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For more than eight years, Peter Siebert has led Lake Forest’s Fire Department guiding the personnel as they fought fires and provided paramedic service. However, that run is about to come to an end as Siebert is now in his last few weeks on the job as he plans to retire on Jan. 3. “It was time and I have done everything I wanted to do. When you get to a certain age and time, it doesn’t matter when you go,” Siebert, 58, said. “It is time for me to move on and I want other people to step up and have new blood in there with new ideas to move the place forward.” On Dec. 2, the City Council approved the appointment of Deputy Chief Andrew Rick as Siebert’s successor. He is set to be sworn in on Jan. 6. “I really look forward to the opportunity of leading a young group and continue to serve this community in the way we have been and uphold the standards that we (have),” Rick told the City Council. “I couldn’t have asked for a better situation.” Mayor Stanford “Randy” Tack offered plaudits for Siebert and the entire 35-employee department at the meeting. “Our fire department stands as a shining example of service and readiness and we are incredibly fortunate to have such an exceptional team safeguarding our community,” Tack said. In an interview, Siebert reflected on what he has seen and done in his public service. Born in Northbrook, Siebert was living in California in the 1990s when he became interested in firefighting as a career. He asked a local fire chief about how to chart that career path and was informed about the higher education requirements associated with the position. As he earned the degrees, Siebert moved back to the area. Initially, he was hired as a paid on-call firefighter at the Countryside Fire Department in Vernon Hills in December 1994, before moving over to Lake Forest in May 1996. He steadily received a series of promotions until being named acting chief in September 2016 and permanent chief in April 2017. He ticked off some memorable experiences such as fighting a December 2005 fire of a house under construction on Briar Lane. “I remember coming in over the Tri-Sate Tollway and seeing the glow at 3 in the morning,” Siebert said. He added the firehose bed cover on the top of the first engine reporting to the scene almost burned off from the embers landing on it. Then there was the December 2009 fire that severely damaged the house of former Mayor Frank Farwell on a private stretch off of Waukegan Road. All the responding personnel had to lay down roughly 1000 feet of firehose to extinguish it, as there weren’t any hydrants close by. The effort was hampered as the fire engine skidded into a ditch due to the icy and snowy conditions. Reminiscing about his time as chief, Siebert is proud the city modernized equipment and replaced aging vehicles, even if sometimes took repeated requests from city officials. “I was pretty persistent about things and I think I got a lot of things done,” he said. He specifically points to the acquisition of a rescue boat, that was used during the search for a resident who fell into Lake Michigan in October. (The body was later recovered in Michigan.) “It has paid off well and it can get out in any condition,” he said. “That boat goes through anything.” A major change in responsibility for the department officially started in 2018 when the Rockland Fire Protection District stopped using the volunteer force of the Knollwood Fire Department the protect the unincorporated area. The RFPD leadership entered into an outsourcing agreement with Lake Forest to provide services on one part of the area, Libertyville on the other. The issue was controversial at the time, but Siebert believes it has worked out well. “I think we came up with a good idea,” he said. He concedes there have been some mistakes at the administrative level along the way. “Those are some who learn the most out of,” he said. “You pick yourself up and find another way to go at it.” Siebert also noted the evolution of the modern fire department, pointing to technological advances. When he started in the ’90s, there was one computer in the station that kept all the calls in a logbook with a pen and paper. Now he said every single desk and rig has a computer in it and iPads are commonplace features. He added the department’s medical protocol book has nearly doubled in length since he started in the 1990s. “To be both a firefighter and a paramedic, it takes a lot and a special person to do it. We’ve been lucky to have really good people,” he said, Siebert said he stayed on along a little longer to assist Rick, who was promoted to deputy chief in September 2023, to get acclimated and fully supports his promotion. “He has done nothing but succeed at everything we have tasked him with at every level,” Siebert said. “He is a younger guy but he has some good experience and I think he will be a breath of fresh air for the department and do a great job of putting a new spin on things.” As for his own future, Siebert said he and his wife have purchased a house in central Tennessee and they plan to move there next year with the first priority of getting settled. After that, he is not certain. “I’ll find what I want to do,” he said. “I have worked my whole life and haven’t had that much time off except for a week’s vacation here and there. My plan is to take some time off and enjoy life and figure out what I want to do if I want to do anything.” Siebert will leave with praise from the community including City Manager Jason Wicha. “Chief Siebert has been instrumental in elevating training programs, establishing exceptional service standards, and always going above and beyond to serve our residents,” Wicha wrote in an e-mail. “His leadership and dedication have left a lasting impact on the Lake Forest Fire Department, our organization, and the community.” Siebert’s retirement marks another change in local public safety leadership as Karl Walldorf retired as police chief earlier this year . Up north in Lake Bluff, David Graf stepped down as that department’s chief last month . Daniel I. Dorfman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.After a stellar start last season, Penny Hardaway and Memphis faltered in the later half of the schedule and missed the NCAA men's tournament. Nearly all of the roster departed, and Hardaway had to go into the portal with the pressure only intensifying. The Tigers took the first step toward a turnaround season, taking down defending back-to-back national champion Connecticut 99-97 in an overtime thriller in the first round of the Maui Invitational. The Huskies didn't enter the season the same dominant team that cruised towards last season's national title, but with Dan Hurley still at the helm along with some returners and new additions, remained one of the favorites to be the final team standing in April. One of the most prominent early season tournaments in college basketball, this season's Maui Invitational again brought a stacked field with four teams in the top 13 of USA TODAY Sports coaches poll . But not many expected to see Memphis play a complete game against the Huskies and cause more than the usual frustrations for Hurley's sideline antics. Memphis' win ended UConn's 17-game win streak dating back to last season. It was a close contest the entire first half, with the Tigers playing such a good first 20 minutes it would take another near-perfect effort in the second half to end the day with a win. It's nearly what happened out of halftime. Tyrese Hunter, a transfer from Texas, led the way on the offensive end with jumper after jumper going in and the Tigers having a 13-point lead with under five minutes to go. He finished the game with a game-high 26 points with seven 3-pointers. However, UConn didn't go easily. In the final three minutes, the Huskies starting making threes and forced Memphis into making mistakes to finish regulation on a 13-3 run, capped off with Solo Ball drilling a 3-pointer in the final second to send the game to overtime. It appeared the Huskies carry the momentum early overtime and took a four-point lead after regulation. But Memphis didn't falter. When UConn made a bucket, Memphis came right back. The score was tied in the final minute when Hurley got in his own way. He objected to a foul call against Huskies forward Liam McNeeley and was called for a technical foul. Memphis guard PJ Carter sank the ensuing four free throws to give the Tigers a lead. But they didn't secure the win until a miss by Hassan Diara at the buzzer.
La Scala's gala season premiere vanquished bad-luck vibes around long-absent Verdi opera
After closures in some other states, institutions’ cemeteries were abandoned and became overgrown with weeds and brush.
NoneCD Projekt may plan to release some sort of new content in the next two years, potentially a new game. Today, CD Projekt announced strong Q3 earnings results driven by continued sales of Cyberpunk 2077 ( just hit 30 million sales ) and The Witcher franchise. In the Q&A section of the livecast , CD Projekt management said something very interesting about short-term business strategies--apparently new content would be arriving in the next two years. "Our business is based around longevity of our products, franchise flywheel management, and releases of new content. We expect the next 2 years to be active in all dimension areas," said CD Projekt Group Chief Financial Officer Piotr Nielubowicz. "Some may be surprising, and I believe this is also something we are good at when running our marketing campaigns." Is this game content? Considering that's the primary breadwinner for the company, it's possible. Then again, it could be content like the previously announced Netflix animation. If it is gaming content, since the team is pretty much done with Cyberpunk, this could mean that CD Projekt is aiming for a 2026-ish release date for Project Polaris, aka The Witcher 4. Or it could also mean that another smaller-scale project is on the way, like the Witcher 1 remake or the other game from The Molasses Flood. The group also announced that Project Polaris has entered full development with 400 people working on the ambitious new project, which is said to subvert expectations with new mechanics and design features. While currently at 650 developers, CD Projekt will expand its workforce by two-fold by the next of next year as it ramps up dual production on both Projects Polaris and Orion, the upcoming Cyberpunk sequel.
BEIRUT (AP) — Insurgents' stunning march across Syria accelerated Saturday with news that they had reached the gates of the capital and that government forces had abandoned the central city of Homs. The government was forced to deny rumors that President Bashar Assad had fled the country. The loss of Homs is a potentially crippling blow for Assad. It stands at an important intersection between Damascus, the capital, and Syria’s coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus — the Syrian leader’s base of support and home to a Russian strategic naval base. The pro-government Sham FM news outlet reported that government forces took positions outside Syria’s third-largest city, without elaborating. Rami Abdurrahman who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said Syrian troops and members of different security agencies have withdrawn from the city, adding that rebels have entered parts of it. The insurgency announced later Saturday that it had taken over Homs. The city's capture is a major victory for the rebels, who have already seized the cities of Aleppo and Hama , as well as large parts of the south, in a lightning offensive that began Nov. 27. Analysts said rebel control of Homs would be a game-changer. The rebels' moves around Damascus, reported by the monitor and a rebel commander, came after the Syrian army withdrew from much of southern part of the country, leaving more areas, including several provincial capitals, under the control of opposition fighters. For the first time in the country’s long-running civil war, the government now has control of only three of 14 provincial capitals: Damascus, Latakia and Tartus. The advances in the past week were among the largest in recent years by opposition factions, led by a group that has its origins in al-Qaida and is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the United Nations. In their push to overthrow Assad's government, the insurgents, led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, or HTS, have met little resistance from the Syrian army. The rapid rebel gains, coupled with the lack of support from Assad's erstwhile allies, posed the most serious threat to his rule since the start of the war. The U.N.’s special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, on Saturday called for urgent talks in Geneva to ensure an “orderly political transition.” Speaking to reporters at the annual Doha Forum in Qatar, he said the situation in Syria was changing by the minute. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, whose country is Assad's chief international backer, said he feels “sorry for the Syrian people.” In Damascus, people rushed to stock up on supplies. Thousands went to Syria's border with Lebanon, trying to leave the country. Many shops in the capital were shuttered, a resident told The Associated Press, and those still open ran out of staples such as sugar. Some were selling items at three times the normal price. “The situation is very strange. We are not used to that,” the resident said, insisting on anonymity, fearing retributions. “People are worried whether there will be a battle (in Damascus) or not.” It was the first time that opposition forces reached the outskirts of Damascus since 2018, when Syrian troops recaptured the area following a yearslong siege. The U.N. said it was moving noncritical staff outside the country as a precaution. Syria’s state media denied social media rumors that Assad left the country, saying he is performing his duties in Damascus. He has had little, if any, help from his allies. Russia, is busy with its war in Ukraine . Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which at one point sent thousands of fighters to shore up Assad's forces, has been weakened by a yearlong conflict with Israel. Iran has seen its proxies across the region degraded by regular Israeli airstrikes. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday posted on social media that that the United States should avoid engaging militarily in Syria. Pedersen said a date for talks in Geneva on the implementation a U.N. resolution, adopted in 2015, and calling for a Syrian-led political process, would be announced later. The resolution calls for the establishment of a transitional governing body, followed by the drafting of a new constitution and ending with U.N.-supervised elections. Later Saturday, foreign ministers and senior diplomats from eight key countries, including Saudi Arabia, Russia, Egypt, Turkey and Iran, along with Pederson, gathered on the sidelines of the Doha Summit to discuss the situation in Syria. In a statement issued late Saturday, the participants affirmed their support for a political solution to the Syrian crisis “that would lead to the end of military activity and protect civilians.” They also agreed on the importance of strengthening international efforts to increase aid to the Syrian people. Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said insurgents were in the Damascus suburbs of Maadamiyah, Jaramana and Daraya. Opposition fighters were marching toward the Damascus suburb of Harasta, he added. A commander with the insurgents, Hassan Abdul-Ghani, posted on the Telegram messaging app that opposition forces had begun the “final stage” of their offensive by encircling Damascus. HTS controls much of northwest Syria and in 2017 set up a “salvation government” to run day-to-day affairs in the region. In recent years, HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani has sought to remake the group’s image, cutting ties with al-Qaida, ditching hard-line officials and vowing to embrace pluralism and religious tolerance. The shock offensive began Nov. 27, during which gunmen captured the northern city of Aleppo, Syria’s largest, and the central city of Hama , the country’s fourth largest city. Opposition activists said Saturday that a day earlier, insurgents entered Palmyra, which is home to invaluable archaeological sites had been in government hands since being taken from the Islamic State group in 2017. To the south, Syrian troops left much of the province of Quneitra including the main Baath City, activists said. Syrian Observatory said government troops have withdrawn from much of the two southern provinces. The Syrian army said in a statement that it carried out redeployment and repositioning in Sweida and Daraa after its checkpoints came under attack by “terrorists." The army said it was setting up a “strong and coherent defensive and security belt in the area,” apparently to defend Damascus from the south. The Syrian government has referred to opposition gunmen as terrorists since conflict broke out in March 2011. The foreign ministers of Iran, Russia and Turkey, meeting in Qatar, called for an end to the hostilities. Turkey is a main backer of the rebels. Qatar's top diplomat, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, criticized Assad for failing to take advantage of the lull in fighting in recent years to address the country’s underlying problems. “Assad didn’t seize this opportunity to start engaging and restoring his relationship with his people,” he said. Sheikh Mohammed said he was surprised by how quickly the rebels have advanced and said there is a real threat to Syria’s “territorial integrity.” He said the war could “damage and destroy what is left if there is no sense of urgency” to start a political process. Karam reported from London. Associated Press writers Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria; Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad; Josef Federman and Victoria Eastwood in Doha, Qatar; and Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington contributed to this report.Lisa Simpson once said during an episode of “The Simpsons:” What could be more exciting than the savage ballet that is pro football? On Monday night, the entire Simpsons universe gets to experience it in a way not many could have imagined. The prime-time matchup between the Cincinnati Bengals and Dallas Cowboys will also take place at Springfield’s Atoms Stadium as part of “The Simpsons Funday Football” alternate broadcast. The altcast will be streamed on ESPN+, Disney+, and NFL+ (on mobile devices). ESPN and ABC have the main broadcast, while ESPN2 will carry the final “ManningCast” of the regular season. The replay will be available on Disney+ for 30 days. Globally, more than 145 countries will have access to either live or on replay. “We’re such huge football fans, and the Simpsons audience and the football audience, I feel, are like the same audience of just American families and football. And the Simpsons are so much a part of the DNA of the American family and culture that for us to, like, mush them together in this crazy video game, it’s so fun,” said Matt Selman, executive producer of “The Simpsons.” While the game is the focal point, the alternate broadcast, in some ways, will resemble a three-hour episode of “The Simpsons.” It starts with Homer eating too many hot dogs and having a dream while watching football. Homer joins the Cowboys in the dream while Bart teams up with the Bengals. Lisa and Marge will be sideline reporters. “That’s the beginning of the story, and the story continues through the entire game until Homer wakes up from his dream at the end of the game. It is like a complete story, and the NFL game will happen in between. It’s just going to be an amazing presentation with tons of surprises,” said Michael “Spike” Szykowny, ESPN’s VP of edit and animation. This is the second year ESPN has done an alternate broadcast for an NFL game. It used the characters from “Toy Story” for last year’s Sunday morning game from London between the Atlanta Falcons and Jacksonville Jaguars. “The Simpsons” has featured many sports-themed episodes during its 35 seasons. Even though “Homer at the Bat” remains the consensus favorite sports episode for many Simpsons fans, there have been football ones such as “Bart Star” and “Lisa The Greek.” There also was a Super Bowl-themed one after Fox’s broadcast of Super Bowl 33 between Denver and Atlanta in 1999. Even though “The Simpsons” remains a staple on Fox’s prime-time schedule, it is part of the Disney family after their acquisition of 20th Century Fox in 2019. All 35 seasons are on Disney+. The show’s creators have worked with ESPN and the NFL to make sure the look and sound is definitely Simpsonsesque. The theme song is a mash-up of “The Simpsons” opening and “Monday Night Football’s” iconic “Heavy Action.” There have also been pre-recorded skits and bits to use during the broadcast featuring Simpson’s legendary voices Hank Azaria, Nancy Cartwright, Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, and Yeardley Smith. The telecast will be entirely animated, with the players’ movements in sync with what is happening in real-time on the field. That is done through player-tracking data enabled by the NFL’s Next Gen Stats system and Sony’s Beyond Sports Technology. While Next Gen Stats tracks where players are on the field with a tracking chip in the shoulder pads, there is skeletal data tracking and limb tracking data — which uses 29 points per player — to get closer to the player’s movements. The other data tracking will allow Beyond Sports and Disney to add special characters to the game. For example, there might be a play where Lisa catches the ball and goes 30 yards instead of Cincinnati’s Tee Higgins. “Lisa is much smaller than the rest of the players. So, in real life, the ball would go over her head, but now, with data processing, we can take the ball and make it go exactly into her hands. So for the viewer, it still looks believable, and it all makes sense,” said Beyond Sports co-founder Nicolaas Westerhof. The other major challenge is making “The Simpsons” two-dimensional cartoon characters into 3-D simulations. Szykowny and his team worked to make that a reality over the past couple of months. “That’s a big leap of faith for them to say, hey, we trust you to make our characters 3-D and work with it. Our ESPN creative studio team has done a wonderful job,” Szykowny said. Lisa, Krusty, Nelson, Milhouse and Ralph will be with Bart and the Bengals; while Carl, Barney, Lenny and Moe join up with with Homer and the Cowboys. The broadcast will also feature ESPN personalities Stephen A. Smith, Peyton Manning and Eli Manning. ESPN’s Drew Carter, Mina Kimes and Dan Orlovsky will call the game from Bristol, Connecticut, and also be animated. They will wear Meta Quest Pro headsets to experience the game from Springfield using VR technology. For Kimes, being part of the broadcast and being an animated Simpsons character is a dream come true. She is a massive fan of the show and has a framed photo of Lisa Simpson — who she said is a personal hero and icon — as part of her backdrop when she makes appearances on ESPN NFL shows from her home in Los Angeles. “I didn’t have any input, and I didn’t see anything beforehand, so I wasn’t sure if it would look like me, but it kind of does, which is very funny,” said Kimes, who drew Simpsons characters when she was a kid. “To see the actual staff turn me into one was a dream.” Even though the Bengals (4-8) and Cowboys (5-7) have struggled this season, Selman thinks both teams have personalities that appeal to “The Simpsons” universe. “We were just so lucky also that the Cowboys are sort of like a Homer Simpson-type team, American team, and Mike McCarthy might be a Homer-type guy, one might imagine,” he said. ”And then you have Joe Burrow on the other side who is a cool young, spiky-haired, blonde bad boy -- he’s like Bart. And that fits our character archetypes so perfectly. “If Homer is mad at Bart and has a hot dog dream while watching ’Monday Night Football’, and then it’s basically McCarthy versus Burrow, Homer versus Bart, and that’s the simple father versus son strangling — Homer strangling Bart dynamic that has been part of the show for 35 years. I don’t know if that would have worked as well if it was like Titans versus Jacksonville. We would have found something. We would have made it work.” AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
