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Yahoo
13-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Editorial: Arlington Heights looks to Chicago for new stuff to tax
Arlington Heights is best known these days as being the likely future home of the Chicago Bears. But lately, the northwest suburb seems to be intent on grabbing more than just professional football teams from Chicago. It's looking to the city for some more unwelcome imports — like new taxing ideas. With an array of taxes and fees on all sorts of activities, Chicago is an excellent source of such things if you're in the market for them. Arlington Heights is among the first municipalities outside of Chicago considering a streaming tax on residents. The city of Chicago pioneered and has enforced a digital 'amusement' tax on streaming since 2015, currently at 10.25%, though the tax rate was lower (9%) when originally adopted. Officials say the proposed 5% streaming tax would help offset losses from declining cable franchise fees and telecommunications taxes. As more residents cut the cord, revenue from these sources has dropped — from about $5.5 million two decades ago to just under $3 million today, according to the Daily Herald. The tax is estimated to generate about $500,000 if implemented, but the Herald calculated that it would cost the average consumer anywhere from $41 to $61 extra per year, assuming they subscribe to multiple streaming services, which many suburbanites do. Village officials say the additional charge on streaming services would help cover the cost of staffing a fifth Fire Department ambulance, which is being deployed this year in response to rising emergency call volumes. That would be on top of already high local taxes. In 2024, BlockShopper pegged the median Arlington Heights property tax bill at over $9,000. For many homes in the village, those bills push $20,000 and higher. What began as a targeted Chicago tax is quickly becoming a new way for local governments to plug budget holes — at the expense of everyday entertainment. Arlington Heights isn't the first suburb to put the streaming tax on the table, but implementing it would certainly make the village an early adopter. East Dundee adopted a 5% amusement tax in April 2022 that includes video and audio streaming services, making it the first Illinois municipality beyond Chicago to levy such a tax. Evanston also adopted a 5% streaming tax in 2020. And don't forget, state lawmakers considered expanding the state's 6.25% sales tax to streaming services across Illinois in the session that ended in May. That didn't happen, but it was part of the conversation, and we wouldn't be surprised to see that resurface. Suburbanites should take notice of this trend. As Chicago has demonstrated repeatedly, once a new tax is adopted, it only goes up. When high-tax areas start calling for new revenue streams, we have to wonder what's going on, and residents are likely wondering where all of their property tax dollars are going. We understand it's not cheap to provide services in communities where expectations are high. But let's be honest: Arlington Heights is already out of reach for many working families — and rising taxes aren't helping. In just the past few years, Arlington Heights' police and fire pension shortfalls alone have grown into the tens of millions, adding serious pressure to the municipal budget. That may help explain why it needs new revenue to staff a single ambulance. If debt and pension costs keep ballooning unchecked, the streaming tax won't be the last new fee suburbanites see. Chicago has plenty more from which to choose. Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@
USA Today
05-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Nebraska commit named top high school quarterback
A future Nebraska quarterback has been one of Illinois' top high school quarterbacks. Class of 2027 commit Trae Taylor is one of the most sought-after players at his position, according to the Daily Herald. Taylor is entering his junior season at Carmel Catholic High School. He is the seventh overall quarterback in the 2027 class and the fourth overall player in his class from the state of Illinois, according to the 247Sports composite rankings. "What more can we say about the player at the top of the state's Class of 2027 rankings and near the top nationwide? After the hype that's built this offseason, Taylor (6-3, 180) and the Corsairs will draw crowds just to see him play. A whirlwind recruiting process ended in May when Taylor chose Nebraska over Illinois, LSU and Texas A&M." Last season, he threw for 3,061 yards, 20 touchdowns, and seven interceptions, per statistics from MaxPreps. He also carried the football 41 times for 342 yards and four touchdowns while leading Carmel Catholic High School to a 4-7 record. Contact/Follow us @CornhuskersWire on X (formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Nebraska news, notes, and opinions.
Yahoo
02-07-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Daily Herald wins Best News Coverage for 4th year in a row
The Daily Herald won First Place in two categories at the 2024 Tennessee Press Association Awards June 28, including Best News Reporting and Best Breaking News Coverage. This year marks the fourth year in a row the Herald has won Best News Reporting in the annual TPA Awards, judged by different journalism organizations each year. Winning material in the two categories included the Herald's coverage of the May 8, 2024 tornado that ripped through eastern Columbia. The Herald also grabbed first place for Best Breaking News Coverage of the tornado. The almost 180 year old publication is proud to carry its news reporting legacy, striving to provide the best news stories possible on top issues facing the community. Our small staff greatly values our readers and appreciates your dedication in supporting us. We couldn't do the work without your support. Columbia/Maury County is a gem of a community, and we take seriously the legacy we create in maintaining a standard of excellence. Winning story Breaking News Coverage: Columbia woman says tornado that destroyed home was 'scariest moment of my life' Winning series Best News Coverage: Family loses everything in tornado: 'We have hope, and thank God we are alive' If someone you know is unaware of the work we have produced over the past several years from new restaurants to state legislation affecting Maury County, please share this information with them. Ask them to visit our website at to sign up for our daily digital newsletter. In our newsletter, you can find the top stories in Maury County and Middle Tennessee, including Top 5 Things to Do each week, our "What's New?" column as well as government decisions on new development, new eateries, summer fun activities and much more. Upcoming coverage will include next steps for the Columbia Dam grassroots group formed to support a reliable water source for future generations. Some agree with building a new dam in Columbia and some don't. Check back with the Herald to read about why. Supporters like you allow us to continue our work providing the best journalism possible for the community. If you have an idea or suggestion for coverage, please contact me at kbartlett@ Here's a breakdown of what we've been able to accomplish and the foundation we plan to build upon. Over the past four years, The Daily Herald has collected almost a dozen first place wins over six categories across the state in the TPA Awards, which recognizes hundreds of papers across the state. In 2023, The Daily Herald won first place in the following two categories: Best News Coverage and Best Single Feature. Winning coverage included stories about the community striving to preserve the Duck River and the owners of 1822 Farms quest to preserve their family's beef farming legacy. The Daily Herald also took second place in 2023 for Best News Reporting (its second placement in the same category), second place in Best Breaking News for its coverage of the General Motors UAW strike and third place in Best Education Reporting. In 2022, The Daily Herald won first place in two categories including Best Single Feature and Best News Reporting. Stories focused on rural farming and land loss in Tennessee, featuring Kettle Mills farm, as well character preservation on the Campbell farm in Spring Hill. More: Daily Herald wins big in Tennessee Press Association awards contest More: The Daily Herald wins 1st place in five categories in Tennessee Press Association awards Another big year for the Daily Herald was in 2021 when the publication took home first place awards in five categories in the TPA awards for the following: Best News Reporting, Best Education Reporting, Best Single Feature, Best Feature Photograph and Best Digital Presentation. In April 2022, The Daily Herald also won two first place awards in the Best of Gannett contest for its coverage of East 8th Street and the Columbia uprising of 1946. In 2023, the Herald placed in Best of Gannett for its coverage of farmland preservation in Maury County. Keep reading and know your support is greatly valued for each line read and each link clicked, which supports our important work. Kerri Bartlett is Middle Tennessee Region Group Editor for the Gannett/USA Today Network. Papers include The Daily Herald, The Jackson Sun, The Daily News Journal in Murfreesboro and The Leaf-Chronicle in Clarksville. She can be reached at kbartlett@ Subscribe to The Daily Herald by visiting This article originally appeared on The Daily Herald: Reasons to subscribe to The Daily Herald Columbia
USA Today
25-06-2025
- USA Today
Cold-blooded killer or traumatized Vietnam vet? Inmate's psyche debated ahead of execution
Richard Jordan is arguing that jurors never got to hear about the trauma he suffered after three combat tours in the Vietnam War. His victim's son is lamenting the five decades the case has taken. Did Richard Jordan commit murder because of post-traumatic stress disorder from three combat tours in the Vietnam War? Or is he simply a cold-blooded killer? That question is at the heart of Jordan's arguments against his imminent execution in Mississippi on Wednesday, June 25 − six months shy of 50 years since he kidnapped and killed 36-year-old Edwina Marter, a stay-at-home mother of two sons. Jordan shot Marter in the back of the head before her banker husband paid a $25,000 ransom for her return on Jan. 12, 1976. "Like other veterans, Vietnam forever changed Richard" and left him "a traumatized man," according to his petition for clemency filed on June 16, which says he served three combat tours for a combined 33 months, often in the perilous position as a helicopter gunner, earning him various medals and an honorable discharge. Now as Mississippi's oldest inmate on death row at the age of 79, he has mentored younger prisoners, helped quell violent breakouts, and worked with banks to help prevent their employees from becoming targets like Marter, his petition says. But at Jordan's trial in 1976, prosecutors told jurors to consider how fervently Jordan demanded a ransom for Marter's safe return even after he had shot her dead. "Did you notice how cool and calculated, cold?" then-Jackson County District Attorney Albert Necaise said, according to an archived report in the Daily Herald in Biloxi. "He was the judge, he was the jury . . . and he was also her executioner." As Jordan's execution by lethal injection approaches, USA TODAY is looking back at the case, the dramatic murder trial, and whether Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves has answered the inmate's request for a 15-minute meeting to hear him out. Discover WITNESS: Access our exclusive collection of true crime stories, podcasts, videos and more. Edwina Marter's kidnapping and murder On Jan. 12, 1976, Edwina Marter was at home in Mississippi City with one of her two sons, 3-year-old Kevin, while her 10-year-old son Eric was in school, according to court records. Richard Jordan showed up and kidnapped Marter as Kevin slept. Jordan had found out that her husband, Charles Marter, was an executive at Gulf National Bank and decided to target the couple for ransom money, court records say. Jordan took Edwina Marter about 35 miles away to a deserted area of the DeSoto National Forest, where prosecutors said he executed her by shooting a bullet into the back of her head as she knelt. Jordan maintained that the fatal bullet was supposed to be a warning shot when she ran away, which prosecutors called a "cock-and-bull story." After killing Edwina, Jordan called Charles Marter, told him that his wife was alive and well and that it would cost him $25,000 to get her back, court records say. A half dozen law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, deployed when Marter immediately reported the kidnapping, and area journalists made a rare agreement for nearly 24 hours of news silence to allow the frantic husband to make a money drop, according to reporting in the Daily Herald. After Jordan directed Marter to a number of futile stops at various locations, the money was eventually left under a jacket by the side of a road, where Jordan retrieved it as authorities watched undetected. A high-speed chase ensued, which included officers hitting Jordan's car with multiple bullets. Jordan made a brief escape but was later arrested after being spotted in the back of a taxi at a police roadblock. Richard Jordan has been sentenced to death 4 times Jordan's dramatic first trial dominated local newspaper headlines as prosecutors painted a vivid picture for the jurors who would find him guilty. District Attorney Necaise said that Jordan's execution would be more humane than Edwina Marter's murder, pointing out that his family "will not have to run up and down the road looking for his body" as hers did, according to the Herald. "The body will be turned over to them," Necaise continued. "It will not be left for the birds of the air and the beasts of the fields to feast upon." Jordan's court-appointed defense attorney, Earl Denham, had an unusual closing statement, telling jurors that the case had been "a nightmare" for him and said his client was a sociopath, the Herald reported. "He is calm and he is quiet and he has never shown one iota of emotion to me about anything," Denham said. "He is sick if he is anything." Necaise later dismissed that: "I say he is not a sick man, I say he is a greedy man." Jordan was sentenced to death after that trial in 1976 but that was later vacated over a change in death penalty law, and he was again tried, convicted and sentenced to death in 1977. An appeals court later vacated that sentence over unconstitutional penalty-phase instructions, but Jordan again got the death penalty at a 1983 resentencing. That, too, was later vacated by the U.S. Supreme Court, and Jordan reached an agreement with prosecutors for a life sentence. Then in 1994, the Supreme Court of Mississippi invalidated the agreement, saying it shouldn't have been an option. Jordan was sentenced to death for the fourth time in 1998. Richard Jordan's PTSD never presented to jury At no point during Jordan's legal proceedings did a jury get to hear about PTSD from his Vietnam service in the 1st Calvary Division from 1966 to 1969, starting when he was 18 years old, according to his clemency petition. As a door gunner, he protected ground troops by providing "defensive and suppressive fire" with M60 machine guns mounted onto the cargo doors of helicopters, according to one of Jordan's filings in the U.S. Supreme Court. He was "trained to kill on sight," the filing said. Jordan once fired on a small hut suspected of shooting down a U.S. helicopter and later learned that women and children were among the dead inside, a revelation that still haunts him even though his actions were found to be legal, the clemency petition says. His base, Phu Bai near Huế in south Vietnam, was attacked in "one of the bloodiest battles during the 1968 Tet Offensive," during which he "was under constant threat of being killed," the petition says. After nearly three years at war, Jordan struggled mentally and emotionally back home in Mississippi and 'experienced periods of hypervigilance, suspicion of strangers, and emotional numbness," according to the filing, which argues that a death sentence is improper. "Had the jury heard this critical information, Richard might not have been sentenced to death," according to his clemency petition, which seeks a meeting between Jordan and Gov. Tate Reeves. Neither Tate's office nor the Mississippi Attorney General's Office responded to requests for comment for this story, including whether the governor would take the meeting. In a recent court filing, the state stands behind Jordan's death sentence and execution, calling his claims "baseless." He "executed a young mother after kidnapping her to extort money from her husband. A jury convicted him of capital murder, and he was sentenced to death nearly three decades ago," the state told the Supreme Court. Jordan's attorneys have been filing a number of other legal arguments fighting the execution, including a challenge over the drugs used in lethal-injection executions. Victim's son laments length of court cases Edwina Marter's now 59-year-old son, Eric Marter, told USA TODAY that his family never bought Jordan's claims that he accidentally shot Edwina and they certainly aren't buying his arguments about PTSD. "It doesn't surprise me that you want to try to play whatever game you can so they don't put you to death," he said. "He's kind of playing the military card and seeing if that's going to help him out." He said he never heard about Jordan's Vietnam service until recently and pointed to how well-planned the crime was. "To say that you've got a mental problem, I'm not really buying it." He doesn't have very many memories of his mom anymore, and his brother has none, though they've heard some great family stories. His Aunt Norma told the boys about how when she and Edwina were younger, they'd dress up in their nicest clothes, put on makeup and go crash wedding receptions. "She liked to have fun," he said. Edwina not only missed out on his and his brother's childhoods, but also the lives of three grandchildren and a great grandchild, he said. About the execution, he said the family has been frustrated decades of delays. They're ready for it to be over with. "It's been way, way too long." More details about the execution Jordan is set to be executed by lethal injection at 6 p.m. CT on Wednesday, June 25, at the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman. If Jordan's execution moves forward, he will be the 25th inmate executed in the U.S. this year, matching the amount of executions conducted during all of last year. The U.S. has previously executed combat veterans, most recently on May 1, when Florida executed Jeffrey Hutchinson, who served in the Gulf War. Another Vietnam veteran, Herbert Richardson, was executed in Alabama in 1989, and was depicted in the 2019 film "Just Mercy." Amanda Lee Myers is a senior crime reporter for USA TODAY. Follow her on X at @amandaleeusat.
Hindustan Times
21-06-2025
- Lifestyle
- Hindustan Times
International T-shirt Day: From an undergarment to a daily essential - the timeline of a T-shirt
So early in September Amory, provided with six suits summer underwear, six suits winter underwear, one sweater or T shirt, one jersey, one overcoat, winter, etc., set out for New England, the land of schools. Originally a men's undergarment, the T-shirt evolved into a unisex staple and a canvas for expression.(Pexels) Perhaps you have never seen the packing list of Amory Blaine, a 15-year old who was heading to St. Regis, a boarding school in Connecticut (USA). Ignore Amory's summer and winter underwear, notice there's a T shirt. Perhaps, you'd scoff a 'so what?'. But this was 1920 and it was the first time the word T-shirt was set down on page by F. Scott Fitzgerald in his book This Side of Paradise. Fitzgerald did not invent the word, he kinda gave the bachelor's undershirt a casual push. The name T-shirt made sense - when laid flat, the shape of the T shirt looked like T, the 20th letter of the English alphabet. And if you were to stick to Amory's packing list, it is T-shirt, not a tee, not a t-shirt. The Online Etymology Dictionary will reprimand you, if you say t-shirt - 'the form t-shirt is incorrect', the dictionary will tutor you. How was the T-shirt, now a unisex essential, born? Well, the ubiquitous T-shirt began life as an undergarment for men - neatly hidden under proper shirts. In the Middle Ages, it was common for wealthy men to wear woven cotton or linen T-shaped garment under their shirt. But there was a twist in the T. Actually, a tail. These Middle Age undergarments had long shirt tails tucked between the legs! That did not make for a handsome picture and soon the shirt tails were snipped and the garment acquired more fitted seams. Since then, the T-shirt underwent several alterations. And names, too. In the 19th century, British sailors started wearing white flannel T-shirts under their woollen uniforms and soon they were officially permitted to wear T-shirts on the deck. It sure was comfy and not surprisingly, it became the favourite outerwear of working class men during weekends. Just before World War I, the US Navy included a loose-fitting flannel shirt with a square neck in its uniform - a white, cotton-knit T-shirt became the official underwear of the US Navy. Until then, the T-shirt was mostly a gob (British slang for sailors) shirt. That garment between the skin and shirt on top gradually metamorphosed from woven cotton and linen to calico, jersey and wool. In early 20th century, T-shirts became big business and were being marketed as bachelor's undershorts, crew neck shirts - an essential for men who could not sew shirt buttons (another theory hypothesises). Now, the T-shirt was being talked of much more. On June 29, 1922, an article (Comfortable Togs for Your Vacation, Rutland (Vermont) Daily Herald) made a special mention of the T-shirt: 'Special mention should be accorded the sweat shirt, or "T" shirt, which has been used for a good many years among athletes and which is bound to be as popular with outers, having just recently been 'discovered.' A 'T' shirt will do everything a sweater does and more, while it costs fully a quarter less.' And then a few drop-dead gorgeous Hollywood men gave the T-shirt the much-deserved glamour. Handsome men wearing impeccable white T-shirts appeared on the silver screen. Ah!Montgomery Clift wearing a T-shirt in the 1951 studio photograph for A Place in the Sun. When Marlon Brando took off his wet body-hugging T-shirt in A Street Car Named Desire, half of womankind swooned in adoration. And when he stood on the 70 mm screen with a fresh T-shirt in hand, his chest bare, his hair ruffled, the other half of womankind got muzzy. James Dean made rebellion and T-shirt fashionable in Rebel Without a Cause (1955). The T-shirt had finally arrived as an outerwear. Rockstars started performing in them and luxury clothing brands invested in, well, ultra-luxury T-shirts that men and women happily strutted around in. This International T-shirt Day (June 21), wear one and remember how an undergarment conquered the world's wardrobe. The Most Iconic T-shirts The Rolling Stones: The tongue and lips logo for The Rolling Stones was designed by the English art designer John Pasche in 1970. Superman: The red/yellow 'S' shield that Superman wears on his costume was originally created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Charlie Brown: Everyone loves Charlie Brown's yellow and brown stripes who was created by Charles M. Schulz. Che Guevara: Taken by Alberto Korda on March 5, 1960, in Havana (Cuba), Che Guevara's iconic photograph is every rebel's T-shirt statement Jurassic Park: The logo was seen extensively in the 1993 film and some T-heads call it the logosaurus. The Ghostbusters: The 'No Ghosts' emblem references the movie's namesake team. I love NY: The logo was designed by graphic designer Milton Glaser in 1976 and its red heart has been an all-time favourite for tourists worldwide. Keep Calm & Carry On: Originally printed as 1930s British World War II propaganda. Nirvana's Smiley Face: A staple of the grunge movement, rockband Nirvana's logo has a stylised, tongue-out smiley face with Xs for eyes. Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon: Features the album's iconic prism and rainbow design.
