Category: News
Russia Insists Venezuelan Scenario Will Not Happen In Cuba: ‘No Easy Ride’
Russia Insists Venezuelan Scenario Will Not Happen In Cuba: ‘No Easy Ride’
Russian Ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia vowed on Friday that there will be no repeat of the Venezuelan scenario in Cuba.
“There has undoubtedly been betrayal in Venezuela, this is being said quite openly. Some high-ranking officials have, in fact, betrayed the president. This scenario will not work in Cuba. I think that the Americans, despite the rhetoric they have been using against Cuba lately, are still just rhetoric. Because there will be no easy ride in Cuba if they want to repeat something like what happened in Venezuela,” Nebenzia told a Russian TV channel.
The statements come a day following Trump signing a new executive order declaring a national emergency related to Cuba and creating a new tariff mechanism targeting countries that supply oil to the island-nation. Already Cuba’s vital flow of Venezuela oil has been cut off by US order.
Cuba “will be failing pretty soon,” President Trump told reporters Tuesday during a visit to Iowa. “They got their oil from Venezuela. They’re not getting that anymore.”
But it’s true that Cuba has had much more preparation in terms of being in Washington’s crosshairs, given the lengthy history of behind-the-scenes intelligence subterfuge stretching far back into the Cold War.
China has also newly called out the US over its threats against Cuba, with the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Friday stating, “China stands firmly against inhumane practices and moves that deprive the Cuban people of their rights to subsistence and development.”
As for Russian Ambassador Nebenzia, he is also warning that any potential US action against Iran will be no walk in the park and will have massive consequences, describing that Tehran is actually now better prepared for this than in June 2025.
“The rhetoric of President [of United States Donald] Trump [about Iran] seems to have subsided after the protests that took place in Iran. However, the situation is alarming. A strike may take place, but this time Iran is better prepared, I think, for such a turn of events than it was ready for this in June,” Nebenzia said.
And on NATO, he said it has “really exhausted itself, we have been talking about this for a long time. President Trump simply fixed this fact in its essence. Although, of course, NATO as an organization is not going anywhere in the near future, but the concept of Euro-Atlantic security has failed.”
This afternoon, Iran, China and Russia formally signed a comprehensive strategic pact, marking one of the most consequential shifts in 21st-century international relations.https://t.co/GnG5R9xMxV pic.twitter.com/2LV8QmwDk3
— tim anderson (@timand2037) January 30, 2026
Russia was among a tiny few of the globe’s powers, alongside China, which had good relations – including military links – with Venezuela. The same is true of Cuba and especially of Iran. However, Russia is unlikely at this point to step directly into any potential US-Iran war, given it is bogged down in Ukraine.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 01/30/2026 – 16:40
After nearly a year’s delay, big reveal for city-funded Elgin puzzle artwork being planned
Nearly a year after it was to be revealed, Elgin officials say a folk art painting of the city from which a publicly-sold puzzle is to be made — and for which the city is paying $116,000 — will finally be ready to view in May or June.
The Elgin City Council commissioned Eric Dowdle in April 2024 to create the artwork and complete other work necessary for the puzzle as part of his “Land That I Love” project, which he will be taking on tour this year to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
According to Elgin City Council meeting documents, Dowdle was to present his framed, acrylic painting as part of Elgin’s 2025 Fourth of July celebration.
Dowdle visited Elgin several times as he refined his images, immersing himself in the city without Elgin staff’s initial knowledge so that his work would not be influenced by them, according to Amanda Harris, Elgin’s director of cultural arts and special events.
That work, however, took longer than planned, Elgin Communications Manager Josie Beecher-Crotty said in an email.
“These efforts, combined with the goal of providing an appropriately sized platform to unveil the project, guided the decision to postpone the (July 2025) unveiling ceremony,” Beecher-Crotty said. “The final image depicting Elgin has been completed, following an extended design phase enabling the artist and staff to fully refine and deliver the best possible product.”
The council signed off on the project as proposed by Harris, who was contacted by Dowdle’s Utah-based company to ask if the city would like to be part of his project. Dowdle is creating similar images of towns all over the country, and staff members who met with Dowdle’s representatives via Zoom were impressed by Dowdle’s approach to art and community, Harris said at the time.
Dowdle Studios, according to the company’s website, “has sold more than 10 million puzzles through Costco, Walmart, grocery chains and small businesses worldwide. (Dowdle’s) artwork and puzzles have become collectible favorites.”
The artist could not be reached for comment and there was no response to email messages sent to his company by The Courier-News.
Elgin’s deal with Dowdle calls for the production of eight 32-inch-by-40-inch limited edition canvas prints; 2,000 special edition, 500-piece puzzles; and an 8-foot-by-10-foot interactive, legacy wall puzzle, according to city documents.
Beecher-Crotty said via email that the dates and details of the artwork’s unveiling are being finalized but that it should take place in early May or late June. Dowdle is to attend the event, where the interactive puzzle wall will be revealed and is to remain on display through the city’s Fourth of July events, she said.
Dowdle Studios has been paid $88,000 for the work done to date, Beecher-Crotty said.
City staff is working with the Dowdle’s team to finalize the puzzle order and initiate sales planning, she said. Puzzles will be sold through community partners, which will serve as in-kind sponsors. Those partners are still being identified, Beecher-Crotty said.
Mike Danahey is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/30/elgin-puzzle-artwork-delayed-unveiled-dowdle/
Democrats Have Become The “Useful Idiots” Of Globalist/Marxist Forces Bent On Destroying Western Civ
Democrats Have Become The “Useful Idiots” Of Globalist/Marxist Forces Bent On Destroying Western Civ
Authored by James Howard Kunstler,
It has come into focus now and you no longer need to be perplexed, mystified, bewildered, or bamboozled by events unspooling in Minneapolis and other hotspots of Woke-Marxist-Jacobin delirium. You are seeing the infernal machine of a sponsored revolution. Its parts are visible. They can be named and clearly understood. I will tell you how this works.
You realize, of course, that there has been an ongoing effort by players outside the USA to destroy Western Civ. This is too obvious to be denied. It is coming from several different places. First, China, because China has sprung from a sink of immiseration to become an industrial behemoth in a mere forty years and sees itself as the next global hegemon. Neville Roy Singham, the wealthy American ex-pat living in Shanghai, exposed all over the Internet this past week, is fronting for the CCP with his web of NGOs that just now underwrite the Lefty-left rage-riots around our country, surely subsidized with extra money from his China handlers.
China sent countless thousands of its soldiers surreptitiously across the border during the “Joe Biden” years along with the UN’s millions-footed riffraff. They have yet to be activated, shall we say, in whatever mischief China has planned. That’s on top of all the college students China has seeded all over the US, and the babies hatched here, given US passports, and withdrawn back to China. It’s simple: they want North America and they have a long game-plan to get it. Resources. Food.
Then there’s the Globalist cabal made up of the WEF megalomaniacs, the buffoonish but sinister EU bureaucracy, and — surprise — the sticky residue of the British Empire’s managerial class, believe it or not. This cabal is George & Alex Soros’s platform for their Open Society and Atlantic Council shenanigans and all the NGOs they spawn. Altogether, the WEF-Globalist’s mojo is fading fast since Mr. Trump went to Davos this month and tossed a few grenades into the audience. Plus, of course, Germany, France, and the UK are going dark, both energy-wise and demographically. Doesn’t help.
Then there is less-well-known São Paulo Forum, founded in 1990 by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazil’s president today, back then a mere activist, and the late Fidel Castro. This outfit lurked in the deep background until recently when Mr. Trump plucked one of its components off the game-board: Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela. The São Paulo Forum created the permission structure for the Western Hemisphere’s drug and trafficking cartels to thrive in. Both enterprises do immense harm to the USA, first with fentanyl deaths and then with all the second-order effects of illegal immigration — especially of criminals and the insane. It’s all too obvious to belabor.
Who is not in the Destroy Western Civ mix? Another surprise: Russia — apart from the usual boilerplate security apparatus that any major nation must maintain. In case you missed it, Russia is no longer communist. Didn’t work out for them. No, this will probably shock you, but Russia is actually doing what it can to preserve Western Civ, including Christianity, literature, music, philosophy, and domestic civility. They’re in Ukraine because of “Joe Biden.” Here is not the place to adumbrate that topic, so I will leave it for now.
Okay, those are the players outside the USA fomenting revolution among us. The picture, though, is woefully incomplete without America’s Democratic Party, which activates and amplifies the dynamic inside the USA. The Democrats are hostages of the outside forces, but they are not innocent hostages. They are hostage also to their own demonic greed — for power and riches. The Democratic Party has engineered itself into a colossal racketeering operation, a criminal organization, a mafia.
This is now seen garishly in Minnesota, where immigrants — both illegal and strategically placed earlier by Obama & Company — are lately revealed to run a fabulous matrix of fraud around various social services, extracting billions from US taxpayers in the process. This is accomplished with fake companies and NGOs which distribute the loot between the immigrant grifters, the politicians such as Governor Tim Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, and finally the Democratic Party apparatus itself, to keep operations going. The mechanism is being studied in the US Department of Justice.
Mass illegal immigration serves two clear purposes for the party. They use it to boost census numbers so they can create more congressional districts and takeover existing ones. Also, the illegals are marshaled to provide votes for the party, one way or another. The millions let in under “Joe Biden” received lavish gifts on entry (courtesy of you) to cement their allegiance to the party. And that’s why the Democratic Party will do just about anything to prevent the deportation of their pet illegal immigrants. Also why the Dems have no interest in election reform.
And it is exactly why they have ignited an hysteria among the Democratic Party rank-and-file and sent them out into the streets to create chaos and become martyrs. Now, curiously, the women of the Democratic Party were pre-disposed for this madness by a half century of feminism which has managed to evolve — as JD Haltigan describes so well — into a florid Cluster-B group personality derangement. (Psychologist Gad Saad calls it “suicidal empathy.”) To put it bluntly, their desperate yearning to agree with each other and their maternal instincts to care for anything deemed needy (a baby, the homeless, any victim of something), these hard-wired states-of-mind have been hijacked to now send them into a rage delirium on the frozen streets of Minneapolis (and elsewhere). All that emotional distress is wrapped in a thin tissue of Marxist bullshit to make it appear political, but it’s all ragged emotion. Sometimes in history populations go crazy.
Minnesota woman has a COMPLETE MELTDOWN while driving, screaming and crying over ICE operations.
The ICE derangement syndrome is off the charts pic.twitter.com/l419ld3Koe
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) January 29, 2026
And so, American women — and not a few mentally feminized men — have become the foot-soldiers of the Democratic Party in its increasingly desperate campaign to keep its criminal rackets going — or, at least, not end up in prison over them — while the party has become the collective “useful idiot” of the Globalist / Marxist forces seeking to destroy Western Civ and hand North America over to China.
It’s reasonable to suppose that President Trump and his people understand how this works and aim to do what they can to disassemble the infernal machine behind it. They are going after the money supply lines, the many NGOs involved, and very probably a whole lot of politicians in on the grift. The winter uproar in Minneapolis that cost the lives of two feckless insurgents exposed the machinery of sedition. The Insurrection Act might have been in the president’s back pocket, but he knew it would be foolish to use it. The Dems might be a little concerned about what comes next. Hint: DNI Tulsi Gabbard showing up yesterday with the FBI at the Fulton County, GA, election storage warehouse to collect 700 boxes of documents and ballots.
One final angle on all this. There’s another player in the mix, and it’s really hard to tell exactly where they stand: that’s the so-called Deep State generally and its main handyman, the CIA, in particular. They have been behind all the “color revolution” action abroad for decades, and perhaps the election fraud in the USA. They appear to have been operating to some degree in Venezuela through all the years of Hugo Chavez and Maduro, with some nefarious involvement in the cartels. And no question they were behind the long-running coup in all its parts to defame, oust, jail, impoverish, defeat, and kill Mr. Trump since 2016. Their pals in the adjacent DC Lawfare industry are trying really hard to subvert and pervert the judicial system. CIA Director John Ratcliffe has some ‘splainin’ to do about what he managed to accomplish this year, cleaning up the agency. Or not.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 01/30/2026 – 16:20
Chicago Bears offensive line coach Dan Roushar paid $1.7M for Lake Bluff home
Dan Roushar, who was hired last year to be the offensive line coach for the Chicago Bears under head coach Ben Johnson, and his wife, Patricia, paid $1.7 million last summer for a six-bedroom, 3,882-square-foot house in Lake Bluff.
A onetime quarterback for Northern Illinois University, Roushar, 65, spent much of his career coaching offenses for college programs, including both his alma mater and the University of Illinois. He also coached various offenses for the New Orleans Saints for close to a decade. After two years at Tulane University, Roushar had intended to retire, but Johnson offered him a coaching opportunity with the Bears, and Roushar signed on with the Bears last February.
In Lake Bluff, the Roushars’ new house is coincidentally just around the corner from the home owned by former Bears head coach Matt Nagy until Nagy sold it in 2022 for $4.45 million.
Built in 2015 and constructed by DRH Cambridge Homes, the Roushars’ new house has 5-1/2 bathrooms, hardwood floors, a family room with a fireplace, a library, a three-car garage and sits on a 0.39-acre property. It had not been publicly listed, and in fact, its sellers only had bought it just seven months before, for $1.575 million.
“We looked at different homes in a lot of different communities, and (the Roushars) wanted Lake Forest or Lake Bluff to become part of the community,” Lisa Trace of @properties Christie’s International Real Estate, who represented the Roushars, told Elite Street. “They saw this house and it was the right one. It was off-market, and nothing else seemed to be quite right. Then, someone in my office saw that it was coming soon, and they bought it. They loved being close to work (at Halas Hall), which is really important because of Dan’s schedule.”
Trace has a Bears connection of her own. Her late father, Jim Dooley, played for the Bears from 1952 until 1961 and then transitioned to coaching, including as the team’s first head coach after George Halas, from 1968 until 1971. He returned to the team’s staff in the 1980s, including during their 1985 Super Bowl run. In 2019, Hall of Fame writers Don Pierson and Dan Pompei named Dooley one of the 100 greatest Bears of all time.
The Roushars’ house had a $37,897 property tax bill in the 2024 tax year.
Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/30/bears-dan-roushar-lake-bluff/
Pre-apprenticeship training program expands into Aurora, Kane County
A free training program aimed at preparing people for union apprenticeship is expanding into Kane County with a location in Aurora.
HIRE360, partnering with Painters District Council No. 30 and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, will begin its Illinois Works Pre-Apprenticeship Program in Kane County on April 7, according to a news release announcing the expansion. The nine-week, state-funded program is designed to strengthen the construction workforce pipeline.
“This initiative is about opening doors and keeping them open,” Jay Rowell, executive director of HIRE360, said in the news release. “Participants will gain practical training, real-world experience and direct connections to the building trades that translate into long-term opportunity. By the time they complete the program, they have the credentials, confidence and industry support needed to thrive throughout their careers in construction.”
The Illinois Works Pre-Apprenticeship Program will take participants through structured training, offer them site visits to registered apprenticeship programs, prepare them for entry tests and provide them with industry-recognized credentials such as OSHA-10, First Aid/CPR and Fall Protection Awareness, the news release said.
Not only is the program free, but participants will also receive a stipend, according to Rowell. There are additional resources to help participants move into a trades program, such as helping to purchase their first set of tools or boots, he told The Beacon-News.
The program is going to be housed in the Painters District Council No. 30 building, at 1905 Sequoia Drive in Aurora, where the union will do hands-on training, Rowell said. HIRE360 will also have staff on-site to teach things like resume writing, interviewing skills and other subjects like math to help participants pass trades’ aptitude tests, he said.
Although the Painters are “very interested in bringing on a number of these candidates,” Rowell said the curriculum taught at the program is designed to help people get into any of the various building trades.
To be eligible for the program under federal law, a person needs to have a high school diploma or GED, be at least 18 years old and be authorized to work in the United States, according to Rowell. But the “key ingredient,” he said, is for candidates to know they like working with their hands.
“If you like working with your hands, you like building stuff, then we can help you with the skill sets to be successful in the apprenticeship,” Rowell said. “That’s exactly what this program is designed for.”
The program will run only once in Aurora this year. More information, including the opportunity to register for a virtual information session, is available at: hire360chicago.com/kane-county-il-works/
HIRE360 is a “unique non-for-profit partnership” that brings together some large developers, general contractors and trade unions, Rowell said. It launched in the Chicago area in early 2020, he said, but has recently expanded its training programs statewide due to state support.
The organization has been running an Illinois Works Pre-Apprenticeship Program out of its Chicago location for a couple of years, and it recently expanded into Joliet, according to Rowell. So, he said the next “natural step” was to expand into Kane County through Aurora.
“There’s just a lot of great opportunities and a lot of work that’s going on in the area,” he said.
Since launching in 2021, the program has enrolled more than 6,000 individuals across Illinois, the organization’s news release said. Referencing data from the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, the organization’s officials said that approximately 80% of participants complete the program and that over half move on to registered apprenticeships or employment in construction and the trades.
HIRE360’s pre-apprenticeship program is partially funded by the Illinois Works Jobs Program Act, according to the news release. Illinois Works was designed to increase equity and opportunity in capital construction as the state invests billions of dollars in these types of projects over the coming years, the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity’s website says.
Specifically, the state of Illinois is helping fund the program in Kane County with just over $260,000, an amount recently announced by state Rep. Barbara Hernandez, D-Aurora.
Two other organizations in the area, Lewis University and the Quad County Urban League, also got state funding as part of the Illinois Works Pre-Apprenticeship Program in amounts of $550,000 and $330,000 respectively, the state representative’s news release said.
“The hardworking people who call Aurora home are the reason why our community continues to grow,” Hernandez said in her news release. “I applaud Governor Pritzker and the DCEO for continuing to invest in the future of Aurora’s growing workforce.”
rsmith@chicagotribune.com
Orland District 230 board puts off vote on Arabic curriculum, discussions continue
The Orland High School District 230 board decided Thursday not to move forward with an Arabic curriculum, an initiative first discussed by board member Mohamed Jaber in 2023 and brought to the public in 2024.
Orland residents and other Arabic advocates have pushed for the curriculum for nearly six months, and about a dozen people attended Thursday’s meeting in support of the curriculum, including three who spoke during public comment.
But when the measure came up for a vote, no member seconded the motion, preventing the curriculum from being discussed or voted upon. Board members said in August they do not outright oppose the plan but said there are several barriers to implementing it.
Board President Lynn Zeder said the board plans to address challenges to implementing the curriculum at its next board meeting at 7 p.m. on Feb. 26 at Andrew High School, 9001 W.171st St., Tinley Park.
Zeder said it has been challenging to discuss the curriculum with all the board members without breaking the Open Meetings Act, which requires any meeting with a majority of the board be open to the public. Zeder said Anita Huffman, assistant superintendent for instructional services, met with a few board members this week.
“I can tell you the hours that have already been put into this to show that we have made some progress but yet also we still have some things to overcome,” Zeder said.
Jaber said board members have had since August 2025 to ask questions and get clarity. He said he is disappointed with his fellow board members refusing to second the motion.
Jaber also said he has not seen a situation before where members demand years of discussion when it seems clear they are not committed to voting yes, regardless of how long deliberations last.
“These excuses are merely preventing us from approving Arabic as a world language and denying our students opportunities that will help them succeed,” he said Friday.
People leave the High School District 230 board meeting Thursday after the board did not vote on whether to approve an Arabic curriculum. (Addison Wright/Daily Southtown)
High schools in District 230 are Andrew in Tinley Park, Sandburg in Orland Park and Stagg in Palos Hills.
Several people offered solutions Thursday to the barriers the district has cited in implementing the curriculum.
Hanan Matari, a retired educator who worked for Chicago Public Schools for more than 30 years, said advocates of this program gathered 35 people who are interested in becoming certified as Arabic teachers.
Federico Luque Marcías, an Arabic and Spanish teacher at Lincoln Park High School, said Thursday he is willing to help start the program and be a teacher if needed. He also said he is part of a few initiatives to certify teachers.
He cited the Qatar Foundation International, an organization the offers grant funding to support teaching of the Arabic language.
Most importantly, he said, there is a lot of community interest.
Federico Luque Marcías, an Arabic and Spanish teacher at Lincoln Park High School, speaks in support of creating a district Arabic curriculum during Thursday’s High School District 230 board meeting. (Addison Wright/Daily Southtown)
Duha Hamed, a UIC lecturer of mathematics, statistics and computer science, said Thursday her analysis shows about 34% of district students come from Arabic speaking households.
She said advocates in the Arabic community support starting the program even with a single course at one school in order to collect data on student interest and build a strong foundation.
She said even this single step is an opportunity to show thousands of Arabic district students that they really matter.
“It’s a way to connect them to their heritage as well as show them or let them see themselves reflected in their education,” she said. “This course, it’s not just a course, it’s a legacy for inclusion, for opportunity and hope. So let’s do it together.”
Duha Hamed, a lecturer at the University of Illinois Chicago, speaks Thursday at the Orland High School District 230 board meeting in support of an Arabic curriculum. (Addison Wright/Daily Southtown)
Huffman said in August it’s difficult to find enough teachers who are certified to teach Arabic to sustain the course, and said district officials are worried if demand significantly grows, the district might need to hire more than one full-time teacher.
She cited other challenges and said the district was reviewing factors such as student interest and state mandates.
awright@chicagotribune.com
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/30/orland-district-230-arabic-language/
“Justice Is Coming”: Border Czar Homan Vows Reckoning For Anti-ICE Groups
“Justice Is Coming”: Border Czar Homan Vows Reckoning For Anti-ICE Groups
Border czar Tom Homan said Thursday that far-left groups accused of funding and organizing attacks on Immigration and Customs Enforcement will be held responsible.
“About the organization and the funding of the attacks on ICE, I’m not going to answer a lot about that because I’m not going to show our hand, but they’ll be held accountable. Justice is coming,” Homan said at a Minneapolis press conference.
He also criticized the heated rhetoric aimed at ICE officers nationwide, urging people to ease tensions, according to the NY Post.
“I begged for the last two months on TV for the rhetoric to stop. I said in March — if the rhetoric doesn’t stop, there is gonna be bloodshed. And there has been. I wish I wasn’t right. I don’t want to see anybody die,” he said.
Homan explained that reduced hostility could allow federal authorities to scale back their presence in Minneapolis. He said discussions with Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison have already led to plans for a partial drawdown.
“Based on the discussions I’ve had with the governor and the AG, we can start drawing down those resources,” Homan said, adding that agents could focus on criminals “in a jail with much less people.”
“So the drawdown is going to happen based on these agreements, but the drawdown could happen even more if the hateful rhetoric and impediments stop.”
Homan said any reduction will depend on cooperation from local officials and warned that agents could be redeployed if support declines. About 3,000 federal officers are currently stationed in Minneapolis, far outnumbering local police.
The NY Post writes that he said federal authorities have made progress and will remain in the city “until the problem’s gone.”
Addressing criticism from city leaders, Homan said local officials are not being asked to enforce immigration law.
“To be clear, we did not agree with Minnesota’s state and local officials that they would be involved in immigration enforcement,” he said. “I’m asking them to be cops working with the cops to help us take criminal aliens off the street.”
Under the revised strategy, Homan said ICE will focus more narrowly on criminal offenders while continuing overall enforcement.
“If you’re in the country illegally, you’re never off the table,” he said. “We are not surrendering our mission at all. We are just doing it smarter.”
Tyler Durden
Fri, 01/30/2026 – 15:45
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/justice-coming-border-czar-homan-vows-reckoning-anti-ice-groups
Man to get third mental competency evaluation in ‘19 roommate’s Gary death
Judge Gina Jones ordered another mental competency evaluation Friday for a man charged in January 2019 with killing his roommate at a long-term care facility in Gary.
Withrow, now 35, was charged with murder in January 2019 with the Jan. 26, 2019 beating death of David Carte, 48, of Gary.
He was found incompetent to stand trial in July 2019 and later transported to Logansport State Hospital. Since then, the case was revived last year after he was found competent again.
Two Lake County court-appointed psychologists were split in separate reports earlier this month over whether Withrow is competent to stand trial. Deputy Prosecutor Judy Massa agreed with defense lawyer Eric Morris in court Friday that another evaluation was needed.
The next court date is March 13.
Gary Police were called around 7:30 p.m. Jan. 26, 2019 to a long-term care facility in the 4900 block of Melton Road in Gary for a report of an aggravated battery, a probable cause affidavit states.
The victim, “badly beaten by another resident of the facility,” was taken Methodist Hospitals Northlake, according to the affidavit. He was in “critical condition,” with “lacerations to his head,” a “severe brain bleed and was bleeding internally into his lungs,” according to the affidavit.
He was flown to a Chicago hospital for treatment, according to the affidavit. He died Jan. 27, according to court records.
A maintenance worker at the facility on Melton Road said he was mopping the main dining room floor around 7 p.m. when “Craig approached him, was not wearing a shirt and was covered in blood,” according to the affidavit. Withrow said “that his roommate was bleeding,” according to the affidavit.
The maintenance worker and a nurse went to the room and found the victim “on the floor in a pool of blood,” and they called 911, according to the affidavit. The nurse gave aid to the victim, “who was barely breathing,” while the worker took Withrow “to a maintenance room where he waited for the police,” according to the affidavit.
Carte’s cause of death was an “intracerebral hemorrhage due to hypertensive cardiovascular disease with stress associated with an altercation as a contributing factor,” Cook County Medical Examiner spokeswoman Natalia Derevyanny said Friday.
His death was ruled a homicide.
Post-Tribune archives contributed.
Oak Lawn-Hometown District 123 schools close after ‘swatting incident’
All schools in Oak Lawn-Hometown Elementary District 123 were closed Friday after an unsubstantiated swatting incident was aimed at Kolmar Avenue Elementary School, 10425 Kolmar Ave., officials said.
At 7:16 a.m. Friday, officials issued a school safety message alerting students, families and staff that District 123 would be closed for the day.
Swatting refers to purposely falsely reporting a threat to emergency services so law enforcement responds to a certain address.
“We recognize that situations like this are extremely unsettling for the entirety of the community,” Superintendent Paul J. Enderle said in a statement. “The safety of our students, families, and staff is, and always will be, our highest priority, and we will continue to communicate clearly and promptly as more information becomes available.”
District 123 said its leadership and staff continue to plan next steps while working closely with the Oak Lawn and Hometown police departments and said the investigation remains active.
All weekend activities and events at district schools are canceled and will be rescheduled at a later date, the district said.
Cam’ron Hardy is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/30/oak-lawn-district-123-swatting-threat/
Northwest Indiana communities on low salt diets for roads after onslaught of storms
Northwest Indiana officials are feeling a bit salty these days after all the snow.
Mostly, it’s the lack of salt that’s the problem. Several municipalities in Lake and Porter counties report that, with weeks of winter weather ahead, they’re already running low on a critical ingredient to keep the roads safe this time of year.
Officials said they are weighing their options to be prepared as best they can while being mindful of their budgets, which will be further challenged by a winter storm watch that extends through 6 p.m. Saturday for Lake and Porter counties.
National Weather Service meteorologist Kevin Doom didn’t pull any punches when it came to predicting the winter storm blowing into Northwest Indiana.
Doom said Northwest Indiana will be getting the hardest hit from this weekend’s snow and it will translate to hazardous travel.
“Ultimately, the highest total in Lake and Porter counties will be 6-9 inches of snow or possibly in the double digits through the end of tomorrow (Saturday),” Doom said.
Doom said this marks the third lake effect event in the Chicago/Northwest Indiana area.
“This one will be impactful. Heavy snow is moving through, from downtown Chicago, right as we speak,” Doom said Friday morning.
He predicts this winter storm may be similar to the Nov. 9-10 event that left behind a one-foot total of snow in Lake and Porter counties.
“It (this winter snowstorm) does have the appearance to be similar,” Doom said.
He said the bigger story is hazardous travel.
“Travel conditions will be dicey,” he said.
A city of Gary salt truck sits on a jack stand in the Gary General Services building on Wednesday, February 10, 2021. Municipalities including Gary are running low on road salt this year. (Kyle Telechan/Post-Tribune)
That’s not good news for municipalities trying to stretch their salt supplies.
Steve Segura, a spokesperson for the city of Gary, said the street department there is running low and is having difficulty finding additional salt for its roadways, given the weather challenges faced so far this winter.
“They (the street department) are looking at other avenues (besides salt),” Segura said. One of those alternatives is beet juice, which can only be used in certain temperature conditions, he said.
Lake County Highway Department superintendent Ron Gregory couldn’t be reached for comment.
Winfield Public Works Director Tony Clark told the town council at a recent meeting that efforts to keep the roads clean wiped out a great deal of the town’s salt supply and there may be a need to dip into the budget in the future for additional supplies.
Clark said the town’s street department has so far used some 600-650 tons of salt on roads of its total 900-ton winter supply. That leaves the street department with only about 300 tons of salt to finish out the rest of the winter season.
Clark said that town officials may need to increase that amount in future budgets because of the addition of new subdivisions.
Dwayne Polarek, Lake Station chief of operations, told the city council Jan. 22 he had to purchase an additional 200 tons of salt and it’s already been delivered.
He said the cheapest rate he could get was $150 a ton.
“This year was exceptionally rough,” he said. Polarek said the heavy snowfall in November used up a lot of salt. Then, another snowfall followed by rain washed all the salt off the roadways.
“We’re going to do our best to manage the salt. We don’t want to skimp because of public safety. We just have to be smart,” said Polarek.
He said the salt truck drivers set the calibration for each unit and he double-checks their settings.
Polarek said he also makes sure that snow plows aren’t behind salt trucks pushing all the newly poured salt off the road.
Supplies are also low in Merrillville, said Roads Superintendent Steve King. “We are pre-treating our roads, as we do before snow events, but regardless of how much snow we get, all of our roads will be passable.”
Porter County will begin rationing road salt after taking delivery of nearly half the salt for the season less than halfway through the season.
The Porter County Board of Commissioners voted in early January on the recommendation of Highway Superintendent Jim Polarek to implement the ration that will start with subdivisions.
The highway department will strategically apply salt to intersections, hills, bridges and curbs in subdivisions, but aim for conserving on other stretches of subdivision roads. The county can go through 1,500 tons of road salt in one icy morning, Polarek said.
The county had agreed to buy 7,000 tons and had already taken delivery of 3,300 tons, with predictions of February and March weather calling for below-average temperatures and above-average precipitation.
“Right now, we don’t have the money to buy on the open market additional salt,” Polarek said.
Commissioner Barb Regnitz, R-Center, asked what that might cost if it became necessary and Polarek recalled that one year before he was in charge, the county had to pay an additional $25 per ton to buy more salt at the end of the season, which would be an extra $37,500 for a 1,500-ton morning.
Freelance reporters Carole Carlson, Shelley Jones, Deborah Laverty and Michelle L. Quinn contributed.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/30/northwest-indiana-low-on-road-salt/
