* NBC Chicago…

DePaul University is the latest Chicago-area school to announce job cuts, part of a growing trend across higher education as universities grapple with enrollment declines, rising costs and federal funding uncertainty.

DePaul confirmed it has laid off 114 staff members, roughly 7% of its workforce, citing what it calls “financial headwinds.” University officials say those pressures include a significant drop in international graduate student enrollment, increased demand for financial aid, and rising benefit costs. […]

Northwestern University announced earlier this year it would eliminate more than 400 staff positions, citing mounting financial challenges and a freeze on $790 million in federal funding. The university said nearly half of the eliminated roles were already vacant.

The University of Chicago has announced plans to cut $100 million in spending, with at least 100 non-clinical staff members expected to take voluntary early retirement. Several Ph.D. programs will also pause admissions as the university addresses a growing deficit.

*** Chicago ***

* WGN | Chicago on track for fewest murders in decade; top cop talks reasons why: “Is it a great thing to say we’ve had 172 less homicides in the city than we had this year than this time last year? Over 900 fewer people shot? Yes, absolutely. That’s great, but we still had people shot,” Snelling said. Year-over-year, murders are down 30%, while the number of shooting victims is down 24%. Overall violent crime saw a similar decline. Snelling credits his police officers and a renewed focus on repeat offenders under new Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke.

* Sun-Times | End of penny production has Chicago businesses facing coin shortage: Diana Ezerins rarely pays with cash. So after filling her cart at an Albany Park Aldi, she payed little attention to the sign displayed near the checkout register: “Due to the U.S. Mint discontinuing penny production, we may be unable to provide pennies as change. When pennies aren’t available, change due and refund totals will be rounded up to the nearest five cents.”

* WBEZ | How an unpaid Reddit moderator built Chicago’s most exclusive club for the food-obsessed: For three years, a community of roughly 145 former strangers has broken bread together across Chicago — some up to five times each week — through an invite-only dining club that launched on the online forum for some of the city’s most food-obsessed. But unlike dining clubs of the past, this one organizes on two modern-day platforms, starting with the online forum Reddit and moving onto the mobile chat service Discord once plans start to coalesce. Its creator, Chicago Food Subreddit moderator Mitch Gropman, initially intended it as a meetup for the fine-dining aspirants seeking companions also willing to shell out hundreds for dinner. The club has since broadened its scope to include everything from Thai noodle shop to Olive Garden pilgrimages, burger and diner crawls and, of course, almost every Michelin-starred restaurant in the city.

* Chicago Mag | Homes of Future Past: The Art Institute showcases the astounding imagination of maverick architect Bruce Goff: If you could mix the creative DNA of Dr. Seuss, M.C. Escher, and John Waters, you’d get something akin to Bruce Goff, the singular 20th-century architect. Giant metal ribs arching up from the ground, defining a patio space; cantilevered beams poking out emphatically from a roof; undulating staircases echoing the curves of a circular den: Goff never encountered a surprising shape or a bold color he didn’t embrace.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Southtown | Tinley Park raises property tax by 3.8%, the first increase since 2022: The Tinley Park Village Board voted Tuesday to raise the village’s property tax levy by 3.8%, marking the first increase since 2022 for the village that prides itself on keeping costs down for residents. The levy of $32.2 million translates to about a $43 increase per household, officials said. The levy also includes a little over $6 million to fund operation of the Tinley Park Public Library, no increase from last year. Trustees also voted to abate a about $5 million from the levy to pay debt service on outstanding bond issues. Without the abatement, the levy total would have been about $37.2 million.

* Daily Southtown | Tinley Park appoints Frederick Melean police commander, after predecessor arrested: The Tinley Park Village Board swore in Frederick Melean, a retired Chicago deputy police chief, as village police commander Tuesday after the previous commander, Patrick St. John, resigned and was charged with domestic battery and violating an order of protection. Melean begins the position Jan. 5, and he said Tuesday he looks forward to gaining trust and establishing partnership with the Tinley Park community. Village Manager Pat Carr congratulated Melean and commended his experience Tuesday. Carr said Melean was selected based on his 31 years of experience and exemplary record.

* Aurora Beacon-News | Aurora Mayor John Laesch’s proposed ethics reform package again sees delays: According to Laesch, the campaign ethics reform package he proposed was designed to increase transparency and “reduce the influence that outside money has on city contracts.” But some aldermen have questioned if the new rules really would achieve that goal, particularly since there would be no limit on contributions from political figures or organizations. Plus, other aldermen have voiced concerns about the potential increase in paperwork they said might come from the expanded disclosures that would be required of those in a city elected office, and those running for a city elected office, under the proposed code changes.

* Daily Southtown | Thornton Township passes tax levy increases, ballot questions for 2026 election: Harris said the 2% tax increase will apply to the general fund and general assistance fund, while taxes going toward the road and bridge fund will increase 3%. Harris said the township under former Supervisor Tiffany Henyard raised all taxes 4% last year. He also said the township administration, sworn in in May, has shown “commitment to being responsible financial stewards” as they brought forward savings that include a recently renegotiated contract. The board approved its first budget, for 2025-26, over the summer. Over the past seven months, Harris touted savings of $674,000 via the township’s general fund and $150,000 via the general assistance fund.

* Daily Southtown | Pope Leo XIV to name Joliet Bishop Ronald Hicks as next archbishop of New York: report: Hicks, 58, who was born in Harvey and raised in South Holland, has led the Diocese of Joliet since September 2020. The Diocese of Joliet consists of 117 parishes representing more than 500,000 Catholics in DuPage, Will, Grundy, Kankakee, Iroquois and Ford counties, and covers a geographic area of more than 4,200 miles. The current archbishop of New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, has served in the position since 2009, and turned 75 this year. Bishops are required to send a letter of resignation to the pope when they reach age 75, and the pope may either accept the resignation or allow them to continue serving.

* Daily Herald | Schaumburg to celebrate village’s 70th anniversary throughout 2026: One activity already prepared is a “Schaumburg Then & Now” photo submission contest to tell the village’s story through special moments of its people and places. Selected photos will be chosen for the “Then & Now” reception Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2026, at the Al Larson Prairie Center for the Arts, 201 Schaumburg Court, and remain on display in the Herb Aigner Gallery there through the end of the year.

*** Downstate ***

* BND | 911 dispatchers get $113K settlement in St. Clair County overtime pay lawsuit: St. Clair County has agreed to pay about $113,000 to settle a federal lawsuit filed two years ago by 911 dispatchers over the county overtime policy. The dispatchers alleged that the county owed them time-and-a-half pay for any hours worked more than 40 in a single week, even when they reported a total of 80 hours for the pay period. Their 12-hour shifts meant they could work 46 hours in one week and 34 in the next week, the dispatchers stated. They accused St. Clair County of violating the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.

* WCIA | ‘We hold our guys to a very strict standard’: Macon Co. Sheriff’s Office says after deputy charged with DUI, more: It’s something Flannery said he hasn’t seen in 26 years on the job — one of their deputies being arrested by co-workers. It’s something he said is hard to fathom, but he said his department will follow protocol. “But the Macon County Sheriff’s Office is dedicated to make sure that we’re going to do the right thing,” Flannery said. “And if that means that we have to take action on one of our own deputies, then so be it.”

* Illinois Times | WQNA returning to local airwaves soon: In 2019, the Capital Area Career Center unceremoniously pulled the plug on the station which, starting in 1980, had served as a teaching tool and from 1998 was also a place where community members could test their DJ skills. The station was one of the only outlets in the region where music genres such as hip-hop, blues, Americana, punk and metal could be heard, along with other esoteric programming that doesn’t fit on commercial radio or within the tightly-programmed confines of NPR stations. Community members who served WQNA in various capacities reacted to the closure by forming the nonprofit Springfield Community Broadcasters (SCB) which, spearheaded by “Hip-Hop Humpday” host Ken Pacha, has been working tirelessly ever since to find a new home for WQNA. After jumping through seemingly endless bureaucratic hoops and weathering various setbacks big and small – not least of which was the pandemic – the revitalized station is projected to be on the air at 95.7 FM by March 2026.

* WMBD | Connect Transit CEO David Braun resigns for new opportunities: Connect Transit will launch a nationwide search for its new managing director. Details regarding the search are still unknown, but will be announced come January. Deputy Managing Director Brady Lange will serve in the interim in the meantime. No additional information will be released publicly regarding Braun’s resignation, according to Connect Transits’ personnel matters policy.

* WMBD | Normal secures $2.8M grants for housing, police, infrastructure: The Town of Normal received $2.8 million in grants in 2025, going towards housing rehab, police tools and training and more. “The grants came from a variety of federal, state and local resources. The Town of Normal secured $2.8 million in grants in 2025, and those dollars will be used to supplement projects, everything from infrastructure, public safety, creativity and we got some art grants as well,” said Cathy Oloffson, director of communications and community relations for the town.

* IPM News | Declining attendance and rising maintenance costs bring an end to a historic church building in Champaign: Church leaders made the difficult choice earlier this year to sell the building, after deciding that its dwindling congregation could no longer support the neo-Gothic building and its high maintenance costs. […] To get a building designated as a landmark in Champaign, it has to be approved at three levels. First, the Historic Preservation Commission looks at whether it has historical or architectural significance. Then a separate commission weighs in at a public hearing.

* BND | Former Belleville mayor Rodger Cook’s public service continues after his death: Rodger Cook, who served Belleville as both mayor and a police officer, will continue contributing to public service even after his death with the donation of his brain for head injury research affecting former football players. Dallas Cook, a former Belleville city clerk, said his father died Saturday of a form of Alzheimer’s disease. He was 69 and passed away two days after his birthday.

*** National ***

* WaPo | American Academy of Pediatrics loses HHS funding after criticizing RFK Jr.: The Department of Health and Human Services has terminated seven grants totaling millions of dollars to the American Academy of Pediatrics, including for initiatives on reducing sudden infant deaths, improving adolescent health, preventing fetal alcohol syndrome and identifying autism early, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post.

* WaPo | Senators freeze Coast Guard admiral’s promotion over swastika, noose policy: At least two U.S. senators have placed holds on the nomination of Adm. Kevin Lunday to serve as the Coast Guard’s commandant after the service enacted a new workplace harassment policy that downgrades the definition of swastikas and nooses from hate symbols to “potentially divisive.”

* AP | The Oscars will move to YouTube in 2029, leaving longtime home of ABC: ABC will continue to broadcast the annual ceremony through 2028. That year will mark the 100th Oscars. But starting in 2029, YouTube will retain global rights to streaming the Oscars through 2033. YouTube will effectively be the home to all things Oscars, including red-carpet coverage, the Governors Awards and the Oscar nominations announcement.