* ICYMI: Gov. JB Pritzker names first head of state’s new early childhood agency. Tribune…

- Teresa Ramos, the first assistant deputy governor for education, has been appointed as the first head of the state’s new Department of Early Childhood
- If confirmed by the state Senate, Ramos will oversee the launch of a department that is expected to consolidate functions now under the state’s Department of Human Services, Board of Education and Department of Children and Family Services.
- Ramos has already been involved in strategic planning for the new agency, the governor’s office said.

* Related stories…

∙ Chalkbeat Chicago: Pritzker announces first secretary for the Illinois Department of Early Childhood
∙ Capitol News Illinois: Gov. JB Pritzker signs bill creating new Illinois Department of Early Childhood

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* IPM News | After closure of Stateville Correctional Center, some incarcerated students may never speak with their professors again: Rivers couldn’t bring herself to say goodbye in person either. In her second to last class, her icebreaker question was about what the class meant to everyone. “Kleenex was needed,” she added. Correctional Center had some of the worst conditions of any Illinois prison. Rivers said students have taken tap water out of her hands and gave her their bottled water instead, because they refused to let her drink something so unhealthy. A man died when temperatures reached dangerous levels in his cell.

* Sun-Times | New Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke vows to lower ‘war zone numbers’ of Chicago violence: Her first policy directive calls for prosecutors to seek detention for “every detainable felony offense where an offender used or possessed a firearm equipped with an extended magazine, drum magazine, automatic switch, or used a ghost gun or defaced firearm.” The county also will seek detention for “any domestic violence-related, stalking or sex offense where the offender used or possessed a weapon” as well as “any detainable felony offense that is committed on public transportation,” among other cases, O’Neill Burke’s office said in a statement.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Advantage News | IBA files suit over Interchange Fee Prohibition: The Illinois Bankers Association is saying Illinois U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin writing a letter to The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is “missing the forest for the trees.” Illinois law that goes into effect in 2025 seeks to bar interchange fee collection on taxes and tips, which sparked a legal fight with the banks. Illinois Bankers Association v. Raoul is now being litigated in federal court with financial institutions suing to block the law’s implementation.

*** Statewide ***

* Capitol News Illinois | State Board of Elections certifies election results showing decline in turnout: Illinois saw turnout dip in 2024 compared to recent presidential contests. About 5.7 million people participated in this year’s election, representing 70.42% of the state’s 8.1 million registered voters. That’s a decline from 2020 when 72.92% of voters participated in the largest turnout for a presidential election in Illinois since 1992, according to the board.

* WTTW | Advocates Push for Stricter Emissions Standards to Improve Air Quality in Illinois: The Illinois Pollution Control Board took hours of testimony Monday from environmental and other advocates encouraging Illinois to make the state’s standards for car and truck emissions stronger than federal regulations. Another proposed policy would require that in a decade, half of new trucks sold in Illinois must also be zero emission, while a final proposal calls for tightening tailpipe standards for diesel emissions — a move that relies on manufacturers of diesel engines to make them in a way that produces less nitrogen oxide.

*** Chicago ***

* Tribune | Mayor Brandon Johnson says he didn’t know about allegations against ex-communications director: And Johnson said his administration has no tolerance for the kind of harassment, sexism, racism or other abusive behavior several employees in his administration allege Reese engaged in while running the mayor’s press office. He deflected questions on how the documents also show frustration over how his chief of staff, Cristina Pacione-Zayas, suggested “peace circles” in response to concerns over Reese’s behavior, and did not say how often such remedies are considered.

* Tribune | SEIU threatens lawsuit over CTU contract negotiations with CPS: The teachers union has proposed contract language to CPS that SEIU fears would allow classroom assistants, who are represented by CTU, to take over some of the special education classroom aides’ jobs. Labor union contracts often include language that sets rules to protect jobs from being outsourced away to non-union sources. However, In this case, SEIU 73 is concerned about the teachers union taking work from SEIU members.

* Sun-Times | Nearly two-thirds of CPS principals and assistant principals want to keep CPS CEO: More than 670 principals and assistant principals — almost two-thirds of the 1,100 in CPS — praised Martinez and urged the board to “not make any personnel decisions impacting the senior CPS leadership.” “Our opinions and voices should matter with the future of our district,” the group said. “A change of leadership would be a decision rooted in political interests, not the interest of students.”

* ABC Chicago | Chicago Public Schools parents calling for restoration of bus service: Tuesday, a local parents’ group will be asking Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez to immediately restore bus service. They also want the district to reinstate stipends previously provided to parents for alternative transportation. Parents of diverse learners and students with disabilities said they have been most adversely affected by the ongoing bus driver shortage.

* Block Club | ‘Plow The Sidewalks’ Pilot Left Out Of City Budget, Angering Disability Rights Advocates: Mayor Brandon Johnson has backed the proposal, previously saying the report was an “important step in building a safer city where no resident is left behind.” But with the city facing an almost $1 billion budget gap for 2025, the pilot has not been included in next year’s spending plan. The mayor still supports the program but was forced to push back its implementation due to the budget shortfall, the city’s Chief Operating Officer John Roberson told the Tribune last week.

* Block Club | Renovation Of Rogers Park Metra Station Delayed: About 30 percent of the design for the renovation is finished, but Metra is waiting for approval from Union Pacific — which owns and operates the stations and tracks — before finishing the final design, Gillis said. Metra is also waiting for federal environmental approval, which is required for a project funded with federal money. The agency hopes to have it by early 2025, Gillis said.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Sun-Times | Kim Foxx reflects on bail reform, vacating wrongful convictions as successor takes tough-on-crime stance: Foxx also emphasized her work in overturning more than 15,000 cannabis-related convictions and expanding the data the public can see about how felony cases are handled. “For too long, the work of the criminal justice system has been largely a mystery,” she said. Foxx noted that her office referred more than 17,000 people to diversion programs that offer drug treatment, job placement and other services, instead of prison. Nearly 75% of those people graduated, her office said.

* Sun-Times | New clerk of Cook County courts pledges to reform office best known for scandals, errors: After being sworn in at the Daley Center, Mariyana Spyropoulos said she would work to make court records more accessible to both litigants and the public — hammering on a promise she made during her campaign to unseat incumbent Clerk of the Circuit Court Iris Martinez.

* Daily Herald | ‘More we can do’: Widow asks for guardrails at tollway ramp in Rosemont where husband died: “I don’t know if this guardrail would have saved my husband’s life,” said Laura Leatherberry, Oberto’s wife, who penned letters to nearly a dozen agencies and politicians. “I hope it would have. I think it might have. I’ll never know that for sure. But I know I can help save other people’s lives.”

* Daily Herald | Des Plaines police to get new cameras for uniforms, squad cars: The 10-year deal is with Axon Enterprise, an Arizona-based company that provides such gear to police departments in Arlington Heights, Buffalo Grove, Hoffman Estates, Palatine and elsewhere across the Chicago area and the nation. Des Plaines police officers have used cameras from a Missouri company called Safe Fleet since 2015 but have experienced quality and service issues, Chief David Anderson said in a memo. Additionally, in February, Safe Fleet will stop servicing the software and computer server it provided, Anderson said before the council’s vote Monday.

*** Downstate ***

* SJ-R | Langfelder files for discovery recount after Lesko is sworn in as recorder: Lesko held on for a 31-vote win over Langfelder, who has been Recorder since 2008, after late-arriving vote by mail ballots and provisional ballots were tallied on Nov. 19. Forty-one precincts will be inspected in the recount.

* STLPR | Could St. Clair County flip red like Madison County? The GOP is optimistic: Democrats in St. Clair County previously enjoyed double-digit victories over their Republican opponents, but those margins of victory over the last three elections have crept into the single digits. “Things have changed a lot,” said Michael Butler, chairman of the St. Clair County Republican Party. “I think we’re just kind of a little bit behind the trend compared to our neighbors, but I think eventually we’ll be in a similar boat.”

* SJ-R | New report finds two Springfield hospitals aren’t fully compliant with price rules: Springfield Memorial passed in most of the metrics but failed in the categories of Pricing Data Sufficiency Rating and CMS Validator Tool. There are 15 categories total. St John’s failed in the categories of Header Information, MRF Filename Format, and TXT File and Content.

* KSDK | Police chief in small Illinois village concedes 3 police chases in 8 days is ‘a little bit excessive’: Outside the police department Monday, Chief Terry Pruitt told 5 On Your Side he was taking full accountability for the three high-speed chases in eight days, admitting they were “a little bit excessive.” […] “The biggest problem we have had and has plagued Brooklyn is vehicles fleeing from us. Everybody thinks that once they get to Missouri, we have to terminate, and they’re good to go. Unfortunately, they don’t understand that we still have to do our jobs and we still have to police the public and protect the public,” Pruitt said.

* WSIL | Carbondale Warming Center expands shelter space amid dropping temperatures: The center is located at 608 E. College Street in Carbondale. If you wish to use the center, you must show a valid ID. If you don’t have an ID, you can go to the Carbondale Police Department and have them call the Carbondale Warming Center to verify identities. Guests can enter by 7 p.m., stay overnight, and leave the next morning at 8 a.m.  

* SJ-R | Springfield’s Director of Planning and Economic Development is retiring: The city’s Director of Planning and Economic Development, Val Yazell, has announced her retirement for the end of this year. Hazel began in the role in November 2017 when Former Mayor Jim Langfelder appointed her. She served as a contract employee for a time until the position was restored and Yazell was hired as a full-time employee. Langfelder fired Yazell in 2021, but Mayor Misty Buscher hired her again in 2023.