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Authorities in Berwyn responded to an accidental explosion and gas leak in the western suburb Tuesday afternoon.

It wasn’t immediately clear if anyone was injured, and police said the explosion was determined to be accidental.

Crews were called at 2:05 p.m. to the explosion in the 3300 block of Oak Park Avenue, police said in a statement posted to Facebook.

Video from a news helicopter showed fire crews spraying water in a building adjacent to the Familia Fresh Market. Debris appeared to be strewn along the sidewalk outside the building.

Firefighters were working to “extinguish fires and contain an active gas leak,” police said. Surrounding buildings were evacuated.

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The No. 4 overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft showed some real signs of becoming an elite two-way player someday. Now, he just has to embrace that mentality and run with it, according to one veteran teammate.

It was a heart-to-heart that veteran Thad Young had to have with the 19-year-old rookie the last night of the regular season.

Not the first time the Bulls forward had that discussion with Patrick Williams, but the one he was hoping had the most staying power to take into an important summer.

The Bulls beat a resting Bucks team in that finale, and did so while sitting Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic.

Williams, the No. 4 pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, finished with 11 points.

Not good enough, according to Young.

“I asked him [after the game], ‘Do you want to be great?’ ‘’ Young said. “He said, ‘Yes, I do want to be great.’ He asked, ‘What do I need to do to be great?’ I said in games like this you have Zach and ‘Vuch’ out. So this is your shot. You have to believe that. So when they put a guy like [Bucks point guard] Jeff Teague or any guard on you, I shouldn’t have to say ‘Oh, we’ve got a mismatch.’ You should be calling your own mismatch out and you should be taking advantage of that and being aggressive.

“If you want to be great that’s what the great players do. They impose their will on the game at all points in the game and he has to do that a little bit more than he’s done this season. I understand it’s his first year. but he’s shown us and the Bulls fans so much in this first year of what he can be to the point where his standards should be set even higher next year, and he should want to be a top two or three guy on this team next year.’’

If the Bulls want to reach the postseason next season, Williams needs to be a top three player on this roster. Not the guy that passes up shots far too often and explains it as “playing the right way.’’

The “right way’’ for a man-child that is built like a 6-foot-7 middle linebacker? Continue being that willing defender with the hopes of developing into an elite wing defender, but also become that third scoring threat.

It’s when Williams takes that mentality to the floor that the new Bulls regime can honestly say they hit something special in their first draft.

“I think we have the pieces,’’ Young said, when asked to assess the ceiling of the Bulls next season. “I think we just need Pat to take his game to the next level.’’

Williams will definitely have that chance.

With the league already looking to lighten protocols this offseason, and Williams committed to participate in the August Summer League in Las Vegas, the forward has a coaching staff and teammates willing to play village and raise him.

It will be a two-way street, however.

Taking advice to continue moving toward becoming a two-way player is one thing. Showing it on the court in an aggressive manner is another. One that that soft-spoken Williams has to embrace — out of his comfort zone or not.

“I really think I can be as good as I want to be,’’ Williams said recently. “The size, the strength, the athleticism, I pretty much have it all. For me it’s more mental than anything. I have to learn how to control my mentality and to really dial in 100 percent mentally, and I think that will make me the player that I want to be and that I need to be.’’

And if not? Young and another heart-to-heart will definitely be waiting.

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He is set to appear in director Franco Nero’s upcoming Italian film, ”L’uomo Che Disegnò Dio,” opposite Nero’s wife, Vanessa Redgrave, ABC and CNN report. 

Disgraced Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey has reportedly landed his first role since being accused of sexual misconduct in 2017.

He is set to appear in director Franco Nero’s upcoming Italian film, ”L’uomo Che Disegnò Dio,” opposite Nero’s wife, Vanessa Redgrave, ABC and CNN report.

“I’m very happy Kevin agreed to participate in my film,” Nero told ABC. “I consider him a great actor and I can’t wait to start the movie.”

USA TODAY has reached out to Nero and Spacey’s representatives for further comment.

More than a dozen men and teen boys accused Spacey of sexual harassment and assault in 2017, after which the once-revered actor’s career came to a halt. Spacey was fired from his starring role in the final season of Netflix political drama series “House of Cards” and his last role was in 2018’s biodrama ”Billionaire Boys Club.”

“Rent” and “Star Trek: Discovery” actor Anthony Rapp was among the accusers. He told BuzzFeed in 2017 that he was 14 when he attended a party at Spacey’s apartment, where he said an inebriated Spacey made sexual advances.

In October 2017, Spacey issued a statement on Twitter saying he didn’t remember the encounter but apologized. In the process, he came out as a gay man, sparking criticism he was trying to distract attention from Rapp’s accusations.

“I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior, and I am sorry for the feelings he describes having carried with him all these years,” Spacey wrote.

Since 2017, he has mostly kept a low profile, occasionally releasing videos and interviews. In one video in 2018, he appeared to criticize the Me Too movement while in character as Frank Underwood, his “House of Cards” character. In an interview last year on the Bits & Pretzels podcast, he equated his downfall from sexual misconduct allegations to the struggles of those losing their jobs because of the coronavirus pandemic.

A criminal case brought against him ended in 2019, when prosecutors in Nantucket, Massachusetts, announced they would drop the charge that Spacey sexually assaulted a teen bus boy at an island bar in the summer of 2016, “due to the unavailability of the complaining witness.”

Rapp filed a lawsuit last September, detailing what he has said publicly about Spacey: That the older actor made a sexual advance to him when a teenage Rapp attended a party.

Earlier this month, a U.S. district judge in Manhattan ruled that another man accusing Spacey of sexually abusing him in the 1980s when he was 14 in the same lawsuit as Rapp would not be allowed to proceed anonymously in court. The man, identified as C.D., had met Spacey in the actor’s suburban New York acting class before the alleged abuse, according to the lawsuit that seeks over $40 million in damages.

Judge Lewis A. Kaplan said the man’s privacy interest does not outweigh the presumption of open judicial proceedings and the prejudice to Spacey’s defense that would occur if he could proceed anonymously. Individuals with information that might support Spacey also would not know to come forward, the judge added.

Read more at usatoday.com

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A moment of silence was also held in New York and a rally was held in Los Angeles to honor Floyd. Globally, a rally took place in Germany and Floyd’s death was marked by U.S. embassies in Greece and Spain.

MINNEAPOLIS — George Floyd was honored Tuesday with a moment of silence in the city where he died at the hands of police, a death captured on wrenching bystander video that galvanized the racial justice movement and continues to ripple a year later.

Floyd’s sister Bridgett and other family members joined Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, citizens and activists at a downtown park to observe the moment at an event that included music and food trucks.

“It’s been a troubling year, a long year,” Bridgett Floyd told the crowd. “But we made it. They say with God all things are possible and I’m a true believer in that … The love is very outpouring today. The love is here. George is here.”

A moment of silence was also held in New York and a rally was held in Los Angeles to honor Floyd. Globally, a rally took place in Germany and Floyd’s death was marked by U.S. embassies in Greece and Spain.

A family-friendly street festival was also planned at the Minneapolis intersection where Floyd died. That intersection was disrupted by gunfire just hours before the event.

Associated Press video from 38th Street and Chicago Avenue — informally known as George Floyd Square — showed people running for cover as shots rang out. Police said a man, who they believe was injured in the shooting, later went to a nearby hospital with a gunshot wound. Police spokesman John Elder said he was in critical condition but was expected to survive.

Philip Crowther, a reporter working for AP Global Media Services, which provides live video coverage, reported hearing as many as 30 gunshots about a block from the intersection. Crowther said a storefront window appeared to have been broken by gunshots.

“Very quickly things got back to normal,” Crowther said. “People here who spend a significant amount of time, the organizers, were running around asking, ‘Does anyone need a medic?’”

Police said witnesses reported seeing a vehicle speeding away. Elder said no one was in custody by midday Tuesday.

Like other major cities, Minneapolis has been struggling with rising gun violence, a problem made worse, in part, by many officers leaving the embattled force since Floyd’s death. A 6-year-old girl was fatally shot and two other children wounded in recent weeks. Frey last week unveiled sweeping public safety proposals aimed at fixing the problem. Other groups are pursuing a more radical remaking of the police department.

The intersection of 38th and Chicago has been barricaded since soon after Floyd’s death. It quickly turned into a memorial — and also a challenging spot for the city, with police officers not always welcome.

The square was transformed Tuesday into an outdoor festival, with food, children’s activities and a long list of musical performers. The “Rise and Remember George Floyd” celebration, including a candlelight vigil, caps several days of marches, rallies and panel discussions about his death and confronting racial discrimination.

Floyd, 46, who was Black, died May 25, 2020, after then-Officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck, pinning him to the ground for about 9 1/2 minutes. Chauvin, who is white, was convicted last month of murder and faces sentencing June 25. Three other fired officers still face trial.

In New York City, elected officials including Mayor Bill de Blasio and U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries joined the Rev. Al Sharpton in kneeling for 9 minutes, 29 seconds. “As we took a knee, imagine how long that was on a human being’s neck,” Sharpton said. “Never switched knees, just dug in. It’s time we correct policing in this country.”

Many Floyd family members were planned to meet with President Joe Biden in Washington, D.C. Biden called family members after the Chauvin verdict and pledged to continue fighting for racial justice.

Floyd family attorney Ben Crump said he hoped Biden would renew his support for policing reform named for George Floyd that would ban chokeholds and no-knock police raids and create a national registry for officers disciplined for serious misconduct.

“Now is time to act,” Crump said Tuesday on CNN. “Not just talk but act.”

Floyd’s brother Philonise, appearing alongside Crump, said he thinks about George “all the time.”

“My sister called me at 12 o’clock last night and said ’This is the day our brother left us,’” he said, adding: “I think things have changed. I think it is moving slowly but we are making progress.”

Bridgett Floyd told the crowd in Minneapolis that Biden broke his promise. “We need that bill passed. We don’t want a watered down bill … My message to the president: Get your people in order … We’re going to continue to fight this good old fight.”

Rapper Nur-D, whose real name is Matt Allen, was among those who took to the Minneapolis streets after Floyd’s death and eventually founded an organization, Justice Frontline Aid, to support safe protest. He described the past year as “like we’ve lived 20 years inside of one” and hoped that people would feel “honesty and a real sense of togetherness” during Tuesday’s celebration.

“If you’re angry, you can be angry. If you’re sad, you can be sad,” Nur-D said. “If you’re feeling some sense of joy over the verdict and some sort of like step in the right direction, and you want to celebrate that, do that as well.”

The event was organized by the George Floyd Global Memorial. Angela Harrelson, an aunt of Floyd’s and a member of the board of directors, said the organization will display some artwork left at George Floyd Square in a pop-up gallery.

Separately, the Floyd family announced the launch of a fund that will make grants to businesses and community organizations in the neighborhood, as well as broader grants “encouraging the success and growth of Black citizens and community harmony.” The money comes from $500,000 earmarked as part of the city’s $27 million civil settlement for the Floyd family earlier this year.

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Associated Press writer Amy Forliti contributed to this report.

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Andrea Holthouse Cheng, a 16-year veteran of the Department of Water Management, takes over after holding down the fort since the ouster of Commissioner Randy Conner.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot moved Tuesday to plug the holes in her cabinet — by handing the permanent jobs to two acting department heads.

Andrea Holthouse Cheng, a 16-year veteran of the Department of Water Management who has held down the fort since the January ouster of Commissioner Randy Conner, will be Conner’s permanent, $174,600-a-year replacement.

The same script was followed in the Department of Family and Support Services. First Deputy Commissioner Brandie Knazze, who’s been riding herd since the Feb. 26 resignation of Lisa Morrison Butler, gets the $180,276-a-year permanent job.

Both new commissioners assume their roles at a time of unprecedented turnover in the mayor’s cabinet.

And both have their work cut out for them.

Cheng inherits a department at the center of the Hired Truck and city hiring scandals and the more recent scandal involving racist, sexist and homophobic emails.

She must sell and implement Lightfoot’s go-slow plan to replace lead service lines carrying water from street mains to nearly 380,000 Chicago homes.

Rather than ask all Chicago homeowners to share the cost, Lightfoot has opted to start small, with the city replacing lead service pipes at 600 homes in impoverished Chicago neighborhoods.

For homeowners willing to hire contractors and assume replacement costs, the city has offered to waive up to $3,300 in permit fees, connect the new service line to the water main and install a free water meter when the project is completed.

The city will also choose an entire block — roughly 50 homes — where all service lines will be replaced as the water main is replaced. The city has applied for an Illinois EPA revolving loan of up to $4 million to cover that program.

Chicago also won a heated competition with Hammond for the right to sell Lake Michigan water to Joliet. The deal could bring $30 million in annual revenues. But Cheng must preside over the Joliet-bankrolled construction of a 31-mile pipeline and other pumping station infrastructure improvements costing $592 million to $810 million.

Morrison Butler was a favorite among aldermen because of her tireless work to combat Chicago’s entrenched problem of homelessness and prevent the coronavirus from spreading like wildfire through the city’s homeless shelters.

Family and Support Services delivers social service programs and resources to more than 400,000 of Chicago’s most vulnerable residents.

“She was compassionate and fair. Whoever comes behind her has big shoes to fill,” said Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd), chairman of the City Council’s Budget Committee said on the day she announced her resignation.

Housing Committee Chairman Harry Osterman (48th) has called Morrison Butler “one of the shining stars” at City Hall, leaving Lightfoot with a “huge hole” to fill.

“She has worked to help homeless people, children, senior citizens in a very tireless way. She really touched a lot of lives in Chicago with people who need it the most and did so always with the City Council in a spirit of partnership,” Osterman said.

“I can’t say enough about how hard-working and what a great person she’s been for the city of Chicago.”

In a press release announcing the appointments, Lightfoot described Knazze as an “exceptional leader” who has already helped Chicagoans through “several difficult moments” including the polar vortex of 2019.

“As our city begins to reopen and double down on its socioeconomic supports for our most vulnerable residents, Brandie’s appointment … couldn’t have come at a better time,” the mayor was quoted as saying.

“I am … beyond confident that she will make Chicago a better, more equitable place for those who have been struggling long before the pandemic hit our city.”

The mayor called Cheng a “skilled engineer and a national expert in the water industry” who has a “deep understanding of, not only the necessity of providing water services…in an equitable and practical way, but the science behind it.”

Cheng said her priority is to “promote professionalism and create diversity in our workforce” so the department is “prepared for new challenges like expanding regional growth and launching lead service line replacement.”

“I am passionate about water,” she was quoted as saying.

Knazze said she has spent the last six years offering “tangible solutions to real-life problems facing Chicagoans every day.” The work of Family and Support Services “has become even more necessary in the city’s successful response to the Covid-19 pandemic,” she was quoted as saying.

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Greene excoriated safety protocols adopted by House Democrats, including a requirement that masks be worn on the House floor. She also called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “mentally ill” while suggesting that the rules were comparable to the treatment of Jews during the Holocaust.

WASHINGTON — Republican leaders forcefully condemned GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Tuesday, calling her comments comparing COVID-19 safety measures like mask-wearing to the treatment of Jews in Nazi Germany “appalling.”

“Marjorie is wrong, and her intentional decision to compare the horrors of the Holocaust with wearing masks is appalling,” House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said in a statement, which stopped short of calling for Greene to face disciplinary measures. “The fact that this needs to be stated today is deeply troubling.”

Greene, a conservative firebrand from Georgia and ally of former President Donald Trump, has thrived on stirring controversy, pushing conspiracy theories and forcefully confronting her colleagues since taking her seat in the House in January. But, until now, Republican leaders have proven hesitant to criticize her and refused to join with Democrats earlier this year when they voted to strip her of committee assignments.

Their rebuke Tuesday came after Greene made an appearance on a conservative podcast, “The Water Cooler with David Brody,” released last Thursday. In her interview, Greene excoriated safety protocols adopted by House Democrats, including a requirement that masks be worn on the House floor. She also called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “mentally ill” and suggested that the rules were comparable to the treatment of Jews during the Holocaust.

“You know, we can look back in a time and history where people were told to wear a gold star. And they were definitely treated like second-class citizens, so much so that they were put in trains and taken to gas chambers in Nazi Germany,” Greene said on the podcast. “This is exactly the type of abuse that Nancy Pelosi is talking about.”

After her remarks sparked a firestorm of online criticism, Greene leaned in to the comparison further.

On Tuesday, she tweeted out a news story about a grocery store chain that plans to allow vaccinated employees to go maskless. Those who do would have a logo on their nametags indicating they had been vaccinated.

“Vaccinated employees get a vaccination logo just like the Nazi’s forced Jewish people to wear a gold star,” Greene tweeted.

Pelosi, who previously suggested that Greene could face an ethics inquiry, called her comments “so beyond reprehensible” that they should have “no place in our country.” Democratic Illinois Rep. Brad Schneider proposed censuring Greene.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., called Greene’s comments one of her “frequent outbursts that are absolutely outrageous and reprehensible.” Still, he said any disciplinary action against her would have to come from the House.

Rep. Elise Stefanik, the No. 3 House GOP leader, said “equating mask wearing and vaccines to the Holocaust” minimized “the most significant human atrocities ever committed.”

The furor is just the latest provocative chapter in the activist-turned-lawmaker’s brief tenure in the House.

Earlier this month, Greene followed Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez off the House floor, shouting that the Democrat supported “terrorists” and doesn’t “care about the American people.” She also appeared in Facebook Live video filmed outside Ocasio-Cortez’s office, taunting the congresswoman through the mail slot of a locked door to “get rid of your diaper and come out and be able to talk to the American citizens.”

Before her election, Greene supported Facebook posts that advocated violence against Democrats and the FBI. In one 2018 post, she speculated that “lasers or blue beams of light” controlled by a left-wing cabal tied to a powerful Jewish family could have been responsible for sparking California wildfires.

And in February 2019, Greene appeared in an online video filmed at the U.S. Capitol, arguing that two Muslim lawmakers weren’t “really official” members of Congress because they didn’t take the oath of office on the Bible.

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Absolute mayhem in the bleachers during Monday night’s Chicago White Sox and St. Louis Cardinals at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago.

The post Summer is almost here and there was Mayhem between Cardinals and White Sox fans on Monday night first appeared on CHI CITY SPORTS l Chicago Sports Blog – News – Forum – Fans – Rumors.Read More

Ald. David Moore said the Lightfoot administration offered substitutes, such as renaming the Dan Ryan Expressway. That had “racial overtones,” he said. “Keep it on the South Side. South of like 35th Street. Let’s be honest. Keep it in the Black community,” Moore told the Sun-Times.

Barring an 11th-hour parliamentary maneuver, the Chicago City Council is poised Wednesday to rename Outer Lake Shore Drive in honor of Jean Baptiste Point DuSable at a cost one alderman pegged at $2.5 million.

Ald. David Moore (17th), the Council’s champion for DuSable Drive, said Tuesday Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration tried to block the ordinance with an alternative he views as having “racial overtones” — renaming the Dan Ryan Expressway in honor of Chicago first permanent, non-indigenous settler.

Lightfoot has also offered to complete DuSable Park, create an exhibit honoring DuSable at the “most traveled part” of the downtown Riverwalk and rename the entire Riverwalk in honor of DuSable.

“We were offered to rename the Dan Ryan. …. Keep it on the South Side. South of like 35th Street. Let’s be honest. Keep it in the Black community,” Moore told the Sun-Times.

“Those are racial overtones and ones that we have to move beyond in this city. We’re better than that.”

Moore refused to name the person who made the offer to rename the Dan Ryan. “I’ll just say the [Lightfoot] administration and leave it at that.”

The mayor’s office had no immediate comment on the matter Tuesday.

Zoning Committee Chairman Tom Tunney (44th) has said he’s gotten an earful about the name change from “people who actually live on Lake Shore Drive.” They fear it would be “somewhat of a nightmare in terms of mailing addresses and everything else they would have to re-arrange,” Tunney has said.

Downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) has similarly warned the name change will require a “time-consuming and costly fix” for “tens of thousands” of Chicago voters and have “costly implications” for businesses, police and fire.

Brian Ernst/Sun-Times

But on the eve of the showdown vote, Moore disclosed the combined cost to the city, state and CTA to change signs, maps and schedules pales by comparison to the cost of Lightfoot’s alternative proposal to honor DuSable.

“The state gave their numbers. The city gave their numbers. And it came out to less than $2.5 million to make the street change, signs and everything,” Moore said of the estimate delivered in recent months at Reilly’s request.

“But yet, the administration came back with a proposal of $40 million: $25 million for the park and $15 million for the Riverwalk and also threw in there the possibility of changing the Chicago River to DuSable. But they would have to go through the Department of Interior. All that heavy lifting just to not rename the Outer Drive? That’s an issue for me.”

In 1993, then-aldermen Toni Preckwinkle and Madeline Haithcock proposed renaming Lake Shore Drive to honor DuSable. Mayor Richard M. Daley put the kibosh on the idea.

Then, 18 years later, then-Ald. Ed Smith proposed a different honor — naming City Hall after DuSable. It met the same fate.

Since then, the political landscape has changed dramatically.

The Council is now majority-minority, with 20 Black aldermen and 13 Hispanic members.

More importantly, the death of George Floyd a year ago Tuesday at the hands of Minneapolis police officers has triggered a racial reckoning in Chicago and across the nation. It prompted the Council to create a reparations subcommittee charged with finding a way to make amends to “descendants of enslaved Africans” living in Chicago.

Against that backdrop, an ordinance that has languished in committee since October 2019 appears to have too much political momentum to stop.

“The peoples’ voices are louder. … I don’t think it’s as much political awareness as it is social conscience. People are raising their voice and knowing the significance of certain statues, certain recognitions and how that plays a role in our lives,” Moore said.

Brian Ernst/Sun-Times

Moore, whose ordinance needs a technical fix to define the “Outer Drive,” said he has been pleasantly surprised by the outpouring from “students and young people” in the two years since he introduced the name change.

“I didn’t think it would happen at the rate that it did. That’s why it’s important to me. It raised awareness among young people to learn about DuSable and learn about … him finding Chicago. And not only just Black kids. It’s all our children across this city,” he said.

“When we talk about immigrants, people think of either European immigrants or Mexican immigrants. But we have a lot of immigrants from Haiti and from the African diaspora. Their voices are finally being heard in this. It means a lot to them to see this happen.”

Any two aldermen can move to “defer and publish,” which delays consideration of any matter for one meeting. Tunney said he has no plans to use that parliamentary maneuver. Reilly could not be reached.

Downtown Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd) was asked whether he has any plans to delay the vote.

“Not sure. Under discussion,” Hopkins wrote in a text message to the Sun-Times.

Lightfoot also has the option of vetoing the name change. But allies say Lightfoot would be better served by letting it go and saving her energy for the more important battles ahead, such as doling out federal relief funds, passing some form of civilian police oversight and crafting a city budget, just to name a few.

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Mollie Marcoux Samaan will be the second woman to lead the tour since its formation in 1950.

The LPGA Tour chose Princeton athletic director Mollie Marcoux Samaan as its commissioner Tuesday, the second woman to lead the tour since its formation in 1950.

Marcoux Samaan succeeds Mike Whan, who announced in January he was resigning and then took over as CEO of the U.S. Golf Association.

She inherits a tour that made it through the COVID-19 pandemic and emerged with a 34-event schedule with record prize money approaching $80 million.

The LPGA said she would spend the coming months transitioning from Princeton to the LPGA.

“The LPGA Commissioner role is one of the best jobs in sports today and the opportunity of a lifetime,” she said in a statement. “I’m passionate about the game of golf and have been an LPGA fan since I was a little girl. I appreciate the LPGA’s history and the tenacity of its 13 founders. I’m truly inspired by our tour players and teaching professionals. I’m excited to dive into the LPGA initiatives to impact women and girls in the game at every age and ability.

“My mission and the LPGA’s mission are fully aligned: providing women and girls the opportunity to achieve their dreams through golf.”

The first woman to lead the LPGA was Carolyn Bivens, hired in 2005 with a bullish marketing plan to promote the players. But she alienated sponsors and media at a time when the tour was struggling to get through the recession. She was ousted in 2009 when the LPGA’s schedule had 24 tournaments, 10 of them held outside the U.S.

Marcoux Samaan is the ninth commissioner of the LPGA Tour.

“Mollie understands the power of golf to change the lives of girls and women,” said Diane Gulyas, chair of the LPGA board who led the search committee. “In every role, she’s had an outstanding record of performance in navigating change, forging lasting partnerships and seeing — and seizing — new opportunities.

Marcoux Samaan was a two-sport athlete at Princeton in soccer and hockey — she was named to first team All-Ivy League in hockey all four years — though her passion for golf runs deep.

She is a five-time club champion at North Fork Country Club in Cutchogue, New York, and her senior thesis for her history degree at Princeton in 1991 was titled, “The Social Construction of Sport and Gender: A History of Women’s Golf from 1895 to 1955.”

Marcoux Samaan spent 19 years with Chelsea Piers Management, which owns and operates amateur sports complexes in New York and Connecticut. She returned to Princeton in 2014 as its athletic director, during which the Tigers won a league-leading 65 Ivy League titles.

“We were impressed by her track record working with athletes, with her ability to forge new and innovative partnerships; and with her personal passion, authenticity and proven persistence for excellence,” said Juli Inkster, a Hall of Famer who served on the search committee.

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