* Press release…

The minimum wage in Illinois is increasing on January 1st, 2024.

Workers will see an increase of $1 per hour from $13 to $14. The minimum wage for tipped workers will rise to $8.40 per hour and youth workers (under 18) working fewer than 650 hours per calendar year will see their hourly wage increase to $12 per hour.

“Since day one as Governor, I’ve made it my mission to put Springfield back on the side of working families,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “With this new minimum wage increase, we are once again making Illinois a more affordable and equitable place to live for all of our residents.”

“We’re continuing to not only strengthen our workforce but sustain it by increasing the minimum wage. Leadership matters and we’re proud to see our administration’s sixth increase go into effect on January 1,” said Lt. Governor Juliana Stratton. “As we continue our work to make Illinois the best state to live, work and raise a family, this new increase brings us one step closer to a more equitable Illinois.”

This will be the sixth increase in the state’s minimum wage since 2019 when Governor JB Pritzker signed historic legislation establishing a schedule of increases culminating in a $15 per hour minimum wage in 2025.

* Rockford Register Star…

Nearly 250 people attended the at-time pointed debate, held during the Northern Illinois Council of Governments Legislative Luncheon at Cliffbreakers in Rockford. […]

Republican and Democrat participants were given the opportunity to sound off on a myriad of topics from state funding for infrastructure, the Invest in Kids Act, health care for migrants and job growth.

Republican participants were on the attack for most of the session while Democrats defend state policies.

Republicans advocated for a fair map for drawing Congressional and legislative districts in the Democratic controlled state. But Rep. Dave Vella, D-Rockford, said that reform is unlikely when states around the country have gerrymandered districts that favor Republicans.

* Tribune…

Jurors have begun their first full day of deliberations in the racketeering case of ex-Ald. Edward Burke, the longtime City Council powerhouse charged with abusing his substantial clout for his own personal gain.

The panel sent its first note to the judge Tuesday morning less than an hour after resuming its talks, asking for clarification about a count charging co-defendant Charles Cui with using interstate commerce to facilitate an unlawful activity.

The jury instructions reference Burke accepting property from Cui “that he was not authorized by law to accept” and accepting “a fee or reward which he knows is not authorized by law.” In their note, jurors asked for a definition of the phrase “not authorized by law.”

After lengthy arguments from prosecutors and Burke’s attorneys, U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall ultimately sided with Cui’s lawyers, who asked her to tell jurors only that the answers are in the instructions they already received.

* ‘Tis the season…

* More…

* QCBJ | Illinois Chamber of Commerce deepens its legislative team: The Illinois Chamber of Commerce announced the addition of Keith Wheeler as senior legislative affairs advisor in a news release today, Dec. 19. He will join the chamber’s Government Affairs team effective Jan. 1, 2024. Mr. Wheeler is a business owner and former Illinois House of Representatives member who served the 50th District from 2015 to 2023.

* WTTW | United, American Airlines Push Back Against Rising Costs of O’Hare Airport Expansion: United and American airlines want to ground — or significantly scale back — the massive O’Hare International Airport redevelopment designs. The change comes after the airlines signed an agreement to foot much of the bill through increased gate fees. But now the airlines say the project is over budget, and pandemic-era losses put them at a disadvantage. Will the elaborate Jeanne Gang-designed Terminal 2 ever take flight?

* QC Times | Bureau of Prisons cuts retention bonuses at Thomson Prison: Staff at Thomson Prison learned Monday morning the Bureau of Prisons will no longer provide them a 25% retention bonuses after Dec. 31, 2023. Retention bonuses for Thomson staff, equivalent to about $16,000 annually, were approved in September 2021 after pressure from Illinois Democratic Senators Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin and then- U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, according to previous reporting.

* Crain’s | Plasma company settles Illinois AG lawsuit over donor discrimination: Plasma collection company CSL Plasma and its parent company CSL Behring have settled with the Illinois attorney general’s office, resolving a lawsuit alleging the company’s policies discriminate against people with disabilities, the AG’s office said in a press release Thursday.

* Block Club | Chicago Police Make An Arrest In Only 20 Percent Of Fatal Shootings: The Trace filed a Freedom of Information Act request with CPD and learned that police made arrests in 21 percent of fatal shootings between 2013 and mid-October this year. That number has remained almost the same over the past decade, dropping slightly from 19.4 percent in 2013 to 18.6 percent in 2022, which is significantly lower than the national average for overall homicide clearance rates. In 2022, the most recent year for which the FBI’s national data is available, about 45 percent of homicides across the country were cleared by arrest.

* The Beverly Review | Burke won’t seek return to Springfield: State Rep. Kelly Burke has decided not to seek re-election for the position she has held since 2011, a decision she made in the fall. “I still have a lot of enthusiasm; I love the job,” said Burke, who was also elected as mayor of Evergreen Park in 2021. “I had some health challenges during the year, and it made me think that it might be nature’s way of telling me it’s time to slow down a little bit.”

* Sun-Times | IHSA announces that high school football district proposal has failed: Illinois high schools voted against the implementation of a district system for football the Illinois High School Association announced on Tuesday. The new format would have divided the state’s football-playing schools into 64 eight-team districts, eight per class. Schools would have played seven district games in Weeks 3-9 and would have been able to schedule any opponent for non-district games in Weeks 1-2.

* The Bond Buyer | Citi’s exit carries costs for issuers, market liquidity, but industry expected to weather it: A tough year for Wall Street municipal underwriting firms culminated Thursday with Citigroup’s announcement it would exit the business, a stunning move that market participants warned would raise state and city financing costs and that Citi would come to regret as headwinds calm and business rebounds.

* Daily Herald | Ski resorts tackle unseasonable warmth: Bartlett’s Villa Olivia resort plans to open its hills to skiers on Friday, but on the outset of another warm winter, managers are already sensing a trend becoming familiar in the Midwest’s ski industry. The Chicago area had an unusually warm winter last year — the 14th warmest on record going back to 1872 — and the season seems to be headed in a similar direction this year. Every day of December so far has seen average temperatures warmer than the region’s climatological normal for the day.

* WAND | Retired ISP Colonel, Commander of Macon County Law Enforcement Training Center dies from cancer: Tad Williams, 57, a retired Illinois State Police Colonel as well as a retired Commander of Macon County Law Enforcement Training Center, passed away on Saturday. Williams, who served in law enforcement for 33 years, died after a battle with cancer. His career with the Illinois State Police took him across the state before he settled back in the Decatur area, according to an obituary shared by his children. With the ISP, Williams became a colonel in 2015 to serve as Deputy Director of the Division of Operations.

* Sun-Times | Prosecutors drop charges against man whose murder conviction was based on legally blind witness. ‘Best Christmas gift ever’: Earlier this month, a judge overturned Harris’ conviction but he remained in jail because prosecutors planned to try him again. On Tuesday, prosecutors said they had decided not to move forward with the case and dropped all charges against Harris. No physical evidence connected Harris to the shooting that left Rondell Moore dead and Quincy Woulard hurt. The case was largely based on the testimony of Dexter Saffold, who was legally blind and whose vision problems were documented in court records for years before the shooting.

* SJ-R | The Southern Illinoisan was sold. Then the new owner eliminated its entire news staff: Brandhorst said he still hopes that Paxton’s management makes good on promises to maintain news coverage of the region. “But,” he continued, “in terms of watchdog, ‘capital J’ journalism, that’s not a thing that at the moment exists here. And I would hope that the new owners and those responsible for the Southern will try to really lift this place up, really do some investigative journalism, watchdog reporting and accountability within the community. … They seem to talk like they’re going to uphold those things. But who knows?”

* Dallas Morning News | Brands see online content creators as key to shaping buying habits, especially Gen Z: Gen Z – generally defined as those born in the mid- to late-1990s to the early 2010s – now makes up 40% of all global consumers with spending power estimated to exceed $150 billion annually. How they shop is important to brands’ bottom lines.