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Minnie and Mickey Mouse wave to fans during the 2019 Magnificent Mile Lights Festival. | Magnificent Mile Association

The two-day extravaganza culminates with the traditional Michigan Avenue parade on Nov. 20.

Kool & the Gang, an “American Idol” finalist and the “Whoomp! There It Is” guys will join Mickey and Minnie Mouse at next week’s Magnificent Mile Lights Festival.

The 30th annual fest, an adrenaline shot for the Chicago holiday season, returns as a live event after the COVID-19 scare last year limited the festivities to just a TV broadcast.

The two-day extravaganza culminates with the traditional Michigan Avenue parade beginning at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 20, at Oak Street. As the Disney mice light more than a million lights along, the crowd will be entertained by Kool & the Gang (performing their hit “Celebration”), Tag Team (the rap duo best known for “Whoomp!”) and Grace Kinstler, the Crystal Lake singer who finished third on “American Idol” earlier this year.

R&B and Broadway star Deborah Cox will do double duty, performing at a tree lighting ceremony at the Wrigley Building plaza (4 p.m. Nov. 19) and then the next day in the parade, which ends with fireworks at Wacker Drive.

Leading up to the parade will be a variety of free events starting at 11 a.m. at 401 N. Michigan Ave., including pet adoption, a temporary tattoo booth, photos with Santa and DJ entertainment.

Visitors are asked to wear masks regardless of vaccination status.

Highlights from the parade will air in a TV special premiering at 6 p.m. Nov. 21 on WLS-Channel 7.

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Kyle Rittenhouse responded “no” when asked by his attorney whether he came to Kenosha looking for trouble in the summer of 2020. | Sean Krajacic/The Kenosha News via AP pool

Rittenhouse’s testimony was interrupted by an angry exchange in which his lawyers demanded a mistrial over what they argued were out-of-bounds questions asked of him by the chief prosecutor.

KENOSHA, Wis. — Kyle Rittenhouse testified Wednesday he was under attack when he killed two men and wounded a third with his rifle during a chaotic night of protests in Kenosha, saying: “I didn’t do anything wrong. I defended myself.”

In a high-stakes gamble, the 18-year-old took the stand at his murder trial to tell his side of what happened on the streets that day in the summer of 2020, sobbing so hard at one point that the judge called a break.

In an account largely corroborated by video and the prosecution’s own witnesses, Rittenhouse said that the first man cornered him and put his hand on the barrel of Rittenhouse’s rifle, the second man hit him with a skateboard, and the third man came at him with a gun of his own.

His testimony was interrupted by an angry exchange in which his lawyers demanded a mistrial over what they argued were out-of-bounds questions asked of him by the chief prosecutor.

The judge, though plainly mad at the prosecutor, did not immediately rule on the request. And later in the day, he instructed the jury to expect closing arguments early next week.

Rittenhouse, 18, is on trial over the shootings he committed during the unrest that erupted in Kenosha over the wounding of Jacob Blake, a Black man, by a white Kenosha police officer. He could get life in prison.

Rittenhouse, who was 17 at the time, went to Kenosha with an AR-style semi-automatic weapon and a medic bag in what the former police youth cadet said was an effort to protect property after rioters had set fires and ransacked businesses on previous nights.

The case has divided Americans over whether Rittenhouse was a patriot taking a stand against lawlessness or a vigilante.

“I didn’t intend to kill them. I intended to stop the people who were attacking me,” Rittenhouse said, who after his morning outburst was largely composed the rest of the day, though his voice seemed to break at times as he came under tough cross-examination.

Prosecutor Thomas Binger went hard at Rittenhouse all afternoon during cross-examination, walking him through each of the shootings. Rittenhouse continually pushed back.

Rittenhouse said that he “didn’t want to have to shoot” Joseph Rosenbaum, the first man to fall that night, but he said Rosenbaum was chasing him and had threatened to kill him earlier.

“If I would have let Mr. Rosenbaum take my firearm from me, he would have used it and killed me with it,” he said, “and probably killed more people.”

But Rittenhouse also acknowledged that the strap holding his gun was in place and that he had both hands on the weapon.

Binger sought to drive home the state’s contention that Rittenhouse created the dangerous situation that led to bloodshed that night.

“You understand that when you point your AR-15 at someone, it may make them feel like you’re going to kill them, correct?” Binger asked.

Rittenhouse testified that he then shot and killed protester Anthony Huber after Huber struck him in the neck with his skateboard and grabbed his gun. Then he wounded Gaige Grosskreutz, saying the protester lunged at him “with his pistol pointed directly at my head.”

Rittenhouse’s decision to testify carried risks, including the possibility of fierce cross-examination. And some legal experts expressed doubt about the need to put him on the stand, given that some of the prosecution’s own witnesses have already bolstered his claim of self-defense.

Much of the testimony Wednesday was centered on the shooting of Rosenbaum, since that set in motion that bloodshed that followed.

Rittenhouse said that earlier that night, Rosenbaum was holding a chain and had twice threatened his life. Apologizing to the court for his language, Rittenhouse quoted Rosenbaum as saying: “I’m going to cut your (expletive) hearts out!”

Later that night, Rittenhouse said, he was walking toward a car dealer’s lot with a fire extinguisher to put out a blaze when he heard somebody scream, “Burn in hell!” He said he responded by saying, “Friendly, friendly, friendly!”

He said Rosenbaum was running at him from one side and another protester with a gun was in front of him, and he was cornered. He said he began to run, and he heard a protester tell Rosenbaum, “Get him and kill him!”

Rittenhouse said he heard a gunshot directly behind him, and as he turned around, Rosenbaum was coming at him with his arms out in front. “I remember his hand on the barrel of my gun,” Rittenhouse said.

That was when he fired, he said.

He also said he thought the object Rosenbaum threw during the chase — a plastic hospital bag — was the chain he had seen earlier.

Asked by his lawyer why he didn’t keep running away from Rosenbaum, Rittenhouse said: “There was no space for me to continue to run to.”

During cross-examination, Binger asked Rittenhouse about whether it was appropriate to use deadly force to protect property, and also posed questions about the defendant’s silence after his arrest.

At that, the jury was ushered out of the room, and Circuit Judge Bruce Schroeder loudly and angrily accused Binger of pursuing an improper line of questioning and trying to introduce testimony that the judge earlier said he was inclined to prohibit.

Rittenhouse lawyer Corey Chirafisi all but suggested prosecutors were deliberately trying to cause a mistrial because the case is “going badly” for the prosecution and it wants a do-over. The defense asked for a mistrial with prejudice, meaning that if one is granted, Rittenhouse cannot be retried.

When Binger said he had been acting in good faith, the judge replied: “I don’t believe that.”

When Rittenhouse broke into sobs, his mother, Wendy Rittenhouse, seated on a bench across the courtroom, cried loudly too, and someone next to her put an arm around her.

As he first took the stand, Rittenhouse was asked by his attorney whether he came to Kenosha looking for trouble, and he responded no.

He testified that he saw videos of violence in downtown Kenosha on the day before the shootings, including a brick being thrown at a police officer’s head and cars burning in a Car Source dealership lot.

Rittenhouse said the Car Source owner “was happy we were there” that night.

___

Bauer reported from Madison, Wisconsin; Foody from Chicago. Associated Press writer Tammy Webber contributed from Fenton, Michigan.

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Kyle Rittenhouse responded “no” when asked by his attorney whether he came to Kenosha looking for trouble in the summer of 2020. | Sean Krajacic/The Kenosha News via AP pool

The startling turn came after Rittenhouse, in a high-stakes gamble, took the stand and testified that he was under attack when he shot three men, two fatally, during a night of turbulent protests against racial injustice in Kenosha in the summer of 2020.

KENOSHA, Wis. — The murder case against Kyle Rittenhouse was thrown into jeopardy Wednesday when his lawyers asked for a mistrial over what appeared to be out-of-bounds questions asked of Rittenhouse by the chief prosecutor. The judge did not immediately rule on the request.

The startling turn came after Rittenhouse, in a high-stakes gamble, took the stand and testified that he was under attack when he shot three men, two fatally, during a night of turbulent protests against racial injustice in Kenosha in the summer of 2020.

“I didn’t do anything wrong. I defended myself,” the 18-year-old said.

In an account largely corroborated by video and the prosecution’s own witnesses, Rittenhouse said that the first man cornered him and put his hand on the barrel of Rittenhouse’s rifle, the second man hit him with a skateboard, and the third man came at him with a gun of his own.

During cross-examination, Rittenhouse said that he “didn’t want to have to shoot” Joseph Rosenbaum, the first man to fall that night, but he said Rosenbaum was chasing him and had threatened to kill him earlier.

“If I would have let Mr. Rosenbaum take my firearm from me, he would have used it and killed me with it,” he said, “and probably killed more people.”

But Rittenhouse also acknowledged that the strap holding his gun was in place and that he had both hands on the weapon.

Prosecutor Thomas Binger sought to drive home the state’s contention that Rittenhouse created the dangerous situation that led to bloodshed that night.

“You understand that when you point your AR-15 at someone, it may make them feel like you’re going to kill them, correct?” Binger asked.

Rittenhouse, his voice cracking, responded: “He could have ran away instead of trying to take my gun from me, but he kept chasing me. It didn’t stop him.”

Earlier in the day, Binger asked Rittenhouse about whether it was appropriate to use deadly force to protect property, and also posed questions about the defendant’s silence after his arrest.

At that, the jury was ushered out of the room, and Circuit Judge Bruce Schroeder loudly and angrily accused Binger of pursuing an improper line of questioning and trying to introduce testimony that the judge earlier said he was inclined to prohibit.

Rittenhouse lawyer Corey Chirafisi all but suggested prosecutors were deliberately trying to cause a mistrial because this one is “going badly” for the prosecution and it wants a do-over. The defense asked for a mistrial with prejudice, meaning that if one is granted, Rittenhouse cannot be retried.

When Binger said he had been acting in good faith, the judge replied: “I don’t believe that.”

Rittenhouse is on trial for the shootings he committed during the unrest that erupted in Kenosha over the wounding of a Black man by a white Kenosha police officer. He could get life in prison if convicted of the most serious charges against him.

Rittenhouse, who was 17 at the time, went to Kenosha with an AR-style semi-automatic weapon and a medic bag in what the former police youth cadet said was an attempt to protect property after rioters had set fires and ransacked businesses on previous nights.

He testified that after killing Rosenbaum, he fatally shot Anthony Huber after Huber struck him in the neck with his skateboard and grabbed his gun.

When the third man, Gaige Grosskreutz, “lunges at me with his pistol pointed directly at my head,” Rittenhouse shot him, too, wounding him.

“I didn’t intend to kill them. I intended to stop the people who were attacking me,” Rittenhouse said.

Early in his testimony, Rittenhouse sobbed so hard that the judge called a break. His mother, Wendy Rittenhouse, seated on a bench across the courtroom, cried loudly too, and someone next to her put an arm around her.

After that, the young man was largely composed, though his voice seemed to break at times as he came under tough cross-examination.

The case has divided Americans over whether Rittenhouse was a patriot taking a stand against lawlessness or a vigilante.

Rittenhouse’s decision to testify carried risks, including the possibility of fierce cross-examination. And some legal experts expressed doubt about the need to put him on the stand, given the way some of the prosecution’s own witnesses have already bolstered the young man’s claim of self-defense.

Much of the testimony Wednesday was centered on the first shooting of the night, since it was Rosenbaum’s death that set in motion that bloodshed that followed.

Rittenhouse said he was walking toward a car dealer’s lot with a fire extinguisher to put out a blaze when he heard somebody scream, “Burn in hell!” He said he responded by saying, “Friendly, friendly, friendly!”

He said Rosenbaum was running at him from one side and another protester with a gun was in front of him, “and I was cornered.” He said that was when he began to run. He said another protester, Joshua Ziminski, told Rosenbaum, “Get him and kill him.”

Rittenhouse said he heard a gunshot directly behind him, and as he turned around, Rosenbaum was coming at him with his arms out in front. “I remember his hand on the barrel of my gun,” Rittenhouse said.

“I shoot him,” the defendant recounted. He also said he thought the object Rosenbaum threw during the chase — a plastic hospital bag — was a chain he had seen Rosenbaum carrying earlier.

Asked by his lawyer why he didn’t keep running away from Rosenbaum, Rittenhouse said: “There was no space for me to continue to run to.”

Rittenhouse said that earlier that night, Rosenbaum was holding a chain and had twice threatened to kill him. Apologizing to the court for his language, Rittenhouse quoted Rosenbaum as saying: “I’m going to cut your (expletive) hearts out!”

As he first took the stand, Rittenhouse was asked by his attorney whether he came to Kenosha looking for trouble, and he responded no.

He testified that he saw videos of violence in downtown Kenosha on the day before the shootings, including a brick being thrown at a police officer’s head and cars burning in a Car Source dealership lot.

Rittenhouse said the Car Source owner “was happy we were there” that night.

___

Bauer reported from Madison, Wisconsin; Foody from Chicago. Associated Press writer Tammy Webber contributed from Fenton, Michigan.

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Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) speaks during a news conference outside the U.S. Department of Justice on July 27 in Washington, DC. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images

It’s lamentable that we’ve arrived at the logical conclusion, which is that a sitting member of Congress is posting a death fantasy video about a congresswoman, with little to no reaction from the former misogyny watchers on the right.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez did not ask for this.

Yes, she’s a public servant who, by definition, knows that she signed up for a kind of scrutiny that comes with a job as an elected official — but surely not this kind.

And she’s not shied away from the spotlight during her less than two years in Congress.

Indeed, at times she’s courted it quite effectively. But she didn’t expect to get this kind of attention.

This, after all, was an altered, animated death fantasy video, in which Ocasio-Cortez is assassinated. And this was posted by a colleague of hers, a fellow member of the United States Congress, if you can believe it.

The video was shared by Rep. Paul Gosar, a Republican cretin who inexplicably still represents the great state of Arizona, with the question, “Any anime fans out there?” — as if he were just wondering who might enjoy watching a quick clip in which he and other far-right looney tunes murder — yes, murder — Ocasio-Cortez and President Joe Biden.

The video is offensive and also absurd, and of the variety that floated around during the Trump administration, like one depicting Trump smacking down CNN in a WWE-style wrestling match. To which CNN responded, “It is a sad day when the President of the United States encourages violence against reporters.” Instead of eschewing this creepy, culty and disturbing fan art (or the “fans” behind them), some Republicans have amplified it, basking in the radioactive warmth of its violence.

And so, with seemingly no concern for Ocasio-Cortez’s safety, Gosar glibly took to Twitter to incite violence against a fellow member — notably a woman of color whom he and other Republicans have decided “deserves it.”

This reminds me of something. Once upon a time — or just a few years ago — conservatives made it their mission to call out this kind of violent misogyny. I know, I was there. Misogyny-watch was something of a cottage industry for the right in the 20-aughts and -teens.

And believe me, we were on solid ground and had plenty of material.

There was MSNBC host Ed Schultz, announcing a “bimbo alert” for Sarah Palin, and calling Laura Ingraham a “right-wing slut.” MSNBC’s Martin Bashir fantasized about someone defecating in Sarah Palin’s mouth — on live television. Liberal writer Matt Taibbi wrote of Michelle Malkin, “When I read her stuff, I imagine her narrating her text, book-on-tape style, with a big, hairy set of balls in her mouth.”

The high-minded intellectuals at Hustler similarly “imagined” me with a penis in my mouth — retribution for being conservative. Keith Olbermann was a routine offender, suggesting I should have been aborted and calling Malkin a “big mashed-up bag of meat with lipstick on it.” Feminists got particularly offended by his misogyny when he mused that the only way to defeat Hillary Clinton was to find “somebody who can take her into a room and only he comes out.”

MSNBC’s Chris Matthews had a long history of demeaning and misogynistic comments about everyone from Clinton to Palin to Michele Bachmann.

We were outraged — rightly — by this awful pattern of behavior, whereby men degraded women, reduced them to their sexual body parts, imagined violence, rape and other kinds of attacks on them.

That is, until Donald Trump did it.

From the “Access Hollywood” tape, in which he discussed grabbing women by their genitals, to his near-constant attacks on women’s looks, to the multiple allegations of sexual assault against him, suddenly the misogyny we’d railed against for so many years was… tolerable. You know, because of judges and stuff.

Trump recruited conservative women like Kellyanne Conway, once a critic of misogyny, to give his own misogyny cover. She happily obliged by ignoring his and gaslighting American voters with ludicrous cries of sexism against, well, nearly everyone she met, from CNN’s Anderson Cooper to Dana Bash, Sen. Mazie Hirono to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Cory Booker to Sen. Tim Kaine. They were the problem, she insisted. Not Trump.

For anyone who cared about intellectual consistency — and misogyny — this utter abandonment of both was disorienting, to say the least. It was bad when Olbermann — an oft-fired talking-head with an increasingly-diminishing fan base — did it, but somehow less egregious when the leader of the free world did it?

So it’s lamentable, but wholly unsurprising, that we’ve arrived at the logical conclusion, which is that a sitting member of Congress is posting a death fantasy video about a congresswoman, and with little to no reaction from the former misogyny watchers on the right.

To what end are Republicans going to tolerate the incitement of violence and misogyny like Gosar’s murder fantasy video? Until there’s actual violence done to Ocasio-Cortez? Because that’s, I fear, exactly where this is heading. She did not ask for this.

Send letters to [email protected].

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Hull Gate, the stone entrance that leads into the heart of the University of Chicago campus in Hyde Park. | Victor Hilitski / Sun-Times

The man, 24, was shot to death near the campus, hours after a nearby block was shot up.

University of Chicago officials say they are working with City Hall on new “public safety strategies” for Hyde Park after a recent graduate was gunned down during an armed robbery near the campus, hours after a block nearby was shot up.

“We have been in close contact with Mayor Lightfoot, Chicago Police Department Superintendent Brown and other members of the Mayor’s team, along with local aldermen, and are speaking again tomorrow,” the school’s president and provost said in a statement late Tuesday.

Neither President Paul Alivisatos nor Provost Ka Yee C. Lee included any details, except to say they would be “short and longer-term.”

The statement was released hours after Shaoxiong “Dennis” Zheng, 24, was shot and killed during an attempted robbery in Hyde Park, a few blocks north of the school campus.

Police say Zheng was on the sidewalk in the 900 block of East 54th Street when a dark-colored car pulled up and a gunman got out shortly before 2 p.m. Witnesses told officers he appeared to struggle with the robber and a shot went off, according to preliminary information from the scene.

Zheng was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center down the street, where he was pronounced dead. Police said the robber got back in the car, which fled west on 54th Place.

Zheng had recently gotten his master’s degree in statistics at the university after attending the University of Hong Kong, according to the school.

About two hours earlier, just blocks away, businesses and cars were damaged by gunfire. The shots were fired from a Hyundai Sonata about 12:10 p.m. at 53rd Street and South Harper Avenue, according to a security alert from the University of Chicago.

No injuries were reported, but several cars and two businesses were damaged by gunfire, the alert said. The Sonata had been reported stolen Monday, according to the alert.

Both incidents occurred in the Wentworth police district, which has seen a sharp rise in violent crime this year.

Murders are up 84% from this time last year, from 19 to 35, according to police statistics. Shootings are up 44%, from 91 to 131, and sexual assaults are up 24%, from 63 to 78.

Two University of Chicago students have been killed in gun violence this year. Yiran Fan, a 30-year-old doctoral student, was killed in January in a shooting spree that started in Hyde Park and ended in Evanston. Max Lewis, a 20-year-old University of Chicago junior, was fatally struck by a stray bullet in July while riding a Green Line train at the 51st Street station.

In their statement, Alivisatos and Lee they are “committed to doing more as a university and as an anchor institution on the South Side. This includes developing comprehensive efforts to reduce violence, and supporting Chicago’s communities in securing a safer future.”

They said the stepped-up efforts will include “mobilizing the academic and policy expertise of the UChicago community to engage with other national experts and officials in efforts to strengthen our cities and reduce the human toll of gun violence.”

Cook County Board President Preckwinkle — who lost the mayoral election to Lori Lightfoot — released a statement Wednesday noting there have been nearly 100 more homicides this year than the same time last year and asking, “When is enough, enough?”

“We need an immediate and urgent response to the violence as well as a long-term plan to address those root causes of violence,” she added, promising to reach out “to relevant stakeholders to bring everyone together and establish real world results.”

Preckwinkle, who lives in Hyde Park, did not detail what those efforts might entail or exactly who she would reach out to.

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Hull Gate, the stone entrance that leads into the heart of the University of Chicago campus in Hyde Park. | Victor Hilitski / Sun-Times

The man, 24, was shot to death near the campus, hours after a nearby block was shot up.

University of Chicago officials say they are working with City Hall on new “public safety strategies” for Hyde Park after a recent graduate was gunned down during an armed robbery near the campus, hours after a block nearby was shot up.

“We have been in close contact with Mayor Lightfoot, Chicago Police Department Superintendent Brown and other members of the Mayor’s team, along with local aldermen, and are speaking again tomorrow,” the school’s president and provost said in a statement late Tuesday.

Neither President Paul Alivisatos nor Provost Ka Yee C. Lee included any details, except to say they would be “short and longer-term.”

The statement was released hours after Shaoxiong Zheng, 24, was shot and killed during an attempted robbery in Hyde Park, a few blocks north of the school campus.

Police say Zheng was on the sidewalk in the 900 block of East 54th Street when a dark-colored car pulled up and a gunman got out shortly before 2 p.m. Witnesses told officers he appeared to struggle with the robber and a shot went off, according to preliminary information from the scene.

Zheng was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center down the street, where he was pronounced dead. Police said the robber got back in the car, which fled west on 54th Place.

Zheng was a recent graduate of the university, according to the school, which said campus police were increasing patrols in the area.

About two hours earlier, just blocks away, businesses and cars were damaged by gunfire. The shots were fired from a Hyundai Sonata about 12:10 p.m. at 53rd Street and South Harper Avenue, according to a security alert from the University of Chicago.

No injuries were reported, but several cars and two businesses were damaged by gunfire, the alert said. The Sonata had been reported stolen Monday, according to the alert.

Both incidents occurred in the Wentworth police district, which has seen a sharp rise in violent crime this year.

Murders are up 84% from this time last year, from 19 to 35, according to police statistics. Shootings are up 44%, from 91 to 131, and sexual assaults are up 24%, from 63 to 78.

In their statement, Alivisatos and Lee they are “committed to doing more as a university and as an anchor institution on the South Side. This includes developing comprehensive efforts to reduce violence, and supporting Chicago’s communities in securing a safer future.”

They said the stepped-up efforts will include “mobilizing the academic and policy expertise of the UChicago community to engage with other national experts and officials in efforts to strengthen our cities and reduce the human toll of gun violence.”

Cook County Board President Preckwinkle — who lost the mayoral election to Lori Lightfoot — released a statement Wednesday noting there have been nearly 100 more homicides this year than the same time last year and asking, “When is enough, enough?”

“We need an immediate and urgent response to the violence as well as a long-term plan to address those root causes of violence,” she added, promising to reach out “to relevant stakeholders to bring everyone together and establish real world results.”

Preckwinkle, who lives in Hyde Park, did not detail what those efforts might entail or exactly who she would reach out to.

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The Navy’s nuclear-powered attack submarine USS Vermont is christened at Electric Boat in Groton, Conn., on Oct. 20, 2018. | Sean D. Elliot / The Day via AP

Elena Marie Thomas, who worked for a foundry that supplied steel used to make submarine hulls, faked the results of strength tests on the steel.

SEATTLE — A metallurgist in Washington state has pleaded guilty to fraud after she spent decades faking the results of strength tests on steel that was used to make U.S. Navy submarines.

Elaine Marie Thomas, 67, of Auburn, Washington, was the director of metallurgy at a foundry in Tacoma that supplied steel castings used by Navy contractors Electric Boat and Newport News Shipbuilding to make submarine hulls.

From 1985 through 2017, Thomas falsified the results of strength and toughness tests for at least 240 productions of steel — about half the steel the foundry produced for the Navy, according to her plea agreement, filed in federal court in Tacoma. The tests were intended to show that the steel wouldn’t fail in a collision or in certain “wartime scenarios,” the Justice Department said.

There was no allegation that any submarine hulls failed, but authorities said the Navy had incurred increased costs and maintenance to ensure they remain seaworthy. The government didn’t disclose which subs were affected.

Thomas faces up to 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine when she is sentenced in February. But the Justice Department said it would recommend a prison term at the low end of whatever the judge determines is the standard sentencing range.

In a written statement filed in court on her behalf, attorney John Carpenter said Thomas “took shortcuts” but “Ms. Thomas never intended to compromise the integrity of any material and is gratified that the government’s testing does not suggest that the structural integrity of any submarine was in fact compromised. This offense is unique in that it was neither motivated by greed nor any desire for personal enrichment. She regrets that she failed to follow her moral compass — admitting to false statements is hardly how she envisioned living out her retirement years.”

Thomas’ conduct came to light in 2017, when a metallurgist being groomed to replace her noticed suspicious test results and alerted their company, Kansas City-based Bradken Inc., which acquired the foundry in 2008.

Bradken fired Thomas and initially disclosed its findings to the Navy but then wrongfully suggested that the discrepancies weren’t the result of fraud. That hindered the Navy’s investigation into the scope of the problem and also its efforts to remediate the risks to sailors, prosecutors said.

In June 2020, the company agreed to pay $10.9 million under a deferred-prosecution agreement.

Confronted with the doctored results, Thomas told investigators, “Yeah, that looks bad,” the Justice Department said.

She said that, in some cases, she changed the tests to passing grades because she thought it was “stupid” that the Navy required the tests to be conducted at negative-100 degrees Fahrenheit.

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