Seven DUI arrests made in St. Patrick’s enforcement effort
Seven people were arrested on driving under the influence charges during the No Refusal Initiative conducted by the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office and law enforcement agencies over the St. Patrick’s Day weekend.
The 11 agencies that participated the Aurora, Batavia, Carpentersville, Elburn, Elgin, Geneva, Montgomery, Pingree Grove and St. Charles police departments, Kane County Sheriff’s Office and Illinois State Police Troop 3, according to a news release.
Between 11 p.m. Saturday, March 15, and 3 a.m. Sunday, March 16, suspected drunk drivers were arrested, taken to a local police station and asked to submit to a Breathalyzer or other chemical testing. If they refused testing, they were told by an assistant state’s attorney that a court order would be sought ordering them to comply and would face additional charges if they continued to refuse, the release said.
During the initiative, three DUI-related arrests were made by police in Aurora, one by officers in Pingree Grove and one by the Kane County Sheriff’s Office.
Local arrests included Edgar Frausto, 33, of Elgin, who was stopped by East Dundee police at 7:20 p.m. March 15 and charged with aggravated driving under the influence of alcohol-fourth violation; aggravated driving under the influence with a suspended driver’s license; and driving with a suspended driver’s license, fourth to ninth offense, license suspended due to previous DUI charge. Frausto voluntarily submitted to chemical testing and his BAC was 0.175, the release said.
Also, Toribio Acabal Oxlaj, of Elgin, who was arrested at 12:06 a.m. March 16 by Elgin police. He was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol; illegally transporting open alcohol, changing lanes unsafely; and leaving the scene of a motor vehicle crash. He voluntarily submitted to chemical testing and had a BAC of 0.146.
Gloria Casas / The Courier-News / Chicago Tribune
Elgin Public Museum will be presenting stories, crafts, playtime activities and free vision screenings for children up to age 5 on Wednesday. (Courier-News file photo)
Elgin Public Museum to offer young child activities Wednesday
As part off Week of the Young Child, Elgin Public Museum will be presenting stories, crafts, playtime activities and free vision screenings for children up to age 5 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday, April 9.
Admission to the museum at 225 Grand Blvd. in Lords Park is free, according to a Facebook page post. The event is being organized in conjunction with the Elgin Partnership for Early Learning. The free vision tests are provided courtesy of the Elgin Lions Club.
For more information, call 847-741-6655 or email blazier_s@cityofelgin.org.
Support group for parents, caregivers of children with disabilities
Hanover Township is offering a new support group for parents, guardians and caregivers of disabled children, with the first meeting set for 7 to 8 p.m. Thursday, April 10, at Hanover Township Town Hall, 250 S. Route 59, Bartlett.
The group will provide information and support so that participants have the necessary resources and referrals as their children transition to school, employment and beyond, a news release said.
“We understand that navigating the transition from child-focused to adult services can be a daunting and overwhelming experience for many parents of youth with disabilities,” Erin Brumfield Grima, director of Hanover Township Youth and Family Services, said in the release. “This new group will help parents understand the available resources, clarify the often-complex process and ensure that their children have access to the services they need as they move into adulthood.”
Meetings will be held every Thursday through May 15. For more information and to register, go to www.hanover-township.org
or call Hanover Township Youth and Family Services, 630-483-5799.
Ordering deadline for Elgin Lions Club rose sale this Friday
The Elgin Lions Club’s annual rose sale is underway, and orders must be placed by Friday, April 11, according to a post on the club’s website.
Roses are $20 per dozen, with proceeds being used to provide free vision care for School District U46 students and adults in Elgin and to fund college scholarships for Elgin and Larkin high school students.
Roses will be delivered April 16-18. To place an order, go to elginlions.org
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DePaul University men’s basketball coach Chris Holtmann and his wife, Lori, sold their four-bedroom, 6,481-square-foot house in Upper Arlington, Ohio, to Las Vegas Raiders offensive coordinator Chip Kelly in July for $3.5 million in an off-market deal.
Holtmann, 53, was hired by DePaul in March 2024 after serving as the head men’s basketball coach at Ohio State University for close to seven years. Prior to that, he had been the head men’s basketball coach at Butler University.
In June 2024, the Holtmanns paid
$4 million for a six-bedroom, 5,500-square-foot mansion in Lincoln Park, close to DePaul’s campus.
In Ohio, the couple paid $2.4 million in 2017 through their CHBC LLC limited liability company for the house that they just sold. The house has 5-1/2 bathrooms, a formal dining room, a large den with a private patio and a kitchen with white custom cabinetry, Wolf and Sub-Zero appliances and Cambria quartz counters.
Other features include a lower level with a 1,000-bottle wine tasting room and a game room. Outside on the property are a screened porch, a pool, a travertine patio and a fire pit.
Kelly bought the house because he was an offensive coordinator at Ohio State at the time. He then left Ohio State in February to join the Raiders.
Steppenwolf’s Ensemble Theater, a 400-seat theater in the round, opened in the fall of 2021 and has proved a creative challenge for the company. Director Steve H. Broadnax III’s superb staging of Suzan-Lori Parks’ “The Book of Grace” is the first show I’ve seen in that space to truly inhabit what it means to perform in the round, and to exploit the advantages of having an audience surround a trio of characters on whom the walls are closing in fast.
Set in Texas near the U.S. border, “The Book of Grace” follows a fractured family wherein the patriarch is Vet (Brian Marable) a border patrol officer. Vet’s son, Buddy (Namir Smallwood), returns to his father’s home after 15 years away, claiming to have been a “tech bro,” although in reality he is desperate for a job. Why he has returned takes a long time to become clear, although there are plot elements that fans of Sunday’s finale of “The White Lotus” will recognize.
Vet’s wife, Grace (Zainab Jah), is a waitress and Buddy’s stepmother, and a cheerful woman who writes a kind of secret journal that she keeps hidden under the floorboards.
Parks’ play premiered in 2010 at the New York Public Theater and the justly esteemed playwright has updated the work for the Steppenwolf production. The border between the U.S. and Mexico is far more in the news now than was the case in the relative quiet of 2010, of course, and that has served Parks’ artistic purpose. “The Book of Grace,” feels very of the moment, especially to the degree it probes the dangers of instability and panic.
To my mind, Parks has forged a play about the personal toll that doing a job like intercepting migrants inevitably takes on a man and his family, with the moral compartmentalization that’s required and the built-up aggression and resentment, as well as the deep sense of isolation that’s passed down to the next generation. You can see all of that in Marable’s Vet, who at one point delivers a speech not unlike the famous Jack Nicholson monologue in “A Few Good Men,” where he says that he does what he has to do so others can enjoy their lives while pretending his role does not exist. Grace, meanwhile, is penned as someone just trying to hold it together and get through her days in the light of all of the above. “I’m steady,” she says, poignantly, to Buddy at one point. “I’m waiting it out.”
Buddy, meanwhile, is another of the characters created by the superb Chicago actor Namir Smallwood who you could reasonably describe as neuroatypical. Not dissimilar from the role Smallwood recently played at the Goodman Theatre in “Primary Trust,”
Buddy is a mix of man and child, soldier and moral crusader, a determined seeker of personal revenge that we quickly intuit will bring disaster down on his own head.
Namir Smallwood, Zainab Jah and Brian Marable in “The Book of Grace” by Suzan-Lori Parks in Steppenwolf’s Ensemble Theater. (Michael Brosilow)
Namir Smallwood in “The Book of Grace” by Suzan-Lori Parks in Steppenwolf’s Ensemble Theater. (Michael Brosilow)
Zainab Jah and Namir Smallwood in “The Book of Grace” by Suzan-Lori Parks in Steppenwolf’s Ensemble Theater. (Michael Brosilow)
Zainab Jah and Namir Smallwood in “The Book of Grace” by Suzan-Lori Parks in Steppenwolf’s Ensemble Theater. (Michael Brosilow)
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Namir Smallwood, Zainab Jah and Brian Marable in “The Book of Grace” by Suzan-Lori Parks in Steppenwolf’s Ensemble Theater. (Michael Brosilow)
It is surely significant that while Grace was a white character in 2010, she’s now a Black woman. The play has become more specifically focused on a Black family involved in what you might call the military-law enforcement complex. On a metaphorical level, you might see the play as probing the Black MAGA mindset.
Parks also is the writer of “Topdog/Underdog,” a brilliant allegorical masterpiece that is appearing in Steppenwolf’s next season and this later play is, by those standards, far more of a realistic familial play, at least by her standards. I actually thought there were palpable echoes here with Tracy Letts’ “August: Osage County,” another Steppenwolf play that explores a family living in a place where they don’t really belong and that ultimately will do them damage; certainly, the explosive second act conjures up a similar intensity. It’s worth the wait.
This isn’t an easy play to watch. And I found the last few minutes to be not fully satisfying, either from a text or a production point of view, the action running on too long in search of the right coda. But “The Book of Grace” is very much what most of us think of when we try to define the Steppenwolf aesthetic and there are three blistering performances here from Smallwood, Marable and Jah, all superbly cast and all fully willing to go to the wall.
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Local law enforcement leaders on Monday announced a slew of criminal charges filed against a man accused of sexually assaulting five women on the Northwest Side since mid-2022.
Chakib Masour Khodja, 36, faces 16 felony counts — including aggravated sexual assault with a weapon, aggravated criminal sexual abuse and unlawful restraint — and two other misdemeanors in connection with a string of alleged sexual assaults that occurred in Humboldt Park, Lake View and Logan Square. He is scheduled to make his initial court appearance Monday.
“This is a predator,” CPD Superintendent Larry Snelling told reporters at a Monday morning press conference at CPD headquarters, where he was joined by Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke and members of the Area 5 Detective Division who investigated the attacks.
Snelling credited the five victims for their strength and willingness to seek charges against their attacker. The superintendent said witness and community cooperation also played a vital role.
“I want to acknowledge the strength and resilience of the survivors who were traumatized by these horrific crimes and actions of this individual,” Snelling said. “These women survived something that was horrible and terrible, and it’s something that they will continue to live with throughout the rest of their days.”
Snelling said Khodja was arrested Friday at O’Hare International Airport, Snelling said. He is alleged to have committed two attacks in May and June 2022 and three others in January and February of this year, according to police.
“Today the city is safer,” O’Neill Burke said. “Today every single woman in this city, every single man who has a wife, a mother, a daughter, a sister, should all be breathing a sigh of relief. This man was a violent serial predator who literally went out hunting for his victims.”
The Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission is working on a comprehensive economic development strategy. The public has until May 4 to offer public comment.
A draft of the plan is posted at nirpc.org
. Public input sessions were held late last year in Lake, Porter and LaPorte counties as the plan was being developed.
The NIRPC Economy and Place Committee reviewed the draft Friday and offered suggested revisions.
Goals deal with economic diversification and innovation, workforce resiliency and quality of place.
“This is a transitioning economy. It is transforming,” said Annie Cruz-Porter, a community and regional development specialist with the Purdue Center for Regional Development.
In the future, Cruz-Porter said, two key areas to focus on are energy and advanced computing. For energy, that would include things like pharmaceuticals, not just refining fossil fuels or developing renewable energy sources. For advanced computing, that would include programming for quantum computing as well as data centers and other industries.
“You really need a good basis on which to grow the industries,” she said, including helping to build awareness of the ecosystem and Northwest Indiana’s assets.
Gary Johnson, board chairman for the Society of Innovators at Purdue University Northwest, said threats to the steel industry introduce a sense of urgency in developing the plan.
“The energy clusters are a long-term project. They’re not going to happen in a few years,” he said.
Advanced computing includes opportunities for the semiconductor industry, Johnson said. Quantum computing will require a new type of programming. “I think the first step is to study where the opportunities are,” he said.
George Topoll, Union Township trustee in Porter County and chair of the committee, said there has been a lot of pushback on emerging industries. In Porter County, for example, there has been considerable opposition to data center proposals in Chesterton, Burns Harbor, Valparaiso and Union Township. Is it reluctance to change, or is more information about these industries needed, he wondered.
Porter County is currently working on a comprehensive plan, the first since 2001, to guide land use and other issues.
Regarding the Union Township data center project, “I haven’t even seen this proposal. I’ve heard all kinds of things that could be of concern,” Topoll said.
“We need to know overall where we should put these projects and what they should be,” he said.
“There are zoning codes that probably haven’t been updated since the 1960s,” said AJ Bytnar, economic development director with the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority.
Don Babcock, PNW’s economic development director, noted the value of data centers. “Our primary funding for local government is property taxes, so when somebody drops a $1 billion development on you, that’s a positive hit for the local economy,” he said.
“We’re on the cusp of change, and change is sometimes uncomfortable,” said Denarie Kane, NIRPC’s economic development coordinator. “We have to provide information that we’re on the cusp of change.”
“Change is going to come, and it’s going to involve decisions that are perhaps uncomfortable right now,” she said.
The committee is looking at how to develop a highly skilled workforce to meet the needs of emerging industries, working with partner agencies to do so. That includes choosing a tool to help evaluate needs for various industries.
“I’m just saying this tool is too advanced for Northwest Indiana. We have a reading problem,” said Lois Whittaker, president of the Black Chamber of Commerce of Northwest Indiana. In Gary, reading comprehension is a major concern for a significant portion of residents, she explained.
LaPorte County Surveyor John Matwyshyn said that when Amazon held a hiring event for a data center in his county, it was focused on people with a high school education.
“There’s some value in hiring employees with low-level reading skills. They’re not a threat,” because they wouldn’t be able to understand proprietary information as easily as highly skilled workers, thus helping the company protect its intellectual property, Matwyshyn said.
Jobs for people with just a high school education, especially jobs that pay well, are hard to find.
Math skills can be a problem, too, Babcock said, but “it’s up to us to build a workforce or talent pool for these jobs.”
“This is setting the stage for opportunities relative to the type of industries we’re trying to attract,” he said.
Addressing quality of place, Cruz-Porter said this is an area in which NIRPC is already focused, including things like identifying and cleaning up brownfields and addressing land use issues.
In reviewing the draft, the committee members suggested changing “affordable” housing to a term that doesn’t have negative connotations for some residents. What the area needs is a wide mix of housing options to address everyone’s needs, they noted.
Lack of coordination among transit agencies is an issue, too, Johnson said.
Joe Wszolek, chief operating officer for the Northwest Indiana Realtors Association, said traveling by South Shore Line is good, but getting to the final destination in Northwest Indiana can be problematic at that point.
Johnson, who lives three miles from a train station, said he doesn’t feel it’s appropriate to leave his car at the train station for days at a time.
Bytnar said the value of transit development districts, which encourage development within a half mile of train stations, is to encourage residential development near the stations. Michigan City is doing this well, already nearing the 30-year goal in terms of development near the station there.
“The last mile home is to your house,” Bytnar said, so living near the station with more housing density provides that option to more people.
NIRPC is expected to adopt the final draft of the economic development strategy on May 15.
Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
McCullough Academy students are returning to their Gary school on Tuesday, less than a month after a March 19 EF-1 tornado ripped a portion of the roof off above the gymnasium.
More than 500 students relocated last week to the Gary Area Career Center, where school leaders set up makeshift classrooms and students adjusted to the larger, unfamiliar environment.
On Monday, Gary Community School Corp. officials announced classes would resume Tuesday as gymnasium repairs take place.
A release said the affected area has been safely cordoned off, allowing classes to resume.
Officials said normal bus and school times will also resume. Bus riders will be dropped off and picked up at Door E, next to the gym entrance.
The return to McCullough, at 3757 W. 21st Ave., comes a week before the state’s ILEARN assessment exam begins April 14.
Superintendent Yvonne Stokes didn’t have a timetable for the return to McCullough last week, but she said if it happened, all safety precautions needed to be in place.
Carole Carlson is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
GINEBRA (AP) — La temporada de Pascua en Suiza es usualmente festiva, pero el ambiente ahora en su famoso sector chocolatero se ha vuelto agridulce gracias a los altos precios del cacao y los nuevos aranceles de Estados Unidos sobre las importaciones.
Muchos suizos, desde el gobierno hasta chocolateros, relojeros y otros negocios, están sintiendo “shock” por las restricciones estadounidenses, pero muchos también están adoptando una postura de esperar y ver.
En el festival de chocolate Festichoc en Ginebra durante el fin de semana, los aranceles anunciados la semana pasada por la administración Trump estaban en la mente de muchos, aunque parecían hacer poco para agriar el ánimo sobre los dulces más famosos de Suiza.
Julie Jammes, gerente de marketing de Canonica, un chocolatero de Ginebra con tres tiendas en San Francisco, declaró que su empresa aún no ha tomado ninguna decisión sobre qué acciones podrían tomarse. “Estamos esperando un poco más, pero claramente es un shock para nosotros”, expresó Jammes.
Eso coincide con el enfoque general de Suiza: a pesar de los fuertes aranceles del 31% impuestos por Estados Unidos a los productos suizos — mucho más que el 20% que enfrentan las exportaciones de la Unión Europea — el gobierno en Berna está adoptando un enfoque cauteloso por ahora. Pero ha advertido sobre el impacto en industrias suizas cruciales como relojes, café, queso y chocolate.
“Un aumento en las tensiones comerciales no está en los intereses de Suiza. Las contramedidas contra los aumentos arancelarios de Estados Unidos implicarían costos para la economía suiza, en particular al encarecer las importaciones desde Estados Unidos”, indicó el gobierno la semana pasada, agregando que el Poder Ejecutivo “por lo tanto, no planea imponer contramedidas en este momento”.
El gobierno señaló que las exportaciones suizas a Estados Unidos el sábado estaban sujetas a un arancel adicional del 10%, y otro 21% a partir del miércoles.
Estados Unidos es el segundo socio comercial más grande de Suiza después de la UE, un bloque de 27 países que casi rodea al rico país alpino de más de nueve millones de habitantes, y el comercio de bienes y servicios entre Estados Unidos y Suiza se ha cuadruplicado en las últimas dos décadas, según el gobierno.
Suiza dice que abolió todos los aranceles industriales el 1 de enero del año pasado, lo que significa que el 99% de todos los productos de Estados Unidos pueden importarse a Suiza sin aranceles.
El ambiente se mantuvo animado en Festichoc, donde los compradores entusiastas mordisqueaban cuadrados de chocolate y admiraban esculturas de conejos y huevos de Pascua de chocolate en la reunión anual en la localidad ginebrina de Versoix.
Jammes, de Canonica, expresó su esperanza de que la “clientela leal” en Estados Unidos se mantenga fiel, pero sostuvo: “Me pongo en los zapatos del consumidor”, y que se da cuenta de que un apretón en el bolsillo podría disuadir a muchos compradores.
“No veo por qué pagaría 45 dólares mañana por una caja (de chocolates) que pagaría 30 hoy”, afirmó el sábado. “Sigue siendo un tema muy complicado”.
La asociación chocolatera suiza Chocosuisse ha expresado su decepción por los aranceles de Trump, aunque todavía puede contar con el mercado interno: los suizos están entre los mayores consumidores de chocolate del mundo, devorando más de 10 kilogramos (22 libras) al año.
“Es completamente incomprensible que Suiza sea objetivo de estos aranceles”, manifestó Chocosuisse, agregando que estaba tomando la situación “muy en serio” y lamentó cómo la medida de Estados Unidos “golpea duramente a nuestras empresas y representa una pesada carga que pesará sobre las exportaciones a Estados Unidos”.
Philippe Pascoet, un chocolatero de Ginebra, lamentó el fuerte aumento en los precios del cacao en los últimos seis meses, y aseveró que el mercado norteamericano siempre ha sido complicado para los productores más pequeños.
“Trump ahora ha querido imponer impuestos sobre los productos importados. Pero siempre ha sido complicado enviar chocolate a Estados Unidos, solo por razones sanitarias”, expresó. “Quieren controlar lo que se importa a su país. Así que incluso las personas que solían pedir chocolate de nosotros en línea a menudo lo encontraban bloqueado en la aduana”.
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El corresponsal Jamey Keaten contribuyó con esta nota.
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Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con la ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.
LONDRES (AP) — El entrenador del Arsenal, Mikel Arteta, está disfrutando lo que consideró el lunes, el partido más importante de su carrera como entrenador cuando los Gunners reciban al Real Madrid en la Liga de Campeones.
En solo su segunda temporada liderando un equipo en la competición, Arteta enfrentará en el duelo de ida de los cuartos de final al entrenador del Madrid, Carlo Ancelotti, quien está en su 22da campaña de la Liga de Campeones y tiene el récord de cinco títulos.
“100% es un placer”, dijo Arteta cuando se le preguntó si recibir al campeón defensor representa la noche más importante de su carrera como entrenador.
“Por eso llegué al fútbol, y por eso vine a la gestión y especialmente a este club”, dijo el técnico, quien regresó al Arsenal en 2019 para hacerse cargo de un equipo donde jugó cinco temporadas.
El Arsenal enfrenta al Madrid por primera vez desde 2006, cuando Thierry Henry anotó un gol decisivo en los octavos de final en el Estadio Santiago Bernabeu. Los Gunners perdieron ante el Barcelona en la única visita del club a la final en 70 años de la Copa de Europa y la Liga de Campeones.
“Han pasado 20 años desde que tuvimos este tipo de partido”, dijo Arteta. “Para nosotros, es una gran oportunidad para construir nuestra propia historia. Este es el escenario donde queremos estar, donde el Arsenal tiene que estar consistentemente”.
El Arsenal está en los cuartos de final por segunda temporada consecutiva bajo el mando de Arteta, después de que el año pasado los eliminó el Bayern Múnich. Esto después de que tuvieron que esperar 14 años para regresar a esta instancia.
En ese período, Ancelotti ganó tres títulos de la Liga de Campeones con el Madrid —en 2014, 2022 y la temporada pasada— sumando a los dos que ganó entrenando al AC Milan, en 2003 y 2007.
Para Arteta, Ancelotti es una inspiración por la calma que aporta a sus equipos.
Arteta puede elegir a Bukayo Saka para iniciar un partido por primera vez desde diciembre, después de dos apariciones desde el banquillo en la Liga Premier tras una lesión en el tendón de la corva.
“Está en un buen lugar para poder ser utilizado”, dijo Arteta sobre su extremo talismán.
Sin embargo, el defensor Gabriel Magalhaes quedó fuera de la temporada después de lesionarse el tendón de la corva el martes pasado en la victoria 2-1 sobre el Fulham que marcó el regreso de Saka.
KINSASA, República Democrática del Congo (AP) — El número de muertos por las inundaciones que cortaron el acceso a más de la mitad de la capital de República Democrática del Congo, Kinsasa, alcanzó los 33 mientras las autoridades se apresuraban el lunes a evacuar y apoyar a cientos de familias atrapadas en sus hogares.
El ministro del Interior congoleño, Jacquemin Shabani, dijo el domingo por la noche en la televisión estatal que se confirmaron diez muertes más hasta la noche del domingo, además de las 23 personas que murieron el día anterior.
Las fuertes lluvias comenzaron la semana pasada, causando que el importante río Ndjili se desbordara el viernes e inundara cientos de edificios.
Aunque la situación había mejorado para la mañana del lunes, algunas vías de acceso seguían bloqueadas y el tráfico vehicular era limitado.
Muchos residentes culparon al gobierno por no responder con suficiente rapidez al desastre. Los funcionarios dijeron el domingo que la mayoría de las muertes fueron causadas por muros que colapsaron poco después de que comenzara el diluvio.
La carretera principal al aeropuerto, que también conecta Kinsasa con el resto de la RDC, fue dañada por las inundaciones, pero estará abierta a todo el tráfico dentro de 72 horas, dijo el gobernador de Kinsasa, Daniel Bumba, durante el fin de semana.
Las inundaciones también han dificultado el acceso al agua potable en al menos 16 comunas después de que las instalaciones de agua se vieran afectadas, dijo el ministerio del Interior congoleño en un comunicado.
El gobierno ha establecido al menos cuatro refugios de emergencia que están atendiendo a cientos de familias desplazadas en toda la ciudad, dijo el ministerio.
Se esperaba que el presidente de República Democrática del Congo, Félix Tshisekedi, visitara el lunes los hospitales que tratan a los heridos, así como las áreas afectadas.
En 2022, al menos 100 personas murieron durante inundaciones similares en Kinsasa.
El desastre ocurre mientras el gobierno está enfrentando una catástrofe humanitaria en el este del país, a más de 2.600 kilómetros de Kinsasa, donde décadas de enfrentamientos con rebeldes se intensificaron en febrero, empeorando lo que ya es una de las mayores crisis humanitarias del mundo.
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Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con la ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Dos importantes funcionarias despedidas por el presidente estadounidense Donald Trump pueden volver a sus trabajos por ahora, dictaminó el lunes un tribunal de apelaciones dividido, antes de un probable enfrentamiento en la Corte Suprema sobre el poder del presidente sobre las agencias independientes.
Un tribunal de apelaciones en la capital de la nación emitió la decisión 7-4 en demandas presentadas por dos mujeres despedidas por separado de agencias que tratan con temas laborales, incluyendo una con un papel clave en una fuerza laboral federal que Trump busca reducir drásticamente.
La orden se basa en gran medida en una decisión de la Corte Suprema de hace 90 años conocida como Humphrey’s Executor, que determinó que los presidentes no pueden despedir a miembros de juntas independientes sin causa.
Pero ese fallo ha irritado durante mucho tiempo a los teóricos legales conservadores que argumentan que limita incorrectamente el poder del presidente, y los expertos dicen que la actual mayoría conservadora en la Corte Suprema podría estar lista para revocarlo.
“La Corte Suprema ha dicho repetidamente a los tribunales de apelaciones que sigan el precedente vigente de la Corte Suprema a menos y hasta que esa Corte misma lo cambie o lo revoque”, escribió la mayoría en una opinión no firmada. Los siete miembros de la mayoría fueron nombrados por presidentes demócratas. Los cuatro disidentes fueron nombrados por republicanos, incluidos tres designados por Trump en su primer mandato.
La votación fue más cerrada, 6-5, sobre si pausar la decisión por una semana para permitir que la administración Trump apele de inmediato a la Corte Suprema.
El fallo no es una decisión final sobre los méritos legales del caso, pero sí revierte un fallo de un panel de tres jueces del mismo Tribunal de Apelaciones para el Distrito de Columbia que había permitido que los despidos siguieran adelante.
El expresidente Joe Biden nominó a ambas: Cathy Harris es de la Junta de Protección del Sistema de Mérito (MSPB), que revisa disputas de trabajadores federales y podría ser un obstáculo significativo mientras la administración Trump busca llevar a cabo una reducción dramática de la fuerza laboral.
Mientras tanto, Gwynne Wilcox ha servido en la Junta Nacional de Relaciones del Trabajo (NLRB), que resuelve cientos de casos de prácticas laborales injustas cada año. La junta de cinco miembros se quedó sin quórum tras la destitución de Wilcox.
Los abogados del gobierno han argumentado que Trump puede remover a las dos. En el caso de Wilcox, dijeron que la reinstalación “causa un grave daño a la separación de poderes y socava la capacidad del presidente para ejercer su autoridad bajo la Constitución”.
También argumentaron que los miembros de la MSPB como Harris son removibles “a voluntad” por el presidente.
Los abogados de Wilcox dijeron que Trump no podía despedirla sin aviso, una audiencia o identificar cualquier “negligencia en el deber o malversación en el cargo” de su parte. Argumentaron que el “único camino hacia la victoria” de la administración es persuadir a la Corte Suprema para “adoptar una visión más expansiva del poder presidencial”.
Wilcox fue la primera mujer negra en servir en la junta de cinco miembros en sus 90 años de historia. El Senado la confirmó para un segundo mandato de cinco años en septiembre de 2023. ____ Mark Sherman contribuyó a esta historia. ____ Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con la ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.
