Illinois
Illinois hires ex-Michigan strength coach involved in Howard incident
Jon Sanderson — a former Michigan basketball strength coach — has moved to another Big Ten program, assisting the Illinois men’s basketball team as a sports performance consultant, the Fighting Illini announced Thursday. The move comes less than two weeks after Sanderson officially parted ways with Michigan after 15 years following a Dec. 7 confrontation with Michigan head coach Juwan Howard.
The confrontation resulted in Sanderson no longer working with the Michigan men’s basketball program, but Sanderson spent the 12 weeks before his official departure working out of the athletic department’s south campus complex, primarily with some of the school’s Olympic sports teams.
His exit also came after reaching a settlement with Michigan, two sources briefed on the agreement said at the time. That agreement included a non-disclosure clause, the sources said.
The confrontation between Howard and Sanderson stemmed from a disagreement between an athletic trainer and senior guard Jace Howard, Juwan’s 22-year-old son. At the time, Jace Howard had missed the entire season with a stress fracture and questioned the training staff not yet clearing him to play.
On Dec. 8, according to documents obtained by The Athletic, Sanderson shared his version of events of what followed in an email to Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel.
Sanderson wrote that Jace Howard “was berating” the trainer and caused a “scene” that prompted several players to stop and watch. Sanderson described the scene as “totally out of control,” and said the trainer was trying to calm Jace Howard down and get him to discuss the matter privately. Noticing the trainer looking increasingly desperate and “panicked,” Sanderson intervened, yelling at Howard from roughly 30 feet away: “You’re a student athlete and he is a professional. You don’t talk to a professional like that. That is disrespectful and entitled.” He said he repeated that the tirade was “disrespectful.”
Sanderson wrote in the email to Manuel that he tried to de-escalate the situation, turning his back and walking away. When Sanderson looked back, he said Juwan Howard came at him, “angry and ready to fight,” repeatedly yelling as players and staff held him back.
Sanderson wrote that players and staff were ultimately able to restrain Howard, after which the team started practice and Sanderson went to his office.
On Dec. 15, following an HR review, the university cleared Howard of any wrongdoing in the Sanderson incident. In a statement, Manuel said the university reviewed “an incident involving several individuals during a team practice,” and, “based on a thorough internal review, nothing was found to warrant disciplinary action for anyone involved.”
Howard has never publicly shared his account of the event. He told reporters only to refer to Manuel’s statement, saying “I think it was clear. It was precise.”
Sanderson also levied additional complaints about the program’s culture under Howard unrelated to the Dec. 7 incident, a source briefed on the matter said.
Sanderson’s attorney deferred all questions to the university. A text message to Sanderson was not immediately returned.
Sanderson arrived at Michigan in 2009, joining John Beilein’s staff as strength and conditioning coach. He became a program mainstay, working with 17 NBA Draft picks, including 11 first-rounders. He was one of a few holdovers from Beilein’s staff when Howard was hired in 2019.
Mike Favre, Michigan’s strength and conditioning director, replaced Sanderson on the bench in December.
Illinois announced Sanderson’s new role on social media, writing, “Excited to have Jon Sanderson assisting our program as a sports performance consultant. We will utilize Jon’s industry expertise — which includes three Final Fours and developing 30 NBA players during his career — through conversations and meetings with our current staff to create a first in class performance development program.”
Michigan (8-24) fell to Penn State in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament on Wednesday. Illinois (23-8) faces Ohio State (20-12) on Friday in a quarterfinal matchup in the conference tournament.
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(Photo: Hannah Fountain / CameraSport via Getty Images)
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WICS) — After a brief lull in the weather on Friday, now another winter storm is setting its sights on central Illinois. Come Saturday, our next round of Winter is set to arrive. A new weather maker sweeps across the Upper Midwest, causing more snow to develop by mid-morning on Saturday. A Winter Weather Advisory has been issued from 7AM Saturday through 8 PM Saturday evening. The snow will pick up intensity by late-morning and last through the afternoon into the early evening hours before ending. This new weather system will follow a path very similar to the previous storm system and spread a swath of moderate to locally heavy snow. Before the snow wraps up Saturday evening, expect another 2″-4″ for much of central Illinois, with afternoon high temperatures bitterly cold in the mid-teens.
But the worst blast of cold air comes in Saturday evening into Sunday. Frigid Arctic air surges down from Canada causing temperatures to really tumble, driving in the coldest weather we’ve had in a long time and certainly the coldest so far this season. A Cold Weather Advisory is issued from 8 PM Saturday through Noon on Sunday. Sunday morning will be dangerously cold with wind chills around 20 to 25 BELOW ZERO. With wind chills this extreme, it doesn’t take long to suffer from frostbite or hypothermia. Please stay inside to keep warm, but if you do need to venture out, limit the time you spend outdoors, and make sure to cover up all exposed skin by wearing a hat, scarf, and gloves. Sunday afternoon features lots of sunshine, but despite the sunshine, temperatures will be brutally cold and frigid with high temperatures stuck in the low single numbers while wind chills remain well below zero.
Expect more extremely chilly weather on Monday with wind chills still ranging from 5 to 15 BELOW ZERO in the morning and afternoon highs only reaching into the 20s. Then temperatures will finally start to warm up, and we should climb out of the deep freeze with highs in the mid to upper 30s on Tuesday.
Gov. JB Pritzker signed a new law Friday making Illinois the newest state allowing medically assisted dying in terminally ill residents.
Known as “Deb’s Law,” it allows eligible terminally ill adults with a prognosis to live six months or less to request a prescription from their doctor that would allow them to die on their own terms.
The legislation was narrowly approved by the Illinois Senate in October after the Illinois House passed it in May.
People on both sides of the debate over the controversial legislation lobbied the governor up until the last minute. Medical aid in dying, also called assisted suicide or dying with dignity, is already legal in 12 states. Eight more are considering similar legislation.
“I have been deeply impacted by the stories of Illinoisans or their loved ones that have suffered from a devastating terminal illness, and I have been moved by their dedication to standing up for freedom and choice at the end of life in the midst of personal heartbreak,” Pritzker said in a news release after signing the bill.
Pritzker’s signature makes Illinois the first state in the Midwest to allow medically assisted death.
Advocates for the law say it allows adults to die on their own terms when survival is already not an option. Opponents say the bill legalizes “state-sanctioned suicide.”
The law requires two doctors to determine a patient has a terminal disease and will die within six months. The medication provided would need to be requested both orally and in written documentation, and will have to be self-administered. The law also requires all patients opting into medical assistance in dying to have been full informed about all end-of-life care options, including comfort care, hospice, palliative care and pain control.
The law is named for Deb Robertson, a former social worker from Lombard who had an aggressive case of neuroendocrine carcinoma. She began advocating for medical aid in dying in 2022 and has been a central figure in the movement.
Please note: The above video is from a previous report
Illinois
Advocates, opponents seek to sway Gov. JB Pritzker on medical aid in dying legislation passed by Illinois General Assembly
Illinois could soon join a growing list of states where terminally ill patients would be allowed to take life-ending medication prescribed by a doctor.
The Illinois Senate narrowly approved the “medical aid in dying” legislation in October, after the Illinois House passed it in May, and the legislation is now sitting on Gov. JB Pritzker’s desk.
Pritzker has not said if he’ll sign it, and the controversial legislation has people on both sides trying to bend the governor’s ear.
Medical aid in dying, also called assisted suicide or dying with dignity, is legal in 12 states, with eight others considering similar legislation.
If Pritzker allows the “End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act” passed by the Illinois General Assembly to become law, Illinois could be the first state in the Midwest to allow medical aid in dying.
Suzy Flack, whose son Andrew died of cancer, is among the advocates urging the governor to sign the bill.
Diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2017 in his home state of Illinois, three years later Andrew moved to California, where medical aid in dying is legal, and chose to end his life in 2022.
“He died on his own terms, peacefully. We were all there to see it and embrace him at that moment, and it was really a beautiful thing,” Suzy said. “His last words were, ‘I’m happy. Please sign this. Allow people in Illinois this option.’”
Illinois is on the brink of joining a growing number of states that allow doctors to prescribe a mixture of lethal medication for terminally ill patients.
Outside the governor’s Chicago office on Thursday, many disability advocates, religious leaders, lawmakers, and doctors have called on Pritzker to veto the bill that would legalize what they call state-sanctioned suicide
“The question becomes where do you draw the line in the medical ethics dilemmas?” one physician who identified himself as Dr. Pete said. “We don’t need to go to this crossing of a red line of actually providing a means to directly end life.”
Republican Illinois state Sen. Chris Balkema said he “would really appreciate it if the governor would veto this bill.”
“My plea is that we veto this; come back with language that is constructive on both sides,” he said.
Pritzker has he is reviewing the legislation and is listening to advocates on both sides before deciding whether to sign it.
“It’s a hard issue, and I don’t want anybody to think making up your mind about this is very easy. It’s not. There’s a lot to consider, but most of all it’s about compassion,” he said. “There’s evidence and information on both sides that leads me to think seriously about what direction to go.”
The Illinois legislation would require two doctors to determine that a patient has a terminal disease and will die within six months. The medication provided to terminally ill patients would need to be requested both orally and in written form, and would have to be self-administered.
The bill was sent to Pritzker on Nov. 25, and he has 60 days from then to either sign it, amend it and send it back to lawmakers, veto it, or allow it to become law without his signature.
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