Mayor Brandon Johnson on Monday blamed his office’s handling of harassment complaints against his former communications director on what he described as a flawed disciplinary process he inherited at City Hall. In his first remarks to reporters since the Tribune reported on Ronnie Reese’s alleged behavior last week, the mayor said he did not know about the allegations against Reese until his office received a Freedom of Information Act request for a copy of Reese’s City Hall personnel file. And Johnson said his administration has no tolerance for the kind of harassment, sexism, racism or other abusive behavior several employees in his administration allege Reese engaged in while running the mayor’s press office. He deflected questions on how the documents also show frustration over how his chief of staff, Cristina Pacione-Zayas, suggested “peace circles” in response to concerns over Reese’s behavior, and did not say how often such remedies are considered. “The information that was disclosed as it relates to the FOIA request was the first that we’re hearing of those allegations,” Johnson said when asked about Pacione-Zayas’s response to the complaints. “There is a process that has been established long before I got here, that we inherited. And in this particular instance, it’s very clear that the system that I inherited established a process that did not provide full disclosure of everything that was in that personnel file until there was a FOIA request.” The Tribune requested a FOIA for Reese’s personnel file on Oct. 25 after City Hall moved to dismiss him. Johnson’s office released records last week of three internal complaints against Reese that alleged behavior ranging from unwanted physical contact to making disparaging comments about marginalized groups and intimidation tactics. Johnson on Monday also acknowledged the slow pace for two of Reese’s ex-employees to get off the city’s Do Not Hire list — a change made official last week, after the Tribune’s reporting on Reese’s personnel file. But the mayor’s assistant corporation counsel, Jeffrey Levine, defended how the city has managed the list, which is traditionally reserved for ex-employees accused of serious crimes and misconduct. “The Department of Human Resources has a detailed and comprehensive policy that governs placement on the Do Not Hire list, that governs removal from that list, that governs a process whereby new information can be provided and received and considered and whereby appeals can be made from decisions of the city,” Levine told reporters. “And that process and that policy is currently playing itself out, and I think it is comprehensive and covers a variety of situations.” Former press office staffers Dora Meza and Azhley Rodriguez were given notice Friday that they were removed from the Do Not Hire list, according to letters sent by DHR. They were two of Reese’s employees who were fired in August 2023 after complaining about how Reese and Johnson senior adviser Jason Lee treated them, and had been banned from future city employment ever since . In Monday statements to the Tribune, Meza and Rodriguez said they were relieved but demanded reforms on how the list will be utilized in the future. “Finally. It’s been long overdue,” Rodriguez wrote. “I hope the city reconsiders their procedure when placing people on the ineligible for rehire. Nobody should have to go through the unfair treatment my colleagues and I did and then be further punished with the DNH. It’s not right.” Then-mayoral aide Ronnie Reese, left, watches as Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson greets people at MacArthur’s Restaurant in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood on April 23, 2023. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune) Josué Ortiz, another ex-staffer of Reese’s, was placed on the Do Not Hire list at the same time but successfully petitioned to be removed this April. Another press aide, Summer Hoagland-Abernathy, said she was fired at the same time and did not receive the official letter stating she won her appeal to be removed until December 2023. In a phone interview Monday, Hoagland-Abernathy said she remains unemployed since being fired and that being stuck on the Do Not Hire list for several months “really wrecked my confidence.” “We have been talking about Ronnie’s misogynistic behavior since probably the spring or summer that he came on,” Hoagland-Abernathy said. “The mayor’s office needs to be a little bit more aware and/or willing to bring justice to the people that are being discriminated against within the office.” Asked Monday why that first batch of complaints against Reese in 2023 — which the Tribune reported on in January — was not enough to take action against him, the mayor said “Every single employee has constant review.” “Every employee does. There are regular check-ins that happen to gain a better understanding of what’s working in departments and what’s not working in departments,” Johnson said. Members of City Council are also itching to reign in use of the Do Not Hire list. Johnson’s appointed Ethics Committee chair, Ald. Matt Martin, 47th, told the Tribune on Monday he plans to hold a hearing early next year on the process of getting on the list and whether changes need to be made. Ald. Gilbert Villegas, 36th, who hired Ortiz in his aldermanic office after he got off the Do Not Hire list, called for an audit of all remaining ex-employees on the list. “It’s unfortunate that it took the cover-up of the actions of Ronnie Reese to get to this point. ... Given the fact that it was abused, we need to put some guardrails around this,” Villegas said. As for whether Johnson believes the accusations against Reese, who was a longtime friend of the mayor’s and served as press secretary of his 2023 mayoral campaign and for the Chicago Teachers Union, the mayor repeated that he could not comment on personnel matters. “There are allegations that have been brought to an individual,” Johnson said. “I’m not in a position and nor will I succumb to litigating anything that is ongoing publicly. What I can say is this: I can speak for Brandon Johnson that I do not tolerate antisemitic, misogynistic, sexist, racist, xenophobia, anti-Blackness, anti-immigrant behavior. I don’t. That’s not how I was raised.” Johnson’s reaction to the ongoing fallout over Reese came the same day he presided over a mandatory public hearing on his 2025 budget plan — one that remains in flux and is sure to change before a final City Council vote. Most recently, the mayor’s team has been pushing aldermen to accept a property tax hike between $60 million and $70 million, a source close to the mayor said. The mayor first floated a $300 million property tax hike in late October but lowered that amount to $150 million after a unanimous vote by aldermen. Meanwhile, the budget gap Johnson and aldermen must close has widened since his last proposal. Pressure from aldermen has already led Budget Committee Chair Ald. Jason Ervin, 28th, to say Johnson’s proposed $10.6 million liquor tax is off the table. Johnson also promised to re-add 162 vacant positions tied to the federal consent decree to the Police Department after pushback from Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, a move aldermen estimate will cost over $10 million. An unexpected Springfield switch-up to taxes on prepaid phones will cost the city another $37 million, according to Budget Director Annette Guzman. The mayor on Monday again rejected workforce cuts such as layoffs as a potential budget-balancer. He praised two revenue-raising ideas proposed by aldermen — a tax on hemp products and changes to the city’s grocery bag tax — but declined to share a full recommendation. “The people of Chicago don’t want cuts to services. I can tell you that emphatically,” Johnson said, a line he has returned to repeatedly this fall as budget negotiations have dragged on.Donald Trump’s “best buddy,” South African-born Elon Musk, has endorsed a post on X slamming Americans as “re***ded” workers who can’t hold a candle to skilled foreign hires in Silicon Valley. Musk was responding to a post — using a word widely considered a slur — explaining the difference between the “right right” (whom Trump claims to back) and the “tech right.” The “right right” want everything in America, including jobs, for Americans, the poster explained. The “tech right,” however, want H-1B visas for “skilled” foreign workers because American workers “ are re***ed ,” and “you can’t out train” that, the poster added. Musk responded Thursday night: “ That pretty much sums it up . This was eye-opening.” Musk, an immigrant, then clarified that he wants exceptions to MAGA’s anti-immigrant posture for the top “0.1% of [foreign] engineering talent as ... essential for America to keep winning.” America is, after all, “ mostly Americans ,” he pointed out, apparently for the sake of Americans he considers “re***ded.” Vivek Ramaswamy — Musk’s DOGE partner, both tasked by Trump to carve up the federal government — also slighted American intelligence in an X post earlier Thursday. He blamed U.S. sitcoms for extolling the virtues of the dimmer characters over those with brains, necessitating the hiring (at least in the tech world) of smarter people from other countries. “If we’re really serious about fixing the problem, we have to confront the TRUTH: Our American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long,” Ramaswamy schooled. He then called for changes in American childrearing: “ More math tutoring, fewer sleepovers ... more creating, less chillin’.” Both men were attacked by MAGA Trump supporters on social media — notably including far-right activist Laura Loomer over the duo’s push for H-1B visas for foreign tech workers . Loomer then suddenly lost her blue check mark on X that had made her a “verified” user. Texas Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett pointed out on X that, unlike MAGA, she also believes immigrants are good for the economy (though without the class division Musk and Ramaswamy seem to embrace). “MAGA got played & is mad at who ?!” she asked. “The same 2 guys just yelling was looking out for them last week as the government was on the verge of a shutdown!”None
Brody Mace, 13, of Stockton Springs almost didn’t get to go hunting for deer this fall. He broke two major bones in his right arm at school while playing football about six or seven weeks before deer hunting season began. Brody was in a full arm cast and couldn’t even bend his elbow. He and his dad Josh Mace were afraid his arm wouldn’t heal enough to get the cast off for hunting. But just before the season opened, the doctor put Brody’s arm in a removable cast so that he had more movement with his hand. Brody went from the disabled list to having family bragging rights with one well-placed arrow from his crossbow. The family owns 9 acres on Cape Jellison in Stockton Springs, where the Maces hunt. They had seen a particular buck on their game camera early one morning. It had bedded down in a nearby thicket. There are old apple trees that the deer and other animals and birds like to frequent in that area, so it’s a good place to watch for game, Josh said. The Maces were a little late getting to their hunting spot, so they weren’t sure if they might spook some deer. But they cleared a spot, set up their blind, cleared some branches out of their expected shooting lane, set up Brody’s crossbow on its shooting stand and settled in to wait, hoping a deer would show up. During the last 45 minutes of daylight, Brody was looking through his crossbow scope into the woods and saw a deer rack. “Dad, big buck! Big buck!” his dad recalled Brody whispering. The buck was looking right at them, Josh said. He got out a range finder to figure out the distance, but was having trouble focusing it because he was breathing so hard, he said. There were a few trees to work around, but they waited for the deer to take just one step and it would be enough. Brody dropped the buck at 45 yards with his crossbow. Brody said he was shaking really hard after, and Josh said he got as much of a rush as Brody did, watching his son shoot his big deer. The eight-point buck weighed 205.4 pounds, qualifying Brody for the Big Buck Club, which is a distinction that his father hasn’t earned in 27 years of hunting. Josh has been hunting since he was 10 years old. This wasn’t Brody’s first deer. He has shot two does, a spike horn buck and a six-point buck with his crossbow. He also has killed turkeys with a crossbow. Brody fishes too and this year caught a 41.5-inch-long striped bass. “Every time he goes, he gets big fish, turkeys, deer,” Josh said. “After this deer, he rubbed it in to Dad.” Josh has killed a bear, but Brody hasn’t yet. Brody thinks he may try regular archery next. His favorite part of the hunt was seeing the deer’s rack through his scope, Brody said. A taxidermist is doing a head and shoulders mount of the deer for Brody. The teen plans to hang his prize buck in his bedroom.https://arab.news/cvequ President-elect Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court on Friday to pause the potential TikTok ban from going into effect until his administration can pursue a “political resolution” to the issue. The request came as TikTok and the Biden administration filed opposing briefs to the court, in which the company argued the court should strike down a law that could ban the platform by Jan. 19 while the government emphasized its position that the statute is needed to eliminate a national security risk. “President Trump takes no position on the underlying merits of this dispute. Instead, he respectfully requests that the Court consider staying the Act’s deadline for divestment of January 19, 2025, while it considers the merits of this case,” said Trump’s amicus brief, which supported neither party in the case. The filings come ahead of oral arguments scheduled for Jan. 10 on whether the law, which requires TikTok to divest from its China-based parent company or face a ban, unlawfully restricts speech in violation of the First Amendment. Earlier this month, a panel of three federal judges on the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit unanimously upheld the statute, leading TikTok to appeal the case to the Supreme Court. The brief from Trump said he opposes banning TikTok at this junction and “seeks the ability to resolve the issues at hand through political means once he takes office.”City Mayor Murtaza Wahab has said that 2024 was a "development year" for the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) as he promised key development projects will be completed by 2025 due to financial stability achieved during the preceding year. The mayor made these remarks while inaugurating newly constructed roads adjacent to the Mewa Shah graveyard. Deputy Mayor Salman Abdullah Murad and other officials were also present at the event. Mayor Wahab reiterated the PPP's commitment to transforming Karachi through tangible development efforts. "For the first time in decades, this work has been completed by the PPP. The presence of a large number of residents here is evidence of their satisfaction with our efforts," he said. "We do not believe in politics of prejudice and discrimination but focus on politics of action. Under the leadership of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, we are working tirelessly for the city's progress," he said. He further stated that projects worth millions of rupees have been completed with the aim to improve the welfare of Karachi's citizens. The mayor expressed confidence that the city is on the path to a brighter future under the ongoing development initiatives led by the PPP. PPP believes in the politics of work, this project worth millions of rupees has been completed for the welfare of people, he said, adding, "the journey of improvement will continue." The mayor said, "I inherited Rs13 billion pension dues, however today KMC is not in loss and it has money in its account." COMMENTS Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive. For more information, please see our
Eagles rule out QB Jalen Hurts (concussion protocol) vs. CowboysOlivia Rubin is a 43-year-old fashion designer who created her own rainbow-inspired brand in 2017. In 2014, she purposefully dressed in black to blend when she was struggling with postpartum anxiety. A rainbow skirt she designed in 2017 was the start of her personal and business reawakening. This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Olivia Rubin. It has been edited for length and clarity. I've been in fashion for more than 20 years. After studying for a Bachelor's in fashion print at Central St Martin's, I worked in the industry without a break until 2012, when I found out I was pregnant with my first child. I felt run down and burnt out , so it was a good time to wind down. After the birth of my daughter in 2014, I felt depressed, anxious, and alienated. At this time, postpartum depression wasn't something talked about, so I hadn't known to expect it and didn't understand that it was happening to me. I didn't verbalize this to anyone because I didn't know it was a thing. It even affected the way I dressed for years. I wanted to blend in For as long as I can remember, I always loved wearing lots of color . But those post-baby months and years were full of black. The decision to dress in the dark color wasn't because I was too tired to decide what to wear. It was a purposeful decision that reflected my inner anxiety at the time. Related stories All I wanted to do was blend in . Black was a way to blend in. In 2015, a year after my daughter was born, I was still wearing black, but there was this one outfit I wore — I dressed up the black with brilliant red lipstick and red boots. It was the start of me starting to feel like me again. A year later, I gave birth to my second daughter, but I also picked up a freelance contract for a high street company. Working again felt right. I've always been the kind of person who needs something besides just family life, and I feel like this was it. My oldest was in p,reschool and I just worked around the baby. For the first time in years, I also wanted to make clothes for myself. I made a skirt, a gray printed skirt, and was so proud of myself. I couldn't find anything I liked, so I made my own I continued making my own clothes, for my own personal use, in 2017. I wanted to add some color back in, after years of black. I went shopping to find something that caught my eye, and I couldn't find what I was looking for. I wanted a piece no one else had, something unusual. I found a printing company in the UK to print my surface design onto wool and found a seamstress close by to make the skirt I had designed. It was unique, and I loved it. It was a rainbow skirt. When I posted it on Instagram, my feed absolutely blew up. The skirt went viral, and so many people wanted it. It was a huge turning point and the start of my own brand. I had never intended to have my own brand — I just wanted to make clothes that made me feel good. But a brand is what it all became. I started wearing color again After that rainbow skirt, I found myself again. I started wearing color again and helping others do the same. I was contacted by shops that wanted to sell my clothes to their customers, and I was traveling all around the world showing my collections. It happened in the blink of an eye. It just kept snowballing. I was making a million pounds at one point. Everything I created, I wore. It was all bright or pastels, inspired by the rainbow. During the pandemic, I created a loungewear collection. By day, I was homeschooling my two girls, and in every spare moment, I was packaging for customers. I enjoyed growing my business during this time and connecting with my community on social media, but I remember it being a lot to handle. I'm focused on sustainability At the end of 2023, I decided to start slowing everything down. I had recently turned 40 and didn't want to be traveling all the time, leaving my kids behind. I didn't want to be rushing around constantly, without any time to just enjoy designing without a deadline. Since then, I've been thinking more about sustainability — no one needs this much retail. I've stopped my big collections, and I'm not producing hundreds of wasted samples and production that contribute to landfills. In hindsight, I know I wasn't happy during my black clothing phase, but I wouldn't change it. It was a part of my journey. If I hadn't been through it, I might not have had the idea to create a rainbow skirt, and none of this would have ever happened.
Alight president Gregory Goff sells $2 million in stockChargers activate RB J.K. Dobbins from IRTrudeau, Carney push back over Trump's ongoing 51st state comments