The Tribune's Quotes of the Week quiz for May 31
Lawmakers in Springfield have been busy as the spring legislative session comes to a close. In addition to trying to pass a spending plan without 'broad-based' taxes before Saturday's deadline, state senators are considering a huge transit bill that would address a $771 million shortfall in Chicago-area transit agencies' budgets.
Two big measures have also advanced in the final days of the session. The Illinois House passed a bill that would legalize medical aid in dying for terminally ill people, and state legislators voted to ban police from ticketing and fining students for minor infractions at school, a common practice uncovered in the Tribune-ProPublica investigation 'The Price Kids Pay.' The former awaits approval by the Senate and the latter now heads to Gov. JB Pritzker's desk to be signed into law.
Chicago-born Gangster Disciples founder Larry Hoover got some good news this week. In a controversial decision, President Donald Trump commuted his federal life sentences. But Hoover will remain in prison, serving a 200-year sentence for his state court conviction for murder.
Tariffs dominated the news again this week. The president announced Sunday that the U.S. will delay its 50% tariff on goods from the European Union until July 9 to allow time for negotiations. But on Wednesday, a federal trade court blocked the administration from imposing taxes on imports under an emergency-powers law, as tariffs must typically be approved by Congress. Still, that doesn't mean they're going away quite yet. A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that the president can temporarily continue collecting tariffs while he appeals the trade court's decision. For more on that, here's where things stand.
Elon Musk is leaving the Trump administration. The announcement came shortly after the Tesla CEO criticized Trump's 'Big, Beautiful, Bill' during a CBS interview. As the billionaire returns to his business ventures, he faces some big challenges.
In Chicago sports news, Caleb Williams addressed murmurings that he tried to avoid being drafted by the Bears in 2024, saying 'I wanted to come here.' In Thursday's win over the Dallas Wings, Chicago Sky point guard Courtney Vandersloot broke the all-time franchise scoring record, a title previously held by her wife, Allie Quigley. And Sox fans can honor one of their own being elected pope at a celebration at Rate Field on June 14. Tickets went on sale Friday.
Plus, Chonkosaurus is back! The famed snapping turtle was spotted basking in the Chicago River this week. If — like Chonk — you're looking to lounge outside in the beautiful weather this weekend, check out our patio guide for 25 spots around the city.
Without further ado, here's the Tribune's Quotes of the Week quiz from May 25 to 31. Missed last week? You can find it here or check out our past editions of Quotes of the Week.
Best of luck!
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Yahoo
a minute ago
- Yahoo
Experts advise caution in adding private assets like crypto to 401(k)s
President Trump is expected to sign an executive order Thursday that will open the doors for 401(k) retirement investors to stash their savings in private assets. The directive instructs the Department of Labor and the Securities and Exchange Commission to draft guidance for defined-contribution plans to incorporate private-market investments, including private equity, venture capital, hedge funds, real estate, and possibly gold and crypto. Backers say the shift offers diversification from plain vanilla stocks and bonds and potential juiced-up returns over time. All well and good, but they come with red flags for retirement savers. Read more: Bitcoin, crypto stocks rally ahead of Trump order opening 401(k) plans to alternative assets What savers should think about Private assets come in a panoply of flavors. 'They all have different returns and risks, and you need to understand those differences,' Lisa A.K. Kirchenbauer, senior adviser and founder of Omega Wealth Management in Arlington, Va., told Yahoo Finance. If you don't, don't invest, Kirchenbauer said: 'Peter Lynch, the famous fund manager at Fidelity Magellan, used to talk about 'own what you know.' If you don't know and understand what you are investing in, stick with traditional investments.' Unlike stocks and bonds, these private assets are less liquid and can't be easily sold if cash is needed, making them less suitable if you have a shorter time horizon. For example, you will need to start pulling funds from your account in the next few years as Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) kick in, or you roll over your 401(k) to an IRA when you change jobs. 'You need to understand the liquidity rules, or don't invest,' Kirchenbauer said. 'For someone planning to keep their assets in the same plan for a while, even in retirement, it may make more sense.' She added that if you decide to invest in private assets, you should consider keeping your allocation to a maximum of 5-10% to start. Private assets vs. target date funds BlackRock Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink has taken that idea even further. Instead of a traditional 60/40 split between stocks and bonds, the future standard retirement portfolio may look more like 50/30/20 — stocks, bonds, and private assets like real estate, infrastructure, and private credit, Fink wrote in his annual letter to clients in April. Fink points out that pension funds have invested in them for decades, but 401(k)s haven't. 'It's one reason why pensions typically outperform 401(k)s by about 0.5% each year. Half a percent doesn't sound huge, but it adds up over time,' he wrote. Private assets are already legal in retirement accounts, Fink wrote, but 401(k) providers who select the investments offered in workplace plans aren't widely familiar with them. That's where the president's directive comes in, pushing regulators to show them how it's done. Even so, it's a bewildering proposition for many Americans saving for their future. Many workers these days are in the dark about precisely what they are investing in when they enroll in their employer-provided 401(k) plan and are defaulted into a diversified target-date fund based on their anticipated number of years to retirement. At Vanguard, for instance, last year more than 8 in 10 of participants in its 401(k) accounts used target-date funds. About two-thirds of all 2024 contributions from the 5 million plan participants went into these funds — an all-time high. With a target-date retirement fund, you choose the year you'd like to retire and buy a mutual fund with that year in its name (like Target 2044). The fund manager then allocates your investment between stocks and bonds, typically made up of index funds, tweaking that to a more conservative mix as the target date nears. Many people simply pick the year they'll reach their full Social Security retirement age as the target-date year. For most of us, that's 67. If you have a higher risk tolerance, you might go with a later date for a more aggressive mix, meaning a higher exposure to stocks, or an earlier one if you lean conservative. Read more: What is the retirement age for Social Security, 401(k), and IRA withdrawals? Sign up for the Mind Your Money weekly newsletter By subscribing, you are agreeing to Yahoo's Condiciones and Política de privacidad Plan options are coming, but experts advise caution Fink's BlackRock (BLK) has already jumped into the arena, recently announcing that it's launching a target-date fund that will consist of private credit, private equity, and other investments, aiming to increase the annual return by an extra 0.5% — translating to roughly 15% more money in your 401(k) over 40 years. The fund will be offered by Great Gray Trust, which offers retirement investment options and manages over $210 billion in assets. Empower, the second-largest retirement services provider in the US, has aligned with top-tier private investment fund managers and custodians, including Apollo Global Management (APO) and Goldman Sachs (GS). (Disclosure: Yahoo Finance is owned by Apollo Global Management.) Empower also plans to offer private equity, credit, and real estate in some of its retirement portfolios later this year, and Voya Financial and alternative asset manager Blue Owl Capital are partnering to create private markets products for defined contribution plans.'Historically, private assets have been reserved for ultra-high-net-worth individuals and institutions. 401(k) access democratizes investment in alternatives,' said Cary Carbonaro, a certified financial planner and the author of the new book "Women and Wealth." But she stressed caution: 'While they may offer higher long-term returns compared to public markets, and some real estate and infrastructure assets may offer better protection against inflation, I am still not sure they are appropriate for regular lay people.' Private assets can be 'locked up for years with limited or no ability to sell early — conflicting with the need for participant flexibility,' she added. Meanwhile, participants may struggle to understand what they're investing in or how performance is generated, she said. 'There is no requirement to share financial information. It is essentially a black box investment.' One last caveat: Private equity's arrival in retirement accounts could potentially push costs higher for investors. That's after fees in 401(k) plans have come down sharply in recent decades, thanks in large measure to more savers investing in lower-cost index funds. 'Private funds often carry performance fees and other layers of costs, reducing net returns, Carbonaro said. Most lay people don't even know about the stocks or bonds they are investing in, and these assets are generally reserved for more sophisticated investors, she said. 'It will be interesting to see if the employer or plan fiduciary will take the risk to put these as an option.' Kerry Hannon is a Senior Columnist at Yahoo Finance. She is a career and retirement strategist and the author of 14 books, including the forthcoming "Retirement Bites: A Gen X Guide to Securing Your Financial Future," "In Control at 50+: How to Succeed in the New World of Work," and "Never Too Old to Get Rich." Follow her on Bluesky. Sign up for the Mind Your Money newsletter
Yahoo
a minute ago
- Yahoo
ICE detained 2 as kids walked to a Phoenix school. This is not OK
Imagine it with me: you're a student attending elementary school in south Phoenix. Walking to school on your second day, you feel the butterflies in your belly from the excitement of a new school year. You're holding your mom's hand as you walk down the sidewalk, looking down proudly at the new tennis shoes you are wearing. Suddenly, a cluster of brown and black work boots surrounds you and your mom. You look up quickly, seeing masked men encircling you both. The happy butterflies instantly take flight, replaced with what feels like bricks in your stomach, the heaviness turning to outright terror as your mom's hand is wrenched away from yours by the masked men who are forcing your mom's hands behind her back. Worst fears are now reality for Roosevelt school kids We no longer have to imagine what this feels like for children. It happened on Aug. 5 just outside an elementary school in Roosevelt School District in south Phoenix. 'Community members reported observing two individuals being detained by ICE directly in front of one of our school fence lines,' the district said in a news release. 'One of the agents involved in the incident was observed escorting a student to the property's entry gate.' Welcome to the 2025-26 school year in Trump's America. This school year is brought to you by the letter 'K' for kidnapping parents in front of schools as their children watch. By the letter 'D' for due process, of which there is none in this current climate of racial profiling and intimidation. By the letters 'G' and 'T' — no, not the drink, although it's certainly warranted — but generational trauma, of which our youngest students are now learning right in front of their own schools. And by the letter 'C' for complicity on the part of voters who elected the Tyrant-In-Chief, and a complicit Republican Congress that is doing nothing to protect the people they are supposed to serve. The message is sent again: It's not safe at school Think I'm overreacting? Think again. 'This is a traumatic event for the community,' Marisol Garcia, president of the Arizona Education Association, said in a video about the incident. 'This is a traumatic event for that student. This is a traumatic event moving forward to how students may feel safe at school.' It's a trauma Arizona knows all too well from the Senate Bill 1070 'Show Me Your Papers' days of 2010. Teens who lived through those dark days experienced real and lasting fallout, academically, socially and emotionally. Many of them are now parents of today's young children. Under current immigration practices, these families seem destined to relive the fears of those SB 1070 days, only on a much larger scale. Immigration raids worsen absentee rates In homes throughout Arizona and the country, families are wrestling with whether to send their children to school because of their fears of immigration enforcement actions at or near schools. 'I've heard so many people ask what to do, whether to take them or not, because of all these fears,' Oreana, a mother of four children enrolled in schools in Phoenix, told Noticias Telemundo, as reported by NBC News. Those fears are translating into real impacts when it comes to school attendance. Opinion: Expect payback from Trump over Arizona's immigrants in 5, 4, 3 ... Thomas S. Dee, a specialist in the School of Education at Stanford University, studied the impacts of immigration raids on schools this past spring. His research shows raids resulting in a 22% increase in daily student absences. Preschool and younger elementary school-aged children were disproportionately affected, as they are more likely to be taken to school by a parent. We can learn from history or repeat it Even if you don't care about the emotional impacts of Trump's current immigration tactics on children and families, you likely care about the economic outcomes. For that, we have only to look at Arizona's SB 1070 aftermath, in which tourism alone took a $141 million hit. Terrorizing 'others' in our country isn't merely a bad economic strategy. It's a stain on our collective conscience. Allowing it to happen to — and in front of — children at their schools is egregious. What lessons do we want our children learning this school year? 'C' for complicity, or 'C' for community? It's time to decide, because 'S' for silence no longer works. Rhonda Cagle is founder of Leverage Consulting Agency, serving schools and school systems. She is a member of the Board of Contributors for The Arizona Republic. Follow her on Threads: @rhondacagle. Like this column? Get more opinions in your email inbox by signing up for our free opinions newsletter, which publishes Monday through Friday. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: ICE presence outside Roosevelt school only traumatizes kids | Opinion Solve the daily Crossword
The Hill
2 minutes ago
- The Hill
Doug Ford: Trump is probably most disliked politician in Canada
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Thursday that President Trump is probably the most disliked politician in Canada after months of trade tension between the two countries. 'What's the general impression of Trump in Canada?' CNN's Wolf Blitzer asked on 'The Situation Room.' 'He's probably the most disliked politician in the world in Canada, because he's attacked his closest family member, and that's the way we look on it,' Ford replied. 'And when I talk to the governors and senators and congresspeople, even Republicans, totally disagree, but they're too scared to come out and say anything, because the president will go after them, outside of a few senators,' he added. On Wednesday, Ford told reporters he believes Trump will initiate a review of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement a year early, in 2026, and added that he doesn't trust the American president. 'He's not waiting until 2026. At any given time, President Trump — not that he even follows the rules — he can pull the carpet out from underneath us,' Ford said, according to the Associated Press. On Sunday, Canadian Minister for U.S.-Canada Trade Dominic LeBlanc expressed optimism about the likelihood of a trade deal between Ottawa and Washington, even as Trump said he would impose 35 percent tariffs on goods from Canada. 'We were obviously, obviously disappointed by that decision. We believe there's a great deal of common ground between the United States and Canada in terms of building two strong economies that work well together,' LeBlanc said on CBS News's 'Face the Nation.' On Wednesday, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he and his country's premiers talked that day and that Canada was 'staying focused on building our industrial strength at home.' 'As we work towards a new trade agreement with the United States, we're staying focused on building our industrial strength at home,' Carney said in a post on the social platform X. 'Together, we're strengthening our trading partnerships at home and abroad — including breaking down barriers between provinces and territories — and supporting our industries and workers to meet the demands of new markets,' he added.
