* Sun-Times…

Gov. JB Pritzker signed legislation Tuesday that bars civil immigration arrests from being made in or near courthouses, and gives residents more leeway to sue federal agents over alleged civil rights violations.

Illinois’ “ICE out” legislation was approved this fall by Democratic state lawmakers in response to the Trump administration’s enhanced immigration enforcement being carried out across the Chicago area. […]

The new state law takes effect immediately, prohibiting immigration arrests inside or within 1,000 feet of state courthouses, which have been the sites of deportation operations over the past few months by federal agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as well as Customs and Border Protection. […]

The new state law takes effect immediately, prohibiting immigration arrests inside or within 1,000 feet of state courthouses, which have been the sites of deportation operations over the past few months by federal agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as well as Customs and Border Protection.

* The Metropolitan Alliance of Police has filed a lawsuit against the Village of Arlington Heights. From the press release…

The Metropolitan Alliance of Police (MAP), alongside impacted plaintiffs, today filed a lawsuit to protect officers’ rights to organize and collectively bargain. The lawsuit challenges that a newly passed Arlington Heights ordinance violates the Illinois Workers’ Rights Amendment and unlawfully strips police sergeants of their fundamental labor rights.

The complaint, filed in Cook County Circuit Court, asserts that following the passage of SB1701, the Village of Arlington Heights deliberately rewrote its merit-based promotion system to evade the requirements of state law and to prevent sergeants from forming or joining a union.

Among other provisions, SB1701 stipulates that a “police officer who is in a rank for which the police officer must complete a written test” is not classified as a supervisor. Sergeants in Arlington Heights were historically promoted through a longstanding merit-based process that included written testing and appointment by the independent Board of Fire & Police Commissioners. Since this process now made sergeants in Arlington Heights eligible to form a union and since sergeants in Arlington Heights were in the process of pursuing their union rights under SB1701, Arlington Heights eliminated the merit-based promotion process entirely.

The Village did so in direct violation of Article I, Section 25 of the Illinois Constitution, the Workers’ Rights Amendment, which guarantees that “Employees shall have the fundamental right to organize and to bargain collectively… No law shall be passed that interferes with, negates, or diminishes” those rights.

“Manipulating the promotion system to strip officers of their constitutional rights is both unlawful and unacceptable,” said Keith George, MAP President. “Arlington Heights calculated maneuver was never about efficiency, fairness, or public safety; rather, it was a blatant union busting tactic designed to silence the voices of those entrusted with protecting our community. Through this lawsuit, we intend to make clear that no municipality has the authority to undermine the constitution or retaliate against officers who choose to organize.”

*** Statehouse News ***

* WTVO | New Illinois law requires libraries to carry opioid reversal drugs and train staff: The update, signed by IDPH Director Dr. Sameer Vohra, adds libraries to the list of locations permitted to stock and administer opioid reversal medications such as naloxone and nalmefene. The move supports compliance with Public Act 104-0056, which takes effect January 1, 2026, requiring libraries governed by the Local Library Act to maintain a supply of these lifesaving drugs and ensure staff are trained to use them.

*** Chicago ***

* Tribune | CTA board vacancy an opportunity for Mayor Brandon Johnson before he loses mayoral control of transit agency: Michele Lee, a disability advocate who was appointed to the CTA board by former Mayor Lori Lightfoot in 2022, is leaving the board. […] Currently, the CTA board is staffed by four mayoral appointees and three gubernatorial appointees. But under the new paradigm mandated by the state legislature, the mayor will get three board picks while the governor and Cook County Board president will each get two — effectively taking away the mayor’s majority control of the board.

* WBEZ | Judge keeps move-out date for South Shore building raided by feds, sending residents scrambling: In an emergency hearing held via Zoom, Cook County Circuit Judge Debra Ann Seaton stood firm on the Dec. 12 move-out deadline and stood by the court-appointed property receiver, Friedman Communities. “It seems like this is being made into a political issue; it should be a safety issue for the tenants,” Seaton said, adding that the building was uninhabitable due to a lack of heat, fire hazards, and security issues.

* Tribune | ComEd offers customers $803 million in energy credits while seeking $268 million reconciliation rate hike: The average ComEd residential customer can expect to receive about $65 in total bill credits over five months to partially offset high electric supply rates as part of the state’s clean energy legislation. In addition, qualified low-income customers are eligible for up to two years of percentage-based savings on their monthly bills beginning in January. But ComEd is also seeking a one-time $268.5 million reconciliation rate adjustment from the Illinois Commerce Commission this month to recover extra capital expenses the utility said it incurred above its projected budget in 2024.

* Crain’s | ‘We don’t need a letter’: Johnson, Pritzker push back on CTA funding threats: “I don’t need a letter from the Trump administration to tell me what my priorities are,” Johnson said Tuesday morning. “As I’ve said repeatedly, we do have to look at what the security apparatus looks like for public transportation. (The Chicago Police Department) plays a role in that. The Department of Public Health plays a role in that. All of us play a role in ensuring that CTA riders experience maximum safety,” he said.

* Chicago Mag | The Man Behind the Shield: I ask Snelling whether his shared history with the individuals he arrested in those early days shaped how he saw criminals. He quickly rejects the notion that it made him more empathetic to them. “My empathy has always been for the people who are victimized,” he says. “In the moment where someone is harming someone else, I’m not empathizing with that.”

* Sun-Times | O’Hare-based Border Patrol officer sexually abused, robbed women in 2022, indictment claims: The accusations date back nearly four years and are not tied to the aggressive deportation campaign involving CBP officers that hit Chicago this fall. Uribe worked as a customs and immigration officer assigned primarily to O’Hare Airport at the time of the allegations. The indictment handed up against Uribe offers few details but alleges crimes against four victims between Feb. 5, 2022, and Oct. 9, 2022 in Schaumburg and Naperville. It claims Uribe brandished a firearm during one alleged incident, on Oct. 2, 2022, in Schaumburg.

* Crain’s | Economic Club of Chicago moving HQ to Michigan Avenue: The nearly 100-year-old club for Chicago’s top C-suite executives is relocating next summer from its longtime offices at 33 N. Dearborn St. to the iconic “Diamond Building” at 150 N. Michigan Ave. The ECC will occupy a new 7,538-square-foot office space that overlooks Millennium Park, Lake Michigan and the Magnificent Mile.

* Block Club | How Chicago Protest Music Is Meeting The Political Moment: A self-admitted “folkie” who grew up listening to Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, McDermott once studied at Chicago’s Old Town School of Folk Music, an institution connected to protest music since its founding 68 years ago. “The idea of American folk music as a genre of music — you know, folk music with a capital F — comes out of the labor struggles and anti-fascism movements of the ’40s” and became more popular in the 1950s, explained John Huber, the Old Town School’s director of education.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Shaw Local | Will County opens vote-by-mail applications this month for March primary: Will County voters may begin applying for a vote-by-mail ballot for the upcoming March 17, 2026 primary election starting Dec. 17, Will County Clerk Annette Parker announced. The last day for the Will County Clerk’s Office to receive a vote-by-mail application by mail or electronically is Thursday, March 12, 2026.

* Daily Herald | Kane County Board member announces resignation: Kane County Board District 9 member Gary Daugherty announced Tuesday that he is resigning his seat, effective at the end of December. Daugherty said he is stepping down due to illness. He did not specify what the illness is, but said it has become difficult for him to continue serving. “I’m so sorry. If I had known this illness would be so debilitating, I never would have run for office,” he told the board at its monthly meeting. Daugherty, a Republican from Gilberts, was elected in 2022. His term expires in November 2026.

* Shaw Local | Geneva to go to voters with $59.4 million ask for new police station, public safety: On Monday, the council voted unanimously during a special meeting to put the question on the March 17 primary ballot. Property taxpayers will be able to see how much the proposed bond issue would cost them by using a new addition to the city’s website — an estimated tax impact calculator, City Administrator Alex Voigt said during a brief presentation. If voters approve the request, the owner of a home valued at $500,000 — the median in the city — would see a property tax increase of just under $400 a year, according to the calculation.

* Daily Herald | After two-month delay, Route 83, Winchester Road intersection near Grayslake reopened: The reopening was announced Tuesday by the Lake County Division of Transportation. “Once construction began, crews discovered a larger-than-expected area of poor soil (peat) south of the intersection,” according to LCDOT officials. “While this extended the project by about two months, LCDOT prioritized long-term safety and durability.”

*** Downstate ***

* WCIA | Stephens Family YMCA announces facility expansion with Carle: Jennifer Newell, the YMCA’s Director of Marketing, said in a news release that the YMCA will add on to its current building with 50,000 square feet of space. It will be a joint effort with Carle Health; Carle is donating the land the addition will sit on, which is directly south of the current building, and Carle will have a presence in the addition.

* Press Release | SIUE Announces Alternate Identity in Celebration of the Route 66 Centennial: In celebration of the centennial of Route 66, SIUE Athletics is proud to announce the department’s first alternate identity. At various times during the 2026 calendar year, beginning on New Year’s Day with men’s and women’s basketball, SIUE will compete as the SIUE 66ers. The SIUE 66ers will compete with a new logo and color scheme including red, grey, and yellow. Each of SIUE’s 16 intercollegiate teams will compete as the 66ers at least once during 2026, with a full schedule to be released at a later date.

* Muddy River News | Quincy Public Library will get its mandated funding but is unlikely to get an additional subsidy: The Quincy Public Library requested a $350,000 subsidy to help bolster its portion of taxpayer funding through the city. The Aldermanic Finance Committee voted unanimously on Monday night in support of Mayor Linda Moore’s assessment that such a subsidy is “highly unlikely,” given other budgetary obligations, including public safety pensions.

* WGLT | Bloomington adopts policy for proactive property maintenance enforcement: The intent of the new approach is to strengthen partnerships with residents and property owners in working to maintain property values and reduce neighborhood blight. Examples of property maintenance code violations shown in Patrick’s presentation include overgrown vegetation, inoperable vehicles stored on lawns, and improper placement of garbage and recycling containers. “This is not about punishment. This is not about writing citations,” said Patrick, noting his department has seven inspectors covering Bloomington’s nine wards. “As a department, we don’t write citations to begin with. We don’t write any citations for violations. In fact, what we write is a compliance letter and give residents at least seven days to comply with the city rules.”

*** National ***

* The Hill | Waymo recalls robotaxi software after school bus incidents: The recall won’t necessarily pull cars from the road but will instead see them updated. It comes after an investigation by Nexstar’s KXAN found the company’s driverless vehicles illegally passed school buses with their stop arms out in Austin, Texas. The Austin Independent School District said similar incidents occurred at least 19 times this school year, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) opened an investigation in October.

* The Atlantic | The Rarest of All Diseases Are Becoming Treatable: This year, the technology [CRISPR gene-editing] has started to press beyond its next barrier. Most of the 8 million people globally who have sickle-cell disease share the same genetic mutation; treating rare disorders will require dealing with many different mutations, even within the same disease. And although rare diseases affect 30 million Americans in total, relatively few people are diagnosed with each one. Fyodor Urnov, a scientific director of UC Berkeley’s Innovative Genomics Institute (IGI), showed me a list of rare diseases and pointed to one carried by only 50 people. “Who’s going to work on a disease with 50 patients?” he asked. And even within one disorder, each person might need their own customized CRISPR treatment. Drug developers have little financial incentive to spend years and millions of dollars designing therapies that may need to be tailored to literally one person.

* AP | U.S. job openings barely budged in October, coming in just below 7.7 million: The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), which was delayed by the extended government shutdown, also showed that the layoffs rose to almost 1.9 million, most since January 2023. And the number of people quitting their jobs — a sign of confidence in the labor market — fell in October, suggesting that “businesses seeking to control labor costs will have to pivot to active layoffs, lifting unemployment, rather than rely on natural attrition,” Samuel Tombs, chief U.S. economist at Pantheon, wrote in a commentary.