When Metea Valley senior point guard Khalil Jones is at his best, he’s a like a puppet master pulling the strings in all the right places.
Only he knows what he will do, but all of his teammates follow.
“Khalil is an excellent floor general,” Metea Valley coach Isaiah Davis said. “He has a really good feel for the game and just understanding of it.
‘He knows how to put the guys in the right spots. It’s like having a coach on the floor.”
This has endeared Jones to teammates such as senior forward Dominic Smith.
“It’s great because you play with more confidence,” Smith said. “You know that he can find you when you’re cutting.
“You can do all the things that a basketball team is supposed to do, play free, and you know he’ll find you when you’re open.”
Jones, a St. Laurence transfer
, demonstrated that while lifting the host Mustangs to a 59-43 DuPage Valley Conference victory against Naperville North in Aurora on Friday night. He finished with 16 points on 8-of-11 shooting, six rebounds and four assists.
“This season, for sure, it was one of my better games,” Jones said. “Not only scoring, but controlling tempo, leading the team, playmaking, playing defense, being active, all that.”
Metea Valley’s Khalil Jones (2) is guarded by Naperville North’s Carson Loughlin (3) during a DuPage Valley Conference game in Aurora on Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (Sean King / Naperville Sun)
It didn’t take Jones long to make his mark. He started the scoring by sinking a pull-up jumper as the Mustangs (7-2, 2-1) made their first three shots.
But Naperville North (6-3, 1-2) was equally hot in the early going, making 5 of 6 shots in the first quarter, which ended in a 10-10 tie.
“We started off tight but just kept our focus on what we needed to do — spread the floor, attack gaps — and we kept working hard,” Jones said.
Jones has an innate sense of what to do and when to do it. In the second quarter, that meant handling the ball and getting open shots for his teammates. He didn’t score in the quarter until he hit a pull-up jumper to make it 27-18 at the 2:29 mark. The Huskies called a timeout, but that failed to slow down Jones, who scored on the next two possessions.
Jones then dove on the floor to get a loose ball, which resulted in Metea Valley junior guard Tre Watkins scoring on a drive just before the halftime buzzer for a 33-18 lead. Watkins also scored 16 points.
“Everything started flowing,” Jones said. “That’s a good team over there. They worked hard and played hard.
“We just listened to our coaches and kept going, kept pushing, never laid off the gas.”
Indeed, Jones blunted a comeback effort by the Huskies by making his final three shots of the third quarter, including a drive that made it 44-32 and prompted another timeout.
“I was in rhythm for sure,” Jones said. “Coach told me to keep that attacking mindset, spread the defense out, attack the gaps and find the open spots.”
Jones did more of the latter in the fourth quarter. He got a defensive rebound and then found the streaking Smith for a transition layup, and the Huskies again called timeout.
Naperville North junior guard/forward Miles Okyne, who scored 13 of his game-high 17 points in the second half, made a 3-pointer, but it was just a speed bump for the Mustangs as Watkins dunked off an assist from Jones.
Metea Valley’s Khalil Jones (2) brings the ball up the court during a DuPage Valley Conference game against Naperville North in Aurora on Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (Sean King / Naperville Sun)
Smith followed with a pair of traditional 3-point plays to extend the lead to 54-40 with 3:04 remaining. Jones assisted on the first one.
“He’s been real good,” Smith said of Jones. “He does whatever we need him to do, which is slow the game down, play more under control, and then he can also go out and score when we need buckets.”
All of which has the Mustangs in a good mood after winning two straight DVC games.
“The kids are playing really well,” Davis said. “They like each other, and they really jell well together.
“Khalil handles the ball so well and plays with great pace, finishes all around the rim and makes great passes and great decisions. He’s just a really good player for us.”
The Tribune’s “Culture of Corruption”
series has documented how weak laws on campaign finance, ballot access, lobbying, ethics and oversight, and the byzantine structure of local government, among other issues, have helped dishonest politicians thrive in Illinois. Four of the last 11 governors, nearly 40 Chicago aldermen in the last half century and countless other public officials have served prison time.
The state’s sordid history may leave many residents feeling hopeless. But as the Tribune’s reporting shows, Gov. JB Pritzker and other elected officials across Illinois — from state legislators to township trustees — have the power to make a difference
by shoring up weaknesses and closing escape hatches in the state’s ethics laws.
After some 50 prosecution witnesses in the blockbuster federal corruption case against ex-House Speaker Michael Madigan, the trial’s spotlight has finally turned to the defense, and several distinct themes of their case have emerged.
Mayor Brandon Johnson answers questions after Advocate Health Care announced a $1 billion investment in health and well-being on Chicago’s South Side on Dec. 17, 2024, during an event at Imani Village. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
Chicago has been under threat of downgrade for several weeks because of potential retreat from a key long-term pension reform and a continued lack of structural budget solutions. A downgrade isn’t only a reputational hit. It increases the city’s cost to borrow money for long-term projects like Johnson’s housing and development bond.
In mid-November, S&P put Chicago on credit watch and warned there was a 2-to-1 chance of a downgrade — not long after the city exited junk status in late 2022 — if it relied too much on short-term fixes to plug its gap.
Andres Gonzalez, 9, his brother Eduardo Rodriguez, 10, and their sister Adriana Rodriguez, 16, all from Venezuela, play with cellphones after coming home from school while sitting outside their shelter on North Ogden Avenue Monday Sept. 9, 2024, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
Johnson moved ahead Friday on his plan to close Chicago’s migrant shelters and fold them into the city’s existing system for homeless residents.
The so-called “One Shelter” system will combine shelters that have long served the city’s homeless with several facilities launched to care for the over 50,000 migrants who came to Chicago since August 2022. The shift, announced in September and finally carried out just days before the Christmas holiday, marks the end of the city’s migrant crisis response.
Chicago Public Schools Chief Executive Officer Pedro Martinez holds a press conference at the Chicago Public Schools Colman Administrative Office after the Chicago Board of Education voted, Dec. 20, 2024, to terminate his employment contract. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)
Mayor Brandon Johnson’s Chicago Board of Education voted Friday to fire Chicago Public Schools Chief Executive Officer Pedro Martinez, clearing the way for the mayor to install a new leader for the nation’s fourth-largest school district after a monthslong power struggle.
After a closed session, the school board voted 6-0 to terminate Martinez’s contract and provide him 20 weeks of severance pay. His duties and responsibilities will be modified, according to the resolution — a prospect Martinez challenged after the vote.
Director of Conservation Kim Nichols turns a page of Ayer 1485, a Nahuatl-language manuscript, in the conservation lab at Newberry Library, Dec. 11, 2024. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)
The ancient manuscript rested on the shelves of the Newberry Library for more than a century. Little was known about the bound book from colonial Mexico that had been donated to the library in 1911 by Edward Ayer, a collector and a tycoon who made his fortune supplying ties to railroad companies.
But then, two years ago, pages of the manuscript were projected onto the big screen at a Nahuatl conference at Harvard University where experts of the Aztec language had gathered, their first conference since the pandemic. It was like a family reunion, one attendee remembered.
A multi-agency field team assess the spread of the invasive aquatic plant hydrilla in Ginger Creek in Oak Brook in October 2024. (Illinois Department of Natural Resources)
One of the world’s most invasive aquatic plants is now in DuPage County, much to the concern of researchers and state officials. But they said the discovery underscores how public education can keep this invasive species and others out of Illinois waterways.
Breast cancer survivor Heather Tubigan holds her 2-week-old daughter, Nora, after breastfeeding at her home in the west suburbs on Nov. 26, 2024. Tubigan had a mastectomy and is able to breastfeed with her remaining breast. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)
In a groundbreaking project, University of Chicago-led researchers are working to restore that sense of touch for patients who have undergone mastectomy. The team of doctors, neuroscientists and bioengineers is building an implantable device dubbed the “bionic breast,” which will be designed to revive feeling post-mastectomy and reconstruction.
Bears quarterback Caleb Williams (18) and Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff (16) embrace after a Lions victory over the Bears at Soldier Field on Dec. 22, 2024. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
The Lions, even amid a plague of injuries, have so much of what the Bears are lacking. On Sunday, that showed up in their ability to capitalize on Bears mistakes and surge ahead early to a 20-0 lead, forcing the Bears to play catch-up the whole game.
Bulls rookie forward Matas Buzelis waits for the rest of the team before a game against the Timberwolves on Nov. 7, 2024, at the United Center. (Tess Crowley/Chicago Tribune)
Matas Buzelis isn’t necessarily the loudest guy in the locker room, but he can’t be backed down from a challenge — an argument, a bet, a one-on-one competition.
And that irreverence extends to the court, where Buzelis refuses to show any hesitation.
Jonathan and Brianna Cowans, holding a rendering of the interior of the new Wooden Paddle restaurant in La Grange, have been documenting and posting videos of the rigors of renovating an historic building for their second restaurant location. (Wooden Paddle)
Part restaurant expansion. Part reality show. Almost all drama.
For the past six months, some of that drama of opening a new restaurant was caught on video, as Jonathan and Brianna Cowan have made a series of videos on YouTube chronicling the ups and downs that go into opening their new restaurant in west suburban La Grange, Wooden Paddle.
Henry Holt / G.P. Putnam’s Sons / Farrar Straus and Giroux
“The Wedding People” by Alison Espach (Henry Holt); “Assassins Anonymous” by Rob Hart (G.P. Putnam’s Sons); Garth Greenwell’s book “Small Rain” (Farrar Straus and Giroux).
When it came time to compile the possible contenders for the 2024 Biblioracle Book Awards for fiction, John Warner
came up with 20 titles, more than one-third of all the new fiction he read this year.
Henry Szarvas, left, teaches Joel Erenberg, 3, center, and Sara Green, 4, how to light the menorah for Hanukkah on Nov. 21, 1958. (Chicago Tribune historical photo)
In Ron Grossman
‘s youth, 4341 N. Sacramento Ave. was the last Jewish building on the block. There wasn’t anything insidious in that. Chicago’s neighborhoods were ethnically homogenous in the 1950s. So the Jewish and the non-Jewish sections of Albany Park had to meet somewhere.
It just happened to be immediately south of the courtyard building where he lived in a second-floor apartment. Looking out its street-side windows in late December made him painfully aware that his family’s religion differed from some of his classmates’ at the Bateman Elementary School.
Common winterberry (Ilex verticillata) is a native species of holly that loses its leaves in winter but makes up for it with vivid red berries. (Beth Botts/The Morton Arboretum)
Holly, with its distinctive pointed leaves and bright red berries, is a common sight at this time of year, at least on holiday cards and wrappings. Can you grow it in your garden?
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York Democrat, lost her race to lead Democrats on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee to 74-year-old Rep. Gerry Connolly — thanks in no small part to 84-year-old Rep. Nancy Pelosi making calls from a hospital bed (“House Democrats push aside AOC in race for top committee spot,” Web, Dec. 17).
High school and local college results and highlights from the Southland, Aurora, Elgin, Naperville and Lake County coverage areas.
Email Daily Southtown results to southtownsports@gmail.com, Beacon-News, Courier-News and Naperville Sun results to tribwestsports@gmail.com and News-Sun results to newssunsports@gmail.com.
SUNDAY’S RESULT
HIGH SCHOOLS
WRESTLING
HARLEM AL DVORAK INVITATIONAL
Top local teams: 2. St. Charles East 202, 4. Yorkville 182.5.
Local winners
106 pounds: Vince DeMarco, Grayslake Central. 120: Dominic Munaretto, St. Charles East. 150: Justus Heeg, Providence. 157: Jack Ferguson, Yorkville. 165: Anthony Gutierrez, St. Charles East.
SATURDAY’S RESULTS
HIGH SCHOOLS
BOYS BASKETBALL
Benet 85, Antioch 49
Chicago Christian 48, Illiana Christian 44
Glenbard West 62, St. Charles North 34
St. Charles North (4-7): Auggie Hoffman 11 points.
Lake Zurich 46, York 44 (OT)
Lakes 67, Bulls Prep 40
Lakes (4-6): Jason Klimas 15 points. Ben Newcomb 14 points. Dorian Pullen 13 points. Dylan McCann 10 points.
Marian Catholic 56, Von Steuben 39
Marian (9-3): Delan Davis 14 points. Landon Mays 14 points. Zack Sharkey 12 points.
Marist 57, Brooks 41
Marist (10-1): Karson Thomas 13 points. Adoni Vassilakis 12 points. Stephen Brown 9 points. Marquis Vance 9 points.
Niles North 61, Lake Forest 47
Lake Forest (6-3): Hudson Scroggins 13 points. Dominic Mordini 11 points. Finn Graf 9 points.
St. Joseph-Ogden 73, Beecher 34
Shepard 75, Addison Trail 64
Shepard (4-7): Jovan Thomas 30 points, 17 rebounds. Aarom Arrambide 14 points. Amari Williams 13 points, 11 rebounds, 2 blocks. Danny McGovern 9 points, 5 assists.
138 pounds: Seth Mendoza, Mount Carmel. 165: Will Denny, Marist.
GLENBROOK SOUTH RUSS ERB TOURNAMENT
Top local teams: 3. Grant 168, 4. Antioch 165.5.
Local winners
126: Vince Jasinksi, Grant. 132: Jackson Palzet, Deerfield. 138: Jordan Rasof, Deerfield. 144: Chase Nobiling, Antioch. 150: Dominic Garcia, Antioch. 157: Charlie Cross, Deerfield. 175: Ben Vazquez, Antioch. 190: Mike Taheny, Richards. 215: Owen Shea, Antioch.
HARVARD SCIACCA/HOLTFRETER TOURNAMENT
Top local teams: 2. Bartlett 149, 3. Streamwood 142.
Local winners
106: Charles Dominguez, Vernon Hills. 132: Nick Barton, Bartlett. 138: Cameron Engels, Bartlett. 150: Juan Cortes, Streamwood. 175: Gabe Inorio, Streamwood. 190: Jace Wolf, Streamwood. 215: James Smrha, Bartlett.
HINSDALE CENTRAL REX WHITLATCH INVITATIONAL
Top teams: 1. Sandburg 209.5, 2. Lincoln-Way West 188.5.
106: Aiden Healey, Dundee-Crown. 138: Chris Gerardo, Dundee-Crown. 144: Alex Gochis, Kaneland. 175: Apollo Gochis, Kaneland. 215: Teigen Moreno, Dundee-Crown.
LOCAL COLLEGES
FOOTBALL
NCAA DIVISION III SEMIFINAL
North Central College 66, Susquehanna (Pennsylvania) 0
North Central College (14-0): Luke Lehnen 16-for-17, 275 yards, 4 TDs; 11-yard TD run. Jordan Williams 16 carries, 106 yards, TD. Sean Allen 13 carries, 91 yards, TD. Joe Sacco 2 TD runs (30, 7 yards. Jacob Paradee 3 receptions, 86 yards, 2 TDs (50, 16). Advanced to Stagg Bowl for fifth consecutive season.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Joliet Junior College 75, Anoka-Ramsey 63
St. Ambrose 88, Judson 77
Judson (3-8, 1-4 CCAC): Cee Jay Nwosu 16 points.
St. Xavier 95, Indiana Northwest 93
St. Xavier (8-3, 4-1 CCAC): Andre Brandon 21 points, 6 rebounds.
Waubonsee 90, South Suburban 82
South Suburban (10-4): Taurean Mickens 20 points, 4 steals.
North Central College (14-0) will play Mount Union (14-0) in the Stagg Bowl, the championship game of NCAA Division III football, in Houston at 7 p.m. Jan. 5.
While it is true, as Robert Knight writes, that Americans have lost faith in Democrat-run government institutions because we have been misled by liars, the last election results suggest an even more fundamental reason for revolt: Democrats have not kept us safe (“As Team Biden’s lies drone on, the truth comes out,” Web, Dec. 22).
Here’s something you won’t hear from Congress, President Biden, President-elect Trump, or the media: There has never been a government shutdown.
That’s right. It has never happened.
To be sure, budget stalemates have occurred. It’s just that they never actually cause the government to stop running. And they don’t save money, either. What shutdowns actually do is create more government jobs and waste more money
.
When nuclear power plants need their cooling systems monitored by government officials, they get monitored — shutdown or no shutdown. When enemy aircraft enter U.S. airspace — even mysterious drones — they are tracked. When lethal food contamination threatens millions, it gets caught and dealt with. The government doesn’t shut down because it can’t shut down. The consequences would be catastrophic.
Elon Musk, the designated head of the proposed Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE, advanced the threat of a shutdown last week to show he’s “serious” about cutting waste. The DOGE is yet to be formed (and will probably never be a real department), yet the efficiency czar is already flexing his muscles, proving in the process that he doesn’t understand the most basic lesson about government: Shutdowns and the threat of shutdowns, don’t eliminate waste — rather, they create it, billions and billions of dollars of waste
.
Here’s one reason why: Before each “shutdown,” 800,000 federal employees are pulled from their real jobs to update 186-page “Contingency Operations” plans for the impending shutdown. That takes approximately 2.4 million work hours
that are wasted documenting (for example) why you can’t turn off nuclear reactors as if they were computer servers.
Every time shutdowns proceed or are threatened, or Congress passes a continuing resolution instead of a full-year budget, the bureaucratic reporting requirements and workload increase. Even when the shutdown never occurs, like last week, time and money are wasted, and all for political shutdown theater that accomplishes nothing.
The supreme irony is that DOGE could save $2 trillion annually
by simply eliminating the budget uncertainty associated with shutdown dramas and the mountains of “efficiency” paperwork that have been created by previous so-called “government efficiency” reformers. Instead of making things better, Musk just created more uncertainty. And the odds are he will ultimately create more paperwork, just like everyone who tried to do this before him.
As someone who has been there, let me describe what actually happens inside agencies during shutdown showdowns in Congress.
At the National Institutes of Health, grant officers, who normally have 12 months to process $100 million in cancer research, now have just five months. Quality checks are thus compressed. Error rates spike by 32 percent, even as the work becomes more expensive because Scientific Review Officers work mandatory overtime at GS-14 Step 10 rates — $164,102 per year. Meanwhile, instead of doing research, the scientists spend their days rewriting grant proposals to match shifting deadlines
.
Contracts can be even messier. When funding finally arrives, months late, contracting officers who normally have months to evaluate complex technical proposals now have just weeks. Studies show that contracts awarded during these compressed schedules score 12 points lower on quality metrics than normal awards. That’s billions in taxpayer dollars pushed out the door with minimal scrutiny because artificial deadlines trump due diligence
.
But here’s where budgetary tough talk in Congress really creates the permanent bloat. In order to handle the staggering workload created by shutdown threats in Congress and the overreliance on short-term continuing resolutions to fund government, agencies add new positions. For example:
Shutdown Planning Officers (GS-14, $126,788 per year)
Continuity Specialists (GS-13, $108,885)
Emergency Response Coordinators (GS-15, $172,500)
Budget Contingency Analysts (GS-14, $126,788)
Note that these positions don’t just disappear after the crisis passes — they stay on to prepare for the next crisis. Multiply that across 523 agencies, and you’ve created a billion-dollar bureaucracy dedicated solely to planning for shutdowns that never actually shut anything down
.
If Musk actually wants to save $2 trillion, he could start by eliminating the “efficiency” oversight requirements implemented by the efficiency czars of Christmases past.
This includes President Bill Clinton’s Government Performance and Results Act, with its 247-page strategic plans ($1.2M per agency). It includes President George W. Bush’s performance scorecards and metrics tracking ($670M annually). It includes President Barack Obama’s Cross-Agency Priority Goals reporting ($47M per agency). It also includes President Donald Trump’s reorganization documentation requirements ($4.2M per agency), and President Biden’s new equity tracking systems ($220M government-wide).
Instead of increasing efficiency, Musk risks dancing straight down the same old reform path. He will have failed if he adds new reporting requirements while embracing shutdowns that spawn more work and more permanent government positions. These measures will not eliminate waste — rather, they will magnify it.
Consider last week’s exercise just another expensive lesson in how tough talk on budgets and efficiency creates more bureaucracy. It’s a lesson that taxpayers can’t afford to keep learning.
Cheryl Kelley is a retired federal employee, and an Adjunct Fellow at the Pell Center at Salve Regina University. She is the author of “An Informed Citizenry: How the Modern Federal Government Operates,” and the novel, “Radical, An American Love Story
.”
I don’t know what is going on in the minds of the members of the Democratic Party, but somewhere along the way, theirs has become the party of the isolationists.
Northern Illinois will make its 21st all-time bowl appearance and 16th as an FBS team Monday against Fresno State in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.
It’s the Huskies’ 15th bowl game since 2003, more than any other Mid-American Conference team in that span.
The Huskies and Bulldogs previously played in this game in 2010, when it was called the Humanitarian Bowl, and NIU won 40-17 to complete an 11-3 season.
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl: Northern Illinois (7-5) vs. Fresno State (6-6)
Time/TV: 1:30 p.m. Monday, ESPN.
Site: Albertsons Stadium, Boise, Idaho.
Line: NIU by 1½.
Series: NIU leads 3-2.
Key matchup
NIU passing game vs. Fresno State pass defense
The Huskies are 118th in the FBS in passing, averaging 176.1 yards per game through the air. The Bulldogs allow 215.9 passing yards per game, which ranks 64th.
The matchups don’t favor Fresno State’s offense, which has the No. 123 FBS rushing attack (98.6 ypg) and will be up against the No. 19 run defense. NIU allows 112.1 yards per game on the ground.
Last game
NIU: Ethan Hampton threw for 169 yards on 19-of-29 passing (65.5%) and ran for a touchdown in a 24-16 victory over Central Michigan
. Telly Johnson Jr. carried 20 times for 84 yards and a touchdown, and Trayvon Rudolph had nine receptions for 97 yards.
Fresno State: The Bulldogs lost 20-13 to UCLA. Mikey Keene completed 30 of 43 passes for 219 yards and a touchdown. Bryson Donelson carried six times for 41 yards and had nine receptions for 44 yards.
Players to watch
NIU: Hampton has 1,600 passing yards (145.5 per game), completing 58.5% of his passes (144 of 246) with 12 TDs and six interceptions. He also has rushed for 129 yards and two TDs. … Gavin Williams has 135 carries for 741 yards (61.8 per game) and four TDs plus 22 catches for 138 yards and a score. … Rudolph has 392 yards (39.2 per game) on 37 catches with one TD.
Fresno State: Keene has 2,887 passing yards (240.6 per game), completing 70.2% of his passes (276 of 393) with 18 TDs and 11 interceptions. … Elijah Gilliam has 121 carries for 466 yards (38.8 per game) and eight TDs plus 29 catches for 190 yards. … Mac Dalena has 58 receptions for 941 yards (78.4 per game) and eight TDs.
Facts & figures
NIU has outscored opponents by 5.9 points per game, Fresno State by two per game. … The Huskies rank in the top 25 nationally in both rushing offense (16th, 207.3 ypg) and rushing defense (19th, 112.1 ypg). … Fresno State is 45th in the country in passing with 244.7 yards per game.
President Biden has withdrawn his proposed rule protecting transgender athletes, but that doesn’t mean the game is up for biological males in female scholastic sports.
