* WTVO…

Illinois received the federal government’s largest grant in the nation for expansion of the state’s electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

Gov. JB Pritzker announced on Friday that $114 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation will allow the state to build 14 truck charging hubs. The stations will add 345 individual charging ports for heavy-duty freight vehicles.

The second highest amount awarded to another state was $55 million, Pritzker said.

An additional $39 million in state funding will be used to build 1,476 charging stations at 242 locations across the state.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Capitol News Illinois | Bills addressing warehouse quotas, nursing homes, prostitution pass in session’s final days: HB 2547 would also require employers to provide new warehouse employees with a written description of their quota requirements when hired, as well as any “potential adverse employment action,” essentially disciplinary actions, that they may face if the quota is not met. The employer must give the employee a written update within five days if they make any changes to quotas.

* Crain’s | Illinois AG pushes back on Walmart’s plans to roll back DEI programs: Raoul, along with 12 other state attorneys general, sent a letter to Walmart President and CEO Doug McMillon calling for the company to reconsider its decision to phase out supplier diversity programs, close down the Center for Racial Equality, end equity training for staff, and remove the words “diversity” and “DEI” from company documents.

*** Statewide ***

* Sun-Times | Illinois joins IRS Direct File program, allowing some taxpayers to file federal taxes for free: The federal agency confirmed to the Sun-Times on Friday that the state is now a part of the program, joining 24 other states such as Wisconsin, Idaho and California. The Illinois Department of Revenue declined to immediately comment. Direct File was piloted in 2024, across 12 states, and has been pitched as the free government alternative to tax prep services like TurboTax, who have been accused as predatory by courts and the federal government.

* IPM News: IVF patients in Illinois worry, feel uncertain about access and treatments as Trump returns to office: Dr. Eve Feinberg is a board member of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and she specializes in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. “I do feel relatively safe in Illinois,” she said. “I think that Senator Duckworth has made incredible strides towards protecting Illinoisans and towards expanding access to infertility coverage in the state of Illinois, but I worry a lot about government interference in health care, and specifically government interference in the arena of IVF.”

*** Chicago ***

* WBEZ | Immigration advocates warn a proposal for Chicago police to help ICE could be illegal: Immigration advocates and attorneys are sounding the alarm about an ordinance that would allow Chicago police with federal immigration enforcement, saying the one-page proposal would open the door to constitutional rights violations and legal challenges that could leave taxpayers on the hook for multimillion dollar settlements.

* WTTW | Overnight Closures Announced Ahead of Reversible Lanes on Kennedy Expressway Reopening Next Week: The reopening of the express lanes comes after more than 10 months of construction work on the Kennedy that began in March and that was initially supposed to wrap up in the fall. IDOT officials said additional time was needed to test the reversible lane access control system.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Tribune | Dream Team? The exec who bought Michael Jordan’s former Highland Park mansion is offering co-ownership shares for $1M: According to a new release, John Cooper, who is a general partner with Lincolnwood-based HAN Capital, is offering an unspecified number of co-ownership shares in the estate, which the retired Chicago Bulls player had tried to sell for more than 12 years. Jordan had once asked as much as $29 million for the mansion, which sits on 8.4 acres. Cooper, a Lincolnshire resident, declined to comment when reached on his cellphone Thursday evening. However, according his news release, co-owners would be responsible for 2% of the estate’s annual expenses, or an estimated $25,000 per owner, and would be allowed exclusive access to the property for the same designated week each year. Co-owners also would be permitted to invite up to 24 guests during their weeklong stay, including children.

* CBS Chicago | Beloved Blue Island, Illinois high school music teacher is a finalist for Grammy: Next month, Dr. Justin Antos will be rubbing elbows with Beyonce and Taylor Swift at the Grammy Awards—and it will not be for what he is doing in the recording studio, but for his accomplishments in the classroom. […] Antos’ excellence in teaching, and passion for music, have led him to be among the 10 finalists for the 2025 Music Educator Award—given by the Recording Academy and the Grammy Museum.

*** Downstate ***

* PJ Star | Peoria Public Schools says new cellphone policy is helping students focus in class: Peoria Public Schools District 150 said Thursday that its new cellphone pouch initiative was showing progress in the first half of the 2024-25 school year, with improvements in student engagement and a better work environment being displayed. The district said in a news release that a majority of students, teachers and principals at its 17 middle and high schools approved of the pouches, brought in at the beginning of the school year as part of an effort to reduce student distractions and create a “more focused and engaging learning environment.”

* WTTW | Eagle Watching Events Kick Off This Weekend as the Nation’s Bird Makes Itself at Home in Illinois for the Winter: On Saturday, the Forest Preserve District of Will County will celebrate the birds during its annual Eagle Watch event at Four Rivers Environmental Education Center in Channahon, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Four Rivers is ideally located at the convergence of the DuPage, Kankakee and Des Plaines rivers, where they join to form the Illinois River.

* Fox Chicago | Off-duty Belvidere police officer charged with sexual assault, abuse: On March 19, Belvidere police received a complaint that a woman was sexually assaulted by Kozlowski while he was off-duty. Belvidere police contacted Illinois State police to launch an investigation and placed Kozlowski on paid administrative leave. On Thursday, Kozlowski was indicted by a Boone County Grand Jury on one count of criminal sexual assault and two counts of criminal sexual abuse, all felonies.

*** National ***

* The New Republic | Biden Launches Hail Mary to Block Some of Trump’s Mass Deportations: The department noted that roughly 600,000 Venezuelans and more than 200,000 Salvadorans living in the U.S. would be permitted to stay for another 18 months, while the program maintaining their status faces an uncertain future under Trump. Homeland Security cited “environmental conditions” in El Salvador, such as heavy storms, “that prevent individuals from returning,” as well as a “severe humanitarian emergency” in Venezuela under the “Maduro regime.” Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was sworn in on Friday for a third six-year term, despite a six-month-long election dispute and international condemnation.

* Press Release | President Biden Signs Underwood-Backed Bill to Increase Social Security Benefits for 3 Million Americans: Under the Social Security Fairness Act, over 2.1 million retirees on Social Security will receive an average increase of $360 per month. Furthermore, over 700,000 surviving spouses will see an increase between $700 and $1,190 in their monthly benefits, on average. Underwood has been a cosponsor of the legislation since she first came to Congress in 2019 and fought for its passage into law.

* CNN | Supreme Court signals it will uphold ban on TikTok over national security concerns and other takeaways from oral arguments: During more than two hours of oral arguments, many of the justices appeared to view the sell-or-ban law approved by Congress in April not as one that primarily implicates the First Amendment but rather as an effort to regulate the potential foreign control of an app used by 170 million Americans.

* New York Post | Yankees fans who mauled Mookie Betts at World Series banned from all MLB stadiums indefinitely: The two fans who grabbed Mookie Betts’ wrist and tried to rip the ball out of his hand during Game 4 of the World Series at Yankee Stadium have been banned “indefinitely” from attending any MLB games, The Post has learned. The fans, Austin Capobianco and John P. Hansen, were ejected from the game and banned from Game 5 in The Bronx, which proved to be the final game of the season.