While many in the Southland ushered in the new year with celebrations and fireworks, a few couples celebrated by welcoming the area’s first babies of 2025 into the world.
Tiara and Curtis Harris II welcomed their son, Curtis Lee Harris III, at 9:43 a.m. at Franciscan Health Olympia Fields, laying claim as the first baby born at the hospital in Olympia Fields in 2025.
Tiara Harris wasn’t due until Jan. 13 and certainly wasn’t expecting to give birth to her 6-pound, 3-ounce son on New Year’s Day. But for Tiara and Curtis Harris, who celebrated their first wedding anniversary Jan. 2, the arrival on New Year’s Day held an ironic twist — they had originally hoped to be the first couple married in 2024.
“I’ve been joking. I was like, you know, it’ll be just our luck. I’m like, the little baby will tell us, ‘Yeah, you know what? Hold my pacifier. I got your mom and dad, I’ll be the first baby boy.’” Curtis said.
He said the couple missed out on being the first to marry in Chicago in 2024 due to a drawing they were unaware of, despite having been the first to marry by a judge. However, the arrival of their son on the first day of 2025 turned out to be even more special.
Curtis is the first child for the couple, who live in Lynwood. Tiara said the two chose not to find out their son’s gender until birth, wanting to keep it a surprise. But his birth Jan. 1 was a decision she said her newborn son made himself.
“I felt like, just like his mom, he does what he wants to do.” she said. “I just knew he was going to come on the 31st and I feel like he literally came, like, the very next day, just because I wanted him to come on the 31st.”
Curtis Harris II, said he got his name from his father, and wanted to keep the tradition alive with his first son.
“Well before I had met my wife, I always had the idea that, if I had a son, I wanted to name him after me and my father, just because I feel like my dad is one of the greatest men I’ve ever known,” he said. “I just wanted to kind of keep the name tradition going. Name them after somebody who’s great.”
The personification of the new year as a baby dates back to ancient Greece, where an infant in a basket was paraded to symbolize the yearly rebirth of Dionysus, the god of wine and fertility, according to History.com. Over the centuries, Baby New Year has also appeared alongside Father Time in various forms, from banners and cartoons to posters and greeting cards, the website states.
Also born shortly into the new year was Julia Abdedeen, a 6-pound, 13-ounce girl arriving at 1:20 a.m. at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn to Shuroug and Mahmoud Abdedeen, of Hickory Hills.
At Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox, Hazel Josephine Vonderheide, a 7-pound, 2-ounce girl, was born at 1:52 a.m. to parents Lindsay and Kyle Vonderheide, laying claim as the first baby delivered at Silver Cross in the new year.
Hazel Josephine Vonderheide, a 7-pound, 2-ounce girl, was born at 1:52 a.m. to parents Lindsay and Kyle Vonderheide on New Year’s Day at Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox. (Lindsay Vonderheide)
Other area hospitals delivered newborns shortly after New Year’s Day, including Nema Naomi-Ann Williams, a 7-pound, 13-ounce girl born at 4 a.m. Jan. 2 at OSF HealthCare Little Company of Mary Medical Center in Evergreen Park to Normajean Sims and Clarence Williams.
Normajean Sims and Clarence Williams hold their newborn daughter, Nema Naomi-Ann Williams, born at Little Company of Mary Medical Center in Evergreen Park at 4 a.m. Jan 2. (OSF HealthCare)
Kyle Vonderheide said they expected Hazel to arrive New Year’s Eve, as induction was scheduled for Dec. 30, but a New Year’s Eve delivery wasn’t meant to be.
“We literally had the New Year’s Eve TV stuff on in the background to watch the ball drop, but obviously, it took a little bit longer,” he said. “As things progressed on New Year’s Eve, that was kind of like, ‘Oh, we might actually have an actual countdown here.’”
Vonderheide said the couple already decided on Hazel for the first name, while her middle name was chosen to honor her grandmother.
Although the couple didn’t expect the early arrival, with the due date initially set for Jan. 14, Vonderheide said the timing would be a cherished memory and a special story to share with their daughter.
“It’s something where it’s kind of cool for her to call herself the first baby born in a hospital, and then having a birthday in New Years, because the whole world basically celebrates your birthday,” he said.
Members of the Victor J. Andrew High School Varsity Athletic Leadership Team recently read to kindergartners at Helen Keller Elementary School in Tinley Park during a Feeder Reader storybook event designed to promote literacy, introduce vocabulary and build relationships with future Andrew students.
Since 2018, members of the team, known as VALT, visit a District 140 elementary school each month to read storybooks to students.
“I love the questions they ask; the kids are so into it,” Hellen Keller graduate Maggie Brower, who participates in cross country and soccer at Andrew, shared via a news release. “I was here and once their age; it’s so fun to come back.
Junior swimmer and track and field athlete Veronika looks forward to reading to the kids. “It’s great to see the different and fresh perspectives,” she said via the release.
Andrew athletic director Kevin McKeown started the Feeder Reader program as one of VALT’s activities. Student-athletes also play games with special education students monthly and often visit with senior citizens. Each of the 54 members must sign up for three community service events during the year.
Palos East food drive helps fill local pantry’s shelves
Palos East Elementary School Student Council members, from left, Hailey Masini, Penny Watson, Marty Mercer, Michael Stokas and Bella Ogidan pack donations for the Palos Heights Food Pantry. (Cathy Casey)
The Palos Heights Food Pantry hosted at Palos United Methodist Church got a special delivery from Palos East Elementary School in Palos Heights.
Students collected more than 1,200 nonperishable food items donated by school families for the student council’s annual holiday food drive. Fifth-grade teacher Cathy Casey said student council members collect food and pack it for the drive each year, helping to stock the local pantry during the holiday season to assist members of the community in need.
Casey praised families at the school for their support of the project. “The Palos East community is always very supportive and generous with their donations to the food drive,” she said via a news release. “The Palos Heights Food Pantry is very appreciative and thankful for their support.”
View nature photos via Zoom with Sierra Club
A members’ slides night is planned at the next meeting of the Sierra Club’s Sauk-Calumet Group at 7 p.m. Jan. 13. The meeting will take place over Zoom.
The night allows members to share photos of nature they’ve taken in the last year., whether it’s in their own backyards or from travels around the country and the world. Presenters are limited to 10 to 15 minutes and should email Lois Lauer at lois.lauer@illinoissierraclub.org before Jan. 10.
To join the program, visit www.sierraclub.org/illinois/events-calendar and RSVP under Members’ Nature Photography on Jan. 13. Those who RSVP will receive a URL to join the meeting as well as an email with a link. All meetings are free and open to Sierra Club members and the public.
Good Seeds Ministry’s winter clothing drive ends in January
Outerwear clothing is the focus of donations sought by Good Seeds Ministry. Items such as coats, mittens, gloves, hats and scarves will be collected through January in the large beige wicker box on the front porch of the lodge at The Center, 12700 Southwest Highway, Palos Park.
Multiple bags of winter wear have been distributed to immigrants in Chicago. Information is with the Rev. Nancy Nemeth at waysiderev@thecenterpalos.org.
Stamps, coins available at monthly show in Orland Park
Coin and stamp collectors are invited to buy, sell and trade stamps, paper money, coins, collectibles and more from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. the first Sunday of every month at the Civic Center, 14750 Ravinia Lane, Orland Park.
Admission and parking are free. Dealers can set up at 7 a.m. Next year’s shows will be Jan. 5, Feb. 2, March 2, April 6, May 4, June 1, July 6, Aug. 3, Sept. 7, Oct. 5, Nov. 2 and Dec. 7. Information is at 708-275-9520, 708-476-7315, or bob60638@yahoo.com.
Death, dying discussion featured at UCC church
A program called Death Cafe will be offered from 6 to 8 p.m. Jan. 15 at Salem United Church of Christ, 9717 S. Kostner Ave., Oak Lawn.
Death cafe, a casual community gathering, allows people to come together to talk about death, dying and end of life topics over tea, coffee and dessert. No agenda is planned and the program offers a safe space where participants can share their thoughts, experiences and questions about death.
The event is free but reservations are required because space is limited. Email Lindsay@alkinghomedoulas.com. Information is at www.deathcafe.com.
The Chicago White Sox signed versatile veteran infielder Josh Rojas to a one-year deal, a source confirmed to the Tribune on Thursday. The move is pending a physical.
Rojas, 30, slashed .225/.304/.336 with 19 doubles, eight home runs and 31 RBIs in 142 games in 2024 with the Seattle Mariners.
He has a .247/.323/.362 slash line for his career with 100 doubles, 34 home runs, 189 RBIs and 59 stolen bases in 569 games during portions of six big-league seasons with the Arizona Diamondbacks (2019-23) and Mariners (2023-24).
Rojas reached career highs in hits (128), runs (69), doubles (32), home runs (11) and walks (58) in 2021. He had career highs in batting average (.269), RBIs (56) and stolen bases (23) the following season.
Financial terms of the deal with the Sox are unknown. MLB.com’s Scott Merkin first reported the signing.
Rojas made 106 starts at third base, seven at second base and three in left field in 2024. He also made one appearance at first base and pitched twice. He has 237 career starts at third, 122 at second, 46 in left field, 35 at shortstop and 32 in right field.
Vargas, acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers
in a three-team trade that also included the St. Louis Cardinals, was 14-for-135 (.104) with two home runs and seven RBIs in 42 games with the Sox. Ramos had a .202/.252/.333 slash line with three home runs and 11 RBIs in 32 games as a rookie.
Sosa made 47 starts at third and 44 at second for the Sox in 2024.
For the nation’s leading butter brand, consumer demand for all things health-and-wellness has been an unexpected boon for business.
“There’s certainly been a trend toward more wholesome, natural foods: I can understand the ingredient label, I can pronounce the items on that ingredient label,” said Heather Anfang, president of dairy foods at Land O’Lakes. “And so when you look at butter, I mean, the ingredients are cream and salt.”
Even as Americans drink less milk year after year, demand for dairy is growing — mostly in churned and fermented form.
In 2023 Americans ate the most butter per capita in at least 50 years, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture: 6½ pounds per person. Cheese consumption continued its annual climb to more than 40 pounds per person, also a record.
At the same time, Americans are still urged to consume less saturated fat, and many say in surveys they are limiting butter and cheese to do so. Still, taste and price remain the main reasons shoppers buy any kind of food, much as the FDA would like to see cooking oils replace butter as a fat source.
Anfang said an intersection of trends is driving butter’s place in the kitchen.
An increase in home baking and cooking helped pad butter’s reputation for taste during the pandemic. Margarine is no longer widely embraced as a healthier alternative. And unlike most food categories, dairy prices have fallen after peaking during rapid inflation in 2022.
Anfang said one other element gives dairy a health-and-wellness edge — knowing where it came from.
“We’re here to protect and grow the farmer and allow them to live the lifestyle that they want and keep that generational operation in their family,” she said. “When we talk to consumers, they say, ‘I want to support that.’”
Last year fluid milk again dropped to its lowest rate of consumption on record, about 15 gallons per person. It’s not just plant-based alternatives driving that figure down for several decades in a row; an overall beverage boom has edged out milk in favor of Gatorade, energy drinks, sodas, coffees and even bottled water.
“So many other beverages have pushed it to the back of the fridge,” said Rachel Kyllo, chief marketing officer of Dairy Farmers of America, a cooperative that includes brands like Kemps and Cass-Clay Creamery. “Our goal is to put milk into modern culture in as many ways as possible.”
She said that early 2024 numbers appear promising, with volumes coming in on par with last year for the first time since 2009. Kyllo points to the consumer trend toward simple ingredients and “returning to things perceived to be real, not processed, farm-to-table.”
The success of Fairlife and other ultrafiltered milk brands have been a bright spot, capturing consumer taste for higher protein and lower sugar.
“The innovation in the category has been really helpful,” Kyllo said. “That gives us great optimism about the future.”
A great deal of U.S. cheese consumption comes from mozzarella on pizza, but that can’t fully explain the continuous growth.
“It is a category that seems to be recession-proof,” said Andrew Cannon, associate marketing director at Edina, Minnesota-based Crystal Farms. “People are always going to buy cheese for their meals and for snacking. And that’s one of the areas where we see growth: snacking.”
Crystal Farms has seen more customers switch from bags of shredded cheese to blocks they can shred or munch on at home.
The company is still keen to win more sliced and shredded consumers, and has new flavors like Carolina reaper and zesty ranch in store for next year.
“Innovation is more important than ever for a brand like Crystal Farms,” Cannon said. “We’re really focusing on making sure we’re bringing compelling, high-quality, relevant products that will capture those consumer trends of looking for intense flavors, snacking and convenience.”
Land O’Lakes has been upping its cheese game, returning to deli cases at grocery stores. (The co-op also supplies the powdered cheese for Cheetos.)
“It’s important we provide healthy outlets for farmers and good growth,” said Anfang, the cooperative’s dairy foods president. “Cheese is a big one.”
Combining milk, butter, cheese, ice cream, yogurt and other products, per-capita dairy consumption in the U.S. tied a 50-year high last year at 661 pounds per person on a milk fat basis.
A small but fast-growing part of that consumption is in whey protein, the essential ingredient in many nutrition shakes and workout mixes. Minnesota companies have played a key role in growing that market.
Davisco, now owned by Agropur, pioneered the use of whey protein as an ingredient in the U.S. and grew to be a leading supplier.
Eden Prairie-based Actus Nutrition, formerly known as Milk Specialties Global, has $1.5 billion in revenue selling whey protein concentrates and other milk-derived ingredients.
And Eden Prairie-headquartered SunOpta spent $125 million on a new factory in Texas to produce Premier Protein shakes with whey protein.
“The market for dairy-based protein ingredients continues to grow,” Kyllo said, and that can help bring more consumers back to milk. “When we think about dairy and the bright spots it’s cheese and butter, but it’s a big moment for milk today.”
MADISON, Wis. — Nearly 200 absentee ballots somehow went uncounted in Wisconsin’s liberal capital after the Nov. 5 election, prompting state election officials to launch an investigation Thursday into whether the city clerk broke the law.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission voted unanimously to investigate whether Madison City Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl failed to comply with state law or abused her discretion. Commission members said they were concerned the clerk’s office didn’t inform them of the problem until late December, almost a month and a half after the election. Commission Chair Ann Jacobs certified Wisconsin’s election results on Nov. 29.
Witzel-Behl’s office said in a statement that the number of uncounted votes didn’t affect the outcome of any race or referendum on the ballots. But Jacobs said the oversight was “so egregious” that the commission must determine what happened and how it can be prevented as spring elections approach.
“We are the final canvassers,” Jacobs said. “We are the final arbiters of votes in the state of Wisconsin and we need to know why those ballots weren’t included anywhere.”
Witzel-Behl said in an email to The Associated Press that her office looks forward to working with the commission to determine what happened and how to prevent the same issues in future elections.
It’s another misstep for Witzel-Behl, who announced in September that her office mistakenly sent out up to 2,000 duplicate absentee ballots. She blamed it on a data processing error.
According to election commission documents, the commission learned of the uncounted ballots on Dec. 18, when Witzel-Behl’s staff told the commission that they recorded more absentee ballots as received than ballots counted in three city wards.
The commission asked Witzel-Behl to provide a detailed statement, which she did two days later. The memo stated that on Nov. 12, the clerk’s office discovered 67 unprocessed ballots for Ward 65 and one unprocessed ballot for Ward 68 in a courier bag found in a vote tabulating machine.
The memo also stated that her office was reconciling ballots for Ward 56 on Dec. 3 when 125 unprocessed ballots were discovered in a sealed courier bag. Reconciliation is a post-election process in which officials account for every ballot created. That work begins immediately after an election. Clerks have 45 days to complete it.
The memo does not offer any explanation, saying only that the clerk’s office planned “to debrief these incidents and implement better processes.”
The clerk’s office issued a statement on Dec. 26 saying it had informed the elections commission and would send an apology letter to each affected voter.
Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway released her own statement the same day saying the clerk’s office didn’t tell her staff about the problem until Dec. 20. She said her office plans to review the city’s election procedures. The mayor issued a new statement Thursday saying she appreciates the election commission’s investigation and the city will cooperate with the probe.
Wisconsin is a perennial battleground state in presidential elections. Republican Donald Trump won the state this past November on his way to reclaiming the White House, beating Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris by about 29,000 votes.
Madison and surrounding Dane County are well-known liberal strongholds. Harris won 75% of the vote in the county in November.
