* Sun-Times…

Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch said Thursday he expects President-elect Donald Trump to put Chicago “in the middle of a dart board,” but there is no need for the state to protect itself any more than it already has. […]

Whether or not Trump uses federal funding to punish Chicago and Illinois, Welch has his work cut out for him.

The state is facing a $3.1 billion shortfall, and the challenge is to find a way to fill that gap by turning first toward spending cuts, rather than raising taxes.

“The last thing people want to hear around the kitchen table is the Speaker of the House talking about tax increases. That would be tone-deaf to what we heard in November,” Welch said. “The responsible thing to do is to first go through this budget and look for efficiency. We have some work to do — a lot of work to do — well before entertaining the idea of more taxes.”

* WTTW…

The number of people experiencing homelessness in the United States on a single night was the highest ever recorded in 2024. The overall rate increased by 18%, and in Chicago, the number of unhoused people tripled from 2023 to 2024.

But homelessness among Black people is seeing an even higher uptick in Illinois, more than double the national average.

Those figures are part of a report by the University of Illinois Chicago in collaboration with the Illinois Office to Prevent and End Homelessness. The report showed a number of structural issues contributing to this disparity — a lack of affordable housing and sufficient income chief among them. […]

Rent burden is a major driver of Black homelessness. If Illinois residents spend 30% of their check on rent, they are considered “rent burdened.”

According to the report, Black residents are more likely to experience rent burden than White residents. Statewide, 63% of Black renters were rent burdened in 2022 compared to 51% of White renters.

*** Statewide ***

* WJBD | Illinois Department of Revenue announces start of 2025 income tax season: Illinois will participate in the IRS Direct File program this year. Eligible taxpayers will be able to use the program to electronically complete their 2024 federal tax returns for free. Eligibility can be confirmed by visiting, directfile.irs.gov. After filing a federal return using Direct File, the program will connect taxpayers to Illinois Free State income filing system, MyTax Illinois, allowing them to file and complete their Illinois state returns.

* USA Today | Unemployment claims in Illinois declined last week: New jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs, fell to 13,341 in the week ending January 3, down from 16,722 the week before, the Labor Department said. U.S. unemployment claims dropped to 201,000 last week, down 10,000 claims from 211,000 the week prior on a seasonally adjusted basis.

*** Chicago ***

* Unraveled | STRIPPED: The Chicago cops who lost their badges in 2024: At least 80 Chicago police officers were relieved of their police powers for some period of time between January 1 and November 17, 2024. Most officers were benched as a result of drug or alcohol abuse, domestic violence, making false statements, or other criminal charges. […] Most of the officers are currently collecting a paycheck in the Alternate Response Section (ARS), a unit primarily staffed by officers with disciplinary and medical issues who answer non-emergency phone calls. Officers slated to be fired may spend years in ARS as they await final court decisions in the FOP’s fight to allow officers to have their cases heard in secret arbitration proceedings.

* Tribune | Chicago Housing Authority ordered to pay $24 million in lead poisoning lawsuit brought by two residents: The case, filed in January 2022, focused on Shanna Jordan, the mother of Jah’mir Collins, now 10, and Morgan Collins, the mother of Amiah Collins, now 6, who sued CHA, the Habitat Company, East Lake Management Group and Environmental Design International, alleging that the defendants knew their unit had lead-based paint and that their children suffered “severe lead poisoning” while living in the unit. The unit was owned by CHA and is located at 7715 North Marshfield in Rogers Park.

* Tribune | Downtown bike- and bus-lane ticketing program generates more than 3,500 warnings and violations in its first weeks: Even so, the city issued at least 3,564 warnings in the first weeks of the program. Of the tickets issued, eight were for bus lane infractions and five were for bike lane violations, the data show. […] Schroeder said the city Transportation and Finance departments have for years been collecting information about vehicles blocking bike and bus lanes via the city’s 311 service, and enforcement vehicles are using that data to focus on locations where parking violations have been persistent issues.

* Crain’s | On day after city credit downgrade, Johnson seeks to float up to $830M in debt: Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson wants to sell as much as $830 million in general obligation bonds, filing an ordinance to approve the borrowing one day after S&P Global Ratings cut the city’s credit rating. The proceeds of the proposed sale would help finance “improvements to public rights-of-way, infrastructure and transportation, loans and grants, acquisition of property, construction and maintenance of public buildings, economic programs, lead service line replacements, and funding of judgments, settlements and escrow accounts payable by the city,” according to city documents.

* Sun-Times | Mayor Johnson’s campaign fund returns $1,000 to O’Hare concessions executive: The mayor has faced repeated questions since he was elected in April 2023 about his acceptance of campaign money from contractors that work for City Hall, as well as unions that rely on his administration’s decision making and contractors for the so-called “sister agencies” such as Chicago Public Schools that he also oversees. He’s previously returned some of the other money from City Hall contractors, but not all.

* Chicago Reader | Former chief of policy Umi Grigsby talks candidly about what’s been accomplished and what’s still ahead: In early January, S. Mayumi “Umi” Grigsby stepped down as chief of policy for the City of Chicago. In this exclusive interview with the Reader, Grigsby reflects on her time in the mayor’s office and shares her thoughts on the challenges the city faces with the incoming Trump administration. Born in Liberia, Grigsby and her family fled the country’s first civil war and eventually resettled in Houston, Texas. She graduated from Georgetown University and explored a number of career paths, including acting and diplomacy, before graduating from Northeastern law school in 2015.

* Crain’s | Proposed zoning changes could bring more density to Far North Side corridor: The Chicago Department of Planning & Development, in conjunction with neighborhood alderpeople and community groups, is putting together a collection of zoning changes and guidelines for a 2.6-mile stretch of Broadway that aims to create more consistency in the area’s zoning, making it easier to develop there, as well as support the local business environment and improve housing affordability, according to DPD.

* NBC Chicago | 30-degree temperature drop in 2 days: What to expect and when in Chicago area: Temperatures continue their free fall on Sunday, dropping into the low teens and possibly even single digits for some. Overnight Sunday and into Monday, temperatures could drop to minus-5 degrees, with wind chills dropping 15-to-25 degrees below zero across the area, according to forecast models.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Herald | Massive cryogenic device will help Fermilab explore mysteries of the universe: As the massive 95-metric ton coldbox completed its cross-ocean journey, the crowd at Fermilab braving frigid winter temperatures on Wednesday could imagine what the particle accelerator being chilled to minus 456 F by the device must feel like. The coldbox is part of Fermilab’s Proton Improvement Plan II (PIP-II) project, a new 215-meter linear accelerator. When completed in 2029, it will fire a high-energy beam 800 miles to a repurposed mineshaft one mile beneath Lead, South Dakota. The accelerator will be the most powerful continuous-wave proton accelerator in the world. The beam will contain neutrinos — the most mysterious fundamental particles known in the universe.

* Daily Herald | Noted civil rights attorney to headline ‘I Have A Dream’ Unity Breakfast in DuPage County: Collaboration has been the underlying quality of his career, renowned civil rights attorney Fred Gray says. […] Gray is widely known for representing Rosa Parks after she famously refused to give up her seat on a Greyhound bus, as well as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and the victims of the Tuskegee syphilis study. He played a vital role in Alabama’s pursuit of school integration and was honored by President Joe Biden with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2022, the nation’s highest civilian award.

* Daily Herald | Plan to open first marijuana dispensary in Batavia nears approval: The city council will vote on a request for a conditional use permit Tuesday for Dutchess Cannabis to open in the building at 144 S. Randall Road. Boston-based Rubino Ventures, LLC is the applicant. The council’s committee of the whole voted 11-1 in favor of it Tuesday night, with one alderman abstaining and one absent. Alderman Nick Cerone cast the lone “no” vote.

*** Downstate ***

* Sun-Times | Amber Alert issued for missing 4-year-old girl in Rock Island: Authorities in Rock Island are urgently searching for a missing 4-year-old girl, Blessing, after the vehicle she was in was stolen early Thursday morning. As of 1 p.m. Blessing had still not been located, Rock Island Police Chief Tim McCloud told the Sun-Times. “We’re calling in every able body at this point — we’re working with the FBI, the state police and every local agency, McCloud said. “We’re doing everything that can be done.”

* Mahomet Daily | Champaign County League of Women Voters Launches “Protect the Mahomet Aquifer” Series: Recent legislative efforts, including the passage of Senate Bill 1289, known as the Safety and Aid for the Environment in Carbon Capture and Sequestration Act, have sparked a debate. The bill regulates the injection of CO2 into underground storage but has been criticized for its inadequacies, particularly after leaks from an existing project by Archer Daniels Midland in Decatur highlighted the potential risks to water safety. Speakers at the event include Andrew Rehn, Climate Policy Director at Prairie Rivers Network, and Pam Richart, Co-Director of the Eco-Justice Collaborative. Both experts will discuss the implications of carbon sequestration on the aquifer and the necessity of proactive measures to safeguard this irreplaceable resource.

*** National ***

* Tribune | ‘Mr. Baseball’ Bob Uecker, the voice of the Milwaukee Brewers, dies at 90: The team announced Uecker died Thursday morning, calling it “one of the most difficult days in Milwaukee Brewers history.” In a statement released by the club, Uecker’s family said he had battled small cell lung cancer since early 2023. “Even in the face of this challenge, his enthusiasm for life was always present, never allowing his spirit to falter,” the family said.