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Sandburg’s Ryan McPolin (2) drives toward the basket past Lemont’s Brock DiBartelo (11). | Allen Cunningham/For the Sun-Times

Highlights and thoughts on Tuesday’s top games.

Tonight was fantastic because of how normal it was. Just a typical Tuesday night high school basketball game. There was a band and cheerleaders and two teams fought hard to the end.

It’s been a long time. Tournaments and shootouts are great and everything, but there’s nothing like settling back into the normal rhythm of doing something you love.

Lemont’s going to be a fun team to track over the next couple of seasons. I’ve probably mentioned in one of these notebook what I think of Sandburg. Those kids always play hard when I’m in the gym, it’s been the same way under a few coaches now. When I go to Orland Park I see a close game, it doesn’t matter who the Eagles are taking on. That was the case tonight.

A new episode of the podcast was released this morning and Joe Henricksen did a story on some slightly under the radar seniors that should have big years.

Tomorrow I’ll post Joe’s big list of the top 30 games of the season. On to tonight’s action.

Tuesday’s top games

Glenbrook South 71, Lake Forest 54: Expected this to be a bit closer based on how well Lake Forest played last week. But the Titans roll in Glenview. Nick Martinelli scored 25 and Cooper Noard had 22.

Geneva 57, Bartlett 51: Only have the score on this one. I’ll be out in Bartlett on Thursday to get a look at the Hawks and 7-2 senior Conrad Kluczynski, Good to see they were competitive against a solid program like Geneva.

Andrew 71, Argo 48: The Thunderbolts are 5-0. Things seem to be happening. Michael Morawski led the way with 24 points and Davonte Evans had 14 for the Argonauts. And thanks to @argoboyshoops for including the leading scorer of the team that beat them in their tweet. That’s first class and very helpful.

Mount Carmel 65, King 34: Boy the Jaguars have had a rough schedule to start the season. Simeon and the Caravan so far with Kenwood tomorrow. Deandre Craig scored 27.

Romeoville 69, Plainfield South 56: Deone Cunningham had 15 points and seven rebounds and Troy Cicero added 14 points, five rebounds and four assists.

Stevenson 66, Carmel 52: Nice win for the Patriots, a team I don’t know much about this season. The are 4-1 now.

Curie 55, De La Salle 34: Phoenix Bullock scored 15 and Carlos Harris added 11. This is the third consecutive loss for the Meteors, who were expected to be pretty good this season.

Yorkville Christian 90, Sandwich 52: The Mustangs keep posting big numbers. Jaden Schuut scored 24.

Bloom 68, Lincoln-Way East 53: Big night for KJ Cobb with 24 points. He was 9 of 10 from the field and made all five of his three pointers.

Minooka 70, Oswego 48: Ricky Hill scored 29 and Minooka is off to a strong start this season.

Yorkville 55, Plainfield North 48: Feels like both Yorkville schools popping up in the notebook is a first. Jason Jakstys, a 6-8 sophomore, led the Foxes with 23 points.

Beecher 71, Tri-Point 45: We didn’t forget Beecher Watch. The Bobcats picked up their first conference win tonight. Duane Doss had 19, Adyn McGinley 14 and Mitch Landis added 13 points. That’s a 5-0 start.

Fenger 64, UP-West 24: I talked a bit about Fenger’s interesting start to the season on No Shot Clock. The Titans are a small school to keep an eye on.

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Lemont’s Matas Castillo (1) controls the ball as Sandburg’s Ty Binns (21) defends. | Allen Cunningham/For the Sun-Times

Lemont has an exciting generation of basketball players on its hands. Nojus Indrusaitis, a 6-4 sophomore, is already garnering interest from colleges and the Castillo twins, a pair of juniors, are exciting playmaking guards.

Lemont has an exciting generation of basketball players on its hands. Nojus Indrusaitis, a 6-4 sophomore, is already garnering interest from colleges and the Castillo twins, a pair of juniors, are exciting playmaking guards.

What Lemont doesn’t have is much experience. Teenagers are still adjusting to life after all the pandemic shutdowns. Tuesday in Orland Park was one of the first real road games most of Lemont’s players ever experienced.

“There was a band and cheerleaders,” Lemont coach Rick Runaas said. “[Indrusaitis] has never [played in front of] a band. He’s never [played in front of] cheerleaders. He played 13 games last year for us and then AAU, with no one yelling at him that he needs to improve his dunk game. Just not getting called out like that. It’s all new.”

That likely explains some Lemont’s shaky start to the season and its letdown in the second half against Sandburg.

Rokas Castillo, who missed key free throws late in the season-opening loss to Bradley-Bourbannais, drained the crucial free throws in a 58-55 win on Tuesday against the Eagles.

“I think I just learned from that mistake,” Castillo said.

Indrusaitis had a handful of breakaway dunks and finished with 12 points and six rebounds. Matas Castillo had seven points and nine assists. He has a knack for finding Indrusaitis and his brother on fastbreaks where one of them leaks out early.

“We have a lot of connection together so it makes it easy on the court,” Matas Castillo said. “On defense we can switch without talking and on offense we know where we are going.”

Rokas Castillo scored 16. Senior Patrick Gardner (six points, nine rebounds) and junior Miles Beachum (eight rebounds) helped give Lemont (3-2) a significant advantage in the post. They out-rebounded Sandburg 38-28.

That advantage helped Lemont survive a brutal night at the free-throw line. They shot just 16 of 33.

“In the first half we played our best half of the season and in the second half you saw more like we’ve been playing, just kind of skittering along and not playing with the confidence that I’m used to some of these kids playing with,” Runaas said. “When things click for young kids it looks good. And when there is a little more pressure we haven’t handled it that well. That’s a little bit disconcerting but I think it’s going to come with time.”

Lemont led by 19 at halftime. Sandburg (1-4) cut it to 42-33 in the third quarter and then made a real charge in the fourth.

A three-pointer from senior James White made it a four-point game with 23 seconds left to play. Rokas Castillo made all four of his free throws from then on to seal the win.

Ryan McPolin led the Eagles with 21 points and five rebounds and senior Ty Binns added 15 points.

John Daniels, who coached at Stagg for 14 years, took over at Sandburg this season.

“We’re playing a lot of guys because I’m new,” Daniels said. “Everybody has got to get a chance. I have to see what they can do. They are working hard in practice. The first year is always hard. The effort is great. They are great kids and they play hard.”

Watch the final minute of Lemont at Sandburg:

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In this courtroom sketch, Lawrence Paul Visoski Jr., who was one of Jeffrey Epstein’s pilots, testifies on the witness stand during Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking trial, Monday, Nov. 29, 2021, in New York. | AP

The witness, using the pseudonym “Jane,” was the first of four alleged victims expected to testify against Maxwell at a New York City trial where she is charged with recruiting and grooming girls for Epstein to sexually abuse from 1994 to at least 2004.

NEW YORK — The first of four women described as key accusers in the indictment against British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell testified Tuesday that Maxwell was often in the room when the witness, then just 14, had sexual interactions with the financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Prosecutors went to the heart of their sex trafficking case against Maxwell with their second witness, a woman in her early 40s who was introduced to jurors as “Jane,” a pseudonym she said she prefers, in part to protect a 22-year acting career.

During sexual encounters that began in 1994 and continued through 1997, Maxwell “was very casual,” she told a New York City jury. “Like it was no big deal.”

The witness testified in a quiet but steady voice, though she got choked up twice and also dabbed at her nose with a tissue as she described the sexual encounters. She said Maxwell instructed her on how to give Epstein sexual massages and sometimes physically participated.

She also largely avoided looking at Maxwell, except when she pointed an index finger when she was asked to identify her. Maxwell maintained a steady gaze in the witness’s direction, occasionally writing notes that she passed to lawyers. Some jurors leaned forward to hear the witness while occasionally glancing at Maxwell.

The witness’ testimony was offered by prosecutors to support their claims that Maxwell recruited and groomed girls for Epstein to sexually abuse from 1994 to at least 2004.

The witness first met Epstein and Maxwell in 1994 when she was attending a music camp in pursuit of a singing career, she said. She said she was eating ice cream with friends when Maxwell approached with a Yorkshire Terrier, drawing their attention. After her friends left, she spoke with Epstein, who had then arrived and introduced himself as a donor. They discovered that they both lived in Palm Beach, Florida, she said.

The woman and her mother soon received an invitation to Epstein’s home and though her mother was not included in subsequent invites, she remained “very impressed and enamored with the wealth, the affluence,” and believed Maxwell and Epstein must really think her daughter was special, the woman testified.

Soon, Epstein and Maxwell were taking her shopping for clothes, including underwear from Victoria’s Secret, and asking about her life after her father’s sudden death in a way that didn’t happen at home, where soul-searching conversations never occurred, she said.

The cycle of abuse started when Epstein abruptly took her by hand one day and said, “Follow me,” before taking her to a pool house at the home. Then he pulled down his pants, pulled her close and “proceeded to masturbate,” she said.

“I was frozen in fear,” she said. “I’d never see a penis before. … I was terrified and felt gross and felt ashamed.”

Another time, she was taken to a massage room where he and Maxwell both took advantage of her, she said.

“There were hands everywhere and Jeffrey proceeded to masturbate again,” she said.

Other encounters involved sex toys or turned into oral sex “orgies” with other young women and Maxwell, she added.

On cross-examination, defense lawyer Laura Menninger immediately attacked the witness’s credibility, asking why she waited over 20 years to report the alleged abuse by Maxwell to law enforcement and why she brought two personal injury lawyers along to her first meeting with the FBI.

Menninger also asked if it was true she had previously spoken to her siblings and others close to her about Epstein’s behavior, but left Maxwell out of the earlier accounts.

“You never mentioned Ghislaine Maxwell?” the lawyer asked.

“I don’t know,” the witness responded, adding she only remembered being uncomfortable with going into all the details.

Menninger also elicited testimony from the woman that she was awarded $5 million from a fund set up to compensate victims of Epstein and received $2.9 million once lawyer fees and expenses were deducted.

The cross-examination was expected to continue Wednesday.

Maxwell has pleaded not guilty. One of her lawyers said in an opening statement Monday that she’s being made a scapegoat for Epstein, who killed himself in his Manhattan jail cell at age 66 in 2019 as he awaited a sex trafficking trial.

Earlier Tuesday, a former pilot for Epstein testified that he never saw evidence of sexual activity on planes as he flew his boss and others — including a prince and ex-presidents — for nearly three decades.

Lawrence Paul Visoski Jr., the trial’s first witness, acknowledged that he never encountered sexual activity aboard two jets he piloted for roughly 1,000 trips between 1991 and 2019.

Although he was a government witness, Visoski’s testimony seemed to aid the defense of Maxwell as he told Maxwell attorney Christian Everdell that he never saw sexual activity when he left the cockpit for coffee or a bathroom break and never found sex toys or used condoms when he cleaned up.

And when he was asked if he ever saw sex acts with underage females, he answered: “Absolutely not.”

Visoski also acknowledged that ex-President Bill Clinton was a passenger on a few flights in the 2000s and he had piloted planes with Britain’s Prince Andrew, the late U.S. Sen. John Glenn of Ohio — the first American to orbit Earth — and former President Donald Trump aboard.

Epstein’s plane was derisively nicknamed “The Lolita Express” by some in the media after allegations emerged that he had used it to fly teenage girls to his private island, his New Mexico ranch and his New York City townhouse.

Maxwell, 59, traveled for decades in circles that put her in contact with accomplished and wealthy people before her July 2020 arrest.

Asked by Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey where Maxwell stood in the hierarchy of Epstein’s world, Visoski said Maxwell “was the Number 2.” He added that “Epstein was the big Number 1.”

That testimony supported what Assistant U.S. Attorney Lara Pomerantz told jurors in her opening statement Monday: Epstein and Maxwell were “partners in crime.”

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New LSU football coach Brian Kelly gestures to fans after his arrival at Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021, in Baton Rouge, La. Kelly, formerly of Notre Dame, is said to have agreed to a 10-year contract with LSU worth $95 million plus incentives. | Matthew Hinton/AP

Kelly bolted the Irish for LSU, where he’s getting a reported $95 million over the next 10 years.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — For the last 12 years, coach Brian Kelly and athletic director Jack Swarbrick worked in concert to return a tattered Notre Dame football brand to national prominence.

As coach-administrator relationships go, theirs appeared to be as solid and productive as any in modern college sports. When Kelly surpassed legendary Knute Rockne in September to become the winningest coach in Irish history, he made a point of crediting Swarbrick for his unwavering support throughout that unlikely climb.

So it couldn’t have been easy for either man when Kelly called Swarbrick on Monday to confirm the breaking news that was sweeping the internet: He was resigning to become the next coach at LSU.

Emotional, yes, but not as surprising as you might assume.

”There’s just a sense you get when you work closely with somebody for 12 years that there’s a certain restlessness, and I could sense that,” Swarbrick said in a news conference Tuesday at Notre Dame Stadium. ”There was a Freudian slip or two along the way that sort of grabbed my attention. And whether that was intentional or not, it feels a little bit like somebody who might be open to a different opportunity.”

Kelly, 60, will get that at LSU, along with a reported contract that will guarantee him $95 million over the next 10 years. According to Swarbrick, Kelly made no attempt to secure a counteroffer from Notre Dame, which last fall gave him a three-year extension through 2024.

Kelly, who also was linked to the USC opening that went to former Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley, will be introduced at a news conference Wednesday in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He flew back to South Bend for an early-morning meeting with Irish players Tuesday.

The last three LSU coaches — Ed Orgeron (2019), Les Miles (2007) and Nick Saban (2003) — won their first national titles while at the Southeastern Conference school. Despite three perfect regular-seasons (2012, 2018 and 2020) and a 54-9 mark in his last five seasons at Notre Dame, Kelly still is looking to check that box.

Swarbrick declined to name an interim coach but made it clear Kelly had worked his last day for the Irish. Depending on the outcome of the conference championship games Saturday, No. 6 Notre Dame could qualify for its third College Football Playoff in the last four years.

More likely, however, is a spot in a New Year’s Six bowl game. Any interim coach wouldn’t be a candidate for the full-time role, Swarbrick said.

Defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman, 35, is considered the leading candidate among current Notre Dame assistants to replace Kelly. Those assistants remain on the road, trying to hold together a top-five recruiting class in 2022.

Recruiting coordinator Mike Elston, associate head coach Brian Polian and offensive coordinator Tommy Rees also could factor in. Among that four-man group, only Polian, who went 23-27 in four seasons at Nevada, has head-coaching experience.

Clark Lea, who is coming off a 2-10 debut at Vanderbilt, spent four seasons as an Irish assistant — including three as their defensive coordinator — before leaving for his alma mater.

Luke Fickell, whose undefeated Cincinnati team ended Notre Dame’s 26-game home winning streak in early October, is another potential fit. Freeman’s former boss has the Bearcats poised to become the first Group of Five participant in the playoff.

Iowa State’s Matt Campbell, who has spurned previous NFL overtures, is another hot name.

Less likely would be a homecoming for former Irish assistant Urban Meyer, who now coaches the Jaguars in the NFL. He won three national titles as a college coach — two at Florida and one at Ohio State — but he has a history of embarrassing episodes.

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Two shipping containers belonging to Kidz Korna are on this log in the 6500 block of South Parnell Avenue in Englewood. But there used to be three, and the third container, stolen sometime before Saturday afternoon, held tens of thousands of dollars in donated toys, clothes, electronics and other gifts that Kidz Korna and Flags of the Heart had planned to hand out at Christmastime. | Cheyanne M. Daniels/Sun-Times

A 53-foot-long white shipping container stolen from an Englewood lot sometime over the weekend contained about $50,000 in donated toys, clothes and other Christmas gifts.

For nearly a year, Delece Williams’ organization, Kidz Korna, has been collecting donations of toys, clothes and electronics.

Williams and Sharon Preston, founder of Flags of the Heart, planned to hand out those items at Christmastime to families in a roughly 40-block area they had “adopted.”

“We have a lot of senior citizens that’s dependent on us to help them with the grandkids as well as single parents,” Preston said at a press conference Monday. “Everybody knows that COVID hit, and it’s trying times right now. We need to step up and support the people that we can.”

But now it’s Williams and Preston who could use a little support — in finding, or maybe replacing, those donations.

Sometime over the weekend, the 53-foot-long shipping container they’d been storing their bounty in was stolen from a lot in Englewood.

Williams discovered the theft about 1 p.m. Saturday when she arrived to drop off more items. Two containers were there. The one with the gifts was not.

She was in shock.

“I thought that at first someone may have taken it by mistake,” she said of the missing white container, which has a serial number of UMXU 630361.

Cheyanne M. Daniels/Sun-Times
Delece Williams of Kidz Korna (at microphone) and Sharon Preston of Flags of the Heart (white coat) held a news conference Monday at the Englewood lot where a Kidz Korna shipping container holding about $50,000 in donated Christmas presents was stolen. With Williams was her husband, house music DJ Farley Jackmaster Funk (left).

That container, donated by CSX Transportation, as well as two others belonging to Kidz Korna, had been at a lot in the 6500 block of Parnell Avenue. One of the remaining shipping containers was filled with Kidz Korna’s office supplies; the other held old tires.

She called the railroad; CSX told her they hadn’t authorized the removal (the lot is near some railroad tracks).

Then she knocked on some neighbors’ doors, asking if anyone had seen anything.

“One of the neighbors said a tow truck was here on Friday,” Williams said. “They sat out here for about an hour, and then they just towed it away.”

Normally, Williams added, neighbors would have told the truck driver the container was there by permission. But because the thief had the tools to lift such a large item, neighbors thought Williams or another member of Kidz Korna knew it was being moved.

The container was about 80% filled — with toys, new clothing and shoes, personal heaters, more than 10,000 pieces of custom jewelry, blankets, electronics, school supplies and more. Williams estimated the donations were worth $50,000.

“CSX is saddened to learn that a storage container donated to the Kids Korner Foundation has gone missing,” said Cindy Schild, a company spokeswoman. “We are disappointed that someone would take toys intended for needy families in our community. We hope that the stolen property will be recovered and are supporting local law enforcement as they investigate.”

Williams founded Kidz Korna in 1994; Her goal was to minimize violence and abuse in the community through partnerships with media, the Chicago Police Department and community organizations.

This year, Kidz Korna partnered with Flags of the Heart for its 16th Annual Winter Wonderland Giveaway Driveby & Tour.

“We took money out of our pockets at the end of Christmas [last year] because they mark the toys down, the coats down, and we went to purchase a lot of stuff,” Preston said. “Just for it to be gone, that we cannot provide for the kids the way we like to, help the senior citizens … it’s just a hurting feeling.”

Cheyanne M. Daniels/Sun-Times
Despite the theft of about $50,000 in donations, Flags of the Heart founder Sharon Preston (left) and Kidz Korna founder/president Delece Williams remain hopeful they’ll have enough donations to share for the Christmas season.

Williams said she received a call Monday morning that CPD detectives may have a lead. But the detective was not available Monday, and a call to the Chicago police seeking details on the investigation was not returned.

Saturday’s theft wasn’t the first time Kidz Korna had been targeted.

A few weeks ago, the container holding its office supplies was mistakenly removed. Then, shortly before the gifts were stolen, Williams and her team found the lock on the container door had been cut off and replaced. (They cut that new lock off and put one of theirs back on again.)

Monday, Williams said this should be a warning for other community organizations.

“We’ve been hearing a lot about the car thefts and the carjackings,” said Williams. “Now we have to be very mindful of the containers being stolen. A lot of you know businesses have downsized or closed down, and they get those temporary containers. They put them on the sidewalks … and they’re unprotected. You would think that they’re safe. That’s what I thought.”

Preston said the community partners also will “adopt” five families on Christmas Eve.

“We’re going to feed them, give them toys, give them gift cards and everything we can,” Preston said.

And they will work harder than ever for the main giveaway to go on.

Money can be donated through CashApp$ to KidzKorna or at the Kidz Korna main office, 7901 S. Ashland Ave.

Donations also can be dropped off at:

o U.S. Bank, 815 W. 63rd St., 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday,

o Farley’s House Music Store, 1301 E. 87th St., 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday-Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays.

Cheyanne M. Daniels is a staff reporter at the Chicago Sun-Times via Report for America, a not-for-profit journalism program that aims to bolster the paper’s coverage of communities on the South and West sides.

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Josiah Slavin was recalled to the Blackhawks on Monday. On Sunday, he required stitches. | Courtesy of the IceHogs

Slavin has made efforts to refine his skating to bolster his physical two-way game.

Forward Josiah Slavin has worked hard to improve his skating. For the time being, he’ll continue refining it in the NHL.

Recalled Monday from AHL Rockford in a swap with Philipp Kurashev, the 22-year-old Slavin has been one of the IceHogs’ most consistent forwards, collecting four goals and four assists. His game, though, is unfinished and that fundamental aspect has required most of Slavin’s attention.

“It’s been a lot of work on my skating,” said Slavin, the brother of Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin. “I’m not the prettiest skater. It’s not always the most effective way when you’re not pretty, so in the offseasons my skating is my main focus.”

This past summer, Slavin participated in his agent’s summer camp which had a skating coach, which he said really helped him improve.

“You can never have too perfect of a stride, right?” Slavin said. “There’s always more ways to improve your stride and get the most efficiency out of each stride. So that’s kind of where the focus is.”

Slavin doesn’t need to be told how important an efficient stride is. Whether it’s the NHL or in the AHL with the IceHogs, a hockey season is a grind and every bit of energy helps.

Wasteful skating doesn’t.

“It’s a long season, right? Eighty-two games, so you’ve got to be the most efficient in every stride that you have,” said Slavin, whose head hit the ice Sunday and required stitches. “That way you don’t wear yourself out in the first 20-30 games. It’s a long season. Each stride is more work to be done. If you’re efficient in each stride you don’t have to take as many, right?”

What Slavin is doing earned him his first NHL recall, though he joins a team that’s struggling to score goals. On Tuesday, the Hawks moved out-of-favor forward Dylan Strome to a line with Alex DeBrincat and Kirby Dach.

Slavin won’t be depended on to score goals. Instead, if he gets into a game, he’ll be asked to keep doing what he was in Rockford: win puck battles and use his 6-3, 189-pound frame.

“It’s nice to reward these kids that are working hard and playing well,” Interim Hawks coach Derek King said.

Hard work has been a theme for Slavin, who had to scrap to make the NHL after being a seventh-round pick in the 2018 draft. But Slavin didn’t think his draft slot meant all that much.

“I was a seventh-round pick, but I don’t think being drafted says anything,” Slavin said. “That’s when the work starts. I kind of took it as that and I just went to work after that.”

King recognized that work ethic.

“All of these guys, whether you’re a first-rounder or not or other rounds, they work hard, but I think coaches seem to gravitate to these seventh- or sixth-rounders that… they push themselves,” King said. “They know how to compete all the time. That’s what he does. He’s earned it. We’re rewarding him and I’m looking forward to seeing him at this level.”

NOTES: Rockford announced top prospect Lukas Reichel is in concussion protocol and will not play in its game Wednesday after crashing into the boards during the third period Sunday. Interim IceHogs coach Anders Sorensen had no timetable for Reichel’s return to the lineup.

“I saw him today, he was in good spirits,” Sorensen said. “He said under the circumstances he’s feeling pretty good.”

* Hawks defenseman Calvin de Haan did not practice due to lower back soreness. King said de Haan is day-to-day, and there was no point to have him push through it for practice.

“It’s probably just old age I guess creeping up on him,” King joked about the 30-year-old blueliner.

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Marine Leadership Academy | Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

Commandant Larry Kaifesh was “spreading false information about vaccines, which is just contrary to everything Dr. [Allison] Arwady and I have been preaching and speaking about,” CPS CEO Pedro Martinez said Tuesday.

A retired Marine Colonel and former GOP candidate for Congress has been removed from a high-ranking position at Chicago Public Schools’ Marine Leadership Academy, a Logan Square school already immersed in scandal, after he emailed families about the “dangers of vaccinating children,” schools chief Pedro Martinez said Tuesday.

Larry Kaifesh, the commandant at the Logan Square military academy, encouraged parents not to vaccinate their children as he cited a fringe website that he said showed “very concerning” vaccine information that he incorrectly claimed was a government database.

Sun-Times Media
Larry Kaifesh

His email, with the subject line “Important Update,” said had tested positive for COVID-19 and “was surprised with the test results as I have no major symptoms minus some sinus congestion.” He went on to say he chose not to get vaccinated because of the information he read online.

Reached by phone, Kaifesh declined to answer questions, saying, “I can’t really talk. … I can’t really add anything.”

Block Club Chicago first reported the email Tuesday.

Federal, state and local health officials, as well as independent epidemiologists and other medical experts, have found COVID-19 vaccines to be safe and extremely effective against the virus, both in preventing serious illness and death and slowing the spread.

Asked about Kaifesh at a press conference with City Public Health Commissioner Allison Arwardy Tuesday, Martinez said he had been removed from the school. Kaifesh was the top military official at Marine Leadership Academy, earning a $108,212 salary.

“This was mainly, frankly, spreading false information about vaccines, which is just contrary to everything Dr. Arwady and I have been preaching and speaking about,” said Martinez, who along with the commissioner had encouraged more families to get students vaccinated at the press conference.

Kaifesh, a 23-year veteran with combat tours to Iraq and Afghanistan, ran an unsuccessful 2014 campaign for the U.S. House in the northwest suburban 8th Congressional District against then-Rep. Tammy Duckworth. He has not sought elected office since.

Marine Leadership Academy was already dealing with this month’s revelation that almost a dozen staffers were fired for either committing or failing to report sexual misconduct.

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Adam Hollingsworth, otherwise known as “The Dread Head Cowboy,” speaks to reporters after a court hearing in September 2020. Hollingsworth, who was supposed to stand trial this week on animal cruelty charges, was jailed Tuesday on a contempt of court charge after repeatedly interrupting the judge in his case and accusing prosecutors of withholding evidence. | Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times file photo

Activist Adam Hollingsworth, who is representing himself against animal cruelty charges, was led out of court after repeatedly interrupting Cook County Judge Michael McHale.

Adam Hollingsworth, the activist known as the “Dread Head Cowboy,” was sentenced Tuesday to 90 days in jail on a contempt charge for arguing with a Cook County judge.

The contempt charge lands a day after Hollingsworth, who is representing himself in his animal cruelty case, had repeatedly talked over Judge Michael McHale and made claims that prosecutors were holding back evidence.

Hollingsworth was led out of the courtroom by sheriff’s deputies to the holding cell in McHale’s chambers, leaving his black stetson on a table. After an hour in chambers, McHale recalled the case and handed Hollingsworth the 90-day sentence.

“You have made a mockery of these proceedings,” McHale said after rattling off a series of incidents where Hollingsworth had made unsubstantiated claims or disrupted court since he was arrested for the horseback ride he took in 2020 on the Dan Ryan Expressway to raise awareness about violence against youth

“You have tried to do that, and you’ve succeeded.”

At the end of a status hearing Monday, McHale ordered Hollingsworth to return to court with a flash drive prosecutors had turned over to him.

Tuesday, Hollingsworth claimed a dog ate the flash drive and repeatedly interrupted the judge.

“We are not going to do this the way we’ve been doing it the past year and a half,” McHale had warned Hollingsworth, telling him he’d be held in contempt of court if he interrupted him three times.

After sparring with Hollingsworth the previous day, the judge quickly grew exasperated again Tuesday as Hollingsworth, 34, repeated his claims that he had not received discovery materials, including audio from a dashboard camera that prosecutors said they did not have.

“Where’s the flash drive?” McHale asked.

“My dog chewed it up,” Hollingsworth said, prompting the judge to order the activist to raise his right hand and swear to tell the truth.

“Did you throw it out? And, by the way, lying under oath is a crime. It’s perjury,” McHale said.

McHale’s temper flared as Hollingsworth claimed that prosecutors had been hiding evidence from him. Assistant State’s Attorney Christina Dracopoulos said prosecutors had turned over all files in the case to Hollingsworth on “several” occasions, and had sent him an online link to the same files Monday. Hollingsworth conceded that he had not downloaded those files.

“I want to know from you what right do you have, what basis do you have, to make that claim against the prosecutors,” McHale said. “You’re saying you got (the files), you got it yesterday. Would you still like to make an accusation they are hiding evidence, or would you like to withdraw it?”

As Hollingsworth stood silent for several seconds, the judge began speaking.

“I guess you’re thinking, because…”

“Can I talk?” Hollingsworth interjected, talking over the judge.

“That’s it! You’re in contempt! Take him back,” McHale said.

Hollingsworth has struggled to navigate the court system since he publicly fired his pro-bono defense attorney in October 2020. His lack of knowledge of court procedures has continually been on display in McHale’s courtroom since he started representing himself.

McHale said Hollingsworth would get day-for-day credit for his 90-day sentence.

The judge set the next hearing for the case on Jan. 21

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Tiger Woods holds his first press conference since his Feb. 23 car crash in Los Angeles at the Hero World Challenge golf tournament in Nassau, Bahamas, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021. | Doug Ferguson/AP

The superstar golfer had nothing to say about his February car wreck in first news conference since the crash

NASSAU, Bahamas — Tiger Woods had nothing to say about the February car crash that shattered his right leg and he had even less of an idea what his future in golf holds except that he’s a long way from deciding whether he can compete against the best.

“I can show up here and I can host an event, I can play a par-3 course, I can hit a few shots, I can chip and putt,” he said Tuesday. “But we’re talking about going out there and playing against the world’s best on the most difficult golf courses under the most difficult conditions.

“I’m so far from that.”

Woods addressed the media for the first time since his Feb. 23 crash on a winding road in the Los Angeles coastal suburbs. Police said he was driving at least 84 mph when he crossed a median and his SUV tumbled down a hill.

Doctors said he shattered tibia and fibula bones in his right leg in multiple locations. Those were stabilized by a rod in the tibia. A combination of screws and pins were used to stabilize additional injuries in the ankle and foot.

Asked his recollection of the accident, Woods said curtly, “All those answers have been answered in the investigation, so you can read about all that there in the police report.” When asked if he had any flashbacks to the trauma, he replied: “I don’t, no. Very lucky in that way.”

Woods said he felt fortunate to be alive and to still have his right leg — he said the possibility of amputation was “on the table” — and to be able to walk into the press center at Albany Golf Club without a noticeable limp. From the waist up, with biceps bulging through a black-and-gray shirt, he looked like he did a year ago.

Woods is the host of the Hero World Challenge, which starts Thursday for 20 elite players.

He said he spent three months immobilized — a makeshift hospital bed was set up in his Florida home — before he could start moving around on crutches and eventually walk on his own. Two weeks ago, he posted a video of his smooth swing with a short iron.

That raised hopes that he was on his way back. On Tuesday, he hit the brakes on any notion that a comeback was near. Still to be determined is whether he even wants to go through the work required to compete at a high level.

“I have a long way to go to get to that point,” he said. “Now, I haven’t decided whether or not I want to get to that point. I’ve got to get my leg to a point where that decision can be made, and we’ll see what happens when I get to that point.”

What was clear was that any golf in his future would be limited, and it already was headed in that direction before the car crash. He played only nine times during the pandemic-shortened 2020, ending the year with a fifth surgery on his lower back.

Even so, he could see a scenario of picking and choosing where to play, presumably around the majors, much like Ben Hogan did after his near-fatal car accident in 1949. Woods won the Masters in 2019 after back fusion surgery, and just two years after he could barely walk and feared his career was over.

“I got that last major, and I ticked off two more events along the way,” he said.

The other two were the Tour Championship in 2018, when he outplayed Rory McIlroy in the final round at East Lake, and the Zozo Championship in Japan in fall 2019 for his 82nd career PGA Tour victory to tie Sam Snead’s record.

Can he win again?

“I’ve got to be good enough to do it, OK? So I’ve got to prove to myself in practice that I’m good enough,” he said.

His right leg will never be what it once was. Ditto for his left knee, which has gone through five surgeries, one of them a week after he won the 2008 U.S. Open despite having shredded ligaments and a double stress fracture. He said his back won’t be the same either, and it still ached even as he sat at a table for his news conference.

Woods turns 46 on Dec. 30.

“All that combined means that a full schedule and a full practice schedule and the recovery that it would take to do that, no, I don’t have any desire to do that,” he said. “But to ramp up for a few events a year … there’s no reason that I can’t do that and feel ready.

“I’ve come off long layoffs and I’ve won or come close to winning before,” he said. “So I know the recipe for it. I’ve just got to get to a point where I feel comfortable enough where I can do that again.”

Since the accident, Woods gave an interview to Golf Digest (with which he has a financial deal) in May and a video interview with the Discovery-owned outlet that was published Monday. He also was in touch with U.S. players at the Ryder Cup and says the players with whom he’s close have kept in touch. But he hasn’t lost his intense desire for privacy, including what exactly happened when he was speeding along that suburban LA road.

He said friends kept him from what was being said and written about him, and he refused to watch anything on TV except for sports.

“I didn’t want to go down that road. I wasn’t mentally ready for that road yet,” he said. “A lot of things in my body hurt at that time, and whether I was on medication or not, it still hurt. … I didn’t want to have my mind go there yet. It wasn’t ready.”

Meanwhile, the Masters is four months away, and to hear Woods speak about the long road ahead, anything but the Masters Club dinner for champions seemed unlikely. Woods said everything was a short-term goal.

“This year’s been a year I would like to turn the page on,” he said.

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A parent hugs a child as others come to pick up students from the Meijer store in Oxford, Mich., following an active shooter situation at Oxford High School in Oxford, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021. Police took a suspected shooter into custody and there were multiple victims, the Oakland County Sheriff’s office said. | AP

Authorities arrested the suspect at the school and recovered a handgun. They didn’t immediately release the names of the suspect or victims.

OXFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich. — A 15-year-old sophomore opened fire at his Michigan high school on Tuesday, killing three students and wounding eight other people, including at least one teacher, authorities said.

Oakland County Undersheriff Mike McCabe said at a news conference that investigators were still trying to determine a motive for the shooting at Oxford High School in Oxford Township, a community of about 22,000 people roughly 30 miles (48 kilometers) north of Detroit.

He said he was aware of allegations circulating on social media that there had been threats of a shooting at the roughly 1,700-student school prior to Tuesday’s attack, but he cautioned against believing that narrative until investigators can look into it.

Authorities didn’t immediately release the suspect’s name, but McCabe said deputies arrested him without incident within minutes of arriving at the school in response to a flood of 911 calls about the attack, which happened shortly before 1 p.m. He said the deputies also recovered the semi-automatic handgun and several clips the suspect used in the attack.

“He fired multiple shots,” McCabe said. “Somewhere in the area of 15 to 20.”

The three students who were killed were a 16-year-old boy and two girls, ages 14 and 17, McCabe said. Two of the wounded were undergoing surgery as of 5 p.m. and the six others who were wounded were in stable condition, he said.

McCabe said the suspect’s parents visited their son where he’s being held and advised him not to talk to investigators, as is his right. Police have to seek permission from a juvenile suspect’s parents or guardian to speak with them, he added.

McCabe said he wasn’t aware of any prior run-ins the suspect had with law enforcement or if he had any disciplinary history at school.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer also spoke at the news conference, saying, “I think this is every parent’s worst nightmare,” while choking up.

The school was placed on lockdown after the attack, with some children sheltering in locked classrooms while officers searched the premises. They were later taken to a nearby Meijer grocery store to be picked up by their parents.

Isabel Flores, a 15-year-old ninth grader, told WJBK-TV that she and other students heard gunshots and saw another student bleeding from the face. They then ran from the area through the rear of the school, she said.

McCabe said investigators would be poring over the school’s video footage and looking through social media posts for any evidence of a possible motive.

A concerned parent, Robin Redding, said her son, Treshan Bryant, is a 12th grader at the school but stayed home on Tuesday. She said he had heard threats that there could be a shooting.

“This couldn’t be just random,” she said.

Redding didn’t provide specifics about what her son had heard, but she expressed concern with school safety in general.

“Kids just, like they’re just mad at each other at this school,” she said.

Bryant said he texted several younger cousins in the morning and they said they didn’t want to go to school, and he got a bad feeling. He asked his mom if he could do his assignments online.

Bryant said he had heard vague threats “for a long time now” about plans for a shooting at the school.

“You’re not supposed to play about that,” he said of the threats. “This is real life.”

School administrators posted two letters to parents on the school’s website this month, saying they were responding to rumors of a threat against the school following a bizarre vandalism incident.

According to a Nov. 4 letter written by Principal Steve Wolf, someone threw a deer head into a courtyard from the school’s roof, painted several windows on the roof with red acrylic paint and used the same paint on concrete near the school building.

Without specifically referencing that incident, a second post on Nov. 12 assured “there has been no threat to our building nor our students.”

“We are aware of the numerous rumors that have been circulating throughout our building this week. We understand that has created some concern for students and parents,” the administrators wrote. “Please know that we have reviewed every concern shared with us and investigated all information provided. Some rumors have evolved from an incident last week, while others do not appear to have any connection. Student interpretations of social media posts and false information have exacerbated the overall concern.”

McCabe said the incident with the deer head was “absolutely unrelated” to Tuesday’s shooting.

“That was a different incident, different student,” he said.

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Associated Press writers Corey Williams in West Bloomfield, Michigan, and Kathleen Foody in Chicago contributed to this report.

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