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FWP looks at changes to bighorn sheep hunting reporting requirementPOCATELLO - The West Side football program continues to move up the historical ranks. It became just the third team in Idaho history to win five state championships in six years following a 27-6 win over Declo in the 3A State Final Friday night at the ICCU Dome. The Pirates (11-1) joined Sugar-Salem (2023) and Snake River (2000) as the only other ones to do so. They also moved into a tie with Snake River for the second-most state title in Idaho history with No. 10. Highland has the most with 12. West Side got some payback in a rematch of last year’s state title game, as well. Declo (10-2) handed the Pirates their only loss in a road encounter back on Sept. 27. The Hornets won 6-0 that day. It was the first time West Side had been shut out in 19 years. But the Pirates made sure that didn’t happen again. A goal line stand midway through the second quarter jumpstarted a 20-0 run over the next two quarters. The Hornets had a 1st and goal at the West Side 8-yard line. A delay of game and a combined sack by Raef Graves, Jaxxon Bastian and Jarrett Anger knocked them all the way back to the 21, though. So they had to settle for a 38-yard field goal from Bode Brackenbury that was no good. The Pirates capitalized with a 5-minute, 12-play, 80-yard scoring drive that was capped by a 12-yard touchdown pass from Jaden Fuller to Bryson McDaniel with just one minute and 16 seconds remaining in the first half. Drake Sage and older brother Crew Sage extended the lead to 20-0 on touchdown runs of 66 and 1 yards, in the third and fourth quarters, respectively. Declo’s Gavin Rasmussen did take a kickoff 90 yards to the house to cut into the lead at 20-7 with 10:37 to go in the game, but Crew shut down any notion of a comeback. He scored his second touchdown of the game on a 58-yard run with 4:46 left that put the game away for good. Crew finished with a game-high 118 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries. Drake added 85 yards and the score on just six carries. For a more in-depth story and reaction from West Side head coach Tyson Moser and players, check idahostatejournal.com .
Clover Health to Participate in Upcoming 43rd Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare ConferenceCITY HALL — Following more than six weeks of bitter debate, delays and an about-face by Mayor Brandon Johnson on a controversial property tax hike, the City Council on Monday narrowly passed a $17.1 billion budget for 2025. Alderpeople voted 27-23 on the main budget ordinance around 5 p.m. Monday, ensuring its passage. In the end, the city’s property tax levy was not raised at all — a dramatic change from Johnson’s original proposal to increase it by $300 million, which was unanimously rejected by alderpeople in mid-November. Johnson then floated a potential $150 million property tax hike before reducing it further to $68.5 million. The Mayor’s Office repeatedly argued the increase was necessary to avoid mass layoffs at the police and fire departments as well as cuts to other vital city services. While the $68.5 million proposal and a slew of other fees and taxes did make it through the necessary City Council committees last week, a potential final vote on Friday was called off when it became clear the budget did not have the support to pass. The vote was then pushed to Monday afternoon, while over the weekend Johnson’s budget team briefed alderpeople on a new plan that scrapped a property tax hike entirely. Instead, the budget will fill that hole by delaying payments on $40 million in debt tied to the Michael Reese hospital site in Bronzeville and saving $2.8 million by cutting middle management jobs across city departments, according to materials distributed to alderpeople on Sunday. Other revenue will come from cutting 10 positions in the Mayor’s Office to save $1 million as well as hopefully bringing in $10 million by forcing organizers of large events to help reimburse the cost of police overtime, according to WTTW . Despite the last-minute changes and elimination of the property tax hike, the budget proposal still features numerous fee and tax increases that will impact the daily lives of Chicagoans. That includes a three-cent increase in the checkout bag tax from 7 cents to 10 cents, as well as a $5 price hike for residential parking permits for neighbors under 65 and the expansion of congestion fees for rideshare trips Downtown. A tax on streaming services will also go up 1.25 percent. The city’s personal property lease tax , which impacts car and equipment rentals as well as cloud computing services, will increase from 9 to 11 percent. That hike would yield $128 million, according to the Tribune . The budget also relies on a 3.25 percent increase on taxes paid by valet parking and parking garage businesses as well as the doubling of a license fee from $660 to $1,320 to establish a “wholesale food establishment,” among other increases. Just over $11 million in additional revenue is projected from adding more speed cameras, according to the Sun-Times. The mayor’s spending plan taps into a “record” $570 million surplus of tax increment financing dollars. That will send $131 million to the city, around $300 million to Chicago Public Schools and the rest split between taxing bodies like the Chicago Park District, City Colleges and others. The City Council had until Dec. 31 to pass a balanced budget or face a potential government shutdown, something that looked increasingly likely as a final budget vote was repeatedly pushed back. But while the budget did finally pass on Monday, many alderpeople — even those who voted in favor — remained critical of both the final spending plan as well as the extended and often contentious negotiations overseen by the Mayor’s Office this fall. Ald. Maria Hadden (49th), who was a “yes” vote, nevertheless had harsh words for Johnson over how he approached negotiating his spending plan — which was passed a month later than last year’s with last-minute add-ons to win support. “How we do things is just as important as what we do, and the way you’ve led this process has left the City Council fractured ... As we enter the next year with the promise of attacks from a new presidential administration, we are not prepared, and the fault lies squarely with you and your administration,” she said. “This budget may have some progressive outcomes, but the process to get here was anything but progressive,” Hadden said. Several alderpeople, including Alds. Byron Sigcho Lopez (25th), Jessie Fuentes (26th) and Daniel La Spata (1st), did offer praise for the budget, especially the compromises made to eliminate the property tax hike and cut vacant positions. Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th) pointed to a $272 million advanced pension payment and a 3 percent cut of vacant positions across city departments as proof that the final budget was “fiscally responsible.” “This budget ... will deliver zero [increases to] property taxes, will deliver the things that our residents need,” he said. “[It] will help make sure that you have summer opportunities, will make sure that people have affordable and accessible mental health care.” Numerous alderpeople who voted against the budget plan warned that next year’s process would likely be just as difficult at this year’s — if not worse. “I wanted to see more structural stuff. And I’m very concerned that we don’t have a stronger structural fix in this budget,” Ald. Nicole Lee (11th) told reporters before Monday’s meeting. “I worry about what the ratings agencies are going to say about us not having this.” The Chinatown and Bridgeport alderperson, who voted “no” on the budget, urged Johnson to start next year’s budget process earlier than October, while describing this year’s process as “disorganized.” “It’s been rough. I think it’s been rough on everybody, I think no one, from any perspective, will tell you otherwise, that this has somehow been an easy process,” Lee said. Ald. Bill Conway (34th) also voted “no” and said he was not won over by the minimal amounts of cuts added over the weekend to the final budget plan — or the decision to delay payments on the $40 million in debt for the Walter Reese site. “In five years, the city budget has gone from about $11 billion to $17 billion, and that is not sustainable, and that’s something we need to be looking at,” he said. “Most of this budget is really being balanced with extra fees and taxes, and being balanced on the back of working families. And I don’t think that’s right. I think we can do much more in terms of finding efficiencies in this government.” Conway and Lee were joined in their “no” votes by a coalition of 15 alderpeople who released a letter on Sunday calling for an additional $823 million in spending reductions in 2025. The group is also advocating for additional funding to resume the use of gunshot detection technology ShotSpotter and fund a new Southwest Side police station, among other priorities. Ald. Marty Quinn (13th), who signed the letter, called out Johnson for not supporting the new police station, which could be located at a vacant National Guard armory near Midway Airport in his ward that the state of Illinois has agreed to sell to the city for $1 . The Johnson administration has so far refused to consider using the building as a police station. “I cannot support this budget because the residents of the 13th Ward feel we are working against them,” Quinn said during formal comments before the budget vote. “Mr. Mayor: Southwest Side residents cannot keep waiting for an answer as to why this critical project is not included in this budget.” One sticking point that emerged late in this year’s budget negotiations was over a pilot program known as Plow the Sidewalks that aims to use city dollars to shovel sidewalks in select areas across the city. La Spata vowed earlier this month that he would not vote for any spending plan that did not include $1 million to launch the program in 2025. Transportation and disability rights groups have pushed for the pilot for years, and a working group released a report in May recommending four pilot zones for the sidewalk-clearing operation. But the program has drawn the ire of Ald. Nicholas Sposato (38th), who refused to vote for any budget that funded it. Until Monday, it wasn’t clear if the final budget would pay for the plan. At the last minute, $500,000 was allocated for the program, although a City Council vote will still be required to determine the parameters of the pilot’s future, which was part of the original ordinance, La Spata said. That apparently was enough to convince Sposato, who voted in favor of the overall budget. La Spata said the Plow the Sidewalks program will begin in December 2025, and that the city will seek grants and philanthropic funding to supplement the $500,000. In remarks after the vote, Johnson thanked the alderpeople who helped get the budget “over the finish line” and touted its funding of mental health resources, summer jobs for kids and other programs. “While this budget process may have been different than the past, it has truly been a collaborative process that included unprecedented levels of input not just from City Council members but from the people of this city,” Johnson said. Get a free print! Help us reach our goal of 900 subscribers by Dec. 31 to sustain and expand our coverage and you’ll get a free neighborhood print. There are three ways to qualify: Purchase a new subscription , upgrade your current subscription or gift a subscription . Don’t wait — support Block Club and we’ll send you a print of your choice! Listen to the Block Club Chicago podcast: RelatedBy ROB GILLIES, Associated Press TORONTO (AP) — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told Donald Trump that Americans would also suffer if the president-elect follows through on a plan to impose sweeping tariffs on Canadian products , a Canadian minister who attended their recent dinner said Monday. Trump threatened to impose tariffs on products from Canada and Mexico if they don’t stop what he called the flow of drugs and migrants across their borders with the United States. He said on social media last week that he would impose a 25% tax on all products entering the U.S. from Canada and Mexico as one of his first executive orders. Canadian Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, whose responsibilities include border security, attended a dinner with Trump and Trudeau at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club on Friday. Trudeau requested the meeting in a bid to avoid the tariffs by convincing Trump that the northern border is nothing like the U.S. southern border with Mexico . “The prime minister of course spoke about the importance of protecting the Canadian economy and Canadian workers from tariffs, but we also discussed with our American friends the negative impact that those tariffs could have on their economy, on affordability in the United States as well,” LeBlanc said in Parliament. If Trump makes good on his threat to slap 25% tariffs on everything imported from Mexico and Canada, the price increases that could follow will collide with his campaign promise to give American families a break from inflation. Economists say companies would have little choice but to pass along the added costs, dramatically raising prices for food, clothing, automobiles, alcohol and other goods. The Produce Distributors Association, a Washington trade group, said last week that tariffs will raise prices for fresh fruit and vegetables and hurt U.S. farmers when the countries retaliate. Canada is already examining possible retaliatory tariffs on certain items from the U.S. should Trump follow through on the threat. After his dinner with Trump, Trudeau returned home without assurances the president-elect will back away from threatened tariffs on all products from the major American trading partner. Trump called the talks “productive” but signaled no retreat from a pledge that Canada says unfairly lumps it in with Mexico over the flow of drugs and migrants into the United States. “The idea that we came back empty handed is completely false,” LeBlanc said. “We had a very productive discussion with Mr. Trump and his future Cabinet secretaries. ... The commitment from Mr. Trump to continue to work with us was far from empty handed.” Joining Trump and Trudeau at dinner were Howard Lutnick, Trump’s nominee for commerce secretary, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Trump’s pick to lead the Interior Department, and Mike Waltz, Trump’s choice to be his national security adviser. Canada’s ambassador to the U.S., Kirsten Hillman, told The Associated Press on Sunday that “the message that our border is so vastly different than the Mexican border was really understood.” Hillman, who sat at an adjacent table to Trudeau and Trump, said Canada is not the problem when it comes to drugs and migrants. On Monday, Mexico’s president rejected those comments. “Mexico must be respected, especially by its trading partners,” President Claudia Sheinbaum said. She said Canada had its own problems with fentanyl consumption and “could only wish they had the cultural riches Mexico has.” Flows of migrants and seizures of drugs at the two countries’ border are vastly different. U.S. customs agents seized 43 pounds of fentanyl at the Canadian border during the last fiscal year, compared with 21,100 pounds at the Mexican border. Most of the fentanyl reaching the U.S. — where it causes about 70,000 overdose deaths annually — is made by Mexican drug cartels using precursor chemicals smuggled from Asia. On immigration, the U.S. Border Patrol reported 1.53 million encounters with migrants at the southwest border with Mexico between October 2023 and September 2024. That compares to 23,721 encounters at the Canadian border during that time. Canada is the top export destination for 36 U.S. states. Nearly $3.6 billion Canadian (US$2.7 billion) worth of goods and services cross the border each day. About 60% of U.S. crude oil imports are from Canada, and 85% of U.S. electricity imports as well. Canada is also the largest foreign supplier of steel, aluminum and uranium to the U.S. and has 34 critical minerals and metals that the Pentagon is eager for and investing for national security.
Trump threatened to impose a 25% tax on all products entering the U.S. from Canada and Mexico.
Ivy League professor's shocking new theory on why 'CEO shooter' Luigi Mangione went off the rails By SONYA GUGLIARA FOR DAILYMAIL.COM Published: 13:26 EST, 16 December 2024 | Updated: 13:26 EST, 16 December 2024 e-mail 23 shares View comments An Ivy League professor has revealed what he believes could have led Luigi Mangione to allegedly kill UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Mangione, 26, grew up in a prominent , well-off Maryland family and spent his life attending prestigious private schools, earning his college degree from the University of Pennsylvania . Cornell Law Professor William Jacobson told Fox News that Mangione's educational background may have radicalized him - potentially inspiring him to assassinate Thompson. 'It is fairly uniform in the Ivy League and other so-called elite educational institutions that they skew extremely heavily to the left among the faculty,' Jacobson explained. 'The modern Democratic Party ...leans very heavily to the left, has a very strong anti-American, anti-capitalist wing to it...so it would not surprise me if somebody growing up and getting educated in that atmosphere becomes radicalized.' The law professor claimed that Ivy League educators have been promoting their personal value and trying to instill them in students over the last two or three decades. 'They do not distinguish between their teaching and their activism,' he told Fox News. 'That most clearly manifests itself. But it's elsewhere, too, on the anti-capitalist front...if you're educating yourself in that atmosphere, I certainly could understand why someone would have hostile views towards a health insurance company.' Luigi Mangione, 26, has been arrested for allegedly assassinating UnitedHealthcare's CEO on December 5 Cornell Law professor William Jacobson believes that Mangione's elite educational background radicalized him Jacobson shared his theory after posts made by a UPenn educator celebrating Thompson's slaying sparked outrage. Assistant English Professor Julia Alekseyeva shared a TikTok video praising the suspect and the fact that Mangione is an alumni of her university. In response to by Alekseyeva's post, UPenn School of Arts and Sciences Deputy Dean Jeffrey Kallberg told Fox News that 'much concern was raised.' 'Her comments regarding the shooting of Brian Thompson in New York City were antithetical to the values of both the School of Arts and Sciences and the University of Pennsylvania,' Kallberg said in a statement. 'They were not condoned by the School or the University. Upon reflection, Assistant Professor Alekseyeva has concurred that the comments were insensitive and inappropriate and has retracted them.' Mangione reportedly aligned with anti-capitalist ideologies . He was also found with a handwritten manifesto when he was arrested at a McDonalds in Altoona, Pennsylvania. The manifesto reportedly read : 'To save you a lengthy investigation, I state plainly that I wasn’t working with anyone. 'These parasites had it coming. I do apologize for any strife and trauma, but it had to be done.' Mangione is accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on December 4 Mangione was arrested at a Pennsylvania McDonald's after a five-day manhunt One of the alleged shooter's friends told DailyMail.com that Mangione was actually 'anti-woke,' and was left-leaning in some ways and right-leaning in others. 'For instance, he was pro-equality of opportunity, but anti-woke: for example anti-DEI (and) anti-identity politics,' Gurwinder Bhogal, a UK-based writer who met Mangione online, explained. 'He opposed woke-ism because he didn't believe it was an effective way to help minorities. 'He expressed interest in more rational, evidence-based forms of compassion, like effective altruism.' Bhogal said he and Mangione discussed the differences between the UK and US healthcare systems . 'Luigi complained about how expensive healthcare in the US was, and expressed envy at the UK's nationalized health system,' he revealed. Bhogal, who runs a political blog called The Prism, said they discussed the actions of 'Unabomber' Ted Kaczynski, who used terrorism to campaign against modern technology. Mangione previously appeared to praise Kaczynski in a Goodreads review. Mangione was reportedly found with a manifesto when he was arrested on December 9 'Luigi disapproved of the Unabomber’s actions, but was fascinated by his ideology, and shared his concerns about rampant consumerism gradually eroding our agency and alienating us from ourselves,' Bhogal said. The blogger speculated that material Mangione read on social media may be what sparked his alleged crime. Another theory surrounding Mangione's alleged actions is that he suffered from chronic and severe back pain , which spiraled into an obsession with the healthcare industry. Mangione's college roommate, RJ Martin, said the suspect was in so much pain that he could not be physically intimate with anyone. Martin also recalled how he, Mangione and other students would discuss healthcare and capitalism. But he insisted the suspected murderer never gave off the impression of being angry or radicalized. He added that Mangione did not complain about his back pain and did not appear to be taking any kind of painkillers. Mangione was arrested on December 9 after a five-day manhunt. He has been charged with second-degree murder. Mangione's friends have come forward with other theories about what may have caused him to lash out The Maryland native comes from a well-off family and attended an Ivy League college He also faces charges of second- and third-degree possession of a weapon, and second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument in the killing of Thompson. On his way inside a Pennsylvania courthouse on December 10 to fight extradition to New York, an agitated Mangione shouted: 'This is completely unjust and an insult to the American people.' He also yelled at reporters for being 'completely out of touch and an insult to the intelligence of the American people and their lived experience!' Jacobson reiterated his belief that Thompson's death was not a random act and that Mangione's life experiences could have led him to allegedly shoot and kill the CEO. 'I think people need to focus on what the evidence is, what in his background might have radicalized him...what in his background would have led him to engage in such an elaborate plot,' he told Fox News. 'This is not a spontaneous act of violence. This was obviously clearly planned.' Luigi Mangione Fox News Brian Thompson Share or comment on this article: Ivy League professor's shocking new theory on why 'CEO shooter' Luigi Mangione went off the rails e-mail 23 shares Add comment
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