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Isabel’s afternoon roundup

Thursday, Feb 6, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* CBS

[A] CBS News investigation found a pattern of alleged misconduct in Sangamon County, with dozens of allegations against the sheriff’s office over the past 20 years. They include at least eight deaths in the custody of Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office deputies and corrections officers, in addition to Massey’s fatal shooting.

Jaimeson Cody’s was one of the deaths — in 2021, he was arrested for aggravated domestic battery. That night in jail, correction officers wanted to move him to a different room, but he resisted.

“They took him down to the ground…and a man of over 300 pounds sat on his back, broke ribs,” said Sha Kelley, the Cody family’s attorney who is suing the sheriff’s office, which denies wrongdoing.

Cody was pronounced dead the next day. His stepmom, Cindy Cody, said he died from positional asphyxia, a condition where breathing is impaired due to body position, and called his death a homicide. […]

None of the officers involved in the eight deaths or other misconduct allegations have been criminally charged. In each case, the sheriff’s office and the officers denied any wrongdoing, even in cases settled in civil court by the county.

Click here and read the rest.

* The Democratic Party of DuPage…

York Township Clerk Tony Cuzzone (a Republican) has refused to certify the Democratic candidate for York Township Supervisor, Timothy Murray. No objection to Murray’s candidacy was filed, leaving York Township taxpayers responsible for the legal fees. Among the specious reasons noted in a letter sent to Murray, Cuzzone falsely claims that the Resolution to nominate Murray was not filed within the required timeframe.

Murray has filed a lawsuit against Cuzzone in his capacity as Clerk of York Township. Initial court proceedings will begin on Thursday, February 6 in the 18th Judicial Circuit Court of DuPage County. Murray seeks a preliminary Injunction to have his name printed on the ballot pending resolution of the matter.

Democratic Party Chair of DuPage County, Reid McCollum said, “It should offend every citizen that York Township’s GOP incumbents would force taxpayers to foot the bill for their blatantly partisan scheme. This is clearly an attempt to defeat their opponent by refusing to fulfill the duties of Clerk, rather than allowing voters to decide on April 1.”

* Subscribers were extensively briefed about this earlier today. AFL-CIO President Tim Drea and Chicago Federation of Labor President Bob Reiter

In Springfield, the stakes could not be higher as state legislators consider how they will step up to prevent a true calamity.

The operating budget gap for the Chicago Transit Authority, Metra and Pace will top $750 million next year when federal pandemic funds run out. Without help, the trains and buses that shuttle us where we need to go face devastating service cuts that will cripple the region.

We cannot and will not let that happen. It’s why more than 30 different labor partners came together to form the Labor Alliance for Public Transportation — or LAPT — representing the thousands of transit workers who keep Illinois safe and moving in the right direction.

Our alliance comes with a monumental opportunity to create a new path forward for Illinois’ public transportation networks. Our new road map legislation — Senate Bill 1938 — will jump-start policy conversations that identify solutions to provide more efficient and reliable transit that prioritizes ridership safety instead of just warning about the devastating costs of inaction.

* The Woodstock Institute…

On February 4, the First District Appellate Court, which encompasses Cook County, issued a ruling upholding a decision that a 482% APR loan made by a Utah-based online lender to an Illinois resident did not violate the Illinois Predatory Loan Prevention Act (PLPA), which caps consumer loan rates in Illinois at 36% APR.

This decision is the latest development in an ongoing saga of high-cost lenders – both inside and outside Illinois – blatantly charging Illinois consumers triple-digit interest rates despite the rate cap that Governor Pritzker signed in 2021 as part of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus’s agenda to eliminate systemic racism in Illinois. Just-released polling shows that 88% of Illinois voters and 95% of former payday loan borrowers support a rate cap of 36% APR or lower.

“We knew predatory lenders would attempt to evade the rate cap, so the law was written with strong Anti-Evasion provisions. Nevertheless, lenders are violating the law with impunity, which will most certainly encourage more lenders to do the same.,” said Brent Adams, Senior Vice President of Policy and Advocacy at Woodstock Institute and former head of IDFPR, the state agency that oversees the high-cost lenders.

“The implication of this decision is that state rate caps are void as long as the lender uses an address in a state without a rate cap, which can be as easy as using a private mailbox,” said Daniel Edelman, a nationally recognized consumer rights attorney.

Advocates including Woodstock Institute have raised alarms over “rent-a-bank” arrangements where high-cost lenders circumvent state rate cap laws by partnering with out-of-state banks to make loans far in excess of a state’s rate cap. One such rent-a-bank lender partnered with an out-of-state bank, once again based in Utah, to make a loan at 159.5% APR to an Illinois resident. This decision represents a significant escalation of this practice by theoretically allowing any online lender to circumvent Illinois law and charge usurious interest rates to Illinois consumers.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Press Release | AG Kwame Raoul’s statement on federal court granting injunction against an unconstitutional birthright citizenship order : “As I have previously indicated, the issue of birthright citizenship is a personal one to me. I am pleased the court has granted our request for a nationwide preliminary injunction and refused to let ‘the beacon of light’ that is the rule of law darken. The 14th Amendment was enshrined in our nation’s Constitution more than 150 years ago, and since then, the right of an individual born in this country to be a citizen of this country has been uniformly recognized. The judge correctly said today, ‘It has become ever more apparent that to our president, the rule of law is but an impediment to his policy goals.’

* WAND | Donald Trump is ‘calling for ethnic cleansing,’ says Illinois House Democrat: State Rep. Abdelnasser Rashid (D-Berwyn) said President Donald Trump is enacting an ethnic cleansing after Trump called all Palestinians to leave Gaza. “Let’s call that what it is, ethnic cleansing,” Rashid said. The lawmaker said this at a press conference where he unveiled a new bill. The plan would repeal a current Illinois law that restricts companies from boycotting Israel. The Illinois Investment Policy Board can currently restrict public funding to a company if they believe they are protesting Israel.

*** Statewide ***

* Journal Courier | Historical sites marking Lincoln’s birthday with events: The Lincoln Log Cabin State Historical Site in Lerna will be open for tours from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday. Refreshments and crafts will be available. The Lincoln Tomb in Springfield will be open for visitors from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday. Lincoln, his wife and three of their children were laid to rest in the tomb.

* WAND | Thousands of cars sold in Illinois have fake odometer readings: CARFAX told WAND News more than 2.14 million cars on the road may have had their odometer rolled back in 2024, up more than 18% since 2021, and up more than 82,000 vehicles since 2023. […] Illinois is among the leaders in the nation in odometer rollbacks. The state ranks number 5 nationwide with an estimated annual rollback of 79,200 miles. That’s up from the number 6 position in 2021.

*** Chicago ***

* Tribune | CPS security video shows Secret Service trying to enter Chicago’s Hamline School: The footage from Jan. 24, released in two, 30-minute recordings that offered different angles of the conversation, begins with two agents in plainclothes walking up to the main entrance and buzzing the intercom. They then fidget and peer through a window as they wait to be allowed entry. At one point, an agent tries unsuccessfully to yank open the door. The recordings have no sound, but agents are seen carrying file folders and showing identification cards that bear the U.S. Secret Service emblem. One agent twice shows that identification outside the building’s main entrance.

* Sun-Times | $27 million settlement proposed for family of pedestrian hit by SUV fleeing police: The money would go to the family of Angela Parks, a single working mother of five who was rendered a quadriplegic, then died 18 months later — at age 45 — after being struck by the passenger door of a Jeep that Chicago Police Department officers were pursuing because they believed it had been stolen. […] Officers in an unmarked vehicle were chasing a Jeep they suspected had been stolen — even though the police department’s general orders dating “as far back as 2000” prohibited officers from conducted a vehicular chase that could endanger motorists or pedestrians “for a property crime or theft,” Gallagher said. The chase occurred shortly before noon on a Sunday in a busy area with lots of traffic and pedestrians.

* Bloomberg | BMO joins IBM’s quantum network with plans to hire in Chicago: The Canadian bank will join another 50 financial institutions including Wells Fargo & Co. and HSBC Holdings Plc in gaining access to IBM’s quantum computer. The technology will be used by a team of quantum specialists BMO is currently building, said Kristin Milchanowski, chief AI and data officer at the bank. The finance industry is expected to be one of the biggest beneficiaries of quantum computers, which are exponentially more powerful than traditional machines. The technology helps sort large amounts of data and solve complex mathematical problems that would take binary computers days, months and even years.

* WBEZ | Under Trump administration, some Chicago students think twice about applying for financial aid: In light of President Donald Trump’s threats of mass deportations, Chicago-area high schoolers with undocumented parents are weighing whether it’s worth it to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA. “It’s creating an additional barrier to keep Brown kids out of college,” said Aidé Acosta, chief college officer for the Noble Schools charter network in Chicago.

* Hyde Park Herald | Talk draws attention to untold stories of freedom seekers on the Underground Railroad in Illinois: Larry McClellan, a founding professor at Governors State University, has spent decades researching, writing and speaking about the myriad stories of freedom seekers and sites of the Underground Railroad throughout Illinois. And yet, over that lengthy span, one figure has stood out as the source of particular fascination – Lewis Isbell. The son of a plantation-owner and an enslaved mother, Isbell was “in the middle of every significant thing that happens in Chicago’s Black community” from the moment he set foot in the Windy City until his death in 1905, McClellan said at a University of Chicago talk this week.

* Tribune | Virginia McCaskey, principal owner of the Chicago Bears and George Halas’ daughter, dies at 102: McCaskey was reluctantly forced by circumstance to take over her father’s enterprise. She guarded it with passion, patience and more than a touch of Papa Bear’s legendary toughness and stubbornness. When she removed eldest son Michael as team president in February 1999 and went outside the family to replace him with financial director Ted Phillips, she made the difficult decision with a style and grace that defined her personality.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Lake County News-Sun | Judge asked to allow Highland Park parade shooting victims who testify to watch trial of alleged shooter: Prosecutors filed a motion to allow victim witnesses to be in the gallery, which goes against normal courtroom procedure. Judge Victoria Rossetti said during a Thursday case management conference that she will hear arguments on the question on Feb. 20, four days before jury selection is scheduled to begin in the case. Outside of giving their testimony, witnesses are usually barred from being in the courtroom during a trial because authorities are concerned that they might hear something that would affect their testimony. Witnesses are sometimes allowed to be in the gallery after they testify.

* Shaw Local | With Hebron down to 1 full-time cop – who some want gone – village contracts with sheriff for local patrols: The department, which then had a mix of full- and part-time officers, now numbers one. Police Chief Peter Goldman is the department’s only active, full-time employee. Hebron’s lone sergeant is on medical leave after a fall at the station in December, and the village’s community service officer resigned in early January. But residents demanded more patrols – an activity some say they have not seen Goldman doing since becoming chief on Nov. 13.

*** Downstate ***

* Daily Journal | Former Iroquois County official accused of gambling while being on the clock: Attorneys for former Iroquois County Public Health administrator Dee Ann Schippert argued in a motion that her allegedly gambling for more than 750 hours while claiming to be on the clock for her job is not relevant to the charges against her. According to charging documents, the 58-year-old Schippert stole more than $100,000 from the health department between May 31, 2020, and July 15, 2022, and has been charged with eight felony counts of theft of government property, eight forgery felonies and 17 felony counts of official misconduct.

* Illinois Times | City Council enacts new conflict-of-interest standards: The Springfield City Council voted 8-0 on Feb. 4 to spend about $1.5 million in TIF funds to help a local couple renovate a dilapidated building in the 300 block of East Adams Street. But the Ward 5 representative on the council, Lakeisha Purchase, who has worked with Martin and Laurie Haxel for two years on the project at 322 E. Adams St. as part of Purchase’s efforts to revitalize downtown, abstained from voting on the measure or taking part in debate.

* Illinois Times | Springfield parents struggle with lack of child care options: Day care directors throughout the area say they are continually rebuffing parents seeking a place for their children – particularly infants. “I have over 100 infants on my waiting list,” said Kasi Maisenbacher, owner of Kardinal Kids on the west side of Springfield. “I only have four infant slots. It’s because babies are so labor-intensive, and it’s hard to find people who have the qualifications to care for babies.”

* WAND | FedEx facilities in Springfield, Urbana, and Effingham to close: In a statement they said, “FedEx regularly evaluates its network and makes adjustments to align with the evolving needs of the business… Decisions of this nature are the result of much thought and consideration for maintaining the high level of service expected from our customers and other needs of our business.” FedEx went on to say that affected team members were notified several months before any changes occur and will receive assistance with finding other employment opportunities within the company, including additional support options like “relocation assistance or severance where applicable.”

*** National ***

* AM NY | Subway crime plummets as ridership jumps significantly in 2025 in congestion pricing era: In the first month of 2025, there were 147 reported crimes on the subway down from 231 last year—resulting in 36% fewer crimes committed on the rails this year. At the same time, subway ridership has increased significantly since the start of congestion pricing on Jan. 5. This means that the drop in crime on the tracks has actually decreased even as more people are using NYC’s busy transit system—one of the largest in the world.

* The Guardian | US immigration is gaming Google to create a mirage of mass deportations: That four-day operation in Colorado? It happened in November 2010. The 123 people targeted in New Orleans? That was February of last year. Wisconsin? September 2018. There are thousands of examples of this throughout all 50 states – Ice press releases that have reached the first page of Google search results, making it seem like enforcement actions just happened, when in actuality they occurred months or years ago. Some, such as the arrest of “44 absconders” in Nebraska, go back as far as 2008.

* AP | Second federal judge in two days blocks President Trump’s birthright citizenship order: U.S. District Judge John Coughenour in Seattle on Thursday decried what he described as the administration’s treatment of the Constitution and said Trump was trying to change it with an executive order. The latest proceeding came just a day after a Maryland federal judge issued a nationwide pause in a separate but similar case involving immigrants’ rights groups and pregnant women whose soon-to-born children could be affected.

* Crain’s | Rivian adopts AI-powered, sensor-rich strategy for self-driving tech in bid to catch Tesla: Rivian has one potential advantage over Tesla: It’s willing to spend the money for high-tech sensors, such as radar and lidar, that could help close the gap with Tesla’s camera-only approach to hardware. “As competition in this space evolves, I think you are going to see [automakers] with more sensors,” Scaringe said at Rivian’s showroom here in late January. “One of the areas where we are different than Tesla — we’ve put more sensors in the vehicle, recognizing that is a way to catch up to what they’ve built using a camera-only system.”

* WaPo | DOGE broadens sweep of federal agencies, gains access to health payment systems: In recent days, officials affiliated with DOGE have visited the offices of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), according to five people with knowledge of the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private interactions. DOGE officials have also sought access to payment and contracting systems across the Department of Health and Human Services that control hundreds of billions of dollars in annual payments to health-care providers, and they appear to have gained access to at least some of those systems, the people said.  The Wall Street Journal earlier reported that DOGE aides had been granted access to the CMS grant-management system.

* NYT | Schumer Urged Democrats to Oppose Trump Nominees in Protest of His Policies: The plea for blanket opposition was only symbolic. Relegated to the minority in the Senate, Democrats have no power to block Mr. Trump’s nominees unless they can persuade a handful of Republicans to join them, and the Republican Party has largely fallen into line behind the president’s picks. But the entreaty was a notable change in strategy for Mr. Schumer, who has come under increasing pressure from progressive activists, Democratic governors and some senators to take a more aggressive and confrontational stance against Mr. Trump in response to the president’s efforts to steer around Congress on spending and policy.

  13 Comments      


Showcasing The Retailers Who Make Illinois Work

Thursday, Feb 6, 2025 - Posted by Advertising Department

[The following is a paid advertisement.]

Retail provides one out of every five Illinois jobs, generates the second largest amount of tax revenue for the state, and is the largest source of revenue for local governments. But retail is also so much more, with retailers serving as the trusted contributors to life’s moments, big and small.

We Are Retail and IRMA are dedicated to sharing the stories of retailers like the Drakefords, who serve their communities with dedication and pride.

  Comments Off      


That’s really good advice, so why won’t you take it?

Thursday, Feb 6, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Rep. Brad Halbrook (R-Shelbyville) was the original sponsor of the “kick Cook County out of Illinois” bill and is a member of the Illinois Freedom Caucus, which is a bitter enemy of House Republican Leader Tony McCombie. Halbrook spoke on the floor today to celebrate Ronald Reagan’s birthday. It was quite something

Reagan had a rare gift. He brought people together. He knew that unity, not division, was a key to lasting change. There was his famous 80/20 rule that comes into play. Reagan once said, ‘The person who agrees with you 80 percent of the time is a friend and an ally, not a 20 percent traitor.’ In today’s political climate, we would do well to remember his wisdom.

He knew that conservatives, while sometimes differing in approach, must understand together in pursuit of shared values. He didn’t demand perfection. He sought progress. Reagan’s ability to unite people was evident in his landslide victories, his ability to work across the aisle and his unwavering belief in the American people. He didn’t dwell on what divided us, he focused on what could bring us together.

That was either a complete surrender announcement or one of the most self-unaware floor speeches I have heard in 35 years of doing this.

  26 Comments      


DOJ sues Illinois, Chicago over immigration enforcement (Updated x4)

Thursday, Feb 6, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Reuters

The U.S. Department of Justice sued Illinois and the city of Chicago on Thursday, accusing them of impeding the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies and seeking a court order sweeping aside so-called sanctuary laws.

Citing a national emergency declared by President Donald Trump on Inauguration Day, the Department of Justice is seeking to block the enforcement of several state and local laws that “interfere with and discriminate against” the federal government’s enforcement of federal immigration law.

The complaint was filed in Chicago federal court. […]

Newly installed U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a memo on Wednesday that said sanctuary jurisdictions should not receive federal Justice Department grants and the department should take actions against jurisdictions that impede immigration enforcement.

Click here to read Bondi’s memorandum.

* From the complaint

The United States brings this declaratory and injunctive action to prohibit the State of Illinois and its subdivisions from enforcing several state and local laws—namely, the Way Forward Act, TRUST Act, Welcoming City Act, and Cook County, Ill. Ordinance 11-O- 73—that are designed to and in fact interfere with and discriminate against the Federal Government’s enforcement of federal immigration law in violation of the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution. […]

Both the Governor of Illinois JB Pritzker and Mayor of Chicago Brandon Johnson, sued here in their official capacities, profess a shared interest with the Federal Government in enforcing immigration laws to effectuate the removal of such offenders from the United States. Last week on CNN, Governor Pritzker proclaimed: “Well let me start by being clear that when we’re talking about violent criminals who’ve been convicted and who are undocumented, we don’t want them in our state. We want them out of the country. We hope they do get deported. And if that’s who they’re picking up, we’re all for it.” https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/26/politics/video/sotu-pritzker-on-planned-chicago-immigration-raids. Illinois laws, however, provide otherwise. […]

The Illinois Way Forward Act and TRUST Act both impede the Federal Government’s ability to regulate immigration and take enforcement actions against illegal aliens by preventing state law enforcement officials from assisting with federal civil immigration enforcement. Under these laws, state officers are explicitly prohibited from complying with immigration detainers or civil immigration warrants; they are also prevented from entering into agreements to detain noncItizens for federal civil immigration violations. […]

By refusing to honor civil detainers and warrants expressly authorized by Congress, Defendants have unlawfully eliminated these means for federal immigrations officials to carry out their statutory functions.

* The DOJ sued Chicago in 2017 over its sanctuary city status. National Immigrant Justice Center

The National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) welcomes today’s federal court ruling that the U.S. Attorney General’s threat to withhold law enforcement funding from sanctuary cities has no basis in law.

The decision from the Northern District Court of Illinois, written by Reagan appointee Judge Harry D. Leinenweber, is another significant federal ruling blocking the administration’s anti-immigrant agenda.

The City of Chicago sued the U.S. Department of Justice last month after Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced he would cut federal Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program funding to cities and states that refuse to honor immigration detainers or have their local police act as immigration agents. The court found these conditions to be unlawful. At issue was Chicago’s 2012 Welcoming City Ordinance, which forbids the city’s police from inquiring about immigration status or detaining individuals for immigration purposes.

“Today’s ruling creates a critical roadblock to the administration’s persistent drive to enlist our local police in federal immigration enforcement,” said NIJC Associate Director of Litigation Mark Fleming. “As the City of Chicago has long recognized, and as our communities and elected officials acknowledged last month as Governor Rauner signed the TRUST Act into law, removing the fear that any interaction with the police could result in deportation is important to public safety and critical in building trust between communities and the police; that is what sanctuary city policies are all about.”

This post will likely be updated.

…Adding… From Gov. Pritzker…

Statement from the Illinois Governor’s Office:

    “Unlike Donald Trump, Illinois follows the law. The bipartisan Illinois TRUST Act, signed into law by a Republican governor, has always been compliant with federal law and still is today. Illinois will defend our laws that prioritize police resources for fighting crime while enabling state law enforcement to assist with arresting violent criminals. Instead of working with us to support law enforcement, the Trump Administration is making it more difficult to protect the public, just like they did when Trump pardoned the convicted January 6 violent criminals. We look forward to seeing them in court.”

Noting some recent comments directly from Gov. Pritzker too:

    • January 28 Press Conference: “We can make sure that we’re following the law which is what we always do and that the federal government is following the law. That’s most of what we can do. We’ve passed laws in Illinois to protect people and we’ll continue to focus on taking action where they’re most threatened.”
    • January 24 Press Conference: “We’re all having discussions across all the agencies of state government to make sure that we’re communicating. It’s Know Your Rights, making sure that people know what they should do if an agent shows up and asks them for proof of citizenship or proof of residency. Everybody is looking to follow the law and make sure that families are safe in the process. The federal government is not communicating with state government or local governments about what they’re doing, how they’re doing it, and so we don’t know exactly how to either assist the parents in dealing with it or assist the federal government in the work that they’re doing that is legally constitutional. It’s a challenge. But what we’re communicating with all of our agencies and making sure that, again, know your rights is really what we’re trying to communicate to all the parents and all the organizations across the state.”

…Adding… Sun-Times with more react

At a Loop news conference, Preckwinkle said “we’ll defend ourselves and hope for success in the court system… We’re gonna fight back. We will pursue every legal opportunity to defend the programs that we believe in and defend our values.”

A spokesperson for the city Law Department said they were reviewing the suit. Johnson has pledged to maintain the city’s sanctuary policies.

The lawsuit also named Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling and Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart as defendants. CPD officials declined to comment. Dart’s office couldn’t immediately be reached.

…Adding… Leader Curran…

Illinois Senate Republican Leader John Curran (R-Downers Grove) released the following statement in response to The United States Department of Justice filing suit against the State of Illinois and City of Chicago for impeding federal immigration enforcement:

“By continuing to obstruct federal immigration authorities from apprehending dangerous criminals being harbored in Illinois illegally, Gov. Pritzker and Mayor Johnson are putting both law enforcement and Illinoisans at risk. For years, the Democratic Majority has ignored multiple pieces of legislation brought forth by Illinois Republicans to repeal the Trust Act and allow state and local authorities to communicate with federal immigration enforcement agencies. Their continued refusal to put the safety of Illinois citizens before their own personal political agendas has now forced the federal government to intervene to keep Americans safe. I strongly encourage the Governor, Mayor of Chicago, and Democratic legislative leaders to quit impeding law enforcement’s ability to cooperate and assist federal authorities with removing violent criminals who are here in Illinois illegally, and immediately call our repeal of the Trust Act for a vote.”

…Adding… Attorney General Kwame Raoul…

“The 10th Amendment to the Constitution preserves Illinois’ right to decide how we use our law enforcement resources. This includes opting out of federal attempts to commandeer those state law enforcement resources to perform the federal government’s job on civil immigration enforcement. The TRUST Act reflects Illinois’ constitutionally-protected choice. We have successfully defended the TRUST Act in federal court before, and we look forward to vigorously defending the law again.”

  53 Comments      


Um, what?

Thursday, Feb 6, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Sun-Times

CTU praises arbitrator’s report on contract talks but rejects recommendations as falling short

Neutral “fact-finder” said CPS has more money to offer in contract negotiations — a positive for CTU. But union officials on Wednesday said the arbitrator only made recommendations on two of 15 key areas. CPS said it was still reviewing the report.

The Chicago Teachers Union said an independent arbitrator found that Chicago Public Schools officials have more money to offer in contract negotiations than they’re letting on — representing an unexpectedly positive outcome for the union. But CTU leaders said they would reject the neutral fact-finder’s report because it fell short in other areas — a move that could take the school district closer to a teachers’ strike.

CTU leaders said they were stunned by the report’s findings on financial issues, calling it the most favorable the union has received in the 15 years since a state law was created allowing for a neutral arbitrator to weigh in on CPS-CTU negotiating disputes.

* But

The report is here.

  20 Comments      


It’s just a bill (Updated)

Thursday, Feb 6, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* HB2827 from Reps. Terra Costa Howard and Michelle Mussman

Creates the Homeschool Act. Requires the State Board of Education to create a Homeschool Declaration Form to be used by a homeschool administrator to submit information indicating that a child is enrolled in a homeschool program to the principal of the public school or to the school district that the homeschooled child would otherwise attend. Provides that a student enrolled in a homeschool program in which the homeschool administrator has not notified the public school or school district with the Homeschool Declaration Form is considered truant, with penalties applying. Provides that if a child in a homeschool program seeks to enroll part time in a public school or participate in any public school activities taking place on or off of school grounds, the homeschool administrator must submit proof that the child has received all required immunizations and health examinations or a signed Certificate of Religious Exemption. Sets forth requirements for homeschool administrators and programs and reporting requirements. Makes conforming and other changes in the Freedom of Information Act, the School Code, and the Illinois School Student Records Act, including requiring (rather than allowing) nonpublic schools to register with the State Board of Education.

Last year, ProPublica and Capitol News Illinois published a series of stories examining Illinois’ “hands-off” approach to homeschooling.

* Rep. Anne Stava-Murray filed HB1589 last month

Amends the Trustees Article of the Illinois Local Library Act. Provides that a candidate for the position of library trustee must have a valid library card for the library.

* Sen. Mike Porfirio…

State Senator Mike Porfirio is backing House Bill 2723, introduced by State Representative Abdelnasser Rashid, which would lift state pension investment restrictions placed on companies engaged in boycotts of Israel. Porfirio plans to file a bill in the Illinois Senate with identical language this week.

“Public pension funds should prioritize fiscal responsibility,” said Porfirio (D- Lyons Township).

In Illinois, public pensions are managed through administered retirement systems. The systems invest funds into assets such as stocks, bonds and real estate, and in return, guarantee annual benefits to employees once they retire.

Current law prevents the Illinois Investment Policy Board from investing public pension funds in companies that intentionally engaged in boycotts of Israel. House Bill 2723 would lift this restriction, allowing the state to invest in companies solely based on financial standards.

House Bill 2723 awaits committee assignment in the Illinois House of Representatives. The bill introduced by Porfirio will await assignment once filed.

* WGN

Illinois’ neighbor to the north is well-known for its prodigious alcohol consumption.

There’s a reason why “Drink Wisconsinbly” has become a popular Badger State slogan.

A bill now up for consideration in the Illinois General Assembly proposes to put Illinois on the same footing as Wisconsin in at least one drinking measure.

The bill, introduced by State Rep. John Cabello (R-Machesney Park), would amend the Liquor Control Act of 1934 to allow 18- to 20-years-olds to drink alcohol at bars and restaurants in Illinois, so long as a parent or guardian is present.

* WICS

On February 5, a coalition of Illinois leaders, advocates, and community members gathered at the Illinois State Capitol Building Rotunda to rally support for the Clean Slate Bill.

This legislation aims to modernize the state’s record-sealing system by replacing the outdated petition-based model with an automated system. The bill seeks to remove barriers for over 1.5 million Illinoisans with old criminal records, fostering economic stability across the state.

According to the Paper Prisons Initiative, an estimated 73% of people in Illinois with an arrest or conviction record are eligible to have their records sealed under the current petition-based process. This represents 2.2 million Illinoisans who have met the requirements for a second chance but continue to be denied employment, housing, and other opportunities because of a past record. […]

In addition to economic benefits, the bill aims to promote public safety by removing barriers to meaningful employment, housing, and other opportunities. Donnell Williams, a member leader at the Workers Center for Racial Justice, called for action, saying, “We don’t want another task force to talk about the causes of recidivism. We don’t want another think tank to talk about the barriers to re-entry. We don’t want a seat at the table, we want to help build the table for our own resources that our community needs. We need automatic expungement now! We need good jobs now!”

* Rep. Maura Hirschauer filed HB2934 yesterday

Amends the Illinois Vehicle Code. Provides that, on and after October 1, 2025, the default speed limit is [25] (instead of 30) miles per hour within an urban district, and 10 (instead of 15) miles per hour in an alley within an urban district. Requires, by September 1, 2025, the Secretary of State to communicate the speed limit change to every licensed driver in the State via direct postal mail and a broad statewide communications campaign. Provides that a county, municipality, or township with speed enforcement authority may only issue warnings for violations during the first 60 days after the change of the speed limit is enacted. Effective immediately.

…Adding… A small note on Rep. Hirschauer’s bill: The synopsis contained a typo, stating 20 mph instead of 25 mph. I’ve corrected it to match the bill’s language.

…Adding… Rep. Bob Morgan…

Illinois State Representative Bob Morgan (D-Deerfield) has introduced HB 2969, the ‘Balanced Earnings And Record Standards & Stadium Oversight Expectations Act,’ also known as ‘The BEARS Act.’ This legislation is designed to establish a merit-based framework for determining when tax dollars can be used for public funding of sports stadiums, based on the performance of the teams.

“Our primary goal with this bill is not to punish teams, but to ensure that Illinois taxpayers’ dollars are spent responsibly. No one wants to see taxpayer dollars wasted by billionaire team owners that are not investing in their teams’ competitiveness,” Representative Morgan said. “As families across Illinois are tightening their belts due to the rising cost of living, we must be careful with how we spend limited public dollars, especially when it comes to billion-dollar franchises. Illinois should be committed to ensuring that public investments are directed to Illinois residents, and then to teams that, at the very least, are performing at a competitive level.”

The ‘BEARS Act’ requires professional sports teams to achieve a .500 record or above in at least three out of five regular seasons in order to qualify for public financing for stadium construction, renovation, or maintenance. If a team’s record drops below .500, they will be ineligible for future funding until they demonstrate improved performance over three out of five seasons.

The legislation aims to ensure that taxpayer funds are only allocated to teams that demonstrate a basic level of competitiveness. “This isn’t about perfection; it’s about making sure that the teams we invest in have a realistic chance of being successful and bringing value back to the community,” Morgan added.

Public funding for sports stadiums often proves a poor return on investment. While proponents claim it boosts local economies, many studies show that the benefits are often overstated. The jobs created are typically low-wage and temporary, and the economic impact rarely offsets the massive public subsidies. In many cases, teams and stadium owners capture most of the profits, leaving taxpayers to cover construction, maintenance, and potential projected revenue shortfalls. This raises concerns about whether such investments truly benefit the public.

“While Illinois enters an unprecedented time, with state funding under constant threat from the Trump administration, Illinois must be vigilant with every cent spent. While I don’t support using taxpayer dollars for stadiums, this framework ensures that, if funds are spent, they go to teams offering the best return on investment,” concluded Representative Morgan.

  26 Comments      


Some react to US Transportation Secretary’s directive tying funding to birth and marriage rates

Thursday, Feb 6, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Last week, we talked about how the US Transportation Secretary directed his staff to “give preference to communities with marriage and birth rates higher than the national average” when awarding grants, loans and conracts.

Illinois’ birth rate is lower than the national average, as is its marriage rate.

* Greg Hinz followed up

Another [local transportation official], who also asked not to be named, laughed off the move, noting that while the DOT has substantial discretion in awarding some kinds of funds, others are carefully negotiated in Congress with a deal struck between rural and urban lawmakers that eventually is enacted into law.

The truth is no one rightly knows amid a flurry of executive orders and the like from the Trump administration, said Illinois Rep. Mike Quigley, who serves on the House Appropriations Committee and is the ranking Democratic member of its key Subcommittee on Transportation.

Quigley said he doubts Duffy can do all of this on his own, but isn’t sure at this point. “I’m hoping this idea fades away.”

Regional Transportation Authority Chairman Kirk Dillard, whose agency supervises and funds the CTA, Metra and Pace, said he’s not sure either — “there are many federal funding formulas, and this needs to be assessed” — but rejected the notion that Chicago’s needs are less important because some other cities are growing more quickly.

The governor’s office did not respond, preferring to wait for more details.

Discuss.

  21 Comments      


Open thread

Thursday, Feb 6, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* What’s going on in your part of Illinois?…

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Isabel’s morning briefing

Thursday, Feb 6, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* ICYMI: Pritzker signs law to prioritize placing foster children with family members. Capitol News Illinois

    - The new law puts an obligation on the Department of Children and Family Services to use a “kin-first approach” when placing children in foster care.

    - DCFS will develop a certification policy for family members, which will allow them more access to financial resources for caregiving.

    - Relatives will also have different criminal background criteria than other foster parents. The federal government allows DCFS to waive “non-safety-related licensing” for relative caregivers on a case-by-case basis.

* Related stories…

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* WBEZ | Amid deportation fears, hundreds of patients skip appointments at one Chicago health clinic: CommunityHealth treats more than 4,000 people a year, with around 50 employees and 1,000 volunteers helping take care of patients. Like a lot of hospitals and health centers, CommunityHealth doesn’t ask a person’s legal status. Still, in the first two weeks after Trump took office, nearly 30% of patients didn’t show up or canceled their primary care or specialty appointments or lab tests without rescheduling, translating to more than 300 missed visits, Willding said.

* Tribune | Jury concludes sixth day of deliberations in Madigan corruption trial without verdict: Jurors in the trial of Michael Madigan left the courthouse Wednesday, their sixth day of deliberations, without having reached a verdict – and without having sent any notes or asked any questions. The complete radio silence was somewhat unusual: Jurors have sent at least one communication every day since they began their discussions the afternoon of Jan. 29. So far they have deliberated for roughly 36 ½ hours. They are slated to return Thursday morning.

*** Statehouse News ***

* WTVO | Illinois bill would remove student performance from teacher reviews: Currently, Illinois requires up to 30% of a teacher’s evaluation to be based on student growth. In 2024, the Illinois State Board of Education commissioned a study from the American Institutes for Research that found other factors impacted a student’s learning “outside of teacher’s control such as family issues, health, or access to resources.”

*** Statewide ***

* 25News Now | Illinois corn growers respond to tariffs on largest trading partners: Illinois Corn Growers Association President and Waterloo, IL farmer Garrett Hawkins said each of these countries is an important market for U.S. corn farmers, especially Canada and Mexico, who are the largest market for ethanol and corn. “The farm economy is in a really tough spot right now with low commodity prices and high input costs. Export demand for corn products has been about the only positive in the market recently. Mexico, Canada and China are major buyers of our AG products, and any retaliation from these countries on our exports will likely target farmers. I know that President Trump supports farmers and the rural economies they’re a part of, so we’ll look for a quick resolution that protects our relationships and benefits both farmers and our end customers.”

* Bloomberg | Pritzker Warns Federal Workers in Illinois Against Musk Buyout: Illinois Governor JB Pritzker is warning federal employees in his state about risks related to the buyouts President Donald Trump and his advisor Elon Musk are offering to shrink the US government’s workforce. More than 40,000 federal civilian employees are based in Illinois. They must decide by Thursday whether to accept or turn down an offer to leave their jobs immediately, with pay and benefits through September. More than 20,000 workers countrywide have taken the buyout, and the Trump administration expects around 10% of the 2 million civil servants across the US to accept it.

*** Chicago ***

* Crain’s | Johnson to testify at congressional probe of sanctuary cities: The mayor’s office confirmed Johnson will attend the hearing of the Republican-led House Oversight Committee on March 5 in the nation’s capital. “We thank Committee members for the upcoming conversation on this important issue, and for the opportunity for Mayor Johnson to represent Chicago alongside Mayors from Boston, Denver, and New York,” the mayor’s office said in a press release.

* Tribune | Illinois mother says her teenager’s chest surgery was canceled after Trump executive order on gender-affirming care: But the Illinois mother said her son has already been caught up in fallout from the order. The woman, who is named as Jane Doe 2 in court documents, says that her 17-year-old son was referred to UI Health for chest surgery and had his surgical consult there in October, but the surgery was canceled a day after the executive order was issued. She wrote about her family’s experience in a declaration that was filed Wednesday as an exhibit attached to a motion for a temporary restraining order, in a lawsuit in federal court in Maryland challenging Trump’s executive order. The lawsuit was filed by PFLAG, GLMA and transgender young adults and their families, and alleges that Trump’s executive order usurps congressional authority and violates federal laws that prohibit discrimination based on sex in health care programs receiving federal dollars.

* Tribune | Cultural commissioner criticized for leaving ‘void,’ faces bullying allegations: After canceling a quarterly meeting with some of Chicago’s top cultural minds for a second time, Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events Commissioner Clinée Hedspeth is facing criticism from appointees of past administrations who say she is leaving a “void” in the struggling arts industry. Hedspeth postponed until late February the Cultural Advisory Council’s meeting just days before it was set to occur last week. The decision “continues a pattern” of noncommunication with arts leaders left in the dark about her vision for Chicago culture, advisory council member Amina Dickerson said. “I think a city is defined by its cultural vibrancy,” said Dickerson, an arts activist long involved in leading local cultural institutions. “That needs support, that needs counsel, that needs careful tending for that to be maintained. And I’m just not sure that is a priority.”

* ABC Chicago | Fact-finder report released for Chicago Public Schools, teachers; union contract negotiations: The Chicago Teachers Union said it’s rejecting an “unprecedented” fact-finding report and is returning to negotiations with Chicago Public Schools as the union prepares to expand the bargaining table. The CTU said the report only included recommendations for two of the 15 issues it submitted. But, the union said it was surprised that some of the findings in the report actually sided with what they are asking for, like increasing pay for veteran teachers, increasing the number of school librarians and hiring more family engagement coordinators.

* Sun-Times | CTU praises arbitrator’s report on contract talks but rejects recommendations as falling short: CPS noted that the report commends the district for academic progress and “underscores the financial obstacles faced by the District, a sentiment that was corroborated by an independent review by the Civic Federation.” But CPS’ statement does not mention the areas where the arbitrator sides with CTU. CPS CEO Pedro Martinez said last week that he hoped the report would provide a “mutual set of facts to move forward in a productive way” that would to help settle the contract. Martinez also has said that the two sides are close to a deal and he can’t “imagine a need for a strike.”

* Sun-Times | Some Chicago restaurants are charging extra for eggs to cope with soaring costs: Joel Nickson, Wishbone’s chef and co-owner, added the surcharge on Jan. 25 “knowing this was not going to be a one-month problem.” The restaurant at 161 N. Jefferson St. tries to avoid raising menu prices, but egg costs are the highest he’s seen in 35 years of running Wishbone. “At first people were making fun of me for doing it,” Nickson said of the surcharge.

* NBC Chicago | Multiple Chicago area schools closed, delayed due to icy conditions: Full List: More than a dozen schools across the Chicago area were on delayed starts or closed Thursday due to icy conditions on roads, streets and sidewalks. The closures and delays come hours after sleet, freezing rain, freezing drizzle and snow fell across the region Wednesday night and overnight, leading to cars spinning off highways and treacherous walking conditions.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Southtown | Harvey Mayor Christopher Clark drops out of race for Thornton Township supervisor: Christopher Clark announced Tuesday he withdrew his candidacy for Thornton Township supervisor to prioritize his work as mayor of Harvey. Clark said the challenges facing Harvey, including $165 million of debt, demand his full attention, leading him to drop out of the township race. “I want people in the city of Harvey to know and understand that even in this particular case, I am willing to make that sacrifice for them,” Clark said Tuesday.

* Daily Herald | Operator of Lutheran Home in Arlington Heights files for bankruptcy protection: Lutheran Life Communities “has been investigating strategic alternatives for addressing the financial needs of the company and its affiliates, reorganizing their business, maximizing the value of the assets of the company and its affiliates; and protecting the company’s affiliates from the appointment of a receiver,” according to a resolution approved Monday by the nonprofit’s board of directors. The resolution was included Tuesday in a 19-page Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Chicago. Officials couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday.

*** Downstate ***

* SJ-R | Illinois protestors among those nationwide against actions of President Trump, Elon Musk: A nationwide protest at state capitols consequently drew about 200 people to Springfield, Illinois by Wednesday afternoon. Organized by the 50501 Movement and apparently taken up by volunteers in each state, the Springfield protest saw people from throughout Illinois that sought to push back on actions being taken by President Donald Trump and his administration.

* Illinois Times | The impossible task of providing child care: Heather and Stephen Casner sat across from the loan officer in the fall of 2022, a stack of papers between them. The building they were trying to buy – a 21-room, one-story motel in rural Anna, Illinois – was overflowing with trash and would need a complete overhaul before they could reopen it as a child care center in a region where there were almost no such facilities. But after a long search, it was the best option they could find. The Casners were about to sign the papers for a $600,000 loan, using their house as collateral and setting aside $200,000 from Stephen’s retirement to cover what the loan wouldn’t. It was a staggering sum in a southern Illinois town where the per capita income is about $25,000 – 40% below the national level. “I’ve never even seen that much money,” Heather said. “I wasn’t raised that way.”

*** National ***

* NYT | Harry Stewart Jr. Dies at 100; One of Last Tuskegee Airmen to See Combat: Mr. Stewart was one of a tiny handful of still-living Tuskegee pilots who saw combat in the war. He flew 43 missions — almost one every other day — from late winter 1944 into the spring of 1945. On one mission, to attack a Luftwaffe base in Germany, Lieutenant Stewart and six other American pilots were baited into a dogfight with at least 16 German fighter planes. Firing his machine guns and performing risky aerial maneuvers, he downed three enemy aircraft in succession, fending off a potential rout. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, cited for having “gallantly engaged, fought and defeated the enemy” with no regard for his personal safety.

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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Supplement to today’s edition and more news (Updated)

Thursday, Feb 6, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today’s edition of Capitol Fax (use all CAPS in password)

Thursday, Feb 6, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Live coverage

Thursday, Feb 6, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* You can click here and here to follow the Madigan trial. Click here and/or here to follow breaking news. Hopefully, enough reporters and news outlets migrate to BlueSky so we can hopefully resume live-posting.

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Selected press releases (Live updates)

Thursday, Feb 6, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

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House Republicans walk out of chamber as J6/Trump resolutions begin (Updated x5)

Wednesday, Feb 5, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller

* House Resolution 118

Condemns President Donald Trump’s inexcusable pardons of his coconspirators and criminals convicted of attacking police officers, attacking our Capitol, and attacking our democracy.

The House Republicans called for a caucus meeting during debate. They came back in and then walked out during the roll call…

The HGOPs are holding a press conference.

* The other resolutions teed up for debate…

    * HR116: Condemns President Donald Trump’s cruel and lawless efforts to block lifesaving services that help people access healthcare, put food on the table, afford housing, and more. Urges the United States Congress to take clear and unequivocal action to check the undemocratic actions of the Trump Administration that violate the constitutional separation of power. Renews the commitment to helping Illinois families get ahead by supporting the services they need to be their best, expanding access to affordable healthcare, and reining in the cost of living.

    * HR115: Calls on President Donald Trump to stop the actions of his administration that are making communities less safe, undermining the rule of law, and raising the cost of living. Urges federal lawmakers to instead prioritize comprehensive reforms, including a pathway to citizenship, and focus on the safety of every community, the economic security of every family, and the rights guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution.

    * HR117: Condemns President Donald Trump’s efforts to undermine equal pay, make workplaces less fair, and limit opportunity. Condemns the false, hateful comments President Trump and his allies have used to impugn and demean working people. Renews commitment to prioritize equal pay for equal work, opportunities for all, and protections in our workplaces in Illinois.

    * HR119: Calls upon President Donald Trump to abandon his reckless tariff plans that would raise costs on Illinois families and businesses.

…Adding… From the HGOP presser…

…Adding… Rep. John Cabello (R-Machesney Park) was asked this question today…

You are a police officer. I mean, do you agree, though, that should people that assaulted police officers be pardoned?

He didn’t answer, and instead tried to pivot to the SAFE-T Act. He was asked again, and he didn’t answer again.

* Rep. Chris Miller (R-No Relation) has talked on the floor this session about his strong support for the president’s actions and was asked for his thoughts. Rep. Cabello interrupted to say…

We’re not here to discuss what’s going on nationally. We’ve got some issues here in this state.

* House Republican Leader Tony McCombie…

Q: The Democrats would say that this is in response to some of the comments that have been made by some members of this caucus about some of these topics, whether it’s immigration or some of the other topics that were addressed in some of those resolutions. What would you say to them? What would you say to those that would say that the House Republicans are not talking about some of these issues that you just mentioned, that you guys are talking about some of these topics.

McCombie: Why are they so worried about what the super minority was saying on the other side? And if they’re having to be talking about some of the members of a caucus within our caucus, why are they so worried about a small group within our minority, they’re still part of our team. What are they worried about? What are they scared about? I think they should just worry about their own districts and worry about the election cycle.

…Adding… During the roll call on HR115, Marcus Evans calls out Republicans by name to ask if they want to vote…

…Adding… House Speaker Chris Welch…

What’s been coming out of Washington, DC these last couple of weeks has been sad and concerning on many levels, and the people who elected you to be here would want you to be here, to speak for them… pardons to rioters who severely harmed law enforcement officials. We are here to speak up against that freezing legally mandated funding for state and local governments and blocking the services families need to keep a roof over their head, blocking the funding for Head Start programs to keep their doors open. We are here to speak up for those families who need those services.

But there’s 40 people who were elected by people in this state who walked out on those people today, they should be here speaking out against issuing tariffs on our friends and allies in Canada and Mexico that will raise the cost of everything in our districts and their districts too, but they’re not here to speak up for those people. They’re not here to talk about President Trump taxing working families all across this country to pay for tax cuts for his billionaire friends. They’re not here to talk about a president who is doing everything except addressing our broken immigration system. They’re not here to talk about him leading by fear and intimidation, causing immigrant families to stay inside and not go to school, not go to church, not visit restaurants, not visit malls. They’re not here.

They’re not here to talk about the president attacking workers rights and Diversity Equity and Inclusion programs that data proves work and make us all better, even people in their districts. They’re not here to talk about special government employees who no one elected using Nazi salutes and accessing America’s most personal and confidential information.

They’re not here to talk about what’s coming out of Washington DC. What’s coming out of Washington DC can be summed up in one word, fascism. Fascism. Fascism.

They should be here to speak out against fascism. We cannot be silent. We must rise up. Speak up, speak out. We cannot walk out on the people that sent us here. We have to stay in faith. German pastor Martin Niemöller once said, ‘First they came for the communists and I did not speak out because I was not a communist, then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. But then they came for me, but there was no one there left to speak for me.’

Members, this is not a time to be silent. This is not a time to walk out on your job. This is not a time to walk out on the people who sent you here. This is a time to stay, Stand and fight.

We have members who were elected to represent people on that side of the chamber who traveled to Washington, DC on January 6, 2021 to march for Donald Trump, with Donald Trump, but today, February 5, 2025, they couldn’t stay and do their jobs and speak out against fascism.

But we’re here, Illinois.

We are here. The Democratic caucus is here. We’re united on this floor. We’re here speaking up for you, Illinois. We’re here speaking out for you, Illinois, whether you’re in a blue district or a red district, we’re here. What Trump is doing is wrong for Illinois, what Trump is doing is wrong for America, and we are here to speak out against it. We will resist, we will fight, and we will win. Vote yes and condemn this nonsense coming out of Washington.

Please pardon all transcription errors.

* From the House Republicans…

In response to several House Resolutions brought forward by the majority party, House Minority Leader Tony McCombie released the following statement after her caucus left in a unified protest, refusing to vote:

“Today, House Republicans stood together for working families across Illinois and against the petty political games of the majority party. We are here to promote economic growth, improve public safety, and deliver real relief to taxpayers. It’s time to do our jobs—offering solutions that benefit our state and the hardworking people we represent. House Republicans are here to work, not to waste time on political theater.”

In closing, Rep. Kam Buckner called the Republicans “the Houdini caucus, silence and absence, ignoring the harsh realities of what their inaction will lead to for the people that they represent, proving that they’re in a rocky relationship with democracy. Nobody in any of our districts gets paid to leave their job early, and they don’t expect that of us. What they do expect is for us to fight, for them, to push back against ham handed, haphazard, nonsensical government action. And we, those of us who remain, will do exactly that.”

…Adding… More from McCombie’s spokesperson…

“I think we struck a nerve: The Speaker’s unhinged grandstanding this evening just proves our point. If Speaker Welch needs ideas on how to serve Illinois families, House Republicans have solutions to get the job done.”

  29 Comments      


Isabel’s afternoon roundup (Updated x2)

Wednesday, Feb 5, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Crain’s

Gov. JB Pritzker says the Trump administration’s widely reported plans to slash funding and staff at the Department of Education, or eliminate it altogether, could cost the state’s schools billions. […]

Federal funding accounts for roughly 10% of budgets for K-12 schools, he said. […]

Pritzker also noted the importance of federal support for special-education funding.

“To get rid of special education is to harm the most vulnerable children in our state,” he said.

* CBS Chicago

Gov. JB Pritzker on Wednesday signed legislation aimed at making it easier for relatives to become a child’s foster parents.

The Kinship in Demand (KIND) Act would allow the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services more flexibility in certifying grandparents and other relatives as foster parents for children in their family. […]

Currently, relative caregivers must go through the same certification process as traditional licensed foster parents who may be total strangers to a child, making it difficult for them to take in a related child as their own. […]

The KIND Act also makes sure related foster parents would get the same financial benefits as traditional licensed foster caregivers to help them pay for the care and supervision of a child in their care.

…Adding… This will cause a stir…

WHAT: Press conference introducing legislation to restore protections for peaceful advocacy in
Illinois by repealing the state’s 2015 anti-boycott law targeting advocates for Palestinian freedom.

WHO: State Representative Rashid
State Senator Porfirio
Advocates representing the Illinois Coalition for Human Rights, a diverse multifaith coalition of local advocates including, Rabbi Brant Rosen, Lesley Williams, Deanna Othman, Sheri Maali

WHEN: Wednesday, February 5, 2025 12:00 PM - 12:30 PM

WHERE: Blue Room Illinois State Capitol Building Springfield, IL

WHY: Illinois’ 2015 anti-boycott law has had serious consequences for human rights advocacy. The most prominent example came when the state divested from Unilever after Ben & Jerry’s decided to stop selling ice cream in Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian territories due to human rights concerns. President Trump’s latest statement—calling for the U.S. to take over Gaza—raises the alarm about the risk of wholesale ethnic cleansing, making the repeal of this law even more urgent. Illinois must not be complicit in shielding human rights abuses from accountability or suppressing peaceful advocacy.

VISUALS: Coalition of diverse faith leaders, civil rights advocates, and community members gathering to support legislation protecting constitutional rights, including the right to advocate for Palestinian freedom.

* A little session update

…Adding… After two Democrats spoke in debate, the House Republicans called for a caucus of between an hour and an hour and a half.

* Equality Illinois…

Equality Illinois Boards of Directors launches an open search process to identify the next CEO for the statewide LGBTQ+ civil rights organization

Brian C. Johnson, the CEO of Equality Illinois since 2016, announced today that he will transition out of the role on June 30th after nine years helping to grow the statewide LGBTQ+ civil rights organization into a multi-issue and high-impact advocacy organization.  He will focus his energies in the interim on fighting back against the hate-filled agenda flowing from Washington DC, making Illinois the first state in the country to protect the lives of sex workers by fully decriminalizing adult consensual sex work, and providing for a smooth leadership transition.

“It has been a privilege of a lifetime serving the half a million LGBTQ+ Illinoisans over these past nine years,” Johnson said.  “I have served during three Presidents, worked with two Governors, and partnered with three Chicago mayors.  We have even survived a global pandemic and shutdown together.  But now is the right time to hand the baton over to the next leader who will direct the important work ahead.  I plan to spend this next year discerning how I can continue to serve Chicago, Illinois, and our country while spending some more intentional time as a husband and father; my two favorite roles.” […]

Commenting on the transition during this time, Johnson said “I know these are tough times.  We are under attack like we haven’t been in my lifetime.  This is why we are planning a thoughtful extended transition.”  Johnson added, “Until then, I am all in. I am comforted to know that Equality Illinois has never been better poised to meet this moment.”

*** Statehouse News ***

* Tribune | Illinois attorney general says state will protect gender-affirming care, despite Trump executive order: After a week of uncertainty for Illinois hospitals and clinics over an executive order seeking to end gender-affirming care for minors, the Illinois attorney general issued a statement Wednesday saying the state will protect such care. The statement, from Attorney General Kwame Raoul and the attorneys general of 14 other states, says that federal dollars remain available to institutions that provide gender-affirming care despite the executive order, and that Illinois and the other states will take legal action if that funding is halted.

* Click here for some background…


* The Triibe | Social justice organizations push to automate expungement and record sealing in Illinois: The Clean Slate Illinois Coalition (CSIC), which is leading the effort, aims to streamline expungement and record sealing statewide. Advocates say the economic impact is projected to restore up to $4.7 billion in lost income to the Illinois economy, as people with sealed records could see an estimated 20% wage increase, according to CSIC. For many impacted by the criminal justice system, the stigma of a conviction doesn’t end once their sentence is complete. A criminal record creates barriers to housing, jobs, and more, according to Antonio Lightfoot, who’s among those lobbying for the Clean Slate Act.

* Crain’s | 2nd bill in Springfield aims to get rid of single-family zoning: The bill, HB 1814, calls for small municipalities in Illinois to let builders put up multi-unit structures on most lots that are now zoned for single-family residential. It complements a bill introduced a year ago that would do the same in large municipalities, including Chicago.

* WAND | Amy Meek to serve as Deputy Director of the Illinois Department of Human Rights: Meek is a civil rights attorney. The announcement comes alongside Alex Bautista’s transition from IDHR after nearly 8 years of service to work on special projects with the Governor’s Office of New Americans. “Alex Bautista has been an essential advisor for the last 6 years. He was thoughtful, deliberate, and collaborative,” said IDHR Director Jim Bennett. “I am confident that Amy Meek will rise to the occasion in her new role as she leads our efforts to secure freedom from unlawful discrimination for all individuals in Illinois.”

*** Chicago ***

* Tribune | Following budget strife, Mayor Brandon Johnson says passing a spending plan is ‘City Council’s responsibility’: At an inaugural “Lakeside Chat” community engagement event to tout Johnson’s 2025 budget, the mayor and his budget director Annette Guzman sought to appeal directly to constituents after a bruising road to securing enough City Council votes for the $17.1 billion 2025 spending plan two weeks before the Dec. 31 deadline. But the event at Harold Washington Library, originally billed for 300 guests, saw only a few dozen attendees.

* Crain’s | City asks judge to reconsider ruling on how TIF dollars are awarded: Cook County Circuit Judge Cecilia Horan ruled last month that an internal city committee that reviews funding requests for the city’s tax-increment financing districts met the definition of a public body and violated the Open Meetings Act by not holding public meetings or making committee agendas available, nor taking notes or audio recordings of the nearly monthly meetings. In a motion filed yesterday asking Horan to reconsider the ruling, the city argues the decision would have the “unintended consequence of chilling communications of high level officials that are necessary to do the business of the residents of the city of Chicago.”

* FYI



* More City Council drama


* WTTW | Lawsuit Filed by Man Who Spent More Than 29 Years in Prison After Being Tortured, Wrongfully Convicted Set for Trial: The police detectives who tortured James Gibson were directly supervised by Jon Burge, a disgraced former Chicago police commander. Dozens of lawsuits and complaints alleging physical abuse have been filed against detectives trained by Burge, who city officials admit tortured and beat more than 100 Black men during his career. Although no physical evidence or eyewitness ever linked Gibson to the murders of 61-year-old Lloyd Benjamin and 56-year-old Hunter Wash in an Englewood garage in December 1989, the then 23-year-old was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison after telling police he was in the garage when the two men were killed.

* Block Club | Chicago Fire’s Near West Side $80 Million Training Center Opening Next Month: The new “world-class” center includes two and a half hybrid grass/turf pitches, three synthetic turf pitches, a 10,000-square-foot inflatable dome and a 56,000-square-foot performance center containing the soccer club’s athletic and medical facilities. Construction is nearly done and the soccer club expects its professional team to start training at the Near West Side center before the Major League Soccer season begins in late February. Plans call for the center to officially open in March.

* Crain’s | Citadel nears deal to shrink, move Chicago office: More than two and a half years after Citadel uprooted its headquarters from Chicago, the hedge fund is poised to slash its office footprint in the city and move out of its namesake Loop tower. Citadel is in advanced talks to lease about 55,000 square feet on two floors in the office building at 353 N. Clark St., according to sources familiar with the negotiations. The new office space in the 45-story River North tower would be a fraction of the 315,000 square feet it leases today at 131 S. Dearborn St., known as Citadel Center.

* NBC Chicago | Here’s the timing of when icy roads could impact Chicago-area travel: A winter weather advisory will take effect Wednesday afternoon across all of northern Illinois and parts of northwest Indiana, as up to one-tenth of an inch of ice could coat untreated roadways and sidewalks, along with power lines and tree branches. The advisory will first take effect across areas south of Interstate 80, including LaSalle, Grundy and Kankakee counties in Illinois, along with Newton and Jasper counties in Indiana. The advisory will take effect at 6 p.m. in the rest of northern Illinois and northwest Indiana, and remain in effect until Thursday morning.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Herald | Mental health advocates decry planned service cuts, layoffs at Arlington Heights hospital: Northwest suburban mental health advocates are speaking out against the planned cuts to inpatient psychiatric services and layoffs of more than 100 workers at Arlington Heights-based Northwest Community Healthcare. Arlen Gould, a board member of the North-Northwest Suburban Task Force on Supportive Housing for Individuals with Mental Illness, called the proposed cuts by corporate owner Endeavor Health “troubling” at a time when the demand for mental health treatment continues.

* Tribune | North suburban schools prepare for potential immigration raids: Kalman Resnick, a Chicago-area immigration attorney, told Pioneer Press that it’s unlikely that immigration agents will attempt to detain students in school. “I don’t think it’s a priority (for the Trump administration) right now. They’re prioritizing people who are already in the process of deportation, either because they either have an outstanding order of deportation, or they have a criminal conviction,” he said.

*** Downstate ***

* SJ-R | Springfield-based health system names new president and CEO: The health system announced Mandy Eaton will be the new president and CEO beginning April 1. Eaton will take over for Ed Curtis who is retiring at the end of March. Before coming to Memorial, Eaton served as executive vice president and chief operating officer of Cone Health, a non-profit healthcare organization that includes five hospitals and numerous outpatient locations serving a five-county area in North Carolina.

* WCIA | ‘I was absolutely shocked’; Effingham teacher surprised by classroom guest: “Hello, is this Becky Wilson?” said Governor JB Pritzker. “This is Governor JB Pritzker calling, how are you?” “Illinois is among the best states in the nation on these [test] scores for eighth graders for reading and math, and it can’t happen without great teachers like you,” he went on to say.

* WAND | Peoria County now has one confirmed case of tuberculosis: The Peoria County Health Department has confirmed one tuberculosis (TB) case in the county, and the patient is now in active treatment. […] Claushayla Nunn, an epidemiologist at the health department, said when someone’s infected, they’re isolated. “The team of disease specialists will track and do Directly Observe Therapy [where they watch the patient take medication if there is an active patient,]” said Nunn.

*** National ***

* AP | President Donald Trump’s birthright citizenship order is put on hold by a second federal judge: A federal judge on Wednesday ordered a second nationwide pause on President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship for anyone born in the U.S. to someone in the country illegally, calling citizenship a “most precious right.” U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman said no court in the country has endorsed the Trump administration’s interpretation of the 14th Amendment. “This court will not be the first,” she said.

* AP | NWSL creates $5M fund for players as part of a settlement from abuse scandal in 2021: The funds will go to players who experienced abuse. The settlement also requires the league to maintain safeguards put into place following a pair of investigations released in late 2022 that found widespread misconduct that impacted multiple teams, coaches and players. It also gives the attorneys general, Kwame Raoul of Illinois, Brian L. Schwalb of Washington, D.C., and Letitia James of New York, the ability to oversee changes that the NWSL made after the scandal broke, and the ability to fine the league if it fails to uphold those changes.

* AP | Pro-Trump Arab American group changes its name after the president’s Gaza ‘Riviera’ comments: Bishara Bahbah, chairman of the group formerly known as Arab Americans for Trump, said during a phone interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday that the group would now be called Arab Americans for Peace. The name change came after Trump held a Tuesday press conference alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House and proposed the U.S. take “ownership” in redeveloping the area into “the Riviera of the Middle East.”

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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Quick session update

Wednesday, Feb 5, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Bat nabbed in Capitol

Wednesday, Feb 5, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Heh…


* Captured!…

An analogy is begging to be identified.

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Today’s number: 0.0009 percent

Wednesday, Feb 5, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller

* WGN’s Ben Bradley and Andrew Schroedter

Often lost in the cacophony of criticism on cable news – and along the campaign trail – is perspective on how often people born biologically male are seeking to compete in girls’ sports.

The Illinois High School Association says of the 320,000 student-athletes competing in all IHSA sports at all levels, only three people born male asked for and received waivers to compete in girls’ sports last year. The organization granted just two waivers the year before.

“Most people didn’t really care – they were just there to compete,” said Ashley O’Connor who competed on the Downers Grove South High School badminton team. “I was terrible and barely made the team. … Being there to do that with my friends was so important to my sanity.” […]

The ACLU says the issue has only come up a few times in Illinois because state law specifically allows people to access bathrooms, locker rooms and sports based on their gender identity. Some Illinois republicans want to change that.

“Just because folks around the state might not be in an uproar over one individual – it doesn’t mean it’s not happening,” said state representative Adam Niemberg (R, Dieterich, Illinois).

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There’s No End To Credit Card Swipe Fee Greed

Wednesday, Feb 5, 2025 - Posted by Advertising Department

[The following is a paid advertisement.]

Credit card companies collect more than $172 billion in swipe fees from customers and businesses each year, but it’s not enough to satisfy their greed. As consumers and retailers continue to grapple with inflation, Visa raised swipe fees on January 1.

Gov. JB Pritzker, Senate President Don Harmon, House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch and the General Assembly took a stand against swipe fee greed by passing the Interchange Fee Prohibition Act, which limits swipe fees from being charged on the sales tax and tip portion of transactions. This law will provide tangible relief to Illinois families and retailers of all sizes.

While Visa and Mastercard fight to protect their unchecked duopoly in court, Illinois policymakers have sent a clear message that enough is enough.

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Here’s something you don’t see every day

Wednesday, Feb 5, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Sen. Dale Fowler wearing a fake mustache hanging out with Santa and showing off the beauty of southern Illinois


It’s time I tell you what’s in the vault…

If you saw one of my last videos then you may have been wondering like many others…what’s in the vault?! To tell you properly, in this video I take you back to the beginning, and you’ll never believe who I found in there…🎅

#southernillinoistreasures #hiddengems

Posted by Senator Dale Fowler on Tuesday, February 4, 2025

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It’s just a bill

Wednesday, Feb 5, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Chalkbeat Chicago

llinois lawmakers are proposing a change to state law that would no longer require school districts to use students’ test scores in teacher evaluations.

Senate Bill 28, if approved, would roll back changes made 15 years ago that were aimed at improving teacher evaluation systems amid a push by the federal government under the Obama administration to link teacher quality to students’ success in the classroom.

Democratic state Sens. Kimberly Lightford, the Senate majority leader who represents neighborhoods on Chicago’s west side and western suburbs, and Meg Loughran Cappel, who represents Plainfield and surrounding suburbs, are co-sponsoring the measure, which would leave it up to districts to decide whether to link evaluations to student growth.

The bill passed out of committee with no discussion Tuesday afternoon. According to the Illinois General Assembly’s website, nearly 400 proponents, including the Illinois Educators Association, Illinois Federation of Teachers, Illinois Principal Association, and Illinois Stand for Children have signed witness slips in support of the change. There were only 11 opponents and two with no position, notably one from the Chicago Public Schools.

If the bill is passed into law, changes would take effect July 1, 2025.

* WAND

Illinois lawmakers are renewing their push to ban retail stores from selling products containing chemicals linked to poor health outcomes.

Senators passed a plan last year to ban stores from selling products with additives like brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propylparaben, Red Dye 3 and titanium dioxide by January 1, 2027.

They noted the bill could prohibit harmful additives commonly found in candy, pop and ultra-processed food linked to a recent spike in diabetes, autism, ADHD, and cancer. Although, the legislation failed to move in the House.

Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias led the push to pass the measure last year. The Democrat shared a video message in support of the new proposal Monday night.

“Illinois must act to ban the use of harmful additives,” Giannoulias said in a post on X. “Please contact your state legislators and voice your support for Senate Bill 93 to help ensure Illinoisans, and especially our children, eat safer and healthier food.”

* WTWO

Two Illinois lawmakers, Rep. Brad Halbrook (R-Shelbyvile) and Rep. Bob Morgan (D-Deerfield), have introduced legislation that would make daylight saving time “the year-round standard time in the entire state.”

The bills, which contain nearly identical language, aim to eliminate the two yearly clock changes in March and November by making daylight saving time permanent. If approved, the change could take effect in March 2026, provided it aligns with federal regulations.

Both bills (HB 1400 and HB 0039) have advanced to the Illinois House Rules Committee, though similar proposals have stalled there in recent years. Because of that, it remains unclear whether either measure will gain enough support to move forward. […]

In any case that Illinois were to pass a law for a permanent daylight saving change, it would still need to comply with federal laws. States that didn’t previously make a change around a Congressional Amendment in 1972 would need approval from U.S. Congress to otherwise make the change a reality.

* Rep. Sonya Harper filed HB2557 yesterday

Creates the Cannabis Delivery License Act. Provides that a Cannabis Delivery License shall authorize the license holder to deliver cannabis or cannabis-infused products purchased from a licensed dispensary directly to consumers within Illinois. Sets out application and operational requirements. Provides for penalties and enforcement. Requires the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation to adopt rules. Effective immediately.

* Capitol News Illinois

House Bill 2502 and Senate Bill 1519 follow the findings of a yearlong investigation by ProPublica and the Chicago Tribune.

The investigation found that schools ticket students for in-schools behavior, even though Illinois law bans school officials from fining students themselves. Instead, they have law enforcement officials issue tickets to students in schools for violating local ordinances.

The investigation found 11,800 tickets were issued to students between 2019 and 2021, and Black students were twice as likely to be ticketed than their white peers. […]

Rep. La Shawn Ford, D-Chicago, who sponsored the bill in the House, said fees and fines don’t address the underlying issues for which students are ticketed. Instead, he said he thinks school-based discipline, educational programming and restorative justice programs should be used.

“If the student is caught vaping, what benefit to the student is there to have the student get a ticket? The benefit is recognizing that there may be a problem and possibly referring the student to help,” Ford said. “And so, our goal is to help students and not lead them down a path of what we all have heard, the school prison pipeline.”

* HB2534 filed by Rep. Nabeela Syed

Amends the Genetic Information Privacy Act. Provides that an insurer may not seek information derived from genetic testing for use in connection with a policy of life insurance. Provides that an insurer may consider the results of genetic testing in connection with a policy of life insurance if the individual voluntarily submits the results and the results are favorable to the individual. Amends the Illinois Insurance Code. Provides that an insurer must comply with the provisions of the Genetic Information Privacy Act in connection with the amendment, delivery, issuance, or renewal of a life insurance policy; claims for or denial of coverage under a life insurance policy; or the determination of premiums or rates under a life insurance policy.

* WAND

State Senate Democrats filed a bill that would make all employers give at least 30 minutes of paid break time for nursing mothers to feed their children.

This would be additional paid break time and wouldn’t conflict with any other paid break such as lunchtime.

State Senator Laura Fine (D-Glenview) said when she was nursing her children at work, it was a struggle to find the time and she didn’t want the future generation of moms to feel the same.

“When you’re a new mom and you’re tired, you’re emotional and you’re getting back to work, for me we did not have that break to take care of my child,” Fine said.

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Today’s quotable

Wednesday, Feb 5, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller

* From The Hill

Frustrations mounted during a tense call last week between Democratic governors and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.). Six Democratic governors, including Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, pressed Schumer to put up more of a fight against Trump’s agenda.

Healey specifically urged Schumer to slow down Senate votes and do more to stir up public opposition, according to The New York Times, which first reported the call.

That produced an exasperated response from Senate Democrats, who spoke on the floor late into the night Wednesday to highlight the impact the funding freeze ordered by Trump’s budget office would have on communities around the country.

“I would say to my friend [Pritzker], as you would like to have a majority of governors, we would like to have the majority of senators. There’s a limit to how much we can we do,” Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.) said.

Discuss.

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Open thread

Wednesday, Feb 5, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* What’s going on in your part of Illinois?…

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Isabel’s morning briefing

Wednesday, Feb 5, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* ICYMI: Advocates ask Illinois lawmakers to increase funding for the unhoused in new budget. WGLT

    -With budget negotiations around the corner, advocates from across Illinois have written a letter asking Gov. JB Pritzker to include an additional $100 million in the budget for homeless shelter services.

    - That would mark more than a 30% increase over what the state currently spends on the unhoused.

    - The Illinois Shelter Alliance said 4,000 beds are needed to address the increase in homelessness in the state.

* Related stories…

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Sun-Times | What to do if you encounter a bird or animal with suspected avian flu: Don’t be a hero if you spot birds or animals showing signs of avian flu (dead or distressed birds, multiple signs of sickness). Our instinct is to help, but trying to help a bird with avian flu likely spreads it more.

* Tribune | Madigan jurors end fifth day of deliberations with no verdict: The jury began its discussion Wednesday afternoon, kicking off the final phase of a landmark four-month trial. Altogether the jurors have deliberated for roughly 29 hours — longer than in two other recent high-profile corruption cases. The jury in the “ComEd Four” bribery case, which featured evidence that overlapped significantly with some of the evidence in the Madigan trial, reached a verdict after about 27 hours. Jurors in the racketeering trial of former Ald. Ed Burke found him guilty in about 23 hours.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Tribune | Gov. JB Pritzker stresses importance of federal education funding amid latest threats from Trump: “The Department of Education funds important programs like special education. We have in the state of Illinois many, many parents and their children who need special education and that funding is vital,” Pritzker told reporters at the Illinois state Capitol. “If they take that away, that’s going to be highly detrimental to the people of our state. So, I’m going to do everything I can to preserve that funding. I hope that that doesn’t end up being a target of their attacks. They should know better. It would be shameful to take it away.”

* WAND | Illinois House Republicans demand Pritzker cut migrant services: When it comes to the budget, Cabello said that he wants to bring the new Department of Government Efficiency to Illinois, saying the state should follow Elon Musk’s DOGE and the federal budget cuts. “Let’s find out exactly how much money is going to help people and how much money is going to overhead,” Cabello said. “Because there’s probably way too much money going to the overhead.”

*** Statewide ***

* WAND | New study finds Illinois retail generates $112 billion in economic investment annually: The Illinois Retail Merchants Association told reporters Tuesday that retail is the state’s largest private sector employer, with 1.3 million people working in the industry. IRMA President and CEO Rob Karr said retail also brings in over $7 billion of income and sales taxes for Illinois. The state’s retail sector generates a combined direct and indirect total sales impact of $441 billion and supports 2.4 million jobs.

*** Chicago ***

* Crain’s | Johnson team pitches new hemp business license to a skeptical City Council: The city has yet to unveil a comprehensive regulatory framework to address concerns about where intoxicating hemp products are manufactured and how they are sold — despite resisting efforts at the state level that some argued would create a de facto ban on hemp gummies, vapes and other products with delta-8 and delta-9. These products have grown in popularity because of their relative availability and lower price compared to legal marijuana.

* Tribune | Mayor Brandon Johnson’s campaign pledge to ban no-knock warrants uncertain amid renewed talks on Anjanette Young ordinance: Johnson confirmed in a City Hall news conference that his administration was working on an updated draft of the so-called Anjanette Young ordinance, named after the Black woman who took on the city following a wrongful police raid that made national headlines in 2020 after video showed Chicago cops leaving Young, a social worker, handcuffed and naked in her home during the search. But the mayor repeatedly dodged questions about whether his latest effort would include a major tenet from the original draft — a ban on no-knock warrants — that was the animating force behind Young’s demands for reform.

* Crain’s | United Airlines looks to add gates at O’Hare as it revs up more growth: United currently has 88 gates to park arriving and departing aircraft at terminals. If the airline is awarded the additional six gates, it opens the door for more growth by O’Hare’s largest carrier at a time when the airport has been lagging behind some of its peers.

* Block Club | Diehard Cubs, Sox Fans Won’t Be Able To Conquer A Red Line Doubleheader This Year: This year, the two teams will only play one three-game series on the same overlapping days in Chicago. The Cubs will host the Milwaukee Brewers and White Sox will host the St. Louis Cardinals June 17-19, but the games will start around the same time.

* ESPN | Inside the Bears hiring of coach Ben Johnson: “Having gone through the process, and having interviewed an extensive field of candidates when Ben was clearly No. 1, and [general manager] Ryan [Poles] said we need to go get him, you had to be ready to move,” Bears chairman George McCaskey said. But before they did, the Bears hosted Tennessee State coach Eddie George on Jan. 19. That put the Bears in compliance with the Rooney Rule, which requires at least two external in-person interviews with minority candidates — Ron Rivera was the other. George’s interview was scheduled at least a week before, two sources said. It was George’s only head coaching interview this cycle.

* WBEZ | His pizza wowed even Chicago’s best chefs. But there’s a gut punch.: Last July, doctors discovered cancer in Goldsmith’s stomach. It was a cosmic gut punch for a man who has spent two decades sending customers out the door with delightfully stuffed bellies. Three days after the Banchets, Goldsmith underwent surgery to remove the tumor in his abdomen, which had been successfully shrunk during rounds of chemotherapy.

* South Side Weekly | Brazilian Funk Gains a Foothold in Chicago: The show Brazilian Funk Night combines “all of this Brazilian music with a funk groove and a lot of improvisation,” said Marcel Bonfim, the ensemble’s musical director and bassist. Bonfim is from São Paulo, Brazil, and has performed on stages such as the Chicago Jazz Festival and Jazz Showcase in the South Loop. A year ago, Bonfim released his debut album, Farewell/Despedida, an ode to his immigration journey from Brazil to the United States. He created Brazilian Funk Night as a passion project, with the December show as the second iteration of the night. It all began with inspiration from one of Brazil’s most prolific bands from the ’70s, Banda Black Rio.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Tribune | As Cook County’s environmental justice policy takes shape, communities voice priorities and concerns: Several days after Tara Stamps was appointed as a Cook County board commissioner in the summer of 2023, heavy storms flooded homes in her district’s West Side neighborhoods — including her own. “So I wasn’t just a representative, I was a victim,” Stamps said at a Monday town hall focused on the county’s draft of its first-ever environmental justice policy. “My uncle who lives with me who’s a double amputee diabetic, was just on his bed, like a life raft, in the basement. And what’s so sad about that is, so many of the elders were like prisoners in their own homes during this time.”

* Daily Southtown | Harvey Mayor Christopher Clark drops out of race for Thornton Township supervisor: Christopher Clark announced Tuesday he withdrew his candidacy for Thornton Township supervisor to prioritize his work as mayor of Harvey. Clark said the challenges facing Harvey, including $165 million of debt, demand his full attention, leading him to drop out of the township race. “I want people in the city of Harvey to know and understand that even in this particular case, I am willing to make that sacrifice for them,” Clark said Tuesday.

* Lake County News-Sun | Lake County volunteers search deep into the night for the homeless; ‘They left their warm homes to : Cunningham was one of more than 100 volunteers and a small fleet of cars patrolling Lake County on the night of Jan. 29 as part of the 2025 Homeless Point-in-Time Count that she has taken part in for over two decades. The county was broken into smaller regions, and teams of volunteers were given a map of several common locations to check within their regions.

* Fox Chicago | Bus driver shortage in Homer Glen leaves students waiting, district scrambles for solutions: Just last week, 18 bus drivers were absent. Many of them were on medical leave, and others were on sick leave. There are also seven job vacancies right now. What that ultimately means, is that 10 workers from other areas had to get behind the wheel. That included retired drivers, mechanics, and dispatchers who had to step up.

* Daily Southtown | New Lenox gun shop owner, business partner argue wrongful asset seizure and forfeiture abuse in federal lawsuit: New Lenox business owners Jeffery Regnier and Greta Keranen said their lives were turned upside down after officials raided their home and businesses in 2023 while investigating them for money laundering. Regnier said the investigation began due to a $750,000 cash deposit made to his bank, which he says came from a large spike in gun sales at his store, Kee Firearms and Training in New Lenox, during the COVID-19 pandemic. , who ran unsuccessfully in the 2022 Republican primary for the 1st Congressional District, and Keranen, of Kees Construction, face 29 felony charges for fraud and theft of COVID-19 relief funds as well as other offenses, according to two indictments filed in 2023.

*** Downstate ***

* WGLT | McLean County advisory group recommends spending around $1M to help unhoused: McLean County’s Mental Health and Public Safety Fund Advisory Council [FAC] is recommending around $1 million from the $1.5 million 2025 budget for the taxpayer fund go toward a non-congregate project for the unhoused population. “Between people living unsheltered and people providing services to those unsheltered consistently, we know that we have this gap for people that are chronically unhoused, and we need to shift,” Marita Landreth, the county’s behavioral health director, said in an interview with WGLT.

* WCIS | Under new ISBE requirement, District 186 works to improve student literacy: District 186 has five schools placed on the intensive school list. Meaning, they went through one round, which is four years of an improvement year cycle. But, they have yet to reach the commendable list. Assistant Superintendent, Nicole Moody, said the new requirement will provide benefits for the district. “I think it’s a positive thing that our state board is partnering with districts about what’s happening with the schools,” Moody said. “Particularly the schools that need the most support.”

* BND | Metro-east attorney steps up to help immigrants who fear deportation: Marleen Menendez Suarez’s law firm has been busy over the past few days, and it is all because of a Facebook post she published on Jan. 20 saying that she would prepare legal guardianship and power of attorney documents for free for anyone who fears deportation. “People are very afraid, and they’re very afraid for their children because many of them are U.S. citizens,” Suarez said. “What they’re facing is, if both mom and dad get deported, what happens to their kids, and this is what occurred to me, too. This is why I started doing what I was doing.”

* Herald-Review | On ‘World Nutella Day,’ Gov. Pritzker ‘proud’ of Ferrero’s investment in Bloomington plant: Gov. JB Pritzker marks “World Nutella Day” in the Illinois Capitol. Officials with Ferraro were in Springfield to mark the occasion.

* WAND | Icy conditions across central Illinois: Temperatures will be slow to climb above freezing today, especially north. Ice accumulations will range from a glaze across the south to one-tenth of an inch across our northern hometowns. The freezing rain will change over to all rain south by afternoon and across the north early tonight before ending late tonight.

* PJ Star | Folk music icon Bob Dylan announces Peoria show. Here’s what you need to know: The city was one of 16 additional dates added Monday to Dylan’s Rough and Rowdy Ways World Wide Tour. The Prairie Home Alliance Theater at the Peoria Civic Center will host the musician at 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 9. Tickets go on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. Friday, Feb. 7. As of now, this is Dylan’s lone show in Illinois.

*** National ***

* WGN | NFL replacing ‘End Racism’ message in end zones for Super Bowl LIX: According to the NFL, the end zones at Caesars Superdome for Super Bowl LIX will say “Choose Love” this year. The message aims to counter the catastrophes that have plagued the country since the start of 2025, including the New Orleans terror attack, the Los Angeles wildfires, and the most recent plane crashes in Washington D.C. and Philadelphia.

* AP | Trump and Musk demand termination of federal office leases through General Services Administration: The order seems to contradict Trump’s own return-to-office mandate for federal employees, adding confusion to what was already a scramble by the GSA to find workspace, internet connections and office building security credentials for employees who had been working remotely for years. But it may reflect the Trump administration’s belief that it won’t need as many offices due to its efforts to fire employees or encourage them to resign.

* Politico | Mass deportations haven’t arrived but Trump’s PR blitz has: And yet, the number of daily Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests, trumpeted each day on X, are still about where they were at times under President Barack Obama. Many of those detained have no violent criminal history and thousands have been quietly released for lack of detention capacity. Drugs and illegal immigrants are still slipping across the border each day.

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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Supplement to today’s edition and more news

Wednesday, Feb 5, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today’s edition of Capitol Fax (use all CAPS in password)

Wednesday, Feb 5, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Live coverage

Wednesday, Feb 5, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* You can click here and here to follow the Madigan trial. Click here and/or here to follow breaking news. Hopefully, enough reporters and news outlets migrate to BlueSky so we can hopefully resume live-posting.

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Selected press releases (Live updates)

Wednesday, Feb 5, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

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Isabel’s afternoon roundup

Tuesday, Feb 4, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* WBBM

President Trump’s numerous executive orders over the past two weeks include actions on the environment, which has Illinois environmental advocates worried. […]

Laura Goldberg, senior director of Midwest Regional Impact at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said it’s all a concern, but there’s hope.

“Illinois has a real opportunity with the movements on the ground here as well as our elected officials to ensure that we continue climate progress,” said Goldberg.

[Jen Walling, executive director of the Illinois Environmental Council,] said, while she has concerns about Trump’s moves, Chicago will stay on its current path.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Rep. Carol Ammons and Sen. Kimberly Lightford | A clear way to sustain our public universities: Adequately fund them: This January, Western Illinois University announced it would be launching a furlough program, its latest effort to address a budget crisis. In other parts of the state, public universities including Northern Illinois University and SIUC are reckoning with budget concerns as well. The impact of the state’s ongoing status-quo approach of inequitably and inadequately funding our public universities has been slow burning for more than two decades. Regrettably, it is our students who have been shouldering the cost of that shortcoming by shelling out more money to attend school at great personal or familial expense, or by sitting out the college opportunity altogether to avoid the debt they’d have to incur to attend.

*** Statewide ***

* SJ-R | Freezing rain expected for much of Illinois on Wednesday. Here’s what you need to know: Central Illinois can expect some freezing rain during their morning commute Wednesday, while northern Illinois is predicted to see freezing rain Wednesday night, according to the National Weather Service. Southern Illinois will see only rain. […] The Springfield area can expect to see patches of freezing drizzle by 5 or 6 a.m. Wednesday. Rising temperatures there should be just warm enough to change the freezing drizzle to simply rain in the late morning, said Chris Geelhart, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

* NPR Illinois | More Illinois colleges are offering full tuition scholarships. Are they too good to be true?: More and more Illinois colleges and universities are offering full tuition scholarships. “The Huskie Pledge,” “The Rockford Promise,” “The Illinois Commitment” — everyone’s got one now. But as nice as zero tuition sounds, is it too good to be true? […] [Saida Bajrami is a junior at Dixon High School she] says it’s helped her get to know her community. And, it also helped her earn a full-tuition scholarship at Sauk Valley Community College through their Impact Program.

*** Chicago ***

* Crain’s | Howard Brown picks next CEO: Dr. Travis Gayles, 45, will take over the top role at the LGBTQ+ health care provider March 3 after more than 200 other candidates were considered for the top role. Gayles comes to Howard Brown from school-based telehealth company Hazel Health, where he was chief health officer. He replaces David Ernesto Munar, who left Howard Brown about a year ago. Since then, Dr. Robin Gay has been serving as CEO on an interim basis. She will now return to her prior role as Howard Brown’s chief dental officer.

* Block Club | Former CTA Boss Dorval Carter Jr. Likely To Get Major Salary Bump At Saint Anthony Hospital: Carter’s tenure as the highest-compensated employee in city government ended when he stepped down as CTA president on Jan. 31, giving up his $391,108 salary. But in a few weeks, he’ll start receiving a $137,000-a-year pension, according to the CTA. As a longtime federal employee, Carter also likely qualifies for a federal pension. Federal officials did not answer questions about Carter’s federal benefits.

* Crain’s | ADM cutting up to 700 jobs as it keeps a close eye on tariffs: Agriculture giant Archer Daniels Midland is watching tariffs closely as it heads into an already uncertain environment in the global market for commodities. The Chicago-based company, which is facing its own challenges related to accounting woes and profit pressure from rising supplies of grain, said today it’s eliminating 600 to 700 jobs, including 150 vacancies. Tariffs announced by the Trump administration only add to its challenges.

* Block Club | Chicago Brewers Fear Trump Tariffs Will Hit Canadian Suppliers: ‘I Can’t See Any Good For Us’: “Electricity is cheaper there so that’s where we make aluminum,” said Robert Gulotty, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Chicago who studies tariffs. “When you have an integrated U.S.-Canada-Mexico market … there’s not going to just be a waiting competitor to fill the gap.” Klein said he turned to Canada for cans after American companies serving larger competitors declined to ship the small brewery small quantities. He doesn’t have enough space to store truckloads at a time.

* Sun-Times | ‘A day without immigrants’ in Chicago saw businesses close, CPS students stay at home: The movement encouraged participants to skip work and school and refrain from shopping for one day. The initiative spread across social media in response to Trump’s immigration crackdown. In Chicago, that began last week with highly publicized raids, sending ripples of fear throughout the community.

* Sun-Times | Chicago police commander violated rules in raid on unlicensed strip joint, report says: Tyrone Pendarvis, commander of the Calumet District on the Far South Side, retired in August 2024, more than a year after one of his officers came forward to complain about those searches. During the early morning raids, that officer was recorded on his body-worn camera asking a fellow cop, “Is this illegal?” “No, we good, we with 500,” the other officer replied, referring to the code number for Pendarvis.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* NBC Chicago | Illinois I-PASS users report more Illinois Tollway scam, phishing texts: Illinois tollway officials first warned of the phishing scam in the spring of 2024, with some reporting on social media that they had received text messages from an out of state number, claiming they had unpaid tolls owed to the agency. The latest messages appear to be from a 219 area code, according to screenshots of texts sent to users this weekend.

* Daily Herald | Public EV charging stations being installed at Rolling Meadows city hall: The six 48 amp charging stations will be accessible 24/7 free of charge to Rolling Meadows residents and nonresidents alike, though there will be a 4-hour time limit to prevent misuse of the spaces and discourage overnight parking, said City Manager Rob Sabo. A seventh charger — this one at 32 amps — will be reserved for city fleet use. The less powerful charger is suited for smaller cars, and the city’s sole electric vehicle is a Chevy Bolt used by a building inspector.

*** Downstate ***

* WCIA | Champaign school board hears from candidates for open seat; no decision made yet: The Champaign School District took steps towards filling an important position Monday night. They discussed who will step into a board seat that has been empty since December. The board did not reach an agreement tonight on who should take over the seat yet. However, they did get a chance to meet with the three people vying for it.

* WCIA | Champaign city councilman apologizes for ‘historical context’ swastika post: The City of Champaign released a statement from Davion Williams Tuesday morning, in which he wrote a “sincere and heartfelt” apology. He said it was never his intention to cause harm, but he acknowledged the pain he caused and said he takes full responsibility for the impact of his words.

* WGLT | From day one, Illinois State University assistant coach Rob Judson has lived a basketball life: “As far back as I can remember, with my dad coaching and me following him to the gym and the Hebron legend that surrounded him all the time, basketball has been a very big part of my growing up experience and my life,” Judson said.

*** National ***

* The Atlantic | The Doctor Who Let RFK Jr. Through: Ron Johnson may be the most anti-vaccine lawmaker in Congress; he’s the kind of guy who says he’s “sticking up for people who choose not to get vaccinated” while claiming without valid evidence that thousands have died from COVID shots. This morning, at the Capitol, Johnson walked over to his Senate Finance Committee colleague Bill Cassidy, a doctor and a passionate advocate for vaccination, and gave him an affectionate pat on the shoulder. The two of them had just advanced Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination to lead the Department of Health and Human Services to the Senate floor.

* WSJ | The Super Bowl Has Never Seen Anything Like These Five Gigantic Humans: Offensive linemen are typically the largest players in football, but even by those standards, the Eagles are positively ginormous. Their five starting linemen, on average, stand at 6-foot-6 and weigh 338 pounds. By comparison, they’re more than an inch taller, and 26 pounds heavier, than their counterparts on the Kansas City Chiefs.

* AP | Waffle House adds surcharge to eggs as massive bird flu outbreak leads to soaring prices: The Waffle House restaurant chain is putting a 50 cent per egg surcharge in place temporarily due to the biggest bird flu outbreak in a decade. The Georgia company said that the resulting egg shortage has led to a dramatic increase in its costs. Bird flu is forcing farmers to slaughter millions of chickens a month, pushing U.S. egg prices to more than double their cost in the summer of 2023. And it appears there may be no relief in sight with Easter approaching.

  9 Comments      


Pritzker goes from saying state should ‘not resort to tax increases’ to balance the budget last week, to taxes ‘should not be the first, but rather the last’ resort today

Tuesday, Feb 4, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Last week the governor was asked about tax increases

It’s very important that we live within our means in this state, and that we not resort to tax increases as a way to, you know, to balance the budget, right? And so that’s what the communication we’ve had with our agencies and looking at all the priorities that we need to take care of.

* Rich followed up at a press conference this afternoon by pointing out the highlighted quote above about not raising taxes and asked the governor if that would also apply to the mass transit fiscal cliff…

What I said last week was that we should be living within our means and doing everything we can to do that. I’ve also said in previous press conferences, and still believe that taxes should not be the first but rather the last thing that we look at.

And so when we look at when we look at the question of mass transit, we’ve got to consider everything that contributes to that, state government, county government, city government, as well as the fare box and all those things together are going to help solve the problem.

  27 Comments      


Take care of each other, please

Tuesday, Feb 4, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* NBC Chicago

Illinois is seeing levels of respiratory viruses tick up, the Illinois Department of Public Health said, with a “notable increase” in emergency department visits and hospital admissions for flu, although symptoms of flu, COVID and RSV may look similar.

In an interview with NBC Chicago, Cook County Health’s Dr. Sharon Welbel said visits to the emergency room are “quite high” right now.”

“Actually higher in this last week than it was in the week prior,” Webel said. “We are seeing a lot of people who are particularly ill, including young people.” […]

Hospital visits for the week ending in Jan. 25 shows that flu is circulating “more widely” than other respiratory illnesses, the IDPH said, with “three times” as many admissions for flu as there are for COVID and RSV.

“We are seeing sustained, high levels of influenza,” Welbel added.

* The Illinois Department of Public Health

Almost 20% percent of [emergency department] visits were for acute respiratory illness, a catchall category that includes flu, COVID-19 and RSV plus other respiratory conditions. Of those, 7.8% were attributed to flu, 1.6% to COVID-19 and 0.7% to RSV. […]

The state’s overall respiratory activity level as calculated by the CDC moved up to High in late December but dipped to Moderate in January for one week before ticking up to High again in the most recent week, driven by increasing rates of flu. The five CDC respiratory activity levels are designed to help people understand the extent of respiratory illness activity in their area. They are divided into Minimal, Low, Moderate, High, and Very High and are based on data that captures a broad range of diagnoses from emergency department visits for respiratory illnesses, from the common cold to severe infections like influenza, RSV and COVID-19.

For those who are unvaccinated, public health officials note that it’s not too late to get vaccinated. It takes about two weeks for vaccinations to provide their full level of protection. Getting shots now will offer protection through the cold and flu season that lasts into the spring. […]

Sadly, the IDPH Respiratory Illness Dashboard has recorded five pediatric deaths this season from flu, with three from RSV and one from COVID-19 and RSV. These deaths are a stark reminder of the importance of vaccinations for children and of the risk of serious illness from these largely preventable seasonal illnesses.

We all know the statehouse is a petri dish of illness! This is a reminder to get your shots!

  12 Comments      


COGFA: Base state revenues up 2.8 percent over last fiscal year, but lots of weakness in corporate and sales taxes

Tuesday, Feb 4, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller

* From the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability’s monthly report

Year to Date

With January’s overall decline of $35 million, the year-to-date General Funds total through the first seven months of the year is identical to last year at $29.505 billion. This total includes transactions the Commission has classified as “one-time” revenues including $633 million in Federal matching dollars in FY 2024; a total of $248 million in transfers from excess P.A. 102-700 funds in FY 2024; and $65 million in Federal Stimulus funds that trickled into FY 2025. Excluding these “one-time” revenues, Base revenues are a respectable $816 million or +2.8% above last year’s levels through January.

Revenues from the Personal Income Tax are now $1.293 billion or +8.2% above last year’s levels through January. On a net basis, the gains are slightly weaker at $1.099 billion. While the Personal Income Tax continues to perform well, Corporate Income Tax receipts continue to struggle. These receipts are now down $477 million through January – a decline of -14.1%. On a net basis, the falloff only improves slightly to -$383 million. These important revenue sources will be watched closely as we enter into the revenue-heavy final tax payment period in the upcoming months.

Sales Tax gross receipts are now down $71 or -1.0% through January. However, on a net basis, this seven-month comparison improves to a small gain of $40 million or +0.6% when accounting for non-General Funds distributions.

In the category of All Other State Sources, revenues are now collectively up $188 million or +9.4% through January. Continuing to lead this category of revenues is Interest on State Funds & Investments, which is now $88 million higher year to date. Other increases have come from Insurance Taxes and Fees [+$77 million]; Public Utility Taxes [+$22 million]; and Other Sources [+$35 million]. These gains have offset year-to-date declines in the Estate Tax [-$26 million]; the Corporate Franchise Tax [-$4 million]; the Cigarette Tax [-$3 million]; and the Liquor Tax [-$1 million].

Transfers In are now $287 million behind last year’s seven-month totals when including January’s declines. The main reason for this is because the Income Tax Refund Fund Transfer in FY 2025 was $302 million less than the FY 2024 amount. Lottery Transfers [-$55 million] and Other Transfers [-$30 million] also continue to trail last year’s pace. These declines have offset the $20 million rise in casino-related Gaming Transfers; the $2 million increase in Cannabis Transfers, and the $78 million in new revenues from the Sports Wagering Transfer. Again, the Commission does not include in its comparison $248 million in FY 2024 transfers received from excess P.A. 102-700 funding. These amounts are shown at the bottom of the accompanying tables as part of non-base receipts.

When including January’s growth, base Federal Sources are now $160 million or +6.7% above last year’s levels. However, if including the $633 million in one-time federal matching dollars received in FY 2024 and the $65 million in ARPA funds received this fiscal year, overall federal receipts are a combined $408 million behind last year’s levels through January

  4 Comments      


An odd way to push a bill in Illinois, of all places (Updated)

Tuesday, Feb 4, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller

* No, you actually don’t gotta hand it to the anti-vax crank, Mr. Secretary…


Needless to say, when you’re trying to pass a bill that’s way out of your zone of influence, you have to read the room.

…Adding… IMA…

The Illinois Manufacturers’ Association (IMA) released the following statement about SB 93, which is scheduled to be heard in the Senate Public Health Committee this afternoon:

“This legislation sets a dangerous precedent for food regulation by bypassing the scientists at the U.S. Food & Drug Administration and giving politicians the ability to make determinations on food safety,” said Donovan Griffith, Vice President of Government Affairs for the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association. “The FDA has a stringent process for evaluating food safety that has been proven to work. Illinois should not undermine these safeguards. Food safety should be left to the experts.”

  52 Comments      


It’s just a bill

Tuesday, Feb 4, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* ProPublica

Citing an urgency to protect students’ civil rights in a second Trump administration, Illinois lawmakers filed a new bill Monday that would explicitly prevent school police from ticketing and fining students for misbehavior.

The legislation for the first time also would require districts to track police activity at schools and disclose it to the state — data collection made more pressing as federal authorities have signaled they will deemphasize their role in civil rights enforcement. […]

The bill introduced Monday in the Illinois House takes a new approach to end police ticketing at schools by making clear that police can arrest students for crimes or violence but that they cannot ticket students for violating local ordinances prohibiting a range of infractions, including vaping, disorderly conduct, truancy and other behavior. […]

Several advocacy groups, which have been drafting the legislation along with the Illinois State Board of Education, say there is new energy behind the stronger, more precise version of legislation that they unsuccessfully pushed in the 2023 and 2024 legislative sessions.

* Illinois CPA Society

As the accounting profession adapts to pipeline issues, shifting demographics, and changing standards, the current certified public accountant (CPA) licensure framework must also evolve, says the Illinois CPA Society (ICPAS), one of the largest state associations serving the CPA community.

Currently, the Illinois Public Accounting Act and Uniform Accountancy Act require Illinois CPA candidates to pass all portions of the CPA exam, complete 150 credit hours of qualifying education, and gain one year of relevant work experience to become licensed in the state—a structure that’s been in place since 2001. ICPAS believes this structure no longer supports the profession’s current and future workforce needs given the ongoing talent shortage and growing need for CPAs to serve the business community and protect public interests.

For more than a year, ICPAS has been reviewing licensure pathway proposals and exploring options to eliminate unnecessary barriers to entry into the CPA profession. Most notably, the time and costs required to become a CPA have been under increasing scrutiny. ICPAS worked closely with the Illinois Board of Examiners and the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation to draft legislation to evolve the state’s CPA licensure model to better meet the profession’s workforce demands.

Today, ICPAS is incredibly pleased to have Reps. Natalie Manley, CPA (D-Joliet), and Amy Elik, CPA (R-Edwardsville), sign on to introduce House Bill (HB) 2459, which amends the Illinois Public Accounting Act to create two additional pathways to CPA licensure in Illinois and enhance CPA practice privilege mobility. These new pathways include:

    - Obtaining a bachelor’s degree with 120 credit hours of qualifying education (including a concentration in accounting), completing at least two years of relevant work experience, and passing the CPA exam.
    - Obtaining a master’s degree, obtaining a bachelor’s degree with 30 hours of concentration in accounting, completing at least one year of relevant work experience, and passing the CPA exam.

“To be clear, HB 2459 will not alter the state’s existing route to licensure. Instead, this legislation establishes two additional pathways to obtain a CPA license in Illinois,” explains ICPAS President and CEO Geoffrey Brown, CAE. “Similar new pathways to licensure are also being explored or pursued legislatively in many of our neighboring states, including Michigan, Missouri, and Wisconsin.”

HB 2459 also establishes new requirements for out-of-state CPAs regarding practice privilege mobility. The bill ensures that out-of-state CPAs can continue to serve clients in Illinois without having to obtain an Illinois license if their issuing state’s licensure requirements are equivalent to Illinois’. The bill also ensures Illinois CPAs will have the same practice privileges outside of the state. Though the existing mobility structure is going to change nationwide, Illinois’ alignment with a significant number of states will greatly diminish any threats to Illinois-licensed CPAs’ practice privileges and keep Illinois CPAs at the forefront of the national business landscape.

* Rep. Maura Hirschauer filed this legislation yesterday

You can read more about the Illinois Supreme Court ruling by clicking here.

* WAND

Small businesses and contractors often struggle with delayed payments and limited job growth due to state retainage policies. Lawmakers could pass a plan this spring to end the practice of withholding payments for contractors and adopt federal standards for project payment.

“Many of these contractors are fulfilling 100% of their work,” said Sen. Willie Preston (D-Chicago). “Yet, they’re having 10% of their contracts withheld for months and sometimes years. Imagine doing all the work, finishing the job, and not getting paid fully.” […]

“This is not removing any responsibility from any contractor to fulfill their obligation,” said Rep. Will Davis (D-East Hazel Crest). “When they sign and take on the responsibility of doing their part on a contract, they’re doing that work and they should be paid accordingly.” […]

Senate Bill 74 has been assigned to the Senate Executive Committee. Senators could discuss the plan when they return to Springfield this week. Identical legislation, House Bill 1224, is currently in the House Rules Committee.

* HB2435 from Rep. Michael Crawford

Amends the Telephone Solicitations Act. Provides that no person shall solicit the sale of goods or services in the State through automatic dialing, the use of an auto dialer, or the use of a computer program designed to mimic a human operator, unless the person being contacted has expressly consented to be contacted in this manner. Provides that, if a person has previously consented to be contacted in the manner otherwise prohibited, the consent shall only be valid for a period of one year and the person shall be allowed to withdraw that consent at any time in the same manner that the consent was given. Provides that a person to whom consent has been given shall not sell, give, transfer, or assign that consent to another person. Provides for exemptions to the provision. Provides that any customer who is subject to a violation of the provision may bring an action for damages of $500 per violation, plus costs and reasonable attorney’s fees. Makes a change to the definition of “emergency telephone number”.

* WSPY

Aurora State Senator Linda Holmes says her office is working on bills for the spring legislative session now underway in Springfield.

Among them is a bill to ban the practice of declawing cats.

"We're in the process right now of filing, so I'm not sure what all is going to actually come out. I do have one that has been another somewhat of a topic that generates some interest, which is the one to prohibit the ability to de-claw cats," Holmes said. “That one has been introduced couple of times but I think we're closer to it. And so many veterinarians nowadays won't even allow you to have the option to declaw cats”

Rep. Joe Sosnowski filed HB2515

Amends the Township Code. Provides that all townships with a population less than 500 are dissolved 2 years after the effective date of the amendatory Act. Provides for the transfer of real and personal property, and any other assets, together with all personnel, contractual obligations, and liabilities of the dissolving township to the county containing the geographic boundaries of the dissolving township. Provides that, on and after the date of dissolution, all rights and duties of the dissolved township may be exercised by the county containing the geographic boundaries of the dissolving township solely on behalf of the residents of the geographic area within the boundaries of the dissolved township. Provides that the county board of the county containing the geographic boundaries of the dissolving township may levy a property tax within the boundaries of the dissolved township for the duties taken on by the county containing the geographic boundaries of the dissolving township. Provides that all road districts wholly within the boundaries of a dissolving township are dissolved on the date of dissolution of the dissolving township and the powers and responsibilities of the road district are transferred to the county containing the geographic boundaries of the dissolving township, and provides that municipalities within the dissolving township may elect to assume the duties and responsibilities of the road district or road districts. Provides that elected and appointed township officers and road commissioners shall cease to hold office on the date of dissolution of the township and road districts, no longer be compensated, and do not have legal recourse relating to the ceasing of their elected or appointed positions upon the ceasing of their offices. Amends the Motor Fuel Tax Law and Counties Code making conforming changes. Effective immediately.

  12 Comments      


Report: IDOT’s obsequence to DNC VIPs delayed Kennedy project finish by a month

Tuesday, Feb 4, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller

* I had a gut feeling since the Democratic National Convention started that closing the Kennedy’s reversibles for VIPs caused a significant delay in completing the expressway’s repairs. Thank goodness for reporters like Ben Bradley

While Illinois Department of Transportation officials were telling the press and the public the Kennedy Expressway reversible lane construction project was on-time, the contractor had been warning for months about delays caused by IDOT’s orders.

WGN Investigates obtained a memo from the contractor, John Burns Construction Company, that warned IDOT’s order to re-open the reversible lanes before they were finished so VIPs in town for the Democratic National Convention could be whisked between O’Hare and downtown had an outsized impact.

While the convention lasted only a week in August, the contractor said IDOT’s order to remove all equipment from the roadway delayed the project by 32 days. […]

In a sign the contractor’s claims that IDOT is responsible for delays are legitimate, the agency tells WGN Investigates it does not anticipate seeking financial penalties for the delays.

* Last summer, that exclusive VIP access to the reversibles brought to my mind the old Soviet ZiL lanes

ZiL lanes (also sometimes called “Chaika lanes”) are lanes on some principal roads in Moscow dedicated to vehicles carrying senior government officials. Known officially in Russian as rezervniye polosy (”reserved lanes”) notably but not exclusively used by ZiL and Chaika brand limousines transporting high ranking government and military functionaries of the Soviet Union. ZiL lanes emerged in the 1960s during the rule of Leonid Brezhnev, replacing the previous system of having other vehicles flagged down to make way for those of top officials. A two way lane was inserted into the middle of some of Moscow’s main highways in place of the central reservations, and were off-limits to all traffic but authorised civilian and emergency service vehicles. ZiL lanes and restricted routes caused considerable disruption to Moscow’s traffic because of the absolute priority given to their users.

Ben has lots more on what further delayed the construction’s completion, so click here.

  23 Comments      


Showcasing The Retailers Who Make Illinois Work

Tuesday, Feb 4, 2025 - Posted by Advertising Department

[The following is a paid advertisement.]

Retail provides one out of every five Illinois jobs, generates the second largest amount of tax revenue for the state, and is the largest source of revenue for local governments. But retail is also so much more, with retailers serving as the trusted contributors to life’s moments, big and small.

We Are Retail and IRMA are dedicated to sharing the stories of retailers like the Drakefords, who serve their communities with dedication and pride.

  Comments Off      


Open thread

Tuesday, Feb 4, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* What’s going on? Keep it Illinois-centric please…

  4 Comments      


Isabel’s morning briefing

Tuesday, Feb 4, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Rich told subscribers about this cash stash in November. ICYMI: Groups demand release of after-school program funding. Capitol News Illinois

    - In 2023, the Illinois State Board of Education miscalculated how much federal funding would be available and made commitments to award more grants than the state could afford to fund.
    - As a result, ACT Now and many of the after-school programs it represents sought, and received, $50 million in state funding in this year’s budget to make up for the loss of federal funding.
    - But now, seven months into the fiscal year, none of that money has been released by ISBE.
    - In an email, a spokesperson for ISBE said the agency would like to see the organizations receive their funding as well, but they need more direction from the legislative leaders about how they want the money distributed.

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* PUCK | The Pritzker Prize: Peter Hamby: With Democrats, it feels like there is a leadership vacuum that needs to be filled. You were one of the few Dem governors to come out and condemn the January 6th pardons and clemencies, pretty loudly. But otherwise, it feels like Democrats are being very cautious right now, and there’s room for someone out there to fill the leadership vacuum. Pritzker: Let me begin by saying I was governor in the last two years of the last Trump administration, so I have lived through how to protect our state in the context of a president who wants to take people’s freedoms away and doesn’t give a damn about average everyday working Americans. And of course, at the beginning of Covid, we literally had to protect people’s lives from what they were doing in Washington. So I bring that to the fight.

* Capitol News Illinois | Trump tariffs could impact hundreds of billions of dollars of trade in Illinois: Illinois received $127.8 billion of imports from China, Canada and Mexico in 2023, according to DCEO. Canada is Illinois’ largest partner for both imports and exports, with the state receiving $65.6 billion of goods from the country in 2023. Illinois is highly dependent on oil and gas from Canada, meaning consumers could be in line for higher energy and gas prices. About 72% of Illinois’ imports, or $47.4 billion, from Canada in 2023 was oil and gas, according to DCEO.

* Tribune | Jury ends deliberations Monday in Madigan case without reaching a verdict: Jurors have to consider 23 counts against Madigan alleging an array of schemes to enrich his political allies and line his pockets. McClain is charged in six of those counts. To assist their deliberations, jurors have about 100 pages of legal instructions, dozens of undercover recordings, and hundreds of emails, texts and other documents entered into evidence.

*** Statewide ***

* SJ-R | Spring is quickly approaching. Here’s what The Old Farmer’s Almanac is predicting: The Old Farmer’s Almanac predicts most of Illinois will see a dry spring with normal temperatures. The southern part of the state is predicted to see a cool and dry spring, and the northwestern section will see a warm and dry season.

* WCIA | ISBE looking for 2025 state sponsors in federal summer meal program: The SFSP provides funding to public or private nonprofit organizations to serve meals to children meals during the summer months when schools are not in session. Last year, Illinois had 144 SFSP sponsors and 1,585 meal sites. An additional 187 sponsors with 379 sites participated through the Seamless Summer Option (SSO), a similar program for school districts already operating the National School Lunch Program. The SFSP served more than 4.3 million meals and snacks last year, a 12% increase from 2023.

*** Chicago ***

* WTTW | Johnson Vows to Try Again to Hike Taxes on Sales of Million-Dollar Homes to Fight Homelessness: Speaking at a town hall about the state of Chicago hosted by WTTW and community organization My Block, My Hood, My City, Johnson blasted “corporations” and the “ultra rich” for the failure of the ballot measure known as Bring Chicago Home, which was rejected by 53% of Chicago voters in March. “The interests of the ultra rich confused as well as baited voters into believing that that revenue would go somewhere other than what we had purposed it for,” Johnson said. “Here’s what I’m asking the people in Chicago: At the point of which we go for this revenue again, let’s not allow the interests of the corporations as well as the ultra rich to dictate what working people deserve in this city. We have to pass Bring Chicago Home.”

* FOX Chicago | New poll shows Chicagoans losing confidence in Johnson, CTU: ‘Politically toxic’: Commissioned by the Libertarian Illinois Policy Institute, the poll surveyed a diverse cross-section of Chicagoans from various neighborhoods and ethnic backgrounds. […] The poll, conducted from Jan. 21 to Jan. 23, surveyed 798 voters and asked, “Do you have a favorable opinion of Mayor Johnson?” Only 14% of respondents expressed a favorable view, with 80% reporting an unfavorable opinion, and the rest offering no opinion.

* Sun-Times | Trump threatens to fire more than 100 Chicago EPA workers: The warnings came in an email sent last week to most-recently hired workers who have not yet put in enough time to enjoy more job-protection benefits. “As a probationary/trial period employee, the agency has the right to immediately terminate you,” the email said. “The process for probationary removal is that you receive a notice of termination, and your employment is ended immediately.”

* Streetsblog | Partying like it’s 2025: CTAction’s Dorval Carter retirement celebration heralds a new era for Chicago transit: Attitudes towards the CTA president’s career were less rose-colored at “Dorval Carter’s Retirement Party,” hosted by Commuters Take Action (CTAction) last Friday at The Emporium Arcade Bar in Logan Square. (The group’s policy organizer Morgan Madderom said they threw a previous retirement party for Carter last November, but that had been a suggestion, rather than the reality.)

* Sun-Times | Metra Electric 103rd St. station to reopen, 95th St. to close for 2 years of rehab: The construction is part of the Metra Electric Community Initiative to modernize 13 stations on the line stretching from the Loop to the far south suburbs. The 103rd St./Rosemoor station is the second station to be rebuilt under a $33 million contract to also redo the 79th Street Station, which reopened in December, and the 87th Street station, which is under construction.

* WGN | Hundreds of ducks found sick or dead along Lake Michigan as outbreak of H5N1 bird flu hits Chicago area: The Chicago Bird Collision Monitors (CBCM), a volunteer conservation project dedicated to the protection of migratory birds, said in a post on its Facebook page Sunday that the bird flu outbreak “is posing a serious threat to the bird life in the Chicago region this winter.” The outbreak started in December and has now spread from a few reports in the suburbs to hundreds in the city, along Lake Michigan, over the last week. Birds affected include geese, hawks, owls, at least one eagle and ducks.

* Crain’s | Air Wisconsin laying off 200 O’Hare staff: The airline, based in Appleton, Wisc., announced job cuts in a WARN notice filed with the state on Jan. 31. The notice comes on the heels of Air Wisconsin ending its agreement with American in which the carrier operated under the American Eagle regional service banner. According to a company statement, the two airlines will enter a codeshare and interline relationship starting in April. This shift will enable Air Wisconsin to prioritize federally subsidized essential air service routes, which connect smaller communities to major airports.

* Sun-Times | On the brink of extinction, Chicago’s last human-operated elevators get a temporary reprieve: The Fine Arts Building elevators on South Michigan — three of them — are being sacrificed in the name of efficiency. And they were expected to be replaced by mid-2025. Blame (or thank) unspecified construction delays, a spokeswoman for the building told the Chicago Sun-Times. So if you’re paying a visit to the building for, say, a voice lesson or to have the strings replaced on your violin, you’ll still be able to ride one of the manually operated Otis elevators through the end of 2026.

* WGN | Historic meeting in Illinois paved the way for Black citizens’ rights: Friday, Feb. 7, will mark 160 years since Illinois struck down laws that kept free Black people from entering the state and gave those already in the state just 10 days to get out. Twelve years before that, a historic meeting took place in what’s now downtown Chicago, at Clark and Randolph, where men and women from across the country worked to find a way for Illinois’ Black residents to enjoy the American promise of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Herald | DuPage County keeps federal lobbyist: The lobbying firm has “gotten us $1.1 million in stormwater management projects, $250,000 in infrastructure and mobility work, $300,000 in flood reduction, plus they track all of the federal grant and funding opportunities for DuPage County,” said Dawn DeSart, chair of the board’s legislative committee.

* Crain’s | Lawsuit claiming Cook County tax sales violate property rights seeks class-action status: In a request for class-action status filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on Jan. 24, attorneys allege Cook County violates property owners’ constitutional rights when it auctions off the unpaid taxes on a property to third parties that can eventually take over ownership of the property. Because the owners often have equity in their properties that is separate from the tax debt, and lose all of it at a tax sale, the suit alleges that the sale amounts to a violation of the Fifth Amendment’s prohibition on “private property be(ing) taken for public use.” The suit also alleges that the sales violate homeowners’ Eighth Amendment right not to be subject to excessive fines.

* Tribune | Dolton employees without life insurance after premiums go unpaid; Mayor Tiffany Henyard skips meeting: The news caught trustees by surprise at their meeting while voting to renew health insurance coverage, although the cost for that has increased. Life insurance for more than 100 employees ended last August because premiums hadn’t been paid, trustees were told. A representative for the village’s employee insurance consultant said that message’s about the termination of life insurance had been relayed to village administration, including Mayor Tiffany Henyard.

* Daily Southtown | Dismissals and rulings keep Napoleon Harris and Thaddeus Jones on ballots: Within the township, Calumet City Mayor Thaddeus Jones, who is challenged in the Democratic primary Feb. 25, recently won his case against an objector claiming he is unable to serve both in the Illinois House of Representatives and as mayor. Calumet City Clerk Nyota Figgs, running on a slate with Jones’ challenger for the mayor’s seat, 6th Ward Ald. James Patton, filed the objection that was first dismissed by the city’s electoral board and on Thursday dismissed by Cook County Judge Araceli R. De La Cruz.

* Shaw Local | Lee County family planning medical director steps down due to employer OSF HealthCare reproductive care policy: The Lee County Health Department has selected a new family planning medical director after its former director was told by their new employer, OSF HealthCare, to step down due to the Catholic health system’s restrictive policies for reproductive care, LCHD’s administrator says. The health department’s new family planning medical director, Dr. Christine Doyle, an OB/GYN at UW Health Swedish American Hospital in Rockford and a former KSB OB/GYN, has replaced Dr. John Plescia, former KSB - now OSF - family medicine physician in Oregon.

* ABC Chicago | Northwestern University among 5 colleges in Trump probe by Education Dept. over alleged antisemitism: Under the new administration, The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights is now reviewing how pro-Palestinian protests were handled across campuses. The five universities being targeted by the probe are Columbia University in New York University of California - Berkeley, Portland State University in Oregon, the University of Minnesota and Northwestern University.

*** Downstate ***

* Herald Whig | Quincy Council considers adding grocery tax with state’s to sunset: Ahead of Monday’s City Council meeting, the council’s Finance Committee met and discussed the option of adding a 1% sales tax on grocery sales in the city that would start Jan. 1 2026. “We run the city on sales tax, and that’s what this is, a sales tax,” said Alderman Mike Rein, R-5, who chairs the Finance Committee. “It’s devastating for the city to lose the revenue base, because the demands of the city aren’t going down, (but) neither are we expanding city government, we’re trying to just maintain the status quo.”

* WSIL | SIU gears up for Saluki Con 2025: This annual event brings together interests in science, technology, and pop culture. Some of this year’s big attractions include workshops and demonstrations, comic book vendors, and a cosplay contest. Among this year’s special guests will be actor Sean Astin, famous for his roles in Goonies, Stranger Things, and the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

* WCIA | ‘You don’t know what your neighbor’s doing’; IL fire officials talk safety after string of apartment complex fires: Champaign County has seen three apartment complex fires in a little more than a week. Now, officials say it’s time to go on the offensive — taking steps to protect against flames that could be as close as next door.

* WCIA | ‘It was surreal for us’: Urbana girls program’s win first regional wrestling title: Urbana will head to the Highland sectional meet on February 14 to compete for spots at the state finals. “They wrestled the best they could and we won some matches that we didn’t think we were winning,” said Urbana head wrestling coach Phil Sexton. “And overall, it was an awesome experience. It was surreal for us.”

*** National ***

* WIRED | A 25-Year-Old With Elon Musk Ties Has Direct Access to the Federal Payment System: A source says they are concerned that data could be passed from secure systems to DOGE operatives within the General Services Administration (GSA). WIRED reporting has shown that Elon Musk’s associates—including Nicole Hollander, who slept in Twitter’s offices as Musk acquired the company, and Thomas Shedd, a former Tesla engineer who now runs a GSA agency, along with a host of extremely young and inexperienced engineers—have infiltrated the GSA, and have attempted to use White House security credentials to gain access to GSA tech, something experts have said is highly unusual and poses a huge security risk.

* Newsweek | US Treasury Sued Over DOGE’s Access To Sensitive Information: The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, argues that Musk’s team is using the system in violation of multiple privacy laws, including 1974’s Privacy Act, and other regulations that dictate who is authorized to access the network. The Alliance for Retired Americans, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) are seeking a restraining order to keep DOGE out of the system. Scott Bessent, President Donald Trump’s Secretary of the Treasury, the Department of the Treasury and Bureau of the Fiscal Service were named as defendants in the civil action suit.

* AP | RFK Jr. misled the US Senate on measles deaths, Samoa’s health chief says: “When the tissue samples were sent to New Zealand, most of those people did not have measles,” Kennedy told U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat. Ekeroma, a medical doctor who also holds a doctorate in health, said that the claim was a “huge denial” of the fact that doctors from several countries traveled to Samoa to treat measles patients. The Samoan official wasn’t the health chief during the outbreak, but confirmed key details with his predecessor, he said. Only one autopsy was carried out and no postmortem tissue samples were sent abroad, which was not unusual because measles is a simple disease to diagnose, said Ekeroma.

* AP | Black History Month explained: Its origins, celebrations and myths: Black History Month wasn’t always a monthlong celebration. In February 1926, historian and author Carter G. Woodson created Negro History Week. It was a weeklong celebration in an effort to teach people about African-American history and the contributions of Black people. […] “I think Black folks understood what they had contributed to America’s historical narrative, but no one was talking about it,” said Kaye Whitehead, the organization’s president. “No one was centralizing it until Dr. Carter G. Woodson was in 1926.”

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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Supplement to today’s edition and more news

Tuesday, Feb 4, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today’s edition of Capitol Fax (use all CAPS in password)

Tuesday, Feb 4, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Live coverage

Tuesday, Feb 4, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* You can click here and here to follow the Madigan trial. Click here and/or here to follow breaking news. Hopefully, enough reporters and news outlets migrate to BlueSky so we can hopefully resume live-posting.

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Selected press releases (Live updates)

Tuesday, Feb 4, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

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Isabel’s afternoon roundup (Updated)

Monday, Feb 3, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* A tiny update on the Madigan jury


* Rep. Steve Reick joined the Groundhog Day celebration in Woodstock, where the movie Groundhog Day starring Bill Murray was filmed



* FYI…

*** Statehouse News ***

* Center Square | McCombie urges cohesion amid party in fighting: The head of Illinois House Republicans is responding to calls for her to step down from her leadership role. The Illinois Freedom Caucus, made up of six state representatives and one senator, is accusing House Minority Leader Tony McCombie of playing “silly games” after she denied several services at the Capitol for not voting for her as leader. McCombie said the suspension of certain caucus-specific services does not affect any legislator’s ability to serve constituents, and the focus should be on “fighting Democrat policies that are failing Illinois families, not each other.”

*** Statewide ***

* WCIA | ISP Troopers now can get college credit from Illinois universities for training: The state started these partnerships with multiple universities, including Eastern Illinois University, Governor’s State University, Western Illinois University and Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville. Troopers and officers who have completed the ISP training academy can now take what they’ve learned to these universities and get credit hours towards certain degrees.

* NBC Chicago | Why is the US requiring Real IDs, and where will you need one?: That’s because, beginning May 7, 2025, the federal government will require who all those who fly domestically to use either a valid U.S. passport or a Real ID in order to board a plane. The program is part of the Real ID Act, was passed by Congress in 2005 after the publication of the 9/11 Commission Report in an effort to increase security of identification documents, making them more difficult to duplicate.

* WGLT | DCFS launches new app for caseworkers and families: DCFS hopes that will lower stress levels for workers and families. “This app not only empowers children and families, but also reduces the administrative burdens on caseworkers, allowing them more time to concentrate on the children and families they serve,” said DCFS director Heidi E. Mueller.

* WAND | Illinois corn growers respond to tariffs on largest trading partners: [IL Corn Growers Association President and Waterloo, IL farmer Garrett Hawkins] issued the following statement: “The farm economy is in a really tough spot right now with low commodity prices and high input costs. Export demand for corn products has been about the only positive in the market recently. Mexico, Canada and China are major buyers of our ag products, and any retaliation from these countries on our exports will likely target farmers. I know that President Trump supports farmers and the rural economies they’re a part of, so we’ll look for a quick resolution that protects our relationships and benefits both farmers and our end customers.”

*** Chicago ***

* Tribune | High-ranking Chicago Housing Authority director fired amid ongoing staff exodus: The Chicago Housing Authority has seen major turnover in recent months, with four top officials resigning and a high-ranking aide being fired over an inspector general investigation that found alleged financial and ethical misconduct. Records obtained by the Tribune show that two high-ranking employees left with separation agreements that will pay them through their last day, with a third being paid over 4 ½ months beyond his last day and a fourth being paid three months beyond her last day.

* WBEZ | Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson wants to tax hemp and pass the ‘Anjanette Young ordinance’ in his 2025 to-dos: As for the Illinois statehouse, Johnson’s agenda would take baby steps toward increased revenue for Chicago by reversing changes to the state’s telecommunications tax and a corporate revenue tax. Johnson’s team will also look to secure a greater share of funding from the Regional Transit Authority to address local transit woes, though details on that strategy are so far scarce.

* Crain’s | Seniors face eviction under plan to sell retirement home to Chicago PE firm: The deal has sparked outrage among residents and their families, especially because a sale to another company — that would have left the residents of the 100-unit health center in place — fell through. Pandemic restrictions, labor shortages, soaring wages and supply costs helped push Harborside to the brink. It’s a common thread among continuing care retirement communities, or CCRCs, many of which rely on a steady stream of entrance fees to pay operating costs, debt service and resident refunds. Harborside was unable to pay its bills as occupancy slumped. The site is among at least 16 CCRCs that filed for bankruptcy since 2020.

* Sun-Times | Police oversight agency probing fatal North Lawndale shooting: The Civilian Office of Police Accountability responded to an “officer-involved shooting” Sunday morning in North Lawndale. Officers responded to robbery call in the 1800 block of South Ridgeway Avenue at 10:47 a.m., where they saw a man they chased on foot, they said. The man exchanged gunfire with police at multiple locations and was wounded, police said.

* WBEZ | Chicago Cultural Center launches major mosaics renovation project in Preston Bradley Hall: While the dome may be the center of attention in Preston Bradley Hall, there are other treasures deserving of lingering gazes. About 10,000 square feet of Tiffany glass and mother of pearl mosaics adorn the marble walls in the form of scrolls, rosettes and flowers. They also border inscriptions in multiple languages. The passages promote the virtues of learning, a fitting message for a building that once housed the first Chicago Public Library.

* Crain’s | Investigative reporter Chuck Goudie makes switch to NBC 5 Chicago: Goudie will join the “NBC 5 Investigates” team, which includes Bennett Haeberle, who recently earned five Chicago/Midwest Emmy Awards, along with producers Katy Smyser and Lisa Capitanini. The veteran journalist began his career at ABC 7 Chicago in 1980 and eventually became head investigative reporter. Last month, he exited the station and the reason for his departure was not immediately clear.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Herald | Mount Prospect in line for federal funding for new fire station: Krishnamoorthi, a Democrat from Schaumburg, toured the facility Friday with Mount Prospect and other officials. He said a Community Project Funding request for the project passed the House Appropriations Committee in December, but still needs approval from the full House and the Senate. That could happen as soon as March. He said he is committed to making sure the funding is delivered in full despite recent uncertainty over a proposed freeze on federal assistance.

* From the boss…


* Daily Herald | ‘Delayed far too long’: Volo Bog State Natural Area among state sites targeted for improvements: After decades on the wish list, long-sought improvements at Volo Bog State Natural Area in Ingleside have been funded and are expected to proceed. Replacing the existing boardwalk and floating trail has been designated by the Illinois Capital Development Board as part of a $60 million effort to address key deferred maintenance projects at five Illinois Department of Natural Resources facilities and parks.

* Tribune | Baxter announces CEO’s immediate retirement, days after $3.7 billion sale of kidney care business: Deerfield-based Baxter International announced Monday that its CEO and board chair José Almeida is retiring, effective immediately – an announcement that came just days after the company sold its kidney care business for $3.7 billion. Baxter did not say in a news release why Almeida is retiring now, effective immediately, but Almeida said in the release, “With the key elements of our broad strategic transformation complete, this is the right time for a new CEO to lead the company into its next chapter.”

*** Downstate ***

* IPM News | Champaign County Public Defender’s Office is facing a funding crisis after tax referendum fails: Public Defender Elisabeth Pollock said her office has been underfunded for years — making it hard to recruit and retain staff. And she expects the situation will get worse going forward, since a Champaign County referendum that would have likely increased funding for the office and other public safety initiatives failed to pass last fall. “We’re going to just continue to drown, and I’m going to continue to lose people, people who are going to leave the office because of better-paying opportunities,” she said.

* Press Release | SIU Carbondale’s spring 2025 enrollment rises, following a remarkable fall: Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s spring 2025 enrollment is up 3.3%, or 344 students, compared to last year. The increase – the second year in a row of over 3% – follows a fall that saw the highest overall boost in the number of students in 33 years.

* SJ-R | Springfield attorney, cannabis compliance regulator mayor’s pick for Ward 1 alderman: Jeffrey G. Cox, acknowledged as a critical component to the success of the Illinois Medical Cannabis Program and the launch of the state’s recreational use five years ago, will be put up before the Springfield City Council as the Ward 1 alderman candidate. The appointment by Mayor Misty Buscher will be on first reading Tuesday. It could go to a vote by Feb. 18. Cox would replace current City Clerk Chuck Redpath Sr., who served for nearly three decades on the city council but cannot run again in 2027 because of term limits.

* Rockford Register Star | Election 2025: Get to know the candidates who want to represent northwest Rockford: Ald. Bill Rose, D-9, says he sought help for alcoholism and has remained sober for more than three years since a July 2021 DUI arrest. He said he hopes to serve as an example for people trying to turn their lives around. Rose said he prioritized neighborhoods during his eight years on City Council and wants a third term to continue that work. Early voting began Jan. 16.

* SJ-R | New community center for children opening on Springfield’s east side this spring: The Better Life Better Living For Kidz Community Center is set to open at 1507 E. Cook St. on March 1 taking the location used previously by the New Hope Missionary Baptist Church. The after-school program will provide a computer lab, audio and video studio and coding classes. The center will also offer financial literary classes and a chess team.

*** National ***

* WaPo | D.C. federal judge likely to extend ban on Trump OMB funding freeze: U.S. District Judge Loren L. AliKhan said after a 90-minute hearing that she would weigh further written arguments Monday afternoon, but was inclined to extend her earlier order preventing new restrictions from taking effect in the Trump White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The prior order expires at 5 p.m. Monday. AliKhan said she believed that the advocates, nonprofits and businesses who filed the lawsuit — represented by the left-leaning group Democracy Forward — had established that “irreparable harm” would result to funding recipients without a temporary restraining order. The parties are set to make arguments later this month over whether to block the funding freeze from taking effect throughout the litigation.

* NBC | Some migrants arrested in Trump’s immigration crackdown have been released back into the U.S.: Those released are being kept on a monitoring program known as Alternatives to Detention, the five sources familiar with the releases said, which has for more than a decade been used to keep track of where migrants are as they make their way through the immigration system. ICE can track them by ankle monitors or wrist bands or through telephonic check-ins.

* Interesting point…


…Adding… Update…

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Retailers lose bid to help defend Illinois swipe fee law

Monday, Feb 3, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Bloomberg Law

Retailers can’t join in the defense of an Illinois law banning bank “swipe fees” on sales taxes and tips, a federal judge ruled.

The National Association of Convenience Stores, the National Retail Federation, Food Marketplace Inc., and two Illinois merchant trade groups had sought to become intervenor defendants in litigation over the Illinois Interchange Fee Prohibition Act.

But Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul (D) is providing an adequate defense of the law, so there’s no need for additional defendants, Judge Virginia M. Kendall of the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois ruled Friday.

* From Judge Virginia Kendall’s ruling

What’s more, because the state adequately represents Illinois merchants’ interest in the IFPA, permitting Proposed Intervenor Defendants to join the lawsuit would needlessly “use up the [C]ourt’s time and resources.” Even though the State does not oppose the proposed defendants from joining the suit, it does not mean that Proposed Intervenor Defendants could not delay the litigation down the line. When a new defendant joins, he acquires “control of the suit” and a “right to conduct the case in a way that may undermine the interests of the original plaintiff.” Depending on how the litigation proceeds, allowing Proposed Interveor Defendants to join the suit could unduly delay the suit.

* Crain’s

In December, Kendall granted a preliminary injunction sought by the banking industry preventing implementation of the law, but it applied only to federally chartered banks and credit unions.

A status hearing on the case is scheduled for Feb. 4.

The retailers can still participate in the case in an amicus curiae, or friends of the court, basis.

“We think we would have added quite a bit to the case in terms of demonstrating the false claims that banks were making,” said Doug Kantor, general counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores. “That said, we have a lot of confidence in the Illinois attorney general.”

* Ben Jackson/EVP, Illinois Bankers Association and Ashley Sharp/SVP, Illinois Credit Union League…

We welcome today’s court order denying the merchant groups’ request to join the litigation over the IFPA. These groups have already done enough damage to consumers and small businesses in the state by advancing this misguided law in the first place. This is a win for the Illinois economy and another step forward for our case against a very bad law.

* Rob Karr, president and CEO of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association…
 

While we certainly believe retailers who are paying these fees should have been granted status, the legal process is ongoing and we look forward to a full examination of the opaque swipe fee payment structure banks, processors, and credit card companies have for too long enjoyed.

* More…

    * Payments Dive | Third of U.S. small businesses add credit card surcharges: A third of small businesses in the U.S. are now adding surcharges to credit card transactions, according to a recent J.D. Power survey. The data analytics firm surveyed 3,841 U.S. small businesses in August through October and found that 34% said they added a surcharge when a customer paid with a card. This was the first J.D. Power survey that included a question about surcharges and credit cards.

    * NBC | The fight over credit card swipe fees enters a new year with no end in sight: And as many shoppers ditched cash for plastic cards or mobile payment apps, businesses have seen credit card transactions swell. They made up 32% of all U.S. consumer payments in 2023, up from 24% in 2019, according to a Federal Reserve study. Cash shrunk its share to 16% over the same period, down from 26%.

    * NYT | As Cash Fades, Small Retailers Embrace Efforts to Rein In Swipe Fees: As a pandemic precaution, droves of customers gave up cash in favor of contactless payment methods like tap to pay, and the percentage of Ms. Riordan’s sales processed through a card network rose to 75 percent, up from 65 percent in 2020. Now, so-called swipe fees are her third biggest expense, behind payroll and rent, amounting to roughly $18,000 a year. “There is no room to pay more — we’re just operating so thin,” Ms. Riordan said.

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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Update to today’s edition

Monday, Feb 3, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Question of the day

Monday, Feb 3, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller

* The Tribune has a budget story up, and it points to some of the more overlooked aspects of the problems the state faces

In its November report, the governor’s budget office also pointed to pressure from continued inflation in medical costs and “moderate growth rates in the various categories of state spending.”

Another challenge stems from previous overpayments of certain tax revenues to local governments as a result of unanticipated consequences of a state tax law enacted in response to provisions in Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, said Natalie Davila, a public finance economist who has worked with the Illinois Municipal League and previously as director of economic and tax policy research at the state Department of Revenue.

To correct those overpayments, the state held back about $1.6 billion from municipalities last budget year and additional funds this year, providing temporary boosts to state revenue that won’t be repeated in the coming year, Davila said. […]

But no single issue accounts for the entire increase in expected spending, and the public projections so far don’t account for many of the top-of-mind political issues likely to drive the debate this spring.

* Medical cost inflation is a serious issue

Commercial health care spending growth is estimated to grow to its highest level in 13 years, according to PwC’s newest research into annual medical cost trend. PwC’s Health Research Institute (HRI) is projecting an 8% year-on-year medical cost trend in 2025 for the Group market and 7.5% for the Individual market. This near-record trend is driven by inflationary pressure, prescription drug spending and behavioral health utilization.

HRI is also restating the 2023 and 2024 medical cost trends as higher than previously reported based on the input of health plans we surveyed and their trend experience. This unfavorable trend reflects higher than expected utilization of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) drugs as well as higher acuity (higher levels of care) inpatient and outpatient utilization. Inpatient and outpatient utilization were driven by demand from care deferred since the pandemic, which was met by newly created capacity as sites of care shifted to outpatient, professional and ambulatory care settings.

The WTW Global Medical Trends Survey projects medical inflation to rise by 8.7 percent this year.

Medical inflation has not been that high in 13 years.

* Gov. JB Pritzker last week

It’s very important that we live within our means in this state, and that we not resort to tax increases as a way to, you know, to balance the budget, right? And so that’s what the communication we’ve had with our agencies and looking at all the priorities that we need to take care of.

* The Question: Do you agree or disagree with the governor’s pledge not to raise taxes to balance the budget? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.


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There’s No End To Credit Card Swipe Fee Greed

Monday, Feb 3, 2025 - Posted by Advertising Department

[The following is a paid advertisement.]

Credit card companies collect more than $172 billion in swipe fees from customers and businesses each year, but it’s not enough to satisfy their greed. As consumers and retailers continue to grapple with inflation, Visa raised swipe fees on January 1.

Gov. JB Pritzker, Senate President Don Harmon, House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch and the General Assembly took a stand against swipe fee greed by passing the Interchange Fee Prohibition Act, which limits swipe fees from being charged on the sales tax and tip portion of transactions. This law will provide tangible relief to Illinois families and retailers of all sizes.

While Visa and Mastercard fight to protect their unchecked duopoly in court, Illinois policymakers have sent a clear message that enough is enough.

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C’mon, man

Monday, Feb 3, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Wut

Mailers “don’t move the needle in an election cycle anymore”? Tell that to the Democrats, who spent $7.4 million on direct mail from August through November.

Just saying, but unilateral disarmament is never a great idea.

* But the man who has been lashing out at McCombie for weeks didn’t stop with direct mail

No mail, no digital. When you don’t have the cash to go up on Chicago broadcast TV, you gotta make do with what you can muster.

OK, yes, the HGOPs didn’t pick up any seats, but the House Democrats didn’t pick up any, either, even though the House Speaker was confidently predicting a big year for months. Considering the Republicans were outspent nearly 4-1 in the fourth quarter ($12.9 million to $3.4 million), it could’ve been a whole lot worse.

DeVore’s largest expenditures during the last half of 2022 were the $240K in checks to repay the money he lent to his campaign. He lost by 445,000 votes.

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It’s just a bill

Monday, Feb 3, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Shaw Local

State Sen. Rachel Ventura introduced a measure that would prevent the odor of raw or burnt cannabis from being the sole reason for police to search a vehicle, driver or passenger without a warrant.

“The Supreme Court gave a conflicting directive in its recent ruling between raw and burnt cannabis, shifting a huge burden to law enforcement to know the difference,” Ventura, a Democrat from Joliet, said in a news release. “This bill aims to clean up that court ruling by directing law enforcement to consider all factors – not just odor – in deciding if the law has been broken.” […]

Under Senate Bill 42, cannabis odor alone would not allow for a search of the driver or passengers of a vehicle, and a vehicle and its passengers may not be detained based on only the odor of cannabis.

Additionally, the legislation would remove current law requirements that cannabis possessed in a vehicle must be stored in an odor-proof container, but it continues to require that cannabis be stored in a secured, sealed or resealable child-resistant container, according to the release.

* Rep. Anthony DeLuca filed HB2405

Amends the Juvenile Court Act of 1987. Provides that if a minor (1) has previously been placed on probation for an offense that involves the possession or discharge of a firearm not causing any injury; and (2) is convicted of a subsequent offense involving the possession or discharge of a firearm not causing any injury, then the court shall require the minor to participate in social service programs offered through juvenile probation and comply with referral recommendations for no less than 3 months. Provides that if the minor does not complete the referral recommendations, the court shall commit the minor to the Department of Juvenile Justice to complete the recommended services. Provides that a minor convicted of a subsequent offense involving the use of a firearm causing serious injury, great bodily harm, or death shall be committed to the Department of Juvenile Justice with the Department providing services, including, but not limited to, education, mental health services, drug treatment, and mentoring.

* Tribune

The fight over the future of hemp in Chicago moved to the City Council on Thursday, weeks after a push by Mayor Brandon Johnson helped block state legislation to strictly license, tax and regulate the often high-inducing products. […]

While no vote was taken Thursday, the possibility of an ordinance to allow hemp’s continued widespread sale in Chicago won a critical early sign of approval from the Johnson administration. […]

But [ Ald. William Hall, who first proposed a hemp tax last fall as a potential way to earn the city more revenue,] insisted in his own news conference that his bid for hemp regulation “is not an opportunity for blood money.” The dozens of Chicago smoke shops that sell hemp products should not be “penalized” or “destroyed” by the stricter regulations that have stalled at the state level.

The Pritzker-backed state legislation would amount to a “prohibition” on hemp, Hall said. He argued that the bill is really a push by wealthy marijuana companies to box out stores selling hemp products.

* Rep. Bob Rita filed HB1814



* HB1843 from Rep. Suzanne Ness would prevent cities from banning roommates that are not related by blood

Amends the Zoning Division of the Illinois Municipal Code. Removes a provision giving the corporate authorities in each municipality the power to classify, to regulate, and to restrict the use of property on the basis of family relationship. Provides that the powers enumerated in provisions relating to zoning powers of a municipality may not be used in any way that violates or otherwise contradicts any other applicable State or federal law, including the federal Fair Housing Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Prohibits a municipality from adopting zoning regulations that prohibit 2 or more individuals who are not related by blood from living together in the same residence. Provides that a municipality may not adopt zoning regulations that prohibit the creation of a community-integrated living arrangement or housing for a community-integrated living arrangement. Limits home rule powers.

* Sen. Patrick Joyce filed SB1473 last week

Amends the Illinois Horse Racing Act of 1975. Removes provision stating that no organization licensee conducting its race meeting in a county bordering the Mississippi River and having a population greater than 230,000 may be a host track for its race meeting. Makes changes in provisions regarding organizations that may not conduct a horse race meeting, the standardbred racetrack in Cook County, the application for an organization license, and wagering. Adds provisions concerning the standardbred racetrack in Macon County. Effective immediately.

* Sen. Rachel Ventura

Following the water rate hikes that affected Bolingbrook and the surrounding area, State Senator Rachel Ventura introduced a measure that would allow municipalities to buy back their private water lines through a ballot referendum. The measure is being supported in the house by Representative Dagmara Avelar.

“Water is essential to all life — I believe water should never be privatized for this reason. We cannot allow profits to be put over people,” said Ventura (D-Joliet). “I will continue to work with my colleagues to protect access to clean, affordable drinking water, as well as advocate to reform water policies that have continually hurt consumers.”

SB 1513 follows recent water rate hikes in Bolingbrook and surrounding areas in July 2024, which sparked public outrage with residents citing already high water bills and rising living expenses. Under the proposed legislation, a municipality would be able to buy back their water rights from private water utility companies using eminent domain, led by a vote via referendum in any regular election. […]

Senate Bill 1513 currently awaits committee assignment.

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Bruce Rauner on steroids

Monday, Feb 3, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller

* My weekly syndicated newspaper column

To many Statehouse types, some of last week’s news out of Washington, DC felt eerily familiar.

Last Monday night, the White House announced a sweeping new policy that would’ve at least temporarily defunded trillions of dollars of government spending on everything from the National School Lunch Program, to Head Start, to cancer and sleep disorders research, and on and on through 50 small-print pages.

So, some Illinoisans rightly pointed out that former Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner also tried crashing government spending by defunding vital social services and other programs.

But what the White House attempted last week differed from Rauner’s misrule in a very big way: Rauner thought he could use massive funding cuts resulting from a budget impasse as “leverage” (his word) to force Democrats to break their ties with labor unions.

The Trump administration offered no such “grand bargain.” Instead, they ordered the complete funding cut-off of some two thousand government grants and programs until they could be assured that none of them conflicted with their ideological demands, including, “diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility,” “gender ideology,” etc., all with the end result of “ending ‘wokeness’ and the weaponization of government,” according to a memo issued by the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget Matthew Vaeth. The examination process had no stated end date, so some or even most of those programs could’ve been suspended indefinitely.

As we learned during the Rauner years, providers typically have very little cash on hand, and that’s mostly by design. The federal government, for instance, doesn’t just hand out a year’s worth of funding to some small social service group. The providers get their money in small bites, often around payroll dates. So, even a two-week funding halt could seriously harm many of these organizations.

The president didn’t actually need to halt a dime of funding to examine these programs for ideological conformance, of course. He could’ve just, you know, had his people look at them, which gives you a big clue that this action was much more than just some limited “anti-woke” ideological policing (along with the mysterious and highly suspect cut-off of certain states’ access to the Medicaid computer portal).

Opponents of the order rightly pointed out that Congress long ago passed a law protecting its strong constitutional appropriations powers by mandating the executive to spend the money it appropriates, with very limited exceptions. And, by late afternoon a federal judge paused the cuts until a temporary restraining order hearing could be held on Monday.

Again, the Rauner specter re-emerges. The courts back then forced the state of Illinois to pay its employees and fund certain vital programs even without a budget. So, the state limped along for two years while non-Medicaid human service providers, contractors and others slowly died on the vine. The horror (state funding for things like a program to help teenage rape survivors was eliminated) finally ended 793 days after it began, when Republicans joined Democrats to increase taxes and pass a budget over Rauner’s vetoes.

The White House withdrew the order, but then the White House press secretary insisted that the cuts would still happen even without the directive. Another lawsuit, filed by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and several colleagues from across the country, began to move forward.

That process came to a head on Friday when a federal judge issued a sweeping temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration from doing anything that could reduce spending already approved by Congress. Judge John J. McConnell even quoted a ruling that Trump-appointed US Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh handed down when he was a circuit court judge, “even the President does not have unilateral authority to refuse to spend the funds.”

The state could similarly be in for years of court fights over this current federal spending battle, and likely more in the future, while, as under Rauner, the institutions and people down below try to survive.

There’s no way that this state government can adequately plan for what might happen next because nobody knows what will happen next. I mean, who could’ve predicted perhaps the most aggressive challenge ever to the US Congress’ constitutional appropriations powers would be launched last week?

Really the only thing the state can do now is to be even more prudent with its budgeting. President Trump wants to cut programs that deviate from his ideology. If he can convince Congress to go along, a judge won’t be able to step in. He could also try another way to get around the court’s mandate (and the US Constitution).

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Open thread

Monday, Feb 3, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* What’s going on in your part of Illinois?…

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Isabel’s morning briefing

Monday, Feb 3, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* ICYMI: Applications open for 26th Senate District seat. Daily Herald

    - State Sen. Dan McConchie, a Hawthorn Woods Republican, has announced his resignation, effective Sunday. Republican Party officials will choose someone to finish his term, which ends in January 2027.

    - State law requires the seat to be filled within 30 days of a vacancy.

    - To get an application, contact Derek Murphy at (630) 901-6126 or derek@isrvf.com. Applications are due by Feb. 7. A decision is expected Feb. 14.

* Related…

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* WTTW | Paper Mail Is Seen as a Source for Drugs in Illinois Prisons. How Is It Tracked?: It’s unclear exactly how many drugs are entering IDOC facilities through the mail, according to data obtained by WTTW News. From January to mid-December of 2024, 779 synthetic cannabinoids were discovered, according to data. The “point of discovery” for that drug type was 188 by mail, while 410 were discovered “in cell” and 156 were discovered “on person.” That data also showed there were 419 suspected synthetic cannabinoid overdoses last year, of which 229 were “staff exposures.”

* Tribune | A disappearing witness, an odd choice of hold music and the Fighting Irish: 5 strange things you might not know about the Madigan trial: Given the outsized lore of Madigan as a Machiavellian figure who preferred to rule in shadow, there’s perhaps no better — or weirder — selection for his law firm hold music than “In the Hall of the Mountain King,” the 1875 orchestral classic depicting Peer Gynt’s fantasy about meeting the Norwegian troll king Dovregubben. The jury learned this odd fact when prosecutors played a key wiretapped conversation from June 2017, which began when FBI mole Daniel Solis called the speaker back at Madigan & Getzendanner. “One moment please,” the receptionist said, before the ominous sounds of percolating bassoons and cellos slowly filled the courtroom … bup bup bup bup BUP bup bup … interrupted when Madigan picked up with a friendly, “Hey Danny.”

* NYT | Health Programs Shutter Around the World After Trump Pauses Foreign Aid: In Uganda, the National Malaria Control Program has suspended spraying insecticide into village homes and ceased shipments of bed nets for distribution to pregnant women and young children, said Dr. Jimmy Opigo, the program’s director. Medical supplies, including drugs to stop hemorrhages in pregnant women and rehydration salts that treat life-threatening diarrhea in toddlers, cannot reach villages in Zambia because the trucking companies transporting them were paid through a suspended supply project of the United States Agency for International Development, U.S.A.I.D.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Crain’s | Judge blocks retailers from joining credit card fee fight between Illinois and banks: U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall of the Northern District of Illinois denied retailers their bid to join Illinois as defendants in a lawsuit brought by bankers attempting to block a law limiting the amount of fees collected in credit card transactions. Adding more defendants could lead to a slowdown in the proceedings, Kendall said.

*** Statewide ***

* Daily Herald | How our state stacks up: New report shows how Illinois compares to others on taxes, spending, other metrics: The 70-page report shows Illinois ranked fourth in terms of total tax dollars collected with $63 billion in tax revenue in 2023. However, Illinois ranked 13th in per capita tax collections, at $5,019 per person. “When observing revenue-related rankings on a per capita basis, some believe that if a state is able to operate on tax rates that create relatively low per capita figures, the better the financial situation for the people of that state,” the report notes. “Others, however, would view low per capita figures as missed opportunities for revenue growth, and subsequent program spending.”

* Sun-Times | Illinois deer harvest by hunters jumped more than 6 percent: Illinois hunters harvested 10,445 more deer during the 2024-25 seasons than during the the ’23-24 seasons or an increase of more than 6.5 percent. My instincts say that at least some of that increase is related to the mild weather during the bulk of the seasons.

*** Chicago ***

* Tribune | Hemp fight moves to City Hall as aldermen debate regulation, tax: As aldermen sparred in a council committee meeting alongside dueling hemp sellers and marijuana dispensary owners, the council appeared far from agreement on the safety and fairness of potential local regulations — despite all sides agreeing that the unregulated product that can get users high must face some restrictions. While no vote was taken Thursday, the possibility of an ordinance to allow hemp’s continued widespread sale in Chicago won a critical early sign of approval from the Johnson administration.

* Tribune | Study that will help adjust where Chicago police officers are deployed finally in the works: The study has been a political hot potato for years, and city leaders will soon face the question of how to distribute the department’s limited number of police officers in an effective way that satisfies the city’s array of constituencies — and legal obligations. The workforce allocation study won’t be finished until year’s end. But of CPD’s roughly 11,000 sworn police officers, more than half are assigned to the department’s 22 patrol districts and are potentially subject to movement.

* Sun-Times | Several hundred ducks found dead from suspected bird flu along Lake Michigan: The largest concentrations of sick mergansers were found Saturday at North Avenue Beach and Oak Street Beach. Other birds with symptoms were reported from Hyde Park to Wilmette between Friday and Sunday.

* Crain’s | Google searching for tenants at revamped Thompson Center: CBRE leasing agents representing the Mountain View, Calif.-based company in recent weeks have quietly marketed seven floors of the 17-story building at 100 W. Randolph St. to prospective users, according to sources familiar with the property. Google is 10 months into a drastic overhaul of the 1.2 million-square-foot building in partnership with Chicago-based real estate developer Prime Group and Capri Investment Group, and the company intends to purchase the property from the development team when the renovation is finished.

* WBBM | Study: Rat populations on the rise in cities thanks to warm weather: When it comes to why some cities saw increases, researchers noted that denser human populations, a jump in urbanization, and an increase in warmer weather all played a part. The lead author of the study, Jonathan L. Richardson, an associate professor at the University of Richmond, shared with CBS News that the latter was found to play a large role in the trend.

* Daily Herald | Start your engines — Jeep is back and hybrids are hot at the Chicago Auto Show: The reset means Camp Jeep will once again tower over McCormick Place’s South Building, igniting a testosterone-off with Ford’s Bronco Mountain. “You have this wonderful clanking and clacking in the background of the show, which gives a great dynamic to the whole thing,” Consumer Guide Automotive publisher Tom Appel said.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Aurora Beacon-News | Aurora officials say special census postponed by federal government: Aurora’s upcoming special census, which was originally set to begin in early February, has been postponed by the federal government as the U.S. Census Bureau awaits the installment of new federal leadership, city officials announced early Thursday morning. City officials have previously said that they believe Aurora was undercounted in the 2020 decennial census, costing the city millions of dollars in lost tax revenue.

* Daily Herald | Why the biggest changes to the suburban office market since the pandemic may arrive this year: Much depends on how influential the new back-to-office directive for federal government employees will be on the private sector, according to Nick Schlanger, director of research services for Oakbrook Terrace-based commercial real estate agency NAI Hiffman. “A lot of companies look to the federal government, in recessionary times and at all times,” he said. “That kind of serves as a testing ground for the logistics.”

*** Downstate ***

* WTTW | Starved Rock to Receive $30M in State Funds for Much Needed Improvements, Maintenance: Illinois is showering some love on its natural resources, with officials on Friday announcing $60 million in funding for improvement projects at five parks and historic sites. The lion’s share of the money — $33.8 million — is being funneled to Starved Rock, which is consistently ranked as Illinois’ most popular state park.

* WaPo | Nothing lasts forever for No. 14 Terps, who lose to Illinois for first time: With the No. 14 Terrapins down by a point and 1.8 seconds remaining Sunday afternoon against Illinois, Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” began playing over the loudspeakers: Palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy … The Terps came out of a timeout and ran a sneaky set in which their star guard inbounded the ball to Allie Kubek and got it right back as she stepped across the baseline. The senior immediately rose up for a clean look at a midrange jumper, but her shot careened off the rim. The miss left Maryland with its fourth loss in five games, a 66-65 heartbreaker on senior day at Xfinity Center.

*** National ***

* WIRED | The Young, Inexperienced Engineers Aiding Elon Musk’s Government Takeover: WIRED has identified six young men—all apparently between the ages of 19 and 24, according to public databases, their online presences, and other records—who have little to no government experience and are now playing critical roles in Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) project, tasked by executive order with “modernizing Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.” The engineers all hold nebulous job titles within DOGE, and at least one appears to be working as a volunteer.

* Bloomberg | Dollar General Tells Stores to Let ICE Talk to Staff, Customers: “If Agent seeks to speak with customers, please ask Agent to be discrete and as least disruptive as possible to store operations and to conduct the interview outside the store,” the memo seen by Bloomberg News said. The memo also instructed managers to immediately inform higher-ups if federal agents visit the premises, take note of agents’ credentials and inquire how they can help them. It says agents should not be allowed into non-public parts of the store without a warrant and should not be provided employee information without direction from the company.

* AP | Greyhound to stop allowing immigration checks on buses: Greyhound, the nation’s largest bus company, said Friday it will stop allowing Border Patrol agents without a warrant to board its buses to conduct routine immigration checks. The company’s announcement came one week after The Associated Press reported on a leaked Border Patrol memo confirming that agents can’t board private buses without the consent of the bus company. Greyhound had previously insisted that even though it didn’t like the immigration checks, it had no choice under federal law but to allow them.

* CNN | How an arcane Treasury Department office became ground zero in the war over federal spending: The top civil servant at the Treasury Department, David Lebryk, left unexpectedly on Friday after Trump-affiliated officials expressed interest in stopping certain payments made by the federal government, according to three people familiar with the situation. […] According to one person familiar with the department, Trump-affiliated employees had previously asked about Treasury’s ability to stop payments. But Lebryk’s pushback was, “We don’t do that,” the person said.

* NYT | Canada and Mexico Move to Retaliate on Trump Tariff Orders: Mexico and Canada immediately vowed to impose tariffs of their own. The Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, announced retaliatory tariffs starting with 25 percent tariffs on approximately $20 billion worth of U.S. goods on Tuesday, with $85 billion more to follow within three weeks.

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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Supplement to today’s edition (Updated)

Monday, Feb 3, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today’s edition of Capitol Fax (use all CAPS in password)

Monday, Feb 3, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Live coverage

Monday, Feb 3, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* You can click here and here to follow the Madigan trial. Click here and/or here to follow breaking news. Hopefully, enough reporters and news outlets migrate to BlueSky so we can hopefully resume live-posting.

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Selected press releases (Live updates)

Monday, Feb 3, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

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« NEWER POSTS PREVIOUS POSTS »
* When RETAIL Succeeds, Illinois Succeeds
* SB 328 Puts Illinois’s Economy At Risk
* SB 328: Separating Lies From Truth
* Hexaware: Your Globally Local IT Services Partner
* SB 328 Puts Illinois’s Economy At Risk
* When RETAIL Succeeds, Illinois Succeeds
* Reader comments closed for the next week
* Isabel’s afternoon roundup
* SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Campaign updates
* Three-quarters of OEIG investigations into Paycheck Protection Program abuses resulted in misconduct findings
* SB 328 Puts Illinois’s Economy At Risk
* Sen. Dale Fowler honors term limit pledge, won’t seek reelection; Rep. Paul Jacobs launches bid for 59th Senate seat
* Hexaware: Your Globally Local IT Services Partner
* Pritzker to meet with Texas Dems as Trump urges GOP remaps (Updated)
* SB 328: Separating Lies From Truth
* Open thread
* Isabel’s morning briefing
* SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Supplement to today's edition
* SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today's edition of Capitol Fax (use all CAPS in password)
* Selected press releases (Live updates)
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