Pepe’s Cantina may be only three weeks old but for partner and general manager Jose Acosta it’s the culmination of years at work – and a day at the beach Located in the Shoppes at Kenwood at 3118 3rd Avenue N. Petersburg Pepe’s is the seventh location for the fast-growing Florida eatery Pepe’s fuses both traditional and reinterpreted Mexican favorites with speed and preparation techniques that emphasize faster turnaround times on meal orders – 5-7 minutes for lunch and 15 minutes for dinner service It’s that recipe that has found success across Central Florida and now the restaurant’s first West Coast location Acosta and his partners examined a half-dozen Central Florida communities when choosing where to launch their franchise they decided upon a trip to the Gulf coast Pepe’s is the brainchild of restauranteur Frank “Pepe” Chavez whom Acosta first met while serving tables together in Winter Springs Acosta learned of the success Pepe’s was having and the opportunity to launch a franchise of his own adding that Pepe’s achieved more than 300 reviews with an average rating of 4.9 in just three weeks Sandwiched between the leafy craftsmen bungalows of Historic Kenwood and the towering luxury apartments that seem to spring up weekly along US 19 Acosta hopes to serve as an oasis for both neighbors and city-dwellers looking for place for a break Trendy decor and a cozy ambiance combine with an expansive menu featuring both classics and Pepe’s specials It also features an extensive menu of specialty margaritas Acosta also noted that Pepe’s is unique in featuring extensive vegetarian and vegan options which comprise almost a quarter of the food menu He sources all of the food from Cheney Brothers he foresees Pepe’s will serve not just as a success story for Pepe’s but a home base for additional expansion – first in St The restaurant is located in the Shoppes at Kenwood at 3118 3rd Avenue N Add your idea below. Review Catalyst posting guidelines here. By posting a comment, I have read, understand and agree to the Posting Guidelines Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value" Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_3" ).setAttribute( "value" Students rocket toward STEM careers at community hub 2025 Florida legislative session extended through June 6 Multiple affordable senior housing projects advance  The Catalyst honors its name by aggregating & curating the sparks that propel the St Pete engine.  It is a modern news platform, powered by community sourced content and augmented with directed coverage your perspective and your spark to the St Pete Catalyst and take your seat at the table Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_4" ).setAttribute( "value" Privacy Policy | Copyright © 2020 The St Petersburg Group Enter the details of the person you want to share this article with Please select what you would like included for printing: Copy the text below and then paste that into your favorite email application a beloved guidance counselor and dedicated personal trainer passed away peacefully at his residence on May 2 he was known for his infectious laughter and a spirit that brightened the lives of everyone he encountered A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10:30 am at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church Entombment will follow in the Our Lady of Prompt Succor Cemetery from 4:00 pm until 8:00 pm at Pellerin Funeral Home Kenwood devoted over 30 years of his life to guiding young minds at New Iberia Middle School and Belle Place Middle School where he offered not just academic support He was deeply respected by colleagues and cherished by students as he had an extraordinary ability to make learning enjoyable and engaging His legacy in education is marked by countless lives he touched always encouraging students to pursue their dreams with confidence In addition to his impactful work in education Kenwood was a passionate personal trainer and bodybuilder He dedicated much of his life to fitness and nutrition helping countless individuals achieve their personal goals His commitment to health and strength served as an inspiration to many in the community illustrating the value of a healthy lifestyle and friendship Kenwood was also an avid collector of classic cars This cherished hobby was a reflection of his playful spirit as he thoroughly enjoyed being around people He had a remarkable ability to lighten the mood and remind those around him not to take life too seriously Kenwood earned his high school diploma from New Iberia Senior High and his master’s from the University of Louisiana Lafayette where he laid the foundation for his rewarding career His commitment to lifelong learning and personal growth was evident as he continuously sought to enrich both his own life and the lives of those around him Mary Lois Leleux Broussard of New Iberia; children and Lynn LeBlanc (Bart) of Lafayette; grandchildren Pallbearers will be Elwood "Woody" Broussard The family would like to give special thanks to his sitters and to Hospice of Acadiana for their care and compassion Kenwood leaves behind a legacy that will be remembered fondly—a man who embraced life with joy His absence will be felt deeply by all who had the privilege of knowing him please make a donation in Ken’s name to the charity of your choice Enter your phone number above to have directions sent via text Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply Service map data © OpenStreetMap contributors Tenants of the troubled Ellis Lakeview Apartments protest eviction notives served amid their rent strike on Wednesday Tenants of the troubled Ellis Lakeview Apartments are protesting eviction orders served amid a months-long rent strike they’re waging to force management to make repairs and collectively bargain with them "Major repairs have halted and regular maintenance is slow or unresponsive,” said Kimberly Marzette “Many of us got termination notices based on false balance(s) and retaliation.” proceeded to cut up an enlarged eviction notice as several tenants and supporters cheered Marzette is one of 15 tenants refusing to comply with the eviction orders most of which were served by Freddie Mac shortly after the strike began in late February federally subsidized apartment building at 4624 S have waged a campaign to improve their living conditions For years tenants have alleged that their former landlord allowed the building to fall into serious disrepair which forced the owner to replace the building’s management company Freddie Mac foreclosed on the building in 2023 and a Cook County Circuit Court judge placed the building into receivership the next year But issues persisted even after the federal takeover Tenants said Wednesday that they continue to deal with pests and rodents broken elevators and other maintenance issues Marzette and other tenants withheld a portion of their rent representatives from the advocacy organization the Jane Addams Senior Caucus argued A representative of the organization, which has assisted Ellis Lakeview tenants since the beginning, pointed to the city’s Residential Landlord and Tenant ordinance This ordinance states that if “there is material noncompliance by the landlord with the rental agreement,” and no corrections are made after 14 days of notice from tenants the tenant can withhold from the monthly rent an amount that “reasonably reflects the reduced value of the premises.”  tenants began recieving 30-day eviction notices shortly after beginning the strike Tenants are alleging that the rent ledgers provided were innacurate and were able to get these notices dismissed But when a second round of 30-day eviction notices were given the organizing director of the Jane Addams Senior Caucus alleged that ledgers were not provided when tenants asked to see them “The amount they said I owed was outrageous I was denied,” said Laila Scott on Wednesday Fifteen tenants filed an injunction against these eviction notices in April 26 tenants have filed lawsuits over conditions and “illegal” evictions Representatives from Freddie Mac could not be reached for comment as of press time are one of a few reasons tenants want a contract with their landlord Another reason tenants said they want a contract is the fear that federal budget cuts will adversely impact the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) tenants fear cuts to HUD would weaken its oversight and enforcement capabilities “If we cannot rely on HUD to care about and protect the safety of our building then we need a contract so we can do it ourselves,” Scott said Email notifications are only sent once a day Your browser is out of date and potentially vulnerable to security risks.We recommend switching to one of the following browsers: Charming Santa Rita Gem with Modern Updates & Timeless Appeal Step into the perfect blend of historic charm & modern convenience in this beautifully updated Santa Rita home Boasting three spacious bedrooms & two full bathrooms this residence welcomes you with original hardwood floors that exude warmth & character throughout featuring a coffee bar & dual full-size sinks—ideal for cooking or keeping things efficient during busy mornings Open & airy living areas are accented with classic shiplap details adding texture & personality to the heart of the home where you'll find a generously sized walk-in closet & a spa-inspired en-suite bath complete with a large walk-in shower that offers everyday luxury Step outside & unwind under the large covered patio perfect for morning coffee or weekend BBQs The spacious backyard provides plenty of room for gardening Get Fast Cash for Your Home. 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Reporting and PRX Reveal is public radio’s first one-hour radio show and podcast dedicated to investigative reporting A weekly program presented by the New Yorker magazine’s editor killer beats and the edgiest new talent in storytelling come together for a weekly show that straps audiences into an audio rollercoaster Radiolab is known for its deep-dive journalism and innovative sound design Created in 2002 by former host Jad Abumrad the program began as an exploration of scientific inquiry Over the years it has evolved to become a platform for long-form journalism and storytelling Radiolab is hosted by Lulu Miller and Latif Nasser shot man threatening woman with knife in Kenwood Thursday A man is in critical condition after being shot by a teen during an altercation with a woman in Kenwood Thursday night when he pulled out a knife in the 4800 block of South Drexel Boulevard around 11 p.m. a 14-year-old boy shot the man in his shoulder He was taken to University of Chicago Medical Center Police are speaking with a person of interest Terms of Use • Privacy Notice • Cookie Policy • Terms of Sale Subscribe Support Us American Civic Life Kenji Kuramitsu taking Sacred Journey Fellows on a walking tour. (Kelly Feldmiller) After Sigmund Freud’s death, Auden wrote: “to us he is no more a person / now but a whole climate of opinion / under whom we conduct our different lives.” I was drawn quietly back to these words after my friend Derrick Dawson died two summers ago. On these tours, participants visit sites of sacred meaning that are linked to historic struggles for racial justice in Chicago. Thanks to a grant from Interfaith America and the Sacred Journey Fellowship, the tours have now begun to build on longstanding neighborhood partnerships to take a special eye to religious communities, considering the roles of interfaith cooperation for advancing local change.   What can legacies of interfaith collaboration and strife in one particular neighborhood suggest about the possibility for resolving longstanding civic tensions? What might Jewish theological notions of tikkun olam (the repairing of all things), for instance, have to do with the historical memory work of Black churches, or of eucharistic notions of “re-membering”?  On these unorthodox walking tours, we turn our attention not to the marvels of physical architecture but to the racial and religious landscapes undergirding two prominent neighborhoods on Chicago’s South side.   We learn about the indigenous uses of these lands prior to European invasion and recount the cool waters and burning fires of Chicago’s Red Summer of 1919. We explore Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali’s time with the Nation of Islam, visiting the latter’s home and sighting the mosque he helped to found, just blocks from the hub of the oldest Jewish faith community in Illinois.   We engage Japanese American incarceration history, stopping outside a glittering mansion that was used as a prison during the second world war. And we contemporize our discussions by considering the roles of both policing and public health, taking as case studies the shooting of a student by local university police and an interfaith vaccine project coordinated by Christian and Jewish neighbors.   Auden’s elegiac poem hints at the possibility for redemption embedded within such introspection:  “as they lie in the grass of our neglect,   are returned to us and made precious again.”  Clearing away the grass of our neglect becomes an even more urgent task for those living in settler societies – there is not an inch of soil in the garden, that is Turtle Island, that is disconnected from the stories of those who came before.   Every block is a haunted house, every neighborhood the potential staging ground for a walking tour detailing human hope and despair. On our tour, we stop outside one house where the writer James Baldwin once had dinner and tell the story of his meal there. We remember Baldwin’s exhortation that “not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” (Freud would have agreed with this as well.)  One of Freud’s central insights is that when people spend enough focused time together in real proximity, they will come to experience every possible emotion: rage, desire, joy, grief, envy, despair, hope, relief. This is as true in the consulting room as it is in our families, faith communities, and neighborhoods. Over the years, these tours have fostered not only sober assessment or grim reflection but also sparks of joy, life, and mirth.  The realtor who spoke tearfully about how meaningful it was for her to see these buildings through a different set of eyes, appraising their fuller histories and not only their financial value.  I will forever hold these memories close to my heart.  Mao had it that “political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.” It is undeniably true that our world has often made cataclysmic changes at the point of a bayonet. But power can be nurtured by other means as well. Our work on these tours may seem small in scope – hyper-local, even – but by focusing attention on one specific place, I hope to invite participants to widen their gaze to their own communities of origin and to the often-invisible forces that have shaped our common life.   What historical memory projects, interfaith dialogues, or advocacy opportunities are slumbering in your neighborhoods, waiting to awaken?   We will continue to lead these tours and to tell these stories in these neighborhoods, rain or shine, wind or smoke, walking in circles, making our little revolutions, spinning, spinning, spinning.  Interfaith America Magazine seeks contributions that present a wide range of experiences and perspectives from a diverse set of worldviews on the opportunities and challenges of American pluralism. The opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of Interfaith America, its board of directors, or its employees. Privacy Policy Terms of Use Copyright @ 2024 Interfaith America Interfaith America is 501 (c)(3) non-profit recognized by the IRS and resources from Interfaith America in your inbox Live fire grilling and pasta are a focus at Glen Ellen Star chef’s latest venture morel mushrooms and aged parmesan from Stella Wednesday remodeled the old Cafe Citti on Highway 12 in the Sonoma Valley and opened Stella Wednesday Duroc Pork Chop Milanese with lemon caper butter sauce from Stella Wednesday Sam Fink works the wood burning open grill in the open kitchen at Stella Wednesday Mortadella Meatballs with pistachio pesto and aged parmesan from Stella Wednesday The main dining room with counter seating and a view of the open kitchen at the new Stella restaurant in the old Cafe Citti space on Highway 12 in the Sonoma Valley Wednesday Italy hangs next to the open grill for the Scamorza Impiccato appetizer at Stella Wednesday Scamorza Impiccato appetizer with truffle honey and grilled garlic sourdough from Stella Wednesday Burrata and Walnut in brown butter with 12-year aged balsamico and sourdough from the Mozzarella Bar e Fettunta at Stella Wednesday sponge cake and cubes of torched marshmallow fluff from Stella Wednesday The interior of Stella’s Baked “Gelaska” with vanilla gelato sponge cake and cubes of torched marshmallow fluff Wednesday Dominique Watts carries a salad to the covered porch dining area at Stella Wednesday Glen Ellen Star chef/owner Ari Weiswasser chats with guests in the covered patio dining area at his new restaurant on Highway 12 in the Sonoma Valley Wednesday Glen Ellen Star chef/owner Ari Weiswasser remodeled the old Cafe Citti on Highway 12 in the Sonoma Valley and opened Stella Wednesday I can’t remember when pasta became a bad word but it’s time to welcome back a good plate of tagliatelle and step away from the Lacinato kale and spaghetti squash takes a deep dive into lesser-known Italian regional shapes like Roman tonnarelli (spaghetti’s chunkier cousin) Florentine creste di gallo (ruffled rooster’s crest) rigatoncini (a tiny tube) popular in southern Italy or tagliatelle (ribbons) from the Emilia-Romagna region Served al dente — not too soft or too hard — you’ll finally understand why Italians consider pasta part of their national identity is the realization of a longtime dream for chef Ari Weiswasser After launching Glen Ellen Star 13 years ago and mastering the craft of wood-fired cooking the French Laundry alum was ready for a new project Teaming up with his wife, Erinn Benziger, and managing partners Spencer and Ashley Waite, Weiswasser began the journey of launching Stella — a vision nearly six years in the making that finally came to life in early March at the former Cafe Citti on Highway 12 “We really wanted to explore Italian cuisine and Stella just gives us the opportunity to do a lot more,” said Weiswasser Orange flames leap several feet toward the hooded kitchen vent as bold cooks stoke the fire with bundles of wood you can feel tingles of heat with each flare mushrooms and soft Scamorza cheese get the kiss of the grill imparting smoky flavor and gentle char unique to live fire cooking “We wanted to design an open kitchen so there is a show The cooking should be on display because it connects our chefs and cooks with the dining room,” said Weiswasser Stella’s modern dining room features warm lighting long rows of banquette seating and smaller bistro tables along the walls The indoor-outdoor style enclosed patio is a more casual option featuring mostly small-production wineries in Sonoma like the white Negroni ($17) with vermouth sherry and grapefruit; or the smoked strawberry margarita ($16) made with “coal-kissed” strawberry puree uncooked pasta and sauces for a quick meal at home “The pasta cooks in 3 minutes and 45 seconds timed exactly to Dean Martin’s ‘That’s Amore,’” said Weiswasser excellent service and dishes with broad appeal Stella’s star is already rising in Sonoma Valley SF halibut crudo ($24): Thin slices of this raw flatfish soak up the sweet strawberry “aqua pazza,” a featherlight dressing I licked from the plate Scamorza impiccato ($18): The smoky flavor of this melted mozzarella-style cheese is delicious with drizzles of smoked honey on grilled sourdough The presentation of the toast on a greasy piece of paper left us cold Stick to burrata — cream-filled mozzarella imported from Puglia Standouts include the Burrata and Walnut ($28) with walnuts cooked in brown butter and a drizzle of 12-year-old balsamic vinegar; and the Burrata and Prosciutto di Parma ($29) with a ribbon of salty prosciutto atop creamy burrata Fettunta (fancy garlic bread) served on the side is one of my favorite things on the menu perfect for soaking up anything left in the bowl Lumache al pesto ($29): You will be ruined for anything else after eating a plate of this snail-shaped pasta that’s cooked perfectly al dente Tonnarelli cacio e pepe ($25): I’m extremely picky about this dish because of its deceptive simplicity it needs to be a bit creamy from the pasta with a smack of fresh black pepper in your face The portion size is smaller than I’d expect but it makes up for it in flavor Duroc pork chop Milanese ($42): A thinly cut breaded and fried pork chop with a creamy Meyer lemon and caper sauce was a favorite of the table After seeing this dish on the restaurant’s Instagram Half Roasted Chicken ($34): Glen Ellen Star has always received my vote for excellent wood-fired chicken moist meat and simple pan sauce with Chinese XO sauce give it an umami boost Baked Gelaska ($16): A riff on baked Alaska raspberry sorbet and vanilla gelato topped with a swirl of torched marshmallow fluff Stella is at 9049 Sonoma Highway, Kenwood, 707-801-8043, stellakenwood.com You can reach Dining Editor Heather Irwin at heather.irwin@pressdemocrat.com. Follow Heather on Instagram @biteclubeats (Left to right) Kenwood Academy boys basketball players Devin Cleveland and Aleks Alston prepare to hit the court during their state super-sectional matchup against Rich Township High School on March 10 The Kenwood boys basketball season came to a bitter close Monday with a 70-65 loss to Rich Township High School in the state playoffs which came just under a month after the Broncos’ city championship win 1-ranked Kenwood started the game strong by taking control of the court – senior guard Amari Edwards scored an impressive 10 points in the first quarter turning the match into a back-and-forth battle that left them trailing the Chicago Public League champions 36-31 by halftime The game remained tight into the fourth quarter Sophomore guard Demari Stephens helped the Broncos hold onto their lead by scoring four points until he was caught traveling late in the quarter He scored two free throws with 30 seconds left in the quarter to bring the score to 61-59 but the Raptors came back with a buzzer-beater to force the game to go into overtime sloppy play sent the Broncos into a tailspin – Edwards fouled out of the game and sophomore star guard Devin “DC” Cleveland was outmatched by Rich Township’s defense causing him to lose control of the ball with 30 seconds left to go “I would never blame the refs,” Broncos coach Joe Mason said after the game “Some things didn’t go our way tonight … We were missing free throws and gave offensive rebounds down at the end of the game.” Though they came up short of the state finals many of the Broncos are proud of how far they’ve gotten this season The boys marked a 31-2 record and their first city title This all comes in the wake of an enrollment fraud investigation of the boys team that implicated multiple members of its coaching and Kenwood staff who scored 23 points in the elite eight matchup “We had bumps in the road against the same team New Kenwood restaurant from chef Ari Weiswasser's Glen Ellen Star team will feature housemade pasta and a mozzarella bar ribbon-shaped pastas with sughetto di pomodoro calabrian chili and Pecorino Romano from Stella in Kenwood Crispy potatoes with rosemary and Parmesan from Stella in Kenwood Lobster ravioli sheet at Stella in Kenwood Burrata with brown butter walnuts and aged balsamic from the Stella mozzarella bar menu Zeppole donuts with mascarpone and candied fruit from Stella in Kenwood After 15 months of anticipation, the Glen Ellen Star team has announced that their second restaurant The Cal-meets-Ital restaurant will lean heavily on housemade pasta and wood-fired meats at the former Cafe Citti (9049 Sonoma Highway) location there will be no pizza — but there will be a mozzarella bar The restaurant is the newest venture for chef Ari Weiswasser his wife Erin and managing partners Spencer and Ashley Waite The opening menu lists seven types of fresh pasta ($24-$31) lumache with aji amarillo pesto (a vegan cashew version is also available) along with tagliatelle with prosciutto and spicy mafaldine (a ribbon-shaped pasta) Entrées include a Duroc pork chop with lemon caper butter sauce ($42) Snake River Farms bavette steak ($45) and whole grilled Daurado fish Italian mozzarella and burrata dishes — aka the mozzarella bar — include burrata with brown butter walnuts and 12-year aged balsamic vinegar buffalo mozzarella with anchovy and a farm egg yolk and mozzarella with artichoke and lemon vinaigrette all served with fettunta (fancy garlic bread) ricotta zeppole (doughnut holes) and chocolate olive oil cake will also be on the menu but it’s the Baked “Gelaska” with vanilla gelato sponge cake and torched marshmallow fluff that has us extra excited Wines by the glass or bottle are mainly from Sonoma and Napa including a white Negroni and Stella Spritz The restaurant will include a dining room with a fireplace, chef’s counter seating and a covered outdoor patio. Stella will be open for dinner from 4:30 p.m. daily. Reservations are available at stellakenwood.com Kenwood Academy senior Aleks Alston towers over Curie senior DeJeon Jackson during the city basketball championship game on Saturday Kenwood Academy senior Terrance "tj" Seals goes up for two in the city championship game against Curie on Saturday The Kenwood Academy boys basketball team and coaches pose with Principal Karen Calloway and Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton after winning the Chicago Public League championship game on Saturday Whitney Young senior point guard Destiny Jackson powers through Kenwood Academy's defense for two of her 42 points during the girls basketball city championship on Saturday girls basketball captain Ariella Henigan and head coach Andre Lewis hold the runner-up plaque after the Chicago Public League championship game on Saturday Kenwood Academy senior guard Ariella Henigan drives past Whitney Young's defense for two points during the Chicago Public League girls basketball championship on Saturday The Kenwood Academy boys basketball team won their first Chicago Public League championship defeating Curie Metro High School 67-65 in a thrilling rematch of last year’s championship bout When the buzzer sounded on Saturday night at Credit Union 1 Arena the Broncos mobbed star senior forward Aleks Alston six rebounds and two blocks — including two signature alley-oop dunks — the victory was sweet vindication His team had faced high expectations but fell just short in the last two Windy City finals “This means the world to Kenwood,” he said Alston got plenty of help from fellow starters Terrance "TJ" Seals with Seals scoring a team-high of 22 points to go with eight rebounds and six assists But what could have been a comfortable Broncos win was anything but Although the Broncos significantly outrebounded Curie and had more assists which gave them a slim 43-40 advantage going into the fourth scoring three layups in a row for the Broncos to give them a five-point lead Curie senior guard Justin Oliver kept his team in the game late scoring on a crafty reverse layup and hitting a step-back three-pointer with Edwards’ hand in his face He scored 12 of his 22 points in the fourth and dished out eight assists iced the game by hitting a pair of free throws to go up by four points Although Curie raced down the floor and hit a two there wasn’t enough time for them to foul the Broncos again before time expired “I had to do it for Aleks and the older guys,” Cleveland said after the game It feels even better than I thought it would.” The night was bittersweet for the Broncos’ faithful as their No.1 seed girls team lost a slugfest of a basketball game against the second-seeded Whitney Young Dolphins in which five players fouled out and the teams took a combined 77 free throws several prominent political figures watched from the sidelines Mayor Brandon Johnson and Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton Guard Ariella Henigan and forward Diann Jackson led the Broncos’ charge on offense seeming to draw foul calls at will whenever they touched the basketball or went to the hoop Henigan scored 20 points before fouling out late in the game (so) we just had to get real physical back,” said Whitney Young point guard Alana Shields after the game the Broncos shot 44 free throws but missed 17 of them “We normally shoot about 75 percent from the line,” said Kenwood coach Andre Lewis We make our normal amount; it's a different outcome.” Another issue was that Kenwood had no answer on defense for star Dolphins guard Destiny Jackson who eviscerated the Broncos to the tune of 42 points Lewis threw every scheme in his playbook at the scrappy Jackson from presses and double-teams to zone and man-to-man defense Jackson showed herself to be a wily three-level scorer hitting tough-and-one layups in traffic over the towering Broncos back line coolly teeing up mid-range jumpers when her defender sagged off and draining long step-back three-pointers reminiscent of Caitlin Clark “We needed to be a lot better defensively,” Lewis conceded after the loss “We allowed the ball in the paint way too much.” Jackson also got help from her teammates at critical moments in the game including a few clutch three-pointers from guards Kiaya Johnson and Gaby Domercant just when the Broncos were making a run With Jackson on the team, the Dolphins won their fourth consecutive city championship. Next year, she will take her talents to the college level with the Fighting Illini, the NCAA’s 33rd-ranked women’s basketball team nobody beat my teams,” Jackson said at a post-game press conference The Kenwood Academy girls basketball team celebrate their first-ever state championship win at Illinois State University’s CEFCU (Redbird) Arena on Saturday The Kenwood Academy girls basketball team won the school’s first-ever state championship on Saturday with a thumping 65-44 win over Palatine's William Fremd coach Andre Lewis said he was extremely proud of his team for their resilience and discipline all season long With Saturday night’s win at Illinois State University’s CEFCU (Redbird) Arena in Bloomington-Normal 1-ranked team closed out their 2024-25 campaign with a nigh-perfect 35-3 record Lewis thought those attributes paid dividends in the fourth quarter when the Broncos went on a 14-2 run to break open what had been a barnburner of a game up until that point “To be in a very close game and to blow it open in the fourth quarter was just a testament to their work ethic and their ability to persevere through struggle,” he said Although Fremd led through the first quarter Kenwood took a narrow 28-26 lead in the second quarter and never ceded their slight grip on the game during the second half After a hard-fought third quarter in which the Vikings almost overtook the Broncos but ended up trailing 39-35 “The game’s not over,” he recalled saying in the huddle Lewis’ team responded by dialing up the defensive pressure the Broncos held Vikings star guard Ella Todd to just two points on one of eight shooting –  she scored 11 overall Kenwood also turned defense into efficient offense scoring 14 of their 26 fourth-quarter points off of turnovers or fast breaks “We were able to make them extremely uncomfortable and limit them to one shot,” Lewis said Leading the charge for the Broncos was senior point guard Danielle Brooks who put up a game-high 24 points to go with three assists many of which came putbacks after crashing the boards The senior small forward also played stellar defense stripping the ball away from Fremd players a game-high five times Lewis said both players gave sterling performances but that Walker-George played especially well as the game came down to the wire Although Kenwood won the free throw battle handily – going to the line 31 times compared to Fremd’s 19 trips – foul trouble limited two standout Broncos starters Senior forward Diann Jackson was ejected after playing just 11 minutes and senior guard Ariella Henigan had to play restrained defense down the stretch after picking up four fouls Lewis credited “team leader” Henigan’s play as key to the Broncos’ victory “her presence was felt throughout the entire game.” Henigan’s put-back layup with less than six minutes remaining kicked off the decisive 11-0 fourth-quarter run Although the Kenwood players were jumping for joy as the clock expired, less than a month ago, the team lost the Windy City championship in heartbreaking fashion to Whitney Young Academy. But they avenged that defeat with a 57-52 victory over the Dolphins to reach the state playoff’s quarterfinals late last month That win gave the team “a tremendous amount of confidence” for their first trip downstate because the Broncos and Dolphins have been so evenly matched historically Although Young has won the city title game over Kenwood for three consecutive years the Broncos have knocked the Dolphins out of the IHSA Class 4A state playoffs in each of the past two Our “team seems to have problems at UIC,” Lewis joked referring to the venue where the city championship games are regularly held “But Redbird Arena seems to agree with us.” Kenwood boys to face Rich Township Raptors in super-sectionals With a 69-65 victory over the Curie Metro High School Condors on Friday night the Kenwood boys basketball team will face off against the Rich Township Raptors on Monday they’ll play either Warren Township or Rolling Meadows High School at the University of Illinois’s State Farm Center in Champaign-Urbana on Friday To stream the IHSA Class 4A state playoffs, visit nfhsnetwork.com/associations/ihsa Kenwood seniors Kate'Lynn Shaw and Amanti Washington pose with their Urban Debate National Championship trophy on April 6 Kenwood seniors Kate'Lynn Shaw and Amanti Washington are awarded the first-place trophy at the Urban Debate National Championship on April 6 Two Kenwood students once again won the Urban Debate National Championship (UNDC) bringing home the gold for the second consecutive year Seniors Kate’lynn Shaw and Amanti Washingtontook home the trophy at the early April tournament held by the National Association for Urban Debate Leagues (NAUDL) in Atlanta “We worked extremely hard,” Washington said reading lots of new books …  and constantly getting basically destroyed by random college debators over and over again until we got our stuff together to be able to perform at the best level.”  Started in 2008, the three-day tournament drew 37 schools from across the country this year, including three from Illinois: Kenwood, Back of the Yards College Prep and Northside College Prep. (Back of the Yards College Prep took home the win for Debate en Español.) NAUDL is a Chicago-based nonprofit that formed in 2004 to address gaps in debate resources nationally; it operates exclusively in metropolitan areas Individual leagues work with local school boards and districts to host tournaments and other initiatives is also in her sixth year of being Kenwood’s class president she was also the student representative for the Chicago Board of Education also took home the UNDC’s first-place trophy last year Co-captains of this year’s team, Shaw and Washington participate in policy debate, which involves an affirmative team proposing a plan to enact a policy, and a negative team offering reasons to reject this proposal. The topic for this year was whether the “United States federal government should significantly strengthen its protection of domestic intellectual property rights in copyrights Shaw said the duo took a “more theoretical” approach to this topic the two considered “how Blackness and even things such as the Translatlantic Slave Trade gave vitality or create(d) what we know as intellectual property rights.”  “What does that mean in the afterlives of slavery?” she continued “What does it mean for Black people to have a relationship with intellectual property Shaw said it was nonetheless her favorite topic that she’s explored in debate After advancing through seven preliminary rounds Shaw and Washington faced off against Portland A coin toss determined that the Kenwood team was to take the negative stance The arguments in response to the topic focused on how race interplays with intellectual property Shaw said Kenwood’s arguement focused on how movement-building (a solution suggested by the affirmative team) would not necessarily assure safety for Black people “How do you know you’re letting people into the community who are going to uphold this safety?,” Shaw asked “I was really emotional during that round,” Shaw continued Washington added that a lot of Black thought has been disregarded in relation to intellectual property and many students come from backgrounds that can be disconnected from this kind of thought which Shaw described as being “plagued by anti-Blackness,” requires Kenwood students to “stick by your partner especially when you don’t know what is next You don’t know how people are going to come at y’all in debates or how they’re even going to perceive you in and outside of that room.” Shaw also won first place speaker and Washington won sixth place speaker Both also have full-ride scholarships for college debate and another two students received partial scholarships marking the first time that students on Kenwood’s team have received college scholarships for the sport Shaw will attend the University of Kansas and Washington will attend the University of Kentucky Both said their decisions were influenced by debate mentors they admire who are currently at these schools the two will head to their final tournament of the year the University of Kentucky’s Tournament of Champions one of the most prestigious and competitive in the country Shaw said that her goals for the tournament are to make it to the semifinals and to place in the top 10 speakers Washington said he wants to get wins against some of the school’s rivals who did debate while a student at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools said this year’s success came in spite of funding cuts from Chicago Public Schools (CPS) CPS reclassified what tier of funding debate coaches fall under meaning that the program lost $3,000 that would have gone to transportation and supplies “Buses for a weekend tournament run somewhere (between) $2,000 to $3,000 so it was paying for buses to one tournament,” McSager said the team got about $5,000 from Kenwood — the rest of the funding came from  donations They attended about 20 tournaments this year McSager noted that Shaw and Washington routinely went up against teams at high-level tournaments that have huge coaching staffs that are “providing them with what to say “They are reading beyond-college level texts synthesizing them and writing their own arguments … and they are winning.” The coaches said that in addition to themselves Shaw and Washington also sought out the advice of other coaches and judges throughout the season “They have put in so much hard work,” Harduvel said “I wouldn’t say either of them came into this sport just naturally talented  “Every really dedicated student who comes along pushes our program further,” she added Harduvel said Kenwood often encounters arguments that have racial “micro- or macro-aggressions.” Describing it as an unfortunate feature of the field of debate she added that Shaw and Washington have not shied away from issues of anti-Blackness and I think that is a lasting impact on the activity that they will have,” she said At least 17 players on Kenwood Academy's varsity basketball team were fraudulently enrolled in the school, according to an annual report released Wednesday by Chicago Public Schools’ (CPS) watchdog agency the report from the CPS Office of Inspector General (OIG) details how Kenwood’s basketball coaches helped provide the parents of players who lived outside the school’s attendance boundaries with false addresses and fake “proof-of-residency” documents including bogus leases and utility bills to meet the school’s residency requirements at least half of Kenwood’s varsity players over the last four seasons have been fraudulently enrolled in the school Some of these players actually lived in the suburbs and had previously been enrolled in private or other CPS schools The common thread connecting nearly all of them was that they played for former head coach Mike Irvin’s Amateur Athletic Union club “Coach A’s scheme deprived legitimately enrolled student athletes at the school of spots on the varsity roster and denied other high schools of fair athletic competition,” the report reads because many of the players in this investigation actually lived in the suburbs their fraudulent enrollment also robbed Chicago students of seats and resources at the school.” As chief executive officer of the Fire often referred to as the “Godfather of Chicago Basketball,” Irvin was allowed to have no more than two of the club’s players join his high school team’s roster the Fire has included numerous NBA-caliber talents in three of Irvin’s four years as head coach at Kenwood more than half of his school’s team were also playing for Mac Irvin Fire Two of those players are still enrolled at Kenwood after providing CPS with documentation that met the school’s residency requirements Irvin, who began his tenure at Kenwood in 2020, announced his resignation in November before the inspector general’s investigation into alleged enrollment fraud concluded The report notes that Irvin was placed on the district’s do-not-hire list along with three of his assistant coaches all of whom were also implicated in the scheme Irvin denied that he was the coach mentioned in the report “I refuse to reply on a subjective report that my name is not in,” Irvin said He also denied being the CEO of Mac Irvin Fire or its head coach despite listing both positions as his current ones on his LinkedIn profile Since stepping down as head coach, Irvin continues to tout the Broncos’ accomplishments on his social media. On January 4, he posted to X the final scoreline from Kenwood’s victory over Romeoville and an image of University of Arkansas head basketball coach John Calipari who was apparently in the attendance to watch star sophomore guard Devin Cleveland Irvin told the Herald he was proud of his four-year run as Kenwood’s coach The Broncos were 90-26 under Irvin’s leadership appearing in two consecutive city championships in 2023 and 2024 and state supersectionals in 2022 and 2023 But last February, Irvin, two assistant coaches and several players were barred from a state playoff game by the IHSA after the inspector general presented the sports association evidence from its investigation into these residency violations when investigators visited some of the addresses listed on the players’ “proof-of-residency” documents the actual tenants or owners told the inspector general’s office that the players had never lived at their properties and that they did not recognize the doctored lease documents Investigators also found no evidence in the basketball players’ files that the school ever visited their homes Some players’ parents even admitted to investigators that they submitted false paperwork Although the school has an assigned staff member who normally reviews every student’s enrollment paperwork for potential fraud that staff member told investigators that she “didn’t think she had ever seen a basketball player’s enrollment materials.”  some of which did not include the two utility bills that the school typically requires and another of which included documents that were dated after the player was already enrolled she said she would have blocked their enrollment due to issues with their paperwork The release of the report caps the OIG’s yearslong investigation into allegations of enrollment fraud which were first sparked by complaints from members of the school community and from another CPS school The inspector general said these complaints were overlooked by Kenwood Principal Karen Calloway “Although the Administrator told the OIG that she tried to stay out of enrollment and athletic matters,” the report reads “the investigation established that she was highly involved in the enrollment of many of the students at issue in this investigation.” Calloway referred the Herald to CPS’ communications office A spokesperson for CPS said the district “takes all findings and recommendations seriously.” “CPS remains committed to upholding all District policies and procedures as well as state and federal laws to best serve our students families and greater CPS community,” the spokesperson wrote in an emailed statement At a Local School Council meeting last March, Calloway admitted that enrollment fraud was endemic at Kenwood “I have hundreds of kids who probably have enrolled fraudulently,” she said at the meeting Although the school has some of the most stringent enrollment procedures in the city designed to root out such fraud, which some parents described to WBEZ as “invasive,” the inspector general found that “the school followed almost none of its supposedly augmented procedures where varsity basketball players were concerned.” “player file after player file revealed missing and inadequate documentation to establish the player’s residency in the school’s attendance area.” investigators note that Calloway received a photo of a player’s driver’s license listing a suburban address after the player’s mother sent it to school staff as part of an inquiry about obtaining a parking pass for her son But the inspector general’s report did not limit blame to the school’s administration It also argued that CPS’ Office of Sports Administration (OSA) which Calloway is on the advisory council for failed in its secondary oversight responsibilities lacking “even basic components of an athletics oversight system and (since the start of the pandemic) student-athlete transfers.” including principals and athletic directors are supposed to serve as dual layers of oversight for CPS high school sports,” the report reads the OIG’s investigation revealed that neither the school nor OSA provided any meaningful oversight at all — and that OSA lacks even basic components of an athletics oversight system.” CPS said in the statement that it was in the process of hiring a new executive director of the OSA Kenwood and Simeon academies face off in the boys basketball state playoffs on Tuesday senior guard Amari Edwards nervously chewed on his jersey from the sidelines down just one point after falling behind by 19 points to Simeon Career Academy (20-8) in the third quarter Having fouled out of the game after leading his team to a stunning come-from-behind fourth quarter in which the Broncos knotted the game up at 45 points apiece all Edwards could do now was watch his teammates and hope for victory He was not unlike the hundreds of anxious Broncos and Wolverines fans decked out in red or blue gear who packed the Hinsdale Central High School bleachers for this state super-sectional semifinal matchup Kenwood sophomore guard Devin Cleveland dribbled the ball patiently up court until there were just a few ticks left on the clock and then drove hard to the basket He floated the ball up as he was fouled by a Simeon defender Simeon tried a couple heaves from deep – the first clanked off the rim Edwards and the entire Kenwood bench sprinted onto the court ecstatic after such a hard-fought win that will see them face either Whitney Young or Curie Metropolitan high schools in Friday night’s super-sectional final “Instant classic,” commented one exultant Broncos fan as he marched out of the gym But for much of the game it hadn’t looked that way listless performance for most of three quarters before coming alive with less than three minutes remaining in the third Epitomizing the team’s struggles was Aleks Alston, the 6-foot-10-inch senior forward who, less than a month ago, delivered his school a long-sought Chicago Public League championship after years of coming up short in the finals towering blocks and pure three-point jump shot going two of five from the floor with only one assist and five rebounds Unable to protect the paint from the Wolverines’ physical interior players Kenwood began allowing wide-open catch-and-shoot threes Simeon’s Andre Tyler and Julien Doyle in particular dominated Kenwood inside and out Tyler had three three-point plays in a row – two three-pointers and an and one floater – en route to a game-high 22 points including a go-ahead layup late in overtime the Broncos shot a dismal three of 22 from the field in the first half Despite the Wolverines’ onslaught during Kenwood’s cold stretch which saw the former take a 42-23 lead late in the third quarter During a timeout with about 16 minutes remaining in the game Kenwood head coach Joe Mason told his squad it was time to “leave it all on the floor.” you’re gonna be sitting at home tomorrow,” he warned them Mason benched Alston for much of what remained of the game including the entirety of the fourth quarter replacing him with the relatively untested Osiris Bell “We just needed a different look,” Mason told the Herald after the game Bell recorded two steals and was a pest of a defender as Kenwood turned up the pressure on Simeon using a full court press that resulted in several Wolverine turnovers with Edwards and Cleveland steadily chipping away at Simeon’s advantage Edwards’s mentality during his team’s 21-8 fourth quarter run was “just to keep fighting.” “I just had to be the point guard I am,” he said “Don't let nothing speed me up or slow me down But after clawing their way out of a seemingly insurmountable deficit the Broncos nearly handed the game back to the Wolverines Tripping over the referee near the right sideline Kenwood’s Damari Stephens turned the ball over leading to a Simeon fast break and two-point advantage If not for a put-back layup by Seals as time expired in regulation Kenwood would’ve crashed out of the playoffs Stephens had two trips to the free-throw line to ice the game but missed all four attempts those missed points didn’t end up mattering thanks to stellar final plays made by Cleveland Neatly summing up all the game’s twists and turns The Kenwood Academy girls basketball celebrate their first-ever super-sectional trophy after defeating Marist High School 62-48 on March 3 Kenwood girls basketball are headed to the state semifinals for the first time in school history The 33-3 Broncos handily defeated  Marist High School 62-48 in Monday’s super-sectional matchup Kenwood girls will head downstate for the final games of the state playoffs Kenwood took an early lead in the March 3 game bringing the score to 14-2 by the middle of the first quarter bringing up the point totals to 20-15 by the end of the quarter The Lady Broncos still fought back and took a 38-28 advantage by halftime The game remained close into the second half when Kenwood  offense  – senior guards Icesis “Ice Cold” Thomas and Ariella Henigan and senior forward Diann Jackson – took control of the court “I’m just so happy for the kids,” said Andre Lewis “They put a lot of work in since last June And this is what we’ve talked about: sacrifice Kenwood girls have been on a hot streak throughout the playoffs a strong rebound after their disappointing city championship loss to Whitney Young High School last month the Broncos’ third consecutive city championship loss to the Dolphins Kenwood beat out Whitney Young in the state playoffs “It feels really good,” said Henigan after Monday’s game but we’re getting past that and winning new accomplishments.”   This is the furthest Kenwood girls have gotten in the state playoffs in school history but lost by one point in the state semifinal to Benet Academy “What was going through my mind was going through one play at a time,” said Jackson eight rebounds and one block against Marist “Even though it was a close game and they were on a run that didn’t mean a thing,” Jackson continued “I trust my team all the way down – (from) the first player all the way down to the 13th player.”  With two games standing between Kenwood and the state title “This is what we have wanted,” said senior forward London Walker-George “It just shows that all of the hard work we put in all of those times we didn’t want to get in the gym but we stayed in there because we had true dedication.”  Kenwood girls will face Alton High School in the state semifinal game on Friday March 7 at Illinois State University’s CEFCU Arena “We made history as the first Kenwood basketball team to ever make it downstate Kenwood coach Mike Irvin smiles during a game last year against Mount Carmel Please check your inbox for your confirmation By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Notice and European users agree to the data transfer policy Former Kenwood basketball coach Mike Irvin and members of his coaching staff conspired to fraudulently enroll at least 17 students to play at the school according to the CPS Office of the Inspector General’s annual report released Wednesday Investigators found that at least half of the school’s varsity players over three years were fraudulently enrolled Two of the basketball players are still enrolled at Kenwood after they provided CPS with proper residency documentation in late 2024 Irvin, who resigned in November has been placed on the district’s do-not-hire list He was 90-26 in four seasons and led Kenwood to supersectional appearances in 2022 and 2023 Kenwood lost in the city title game in 2023 and 2024 all those victories may have been with ineligible players The inspector general began the investigation after receiving multiple complaints from the school community and a recruiting complaint from another CPS high school The enrollment scheme involved providing families false addresses in Kenwood’s attendance area and providing or helping families create false documents Some parents admitted to the inspector general that they used false addresses Some families submitted doctored ComEd bills as proof of residency and some of the fake addresses were used by multiple players in the same year “I’m not responding to a subjective report by an opinionated person,” Irvin told the Sun-Times on Tuesday especially when five different versions of the story have already been told it is important to examine the number of times Kenwood has been featured in the media regarding fraudulent enrollment [for nonbasketball related issues].” Will CPS or the Illinois High School Association levy additional punishments against Kenwood Will the IHSA continue to allow CPS to police itself An IHSA spokesperson told the Sun-Times on Tuesday that the organization would reserve comment until it reviewed the full report “This is absolutely above my pay grade,” Irvin said My responsibility is to coach a program that has a varsity That’s over 180 players deemed eligible by our athletic directors and the Office of Sports Administration My focus has always been ensuring my student-athletes succeed academically and athletically and I worked hard to send Black boys to college Many of the fraudulently enrolled players lived in the suburbs and some in Chicago The overlap between the Mac Irvin Fire and Kenwood ranged from four to 10 players during the years investigated more than half of Kenwood’s team played for the Mac Irvin Fire inconsistent and incredible answers” when interviewed by the inspector general Irvin claimed he met his players when they enrolled at Kenwood even though they had already played for the Mac Irvin Fire He also denied he was the Fire’s CEO or ran the club team Irvin and his coaches “blatantly violated myriad CPS and IHSA rules and it should have been caught by the CPS Office of Sports Administration and the school’s administration,” the report said An IHSA bylaw allows CPS to govern its schools Kenwood and CPS Sports Administration failed to provide any meaningful oversight Many of the Kenwood player files were missing residency documents One student’s file contained fake documents dated after the student’s enrollment date Another had documents listing a suburban address There was no evidence that home visits were completed for any of the players One member of Kenwood’s staff said the school had never seen a basketball player’s enrollment materials Kenwood Principal Karen Calloway was a member of the IHSA Board of Directors and CPS Sports Administration’s advisory council The investigation’s evidence showed that Calloway “had ample reason to be suspicious about the fraudulent enrollment of basketball players at the school Calloway “reacted in different ways when confronted with issues regarding her school’s basketball team depending on her audience she was a zealous defender of her student-athletes but to the [CPS Inspector General] she was a detached administrator seemingly struggling with enrollment issues.” Calloway told the Sun-Times she would have to go through CPS to make any comments Kenwood’s Karen Calloway speaks at Gage Park High School in 2022 CPS Sports Administration was “unable and unwilling to fulfill its oversight responsibilities,” according to the report CPS sports staff said they could only conduct investigations if they received complaints But CPS policy authorizes proactive investigations The inspector general first presented evidence of five ineligible players to CPS and the IHSA on Jan and Kenwood was allowed to play in the city tournament and advanced to the championship game Feb CPS Sports Director David Rosengard declined to comment on the situation at the time and was fired in September On the first day of the 2024 state tournament, the IHSA took action and kicked Kenwood out of the playoffs which ruled that it could play in the state tournament without five ineligible players Kenwood responded by requesting a temporary restraining order in Cook County circuit court and Judge Caroline Moreland ruled in favor of the IHSA Kenwood’s ineligible teams advanced to two supersectionals and two city championships knocking out dozens of teams along the way Since many of Kenwood’s ineligible players lived in the suburbs they took spots from students who lived in the neighborhood and wanted to attend Kenwood which is one of the best neighborhood schools in the city Fraudulent enrollment has been an issue at Kenwood since it opened in the 1960s CPS requires parents to provide two documents proving their current address Kenwood is likely not the only top Public League basketball team with residency issues over the last several decades Many former Public League stars went to suburban junior highs It is clear from the inspector general’s Kenwood investigation that CPS Sports Administration never had the proper oversight in place The report says that CPS “must fundamentally reform how it oversees and regulates high school sports,” and it should create a new position responsible for enforcing compliance with CPS and IHSA rules CPS said it is auditing its high school student-athlete enrollment processes Please email if you would like to be allow listed With a new head coach at the helm after a season that ended in controversy the Kenwood Academy boys basketball team is off to a strong start this year with a three-game winning streak the Broncos’ new coach and an assistant principal at Kenwood “The young men are great and bought in on what we’re trying to do I haven’t deviated much away from what has already been done in the past we’re trying to keep it consistent for the guys.”   who graduated from Kenwood in 2009 and returned to become the school’s assistant principal in 2022 got the coaching job after Mike Irvin’s resignation early last month who led the Broncos to two consecutive city championship appearances in his four seasons with the team about eight months after an enrollment investigation cut Kenwood’s state playoff run short “As an alum of Kenwood and a former basketball player being able to step in and support the basketball team is pretty cool Irvin has denied that the enrollment fraud allegations that surfaced amidst the team’s run at the state playoffs last February motivated his resignation instead telling the Herald that he stepped away from high school sports to take time for himself The Broncos' current roster features exciting new talent, such as sophomore star guard Devin “DC” Cleveland, the highest-ranked player in the state of Illinois by ESPN coming in at 14 out of 100 players in its nationwide class of 2027 Senior forward Aleks Alston is the second highest-ranked player in Illinois at 74th in ESPN’s class of 2025 Alston had the second-highest record in average points per game with 13.1 and scored the most rebounds with 241 and assists with 135 The Broncos also get another season of Rajan Roberts Roberts was third on the team in total steals with 38 last season Mason also shouted out senior guard Chris Watkins “another high-character guy who brings a lot of energy and extra effort.”  Mason also sees potential in several recent transfers who joined the Broncos from Phillips Academy “What makes them special is their basketball ability,” said Mason Kenwood is sure to face difficulty this season The team lost four of its star players – Chris Riddle and Edwon Duling – to graduation last year and it’s Mason’s first year of coaching high school feels his coaching style isn’t far from Irvin’s 'My style is definitely getting out and running and being disciplined on the defensive end.”      Mason and the team have some big shoes to fill captured their third-straight regional title and made it to their second consecutive city championship But Mason feels confident the boys can make it farther this season “I think we have the team to do it,” he said “As long as the guys can buy in and work hard We definitely see ourselves winning a city and state championship.” against Warren Township High School at UIC’s Credit Union One Arena Kenwood Academy girls basketball players pose with coach Andre Lewis (center) Three more star players on Kenwood’s girls basketball team are getting full rides to Division I schools Just days ahead of their season opening, seniors Icesis “Ice-Cold” Thomas, London Walker-George and Jade Hamilton-Gill signed college offers in an emotional Kenwood ceremony. Joining them in signing offers were teammates Ariella Henigan and Diann Jackson, who committed to their DI institutions earlier this year Five players on one team getting full-ride scholarships to Division I schools is certainly a big deal – of the country’s more than 400,000 high school girls basketball players only about 1.2% will go on to play for NCAA DI schools each year the majority of whom don’t receive full rides “It’s a tremendous honor and accomplishment,” said Andre Lewis “There’s a tremendous commitment that had to be made for them to be successful.”       will play for Tennessee State University in the fall she played for Bishop Noll Institute in Hammond then transferred to the South Side school for her junior year She played often with her brothers and dad there weren’t many opportunities for women in the town She got onto an AAU team in middle school and remained on it through her sophomore year “I wanted to give up and it (there) was just a lot going on at the time,” she said it made me feel like I wasn’t a good player But things picked up for Thomas after transferring to Kenwood I wouldn’t be in the position that I am right now,” Thomas said “Coach Andre believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself.”   Thomas also received offers from the University of Buffalo the University of North Carolina - Pembroke Roosevelt University and Long Island University She said she settled on Tennessee because of coach Candice Dupree and plans to study nursing she didn’t start playing organized basketball until her freshman year at the Ogden International School of Chicago “It was just an impulsive thought one day,” said Hamilton-Gill she  transferred to Kenwood after her sophomore season The 6-foot-two-inch center led the team in blocks per game last season a small forward who could not be reached for an interview signed with the University of Illinois at Chicago will play for Howard University and Jackson Kenwood has a lot of momentum going into this season the team has won their first two games of the year this past weekend against Batavia and Naperville Central Carl Goertemoeller, executive director of the UC Real Estate Center, and Gary Painter, academic director of Lindner’s real estate program, spoke with Cincinnati Magazine about the future of Kenwood Towne Centre the region’s leading shopping mall located northeast of Cincinnati But local analysts are optimistic about the future of Kenwood Towne Centre which has managed to attract higher-end food experience and a large portfolio of tenants “Kenwood has continued to evolve and decidedly get better because of a couple of things,” Goertemoeller told Cincinnati Magazine for a story Sit-down dining experiences offered by restaurants such as The Cheesecake Factory and Maggiano’s Little Italy have brought their own foot traffic and  proved a smart gamble and they combine a dinner trip with a shopping trip,” Goertemoeller adds Kenwood Towne Centre continues to attract and retain a vast portfolio of approximately 160 tenants from accessible brands like Hollister and American Eagle Outfitters to luxury brands like Gucci and Louis Vuitton as well as novelty shops like Lolli & Pops and Squishable Painter says that despite Kenwood Towne Centre’s success, its owners must keep planning for the future. “It’s essential to create opportunities in your business model to innovate, rather than just stick to what’s worked,” Painter told Cincinnati Magazine the shopping center opened in 1956 in Hamiton County's Sycamore Township Goertemoeller and Painter support the efforts of the UC Real Estate Center within the Lindner College of Business It is recognized for high quality research and academic programs as well as its extensive connections to the local real estate community Goertemoeller oversees the relationship between the Center and its students in the program as well as center activities such as the UC Real Estate Roundtable series in addition to serving as academic director of the real estate program is a professor of real estate and the BEARE Chair in Real Estate Read the full article in Cincinnati Magazine Learn more about Gary Painter, PhD, and Carl L. Goertemoeller online After the COVID-19 pandemic upended traditional work structures employers now are contemplating how they’ll manage their employees whether they’re working in-person or remote What can boxing fans following the story of a fledgling fight promoter’s fallout with the International Boxing Federation learn from accounting research that rationalization is an observable—if not quantifiable—aspect of fraud Lindner College of Business Professor of Operations recently spoke with Search Engine Journal on all things artificial intelligence (AI) — the risks the benefits and tips on properly deploying the technology in the workplace University of Cincinnati | 2600 Clifton Ave For the upcoming Pwn2Own Automotive contest a total of four in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) head units have been selected as targets One of these is the double DIN Kenwood DMX958XR This unit offers a variety of functionality such as wired and wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay This blog post presents internal photos of the DMX958XR boards and highlights each of the interesting components A hidden debugging interface is also detailed which can be leveraged to obtain a root shell The DMX958XR is a compact unit that contains multiple interconnected boards the most interesting board is at the top of the unit and can be easily accessed by removing a few screws and metal plates The topside of the main board contains a video processing IC Carefully flipping the main board over reveals the SoC Be careful not to tear the ribbon cable that is attached to the underside of the board In the center of Figure 2 is a Murata radio module that handles Wi-Fi and Bluetooth operations Searching around for the exact model number that is etched onto the shielding does not return much information but the FCC documents for the DMX958XR state that this is the Murata LBEE6ZZ1WD-334 This module has no public datasheet available and isn't listed on Murata's site To the right of the radio module is the Telechips TCC8974 SoC which is marketed as an "IVI and Cluster solution" that supports running Android The TCC8974 uses a 32-bit ARM core and has multimedia hardware acceleration capabilities Off to the right of the SoC is the supporting SDRAM and eMMC that the TCC8974 requires annotated photos of the other boards are provided below Eagle-eyed readers may have noticed a suspicious-looking edge connector shown in Figure 1 that is slightly off to the right of the NAND flash This exposes a Linux login prompt over UART at 115200bps Logging in with the correct credentials will spawn a root shell this blog post provides enough information to kickstart vulnerability research against the DMX958XR Keep an eye out for future posts that cover the threat landscape of the DMX958XR We are looking forward to Automotive Pwn2Own again to be held in January 2025 at the Automotive World conference in Tokyo We will see if IVI vendors have improved their product security Do not wait until the last minute to ask questions or register You can find me on Twitter at @ByteInsight, and follow the team on Twitter, Mastodon, LinkedIn, or Bluesky for the latest in exploit techniques and security patches CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – The No 5-seeded Kirkwood Cobras team traveled to Kenwood High School to face the No 4-seeded Knights in a win-or-go-home district quarterfinal flag football playoff game on Monday The Cobras’ offense put up big numbers early and Kenwood’s late comeback fell just short and ending Kenwood’s season.adButlerLazyLoad("598665595921640040",100,["433948","433948","433948"],"177031"); the Cobras came out of the gates guns blazing Despite a tipped interception on their first drive the Cobras scored three times in the first half Kirkwood head coach Nick Perchich has been impressed with the growth he’s seen from his offense it shows the growth of this team,” said Perchich “Emma Goode has started to command the offense at the quarterback position so we don’t always get the time with her we need as Yazmine Pearson took an interception 80 yards to the house for her second interception of the day They have nothing to hang their heads about as they went from not winning a game a year ago to hosting a first-round playoff game.adButlerLazyLoad("184256564704338178",100,["433948","433948","433948"],"177031"); “I told my girls at the beginning of the season we’re going from nothing to something,” said Knights head coach Jayvion Walker “We’ve grown tremendously throughout the year These girls have so much heart and have overcome so much adversity they’ve got a semifinal date next Monday with the undefeated West Creek Coyotes It’s a challenge that the team is looking forward to “We’ve changed the style in which we do things and our kids have bought in defensively,” said Perchich and we’re excited for the challenge ahead.”adButlerLazyLoad("72837439483441890",100,["433948","433948","433948"],"177031"); | DON’T MISS A LOCAL SPORTS STORY: Sign up for the free daily Clarksville Now email newsletter you can reach me at krives@5starradio.com or at 931-648-7720 The City of Clarksville posted the proposed 2026 fiscal year budget on its website Friday It includes a letter from Mayor Joe Pitts in which he highlighted a proposed property tax increase of 15 cents Police have closed off a north Peachers Mill Road neighborhood in Clarksville as they negotiate with a barricaded person in a house Tennessee Environmental Council (TEC) is excited to host their second Recycling Roundup in Montgomery County Some new summer markets have popped up in Clarksville and Montgomery County Here’s a list of where you can find local markets for locally sourced vegetables Visitors don’t just pass through Clarksville – they help pay our bills taxes from tourism spending put an extra $14.7 million into Clarksville’s public purse This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply Be sure you have your GPS enabled and try again Kenwood Academy girls basketball head coach Andre Lewis smiles while holding the Illinois High School Association Class 4A state championship trophy after defeating Fremd High School on March 8 Kenwood Academy boys basketball coach Joe Mason poses with the Chicago Public League championship plaque after winning the title game against Curie High School on February 15 Two Kenwood Academy basketball coaches are recipients of this year’s Chicago Public League Coach of the Year award Andre Lewis of the state championship-winning girls basketball team and Joe Mason of the city championship-winning boys team learned of the awards last month via an announcement on social media who recently wrapped his 13th season with Kenwood’s girls team Lewis’ team took Kenwood’s first-ever trip downstate in March “I’m so thankful to be able to coach great kids who are receptive to the challenge to get better and allow me to share a basketball journey,” he told the Herald “I appreciate them acknowledging me and our team’s success.”  Just a few weeks after Chicago Public Schools administrators awarded Lewis the designation The Illinois Basketball Coaches Association followed suit Mason’s debut season with the boys team got off to an unconventional rocky start – he was tapped to lead the team after the boys’ previous head coach, Mike Irvin, resigned in the fall amid an enrollment fraud investigation that implicated multiple members of his coaching and the school’s staff the Kenwood boys went on to win their first-ever city championship in February They finished their season with a super-sectional loss in March Calling the award “a shock,” Mason credited much of his success to his assistant coaches “I think it’s a coaching award for not just myself Lewis and Mason weren’t the only people from Kenwood’s basketball teams to get recognition this year senior Diann Jackson and junior guard Danielle “D-Buckets” Brooks were all named to the Chicago Public League’s Red All-Conference first team while senior forward Icesis “Ice-Cold” Thomas was named to the third team Henigan was also named the league’s Player of the Year and Walker-George won the Newcomer of the Year Award senior forward Aleks “The Serbian Sniper” Alston and sophomore guard Devin “DC” Cleveland were named to the Red All-Conference first team; senior guard Amari Edwards and senior forward TJ Seals were named to the second team Cleveland was also designated the league’s Player of the Year and Seals is its Newcomer of the Year Cleveland also made the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association (IBCA)’s first All-State team while Alston was selected in the second; Seals was honored as a special mention The IBCA chose Henigan for their girls first All-State team and Brooks for the second team; Walker-George was picked to be on the third and Jackson was an honorable mention (Left to right) Kenwood Academy teacher Katie Frett and principal Karen Calloway talk with former Chicago Board of Education candidate Adam Parrot-Sheffer and board member Che "Rhymefest" Smith about school needs on Friday As one of his first orders of business as a newly sworn-in school board member Che "Rhymefest" Smith spent a couple hours in Kenwood Academy with Principal Karen Calloway and her administrative team to get a closer look at school needs After meeting for an hour in private on a Friday afternoon in late January observed classes and took notes on cleanliness and maintenance a place Calloway described as “the flagship of neighborhood high schools” in Chicago she pointed out various pieces of tattered furniture broken desks and areas that needed cleaning Smith was joined on the tour by advisors Adam Parrott-Sheffer and Julie Burnett a former Chicago Public School (CPS) principal was also a candidate for the 10th District seat is currently director of partnership and innovation for the Chicago Public Education Fund Poor cleanliness isn’t new to the school or the district After years of complaints and failed inspections CPS ended its contract last February with Aramark a food services and facilities management company based in Philadelphia The company had managed CPS' janitors and cleaning services for more than a decade After the contract with Aramark was terminated CPS took over management of the janitorial and cleaning services but kept management centralized at the regional and sub-regional level Calloway said she and her team have been working closely with CPS facilities "I think that they have been very in tune to what's happening at Kenwood,” Calloway said “I think that they've made some progress on the facilities." She also spoke about the need for more custodians and her desire to make the custodians stakeholders in the building's cleanliness "I'm a principal that doesn't mind managing our custodians," Calloway said "if they gave me that opportunity.” Currently sub-district managers manage five to 10 buildings Calloway's tour also focused on the school's classrooms and facilities Saying that the staff “do really well with what we have," Calloway added that they “could do better” if given the opportunity to expand some spaces "We would have an opportunity to provide better access for our students so they wouldn’t have to travel across the city to go use other schools swimming pools and things of the sort," she said Smith chatted with students and teachers about their experiences in the school where students had just completed a lesson on stretching and yoga Smith spoke with  physical education instructor Makalya Pierce about teaching meditation senior Adeeb Borden caught Smith’s attention in a hallway and launched into a full-on pitch touting the qualities of the school A member of Calloway’s staff watched with a smile and said “Adeeb is known as the ‘Mayor of Kenwood.’” Smith said he planned to talk to his fellow elected and appointed Chicago Board of Education members about giving principals “back the autonomy of management of the cleanliness of their schools.”  Smith proposed that the school serve as a model for other CPS schools "Kenwood has a value system that not only is in Principal Calloway "You see it translated into how the students are learning You see it in the happiness of the children in the school And what we want to do is replicate that value system.” "It has a foundation of excellence and there's a succession plan," he continued "When people start talking about Chicago public schools Pete Rising in this year\u2019s Best of the Bay Awards By using this website, you agree to our use of cookies. We use cookies to provide you with a great experience and to help our website run effectively. Learn more pete location | pepe’s cantina and mexican grill A new Mexican restaurant is set to open next week in St Petersburg’s Historic Kenwood neighborhood will launch its first Tampa Bay location on Friday April 11 at 3118 3rd Avenue North in the Shoppes at Kenwood The 2,275-square-foot space previously housed Cider Press Vegan GastroPub it was home to the popular LGBT bar Georgie’s Alibi but the Cider Press location had the perfect layout for a cantina with minimal renovation needed," John Cameron "We believe Pepe’s will be well-received in Kenwood and the community includes many first responders and hospital workers we’d love to serve," added Frank Chavez Pepe’s mexican cantina is opening a new location in St Petersburg | pepe’s cantina and mexican grill featuring contemporary Mexican and Tex-Mex cuisine The restaurant’s birria tacos feature slow-cooked shredded beef in a rich broth made with dried chili peppers served on corn tortillas with cheese and accompanied by consommé for dipping The Mexican Tapas menu includes ceviche (mahi-mahi The tostones made with birria or shredded chicken and topped with avocado sauce and cilantro | pepe’s cantina and mexican grill the brunch menu offers indulgent options like Tres Leches French Toast topped with strawberries as well as Pancake Tacos filled with strawberries Brunch and dinner guests can also enjoy an all-you-can-drink mimosa and sangria special can be ordered by the pitcher (serving up to five glasses) and come in flavors like strawberry jalapeño Guests can customize their margaritas with a choice of tequila The birria tacos | pepe’s cantina and mexican grill Pepe’s partners with Orlando-based Bowigens Beer Company to produce its house-made tequila and Mexican-style lager Pete cantina will be open Sunday through Thursday from 11:30 a.m Pepe’s Cantina currently operates six Florida locations in Winter Park For the latest menu updates and announcements, follow Pepe’s Cantina Mexican Grill on Facebook and Instagram One of the many cocktails served at Pepe’s | pepe’s cantina and mexican grill Want to be the first to know what’s coming soon to the Sunshine City Sign up to receive the latest news straight to your inbox Contact - Terms of Use - Privacy Policy© 2024 St Kenwood Academy senior point guard Amari Edwards faces off against Benito Juarez High School during the first round of the IHSA state tournament on February 26 Fresh off their first-ever city championship win the Kenwood Academy boys basketball team was back on the hardwood in full-force for the state playoffs on Wednesday besting Benito Juarez High School with a breezy 120-34 the Broncos immediately took full control of the game in the first quarter senior star forward Aleks Alston recorded two consecutive dunks within five seconds the Broncos reached the 100-point mark as the Eagles trailed with a score of 34 Alston “The Serbian Sniper” recorded 20 points and sophomore guard Devin “DC” Cleveland recorded 22 points “We haven’t played since the city championship,” said Broncos head coach Joe Mason “It was good to get back out there and get the feeling of being back on the court and playing.”  Despite clinching their highest point total this season some Broncos players feel there is more room for improvement “I feel like we can get better and better.”  the Broncos have yet to win a state championship losing 58-50 in the sectional semifinal to Simeon Career Academy “We need to just stay on the same pace we have been on as a winning team go down to state in Champaign and win it all,” Alston said “We just got to take it game-by-game …Because no game is guaranteed we just got to play hard and play as a team But with spirits still high following their city championship win Mason feels the team has the momentum to make it all the way to the finals The IHSA regional final will take place on Friday February 28 at Riverside Brookfield High School the Kenwood Academy girls basketball team is headed to the state finals for the first time in school history 1-ranked Kenwood beat out the Alton High School Redbirds Friday The Broncos will face the winner of Friday’s game between the Loyola Academy Ramblers and the Fremd High School Vikings for the state championship at CEFCU Arena on the campus of Illinois State University in Bloomington-Normal at 8 p.m To stream the IHSA Class 4A championship, visit nfhsnetwork.com/associations/ihsa CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Before last night the Kenwood High School baseball program hadn’t won a game in 704 days as senior Marvin Wares hit a walk-off two-run home run to clinch a 6-4 victory over Hunters Lane.adButlerLazyLoad("646023344155712416",100,["433948","433948","433948"],"177031"); We were in fight or flight mode last year,” said Knights head coach Branden Higginson where we didn’t have any full sets of jerseys and so much more to get to a better place for our kids We only have three kids who have been here all four years and to be able to show them that they can win and change the program has been the best part of this win.” Higginson believes this can be a jumping-off point to turn the Knights baseball program around “It’s been a long time coming for our team,” said Higginson “We have some very coachable young men that want to change our program Our coaches believe in our goal and have been pushing our players to change their mentality and effort every day.”adButlerLazyLoad("112359863553723204",100,["433948","433948","433948"],"177031"); | DOWNLOAD THE APP: To keep up with local sports news, sign up for our free Clarksville Now app Ohio — Shopping at the Kenwood Towne Center is as simple as swiping a credit card Navigating the traffic backups to do so isn’t always as easy local leaders have been searching for solutions to congestion around the region’s biggest shopping destination The thinking is simple: Kenwood is one of the largest economic drivers in Hamilton County Not all malls survive in today’s online marketplace make the experience as easy and seamless as possible Sycamore Township and Hamilton County joined together in late 2023 to implement a Kenwood Area Transportation Planning Study the study’s steering committee has had public listening sessions: “The success of the Kenwood area strains the current transportation systems and calls for improvements throughout Kenwood Road and Montgomery Road area There is no single fix that can address these unique transportation issues so multiple solutions are needed to help ensure the continued success of the Kenwood area,” the introduction handout states the study is the beginning of a very long process Sycamore Township trustees will need to figure out which ideas will be the most effective at their various price points A final draft is expected to be presented to the Regional Planning Commission in March 2025 Some of the proposed ideas could take 10-15 years to implement Watch some of the highlights of the study’s ideas: 20 different improvement ideas were generated among the four key objectives View the public documents for each idea in the embed below: Each idea was plotted on a cost-impact matrix Hamilton County Assistant Director of Planning and Development Steve Johns said determining what ideas are actually implemented is going to take future study and additional funds “There was definitely some good low-hanging fruit just simple things like moving a bus stop away from a busy intersection adding a sidewalk where there wasn’t a sidewalk connection,” Johns said such as an additional interchange from I-71 That’s in case the federal government offers funding for infrastructure projects that qualify “The wheels of government are turning,” Johns said “The township is going to consider this plan We’ve gotten good feedback from the community We start to identify funding sources to actually make it happen.” Some of the ideas don’t require many funding sources to implement the study found most navigation apps bring users to the front side of the mall on the southern side It’s usually the side that has less parking and more traffic “My recommendation would be until we get some of these things in motion head for the back of the mall,” Johns said Other technological fixes could include electronic indicators that show available parking spaces but you need to figure out ways to make that not horrible To view study documents and submit comments in an online form, click here This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy Hyde Park Academy Thunderbird Jacobi Walls at the free throw line during the city semifinals on Thursday Kenwood Academy's Amari Edwards goes up for two during the city semifinal match against Whitney Young on Thursday Kenwood Academy and Curie Metropolitan High School are slated for a rematch of the 2024 Windy City championship game after both teams won their semifinal games in nail-biting fashion Matched up against Hyde Park Academy (13-15) in Thursday night’s opener the Curie Condors (21-8) clipped the Thunderbirds wings in the first quarter with their signature press defense holding Erick Rozier’s team to zero points The 11th-ranked Thunderbirds initially looked intimidated by the stage playing before a crowd of nearly 400 people in University of Illinois Chicago’s Credit 1 Arena on the Near West Side committing six turnovers in the first eight minutes of play But the Condors’ failure to capitalize on their defensive prowess with points – they scored only seven in the first – allowed Hyde Park to resuscitate their lifeless offense in the second quarter That’s when Thunderbird point guard Christopher Thomas burst into action barreling through the teeth of Curie’s zone defense to set up his teammates for easy scores and relocating beyond the three-point arc for a pair of triples Although Hyde Park was able to take a small two-point lead with less than a minute left in the first half behind their strong collective play Curie finished the second quarter ahead by a single point due to their perfect free throw shooting in the period players trading baskets at either end of the floor and neither team able to gain a sizable advantage over the other the period ended with the score at 35-35 a piece As the intensity in the arena ratcheted up at the start of the fourth quarter the Thunderbirds were able to seize a four-point lead early on behind a bucket from an otherwise quiet Kye Ward-Owens and a spectacular Euro-step into a layup by Amare LeFlore that had the building “oohing” and “aahing.” But Curie guard Justin Oliver’s pair of contested jump shots over Thomas got the Condors back in the game and with less than a minute and 30 seconds to play Oliver accidentally stepped on the baseline while dribbling the ball a potentially egregious error that gave Hyde Park the ball back with 55 seconds remaining after guard Rayshawn Blackman pushed off his defender on the subsequent inbounds play an offensive foul that handed the ball to Curie The Condors closed the game with more solid free throw shooting “These guys played their butts off,” said Curie head coach Mike Oliver after the game “We take our hats off on the defensive end.” it was “a dream come true” to be playing for a second title opportunity in as many years Oliver said the title matchup would come down to grit something he believes his team has in spades “Whoever is the toughest on Saturday got a chance to win this,” he said So distraught was the Hyde Park squad that their coach and players refused to come out of the locker room for the end-of-game presser In the second game of the night’s boys’ basketball double-header the number-one-ranked Broncos (26-1) took on the fourth-seeded Whitney Young Dolphins (16-13) in front of a boisterous crowd of fans that included former Chicago mayor and basketball aficionado Lori Lightfoot Kenwood senior forward Aleks Alston won the opening tip for the Broncos but a quick Dolphins steal led to a fast break that Dolphins senior forward Carlos Munoz finished with a soaring dunk The matchup between the twin towers of Alston heated up after Alston buried a three-pointer over Munoz’s outstretched arm a gesture suggesting Munoz wouldn’t be able to guard him The pace of Kenwood’s motion offense troubled Whitney Young in the first half with a seven-point first quarter lead ballooning to twelve points late in the second Seals that bailed out Dolphin’s star guard Marquis Clark on a missed jump shot allowed Whitney Young to cut the lead to nine before the break Kenwood’s defensive intensity sagged in the second half particularly that of sophomore guard Devin Cleveland who blew several assignments that gave Dolphins players wide open looks While their defense seemed on the point of breaking in the face of the Dolphin’s onslaught – Clark erupting for 19 of his game-high 27 points in the second half – the Broncos’ veterans did not lose their cool Seals kept the team afloat with a big block late and Alston’s over-the-head dish to Edwards for a three to go up by six sealed the game for the Broncos Edwards finished with a team-high 16 points and four assists Alston had a great all-around game with 13 points who struggled against Clark’s physical defense who has offers from several top college programs said he doesn’t have to be a scorer to contribute to Kenwood’s winning play Edwards and Cleveland acknowledged that making it to another city championship was an accomplishment they are hoping for a different result from last year’s loss to Curie “We’re tired of coming up second,” Cleveland said “Now is the time to get one for the school.” Rich’s Al Brooks Jr (0) reacts after winning the supersectional against Kenwood at UIC’s Credit One Arena Kenwood was the best team in the state all season Rich’s long and athletic senior had 27 points, 15 rebounds, four assists and two blocks as the Raptors upset No. 1 Kenwood 70-65 in overtime in the Class 4A UIC supersectional on Monday If someone can’t guard me I’m going to keep attacking and I didn’t think they could guard me so I kept attacking.” Kenwood’s only other loss this season was in late December to Rich “Al Brooks,” Broncos coach Joseph Mason said “He showed why he is one of the better seniors in the state which is the combined team of the two high schools in the Rich Township district which lost in the championship game to King “We are going to enjoy it,” Raptors coach Lou Adams said Junior Jayden Williams stepped up and scored five points in overtime Probably one of the best players in the state Junior guard Jamson Coulter chipped in with 17 points for Rich Kenwood (31-2) led 61-59 in the final minute of regulation but missed three free throws in the final 23 seconds Brooks’ rebound and basket just before the buzzer sent the game to overtime “Defense was the key in overtime,” Williams said That’s why we are the only team in the state that can beat Kenwood.” Rich coach Lou Adams accepts the supersectional trophy after beating Kenwood Senior Amari Edwards led Kenwood with 23 points Junior Damari Stephens added 15 points and nine rebounds off the bench and sophomore Devin Cleveland finished with 14 points “It’s always the little things,” Mason said “We missed a lot of free throws down the stretch Kenwood won its first city championship this season The Broncos have never advanced to the state finals Mason stepped in as interim coach shortly before the season began “It was truly a great experience,” Mason said “I’m blessed and humbled to be able to coach these guys.” in the state semifinals on Friday in Champaign “We knew we had the team to do this,” Adams said “We ran into some problems but we always knew we had the team NORMAL — Playing in its first state title game since winning the Class 4A championship in 2020 Fremd hung in for the better part of three quarters Saturday night Seniors Coco Urlacher and Ella Todd combined for 27 points and 21 rebounds But it wasn’t nearly enough as the Broncos pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 65-44 victory in the Class 4A state championship game at CEFCU Arena in Normal Fremd (30-6) couldn’t overcome 15-of-51 shooting and saw its 13-game winning streak end It just wasn’t part of God’s plan and I trust His plan The Vikings trailed 39-35 after three quarters and were within 41-38 when junior Isabella Del Mar (7 points 8 rebounds) hit a pair of free throws with 6:30 to play were making their first state finals appearance responded with an 11-0 run for a 52-38 lead with 4:01 to play Todd finished with 11 points and 10 boards Junior Danielle Brooks scored a game-high 24 points to pace Kenwood 7 rebounds) and Ariella Henigan (16 points It was the 500th win for Broncos coach Andre Lewis Playing as they have all season for Dave Yates who coached at Fremd from 2006 through 2024 but died last June from an aggressive form of brain cancer the Vikings led 12-9 after the first quarter Fremd had its largest lead at 13-9 early in the second quarter The Vikings finished second in Class 4A in 2015 and 2016 before breaking through to capture the crown with a 58-47 win over Lincoln-Way West in 4A in 2020 “I want to congratulate Kenwood and Andre,” Fremd coach James Han said They fought through adversity all season to be here It’s about their commitment and dedication Kenwood Academy's Amillya Henigan goes up for two points during a Sweet 16 game against Payton College Prep at home Kenwood Academy's Leon Baylor drives by Payton College Prep senior Nathan Volkens for two points during the Sweet 16 matchup at Kenwood Kenwood Academy's Shalia Poole goes up for two during the Sweet 16 matchup against Payton College Prep at home Terrance "tj" Seals goes up for two points during the Sweet 16 matchup against Payton College Prep at home The Kenwood Academy girls and boys basketball teams cruised to comfortable back-to-back playoff wins against visiting Payton College Prep in front of a boisterous home crowd on Thursday night 1 seed girls team handily dispatched the overmatched No 16 Grizzlies 79-30 in the first matchup of Senior Night before the Broncos’ top-ranked boys team gradually overpowered 17th-ranked Payton Star guard Danielle Brooks scored 11 of her game-high 16 points in the first quarter Icesis “Ice-Cold” Thomas and London Wallace-George smothered Payton’s offense using a full-court press and tenacious on-ball defense The Grizzlies made turnover after turnover trying to get the ball past the Broncos’ defenders – their ball handlers had their pockets picked and errant passes were deflected or snagged mid-air by Kenwood the Grizzlies also committed a series of self-inflicted errors; their loose dribbles bounced off and rolled out of bounds or they shuffled their pivot feet when harangued by a Broncos’ trap walkie,” Kenwood’s broadcast announcer jocularly commented whenever the Grizzlies made a traveling violation All those violations led to extra offensive possessions for the Broncos who stampeded to a 25-5 lead at the end of the first quarter the Broncos had stretched their lead to a staggering 36 points more than the Grizzlies would score overall in the game The Grizzlies tried to claw their way out of that hole by making a couple three-pointers and scoring on tough drives to the basket including a spectacular finish by Magnolia Tryggestad The second half was mostly bereft of drama Sharp interior passing by senior forward Jackson to start the third set up several wide-open layups for her teammates Jackson also had a couple physical post touches leading to easy buckets for herself as she turned and spun to the rack with about three minutes left in the third and the game in hand Broncos coach Andre Lewis cleared his bench to rest his starters in anticipation of a second-round matchup against Perspectives Leadership Academy Bench players Makayia Trippet and Danielle Waddy seized the opportunity afforded them with Trippet sinking two threes and Waddy going up strong for an old-fashioned three-point play late in the fourth quarter After the buzzer sounded to conclude the game Lewis confirmed that it had mostly gone according to plan “We wanted to pressure them early and often force a lot of turnovers and try to get as many transition points as possible,” he said Lewis still saw some areas to improve upon Lewis expected a tougher matchup against ninth-ranked Perspectives on Saturday at Gwendolyn Brooks Academy “We need to force their team to make a lot of decisions they're not accustomed to,” he explained by way of strategy According to the Chicago Public Schools Office of Inspector General investigation into the scheme one of the main violations committed by Kenwood staff involved allowing players on the boys team who lived outside the school’s attendance boundaries to enroll using clearly fraudulent paperwork The report also found that players were not subject to the same home visits to verify enrollment eligibility the school routinely performs for other students Although the report said at least 17 Kenwood players over the past four years were fraudulently enrolled Of the three basketball players under investigation who remain at the school and on the team the report said their parents subsequently “provided CPS with documentation establishing their residency within the school’s attendance boundaries.” Perhaps fired up by Calloway’s defiant words the Kenwood boys got off to an emphatic start against Payton senior forward Aleks Alston sprinted to the basket and soared to the rim to catch and dunk an alley-oop pass from senior guard Chris Watkins Alston added a pair of threes in the first quarter while also contributing stellar defense The subject of considerable interest by a slew of top college basketball programs Alston’s father Ryan told the Herald his son has not yet committed to any program He said Alston could end up playing for KK Mega Basket Although considerably undersized relative to their opponents Payton played hard against Kenwood throughout the game Their zone defense largely frustrated Kenwood senior T.J Pittman hit several high-arching floaters to try to keep his team within reach the first half ended with the Broncos up 36-17 Star sophomore guard Devin Cleveland cracked the code to Payton’s defensive scheme early in the third with a pair of long-range three-pointers That gave Cleveland room on subsequent possessions to drive into the lane collapse the Payton defense and throw kickout passes to his teammates for wide-open shots which allowed interim head coach Joe Mason to mostly rely on his bench in the fourth The game seemed to be heading towards a subdued finish until Broncos’ sub Bryce McCord slammed a dunk over the heads of several dumbfounded Payton players A last-second three-point heave by sub Jolen Hayes similarly had his teammates dancing and shoving each other with joy Kenwood’s easy victory on Thursday night sends them to the round of eight in the Windy City playoffs 9 Lane Tech College Prep on Saturday at 4 p.m Because Lane Tech “has a lot of size,” Mason plans to emphasize rebounding and on-ball defensive pressure to his squad “We’ve got to be hungry for the basketball.” new pizza and rolled ice cream shops join the Sonoma County restaurant scene Pizza in Cotati focuses on slowly fermented naturally rising dough and local ingredients which replaced the long-running Yogurt Farms in Santa Rosa Kenwood Pillow Fights: Tom and Dick Smothers sock it out on the pillow fighting pipe in Kenwood on July 4 Newly opened Pillowfight Coffee in Kenwood is named for the famous Kenwood pillow fights that ran for 40 years before being canceled in 2006 for getting too big or too out of hand competitors take swings at each other on July 4 Get a cup of mud at Kenwood’s new Pillowfight Coffee drag-out Kenwood pillow fights that ended with competitors wallowing in mud Restaurant openings galore in Sonoma County Learn more below on where to satisfy your pizza (With basketball) Kenwood Academy's Chris Riddle faces off against a Hyde Park Academy player during a neigborhood varsity boys basketball matchup at Kenwood Eight months after an enrollment investigation cut short Kenwood Academy’s state playoff run boys basketball coach Mike Irvin has resigned Irvin said he’s stepping away from the demanding world of high school sports to take time for himself “I had a good time at Kenwood,” Irvin told the Herald He described the position of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) coaches as being at the bottom “of the totem pole,” especially in regards to pay for the time they put in Irvin denied that the enrollment fraud allegations that surfaced amidst the team’s run at the state playoffs last February motivated his resignation. That month, the entire team was temporarily barred over an investigation alleging that five of Kenwood’s student-athletes did not live within enrollment boundaries The IHSA ultimately ruled that Kenwood could continue to compete in the playoffs without the five student-athletes The Broncos ultimately ended their season in a sectional semifinal loss (Irvin was also involved in the controversial selection of an out-of-state player to  participate in the Broncos’ summer league team last year.)  According to the Sun-Times Kenwood assistant principal Joe Mason will take over as interim coach The school plans to conduct a search for a new coach next year Irvin described it as “a great school” academically where his players maintained an average GPA of 3.5 “ I sent five (to) six of them to college with scholarships,” he added A West Roseland native, Irvin’s basketball experience runs deep. He’s the son of Mac Irvin, who was known as the “Godfather of Chicago Basketball” for his efforts in creating Mac Irvin Fire was a first-round pick for the Portland Trail Blazers.Before starting at Kenwood in 2020 Irvin was tasked with carrying on the Mac Irvin Fire where he mentored talents such as Jabari Parker He joined Kenwood in the early days of Covid-19 after pandemic shutdowns meant the suspension of the Mac Irvin Fire “You start thinking of different things to do,” Irvin said He led the Broncos to state supersectional appearances in 2022 and 2023 and second-place finishes in the city championship in 2023 and 2024 “I’ve done some good over there and I’m proud of the work I’ve done,” Irvin said “My whole goal was to build student-athletes and get them to college.”  Irvin said he plans to spend more time with his wife and two children as well as get more involved in community outreach on the South Side “I felt like I’ve done the best that I could,” he said