* WGN’s Tahman Bradley…

Welch says lingering bad feeling about lack of minority ownership in the legal cannabis contributed to lack of support.

“There’s a perception that the social equity program was not done correctly in the cannabis space,” said Welch.

— Tahman Bradley (@tahmanbradley) January 13, 2025

* From Heather Wier Vaught’s excellent newsletter…

Illinois Supreme Court Annual Report:

Each year the Illinois Supreme Court submits a comprehensive report summarizing the operations of the judicial branch, including an overview of the state and local resources required for the operation of the Illinois court system, and statistics and trends within the judicial branch. Last week the Court released its 2023 report, offering a glimpse of the work of the judicial branch and the state and local costs to operate the judicial branch. The report is here and the statistical summary is here. A few highlights:

- Illinois has “legal deserts” and a real need for lawyers outside of Cook County, which has more lawyers than the entire nation of Japan. In 35 counties there are fewer than 10 practitioners and 13 counties have less than 5 practitioners. Some counties only have a resident circuit court judge, a State’s Attorney, and one part-time public defender. Litigants are left representing themselves in a variety of legal disputes ranging from contract and tort cases to dissolution and family law cases.

- There were more than 3 million cases on the circuit court dockets. The number of newly filed cases in the circuit courts continues to drop. All but one category has experienced declines, with the most dramatic declines in cases involving chancery, traffic, and DUI. The only category of law seeing an increase is juvenile. From 2019 to 2023, the number of new filed juvenile cases increased by 30.5%. Nearly 1/3 of new cases were filed in Cook County.

- The Appellate Courts saw an increase in the number of filings in all districts. With more than 6,500 cases, the Appellate Court has the highest caseload it’s had in decades, with an increase in criminal cases and decrease in civil cases.

- The Supreme Court disposed of 1,788 cases in 2023. A total of 449 miscellaneous cases were filed, including 69 disciplinary cases and 296 name-changes. The Supreme Court issued a total of 69 opinions.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Tribune | Debate over the future of CTA, Metra, Pace, RTA to heat up in Springfield this year: Discussions about the way transit is overseen and how to fund it are likely to gain steam during the new legislative session but the path forward is shaping up to be contentious. A proposal in Springfield to combine the CTA, Metra, Pace and the Regional Transportation Authority has been met with pushback, and a coalition of labor groups is working on an alternate option. The push to boost funding for transit could be complicated by a projected multibillion-dollar deficit in Illinois’ next budget and competing requests from Chicago, such as a potential ask for more Chicago Public Schools funding and a package for a new Bears stadium.

* The Triibe | Will Illinois restore voting rights to incarcerated people?: Chicago Votes is the lead organization behind the proposed Reintegration and Civic Empowerment (RACE) Act, or Senate Bill 3482. If passed by the Illinois House and Senate, then signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker, RACE would give the right to vote to people who are incarcerated in Illinois prisons and require civic education courses be available to them while they’re incarcerated. “The reason why it’s the norm for people in prison not to have the right to vote stems directly from slavery, Black laws and Jim Crow. It doesn’t take much intellect to see the inequities and to draw that correlation,” Chicago Votes co-executive director Stevie Valles said. The nonprofit organization aims to build an inclusive democracy by putting power in the hands of young people.

* Bloomberg | Illinois House Adds Pension Panel With Budget Shortfalls Growing: Illinois House Speaker Chris Welch wants to vet the state’s underfunded pensions through a budgetary lens as the legislature looks to close a potentially $3 billion deficit for the year ahead. The chamber passed rules Thursday that included creating a new standing appropriations committee for pensions and personnel. Welch, a Democrat who has led the state House of Representatives for four years, said the new panel will hone in on appropriations and will be separate from an existing committee that focuses on pension policy.

*** Statewide ***

* Crain’s | Contractors brace for the demise of diversity initiatives: Contractors already are seeing changes. The Illinois Department of Transportation recently republished a solicitation for roadwork without a diversity goal as a result of a directive from the U.S. Department of Transportation stemming from litigation in Kentucky. In that case, two white contractors challenged the Transportation Department’s Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program, leading to an injunction covering any state in which the white contractors might bid for federally funded work. The December IDOT bid solicitation was the first in recent memory without a diversity goal.

* WGN | Illinois will give you a $4K rebate to purchase an electric vehicle in 2025: The Illinois General Assembly appropriated $14 million for the rebate program, which opens January 21st, 2025, and will remain open until April 30th, or until the funding runs out. The money was made available by the Illinois Climate and Equitable Jobs Act. Illinois residents who purchase a new or used electric vehicle from an Illinois licensed dealer can apply for $4,000 for cars, trucks, and SUVs, or $1,500 for an electric motorcycle.

*** Chicago ***

* Crain’s | Supreme Court won’t stop DOJ from probing National Association of Realtors: The U.S. Supreme Court turned down an appeal from the National Association of Realtors, leaving the embattled Chicago-based trade group open to a Department of Justice investigation of its commission practices. The court’s announcement affects homebuyers and sellers, because it will likely prolong uncertainty over what new standards will be developed to replace the NAR’s decades-long commission practices that led to allegations of price-fixing.

* Crain’s | Salt Shed brings hemp drinks to its bars: The Salt Shed, a music venue next to Goose Island, joins bars and restaurants in offering hemp-derived THC drinks alongside traditional alcoholic beverages. Bars at the venue will start selling Señorita, a THC margarita beverage, tomorrow. “We’ve seen (nonalcoholic) drinks as a whole carve out market share, and hemp-derived THC drinks are popping up and gaining notoriety,” says Natalie Labriola, director of business development and sponsorships at 16 On Center, which operates the Salt Shed. “As a whole, the venue wants to have as many NA options as we can.”

* Sun-Times | ASPIRA charter to shut Haugan Middle School over enrollment drop, nearly ‘million-dollar deficit,’ CEO says: The ASPIRA network, which operates three publicly funded but privately managed charters under Chicago Public Schools, approved closure of its ASPIRA Haugan Middle School campus by a unanimous 6-0 board vote Wednesday. Located in Albany Park on the Northwest Side, the school enrolls 89 students in grades 6 to 8 this year and is set to close at the end of June.

* Tribune | Four Chicago magnet schools awarded $15 million grant to implement personalized learning : Avalon Park is among four Chicago magnet schools that have received a $15 million grant over five years to implement this model, allowing students to create their own learning paths, explicitly tailored for them. The instructional model allows students to work with teachers to co-design their learning path, pace and environment based on their strengths, needs and interests.

* Block Club | Bitter Cold Blankets Chicago, But (Brief) Reprieve To Come Friday: There will be bitter cold in the city to start the week before temperatures warm back up to the 40 degrees by Friday. High temperatures Monday and Tuesday won’t go higher than the teens, with overnight lows dropping into the single digits, said Mark Ratzer, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

* Tribune | Zach LaVine is having the best season of his career. So why is the Chicago Bulls star overlooked?: The Chicago Bulls guard is cruising through a six-game streak with 30 or more points. He’s shooting better than ever in a completely reimagined offense. But around the league — and, even more important, in the trade market — the response to the best season of the two-time All-Star’s career feels tepid at best. That leads his teammates to ask the same question every week: Are any of you even watching this guy? “I don’t understand it,” Lonzo Ball said. “(He’s) definitely a top-three shooting guard in the NBA right now. I don’t understand why people talk down on him. He’s a true professional.”

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Crain’s | Fermilab’s first female director steps down: Lia Merminga, director of the Fermi National Laboratory in Batavia, has stepped down from the job. Merminga was the first woman to lead Fermilab, a physics research facility that’s home to an advanced particle accelerator, when she was appointed in 2022. University of Chicago physics professor and former Fermilab Deputy Director Young-Kee Kim was named interim director, and the lab is launching a search for a permanent replacement for Merminga.

* WGN | Tiffany Henyard asks judge to force trustees to show-up to meetings: Trustees Chis Gonzalez and Carmen Carlisle have previously said they were refusing to attend board meetings due to security concerns and fear that Henyard would use meeting to fill a vacancy on the board and shift control back into her hands. As a result of the stand-off, Henyard says the township was unable to renew insurance policies forcing her to lock the township building in South Holland and suspend bus service.

* Daily Herald | Bell Works ‘Metroburb’ leads renaissance of repurposing abandoned corporate HQ sites: Hoffman Estates village officials and the developer say 2025 could be the tipping point for realizing an ambitious vision — turning the former AT&T headquarters into the self-contained “Metroburb” of Bell Works Chicagoland. Inspired by Somerset Development CEO Ralph Zucker now admits there was a major decision to be made whether to stop or push ahead at the height of the pandemic nearly five years ago.

*** Downstate ***

* SJ-R | Grayson appears in court while Illinois Supreme Court mulls state petition: The former Sangamon County Sheriff’s deputy charged with first-degree murder in the July 6 fatal shooting of Sonya Massey in an unincorporated neighborhood of Springfield has a new court date while the Illinois Supreme Court decides whether to take up a State’s petition over his pre-trial detention. Sean P. Grayson of Riverton again appeared before Presiding Circuit Court Judge Ryan Cadagin by Zoom Monday morning as Massey’s family members and supporters, including her mother, Donna Massey, packed the small courtroom in the Sangamon County Complex.

* WCIA | Urbana mayoral candidates face off: Williams and Adams went back and forth talking about funding plans, city services, youth engagement and more. “What I’m most interested in is creating a safe, connected and affordable Urbana, and I want to make sure everybody feels like they are welcomed and that everybody can come to Urbana,” Adams said. They both said Urbana should be inclusive and inviting to all.

* WTVO | Wrongfully convicted man awaits approval for $9.5M settlement from City of Rockford: Jon Horton, a man wrongfully convicted of murder in 1993, awaits approval from city council members to confirm that he will receive a $9.5 million settlement on January 13th. The 48-year-old spent more than two decades in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Horton has been out since February 2017.

*** National ***

* NYT | Dementia Cases in the U.S. Will Surge in the Coming Decades, Researchers Say: The number of people in the United States who develop dementia each year will double over the next 35 years to about one million annually by 2060, a new study estimates, and the number of new cases per year among Black Americans will triple. The increase will primarily be due to the growing aging population, as many Americans are living longer than previous generations. By 2060, some of the youngest baby boomers will be in their 90s and many millennials will be in their 70s. Older age is the biggest risk factor for dementia. The study found that the vast majority of dementia risk occurred after age 75, increasing further as people reached age 95.