UC Berkeley professor Omar Yaghi, a Jordanian immigrant molded by the American public school system, reached the pinnacle of his field on Wednesday, sharing the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
After receiving the award for his work on metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), which have incalculable applications, Yaghi acknowledged the role his American education played in the realization of his work at a press conference.
“This recognition is really a testament of the power of the public school system in the U.S. that takes people like me — with a major disadvantaged background, a refugee background — and allows you to work hard and distinguish yourself,” Yaghi said. “Especially UC Berkeley, where the faculty are given full freedom to explore, fail and succeed.”
Yaghi’s discoveries with MOFs – along with co-winners Richard Robson of the University of Melbourne, Australia, and Susumu Kitagawa of Kyoto University, Japan – have broad implications for emerging technologies such as water capture from desert winds, toxic gas containment and carbon sequestration from the atmosphere.
Susumu Kitagawa of Kyoto University, Japan, left, and Richard Robson of the University of Melbourne are co-winners of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry along with UC Berkeley professor Omar Yaghi, on Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025. (Kyodo News via AP)
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, in its announcement, lauded the MOF breakthroughs for their ability to craft customizable materials with applications across the scientific field. Yaghi built on Robson and Kitagawa’s discoveries by creating a stable MOF that could be modified to have new properties: Imagine a porous filter programmed to selectively remove any atom or molecule at the command of a scientist.
Since the trio’s discoveries, “chemists have built tens of thousands of different MOFs,” the academy wrote in its award announcement, noting that some may be key to solving humanity’s greatest challenges.
“Metal–organic frameworks have enormous potential, bringing previously unforeseen opportunities for custom-made materials with new functions,” said Heiner Linke, Chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry.
On Wednesday, Yaghi spoke with reporters via Zoom from Brussels, Belgium, to discuss the award. He described the moment he was exiting a plane in Frankfurt, Germany, when his phone buzzed with a call from Sweden. On the line was the secretary of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry with the news that he had won.
“It was absolutely thrilling. You cannot prepare for a moment like that,” Yaghi said. “Since then, my phone hasn’t stopped ringing, buzzing, receiving emails, hundreds and hundreds of emails. I have no idea how I’m going to respond to all of them.”
Yaghi said his two biggest influences were his father and his Ph.D. adviser, Walter Klemperer, who each pushed him to challenge the status quo and accept failure as an inevitable part of progress, and also instilled in him his belief in the power of the experiment. His father’s belief in Yaghi’s academic potential pushed him to send his son alone to Troy, New York for school.
“That takes incredible commitment … We didn’t have a lot of the conveniences that many others do, but we had a lot of love and a lot of care,” Yaghi said. “I’m quite emotional to see my refugee parents spend every minute of their time dedicated to their kids and to their kids’ education, because they saw that as a way to lift themselves and their kids out of challenging situations.”
Yaghi addressed the challenges facing the scientific community as President Donald Trump’s administration cuts funding for research and discovery. Public funding from his first grant from the National Science Foundation was crucial to securing the resources and funding that laid the foundation for his research, he said. The grant allowed Yaghi to take creative risks and explore new directions in chemistry, ultimately leading to the discoveries that earned him the Nobel Prize.
The Jordanian refugee turned Nobel Prize winner said that scientists face a “crisis of our times” today as public support for science fades. He called on scientists to renew their historical commitment to the pursuit of knowledge, exploring the frontiers of science without fear. Only when scientists can explore their curiosities, he said, does that lead to building the industries of tomorrow, improving public health and securing the future.
“Science is an absolute essential part of an enlightened society and building a robust society that improves the quality of life for its people,” Yaghi said. “Our science is a jewel in the crown of our country, so we cannot allow that to slip.”
The last time the Mt. Pleasant Golf Club member hit the links at Nabnasset Lake Country Club for the Lowell Senior City Golf Tournament, he shot a 99 and finished last.
“There was some pretty good ribbing for a long time, reminding me about finishing dead last,” Moriarty said with a laugh.
That was five years ago. And a lot has happened since. It was around that time that Moriarty was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, forcing him to retire from a 40-year career at National Grid while relocating to Florida for the majority of the year to escape the frigid New England winters.
His journey of fight and determination perhaps reached a fitting full-circle moment last Friday at Nabnasset Lake.
Playing in the Lowell Senior City Golf Tournament, Moriarty carded a 4-over 74 to enter a three-way tie with Vesper’s Danny Brown and David Markuson. After a three-way playoff, Moriarty went from worst to first, winning the tournament to the excitement of a large gathering of family and friends.
Moriarty, 68, shaved 25 strokes from the round that lived in infamy while earning the individual title.
“I did go from the outhouse to the penthouse,” said a chuckling Moriarty.
Moriarty’s round was nothing short of masterful. He tallied two birdies and 11 pars en route to an impressive score at the challenging Westford course.
A birdie on the first hole was a precursor to the successful day. But at first, it looked like déjà vu. That’s because Moriarty also dropped a birdie putt on the first hole at Nabnasset in his last-place finish five years ago.
“So I said, ‘Oh God, don’t tell me this is going to happen again.’ But we obviously had better results the second time,” he said.
From there, Moriarty rolled. He would bogey just twice around a flurry of pars on the front nine to post a 36 before rebounding from a double bogey on 13 with consecutive pars on the last two holes. He managed to hit 11 of his first 12 greens in regulation.
His brother, Jim Moriarty, had a front-row seat to John Moriarty’s impressive round. Jim Moriarty said his brother made the game look easy in the playoff holes.
“John never flinched,” Jim Moriarty said. “He had one bad hole, and he just kept it going … he couldn’t have played any better.”
Mt. Pleasant’s John Moriarty, left, shakes the hand of Vesper’s Danny Brown after Moriarty won the Lowell Senior City Golf Tournament. Moriarty defeated Brown and one other in a playoff in Westford. (Courtesy photo)
Jim Moriarty is known at the Lowell club as the unofficial mayor of Mt. Pleasant. Last summer, the champion’s trophy at the Lowell Cities was named in his honor. He grew up the eldest of nine siblings — two of whom passed away at a young age — in the Highlands section of the city and lived down the street from the course. The family grew up around the game.
“He’s a great player in his own right, and he’s very methodical with his thought process. He thinks everything out, he’s an excellent putter, so he’s able to read some greens. He reinforces positive thoughts,” John Moriarty said of having his brother caddie for him.
Brothers Dennis and Brian were also on hand to witness the victory — a win that means a lot more to the Moriarty family than rising out of the basement of the standings five years ago to the top of the leaderboard.
Jim Moriarty said John Moriarty never once complained about his diagnosis or the struggles it brought to daily life. Golf has essentially been John Moriarty’s key to staying on the right path. When his neurologist stressed that staying active was the best thing he could do, he turned to the course.
“In the last four years, I’ve probably played more than I have in the last 20 years,” said John Moriarty, who spends seven months of the year in Florida and the remaining five in York, Maine.
His game naturally improved. He quipped to his wife, Anne, that he had a shot of winning the tournament on the way to the course. Anne Moriarty had a major foot surgery within the last month, but still walked all 21 holes in a boot to support him.
“The funny thing is, I told my wife as we were heading down to the club, I said, ‘Get ready because I think I’m going to win it.’ It was certainly in jest,” John Moriarty said.
What was once viewed as a fever dream came to reality last Friday, and John Moriarty has plans to return to the tournament next year to defend his crown.
“To come to fruition and see the fruits of my labor rewarded is pretty nice,” John Moriarty said. “And hopefully I have a whole bunch of years ahead of me where I continue to play and enjoy myself. That’s the most important thing.”
Until then, he’ll keep playing, fighting and giving back. On Wednesday, he organized a tournament in memory of the late Mike Mullavey, the former pro at Mt. Pleasant for 40-plus years. John Moriarty quarterbacked the event, which is set to fund scholarships.
He knows all about giving back to the community. And more than a thing or two about going from last to first.
Sophomore Gaby Eckroth (Mechanicsburg, Pa.) scored the lone goal, marking her third straight game with a goal, as the UMass Lowell women’s soccer team secured their first America East victory after coming out on top over UMBC, 1-0, on Sunday afternoon in Baltimore, Md.
The River Hawks (4-3-3, 1-0-1) had a 17-11 advantage in shots taken, while both sides took four corners. Redshirt freshman Nina Hertz-Saebbö (Gothenburg, Sweden) assisted on Eckroth’s goal. Sophomore Rachel Welch (Franklin) started in net for the eighth time, making two saves for the clean sheet.
“To come here and get three points, we are very happy with that,” said UML head coach Mira Novak. “Really tough game, and I think all these games early are going to be tight. I think today was no exception against a strong UMBC team that’s had a strong season so far. We knew that would be a long game that we would have to win over 90 minutes, and that first goal would be really important.”
Men’s soccer
Sophomore Matteo Costa (Frankfurt am Main, Germany) logged two shots on goal, but the UMass Lowell men’s soccer team fell to No. 14 Bryant, 3-0, in Sunday’s America East opener in Smithfield, R.I.
Costa, who finished with two shots in 79 minutes of action, was one of five River Hawks (5-4-1, 0-1-0) to tally a shot. Graduate student Shunnosuke Nakajima (Yokohama, Japan) and junior Ethan Young (Kansas City, Mo.) each tallied a shot on target, while juniors Ethan Agyare-Danso (Etobicoke, Canada) and Alex Champagne (Pembroke Pines, Fl.) each added a shotl. In net, freshman Alvaro Medrano (Guatemala City, Guatemala) made seven saves.
Field hockey
UMass Lowell was defeated 4-0 at Ivy League foe Brown on Sunday in Providence, R.I.
Four River Hawks (4-5) registered shots, including junior Florine Gerrits (Amstelveen, Netherlands) and sophomore Karlijn Kerkhof (Rotterdam, Netherlands), who each put a chance on target. In the cage, freshman keeper Veerle Mous (Breda, Netherlands) totaled 10 saves.
The home side was able to jump in front in just the sixth minute on a corner chance, when Juliette Meijaard set up near the stroke line and was able to tip a hard ball from Kate Siedem high into the net to make it 1-0.
The Tigers only scored once. But it was enough to keep the unbeaten Tyngsboro High boys soccer team on a roll Saturday afternoon. Tyngsboro blanked Tahanto, 1-0, during a Mid-Wach battle. Jake Haubner pocketed the goal for the Tigers (5-0-2), while Trevor Nogles made three saves to record the shutout. Andrew Fahey shined on on defense […]
“Whose idea was it to put me on after Gregory Porter?” remarked the gifted bassist, who was following the remarkable vocalist on the festival’s big Jimmy Lyons Stage on Friday at the Monterey County Fairgrounds. “I remember one time going on after Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings. It was wrong. It did not end well for me.”
Indeed, Porter was a tough act to follow, as he delighted the audience at this outdoor stage with a 75-minute set that was full of dynamic vocal work, winning personality and, in general, numerous reasons why this Sacramento-born artist — who was raised in Bakersfield — is considered one of the best in the game.
Porter’s high-flying set, no doubt, will be the one the most people will be talking about from Day 1 of the festival. Yet, McBride — one of the top instrumentalists and band leaders in all of jazz today — also delivered the goods during his own 75-minute set with his versatile band Ursa Major.
And, really, each of those great acts accounted for just two of a number of reasons why the 68th annual Monterey Jazz Festival — which was co-founded by music critic Ralph J. Gleason and radio DJ Jimmy Lyons in 1958 — got off to such a good start. Other artists that delivered winning Day 1 performances included saxophonist-vocalist Grace Kelly and Latin jazz pianist Alfredo Rodriguez.
Yet, we should be clear upfront about one thing:
Monterey Jazz remains, however, a festival in transition.
It’s still recovering from its pandemic woes and trying to find its footing in the post Tim Jackson-era, after the longtime artistic director stepped down from his position following the 2023 festival. Jackson’s position was quickly filled by acclaimed composer Darin Atwater, but that tenure proved to be very brief — with Atwater and Monterey Jazz parting ways after just one festival (2024).
Bruce Labadie, an extremely savvy booker known for his work with San Jose Jazz Summer Fest, the Mountain Winery, Villa Montalvo and too many other Bay Area arts organizations to mention, has since stepped in as interim artistic director and has done a superb job with what he’s had to work with.
Yet, that hasn’t stopped people from noting — and complaining — that the 2025 edition is a downsized version of the festival, with fewer sets of live music, fewer stages and fewer marquee names on the bill than what fans were accustomed to seeing prior to the pandemic.
And while all of that is true, it certainly hasn’t stopped both fans and artists from enjoying being back in Monterey.
“I love how y’all get down at the Monterey Jazz Festival,” remarked Grace Kelly, looking out at the crowd midway through her energetic set on the Dizzy’s Den stage on Day 1. “We’ve got people in cowboy hats dancing in the aisles”
Growing up as a musical prodigy, the 33-year-old artist has certainly performed at some impressive venues and big occasions over her still-young career. For starters, she performed at 2009 inauguration of President Barack Obama at age 16 and as a soloist with the Boston Pops — playing an original composition — at just 14. Since then, she’s played the Hollywood Bowl, spent time as a member of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” house band and released more than a dozen albums.
Yet, she was still thrilled to be making her debut in Monterey — at the longest continuously run jazz festival in the world — on Friday.
“Thank you everyone for coming out,” said Kelly, who proved to be an equally entertaining vocalist, saxophonist and frontwoman during her Monterey Jazz set. “It’s the start of a great weekend.”
Opening day would reach its crescendo — as McBride alluded to — with the performance by Porter, who was opening the festival’s main arena stage for this 68th edition.
Porter sounded brilliant as he melded jazz, pop, R&B, Motown and gospel into his own distinct vocal approach — one that has twice won him a Grammy in the best jazz vocal album category. He’d highlight both of those winning albums (2013’s “Liquid Spirit” and 2016’s “Take Me to the Alley”) during his set, while also taking time to tell stories and joke around with the crowd.
“It’s wonderful to look out on this crowd and see so much wisdom,” Porter said to a mixture of groans and guffaws from the crowd. “Hey, nobody is calling you old.”
The 2025 Monterey Jazz Festival is set to continue through Sunday. Fans can expect to see performances by supremely talented vocalists Ledisi and Dianne Reeves, as well as bluesmen J.C. Smith and Mr. Sipp, on Saturday. Sunday’s expected highlights include New Orleans favorites Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue and Latin jazz great Pete Escovedo.
Sophomore Karlijn Kerkhof (Rotterdam, Netherlands) scored two goals, including the game winner in the 62nd minute, to propel the UMass Lowell field hockey team to a 3-2 overtime victory against Kent State on Alumni Day on Sunday at Wicked Blue Field in Lowell.
“I couldn’t be more proud of our performance today,” said UML head coach Shannon LeBlanc. “Going down twice and tying it up, and then winning in overtime, it just speaks to the grit, the resilience, and the commitment to our philosophy of staying in every game and making sure we make the most of every opportunity. I just couldn’t be happier with this performance in front of so many of our alums and special supports of this program, it was just amazing.”
After forcing a pair of stalemates during the game, the River Hawks (4-4) fended off a late attack by the Golden Flashes to force overtime. Less than two minutes into the extra period, junior Florine Gerrits (Amstelveen, Netherlands) collected the ball near the UMass Lowell offensive end line and stay composed in the midst of a crowd of defenders, able to push a pass back to the middle of the circle where a waiting Kerkhof settled it and fired hard to the far corner for the win.
Men’s soccer
Junior Alex Champagne (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) scored his first goal as a River Hawk, but UMass Lowell fell to the Brown Bears, 4-1, on Saturday night in Providence, R.I.
“Congrats to Brown,” said UML head coach Kyle Zenoni. “I thought it was a very good game for about 60 minutes and then we had some pretty big mistakes and they punished us. That is a good team and you can’t afford to lose focus in key moments of the game. I thought we had some very good moments in the game and many positives.”
Champagne also led the team (4-3-1) with three shots and two on target, while junior Ethan Agyare-Danso (Etobiocoke, Canada) recorded an assist for his first point as a River Hawk.
The most highly anticipated player matchup of the 2025 Laver Cup — world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz vs. top-ranked American Taylor Fritz — kicked off the night session on Saturday in front of a jam-packed house of tennis fans at Chase Center in San Francisco.
Despite being the world No. 5, Fritz was the heavy underdog in this match, given his head-to-head record with the Spaniard — 0-3, with just one set won — plus Alcaraz having won six majors, including the U.S. Open earlier in September.
Yet, somehow, Fritz managed to pull off the big upset — and notch one of the signature victories of his career — as he beat Alcaraz 6-3, 6-2 and pushed Team World to a 7-3 lead in this Laver Cup competition. (The first team to score 13 points wins the cup.)
The match definitely lived up to the advance hype, with these two top 5-ranked right-handers drawing huge rounds of applause from the crowd for their numerous circus shots, thunderous forehands and stellar court coverage.
Yet, there was one moment when the crowd was louder than at any other point in the evening — and, for that matter, the whole tournament thus far — and it didn’t actually occur during the Alcaraz-Fritz match. Instead, it happened during the pre-match warmups/introductions segment, when the Golden State Warriors’ Steph Curry and Laver Cup co-founder Roger Federer — two of the most beloved athletes in the history of professional sport — walked out onto the court to do the coin toss.
As Fritz kicked off the match on serve, it initially looked like the same old script might play out. In the three previous matches that they’ve played (all victories for Alcaraz), the Spaniard would break the big American in his first service game. So, really, it was no surprise when Alcaraz had two chances to break in that first game.
Yet, Fritz then began writing a whole new script — erasing a 15-40 deficit — to capture the game. Alcaraz then won game 2, with an ace down the “T,” with Fritz returning the favor to take game 3.
Fritz had two break chances in game 4 — up 15-40 — but he’d only need one, as he mixed power forehands with a soft dropshot and, finally, an overhead lob that Alcaraz could only sail back into the net.
Both players would then hold their serves, taking the match to 5-2, leaving Fritz the opportunity to serve out the set in the ninth game. At that point, the crowd seemed firmly in Alcaraz’s corner, chanting “Let’s go Carlos” in a fashion that would make you think that this Laver Cup was being held in Barcelona rather than Fritz’s home state. Yet, none of that derailed Fritz as he closed out the set 6-4.
The two players — who also squared off on Friday night in a doubles match that went in Team Europe’s favor — kept up the high level of tennis early in the second set. Then, at 2-2, Fritz would make his move and secure three chances to break in the fifth game. An Alcaraz ace erased the first chance, but Fritz broke through on the second try, following a furious rally and a dropper from Alcaraz that fell short.
Fritz would solidify the break in a tense service game, which ended with an overhead smash, and then go on to break the Spaniard yet again during a surprisingly loose, un-Alcaraz-like service game.
Then Fritz was suddenly — and most would say surprisingly — serving for the match at 5-2. And he’d get the job done in 1 hour and 11 minutes, not only collecting up a true statement win for himself but also putting Team World in the driver seat to perhaps win the Laver Cup on Sunday.
Team World 7, Team Europe 3.
The Laver Cup continues through Sunday. For more information, visit lavercup.com.
Linkin Park then followed two months later with “From Zero,” the group’s eighth studio outing — and its first with Armstrong — which has been both a critical and commercial success.
The Linkin Park comeback continued with a winning show at SAP Center at San Jose, which drew a massive crowd of some 17,500 fans — a good 2,000-3,000 more than a typical SAP sold-out concert — on Monday night (Sept. 15). The added capacity was made possible by the group’s decision to go with a 360-degree “in-the-round” setting, which allows for seating on all sides of the stage and vastly more tickets sold.
Of course, all eyes were on Armstrong in San Jose to see how she would attempt to fill the huge shoes of Bennington, the famously shrill-voiced vocalist who died from suicide.
Linkin Park’s Emily Armstrong performs during their From Zero World Tour at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, Sept. 15, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Wisely, Armstrong didn’t overtly try so much fill Bennington’s shoes as she did attempt to cut her own distinct path on vocals during the group’s 26-song set. She adopted a much-more melodic approach to the vocals, especially earlier on in the show, than what one got from Bennington. As the evening went on, however, she’d up the ante and deliver her own brand of howls and screams to some of the band’s best-known songs.
As powerful as Armstrong was on the microphone, however, she just couldn’t top the chorus of voices from the crowd. At times, it felt like all 17,500 people in the building were chanting along, at top volume, to the music, underscoring just how strongly these songs of angst and alienation continue to resonate with generations of listeners.
There was a strong contingent of 30-and-40 somethings, people who likely bough Linkin Park’s classic rap-rock debut — the diamond-certified “Hybrid Theory” — on CD when it first came out in 2000. But there were also a bunch of younger fans in attendance, ones who have latched onto the band due to its continued relevance and popularity in the mall-rock world.
Taking the stage just after 8:30 p.m., Linkin Park started out in the past, powering through solid versions of “Somewhere I Belong” from the multiplatinum-selling sophomore effort “Meteora” from 2003 and the “Hybrid Theory” cut “Points of Authority.”
Linkin Park performs during their “From Zero World Tour” at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, Sept. 15, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
The group — which consists of Armstrong, vocalist-keyboardist-guitarist Shinoda, lead guitarist Brad Delson, DJ Joe Hahn, bassist Dave Farrell and drummer Colin Brittain — then zoomed forward to the present for “Stained,” one of nine numbers performed from “From Zero.”
In general, the new offerings — including “The Emptiness Machine,” “Two-Faced” and, especially, “IGYEIH” — sounded every bit as strong as the older material. Of course, there were some notable exceptions — in large part due to the way the crowd energy would propel the music to incredible heights on such fan favorites as “One Step Closer” and “Faint.’
The stage setup was fairly straightforward and, by today’s standards, simple — basically just a rectangular space, beneath two large video screen blocks, allowing for unobstructed views of the band from all sides. There were some neat, but somewhat underutilized, laser effects, but nothing that really impacted the overall show.
The musicians were pretty stationary for much of the night — which, of course, makes total sense when it comes to a drummer stationed at a kit or a DJ at the turntables, but not so much when you are talking about a pair of singers. Armstrong and Shinoda did far more roaming later in the evening — especially the former, who spent the last quarter of the show really racing up and down the stage.
Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda performs during their “From Zero World Tour” at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, Sept. 15, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
I have been watching Linkin Park in concert ever since the band’s very first headlining tour, which brought the group to the legendary Fillmore in San Francisco in January of 2001. What I remember most about that first show was not the music, but the way the group treated its fans — spending time signing autographs, shaking hands and taking other measures to make these attendees feel important and valued.
Some 100 million albums sold later, Linkin Park is still going out of its way to prioritize its connection with fans. That was evident in San Jose when Shinoda went out into the pit, between the stage and the crowd barriers, and walked about touching hands and sharing moments with the audience. He’d even give one six-year-old fan a signed hat.
The group closed the main set with a flurry of terrific tunes, sandwiching in the new album stand-out “Good Things Go” between the all-time faves “Numb” and “In the End” before finishing off with a towering “Faint.” Linkin Park then returned for a three-song encore highlighted by the “Hybrid Theory” gem “Papercut.”
By the end of the show, one thing was perfectly clear:
This rebooted Linkin Park appears to just be getting started.
Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda performs during their “From Zero World Tour” at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, Sept. 15, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Linkin Park setlist: 1. “Somewhere I Belong” 2. “Points of Authority” 3. “Stained” 4. “New Divide” 5. “The Emptiness Machine” 6. “The Catalyst” 7. “Burn It Down” 8. “Up From the Bottom” 9. “Where’d You Go” 10. “Waiting for the End” 11. “Castle of Glass” 12. “Two Faced” 13. “When They Come for Me”/”Remember the Name” 14. “IGYEIH” 15. “One Step Closer” 16. “Lost” 17. “Unshatter” 18. “What I’ve Done” 19. “Overflow” 20. “Numb” 21. “Good Things Go” 22. “In the End” 23. “Faint” Encore: 24. “Papercut” 25. “Heavy Is the Crown” 26. “Bleed It Out”
If you or someone you know is struggling with feelings of depression or suicidal thoughts, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline offers free, round-the-clock support, information and resources for help. Call or text the lifeline at 988, or see the 988lifeline.org website, where chat is available.
On a quiet street in Wilmette, native plants bloom in broad sweeps and bright bursts, bringing color and life to what was once an ordinary strip of lawn separating the sidewalk from the curb.
The violet blossoms of blue vervain hover above clusters of frosty-white mountain mint, golden lanceleaf coreopsis, orange butterfly weed and pink poppy mallow. Monarch butterflies visit the buffet of pollen and nectar, as do wasps, bees, bugs and moths.
Humans pause as well, with a passing bicyclist turning her head to look and a man in an orange Kia pulling to a full stop.
“Awesome!” the man calls out to Amanda Nugent, who is standing nearby. “Is this your stuff?”
“It is,” Nugent says with a smile.
At a time of growing concern about declines in insect populations, native plants are having a moment, with local fans such as Nugent showcasing them in parkways and front yards and community garden walks featuring them alongside the traditional roses, salvias and lilies.
National trend data isn’t readily available, but the Northern Illinois Native Plant Gardeners Facebook page recently reached 10,000 members, up from 6,000 just two years ago. There’s also the Native Gardening in Illinois group with 6,500 members, and Native Plant Gardens in the Upper Midwest with 24,200 members.
The Chicago garden center Christy Webber reports spring native plant sales have almost doubled since 2023, from about $50,000 to $93,000.
And at the Monee native plant nursery Possibility Place, co-owner Tristan Shaw says his retail operation sold more native plants in the first eight months of 2025 than in all of 2024.
“There’s always been a core of people who have been preaching this (native plant) gospel, but it really just has gone crazy within the last 10 years, and especially within the last three or four,” said Bob Sullivan, an administrator of the Northern Illinois Facebook group.
People are turning to native plants for many reasons, including their natural good looks and low-maintenance profiles. But reports about declines in beneficial insects — including monarch butterflies and the federally endangered rusty patched bumblebee — have played a major role, observers say.
“Native gardening for many people is empowering,” Sullivan said. “It is something they can do that is rewarding, they see immediate benefits, and they’re getting a lot of reinforcement from scientists who are telling them, your yard really can make a difference.”
‘An amazing shift’
Amanda Nugent had always been interested in both gardening and conservation, but she didn’t really appreciate the connection between the two until she read the book “Bringing Nature Home” by University of Delaware entomology professor Doug Tallamy.
Tallamy, a bestselling author and a leader in the native gardening movement, is among the scientists who say that insects — a vital link in the food chain — are in trouble.
An influential 2017 study in the journal PLOS ONE found a 75% decrease in flying insects in German nature preserves over 27 years, and in 2021 the National Academies of Sciences produced a special issue on insect decline, with the authors of one article writing, “Urgent action is needed on behalf of nature.”
Birds, many of which eat insects, are also struggling, with a 2019 report in the journal Science estimating that there were 29% fewer birds in North America than there were in 1970.
Planting natives is a great way to help, Tallamy says. That’s in part because many insects are specialists that evolved to rely on certain naturally occurring plants. Among the better-known examples: Monarch butterflies need milkweed, the only plant their caterpillars will eat.
A male monarch butterfly sits atop a coneflower in Amanda Nugent’s garden in Wilmette on Aug. 25, 2025. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)
Tallamy wants ordinary gardeners to fight back against insect decline by supporting his vision of a 20-million acre “Homegrown National Park.” Roughly the size of Maine, this park-without-boundaries would consist of native plants, shrubs and trees grown on private land by gardeners doing their part to protect and sustain wildlife.
The idea is that as more native gardens join the “park,” they will start to provide continuous habitat for the insects that, in turn, support larger animals such as birds.
“It was a light bulb moment for me,” Nugent said of reading Tallamy’s book. She did some research and got increasingly excited about the ecological potential of her own lawn.
“I would wake up in the middle of the night thinking: What else can I support in my backyard?” she recalled.
Then the pandemic came, the program in which she taught elementary school nature science was canceled, and she found herself with more time on her hands.
Amanda Nugent looks for an endangered rusty patched bumblebee among a grouping of anise hyssop in her parkway garden on Aug. 25, 2025, in Wilmette. She spotted the rare bumblebee last week among the more than three dozen varieties of bees and wasps in her gardens. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)
She started her parkway garden, her first big native plant “experiment,” with a 4-by-4-foot bed between the sidewalk and the street. Every few weeks, the garden doubled in size. Today, it’s about 20 feet long, with natives flourishing alongside pollinator-friendly cultivars, or variations developed by humans.
Nugent also tore up half her front lawn and added a big bed of natives, and she shrunk the lawn in her backyard as much as she could.
Having basically run out of space for additional plants at home, she started a new career as a wildlife-friendly landscape designer.
Nugent has gone further than many native plant enthusiasts, but her journey reflects broader trends
Attitudes toward natives have shifted in recent years, according to Aster Hasle, a lead conservation ecologist at the Field Museum.
Hasle, who has studied how Chicago-area gardens can best support monarchs, points to the milkweed plant, once dismissed as a “highway weed.”
Today, milkweed is probably better known as “the monarch butterfly plant,” according to Hasle, who uses they/them pronouns.
“That’s an amazing shift,” they said.
An endangered rusty patched bumblebee forages on a stem of anise hyssop in Amanda Nugent’s parkway garden in Wilmette on Aug. 25, 2025. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)
Among the factors involved: In 2017 the rusty patched bumblebee — still seen in the Upper Midwest — became the first bumblebee to be granted federal endangered status. The buzz around the bee’s decline helped raise awareness of the plight of insects in general.
Hasle also points to broader public use of natives in public spaces, including in the Chicago Park District’s natural areas initiative, which now covers about 2,000 acres.
Hasle remembers a time when natives were hidden away in obscure places or placed behind shrubbery. Now native plants are highlighted — with, say, boardwalks for better viewing — and that sends a message, Hasle said.
“If it’s in the park, then it’s kind of like the government gave it its stamp of approval,” they said.
Similarly, the Field Museum installed its own large, colorful and prominently situated Rice Native Gardens, starting in 2016.
“I don’t think there was a moment when people said, ‘Oh, yeah, native plants are great.’ It’s been a lot of small shifts,” Hasle said.
Insects win fans
Chicagoan Loyda Paredes was just looking for plants that would do well in her yard.
By chance, the plants she found 10 years ago on an online store included native cultivars.
Then, over the years, as she experimented in her garden, learned from her local garden club, joined more Facebook groups, and read articles people recommended, she got interested in native plants themselves.
Being out in her garden and seeing the insects it supports has shifted her outlook, too.
“You start to learn,” said Paredes, a real estate agent. “It isn’t just the monarchs and bumblebees — there’s all these other insects that are beneficial and important and interesting.”
Paredes now has about 30 species of native plants growing in the front yard of her Northwest Side bungalow.
She has spotted a Carolina mantis on her property. But the eye-popping hummingbird moth, which does indeed look like a melding of the two creatures it’s named for, has (so far) eluded her.
“I’ve only seen videos,” she said.
A ailanthus webworm moth on mountain mint in Amanda Nugent’s garden in Wilmette on Aug. 25, 2025. Nugent remarked, “These moths are good pollinators and their bright colorings are a warning to possible predators to indicate that they taste bad (like monarchs), because of the leaves that the caterpillars eat.” (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)
Oak Park resident Judy Klem’s roots in native gardening go back further, but over time she, too, has leaned into the wildlife aspect.
Klem’s four children, now in their teens and early 20s, were still very young when she decided low-maintenance native plants were a good choice, given the demands on her time. She also wanted a pesticide-free yard that was great for the environment.
And she was inspired by Chicago’s influential Lurie Garden, which opened in 2004. The high-profile garden in Millennium Park has a naturalistic look and includes many native plants.
“They definitely turned the concept of a public garden up on its end,” said Klem, a nonprofit executive. “Once Lurie Garden demonstrated, ‘Here’s what you can do with a public space and look, it’s attracting all these interesting birds and butterflies,’ it was like, ‘Ooooh! I want some of that.’”
As time went on, Klem became more interested in the wildlife her garden sustains, including goldfinches, butterflies and bees.
Today, she keeps binoculars in the kitchen, so family members can enjoy backyard highlights such as a recent two-week visit by a fledgling cardinal.
“It was like this entertainment show in the backyard,” Klem said of the cardinal’s sojourn. “We were all sending pictures to the whole-family chat.”
Hopes and fears
During a tour of her garden, Nugent pointed out one insect after another.
There were the big black wasps, surprisingly striking with their iridescent blue sheen. There was the fluffy yellow and black bumblebee with bright orange “pollen baskets” on her hind legs.
“They’ll collect all this pollen on their bellies and fur and then at some point they’ll rest and use their legs to kind of rub it and collect it down into their pollen baskets, and pack it down,” Nugent said.
A great black wasp, a type of digger wasp, walks on a non-native ornamental onion in Amanda Nugent’s garden in Wilmette on Aug. 25, 2025. While Nugent’s gardens are mostly filled with native plants, Nugent says she plants the onion “to thwart the serious bunny population.” (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)
A hummingbird moth appeared as if on cue; an ailanthus webworm moth with jewel-like orange and white patterns running down its back crawled onto Nugent’s finger. A pair of fierce-looking ambush bugs mated on a boneset plant.
During a recent group tour of Nugent’s gardens, a black swallowtail emerged from its chrysalis, the hard covering that protects the insect as it transforms into a butterfly.
“That’s my favorite part: that there’s magic happening all the time — if we just look for it,” Nugent said.
Gardening with a purpose comes with its own pressures. Nugent said she worries that native plants aren’t catching on fast enough to head off the decline of insects.
“But then I spend the time in my yard, or my clients’ yards, and I see all the ‘buzz’ and I think, it’s all OK. And then I get hopeful,” she said.
Junior Linus Musielak (Dortmund, Germany) scored his second goal of the season, as the UMass Lowell men’s soccer team fell to the Massachusetts Minutemen, 3-1, on Wednesday night at Cushing Field in Lowell.
“Obviously I’m disappointed with the loss,” said UML head coach Kyle Zenoni, “but I’ll tell you what I’m proud of the way we played. We had plenty of chances, and I think the goals that we gave up we should’ve been a little preventable. The ball didn’t bounce our way a little bit on a couple of them, but I’m actually very pleased with the way we played.”
Musielak, who finished the night with two shots, was one of three River Hawks (3-2-1) to register a shot on goal, with senior Oliver Holmstrom (Gävle, Sweden) tallying two on two shots and sophomore Matteo Costa (Frankfurt am Main, Germany) finishing with one on his lone shot. Redshirt sophomore Justin Pham (Liverpool, N.Y.) led the team with four shots, and in net graduate student Jorge Ortega (Tijuana B.C., Mexico) made three saves in the start.
Despite the River Hawks coming out aggressive and firing the first shot of the game off only six minutes in, the Minutemen were first to strike, scoring with 15:39 on the clock to take an early 1-0 lead.
SAN JOSE — Wide-ranging efforts are underway to find merchants to fill the empty ground-floor spaces along two sides of the Signia by Hilton San Jose, endeavors that could help lift the downtown economy if they succeed.
Colliers, a commercial real estate firm, has begun to scout for dining establishments and retailers for the hotel tower at 170 South Market St.
“We are looking to lease about 30,000 square feet of spaces at the Signia,” said Nick Goddard, a senior vice president with Colliers. “We are going to put some high-end restaurants in some of those spaces. These will be very fine, swanky dining establishments.”
Some of the spaces will be leased to retailers, such as personal salons and spas, according to Goddard.
“We are already getting inquiries from some top-level restaurants,” Goddard said.
The spaces are for the sides of the building that front on the Paseo de San Antonio and South First Street, according to Goddard.
“Marketing efforts are not the problem with filling these spaces, it’s the uncertainty of the time and cost it will take to permit and occupy the spaces,” said Bob Staedler, principal executive with Silicon Valley Synergy, a land-use and planning consultancy.
Finding more merchants for downtown San Jose is deemed crucial ahead of the potential influx of visitors expected to attend three mega sports events that are slated to occur in the South Bay during 2026.
“The City of San Jose needs to step up and provide proactive assistance in filling these key spaces,” Staedler said. “The wait-and-see approach has not been working to date. We don’t need to wait until after 2026 to realize that this is a problem.”
The 541-room, 22-story Signia by Hilton is San Jose’s largest hotel and was seized by its lender, BrightSpire Capital, through a foreclosure on May 12.
The lender’s foreclosure placed a value of $80 million on the hotel, which was 41% below the $134 million loan for the property.
During a July conference call with Wall Street analysts to discuss financial results, BrightSpire discussed its plans for the hotel in the wake of the foreclosure.
“Our intention is to make much-needed and neglected physical and operational improvements to the property ahead of significant events taking place in the Bay Area through mid-2026,” BrightSpire CEO Mike Mazzei told analysts. “We want to do things that we need to do to get that hotel fully operational and in peak condition before those events.”
The hotel fell into some level of disrepair as the prior ownership group was preoccupied with three court proceedings that were filed in an attempt to retain control of the property, according to BrightSpire.
“During the protracted foreclosure process, the hotel experienced meaningful deferred maintenance,” Mazzei said. “There was some distress at the asset. There were just basic things like elevators. Some elevators were not operating and offline.”
San Jose hotel operators hope to capitalize on the Super Bowl, multiple matches for the FIFA World Cup, and several of the games of the men’s college basketball tournament that are being held in the South Bay in 2026.
Data centers require massive volumes of water to operate, and the growing use of artificial intelligence means more of these centers are popping up in water-abundant regions such as the Great Lakes. However, despite their access to the vast bodies of water, not all communities in or near the Great Lakes basin have the capacity to sustainably support this industry, experts say.
A recent report warns the region is not prepared for the unprecedented, growing demand from data centers and other water-heavy users — which, if not addressed, could lead to shortages and conflict. The report also points to agriculture as a growing stressor.
Every Great Lakes state has passed tax incentive legislation to encourage data centers to locate there. But these incentives are not “reflective of where water is available — and where it isn’t,” said Helena Volzer, author of the report and senior source water policy manager at the nonprofit Alliance for the Great Lakes.
In addition, data centers are not required to report their water consumption.
The threat reaches far beyond what the eye can see and deep under our feet. The volume of fresh groundwater in the basin is equal to that of Lake Huron, earning it a nickname among scientists: the sixth Great Lake. Alongside precipitation and snowmelt, the inflow from this underground water helps replenish the massive bodies of water. But that still happens very slowly — each year, 1% of the Great Lakes is recharged.
“Those of us who work in this space think of the Great Lakes more as a finite resource,” said Melissa Scanlan, director of the Center for Water Policy at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee.
And it’s experiencing strain like never before. Last year, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimated that in 2023, data centers across the country consumed 17 billion gallons of water for cooling and projected that those figures could double or quadruple by 2028.
Additionally, hotter summers and drought — exacerbated by human-made climate change — are increasing agriculture’s reliance on irrigation.
“There are some gaps that we need to address, to accommodate (the) increase in demand,” Volzer said. State laws and regional planning need to inform economic development decisions that are sustainable.
Illinois is no stranger to some of these emerging threats to its water resources. As of September, it was the fourth state with the most data centers in the country at over 200, behind only Virginia, Texas and California.
These companies are moving into small towns, threatening to deplete municipal water supplies, wells and groundwater. For instance, a data center that could require 3 million gallons of water a day has been proposed in the village of Minooka near Joliet, an area that expects its groundwater supply to dry up in the next five years. Both municipalities and other surrounding communities have entered into a deal with the city of Chicago to purchase water from Lake Michigan.
While Illinois legislation is trying to keep up with the influx of data centers, Volzer said, “it’s not happening fast enough.”
Black box of water use
Phones and laptops overheat during heavy use, such as when several apps or tabs are open simultaneously, or when the devices are being used to play video games or watch movies.
The same happens inside data centers, Scanlan said.
“They have giant servers in these buildings, and they’re generating lots and lots of heat, so they need to be kept cool,” she said. Massive volumes of cold water are circulated through pipes in and around computer equipment, absorbing heat produced by the servers.
The Edged data center in Aurora on Feb. 26, 2025. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
The centers also use water in other indirect ways, such as in the production of electricity to power the facility — “in some cases, the equivalent amounts to a small city,” Scanlan said. When that electricity is obtained through fossil fuels, as opposed to solar or wind energy, the production process requires even more water.
“So, part of the water use puzzle is: What kind of technology is being used to cool the centers? And the other part is: How are they getting their electricity?” Scanlan said.
Yet these technology companies rarely reveal how much water they consume. Less than a third of data centers track water use, Volzer said.
“We have a kind of black box around that water usage,” she said. “Then, how can we predict demand?”
About 97% of data center operators obtain water from municipal supplies. This means that, like regular citizens, these companies are considered customers and are not required to publicly disclose their usage or report it to a regulatory body, according to Scanlan.
“So it’s been very difficult to get a handle on how much water is going to this new business,” she said. “That’s part of the difficulty for communities trying to assess: ‘Do we want to host a data center?’ They don’t really have all the information that they need to make a good decision.”
Policy and regulations have yet to catch up.
“And, by design, the information has been obscured,” Scanlan added. “This is an industry that uses nondisclosure agreements and confidentiality agreements when they’re going into communities.”
In Illinois, Democratic state Sen. Steve Stadelman, 34th District, introduced the Illinois Data Center Energy and Water Reporting Act earlier this year to require data centers to report their energy and water consumption every year and to make some of that data available to the public. The bill didn’t advance, but Stadelman expressed hopes that language around reporting requirements will be included in the final omnibus energy legislation the General Assembly could pass this fall or next year.
Stadelman said his concerns emerged in recent years as developers of data centers began moving into the state, resulting in increased energy and water demand. The industry has opposed his bill, the legislator said, by claiming that usage information is proprietary. But some of that information is already shared with utility companies and during the permitting processes at the local level, he added.
“It’s difficult to craft policies to ensure residential ratepayers are not unnecessarily burdened and shouldering the price spikes when we really don’t know exactly how much energy and water data centers use,” Stadelmen said in a written statement to the Tribune.
Incentivizing water use
Most data centers mainly use drinking water for cooling purposes, but this is not necessary. Instead, they could use alternative sources, including reclaimed or treated wastewater to relieve pressure on municipal supplies.
“States need to be exploring … ways to allow for non-potable reuse,” Volzer said. “What is the incentive to use recirculation, to be more efficient? It kind of has to come from the government.”
In Illinois, data centers outside Chicago can hook onto municipal water supplies that often rely on groundwater, which makes up between 20% and 40% of the total water flowing in and out of the Great Lakes system.
“In the Great Lakes region, especially Illinois and the northern part of the state, we’re pretty blessed with the access to quantity and quality of groundwater that we do have,” said Brian Snelten, a former president of the Illinois Association of Groundwater Professionals and the National Ground Water Association. “We forget about it because we can’t see it.”
But as climate change scrambles precipitation patterns, it is putting more pressure on these resources. Even scattered extreme rain events are not enough to replenish aquifers — at least not “in the same way that more subtle, lighter rain events do over time,” Volzer said.
Most of the rainfall runs right off, she said, especially where clay soils with poor drainage, like those predominant in Illinois, don’t easily allow it to seep through.
“You get this conflict between reasonable use for life, and then you have industry that wants to come in,” Snelten said. “The first thing people think about when they hear about the amount of water being used (by data centers) is: ‘Is my well going to go dry?’”
Illinois is also particularly attractive to data centers moving into the region in that it’s the only state that can divert and sell freshwater from a Great Lake.
The Great Lakes Compact — an agreement between the surrounding eight U.S. states and two Canadian provinces — prohibits diversions of water from the basin, but a Supreme Court decree from 1967 allows Illinois to divert over 2 billion gallons of Lake Michigan water via Chicago every day.
Joliet chief water plant operator Jay Rivera in the city’s public utilities building on Feb. 23, 2021. The green pipe carries water from multiple wells, and the blue pipe carries treated water. Joliet voted to switch over to Lake Michigan water as groundwater depletion continues in northeast Illinois. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)
It’s how Joliet entered a $1 billion deal with the city of Chicago in 2023, to supply the suburb and five neighboring communities with 105 million gallons of Lake Michigan water a day for at least a century as their groundwater supply depletes. One of those communities is Minooka, where the proposed data center would need millions of gallons of water per day.
While Volzer advocates for scaling back tax incentives or outright eliminating them, she said tax breaks and credits can be coupled with responsible and efficient water use to avoid depleting the resource wherever it may already be scarce.
A couple looks over Lake Michigan minutes before sunrise, Aug. 29, 2025, on Navy Pier. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)
For instance, Michigan enacted a law last year that authorized tax incentives for new data centers, under the condition that they must connect to a municipal system that has the available capacity to supply water. That legislation is designed, Volzer said, to encourage siting where the resource is available.
“Economic development can happen,” she said. “We’re just saying: Plan for it in a sustainable way.”
Scanlan echoed the need for thoughtful planning around a water supply that is not unlimited.
“So, thinking about how you use your finite resources in a planned way that makes sure you’re maximizing local benefits and local job growth — that’s also, I think, a very smart choice for communities, to enter into that planning,” she said.
Agricultural pressures
Groundwater is the main source of agricultural irrigation in Illinois. And while the region has long relied on agriculture, drought is requiring some states to use more water than before. According to the 2023 Farm and Ranch Irrigation Survey of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Illinois used 134 billion gallons of water to irrigate almost 680,000 acres of farmland that year, when Illinois had its worst drought in over a decade.
In 2018, the state used 108 billion gallons on almost 565,000 acres; in 2013, which followed a year of particularly bad drought, it used 119 billion gallons on over 540,000 acres.
Additionally, rising average temperatures from climate change are increasing the rates at which the millions of acres of corn crops in Illinois release water vapor into the atmosphere as they mature in the summer. This accelerated process means the crops require more water during their growth stages to avoid stress and yield loss.
“The soil is very much a living thing, and it has the ability, naturally, to be able to really take in a lot of moisture,” said Eliot Clay, executive director of the Association of Illinois Soil and Water Conservation Districts. Some of that water filters through to recharge aquifers.
While agriculture can contribute to dwindling groundwater resources, Clay said, certain practices can help address the issue.
“It’s not impossible for us to deplete an aquifer,” he said. “What we know for a fact is that, with the adoption of a successful conservation operation on a farm, they are able to decrease the amount of water coming off their landscape and put it back into (groundwater), which essentially is going to be used by people, for either drinking water or industry or what have you.”
Even though agricultural conservation practices — such as cover crops and tillage to improve soil health — can help replenish the resource, Clay called them “largely Band-Aid approaches.”
“Those aquifers took thousands of years to fill,” he said. “And we can do a lot to help make sure that the land is doing the best it can to take up water. … But, is it going to solve the problem? I don’t know.”
The conservation districts act as “the first line of defense” for groundwater, Volzer said, recommending limits to state agencies for high-capacity wells.
Beyond that, however, Illinois has no centralized system for groundwater management, meaning the state can’t proactively address depleting aquifers until after negative effects have occurred. This is because the districts are nonregulatory and can make recommendations for well limits only after receiving a landowner complaint, carrying out an investigation and finding a substantial lowering of groundwater levels.
“I think Illinois is really in need of a more comprehensive groundwater management law,” Volzer said.
The report suggests that Illinois create a centralized, state-level management program for registration, permitting and well siting that limits groundwater use where depletion is likely to occur, rather than where it is already happening. It also recommends that all the Great Lakes states implement energy and water efficiency standards, as well as reporting requirements, for large water users.
Scanlan said a decentralized system might’ve made sense in an earlier time with a smaller population, less water conflict and agriculture that required less irrigation. But not anymore.
“It could be really beneficial for the state to have a bigger picture of what’s going on with (its) groundwater,” she said.
Still, the devil is in the details, Clay said, “in terms of how something like this would develop.”
He believes the benefit of conservation districts is that they provide on-the-ground, personalized technical assistance to farmers and communities to implement resource conservation practices. Centralized groundwater management and monitoring are important, he said, but should be in the hands of a state agency while the districts continue in their nonregulatory role.
“(Conservation districts) are way more important now than they’ve been, because of what’s going on federally,” he said, as the U.S. Department of Agriculture rolls back programs and regulations under the Trump administration. “But, overall, I do think that there’s merit in trying to figure out what the actual usage of groundwater is in Illinois, in a more quantifiable way.”
Sophomore Karlijn Kerkhof logged a personal-best two goals, as the UMass Lowell field hockey team fell 4-3 to Northeastern on Friday evening at Wicked Blue Field in Lowell.
“Obviously a one-goal game is always a tough one because you want to be on the other side of that score,” said UML head coach Shannon LeBlanc. “I love that we scored three goals. I thought that we finished some balls that needed to be finished, but overall it’s always tough to lose at home.”
Senior Madison Leeper (East Amherst, N.Y.) added one goal in the contest for UML (1-2), while sophomore Alice Van Hemelen (Tervuren, Belgium) and freshmen Rena Pistilli (Lambaré, Paraguay) and Holly Beckinsale (Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland) chipped in with one assist apiece.
In the cage, freshman goalkeeper Veerle Mous (Breda, Netherlands) totaled five saves.
It would be nearly impossible for this upcoming football season to match last fall. Shawsheen Tech went 13-0 and won the Division 5 Super Bowl. Pelham saw its 47-game win streak end, but advanced to the New Hampshire Division 2 title game. The good news is there’s plenty of top returning talent, including returning Sun […]
SAN JOSE — Rosendin Electric, a century-old electrical contractor born out of a San Jose garage in 1919, purchased a San Jose research and office complex known as The Orchards in a deal that enables the firm to gather multiple operations into a unified work hub.
Barings, a real estate investment firm, was the seller of the 144,900-square-foot two-building property at 3000 and 3030 Orchard Parkway.
Through the deal, a Barings affiliate was paid $23 million for the buildings and received an additional undisclosed amount paid by two departing tenants to terminate their leases, according to multiple sources familiar with the transaction. The $23 million that Rosendin paid Barings was disclosed in a grant deed filed with the Santa Clara County Recorder’s Office on Aug. 29.
Newmark commercial real estate brokers Joe Kelly, Jon Mackey, Steven Golubchik and Edmund Najera and Colliers commercial real estate broker Michael Rosendin arranged the transaction.
The deal is a fresh indicator of heightened interest in purchases or leases of office sites in north San Jose.
— Vibrant Wellness paid $17.5 million in September for an office building at 3100 North First St. that the biotech company can use for expanded operations.
Of the eight swimmers chosen (six females, two males) for last year’s Lowell Sun All-Star team, seven return for this fall season, including swimmer of the year Mackenzie Gibbons of the Academy of Notre Dame and Chelmsford’s Lily Dunlea, who was named The Sun’s Diver of the Year for the second straight year.
Gibbons holds seven school records, won two events at the MVC Championship Meet, Division 2 sectionals and the Division 1 state meet, where she was crowned the 100-meter backstroke and 100 butterfly champ.
Other all-stars returning are Chelmsford’s trio of Nora Williamson, Mai Pho and Anna Florence, and on the boys side, Billerica’s Peter Hong and Tewksbury’s Alan Dang.
Academy of Notre Dame/Dracut/Tyngsboro
League: MVC
Last season: 1-7
Captain: Mackenzie Gibbons, sr., free/fly/back
Other returning letterwinners: Aura Da Silva, sr., back/fly; Dwayne Wangari, jr., back; Chris Ngigi, so., free; Alaina Foss, so., free/IM; An Tran, so., free; Lara Zyla, so., free/breast; Ian Diaz, so., free/back; Viha Rane, so., fly/free; Emma MacLeod, 8th, free; Olivier Perrier, 8th.
Promising newcomers: Thomas Baldwin, jr.; Julian Gornisiewicz, fr.; Perla Gomez, so.; Wesley Rylas, so.; Sebastian Nova, 6th; Jordana Farrow, 7th.
Coach Nicole Musher (3rd season): “We are excited to have our two-time state champion, Mackenzie Gibbons, back for what I’m sure will be a great season. We are also welcoming new members from Tyngsboro High School. This year, we are focused on growth for our newer swimmers, as well as integrating our co-op teams, Dracut and Tyngsboro, for future success. Although our team is still fairly young, we are optimistic, and excited, to see what this year brings.”
Academy of Notre Academy swimmer Mackenzie Gibbons is looking for a big season in the pool this fall. (Courtesy photo
Billerica
League: MVC
Last season: 2-6
Captains: Allison Gargalianos, sr., diving; Yuwal Kumar, sr., breast/free; Sophie Barriault, sr., free/IM; Peter Hong, jr., breast/fly
Other returning letterwinners: Kiera Harvey, jr., fly; Kaelyn Kerr, so., back; Andy Gerasimov, sr., free; Sammi White, jr., back; Ishaan Dadhirao, jr., free; Ryann Kobrenski, fr., diving; Elizabeth Agpar, so., back; Arjun Mahajan, sr., back; Hailey Romanik, fr., free/breast; Emily Manganiello, fr., back; Pedro Da Silva, sr., breast.
Coach Brooke O’Connor (1st season): “With the majority of the strong swimmers returning, we continue to get faster on the swim side, especially with a couple of experienced eighth-graders to add to the events.”
One of the captains of the Billerica swim team is junior Peter Hong. He’s a returning Sun All-Star. (Courtesy photo)
Coach Harriet Kinnett (30th year, 292 wins): “The swimmers and divers have been working hard at practice. Our talented upperclassmen are ready to step up and fill the roles of our graduated seniors. We should be competitive in the Merrimack (Valley) Conference.”
Promising newcomers: Lucille Berni, so., free; Aliyah Burgos, so., free; Julianne Fox, fr., IM/free; Nathan Kim, so., free/back; Alissa Kim, fr., free; Quoc Le Thoueithaisong, sr., free; Sovanreach Ly, so., free; Joseph Maniscalco, so., free/back; Jennifer Nguyen, fr., free; Violet Zapata, fr., free.
Coach Jennifer McGlauflin (16th season): “We’re excited to build on the strong team culture that’s earned us the conference Sportsmanship Award the past two years. This season our focus is on continuing that tradition while also raising our competitiveness by pushing for best times, stronger finishes and being more competitive in dual meets. With our mix of experienced returners and new athletes, we’re looking forward to steady growth and a season we can be proud of.”
Captaining the Lowell High swim team this season are, from left, Kelly Souza, Jaiden Long and Olivia You. (Courtesy photo)
Promising newcomers: Soufiane Bridaa, fr.; Camdyn Rae DeLano, fr.; Jesse Torres, fr.; Ella Corthell, 8th; Mason Borushik, so.; Joseph Todd, so.; Kyle Chiu, fr.; Dylan Dang, fr.; Gabe Pinheiro, fr.; Evathia Kazanis, 8th.
Coach Jason Smith (23rd season): “We graduated a very strong class, so our young team will have some big spots to fill. However, we have had a great first week of practice, and hopefully that hard work will pay off and we will be ready to compete starting with our first meet against Chelmsford.”
Bo MacCormack III didn’t put up eye-popping numbers in his college debut Saturday.
But the Westford resident did what he always seems to do when he’s on a football field – he reached the end zone. A 5-11, 198-pound true freshman, the running back scored for Boston College on a two-yard rush with 9:11 left.
The score gave BC a 58-3 lead and the Eagles went on to crush Fordham, 66-10, in season-opening action under sunny skies at Alumni Stadium.
MacCormack committed to play at Syracuse University before changing his mind and opting to play for head coach Bill O’Brien at BC. At Buckingham, Browne & Nichols, MacCormack became the all-time leading rusher in Massachusetts high school history.
He galloped for 6,699 yards and finished with 100 rushing TD’s.
In his college debut, he gained nine yards on three carries and returned two kickoffs for 37 yards.
College soccer
Giansiracusa shines: Freshman Maggie MacDonald netted two goals in her collegiate debut and sophomore Christa Giansiracusa (Tewksbury) recorded her first career shutout as Plymouth State University topped Thomas College, 3-0, in non-conference women’s action at Smith Field in Waterville, Maine.
Giansiracusa finished with two saves.
UML ties: Freshman Alvaro Medrano (Guatemala City, Guatemala) made his second career shutout in as many matches, as the UMass Lowell men battled the University of the Incarnate Word Cardinals to a 0-0 draw in San Antonio, Texas.
Medrano, who made two saves in 90 minutes, has now kept a clean sheet in each of his two collegiate starts. Offensively, 10 River Hawks (2-1-1) logged a shot, with eight of those shots coming on target. On defense, sophomore Aamir Ketbache (Frankfurt am Main, Germany) played the entire game, while sophomore Henry Wohlt (Milwaukee, Wis.) logged 72 minutes in his second appearance of the season.
College field hockey
UML falls: UMass Lowell freshman goalkeeper Veerle Mous (Breda, Netherlands) registered 11 saves in a hard-fought, 3-0 loss to No. 14 UMass.
“I’m really happy with our performance in the first three quarters,” said UML head coach Shannon LeBlanc. “It’s just unfortunate that after three great quarters we didn’t play our best when it mattered.”
Sophomore Karlijn Kerkhof (Rotterdam, Netherlands) led the way on the offensive end with four shots, while senior Madison Leeper (Amherst, N.Y.) and sophomore Alice Van Hemelen (Tervuren, Netherlands) each added two.
Pelham’s Aleena Cunha executes a flip throw during Friday’s girls soccer game against Milford. The Pythons dropped their home opener, 3–1. (James Thomas for the Lowell Sun)
High school golf
GLT starts well: Greater Lowell Tech has defeated its first two opponents, Northeast Metro, 149-122, and Nashoba Tech, 155-117.
Against Northeast Metro, Tommy McKiernan led the Gryphons by scoring 40 points. He was followed by Brody Simmons (26), Nolan Torpey (24), Jackson Ferreira (23), Ben Hickok (18) and Joe McMenamy (18).
In the victory over Nashoba Tech, McKiernan and Simmons paced the winners with 34 and 32 points, respectively.
Hickok collected 30 followed by Ferreira (21), Jack Hickok (19) and Andrew Baia (19).
Auto racing
Moulton takes third: A 50-lap special Ammonoosuc Asphalt Mini-Late Models was held Saturday at White Mountain Motorsports Park in North Woodstock, N.H.
Chris Moulton of Pepperell drove a terrific race and finished third in a competitive field.
The world’s greatest pop-punk band paid tribute to the most important heavy metal men of all time on Saturday night.
It occurred when The Offspring — the fabulous Orange County act known for such alt-rock-radio smashes as “Pretty Fly (for a White Guy),” “Why Don’t You Get a Job?” and “Self Esteem” — tipped its hat to the late-great Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath midway through its winning set at Shoreline Amphitheatre at Mountain View.
The tribute began with a short bit by lead guitarist Noodles (aka, Kevin Wasserman), who — living up to his name — nicely noodled his way through a short take on “Electric Funeral” from Sabbath’s landmark second studio album, 1970’s “Paranoid.”
“Everybody here over 12 is stoked right now,” remarked Holland, adding that the rest of the crowd was “bored” by that early ‘70s rock tune from Osbourne and his Sabbath bandmates.
So, Holland decided to zoom forward a full decade, to 1980, and lead the band through the Ozzy solo hit “Crazy Train.”
The version was pretty spot-on, with Holland doing a great take on those well-known vocal parts from Osbourne, who died at the age of 76 in July.
“I think Ozzy would be proud on how (Holland) handled that,” commented Noodles, who then rightfully added that Nimoy also did a fantastic job blazing through the incredible Randy Rhoads guitar passages from “Crazy Train.”
“We have one more classic rock song for you and then it’s back to the punk rock,” Holland told the crowd at the conclusion of “Crazy Train.”
And it was definitely a “classic,” one first composed nearly a full century before Sabbath’s “Paranoid.” It turned out to be the 1875 Edvard Grieg orchestral work “In the Hall of the Mountain King,” which many rock/pop acts — from the Electric Light Orchestra to Erasure — have recorded over the decades. The Offspring put its own version to wax on the 2021 album “Let the Bad Times Roll.”
Noodles took center stage for this epic instrumental (performed while Holland was offstage), equally showcasing power and precision in his fret work — and, in general, underscoring all the reasons why he’s long been one of the greatest guitarists in all of punk rock.
Holland then returned to the Shoreline stage and — as promised — it was back to the punk rock, as The Offspring raced through a muscular take on the Ramones’ classic “I Wanna Be Sedated.”
Holland, a rock ‘n’ roll Renaissance man whose many accomplishments include piloting a 10-day solo flight around the world and earning a PhD in molecular biology from the University of Southern California, would also lead the band through pretty much all of its biggest hits during the course of the 90-minute set – from the “Come and Play” opener to the “Self Esteem” encore closer.
The group also took time to touch upon its latest album, offering up “Looking Out for #1” and “Make It All Right” from last year’s “Supercharged” (which is the tour’s namesake).
The Offspring capped off what was an all-around winning night of rock, which kicked off with Florida pop-punk act New Found Glory and continued through the modern-rock tunes of Arizona’s Jimmy Eat World.
The multiplatinum-selling and Grammy-winning vocalist — who also scored an Oscar nomination for her role in the hit film “Wicked” — is set to kick off The Eternal Sunshine Tour at Oakland Arena on June 6 and 9.
The Eternal Sunshine Tour is Ariana Grande’s first show in six years. Her last trek was the Sweetener World Tour, which lasted nearly 100 shows and drew more than 1.3 million fans.
Ariana Grande will be supporting her seventh studio album, 2024’s “Eternal Sunshine,” as well as the deluxe edition “Eternal Sunshine: Brighter Days Ahead” that came out this year and featured nine bonus tracks and six new songs.
The latest weapon in Chicago’s war against rats is plant-based, naturally flavored and nutritious.
It’s a birth control pellet made with corn and peanuts, and a team of researchers and volunteers will be serving it to discerning rats in a four-block area of Lincoln Park for a year.
The aim is to reduce the rat population without harming urban wildlife, including owls and hawks, which can die after eating poisoned rodents.
The study was sparked by the high-profile deaths of three beloved Lincoln Park owls — mom, dad and owlet — who made their home near North Pond and died in rapid succession last April and May. The deaths were all linked to rat poison, which causes internal bleeding.
“We just realized we had to do something,” said Judy Pollock, former president of the Chicago Bird Alliance, which raised $32,000 for the study and is working with partners including the Lincoln Park Zoo, the Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation and 43rd Ward Ald. Timmy Knudsen.
The Chicago study comes at a time when the poisonings of high-profile birds of prey have helped launch rat contraception studies in New York and Boston.
New York lost Flaco the Eurasian eagle-owl, who famously flourished in the city after escaping the Central Park Zoo, to a 2024 building collision. But testing showed Flaco had been exposed to a level of rat poison that would have been “debilitating and ultimately fatal” even without the accident — and may have made the accident more likely, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society.
In 2023, a barred owl known as Owen was rescued near Boston’s Faneuil Hall after ingesting rat poison. Owen lost an eye but survived.
The Lincoln Park owls nested in an easily accessible park, and some fans would visit them on a daily basis.
Then all three owls died in the course of a single month.
“It was really sad and there were a lot of people that watched it and as a result, I think, a lot of people are very interested in our work,” Pollock said.
The contraceptive pellets, which are distributed in black feeding stations about the size of a traditional rat-bait box, look a lot like dry cat food and are sized for carrying (by a rat). The active ingredient is an extract of thunder god vine, an Asian plant that has been used for centuries in traditional Chinese medicine.
Thunder god vine, which is used to treat inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, has a notable side effect: It can decrease fertility, according to Alaina González-White, director of operations at Wisdom Good Works, the Arizona nonprofit that is supplying the contraceptive used in the Chicago study.
The Wisdom Good Works contraceptive targets both male and female rats, González-White said, interrupting ovulation in the females and inhibiting sperm development in the males.
While standard rat poisons accumulate in the animal’s body, the active ingredient in the Good Works contraceptive is rapidly metabolized in the rat’s liver. The rats need to continue to consume the pellets to maintain the contraceptive effect.
The contraceptive is formulated for rats and mice, so other animals would have to eat very large amounts to be rendered infertile, and even then, the effect would be reversible, according to Wisdom Good Works founder Loretta Mayer, who spoke at a recent webinar hosted by the Chicago Bird Alliance.
Mayer, the co-inventor of the contraceptive, which is called Good Bites, said that Wisdom Good Works hasn’t seen any negative effects on birds, dogs or squirrels.
During a study in the historic Jamaica Plain neighborhood in Boston that began in 2023, the rat population declined by 56% to 70% over the course of 16 months, Mayer said.
Asked if Chicago could expect similar results, Mayer quipped: “Well, if I knew that I’d be in Las Vegas, making my fortune. Our experience tells us that … a 50% reduction would be an expected reduction.”
She added, “If I were a betting woman, I’d probably bet somewhere around a 60-65% reduction level.”
Contraceptives address the great challenge of rat control: the animals’ rapid rate of reproduction, according to Maureen Murray, assistant director of the One Health initiative at Lincoln Park Zoo.
Murray, who is leading the Chicago rat contraception study, said rats can breed every three weeks, and they produce up to 12 pups in a litter.
Killing a rat does, of course, end reproduction, but it’s incredibly difficult to kill enough rats to make a lasting dent in the population, Murray said. And when you kill rats, the remaining animals will multiply faster, because they have more access to resources such as food.
Rats in an alley in the 1900 block of North Halsted Street, Aug. 12, 2025, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
The Chicago rat contraception study will monitor the effects of the contraceptives using multiple measures. Researchers will look at how much of the contraceptive is consumed, how many rats are visiting the feeding stations, and how much rat activity is picked up at separate stations dubbed rat cams.
The rat cams — upside down buckets with wildlife cameras hanging from the “ceiling” and peanut butter inside — will be stationed in areas where rats travel, such as along fences. Small holes in the buckets will allow the rats to enter and exit.
The researchers will also be using the rat cams to monitor four neighboring blocks where contraceptive pellets won’t be distributed. That’s to help assure the researchers that any drop in the rat population in the area with pellets is due to contraception, rather than broader factors such as weather or sanitation.
A rat’s range varies, but the animals typically stay within an area smaller than a city block.
A 50% reduction in rats would be a great outcome for the study, said Gloria Pittman, Chicago deputy commissioner of the Department of Streets and Sanitation, at the Chicago Bird Alliance webinar.
Streets and Sanitation helped choose the areas where the contraceptive is being placed and is part of the team that is monitoring the results.
Knudsen, the 43rd Ward alderman, said in a news release that if all goes well with the study — and he believes it will — he wants to pitch a citywide rat contraception program.
“It would be great if contraception could be one of the tools in the tool kit for rats,” said Murray. “I’m not sure that any one single tool is going to be the best in all scenarios, but I think having another tool so that we are less reliant on rat poison will benefit everyone. It will benefit people, it will benefit pets and it will benefit wildlife.”
