* WCIA…

Eastern Illinois University announced the elimination of 44 positions, as well as an additional 19 jobs that will not be re-staffed, citing declines in revenue.

EIU President Jay Gatrell sent out an announcement Tuesday morning that the following would be eliminated from the university:

- 17 staff positions
- 23 annually contracted instructor non-renewals
- Four non-renewals for academic support professionals […]

The university cited the following reasons:

- The discontinuation of federal funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
- The loss of several grants and contracts funded in full or part by federal monies that provided more than $1 million in annual indirect revenue
- An unexpected decrease in international student enrollment stemming from new federal visa practices and related policy

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* Tribune…

Debbie Brockman, a WGN-TV producer violently arrested by ICE Friday morning in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of Chicago, has retained an attorney and intends to “pursue all legal avenues available” to hold federal authorities accountable, according to a news release Tuesday.

Brockman and her legal team “adamantly deny” allegations that she assaulted federal officers during an immigration enforcement action, according to the release. They assert she was simply walking to the bus stop on her way to work when she was attacked by Border Patrol agents.

“This incident should be alarming and horrifying to every single person in this country,” Brad Thomson, a Chicago attorney representing Brockman, said in the release. “If armed, masked, federal agents are snatching U.S. citizens off the street as they walk to work and throwing them in unmarked vehicles, you can only imagine what these agents must be willing to do to our immigrant neighbors and people who dare to speak out against them.”

*** Statewide ***

* Shaw Local | ‘The government came down with a hammer’ - Immigration crackdown fears impacting Illinois restaurant industry: “They also have other jobs and they’ve watched the agents come in and take their co-workers away,” she said. One staff member is a college student from South America, who, “doesn’t go anywhere without her papers,” Gillespie said. Her papers – meaning her passport – she said. She said she could understand if they were criminals. But these are people “who have a right to be here,” Gillespie said.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Crain’s | Opinion: Illinois can’t let this law stall our future: The Biometric Information Privacy Act may have had good intentions when passed nearly twenty years ago, but it has been marked by controversy since. It was initially intended to keep Illinoisans’ sensitive biometric data safe, but in practice, it created legal uncertainty for companies, making them think twice before doing business in our state.

*** Chicago ***

* Sun-Times | Feds tear-gas crowd after car chase leads to crash on Chicago’s East Side: Details of what led to the crash remained scant, but dozens of residents showed up near the scene at 105th Street and Avenue N and were met with armed agents guarding the scene. Video shared with the Sun-Times appears to show federal agents in a white SUV tailing a red SUV and attempting to conduct a “PIT maneuver” or precision immobilization technique, a law enforcement tactic used to end high-speed pursuits by intentionally striking a fleeing vehicle to cause it to spin out.

* ABC Chicago | Chicago’s first Family Justice Center opens for Cook County domestic violence survivors: The Cook County state’s attorney says domestic violence continues to go up in Cook County. So, the need for support is real. The new center is located at 3410 W. Van Buren St. in the Garfield Park neighborhood. It will begin to welcome adults in a few weeks. The Chicago Advocacy Network for Hope is the latest initiative to connect people experiencing domestic violence with resources, such as housing, legal aid and mental health services.

* Crain’s | Chicago State’s growth plan: Build new dorms and more students will come: Enrollment in bachelor degree programs by African American students fell 21% between 2012 and 2022, according to the Illinois Board of Higher Education, outpacing the overall decline in undergraduate enrollment of 14.4% in the same period. That’s in large part why Scott is undertaking an ambitious plan to build more housing and amenities, thereby making CSU more attractive to candidates looking to live on campus at the predominantly black institution. The student population is 76% African American and 9% Hispanic.

* Block Club | Controversial Broadway Rezoning In Edgewater, Uptown Heads To City Council: The City Council’s zoning committee voted Tuesday to approve plans to “upzone” Broadway from Devon to Montrose avenues in Edgewater and Uptown. Upzoning refers to reclassifying an area’s zoning to allow for taller, denser buildings and permit additional business uses. The goal of the upzoning is to create more housing on a corridor that abuts the Red Line and in an area that has seen housing prices spike and gentrification concerns increase, officials who back the plan have said.

* Crain’s | Chicago airports reject Noem’s TSA video blaming government shutdown on Dems: “The Chicago Department of Aviation declined a Department of Homeland Security request last week to post a video at Chicago’s airports,” the aviation department said in a statement. “Advertising at Chicago’s airports, including promotional materials and public-service announcements, must comply with CDA’s Advertising Guidelines, which prohibit content that endorses or opposes any named political party. These guidelines help ensure the airports remain welcoming and neutral spaces for all travelers.

* Block Club | CTA To Raise Fares 25 Cents Per Ride As Fiscal Cliff Looms: Starting Feb. 1, it’ll cost an extra quarter to ride the train or bus, according to the CTA’s 2026 budget recommendations. That will raise a single bus ride to $2.50 and a train ride to $2.75. The CTA will also raise a one-day pass from $5 to $6, a seven-day pass from $20 to $25 and a 30-day pass from $75 to $85. The three-day pass will be eliminated to “streamline fare offerings,” according to the budget documents.

* Sun-Times | Facebook suspends popular Chicago ICE-sightings group at Trump administration’s request: The group, called “ICE Sighting-Chicagoland,” has been increasingly used over the last five weeks of “Operation Midway Blitz,” President Donald Trump’s intense deportation campaign, to warn neighbors that federal agents are near schools, grocery stores and other community staples so they can take steps to protect themselves. But the Trump administration has claimed that its agents — nearly all of whom wear face coverings, don’t wear badges and at times drive vehicles without license plates — are “under attack.”

* WBEZ | How pear whisperer Oriana Kruszewski became a darling of Chicago’s top chefs: Before harvesting began, she held court, slicing open fruit and passing around juicy samples while sharing a history of the pawpaw, a native North American fruit that she also grows. She told stories, cracked jokes, doled out life advice and took a picture of the clan that she would later post herself on her picturesque — and often funny — Instagram account. That is a snapshot of what it’s like to work with Kruszewski, who has developed a popular following among Chicago chefs. They say they are inspired by her wisdom, culled from years tending to an acreage she purchased at $3,000 an acre decades ago. It was a meager price compared to what the land is worth today, she told her volunteers, turning the story into a lesson.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* ABC Chicago | ICE has until Tuesday night to remove fence around Broadview facility to meet judge’s deadline: The village argued it’s a safety hazard, especially for first responders. A bulldozer briefly pulled up Tuesday morning, but no effort was made to take the eight-foot metal fence down. This comes as many said if it does come down, it will be a clear violations of checks and balances in government.

* Daily Herald | ‘So much uncertainty’: How Woodridge food pantry is dealing with demand: The West Suburban Community Pantry strives to make its lobby a welcoming, dignified space, and Jeanne Sheridan is a big reason for that. The octogenarian volunteer, attentive and warm, helps people know where to go and what to do. On a recent morning, she guided a woman with a young child to the pantry’s market in Woodridge. A quote attributed to Mother Teresa is displayed in a hallway: “If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.”

* Daily Herald | ‘So much uncertainty’: How Woodridge food pantry is dealing with demand: The pantry serves about 1,000 families every week through in-person and online markets. Visits over the last year were up about 15% compared to the previous one. “You don’t have to tell us why you need X, Y, Z,” CEO Maeven Sipes said. “We just want you to come and get what you need and have one less worry.”

*** Downstate ***

* WMBD | Peoria County braces for Sean Grayson trial street closures: The case has drawn national attention and several out-of-town media outlets are expected to come to Peoria, as are protest groups. County officials have said the 200 and 300 blocks of Main Street will be closed to traffic, as will the 300 block of Hamilton Boulevard. All three blocks will reopen to traffic in the evening.

* WGLT | Signing off: Longtime Peoria broadcaster Chuck Collins ready to retire after 50 years on-air: The chief meteorologist of WEEK-TV is retiring on Wednesday after two generations of forecasting weather to the Peoria and Bloomington-Normal TV market. “The biggest thing I’m going to miss is talking to kids about weather. During the school year I would go to two or three schools a week talking to kids, especially grade school kids,” said Collins in an interview on WGLT’s Sound Ideas. “Usually grades three through six, they have a weather curriculum they study. I guess I’m a big kid as well.”

* WJBD | Ameren’s natural gas storage fields in Centralia to undergo modernization: Ameren Illinois has announced the Centralia Natural Gas Storage Fields near the intersection of Calumet and Perrine Street on the city’s south side will undergo major rebuilding next year. The result is expected to be a smaller footprint and a more economical operation. Ameren has already completed similar reshaping at its natural gas storage fields in Tilden and Freeburg.

*** National ***

* Politico | ‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat: William Hendrix, the Kansas Young Republicans’ vice chair, used the words “n–ga” and “n–guh,” variations of a racial slur, more than a dozen times in the chat. Bobby Walker, the vice chair of the New York State Young Republicans at the time, referred to rape as “epic.” Peter Giunta, who at the time was chair of the same organization, wrote in a message sent in June that “everyone that votes no is going to the gas chamber. Giunta was referring to an upcoming vote on whether he should become chair of the Young Republican National Federation, the GOP’s 15,000-member political organization for Republicans between 18 and 40 years old.

* St. Louis Post-Dispatch | Bailout? Missouri farmers say protecting China market is more important: Last year, China bought over 105 million tons of the legume from the U.S., making it the country’s biggest soybean buyer. This year, China has yet to place an order, turning instead to Brazilian suppliers — leaving U.S. soybean producers searching for new buyers amid lower prices. Agriculture is Missouri’s top economic driver, with almost 86,000 farms and over 400,000 farm workers across the state, according to the Missouri Department of Agriculture. It’s one of the country’s largest growers when it comes to plants such as rice, corn, cotton, soybeans and peanuts.

* AP | Trump and budget chief Vought are making this a government shutdown unlike any other: As the shutdown enters its third week, the Office and Management and Budget said Tuesday it’s preparing to “batten down the hatches” with more reductions in force to come. The president calls budget chief Russ Vought the “grim reaper” who’s seized on the opportunity to fund Trump’s priorities, paying the military while slashing employees in health, education, the sciences and other areas with actions that have been criticized as illegal and are facing court challenges. “Pay the troops, pay law enforcement, continue the RIFs, and wait,” OMB said in a social media post.