* We’ve raised less than $700 today. We can do better!

We’re still at $28,705 total, and LSSI needs a whole lot more to make sure every foster child gets a Christmas gift this year. Every dollar goes straight to gifts, and the average one costs about $25.

So please, if you can give, click here and help turn this day around. We really need to pick it up. Thank you!

* Bloomberg…

A group backed by financier Michael Sacks has started funding ads against Chicago’s plan to bring back a tax on large corporate payrolls, drawing the ire of Mayor Brandon Johnson.

Common Ground Collective, which has raised $11 million to drive change at City Hall years before the next mayoral election, is financing six-figure digital and streaming ads, including one that characterizes the proposed levy as $100 million in new taxes. The group is backed by Sacks, chairman of asset management firm GCM Grosvenor and a prominent Democratic donor, and has more than 100 contributors.

Johnson, who is struggling to pass a budget before the Dec. 31 deadline, has proposed charging companies with at least 100 employees a tax of $21 per worker per month. The tax, once dubbed a “job killer,” would raise $100 million for community-safety programs.

“Frankly I think it’s beneath these so-called business leaders to lie to the public about the community safety surcharge,” Johnson said at a press conference this week, naming Sacks specifically. “My challenge to them is to just explain their reasoning and debate the pros and cons of this proposal.”

* Illinois Bankers Association CEO Randy Hultgren is retiring …

Illinois Bankers Association CEO Randy Hultgren has informed his board of directors he will be retiring from the helm of the statewide business group at the end of the 2026 Spring legislative session.

“The IBA is in strong financial shape. We’ve had record participation in recent conferences and we’re coming off legislative and legal wins to protect our members and their customers,” Hultgren said. “We’ve united as an industry to battle the ill-conceived Interchange Fee Prohibition Act that would cause financial losses to Illinois small businesses, hurt consumers and make Illinois banks an outlier in the nation’s banking system. We’ve invested in programs to build talented future leaders for the banking industry; and our organization helped draft the “Access to Credit in Rural Economies Act” which made it into federal law this year and will make it easier for farmers and rural homeowners to access low-cost credit. […]

The Board of Directors says a search will begin immediately to succeed Hultgren.

“While we would have preferred Randy stay, we respect his decision to step down next year and we’re thankful for his accomplishments on behalf of Illinois bankers. He has led the IBA through a period of unprecedented success and his legislative expertise as a former state and federal lawmaker made us the most effective voice for banks in Springfield, Washington, D.C. and Chicago,” said IBA Board Chair T.J. Burge, president and CEO of the Community Partners Savings Bank in Salem, Illinois. “We’re grateful for the time Randy is committing to our search process, participating in the spring legislative session in Springfield and helping the next leader transition into office. Randy’s successor will have big shoes to fill.”

*** Statehouse News ***

* Greg Hinz | Who — and what — do voters want in the Legislature? Here’s a race to watch.: An interesting test of that proposition is shaping on Chicago’s North Side, where four contenders are vying in the March Democratic primary to succeed state Rep. Margaret Croke, a Democrat who is giving up her seat to run for Illinois comptroller. Such vacancies rarely arise in that part of town. Three contenders have more or less conventional political pedigrees, from activity in ward political organizations and local school councils to work in the Barack Obama White House and at City Hall. The fourth has little connection to the district beyond living there but is staked by a ton of family money. And to boot, in his college days a little over a decade ago, he headed Cornell University Students for Mitt Romney.

*** Chicago ***

* Sun-Times | CPS Board approves $17.5 million settlement for former student sexually abused at Little Village high school: The Chicago Board of Education on Wednesday approved a $17.5 million settlement for a former student who was sexually abused by a former dean at a Little Village high school. It’s the largest settlement for a school sex abuse case in Illinois history, according to the law firm representing the former student.

* ProPublica | Chicago Promoted Two Police Officers After Investigators Found They Engaged in Sexual Misconduct: The officers’ promotions this spring were not due to an oversight. Department officials knew about their disciplinary records, but those records could not be considered as the department evaluated their fitness for promotion. The main qualifying factor was their test scores from a two-part exam That Chicago police officers can rise in the ranks in spite of significant problems in their records reflects a decadeslong failing that the Chicago Police Department has been repeatedly called on to fix, an investigation by the Invisible Institute and ProPublica found.

* Tribune | State/Lake ‘L’ station to close Jan. 5 for demolition, construction: Throughout construction, the city said, Brown, Green, Orange, Pink and Purple Line Express trains won’t stop at State/Lake. Riders can use nearby stations at Washington/Wabash and Clark/Lake, the city said, as well as the Lake Red Line subway station, which will remain open. The rebuild will also impact Loop drivers. Starting Dec. 8, eastbound Lake Street between State Street and Wabash Avenue will have intermittent closures during off-peak hours, CDOT said. Starting Jan. 5, Lake St. will be limited to local traffic only between Dearborn Street and Wabash.

* Crain’s | Foxtrot is reopening its old Loop location: LaVitola seemed unfazed by downtown foot traffic being down and retail vacancies being up — dynamics that have prompted some business leaders to shy away from the Loop. “The building is doing really well,” he said of Willis Tower. “And the store was really starting to build a loyal following in that part of the Loop prior to everything that happened.”

* Crain’s | Coming soon to a screen near you: a documentary tracing Schwinn bike history: Schwinn, founded as Arnold, Schwinn & Co. in Chicago in 1895, served as a classic rags-to-riches-to-bankruptcy story through four generations of family ownership, while signaling the painful post-industrial transition of many Chicago firms hammered by overseas competition in the late 20th century. The book, “No Hands: The Rise and Fall of the Schwinn Bicycle Company, an American Institution,” by former Crain’s staff journalists Judith Crown and Glenn Coleman, was published in 1996.

* Block Club | Bucktown, Logan Square UPS Stores Reopening This Month Under New Ownership: A year after the city shut down two UPS Stores in Bucktown and Logan Square over licensing issues, a new franchise owner is reopening them. The UPS Stores at 1658 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Bucktown and 2020 N. California Ave. in Logan Square will reopen this month, a company spokesperson confirmed. The stores have been shuttered since December 2024, when they were ordered closed by the city for operating without business licenses under previous franchise owner The Neely Group.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Forest Park Review | Hosty, former Forest Park leader, named RF township clerk: Former Forest Park Village Council member Mark Hosty was appointed River Forest Township Clerk on Nov. 18 to replace Margaret Detmer who resigned her post effective at the end of that day. Detmer, who was appointed Township Clerk in 2024 when the previous clerk John Becvar was appointed Township Supervisor. Becvar replaced Carla Sloan who had resigned her post. He was reelected to a full four-year term earlier this year. Detmer said that she resigned because of the time commitment of the part time job and the pressure of being the mother of three small children.

* Daily Herald | 178 single-family homes proposed in Crystal Lake where Amazon warehouse was planned: Atlanta-based Pulte Homes is proposing to build 178 single-family homes at 275 S. Main St., where Amazon originally planned to build a 180,000-square-foot distribution center on the 63-acre parcel. Amazon received approval by the city, but the company walked away from the plan in 2022 before it formally purchased the property. The residential plan, called Lakeland Farm, includes a center passive park area with walking paths throughout the development. Developers plan to have three access points off Main Street, Exchange Drive and Commonwealth Drive, said Karen Weber, attorney representing Pulte Homes.

* Naperville Sun | Naperville council passes new e-bike age restrictions, fines for parents: The new rules, proposed last month, were unanimously approved. State law already governs the use of such vehicles, but many suburban communities are adopting stricter rules to govern e-bike and e-scooter usage, citing issues with young people in particular not following the rules of the road. Similar to state law, Naperville has three classifications for e-bikes: Class 1 low-speed electric bicycles, which are pedal assist and can reach speeds of up to 20 mph; Class 2 low-speed electric bicycles, which are both pedal assist and throttle and have a maximum speed of up to 20 mph; and Class 3 low-speed electric bicycles, which are pedal assist and can reach speeds of up to 28 mph.

* Daily Herald | Geneva committee recommends $59.4 million police station referendum: A group of Geneva alderpersons has recommended that the city place a question on the March ballot that would ask voters to approve a plan to borrow $59.4 million for a new police facility. The alderpersons have also recommended asking voters whether they support the city becoming home rule in a referendum that could appear on a ballot within two years. At Monday’s Geneva Committee of the Whole meeting, alderpersons voted 7-2 in favor of pursuing the police facility question. Third Ward Alderperson Larry Furnish was absent.

*** Downstate ***

* WCIA | Hearing on proposed Sangamon Co. data center brings hundreds of supporters, opposers: “We’re going to need every union trade that’s available to us locally. We’ve committed to signing a project labor agreement. It’s not lip service,” said Bradd Hout, CyrusOne’s director of location and power strategy. Union members dressed in orange were the project’s most vocal supporters at Wednesday’s public hearing

* Illinois Times | Sober living house for LGBTQ+ in the works: Casey Prather credits a sober living home run by Springfield resident Julie Benson to playing a part in the longest stretch of sobriety he’s experienced in his adult life. Prather calls Benson’s Home Sweet Home Sober Living home, which he began living at almost two-and-a-half years ago, “unlike any other” he’s experienced. Now, the pair are working together to find a new residence to create a sober living space for LGBTQ+ individuals.

* BND | Freeburg area farmer vows to resume egg sales after bird flu decimates flock: “I was shocked at how fast it went through,” farmer Joel Funk said Wednesday. “It’s devastating.” Funk noticed some chickens had died last weekend and initially thought the deaths were caused by the cold weather that had moved into the metro-east. By Sunday he suspected the deaths were due to something deadlier than low temperatures.

*** National ***

* Reuters | Chicago Fed sees November unemployment rate steady at 4.4% as alternate data shows job losses: The U.S. unemployment rate was unchanged around 4.4% in November, the Chicago Federal Reserve estimated on Thursday, while closely watched data from a private provider added to the evidence that the U.S. labor market is slowly weakening. With official unemployment reports from the Bureau of Labor Statistics still delayed following the government shutdown in October and November, the new reports could add weight to arguments at next week’s Federal Reserve meeting in favor of cutting the benchmark policy rate another quarter of a percentage point.

* Bloomberg | Trump’s AI Push May Hinge on Renewable Energy: The Trump administration is moving to fast-track the construction of power-hungry data centers as a matter of national security. At the same time, it’s adding roadblocks for new solar and wind farms. But the two policies could be at odds: Hindering renewable energy projects risks slowing the AI boom — and could exacerbate rising electricity prices, a slew of data suggests. “It’s an all-hands-on-deck moment right now to get the power to supply this,” said Robert Whaley, director of North American power at Wood Mackenzie, an energy consultancy. “In the next 10 years, there’s really nothing to replace renewables.”

* Automotive News | Rivian’s next phase hinges on mass-market R2 and advanced autonomy, CEO says: Four years after the California automaker launched its high-end R1T pickup and R1S crossover, Rivian begins a new growth phase focused on the more affordable R2 crossover, an evolving software-defined platform and self-driving. “Right now we’re just completely heads down, focused on the development of our technology platform sets,” Scaringe said in an interview on Dec. 1. “That’s the big tactical focus, and then the big product focus is R2.” The midsize crossover will have a starting price around $45,000 before shipping when it launches in the first half of next year, about half the average selling price of Rivian’s bigger R1 vehicles, Scaringe said.