* Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias…

As part of his broader modernization push, Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias announced that the Illinois Court of Claims will now offer electronic filing options and conduct remote hearings – a major step forward in how the court serves the public.

The transition replaces a slow, paper-based system that depended on mail delivery, cumbersome copies and in-person proceedings, often delaying case processing and complicating access for claimants.

“For too long, the state’s Court of Claims has been forced to rely on outdated, paper-driven processes that made filing a claim slower and more complicated,” Giannoulias said. “By making this a fully digital process, we’re making government more accessible, more transparent and more efficient for the people it serves. This initiative will save time, reduce headaches and ensure Illinoisans can seek justice without unnecessary barriers.”

Starting today, all filings with the Court of Claims will be submitted through a new online e-filing portal – clerkofthecourt.ilsos.gov. Users can create an account, follow step-by-step instructions and submit their claims directly through the system. Training videos will be available to help first-time users navigate the process.

* The recently created Illinois Accountability Commission will hold its first meeting on Thursday. Press release…

What: The Illinois Accountability Commission will host its first meeting to the shed light on the human impact of the widespread use of chemical agents during Operation Midway Blitz. The official public notice and information about public participation can be found here.

When: Thursday, December 18, 2025, 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM (Approx.)

Where: Arturo Velasquez Institute at Richard J. Daley College, 2800 S Western Ave, Chicago, IL 60608

Watch: https://multimedia.illinois.gov/iac-live.html

*** Statewide ***

* WSIL | Illinois’ first report on alcohol use reveals concerning trends: The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) released its first-ever comprehensive report on alcohol use in the state. The report, “Alcohol Use in Illinois,” analyzes data from multiple sources to address health-related concerns linked to alcohol consumption. […] The report also noted an increase in alcohol-related traffic fatalities. In 2022, 37 percent of deadly crashes involved a driver with a blood alcohol concentration above the legal limit. From 2020 to 2023, more than 2,300 deaths in Illinois were directly attributed to chronic alcohol use, the IDPH report stated. Another 2,000 deaths were indirectly associated with alcohol, such as through hypertension and liver cancer.

*** Statehouse News ***

* WICS | Senate bill mandates police hiring reforms after murder of Sonya Massey: The law mandates a thorough review of a candidate’s past employment to ensure their fitness for duty. It also expands the creation of sheriff’s merit boards and commissions in counties with populations of at least 75,000. “With this law in effect, I feel confident that going forward our communities and law enforcement will build a trusting relationship,” Turner said. “Now, I will have kept my promise to my friend and Sonya’s mother.” Senate Bill 1953 will be implemented starting Jan. 1.

*** Chicago ***

* Tribune | Renegade aldermen tweak 2026 budget plan, but withhold details: The City Council majority group is dropping its plan to raise the garbage pick-up fee, Ald. Gilbert Villegas, 36th, said in a statement. The group will also maintain youth summer job funding at levels first proposed by Johnson after previously pushing for a smaller amount, Villegas said. The changes are an apparent bid to convince more colleagues to join them and blunt Johnson’s near-daily criticism that their package would hurt working class Chicagoans.

* Sun-Times | Council members who oppose Mayor Johnson’s proposed budget drop plan to raise garbage collection fees: The statement simply expressed “confidence” in the revenue projections devised by a brain trust of financial advisers that includes former city finance officials, as well as the Civic Federation and the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago. “We look forward to meeting with Mayor Johnson this afternoon to discuss our proposal and it is our hope that we can walk out of this meeting united on behalf of the people of Chicago and move forward with this financially responsible budget that will better position us ahead of a more challenging” 2027, the Villegas statement said.

* Tribune | CPS lunchroom workers near six months without a contract: ‘No one sees us’: Garcia makes $21 an hour as a cook, which last year totaled $34,000 after taxes. She’s worked for Chicago Public Schools for 23 years. Wages are the sticking point in the bargaining process for CPS lunchroom workers, who have been without a contract for nearly six months. The 1,800 members of UNITE HERE Local 1, including lunchroom attendants, cooks and porters, remain among the lowest-paid CPS employees. Many, like Garcia, say they struggle to afford basic expenses.

* Tribune | DePaul University lays off 114 staff members to plug budget deficit: The reduction accounts for 7.6% of full-time and part-time staff, according to a message from President Rob Manuel. The university is aiming to reduce $27.4 million in spending following a dramatic drop in international enrollment. “Supporting our students and providing an excellent education remain our top priority,” Manuel wrote. “We want to emphasize that university leaders worked to minimize cuts to the student experience, including on-campus employment.” DePaul is facing a $12.6 million budget deficit for the 2026 fiscal year. To maintain long-term sustainability, the university is also aiming for a 2.5% operating margin — which means another $14.8 million in cuts.

* Tribune | Chicago police officer acquitted of sexually abusing handcuffed woman: Officer Stephan Shaw, 33, who has been relieved of his police powers and detailed to the alternate response section, had been charged with multiple felony counts including aggravated criminal sexual abuse, custodial sexual misconduct and official misconduct. In acquitting Shaw, Judge Adrienne Davis pointed to what she said were multiple inconsistencies in the woman’s testimony, but she still condemned Shaw for exchanging Facebook messages with a woman he had arrested. Davis had been overseeing the bench trial that began in October. “This court finds that Mr. Shaw’s conduct was inappropriate in the least and the citizens of the city of Chicago deserve better,” Davis said. “But the state … did not prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt.”

* Crain’s | Celebrities and supporters turn out for PAWS Chicago’s record-setting gala: PAWS Chicago celebrated a record-breaking evening at its 24th annual Fur Ball at The Drake Hotel Nov. 14. The sold-out event, presented by donors Nan and Wayne Kocourek, drew 650 guests, many with canine companions in tow. The event, co-chaired by Lindsay and Carter Hawkins and Laura Sachs and Jordan Fisher, with Pam and Ed Carey serving as honorary co-chairs, raised $2.1 million to support the organization’s lifesaving mission.

* Tribune | The Chicago Immigrant Orchestra is defiant in the wake of recent raids: Recent anxieties around immigration status have affected him professionally. “I have musicians who have green cards who say no, I can’t travel to Canada or abroad for a gig because I don’t know if I’ll get back into the country. And these are big gigs, like, $5,000, $10,000, $15,000 appearances. It’s a huge deal. These petty restrictions and petty definitions being used to divide and conquer are really helping nobody. They’re costing Americans money. They’re costing Americans peace of mind, which also costs Americans money at the end of the day.”

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Herald | ‘Medical care is a human right’: St. Charles clinics meet the needs of Kane County’s uninsured: Eligible TCHP patients must live or work in Kane County, have no insurance and make less than 250% of the poverty level, which translates to an income ranging from $80,000 to $86,000 annually for a family of four, according to executive director Dani Ward. In 2024, more than 580 individual patients visited the clinics, Ward said. As of early December, TCHP volunteers had treated 550 unique patients, many of whom require ongoing treatment over multiple visits, Ward said.

* Daily Southtown | New Lenox Library opens care cabinet with essential items and Narcan, no questions asked: The care cabinet, which opened Dec. 4 in the library lobby, provides free resources such as shower products, deodorant, toothpaste, gloves, chap stick, first-aid supplies, socks and Narcan, said Krooswyk, the executive director. The initiative was funded by a $1,000 grant from the Friends of The New Lenox Library. Krooswyk said the cabinet was scheduled to open in January 2026, but Melissa Seaberg, administrative library coordinator, requested moving the opening to December after lower-income residents began facing cuts to needed federal programs, such as food benefits in early November.

* Aurora Beacon-News | St. Charles considering development plan with restaurants, retail for former Pheasant Run Resort site: A concept plan for the project — called The Shops at Pheasant Run — was submitted to the city by SC Landman LLC. Its proposal is for a mixed-use development offering shopping, dining and recreation amenities, according to Peter NeCastro, an attorney from DLA Piper which represents SC Landman, an affiliate of Chicago-based developer Vequity. The project could include things like retail, a bank, restaurants and day care, NeCastro said at the St. Charles City Council Planning and Development Committee meeting on Dec. 8, at which council members discussed the proposed project. Public art installations are also being considered for the site.

* Crain’s | Owner of Michael Jordan’s former home pitches new plan for the estate: Cooper, who paid $9.5 million for the 56,000-square-foot house on 7.4 acres in December 2024, will be at Highland Park’s City Hall tonight to pitch turning it into a sort of personal-growth hub where visitors can, as he phrases it in the presentation he’ll make, “Experience Greatness” and principles of success including “Mindset, Action and Service.”

*** Downstate ***

* BND | Belleville tenants say they couldn’t get repairs. Now landlord is ending leases: Homes of America has ties to so-called “vulture capitalist” Randall Smith and Alden Global Capital, his investment firm known for acquiring and reducing costs at distressed community newspapers. The company did not respond to the BND’s emailed requests for comment about the decision to end rental leases in Belleville. […] The news about leases in Belleville comes as residents say they have been complaining to property managers about unanswered requests for repairs to leaking roofs, holes in floors and walls, broken air conditioning and other problems since the company took over the mobile home park in 2022, according to interviews and court records.

* WGLT | McLean County Board allows solar energy site in Bloomington Township: On Thursday, the McLean County Board unanimously approved a slightly amended version of the county zoning board’s recommendation to allow Chicago-based SunVest Solar special use of the site. SunVest’s plan calls for a solar energy generating site, as well as a battery energy storage system [BESS], at 2105 W. Oakland Avenue in Bloomington Township, and the area immediately east of Oakland Avenue, about a third of a mile north of Six Points Road.

* Intelligencer | District 7 board to consider separation agreement, tax levy: Board members will consider final approval for the 2025 tax levy, which is expected to be a little more than $111 million. The district is estimating the county’s equalized assessed valuation will increase by 7.5%, “however, setting the levy using a 10.5% EAV growth rate will enable the district to achieve the state or voter approved tax rate” for the 2026-27 school year, information with the agenda states.

* WCIA | Former Illini football coach Mike White dies at 89: White coached the Illini from 1980-87, leading Illinois to a Big Ten title and Rose Bowl appearance in 1983, coaching the likes of Dave Wilson, Tony Eason, Jack Trudeau and David Williams. He left Illinois with a 47-41-3 record. White had other head coaching stops with the University of California and in the NFL with the Oakland Raiders.

*** National ***

* Rolling Stone | Taylor Swift’s Last Album Sparked Bizarre Accusations of Nazism. It Was a Coordinated Attack: “I’m a pop-culture girl,” says Georgia Paul, GUDEA’s head of customer success, who suggested the company look at the conversation around Swift after she had a “gut feeling” that the ideologically charged remarks about The Life of a Showgirl she was seeing might trace back to manipulative actors. Paul and her colleagues confirmed that suspicion, identifying two distinct spikes in misleading activity related to Swift. The first came on Oct. 6 and 7, with approximately 35 percent of the posts in GUDEA’s data set for that time frame generated by accounts behaving more like bots than human users. The second took place over Oct. 13 and 14, after Swift released a merch collection that included the lightning bolt necklace (commemorating the song “Opalite”), with about 40 percent of posts shared by inauthentic accounts and conspiracist content accounting for 73.9 percent of the total volume of conversation.

* WaPo | Supersized data centers are coming. See how they will transform America: Tech companies that once pledged to use clean energy alone are fast reconsidering. They now need too much uninterrupted power, too fast. According to the International Energy Agency, the No. 1 power source to meet this need will be natural gas. “While we remain committed to our climate moonshots, it’s become clear that achieving them is now more complex and challenging across every level,” Google states in its 2025 environmental impact report. The company says meeting its goal of eliminating all emissions by 2030 has become “very difficult.”

* NYT | How Tech’s Biggest Companies Are Offloading the Risks of the A.I. Boom: Meta was responsible for constructing the data center, but Blue Owl was on the hook for 80 percent of the financing. As part of the arrangement, Meta agreed to “rent” the data center from Beignet with a series of four-year leases. That allows the tech giant to categorize the funding as operating cost, not debt, according to financial filings. As part of the deal, Meta is paying a premium to Blue Owl so it doesn’t have to borrow the money itself, said Solomon Feig, a private credit lender at Pinnacle Private Credit. “Instead, Meta is renting risk,” he added.