A 2-year-old boy died Tuesday after officers responded to a home in Frankfort, Illinois, where police said they also found the child’s mother trying to injure herself in an incident neighbors worried could resemble the Lindsay Clancy case.

Police were called shortly after 4 p.m. to the 22700 block of Brook Stone Court following a report that a child was unresponsive.

When officers arrived, they discovered the young boy inside the residence and immediately began CPR. He was then transported to a nearby hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

Authorities said the boy’s mother was also found at the home with injuries believed to be self-inflicted. She was taken to a hospital for treatment, and police said her injuries were not considered life-threatening.

The preliminary investigation points to a domestic-related homicide, police said. Authorities have not disclosed how the boy died, identified the mother or said whether she has been accused of a crime.

The Frankfort Fire Protection District told FOX 32 Chicago that five people were transported from the property after crews were dispatched minutes after police arrived.

Officials have not released information about the other three people or explained why they were taken to the hospital.

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The investigation continued Wednesday at the large, two-story home, which sits on a broad lawn at the end of the residential street. Police blocked off the roadway for several hours, and investigators were seen entering and leaving the property.

Neighbors told NBC Chicago that police remained at the home late Tuesday.

Carolyn Pappas, who lives nearby, said the death has left residents stunned. She told the station that the circumstances brought to mind the case of Clancy, a Massachusetts mother who admitted to killing her three children before attempting to take her own life.

“This is just absolutely devastating, that this could be another Lindsay Clancy situation in our neighborhood, in our community. You never think it’s going to hit so close to home,” she said, NBC Chicago reported. “And so yeah, that absolutely makes us think of that. And again, just more people I think are struggling than we realize and so we just need to be there for one another.”

Pappas said the case was a reminder that a person could be struggling with a serious crisis behind closed doors without neighbors realizing it. She urged residents to check on one another and offer support.

Frankfort is about 36 miles southwest of Chicago.

The Frankfort Police Department asked anyone with information about the incident to contact the department at 815-469-9435.

The NBA announced Wednesday that it is taking sweeping action against the Los Angeles Clippers, stripping the franchise of five first-round draft picks, fining billionaire owner Steve Ballmer $30 million and suspending the former Microsoft CEO for one year after an investigation into improper payments involving All-Star forward Kawhi Leonard.

In its statement, the league said the probe uncovered “a pattern of misconduct and multiple significant rules violations by the Clippers organization,” noting that the team had previously violated rules related to salary cap circumvention.

Leonard has been ordered to pay $700,000 in restitution tied to improper benefits received by him and his uncle and representative, Dennis Robertson, from the Clippers and other organizations. The NBA said Leonard, 35, will not have any contracts voided as a result of the investigation.

Robertson, however, has been barred from conducting any business with the NBA.

The league also disciplined senior Clippers executives, suspending president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank without pay for six months and issuing a one-year ban to president of business operations Gillian Zucker.

According to the a summary report prepared by law firm Wachtell Lipton, the Clippers violated NBA rules by ‘initiating off-court income opportunities between Mr. Leonard and four companies doing business with the team.’

Those companies include Aspiration Partners, Boingo Wireless, Daktronics, and Lockton Insurance.

Additionally, the Clippers are accused of facilitating endorsement deals, inducing companies to enter into these agreements by offering other business with the team, and paying personal expenses on behalf of Leonard and his representatives.

Lastly, the team failed to report improper solicitations made on Leonard’s behalf by Robertson.

Leonard and Robertson were found to have pressured ‘the Clippers to assist [Leonard] in obtaining off-court income opportunities, successfully obtaining those opportunities, and failing to reimburse payments by the Clippers for personal expenses,’ according to the statement. 

The Clippers recently agreed to trade Leonard back to Toronto, where he won an NBA title in 2019, but the deal with the Raptors was placed on hold as the league investigation continued over the summer. However, as Leonard revealed in his statement, it appears he is now headed back to the shores of Lake Ontario. 

‘Integrity and respect for this game are fundamental to who I am,’ Leonard said in a statement issued by his agent. ‘I accept full responsibility for lapses in judgment by people within my inner circle and regret the distraction this situation has caused the fans and my family.

‘I entered into my contract with the Clippers as well as the agreements in question in good faith, fully committed to fulfilling my obligations and with no knowledge of any intent on anyone’s part to circumvent the salary cap.

‘For 15 years, my priority has been giving everything to my family, the game, and those I share the court with. As I return to Toronto, I am focused on what I can control, closing this chapter, and moving forward with a clean slate.’

NBA commissioner Adam Silver’s predecessor, the late David Stern, similarly stripped the Minnesota Timberwolves of five first-round picks after discovering the team had circumvented the salary cap to pay star forward Joe Smith in 2000. However, the Wolves were fined only $3.5 million at the time.

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The allegations first surfaced on Pablo Torre’s podcast nearly one year ago. Since then, NBA has been investigating the Clippers and Ballmer for allegedly facilitating an under-the-table side deal for Leonard that allowed the team to add other stars, such as Paul George. The team has repeatedly denied the accusations, while Ballmer stated he had no knowledge of Leonard’s alleged $21 million ‘no-show’ endorsement deal with the doomed financial services firm, Aspiration.   

Torre made the claim against the Clippers by citing a 2025 bankruptcy filing that names the team and a company owned by Leonard under the list of creditors for Aspiration QFZ, LLC, a subsidiary of fintech and sustainability brand Aspiration Partners Inc. 

Torre claimed to have contracts showing Aspiration QFZ, LLC entered into a $28 million ‘no-show’ agreement with Leonard’s company, KL2 Aspire LLC, and later claimed – following a report from the Boston Sports Journal – that Leonard also received a separate $20million ‘side deal’ from Aspiration. 

Ballmer invested $50million in Aspiration.

The bankruptcy filing from federal court in Delaware, obtained by the Daily Mail, also shows unsecured claims of $30 million and $7 million for the Clippers and Leonard’s company, KL2 Aspire LLC, respectively. 

And while Ballmer said he was ’embarrassed’ that he didn’t pick up on any financial trouble from Aspiration, he defended his and the Clippers actions and said they ‘weren’t involved’ in the company’s deal with Leonard.

Aspiration Partners Inc. co-founder Joe Sanberg pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud in 2025 for what authorities described as a $248million scheme to defraud investors.

The team, as it pointed out in a statement, ‘ended its relationship with Aspiration years ago, during the 2022-23 season, when Aspiration defaulted on its obligation.’

Furthermore, as reported by Torre, Aspiration QFZ’s alleged payments to KL2 Aspire were sent to Robertson, Leonard’s uncle and advisor, who was previously investigated by the NBA in 2019 for allegedly requesting impermissible benefits for his nephew and himself.

That 2019 investigation did not find any impermissible benefits going from the Clippers to Leonard or anyone working on his behalf.

A year later, a self-described acquaintance of Leonard and Robertson named Johnny Wilkes sued the Clippers, claiming he was still owed $2.5 million from the team for helping them to sign the former Spurs and Raptors star.

Wilkes, a self-described acquaintance of Robertson, claimed in the lawsuit that Ballmer would ‘fund a $100,000,000.00 marketing campaign for Kawhi Leonard’ and the uncle would get his own Southern California home if the All-Star forward agreed to sign with the Clippers.

That lawsuit was ultimately dismissed and neither the Clippers nor Robertson admitted to any wrongdoing.

For years, the Dodgers’ relentless pursuit of star power has brought the same familiar complaint from rivals and irritated fans: Los Angeles is bad for baseball.

Quentin Lake believes the Rams may be starting to generate a similar kind of resentment across the NFL.

“The first thing that goes through your mind is, ‘Teams probably hate us,’” Lake told The Athletic. “All of these other teams probably hate us. We’re like the new Dodgers.”

From the Rams’ perspective, that is not exactly an insult.

The Dodgers have earned their role as baseball’s modern superpower — and, to many, its favorite villain — by stockpiling elite players, spending boldly and using every roster-building tool the sport allows. The criticism is constant, but the reality remains straightforward: they are playing by the same rules as everyone else.

The Rams are doing much the same thing — only with an NFL salary cap making the margin for error considerably smaller.

Los Angeles traded for Myles Garrett and All-Pro cornerback Trent McDuffie, added Jaylen Watson to the secondary and then convinced Aaron Donald to come out of retirement.

The reaction from rivals suggests Lake isn’t imagining the resentment.

When the Rams landed Garrett, 49ers tackle Trent Williams summed up the reaction outside Los Angeles succinctly: “It sucks.”

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Former Rams star Cooper Kupp, now with Seattle, jokingly texted Donald amid comeback speculation and told him, “Don’t even think about it.”

After the return became official, 49ers general manager John Lynch conceded: “They got better, certainly, with him deciding to come out of retirement. … We better get ready for it.”

But the Rams aren’t simply collecting recognizable names.

They already had a 12-win team, the reigning MVP in Matthew Stafford and a defense capable of contending. Their offseason moves targeted specific weaknesses at precisely the moment their championship window opened widest.

McDuffie and Watson strengthened a secondary that faltered late last season. Garrett transformed an already dangerous pass rush. Donald became the ultimate luxury addition to a front that led the NFL in four-man pressure rate without either superstar last year.

That has long been the Rams’ approach: recognize when the roster is close, then strike before the window closes.

The Dodgers receive plenty of criticism for doing essentially the same thing in baseball.

So, if NFL fans want to hate the Rams for it, Lake’s message might as well be: Bring it on.

In Los Angeles, all the hate is starting to sound less like an insult and more like proof that the plan is working.

The 21-foot steel beam, recovered from the wreckage of the South Tower, is traveling up the East Coast this week as part of the Tunnel to Towers Foundation’s Steel Across America tour.

Launched earlier this year, the tour is designed to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks while honoring U.S. service members, first responders and the sacrifices made in the years since. The beam is scheduled to make stops in Massachusetts, Washington, D.C., and New York City through Sept. 11.

On Wednesday night, the memorial tour will stop at Fenway Park in Boston during the Boston Red Sox game against the Seattle Mariners, before continuing Thursday to the Massachusetts Fallen Heroes Memorial.

The 16,900-pound beam will then head to the nation’s capital, where it will be featured at a private event on Friday. It will then head to New York City for another private event in Brooklyn on Sept. 11, before a final appearance at the New York Giants vs. Dallas Cowboys game at MetLife Stadium on Sept. 13.

The beam visited the U.S. Military Academy at West Point on Monday, where the superintendent, Lt. Gen. James B. Bartholomees III, said the piece of steel connects the courage shown by first responders on 9/11 with the Americans who answered the call to serve in the years that followed.

“As we approach the 25th anniversary of 9/11, this piece of steel reminds us of the courage of first responders like Stephen Siller and the countless Americans who answered the call in the years that followed, including generations of West Point graduates,” Bartholomees said. “Today, young men and women continue that legacy of service, guided by duty, honor country.”

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The ceremony brought together cadets, faculty, staff and guests and opened with a color guard and pipe and drum procession by members of the NYPD, FDNY and Port Authority Police Department. The program also included the national anthem, an invocation and blessing of the steel, and a moment of reflection accompanied by “Amazing Grace.”

Frank Siller, chairman and CEO of Tunnel to Towers and the brother of fallen FDNY firefighter Stephen Siller, recalled his brother’s final actions on Sept. 11.

“Twenty-five years ago, my brother Stephen strapped on 60 pounds of gear and ran through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel toward danger, duty and the people who needed him inside those towers,” Siller said.

“Duty, honor, country: Those values connect West Point cadets, Stephen and first responders all across this country,” he continued. “We are grateful to West Point for welcoming us, and we leave more committed than ever to making sure the sacrifice of Sept. 11 is never forgotten.”