* State Week recapped the end of veto session…

The legislature’s two week fall session concluded with passage of the Dignity in Pay Act and an effort to protect victims who file lawsuits over childhood sex abuse. But a lot of discussion is what could happen when lawmakers return to the statehouse in January for the so-called lame duck session.

Our panel also talks about investments in electric vehicle charging stations and why some want the state to pull back on spending to help newly arrived migrants.

Host Sean Crawford is joined by Professor Emeritus Charlie Wheeler and WAND-TV Capitol Reporter Mike Miletich.

* ABC Chicago…

Across the country, Native American tribes are struggling to reclaim what was stolen from them over centuries: the remains of their ancestors and personal sacred items, now held in museums, universities, and other institutions that are, in many cases, far from home.

Despite federal legislation passed nearly 35 years ago aimed at correcting these past crimes, the ABC 7 I-Team found little progress has been made, and the state of Illinois tops the list of having the highest number of ancestral remains that haven’t been reunited with tribal descendants.

In addition, Illinois institutions including Chicago’s Field Museum and the Illinois State Museum have thousands of sacred items that officials tell the I-Team they are working to identify and return. […]

The ABC7 Data Team examined thousands of federal documents to identify how many ancestors and sacred objects are at institutions across the country. To search all U.S. institutions with collections, click here.

* If you follow me on Bluesky you may have seen this last night…

*** Statewide ***

* WCIA | IL Deer Donation Program evolving to fight hunger: As a response to increasing food prices and food pantries’ difficulties obtaining meat, the University of Illinois and key partners launched the Illinois Deer Donation Program in 2022. This mission initially covered 12 counties and has combated food insecurity by pairing hunters in East Central Illinois with meat processors and food pantries.

*** Chicago ***

* Crain’s | Howard Brown to pay $1.3 million to laid-off workers: The settlement, negotiated between Howard Brown and Region 13 of the National Labor Relations Board, marks the end to a nearly two-year dispute between the health care provider and the Illinois Nurses Association, the union that filed complaints with the NLRB over the workforce reduction and other labor issues.

JUST IN: Patrick Gorski, 27, of a Chicago, has been charged with storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 and fighting with riot police, blocking efforts to close the Senate Wing door
He’s the third Chicago-area resident to be hit with Jan. 6 charges since Trump’s election 2 weeks ago pic.twitter.com/4hWGraLHab

— Jason Meisner (@jmetr22b) November 22, 2024

* Block Club | New Emmett Till Exhibit At Chicago History Museum Shows Another Side To Lynching Victim: Exhibition curator Charles E. Bethea, the museum’s Andrew W. Mellon Director of Curatorial Affairs & Collections, said the curation of the exhibit came about after the closing of “Remembering Dr. King: 1929-1968” at the museum at 1601 N. Clark St. in March. “It dawned on me that if we had taken down King and replaced it with something else that wasn’t African-American related, then we would literally not have any narratives within the Chicago History Museum around African-American spirits specifically related to Chicago history,” Bethea said.

* Block Club | Walgreens Parking Nightmare: Avondale Shoppers Get $170 Boot Even Though They Went Inside: Natalie tried to explain they went into the store to pick up prescriptions, even showing the parking officer the receipt, but felt intimidated and belittled, they said. “I’m not in a great financial situation and I’m relying on a lot of other people in my life to help me meet my needs,” Natalie said. “I really didn’t budget for spending $170 today because I walked away from a parking lot for five minutes.”

* WBEZ | What’s the oldest family-owned business in Chicago?: The title of oldest family-owned business in the city could go to a tobacco shop in the Loop, originally called the E. Hoffman Co. when it started in 1857. In addition to a downtown store, German immigrant Edward Hoffman also manufactured pipe tobacco and cigars on the South Side. Hoffman needed help, but he didn’t have any children he could rely on, so he persuaded his nephew, Iwan Ries, to come from Germany and run the retail location for him. In 1891, Hoffman turned over ownership to Ries, who renamed the business.

* Sun-Times | The Bears’ offense — and Caleb Williams’ growth — is in Thomas Brown’s hands: Coordinator Thomas Brown gathered his offense Monday, less than 24 hours after the Bears’ gut-punch loss to the Packers, and delivered a message in his signature direct style. “There are no attaboys in this game,” he said. “We play the game to win. We came up short.” There was room for kudos for Brown, though, after he emerged from yet another chaotic week at Halas Hall to design an offensive attack that, for the first time in a month, made sense.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Crain’s | Cook County chips in $15M to help ‘vulnerable’ homeowners with tax bills: A $15 million piece of the budget that Cook County commissioners approved yesterday is designated as a give-back to senior homeowners and others who are struggling with fast-rising property tax bills. The pilot Homeowner Relief Fund, scheduled to launch in spring 2025, will give one-time payments of up to $1,000 to senior homeowners, moderate-income homeowners in gentrifying areas and others.

* CRAIN’s | Arlington Heights offices touted as industrial redevelopment play: Colliers plays up several factors that make One North Arlington a good industrial conversion candidate, including that the property is already zoned for it. The building is designated for “research, development and light manufacturing” use by the village of Arlington Heights, which the brokerage dubs a “development friendly municipality.”

* Crain’s | Despite finance, staffing headaches, County Health’s new chief sees path for growth: CCH, the seventh-largest health system in the Chicago area by revenue, operates Stroger and Provident hospitals, as well as its own Medicaid and Medicare Advantage health plans. It cares for 200,000 patients a year. CCH also has a fundamental mission to address some of the area’s largest health and economic disparities. Like other health systems during the COVID-19 pandemic, CCH jumped into action but was often serving the poorest and sickest patients. And later, when a migrant surge brought thousands of new people to the area, it was CCH that made sure they were given checkups, vaccines and other medical attention.

*** Downstate ***

* People’s World | In Peoria, like many other Illinois towns, being homeless is now a crime: Now, the city’s unhoused population could face jail time of up to 180 days for the “crime” of having no home. This is despite the fact that, as the director of the Homes for All Continuum of Care, Kate Green, stressed there is not enough shelter space even if people wanted to use it.

* Daily Journal | Study shows economic impact of deteriorating bridges in rural Illinois: The study showed for every dollar invested in Illinois bridge maintenance results in nearly $5 in benefits for all roadway users, and bridge investments in the state will provide approximately 52,640 jobs, a labor income of $2.83 billion, and an added economic value of $5.63 billion over the next 30 years.

* WCBU | Tazewell County Health Department’s new Pekin campus ‘a perfect solution to our needs’: An emotional Amy Fox, health department director, thanked everyone involved in the renovation project, which included repairing flood damage, and said to a crowd that gathered in the building lobby, “Now we can do what we want to do here. Reach our clients. Our first client here was here at 9 o’clock Monday morning.”

* IPM | Danville school district says superintendent will return to on-site work following alleged racist threats: At a meeting on Wednesday, Danville School Board President Randal Ashton read a statement from the group. “We will be working with her on her return to on-site work, and we will not be commenting any further on this, as this is a personnel matter and there is still an open FBI investigation,” he said.

* SJ-R | ‘A deep and sacred trust has been violated’: Catholic priest from Taylorville resigns: A Taylorville Catholic priest who was in an acknowledged sexual relationship with a seminarian from the Springfield Catholic Diocese has submitted his resignation. Springfield Bishop Thomas John Paprocki, in a letter to parishioners of St. Mary’s Church, acknowledged that the Rev. Piotr Kosk faces a church investigation into his behavior as well as possible financial misconduct. Paprocki said he could petition the Vatican to have Kosk removed from the priesthood.

*** National ***

* AP | Supreme Court allows multibillion-dollar class action lawsuit to proceed against Meta: Investors allege that Meta did not fully disclose the risks that Facebook users’ personal information would be misused by Cambridge Analytica, a firm that supported Donald Trump’s first successful Republican presidential campaign in 2016. Inadequacy of the disclosures led to two significant price drops in the price of the company’s shares in 2018, after the public learned about the extent of the privacy scandal, the investors say.