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Pritzker dodged, weaved, and then — in a moment of breathtaking gall — pointed the finger at Texas governor Greg Abbott Illinois Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker found himself in a tight spot this week when a television reporter asked the obvious question: Why won’t you spend a dime to keep the Chicago Bears in Illinois, but you’ve proudly dropped billions on illegal immigrants? Pritzker’s answer? Blame Texas. In a squirm-worthy exchange, the governor — who’s been quietly eyeing a 2028 presidential run — was pressed on his refusal to use taxpayer funds to help the Bears stay in Chicago. The...

Bear spray proponents claim bear spray can be deployed faster than handguns, rifles, or shotguns. This is not obvious or certain. The claim is simply made and assumed to be true.It is not true.The truth is all four systems can be reasonably fast *if* the users train and practice with the system.This correspondent believed handguns to be the fastest method. An experienced trainer in Canada showed bear spray could be practically as fast as holstered handguns.A reasonably fast response is to access and use a defense against bears system in under two seconds. Very fast is to effectively utilize the...

Braun has previously given Indiana roughly “65-35” odds of landing the team and has repeatedly highlighted the advantages of Indiana’s business-friendly environment compared to Illinois’ high-tax, high-regulation climate. Losing the Bears would represent far more than a symbolic defeat for Illinois. It would mean losing thousands of potential construction jobs, long-term economic activity, tourism revenue, and one of the state’s most iconic institutions. It would also send a powerful message to businesses nationwide about the direction of Illinois under Democratic leadership. The potential departure would fit a troubling pattern. Since Pritzker took office, Illinois has seen more than 500,000 residents...

STATEMENT FROM CHICAGO BEARS CHAIRMAN GEORGE H. MCCASKEY AND PRESIDENT & CEO KEVIN WARREN Yesterday, the Chicago Bears Board of Directors met and voted to advance our stadium development project in Hammond, Indiana, with the exact site to be selected. We believe a world-class stadium project in Hammond will transform the region, connecting Northwest Indiana to the South Side of Chicago through the Loop and across neighborhoods and suburbs stretching north of the city. It will bring Chicagoland together and deliver new opportunities to its residents and businesses.

The Bears took a significant step toward leaving Illinois on Friday. The Bears' board of directors voted Thursday to advance their stadium development in Hammond, Indiana, with the exact site still to be determined. This is this first time that the Bears' board has voted on any stadium site. The Bears' plans to leave the state they've called home since their inception for Indiana come just days after the end of Illinois' spring legislative session. "We believe a world-class stadium project in Hammond will transform the region, connecting Northwest Indiana and the South Side of Chicago through the Loop and...

Japan's Environment Ministry said 13 people were killed in more than 230 bear attacks in 2025, exceeding the number of fatalities and attacks in any preceding year. A bear injured four people in a residential area of Japan on Tuesday in the latest case of an attack by the animals in an area of the country where bears have increasingly encroached on the human population in recent years. Police and fire department officials rushed to the scene in the Sasakino district of Fukushima in northeastern Japan after receiving an emergency call from the Fukushima Steel Works reporting bear attacks on...

"For decades, reintroducing grizzlies to California seemed unrealistic. Now, California lawmakers are considering a plan that could relocate Yellowstone grizzlies there. One skeptic says, "I don’t think it’s feasible. There’s 40 million people in California."

While studying the reality of people protecting themselves from increasing populations of bears, it is impossible to ignore the emotional arguments of those who oppose the human killing of bears. It is as if the opponents of human management believe bears to be immortal, never to die except at the hands of human hunters. This is a false, emotional, irrational belief structure. All predators die. Death by human hunter is overwhelmingly less painful than death without human intervention.Without human intervention, most bears die in one of three ways:The most common is being killed and eaten by another bear. Mature males...

During 2025, a saga unfolded where a dangerous, food-habituated grizzly bear swam across three miles of saltwater to Texada Island in British Columbia, Canada. The bear had been tagged in the left ear. It was a young boar about 4 years old that had been relocated twice due to conflicts with humans. The bear kept coming back. Just before the swim, the bear had been breaking into fishing boats and had stalked two teenagers on the beach. They had to take to the water to avoid the bear on May 22, 2025. COS is the acronym for the Conservation Officers...

GATLINBURG, Tenn. (WATE) — The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency is investigating after a bear ransacked a candy store in Gatlinburg. This is not the first time the bear has caused damage to the store, but the store is hopeful the bear will be relocated. Glades Homemade Candies shared on social media Friday that this is the fourth time the bear has caused damage at the store. Photos of the damage show a glass door the bear busted through, an overturned sheet pan rack and pans that were once full of sweets dragged outside. The store is located along East Parkway,...

The Florida 2025 black bear hunt has been a flop as an attempt to manage the bear population in Florida. It may have been successful as a trial run on how to manage a bear hunt. Only 52 bears were harvested. To keep a stable population, at least 600 bears should have been harvested, probably 1500. About 15 % of a black bear population needs to be harvested to keep a stable population. From myfwc.com: There were 52 bears harvested during the 2025 bear hunt, which is a hunter success rate very close to other states with similar hunt parameters....

The 550-pound bear living under a man’s Los Angeles home for 37 days has finally left the building — after being shot at with paintballs. Altadena homeowner Ken Johnson has been living with the massive black bear under his home since Nov. 30 when it began squatting in his crawl space. The “unbearable” roommate ruined Christmas for Johnson and had him on edge for weeks. The bear eviction finally happened Tuesday after Johnson contacted “The Bear League” — a group from Lake Tahoe that specializes in bear removal emergencies. “We heard about Ken, we felt bad for him and flew...

A California homeowner has finally removed a 550-pound bear living under his house that has been wreaking havoc for over a month. Kenneth Johnson, 63, discovered the massive male black bear had taken up residence in the crawl space of his $1.5 million Altadena home just before Thanksgiving. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) attempted to capture the beast, called Yellow 2120 by researchers, with bait and noisemakers. But their efforts were unsuccessful and Johnson even threatened to sue the department after they allegedly stopped helping with the removal. However, the homeowner finally had a stroke of luck...

Hunting of Ursus Arctos (grizzly bears/brown bears) was banned in British Columbia on December 18, 2017. At the time, opponents of the hunting ban warned there would be increasing bear/human conflicts. From British Columbia Wildlife Federation executive director Jesse Zeman: “When the hunt was closed, we predicted that over time human-grizzly conflicts would increase, but we also know that bears that learn bad behaviors teach those same behaviors to their offspring,” said Zeman. “This will keep getting worse until science-based wildlife management is reinstated.”Over the last ten years, Ursus arctos/human conflicts in British Columbia have doubled, from approximately 300-500 per...

On November 20, 2025, a bit before 2 p.m., a group of elementary school children was attacked by a grizzly bear, not far from their school. At least two adult men were with the children. It appears they and two others, including at least one child, were severely injured during the attack. At least one of the men is reported to have been severely injured while fighting the bear and protecting the children. Two of the victims were listed in critical condition, two others were listed as serious, and seven others were treated at the scene with less serious injuries....

Now here's a story out of Florida that bears watching. Florida's black bear hunt is underway, and troubles' a-bruin. The problem is, as it so often is in wildlife policy: A question of policy based on emotion vs. policy based on science. Ten years ago, a Florida bear hunt shocked the public when photos spread online of bloody carcasses of mother bears loaded in pick-up trucks and splayed out on concrete slabs at hunter check-in stations. The hunt, the first in 20 years, was halted in less than 48 hours after an estimated 304 bears were killed the first weekend....

The team said they are not asking for state taxpayer dollars, but are still seeking a commitment to local infrastructure and reasonable property tax certainty.

Teachers fended off a grizzly bear that attacked a school group walking along a trail in British Columbia, Canada, on Thursday, officials said. "The group had stopped along a trail near the community when a grizzly bear emerged from the forest and attacked," Inspector Kevin Van Damme of British Columbia’s Conservation Officer Service, said in an update on social media. "Teachers successfully repelled the bear using pepper spray and a bear banger."

By Nono Shen, The Canadian Press Posted November 20, 2025 10:13 pm.Last Updated November 21, 2025 1:40 am.A grizzly bear has attacked a group of elementary school students and teachers in the B.C. central coast community of Bella Coola, leaving two people critically injured and two others seriously hurt.B.C. Emergency Health Services said seven more people were treated at the scene of the attack in the community about 700 kilometres northwest of Vancouver, which was called in just before 2 p.m. on Thursday.Veronica Schooner said her 10-year-old son Alvarez was in the Year 4-5 class that was attacked while on...