* Do you go all out on Christmas decorations?…

* Here’s your morning roundup…

* Daily Herald | Solutions for Illinois’ broken business climate: A recent Alignable report found that 37% of Illinois’ small business owners could not pay their rent in full and on time this past October. The survey’s respondents cited nationwide economic concerns such as rampant inflation, rising labor expenses and shortages, and a slowdown in consumer spending as some of the top reasons.

* Center Square | Illinois lawmakers return this week amid calls for changes in the SAFE-T Act: Illinois lawmakers return to Springfield Tuesday as state’s attorneys and law enforcement officials await changes to the SAFE-T Act. The controversial justice reform package eliminates cash bail on Jan. 1, making Illinois the first state to do so.

* Politico | A Progressive Latina Thinks Democrats Are Blowing It with Hispanic Voters: Delia Ramirez won her suburban Chicago district with a strong progressive message. She thinks it’s the key to stemming gains by the GOP.

* Politico | How redistricting shaped the midterms: The first election held under new congressional maps reflected both parties’ successes in shaping the House landscape for the next decade.

* Sun-Times | Tim Degnan, Daley top gun and state senator, dies at 82: Tim Degnan a trusted point man, was key to Richard M. Daley’s political, policy success. As a lawmaker, he raised funds for the new Comiskey Park to keep the White Sox in Chicago.

* WSIU | Democrats made midterm gains in rural areas. Can they keep them?: “I think there’s like a coming to Jesus moment, for lack of a better analogy, around if Democrats are going to like make a more full-throated decision and investment to contest for the rural vote,” said George Goehl, a community organizer with a focus on rural areas. “And I think this election shows what’s possible, even in many cases without resources, and that the rural vote is not static.”

* Rolling Stone | Inside the Far-Right’s Fight for College Campuses: With tensions rising around the country, and many progressives experiencing increasing fear and rage at Trump’s presidency, it wasn’t hard to catch an angry assistant professor or usually mild-mannered lefty student driven mad by TPUSA’s more aggressive stunts. And TPUSA chapter leaders and staff members were at the ready, watching for outbursts, provoking them if they could, and capturing them on their iPhones. Their videos were quickly slapped together for maximum impact, given sassy titles, and sent out into the cyberworld, where, if all went as planned, they went viral. Circulating online in late 2017 was the video of an anti-Trump grad student at the University of Illinois who grabbed a TPUSA member’s phone — after the student hollered at him, “No one is scared of you 50-year-old man. Don’t you have kids to look after?” — then threw the phone across the lawn, cracking it. It was, it seemed, designed as a visual reminder that liberals were violent.

* Tribune
| Progressives looking to expand amid Chicago City Council departures: The large number of open seats plus newly drawn ward boundaries that might make it tough for some incumbents means the council is primed for big change in numbers, philosophy and, perhaps, how malleable they’ll be to the mayor. How many seats progressives are able to win next year may go a long way in determining the direction the council takes in the next term, and how they work with or against whoever occupies the mayor’s office to try to push through their agenda.

* SJ-R | Wards 5 and 7 will have contested races in 2023 election; filing closes today: The nonpartisan election is April 4. If more than four candidates emerge for a race, a primary will be held on Feb. 28. Also on the ballot are races for District 186 board of education, the Springfield Metropolitan Exposition and Auditorium Authority (SMEAA) board, the Springfield Park District trustees and the Lincoln Land Community College trustees, among others. Those offices file from Dec. 12 to Dec. 19.

* Daily Herald | Has interest in recreational marijuana in Illinois peaked?:Last month alone, the 110 recreational dispensaries throughout Illinois collected $131,547,031 in revenue, their fourth-highest monthly tally ever. But those sales figures have remained relatively flat since March, leading some to worry the state’s cannabis cash cow has reached the highest hill in the state’s revenue pasture.

* WBEZ | Formerly incarcerated students can now Zoom back into prison to finish their degrees: The pandemic forced prison programs across Illinois to adapt to remote learning. It also paved a path for college students leaving prison.

* Tribune | What will Obama center mean for nearby home values on the South Side? Wary of being priced out, groups push for housing benefits and protections: A similar campaign by the same coalition won protections for Woodlawn after a five-year campaign and long negotiations with city housing officials. But organizers in South Shore say they were shut out, and that initial steps announced by the Chicago Department of Housing to help area condo owners did not go far enough.

* Sun-Times | Al Capone’s grave in Hillside is defaced: A photo on social media shows the word “Evil” spray-painted in red on Al Capone’s grave marker.

* Block Club | Edgewater’s ‘Young Lincoln’ Statue Vandalized On Thanksgiving By Group Advocating Indigenous Rights : An anonymous group of activists poured red paint on the Lincoln statue in Senn Park, tagging the site with slogans including “colonizer” and “land back.”

* Sun-Times | White supremacist, Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes, who met with Ye and Trump, raised in suburban Chicago: “Fuentes is among the most prominent and unapologetic antisemites around,” David Goldenberg, the Anti-Defamation League director of the Midwest regional office, told the Chicago Sun-Times on Sunday.

* Tribune | An actual game-time decision? Brad Biggs’ 10 thoughts on the Chicago Bears’ Week 12 loss, including that pregame QB chaos.: Leave it to the Bears to have their quarterback situation appear to be in complete chaos Sunday morning.

* Tribune | Will Justin Fields start at QB for Chicago Bears vs. Green Bay Packers? ‘It’s about mobility and strength in his left arm.’: The Chicago Bears already had declared Justin Fields inactive because of a left shoulder injury when more quarterback uncertainty popped up Sunday morning. Trevor Siemian, who prepared all week to start if Fields couldn’t play against the New York Jets, also was injured.

* Tribune | ‘I thought I would make it’: The strange psychology behind the crashes at Long Grove’s covered bridge: Before them sits a charming covered bridge that would fit right into a Robert James Waller novel. The only difference is the large yellow sign affixed to the wood that reads “8-foot-6,” a height significantly shorter than the average school bus or box truck.

More to come!