Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar » 2025

Thursday, Jan 30, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

A sudden rise in illnesses cancels classes at a growing number of Heartland schools.

Scott City, New Madrid County and eight other districts are dealing with the flu, COVID and more.

Anna School District #37 in Illinois canceled classes for two days because of the number of sick students. Now, leaders say they are using that time to deep clean school buildings for the protection of all students and staff.

“We’re going through. We’re wiping down all the lockers, the handles, all the doorknobs on the table tops, anywhere we can go,” said Superintendent Brent Boren. “We’re seeing Type A influenza, COVID and norovirus and it seems to hit all at once.”

*** It’s Just A Bill ***

* WTTW | Companies That Participated in the Slave Trade Could Face New Rules in Illinois Under Proposal: Companies that participated in the slave trade in the 17th and 18th centuries could have to fess up and pay up if they want to do business with Illinois in the 21st century. State Rep. Sonya Harper (D-Chicago), sponsor of the Enslavement Era Disclosure and Redress Act (House Bill 1227), said it’s a way for corporations that profited on the backs of enslaved people to help repair the legacy of harm caused for generations of Black Americans.

*** Chicago ***

* Daily Line | Ethics board recommends end to decades-old ‘unwritten’ practice after OIG report on mayor’s acceptance of expensive gifts: Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office failed to make a record of gifts the office has accepted publicly available and denied the Chicago Office of the Inspector General (OIG) access to a “gift room” where items such as luxury handbags and nice shoes were being stored, the OIG alleged in an advisory issued Wednesday. As a result, the OIG and Board of Ethics have advised the mayor’s office to no longer follow an “unwritten agreement” with the ethics board that has allowed the mayor’s office to skirt government transparency rules for decades.

* Chalkbeat Chicago | How are Chicago schools responding to increased immigration enforcement? Here are five examples.: In Brighton Park, a majority Latino neighborhood on the city’s southwest side, an elementary school principal has been sharing his experience as an immigrant, so that families feel more comfortable. In Pilsen, a predominantly Latino neighborhood and historically a neighborhood where Mexican families have immigrated to, a high school launched an emergency immigration chat and told parents that it’s OK for students with immigration concerns to stay home.

* NBC Chicago | Former Chicago Ald. Ed Burke requests commutation, reducing prison sentence: According to the U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Pardon Attorney, Burke has filed an application for a commutation of his sentence. A clemency case has been opened, and the petition is under review, according to the department’s website. The petition was filed in 2025, but it is unclear what date. That application is now up for President Donald Trump’s administration to grant or deny. It can take months, even years, before a sentence commutation is granted or denied. The application goes through several levels before it reaches the president’s desk.

* Block Club | Rogers Park Business Alliance Expands Classes For Entrepreneurs With New State Funding: The Rogers Park Business Alliance, a local chamber of commerce, was recently awarded a grant through the state’s Economic Empowerment Centers Program, which gives money to groups that provide local business support. With the infusion of $250,000 in state funding, the Rogers Park Business Alliance is rolling out Grow More/Progresando Más, a bilingual program to assist minority-owned small businesses in the neighborhood, said executive director Sandi Price. The money will be used for personnel to lead classes and events at no cost to business owners, she said.

* WBEZ | Charlie Trotter’s son fires up the stoves at his father’s legendary Chicago restaurant: “People under the age of 40 don’t know who Charlie Trotter was, and my goal is to change that,” Dylan said. Charlie died of a stroke in 2013, less than a year after closing the restaurant. “This is a historic Chicago landmark that should be known by everyone, young and old,” said Dylan. “I think the younger generation should look back at history and see: How did we get to where we are now?”

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Tribune | Cook County state’s attorney to push for prison sentences in machine-gun cases: According to the policy, prosecutors on their own cannot enter into a plea agreement for a probation term or other punishments that do not involve prison time in cases where the defendant used or possessed “any machine gun conversion device, extended magazine, drum magazine, automatic switch, as well as a privately made firearm, ghost gun and/or defaced firearm.” Assistant state’s attorneys can seek permission from a supervisor if they believe the policy should be modified in individual cases, but officials said supervisors would likely only waive the terms in specific circumstances.

* WGN | ‘It got real crazy:’ The inside story of bad blood that boiled over into a brawl during a Thornton Township board meeting: Seconds after making slurs about Tiffany Henyard’s sex life and parenting, a fight erupted on the floor of the township meeting, with community activist Jedidiah Brown and Henyard’s boyfriend, Kamal Woods, coming to blows. Henyard herself even jumped in. “She ran from behind the table with a microphone in her hand and she hit me with it while another one of her staff members was kicking me in the head and I was defending myself against Kamal and other individuals,” Brown said.

*** Downstate ***

* WMBD | UPDATE: I-155 still closed in Logan County as ISP crisis team negotiates with driver: The Illinois State Police is asking drivers to avoid a five-mile stretch of Interstate 155 on Thursday, saying there has been “an incident.” […] The Illinois State Police has provided more information on the “incident” that is ongoing in Logan County. According to the state police, at 10 p.m., troopers responded to a motorist assist call on Interstate 155 northbound near Emden, milepost 9, in Logan County. The motorist then and now is refusing to leave the vehicle.

* KHQA | Western CUSD 12 shuts down for the week amid Influenza A outbreak: Western Community Unit School District 12 in Barry, Illinois will not hold classes the rest of the week due to an outbreak of Influenza A and other illnesses. On Tuesday, January 28th, when they made the announcement, nearly half of the students and a third of the staff were out sick in some buildings.

* NPR | Criminal records of Jan. 6 rioters pardoned by Trump include rape, domestic violence: Theodore Middendorf was accused by Illinois prosecutors of “Predatory Criminal Sexual Assault of a Child.” Prosecutors said in a court filing obtained by NPR that Middendorf “committed an act of sexual penetration.” Indiana state records indicate that Middendorf’s victim was 7 years old. Middendorf entered a guilty plea in that case in May 2024 and was sentenced to 19 years in prison. He is currently registered as a sex offender in the state and remains in custody on those charges. Separately, Middendorf pleaded guilty to destruction of government property for striking a window at the U.S. Capitol with a flagpole on Jan. 6. He had not yet been sentenced for his role in the Capitol riot when the Justice Department moved to dismiss his case following Trump’s order.

* SJ-R | All of Springfield’s McDonald’s soon to be owned by same person: As of Feb. 1, Mike Kasprzyk will own all 11 Golden Arches in the Capital City after purchasing two stores from to other franchise operators, Dr. Paul and Mary Breznay and Kim Derringer, in December. The back-to-back acquisitions doubled Kasprzyk’s Springfield footprint after only entering the market last year.

*** National ***

* NYT | Staffing was ‘not normal’ at airport tower, according to a preliminary F.A.A. report.: The controller who was handling helicopters in the airport’s vicinity Wednesday night was also instructing planes that were landing and departing from its runways. Those jobs typically are assigned to two controllers, rather than one. This increases the workload for the air traffic controller and can complicate the job. One reason is that the controllers can use different radio frequencies to communicate with pilots flying planes and pilots flying helicopters. While the controller is communicating with pilots of the helicopter and the jet, the two sets of pilots may not be able to hear each other.

* Chalkbeat | Trump executive order seeks to steer federal funds to private school vouchers: The executive order cites disheartening national test scores released Wednesday as one justification, saying families need options outside the public system. Securing federal funding has been a longtime goal of supporters of vouchers and educational savings accounts, which families can tap to pay for private education. Until now, with the exception of a voucher program in Washington, D.C., the use of taxpayer dollars for private education largely has expanded through state policy. A proposal to use federal tax credits to fund private school scholarships has not advanced in Congress — though new versions were recently introduced.

* The Atlantic | Why States Took a Gamble on Sports Betting: “I interviewed Charlie Baker, the former governor of Massachusetts who signed the bill legalizing bookmaking there in 2022, and then a few months later became president of the NCAA and has become a really vocal champion for limiting the amount of betting on college sports, particularly in light of the brutal harassment that college athletes and coaches get whenever their performance costs someone a bet,” Funt recalled. “It’s honestly horrifying, the sort of stuff they see on social media and in real life. And he has said point-blank, ‘I wish, in hindsight, this had stayed in Las Vegas.’”

* AP | Trump administration revokes deportation protections for 600,000 Venezuelans: Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Wednesday that the Trump administration has revoked a decision that would have protected roughly 600,000 people from Venezuela from deportation, putting some at risk of being removed from the country in about two months. Noem signed a notice reversing a move by her predecessor, Alejandro Mayorkas, in the waning days of the Biden administration to extend Temporary Protected Status. The change is effective immediately and comes amid a slew of actions as the Trump administration works to make good on promises to crack down on illegal immigration and carry out the largest mass deportation effort in U.S. history.

8 Comments

Illinois Freedom Caucus complains about punishment

Thursday, Jan 30, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller

* I’ve been telling subscribers about this battle. From an Illinois Freedom Caucus press release…

The punitive measures Minority Leader Tony McCombie has taken against conservative House members are a blatant attempt to shut out conservative voices in the General Assembly, according to the Illinois Freedom Caucus members.

Because of irreconcilable differences in policy, approach and results, several House Republican members could not in good conscience support Leader McCombie in her run for Minority Leader. Instead, they opted for a respectful low profile swearing in ceremony at the Capitol. As a result of not receiving their votes for leader, the Minority Leader instituted childish retaliatory actions. Specifically, she has denied the following services from State Reps. Adam Niemerg (R-Dieterich), Brad Halbrook (R-Shelbyville), Chris Miller (R-Hindsboro), Blaine Wilhour (R-Beecher City) and Marty McLaughlin (R-Barrington Hills):

• Spokesman positions on legislative committees
• Access to larger offices that were consistent with their seniority in the House Republican Caucus
• Access to their state websites, emails, and email newsletter services
• Access to Communications staffers including access to social media sites, audio and visual services, graphic design, and press release services
• Secretarial services at the Capitol
• Biography services
• All press conference assistance services

• All outreach assistance services
• Media tracking services
• Access to Bill Analysis
• Access to research assistance from House Republican staff
• Access to House Republican staff generated media lists

The Illinois Freedom Caucus is issuing the following statement:

“Minority Leader Tony McCombie has officially declared war on conservatives. She seems to be more interested in going after conservative members of her own caucus than she is in taking on the Democrats who control every level of government in our state and who have run our state into the ground.

Our goal is to win seats so that we can advance a conservative Republican agenda in Illinois. While we do not believe Tony McCombie is the kind of leader we need to accomplish this goal, we nonetheless support the mission of the House Republican Caucus. We do not care about offices, titles or other accolades that go along with being an elected official. We are solely focused on enacting the kind of policies we need to turn our state around and voting against the bad policies. The idea that our own leader would impede our efforts is a major disappointment, but we will not be deterred in our fight to restore Illinois. She can put us in broom closets for all we care because it won’t change our resolve for our mission.

Our only regret is that the person who has presided over zero pickups in the last election and who is so desperate to be the minority leader is also so completely unserious about her job. We are not the ones who are suffering because of her bad leadership – it is the millions of Republican voters who are suffering at the hands of her failures. They deserve to have a Republican Leader who embraces conservative voices and works to unify the party, rather than a leader who attacks conservatives and demands absolute loyalty like a monarch.”

* Politico…

They missed McCombie’s criticism of Democrats during the recent inauguration because they held their own separate inauguration.

“This decision was not made lightly and remains subject to further review,” McCombie said in a statement. “Leadership resources are a privilege, not an entitlement, and they are allocated to those committed to advancing our caucus’s priorities — not fueling distractions.” There’s also a concern that the Freedom Caucus sometimes blurs the line of being a political organization. That’s not allowed when doing work in the Capitol. […]

McCombie isn’t the first to take away some privileges. Former House GOP Leader Jim Durkin also pulled back the benefits.

That statement wasn’t specifically a response to the above press release, I’m told.

26 Comments

Roundup: Jury begins deliberations in Madigan corruption trial

Thursday, Jan 30, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

You can click here and here to follow the Madigan trial. If you want live updates on the trial, the Sun-Times will be texting out the latest on jury deliberations and the verdict. Click here to sign up.

* Capitol News Illinois…

[O]n Wednesday, after three months of listening to testimony followed by a marathon week of closing arguments, the lead prosecutor in Madigan’s corruption trial presented that idiom to jurors before they were finally released to deliberate.

In a final attempt to weaken defense attorneys’ arguments over the racketeering, bribery and other corruption allegations against Madigan and his co-defendant, longtime Springfield lobbyist Mike McClain, Assistant U.S. Attorney Amarjeet Bhachu told jurors that Madigan and McClain were neither “stupid” nor “beginners.”

“Mr. Madigan and McClain are adept at making sure Mr. Madigan’s fingerprints are not left at the scene,” Bhachu said of an episode involving a proposed land deal that forms the basis of five charges against the defendants. “They’re not playing checkers. They’re playing chess. And the two of them are grand masters of corruption.”

It was a line Bhachu used nearly two years ago in closing arguments in a related trial in which McClain and three other former executives and lobbyists for electric utility Commonwealth Edison were charged with bribing Madigan.

* Sun-Times…

When Michael J. Madigan’s longtime friend penned a retirement letter in 2016, he compared the record-breaking Illinois House speaker to Chicago’s famous “Boss” mayor, the late Richard J. Daley.

Michael McClain wrote that “Illinois is a great state because of your hand on the rudder, and you know instinctively now, just like Richard J. Daley, when to start, slow or turn off the engine.” […]

“He also had something else in his hand,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Amarjeet Bhachu said. “He had the trust that was placed in him by each and every member of the public. But in guiding that ship, if you will, Mr. Madigan abused that trust. He lost his way. He was blinded by profit. By power. By his desire to stay in power.”

Madigan threw that trust “overboard, abandoned it,” Bhachu said. And, in the final argument in Madigan’s four-month trial, Bhachu told the jury “you have the evidence” to hold Madigan accountable for “that sunken trust.”

* Courthouse News Service…

Madigan and McClain’s attorneys, during their closing arguments, attacked Solis’ credibility. Madigan’s attorney Dan Collins went so far as to call him a “malignant tumor at the heart of this case.” […]

They pointed out that Solis testified he feigned his interest in the state board job as part of his undercover work. In a secretly recorded June 29, 2017 conversation, Solis also asked an uncertain property developer named Andy Cretal if there would be a “possibility” for Madigan to get legal work from his company ZOM Living’s “Union West” apartment project.

Bhachu, on Wednesday, countered that Madigan had plenty of chances to walk away from dealing with Solis — especially after June 23, 2017, when in another conversation Solis implied the Union West developers understood development “works” via quid pro quo arrangements. Madigan also continued helping Solis find a state board job in 2018, even after Solis told the then-speaker “I’ll continue to get you legal business” that June.

“Use your common sense here,” Bhachu told the jurors during his rebuttal closings on Wednesday.

* Today’s jury update…

The jurors are asking for more highlighters, sticky notes, white-out, etc.

"Apparently there's some kind of arts and crafts going on," Judge Blakey says.

They also inform the judge they'll break for lunch at noon.

— Jon Seidel (@SeidelContent) January 30, 2025

* Tribune…

The panel, which was selected anonymously, also announced they had elected Juror 16 as their foreman, a white man who appears to be in his 40s or 50s who said during jury selection he was born and raised in Chicago’s 19th Ward on the Far Southwest Side, where he still lives.

His parents were close friends with the previous 19th Ward alderman, Virginia Rugai, he said. He also knows the current alderman, Matt O’Shea, but does not discuss city operations or personal matters with him, he said.

The juror also said he had not done much political work apart from voting, and his recent contact with the ward office was limited to getting a block party permit. He works as an insurance underwriter and has three children, he said.

Juror 16 also said during selection that he did not want to be on the panel.

* More…

WTTW | A Jury Will Now Decide Michael Madigan’s Fate. Here’s a Breakdown of the Landmark Corruption Case:

17 Comments

Pritzker says Dem gov convo with Schumer was ‘good,’ but doesn’t discuss details

Thursday, Jan 30, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* The New York Times…

A group of six Democratic governors pressed Senator Chuck Schumer of New York during a tense call on Wednesday night to be more aggressive in fighting back against President Trump’s nominees and agenda, all but begging the minority leader to persuade Senate Democrats to block whatever they could.

The call, described in detailed notes as well as interviews with two participants and five other people briefed on the conversation, revealed the growing tensions among Democrats about how forcefully they should oppose Mr. Trump. Mr. Schumer convened the call to discuss a collective response to the Trump administration’s attempt to freeze trillions of dollars in federal grants and loans, which was pulled back on Wednesday. […]

Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois and Gov. Maura Healey of Massachusetts each told Mr. Schumer that Senate Democrats should not vote for Mr. Trump’s nominees after the administration issued a memo freezing the funding. […]

Gov. Laura Kelly of Kansas, who is the chairwoman of the Democratic Governors Association and helped organize the call along with Mr. Pritzker, said their party needed to do a better job with its digital outreach in response to Mr. Trump. She called for Democrats’ online strategy to become “down and dirty.”

* The governor was asked about the call today during an unrelated news conference…

Pritzker: As to the call that we had last night with Leader Schumer in the US Senate. It was a productive call. We had a lively conversation about the challenges that people in our states are going through as a result of the threat of the freezes that appear to be the aim of the Trump administration. And Leader Schumer was receptive to things that we had to say. Understood, you know, he’s from New York. They also had the same things happen to them in New York, and he heard directly from people that are his constituents. So it was a good conversation. I think Chuck-

Reporter: Have the lines of communications reopened between the state and federal government?

Pritzker: Yeah, I haven’t heard of a failure to communicate between the two after that day. When there was so much of a challenge and we had some of our people rejected having conversations with our counterparts at the federal level. I haven’t checked in to see if those conversations have reopened. But my sense is, I haven’t heard anything new, that things have calmed down quite a lot.

Having said that, there is no indication, you heard this from the White House press secretary, there’s no indication that the Trump administration has any intention of pulling back on the idea of a freeze or even an elimination of major federal programs that benefit people in the state of Illinois, Meals on Wheels, Head Start, Medicaid, things that really matter to people every day. Not to mention grant programs for state police, for local police, those are all things that are at risk as a result of the threat that was made.

And it’s clearly their intention to carry it out. It’s just that they got so much negative feedback all in one day from all across the country, including from Republican elected officials, Democratic elected officials and nonprofits across the country. So I think they’re rethinking how they can still accomplish the goal without getting all the negative feedback.

25 Comments

It’s just a bill

Thursday, Jan 30, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* IPM Newsroom…

In 2018, Joseph Dole was one of a group of students facing about 20 lawmakers. He didn’t have any public speaking experience, so he was a little nervous.

The students were in Stateville Correctional Center on life sentences. They had studied law journals and studies and formed teams, each arguing for the most effective way to bring parole back to Illinois. […]

Although the Illinois Department of Corrections canceled the class soon after the public debate, the students kept pushing their vision. They wrote House Bill 3373 (also known as Senate Bill 2129) for last year’s General Assembly and are introducing the bill again this year. […]

The state abolished its parole system in 1978. Prior to that, a board could let people out before completing their sentence.

“What we have now is a determinate sentencing scheme where you give people a fixed sentence. There’s no reviewing their progress throughout the sentence,” said fellow student, Raúl Dorado.

* Sun-Times…

For more than four years, a bill to establish a Prescription Drug Affordability Board has floated through the halls of Illinois’s Statehouse to no avail. […]

[Rep. Nabeela Syed, D-Palatine,] and state Sen. Robert Peters, D-Chicago, filed the bill in each of their chambers of the General Assembly. Their biggest challenge could be just getting the bill to the floor. […]

In sessions past, the bill failed to reach that threshold. This year’s version is the same as past years, but while its substance hasn’t changed, Syed says legislators’ opinions have.

“I believe, especially now more than ever, we have the ability to get more than enough members on board to get legislation like this across… coming off of election season, many of my colleagues have heard at the doors that people can’t afford groceries, they can’t afford to pay their mortgage and they can’t afford their prescription drugs,” she said.

* Center Square…

A sexual assault involving school kids in a small central Illinois community has prompted an Illinois lawmaker to take action.

State Sen. Steve McClure, R-Springfield, said he was shocked to find out that the student who committed the sexual assault was allowed to stay in class. […]

McClure introduced legislation that would require school districts to expel a student for at least one year for committing a sexual assault or sexual violence. He said many people have reached out to him after he presented the legislation. […]

Democratic lawmakers in Illinois have a long history of rejecting legislation that is considered a “penalty enhancement.” McClure said he doesn’t classify the bill as a penalty enhancement but a safety enhancement, and it is his hope that the offending student will go to an alternative learning center and get the treatment needed to get them on a better path.

* Rep. Kam Buckner filed HB1894 yesterday…

Amends the Election Code. Provides that a person is not prohibited from photographing his or her own ballot at any time during the voting process or from viewing a photograph of a completed or partially completed ballot. Provides that any person who gives, promises to give, or receives any money or other valuable consideration in connection with the dissemination or viewing of a photograph of a completed or partially completed ballot is guilty of a Class 4 felony. Effective immediately.

Illinois election code…

Except as permitted by this Code, any person who knowingly marks his ballot or casts his vote on a voting machine or voting device so that it can be observed by another person, and any person who knowingly observes another person lawfully marking a ballot or lawfully casting his vote on a voting machine or voting device, shall be guilty of a Class 4 felony.

* Sen. Willie Preston…

Today, legislators and advocates gathered to announce the filing of Senate Bill 74 and House Bill 1224, landmark legislation to reform Illinois’ retainage policies.

“This legislation is about fairness and modernizing our laws to support Illinois contractors,” said State Senator Willie Preston (D-Chicago), chief sponsor of Senate Bill 74. “Our small businesses and workforce deserve payment practices that reflect the realities of today’s economy.”

The bills aim to end the practice of withholding payments from contractors across the board and instead adopt federal standards that impose retainage only when specific project issues arise. The bills would only apply to state agencies and public universities, not local governments or private developments.

Advocates called on lawmakers to support the legislation and act swiftly to pass it during the current session. “We urge lawmakers to recognize the urgency of this reform. Retainage policies affect thousands of workers and businesses across the state. The time to act is now,” said Jaemie Neely, Executive Director of the Federation of Women Contractors.

Advocates emphasized the detrimental effects of the current policy on contractors and small businesses, noting how delayed payments disrupt cash flow, limit job growth and threaten livelihoods.

“Retainage reform is a critical step toward fostering a healthier business environment in Illinois. Contractors should not have to wait for money they’ve rightfully earned,” said Jacky Gomez, Executive Director of the Hispanic American Construction Industry Association.

By aligning Illinois’ policies with federal standards, the legislation aims to provide contractors with the financial flexibility they need to complete projects efficiently while ensuring accountability in construction practices.

* WAND…

Sen. Sally Turner (R-Lincoln) has reintroduced a bill to allow tiny homes to be exempt from a 2023 state law requiring all homes to be built with electric vehicle charging capacity.

Turner told the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday that the well-intended law is actually a costly mandate for nonprofit organizations like the Central Illinois Veterans Commission.

“One of our most unique services in the CIVC is our tiny home projects we provide veterans with affordable permanent housing, and it’s tailored to their specific needs,” Turner said. “We have many of them that are handicapped and need that handicap accessibility.”

The bill passed unanimously out of the Senate Judiciary Committee and now heads to the Senate floor. Senators unanimously approved the same bill last year, but the plan died in the House.

22 Comments

Open thread

Thursday, Jan 30, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* What’s going on in your part of Illinois?…

8 Comments

Isabel’s morning briefing

Thursday, Jan 30, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* ICYMI: Illinois’ eighth graders outperform their peers in all but one state in national math and reading test. Tribune…

* Related stories…

∙ Chalkbeat Chicago: NAEP scores: How did Illinois students do on the ‘nation’s report card’ in 2024?
∙ Press release: Illinois’ 8th Grade Students Outperform National Averages in Both Reading and Math on ‘The Nation’s Report Card’
∙ WIFR: Illinois students beat national math, reading scores

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* WSIL | Brick thrown through window of State Representative Severin and State Senator Bryant’s joint office building: Both Severin and Bryant say they condemn the violent incident at their office and shared the following statement… “It is our honor to represent the people of Southern Illinois, and we take our responsibility to be their voice seriously. Our commitment has always been to advocate for policies that improve the lives of our constituents and all Illinoisans. Acts of violence like the one committed against our district office this morning will not deter us from that mission – instead, it only strengthens our resolve.

* NYT | In Tense Call, Governors Push Schumer to Fight Harder Against Trump: Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois and Gov. Maura Healey of Massachusetts each told Mr. Schumer that Senate Democrats should not vote for Mr. Trump’s nominees after the administration issued a memo freezing the funding.

* WBEZ | Illinois settles two lawsuits linked to prison education programs: The department agreed to pay $90,000 to five men who say officials retaliated against them for debating parole reform in front of state legislators. In the other settlement, the state will pay $5,000 to a peer educator fired for teaching about racist Jim Crow literacy tests. Both cases involved prison education programs, and both showed prison officials struggling to respond when those programs prompted incarcerated people to engage with sensitive political and social issues.

*** Statehouse News ***

* WBBM | Gov. JB Pritzker yet to decide on run for third term: “Families of politicians go through a lot that they shouldn’t have to,” he mused. “They didn’t choose, necessarily, to be in that life. So that’s part of the decision-making process. And of course, the other part is… what’s ahead? What could we accomplish if we kept going?”

* Tribune | Assessor Fritz Kaegi says Chicago properties worth a combined $50.8 billion in 2024, calls for bill relief in Springfield: Kaegi touted the need to pass “circuit-breaker” legislation in the General Assembly during Wednesday’s appearance. Supporters have floated several forms of a circuit-breaker program in recent months. Most involve a rebate or credit to low- or fixed-income homeowners who see their property tax bills rise above a certain percentage. Kaegi’s plan would apply to “the bottom half of people who are experiencing spikes of 25% or more,” he said Wednesday. “We know the key is making it a priority in Springfield.”

*** Statewide ***

* Journal & Topics | Del Mar Resigns As State GOP Co-Chair Effectively Immediately: In early December, Del Mar announced his intention to resign from his role as state party co-chair. At the time, he told the Journal he planned to explore a run for a statewide office and would step down as state party co-chair in January or February. […] Del Mar in his letter Wednesday said: “I can no longer, in good conscience, remain in this role while awaiting a successor and facilitating a transition. To be clear I will remain in my duly elected role as state central committeeman, (of the) 5th Congressional District.” Del Mar is also the Palatine Township Republican committeeman and is running for reelection as Palatine Township highway commissioner in the April 1 election.

* Crain’s | After Trump’s opening volley on grants, Illinois’ research universities on alert: NU ranks 30th in the country, having received $678 million in federal support in 2023, according to data from the National Science Foundation. Data for 2024 is not yet available. UChicago, 41st, and U of I, 43rd, were awarded $477 million and $460 million in 2023, respectively. About 40% of funding for basic research, much of it done at universities, comes from the federal government, according to the NSF.

* Crain’s | Trump’s moves to curb abortion spending spell trouble for Illinois: “It’s going to increase the retribution that the federal government will take on the state of Illinois,” said Margie Schaps, executive director of the Health & Medicine Policy Research Group. “They’ve shown themselves to be vindictive.” Asked today how it was responding to the Trump administration’s recent actions, a Pritzker office spokesman told Crain’s: “During this time when reproductive health care has been under assault, Illinois will remain a state where every person is entitled to the full range of reproductive health care, including family planning services, birth control and abortion.”

* WTVO | Illinois receives 2 F’s on tobacco control report card: Illinois received an F grade in tobacco prevention and cessation funding as well as an F in restrictions on flavored tobacco products. Graders gave the state an A grade for having smoke-free air and access to cessation services, in addition to a C grade for tobacco tax.

*** Chicago ***

* WBEZ | New CPS Board president says he took the volunteer job because ‘I love this city’: Sean Harden says he knows this question is on many people’s minds. The 51-year-old single man with no children says he pursued becoming president of the Chicago Board of Education because he saw an area where he could step up. […] Harden faced an avalanche of criticism last week after it surfaced that he had requested a CPS driver and a car that would cost the school district $150,000. FOX News’ Paris Schutz reported that story based on internal CPS documents shared by sources. Harden points out that past board presidents have had cars and drivers, though the last two did not. The last president to have the service was Frank Clark, but he ended it some time between 2015 and 2018, CPS said. And budget crises are, as history shows, nothing new for CPS.

* Sun-Times | Text from Johnson to firefighters’ union president could ignite stalled contract talks: Asked what it will take to bring negotiations to a close, Cleary said: “Don’t give me what I could have gotten three-and-a-half years ago: an average, b.s. contract. Give me a good contract. Reward us for waiting so long.” Johnson directed his negotiating team to draft a substantive proposal on the outstanding issues of pay, benefits, staffing and equipment. Cleary wouldn’t reveal details of that latest proposal, which will be the subject of this week’s talks. The goal is to narrow to a handful the number of outstanding issues that must be decided by an independent arbitrator.

* Tribune | ‘I did something wrong’: Chicago man arrested by ICE asks forgiveness, victim’s mother supports possible deportation: In another video shared on social media, Pavuluri is shown sitting inside a black sedan as a federal agent opens the door and allows a reporter from the pro-Donald Trump website Frontline America to stick a microphone in the 31-year-old man’s face and question him. Pavuluri, who was born in India, explained he had been in prison since 2018, serving an eight-year sentence for a drunken driving incident that killed 20-year-old Mariyah Howard of Beecher. He had been released from prison only 16 days earlier, according to Illinois Department of Correction records. Looking into the camera, he asked for a “fair chance” and pleaded for grace from no one in particular. “I did something wrong,” said Pavuluri, who was in the country on a student visa at the time of the crash. “I’m sorry about what I did.”

* Sun-Times | Historian Shermann ‘Dilla’ Thomas partners with DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center: “We are thrilled that Dilla is joining our DuSable team,” Perri Irmer, DuSable’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “His knowledge of Chicago’s rich history and his dynamic approach to social media and storytelling will be a wonderful avenue to reach and engage with our community and with new audiences. We are excited for the future and look forward to the impact he will make in this new role.”

* Sun-Times | Gene Schroeder, NFL’s oldest known living ex-player who was once close to George Halas, dies at 95: In the summer of 1952, a young Gene Schroeder, fresh off his first season with the Chicago Bears, found himself at a party in Washington D.C. He was “kind of famous” among the partygoers for his sports ability by then, Carole Schroeder, his eldest daughter, told the Chicago Sun-Times. There he met his future wife, Doris Richey. They fell in love, and married only months later. Their connection laid the foundation for much of his life. When later asked how he managed to sustain a long and healthy life, he’d always give the same answer: “Sixty wonderful marriage years to a wonderful woman and a wonderful family.”

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Sun-Times | Thornton Township board ‘deeply disturbed’ over brawl during meeting attended by Tiffany Henyard: Henyard’s lawyer said Wednesday says she was “verbally assaulted and her personal safety threatened” at the Tuesday night meeting. Thornton Township trustees issued their own statement bemoaning what they described as “chaos and violence.” “We are deeply disturbed by the events that transpired during last night’s board meeting,” the trustees said Wednesday morning.

* Daily Herald | ‘We were a little shocked’: As ICE knocks on doors in the suburbs, immigrant groups push solidarity: Last weekend, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers “were just knocking on doors at an apartment complex in Waukegan,” Ortiz said. If the agency is “targeting people with criminal backgrounds, why aren’t they holding warrants?” Immigrant Solidarity DuPage Coordinator Cristobal Cavazos headed to Palatine on Sunday after hearing of a contingent of ICE officers parked near a popular Hispanic grocery store. “They say, they’re just looking for criminals, don’t worry. But in the process, they nab anybody that they can get,” Cavazos said.

* Daily Herald | Forest preserve district sues to acquire property, while West Chicago wants housing there: The district is seeking to acquire roughly 43 acres or so on the north side of North Avenue, a bit west of Route 59. The tract is adjacent to the existing Pratt’s Wayne Woods Forest Preserve, and contains a remnant old oak ecosystem with more than 200 mature oak trees, noted Executive Director Karie Friling. “Some of these trees are more than 100 years old and are part of a unique, undisturbed ecosystem critical for supporting diverse wildlife, including insects, birds, and mammals,” Friling said in a written statement. “Adjacent development would degrade the ecological value of existing protected lands within Pratt’s Wayne Woods, diminishing its role as a sanctuary for wildlife and a resource for the community.”

*** Downstate ***

* SJ-R | Springfield may have new procedure for appointing vacant city positions: An ordinance about a new procedure to appoint certain vacant positions within the city of Springfield is up for debate after a debate of its own at Tuesday’s committee of the whole meeting. The ordinance, which will be taken up by the full city council on Feb. 4, seeks to create a formal appointment procedure when appointing a new mayor, treasurer or clerk. Public comment would be an active part of the process prior to a vote.

* WCIA | Rantoul mayor says village needs change to keep up with growth in community: Mayor Charles Smith said it could cost millions, and it all has to do with infrastructure. He said with several big businesses opening up in town and more on the way, they need a complete overhaul. The village currently has construction crews working on water and sewer expansion. Smith said the village also provides its own electrical service to the community and some of the system is outdated.

* WTVO | These neighbors are suing the Winnebago Landfill over littering, odor complaints: Illinois passed two new laws last year, requiring landfills to have cleaning facilities for trucks, and for garbage truck drivers to secure tarps over their load to prevent litter from escaping. However, DeBlauw said he hasn’t seen much of a change since the laws were enacted. “I don’t think that they abide by any cleaning of the truck,” he said. “They come out and … if it’s muddy or whatever they spread their mud out on the road…and you pick it up on your car when you drive by. And I don’t see where, if there are those laws, I don’t see where they’re following them.”

*** National ***

* ABC | Bird flu is ‘widespread’ among birds in Massachusetts, state officials say: There has been a history of intermittent bird flu outbreaks in Massachusetts since early 2022, officials said. In early January, an outbreak of bird flu was suspected of causing the death of Canada geese, swans and other birds in Plymouth. Now, more positive cases are being reported, officials said.

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Thursday, Jan 30, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

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