* This is an oddly worded story from Politico. The filing deadline for school board candidates was December 19th…

The state [Democratic] party is pushing to get more Democratic candidates on down-ballot school and library boards in an effort to push back at Republicans who are recruiting “extremist candidates” for those positions, Hardin said. “We aren’t going to let these extremist groups get away with pushing their agendas.”

Anyway, subscribers know much more and we may be talking about this again next week.

* Some people will complain about literally anything. Here’s Center Square…

Illinois’ credit rating got upgraded from worst in the country to tying with New Jersey for the worst. […]

Democrats have said they’ve managed the state’s finances without the billions of dollars in federal tax funds for COVID-19 relief. Truth In Accounting founder and CEO Sheila Weinberg sees it differently.

“The amount they borrowed from the federal reserve was paid down and some old bills were paid down so that’s the good news, but again, if you get $8 billion you can look pretty good,” Weinberg told The Center Square.

Weinberg notes credit rating agency ratings are not an indication of overall finances.

“It’s just the rating on the risk of whether the bonds will get paid,” she said. “The credit ratings are looking out for the bondholder and if they start running short to pay off the bonds then they’ll go to the taxpayers to pay those off. So the bondholders will get paid but the taxpayers are still on the hook.”

There has never been a time since our credit rating started sinking that the state was in danger of not making its bond payments. They’re first on the list by statute.

Take the win, for crying out loud. Also, for all the cheerleading that the Center Square bosses did for the previous guy’s fiscal armageddon that very nearly put us in junk bond status, maybe sit this one out.

* AG Raoul…

Attorney General Kwame Raoul, with 11 attorneys general, today filed a federal lawsuit against the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) accusing it of singling out one of the two drugs used for medication abortion for excessively burdensome regulations, despite ample evidence proving the drug is safe.

Of the more than 20,000 drugs approved by the FDA, only 60 — including mifepristone — fall under a unique set of restrictions known as Risk Evaluation & Mitigation Strategies (REMS). REMS restrictions typically apply to inherently dangerous drugs such as opioids like fentanyl and high-dose sedatives used by psychiatric patients – not to drugs like mifepristone which have been safely used for over two decades. In the lawsuit, Raoul and the coalition assert the restrictions on prescribing and dispensing mifepristone are burdensome, harmful, unnecessary, and expose providers and patients to unnecessary privacy and safety risks.

* I’m not yet a fan of ranked-choice voting, but how extreme do you have to be to object to it because you might have to rank a candidate last? From the Illinois Opportunity Project…

Why Ranked-Choice Voting Is Bad for Illinois Residents

The politicians and special interests in Chicago and Springfield want to control our elections and bring ranked-choice voting to Illinois. They want more power over who represents you and your family’s values.

Ranked-choice voting is meant to confuse residents and does not ensure that every vote counts.

Proponents of ranked-choice voting claim it is a more democratic system. What’s democratic about forcing you to rank a candidate that you have ZERO policy agreements to ensure your ballot doesn’t get thrown out? Yes, THROWN OUT.

* Daily Herald…

Like many other victims of scams, Patricia Ibarra of Carol Stream feels foolish for being taken.

She’s also ashamed of persuading friends and relatives to join her in investing in a cryptocurrency venture that promised investors returns of 15% to 20%.

Federal authorities now say the purported investment opportunity was really a Ponzi scheme that targeted Latinos.

Ibarra, who lost $27,000 through the scheme, spoke publicly Tuesday about her experience in hopes other victims will step forward to report their dealings with Texas-based CryptoFX LLC to law enforcement.

She was among than 60 people rallying in front of the DuPage County sheriff’s office urging Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin to pursue justice in their cases.

* LaGrange Park native and all-around cretin…

White nationalist Nick Fuentes claimed in 2021 that he was put on the TSA’s No Fly List as a victim of “overt political persecution.” Around the same time, he bragged that the federal government froze one of his bank accounts containing a sum in the “six figures” range.

But the 24-year-old Holocaust denier’s version of events doesn’t hold up to much scrutiny. […]

In court documents, first mentioned by the left-wing news site The Grayzone, the TSA reported they banned Fuentes from flying because he posed a safety risk to crew members and threatened to strangle flight attendants.

* Good news from Crain’s…

A major convention that hasn’t been held in Chicago since 2005 is coming back to McCormick Place, an important win for the city as the local meeting and trade show industry recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rotary International announced yesterday it will hold its 2030 annual international convention at the Near South Side convention center. The Evanston-based service organization’s five-day event is expected to draw more than 40,000 attendees to the city, according to tourism agency Choose Chicago.

* Isabel’s roundup…

* Chalkbeat | School funding, literacy, migrant students: Education issues to watch in the Illinois legislative session: Currently, school districts are allowed to provide either half-day or full-day kindergarten for young learners. Research shows when schools switched from a half-day to full-day program, more children enrolled and attendance improved. Under HB 2396, a bill currently assigned to the House’s Child Care Accessibility & Early Childhood Education Committee, school districts would be required to create full-day kindergarten beginning with the 2023-24 school year.

* Bloomberg | Gov. Pritzker on Jobs, Crime, Credit Upgrade: Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, talks about paying down debt, the state getting a credit upgrade, crime, and Citadel’s Ken Griffin moving his firm out of state.

* NBC Chicago | Illinois Investigating Drugmaker Akorn’s Abrupt Closure as Hundreds Suddenly Laid Off: State labor officials are investigating an Illinois-based pharmaceutical company’s decision to abruptly close all of its operations, including its out-of-state locations in New Jersey, New York and Switzerland, and to lay off hundreds of workers with almost no warning.

* Crain’s | Durbin, Duckworth lead call to pause rail merger after Ohio derailment: In the letter, addressed to Surface Transportation Board (STB) Chairman Martin Oberman — who also represented the 43rd Ward on Chicago’s City Council from 1975 through 1987 and served on Metra’s board — the four lawmakers say they’re seeking the delay to allow further review of what hazardous materials would be moved through the Chicago region and what safety protocols are in place for a derailment similar to the one that occurred in East Palastine, Ohio.

* WBEZ | Illinois governor lays out a roadmap for a ‘transformed’ youth mental health care system: Now, a fragmented, under-resourced system leaves many kids in crisis without enough support. A new report lays out 12 strategies to improve.

* Crain’s | As contract talks continue, Sun-Times union demands board seats: According to a statement from the guild, union members want Chicago Public Media to add four seats to its 25-member board and two to be added to the Chicago Sun-Times’ five-member board. The new members would be appointed by rank-and-file members of the guild. There are currently no working journalists on either board.

* Crain’s | Civic Federation names Sarah Wetmore as interim president: Wetmore’s 17-year tenure with the Civic Federation includes previously serving as a communication director, researcher and research director before being promoted to her current role in 2013. She was also president of the Governmental Research Association from 2020 to 2022.

* AP | US has a teacher shortage. HBCUs are helping to change that: HBCUs play an outsize role in producing teachers of color in the U.S., where only 7% of teachers are Black, compared with 15% of students. Of all Black teachers nationwide, nearly half are graduates of an HBCU.

* NBC Chicago | 20 Illinois Counties at Elevated COVID-19 Community Level as Cases Remain Stable: In the week ending on Feb. 19, Illinois health officials are reporting 11,248 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19, along with 37 deaths.

* WCIA | Illinois State Fair announces new theme days for 2023: Officials said some changes have been made from theme days in past years. County Fairs and Horse Racing Day will kick off the fair on Aug. 10 with gates opening at 7 a.m. The change will provide a full day of horse racing, county fair celebrations, free entertainment, carnival rides, access to fair food, traditional kick-off activities, and the annual Twilight Parade.

* Fortune | Bosses are designing ‘resimercial’ offices that look like your living room to get you back at your desk: Turns out free lunch, dog-friendly policies, and even personal assistants may not be enough to lure remote workers back to the office full-time—at least not voluntarily.