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Navigating The Risks Of Digital Public InfrastructureDaniel Jones Next Team Odds: Contenders jockeying for QB?

Sellers' 20-yard TD run with 1:08 to go lifts No. 16 South Carolina to 17-14 win over No. 12 ClemsonDemocrat Bob Casey concedes to Republican David McCormick in Pennsylvania Senate contest HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Democratic Sen. Marc Levy, The Associated Press Nov 21, 2024 3:21 PM Nov 21, 2024 3:35 PM Share by Email Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Print Share via Text Message Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., left, stops to speak to members of the media before voting, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in Scranton, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Democratic Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania conceded his reelection bid to Republican David McCormick on Thursday, as a statewide recount showed no signs of closing the gap and his campaign suffered repeated blows in court in its effort to get potentially favorable ballots counted. Casey’s concession comes more than two weeks after Election Day, as a grindingly slow ballot-counting process became a spectacle of hours-long election board meetings, social media outrage, lawsuits and accusations that some county officials were openly flouting the law. Republicans had been claiming that Democrats were trying to steal McCormick’s seat by counting “illegal votes.” Casey’s campaign had accused of Republicans of trying to block enough votes to prevent him from pulling ahead and winning. In a statement, Casey said he had just called McCormick to congratulate him. “As the first count of ballots is completed, Pennsylvanians can move forward with the knowledge that their voices were heard, whether their vote was the first to be counted or the last," Casey said. The Associated Press called the race for McCormick on Nov. 7, concluding that not enough ballots remained to be counted in areas Casey was winning for him to take the lead. As of Thursday, McCormick led by about 16,000 votes out of almost 7 million ballots counted. That was well within the 0.5% margin threshold to trigger an automatic statewide recount under Pennsylvania law. But no election official expected a recount to change more than a couple hundred votes or so, and Pennsylvania's highest court dealt him a blow when it refused entreaties to allow counties to count mail-in ballots that lacked a correct handwritten date on the return envelope. Republicans will have a 53-47 majority next year in the U.S. Senate. ___ Follow Marc Levy at twitter.com/timelywriter Marc Levy, The Associated Press See a typo/mistake? Have a story/tip? This has been shared 0 times 0 Shares Share by Email Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Print Share via Text Message More World News Trump chooses Pam Bondi for attorney general pick after Gaetz withdraws Nov 21, 2024 4:02 PM Shohei Ohtani wins third MVP award, first in NL. Aaron Judge earns second AL honor in 3 seasons Nov 21, 2024 3:56 PM UN nuclear agency’s board condemns Iran for the 2nd time this year for failing to fully cooperate Nov 21, 2024 3:48 PM Featured Flyer

Andrés Ojeda chosen to chair Uruguay's Colorado Party

Daniel Jones Next Team Odds: Contenders jockeying for QB?

CHICAGO, Dec. 06, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Monroe Capital Corporation (the "Company”) (NASDAQ: MRCC) announced today that its Board of Directors has declared a distribution of $0.25 per share for the fourth quarter of 2024, payable on December 30, 2024 to stockholders of record as of December 16, 2024. In October 2012, the Company adopted a dividend reinvestment plan that provides for reinvestment of distributions on behalf of its stockholders, unless a stockholder elects to receive cash prior to the record date. When the Company declares a cash distribution, stockholders who have not opted out of the dividend reinvestment plan prior to the record date will have their distribution automatically reinvested in additional shares of the Company's capital stock. The specific tax characteristics of the distribution will be reported to stockholders on Form 1099 after the end of the calendar year and in the Company's periodic report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. About Monroe Capital Corporation Monroe Capital Corporation is a publicly-traded specialty finance company that principally invests in senior, unitranche and junior secured debt and, to a lesser extent, unsecured debt and equity investments in middle-market companies. The Company's investment objective is to maximize the total return to its stockholders in the form of current income and capital appreciation. The Company's investment activities are managed by its investment adviser, Monroe Capital BDC Advisors, LLC, which is an investment adviser registered under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended, and an affiliate of Monroe Capital LLC. To learn more about Monroe Capital Corporation, visit www.monroebdc.com . About Monroe Capital LLC Monroe Capital LLC (including its subsidiaries and affiliates, together "Monroe”) is a premier asset management firm specializing in private credit markets across various strategies, including direct lending, technology finance, venture debt, alternative credit, structured credit, real estate and equity. Since 2004, the firm has been successfully providing capital solutions to clients in the U.S. and Canada. Monroe prides itself on being a value-added and user-friendly partner to business owners, management, and both private equity and independent sponsors. Monroe's platform offers a wide variety of investment products for both institutional and high net worth investors with a focus on generating high quality "alpha” returns irrespective of business or economic cycles. The firm is headquartered in Chicago and maintains 10 offices throughout the United States and Asia. Monroe has been recognized by both its peers and investors with various awards including Inc.'s 2024 Founder-Friendly Investors List; Private Debt Investor as the 2023 Lower Mid-Market Lender of the Decade, 2023 Lower Mid-Market Lender of the Year, 2023 CLO Manager of the Year, Americas; Global M&A Network as the 2023 Lower Mid-Markets Lender of the Year, U.S.A.; DealCatalyst as the 2022 Best CLO Manager of the Year; Korean Economic Daily as the 2022 Best Performance in Private Debt - Mid Cap; Creditflux as the 2021 Best U.S. Direct Lending Fund; and Pension Bridge as the 2020 Private Credit Strategy of the Year. For more information and important disclaimers, please visit www.monroecap.com . Forward-Looking Statements This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements. Any such statements, other than statements of historical fact, are likely to be affected by other unknowable future events and conditions, including elements of the future that are or are not under the Company's control, and that the Company may or may not have considered; accordingly, such statements cannot be guarantees or assurances of any aspect of future performance. Actual developments and results are highly likely to vary materially from these estimates and projections of the future. Such statements speak only as of the time when made, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update any such statement now or in the future. SOURCE: Monroe Capital Corporation Chief Financial Officer and Chief Investment Officer Monroe Capital Corporation (312) 598-8401 [email protected] BackBay Communications (857) 305-8441 [email protected]A federal appeals court panel on Friday unanimously upheld a law that could lead to a ban on TikTok in a few short months, handing a resounding defeat to the popular social media platform as it fights for its survival in the U.S. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied TikTok's petition to overturn the law — which requires TikTok to break ties with its China-based parent company ByteDance or be banned by mid-January — and rebuffed the company's challenge of the statute, which it argued had ran afoul of the First Amendment. “The First Amendment exists to protect free speech in the United States,” said the court's opinion, which was written by Judge Douglas Ginsburg. “Here the Government acted solely to protect that freedom from a foreign adversary nation and to limit that adversary’s ability to gather data on people in the United States.” TikTok and ByteDance — another plaintiff in the lawsuit — are expected to appeal to the Supreme Court, though its unclear whether the court will take up the case. “The Supreme Court has an established historical record of protecting Americans’ right to free speech, and we expect they will do just that on this important constitutional issue," TikTok spokesperson Michael Hughes said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the TikTok ban was conceived and pushed through based upon inaccurate, flawed and hypothetical information, resulting in outright censorship of the American people,” Hughes said. Unless stopped, he argued the statute “will silence the voices of over 170 million Americans here in the US and around the world on January 19th, 2025.” Though the case is squarely in the court system, its also possible the two companies might be thrown some sort of a lifeline by President-elect Donald Trump, who tried to ban TikTok during his first term but said during the presidential campaign that he is now against such action . The law, signed by President Joe Biden in April, was the culmination of a years-long saga in Washington over the short-form video-sharing app, which the government sees as a national security threat due to its connections to China. The U.S. has said it’s concerned about TikTok collecting vast swaths of user data, including sensitive information on viewing habits , that could fall into the hands of the Chinese government through coercion. Officials have also warned the proprietary algorithm that fuels what users see on the app is vulnerable to manipulation by Chinese authorities, who can use it to shape content on the platform in a way that’s difficult to detect — a concern mirrored by the European Union on Friday as it scrutinizes the video-sharing app’s role in the Romanian elections. TikTok, which sued the government over the law in May, has long denied it could be used by Beijing to spy on or manipulate Americans. Its attorneys have accurately pointed out that the U.S. hasn’t provided evidence to show that the company handed over user data to the Chinese government, or manipulated content for Beijing’s benefit in the U.S. They have also argued the law is predicated on future risks, which the Department of Justice has emphasized pointing in part to unspecified action it claims the two companies have taken in the past due to demands from the Chinese government. Friday’s ruling came after the appeals court panel, composed of two Republican and one Democrat appointed judges, heard oral arguments in September. In the hearing, which lasted more than two hours, the panel appeared to grapple with how TikTok’s foreign ownership affects its rights under the Constitution and how far the government could go to curtail potential influence from abroad on a foreign-owned platform. On Friday, all three of them denied TikTok’s petition. In the court's ruling, Ginsburg, a Republican appointee, rejected TikTok's main legal arguments against the law, including that the statute was an unlawful bill of attainder or a taking of property in violation of the Fifth Amendment. He also said the law did not violate the First Amendment because the government is not looking to "suppress content or require a certain mix of content” on TikTok. “Content on the platform could in principle remain unchanged after divestiture, and people in the United States would remain free to read and share as much PRC propaganda (or any other content) as they desire on TikTok or any other platform of their choosing,” Ginsburg wrote, using the abbreviation for the People’s Republic of China. Judge Sri Srinivasan, the chief judge on the court, issued a concurring opinion. TikTok’s lawsuit was consolidated with a second legal challenge brought by several content creators - for which the company is covering legal costs - as well as a third one filed on behalf of conservative creators who work with a nonprofit called BASED Politics Inc. Other organizations, including the Knight First Amendment Institute, had also filed amicus briefs supporting TikTok. “This is a deeply misguided ruling that reads important First Amendment precedents too narrowly and gives the government sweeping power to restrict Americans’ access to information, ideas, and media from abroad,” said Jameel Jaffer, the executive director of the organization. “We hope that the appeals court’s ruling won’t be the last word.” Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, lawmakers who had pushed for the legislation celebrated the court's ruling. "I am optimistic that President Trump will facilitate an American takeover of TikTok to allow its continued use in the United States and I look forward to welcoming the app in America under new ownership,” said Republican Rep. John Moolenaar of Michigan, chairman of the House Select Committee on China. Democratic Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, who co-authored the law, said “it's time for ByteDance to accept” the law. To assuage concerns about the company’s owners, TikTok says it has invested more than $2 billion to bolster protections around U.S. user data. The company has also argued the government’s broader concerns could have been resolved in a draft agreement it provided the Biden administration more than two years ago during talks between the two sides. It has blamed the government for walking away from further negotiations on the agreement, which the Justice Department argues is insufficient. Attorneys for the two companies have claimed it’s impossible to divest the platform commercially and technologically. They also say any sale of TikTok without the coveted algorithm - the platform’s secret sauce that Chinese authorities would likely block under any divesture plan - would turn the U.S. version of TikTok into an island disconnected from other global content. Still, some investors, including Trump’s former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and billionaire Frank McCourt, have expressed interest in purchasing the platform. Both men said earlier this year that they were launching a consortium to purchase TikTok’s U.S. business. This week, a spokesperson for McCourt’s Project Liberty initiative, which aims to protect online privacy, said unnamed participants in their bid have made informal commitments of more than $20 billion in capital.People started lining up at 3 p.m. on Thursday for the 5 o’clock start. Around 600 members of the community showed up Thursday at Hart High School in Newhall for the Hart High ASB Community Holiday Dinner, according to ASB co-director Jamie Clack. ASB students served free dinner, gave each family a blanket, offered those in need a food and clothing drive, and gave kids an opportunity to meet Santa Claus for pictures and presents. “We’re trying to bring the holiday spirit to the community,” Clack said Thursday after stepping away from the food line for just a moment to chat. “This is for anyone in the community, not just Hart High families.” Clack added that the donations came from Hart High staff and Hart families. Hart staff, for example, collected money to purchase over 600 tamales from Jazmin’s Bakery in Newhall. Students began collecting toys and gift cards back in November. Project Linus, which is a volunteer nonprofit organization that offers handmade blankets to children in need, donated about 350 blankets. Emblem Academy in Saugus gave about 200 blankets. The 52 ASB students spent weeks wrapping gifts, according to Clack. She said they often did that on their lunch breaks at school. They had gifts for babies, and for boys and girls up to 12 years old. Teens got gift cards. “It’s so wonderful,” Clack said. “It’s really a true community event.” Assistant Principal Rich Gutierrez added that Honu Coffee in Newhall donated coffee. Other local businesses like Egg Plantation and Firehouse Subs also provided goods for the meals. “To see everybody come together as a group is amazing, particularly during this time of the year,” Gutierrez said. “The effort from the kids and everything they put into this — that leadership that they show is awesome.” In the small gym on campus, Hart social workers and ASB students ran a food and clothing drive. Then, over in the bigger gym, guests got to meet Santa Claus and his helpers in a winter wonderland of Christmas trees and lights, snowmen, a gingerbread man and other characters from the North Pole. “We’ve been doing this for over 30 years,” said Nicole Keaton, ASB co-director. “There are a lot of families just in need, and if we have the means to help with all the donations from our families, I think it’s just something we can do to give back.” Hart High School Assistant Principal Liz Wilson said area families look forward to the event every year. People will wait in line for over an hour to get food. Then they’ll wait in line for blankets, for the food and clothing drive, and for Santa and gifts. Several families said they waited an hour to get into the event. Newhall resident Juana Villagomez and her family from Newhall got through the line in just 25 minutes. She said it was worth it — they enjoyed everything. Pedro Morales Sr. and his family came from Canyon Country to take part in the festivities. His kids, 2-year-old Pedro Jr. and 4-year-old Alison, had just met Santa Claus and received gifts. They were excited to open them and more excited for Christmas to come. They wouldn’t have to wait much longer.

Shohei Ohtani wins 3rd AP Male Athlete of the Year award, tying Michael Jordan for 1 shy of record LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shohei Ohtani has been named The Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year for the third time. That ties the two-way superstar with Michael Jordan, an athlete Ohtani followed while growing up in Japan. He trails only Lance Armstrong, Tiger Woods and LeBron James, who each won the award four times. Ohtani received 48 votes in balloting by 74 sports journalists from the AP and its members. He earned his third National League Most Valuable Player award after helping the Dodgers win their eighth World Series title. Ohtani hit 54 home runs and stole 59 bases as the first player with a 50-50 season. His dog, Decoy, became a celebrity, too, helping Ohtani deliver a ceremonial first pitch at a game. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.Trudeau told Trump Americans would also suffer if tariffs are imposed, a Canadian minister says

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Los Angeles Rams have claimed cornerback Emmanuel Forbes off waivers from Washington. The Rams (6-6) announced the move Monday. They waived undrafted rookie defensive back Charles Woods to make room on the roster. Forbes was the 16th overall draft pick in 2023, but the Commanders released him Saturday in yet another latest flop for their first-round selections under former coach Ron Rivera. Forbes started 10 games as a rookie, but the Mississippi State product got benched during the season — and his playing time dwindled to almost nothing under new coach Dan Quinn this season. Forbes was considered undersized to be an elite NFL defensive back before Washington used a first-round pick on him, and his play did little to discourage that perception. But the Rams are taking a flier on Forbes to help their mediocre pass defense. Darious Williams, a member of the Rams' Super Bowl championship team who returned to Los Angeles this season as a free agent, has been their best cover corner, but he struggled in Sunday's victory over New Orleans. Third-year pro Cobie Durant has started all 12 games this season with one interception. Los Angeles already traded Tre'Davious White, its other major offseason signing at cornerback, after the former Pro Bowler failed to perform. The Rams shipped White to Baltimore for a seventh-round pick swap last month. Woods has played in nine games for the Rams, appearing mostly on special teams. Los Angeles hosts Buffalo on Sunday. AP NFL: https://apnews.com/NFLSabrina Ionescu is joining Unrivaled as the new 3-on-3 league's final playerSAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Northern California was under a rare and brief tsunami warning alert Thursday that tested local emergency notification systems after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake shook part of the state. The National Weather Service canceled its alert after roughly an hour and before the tsunami was expected to arrive. In that hour, some cities and counties ordered evacuations while others relied on social media and text messages to inform people of the warning. Some people headed for higher ground, while others drove to the beach to get a better view. People took to social media to figure out why a warning was issued and then canceled so quickly, and how the NWS determines when to send alerts. Here are answers to more questions. What exactly is a tsunami? The word for tsunami comes from the Japanese characters for harbor and wave. It's a series of extremely long waves set in motion when energy from an earthquake causes the ocean floor to suddenly rise or fall, according to the National Weather Service . How common are they in California? Since 1800, California's shores have been struck by more than 150 tsunamis, most of them minor, according to the California Geological Survey. Phones buzzed Thursday when the National Weather Service issued its warning just minutes after the quake struck west of Ferndale, a small city in coastal Humboldt County. It read in part: “You are in danger. Get away from coastal waters. Move to high ground or inland now.” Why was there an alert if there wasn't a large tsunami? The National Weather Service Bay Area posted on the social platform X early Friday that the region doesn't get tsunami alerts often and “there are lot of questions, frustration, and even some anger” about Thursday's event. A warning alert is the most serious of four tsunami alerts, including a watch alert for a possible tsunami and an advisory alert telling people to stay out of the water and away from the shore. The last time California received a warning alert was 2011 when an earthquake in Japan caused about $100 million in damages along the California coast. Basically, a distant, offshore earthquake or other trigger event gives scientists more time to analyze data and confirm that a large tsunami was generated before sounding a warning. But Thursday’s earthquake was local and close to the coast, forcing a hasty high-level alert in order to give people the maximum time to prepare as tsunami waves can travel very fast, up to 500 mph (800 kph) in the deep ocean, the NWS wrote. “By the time we actually observe it, it may be too late, because it's right there in our back doors,” said Dalton Behringer, a meteorologist with NWS Bay Area, on Friday. Scientists used the time Thursday to monitor buoys and get more information on the earthquake itself, he said. They canceled the alert after seeing little sea-level change and determining the quake was a strike-slip type of temblor that shifts more horizontally and is less prone to cause tsunamis, he said. “These things happen so infrequently for us, I think it just caught a lot of people off-guard,” he said. How did Northern California respond? Authorities in Eureka, the biggest city in Humboldt County, sent texts and went door-to-door to order businesses in high-risk areas to evacuate, said City Manager Miles Slattery. He said only a small portion of the city was at risk, and Thursday's test run showed evacuees need to work on leaving by foot, rather than by car. In the San Francisco Bay Area, the commuter light-rail system known as BART stopped traffic in all directions through the underwater tunnel between San Francisco and Oakland, and the San Francisco Zoo’s visitors were evacuated. Responses varied as fire and police in Berkeley evacuated certain areas of the city while in San Francisco, officials sent alerts and messages on social media telling residents to stay away from water, beaches, harbors, marina docks, and piers. “Move at least one block inland,” said the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management. Emergency personnel in vehicles with public address systems also went to make sure no one was on beaches and other low-lying areas. But some critics said San Francisco should have sounded its loud emergency sirens, which have been off-line since 2019 for repairs. In San Mateo County, just south of San Francisco, officials considered but decided against sounding its tsunami warning sirens after receiving more comprehensive information from the NWS that any tsunami would affect coastlines north of the Golden Gate Bridge, said Michelle Durand, a spokesperson for the county. Fire and police cleared the beaches while emergency personnel gathered to monitor the situation, she said, which “prioritized both public safety and the prevention of unnecessary panic.” Janie Har, The Associated Press

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Column: Brady Corbet’s epic movie ‘The Brutalist’ came close to crashing down more than onceA judge on Monday rejected a request to block a San Jose State women's volleyball team member from playing in a conference tournament on grounds that she is transgender. The ruling by U.S. Magistrate Judge S. Kato Crews in Denver will allow the player, who has played all season, to compete in the Mountain West Conference women's championship opening this week in Las Vegas. The ruling comes in a lawsuit filed by nine current players against the Mountain West Conference challenging the league's policies for allowing transgender players to participate. The players argued that letting her compete was a safety risk and unfair. While some media have reported those and other details, neither San Jose State nor the forfeiting teams have confirmed the school has a trans woman volleyball player. The Associated Press is withholding the player's name because she has not commented publicly on her gender identity. School officials also have declined an interview request with the player. Crews' ruling referred to the athlete as an "alleged transgender" player and noted that no defendant disputed that the San Jose State roster includes a transgender woman player. San Jose State will "continue to support its student-athletes and reject discrimination in all forms," the university said in a statement, confirming that all its student-athletes are eligible to participate under NCAA and conference rules. "We are gratified that the Court rejected an eleventh-hour attempt to change those rules. Our team looks forward to competing in the Mountain West volleyball tournament this week." The conference did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. The players filed a notice for emergency appeal with the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Crews said the players who filed the complaint could have sought relief much earlier, noting the individual universities had acknowledged that not playing their games against San Jose State this season would result in a loss in league standings. He also refused a request to re-seed the tournament without the forfeited losses. The judge said injunctions are meant to preserve the status quo. The conference policy regarding forfeiting for refusing to play against a team with a transgender player had been in effect since 2022 and the San Jose State player has been on the roster since 2022 -– making that the status quo. The player competed at the college level three previous seasons, including two for San Jose State, drawing little attention. This season's awareness of her reported identity led to an uproar among some players, pundits, parents and politicians in a major election year. Crews' ruling also said injunctions are meant to prevent harm, but in this case, he argued, the harm has already occurred. The games have been forfeited, the tournament has been seeded, the teams have made travel plans and the participants have confirmed they're playing. The tournament starts Wednesday and continues Friday and Saturday. Colorado State is seeded first and San Jose State, second. The teams split their regular-season matches and both get byes into Friday's semifinals. San Jose State will play the winner of Wednesday's match between Utah State and Boise State — teams that both forfeited matches to SJSU during the regular season. Boise State associate athletic director Chris Kutz declined to comment on whether the Broncos would play SJSU if they won their first-round tournament game. Utah State officials did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment. The conference tournament winner gets an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. San Jose State coach Todd Kress, whose team has not competed in the national tournament since 2001, has said his team has been getting "messages of hate" and that has taken a toll on his players. Several teams refused to play against San Jose State during the season, earning losses in the official conference standings. Boise State and Wyoming each had two forfeits while Utah State and Nevada both had one. Southern Utah, a member of the Western Athletic Conference, was first to cancel against San Jose State this year. Nevada's players stated they "refuse to participate in any match that advances injustice against female athletes," without elaborating. Nevada did not qualify for the conference tournament. The nine current players and others now suing the Mountain West Conference, the California State University Board of Trustees and others include San Jose State senior setter and co-captain Brooke Slusser. The teammate Slusser says is transgender hits the volleyball with more force than others on the team, raising fear during practices of suffering concussions from a head hit, the complaint says. The Independent Council on Women's Sports is funding a separate lawsuit against the NCAA for allowing transgender women to compete in women's sports. Both lawsuits claim the landmark 1972 federal antidiscrimination law known as Title IX prohibits transgender women in women's sports. Title IX prohibits sexual discrimination in federally funded education; Slusser is a plaintiff in both lawsuits. Several circuit courts have used a U.S. Supreme Court ruling to conclude that discriminating against someone based on their transgender status or sexual orientation is sex-based discrimination, Crews wrote. That means case law does not prove the "likelihood of success" needed to grant an injunction. An NCAA policy that subjects transgender participation to the rules of sports governing bodies took effect this academic year. USA Volleyball says a trans woman must suppress testosterone for 12 months before competing. The NCAA has not flagged any issues with San Jose State. The Republican governors of Idaho, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming have made public statements in support of the team cancellations, citing fairness in women's sports. President-elect Donald Trump likewise has spoken out against allowing transgender women to compete in women's sports. Crews was a magistrate judge in Colorado's U.S. District Court for more than five years before President Joe Biden appointed him as a federal judge in January. Get local news delivered to your inbox!

One night last month, near the end of the Chicago International Film Festival, a particularly long line of moviegoers snaked down Southport Avenue by the Music Box Theatre. The hot ticket? This fall’s hottest ticket, in fact, all over the international festival circuit? Well, it’s a 215-minute drama about a fictional Hungarian Jewish architect who emigrates to America in 1947 after surviving the Holocaust. The film’s title, “The Brutalist,” references several things, firstly a post-World War II design imperative made of stern concrete, steel, and a collision of poetry and functionality. Director and co-writer Brady Corbet, who wrote “The Brutalist” with his filmmaker wife, Mona Fastvold, explores brutalism in other forms as well, including love, envy, capitalist economics and how the promise of America eludes someone like the visionary architect László Tóth, played by Adrien Brody. Corbet, now 36 and a good bet for Oscar nominations this coming January, says his unfashionable sprawl of a picture, being distributed by A24, is also about the “strange relationship between artist and patron, and art and commerce.” It co-stars Felicity Jones as the visionary architect’s wife, Erzsébet, trapped in Eastern Europe after the war with their niece for an agonizingly long time. Guy Pearce portrays the imperious Philadelphia blueblood who hires Tóth, a near-invisible figure in his adopted country, to design a monumental public building known as the Institute in rural Pennsylvania. The project becomes an obsession, then a breaking point and then something else. Corbet’s project, which took the better part of a decade to come together after falling apart more than once, felt like that, too. Spanning five decades and filmed in Hungary and Italy, “The Brutalist” looks like a well-spent $50 million project. In actuality, it was made for a mere $10 million, with Corbet and cinematographer Lol Crawley shooting on film, largely in the VistaVision process. The filmmaker said at the Chicago festival screening: “Who woulda thunk that for screening after screening over the last couple of months, people stood in line around the block to get into a three-and-a-half-hour movie about a mid-century designer?” He lives in Brooklyn, New York, with Fastvold and their daughter. Our conversation has been edited for clarity and length. Q: Putting together an independent movie, keeping it on track, getting it made: not easy, as you told the Music Box audience last night. Money is inevitably going to be part of the story of “The Brutalist,” since you had only so much to make a far-flung historical epic. A: Yeah, that’s right. In relation to my earlier features, “The Childhood of a Leader” had a $3 million budget. The budget for “Vox Lux” was right around $10 million, same as “The Brutalist,” although the actual production budget for “Vox Lux” was about $4.5 million. Which is to say: All the money on top of that was going to all the wrong places. For a lot of reasons, when my wife and I finished the screenplay for “The Brutalist,” we ruled out scouting locations in Philadelphia or anywhere in the northeastern United States. We needed to (film) somewhere with a lot less red tape. My wife’s previous film, “The World to Come,” she made in Romania; we shot “Childhood of a Leader” in Hungary. For “The Brutalist” we initially landed on Poland, but this was early on in COVID and Poland shut its borders the week our crew was arriving for pre-production. When we finally got things up and running again with a different iteration of the cast (the original ensemble was to star Joel Edgerton, Marion Cotillard and Mark Rylance), after nine months, the movie fell apart again because Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. We couldn’t get any of the banks to cash-flow the tax credit (for location shooting in Poland). It’s completely stable now, but at that time the banks were nervous about whether the war would be contained to Ukraine or not. And then we finally got it up and running in Budapest, Hungary. Q: That’s a long time. A: Every filmmaker I know suffers from some form of post-traumatic stress (laughs). It sounds funny but it’s true. At every level. On the level of independent cinema, you’re just so damn poor. You’re not making any money, and yet from nose to tail, at minimum, a movie always takes a couple of years. With bigger projects, you might have a little more personal security but a lot less creative security with so many more cooks in the kitchen. Either route you choose, it can be an arduous and painful one. Whether you’re making a movie for a million dollars, or $10 million, or $100 million, it’s still “millions of dollars.” And if you’re concerned about the lives and livelihoods of the people working with you, it’s especially stressful. People are constantly calling you: “Is it happening? Are we starting? Should I take this other job or not?” And you have 250 people who need that answer from you. Every iteration of the project, I always thought we were really about to start in a week, two weeks. It’s just very challenging interpersonally. It’s an imposition for everyone in your life. And then there’s the imposition of screening a movie that’s three-and-a-half-hours long for film festivals, where it’s difficult to find that kind of real estate on the schedule. So essentially, making a movie means constantly apologizing. Q: At what point in your acting career did you take a strong interest in what was going on behind the camera? A: I was making short films when I was 11, 12 years old. The first thing I ever made more properly, I guess, was a short film I made when I was 18, “Protect You + Me,” shot by (cinematographer) Darius Khondji. It was supposed to be part of a triptych of films, and I went to Paris for the two films that followed it. And then all the financing fell through. But that first one screened at the London film festival, and won a prize at Sundance, and I was making music videos and other stuff by then. Q: You’ve written a lot of screenplays with your wife. How many? A: Probably 25. We work a lot for other people, too. I think we’ve done six together for our own projects. Sometimes I’ll start something at night and my wife will finish in the morning. Sometimes we work very closely together, talking and typing together. It’s always different. Right now I’m writing a lot on the road, and my wife is editing her film, which is a musical we wrote, “Ann Lee,” about the founder of the Shakers. I’m working on my next movie now, which spans a lot of time, like “The Brutalist,” with a lot of locations. And I need to make sure we can do it for not a lot of money, because it’s just not possible to have a lot of money and total autonomy. For me making a movie is like cooking. If everyone starts coming in and throwing a dash of this or that in the pot, it won’t work out. A continuity of vision is what I look for when I read a novel. Same with watching a film. A lot of stuff out there today, appropriately referred to as “content,” has more in common with a pair of Nikes than it does with narrative cinema. Q: Yeah, I can’t imagine a lot of Hollywood executives who’d sign off on “The Brutalist.” A: Well, even with our terrific producing team, I mean, everyone was up for a three-hour movie but we were sort of pushing it with three-and-a-half (laughs). I figured, worst-case scenario, it opens on a streamer. Not what I had in mind, but people watch stuff that’s eight, 12 hours long all the time. They get a cold, they watch four seasons of “Succession.” (A24 is releasing the film in theaters, gradually.) It was important for all of us to try to capture an entire century’s worth of thinking about design with “The Brutalist.” For me, making something means expressing a feeling I have about our history. I’ve described my films as poetic films about politics, that go to places politics alone cannot reach. It’s one thing to say something like “history repeats itself.” It’s another thing to make people see that, and feel it. I really want viewers to engage with the past, and the trauma of that history can be uncomfortable, or dusty, or dry. But if you can make it something vital, and tangible, the way great professors can do for their students, that’s my definition of success. “The Brutalist” opens in New York and Los Angeles on Dec. 20. The Chicago release is Jan. 10, 2025. Michael Phillips is a Tribune critic.LAS VEGAS (AP) — Formula 1 on Monday at last said it will expand its grid in 2026 to make room for an American team that is partnered with General Motors. “As the pinnacle of motorsports, F1 demands boundary-pushing innovation and excellence. It’s an honor for General Motors and Cadillac to join the world’s premier racing series, and we’re committed to competing with passion and integrity to elevate the sport for race fans around the world," GM President Mark Reuss said. "This is a global stage for us to demonstrate GM’s engineering expertise and technology leadership at an entirely new level.” The approval ends years of wrangling that launched a U.S. Justice Department investigation into why Colorado-based Liberty Media, the commercial rights holder of F1, would not approve the team initially started by Michael Andretti. Andretti in September stepped aside from leading his namesake organization, so the 11th team will be called Cadillac F1 and be run by new Andretti Global majority owners Dan Towriss and Mark Walter. The team will use Ferrari engines its first two years until GM has a Cadillac engine built for competition in time for the 2028 season. Towriss is the the CEO and president of Group 1001 and entered motorsports via Andretti's IndyCar team when he signed on financial savings platform Gainbridge as a sponsor. Towriss is now a major part of the motorsports scene with ownership stakes in both Spire Motorsports' NASCAR team and Wayne Taylor Racing's sports car team. Walter is the chief executive of financial services firm Guggenheim Partners and the controlling owner of both the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers and Premier League club Chelsea. “We’re excited to partner with General Motors in bringing a dynamic presence to Formula 1," Towriss said. “Together, we’re assembling a world-class team that will embody American innovation and deliver unforgettable moments to race fans around the world.” Mario Andretti, the 1978 F1 world champion, will have an ambassador role with Cadillac F1. But his son, Michael, will have no official position with the organization now that he has scaled back his involvement with Andretti Global. “The Cadillac F1 Team is made up of a strong group of people that have worked tirelessly to build an American works team,” Michael Andretti posted on social media. “I’m very proud of the hard work they have put in and congratulate all involved on this momentous next step. I will be cheering for you!” The approval has been in works for weeks but was held until after last weekend's Las Vegas Grand Prix to not overshadow the showcase event of the Liberty Media portfolio. Max Verstappen won his fourth consecutive championship in Saturday night's race, the third and final stop in the United States for the top motorsports series in the world. Grid expansion in F1 is both infrequent and often unsuccessful. Four teams were granted entries in 2010 that should have pushed the grid to 13 teams and 26 cars for the first time since 1995. One team never made it to the grid and the other three had vanished by 2017. There is only one American team on the current F1 grid — owned by California businessman Gene Haas — but it is not particularly competitive and does not field American drivers. Andretti’s dream was to field a truly American team with American drivers. The fight to add this team has been going on for three-plus years and F1 initially denied the application despite approval from F1 sanctioning body FIA . The existing 10 teams, who have no voice in the matter, also largely opposed expansion because of the dilution in prize money and the billions of dollars they’ve already invested in the series. Andretti in 2020 tried and failed to buy the existing Sauber team. From there, he applied for grid expansion and partnered with GM, the top-selling manufacturer in the United States. The inclusion of GM was championed by the FIA and president Mohammed Ben Sulayem, who said Michael Andretti’s application was the only one of seven applicants to meet all required criteria to expand F1’s current grid. “General Motors is a huge global brand and powerhouse in the OEM world and is working with impressive partners," Ben Sulayem said Monday. "I am fully supportive of the efforts made by the FIA, Formula 1, GM and the team to maintain dialogue and work towards this outcome of an agreement in principle to progress this application." Despite the FIA's acceptance of Andretti and General Motors from the start, F1 wasn't interested in Andretti — but did want GM. At one point, F1 asked GM to find another team to partner with besides Andretti. GM refused and F1 said it would revisit the Andretti application if and when Cadillac had an engine ready to compete. “Formula 1 has maintained a dialogue with General Motors, and its partners at TWG Global, regarding the viability of an entry following the commercial assessment and decision made by Formula 1 in January 2024,” F1 said in a statement. “Over the course of this year, they have achieved operational milestones and made clear their commitment to brand the 11th team GM/Cadillac, and that GM will enter as an engine supplier at a later time. Formula 1 is therefore pleased to move forward with this application process." Yet another major shift in the debate over grid expansion occurred earlier this month with the announced resignation of Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei, who was largely believed to be one of the biggest opponents of the Andretti entry. “With Formula 1’s continued growth plans in the US, we have always believed that welcoming an impressive US brand like GM/Cadillac to the grid and GM as a future power unit supplier could bring additional value and interest to the sport," Maffei said. "We credit the leadership of General Motors and their partners with significant progress in their readiness to enter Formula 1." AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Botafogo overcame playing with 10 men to win its first Copa Libertadores title after beating fellow Brazilian side Atletico Mineiro 3-1 in the final at Monumental de Nunez Stadium on Saturday. After just 30 seconds, midfielder Gregore, one of Botafogo's best players, hit the head of Fausto Vera with his foot and was given a straight red card. Winger Luiz Henrique scored first in the 35th minute from close range, and was fouled for the penalty shot converted by Alex Telles in the 44th. Eduardo Vargas headed Mineiro's only goal in the 46th while Junior Santos, the top scorer in the Copa Libertadores with 10 goals, capped Botafogo's historic night with the third in injury time. Brazil was assured of a sixth consecutive Copa Libertadores title and its 24th in history, just one less than Argentina. It was also the third straight title for Rio de Janeiro clubs, after Fluminense in 2023 and Flamengo in 2022. Despite sensationally losing Gregore, Botafogo reset and Luiz Henrique scored the opener. Henrique surged on the right flank and crossed to Marlon Freitas, who took a shot that was deflected. Henrique was in the right place to strike through the legs of goalkeeper Ederson. Henrique and Ederson met again near the end of the first half when the striker surprised the keeper on the edge of the box. A penalty was given after a video review and left back Telles calmly slotted the ball. Mineiro came back with a more aggressive formation in the second half and was rewarded when veteran Hulk took a corner kick and Vargas, who replaced midfielder Gustavo Scarpa during the break, didn’t even need to jump to score with his head. Mineiro had more chances to equalize through Deyverson in the 53rd, Hulk in the 56th, and Vargas in the 86th and 88th, all from close range. But it was Botafogo’s Júnior Santos, who was sidelined by injury during the Copa, who scored the last goal. Botafogo coach Arthur Jorge joined Portuguese compatriots Jorge Jesus (Flamengo, 2019) and Abel Ferreira (Palmeiras, 2020 and 2021) as European coaches with a Copa Libertadores title. Mineiro's Gabriel Milito missed the chance to be the first Argentine to win the tournament with a Brazilian club. Botafogo also gave American owner John Textor his biggest trophy yet. Textor has been subject to criticism after unproven allegations about match-fixing when Botafogo squandered a 13-point lead last year and missed out on the league title. Next week, his team could win its first Brazilian title since 1995. Botafogo was relegated from the league in 2020 but has risen to prominence again with Textor’s investment. He was part of a wave of foreign owners who came into Brazilian soccer after a 2021 law change paved the way for private investors. Mineiro also has wealthy owner in Brazilian billionaire Rubens Menin, a construction mogul. AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccerThe extraordinary power struggle between Chicago Public Schools, the teachers union and Mayor Brandon Johnson continued after school board members attended ongoing teachers contract negotiations for the first time in 12 years. The unusual move to have members of the Board of Education at the bargaining table Monday came days after Johnson’s handpicked board voted to terminate CPS Chief Executive Officer Pedro Martinez at a special meeting on Friday. A lawyer representing Martinez responded by sending a cease and desist email to board members saying their presence at negotiations usurped Martinez’s role as the the current CEO. “We are writing to demand that the Board Member Defendants immediately cease and desist with any such actions, which unlawfully infringe on and interfere with Mr. Martinez’s authority, as CEO, to act as the sole representative of the Board in these negotiations,” Martinez’s lawyer William Quinlan of the Quinlan Law Firm LLC wrote. The decision to bring the board into negotiations was made public on social media by Jackson Potter, CTU vice president. “Today, for the first time since 2012 when Board president David Vitale joined bargaining to close the deal, we have Board of Education members present helping both sides land an agreement,” Potter wrote on X Monday afternoon. Friday’s meeting marked the end of a contentious chapter in CPS history but opened the door to more uncertainty. Because the school board fired Marinez without cause, the CEO will remain in his role for six months, “during which time the Chief Executive Officer’s duties and responsibilities shall be modified by the Board,” according to the resolution that passed 6-0. That has led to much confusion as to how Johnson and his board members would interact with the outgoing CEO and how he would respond. Members of the Chicago Teachers Union have been pushing for a resolution to a new, 4-year contract by Christmas, ahead of the inauguration of President-elect Donald J. Trump. Some financial analysts say the new board could saddle taxpayers with a fiscally irresponsible contract to reward the union — which funded Johnson’s mayoral campaign. “I think there’s this reputation right now that the mayor is driving the district to overspend, and if that’s the case, there will be less appetite from other politicians to bail (the district) out,” said Marguerite Roza, school finance expert and director of Georgetown University’s Edunomics Lab in a recent interview with the Tribune. “These are self-inflicted wounds.” Monday afternoon, school board President Sean Harden, and board members Frank Thomas and Olga Bautista left the Chicago Teachers Union headquarters near the United Center where negotiations were ongoing and declined comment on how Martinez’s duties would be modified. “Not at this point,” said Thomas, before getting into his car. Harden called Monday’s meeting “incredibly important work.” He said the board members present wanted to make sure “as leaders that the team at the table negotiating understands the importance of this time.” “We want to be here to show our support, make sure things move forward,” Harden said. “There’s no pause in activities. We’re stabilized. Taking care of business as it should be.” Chicago Board of Education board member Frank Thomas leaves the Chicago Teachers Union Center after a meeting on Dec. 23, 2024. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune) In September, Martinez refused to take out a $300 million high-interest loan — asked for by the mayor — that the CEO said would saddle the district in debt. The teachers contract expired in June, and the loan would in part cover a new contract with proposals for higher raises and staffing levels. The bargaining team has ramped up negotiations in recent weeks, and is currently meeting six times a week. Board members Harden, Thomas and Bautista were appointed by the mayor after the previous board resigned en masse under pressure to oust Martinez for not taking out the loan. The mayor is a former teacher and CTU organizer. Under the Illinois School Code, the superintendent of a school district “shall negotiate contracts with all labor organizations which are exclusive representatives of educational employees employed under the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act.” The CPS CEO negotiates collective bargaining agreements “on behalf of the board” and submits tentative agreements to the board for “adoption and approval,” according to district protocol. Though the board and the CEO have a collaborative relationship, it is uncommon for board members to be involved in negotiations. Martinez — like other district superintendents — typically doesn’t attend negotiations because he relies on his team of employees with specialties to do so. He did not attend bargaining conversations on Monday. The district did not immediately respond to a request for further comment. The last time a school board president stepped into negotiations, as noted by Potter on X, was David Vitale in 2012 . Then-school board President Vitale, an executive in banking and then trading, maintained a presence in teachers contract negotiations as they were coming to a close during a 7-day strike.A battle in court between Martinez and the members of the board is also ramping up, with a hearing for a temporary restraining order over the CEO’s firing on Tuesday at 11:00 a.m at the Richard J. Daley Center in the Loop.Column: Brady Corbet’s epic movie ‘The Brutalist’ came close to crashing down more than once