* ICYMI: Bailey to stay in governor’s race following family tragedy. Capitol News Illinois…

- Less than three weeks after a helicopter crash claimed the lives of his son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren, Darren Bailey said late Monday that he will move forward with his campaign for governor.
- Bailey said he received encouragement from President Donald Trump to “keep fighting” and stay in the race. “That’s exactly what we’re going to do,” Bailey said in a nearly three-minute video recorded with his wife.
- Bailey said the tragedy changed their lives forever, “but it also reminded us why we fight.” His late son and daughter-in-law, he said, “believed in an Illinois where families could build a future without being crushed by bad government and broken promises.”

* Related stories…

• Daily Herald: ‘It reminds us why we fight’: Bailey presses on after loss of son, grandkids in crash
• Tribune: Republican Darren Bailey to continue bid for Illinois governor after crash that killed son, family members
• Sun-Times: Republican Darren Bailey to stay in Illinois governor race after family helicopter tragedy

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Capitol News Illinois | Key Illinois Democrats at odds with Durbin over shutdown vote — again: “I simply cannot, and I will not, vote to do nothing to help protect them (families) from Trump’s vindictive and malicious efforts in exchange for a vague promise from the least trustworthy Republican party in our nation’s history,” Duckworth said in a statement after voting against the procedural vote on Sunday.

* Illinois Answers | Too mentally ill for trial, she spent months in an Illinois jail as the state looked for a hospital bed. She died waiting. : Following a change in state law in 2023, IDHS is required to admit people to a state hospital within 60 days when a person is found unfit and ordered to receive inpatient treatment. But an Illinois Answers Project investigation found hundreds of incidents in the last five years in which it exceeded this time period. Instead, the Department of Human Services relies on the law’s language that says the department can have an extension if it shows “good faith efforts at placement and a lack of bed and placement availability.” The number of times defendants have been found unfit and in need of inpatient restoration has exploded in recent years, resulting in people having to wait longer for an available hospital bed. They are often waiting in jail.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Bloomberg | Moody’s Mulls Upgrade to Illinois Transit Bonds After State Fix:
Moody’s Ratings said it may upgrade the Illinois Regional Transportation Authority’s debt after the state legislature moved to eliminate the public-transit system’s budget shortfalls. The company said Tuesday it will review the rating on about $1 billion of the authority’s outstanding bonds for a possible increase.

* Austin Weekly News | OP Township Supervisor Thomas challenges Welch for Democratic leadership spot : Thomas said Harmon’s absence doesn’t mean the race for outgoing U.S. Rep. Danny K. Davis’s seat on the committee won’t be compelling. “I’m in this fight to win. I expect a very spirited and good election,” he said in an interview last Thursday.

* Center Square | Lawmakers divided after federal complaint targets student mental health screening law: Illinois lawmakers are responding after America First Legal (AFL) filed a federal complaint urging the U.S. Department of Education to investigate Illinois’ new law requiring annual student mental health screenings without parental consent, a move the group calls a “clear violation of federal law.” […] Supporters of the law, including Democratic state Rep. Lindsey LaPointe, D-Chicago, defended it as an urgent step toward addressing what she called a long-standing youth mental health crisis.

* WAND | Illinois lawmakers pass behavioral healthcare parity law, send plan to Pritzker’s desk: Illinois could soon increase access to behavioral healthcare and substance use treatment by improving insurance adequacy. The mental health parity plan is heading to Gov. JB Pritzker’s desk after three years of hard work by state lawmakers. Democrats and Republicans have spent countless hours negotiating a plan to set minimum reimbursement rates for providers. Sponsors said proper compensation could encourage more behavioral healthcare specialists to join insurance networks.

*** Chicago ***

* Block Club | Package Delivery Tax Floated To Help City’s Budget Woes — But Mayor Says It’d Need State Approval: But when asked about the idea during a Monday press conference, Johnson said he believed the tax would be impossible to implement without approval from state legislators — who recently wrapped up their fall veto session and aren’t set to meet again until next year. “As of now, we don’t have any indication that this is something that we can institute without Springfield,” Johnson said. Villegas said he’s not sure that’s the case. Lawyers with the council’s Legislative Reference Bureau and the city’s Department of Law had a call Monday to discuss the proposal and conversations remain ongoing, he said.

* Tribune | ‘Excessive and even exorbitant’: CPS watchdog urges district to reform travel spending policies : CPS travel expenditures, including airfare and lodging, more than doubled between fiscal year 2019 and 2024, surging from $3.6 million to $7.7 million, the report said. Over and over, CPS staffers exceeded spending limits, bypassed required preapprovals and expensed activities “of dubious necessity or value to students.”

* Chalkbeat Chicago | Wildlife safaris, hot air balloon, camel rides: Chicago Public Schools watchdog decries ‘lavish’ staff travel spending: Over the summer, the district laid off hundreds of custodians, crossing guards, cafeteria workers, and others and made other budget cuts to close a $734 million deficit in its $10.2 billion budget. It faces more massive shortfalls in the coming years. In response to the inspector general’s findings, the district imposed a freeze on nearly all staff travel unrelated to student activities this fall and formed a committee this month to come up with better travel approval procedures and controls. A new financial system the district is currently rolling out will better flag travel expenses that exceed district limits or mismatches between preapproved and actual spending, the district said in a statement.

* Block Club | Officials Gather In Little Village For Show Of ‘Strength’ After Border Chief’s Threat To Return To Area: Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino, known to pick fights on social media, told Gov. JB Pritzker he should “feel free to join” Border Patrol agents in Little Village Tuesday. Pritzker took him up on the offer, joining other officials, neighbors and clergy in a show of strength against the promised immigration enforcement activity. But Bovino and his agents never showed up amid reports that he and his command were imminently headed out of town.

* Crain’s | Chicago, New York airports hit hard by government flight curbs: Chicago O’Hare International Airport and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the world’s busiest hub, each had about 60 flights canceled as of 7:45 a.m. Eastern time, according to data from aviation analytics provider Cirium. The cuts represented more than 5% of each airport’s scheduled trips for the day. Fifty-eight flights were scrapped at LaGuardia Airport in New York City, nearly 11% of its daily schedule, according to Cirium data.

* Block Club | Chicago Abortion Fund Celebrates Milestone As State Expands Reproductive Health Efforts: In the years since Roe v. Wade was overturned, the demand for care has exploded. The Chicago Abortion Fund went from supporting less than 200 people in a calendar year to supporting over 1,000 care seekers a month, and roadblocks erected by the current presidential administration have only complicated matters, Jeyifo said.

* Crain’s | Owner of former Rainforest Cafe building facing foreclosure suit: The suit alleges that the building’s owner, a venture led by investor Sean Conlon, defaulted on an $8.3 million loan that Alecko issued in January 2024 and now owes nearly $9.3 million including interest and fees. Reached by phone Tuesday, Conlon said the suit was over one late payment and that he was working out a refinancing that would resolve the situation.

* WGN | Inside the technology that powers Chicago’s Doppler radar: Former WGN Chief Meteorologist Tom Skilling climbed a 100-foot tower at the National Weather Service office in Romeoville to get an up-close look at the 28-foot Doppler antenna that scans Chicago’s sky day and night. The radar has transformed how meteorologists track storms and severe weather. William Passalaquam, electronics technician at the NWS Chicago office, says the bigger the dish, the bigger the resolution on the radar.

* Tribune | Uber adds new feature in Chicago matching women riders with women drivers: The Women Preferences feature will allow women riders to request women drivers and vice versa. Teens of both genders will also be able to request women drivers. “It’s giving women what they want, which is the choice to be matched with other women,” said Uber spokesperson Brooke Anderson. “Some women feel more comfortable being matched with other women, maybe in the middle of the night, or for a super-late trip.”

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Herald | Lawsuit: Downers Grove Park District’s free-speech zone illegal: A state representative candidate is suing the Downers Grove Park District, claiming it violated her free-speech rights by limiting where she could campaign in a public park. Laura Hois argues the rule that required her to restrict her campaigning last year to a “free speech zone” violated her free speech and association rights, as well as the Civil Rights Act, according to the federal complaint she filed Nov. 6. The suit also alleges the district violated the state constitution.

* Pioneer Press | ICE agents in Northbrook point rifles at bystanders, try to break down door: The immigration enforcement action, which took place over the course of around 50 minutes Wednesday morning, Nov. 5, led to the arrest of a man living in the Salem Walk apartments and involved more than a dozen U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and an armored car, according to eyewitness accounts and photos and videos shared with the Tribune. “ICE basically held… 90 apartments hostage while they’re trying to get to one man,” said Bobbie Montgomery, a Salem Walk resident.

* Daily Southtown | Orland Park pastor Stephen Lee, accused in Georgia election interference, on list of Trump pardons: The Rev. Stephen Cliffgard Lee, a pastor at Living Word Lutheran Church in Orland Park, is one of the more than 70 people included on a list of President Donald Trump pardons released Monday by U.S. Pardon Attorney Ed Martin. Lee is one of several defendants in a high-profile Georgia prosecution under the Georgia Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, which accused Lee and 18 other defendants, including Trump, of having broken state laws in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

* Lake County News-Sun | Critics accuse Highland Park of declawing preservation group: ‘I thought there was a process’: Sogin and Levy have both criticized the decision. Levy warned that “important tools” have been taken away that aid the preservation of historic architecture. Requiring 100% consent before a nomination can even be considered, assumes all the owners have enough information to make “intelligent, informed decisions,” Levy said. “I firmly believe that many people will benefit and learn from the process, and will then be able to make informed, community-focused decisions, after hearing the history and the context of the proposed historic district,” he said.

* Daily Herald | ‘A good deal for everyone’: Solar farm transforms Waukegan Superfund site: “The Yeoman solar project is the largest community solar facility in ComEd service territory, and it’s completion is a major milestone for Clean Capital, as well as for Waukegan-area customers looking to reduce their energy costs,” said ComEd President and CEO Gil Quiniones. Illinois Solar for All is a state incentive program that aims to make solar energy more affordable for eligible households, nonprofit organizations and public facilities, with no upfront charges and guaranteed savings on electric costs.

* Lake County News-Sun | Lake County mosquito abatement district dissolved, to merge: ‘This consolidation will increase efficiency … and lower taxes’: The consolidation is a “commitment to continuing abatement services,” Stone said, which would slightly reduce the tax levy for Lake County residents, benefit from an economy of scale, and eliminate a local unit of government. The approved intergovernmental agreement requires that Lake County have a seat on the board of the newly merged agency, an approach “favored” by the Southlake District’s municipalities, she said.

*** Downstate ***

* WGLT | Bloomington-Normal food drives respond to SNAP uncertainty: With SNAP benefits causing statewide uncertainty, he said the department is aiming to collect more this year by hosting drives at two locations. “We’re bumping up and doing two locations this time, so there’s no reason we can’t blow that number out of the water,” Janssen said. “I’d love to see us get a ton worth of food — 3,000 pounds if we can do it.”

* WAND | Mini O’Beirne Crisis Nursery seeing increase in need for care and supplies: Mini O’Beirne Crisis Nursery provides free, emergency child care for anyone who needs it. Other times, parents drop their kids off when they have a medical procedure, court session, death in the family, or something similar. The nursery’s current building can fit 10 kids, with a ratio of four children per adult. Lately, they have been hitting this capacity limit more frequently. “When I looked at the numbers compared from October to November, we were about the same number of intakes, but we’ve doubled the number of turnaways this month,” said Chriss Wilson, Executive Director of the nursery. “We’ve had 18 turnaways from Nov. 1 until yesterday, which was the 10th.”

* WICS | Battling blight: dozens of properties slated for demolition in Springfield: An additional 28 properties are actively going through litigation in the city. “I don’t care if it’s a 700,000-dollar house in impeccable condition, if its empty and not occupied there could be problems and multiple problems. You don’t ever want to have an empty property, you want to have a viable property with people either working at the property or living in the property,” Jim Donelan said. Jim Donelan, Ward 9 alderman, said property owners are often given time to address concerns.

* WCIA | IDNR hosting deer hunting mentoring event at Fox Ridge State Park: Adult and youth hunters with less than three years of deer hunting experience may apply for the event as long as they have not been previously drawn in the mentored deer hunt program lottery. Those selected will be allowed to participate in the event at Fox Ridge State Park from Dec. 15 to Jan. 4.

* WGEM | Quincy animal shelter seeing drop in adoptions:
“That free kitten that you see on social media or flyers for, it might be free on the front end, but the care for it can really start to add up,” said Pilar Brumbaugh, executive director at Quincy Humane Society. Brumbaugh said rising care for the organization has meant higher fees for adoption. However, she stressed that that money goes into supplies for the shelter.

*** National ***

* WSJ | Using Your Credit Card at the Checkout Is Set to Get a Lot More Complicated: A settlement between Visa, Mastercard and U.S. merchants announced this week could usher in a new era of tiered pricing at the register, giving businesses more power to charge fees depending on the credit card you use. The agreement comes after a two-decade antitrust battle over interchange fees, the charges banks collect from merchants every time a customer pays with plastic.

* The Atlantic | Baseball’s Big Whiff on Gambling: Gambling is a numbers game, so here are a few: The pitcher Emmanuel Clase’s 2025 salary from Major League Baseball’s Cleveland Guardians is $4.5 million dollars. This weekend, prosecutors unveiled charges that he had made just $12,000 from two recent rigged pitches. And he could face as many as 65 years in prison (though such a stiff sentence seems unlikely).

* Bloomberg | Walgreens cuts pay for store workers after $10B buyout: Walgreens will no longer give many of its retail workers paid vacation time for Thanksgiving, Christmas and other major holidays, as the company looks to cut costs under new owners. The pharmacy chain eliminated six paid holidays for hourly store workers, cutting hundreds of dollars from their paychecks, according to interviews and records reviewed by Bloomberg News. Walgreens informed workers of the change in early October. That was a little over a month after it was acquired by private equity firm Sycamore Partners.