Author: chicagoinquirer

by Jennifer Peltz NEW YORK  — R. Kelly’s onetime manager was sentenced Monday to a year in federal prison for calling in a shooting threatthat halted a screening of a damning documentary about the R&B star. The punishment won’t add to the time ex-manager Donnell Russell is already set to serve for a different effort to squelch sexual abuse claims against Kelly. Russell told a Manhattan federal judge Monday that he had “made bad judgments” while briefly working with the Grammy-winning, multiplatinum-selling singer. “I’m not a horrible person,” Russell said. Russell said he reconnected with Kelly, a fellow Chicagoan he’d…

by James Robson DOHA, Qatar — When it comes to soccer, money can buy the world. It can pay for the World Cup. And the world’s best players. And it can bundle them all up into a perfect package and present it to a global audience of millions. The power of money was on full display in the Qatari city of Lusail on Sunday as Argentina beat France 4-2 on penalties to become world champion for the third time and end Lionel Messi’s pursuit of the one major trophy that had eluded him in his storied career. One of the…

by Mary Clare Jalonick, Eric Tucker and Farnoush Amiri WASHINGTON  — The House Jan. 6 committee is wrapping up its investigation of the violent 2021 U.S. Capitol insurrection, with lawmakers on Monday declaring that they have assembled a “roadmap to justice” to bring criminal charges against former President Donald Trump and his allies. As they cap one of the most exhaustive and aggressive congressional probes in memory, the panel’s seven Democrats and two Republicans are recommending criminal charges against Trump and associates who helped him launch a multifaceted pressure campaign to try to overturn his 2020 election loss. The committee…

by Jay Cohen CHICAGO  — Javon Hargrave slung Justin Fields to the ground, and then celebrated by drawing a door with his hands and kicking it in. Philadelphia’s defensive line is tough to stop — even with an offensive line. Hargrave, Josh Sweat and Haason Reddick had two sacks apiece Sunday, helping the Eagles hold off the Chicago Bears for a 25-20 victory. A hustling Reddick also recovered a fumble along Philadelphia’s sideline, stopping a Chicago drive in the third quarter. “First of all, we put in a lot of work. That’s first and foremost,” Reddick said. “We feed off…

by Mike Cook MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Anthony Edwards had season highs with 37 points and 11 assists and the Minnesota Timberwolves broke the franchise record for points in a game, routing the Chicago Bulls 150-126 on Sunday night. D’Angelo Russell added 28 points after missing two games and Minnesota made a season-high 23 pointers to roll past Chicago despite missing four regulars. Rudy Gobert missed his second straight game because of a sprained left ankle. Karl-Anthony Towns (right calf strain) and top reserves Jordan McLaughlin (left calf strain) and Taurean Prince (right shoulder) also sat out. Russell was a game-time…

CHICAGO — Chicago Bears offensive lineman Teven Jenkins was carted off the field with a neck injury after he got hurt on the team’s first drive Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles. Jenkins went down while blocking for David Montgomery on a running play with 12:31 left in the first quarter. The right guard was ruled out for the rest of the game. The 24-year-old Jenkins was a second-round pick by Chicago in the 2021 NFL Draft. He was surrounded by much of his team as he was loaded on to the cart. Bears wide receiver Equanimeous St. Brown also got…

by Steve Douglas LUSAIL, Qatar (AP) — Lionel Messi, wearing a black Qatari robe over his blue-and-white Argentina shirt, kissed the World Cup,shuffled toward his teammates and hoisted the golden trophy high in the air. It was an iconic sight that finally — definitively — places the soccer superstar in the pantheon of the game’s greatest players. Messi’s once-in-a-generation career is complete: He is a World Cup champion. In probably the wildest final in the tournament’s 92-year history, Argentina won its third World Cup title by beating France 4-2 in a penalty shootout after a 3-3 draw featuring two goals…

by Eric Tuckerband Doug Feinberg The return of Brittney Griner to the United States in a dramatic prisoner swap with Russia marked the culmination of a 10-month ordeal that captivated world attention, a saga that landed at the intersection of sports, politics, race and gender identity — and wartime diplomacy. Griner had for years been known to fans of women’s basketball — college player of the year, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and WNBA all-star who dominated her sport. But her arrest on drug-related charges at a Moscow airport in February elevated her profile in ways neither she nor her…

ROME  — Pope Francis has revealed in an interview published Sunday that shortly after being elected pontiff in 2013 he wrote a resignation letter in case medical problems impede him from carrying out his duties. Speaking to the Spanish newspaper ABC, Francis said he gave the note to Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, who then was the Vatican secretary of state. The pontiff added that he presumes that the prelate currently in that Vatican No. 2 role, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, now has the written instruction. Francis, who turned 86 on Saturday, had surgery in 2021 to repair a bowel narrowing and has…

by Michael Tarm CHICAGO  — A judge on Saturday set bond at $50,000 for the father of an Illinois man charged with killing seven people at a July 4 parade who is accused of helping his son get a gun license years before the shooting on a suburban Chicago main street. Robert Crimo Jr., 58, looked somber and tired in his first appearance before a judge since voluntarily surrendering to police Friday. His lawyer, George M. Gomez, told the judge Saturday that the father of three would be able to pay the required bond amount for his release. Crimo, a…