* ICYMI: Applications open for 26th Senate District seat. Daily Herald…

- State Sen. Dan McConchie, a Hawthorn Woods Republican, has announced his resignation, effective Sunday. Republican Party officials will choose someone to finish his term, which ends in January 2027.

- State law requires the seat to be filled within 30 days of a vacancy.

- To get an application, contact Derek Murphy at (630) 901-6126 or derek@isrvf.com. Applications are due by Feb. 7. A decision is expected Feb. 14.

* Related…

∙ NPR Illinois: State Senator Dan McConchie discusses the Accessibility Policy Institute
∙ Daily Herald: What will happen to McConchie’s campaign cash after he leaves office?

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* WTTW | Paper Mail Is Seen as a Source for Drugs in Illinois Prisons. How Is It Tracked?: It’s unclear exactly how many drugs are entering IDOC facilities through the mail, according to data obtained by WTTW News. From January to mid-December of 2024, 779 synthetic cannabinoids were discovered, according to data. The “point of discovery” for that drug type was 188 by mail, while 410 were discovered “in cell” and 156 were discovered “on person.” That data also showed there were 419 suspected synthetic cannabinoid overdoses last year, of which 229 were “staff exposures.”

* Tribune | A disappearing witness, an odd choice of hold music and the Fighting Irish: 5 strange things you might not know about the Madigan trial: Given the outsized lore of Madigan as a Machiavellian figure who preferred to rule in shadow, there’s perhaps no better — or weirder — selection for his law firm hold music than “In the Hall of the Mountain King,” the 1875 orchestral classic depicting Peer Gynt’s fantasy about meeting the Norwegian troll king Dovregubben. The jury learned this odd fact when prosecutors played a key wiretapped conversation from June 2017, which began when FBI mole Daniel Solis called the speaker back at Madigan & Getzendanner. “One moment please,” the receptionist said, before the ominous sounds of percolating bassoons and cellos slowly filled the courtroom … bup bup bup bup BUP bup bup … interrupted when Madigan picked up with a friendly, “Hey Danny.”

* NYT | Health Programs Shutter Around the World After Trump Pauses Foreign Aid: In Uganda, the National Malaria Control Program has suspended spraying insecticide into village homes and ceased shipments of bed nets for distribution to pregnant women and young children, said Dr. Jimmy Opigo, the program’s director. Medical supplies, including drugs to stop hemorrhages in pregnant women and rehydration salts that treat life-threatening diarrhea in toddlers, cannot reach villages in Zambia because the trucking companies transporting them were paid through a suspended supply project of the United States Agency for International Development, U.S.A.I.D.

*** Statehouse News ***

Former House Speaker Welch's chief of staff Tiffany Moy joins heavyweight Statehouse lobbying firm pic.twitter.com/6uM4pMj48r

— Capitol Fax (@capitolfax) February 2, 2025

* Crain’s | Judge blocks retailers from joining credit card fee fight between Illinois and banks: U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall of the Northern District of Illinois denied retailers their bid to join Illinois as defendants in a lawsuit brought by bankers attempting to block a law limiting the amount of fees collected in credit card transactions. Adding more defendants could lead to a slowdown in the proceedings, Kendall said.

*** Statewide ***

* Daily Herald | How our state stacks up: New report shows how Illinois compares to others on taxes, spending, other metrics: The 70-page report shows Illinois ranked fourth in terms of total tax dollars collected with $63 billion in tax revenue in 2023. However, Illinois ranked 13th in per capita tax collections, at $5,019 per person. “When observing revenue-related rankings on a per capita basis, some believe that if a state is able to operate on tax rates that create relatively low per capita figures, the better the financial situation for the people of that state,” the report notes. “Others, however, would view low per capita figures as missed opportunities for revenue growth, and subsequent program spending.”

* Sun-Times | Illinois deer harvest by hunters jumped more than 6 percent: Illinois hunters harvested 10,445 more deer during the 2024-25 seasons than during the the ’23-24 seasons or an increase of more than 6.5 percent. My instincts say that at least some of that increase is related to the mild weather during the bulk of the seasons.

*** Chicago ***

* Tribune | Hemp fight moves to City Hall as aldermen debate regulation, tax: As aldermen sparred in a council committee meeting alongside dueling hemp sellers and marijuana dispensary owners, the council appeared far from agreement on the safety and fairness of potential local regulations — despite all sides agreeing that the unregulated product that can get users high must face some restrictions. While no vote was taken Thursday, the possibility of an ordinance to allow hemp’s continued widespread sale in Chicago won a critical early sign of approval from the Johnson administration.

* Tribune | Study that will help adjust where Chicago police officers are deployed finally in the works: The study has been a political hot potato for years, and city leaders will soon face the question of how to distribute the department’s limited number of police officers in an effective way that satisfies the city’s array of constituencies — and legal obligations. The workforce allocation study won’t be finished until year’s end. But of CPD’s roughly 11,000 sworn police officers, more than half are assigned to the department’s 22 patrol districts and are potentially subject to movement.

* Sun-Times | Several hundred ducks found dead from suspected bird flu along Lake Michigan: The largest concentrations of sick mergansers were found Saturday at North Avenue Beach and Oak Street Beach. Other birds with symptoms were reported from Hyde Park to Wilmette between Friday and Sunday.

* Crain’s | Google searching for tenants at revamped Thompson Center: CBRE leasing agents representing the Mountain View, Calif.-based company in recent weeks have quietly marketed seven floors of the 17-story building at 100 W. Randolph St. to prospective users, according to sources familiar with the property. Google is 10 months into a drastic overhaul of the 1.2 million-square-foot building in partnership with Chicago-based real estate developer Prime Group and Capri Investment Group, and the company intends to purchase the property from the development team when the renovation is finished.

* WBBM | Study: Rat populations on the rise in cities thanks to warm weather: When it comes to why some cities saw increases, researchers noted that denser human populations, a jump in urbanization, and an increase in warmer weather all played a part. The lead author of the study, Jonathan L. Richardson, an associate professor at the University of Richmond, shared with CBS News that the latter was found to play a large role in the trend.

* Daily Herald | Start your engines — Jeep is back and hybrids are hot at the Chicago Auto Show: The reset means Camp Jeep will once again tower over McCormick Place’s South Building, igniting a testosterone-off with Ford’s Bronco Mountain. “You have this wonderful clanking and clacking in the background of the show, which gives a great dynamic to the whole thing,” Consumer Guide Automotive publisher Tom Appel said.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Aurora Beacon-News | Aurora officials say special census postponed by federal government: Aurora’s upcoming special census, which was originally set to begin in early February, has been postponed by the federal government as the U.S. Census Bureau awaits the installment of new federal leadership, city officials announced early Thursday morning. City officials have previously said that they believe Aurora was undercounted in the 2020 decennial census, costing the city millions of dollars in lost tax revenue.

* Daily Herald | Why the biggest changes to the suburban office market since the pandemic may arrive this year: Much depends on how influential the new back-to-office directive for federal government employees will be on the private sector, according to Nick Schlanger, director of research services for Oakbrook Terrace-based commercial real estate agency NAI Hiffman. “A lot of companies look to the federal government, in recessionary times and at all times,” he said. “That kind of serves as a testing ground for the logistics.”

*** Downstate ***

* WTTW | Starved Rock to Receive $30M in State Funds for Much Needed Improvements, Maintenance: Illinois is showering some love on its natural resources, with officials on Friday announcing $60 million in funding for improvement projects at five parks and historic sites. The lion’s share of the money — $33.8 million — is being funneled to Starved Rock, which is consistently ranked as Illinois’ most popular state park.

* WaPo | Nothing lasts forever for No. 14 Terps, who lose to Illinois for first time: With the No. 14 Terrapins down by a point and 1.8 seconds remaining Sunday afternoon against Illinois, Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” began playing over the loudspeakers: Palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy … The Terps came out of a timeout and ran a sneaky set in which their star guard inbounded the ball to Allie Kubek and got it right back as she stepped across the baseline. The senior immediately rose up for a clean look at a midrange jumper, but her shot careened off the rim. The miss left Maryland with its fourth loss in five games, a 66-65 heartbreaker on senior day at Xfinity Center.

*** National ***

* WIRED | The Young, Inexperienced Engineers Aiding Elon Musk’s Government Takeover: WIRED has identified six young men—all apparently between the ages of 19 and 24, according to public databases, their online presences, and other records—who have little to no government experience and are now playing critical roles in Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) project, tasked by executive order with “modernizing Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.” The engineers all hold nebulous job titles within DOGE, and at least one appears to be working as a volunteer.

* Bloomberg | Dollar General Tells Stores to Let ICE Talk to Staff, Customers: “If Agent seeks to speak with customers, please ask Agent to be discrete and as least disruptive as possible to store operations and to conduct the interview outside the store,” the memo seen by Bloomberg News said. The memo also instructed managers to immediately inform higher-ups if federal agents visit the premises, take note of agents’ credentials and inquire how they can help them. It says agents should not be allowed into non-public parts of the store without a warrant and should not be provided employee information without direction from the company.

* AP | Greyhound to stop allowing immigration checks on buses: Greyhound, the nation’s largest bus company, said Friday it will stop allowing Border Patrol agents without a warrant to board its buses to conduct routine immigration checks. The company’s announcement came one week after The Associated Press reported on a leaked Border Patrol memo confirming that agents can’t board private buses without the consent of the bus company. Greyhound had previously insisted that even though it didn’t like the immigration checks, it had no choice under federal law but to allow them.

* CNN | How an arcane Treasury Department office became ground zero in the war over federal spending: The top civil servant at the Treasury Department, David Lebryk, left unexpectedly on Friday after Trump-affiliated officials expressed interest in stopping certain payments made by the federal government, according to three people familiar with the situation. […] According to one person familiar with the department, Trump-affiliated employees had previously asked about Treasury’s ability to stop payments. But Lebryk’s pushback was, “We don’t do that,” the person said.

* NYT | Canada and Mexico Move to Retaliate on Trump Tariff Orders: Mexico and Canada immediately vowed to impose tariffs of their own. The Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, announced retaliatory tariffs starting with 25 percent tariffs on approximately $20 billion worth of U.S. goods on Tuesday, with $85 billion more to follow within three weeks.