A little imagination goes a long way. Neuqua Valley High School will be putting that message on display in more ways than one this week as a group of students from the Naperville school compete in the Student Silent Film Festival. Taking place Wednesday night at Tivoli Theatre in Downers Grove, the annual competition invites students from across the Chicago area to create their own original films without the aid of voices or sound effects. Neuqua Valley is one of 11 participating high schools this year and the only competitor from Naperville. “I’m really excited,” said senior Emma Jenkins, a…
Author: MAK Gojar
What living composer is more versatile than Jeanine Tesori? Lyric Opera subscribers heard her beautiful score for the opera “Blue” this past autumn and now Porchlight Music Theatre is reviving “Fun Home,” one of the best song suites in any contemporary musical, not least because of how well Tesori adapted her colossal talents to a woman’s story rooted in memory both traumatic and elegiac. “Fun Home” is based on a graphic novel memoir by the American cartoonist Alison Bechdel and probes many of life’s paradoxes through the recollection of the authorial lesbian character, Alison, who grew up in the 1970s…
A 27-year-old Miami Gardens woman was arrested early Saturday morning after allegedly stabbing a juvenile following an argument outside a liquor store in northwest Miami-Dade, authorities confirmed Tuesday. Leer en español Deputies with the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene near Northwest Seventh Avenue and Northwest 107th Street just before 4:30 a.m. Deputies said they found the victim suffering from a stab wound to her left arm. The victim told deputies she had been arguing with a woman inside the liquor store which led to the alleged attack, according to an arrest report. After the victim left the liquor…
A man from New England faced a South Florida judge Tuesday on a first-degree sexual battery charge after authorities accused him of raping a woman in his cruise ship cabin off the coast of Mexico. Deputies arrested Randy Gaul, 59, of Farmington, New Hampshire, on Saturday after the Norwegian Escape returned to PortMiami. According to an arrest report from the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, Gaul and the woman were acquaintances and shared a room on the ship. It states that the woman told detectives that she had had their beds separated by cabin staff at the start of the journey. The…
During a police pursuit, an 18-year-old migrant allegedly made eye contact with an undercover officer and smiled before nearly hitting him in southern Miami-Dade County. Leer en español Police officers eventually arrested Alex Domingo Pablo on Saturday in Homestead. He allegedly said he was from Guatemala and had been living in the area. According to an arrest report, Domingo was driving a white Dodge Charger when undercover police officers in an unmarked unit noticed him. Domingo “passed us on the left into oncoming traffic” along Southwest Fourth Street and turned northbound into Second Avenue while “accelerating and traveling at a…
He talked of a new Manifest Destiny and a “Golden Age.” He invoked the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt. An honor guard appeared with tricorn hats, fifes and drums — all traditional Revolutionary War iconography. Those in attendance heard tunes deployed from the classic American songbook — from Scott Joplin’s “The Entertainer” to Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land.” At the inauguration Monday, American history in its varied stripes was firmly planted. “We will not forget our country,” President Donald Trump said. In summoning people to his vision for the future throughout a day…
Palestinians in Gaza are confronting an apocalyptic landscape of devastation after a ceasefire paused more than 15 months of fighting between Israel and Hamas. Across the tiny coastal enclave, where built-up refugee camps are interspersed between cities, drone footage captured by The Associated Press shows mounds of rubble stretching as far as the eye can see — remnants of the longest and deadliest war between Israel and Hamas in their blood-ridden history. “As you can see, it became a ghost town,” said Hussein Barakat, 38, whose home in the southern city of Rafah was flattened. “There is nothing,” he said,…
A$AP Rocky turned down a final prosecution plea offer of 180 days in jail and will face the possibility of a guilty verdict and years in prison as jury selection began at his trial on Tuesday. The agreement offered to the 36-year-old hip-hop star, fashion mogul and actor whose legal name is Rakim Mayers was to plead guilty to one of his two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm. Los Angeles County prosecutors would also recommend a seven-year suspended sentence, three years of probation and the six-month jail term. But Rocky told a judge he respectfully declined. He…
A prisoner swap between the United States and Afghanistan’s Taliban freed two Americans in exchange for a Taliban figure imprisoned for life in California on drug trafficking and terrorism charges, officials said Tuesday. The two Americans freed in the swap, Ryan Corbett and William McKenty, was brokered before President Joe Biden left office Monday, according to a Trump administration official who was not authorized to comment publicly and requested anonymity. The Taliban’s Foreign Ministry in Kabul said the two U.S. citizens had been exchanged for Khan Mohammed, who was sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment in 2008. Biden, who…
A rare winter storm charging through Texas and the northern Gulf Coast has prompted the first blizzard warning for southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana. A rare winter storm charging through Texas and the northern Gulf Coast has prompted the first blizzard warning for southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana. A rare winter storm charging through Texas and the northern Gulf Coast on Tuesday has closed highways and airports and prompted the first blizzard warning for southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana. The storm is expected to scatter heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain around the Deep South as a blast of Arctic…
President Donald Trump has used one of the flurry of executive actions that he issued on his first day back in the White House to begin the process of withdrawing the U.S. from the World Health Organization for the second time in less than five years. President Donald Trump has used one of the flurry of executive actions that he issued on his first day back in the White House to begin the process of withdrawing the U.S. from the World Health Organization for the second time in less than five years. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump used one…
An experienced BASE jumper was rescued from Guye Peak on Sunday after falling 100 feet while climbing. An experienced BASE jumper was rescued from Guye Peak on Sunday after falling 100 feet while climbing. An experienced BASE jumper was rescued from Guye Peak early Sunday afternoon after falling 100 feet while climbing. The 38-year-old woman called 911 right before noon, and the King County Sheriff’s Office dispatched Seattle Mountain Rescue, a volunteer-run search and rescue organization headquartered in North Bend. Three of the organization’s volunteers happened to be recreating in the area. First responders reached the fallen climber within 45…
Garth Hudson, virtuoso keyboardist, all-around musician and the last surviving member of the influential group that once backed Bob Dylan, has died at 87. Garth Hudson, virtuoso keyboardist, all-around musician and the last surviving member of the influential group that once backed Bob Dylan, has died at 87. NEW YORK (AP) — Garth Hudson, the Band’s virtuoso keyboardist and all-around musician who drew from a unique palette of sounds and styles to add a conversational touch to such rock standards as “Up on Cripple Creek,” “The Weight” and “Rag Mama Rag,” has died at age 87. Hudson was the eldest…
The Paris agreement is a mostly voluntary climate pact with the goal of reducing global warming. The U.S. withdrawal, while expected, triggered heavy reactions. The Paris agreement is a mostly voluntary climate pact with the goal of reducing global warming. The U.S. withdrawal, while expected, triggered heavy reactions. WASHINGTON (AP) — The 2015 Paris climate agreement is not the boogeyman that punishes the United States that critics such as President Donald Trump claim. But it hasn’t quite kept the world from overheating either. The Paris agreement is a mostly voluntary climate pact originally written in ways that would both try…
The 22 trees planted in the arboretum are part of a larger Cal Fire grant to add 312 trees across the Ravenswood City School District Volunteers Ken Wang, left, Mary Dateo, center, and Cairo Simmons, right, plant trees at Los Robles Ronald McNair Academy on Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in East Palo Alto, Calif. The tree planting event on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day will qualify Los Robles-Ronald McNair Academy as California’s first accredited arboretum on a K-12 public school campus. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group) An empty plot of land at Los Robles-Ronald McNair Academy is being transformed into…
The Chicago Blackhawks squandered two leads and couldn’t hold the Carolina Hurricanes at bay during a 4-3 overtime loss Monday at the United Center. Goalie Petr Mrázek faced 48 shots — the most the Hawks have allowed this season — and made 44 saves. “He was awesome,” Taylor Hall said. “He’s been really good for a huge portion of this season. That would’ve been a nice win to get for him, especially playing his former team. “We got just a bit overwhelmed by their shot quantity and how much time they spent in our end. We couldn’t hold on to…
NEW YORK — Garth Hudson, the Band’s virtuoso keyboardist and all-around musician who drew from a unique palette of sounds and styles to add a conversational touch to such rock standards as “Up on Cripple Creek,” “The Weight” and “Rag Mama Rag,” has died at age 87. Hudson was the eldest and last surviving member of the influential group that once backed Bob Dylan. His death was confirmed Tuesday by The Canadian Press, which cited Hudson’s friend, Jan Haust. Additional details were not immediately available. Hudson had been living in a nursing home in upstate New York. A rustic figure…
The crowded dais in the Capitol Rotunda on Inauguration Day featured four of the world’s five wealthiest men, five U.S. presidents, tech titans and business moguls, and two foreign leaders with prime spots. President Donald Trump welcomed a mix of traditional, unprecedented and unorthodox guests — from Supreme Court justices to the vice president of China, and the head of TikTok, an app U.S. authorities have flagged as a national security risk, next to the person Trump has chosen to lead the intelligence community. Scattered throughout were the president’s family members and other familiar faces in Trump’s orbit. Lawmakers mostly…
Elgin-area agencies say they are working with undocumented immigrants as fears of mass deportations escalate with this week’s inauguration of President Donald Trump. Among the efforts underway have been workshops outlining immigrants’ rights and instructing people what to do if stopped by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents (ICE), both being offered by the Elgin YWCA and Centro de Informacion, based in Elgin. “There are so many fears. It’s a very stressful time,” YWCA Immigration Services Director Rose Diaz said. “We are all just waiting. All we can do is prepare for the worst and do our best and try…
TORONTO — Canada’s outgoing prime minister and the leader of the country’s oil rich province of Alberta are both confident Canada can avoid the 25% tariffs President Donald Trump says he will impose on Feb. 1. Justin Trudeau and Danielle Smith will argue that Canada is the energy super power that has the oil and critical minerals that America needs to feed what Trump vows will be a booming U.S. economy. But Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario, the manufacturing hub of Canada, said a trade war is 100% coming. Trump “declared an economic war on Canada,” Ford said in…