability Data Tool shows households’ energy burden in the lower 48 states and Washington, D.C. The data is based on the American Community Survey 5-year Estimates for 2018-2022. Retrieved from Department of Energy.
“What is new is that because electricity prices have outpaced inflation, and, more importantly, dramatically outpaced wages, moderate- and middle-income families are starting to feel the squeeze,” Daniel said.
Between December 2023 and June 2025, household energy arrearages rose by about 31%, according to the National Energy Assistance Directors Association. Forced disconnections for nonpayment are also rising, from 3 million in 2023 to 3.5 million in 2024 and potentially 4 million in 2025, it said.
The increases in electricity prices have not been felt evenly across the country, and the reasons for their rise also vary by region. Still, residential rates have risen faster than those for commercial and industrial customers, and the prices charged by investor-owned utilities are higher and have risen faster than those charged by public power utilities, raising pressure on regulators and elected officials to try to rein in costs.
At least six states introduced legislation last year to limit utilities’ return on equity. California’s Public Utilities Commission recently lowered utilities’ ROE in that state by 0.3 percentage points. And newly elected New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill used her first day in office to issue executive orders seeking to freeze electricity cost increases and direct regulators to “modernize” the electric utility business model by making profits “less dependent on capital spending.”
Investors are spooked. Jefferies reported “considerable inbound concern from investors of all types” in January, ahead of Sherrill’s inauguration, related to the anticipated freeze.
But some consumer advocates question whether actions taken now will be too little, too late.
“They’re freezing rates at the highest they’ve ever been,” said Mark Wolfe, executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors Association.
Low-income customers are “continually falling behind,” and utilities “spend considerable resources trying to collect,” he said. “I don’t think it works, especially as electricity gets more and more expensive, going up faster than incomes.”
Jay Griffin, a former utility regulator and executive chair for the Regulatory Assistance Project, recently wrote that utility business model reform “isn’t just an abstract policy debate, it’s a practical necessity.”
“By rewarding capital investment over outcomes, the model encourages utilities to ‘spend money to make money,’ while discouraging non-capital solutions like demand management and distributed energy resources,” he said. “This model creates risk for customers and investors alike.”
The electric utility sector says it is working to address affordability issues.
Last year, investor-owned utilities allocated about $7 billion to support customer programs, according to their trade group, the Edison Electric Institute. Those efforts included energy audits and weatherization education, usage-reduction programs for low-income households, bill assistance and payment plans, relief programs and referrals for community support.
“As demand grows in our evolving economy, we will continue building on our long track record of delivering customer savings and supporting families facing financial hardships,” EEI said in an emailed statement.
Rising demand — does it hurt or help?
The reasons for electricity price inflation are myriad and the mechanisms for determining price depend on the market, making it hard to generalize across the entire U.S. Grid investments, rising material and labor costs and natural disasters all play a role, but perhaps the issue that has attracted the most attention is that of large-load data centers and their unprecedented demands for power.
After decades of stagnant growth, the EIA expects demand from the commercial and industrial sectors to grow U.S. electricity consumption by 1% in 2026 and 3% in 2027, “marking the first four years of consecutive growth since 2005–07, and the strongest four-year period of growth since the turn of the century.”
Looking further out, the Bank of America Institute projects demand to rise at a 2.5% compound annual rate through 2035. It attributes the growth to not just data centers, but also building electrification, industrial growth and electric vehicles.
Aggressive load forecasts have helped drive capacity prices to new highs in the PJM Interconnection, the largest grid operator in the country. Data center load accounted for $6.5 billion, or 40%, of the $16.4 billion in costs from the PJM Interconnection’s December capacity auction, according to the grid operator’s independent market monitor.
“Generally speaking, the higher the demand, the higher the prices go,” said Marc Brown, the Consumer Energy Alliance’s executive director of Northeast.
But some research has found that growing demand — from large loads as well as consumer electrification efforts — can also be a grid asset. A study released over the summer from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory concluded that load growth helped depress electricity prices over the past five years, and states with the largest price increases typically featured shrinking customer loads.
“It remains unclear whether broader, sustained load growth will increase long-run average costs and prices,” the researchers said. “In some cases, spikes in load growth can result in significant, near-term retail price increases.”
RMI’s Daniel said higher throughput on the grid can help to lower rates by spreading costs over a broader customer base, and flexible demand can be used to address grid stress and peak loads.
“Done poorly or done correctly, it has the capability of dramatically impacting rates and bills,” he said.
Gifford also said that load growth has the potential to benefit the grid, but only under the right circumstances.
“Load growth, if allocated and planned for properly, can lower per-unit costs to customers on the [transmission and distribution] and even generation side,” Gifford said. But the impacts would take some time to materialize.
A lack of competition in transmission and distribution
Experts say transmission and distribution costs are another major driver of rising consumer bills.
“Some of that is because it’s an old grid that needs to get replaced,” said said RMI’s Daniel. “And because of inflation and supply chain issues, the costs to replace an aging grid have gone up.”
Producer price index figures from November show copper wire and cable, as well as switchgear, costs were all up more than 11% year over year and about 60% from 2020. Tariffs, inflation and supply-chain issues have also impacted key components like aluminum, transformers and turbines.
But many of the increases appearing on customer bills now are for infrastructure that was built over the past several years. And some argue the ROE model is incentivizing utilities and infrastructure owners and developers to build more expensively than necessary.
There is a “regulatory gap in how transmission gets approved and then put on bills of utilities in parts of the country,” Daniel said. “We are building, essentially, the wrong type of transmission.”
Utilities are building local, supplemental projects “that undergo less scrutiny and still deliver a high rate of return, instead of the larger transmission projects that deliver on affordability and reliability,” he said. A 2024 RMI report, for instance, found that in New England, annual spending on local transmission projects increased eightfold from 2016, to nearly $800 million in 2023. The Berkeley Lab study found that overall, investor-owned utilities’ inflation-adjusted spending on distribution and transmission increased from 2019 to 2024 while generation costs declined.
Paul Cicio, chair of the Electricity Transmission Competition Coalition and president of the Industrial Energy Consumers of America, said the fault lies with regulators.
In 2011, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued Order 1000, which requires large transmission projects be subject to competitive bidding. But it made an exception for projects necessary for short-term reliability.
The result, Cicio said, was that just 5% of transmission projects are now being competitively bid. The “loophole” was supposed to be closed in 2024 with FERC Order 1920, but the order did not include ratepayer cost containment provisions, he added.
“FERC needs to close that loophole and require that these projects are competitively bid between utilities,” Cicio said. “Affordability is becoming a national political issue. … Electricity costs are now on everybody’s radar.”
Utilities have spent almost $154 billion annually on transmission investments in the last five years, said Cicio, “but that’s only the initial cost.”
When FERC incentives and financing charges are factored in, the cost to consumers winds up being almost $1.8 trillion on transmission in the last five years, he noted.
“These are massive amounts of layered-in dollars, and consumers are on the hook,” Cicio said. “The cake is baked.”
Storms and wildfires require grid upgrades
Industry sources and grid planners say that in addition to building out transmission and distribution, utilities also have to harden the grid in the face of more destructive storms and wildfires.
Last year, U.S. residents lost more power than any year in the previous decade, according to the EIA, with hurricanes a leading cause. The annual average of 11 hours of electricity interruptions was nearly double the annual average of the last 10 years, it said.
On top of the costs of physical grid hardening, the cost of insurance also contributes to higher bills.
In California, which has some of the highest electricity prices in the country, wildfire mitigation efforts cost ratepayers $27 billion between 2019 and 2023, with 40% of that coming from insurance costs, according to the World Resources Institute.
The cost of decarbonization
State policies driving decarbonization can also lead to higher prices, some say.
The Berkeley Lab report linked price increases in recent years to net metered behind-the-meter solar and renewable portfolio standard programs.
States with RPS programs that called for new supplies in the last five years increased retail electricity prices by about 0.4 cents/kWh, the study said. It also found, however, that electricity prices were unaffected by “market-based” utility-scale renewable energy projects built outside of RPS mandates.
Those and other findings are driving some states to rethink their policies. Pennsylvania Republicans forced the state to withdraw from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative last year, for instance, over affordability concerns.
“Programs like RGGI have seen pretty significant [cost] increases,” said Brown from the Consumer Energy Alliance. Program revenues could be returned to consumers, or expenses capped, he said.
Gifford said states with carbon reduction deadlines may need to rapidly to squeeze out a final 20% of carbon-emitting resources.
“You could imagine some of those states reconsidering those mandates or creating a political face-saving way to back off,” he said. “But some of those transition costs are baked in already.”
LNG exports contribute to volatile gas prices
Natural gas prices are one of the biggest determinants of power prices because gas generators tend to set the marginal price of electricity in organized markets, and vertically integrated utilities directly pass fuel costs on to consumers.
The EIA expects the spot price of natural gas at Henry Hub to go down this year by 2% from 2025 before rising again in 2027.
“Natural gas prices increase in our forecast because growth in demand — led by expanding liquefied natural gas exports and more natural gas consumption in the electric power sector — will outpace production growth,” it said.
The advocacy group Public Citizen published a report in December arguing the Trump administration’s policies to increase liquefied natural gas exports are driving higher fuel costs and volatility, and, ultimately, higher electricity bills. Under President Trump, DOE has worked to aggressively increase exports, which the agency says are approximately 25% above 2024 levels.
An average U.S. household paid over $124 more on its utility bills in the first nine months of 2025 than in the same period a year earlier due to rising natural gas prices, according to the report.
“And the driver of this, that everyone in the industry acknowledges, is overwhelmingly record LNG exports that are just getting bigger and bigger,” said Tyson Slocum, director of Public Citizen’s energy program.
Eight U.S. LNG export facilities now use more natural gas than all 74 million domestic gas utility household consumers, he said, adding: “That’s madness.”
“If you start to take steps to reduce demand by LNG exporters, it is going to have a downward effect on domestic gas prices,” Slocum said.
Customer support solutions
While experts and government agencies that track electricity prices see little hope for relief this year, some utilities and states are emphasizing bill assistance and other programs intended to help lower-income households in particular.
But NEADA’s Wolfe said the programs don’t go far enough, and changes are necessary, particularly for low-income customers.
“There should be no charge,” he said, for a “base amount of electricity for very-low-income families.”
NEADA has also been critical of the Trump administration’s attitude toward the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, known as LIHEAP, a federally-funded, state-administered utility bill assistance program that has helped families afford power for decades.
In April, the Department of Health and Human Services fired the entire LIHEAP program staff, and the administration proposed eliminating funding for the program in fiscal year 2026. The future of the program remains uncertain as lawmakers negotiate government funding.
Even if LIHEAP survives, its budget would need to be increased “maybe 5-10 times in order to actually fully address the problem,” said Daniel.
Utilities and governments should lean into low-income programs that directly provide energy assistance and support, he said.
Fewer unpaid bills means fewer utility write-offs, which ultimately are paid by all customers.
Those programs “tend to be far more cost-effective than we used to think,” he said, and “actually could drive down rates and bills for everybody.”
Tyler Durden
Tue, 02/03/2026 – 09:40
https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/customers-dont-expect-electric-bill-relief-2026-cake-baked
Ken Griffin got rich in Chicago. He thinks Florida is the future.
Over the past four years, billionaires Stephen M. Ross and Ken Griffin have decamped from the cities where they made their fortunes — New York and Chicago — to South Florida.
Now the two are stepping up their efforts to persuade other businesses to follow suit.
Ross and Griffin planned to announce Monday a campaign pitching the so-called Gold Coast region of Florida that includes Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach as one of the best areas in the United States to build a company.
Each gave $5 million to the campaign, which is called “Ambition Accelerated” and is being run by the Florida Council of 100, a pro-business lobbying group.
“Florida is one of the best business states, if not the best business state, in the country,” Ross said in an interview.
The two have bet heavily on South Florida since moving there. Ross, the founder of real estate giant Related Cos. who spearheaded the creation of the Hudson Yards neighborhood in Manhattan, moved full time to West Palm Beach during the coronavirus pandemic. He has since focused on building offices and luxury housing in the area. (Ross has also owned a majority stake in the Miami Dolphins football team since 2009.)
And Griffin, who founded the giant hedge fund Citadel and the major trading firm Citadel Securities, began relocating to Miami from Chicago in 2022. He has since cited concerns about safety in Chicago and other policies, and praised the possibilities of growing businesses in Miami.
“Access to talent, regulatory predictability, cost structure and quality of life are critical,” Griffin said in a statement. “When you’re deploying capital and committing resources over a 20-year horizon, getting those basics right matters more than almost anything else.”
The area has already seen a surge in business growth in recent years as part of a broader shift to Sun Belt cities. (It has gained the nickname “Wall Street South” for the upswing of financial firms’ presence in South Florida.)
The new campaign comes amid concerns among some business leaders about the direction that traditional commercial hubs are taking. Several billionaires have cut most ties with California, for instance, over efforts to put a wealth tax on the state ballot in November.
Other business interests have criticized New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani for continuing to call for a tax on the city’s wealthy. “Businesses will choose to move out of New York and new businesses will make the decision not to start in New York,” Steven Fulop, the CEO of the Partnership for New York City, previously told the Times.
Regions around the country have been seeking to take advantage of that unease, including Austin, Texas, and Nevada. Ross and Griffin are making the pitch that Florida should be top of mind.
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“People see now how California has become so complex and bureaucratic” and is “doing a lot of things that stifle growth,” Ross said. He added that South Florida was “far superior in almost every aspect” to the likes of Texas, Tennessee or North Carolina.
While Ross and Griffin have persuaded companies in several industries, notably finance, to relocate, they are hoping to get more sectors to do the same, notably technology giants and start-ups.
That has meant addressing potential concerns about relocating or building businesses in South Florida. Local officials have given land — and Ross has donated money — to aid the development of a campus of Vanderbilt University there, for instance. He has also pushed for the creation of a private K-12 school and given money to educational initiatives in the area. And Related Ross, Ross’ firm, is a major benefactor (and future landlord) for a new Cleveland Clinic hospital there as well.
“We knew what our weaknesses were,” Ross said. “That’s what we concentrated on for three years. We put the essentials into place.”
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/03/ken-griffin-chicago-florida/
Lanes shut down while officials investigate a pedestrian struck in Niles
Officials closed lanes of Touhy Avenue in northwest suburban Niles to investigate a crash involving a vehicle and a pedestrian Tuesday morning, officials said.
The accident happened in the 5600 block of Touhy Avenue in Niles, and all east and west lanes of Touhy were closed from from Central to Lehigh avenues, officials said.
Officials ask commuters to use alternate routes while their investigation continues.
Iran Says US Carrier Has Retreated Near Yemen, Opening Door To Diplomacy
Iran Says US Carrier Has Retreated Near Yemen, Opening Door To Diplomacy
Iran’s Fars news has said that the US aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln has retreated near Yemen, opening room for the pursuit of diplomacy in hopes of staving off military confrontation between Washington and Tehran.
The report says that the large nuclear-powered carrier had “withdrawn” about 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) from the port city of Chabahar in southern Iran, and that is now operating near the Gulf of Aden, east of Yemen’s Socotra Island; however, the Pentagon had not immediately confirmed this.
Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, via US Navy
The carrier group reportedly has several accompanying destroyers and submarines, as is standard when operating in an active deployment, especially in the Central Command (CENTCOM) area.
US envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi are expected to meet on Friday in Istanbul to discuss a possible nuclear deal, according to Axios.
For now, uncertainty hangs above the meeting planning – but the apparent distancing of US and Iranian forces in the Gulf region is a big and positive sign that the dialogue is proceeding, which would constitute the first direct talks since the June war.
Iranian foreign Miniser Araghchi has stressed that “Iran is ready for diplomacy” but has also spelled out that “diplomacy is incompatible with pressure, intimidation, and force.” The Iranians are hopeful about potential renewed direct contacts with Washington, however.
Also, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in a new Tuesday statement signaled conditional support for renewed talks with Washington as regional intermediaries – including Turkey, Egypt, and Qatar – scramble to dial down rising regional tensions.
In a social media post, Pezeshkian said he backs “fair and equitable negotiations” with the United States and has instructed his top diplomat Araghchi to engage with US officials “provided that a suitable environment exists – one free from threats and unreasonable expectations.”
Pezeshkian did not explicitly reference the meeting or any details reportedly expected in Istanbul, but his comments add to mounting signals from Tehran that diplomacy remains on the table, as long as it is not conducted under pressure or ultimatums.
Iran Puts Uranium Enrichment on the Negotiating Tablehttps://t.co/NXHbIW7n2O
— Clash Report (@clashreport) February 3, 2026
The Quincy Institute’s Trita Parsi has concluded Iran sees itself as having nothing to lose if it tries this diplomatic Hail Mary before possibly trading bombs with the US.
“Direct talks between Iranian officials and Trump himself may appear completely unrealistic, but some of the main turning points in the US-Iran drama were caused by moves that most believe were completely impossible,” he wrote. “I don’t see what the Iranians have to lose by trying this card.“
Tyler Durden
Tue, 02/03/2026 – 09:20
Ucranianos inventan maneras de sobrevivir al frío en medio de apagones causados por Rusia
Por VOLODYMYR YURCHUK y SRDJAN NEDELJKOVIC
KIEV, Ucrania (AP) — En las afueras de la capital ucraniana, Kiev, voluntarios sirven sopa caliente en recipientes de plástico mientras los residentes, envueltos en abrigos pesados, hacen fila para una comida que no pueden cocinar en casa. Yuliia Dolotova, madre de dos hijos, está entre ellos, esperando con su hijo de 18 meses, Bohdanchyk, abrigado en capas contra el frío mordaz.
La vida, dice ella, se ha reducido a lo más esencial: calor, luz y comida.
“No hay electricidad en todo el día, no hay manera de cocinar comida para los niños. Prácticamente todos están en esta situación”, expresó Dolotova, de 37 años.
Vive en Troieshchyna, uno de los distritos más afectados de la capital ucraniana por los repetidos ataques rusos. Los ataques rusos con drones y misiles han dejado a cientos de miles de personas sin calefacción ni electricidad, mientras las temperaturas caen hasta menos 30 grados Celsius (menos 22 Fahrenheit). El duro invierno está previsto a continuar las próximas semanas.
Sin calefacción, las tuberías de agua también se han congelado y reventado, aumentando la presión sobre la vida diaria.
El daño a la red y a las estaciones de energía es el peor desde que comenzó la guerra. Tan pronto como las cuadrillas de servicios públicos y energía restauran la calefacción y los ingenieros finalmente logran establecer horarios de cortes para que la gente sepa cuándo se cortará la electricidad, Rusia lanza otro ataque, y hay que hacer todo otra vez.
La dificultad se ve agravada por la larga ausencia del esposo de Dolotova, quien está luchando en el este y ha visto a su hijo menor solo dos veces desde su nacimiento. Ella cuida de sus dos hijos —Bohdanchyk y Daniil, de 11 años— y del perro de la familia, que rara vez sale a pasear.
Por la noche, su edificio, un bloque de torres de la era soviética, queda completamente a oscuras. Su hijo pequeño ha aprendido a agarrar su teléfono móvil, con la linterna encendida, mientras ella maniobra su cochecito por seis tramos de escaleras hasta su apartamento. Las escaleras ya han roto dos cochecitos.
Dentro, enciende lámparas a pilas una por una. Antes de acostarse, los dos hermanos se acurrucan para calentarse, jugando en silencio cerca de las ventanas cubiertas de escarcha con la luz de la linterna. A la hora de dormir, Dolotova aísla la cama con gomaespuma para tratar de mantenerlos calientes.
El esposo de Dolotova está sirviendo en el área de Zaporiyia, uno de los sectores más volátiles de la guerra.
“Debería venir pronto. Vivo de permiso en permiso”, manifestó Dolotova. “Lo espero, eso es lo que me mantiene en pie. Te dices a ti misma, solo un poco más, y él vendrá. Cuentas los días”.
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Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.
Hobart’s Kurah Krucina credits her team. ‘It’s the environment.’ But as she shows in soccer, she can score.
Hobart junior Kurah Krucina is showing a knack for scoring.
After setting the girls soccer team’s single-season record with 32 goals, the 5-foot-8 guard has emerged as the girls basketball team’s leading scorer.
“It’s the environment,” Krucina said. “My teammates hype me up, and the coaches help a lot keeping my confidence up. And me just driving myself to get better, going my hardest in practice, staying after practice to put up more shots, it’s just fine-tuning what needs to be fixed.”
Krucina is averaging a team-high 11.2 points, 6.1 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 2.5 steals and a team-high 1.3 blocked shots for the the Brickies (10-12), who will play either Valparaiso (20-2) or Chesterton (15-7) in the semifinals of the Class 4A Valparaiso Sectional on Friday.
“I feel like I’ve really ramped it up,” she said. “It’s a lot with confidence. My shot’s definitely way better. I know more about the game — when to drive, when to pass. My passes are better. It’s moving the ball all around. That’s gotten a lot better too.”
Krucina, who also competes as a sprinter and long jumper for Hobart, has started since she was a freshman. In two seasons as Krucina’s coach, Ryan Gregory has seen her progression.
“She’s improved all around — defensively, offensively,” Gregory said. “She’s been able to learn how to finish inside a little bit more. The girls keep saying she’s gotten more shifty — she can go right, she can go left, she can go back right. And then shooting, her shooting’s improved a lot too. Not to say she was terrible at all last year, but she’s improved a lot. Last year, she had some standout moments, but this year she’s more dependable.
“She’s just very important to the team. She brings a lot of offense. She brings defense. She brings energy. She’s a leader, especially to the underclassmen. The freshmen ask a lot of questions, and she answers them. She’s there for them. She’s helped a lot with the freshmen not knowing plays. She’ll run through them with them. They really look up to her. Overall, she’s the best leader I’ve had. She’s just an all-around good kid.”
Krucina is a team captain along with senior guard Zaria Gildon. Krucina called it an “honor” to fill that role.
“I try to keep the morale up, making sure nobody’s arguing, making sure even if we’re down, everybody knows we can get back in it,” Krucina said. “Just keeping the intensity up, just keeping the morale up, making sure everyone’s happy and having fun and enjoying being here. It’s a great team all around.”
Hobart’s Kurah Krucina (10) looks to pass the ball during a nonconference game against Hammond Central in Hobart on Friday, Jan. 30, 2026. (Mandy Coppinger / Post-Tribune)
Indeed, the Brickies have improved dramatically after going 3-19 last season. They’ve eclipsed their total victories from the past two seasons combined.
Krucina has been a key player in that turnaround.
“She brings a lot of hustle and heart to the team,” Hobart senior forward/center Riley Weber said. “She’s definitely that person when she’s on the court, everything gets elevated and people feel more heart to drive and do a lot more because of her energy.
“The way she speeds up the game or slows it down for us is very helpful. She looks for everybody. She’s not selfish on the court. She’s just a very great teammate.”
Krucina is happy to be out there.
“Soccer is always going to be my No. 1,” she said. “But I love basketball as well.”
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/03/hobart-high-school-basketball-kurah-krucina/
Don Lemon says a dozen agents were sent to arrest him even though he offered to turn himself in
Don Lemon said about a dozen federal agents came to his Los Angeles hotel to arrest him last week, even though his attorney had told authorities he would turn himself in to face federal civil rights charges over his coverage of an anti-immigration enforcement protest that disrupted a service at a Minnesota church.
Lemon told ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel that sending the agents was a waste of resources because law enforcement wouldn’t have had to dispatch agents to follow him if he had been allowed to surrender to authorities.
“I was walking up to the room and I pressed the elevator button, and then all of a sudden, I feel myself being jostled and and people trying to grab me and put me in handcuffs,” the independent journalist said Monday on the show on the show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
What to know about the civil rights charges Don Lemon faces for covering church protest in Minnesota
He asked the agents who they were and said they identified themselves. Lemon asked to see a warrant and was told they didn’t have it. The agents then summoned an FBI agent to come in from outside to show Lemon the warrant on a cell phone.
The Department of Justice and FBI didn’t immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
Kimmel introduced Lemon, his first guest of the night, by saying he was “was arrested for committing journalism.”
Lemon’s attorney has said Lemon plans to plead not guilty. He told reporters “I will not be silenced” after he was released in response to a judge’s orders.
A grand jury in Minnesota indicted Lemon, another independent journalist, Georgia Fort, and others on charges of conspiracy and interfering with the First Amendment rights of worshippers during the Jan. 18 protest at the Cities Church in St. Paul, where a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official is a pastor.
Lemon, who was fired from CNN in 2023 following a bumpy run as a morning host, has said he had no affiliation to the group that disrupted the Sunday service by entering the church.
Lemon said he couldn’t say much about the case but he said he was not a protester.
“I went there to be a journalist. I went there to chronicle and document and record what was happening. I was following that one group around, and so that’s what I did. I reported on them,” Lemon said.
Lemon said he asked the arresting officers if they would let him make a phone call. He said he was told no and that he could talk to his attorney the next day. He tried to use Siri on his Apple Watch to call his husband and his attorney but neither picked up.
A diamond bracelet he was wearing kept getting caught on his handcuffs, which hurt, and the agents told Lemon they would take it off. Lemon said he asked if the agent would mind taking it up to Lemon’s husband in his hotel room and they agreed to do that.
“And that’s how my husband found out. Otherwise, no one would have known where I was,” Lemon said.
Lemon said he was kept in a holding room at the federal courthouse from midnight until 1 p.m. the following day.
Kimmel himself became a symbol of a fight against censorship last year, when ABC suspended “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” for remarks made following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr had pressured broadcasters to take Kimmel off the air shortly before that.
ABC lifted the suspension after a public outcry, and Kimmel returned to the air with much stronger ratings than he had before. In Congress, Democratic senators raised concerns that Carr’s actions trampled on the First Amendment.
