Illinois

Four Downs and Bracket: Northern Illinois is beauty, Texas the beast and Shedeur Sanders should opt out

Published

1 year ago

September 8, 2024

Press Room

Four Downs and Bracket: Northern Illinois is beauty, Texas the beast and Shedeur Sanders should opt out

Matt Hayes
| USA TODAY Sports Network

First Down

This is the danger of overreaction, of penciling in favorites and roaming blissfully unaware through the minefield that is the college football regular season.

A week ago, Notre Dame had a clear path to the College Football Playoff. Now there’s wild uncertainty under the Golden Dome after a 16-14 loss to Northern Illinois.

A week ago, Irish quarterback Riley Leonard gutted out a big win at Texas A&M, fighting a defense full of elite athletes and going head-to-head with Mike Elko, his former coach at Duke. Fast forward to an unusually chilly September Saturday afternoon in South Bend, Indiana, with little ol’ Northern Illinois staring back from the other side of the ball.

Leonard threw two interceptions, averaged one lousy yard per carry and the Irish looked like a team in disarray — a week after strutting like a playoff team.

When will we ever learn?

This is the beauty of college football, and its perfectly imperfect fall Saturdays. Sometimes it’s not so much about bluechips and big NIL deals as it is want. Who wants it more?

A roster full of blue chip recruits with strapping, rising 30-something coach Marcus Freeman building what seems like a national power, or a bunch of MAC castoffs with tough love coach Thomas Hammock, who looks more like John Candy than John Heisman.

He was blubbering on the field at Notre Dame Stadium as the sun set over Touchdown Jesus, yet speaking so poignantly about players doing the right things, and listening and taking coaching. Football is more than NIL deals, he said.

You better believe it is. More times than not, it’s about who wants it more.

Like gutty and gritty Northern Illinois quarterback Ethan Hampton, who threw for 198 yards and had a few key runs ― including converting a key fourth-down run on the game-winning drive. Prior to this season, he had nine career passing touchdowns against eight interceptions.

Or running back Antario Brown, who was 13 when his mother was shot and killed outside their apartment in Savannah. After rushing for nearly 1,300 yards last season, he could’ve left NIU for a Power Four team and earned a sweet NIL deal.

But he stayed with the school who first recruited him, much like he did when leaving high school despite an offer from South Carolina.

HIGHS AND LOWS: Michigan mess and Texas triumph lead Week 2 winners and losers

Or Hammock, a star running back at NIU in the early 2000s who bounced around in college football and the NFL coaching running backs, before his alma mater asked him to come home in 2019. And then back him over and over despite some rough spots, including a three-win season in 2022.

So yeah, he was weeping in the biggest moment of his coaching career. So were his players as they dove into the stands to celebrate with the few hundreds who made the 150-mile drive east to witness history.

This is college football. Not daily pontificating or weekly overreactions or looking down a three-month road and declaring no one is beating Notre Dame. Until Northern Illinois does.

And picks up a cool guarantee game check worth $1.4 million in the process, thank you.

Second Down

Of all the critically bad decisions to chance for college football administrators, there are defining moves that somehow continue to be made through emotion.

Hiring a head coach shouldn’t be a heart over head proposition, but here we are, and the strange scenario continues to play out when it shouldn’t. From beloved assistant coach to head coach — to overwhelmed by the moment.

All because emotion clouded judgment in the hiring process, and the ”players’ coach” or “the importance of transition” or “you know what you’re getting” meant more than finding the right coach.

Speaking of a clouded process, it may be time to give Michigan coach Sherrone Moore an early invite to the waiting room of bad decisions.

Because after Michigan’s 19-point home loss to Texas (it wasn’t that close), Moore looks a lot like Bobby Williams at Michigan State. Or Randy Shannon and Manny Diaz at Miami, Ron Prince at Kansas State and Matt Luke at Ole Miss.

And that’s just a handful of assistant coaches who got their first power conference head coaching job when elevated at their respective schools — and were then engulfed by it all. They were “players’ coaches” who were hired in the heat of the moment and amid the fanfare of player support, after the previous coach either took another job, retired or was fired.

Williams followed Nick Saban (left for LSU), Shannon followed national championship coach Larry Coker (fired), Diaz followed Mark Richt (retired), Prince followed Bill Snyder (retired) and Luke followed Hugh Freeze (fired).

Only Diaz, now coaching Duke, got a second chance as a Power Five conference head coach.

Now here we are with Moore, who won four games as an interim coach last year during Michigan’s national championship season while former coach Jim Harbaugh was suspended. But that was with a loaded team, built over the years by Harbaugh and built specifically to peak during the 2023 season.

Moore took over, and had to find a quarterback (he didn’t land one from the transfer portal despite the deep group of candidates), and replace the entire offensive line and wide receiving corps.

After an uninspiring season opening win over Fresno State, the Wolverines looked outcoached and outclassed against Texas. Michigan had 284 yards — 78 on the last drive of the game against Texas backups — converted only 3-of-12 third downs and had three turnovers.

Moore looked shellshocked from the first drive of the game, when a questionable holding call negated a Texas touchdown. The Longhorns then missed a short field goal.

Then it got worse for Moore and Michigan, which had four win streaks snapped with the loss: 16 consecutive wins overall, 23 consecutive home wins, 28 consecutive wins in August and September, and 23 consecutive non-conference home wins.

The Wolverines were an operational mess on both sides of the ball. Quarterback Davis Warren was shaky in his second start, and the play calling was uninspiring.

The run game — the anchor of Harbaugh’s Michigan teams — rushed for 80 yards on 23 carries, and has produced 228 yards in two games. The defense wasn’t much better, giving up nearly 400 yards before the Longhorns shut it down in the fourth quarter to salt away the win.

“I liked our poise and I liked our composure,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said after the game.

A team, and a coach, that wasn’t distracted in a critical moment.

Third Down

Here we go again. Another one-possession game, another loss for Arkansas.

And another excuse to turn up the heat on embattled Hogs coach Sam Pittman.

Just in case you’ve forgotten what the last two years of Arkansas football looked like, turn on the DVR and watch Arkansas give away a big road win Saturday at No.16 Oklahoma State. The Hogs led by 14 at halftime and eight in the fourth quarter, yet couldn’t get out of Boone Pickens Stadium with an important non-conference win.

This one ended in the second overtime with Arkansas failing to convert on fourth-and-1 from the OSU 6. It also ended as the 15th one-possession loss under Pittman since 2000. Fifteen.

More: Biggest nonconference games of 2024 College Football Playoff race

They’ve ended in every conceivable way: from Saturday’s loss of a yard when the Hogs needed only one, to holding Mississippi State to 205 total yards and losing 7-3 when Pittman admitted he “didn’t know what to do” when faced with the decision of kicking a long field goal or punt.

Then there was the missed game-winning field goal against Texas A&M when the kick hit the top of the upright. Yes, the top. In a stretch last season that included three losses by one possession against Brigham Young, LSU and Ole Miss, Arkansas had a combined 35 penalties.

The latest unsettling loss to Oklahoma State, a game the Hogs had control of deep into the second half, shines more concern on the one-possession losses. it also underscores losses for Arkansas in nine of its last 10 games against power conference teams — the only win in overtime at Florida.

“I’ve had success,” Pittman told me in July. “I’m not concerned about ‘Oh, he’s a failure.’ Hell no, I’m not a failure. And I’m not going to do something different because I’m worried about a job.”

Fourth Down

it’s time for Shedeur Sanders to hear some harsh truth. And it has to come from his coach, and father, Deion Sanders.

It’s time to opt out. Of the season.

I’m half joking, but imagine being Colorado star quarterback Shedeur Sanders, an elite NFL draft prospect and possibly a Top five overall pick, knowing the beatdown is coming, week after week, while playing behind a horrific offensive line.

Why stand tall and absorb those hits and take that physical pounding for what looks like a three- or four-win team? What exactly is the sense of this exercise?

The Colorado offensive line gave up 56 sacks last season ― that’s right, 56 ― and after two games against North Dakota State and Nebraska, this year’s group looks worse. Why in the world would Deion (the coach or the dad) throw his son behind this mess of an offensive line, knowing it could lead to the only thing that could prevent his son from being one of the first players selected in the draft?

OK, so opting out of the season is too harsh. Let’s start with opting out of games when you’re down four touchdowns.

The Bracket

First round byes:

(1) Georgia, (2) Ohio State, (3) Miami, (4) Oklahoma State

First round games:

(12) Liberty at (5) Texas

(11) Penn State at (6) Alabama

(10) Missouri at (7) Oregon

(9) Southern California at (8) Ole Miss

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Illinois

Chicago property taxes jump — but unevenly

Published

1 hour ago

March 5, 2026

Press Room

Chicago property taxes jump — but unevenly

Some communities saw their bills rise 75% or more.

The median property tax bill for Chicago homeowners rose by a record last year, and some parts of the city saw much steeper increases than others.

The citywide median rise was 16.7%, according to a report from the Cook County Treasurer’s office on bills for tax year 2024.

Many poor communities in Chicago saw the largest increases. In 15 areas on the South and West sides, property taxes shot up 30% because of rising home values. In West Garfield Park, North Lawndale, Englewood, West Pullman and West Englewood, property tax bills rose 75% or more.

Chicago homeowners have suffered in recent years. While property taxes did increase in some Cook County suburbs in 2024, city homeowners felt the bulk of the pain. That’s because assessed values on downtown commercial buildings fell 7.2%, reducing taxes on those properties.

Lower commercial assessments don’t reduce what the city expects to collect in property taxes — it just means homeowners pay a larger share.

Other reasons for Chicago homeowners’ high bills this year included a 6.3% increase in the levy, or what taxing bodies request. That rise was driven by a larger request from Chicago Public Schools and a higher amount earmarked for Tax Increment Financing districts. TIF districts collected 10.4% more year over year in 2024, totaling over $1.3 billion.

For 2024 the total Cook County levy was $19.2 billion, up about 4.8% from the previous year. The Chicago-area inflation rate was closer to 3.5%.

Cook County property taxes have outpaced inflation for a long time. Since 1995, they’ve gone up 181%, from $6.8 billion in 1995 to $19.2 billion in 2024, according to the county treasurer. Adjusted for inflation, that’s a 48% increase. If property taxes had risen on pace with inflation, the 2024 levy would have been $13 billion rather than $19.2 billion.

This rising burden can’t continue. Since 2019, more than 1,000 Cook County homeowners — including 125 senior citizens — have lost their homes and all their equity over a property tax debt smaller than the price of a 10-year-old Chevy Impala.

The U.S. Supreme Court has found the practice of taking more than the tax owed to be unconstitutional, but the Illinois General Assembly has yet to change the law to stop it. Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas delayed the property tax lien sale scheduled for last August, but it’s now set for March.

Of the Illinois residents who moved out in 2024, 95% went to lower-tax states. Lawmakers must reduce the property tax burden. They should cap how long TIFs can last and limit how many times they can be extended. Returning that money to general use would bring much-needed transparency and real property tax relief for Illinois residents.

Also, legislators are allowed to work as property tax appeal lawyers, enabling them to profit from ever-growing tax hikes. Imprisoned former Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan did that, as did former Chicago Ald. Ed Burke. This practice should not be prohibited.

The best way to reduce the property tax burden is to reform its largest driver: public-sector pensions. In Chicago, 80% of property taxes go toward its growing pension debt. Rather than seeking to control spending, Gov. J.B. Pritzker recently signed a “pension sweetener” for Chicago police and firefighters that will increase liabilities by $11.1 billion.

Reforming the state constitution would allow for moderate pension changes, increasing the fiscal health of those systems and reducing the property tax burden on Chicago homeowners.

Until changes are made, Cook County homeowners will continue to see their property tax bills climb.

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Illinois

How a clump of moss helped convict grave robbers in Illinois

Published

13 hours ago

March 5, 2026

Press Room

How a clump of moss helped convict grave robbers in Illinois

It was a particularly heinous crime. Four workers at a cemetery near Chicago dug up more than 100 bodies and dumped the remains elsewhere in the grounds, in order to resell the burial plots for profit.

Now, nearly two decades after the scandal broke at Burr Oak cemetery in Alsip, Illinois, scientists have released details of how a tiny clump of moss became crucial forensic evidence that helped convict the grave robbers.

Dr Matt von Konrat, head of botanical collections at the Field Museum in Chicago, was drawn into the case in 2009 when he received a phone call from the FBI. “They asked if I knew about moss and brought the evidence to the museum,” he said.

An investigation by local police had found human remains buried under inches of earth at the cemetery, a site of enormous historical importance. Several prominent African Americans are buried at the cemetery, including Emmett Till, whose murder in 1955 became a catalyst for the civil rights movement, and the blues singer Dinah Washington.

Alongside the re-buried remains, forensic specialists spotted various plants, including a piece of moss about the size of a fingertip. Hoping that it would help them crack the case, the FBI asked von Konrat to work out where the moss came from and how long it had been there.

After examining the moss under a microscope and comparing it with dried specimens in the museum’s collection, the scientists identified it as common pocket moss, or Fissidens taxifolius. A survey at the cemetery found that the species did not grow where the corpses were discovered, but was abundant in a lightly shaded area beneath some trees where police suspected the bodies had been dug up. The moss had evidently been moved with the bodies.

But when was the crime committed? The answer lay in a quirk of moss biology. “This is the cool thing about moss,” von Konrat said. “When we’re dead, we’re dead, but with mosses, it’s bizarre. Even when we might think they’re dead, they can still have an active metabolism.” The metabolism drops slowly over time as cells gradually die off.

Emmett Till is among those whose remains are buried in the cemetery. Photograph: Charles Rex Arbogast/AP

One way to measure moss metabolism is to bathe it in light and see how much is absorbed by the chlorophyll used to make food through photosynthesis, and how much light is re-emitted. The scientists ran tests on the moss found with the bodies, on a fresh clump from the cemetery, and other specimens from the museum’s collection.

“We concluded that the moss had been buried for less than 12 months and that was important because the accused’s whole line of defence was that the crime took place before their employment. They were arguing that it happened years and years earlier,” said von Konrat. Details are published in Forensic Sciences Research.

Doug Seccombe, a former FBI agent who worked on the case and a co-author of the study, said the plant material from the cemetery was “key” to securing the convictions when the case went to trial.

Von Konrat, who is a fan of the BBC forensic science drama Silent Witness, never expected to be working on a criminal case, but now wants to highlight how important mosses might be for forensic investigations. “I had no idea we’d be using our science, our collections, in this manner,” he said. “It underscores how important natural history collections are. We never know how we might apply them in the future.”

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Illinois

Andretti family’s popular go karting and gaming facility opening first Illinois location. See inside

Published

1 day ago

March 4, 2026

Press Room

Andretti family’s popular go karting and gaming facility opening first Illinois location. See inside

A popular indoor go karting and gaming company is opening up its first Illinois location in a Chicago suburb this week.

Andretti Indoor Karting & Games announced it will open its doors on a brand new Schaumburg location at 4 p.m. on March 10, with a grand opening event slated for March 14.

The facility will feature numerous attractions, including “high-speed electric Superkarts on a multi-level track” and an arcade with professional racing simulators and two-story laser tag arena, in a 98,000-square-foot facility. There’s also bowling, a movie theater and more, the company said.

The Schaumburg location, at 1441 Thoreau Dr., will mark Andretti’s 13th facility in the U.S.

“We’re thrilled to open our thirteenth location in the thriving village of Schaumburg,” said Eddie Hamman, managing member. “Andretti is the perfect addition to all the amazing experiences across Chicagoland, and we look forward to meeting the communities that make this market a top destination.”

The company said it plans to host a “sneak preview” event beginning at 11 a.m. on March 10, where several guests will “be treated to free racing, attractions, and arcade play with food and beverage options available for purchase.” The Andretti family will also be on-hand for autograph sessions that afternoon.

A limited number of spots will be made available to RSVP to the preview.

Then on March 14, the first 100 guests to visit the facility to be given one hour of free arcade play and entered to win a raffle for a free birthday party. Ten guests could also win free arcade play for a year.

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