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A man in his 30s was struck and injured by a Metra train while riding a bicycle and trying to cross the tracks Thursday morning along the Milwaukee District West line, a Metra spokesperson said.It happened at about 7:20 a.m. at the Schaumburg station, 2000 S. Springinsguth Rd., and involved an outbound train, according to Meg Thomas-Reile, a Metra spokesperson. He was rushed to Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downer's Grove by Roselle firefighters, who happened to be near the crash when it happened, Thomas-Reile said. As of Thursday afternoon, the victim was in surgery and his condition was not immediately known. Train traffic reopened on one track within an hour of the person being struck, and the other track reopened after 9:30 a.m.Metra did not immediately have additional details.

As the manager of the Mets’ Dominican Summer League team in 2010, White Sox coach Jose Leger was looking for a way to keep his players engaged on the bases. He tried appealing to their competitive nature, devising a points system to determine the best baserunner on the team each month of the season, with a prize going to the winner.“I thought about bringing it up here,” said Leger, in his first season as a major-league coach. “I cleared that with our skipper, Will [Venable]. So I brought it up in spring training. I told the guys that these are what we’re going to be looking for on the bases, and so far they’ve been paying attention to it.”That they have. The resurgent Sox have been aggressive on the basepaths, going from first to third on a hit and taking the extra base. And those players who succeed are rewarded with points from Leger, who tracks their progress on a chart displayed in the clubhouse. At last check, Miguel Vargas was in the lead, with Tristan Peters close behind.The winner each month gets their baserunning exploits compiled in a video that the team watches, plus a T-shirt with an image that says “Speed demon,” created by Vargas’ mother.Leger, who’s also the first-base and outfield coach, awards the most points (three) for the most difficult tasks, such as hustling for a double or displaying smart baserunning. For example, on Monday, Braden Montgomery pulled the ball down the line and kicked it into high gear rounding first, challenging Guardians right fielder Petey Halpin. He just beat the throw to second.“That’s a hustle double right there, and you get more points because it takes effort, but it also takes a little bit of courage to push the envelope,” Leger said. “When you talk about heads-up baserunning, it’s as simple as staying in a rundown long enough between third and home to allow the batter runner to advance an extra base.”Those types of plays help runners who aren’t the fastest earn points. On Tuesday, Colson Montgomery earned two points for a dirt-ball read. From first, he saw a pitch in the dirt hit Guardians catcher Austin Hedges’ chest protector and immediately took off. The ball ended up rolling far enough away for anyone to advance, but Montgomery’s reaction earned him points.“By paying attention to the details,” Leger said. “Yeah, the ball ended up rolling like a good 15 feet away, but if he doesn’t react on time … . So sometimes more than speed is just a mindset of how am I going to get to the next base. There’s definitely ways to impact the offense by running the bases right, and being fast is not a requirement.”Baserunning hasn’t been left out of the analytics craze. Leger uses computer-generated measurements to help baserunners get better leads and turn corners efficiently.“How quickly are they reacting once the ball is put in play?” he said. “How quick is your first step, your lead distance, your secondary lead, which is how far you’re getting down [the baseline] when the ball is entering the strike zone. We even measure, are you faster by making a big arch before hitting the next bag, or is a narrow turn more beneficial for you?”Leger said the players have bought into the Sox’ aggressive mindset because the coaches are backing it up with numbers.“One thing we brought up in spring training is that the average success rate in the big leagues going first to third is 97%,” he said. “So just challenge those outfielders because it’s going to take a good, clean transfer and a great throw to get you out.”How has Vargas become the Sox’ best baserunner?“He’s fearless,” Leger said. “Every time he hits the ball, his first step out of the box is outstanding. He’s trying to go full speed all the time. He’s looking at how can I advance to the next base. It’s a mentality.”Sox’ baserunning scoringPoints — Plays1 — Infield hit, stolen base2 — Dirt-ball read, break up double play, 1st to 3rd, 1st to home3 — Hustle double, heads-up baserunningOn deckROYALS AT SOXFriday: TBA vs. TBA, 6:40 p.m., CHSN, 1000-AM.Saturday: Michael Wacha (5-5, 3.48 ERA) vs. Davis Martin (9-3, 3.18), 3:10 p.m., CHSN, The U, 1000-AM.Sunday: Luinder Avila (3-3, 5.06) vs. Anthony Kay (6-2, 4.24), 1:10 p.m., CHSN, 1000-AM. Latest on the White sox Back-to-back jacks tie it in 9th, but Sox fall in 10 Braden Montgomery and Randal Grichuk provide heroics, but Sox can’t complete sweep of Guardians [month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone]   By Andrew Seligman read Brooke Fletcher returns to White Sox' TV booth as Steve Stone misses another day “It’s been an emotional 10 hours,” she said before Wednesday’s game against the Guardians. “I got home last night and I still felt like my head was kind of spinning. I’m like, ‘Wait, what just happened?’” [month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone]   By Andrew Seligman read White Sox' series finale vs. Guardians scheduled to begin at 3:50 p.m. Chris Murphy is set to be the opener for the Sox ahead of Erick Fedde. Tanner Bibee is slated to start for the Guardians. [month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone]   By Jeff Agrest read Sean Newcomb saves bullpen as White Sox beat Guardians to retake first place in AL Central Three days after opening a game with three perfect innings, Newcomb pitched near-perfect ball for the last 2 ⅔ innings, allowing only a walk among his 45 pitches. [month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone]   By Jeff Agrest read

El habitante de Chicago, José Morales, creció escuchando historias del terremoto de 6.6 de magnitud que azotó Venezuela en 1967, apenas cuatro años antes de que él naciera.El desastre creó una memoria nacional.El miércoles, dos potentes terremotos consecutivos, entre los más fuertes que han golpeado a Venezuela en más de un siglo, sacudieron al país, colapsando edificios en la capital, Caracas, y dejando a los residentes —incluidos los padres de Morales— aturdidos.“Está en la memoria de todos los que son lo suficientemente viejos”, contó Morales, vicepresidente de la Alianza Venezolana de Illinois. “Y ahora este fue incluso más fuerte que aquel". La Voz Chicago WhatsAppEncuentra más noticias en nuestro canal de WhatsApp. Síguenos. El Servicio Geológico de Estados Unidos (USGS) informó que poco después de las 6 p.m. hora local, el primer terremoto tuvo una magnitud de 7.1 y su epicentro se localizó al oeste de la comunidad de Morón, situada a lo largo de la costa caribeña del país, aproximadamente a 104 millas al oeste de Caracas. Un terremoto aún mayor de 7.5 de magnitud fue reportado un minuto después, con una profundidad de 10 kilómetros y su epicentro se encontraba a 10 millas al suroeste de Morón.El ministro del Interior de Venezuela, Diosdado Cabello, comentó que el sismo se sintió en varios estados del país. El barrio Altamira en Caracas tuvo “situaciones alarmantes” con casas y edificios colapsados, dijo, sugiriendo que hubo personas heridas en el terremoto y pidiendo a los automovilistas que cedan el paso a ambulancias y otros vehículos de emergencia.Morales inicialmente no había podido comunicarse con sus padres debido a cortes de electricidad e internet en la capital del país, Caracas, pero escuchó alrededor de las 8 p.m. hora de Chicago que estaban bien, aunque un poco aturdidos. Le enviaron fotos de su casa en ruinas tras el terremoto, aunque él dijo que se encontraban bien en comparación con algunos vecinos cuyos hogares se derrumbaron por completo.“Devastación es la palabra correcta”, destacó Morales. “Hemos visto incendios, paredes cayendo y paredes agrietadas. Habrá muchos muertos y heridos”.Mientras el país se encuentra cerca de múltiples fallas geológicas, su posición entre las placas tectónicas de Sudamérica y el Caribe hace que los terremotos sean mucho menos comunes que en otras regiones de Latinoamérica. A lo largo de la costa del Pacífico —en México y Chile, por ejemplo— los terremotos son frecuentes. Ambos países se ubican en la zona tectónica activa conocida como el “Anillo de Fuego del Pacífico (o Cinturón de Fuego)”, responsable del 90% de los terremotos, según el USGS.Morales comparó parte de la destrucción que habían visto sus padres con la de un terremoto de magnitud 8.0 que azotó a México en 1985.Mientras aún esperaba noticias de familiares y amigos que viven cerca del epicentro la noche del miércoles, ya estaba ideando qué artículos él y otros venezolanos en la diáspora necesitarían para recaudar fondos y apoyar con las secuelas. Las tiendas de campaña estaban en su mente al pensar en quienes habían perdido sus hogares.Morales dijo que espera que el país supere esta situación, pero también tenía la esperanza de que los Estados Unidos ayudarían a reconstruir, dado que intentaron asumir temporalmente el control de la nación tras derrocar al entonces presidente Nicolás Maduro con fuerza militar a principios de este año.“Estamos reconstruyendo, somos resilientes, somos fuertes”, comentó Morales. “Los venezolanos nunca han tenido reparo para trabajar, así que estoy seguro de que harán lo que tengan que hacer… Y con Estados Unidos tan interesado en Venezuela, esperamos que se traduzca en ayuda federal”.Con información de AP Traducido con una herramienta de inteligencia artificial (AI) y editado por La Voz Chicago

Bears quarterback Caleb Williams’ application to trademark the nickname Iceman is on hold after the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office denied it because of a similarity to a footwear company’s product.Williams got the nickname last season for his cool demeanor under pressure and immediately ran into snag with two Hall of Famers who had it first: George Gervin of basketball and Chuck Liddell of professional fighting.The real issue, though, is that Williams applied for the trademark in sporting goods and clothing, and Oregon-based LaCrosse Footwear won a trademark for its Iceman boots in 1988.The office wrote in a letter to Williams that, “A likelihood of confusion exists because the applied-for mark and the registered mark(s) create a confusingly similar commercial impression and the goods and/or services are closely related.”The government also suggested an amendment to his application to use the nickname on sunglasses. Williams’ other intents stated in his application include downloadable trading cards, water bottles and a website.LaCrosse currently sells a pair of Iceman boot liners on its website for $16, but does not list any other products with that name.Williams still has a trademark application pending on an Iceman logo and can appeal the initial ruling against his application to trademark the nickname. He has three months to respond to the U.S.P.T.O’s notice of non-final action outlining issues with his application and potential sources of confusion with other trademarks or his case will be deemed abandoned.“That's an open-ended kind of thing right now,” Williams said in April. “Just trying to figure it out. Not the biggest focus right now for me, but it's around. We'll figure it out here.”He also said the filing was about “knowing business and being smart” in protecting his image and preventing unlicensed sellers from profiting off his name.If Williams eventually secures the trademark, there would be a 30-day window for Gervin, Liddell or anyone else to challenge the ruling before the Trial and Appeal Board.Liddell registered a trademark for “Chuck The Iceman Liddell” in 2022, and Gervin did not challenge that. He has indicated, though, that he would oppose Williams trademarking Iceman.According to U.S.P.T.O. records, Williams filed a total of four Iceman-related trademark applications March 16, and Gervin filed for a trademark of the nickname four days later. Gervin’s application is still pending.Gervin claims use of Iceman dating to the 1970s, and his representative said this year he had errantly believed the nickname already was trademarked.“That name is taken,” Gervin told the Sun-Times in March.Williams has 12 applications on file for various logos, including some with a bear claw to replicate a hand gesture he’s been making since the Bears drafted him, through Caleb Williams Holdings, Inc., based in his home state of Maryland. Most of those applications are pending, and he successfully registered a CW logo for football camps last year.He paid $3,300 to apply for Iceman, according to documents signed by his father, Carl Williams. Williams’ Chicago-based attorney Douglas Masters did not immediately respond to an inquiry from the Sun-Times.

Consider the information you ignore. The pages swiped away in a blink. The emails — for old fogies like us that even use email — hundreds a day, real, fake, urgent, irrelevant, scams, skipped over with hardly a glance. Plus ignored text messages, bulletins, alerts, pings. I'd hesitate to guess how much communication is filtered out, unprocessed: 90%? 99%? 99.9%? It's amazing anything gets through.Meanwhile, random stuff snags your attention. It wasn't the poetry of the subject line, "Wellness Wednesday: Mental Health and Self-Care Week 7" that hooked my interest. Maybe because I had just gotten an MRI on my torn-up left shoulder. A little wellness might hit the spot. And what is "self-care" anyway? I opened the message."Self-care is the practice of taking care of your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health," wrote Chicago Public Media human resources manager Stephanie Sferra Bassill. "While many people view self-care as a form of selfish indulgence, prioritizing yourself is an essential component of overall well-being." Opinion bug Opinion Hmm, I thought, let me get this straight: My employer is urging me to set aside this work nonsense, these bothersome interviews, the endless tappity-tap-tap on a keyboard, and just live a fuller, healthier, happier life?Well yeah. I can do that.Where to begin?For some reason I skipped the first, physical health aspect, and went straight for mental and emotional, dialing the number of a friend I'd been meaning to call. Isolation is a modern plague — we think we're so connected by social media, when we're really staring at a screen alone. I got his voicemail. A second friend. Also voicemail. A third. Again voicemail. No wonder we're all so frazzled. A fourth call. Any guesses? Voicemail.People really don't use the telephone anymore.But persistence is my stock in trade, and the fifth friend — a college buddy — picked up, and we spent 20 minutes talking and laughing, plus exchanging practical information. I mentioned the bad shoulder. He said his wife had a similar problem, cleared up by acupuncture. A treatment usually lumped with crystals and whale song, but in this case it worked. I said I would consider it, although at this point, I'd also consider a trip to Lourdes.At 11 a.m. my shrink called. For the past 20 years, since I got sober, I have been talking to the same therapist — I think of him as "my alcohol guy." Not something I believe I've mentioned in the paper before, but in my new role as wellness guru, I probably should put in a plug, aware that a certain subset of male readership will scoff and scorn. No matter. I've developed my own wellness technique called "Not caring what most people think," very valuable to both creative effort and maintaining mental equilibrium.So why the psychologist? Do I need him to keep from going into the basement and drinking all the beer in the auxiliary fridge? I don't believe so. But there is always some family situation or private anxiety to parse, and it's less pressure on my wife and friends if I can offload my stickier woes, en masse, onto this poor fellow, who is paid to listen. Think of it like exercise — something done regularly to keep in fighting trim. Even on days like today, when my report is an enthusiastic gust of upbeat news, it's nice to hear my bounty described out loud. Useful in encouraging gratitude, which is another valuable technique for mental wellness.At lunch, I had considered grabbing a couple of the leftover Romanian garlic hot dogs we'd grilled for our Father's Day gathering. But, remembering, "Wellness uber alles!" I ate a salad studded with fresh mozzarella balls and was so pleased with my nutritious regimen that I topped it off by finishing the Graeter's strawberry ice cream. One must live.Not wanting to ignore the physical component, I went to the YMCA for the first time in weeks and exercised — stretching, hitting the heavy bag, weightlifting, scaled back in consideration of the bum shoulder. Plus 20 minutes in the sauna. I usually skip that part, to save time. But wellness demands we slow down.Back home, about 5 p.m., I walked the dog, lighting up a cigar gotten on Father's Day. Not wellness in the traditional sense. But I would suggest that a well-managed vice is part of the complete wellness package. When we got back, there was some cigar left, so I sat on the porch, deliberately keeping my phone in my pocket, listening to Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" and contemplating the early summer day, the blue sky, the green trees. Kitty, my dog, settled down beside me, seemingly content. Wellness is contagious.