* ICYMI: RTA Wants Lawmakers to Boost Its Authority to Oversee, Coordinate Chicago-Area Transit. WTTW…

- The proposal comes as the Chicago region’s transit agencies are facing down an estimated $750 million fiscal cliff next year when COVID-19 relief money runs out.
- The new proposal is set to be outlined by RTA Board Chairman Kirk Dillard in a Wednesday speech at the City Club.
- “[W]e know there needs to be this governance reform. We think those two — the governance reform that we’re proposing that’s outcome-driven, focused on riders, coupled with the monies — really could allow a transformative vision for transit,” RTA Executive Director Leanne Redden Said.

* Related stories…

∙ Daily Herald: Making its move: RTA proposes universal fares, more trains, cost cuts to counter merger plan
∙ Tribune: RTA proposes more bus and train service, fare hikes and stronger central agency as lawmakers prepare to debate future of transit

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* WBEZ | Young adults with developmental disabilities face a ‘cliff’ after they graduate high school: When families leave school, they are stopped in their tracks by a patchwork system involving multiple government agencies, service providers and nonprofits — as well as mounds of paperwork, phone calls and convoluted state websites filled with jargon and missing links. “It’s just a lot,” said Lynn Dancy, recalling the years after Adrien graduated from high school. “It’s hard to get answers — just trying to go to this person, this person, this person, and then go right back where I started from in the first place.”

*** Statehouse News ***

* Daily Herald | What’s in Giannoulias’ plan to end road test for drivers 86 and younger? Let families report at-risk drivers: “The right to drive should be based on ability, not age,” AARP Illinois State Director Philippe Largent said. Current law requires drivers aged 79 and 80 to take a road exam when their four-year license renewal is up. For drivers aged 81 to 86, it’s every two years, and for those 87 and older, it’s yearly.

* Mark Harris | Oh, say, what will we see on the new Illinois state flag?: That’s where you come in. The commission did get around to picking 10 proposed flag designs and putting up a website — apps.ilsos.gov/stateflag/ — where you can vote for your favorite. There’s even a choice to retain the existing flag. Personally, I think the option of “Nah, let’s skip it,” should be added to more Illinois ballots in the future.

*** Statewide ***

* Center Square | Illinois Supreme Court asked to toss law prohibiting open carry of firearms: The Illinois Supreme Court is considering whether to find a state firearms statute prohibiting open carry unconstitutional in the case Illinois v. Tyshon Thompson. Thompson was found guilty of violating state law for having a firearm in a vehicle without a permit in 2020. Despite having a Firearm Owners ID card, he was sentenced to 30 months in prison. Tuesday, Eric Castaneda with the Office of the State Public Defender urged the Illinois Supreme Court to find Illinois’ aggravated unlawful use of a weapons statute unconstitutional.

*** Chicago ***

* WTTW | Ratings Agency Downgrades Chicago’s Credit, Pointing to ‘Structural Budgetary Imbalance’: S&P, one of a handful of major ratings agencies, downgraded Chicago’s credit one notch to BBB with a stable outlook on Thursday. A credit rating of BBB indicates a government agency has “adequate capacity to meet financial commitments,” but is susceptible to “adverse economic conditions.” It is two notches above a junk rating. “The downgrade reflects our view that the 2025 budget leaves intact a sizable structural budgetary imbalance that we expect will make balancing the budget in 2026 and outyears more challenging,” S&P Global Ratings credit analyst Scott Nees said in a statement.

* WTTW | Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez on His Firing, Ongoing CTU Negotiations: On his working relationship with Johnson: “We haven’t spoken since last summer when this whole ordeal started. By the way, self-inflicted. When you look at all the work we’ve done, nobody is invested more in our neighborhood schools than myself and my time.”

* Sun-Times | Council faces two more close votes — on 25 mph speed limit and empowering CPD to cooperate with ICE: Stalled proposals to reduce the default speed limit on Chicago streets to 25 mph and restore exceptions to the city’s Welcoming City ordinance face potentially close votes after parliamentary maneuvers to revive both. The speed limit vote could be the more comfortable of the two.

* Sun-Times | U.S. Supreme Court hears appeal by former Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson: Thompson, heir to the Daley political dynasty, asked the justices to take a narrow reading of the term “false statement” in the law used to convict him over unpaid loans. A jury found Thompson guilty in February 2022 of two counts of lying to regulators but also five counts of filing false income tax returns. U.S. District Judge Franklin Valderrama sentenced him to four months in prison, a sentence he has already served.

* Sun-Times | Imagining the ‘next big thing’ in arts and culture in downtown Chicago: Calling themselves “Team Culture,” the group wants to re-imagine major parts of downtown — filling vacant, often shadowy spaces with light and art. “There have been two things in recent history that changed downtown. One was the Theatre District and the other was Millennium Park. It’s time for culture to do it all over again,” said Lou Raizin, president and CEO of Broadway in Chicago, speaking to a Tuesday lunchtime gathering at the City Club of Chicago at Maggiano’s Banquets downtown.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Tribune | Election finance reports a mixed picture in south suburbs; Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard paying own way in bid for 2nd term: Campaign finance reports filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections show incumbent mayors in Orland Park and Tinley Park with large sums available to spend as election season heats up. Reports show Henyard hasn’t received a campaign contribution since the spring of 2023, and recorded no money coming in for all of last year from outside sources apart from loans she has made to her committee.

* ABC Chicago | High-stakes Thornton Twp. meeting abruptly ends in chaos, blindsiding Henyard: ‘Call the police!’: “The board meeting is over with, so please get out. Do not walk up on me!” said Supervisor Tiffany Henyard. “Call the police! Call the police because we don’t have a board meeting!” For the first time in months, the board of trustees had a quorum, with Trustees Chris Gonzalez and Carmen Carlisle in attendance. The two had been skipping meetings in order to block Henyard from filling a vacant trustee position.

* Daily Herald | Schaumburg has big plans for parcel at Algonquin, Meachem road: “The village is in the process of relocating the facility to 2222 Hammond Drive (in Schaumburg), where a new facility will be constructed,” Dailly said during his annual state of the village address to the Schaumburg Business Association. “Eventually the Meacham Road property will be annexed into Schaumburg, which will allow for future commercial development that will enhance this key gateway near Algonquin and Meacham roads,” he added.

*** Downstate ***

* WCIA | Processing, Slaughtering company investing $2.5M in Effingham Co. expansion project: On Tuesday, Governor JB Pritzker, Frichtl Processing and Slaughtering, LLC and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) announced an Economic Development for a Growing Economy (EDGE) for Startups agreement for the $2.5 million investment.

* WCIA | City of Decatur receiving nearly $10M to expand transit: Decatur is receiving a large gift in the new year in the form of $9.9 million. The money is coming from the U.S. Department of Transportation, and now the city will use it to add a micro-transit system on Jasper St. This system will operate similar to Uber, but instead of using a private service, users can go on an app connected to the city and order rides there.

* WCIA | Champaign City Council considering Downtown entertainment enhancements for 2025: One of the biggest changes has to do with the plaza near Main and Neil Streets in front of Big Grove Tavern. It’s been under construction for the last several months, and the city has potential plans to put it to use once the work is completed. At Tuesday night’s council meeting, leaders will walk through the highs and lows of last year’s entertainment in the downtown area. That includes discussing and reflecting on Friday Night Live, The Beat, and even the Farmers Market on Tuesdays.

*** National ***

* WSJ | Nearly Half of Adults Worldwide Hold Antisemitic Views, Survey Finds: The study surveyed more than 58,000 adults from 103 countries and territories representing 94% of the world’s adult population, and found that 46% of them—which when extrapolated to the global population would equal an estimated 2.2 billion people—display antisemitic attitudes. A fifth of the respondents haven’t heard of the Holocaust, during which six million Jews were killed, while 21% believe it has either been exaggerated by historians or it never happened.

* NYT | Capital One is accused of cheating customers out of $2 billion: For years, Capital One held interests artificially low in the high-yield product, to 0.30% annually last summer, for instance, even as the Federal Reserve raised rates above 5%. Banks are generally permitted to pay as little in interest as their customers will permit, but Capital One went too far, according to the lawsuit, by deliberately confusing its customers about its products. The bank operated two separate, nearly identically named account options — 360 Savings and 360 Performance Savings — and forbade its employees from volunteering information about or marketing 360 Performance Savings, the higher-paying one, to existing customers.