Start your morning right by bringing joy to a foster child this holiday season. Your donation helps provide gifts and spread warmth to children in need. Make this season magical—click here to give today and brighten a child’s holiday!

* ICYMI: Chicago to be ground zero for mass deportations, Trump border czar tells Illinois Republicans. Sun-Times…

- President-elect Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan came to Chicago on Monday to implore Mayor Brandon Johnson and Gov. JB Pritzker to “come to the table” and negotiate with him over a mass deportation plan that he declared would start right here.
- “Chicago’s in trouble because your mayor sucks and your governor sucks,” Homan said to cheers. Later, he called both “terrible,” while also telling them to “come to the table.”
- Homan threatened to arrest people who are found with the criminals he is targeting — regardless of whether he has cooperation from the city.

The governor will be at the CTA Pink Line at 3:10 pm to celebrate the holiday season with the CTA Holiday Train.

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Capitol News Illinois | Appeals court keeps Illinois’ assault weapons ban in place: In a brief, two-page order issued Thursday, Dec. 5, a three-judge panel of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago granted the state’s motion to delay the order, noting that just a year earlier the circuit refused to grant a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of the same law.

* WBEZ | Chicago mayor’s chief of staff says ‘peace circle’ plan was for other problems a former top staffer faced: In an interview with WBEZ, Cristina Pacione-Zayas defended the actions she took in response to three complaints made against Reese but said the “peace circle” idea was meant to address other broader communication and management issues that Reese faced. She said those broader issues put Reese on a performance improvement plan, and Pacione-Zayas indicated those issues predated the allegations of misogyny or sexual harassment.

* Capitol News Illinois | Prosecution could rest next week in ‘Sphinx’ Madigan’s corruption trial: Though the visual representation of a sphinx is often associated with the massive Egyptian statue near the Great Pyramids of Giza, representations of sphinx-like characters in popular culture come from Greek mythology. “Oedipus Rex” depicts a sphinx as creature that won’t let anyone past unless they answer a riddle, and if answered incorrectly, the sphinx kills and eats the target. Madigan attorney Lari Dierks tried to draw the rationale of Madigan’s “Sphinx” nickname out of Budzinski, asking if it was a joke about the speaker’s reputation in Springfield. But Budzinski demurred, saying it wasn’t her nickname and she never had conversations with other campaign staff about its origins.

*** Statehouse News ***

* ABC Chicago | State representative’s staffer sickened, hospitalized after opening mail at Aurora office: The Aurora building housing State Rep. Barbara Hernandez’s office was evacuated on Monday afternoon. Police confirmed that one of her staffers became sick after opening a piece of mail. That employee was taken to the hospital in stable condition. Police said they are still working to find out what a substance in the mail was and whether that was what made Hernandez’s staffer sick.

* Patch | Advocates Push For Passage Of Bill Mandating Hate Crime Training For Police In Illinois: At a news conference convened at the Chicago Urban League, the coalition of groups called for state representatives to pass the bill during January’s lame duck session. The push comes as Illinois has seen a 362 percent increase in reported hate crimes in recent years, rising from 70 incidents in 2019 to 324 incidents in 2023, according to data voluntarily submitted to the FBI by law enforcement agencies.

*** Statewide ***

* Sun-Times | IHSA reacts to public outcry, switches to a one-year classification cycle: “The IHSA Board of Directors has heard the concerns from the public, and more importantly, from our member schools in the days since the completion of the IHSA’s fall state tournaments. As a Board, we recognize certain trends and data within IHSA sports and activities that lead us to believe that some changes are necessary.” The previous two-year classification cycle occasionally led to large schools competing against significantly smaller schools in state competitions. The IHSA determined which class a team would play in by the average of the school’s enrollment during a two-year period. That enrollment number was then used for two years.

*** Chicago ***

* WTTW | Mayor Brandon Johnson Says City Should Not ‘Tolerate’ Budget That Fires Workers, Cuts Services: Johnson said his latest budget proposal, which faces two key tests on Tuesday, meets Chicagoans’ critical needs at a difficult economic moment. “The other thing that’s important in this budget is that clearly there are a lot of human needs and these human needs are rights and so one of the other things that’s important about making sure that we meet the human needs of individuals is that we don’t cut services and lay people off,” Johnson said at an unrelated news conference. “A budget that would lay off workers and cut services is just, you know, one that should not be tolerated by any Chicagoan. And I know these are difficult financial times, not just in Chicago, but around the globe.”

* ABC Chicago | City Council Finance, Budget committees set to consider Mayor Brandon Johnson’s proposal: Both the city’s Finance and Budget committees meet Tuesday to review the proposed budget. The proposed budget must pass through the committees before a full City Council vote, which could come as soon as Friday. The proposed budget includes a $68/5 million property tax hike, but no layoffs.

* Tribune | City delays permit decision for Pilsen scrap metal shredder, residents feel neglected: Missing its own deadline Monday, the city yet again delayed a decision on the fate of a scrap metal shredder in Pilsen with a history of environmental violations. The permit is largely retroactive at this point, covering operations from 2021 to 2024, but the city’s inaction has left the shredder’s neighbors concerned for their health. Sims Metal Management’s operating permit for its facility at 2500 S. Paulina St. expired in November 2021. A month earlier, it was sued by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul for failing to show it was reducing air pollution there. This came after Sims was fined in 2018 by the U.S. EPA for emitting high levels of harmful particulate matter.

* WTTW | Chicago Police Oversight Board President: I’ve Been Pulled Over 5 Times in 2024 by CPD: Driver told WTTW News officers stopped him twice for having an expired license registration sticker and once on suspicion of making an unsafe lane change. Driver said officers refused to give him a reason for the other two stops. Driver was not ticketed during any of the stops, he said.

* Crain’s | Chicago hospitals earn high marks in maternity care ratings list: New this year, U.S. News said in a press release, is an increased emphasis on racial and ethnic disparities in treatment. How transparent hospitals are about reporting disparities now accounts for 10% of their scores, an increase from 5% in previous years. U.S. News also introduced measures of labor and delivery representation by race and ethnicity, which it said describe how well the racial and ethnic makeup of the babies born at a hospital reflects the racial and ethnic makeup of young children in the surrounding community. However, that measure is not yet included in the list’s scoring methodology.

* Crain’s | Facility to turn Chicago’s waste into renewable natural gas planned for northwest Indiana: he facility, expected to be operational by the end of 2026, will receive waste in a variety of forms, including low-strength materials such as liquids. The contents will then go into a tank and be converted into bio-methane, which will be injected into a pipeline on the facility. “At the highest level, what we’re doing is building a facility that will accept waste from the greater Chicago area and convert it away from landfills… The byproduct of when we extract the bio-methane is a high-ratio fertilizer product, which will go back into the soil as an organic product,” Roshan Vani, CEO of Nexus W2V, told Crain’s.

* Block Club | Rogers Park Men’s Homeless Shelter Opens On Clark Street: The 10,000-square-foot building, which used to be a medical office, has 35 rooms, each with two beds, to house 70 men, North Side Housing Board President Peter Marchese said. The facility also has a commercial kitchen to serve residents three meals a day plus space for 24-hour wrap-around services, showers, laundry and more, Marchese said.

* Crain’s | The Michelin stars are out and Chicago has a new entrant: Cariño, a Mexican- and wider Latin American-inspired concept in Uptown by chef Chef Norman Fenton, is the latest Chicago restaurant to gain a Michelin star. The restaurant, which is Fenton’s first venture, opened at the end of 2023. “The inspectors were unanimously impressed with Chef Norman Fenton’s creations, which celebrate Mexican cuisine in an ambitious manner,” wrote Gwendal Poullennec, the international director of the Michelin Guides. “Our inspectors were delighted by the bold and creative tasting menu in addition to the diligent and engaging service from the restaurant’s staff.”

* Sun-Times | Are you ready for some misery, Bears fans?: The Bears are 4-9 and have lost their last seven games, sometimes in ways that are almost incomprehensible. They were beaten so badly Sunday by the 49ers that you wished a peewee-league slaughter rule were in effect. Four yards of offense in the first half? A defense that gave up 319 yards in the first half? A 38-13 final score? It was a failure on every level, like a Christmas pie gone bad and served to everybody in the organization.

* Crain’s | JB Pritzker’s property tax bill will be nearly $1.29 million: In the wake of their recent purchase of $19 million worth of Gold Coast condos, Gov. JB Pritzker and first lady MK Pritzker can expect to receive property tax bills totaling almost $1.29 million in early 2025. This makes the Pritzkers the biggest residential property taxpayers in Cook County by far. The next-highest bill, according to Crain’s research, is the $635,620 total for Citadel chief Ken Griffin’s three yet-unsold downtown penthouses.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Press Release | Reform for Illinois is Appealing Court Ruling Limiting Local Adoption of Ranked-Choice Voting : Reform for Illinois (RFI) will appeal a recent court decision limiting the power of Illinois municipalities to adopt ranked-choice voting – and potentially other reforms – for their local elections. RFI, which advocates for empowering voters with fair, accessible elections, filed a notice of appeal following a November 12 ruling by Cook County Judge Maureen Ward Kirby, which dismissed the group’s lawsuit seeking to require the Cook County Clerk to implement ranked-choice voting in Evanston.

* WSPSY | Kane County prosecutor denies wrongdoing in crash case involving deputy’s death: The Kane County State’s Attorney says she will welcome any review or audit of the case involving Nathan Sweeney, who is accused of causing a crash that killed a DeKalb County deputy in the spring. State’s Attorney Jamie Mosser was accused in a letter from the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office of illegally “masking” a past DUI conviction against Sweeney, which should have prevented him from holding a commercial driver’s license. Sweeney was driving a semi-truck at the time of the crash that killed Deputy Christina Musil. He is charged with DUI and reckless homicide.

* Daily Herald | Arlington Heights board inks deal to lower Bears’ tax bill until stadium construction begins: The 8-0 vote of the mayor and trustees is the first step in the approval process for the 12-page memorandum of understanding, which would lower the Bears’ tax bill at the 326-acre Arlington Park property at least through 2027. The Palatine Township Elementary District 15 school board will consider the agreement Wednesday night, and the boards for Northwest Suburban High School District 214 and Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 will take votes Thursday night.

* Daily Southtown | Book banning remains relevant topic in Lockport High School District 205 board race: The district saw two candidates backed by the conservative group We The Parents Illinois win board seats last year, Martin Boersma and Sandra Chimon Rogers. However, neither candidate finished his or her term, as Boersma resigned seven months into his term and Chimon Rogers died in June after a long-term illness. Candace Gerritson and Lance Thies were appointed to the vacancies, and both are seeking to keep those seats in April. “We have an unusual election,” Lockport 205 Superintendent Robert McBride said, due to the changes in board seats between election years. He said appointments must be voted on in the following election cycle, which is why so many seats are open up next year.

* Daily Herald | Bodycam video shows moment garbage truck exploded in Arlington Heights, injuring first responders: A shock wave from the blast caused significant property damage throughout the area and debris from the explosion was located several blocks away. The cause of the explosion remains under investigation. However, investigators believe trash in the garbage truck’s hopper fueled the fire, which in turn caused heat to rise to the roof, which is where the vehicle’s compressed natural gas tanks are.

*** Downstate ***

* SJ-R | Springfield school buses see improved staffing, wage increases: While the COVID-19 pandemic created staffing shortages for school bus companies; First Student Inc. that services Springfield District 186 schools is nearly fully staffed again. 185 drivers are now employed to operate across 175 routes in place for District 186, marking the first time in years that all routes are consistently covered, and with spare wheelmen and women available to assist with arising day-to-day needs.

* Illinois Times | Amazon hub is coming to Springfield: Work on the former farm field began Dec. 2 to prepare the site and contain any erosion, Keith Larreau, a superintendent for California-based general contractor KPRS Construction Services Inc., told Illinois Times when a reporter visited the site Dec. 6. Ryan McCrady, president and chief executive officer of Springfield Sangamon Growth Alliance, “We’d be very excited to have Amazon as part of our community.”

* WAND | Fire at former Jacksonville Developmental Center sparks frustration from city: Since August, there have been two large fires on the JDC campus, and Jacksonville city leaders are reaching a breaking point. They are tired of being responsible for the state-owned facility. “It’s somewhat of an unfunded mandate to the city that, ‘Hey, it’s our building but you’re going to have to put the fire out. And if things happen, it’s on you,’” said Jacksonville Mayor Andy Ezard.

* Pantagraph | Shelby County coroner’s cause of death was drowning; funeral services set: Shelby County Sheriff Brian McReynolds, speaking with the Herald & Review, listed drowning as the “preliminary cause” after an autopsy in Bloomington Saturday. But he said that did not rule out some sort of preceding medical event. “That is a possibility, but we don’t know at this time,” said McReynolds. “I think they are waiting on other blood tests that might show enzymes and proteins in the blood that could answer that question,” he added. “But at this time we don’t know if (some kind of medical emergency before the drowning) is possible.”

* ABC Chicago | Illinois man accused of threatening to kill Presidents Joe Biden, Barack Obama; Jill Biden; Mayorkas: Charges have been filed against an Illinois man for allegedly threatening to kill President Joe Biden and others. Authorities say Jacob Sterr of Springfield made death threats on social media against the president, first lady, former President Barack Obama and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas last month.

*** National ***

* CNN | Google says it has cracked a quantum computing challenge with new chip: The results released Monday came from a new chip called Willow that has 105 “qubits,” which are the building blocks of quantum computers. Qubits are fast but error-prone, because they can be jostled by something as small as a subatomic particle from events in outer space.