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A southwest suburban man accused of assaulting law enforcement officers during the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot was sentenced Friday to three years in federal prison.William Lewis, 58, pleaded guilty to a felony count of assaulting, resisting or impeding officers. He was sentenced to 37 months in prison with two years of supervised release, and he was ordered to pay $3,761 in restitution.Lewis, of Burbank, drove to Washington on the day of the rally to join other supporters of Donald Trump to protest the results of the 2020 presidential election, prosecutors said. William Lewis of BurbankU.S. District Court records After the rally, Lewis went to the building’s West Plaza where lines of U.S. Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police Department officers were trying to hold back a group of rioters from pushing through toward the Capitol building, prosecutors said.Lewis sprayed streams of wasp killer toward officers on four occasions until he emptied the can. One officer reported that he was sprayed in the mouth, and that he experienced a burning sensation on his face and eyes, according to prosecutors. He then threw the empty can at officers.A few minutes later, Lewis went to the building’s Lower West Terrace and stole a police baton, which he used to smash three panes of a large window into the Capitol building, officials said.Lewis was arrested in November 2023 in Burbank.More than 50 Illinois residents, and more than 1,500 people from across the country, have faced criminal charges in connection with the Jan. 6 riot.Trump has promised to pardon many of those charged in the attack once he retakes office next week.

Marcus Thames was warned by Tigers manager Jim Leyland years ago that managers and coaches are hired to be fired.So a pink slip from the White Sox wouldn’t have shocked Thames after just one season as their hitting coach. A record 121 losses in 2024 and finishing last in multiple hitting categories will do that.But when general manager Chris Getz reconfigured the Sox’ hitting operation by firing assistant hitting coach Mike Tosar in August and naming 33-year-old Joel McKeithan as assistant hitting coach and 34-year-old Ryan Fuller as director of hitting, Thames, 47, was kept in the mix.“I thanked Chris and said, “what can I do to make us better?” Thames told the Sun-Times this week.Thames, who hit 115 homers for the Tigers, Yankees, Rangers and Dodgers from 2002-11 before embarking on a coaching career that includes stints as hitting coach of the Yankees, Marlins and Sox, values the up-to-date concepts, biomechanics and information from the new breed on the instructional and coaching side.“Pitching is so far ahead of everything, and this aligns everybody from top to bottom,” Thames said. “Ryan will oversee and make sure we’re all doing what we should be as an organization. Make sure we’re uniform. Going to have that presence.”Getz added senior advisor of pitching Brian Bannister to the staff last year, and now comes Fuller, who Thames said has been “fantastic to work with.”“A lot of teams are doing it now,” Thames said.“He’s up to date with a lot of new things that are going on in the hitting industry. So it’s going to help. With my experience and his expertise, and McKeithan’s expertise, Getz is getting a good group together on the hitting side to get this thing off the ground and running in the right direction.”Fuller was the Orioles’ co-hitting coach the last three seasons and McKeithan the Reds’ hitting coach the last two. The role of offensive coordinator, a new title on the Sox’ staff, will be manned by Grady Sizemore, who closed out the season as interim manager when Pedro Grifol was fired.“We match up really well,” Fuller said of the hitting staffers, “and it’s been a great working relationship so far and I know it’s one we’ll continue to work at moving forward.”With spring training starting in four weeks on Feb. 12, Thames said the group’s thought processes are getting aligned.“We have to know who we are as an offense,” Thames said.“We can mesh together well.”There is a lot to untangle after last season, which tied all involved with the Sox in knots.“It was tough,” Thames said of his first season on the South Side. “I know how loyal the White Sox’ fan base is. And they wantto win. It was hard, but you have to put itbehind you, come back and learn from it and be better in 2025.”The hitters Thames worked with when he was with the Yankees and Angels were ranked among AL leaders in several categories, so it’s not like Thames forgot how to coach.But Thames had less to work with on the Sox, and he has had to learn patience with younger players. More will be needed in 2025 with a roster that, on paper, looks like another 100-loss team. Player development at the major-league level is the goal.“It’s hard to develop up here but it’s a piece to the puzzle,” said Thames, whose projects include Lenyn Sosa, Miguel Vargas, Zach DeLoach, Dominic Fletcher and Bryan Ramos. Sosa made strides late in the season, and Vargas struggled after coming from the Dodgers in a trade.When Thames was 5 years old, his mother was paralyzed from injuries sustained in an auto accident. His father, who was driving, would not be part of a young, no-frills life full of challenges in Louisville, Mississippi. His mother died in 2012, and last month an uncle who became Thames’ close father figure died. He brings perspective to the room, and optimism for better things ahead for the Sox.“You lose that many games, if you didn’t learn anything from that, you got a problem,” Thames said. “I learned a lot about who I am and what I need to get better at to help these guys perform better.”

Warming centers across the city will be open Saturday and into next week as bitterly cold temperatures are expected in Chicago.Despite the unseasonably warm weather Friday, temperatures will plunge into the single digits Saturday night and remain there until Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service. Wind chill temperatures will reach as low as minus 14 degrees Sunday night. According to National Weather Service meteorologist Gino Izzi, the air temperature has not dipped below zero in one year, since Jan. 16, 2024. Overnight Sunday the regular air temperature is expected to plummet, giving us our first subzero temperatures, which will hover between zero and 5 below zero.Izzi said Monday and Tuesday will be two "really cold" days, and temperatures will fall back again to zero to 5 below zero on both overnights. During this period, wind chills will be "pretty ugly," ranging from 10 to 20 degree below zero, Izzi said. The cold spell is expected to end on Wednesday with temperatures hitting almost 20 degrees, Izzi said. The Garfield Community Service Center will be open for residents seeking to warm up between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Saturday, and from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday and Monday. Warming center locations in Chicago Warming center locations in Chicago:The centers will be open from Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. when temperatures are below 32 degrees. Other facilities, such as libraries, also serve as warming centers and sometimes have different or longer hours.Garfield Community Service Center10 S. Kedzie Ave.(312) 746-5400Englewood Community Service Center1140 W. 79th St(312) 747-0200Martin Luther King Community Service Center4314 S. Cottage Grove(312) 747-2300North Area Community Service Center845 W. Wilson Ave.(312) 744-2580South Chicago Community Service Center8650 S. Commercial Ave.(312) 747-0500Trina Davila Community Service Center4312 W. North Ave.(312) 744-2014 Other city buildings, such as libraries, park district facilities and police districts will also serve as warming centers, though hours there vary by location and date. (1/3) Here are the latest details on the expected bitterly cold weather early next week. Sub-zero temps will also lead to rapid ice build-up on area rivers which could result in ice jams and localized flooding.Visit https://t.co/orNF3Qec9R for safety resources. #ILwx #INwx pic.twitter.com/RwhCs8xmG9— NWS Chicago (@NWSChicago) January 17, 2025 The Salvation Army's Freedom Center in Humboldt Park, 825 N. Christiana Ave., will be open 24 hours as a warming shelter throughout the week. The organization also runs the 24-hour "Shuttle of Hope," which works with the city's 311 call center to transport people to shelters.Contributing: Mohammad Samra

Sammy Sosa will be inducted into the Cubs Hall of Fame as a member of the 2025 class, along with first baseman Derrek Lee, the team announced during the Cubs Convention opening ceremony Friday.Sosa missed his chance to be voted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame via the Baseball Writers' Association of America ballot, gaining enough votes to remain on the ballot for the maximum 10 years but falling well short of the 75% needed for induction.His last year of eligibility was in 2022, so his only possible route to Cooperstown would be through the rotating Era Committee ballot.Being enshrined in the Cubs’ Hall may be the closest Sosa ever gets. And the honor was made possible when he issued an apology statement last month, paving the way for the reconciliation between the former face of the franchise and team ownership.Sosa didn’t directly address his connection to the steroid era in the statement, but he did say understands “why some players in [his] era don’t always get the recognition that [their] stats deserve.”“There were times I did whatever I could to recover from injuries in an effort to keep my strength up to perform over 162 games,” Sosa said in the statement. “I never broke any laws, but in hindsight, I made mistakes, and I apologize.” Latest on the Cubs Cubs Cubs to debut new baby blue uniforms in 2025, retire 'Wrigleyville' City Connect jerseys The Cubs unveiled the new Jerseys Thursday night. By Maddie Lee [month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone]   Cubs Call 2025 Cubs Convention what it is: Sammy Sosa homecoming weekend Sosa is scheduled to attend Cubs Convention after issuing an apology statement last month. By Maddie Lee [month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone]   Cubs Cubs, Kyle Tucker agree to $16.5 million salary to avoid arbitration The Cubs are generally a file-and-trial team, but they made an exception. By Maddie Lee [month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone]  

The first thing we — and they, meaning the McCaskeys, Warren, Poles and the others — all need to know is that this selection is not a singular choice. That this is not an isolated occurrence or circumstance. That it is connected to damn near all things before. That every post-Mike Ditka/Buddy Ryan coaching decision, either bringing in or letting go, made by the Bears is linked to the decision they’re soon about to make.Until then, the Bears are making it difficult for those outside — and some inside, who will remain anonymous for the sake of being labeled snitches — of Halas Hall to (in the infamous words of a Philadelphia basketball organization that has yet, in selling the world their own B.S., to advance past the second round of the playoffs in 24 years and counting) ‘‘trust the process.’’Their process. Bears-style. The schizophrenic plan that we are watching being put on display for us to trust could all lead to the ‘‘right’’ decision being made in the end. But this ‘‘going all out’’ search to ‘‘go all in’’ on someone who, at this point, will be one of (at least) 20 candidates doesn’t inspire confidence the Bears have a solid idea on exactly what it is they are in search of.Lost in the weeds — well, in our case, the concrete — remains the growing optic of uncertainty attached to this coaching search. The one constant that shapes these 100 neighborhoods (77 ‘‘community areas,’’ according to chicago.gov) that have blindly supported this franchise through hell, high Lake Michigan water and Harold’s Chicken closures.Failure is bound when uncertainty is the root. And the names that continue to come up daily in the ever-evolving storyline shaping what this quest for football leadership has become make the open-to-anyone-even-slightly-qualified procedure for how the Bears are going about this highly suss.By the day, we know that they know that they don’t know.Ben Johnson. Mike McCarthy. Drew Petzing. Every coach a different style, different philosophy and approach when it comes to football, different background, all coming from different destinations and vantage points. Thomas Brown. Pete Carroll. Mike Kafka. Brian Flores. Two coaches who’ve never coached in the NFL in any capacity before: Iowa State’s Matt Campbell and Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman. The range between Todd Monken’s and Arthur Smith’s résumés, Aaron Glenn’s and Anthony Weaver’s backgrounds, Ron Rivera’s pedigree and David Shaw’s CV.Still, there’s more.It’s not making our expecting the worst any better. An ongoing and ever-expanding — while candidates accept other offers — head-coaching tracker (thanks, Sun-Times) ain’t cute. It comes off as a look of vacillation; screams ‘‘iffy,’’ ‘‘let’s just try this,’’ ‘‘OK, now see if this works’’; and tightropes on low-grade maladroitness. The number of candidates and options keeps going up, while the belief the Bears know — or have an idea — exactly what they’re looking for keeps going down.The net is cast too wide, the finding of a ‘‘leader of men’’ too broad. It has become the football adaptation of the opening episodes of ‘‘The Bachelor’’ or ‘‘The Bachelorette.’’ Where the decision-makers know they’re looking for love but tragically, more often than not, have no clue about what real love is.Not saying, as stated before, that what the Bears are doing is wrong or that the way they ‘‘seem’’ to be going about this search won’t result in the right find. The concern is what this looks like to the world outside of theirs — to us, to potential candidates, to potential free agents — in comparison to other NFL teams going through the same coaching searches. To how this reflects their past.You’d think with the coaches they’ve been through in the last seven tries (more than twice as many head coaches in the last 32 years as the Steelers have had in the last 56 years) they’d know, simply by the process of elimination and termination, exactly what they are looking for. That, though, would be too off-brand.There’s a surrealness to the Bears’ approach in choosing the one they feel will be best fit to run the on-field department of their historic empire. Their determinism doesn’t make them look determined; it makes them look indifferent, overwhelmed, unsure, disoriented, prematurely indecisive, the same. As the Bears’ brain trust immerses itself in dreams of making this team respectable, it continues to make it look as though it’s purposely keeping things ancestral to keep the ‘‘family’’ happy in its ‘‘talk of the town’’ loyalty to losing, while OG ‘‘Papa Bear’’ Halas keeps spinning in his mausoleum.Because, unfairly and unfortunately, to detach the past coaching selections and decisions, regardless of who made them at the time, is an impossibility this city just can’t do. Way too much is affixed because we’ve walked this walk with the Bears so many times before, and this time — for many, many reasons, including not further ruining a prodigious quarterback’s future before it really begins — more happens to be at stake.Every past head-coaching choice has led the Bears to this moment of what will become their covenant. S--- ain’t easy. If it was, every team in the NFL would be able to do it. Which they aren’t. It’s just that recently and right now, too many teams outside of ours seem to be doing it better.