* ICYMI: Illinois lawmakers consider an array of measures in final days of lame-duck session. The Tribune…

- A bill that would eliminate barriers for people wanting to change their names passed 33-16 in the Senate with an amendment that now needs approval from the House.

- The Senate passed a bill Sunday intended to protect senior citizens in Illinois from abuse and neglect by prohibiting nursing homes from retaliating against a resident for registering complaints about the home to state officials.

- Also under consideration is a bill that would require the Illinois Department of Corrections to post quarterly reports on the use of restrictive housing, or solitary confinement, on the agency’s website.

* Related stories…

∙ Capitol City Now: IL House GOP: Why are we here?
∙ WAND: Illinois House GOP aggravated with inaction during Sunday lame duck session
∙ WAND: Hemp regulation top priority for Illinois lawmakers during lame duck session

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Daily Herald | What will happen in the air, on roads and with public transit in 2025?: “Last year, I cynically predicted that the taxpayers would ultimately be hit hard with little in the way of reform to address the financial problems at CTA, Metra and Pace,” said Northwestern University Professor Savage. “My prediction has not changed.” He said to expect legislative activity and intense politicking in the first half of the year over the Metropolitan Mobility Authority or alternative legislation.

* Tribune | After long holiday break, jury in Madigan corruption trial back for more defense testimony: After an extended 18-day holiday break from testimony, the jury in the corruption trial of former House Speaker Michael Madigan will be back to work Monday to hear more defense witnesses in a case inching to the finish line. Before the panel was sent home for the holidays on Dec. 19, the trial’s spotlight had finally turned to Madigan’s defense team, whose witnesses so far have offered a far different picture of the powerful Democratic speaker than the image of a conniving and opportunistic political machine boss painted by prosecutors.

*** Statehouse News ***

* AgriNews | Eliot Clay to lead AISWCD: The Association of Illinois Soil and Water Conservation Districts announced the selection of Eliot Clay as its new executive director. Clay comes to the AISWCD from the Illinois Environmental Council, where he led their policy agenda on agriculture, conservation and how natural and working lands are utilized in Illinois.

* Labor Tribune | Illinois unions calling Jan. 6 Day of Action to fix Tier 2 pensions: On Monday, Jan. 6, the Illinois Education Association, Illinois AFL-CIO and others are pushing for a one-day lobbying session, setting up a number for constituents and Labor activists to call their legislators and ask them to fix the Tier 2 problem. In 2010, the Illinois state legislature and then-Gov. Pat Quinn approved a law in the middle of the recession that forced state leaders to deal with decades of underfunding by changing the way state retirement benefits and calculated. It only affected employees who began their jobs after Jan. 1, 2011 – known as the Tier 2 employees.

*** Statewide ***

* Tribune | Statewide police body camera requirement kicked in Jan. 1, but full compliance picture unclear: The most recent report from the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board is from 2023, before many small departments were required to comply, and falls short of giving a full picture. Only about 180 departments provided information about body cameras to the ILETSB. Of the roughly 170 departments from that group which reported using cameras in 2023, 20 didn’t explain their review process for camera footage and 15 failed to report how many cameras they had on hand, according to the 2023 report. Another 25 were missing the numbers of officers in the department using body-worn cameras. All three elements are required to be reported under the law.

*** Chicago ***

* Tribune | Chicago leaders prepare for ‘TIF cliff’ as several city special taxing districts expire: It’s the latest chapter in Chicago’s long history with TIFs, which supporters have praised for spurring growth in struggling neighborhoods and critics have hammered as little more than opaque slush funds for aldermanic and mayoral pet projects. Council members quietly got the ball rolling weeks ago during the chaos of passing this year’s city budget. They let 13 TIF districts expire and extended eight others for another 12 years.

* Sun-Times | Chicago’s homelessness surged in 2024, as major U.S. cities bore the brunt of a national trend: Nationally, the dramatic rise was driven mostly by a lack of affordable housing, natural disasters and a surge of migrants in several parts of the country, federal officials say in a new report. Chicago estimated 18,836 people experienced homelessness last year compared with 6,139 in 2023, according to the city’s annual tally released last summer.

* WBEZ | Chicago students without bus service getting PiggyBack rides to school: Reliance on school buses has waned for years as districts struggle to find drivers and more students attend schools far outside their neighborhoods. As responsibility for transportation shifts to families, the question of how to replace the traditional yellow bus has become an urgent problem for some, and a spark for innovation. State and local governments decide how widely to offer school bus service. Lately, more have cut back. Only about 28% of U.S. students take a school bus, according to a Federal Highway Administration survey concluded early last year. That’s down from about 36% of students in 2017.

* Sun-Times | The Bears get a big victory over the Packers. A bigger victory: This miserable season is thankfully over: Cairo Santos didn’t have a game-winning field-goal attempt blocked, the way he did on the final play of a 20-19 loss to the Packers on Nov. 17. The Bears didn’t find a strange way to lose a strange game, the way they did so many times in this dreadful season. The game didn’t end with the Bears trying to explain their inherent Bear-ness, as it so often did in 2024.

* Tribune | Lake-effect snow in Illinois likely to disrupt Monday commute as winter blast hits hardest farther south: According to the National Weather Service, travel will be affected the most in northeastern Illinois as snow blows in Sunday night through noon Monday. Accumulations might reach 3 to 5 inches across portions of Lake County — perhaps even higher near the Wisconsin state line. As the snow band moves south toward Chicago from noon to 6 p.m., it could drop 1 to 3 inches.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Herald | Sales tax switch creates funding shortfall for mental health services in McHenry County: For some clients of the Association for Individual Development, having access to the nonprofit’s help can have life-or-death stakes. […] According to county records, the organization received about $100,000 less this year in funding from the McHenry County Mental Health Board, down from $345,725 to $245,000. Those funds help cover things like psychiatric services and a certified recovery support therapist. Baker attributes the drop to the county’s new quarter-cent sales tax for the mental health board generating less revenue than projected — the result of what McHenry County officials acknowledge was an error on their part.

* Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering | Act now, Illinois lawmakers, to keep intoxicating hemp products out of kids’ reach: Gov. JB Pritzker and leaders in the Illinois General Assembly have announced their support for House Bill 4293, a bill regulating the sale of intoxicating hemp products across the state. I have fought to keep the Highland Park community, particularly our children, safe from unregulated and deceptively advertised products. But this is a fight no single town, village or city can win on their own.

* Shaw Local | Solar development, data center proposed for 30 acres along Peace Road in DeKalb: A developer wants city permission to install a solar field and data center on about 30 acres of land west of Peace Road in DeKalb, documents show. Donato Solar has submitted a concept plan for a 4-megawatt solar energy system and what the company is calling a “boutique data center” to sit at 1199 N. Peace Road, between Greenwood Acres and Challenger drives, according to an agenda released ahead of Monday’s Planning and Zoning Commission meeting.

*** Downstate ***

* SJ-R | Author and historian Michael Burlingame to address Abraham Lincoln Banquet: Renowned Abraham Lincoln scholar, author and professor Michael Burlingame will be the featured speaker at the Abraham Lincoln Association (ALA) Birthday Banquet at the President Abraham Lincoln Hotel on Feb. 15. The free Benjamin P. Thomas Symposium will be held the same day. The author of the two-volume “Abraham Lincoln: A Life,” one of the most definitive biographies of the 16th president, Burlingame is the Chancellor Naomi B. Lynn Distinguished Chair in Lincoln Studies at the University of Illinois Springfield.

* 25News Now | Illinois State Police activate emergency snow plan for many counties south of Peoria: The affected counties include Sangamon and Logan. Other Troop 6 counties are Adams, Brown, Cass, Christian, Mason, Menard, Morgan, Pike, Schuyler, and Scott. Troopers in Troop 6 patrol I-55, I-72, I-155, I-172, as well as all the state and U.S. highways within the 12 counties. Motorists are urged not to travel unless it is absolutely necessary.

* NBC Chicago | Multi-vehicle crash closes Interstate 70 in Illinois as winter storm continues: All traffic was being diverted off the roadway at U.S. Route 40, ISP officials said in a social media post at around 3:03 p.m. There were no immediate reports of injuries in the crash.
is located in Cumberland County in southeastern Illinois, with Interstate 70 crossing the state on its way to the northeast toward Indianapolis. Elsewhere in central Illinois, a portion of I-55 was shut down due to a collision.

* WCIA | Champaign Public Works working 24-hour day clearing roads: The City’s Public Works Department started the process back in October checking plows and going over routes for snow removal. Public Information Officer Kris Koester said staff have been working back-to-back 12-hour shifts to clear roadways. […] “As the forecast changes, or as the forecast moves along, the weather moves along, we’ll continue to update our resources to be out on the streets making sure the roads are as passable as possible while it’s snowing,” Koester said.

*** National ***

* AP | Higher Social Security payments coming for millions of people in public service jobs from bill that Biden signed: President Joe Biden on Sunday signed into law a measure that boosts Social Security payments for current and former public employees, affecting nearly 3 million people who receive pensions from their time as teachers, firefighters, police officers and in other public service jobs. Advocates say the Social Security Fairness Act rights a decades-old disparity, though it will also put strain on Social Security Trust Funds, which face a looming insolvency crisis.