* Sun-Times…

A 5-year-old boy died Sunday after becoming ill at an overcrowded shelter in Pilsen that has been the subject of repeated complaints about unsanitary conditions.

Jean Carlos Martinez was transported from the shelter at Cermak Road and Halsted Street to Comer’s Children’s Hospital just before 3 p.m. Sunday, police said. He was pronounced dead at 3:47 p.m. An autopsy is scheduled for Monday.

Police said detectives were investigating. Migrant advocates say the boy died in a bathroom after staff refused to call an ambulance, but this could not be confirmed with police.

“My heart and my prayers go out to the Martinez family,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said in a statement released Monday morning. “The city will continue to provide resources and support to them during this difficult time,” Johnson said in the statement.

Borderless Magazine…

On Sunday night, a Venezuelan migrant living at the shelter told Borderless the boy had a more than a 100-degree fever and was convulsing in the bathroom before emergency medical technicians and firefighters were called.

The death happened just three days after Borderless Magazine published an investigation revealing inhumane conditions inside the shelter, including a lack of medical care and the rationing of water. Interviews with those living at the shelter and videos Borderless reviewed of conditions inside the building show that the shelter fails to meet the basic standards for emergency shelter laid out by the U.N. Refugee Agency.

More here.

From Rich: Both Borderless articles rely mainly on reports from shelter residents, but a top city official says that Cook County Health is the health care provider for shelter residents.

* Press release…

The Johnson Administration has successfully transitioned nearly 4,000 asylum-seekers from emergency staging areas into temporary shelters in recent weeks. As of December 14, all police stations have been decompressed and retired as emergency staging areas. […]

The Chicago City Council implemented a bus safety ordinance on November 18 to ensure the orderly and safe intake of new arrivals to Chicago. The ordinance was amended on December 13 by the Council, enacting additional penalties, including the impoundment and towing of buses that refuse to comply with safety protocols set by the City. The safety protocols mandate that bus companies dropping off individuals in the City of Chicago must unload at the designated landing zone and must fill out the requisite paperwork to ensure an orderly process for intaking new arrivals. […]

The City has successfully resettled or reunited over 10,000 asylum seekers while providing shelter, food and wraparound services for more than 15,000 others.

* Jon Seidel…

* Mike Pries…

* Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias…

Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias announced several new laws initiated by his office that will take effect at the start of the new year. The initiatives were passed earlier this year by the Illinois General Assembly and signed into law. They include:

Combating Distracted Driving

Giannoulias drafted this legislation to increase road safety by making it illegal to Zoom, watch or stream videos, or access social media sites while driving. […]

Expanding Voter Registration for Teens

Under this measure, teens obtaining their driver’s license or ID card may preregister to vote at a Secretary of State DMV.

Giannoulias’ office initiated a measure to expand voter participation by allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to preregister to vote, so that, when they turn 18 and are officially eligible to vote, they are already registered to do so. [..]

Protecting Motorists’ Privacy

This first-in-the-nation legislation limits the use of automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) to protect individuals seeking abortion care. It also prohibits this data from being used to criminalize a person’s immigration status.

* More…

*
Illinois Answers Project | ‘Heartbreaking’ trial in Peoria highlights failures of Illinois DCFS: Brandon Walker, 42, of Peoria, could face life in prison after a Peoria County jury found him guilty of murdering Navin in a “brutal and heinous manner, indicative of wanton cruelty.” The jury, made up of eight men and four women, took about 45 minutes to deliberate the verdict. Walker will be sentenced Feb. 28.

* Daily Herald | Why some congressional candidates could get kicked off the March primary ballot: Two of the targeted candidates are Democrats running in the 5th District, where they hope to unseat Democratic U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley of Chicago. Two are Republicans running for the 14th District seat now held by U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood, a Naperville Democrat. The fifth is a Democrat who filed to run for the 9th District seat held by Democratic U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Evanston. That candidate said last week he will suspend his campaign because of the objection.

* Chalkbeat | How much school are Illinois students in foster care missing? The state doesn’t track: Both the Illinois State Board of Education and the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) responded to open records requests from Chalkbeat seeking that information by saying they had no applicable records. In follow-up emails, department officials said that data exists for individual school districts.

* Crain’s | Money starts to flow in transfer tax campaign: The Service Employees International Union Healthcare of Illinois/Indiana, an influential contributor to Mayor Brandon Johnson’s mayoral campaign, contributed $200,000 to the “End Homelessness” campaign committee set up to fund support for passing the referendum question on the March 19 primary ballot.

* Daily Herald | Elk Grove releases video of deadly police shooting: Elk Grove Village police released video and audio recordings Monday depicting the fatal shooting of a 24-year-old man by officers on Dec. 1 and the circumstances leading up to the deadly encounter. The video, compiled from officer body-worn and dashboard cameras, shows Jack Murray walking along a sidewalk near his home while carrying an 11.5-inch knife in his right hand.

* WBEZ | Colleges hand out scholarship money to attract top students — at the expense of kids in need: The number of Black students in Illinois enrolled in college has dropped by more than a third over the past decade, and Black students like Granville often cite money as the biggest hurdle standing between them and a college degree, according to research from Gallup. […] [B]oth public and private colleges have poured money over the last 20 years into so-called merit aid for students with high grade point averages and test scores, who may not need scholarships to get a degree.

* Sun-Times | Controversial West Loop homeless encampment cleared for street cleaning: Workers from Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office and the city’s Department of Family and Social Services coordinated with people to offer them shelter and resources. Seven people were given shelter by the Department of Family and Social Services in the last week, and five more accepted rehousing help Monday. When offered rehousing, 15 people declined, according to Conway.

* Tribune | CPS teacher gave officials the wrong name of boyfriend after video showed him striking a student, records show: Records show the teacher sent an email to her principal shortly after Lancaster’s off-duty altercation and said her friend Craig “Wiliams” grabbed the teen because the boy disregarded her directions to line up and directed inappropriate words at her in response. She also told the principal her friend worked for a computer company, according to a redacted incident report obtained by the Tribune.

* Tribune | Columbia College reaches tentative agreement with part-time faculty, ending historically long strike: The deal will be submitted for a ratification vote this week by the union. If union members approve, classes will proceed as planned for the short January term and the spring 2024 semester. […] Since Oct. 30, 584 adjunct professors have been protesting the administration’s decision to eliminate 53 already-enrolled classes weeks before the fall semester began and 317 course sections for the spring semester while increasing the size of other classes to cut costs.

* CFVI | How 26 Cities are Using SLFRF Dollars to Support Community Violence Interventions: A Look at the Latest Treasury Data: Of the $164 million in planned CVI-CVP spending, cities have spent approximately $33 million (or 20%) as of June 30, 2023. Again, there’s wide variation between cities: Toledo has spent 77% of its budgeted $780,000 for its “Gun Violence Reduction Initiative” whereas Milwaukee reported no expenditures for its planned $4.25 million on violence prevention efforts. The table below lists the 14 cities, how many CVI-CVP projects they have, and planned versus actual spending for those projects as of June 30, 2023.

* Farm Progress | Illinois Soybean awards ag leaders: Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, is recognized by ISA for his work advocating for policy and regulatory issues that affect agriculture. Bost represents 34 counties of Illinois’ 12th District in the U.S. House of Representatives. “Rep. Bost actively advocates for policies that address issues Illinois soybean farmers are facing,” Lumpe says. “Through his work on the House committees on Veterans’ Affairs, Transportation and Infrastructure, and Agriculture, Bost is truly making a difference for Illinois agriculture.”

* CNN | Greyhound bus stops are valuable assets. Here’s who’s cashing in on them: Houston, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Tampa, Louisville, Charlottesville, Portland, Oregon, and other downtown bus depots have shuttered in recent years. Bus terminals in major hubs like Chicago and Dallas are also set to close. Greyhound and other companies have relocated their stops far away from city centers, which are often inaccessible by public transit, switched to curbside service or eliminated routes altogether.

* Bloomberg | U.S. Steel in deal to be bought for $14.1 billion: The deal caps months of uncertainty over the future of US Steel, an icon of American industry, which has been considering potential transactions since it rejected an offer from rival Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. for $7.25 billion in mid-August.

* Governing | Is There a Place for Supermarket Socialism?: It might be called an experiment in supermarket socialism. What could it look like? Well, it’s not hard to imagine a few possibilities. As detailed by Talia Soglin, a diligent Chicago Tribune reporter, the city could own the stores and operate them as a sort of public utility. It could own the properties but contract out the operation to a private company. Or, less dramatically, it could provide generous subsidies to private firms unable to make a profit in low-income territory. The city is conducting a feasibility study and is expected to announce the results early in 2024.

* CNBC | Musk’s X hit with first EU probe under new disinformation rules: The European Commission said it launched the proceedings under the DSA “on the basis of the preliminary investigation conducted so far, including on the basis of an analysis of the risk assessment report submitted by X in September, X’s Transparency report published on 3 November, and X’s replies to a formal request for information, which, among others, concerned the dissemination of illegal content in the context of Hamas’ terrorist attacks against Israel.”