* Governor Pritzker spoke at the ribbon cutting ceremony for the new Unlimited Potential DCFS Women’s Transitional House in Blue Island this morning. No reporters showed up to ask questions. Press release…

Governor JB Pritzker joined Unlimited Potential House (“UP House”) and the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) today to announce the grand opening of UP House’s new campus and its transitional living facility, “Logan’s Place,” that offers housing, education, and support services for young women in the care of DCFS as they begin their journey toward independent living.

“This is exactly the kind of facility — and organization — that young women in DCFS care deserve as they embark on a new chapter of their lives,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “The funding the state is providing to UP House builds on DCFS’ critical work to add capacity throughout the system, work we will continue to prioritize, so every Illinois youth gets the support they need and deserve.”

The new campus, located on the grounds of the former Mother of Sorrows Convent in Blue Island, will provide a safe, enriching, and supportive environment fostering personal growth and well-being for up to 50 young women aged 17½ to 21. Staff will offer mentorship and individualized attention. Once all 21 currently available beds at the facility are occupied, DCFS will invest $3M/year to pay for the costs of room and board and program fees. This funding from DCFS is an appropriation for external organizations that aid in the transition of DCFS youth from foster care to transitional living to provide support and prevent homelessness among those who age out.

Logan’s Place is a residential facility equipped with a rec room, theater, art room and resident lounge, and serves as the entry-level program for all young women served by UP House. Each young woman will be paired with a mentor who will provide guidance and life skills support. Residents will also have access to educational resources through partnerships with Moraine Valley and South Suburban College; and participate in job readiness training and vocational programs to explore various career paths.

After developing skills at Logan’s Place, the residential program participants will have the opportunity to continue their development at UP House by transitioning to Kumari’s Place. With a residential capacity of 21 young women, Kumari’s place represents the pinnacle of UP House’s transitional living program. This fully outfitted building combines the independence of collegiate dormitory-style living with access to support resources. Residents at Kumari’s Place have access to communal and educational spaces, as well as thoughtfully curated living quarters.

* Sen. Linda Holmes…

State Senator Linda Holmes sponsors legislation on a variety of topics each year, and it isn’t unusual for her animal welfare bills to gain media attention. That has risen to a new level this month as her “bear selfie” law has been featured in National Geographic.

“Throughout my career in the Illinois Senate, I have championed laws that address how wild and domestic animals are confined and used for profit, often in dangerous and unhealthy conditions,” said Holmes (D-Aurora). “The Wild Animal Public Safety Act addresses concerns with roadside zoos and traveling exhibitions by prohibiting close public contact with all primates and bears.”

The new law took effect Jan. 1, 2024, making it a Class B misdemeanor for any person to allow any member of the public, except for certain exempted people, to encounter a bear or primate. The National Geographic story added that Holmes’ 2017 law made Illinois the first state to prohibit using captive elephants in traveling circuses.

* WBEZ…

Ford Heights hasn’t had a real, standalone library in about 30 years. Public records show the south suburb has collected more than $100,000 in taxpayer money over the past decade, although it’s a mystery as to where the money is going and why volunteers instead created a makeshift library the size of a dining room.

Records requested by WBEZ show the Ford Heights Public Library District has requested $842,724 in levies from its residents between 2011 and 2021. And over that time, the Cook County Treasurer has distributed more than $121,522 to the Ford Heights Public Library District.

[Ladell Jones, president of the Ford Heights volunteer library board] was listed in documents from the Cook County Clerk’s Office as the public library president for the first time in 2017, and intermittently held that title throughout the subsequent years. He was most recently the president in 2022. WBEZ reached out to Ford Heights officials to get an explanation about where the money is going, but they did not return phone calls.

Since Ford Heights technically has a library district, its residents cannot get full-access cards at other libraries. The majority-Black suburb has 1,800 residents, and 39% of them earn less than $25,000 a year. According to the Cook County Treasurer, Ford Heights has the lowest property tax collection rate in the county – 29.3% vs. the countywide rate of 96%.

* Block Club…

There is a “total loss of privacy, especially for ground floor tenants,” one Roscoe Village resident posted on Reddit in a public plea for the end to rat hole madness. […]

“This past weekend was absolute hell for me and my neighbors,” they wrote. “We have always liked the rat (or squirrel) — it was a cute, quirky little thing in our neighborhood. People would smile and laugh as they walked by, and that was it. It’s been there at least 20 years.

“But now the internet has learned about it, and taken things waaaaay too far. What was once a fun little quirk has become a trashy, cheap marketing ploy.” […]

“Let me reiterate that we don’t want to fill in or otherwise destroy the rat hole. I’m glad that it has brought people joy,” rat-hole-neighbor wrote. “But we need you all to chill out. Please.”

* Here’s the rest…

* Center Square | Nonprofit lauds impact of Illinois’ Predatory Loan Prevention Act: Woodstock Institute is highlighting the positive impact of Illinois’ Predatory Loan Prevention Act (PLPA) which capped interest rates at 36%. Illinois passed the PLPA in January 2021 and Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed it into law later that year. The report found that most lenders stopped making predatory loans, saving consumers more than $600 million in interest and fees.

* CNI | State Police report fewer deaths on Illinois highways in 2023: Illinois State Police report the declines came at the same time troopers were beefing up their enforcement on the state’s transportation arteries. Arrests were up 3 percent, gun recoveries up 12 percent, and vehicle recoveries were up 7 percent.

* The Bond Buyer | Moody’s revises Chicago’s rating outlook to positive: Moody’s Investors Service revised Chicago’s outlook up to positive Friday and affirmed the city’s bond ratings. The rating agency cited stronger pension contribution practices and upward movement in the city’s financial position. It also said it expects the city’s reserves will stay stable to growing going forward.

* WGEM | New Illinois law expands tenants rights if radon found in home: State lawmakers also recently took action. A new law, which took effect Jan. 1, requires landlords tell prospective tenants whether radon is present and let them know their rights. Tenants have 90 days to test for radon. If it comes back positive, the landlord must cover at least half the mitigation costs. The tenant can also end the lease if radon levels exceed IEMA’s safety standard. Tenants can test after 90 days but the law would not automatically allow them to void their lease if the test comes back positive.

* Crain’s | Natural gas ban on new construction and renovations heads to City Council: The proposal would limit the use of carbon-emitting gas in both new buildings and on any additions that increase the square footage of an existing building by more than 10,000 square feet or by 25% of the existing floorspace. The ordinance would take effect one year after passage and would apply to those buildings, with the exception of some including hospitals, crematoriums and some commercial kitchens.

* Crain’s | Here’s who will pay how much if the transfer tax proposal passes: This house on West 63rd Place in Clearing sold in December for $310,000, the median price of homes sold that month in the city. Included in the revised structure Johnson endorsed in August was something that hadn’t been in previous plans to boost the transfer tax: a cut for anyone paying less than $1 million for a property. If the referendum passes, the transfer tax on those sales will drop from 0.0075% to 0.0060%. In December, the buyers of this house paid $2,325 in transfer taxes, or $463 more than they would pay in the new structure.

* WTTW | Effort to Crack Down on New Dollar Stores in Chicago Advances: At one point, 47 alderpeople signed on as a co-sponsor of the measure, introduced back in October. But several of those City Council members said they would vote against it — and O’Shea blamed an intense lobbying effort by Dollar Tree for swaying his colleagues.

* Daily-Herald | Most suburban residents are worried about climate change, but we’re still not talking about it, study says: While some trends are rising, other questions of interest such as whether people “discuss global warming at least occasionally” are stagnant. “People are still not talking about it. It’s only 36% (nationwide) who say they talk about this issue, at least occasionally. And people are still not hearing about it in the media – that’s only 32%,” senior research scientist Jennifer Marlon said. “We’re not talking about it more, and if anything, we’re talking about it a little bit less in some states, which to me was really shocking.”

* SJ-R | Criticism and ovation surround Terrence Shannon in return to Illinois basketball team: Steve Greenberg of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote about Shannon’s return. “Some were outraged by his presence. … Many others — Illini fans, naturally — have piled in to defend Shannon’s due process,” he wrote. “Some of these folks even are going so far as to proclaim Shannon’s innocence, despite the tiny fact they have utterly no idea what’s true or isn’t.”.

* Sun-Times | City announces 50 finalists for snowplow naming contest, including ‘Chance the Scraper’ and ‘Casimir Plowaski’: The six names with the most votes will be featured on a snowplow in each of the city’s six snow districts, joining the named snowplows announced last year. Those who submitted winning names will get the chance to take a photo with the plow they named.

* LexisNexis | Gender-Affirming Care Continues to Occupy—and Divide—State Lawmakers: In the past few years the legislative trend associated with gender-affirming care that has drawn the most media attention is the passage, mostly in Republican-governed states, of laws banning such care for minors. The bans typically cover the prescription of puberty blockers and hormones, as well as the performance of gender transition surgeries, on minors up to the age of 18. As of September 2023, 22 states had enacted such bans. A handful of those laws make the provision of such care a felony.