Otho Kortz spent 32 years as a referee and umpire for Illinois high school baseball, football and basketball games, and he also was a college football referee for the Big Ten conference for 17 years.

Kortz, 97, died of natural causes on Dec. 24 at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, said his son, Jeff. A longtime Oak Lawn resident, Kortz had been dealing with health complications, including from several recent falls, his son said.

Born in Chicago in 1928, Kortz grew up in the South Side’s Englewood neighborhood near the corner of 61st Place and Normal Boulevard. He graduated in 1946 from the old Parker High School — now Robeson High School — in Englewood, where he played baseball and basketball. While at Parker, Kortz played center in the city’s Public League junior basketball championship game against Waller High School in March 1946.

From 1947 until 1951, Kortz played basketball and baseball at the University of Mississippi, where he got a bachelor’s degree in education in 1951. He led the team in batting in his senior season with a .373 average.

Early on, Kortz played minor league baseball, including at shortstop and third base in 1951 for a Class C team in Hot Springs, Arkansas, that was part of the Chicago White Sox organization and then in 1953 for two teams in the Cincinnati Reds’ organization.

Kortz spent much of his career working as a cattle salesman. From 1954 until 1971, he worked at Chicago’s Union Stock Yards as a cattle salesman for the Miller White Woods firm. He then worked in livestock sales at Joliet’s stockyards for the Peters-Turnbull firm from 1971 until 1982.

From 1982 until 1996, Kortz was a field representative for Swissland Packing, a company in tiny Ashkum, in Iroquois County. Then, in 1996, Kortz shifted gears, taking a job for the Cook County sheriff’s office overseeing janitorial services at the Bridgeview Courthouse.

Outside of his day job, however, Kortz’s greatest love was officiating. He began refereeing football games while in college.

“One day I was in the (athletic) office when a school in Mississippi called and asked if we had two referees to do their high school games (that night),” he told Tony Baranek of the Daily Southtown in 2018. “My roommate had a car, and we got two shirts from the intramural department. We went over and reffed a girls game and a boys game. We picked up maybe three more Friday nights. We made $15, which was fine at the time.”

After college, Kortz returned to Chicago and as a side job, he began officiating games for youngsters, and then began officiating games in the Chicago Public League and the Catholic League. Kortz worked as a high school and college basketball official from 1954 until 1986, and he was a high school and college baseball umpire from 1955 until 1983. Kortz also was a high school and a Big Ten football official from 1969 until 1986, including officiating in the 1978 Rose Bowl, in which the University of Washington — led by quarterback Warren Moon — defeated the University of Michigan, 27-20.

“There was nothing like the Rose Bowl,” Kortz told the Southtown in 2018. “There were 106,000 people (there), millions watching on TV. It was a fantastic game and there I was, from Oak Lawn, Illinois, running the whole darned thing as the referee. It was just a fantastic feeling to be out there and having (son) Jeff and my wife in the stands. A tremendous thrill.”

Kortz also was a referee at the 1976 Fiesta Bowl and the 1985 Liberty Bowl. With noted umpire and referee Jerry Markbreit, Kortz was a baseball umpire at the 1967 Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Manitoba. At the high school level, Kortz officiated boys basketball state title games in 1970, 1971 and 1972. He also umpired Public League baseball championship games in Chicago for many years.

Across all levels of athletics and all sports, Kortz’s officiating was marked by integrity of play and sportsmanship, his son said.

“He liked all the competition — (and) enforcing the rules, seeing the kids get a chance to compete and seeing a reward for all their hard work at practice,” Jeff Kortz said.

Kortz was inducted into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association’s Hall of Fame in 1990. He also was one of two recipients in 1974 of the Illinois-based Athletic Officials Association’s Recognition Award.

After retiring as an official, Kortz met frequently with friends and fellow sports enthusiasts, including at the McDonald’s restaurant at 105th Street and Cicero Avenue in Oak Lawn. After the COVID-19 pandemic, the group began meeting at a nearby Panera restaurant. Kortz also enjoyed watching sporting events at Richards High School in Oak Lawn, including football games, boys basketball games, girls basketball games and baseball games.

“We had a little club, the coffee club, where we would talk sports, football, baseball, basketball, whatever, and he was very influential in my life,” said Quentin Daniels, a friend of more than a dozen years. “He gave me a lot of insights. He was a very proud, very strong man and a very good friend. He was like my father figure.”

Ricci Rodríguez, a 2002 Richards High School graduate who played football and baseball at the school, recalled getting to know Kortz when Kortz operated the clock for Richards’ football games while Rodríguez was playing. He affectionately referred to Kortz as “Pops.”

“I’d stop and see him at McDonald’s or Panera, and then when he started getting sick a little bit, I’d stop by his house and talk sports, like high school football,” Rodríguez said. “I always kept in touch with Pops from when I graduated, and he’d come see my daughter play softball when we lived closer in the area. We’d also talk about horse racing. He was just a great guy.”

Kortz enjoyed watching Ole Miss sports on TV, following the New York Yankees and watching Big Ten football, his son said. He also held Chicago Bears season tickets for 51 years.

Kortz told the Southtown in 2018 that he was delighted with his officiating career.

“I don’t have any regrets,” he said. “Every week was a thrill, no matter where I was.”

Kortz’s wife, Billie, died in 2011. In addition to his son, Kortz is survived by three grandchildren.

Services were held.

Bob Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/27/otho-kortz-obituary-referee/ 

Person In Critical Condition After Border Patrol-Involved Shooting In Arizona

Tyler Durden
Tue, 01/27/2026 – 13:48

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/person-critical-condition-after-border-patrol-involved-shooting-arizona 

A show called “The Sex Lives of Puppets” is enough to attract attention, and I would have attributed the full house at the Victory Gardens Biograph Theatre on Monday to judicious marketing had I not heard reports of sold-out houses throughout the Chicago International Puppet Festival, a January festival that has quietly become one of the more significant events on this city’s cultural calendar. It now draws an international collection of puppeteers and their followers during a month when Chicago needs visitors the most.

Puppet lovers are all huddled at the Allerton Hotel on the Magnificent Mile and traipsing off to watch shows all over the city, at venues from the Studebaker Theater to the Chopin to the Biograph. I was so pleased to see the underutilized Biograph packed with people again that I had to restrain myself from trying to find the switch to light up the historic marquee, absurdly left dark as frigid folks shuffled their way into this great Chicago venue, out of the cold and ready for some flashy puppet naughtiness.

Many of the festival’s attractions are short runs. Take, for example, Manual Cinema’s “The 4th Witch,” already over and out after one night only. Blair Thomas, the festival’s artistic director, remarked before that show that one can watch puppets (he uses the term broadly) all over the world without ever seeing an aesthetic quite like the Manual Cinema aesthetic. He’s right, of course.

Like many arts-loving Chicagoans, I’m well aware of the skills and artistry of this Chicago-based group that spends most of its time touring. But for us longtime fans, “The 4th Witch” (a riff on “Macbeth,” not unlike how “Wicked” is a riff on “The Wizard of Oz”) still represented a whole new level of accomplishment. I don’t mean that necessarily in terms of emotional appeal (I prefer some of their other work in that regard), but in terms of how many hundreds of images this incredible company produces in a show, and how dramatically and gorgeously these vistas are sequenced.

Before catching this piece, I’d always thought of Manual Cinema as a group with a hand-made aesthetic, its visuals forming over time, some working better than others. “The 4th Witch” is at a whole new technical level. It doesn’t feel any less organic, but the music, ideas and above all the images all come in a great rush, far more beautifully formed than I’ve ever felt with their prior shows. Alas, although this piece has been seen elsewhere, this solo night was the one hometown outing to date. I hereby request that this company correct that problem, and that we don’t have to wait for a festival to see it again.

For now, witches have given way to cavorting puppets showing off their sex lives. Blind Summit is a famously witty British theater company, led for more than 25 years by artistic director Mark Down, a famed and much-loved teacher of his craft as well as a performer who becomes at one with his tools, so to speak.

Blind Summit also knows how to sell puppetry in a small-scale touring realm often dominated by comedy. In the U.K., they’re often compared to the iconic 1980s TV show “Spitting Image,” which mercilessly lampooned political figures by created puppet sculptures wickedly emphasizing their least-flattering features. Blind Summit’s  newest show put me in mind of the British TV show “Gogglebox,” a fly-on-the-wall celebration of the blather of ordinary, opinionated Brits.

“The Sex Lives of Puppets” (which, by the way, features mostly puppets of a certain age, not nubile marionettes offering vicarious thrills) is a piece based on interviews, or so the company claims, with a variety of characters who are managing to press on with their sex lives, notwithstanding a variety of setbacks from age to inhibition and from bodily limitations to loneliness. (Puppets get lonely, don’t ya know, and they are not all flexible like Kermit.) You watch them talk about their sex lives and, to some degree, do their things with their human helpers and, well, it’s all great and even poignant fun on a cold night.

The festival’s multiple venues are rocking through Sunday with several other shows. The puppets are having sex at the Biograph through Saturday.

The 8th Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival continues through Feb. 1 at various venues; schedules and tickets at ChicagoPuppetFest.org 

Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.

cjones5@chicagotribune.com

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/27/review-sex-lives-puppets/ 

An outspoken state senator is scheduled to make remarks Sunday at the International Servant Leaders Museum in Morton Grove, coming as Black History Month commences.

According to Morton Grove Pride, a co-sponsor of Sunday’s event, state Senator Mike Simmons, D-Chicago, will speak at the local museum as part of an effort to “celebrate Black History Month and honor the enduring legacy of Black leaders whose lives and work continue to shape our nation.”

Simmons represents the diverse 7th District in Chicago, which includes the North Side neighborhoods of Rogers Park, Edgewater, Uptown and Ravenswood.

First appointed to the state senate in 2021, taking over for former state Sen. Heather Steans, Simmons is an Ethiopian-American who is the first openly gay state senator and the first Black one to represent the 7th District, according to biographical information on his district website.

He was recently reelected to the seat in the 2024 General Election.

The state senator is an outspoken advocate for the LBGTQ community, throwing his legislative support behind bills related to protections for that demographic, among others.

Simmons is formerly deputy director of the Obama Foundation’s My Brother’s Keeper program.

The event at the Morton Grove museum Sunday is also co-sponsored by Vision Morton Grove, a hyper-local, grassroots community organization that started in 2018 and, according to its website, focuses on social, economic and other local collective concerns.

Simmons’ appearance will be part of what is billed as a celebration of the “legacy of all Black leaders” – especially ones with February birthdays, like poet Langston Hughes, singer Nina Simone, civil rights icon Rosa Parks and abolitionist Frederick Douglass.

Admission is free and Simmons is scheduled to deliver his address at noon.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/27/state-sen-mike-simmons-to-kickoff-black-history-month-speaking-at-morton-grove-museum/ 

The chef of the acclaimed Avondale restaurant Warlord has been issued a second order of protection after he was accused of distributing private sexual images of a woman without her consent, Cook County court records show.

Chicago police arrested Trevor Fleming, 41, early on Jan. 17 at his home, according to police records. He was released later that day on electronic monitoring with orders to avoid the woman’s home and workplace, court records show.

The images Fleming is accused of sharing in September 2023 “clearly show” the woman’s face and private areas during a sexual act, according to court records.

On Monday, a Cook County judge issued an interim protective order against Fleming requiring him to avoid the woman’s home and place of work. The woman had been in a romantic relationship with Fleming, according to the order.

Fleming’s attorney Robert Rascia, reached for comment late Monday night, said the charge does not allege violence and that the order was issued over Fleming’s objection.

Cook County records also show that Fleming pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated battery in 2015.

For years, individuals and groups on internet forums like Reddit and TikTok have speculated on Fleming’s actions and broader misconduct at Warlord, but those alleged incidents have been left largely unpublicized.

However, in 2024, the Chicago Hospitality Accountable Actions Database Project, a local organization that advocates for restaurant workers and educates them about workplace rights, started receiving reports of “ongoing traumatic experiences” from employees at Warlord.

“Specifically, there was a report of a sexual assault that happened within the workplace that year,” Raeghn Draper, executive director of CHAAD Project, told the Tribune on Monday. “That opened up to multiple workers reaching out to report egregious claims of not only sexual harassment, but also stalking, bullying, intimidation, withholding wages and just an all-around really toxic and abusive work environment.”

Rascia said there is no law enforcement investigation of Fleming in relation to these allegations.

Draper said that initial report in early 2024 sparked a dozen employees to reach out to CHAAD Project about Fleming and the alleged complicity of Warlord’s other owners, Emily Kraszyk and John Lupton. Warlord’s owners could not be reached for comment.

The allegations coming from staff working the line at Warlord ultimately prompted CHAAD Project to post a public service announcement on Instagram warning Chicago’s hospitality community to “beware of Warlord.” In the comments section of the June 2024 post detailing some of the claims, a few people noted that the reports are unsurprising but a necessary call to action.

Draper said the organization typically doesn’t make public statements about specific restaurants, but these claims merited an exception.

“There was a lot of intimidation going on while we were trying to organize with the employees who reached out, and people got afraid — then also just exhausted,” Draper said. “The Chicago restaurant industry is still a little bit of a boys club, so if you piss off the wrong chef, especially one that’s a big personality, it can mean, sadly, finding your next job is nearly impossible.”

Draper said while women were the primary targets of Fleming’s alleged abuse and slurs, a couple of male employees also reached out to the organization to report harassment and bullying.

Meanwhile, Fleming is also subject to an earlier order of protection against another woman, which court records show is in effect until March 2027. The woman, who is listed as a current or former girlfriend of Fleming’s, first petitioned for a court order against him in January 2025, alleging that Fleming had grabbed her by her scarf and used it to choke her, threatened her for spreading rumors about him and slapped her phone out of her hand as she returned from walking a neighbor’s dog.

“I’m going to beat your (expletive), you think you can go around saying I rape people, who do you think you are,” Fleming allegedly told the woman during the confrontation, which took place near the back exit of Warlord.

The woman also alleged that Fleming threw her phone across the alley, called police to claim that she was stalking him and had threatened her multiple times in the past.

The order shows that Fleming was ordered to avoid the two North Side bars where the woman worked and to pay for damage to her apartment window, which had a rock thrown through it in August 2024. He was also ordered to complete a domestic violence partner abuse program and a mental health evaluation, records show.

Shakespeare District (14th) police previously arrested Fleming in June 2025 for alleged drug possession and driving without valid auto registration or insurance, court records show. He agreed to participate in a deferred prosecution program, records show, and the case was dismissed after he completed that program in September 2025.

Rascia said the 2025 drug charge was an unproven allegation.

According to Draper, employees still in touch with CHAAD Project shared that Fleming returned to work after a two-week suspension following his June 2025 arrest.

Fleming is next set to appear in court Wednesday morning before Judge Sabra Lynn Ebersole.

Warlord opened quietly in 2023 at 3198 N. Milwaukee Ave. without much publicity and few reservations, which is still the case. Instead, diners line up when the restaurant is open 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. Fridays through Monday. In a 2023 Tribune review, former food critic Nick Kindelsperger noted the restaurant’s chaotic quality: a menu that could change minutes before service, flames jumping off the stove and deafening noise levels. One of the restaurant’s standout items remains the dry-aged burger.

In December, Warlord announced plans to open a second burger restaurant in the Humboldt Park neighborhood, named Lords. Draper, who lives in the neighborhood, said she’s pretty upset about it.

“It’s not that we don’t want a new restaurant and a new burger joint, but we don’t want someone who’s going to be using their position of power to harm not only restaurant workers who we advocate for, but also our neighbors and community members,” she said. “He’s not a safe person. And seeing the hospitality industry continue to invest in him and give him the platform to continue growing is really disturbing.”

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/27/chef-trevor-fleming-allegations/ 

Ugly 5Y Auction Tails Amid Faltering Demand

Tyler Durden
Tue, 01/27/2026 – 13:28

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/ugly-5y-auction-tails-amid-faltering-demand 

NEW YORK — Amazon said it’s closing all of its Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh locations, as the online behemoth focuses on its grocery delivery, Whole Foods Market and a new “supersized” store concept.

The Seattle-based online retailer said Tuesday in a blog post that it plans to convert some of those soon-to-be shuttered locations into Whole Foods Market stores. The company operates 57 Amazon Fresh stores and 15 Amazon Go stores.

“While we’ve seen encouraging signals in our Amazon-branded physical grocery stores, we haven’t yet created a truly distinctive customer experience with the right economic model needed for large-scale expansion,” the company said in the post.

Amazon noted that customers can continue to shop Amazon Fresh online in available areas for “fast and convenient delivery.”

The last day of operation for Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go stores is Feb. 1, with the exception of its California locations, which will remain open longer to comply with state requirements, Amazon said.

Since Amazon’s purchase of Whole Foods Market in 2017, it’s seen more than 40% sales growth and expansion to more than 550 locations, it said. It now plans to open more than 100 new Whole Foods Market stores over the next few years.

At the same time, shoppers are turning to online delivery for everyday essentials and fresh food, Amazon said.

The online retailer is now delivering groceries to 5,000 U.S. cities and towns, including thousands served by same-day delivery where customers can shop produce and other perishables along with staples. Based on strong customer feedback, it said it plans to expand its same-day delivery service of fresh groceries to more areas this year.

Still, Amazon pledges to continue to experiment with new physical store formats.

The company revealed on Tuesday its plans to open a “new supercenter” physical retail concept designed for customers to shop Amazon’s broad selection across fresh groceries, household essentials, and general merchandise. The company didn’t provide any other details including the timing of the opening.

Amazon also is testing a new in-store format called Amazon Grocery, which it launched alongside Whole Foods Market in Chicago. This concept at Whole Foods Market in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, lets customer also shop for groceries and household essentials from Amazon

Amazon opened its first Amazon Go concept in 2018 in Seattle, letting shoppers take milk, potato chips or ready-to-eat salads off its shelves and just walk out. Amazon’s technology charges customers after they leave.

It said that it’s gathered valuable insights along the way.

Amazon is removing Just Walk Out technology from its Fresh grocery stores in the US

For example, its Amazon Go locations served as “innovation hubs” where it developed “just walk out” technology—now a checkout solution operating in more than 360 third-party locations across five countries.

Amazon said it expanding its “just walk out” technology to Amazon’s own operations, with more than 40 North American fulfillment centers using it in breakrooms today, and more planned for 2026, helping employees grab meals without checkout delays.

Amazon introduced its first Amazon Fresh physical store in 2020. The stores features an assortment of national brands and produce, meat and seafood.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/27/amazon-go-fresh-whole-foods/ 

Clarendon Hills has scheduled an open house to introduce the draft Clarendon Hills Downtown Improvement Plan and give the community an opportunity to review proposed improvements and design concepts.

The open house is scheduled from 4:30 to 7 p.m. Feb. 5 at Community Presbyterian Church of Clarendon Hills, 39 N. Prospect Ave. The goal of the open house is to gain the community’s insight about key topic areas and the proposed future development in the village’s downtown, said Mera Johnson, assistant village manager.

“Participants can drop in, ask questions, and share feedback with the project team and village staff before the Downtown Improvement Plan is finalized,” she said.

Following the open house, the project team will prepare the final Downtown Improvement Plan, which will be presented to the Village Board, Johnson said. The plan was created by consultant Houseal Lavigne, which was hired by the village.

The open house comes after a community survey and meetings in October and November to gather public input.

“Per the scope of work, (Houseal Lavigne was) to gather feedback from the workshops, the community survey, business owners’ workshop, meetings with department heads and their own expertise and urban planning skills,” Johnson said. ‘The entire process as a whole was an opportunity for the community to provide feedback. This open house is also an opportunity to provide feedback.”

Discussion about the future of downtown Clarendon Hills has, at times, been rather controversial, as some residents have been very outspoken against the possible addition of a downtown plaza on Prospect Avenue.

The plaza would be between Railroad and Park avenues and would include the elimination of the right-turn lane, or slip lane, from southbound Prospect onto Park. That turn lane now is part of what the village calls the Sloan Triangle, an area that would become a large part of the plaza and used for gatherings.

However, while a plaza could be part of changes to the downtown, the study has been about the entire downtown area and not about a plaza, village President Eric Tech previously said.

“There are a lot of different views on how we want to use our downtown,” he said. “We’re taking a step back and looking at what we’re trying to achieve here.”

The plan really seeks to determine what residents want the village’s downtown to look like, Johnson said.

“We’re looking at changes that we can make to have the things we need to efficiently do the events we have planned, and what are our future needs,” she added. “In 30 years, what will our children say about our downtown?

“The plan is to look at everything holistically — outdoor dining, events, traffic, parking, the alleys. Railroad (Avenue) and Ann (Street), pedestrian friendliness, way-finding signs. What improvements can the village do?”

Johnson said if a particular concept is chosen, further research on budget, detailed plan sets and a timeline would have to be nailed down.

“The plan would be to get the final plan to the Village Board for consideration as soon as possible,” she said, adding that she is anticipating the March 16 board meeting, or possibly a special meeting for additional discussion.

Chuck Fieldman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/27/clarendon-hills-downtown-open-house/ 

A proposal to amend the Lake Forest Caucus bylaws to allow electronic voting once again failed to secure the votes needed for approval.

More than 1,200 people cast ballots Jan. 24 at the Gorton Center, with 771 voting in favor and 456 opposed — just under 63 % supporting the change. Under Caucus rules, however, bylaw amendments require a two-thirds majority to pass, leaving the proposal short of adoption.

Caucus leadership supported the amendment, arguing that allowing electronic voting through devices such as phones and tablets would increase participation. Under current rules, members are required to vote in person.

Opponents raised concerns about the security and verification of electronic voting.

The vote marked the second time in three months that Caucus members weighed in on the proposal. In an Oct. 14 vote, the amendment received more than 64 percent approval among the 671 ballots cast but still fell 21 votes short of the two-thirds threshold.

At the time, Caucus leadership cited Metra delays as a factor that may have prevented some members from reaching the Gorton Center before voting closed. In response, leaders revised the amendment’s language and scheduled the second vote for a Saturday to reduce transportation and work-related obstacles.

While turnout nearly doubled in the Jan. 24 vote, the amendment again failed to gain sufficient support.

Caucus President Regina Etherton expressed disappointment with the outcome, saying she believed misinformation had circulated regarding the proposal.

“The irony here is that the vast majority in our community wants it,” Etherton said.

Opponents of the measure welcomed the result, describing it as part of a broader pattern of tension between Caucus leadership and the general membership that dates back several years.

Among the critics was JoAnn Desmond, a frequent Caucus detractor.

“I hope that this vote signals to Caucus leadership the need to hear all voices and to rebuild trust with ALL the citizens of Lake Forest,” Desmond wrote in a statement. “There has been so much divisiveness over the past three years that this would be an ideal opportunity for the Caucus to work collaboratively to bring our community together.”

With the proposal defeated for a second time, Etherton said she does not anticipate another attempt to amend the bylaws.

Founded in 1935, the Lake Forest Caucus vets and recommends residents for service on city boards and commissions. Candidates for public office, including mayor, City Council, and public school boards, often run unopposed in elections after receiving a Caucus endorsement.

Daniel I. Dorfman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/27/lake-forest-caucus-proposed-amendment-fails/ 

Los Angeles Homeless Services CEO Charged With Defrauding Taxpayers To Pay For Luxury Lifestyle

Tyler Durden
Tue, 01/27/2026 – 13:05

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/los-angeles-homeless-services-ceo-charged-defrauding-taxpayers-pay-luxury-lifestyle