* ICYMI: Records reveal husband who shot and killed Berwyn assistant principal had his firearm license revoked by Illinois State Police. Tribune…

- Per state police data going back to 2009 through Dec. 4, there are 107,342 Illinois residents who have lost their right to own guns but a backlog of about 74,733 of those revoked cardholders, or nearly 70%, have yet to tell the state they aren’t in possession of any firearms.
- By 5:15 p.m., Nerissa, Joycelyn and Steven had all been pronounced dead, Cook County medical examiner records show. Nerissa and Joycelyn died of multiple gunshot wounds in a homicide, the medical examiner’s office determined through an autopsy. Steven died of a shot in the head in a suicide, the office said. State police sent a sixth, and final, noncompliance notification that day.
- Earlier this year, Gov. JB Pritzker signed legislation that requires law enforcement agencies to promptly remove guns and FOID cards from those subject to orders of protection. Known as Karina’s Law, But there are times — in Nerissa’s case, for example — that people do not secure orders of protection before tensions escalate, leaving them in a liminal space where stopgaps allotted by Karina’s Law don’t yet kick in.

Click here and go read the rest.

* At noon, the Governor will make an announcement on new funding toward addressing homelessness in Springfield. At 4 pm, the governor join community members in lighting the Menorah at the Governor’s Mansion. Click here to watch.

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Sun-Times | Chicago Housing Authority subject of HUD audit citing immigration and criminal activity, records show: The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Inspector General is conducting an audit of the Chicago Housing Authority to scrutinize its procedures around verifying residents’ immigration status and criminal backgrounds, according to documents obtained by the Sun-Times. “The objective of our audit is to (1) determine whether the Authority complied with HUD’s and its own requirements for verifying eligibility of individuals for HUD assisted housing based on criminal activity, citizenship, and immigration status, and (2) assess the Authority’s practices for preventing and addressing criminal activity,” the audit notice said.

* Tribune | 2 Illinois election board Democrats who blocked Senate President Don Harmon fines have ties to his donors: Even if the two had recused themselves, the sanction would still not have met the five-vote threshold for approval. But Terven and Genovese’s votes underscore that there is no formal conflict-of-interest policy for board members, although some members have recused themselves from matters if they had a relationship to an individual or organization with ties to a case

* WAND | A century of laughter and movie magic: Danville’s Dick Van Dyke celebrates 100th birthday: This week, there’s a spark in the air — the kind of magic only one man could leave behind. Danville’s favorite son, Dick Van Dyke turns 100 years old on Dec. 13. Inside Danville High School, theater students are honoring Van Dyke. They are rehearsing dance numbers across the same stage where a young Dick Van Dyke once performed back in the 1940s. Long before he tap-danced across London rooftops in Mary Poppins, or soared the countryside in “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” Van Dyke was a teenager discovering his love for performing right here at home.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Alton Telegraph | Illinois’ 2026 laws add AI hiring limits, repeal grocery tax and ban CFL bulbs: In a related law, Illinois has expanded leave of up to 10 days for part-time employees donating organs. Previously, only full-time employees were guaranteed the ability to take 10 days off to donate organs. I was surprised to learn that, in addition to donating blood, bone marrow, and one of your kidneys, you could also donate a lobe of your liver or a portion of a lung, pancreas, or intestine and live to tell about it.

* Capitol News Illinois | Illinois ag director says Trump trade policies are ‘crushing’ farmers: The Trump administration announced this week that it would make $12 billion available in the form of one-time payments to U.S. farmers to help weather what it calls “temporary trade market disruptions” in the wake of ongoing tariff disputes with America’s trading partners. But Jerry Costello II, director of the Illinois Department of Agriculture, said this week the latest aid package is less than half the size of the one offered in response to trade disputes during Trump’s first administration. He said the money being offered now is not nearly enough to make up for the losses farmers are suffering. “Tariffs are crushing farmers again,” Costello said in a statement. “Financial losses are worse this time around, yet the aid package is 50% smaller. We’re seeing repeated devastation with greater losses than Trump 1. It defies logic.”

*** Chicago ***

* Tribune | Mayor Brandon Johnson’s organizer roots at fore as he courts progressives in budget fight: The mayor is far from the only one firing shots. Those groups opposed to his budget have spent tens of thousands of dollars on ads blasting his spending plan, and specifically the controversial head tax at its center. “Chicagoans deserve honesty and transparency and real solutions that make our neighborhood safer,” one ad from a dark money group opposed to the head tax says. “Not a slush fund that puts politics over people.” Aldermen in the opposition have harried the mayor with daily news conferences and jabs.

* Crain’s | Can the City Council muscle through a budget without the mayor?: The mayor’s office has made calls to aldermen casting doubt on the revenue projections and legality of parts of the plan, hoping to prevent the Council revolt and pick up votes for Johnson’s $16.6 billion plan.To succeed, the Council coalition will need to hold together through a series of follow-up votes, including potential spending cuts that affect city worker benefits, and could falter if unions push back.

* ABC Chicago | Chicago City Council meets Monday as budget deadline looms: The Chicago City Council will begin a series of meetings Monday with the hope of passing their alternative budget. Mayor Brandon Johnson said he will veto any plan with increased fees.

* Tribune | Number of unresolved CPD discipline cases crawls toward 500 during court fight: The process for meting out discipline in the most serious cases of misconduct by Chicago police officers has been largely at a standstill for more than two years. During that stretch, a backlog of unresolved cases has grown as a legal fight between the city and the largest CPD officers’ union has worked its way to the Illinois Supreme Court. In 2025, cases in that category swelled to near 500. As of mid-December, police Superintendent Larry Snelling still must decide whether or not to bring administrative charges in 490 cases in which the Civilian Office of Police Accountability sustained allegations of misconduct, city records show.

* Sun-Times | Brinshore Development and CHA had bumpy relationship before developer put 20 Chicago properties on sale: The Chicago-based national affordable housing provider is selling 20 properties across the city, or 2,435 units that include 695 units subsidized by the CHA, according to listing details. The properties are under “severe stress” due to defaults as a result of the CHA missing payments to Brinshore and deferred maintenance, Brinshore cofounder Richard Sciortino wrote in an August email to then-Chicago Housing Authority interim CEO Angela Hurlock.

* Chicago Reader | Waiting for weatherization: Though homeowners seek help from local organizations, CEDA and state and local government officials told the Chicago Reader that federal regulations governing the program have prevented many low-income homeowners from accessing its services. Applicants living in predominantly Black and Latine zip codes have been denied for the program at higher rates than those from the majority of Chicago’s white neighborhoods, according to a Reader analysis of applicant data. Meanwhile, thousands of homeowners elsewhere in the state linger on the program’s waiting list, a copy of the list shows.

* Crain’s | A massive new Wacker Drive office tenant is getting even bigger: Sweetening one of the biggest deals for the city’s office market since the pandemic, the Chicago-based energy engineering firm has leased three more floors in the 51-story tower at 77 W. Wacker Drive, a spokeswoman for the company confirmed. The expansion adds roughly 66,000 square feet to the massive anchor tenant lease the firm signed a year ago, bringing its new total footprint to nearly 448,000 square feet — roughly 60% more space than it is leaving behind at its longtime 55 E. Monroe St. office.

* Tribune | Southeast Side residents push for benefits as Chicago quantum campus moves forward: On Monday, community activists noted their first victory when the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency conditionally approved the developer’s remediation plan. “We were certainly right all along about the toxins in the soil,” said Holcomb, who for decades has seen previous potential developers ignore the problem. “It certainly is a win for us because we’ve been saying that for a while.”

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Crain’s | Cook County property tax incentives need a refresh: study: In a report that could lay the groundwork for big changes to Cook County’s incentive programs, researchers from the University of Illinois Chicago and the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning recommended 30 steps county officials could take over the next two years to improve the efficacy of its property tax incentive system. More than 90 municipalities countywide use the incentive classifications to reduce businesses’ property tax bills, one of the most common lures for real estate developers and companies to invest in a particular area.

* Daily Herald | ‘Something’s got to give’: Sticker shock hits suburban Affordable Care Act enrollees: Zafar described a client who is diabetic and suffered two strokes. “He had an $80 a month plan … it went up to $400. He kept it because he has to have his ongoing care,” she said. Two forces are causing the crisis — the first is the expiration of pandemic-era enhanced tax credits on ACA premiums, which help low- and medium-income households offset insurance costs. Unless Congress extends the subsidies, they’ll end at midnight Dec. 31.

* Aurora Beacon-News | Aurora’s proposed campaign ethics reform measures moving forward with changes: Under the current proposal, Aurora would cap at $1,500 per year donations made to candidates running for city office from those doing business with the city. It would also expand economic interest disclosures required of candidates and elected officials. Recent changes to the proposal upped the donation limit from the originally-proposed $500 cap, removed further limits on cash donations and removed guidelines on how city property could be used for political purposes.

* Naperville Sun | Voters to decide in March on $120M bond sale for new Naperville activity center with indoor pools: Naperville Park Board members voted unanimously Thursday night to pursue the modified referendum after evaluating resident feedback, including the responses to a survey mailed to more than 53,000 households and texted to more than 60,000 people in the fall that received more than 8,000 responses. “To have over 8,000 responses to the survey, a 15% response rate for a community of our size, that’s a tremendous response,” Executive Director Brad Wilson said.

* Daily Herald | Palos Park prepares to use updated laser technology for speed enforcement: Palos Park police Sgt. Ross Chibe said he recently discovered when listening to a podcast that experts are using lidar technology to discover lost cities in the Amazon Rain Forest, the same technology that is now coming to the Palos Park Police Department, but to enforce safe driving. The department received a grant from the Illinois Department of Transportation, along with several other grants, to purchase a lidar device, which uses a laser to specifically measure the speed of individual vehicles.

* Daily Herald | Hersey High School wrestling coaches placed on leave amid internal investigation: Wrestling coaches at John Hersey High School in Arlington Heights have been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal review, Northwest Suburban High School District 214 officials confirmed Saturday. […] Mogge didn’t disclose what prompted the administrative leave and investigation.

* Daily Herald | ‘Quiet powerhouse’: McHenry County public defender retiring after almost 40 years on the job: After almost 40 years as McHenry County‘s public defender, Mark Cook, described as “a quiet powerhouse,” is retiring. Cook, among the longest-serving public defenders in the state, was appointed in 1986 and has led a “distinguished career” spanning “decades of dedicated public service,” McHenry County Trial Court Administrator Dan Wallis said.

* Daily Herald | ‘We will not cower’: Suburban Jewish community mark Hanukkah in wake of Australia attack: However, host Howard Kleinstein, the village’s director of digital communications, said the victims in Australia were on participants’ minds. “This is a happy celebration, but life takes precedence over death in the Jewish religion, and so while we think about it, we carry on,” he said. “And that’s the story of Hanukkah, carrying on.”

*** Downstate ***

* Capitol News Illinois | A once dying mall in Southern Illinois is getting a mighty makeover, thanks to $112M bond deal — created by the state and backed by local tax money — but the project has hit a speed bump: So far, nearly half of the $112 million in bond proceeds has been spent on the project. Cabaness declined to provide letters of intent from any major retailer committed to opening in the district to Illinois Answers Project and Capitol News Illinois, citing nondisclosure agreements. But Marion city officials said they are not concerned and said the project is proceeding as planned. Marion Mayor Mike Absher said in an interview the project aims to lure tourists to visit and stay in southern Illinois, with the initial phase including construction of a fieldhouse with an interactive golf driving range, a family entertainment center inside of the mall with bowling, go karts and laser tag, and a Hampton Inn hotel, all slated to open next summer.

* BND | Lawmakers press EPA for more research on metro-east pollution, health impacts: The CDC completed an air pollution investigation in Sauget on May 1, focusing on emissions from the hazardous waste incinerator Veolia North America-Trade Waste Incineration. In its final report, the public health agency stated that while it could provide some answers about community health impacts, inadequate data from the EPA prevented it from reaching other conclusions about the risks metro-east residents face today. The CDC suggested the EPA consider returning to Sauget to conduct additional research, including long-term air monitoring and soil testing.

* 25News Now | ‘Saddened’ OSF, Tylka to disallow medical aid in dying as governor makes it legal: OSF, Central Illinois’ largest healthcare provider, said it will not participate in any physician-assisted suicide after Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker signed into law the Medical Aid in Dying Bill (Senate Bill 1950). Carle Health, another of this area’s largest healthcare providers, has not determined whether it will offer terminally ill patients the option of seeking medication to end their lives.

* WCIA | City of Champaign activates sidewalk snow removal ordinance: In a news release, the Public Works Department said records indicate at least two inches of snow fell on the city. Residents will need to shovel their sidewalks and maintain a path the width of the sidewalk or 48 inches — whichever is less. If a property is located at a corner, the ramps must also be cleared. Sidewalks that are not cleared in time could be cleared at the expense of the property owner.

*** National ***

* CBS | Map shows more than 1,900 measles cases across U.S. as outbreaks grow: The largest outbreak so far this year has been in West Texas, with over 760 confirmed infections before the state declared the outbreak officially over in August. A growing number of cases have also been reported in other states around the country. In South Carolina, for example, dozens of students were quarantined in October due to an outbreak.

* 404 Media | How a US Citizen Was Scanned With ICE’s Facial Recognition Tech: Gutiérrez is a U.S. citizen. He told the officials this. He didn’t have any identification on him, but, panicking, he tried to find a copy on his phone. The agents put him into the car, where another two agents were waiting, and handcuffed him. Just sit there and be quiet, they said. Without Gutiérrez’s ID, the agents resorted to another approach. They took a photo of his face. A short while later, the agents got their answer: “Oh yeah, he’s right. He’s saying the right thing. He does got papers,” Gutiérrez recalled the agents saying.

* NYT | Trump’s Cuts to U.S. Labor Board Leave Festering Disputes and a Power Struggle: The agency, the National Labor Relations Board, has for months had merely a single member on its five-seat board, two short of the required number to hear cases. Even if the vacancies are filled — the Senate could vote to confirm two nominees from President Trump as soon as this week — the board could fundamentally change if the Supreme Court rules in coming months that the president has wide powers to fire appointed officials at federal agencies. “The inability of the board to function for the last year has highlighted, for people who care about labor relations in this country, how broken the system is,” said Lauren McFerran, a Democrat and former chairwoman of the N.L.R.B. “Anyone could have seen this coming, but a year of nonfunctional labor law is a crisis point.”