* Fox News put dramatic music behind an interview of perennial Democratic candidate and Paul Vallas supporter Andre Smith…

“Fox & Friends” co-host Lawrence Jones: It’s already out of control right now. How much time do we have before there’s utter chaos in Chicago?

Andre Smith: When they release what’s in these buildings, when they release them out of these buildings, out of the clinics, out of the parks, that’s when the chaos is going to start.

Seems like an argument for keeping the shelters open.

But, hey, at least Fox has moved on (for now) from its hysterical stories about Chicago murders.

* This Pontiac Daily Leader story reminds me of the recurring rural-area freakouts when false rumors rapidly spread that BLM protesters were heading to town to cause trouble…

An unknown bus in Dwight created a stir the last weekend of December. It was thought that there were illegal immigrants on board and they were going to be dropped off there.

This proved to incorrect, according to Rep. Jason Bunting, it was just a party bus.

“Everybody was kind of nervous and concerned in the Dwight area when there was a bus sort of slow rolling down the road there,” Bunting told the Daily Leader recently. “It was just a limo bus, a party bus per se. It wasn’t full of immigrants, but there’s been a lot of concerns.”

Good on the Daily Leader for debunking that nonsense.

* Charlotte Alvarez, the Executive Director of The Immigration Project, explained on the 21st Show what’s going on in her part of Downstate…

What we’re seeing Downstate are individuals who have some sort of connection here or heard that there’s a safe place to land and have after those bused situations or after it during the border have made their way, kind of in trickles over time into Downstate areas. […]

So we think there’s probably around, maybe slightly less than 200 recent arrivals who have come [to the Bloomington area] in the last couple years.

* More from Isabel…

* WBBM | Pritzker gives update on state effort to fund migrant shelters in Chicago, suggests it’s the city’s move: Gov. JB Pritzker says state government remains willing to fund new city-run migrant shelters in Chicago but is waiting for guidance from Mayor Johnson’s administration. […] Both said their administrations talk daily about the migrant crisis. But the city has put a hold on opening any new shelters.

* Sun-Times | Ald. Greg Mitchell accused of threatening building owner who housed migrants: That’s where a “screaming” Mitchell “threatened my life, threatened to terminate a Chicago Housing Authority contract my company, Manage Chicago Inc., has … and threatened” to block “a potential zoning change” Amatore had discussed with a deputy buildings commissioner.

* The Southern | Southern Illinois cities talk about the ability to care for an influx of illegal immigrants: In Marion, Communications and Market Director Rachel Stroud confirmed there is no policy or procedure in place for handling an influx of illegal immigrants. Stroud suggested The Southern Illinoisan contact the Williamson County Emergency Managment Agency (EMA), saying the agency might have a plan. When asked what Williamson County would do if buses of illegal immigrants were to start arriving in the county, with immigrants needing resources, the EMA Director Brian Burgess said, “The county believes this is more of a municipal issue.”

* WSJ | The American City With a Message for Migrants: We Want You: While many American cities are struggling with large numbers of newly arrived migrants, Topeka is inviting anyone and everyone with permission to work in the U.S. to come its way. Like a lot of smaller cities, the Kansas capital is grappling with near-stagnant population growth and an unemployment rate well below the national average, according to city and economic-development officials. Finding people to fill its roughly 6,600 open jobs has been a struggle, they say.

* Portland Press Herald | Feds deny request to accelerate work permits for Maine asylum seekers: Lawmakers last year passed a bill sponsored by Sen. Eric Brakey, R-Auburn, directing the Maine Department of Labor Commissioner to request a waiver, even though there is no waiver provision in federal law and no state has ever received one. Department of Labor Commissioner Laura Fortman submitted the request in October and received a response on Jan. 30. That response was forwarded to the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Labor and Housing on Wednesday.

* AP | Massachusetts turns recreational plex into shelter for homeless families, including migrants: [Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey] said about 75 individuals were expected to arrive at the Cass Recreational Complex, located in the city’s Roxbury neighborhood, before the end of the day. The complex can provide temporary shelter for up to 400 people, or about 100-125 families, as the state continues to grapple with an influx of homeless migrants.

* 9 News | Denver tells migrants you don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here: Next week, the city of Denver will start discharging hundreds of migrant families from its shelters again. Advocates for migrants worry that means many of those families will end up homeless on the streets. At a city council meeting Thursday, Evan Dreyer, the deputy chief of staff for Mayor Mike Johnston’s office, said the city doesn’t have enough room or money to house migrants indefinitely.

* AP | Biden is left with few choices as immigration takes center stage in American politics: The influx has strained social services in cities including New York, Chicago and Denver, which are struggling to shelter thousands of asylum seekers without housing or work authorization. Images of migrants with nowhere to go camping out in public have dominated local newscasts. Nine Democratic governors from all across the country sent a letter last week to Biden and congressional leaders pleading for action from Washington “to solve what has become a humanitarian crisis.”