* ICYMI: Congressional panel calls Johnson, other sanctuary city mayors to testify about ‘obstructionist policies’. Sun-Times…

- Mayor Brandon Johnson and the mayors of three other sanctuary cities have been called to testify before Congress as part of an investigation into how local policies are affecting enforcement of President Donald Trump’s promise of “mass deportations.”
- Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston and New York City Mayor Eric Adams were also summoned to testify at a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing Feb. 11.
- The mayors were also asked to hand over all documents and communications related to their cities’ sanctuary status, including those between each city, non-governmental organizations and state officials.

* Related stories…

∙ ABC Chicago: ICE raids continue as Mayor Johnson called to testify on Chicago’s sanctuary city policy
∙ NBC Chicago: Brandon Johnson asked to testify at Congressional hearing on ‘sanctuary cities’
∙ Block Club: GOP Wants Chicago Mayor To Testify At Congressional Hearing On Sanctuary Cities

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Reuters | US reports first outbreak of H5N9 bird flu in poultry: The United States has reported its first outbreak of H5N9 bird flu in poultry on a duck farm in California, the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) said on Monday. U.S. authorities also detected the more common H5N1 strain on the same farm in Merced County, California, they said in a report to Paris-based WOAH, adding that the almost 119,000 birds on the farm had been killed by Dec. 2.

* Forbes | Illinois Cannabis Consumer Files Class Action Against Companies For Allegedly Exceeding THC Limits Deceptively: The complaints allege that the companies unlawfully manufactured, marketed, and sold cannabis-infused products (CIPs) with THC levels exceeding the legal limits set by Illinois law. The defendants are allegedly mislabeling their vape oils as cannabis concentrates, which are not subject to the same stringent THC limits as CIPs.

* WaPo | White House Budget Office Orders Pause in All Federal Loans and Grants: The White House budget office has ordered a pause in grants, loans and other federal financial assistance, according to a memo sent to government agencies on Monday, potentially paralyzing a vast swath of programs and sowing confusion and alarm among the array of groups that depend on them. The directive threatened to upend funds that course throughout the American economy: Hundreds of billions of dollars in grants to state, local and tribal governments. Disaster relief aid. Education and transportation funding. Loans to small businesses.

*** Statehouse News ***

* FOX | Homan demands apology from Illinois governor over ‘lie’ that ICE targeted Chicago school: ‘Sowing fear’: “Pedro Martinez lied,” Homan said on “America Reports,” Monday. Martinez, the CEO of Chicago Public Schools, said on MSNBC Friday that ICE agents visited an elementary school on the Southwest Side earlier that morning. […] “Governor Pritzker, rather than calling ICE and asking, ‘Did this happen or did it not happen?’ he goes on social media and terrifies elementary schoolers. … He accuses me of terrifying the community. No, he terrified the community. He terrified the children,” Homan said.

* Labor Tribune | Illinois completes minimum wage increase, among other pro-worker law changes this year: Another bump in Illinois’ minimum wage took effect on Jan. 1, as part of a number of changes in state’s Labor laws this year. Illinois’ minimum wage increased to $15 an hour as of Jan. 1, the final step in a series of raises that began six years ago. Youth workers also will see an increase to $13 an hour, and tipped workers will be paid $9 an hour.

*** Statewide ***

* WCIA | Illinois celebrated for clean energy efforts: Sunday was International Clean Energy Day, and Illinois is being celebrated as the state that came out on top as the national leader. Almost 100,000 solar installations are scattered across the state. That creates enough electricity to power almost 550,000 homes.

* WAND | State organization works to address attorney shortage in rural areas: In an effort to tackle the growing shortage of attorneys in rural communities, the Illinois State Bar Association has launched an innovative initiative. The Rural Practice Fellowship Program is a program aimed to connect law students and young attorneys with career opportunities in underserved rural areas. The Illinois Bar Association said this is to ensure that legal services remain accessible to all Illinois residents.

*** Chicago ***

* Sun-Times | As Trump eyes mass deportations, historians see parallels to past campaigns to force out immigrants: Olga Martinez recalled her father’s experience as a Mexican immigrant living in Chicago in a 1982 video interview that later became part of the Southeast Chicago Archive and Storytelling Project. She said the family never knew who was behind the trucks or financially backing the effort. “My dad always questioned, ‘Why were we asked to go back to our country?’” Martinez says. “You know, he saw the Serbians, the Croatians, nobody was asked to go back except the Mexicans.”

* Tribune | Illinois EPA opposes proposed toxic waste dump expansion on Southeast Side lakefront: In a letter filed in federal court, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency said the proposed expansion of a toxic waste dump on the Southeast Side would go against state law. It’s the latest development in a lengthy battle over the future of a 45-acre disposal site on the Lake Michigan shoreline. “This is a major win for our community, to have both the Illinois attorney general and the Illinois EPA say that the expansion of this toxic landfill will not be (approved),” said Amalia NietoGomez, executive director of social justice nonprofit Alliance of the Southeast.

* Crain’s | Illinois pitches Nvidia on South Side quantum campus: Representatives from the giant chip company were in town for dinner and a site visit to the planned Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park being built at the former U.S. Steel site on the Far South Side, according to several people familiar with the visit. Nvidia is the dominant maker of graphics-processing chips that are used to run artificial-intelligence software and supercomputers. The company’s name is synonymous with cutting-edge technology — and it was the most valuable publicly traded company in the world before a steep sell-off yesterday sparked by a Chinese company’s claim of being able to develop AI with fewer, cheaper chips.

* Sun-Times | Former CPS gym teacher sentenced to 17 years in prison for grooming, sexual assault of students: Andrew Castro, 38, pleaded guilty and was sentenced Friday on multiple charges, including predatory criminal sexual assault of a child under 13, aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a child and exploitation of a child under 13. Cook County Judge Domenica Stephenson sentenced Castro to 10 years for the assaults, seven years for each abuse case and one year for the exploitation charge. With some of the sentences to be served concurrently, the total prison term would be 17 years.

* Tribune | Olivia Clarke, who started group aimed at helping cancer patients with humor, dies: “Olivia’s passion was second to none. She poured her heart into everything she did — work, volunteerism, relationships, fun,” said Maria Black, chief marketing officer of law firm Kirkland & Ellis. “She had this spark of energy that never seemed to wane.” Clarke, 46, who lived on Chicago’s Near South Side, died of complications from breast cancer Jan. 15 at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, said her sister, Meagan Casey.

* Crain’s | Chicago winters reset the thermostat on what is normal: To be a Chicagoan is to know how to be cold. How to trudge through snow. How to grit your teeth and carry on as bone-chilling winds gust through the Loop. But these days, that defining regional characteristic is changing, because the climate is changing. What once was frigid is now merely chilly, and perhaps only occasionally so.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Southtown | Nate Fields back on ballot as Thornton Township supervisor candidate, judge rules: The board, made up of township Trustees Chris Gonzalez and Darlene Gray Everett as well as Clerk Loretta Wells, voted last month to remove Fields and two other supervisor candidates from the April 1 ballot. Michael Smith and Keith Price, who is food assistance program manager in Supervisor Tiffany Henyard’s township administration, brought five challenges against Fields, only one of which stuck.

* Daily Southtown | Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard worked to hide true condition of village finances, former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot says: Just months after her election in 2021, there was a “concerted and systematic effort” by Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard to hide the condition of village finances from trustees, former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Monday. In her final report on her investigation into Henyard and village finances, Lightfoot told some 200 residents and others the concealment continued and that, by March 2022, trustees “were effectively cut off from receiving regular financial reports.”

* Lake County News-Sun | Lake County coroner calls for Waukegan hospital death investigation; says owners ‘must be held accountable’: Lake County Coroner Jennifer Banek said Monday she has asked state officials to investigate the death of a patient who died of hypothermia in her medical gown on the roof of Vista Medical Center East in Waukegan last week. Banek said she wants the Illinois Department of Public Health to probe the circumstances surrounding the death of Chelsea Adolphus, 28, who died about two days after checking herself into the hospital. Banek also said she sent a letter to the hospital asking that all evidence associated with the incident be preserved.

* Daily Herald | Friends of Barrington teen killed by train honor memory, hold village’s feet to fire: Friends of 17-year-old Marin Lacson gathered at a gazebo Monday evening near the downtown Barrington railroad crossing where she was fatally struck by a Metra train on Jan. 25, 2024. Approximately 50 people holding signs and candles celebrated her short life and mourned the anniversary of her passing. But several in the gathering took action, walking to nearby village hall to urge the village board and officials to move quicker to get pedestrian gates installed at the Hough Street crossing.

* Evanston Now | District 65 cuts 73 positions: Needing to wipe out $13.2 million in red ink, the Evanston/Skokie District 65 Board of Education voted Monday night to eliminate 73 jobs, including central office (26), teaching (18), and non-classroom school-level positions (29). The reductions, which take effect July 1, will eliminate about 5% of the district’s jobs. […] District 65 has lost more than 20% of its enrollment since 2018, but while the number of students had been coming down, the number of employees went up, with much of the growth coming under previous superintendent Devon Horton.

*** Downstate ***

* WAND | After-school program providers, parents demand Pritzker admin release grant funding: A coalition of after-school program providers, families and students called on Gov. JB Pritzker to release $50 million to fund their programs Monday. Advocates said state lawmakers approved the funds for their grants, but the Pritzker administration never distributed the money. Over 27,000 Illinois students lost their after-school programming this school year, and more than 2,000 staff are out of jobs due to the lack of grant funding. Susan Stanton, the executive director of Act Now, said after-school programs are critical for youth and teens.

* Shaw Local | Sandwich votes to ban sweepstakes machines: The Sandwich City Council has voted to ban sweepstakes machines – which look like slot machines but are unregulated and untaxed – from operating in the city. “It provides fairness to those who have legal gaming in our community,” said Sandwich Mayor Todd Latham, who had proposed banning the machines after discovering they were operating in one Sandwich business. “I still don’t understand even looking at the sweepstakes machines what you could win on the deal. It’s very unclear. I think it’s just simply misleading and not something that benefits our community.”

* PJ Star | DEI, immigration, homelessness show differences between two of the mayoral candidates: Questions about the City of Peoria’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts sparked debate Monday night between Peoria mayoral candidates Rita Ali and John Kelly. They presented different opinions about the effectiveness of DEI programs and their future in Peoria. Kelly, an at-large city councilman challenging Ali for her mayoral seat, drew multiple negative reactions from the crowd at a mayoral candidate forum put on by the Peoria chapter of the NAACP on Monday night when he made clear his skepticism of the effectiveness of DEI programs in Peoria.

*** National ***

* Fox Chicago | Indiana man fatally shot by sheriff’s deputy identified as Jan. 6 defendant: During the traffic stop, a Jasper County sheriff’s deputy attempted to arrest the suspect, but the suspect resisted, officials said. “An altercation took place between the suspect and the officer, which resulted in the officer firing his weapon and fatally wounding the suspect,” the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. Further investigation revealed the suspect was armed with a gun during the traffic stop.

* NOTUS | The Race for Dick Durbin’s Senate Seat Has Already Begun: Durbin is expected to make an announcement soon over whether he’ll run for reelection in 2026. Should he choose to retire, his seat would open up for the first time in nearly three decades. NOTUS asked all 17 members of the Illinois U.S. House delegation if they were interested in the Senate. Five members said yes, and observers expect several other federal and state figures to jump in — making for a far closer race than in 2017, when Sen. Tammy Duckworth was the obvious Democratic frontrunner to take on Republican incumbent Mark Kirk.

* The Atlantic | China’s DeepSeek Surprise: One week ago, a new and formidable challenger for OpenAI’s throne emerged. A Chinese AI start-up, DeepSeek, launched a model that appeared to match the most powerful version of ChatGPT but, at least according to its creator, was a fraction of the cost to build. The program, called DeepSeek-R1, has incited plenty of concern: Ultrapowerful Chinese AI models are exactly what many leaders of American AI companies feared when they, and more recently President Donald Trump, have sounded alarms about a technological race between the United States and the People’s Republic of China. This is a “wake up call for America,” Alexandr Wang, the CEO of Scale AI, commented on social media.

* NPR | Doctors opposing RFK Jr. rally in the lead-up to his confirmation: Noble laureates have written that Kennedy would put the nation’s health in jeopardy. The American Public Health Association, representing 25,000 professionals in that field, has come out against his nomination, based on his “consistent disregard for scientific evidence.” And recently thousands of physicians and others in health care have signed onto letters echoing these concerns.