* “Tiffany Henyard’s name will stay off Thornton Township ballot, Cook County court affirms”…

Thornton Township Supervisor Tiffany Henyard’s lawsuit claiming a caucus improperly named state Sen. Napoleon Harris the Democratic nominee for supervisor was thrown out by a Cook County judge.

The decision, filed Tuesday and entered Thursday morning, affirms the caucus results, meaning the only option to elect Henyard as supervisor will be for voters to write in her name on Thornton Township’s April 1 ballot. […]

Judge Caroline Moreland wrote the lawsuit was improperly filed originally and since transferring to the correct court decision, passed the filing deadline. The upcoming election comes too soon for the court to hear arguments about the caucus process, according to the judge’s opinion.

“Since the deadline for filing objections has passed, it is clearly apparent that there is no set of facts that would entitle (Henyard) to recover in this case,” the judge wrote in her ruling.

* Governor JB Pritzker…

Today Governor JB Pritzker joined the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO), state and local leaders at the Will Group to announce $10 million in funding for the Office of Economic Equity and Empowerment (OE3) Small Business Capital and Infrastructure Grant Program to help small businesses achieve sustainable growth, improve efficiency, and create and retain jobs through capital improvements. This grant program is designed around equity to uplift businesses owned by historically underrepresented groups and very small businesses with fewer than 10 employees.

“Creating economic opportunity for diverse and small businesses demonstrates our commitment to investing in all of our people and growing the economy,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “In communities across Illinois, small businesses are sustaining quality jobs, anchoring downtowns and commercial districts, providing vital goods and services, playing an integral role in supply chains, and anchoring the overall strength and diversity of our economy.” […] Capital resources can be used for eligible projects including planning, land and building acquisition, buildings, additions, or structures, site improvements, rolling stock, and durable equipment. The Governor announced this grant opportunity at The Will Group, who received DCEO grant funds from an earlier iteration of this program to expand their manufacturing presence on Chicago’s West Side.

Governor Pritzker’s administration has made investing in small businesses a priority, particularly in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Back to Business (B2B) and Business Interruption (BIG) grant programs through DCEO provided more than $705 million in grant funding to small businesses in hard-hit industries. Governor Pritzker also revitalized Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs), defunded under previous administrations, to expand access to community navigators and other resources designed to help aspiring small business owners.

*** Madigan Trial ***

* Tribune | Feds in Madigan trial continue to lay out ‘corrupt exchange’ between ex-speaker and ComEd: In continuing to lay out the government’s evidence in her closing argument to jurors, Assistant U.S. Attorney Julia Schwartz played a wiretapped recording where then-ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore told Madigan’s longtime confidant and co-defendant, Michael McClain just how valuable the speaker’s influence had been.

* Capitol News Illinois | In closing arguments, prosecutor alleges Madigan was driven by ‘power and profit’: “Power and profit: that’s what drove Madigan, with the help of McClain, to break the law time and again,” she said. Along with the overarching racketeering conspiracy charge, Madigan faces 22 other counts of bribery, extortion and other corruption charges. McClain is also charged in several of those counts, though he has already been convicted for his role in bribing Madigan along with three other former lobbyists and executives from electric utility Commonwealth Edison.

*** Statewide ***

* Capitol News Illinois | Illinois schools prepare for immigration enforcement: The “non-regulatory guidance” on immigration enforcement actions was issued Wednesday, Jan. 22, two days after President Donald Trump was inaugurated for his second term in the White House. […] “All children in the United States are entitled to equal access to a basic public elementary and secondary education, regardless of their actual or perceived immigration status, or the status of their parents/guardians,” State Superintendent of Education Tony Sanders said in his weekly message posted on the ISBE website.

* WJBD | Illinois State Police Crack Down on Firearms Licensed Dealers: Since the Illinois State Police (ISP) began conducting inspections of Federal Firearms License (FFL) dealers, the number of guns stolen from dealers has decreased. In 2024, the number of firearms stolen from FFL dealers in Illinois dropped almost 80% compared to 2023, and 92% compared to 2022.

* NPR | Illinois’ expands police body camera law: Since 2022, larger police departments have been required to wear body cameras. Now, the law also applies to smaller jurisdictions. While they can be costly, advocates say it’s important to see video evidence of what happens in the field.

* WGN | DEI policies rollback threatens future of minority, women contractors in Illinois: With the dismantling of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives, or DEI policies, minority and women contractors in Illinois are bracing for major changes they say will impact their small businesses and futures. For the last decade, Jeannette Chavarria-Torres has worked to not only build her business, but make connections and shatter glass ceilings. She said the Trump administration’s rollout of reeling in DEI policies is adding more hurdles for her in a male-dominated business.

*** Chicago ***

* WBEZ | Feds sent subpoenas to Chicago charter school Urban Prep about its former CEO: Federal authorities are conducting a long-running criminal investigation at an embattled charter school operator on Chicago’s South Side, according to grand jury records obtained by WBEZ and sources with knowledge of the probe. Investigators in the U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago launched their probe at Urban Prep Academies in 2022 and have sought a wide range of records from the charter network — including many documents pertaining to Urban Prep’s founder and former CEO, Tim King.

* WTTW | Johnson’s Anti-Violence Effort ‘Just Getting Started,’ 1 Year After It Began, Officials Say: Mayor Brandon Johnson’s push to focus his administration’s anti-violence efforts on 10 of Chicago’s “most vulnerable” areas on the city’s West and South sides is “just getting started,” according to an evaluation of the plan released Wednesday by city officials. […] While homicides dropped 7.6% citywide between 2023 and 2024, homicides dropped 30% in the Englewood (7th) Police District and 35% in the Harrison (11th) Police District, which included areas targeted by the mayor’s public safety plan, according to city data.

* Chicago Reader | Don your beaver suit: Hundreds of Beavers is back: I did not expect the screening would sell out, nor that I’d find people in line dressed up as beavers. The Music Box has played Hundreds of Beavers just a handful of times; the film will screen for the seventh time at the theater on Friday, January 31. Beavers cost $150,000 to make and had a small budget for promotion; director Mike Cheslik sent the movie on a small touring circuit that involved adults in animal costumes wrestling at screenings. In the past 12 months or so, Beavers has grown a sizable cult—one that caught the attention of the New York Times last March.

* Axios | Chicago Fire FC sign 15-year-old from Niles: urdean hails from Niles and attends the Chicago Fire Academy, which is an accredited middle and high school specifically designed for soccer student-athletes. His decision to choose the Fire over major European clubs speaks volumes about the environment we’re building and our commitment to developing local talent,” Fire FC coach Gregg Berhalter said in a statement.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* ABC Chicago | Demolition of former Tinley Park Mental Health Center begins: Last February, the park district purchased the 280-acre property for $1 from the State. […] A spokesperson added that the park district secured $15 million in state funds to pay for the site to be cleaned up for redevelopment.

*** Downstate ***

* Capitol News Illinois | Former southeastern Illinois police chief faces federal charges: Under Illinois law, prosecutors can initiate a process called criminal forfeiture to seize property, assets and proceeds. Forfeiture is a civil action, separate from the criminal case. To gain control of the property, prosecutors must show a judge that it was either used in the commission of the crime or purchased with the proceeds of the crime. That’s not how Brown, who said he hasn’t had a driver’s license since 1977 and admitted he has more than 20 driving under the influence convictions, lost Elvira. In his case, he agreed to give the bike to Wayne City Police Department as part of a plea agreement in an aggravated DUI case. A repeat offender, Brown was facing prison time.

* SJ-R | ‘An easy way to handle this’: Six massage parlors have still not responded to city demands: “In conjunction with the massage parlor ordinance being passed (last summer), City staff identified massage parlors operating within the corporate limits,” city attorney Gregory Moredock said via email. “An initial letter was sent with a copy of the ordinance putting establishments on notice of the new regulations.” […] From September to Dec. 21, 48 locations were determined to be unlicensed parlors. After three rounds of letters from the city, three locations closed voluntarily.

* Crain’s | Stellantis to build trucks in Belvidere, but what else?: Stellantis said yesterday it will employ about 1,500 people building new trucks, with an expected investment of $1.2 billion. It didn’t say whether those trucks will be electric, hybrid or conventional vehicles. As for the rest, the company said: “We are currently assessing plans for both the Belvidere battery plant and the Mega Hub and have nothing further to share at this time.”

* River Bender | Ameren Illinois Upgrading 6 Miles of Natural Gas Infrastructure In Madison County: Ameren Illinois customers driving in and around Illinois Route 203 from World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison to Granite City near U.S. Steel facilities in Madison County will see energy at work now and throughout July as the company upgrades a major natural gas transmission pipeline to comply with enhanced federal transmission pipeline regulations established in 2019. Illinois is replacing 1960s era pipeline along a six-mile stretch with new steel pipeline, while adding three new regulator stations and two new control valve stations as part of the Ameren Illinois’ multi-year plan for all of its gas transmission pipelines to comply with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s 2035 deadline for overall completion.

*** National ***

* WTTW | New PBS Documentary Tells Story and Impact of Successive Waves of Black Migration: Between 1910 and 1970, approximately 6 million Black people left the American South for what they hoped would be a better future in the North in what’s known as the Great Migration. A new four-part documentary series hosted and executive produced by Henry Louis Gates Jr. tells not only that story, but also modern-day stories of Black migration — both back to the American South, and from Africa and the Caribbean.