* We’ve almost reached $13,000 in donations for our LSSI Christmas toys for foster kids fundraiser. Please take a moment this morning to help these kids!

* ICYMI: Criminally charged health care providers keep working unrestricted as state action lags. Tribune…

- After investigating complaints that Crystal Lake endocrinologist Dr. Hiralal Maheshwari had touched patients inappropriately in his exam rooms, McHenry County prosecutors approved a felony charge of criminal sexual abuse in December 2021.

-Under state law, the prosecutors should have immediately notified the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. The department should’ve issued an order within five days requiring a medical chaperone at his appointments.

- It took five months before the state issued the chaperone order.

- Of 35 health care workers who were charged with eligible offenses since Jan. 1, 2019, the Tribune found roughly half remained in good standing with the licensing agency for more than a month after criminal charges were brought in court.

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Capitol News Illinois | Illinois American Water will increase water rates: The move comes after state regulators at the Illinois Commerce Commission approved the requested increase on Thursday. The five-member board approved a $110 million increase for the company, a 30% reduction from the company’s original request early this year. Illinois American Water serves more than 1 million Illinoisans in roughly 150 communities around the state, ranging from South Beloit to Cairo, with major operations in the Chicago suburbs, Champaign, Peoria and the Metro East.

* Illinois State | Covering the eclipse: TV-10 reporter earns student Emmy for solar eclipse story: Bleyer, a senior journalism major, captured the April 8 eclipse in a roughly 2-minute package for TV-10, Illinois State University’s student television station. While the celestial event she covered was extraordinary, it was Bleyer’s work behind the camera that truly stood out. In November, she was awarded a college student Emmy for the piece she produced titled Small Town Eclipse.

*** Statewide ***

* SJ-R | Illinois has lost most agricultural land of any Midwest state since 2001, report finds: Illinois has lost 155,000 acres of agricultural land since 2001, which is the most of any Midwestern state, according to a recent study. 64% of the land lost in the Land of Lincoln is due to development, according to a report published in Farmdoc Daily that is associated with the University of Illinois. The report analyzed a 20-year dataset that reflects 2001 to 2021.

*** Chicago ***

* Tribune | Aldermen push Mayor Brandon Johnson to make cuts, collaborate as budget deadline looms: The City Council majority urged Johnson in a letter sent to him Thursday to make further reductions in his spending plan to help set Chicago on a “sustainable path.” The public push shows the mayor and aldermen still have far to go as they continue to grapple with the budget and an end-of-year deadline approaches. “This is a moment where both history and the public demand that we do better, and we believe that is absolutely possible, but it requires true collaboration,” the letter reads in part. The aldermen who signed on represent a wide swath of the City Council. They included the co-chairs of the council’s Progressive Caucus, the leader of the Black Caucus and half the “budgeteers” Johnson tapped to help him negotiate with the council.

* Sun-Times | Ald. Gardiner’s ex-ward superintendent pleads guilty after trying to sell antique machine gun to undercover agent: Sikanich has long maintained the gun was brought home by his grandfather as a war trophy and wasn’t operational, as far as the family knew. But after delays in the case, Sikanich pleaded guilty to a count of unlawful use of a weapon in a last minute deal with the Illinois Attorney General’s Office that allowed him to avoid a bench trial that was set to begin Thursday before Judge Kenneth Wadas.

* Sun-Times | Family seeks millions from city after their 10-year-old girl was killed in ‘catastrophic’ police chase crash: The day after the crash, the city denied fault. Then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the “very brief” police chase was not the cause of the fatal crash. But last month, a week before the family’s lawsuit was set to go to trial, the city admitted liability and is only contesting the amount of damages, according to an ABC7 report. Opening statements began Thursday in the trial that will determine the amount the city should pay Da’Karia’s family. Cook County Judge Preston Jones Jr. is presiding over the trial.

* Sun-Times | Howard Kirschner, a former Benny the Bull, dies at 80: ‘He saw life in a unique way’: It’s not often that a funeral service starts with the playing of “Sirius” by the Alan Parsons Project, otherwise known in Chicago as “the Bulls song.” But the unconventional setting for Howard Kirschner’s service last week at the Chicago Jewish Funerals chapel in Skokie fit perfectly for him. Mr. Kirschner, one of the earliest to portray the legendary Chicago Bulls mascot Benny the Bull, was described by his wife as a “quirky” guy who “marched to his own drummer.”

* Block Club | Bernice’s Tavern Closes Over Liquor License Issue, But Owner Vows Comeback: Badauaskas’ boiler has a funny way of going out. His ice machine has broken down three times this year. And he alleges his insurance company recently sent a drone flying over the building to demand roof repairs. The liquor license expiration is the latest curveball that’s buckled the knees of the one-man operation. But it won’t strike Badauskas out. He’s vowing another Bernice’s comeback, hopefully in the coming weeks.

* ABC Chicago | Forever Home: Adopt ‘Saluki’: Saluki is a three-month-old kitten and is up for adoption at PAWS Chicago’s Lincoln Park Adoption Center, 1997 N Clybourn Ave. There is a $150 adoption fee, which is $125 each when adopting a pair.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Southtown | Calumet City aldermen dismiss Mayor Thaddeus Jones’ case against Clerk Nyota Figgs: The case stalled Monday after Judge Alison Conlon recused herself after disclosing she may have distributed literature for Jones when he was running as a state representative in 2016. […] Patton said if Jones’ attorneys move forward with the lawsuit he will call for another special meeting to motion to dismiss the attorneys. The lawsuit’s dismissal was approved during the special meeting from all those who attended, including Alds. Patton, Monet Wilson, Michael Navarette, DeJuan Gardner and DeAndre Tillman.

* Daily Herald | Bears would pay $3.6 million a year, under proposed Arlington Park property tax settlement: The 12-page memorandum of understanding — brokered by village officials over the last year and a half of negotiations — aims to resolve a protracted tax dispute between the NFL franchise and three Arlington Heights-area school districts whose boundaries cover the 326-acre site purchased by the team in 2023. The deal must still be approved by the boards for Arlington Heights, Northwest Suburban High School District 214, Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 and Palatine Township Elementary District 15. All the elected panels meet next week.

* Gaming Intel | Accel Entertainment completes acquisition of Fairmount in Illinois: The acquisition gives Accel the only active horse racing venue in the greater St. Louis metropolitan area, as well as a master sports betting license and the opportunity to develop a legislatively authorized casino project. The company has paid a consideration of approximately 3.45 million Accel Class A-1 common stock, equivalent to around $35 million. Accel also plans to invest between $85 million and $95 million to fund the casino construction and for track investments.

* ABC Chicago | Tiffany Henyard to attend Thornton Twp. meeting to hear objections for election nominations: “One hundred percent confident that I will be, because they did a lot of illegal actions which my lawyer is drawing up the lawsuit currently,” Henyard said. Henyard also warns, the township is at risk of a shutdown because the board has not approved insurance. She said two trustees have boycotted multiple meetings to try to stonewall Henyard, which have halted township actions.

* Daily Herald | Vacant medical office building in Mount Prospect could turn into apartments: A vacant 1970s-style medical office building just west of the Union Pacific tracks on Central Road in Mount Prospect has been awaiting redevelopment for two years. Recent action by the Mount Prospect village board has given the project a new lease on life. Trustees on Tuesday approved extending the zoning approval granted in 2022 for a proposed apartment development at 500 W. Central Road.

*** Downstate ***

* WVIK | New Bio Chronicles Rise of Glenn Poshard from Deep Poverty in southern Illinois to Congress and SIU President: Glenn Poshard discusses his book, Son of Southern Illinois: Glenn Poshard’s Life in Politics and Education, that includes his upbringing and values in southern Illinois, military service, entry into politics, principled stands on PAC money, abortion and guns that cost him the Illinois Governor’s race, problems the Democrats have with rural and working class voters, the Poshard Foundation for Abused Children, and much more.

* WCIA | CWLP receives nearly $3 million to replace lead pipes: City Water Light and Power will begin another phase of lead service lines starting in March. CWLP received $2.9 million dollars in federal funding provided by the Illinois EPA. It will be used to replace lead water service lines for around 400 low-income customers.

*** National ***

* Crain’s | Durbin and Ramaswamy trade barbs over federal loan to Rivian: “Isn’t this rich?” Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, said in a statement yesterday. “In 2009, when his Tesla operation was hanging by a thread, Elon Musk borrowed nearly $500 million from the Department of Energy — saving the company so they could put a new model of the car on showroom floors. Now, his DOGE partner, Vivek Ramaswamy, is questioning a similar loan to Rivian, a competitor of Tesla, saying it is ‘high on the list of items’ that he will look to claw back.