* Did you celebrate?…

* Here’s your morning roundup…

* Daily Herald | Des Plaines Theatre operator cancels conservative groups’ event after outcry: The CEO of the company that operates the Des Plaines Theatre has canceled a Feb. 8 event booked at the city-owned venue by conservative groups after LGBTQ advocates encouraged the city to stop it. Ron Onesti did not explicitly give a reason for the cancellation in a statement Thursday night, but he referred to the controversy and suggested he and the theater received threats.

* Capitol News Illinois | At World Economic Forum, Pritzker plays role of Illinois’ ‘best chief marketing officer’: The governor and high-ranking members of his staff joined a bipartisan delegation of U.S. politicians and world business leaders with the goal of “promoting Illinois as a major player on the world stage,” Pritzker said in a call Thursday morning with media outlets back home.

* Sun-Times | Cook County Commissioner Sean Morrison took $300K from nonprofit linked to Ken Griffin: What’s clear is that the organization received major funding from the similarly named ballot initiative committee, the Coalition To Stop The Proposed Tax Hike Amendment — supported by hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin with more than $53 million and contributions from other wealthy conservatives. w

* WGLT | Watchdog seeks harsher penalties in wake of abuse at Choate: IDHS Inspector General Peter Neumer’s call to action comes on the heels of extensive reporting by Lee Enterprises, Capitol News Illinois and ProPublica last year that revealed a culture of abuse and cover-ups at Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center in rural southern Illinois. The news organizations detailed how uncooperative staff stymied the state’s ability to hold employees facing serious abuse allegations to account.

* Chicago Reader | City offers relief to Chicagoans saddled with debt tied to administrative violations: Two new programs offer ways to get out from under a pile of tickets for things like playing your radio too loud, littering or having an overflowing dumpster.

* WICA | Danville’s future casino expected to bring in millions of dollars annually: Rickey Williams, Danville’s mayor, knows the income will make a big difference and others feel the same. “There’s going to be people from Indiana, Chicago area, everywhere coming into the casino. Spend money in our community, stay in our hotels, eat our food,” Tim Dudley, Vermilion Advantage’s CEO, said.

* Crain’s | Different visions, different tactics as mayoral hopefuls debate: They agreed that crime has become a huge problem, but disagreed over how huge and what the solution is. They all deplored high taxes and, in general, promised that they would not raise them further. And with one exception, the candidates asserted that incumbent Mayor Lori Lightfoot has done a bad job—that exception being Lightfoot herself, who gave back as good as she got.

* Tribune | In first Chicago mayoral debate, challengers attack Lori Lightfoot’s record while she aims to ‘finish the job we have started’: The televised debate marked the first opportunity for all nine candidates to explain their positions to Chicago voters and draw contrasts with one another. Lightfoot, who is facing public concerns about crime, dissatisfaction with her leadership style and anger over some broken promises, often took the brunt of attacks as she sought to defend her record.

* Sun-Times | Crowd nine: Lightfoot paints rosy view of future in first TV debate — but eight rivals slam thorny past: The mayor acknowledged “people in the city don’t feel safe,” but urged voters to stick with her for a second term. “We have started to change Chicago around for the better.” But her rivals slammed her over high crime rates they say are scaring families and companies away from the city.

* Tribune | Amtrak is eyeing new rail cars for long-distance trains through Chicago: The purchase, which could be valued in the billions of dollars, would upgrade cars that in some cases have been in use for 40 years, according to the passenger rail service. It could also be one step toward improving on-time performance, though other efforts are also needed, Amtrak board Chair Anthony Coscia said.

* Crain’s | City Council approves fund to redevelop LaSalle Street storefronts: The ordinance, approved unanimously, tweaks the rules of the city’s Small Business Improvement Fund to designate the LaSalle Street corridor, which includes several adjacent streets, as an eligible area to receive the grants, paid for using tax-increment financing funds.

* Crain’s | A worrying sign for U.S. consumers: Discover jolts investors with bleak forecast: Discover Financial Services jolted investors today with a projection that defaults on its consumer loans will roughly double in 2023. Credit card companies like Riverwoods-based Discover experienced extraordinary growth in loan balances from their card customers last year. In Discover’s case, growth topped 20%, and card loans now exceed $90 billion. Investors are jittery about whether consumers are taking on too much debt in the face of inflationary pressures and with the potential for more job losses as the economy slows this year.

* Wall Street Journal | Airlines Are Bumping a Lot More Passengers Lately: More U.S. passengers are being bumped from their flights, reversing steady industrywide improvement and adding to the broader frustrations many have with airlines. The Wall Street Journal’s annual airline scorecard found that airlines have been bumping fliers more often than the previous year, and the comparable prepandemic period. This happens when more people are scheduled to fly than there are available seats.

* Sun-Times | Civilian oversight agency seeking video of off-duty CPD detective shooting at suspected thieves in Irving Park: Just before 3 a.m. on Dec. 6, the off-duty detective called 9-1-1 and reported firing twice at “some auto theft” in the 2800 block of West Grace Street.

* Crain’s | Chicago Bears ‘focused’ only on Arlington Heights stadium: Warren also spoke of the need to come up with a “very creative solution to our stadium situation and create an atmosphere that becomes a 365-day environment.” The Bears have yet to close a 326-acre land deal for the Arlington Heights racetrack, which they agreed to buy for $197.2 million in 2021.

* Illinois Times | New 988 hotline has expanded mental health services: Nonprofit MBH, which has answered calls funneled through the national suicide prevention hotline for years, expanded its resources to do so in summer 2022 with federal funding connected to the July 16 launch of the three-digit crisis-care number.

* Crain’s | MacKenzie Scott reveals her Chicago donation spree: Since 2020, billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott has donated around $273.7 million to 30 Chicago nonprofits, schools and other organizations, revealing for the first time the extent of her giving spree here.

* The Honest Broker | Did the Music Business Just Kill the Vinyl Revival?: The level of greed is off the charts. Because it’s so hard to make money in music nowadays, the labels have decided to squeeze as much cash as they can from vinyl fans. This is one area where Spotify and Apple don’t call the shots, so why not charge twenty dollars for vinyl? Or maybe thirty dollars is better. Hell, let’s ask for forty, and see who will buy?

* Sun-Times | Why did Charles Manson order killings? NU psychologist, other experts offer a new take: Chicago psychologist Alan Friedman is among experts who reviewed a 1997 prison exam and are challenging the belief that Manson was schizophrenic. Manson was convicted of orchestrating the 1969 killings of actress Sharon Tate and six others in Los Angeles.

* SJ-R | ‘We’re trying our best to stay in business:’ Home of private, fine dining club up for sale: “I’m not good at predicting the future,” club president Jim Ackerman said about listing the two-story building at 227 E. Adams St. with Hurwitz Enterprises Commercial Real Estate. “We’re trying our best to stay in business.” “We aren’t limiting our options. If somebody buys it and says they’d like us to stay, we’ll stay. If it’s bought and they said go, we’d go. Our membership has shrunk over the past decade. We have more building than we need.”