* ICYMI: At one time, Illinois was a top oil producer. Today, that legacy is a $160M problem. Tribune…

- While oil companies are responsible for mitigating risks by plugging wells that have stopped producing, there are nearly 4,000 abandoned oil and gas wells that are currently unplugged — holes, essentially, left behind for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to close.
- Left unplugged, some of these wells leak toxic chemicals hundreds of feet below the surface, potentially contaminating groundwater, and spit climate-warming methane gas into the atmosphere.
- For the last 35 years, a portion of annual fees paid by Illinois oil operators has been deposited into a fund to plug wells and restore the land they once occupied. And yet, the state cannot account for where most of that money has gone over the years, only to say that much of it has been swept away for uses other than intended.

* Related stories…

• NPR: Defunct oil wells are a national problem. Finding them is the first step
• Citizen Access: State inspectors flag dozens of oil wells for safety violations, leaks and abandonment
• Inside Climate News: Scientists Map Where Orphan Wells Pose Threats to Aquifers

* At noon, the governor will sit down for a roundtable with Illinoisans who’ve been impacted by federal actions and funding cuts during the first year of Trump’s second term. Then at 2 p.m., Gov. Pritzker will make an announcement celebrating International Jazz Day. Click here to watch.

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Capitol News Illinois | States say paperwork tied to $10B funding freeze is an intentionally ‘impossible task’: “As Defendants know, that is an impossible task on an impossible timeline, offered only as pretext to maintain the freeze against Plaintiff States,” the lawsuit states. For the Child Care Development fund, the Administration for Children and Families is asking for the documented attendance for subsidized child care services, which include the days and hours when care is provided as well as payment information. The administration said it will use the data to decide whether the money the state gets is “‘reasonable, allowable, and allocable.’”

* WGLT | Former Illinois Farm Bureau president refuses to resign seat on Country Mutual board in unprecedented move: In a statement to WGLT, Duncan said his stepping down is a tradition, not a requirement. “The Country Board serves one‑year terms that start at the Country Annual Meetings each April,” said Duncan. “The next one is on April 22, 2026. Board members can step down earlier if they want to. Some choose to do that when their IFB Board service wraps up, but they don’t have to.”

* Injustice Watch | Cook County allows tax foreclosures by municipalities. Poor oversight led to misuse by local officials.: Several months into her term as the mayor of south suburban Ford Heights in 2017, Annie Coulter learned about alarming irregularities in the village’s real estate records. Village officials discovered that her predecessor, Charles Griffin, had arranged to give away 17 village-owned houses: At least four of them were transferred to friends and family members, while another six went to his political supporters, school board members and fellow village officials, including Freddie Wilson, the village’s current mayor, court records show.

*** Statewide ***

* Hollywood Reporter | New Jersey, New York and Illinois See Gains In Film and TV Production As California Loses Ground: Meanwhile Illinois, home to Dick Wolf procedurals on NBC (Chicago Fire, P.D. and Med) along with FX’s The Bear, saw film count in the fourth quarter increase 70 percent year-over-year while production spend increased 46 percent. Prior indicators — namely major year-over-year growth in background actors’ jobs booked, per one payroll firm’s estimate — had suggested that Illinois was poised to be a bigger production hub, and in the latest quarter it appears to be closing the gap with a more established state, Georgia, that saw year-over-year declines in projects shooting and in spend.

* Sun-Times | How changes at the U.S. Postal Service could affect when your mail is postmarked: Approximately one-third of Illinois voters are at risk of experiencing postmark delays, the Brookings report found, which is more moderate exposure compared to other high-risk states like South Dakota and Arkansas. The agency said the postmark wasn’t intended to serve as proof of when mail is sent. A postmark also doesn’t necessarily indicate the date on which the item was collected, but it can serve as proof of possession by the agency, according to the Postal Service.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Capitol News Illinois | Few fireworks as Illinois GOP governor hopefuls share stage for first time: Far ahead of his Republican primary opponents in the most recent public polling, Darren Bailey told a half-filled central Illinois auditorium in that he expected to be “the punching bag.” Instead, Bailey walked away relatively unscathed from a candidate forum Thursday evening as the four Republican candidates for governor struck a conciliatory tone with one another. The four candidates preached unity after years of intraparty conflict, called for an end to the state’s robust protections for immigrants and took aim at Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker while pitching themselves as the most electable candidate in a general election.

* Center Square | GOP hopefuls seek support, blast Pritzker at IL gubernatorial candidate forum: The candidates generally avoided criticizing each other, but all four took aim at the state’s policies and governance under Pritzker. Mendrick said Chicago, Springfield and the entire state needs emergency management. “Crime is out of control. That’s because of the SAFE-T Act, which I vow to get rid of. Day one, SAFE-T Act is gone, executive order. We’re violating federal law. It should not be allowed. It’s causing us to spend billions,” Mendrick said.

* Evanston Now | State Senate race heats up: Evanston Democrat Rachel Ruttenberg has taken a fundraising lead over Winnetka Democrat Patrick Hanley in the race for State Senate District 9, ending the year with over $145,000 cash on hand, closing a gap Hanley opened in the fall. Ruttenberg, who’s the Democratic Party of Evanston’s deputy committeeperson, drew the bulk of her new support a single PAC, which reported a $72,800 contribution to her campaign in mid-December, most of the $92,800 she reported raising since Oct. 1. The large contribution came from the Jewish Caucus PAC.

* Sun-Times | Bears, Bally’s elbow way onto General Assembly’s spring agenda as lawmakers eye $2.2B shortfall: State lawmakers return to the Illinois House on Tuesday to gavel in the 2026 legislative session and prepare for months of wrangling over how to bridge a $2.2 billion budget gap in a critical midterm election year. Leaders of Democratic supermajorities in the Illinois General Assembly are sticking to the national party message of addressing affordability for voters who face rising costs on utility bills, health care, home insurance and just about everything else.

* WCIA | IL state senators set priorities entering 2026 legislative session: Up in New Salem, another economic hotspot is grabbing Senator Steve McClure’s attention. Last year, his legislation earmarked $8 million for renovations to Lincoln’s New Salem. The funds are for renovating log cabins, and McClure said he wants to make sure it stays that way. […] Senator Chapin Rose (R-Mahomet) said he wants to make sure a hard-fought win from 2025 isn’t wiped away by data centers. New laws now prohibit any carbon capture in areas around the Mahomet Aquifer.

* WAND | New IL law increases access to early intervention services for NICU babies: The Illinois Department of Human Services’ early intervention program helps children with disabilities or developmental delays up to age three learn and grow. Youth in the program are evaluated for movement, learning and behavior among other areas, but many families are unaware they are eligible for these services. The new law states hospitals must sign a letter referring babies to early intervention services if the child is born weighing less than 2.2 pounds.

*** Chicago ***

* WBEZ | Chicago parking meters up for sale, but Johnson urged to proceed carefully on potential buy-back: The meters generated roughly $160.9 million in 2024, audits show. “Do we think we could grow that over the next 57 years? If we were to think that we could grow that at, say, 3% a year, what kind of value does that have?” Conway asked. He also wondered whether the city could save money by no longer having to pay “true-up” costs which are due to the investors to keep them whole whenever meters are taken out of service.

* Bloomberg | Chicago Splits 2026 Advance Pension Payment on Cash Crunch: Chicago is dividing up its annual advance supplemental payment to its underfunded pensions into two, a departure from paying the entire amount at the start of the year. The third-largest US city is paying the first half — about $130 million — on Friday and the balance later this year, according to a statement from a spokesperson for Mayor Brandon Johnson. Almost $260 million has been earmarked for the advance payment to the city’s four retirement systems in the 2026 budget, which was passed in late December after contentious negotiations between the Johnson administration and the City Council.

* Sun-Times | Chicago’s first ‘Midway Blitz’ trial could revolve around the feds’ Bovino murder-for-hire claim: Espinoza Martinez’s trial is expected to be swift. He faces one murder-for-hire count, and prosecutors have signaled they’ll call just a few witnesses. Bovino is not among them. […] Espinoza Martinez’s lawyers, Jonathan Bedi and Dena Singer, have described their client as a “working man with deep roots” in the community and an “unblemished record.” They say he worked at his brother’s construction company for a decade, took his children to soccer games, and has never been convicted of a crime. Now he’s been in federal custody since Oct. 6.

* WBEZ | Chicago Teachers Union leaders question timing of second federal inquiry into finances: But CTU officials said the timing is suspicious. The letter arrived one day before the CTU was due to submit five years of audits and other financial documents to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce in response to a demand from the committee to examine the union’s audits. Committee members said they wanted to determine if “reforms” were needed to the federal law that requires unions to submit financial information to the Labor Department.

* Sun-Times | Cardinal Blase Cupich, fellow cardinals criticize Trump administration foreign policy: Cardinal Blase Cupich joined two other U.S. Catholic leaders in denouncing President Donald Trump’s military action in Venezuela and overtures to take over Greenland. The policies raise “basic questions about the use of military force and the meaning of peace,” Cupich and two other cardinals wrote. Trump’s name was not used in the letter.

* Crain’s | Gary dangles three development sites in bid to woo the Bears: City officials announced today that three sites, ranging from 145 to 760 acres, are available to help woo the team, which nearly one month ago announced it would consider sites in northwest Indiana for a stadium amid an impasse with Illinois leaders over sites in Chicago and northwest suburban Arlington Heights. “Gary’s proposal gives the Bears the tax certainty and stability that the organization says is key to success,” Gary Mayor Eddie Melton said in a written statement. “No other location offers this combination of proximity, identity alignment, and iconic visual connection to Chicago.”

* Sun-Times | Rams’ social-media team trolls Bears after L.A.’s victory: Another clip asks, “Chicago fans: Did the cold affect the Rams?” with a picture captioned, “Wouldn’t you like to know, weather boy.” The Rams were amused by the attention given the weather during the lead-up to the game, presumably including billboards that welcomed them to Bears weather.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Herald | A ‘data center next to homes’? Naperville council weighs Karis development: “At the end of the day, the biggest issue is that having a large industrial facility such as a data center, and in particular, a data center next to homes, does not make any sense,” said James Butt, a technologist who has consulted for data center companies and customers who have moved into them. “Other municipalities have learned this the hard way.” Karis earlier proposed building two data centers near Naperville and Warrenville roads. The current request calls for a single data center.

* Daily Southtown | Cook County opens courthouses for cold weather shelter second time this season: The three courthouses used as warming centers, in Markham, Skokie and Maywood, were activated as warming centers around the clock for four days in December, when the National Weather Service expected wind chill temperatures to reach 20 degrees below zero. These warming centers were activated again at 6 p.m. Saturday and will be open until 8 a.m. on Wednesday because of the predicted cold weather this week. They open if wind chill temperatures are forecast to fall into the negative range, said Audrey Jonas, the communications deputy director of the Cook County Asset Management Bureau.

* Naperville Sun | Park district lands $600K grant to help fund Naperville’s Nike complex upgrades: he grant money comes from the Open Space Lands Acquisition and Development program, administered through the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, which provides matching funding for park and forest preserve district conservation projects throughout the state. […] “It’s been a tremendous program. It’s certainly benefitted Naperville with the park district being able to bring on various projects and add amenities throughout the community,” park district Executive Director Brad Wilson said. “We’re excited to be able to receive the grant to help with fast-tracking and bringing improvements to the Nike Sports Complex.”

* Daily Herald | Elgin’s crime rate down 8% in 2025, shots fired incidents reach historic low: The statistics show an 8% drop in “Group A” serious crimes, which includes reductions in assault, theft and criminal damage offenses compared to 2024. The city recorded one murder in 2024, down from seven the previous year. “It’s one of the lowest crime levels we’ve recorded in decades,” Elgin Police Chief Ana Lalley said before passing the credit to her officers. “This happens because of a group of people who are very thoughtful about trying to make a safe community.” The city also experienced a 63% drop in gunfire incidents, finishing 2025 with 24 shots fired reports after recording 65 in 2024.

* Daily Herald | From AI-powered robotic mayor to aircraft fuselage, plans for $3 million Rosemont museum unveiled: “We are pretty far along with the face and the head of what it’s going to look like. It’s all in a sculpt right now before they actually start fabricating it,” said Brad Stephens, who plans to travel to the Jacksonville, Florida-based Sally Dark Rides design studio next month to check on the progress in person. The robot will be motion activated — coming to life, so to speak, as visitors walk into the mayor’s office — and have a set of at least four prerecorded lines. The creators are now finalizing the script, and the younger Stephens signed an affidavit giving them permission to use AI to re-create his dad’s voice.

*** Downstate ***

* WAND | Sullivan joins Decatur in pushing for water conservation amid drought: “We were, I believe in Decatur, about 12 inches below average for the year [2025)],” said WAND News Meteorologist Nick Patrick. “It was worse in Springfield and Champaign. They’re almost 20 inches below the average. That’s a huge departure. We need a lot of rain to make up for that this year.” Sullivan has asked residents and businesses to conserve as much water as possible until further notice and to limit non-essential water use. The city goes on to say in a post that its wells are having difficulty keeping up with demand, which is causing a water shortage in the community.

* WCIA | Effingham Co. woman crowned Miss Illinois County Fair Queen: 21-year-old Krista Phillips of Effingham was selected from a field of 75 contestants to reign over the 2026 Illinois State Fair and DuQuoin State Fair. Phillips will graduate from the University of Illinois-Champaign in May with a bachelor’s degree in business management and marketing. After graduating, she plans to return to the Effingham-area and open a small business.

* WGLT | Kathleen Lorenz testifies in marathon public hearing about McLean County GOP’s $28K campaign contribution to her mayoral campaign: Lorenz is accused of knowingly accepting $28,000 from a private donor who funneled the money through the McLean County GOP. Lorenz said she only later learned of a donation to the GOP that was intended to benefit her campaign. A former member of incumbent mayor Chris Koos’ campaign, Ben Matthews, made the complaint and questioned Lorenz for more than an hour Friday, using public statements made on social media and to WGLT by phone suggesting private donors used the GOP as a passthrough for Normal landowner Greg Shepard and his wife to give to Lorenz’s campaign anonymously. That maneuver would allow the Shepards to send more money to Lorenz than they would’ve otherwise been allowed to.

* WCIA | Illinois Supreme Court places Champaign Co. attorney on probation: An attorney in Champaign County is facing disciplinary action from the Illinois Supreme Court after officials said he lied about completing work for a client and made false statements about the integrity of a judge. Jason Spangehl, who was licensed in 2010, was issued a suspension from practicing law for six months. Although the suspension was issued, Spangehl will actually be placed on probation — with conditions — for two years. The details of these conditions were not immediately clear, but if they are violated, then Spangehl will need to serve out his suspension

*** National ***
* The Atlantic | America Is Slow-Walking Into a Polymarket Disaster: The more that prediction markets are treated like news, especially heading into another election, the more every dip and swing in the odds may end up wildly misleading people about what might happen, or influencing what happens in the real world. Yet it’s unclear whether these sites are meaningful predictors of anything. After the Golden Globes, Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan excitedly posted that his site had correctly predicted 26 of 28 winners, which seems impressive—but Hollywood awards shows are generally predictable. One recent study found that Polymarket’s forecasts in the weeks before the 2024 election were not much better than chance.

* NYT | No Link Between Acetaminophen in Pregnancy and Autism, a Study Finds: A scientific review of 43 studies on acetaminophen use during pregnancy concluded that there was no evidence that the painkiller increased the risk of autism or other neurodevelopmental disorders. “We found no clinically important increase in the risk of autism, A.D.H.D. or intellectual disability,” Dr. Asma Khalil, a professor of obstetrics and maternal fetal medicine at St. George’s Hospital, University of London, and the lead author of the report, said at a news briefing. The study was published on Friday in the British medical journal The Lancet.