* Subscribers were told about this on Tuesday morning and given a more through briefing this morning. ICYMI: Democratic leaders paint brighter picture for Illinois finances after budget briefing. Tribune…

- “Revenue projections are up,” House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch of Hillside said after a meeting in the governor’s Springfield office Tuesday.
- No tax increases are expected in the governor’s proposed budget, which might even include a small surplus, Welch said.
- “It’s going to be a good — a better proposal than we were bracing for a couple months ago,” Senate President Don Harmon said.

* Related stories…

∙ ABC Chicago: Mayor Johnson preps for sanctuary city testimony, seeks state funds for transportation and education
∙ WAND: Illinois Republicans ask for no new taxes and transparency in funding ahead of Governor’s budget address
∙ Capitol News Illinois: Eliminating immigrant spending, boosting education funding top Senate Republican budget priorities

* Governor Pritzker is scheduled to deliver his State of the State and Budget Address at noon. The Governor is hosting a roundtable on lowering prescription drug costs at 3:45 pm. Click here to watch.

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Sun-Times | Trump’s Friday firings leave EPA Chicago office down dozens of scientists, staff: Bridget Lynch, a scientist focused on ground water and drinking water, began her job a month ago. A Chicago-area native and graduate of Wellesley College, Lynch said she received a form email around 4:30 p.m. Friday that said that she was “failing to demonstrate that my qualifications fit the role, even though I’m a highly qualified recent graduate, and I was doing my best.”

* Daily Herald | McConchie’s would-be successor isn’t a Republican and can’t serve, lawsuit alleges: Barrington Hills Trustee Darby Hills’ appointment to a vacant state Senate seat should be nullified because she doesn’t meet the state’s definition of a Republican, a lawsuit filed Tuesday argues. Algonquin resident Brittany Colatorti’s complaint also alleges the GOP committee formed to choose a successor for state Sen. Dan McConchie in the 26th District failed to properly notify the public of its Feb. 14 meeting or the application process, and that Hills’ nomination should be canceled as a result.

*** Statehouse News ***

* WAND | Rep. Blaine Wilhour argues Illinois should stop focusing on equity in education funding: Rep. Will Davis (D- East Hazel Crest), a Black legislative leader, said he took offense to Wilhour’s rant. Davis stressed that budget investments for equity and inclusion have helped students in many Illinois schools. […] “We’ve got a lot of work to do on getting students to where they need to be contributors to society,” Wilhour said. “That’s ultimately what we strive for here.” “I agree. We have plenty of work to do,” Davis said. “But, you took particular interest in saying students of color are the ones that can’t do anything.”

* Capitol News Illinois | State official: renewable investments ‘best thing’ to lower energy costs: On Tuesday, Illinois Commerce Commission Executive Director Jonathan Feipel lent credence to some concerns around energy generation. The ICC regulates electric and natural gas utilities and is one of the major entities enforcing the state’s renewable energy goals. “If we all sat and did nothing, we would have a significant problem when we get to 2030,” Feipel told lawmakers.

* WAND | IL Senate Democrats hopes social security age remains 68: A resolution that passed an Illinois Senate committee asks for Congress to not raise the retirement age for social security. State Sen. Christopher Belt (D-East St. Louis) says the average age for low income Black workers is below 68, the age they would receive social security benefits. He also says forcing senior citizens to work during harsh winters could cause major health issues.

*** Statewide ***

* Daily Herald | Nonprofit to distribute iCARE kits for Illinois schools: This March, in conjunction with National Social Work Month, iCARE4 Adoptive And Foster Families will distribute iCARE Schools Connection Kits to public schools across Illinois. The initial distribution of 1,000 kits will reach about 25% of Illinois’ roughly 4,400 public schools, including Chicago Public and Lake County schools, where many of the state’s adopted, foster and kinship students are enrolled, said Laura Adams, president and CEO of iCARE, a nonprofit she founded in February 2024.

*** Chicago ***

* Tribune | Mayor Johnson says staff changes were ‘personal decisions’ despite housecleaning promise: Asked Tuesday if he would soon fire other employees, Johnson said he does not “discuss personnel issues” and “this is not about one individual” before instead highlighting several favorite policies. But despite distancing himself from the staff changes, Johnson maintained he was nonetheless “elected to disrupt the status quo.”

* Crain’s | Johnson signals more City Hall shakeups coming: Despite Johnson promising to shake up his administration by ousting those who don’t agree with his agenda, many key positions have been left unfilled by permanent appointees, including two city sister agencies, the CTA and the Chicago Housing Authority.

* Tribune | UIC proposes plan to close School of Literatures, Cultural Studies and Linguistics amid $22M deficit: The LSCL school is part of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, which has accrued a debt of $22 million, according to a tenured faculty member who asked to remain anonymous. Other faculty members told the Tribune that if the college does not take measures to close the deficit, it will be forced into receivership, in which a court-appointed receiver takes control of the institution’s finances and operations.

* Tribune | Chicago Housing Authority is owed millions in rent and failing to enforce leases, report finds: CHA spokesperson Matthew Aguilar said in a statement to the Tribune that the rent arrears and lack of lease enforcement are “partially due to the COVID pandemic” when there were federal and state eviction moratoria on nonpayment of rent evictions. Once courts began hearing eviction cases again, CHA started addressing its backlog of cases and has seen its eviction cases double over the past year, the agency said.

* CBS Chicago | Chicago organization fuming after federal cuts target legal aid for migrant children: Yet Tuesday, the Trump administration cut all federal dollars that provided the migrants any legal help. “Taking lawyers away is a very effective way to ensure that children will fail in court, and that they will be promptly deported to the conditions that they fled,” said Erfani.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Aurora Beacon-News | Six years after mass shooting shook Aurora, legal battle continues for victims’ families, witnesses: ‘I feel like it happened a week ago’: For the victims’ families and several witnesses, the nightmare is compounded by a protracted lawsuit against the Illinois State Police. The wrongful death suit, filed shortly after killings, blames the state police for allowing the shooter to possess a gun even though the agency knew he was a convicted felon and prohibited from owning a firearm.

* Daily Southtown | Governors State to hold inaugural Black History Education Symposium: The education symposium will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m on Thursday, Feb. 20, at University Park-based Governors State, and include workshops, discussions and presentations at Engbretson Hall led by Black professionals. One session will examine the historical and current challenges faced by Black employees in the workplace and how human resource practices can be adapted to promote equity and inclusion, Black talent development and career progression. Other topics will include how to capitalize on one’s talent and catapult one’s career.

*** Downstate ***

* BND | New District 201 superintendent has deep ties to metro-east, Belleville High Schools: After a decade with Belleville Township High School District 201, Marshaun C. Warren was promoted to become its next superintendent. Warren, who is currently the district’s assistant superintendent of human resources and diversity, equity and inclusion, will assume her new role July 1. She will replace current superintendent Brian Mentzer, who is leaving the district for Millstadt Consolidated Community School District 160.

* WCIA | Meet Willie Comer: The Champaign man transforming lives one basketball game, lunch program at a time: For Willie Comer, East Central Illinois’ Youth for Christ executive director, it’s all about meeting the kids where they are. That means going into Champaign schools to have lunch with students or organizing basketball games to introduce them to the game in a safe environment.

*** National ***

* Sun-Times | SAVE Act would make voting harder for millions of Americans: The head of the League of Women Voters of Illinois explains how the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act would restrict voting access by requiring people to show citizenship documentation when registering to vote or updating registration.

* Tribune | RFK Jr. says panel will examine childhood vaccine schedule after promising not to change it: “Nothing is going to be off limits,” Kennedy said, adding that pesticides, food additives, microplastics, antidepressants and the electromagnetic waves emitted by cellphones and microwaves also would be studied. Kennedy’s remarks, which circulated on social media, were delivered during a welcome ceremony for the new health secretary at the agency’s headquarters in Washington as a measles outbreak among mostly unvaccinated people raged in West Texas. The event was held after a weekend of mass firings of thousands of HHS employees. More dismissals are expected.

* WaPo | A Nobel Prize winner decodes why people aren’t having kids: In places where men do more around the house, fertility rates are higher; where they do less, rates are lower. Goldin’s research paper doesn’t advocate any specific policy, so I called and asked what she thinks can be done to achieve “couple equity,” where couples share child-care and household tasks equally. After a pause, she said men must believe that every other dad is doing more housework now, too.

* NYT | DOGE Claimed It Saved $8 Billion in One Contract. It Was Actually $8 Million: But it appears that the DOGE list vastly overstated the actual intended value of that contract. A closer scrutiny of a federal database shows that a recent version of the contract was for $8 million, not $8 billion. A larger total savings number published on the site, $55 billion, lacked specific documentation.