As part of his broader modernization push, Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias announced that the Illinois Court of Claims will now offer electronic filing options and conduct remote hearings – a major step forward in how the court serves the public.
The transition replaces a slow, paper-based system that depended on mail delivery, cumbersome copies and in-person proceedings, often delaying case processing and complicating access for claimants.
“For too long, the state’s Court of Claims has been forced to rely on outdated, paper-driven processes that made filing a claim slower and more complicated,” Giannoulias said. “By making this a fully digital process, we’re making government more accessible, more transparent and more efficient for the people it serves. This initiative will save time, reduce headaches and ensure Illinoisans can seek justice without unnecessary barriers.”
Starting today, all filings with the Court of Claims will be submitted through a new online e-filing portal – clerkofthecourt.ilsos.gov. Users can create an account, follow step-by-step instructions and submit their claims directly through the system. Training videos will be available to help first-time users navigate the process.
* The recently created Illinois Accountability Commission will hold its first meeting on Thursday. Press release…
What: The Illinois Accountability Commission will host its first meeting to the shed light on the human impact of the widespread use of chemical agents during Operation Midway Blitz. The official public notice and information about public participation can be found here.
When: Thursday, December 18, 2025, 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM (Approx.)
Where: Arturo Velasquez Institute at Richard J. Daley College, 2800 S Western Ave, Chicago, IL 60608
* WSIL | Illinois’ first report on alcohol use reveals concerning trends: The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) released its first-ever comprehensive report on alcohol use in the state. The report, “Alcohol Use in Illinois,” analyzes data from multiple sources to address health-related concerns linked to alcohol consumption. […] The report also noted an increase in alcohol-related traffic fatalities. In 2022, 37 percent of deadly crashes involved a driver with a blood alcohol concentration above the legal limit. From 2020 to 2023, more than 2,300 deaths in Illinois were directly attributed to chronic alcohol use, the IDPH report stated. Another 2,000 deaths were indirectly associated with alcohol, such as through hypertension and liver cancer.
*** Statehouse News ***
* WICS | Senate bill mandates police hiring reforms after murder of Sonya Massey: The law mandates a thorough review of a candidate’s past employment to ensure their fitness for duty. It also expands the creation of sheriff’s merit boards and commissions in counties with populations of at least 75,000. “With this law in effect, I feel confident that going forward our communities and law enforcement will build a trusting relationship,” Turner said. “Now, I will have kept my promise to my friend and Sonya’s mother.” Senate Bill 1953 will be implemented starting Jan. 1.
*** Chicago ***
* Tribune | Renegade aldermen tweak 2026 budget plan, but withhold details: The City Council majority group is dropping its plan to raise the garbage pick-up fee, Ald. Gilbert Villegas, 36th, said in a statement. The group will also maintain youth summer job funding at levels first proposed by Johnson after previously pushing for a smaller amount, Villegas said. The changes are an apparent bid to convince more colleagues to join them and blunt Johnson’s near-daily criticism that their package would hurt working class Chicagoans.
* Sun-Times | Council members who oppose Mayor Johnson’s proposed budget drop plan to raise garbage collection fees: The statement simply expressed “confidence” in the revenue projections devised by a brain trust of financial advisers that includes former city finance officials, as well as the Civic Federation and the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago. “We look forward to meeting with Mayor Johnson this afternoon to discuss our proposal and it is our hope that we can walk out of this meeting united on behalf of the people of Chicago and move forward with this financially responsible budget that will better position us ahead of a more challenging” 2027, the Villegas statement said.
* Tribune | CPS lunchroom workers near six months without a contract: ‘No one sees us’: Garcia makes $21 an hour as a cook, which last year totaled $34,000 after taxes. She’s worked for Chicago Public Schools for 23 years. Wages are the sticking point in the bargaining process for CPS lunchroom workers, who have been without a contract for nearly six months. The 1,800 members of UNITE HERE Local 1, including lunchroom attendants, cooks and porters, remain among the lowest-paid CPS employees. Many, like Garcia, say they struggle to afford basic expenses.
* Tribune | DePaul University lays off 114 staff members to plug budget deficit: The reduction accounts for 7.6% of full-time and part-time staff, according to a message from President Rob Manuel. The university is aiming to reduce $27.4 million in spending following a dramatic drop in international enrollment. “Supporting our students and providing an excellent education remain our top priority,” Manuel wrote. “We want to emphasize that university leaders worked to minimize cuts to the student experience, including on-campus employment.” DePaul is facing a $12.6 million budget deficit for the 2026 fiscal year. To maintain long-term sustainability, the university is also aiming for a 2.5% operating margin — which means another $14.8 million in cuts.
* Tribune | Chicago police officer acquitted of sexually abusing handcuffed woman: Officer Stephan Shaw, 33, who has been relieved of his police powers and detailed to the alternate response section, had been charged with multiple felony counts including aggravated criminal sexual abuse, custodial sexual misconduct and official misconduct. In acquitting Shaw, Judge Adrienne Davis pointed to what she said were multiple inconsistencies in the woman’s testimony, but she still condemned Shaw for exchanging Facebook messages with a woman he had arrested. Davis had been overseeing the bench trial that began in October. “This court finds that Mr. Shaw’s conduct was inappropriate in the least and the citizens of the city of Chicago deserve better,” Davis said. “But the state … did not prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt.”
* Crain’s | Celebrities and supporters turn out for PAWS Chicago’s record-setting gala: PAWS Chicago celebrated a record-breaking evening at its 24th annual Fur Ball at The Drake Hotel Nov. 14. The sold-out event, presented by donors Nan and Wayne Kocourek, drew 650 guests, many with canine companions in tow. The event, co-chaired by Lindsay and Carter Hawkins and Laura Sachs and Jordan Fisher, with Pam and Ed Carey serving as honorary co-chairs, raised $2.1 million to support the organization’s lifesaving mission.
* Tribune | The Chicago Immigrant Orchestra is defiant in the wake of recent raids: Recent anxieties around immigration status have affected him professionally. “I have musicians who have green cards who say no, I can’t travel to Canada or abroad for a gig because I don’t know if I’ll get back into the country. And these are big gigs, like, $5,000, $10,000, $15,000 appearances. It’s a huge deal. These petty restrictions and petty definitions being used to divide and conquer are really helping nobody. They’re costing Americans money. They’re costing Americans peace of mind, which also costs Americans money at the end of the day.”
*** Cook County and Suburbs ***
* Daily Herald | ‘Medical care is a human right’: St. Charles clinics meet the needs of Kane County’s uninsured: Eligible TCHP patients must live or work in Kane County, have no insurance and make less than 250% of the poverty level, which translates to an income ranging from $80,000 to $86,000 annually for a family of four, according to executive director Dani Ward. In 2024, more than 580 individual patients visited the clinics, Ward said. As of early December, TCHP volunteers had treated 550 unique patients, many of whom require ongoing treatment over multiple visits, Ward said.
* Daily Southtown | New Lenox Library opens care cabinet with essential items and Narcan, no questions asked: The care cabinet, which opened Dec. 4 in the library lobby, provides free resources such as shower products, deodorant, toothpaste, gloves, chap stick, first-aid supplies, socks and Narcan, said Krooswyk, the executive director. The initiative was funded by a $1,000 grant from the Friends of The New Lenox Library. Krooswyk said the cabinet was scheduled to open in January 2026, but Melissa Seaberg, administrative library coordinator, requested moving the opening to December after lower-income residents began facing cuts to needed federal programs, such as food benefits in early November.
* Aurora Beacon-News | St. Charles considering development plan with restaurants, retail for former Pheasant Run Resort site: A concept plan for the project — called The Shops at Pheasant Run — was submitted to the city by SC Landman LLC. Its proposal is for a mixed-use development offering shopping, dining and recreation amenities, according to Peter NeCastro, an attorney from DLA Piper which represents SC Landman, an affiliate of Chicago-based developer Vequity. The project could include things like retail, a bank, restaurants and day care, NeCastro said at the St. Charles City Council Planning and Development Committee meeting on Dec. 8, at which council members discussed the proposed project. Public art installations are also being considered for the site.
* Crain’s | Owner of Michael Jordan’s former home pitches new plan for the estate: Cooper, who paid $9.5 million for the 56,000-square-foot house on 7.4 acres in December 2024, will be at Highland Park’s City Hall tonight to pitch turning it into a sort of personal-growth hub where visitors can, as he phrases it in the presentation he’ll make, “Experience Greatness” and principles of success including “Mindset, Action and Service.”
*** Downstate ***
* BND | Belleville tenants say they couldn’t get repairs. Now landlord is ending leases: Homes of America has ties to so-called “vulture capitalist” Randall Smith and Alden Global Capital, his investment firm known for acquiring and reducing costs at distressed community newspapers. The company did not respond to the BND’s emailed requests for comment about the decision to end rental leases in Belleville. […] The news about leases in Belleville comes as residents say they have been complaining to property managers about unanswered requests for repairs to leaking roofs, holes in floors and walls, broken air conditioning and other problems since the company took over the mobile home park in 2022, according to interviews and court records.
* WGLT | McLean County Board allows solar energy site in Bloomington Township: On Thursday, the McLean County Board unanimously approved a slightly amended version of the county zoning board’s recommendation to allow Chicago-based SunVest Solar special use of the site. SunVest’s plan calls for a solar energy generating site, as well as a battery energy storage system [BESS], at 2105 W. Oakland Avenue in Bloomington Township, and the area immediately east of Oakland Avenue, about a third of a mile north of Six Points Road.
* Intelligencer | District 7 board to consider separation agreement, tax levy: Board members will consider final approval for the 2025 tax levy, which is expected to be a little more than $111 million. The district is estimating the county’s equalized assessed valuation will increase by 7.5%, “however, setting the levy using a 10.5% EAV growth rate will enable the district to achieve the state or voter approved tax rate” for the 2026-27 school year, information with the agenda states.
* WCIA | Former Illini football coach Mike White dies at 89: White coached the Illini from 1980-87, leading Illinois to a Big Ten title and Rose Bowl appearance in 1983, coaching the likes of Dave Wilson, Tony Eason, Jack Trudeau and David Williams. He left Illinois with a 47-41-3 record. White had other head coaching stops with the University of California and in the NFL with the Oakland Raiders.
*** National ***
* Rolling Stone | Taylor Swift’s Last Album Sparked Bizarre Accusations of Nazism. It Was a Coordinated Attack: “I’m a pop-culture girl,” says Georgia Paul, GUDEA’s head of customer success, who suggested the company look at the conversation around Swift after she had a “gut feeling” that the ideologically charged remarks about The Life of a Showgirl she was seeing might trace back to manipulative actors. Paul and her colleagues confirmed that suspicion, identifying two distinct spikes in misleading activity related to Swift. The first came on Oct. 6 and 7, with approximately 35 percent of the posts in GUDEA’s data set for that time frame generated by accounts behaving more like bots than human users. The second took place over Oct. 13 and 14, after Swift released a merch collection that included the lightning bolt necklace (commemorating the song “Opalite”), with about 40 percent of posts shared by inauthentic accounts and conspiracist content accounting for 73.9 percent of the total volume of conversation.
* WaPo | Supersized data centers are coming. See how they will transform America: Tech companies that once pledged to use clean energy alone are fast reconsidering. They now need too much uninterrupted power, too fast. According to the International Energy Agency, the No. 1 power source to meet this need will be natural gas. “While we remain committed to our climate moonshots, it’s become clear that achieving them is now more complex and challenging across every level,” Google states in its 2025 environmental impact report. The company says meeting its goal of eliminating all emissions by 2030 has become “very difficult.”
* NYT | How Tech’s Biggest Companies Are Offloading the Risks of the A.I. Boom: Meta was responsible for constructing the data center, but Blue Owl was on the hook for 80 percent of the financing. As part of the arrangement, Meta agreed to “rent” the data center from Beignet with a series of four-year leases. That allows the tech giant to categorize the funding as operating cost, not debt, according to financial filings. As part of the deal, Meta is paying a premium to Blue Owl so it doesn’t have to borrow the money itself, said Solomon Feig, a private credit lender at Pinnacle Private Credit. “Instead, Meta is renting risk,” he added.
First, it’s a very difficult issue. Frankly, I heard from a lot of people on both sides of this.
I will say I think the vast majority of people have seemed to have favored giving people who are in the end of their life a choice, and that is what this bill is about. It’s about giving people their individual choice.
But I also understand that for some people, it’s part of a religious moral issue around their faith. And I listen to that because I know how important that is. In the end, I particularly heard from people who are in the last six months of their lives, who are suffering, and I also heard from people who have had their relative or friend to go through it, and that they’ve gone through it with them.
And I think again, I could have gone either way on this, just on the issue of compassion, about thinking about what the right thing to do is.
It’s very difficult, but in the end, I felt like giving people a choice in these very limited circumstances. We don’t want to broaden this and make this something that’s, you know, broad based, available to people who just decide on their own.
This is something, deciding when you’re in pain and at the end of your life, I just felt in the end that the stories that I heard, the introspection that I did about what I would think for myself or for my family members, that you know, that helped to guide me to the to the conclusion.
* Did he discuss the bill during his recent meeting with the Pope?…
We didn’t. We really didn’t. I mean, somebody asked me about, we didn’t discuss it.
It was literally mentioned in a list of things, as we were speaking at the beginning of … literally in a list of things that they we were both dismissing, things that we could imagine that we might disagree about being from two different religions, or, you know, having different different upbringings. Literally a dismissal of issues that we wouldn’t be talking about those things. And instead, we ended up talking a large to a large degree about humanitarian issues, like what’s happening in immigration across the world, but especially here in the United States.
Monday, Dec 15, 2025 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Illinois’ disability service system has come too far to go backward.
In 2026, Illinois will face deep federal Medicaid cuts coming from Washington under the Trump administration — reductions that will threaten critical health and disability supports used by thousands of families across our state.
That storm may be unavoidable.
But creating a second storm at home is not.
The state’s planned January 1 cuts to Direct Support Professional (DSP) service hours would immediately reduce care for more than 10,000 people with intellectual and developmental disabilities living in 24-hour residential homes. These individuals rely on DSPs for medication support, personal care, health monitoring, and access to their communities.
When you cut hours, you cut access.
You cut independence.
You cut safety.
Illinois has spent years rebuilding a more stable, person-centered system that allows people with disabilities to live with dignity in their communities — not institutions. Stacking state cuts on top of looming federal reductions would undo that progress and cause real harm.
There is a better path forward: delay the January 1 cuts.
Allow Illinois to transition to the “Zero Hour” staffing model — a long-term improvement everyone supports — without punishing the people the system exists to protect.
No more pain.
No unnecessary cuts.
No double disasters.
Delay the cuts. Protect the workforce. Keep Illinois moving forward.
Paid for by the Illinois Association of Rehabilitation Facilities (IARF)
* Gov. Pritzker was asked today if he plans to endorse in the Democratic primary race for comptroller…
I don’t have any plans right now. I know all of the candidates that are running. One of them happens to have worked for me, and I know her work probably better than anybody else, but I don’t have anybody in mind right now. But there’s a lot of time between now and March.
Today is yet another example of the well, the terrible nature of our president when he’s attacking Rob Reiner and Michelle Reiner. I was with them four days ago, and these are some terrific people. They care deeply about people. They have political views, but they also are just, they’ve been philanthropic. They care about their community. They have done so much for early childhood development, early childhood education. If you’re unaware, you should go look at it. Probably the most important work, maybe in the nation, was done by them. And to have the President of the United States attacking them. And really, I just, I don’t understand, I don’t understand. I don’t understand why the President has to do things like this. What is wrong with him that he has to attack people? Especially when their families are suffering. And that’s just one example, but yeah, there are a lot of examples of things that I wish Democrats and Republicans would stand up and speak out about, and that today is yet another example of that.
Monday, Dec 15, 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 Millers on Chicago’s North Shore, who serve their communities with dedication and pride.
Republican Don Tracy is running for the U.S. Senate seat in Illinois, and he recently shared more about his platform, his major concerns, and his plan if he takes office. […]
As Tracy has traveled up and down the state as a candidate and as chairman of the Illinois Republican Party, he has gained a better understanding of constituents’ concerns. Tracy pointed to cost of living as a major issue. He acknowledged that most people in the state, regardless of party or location, can agree that cost of living is high. […]
As Tracy prepares for the primary on March 17, he encourages people to vote. He said Republicans are “complacent” while Democrats are “mad as a hornet.” He believes Democrats are “upset” because “minors can’t get gender surgery all over the place” and Republicans are “backing law enforcement,” monitoring the borders, fighting against “extreme environmentalism” and “want to bring common sense solutions to the healthcare problems.”
“They’re mad as hornets. They’re radicals, and they have time because a lot of them don’t have jobs. So they’re out there and they’re going to vote in numbers and get other people to vote,” Tracy said. “Everyday Americans, everyday Illinoisans, working people, it’s important to support your families. It’s important to raise your kids. It’s important to do your jobs. It’s important to help your employers. It’s important to help your communities. But you’ve got to take care of the foundation that supports all this. You’ve got to vote.”
* Press release…
Today, the Illinois Pipe Trades Association (IPTA) endorsed State Representative Margaret Croke in her campaign for Illinois State Comptroller. Representing tens of thousands of skilled pipefitters, plumbers, sprinkler fitters, welders, and HVACR technicians across Illinois, the IPTA is a statewide leader in training, safety, and high-quality workforce development in the building trades.
Throughout her tenure in the General Assembly, Rep. Croke has been a steadfast advocate for organized labor. She has supported investments in Illinois’ infrastructure, championed policies that expand apprenticeship and training programs, voted to protect fair wages, and advanced measures to help working families.
“The 21 local unions and 30,000 members of the Illinois Pipe Trades Association are proud to endorse Representative Margaret Croke for Illinois Comptroller,” said IPTA Executive Director Billy Allison. “Representative Croke has a long record of standing up for workers in Illinois and we are confident she will make protecting working families a top priority in her role as Comptroller.”
A member of the General Assembly since January 2021, Croke chairs the Financial Institutions & Licensing Committee and is a member of the Revenue and Finance Committee, chairing its Income Tax Subcommittee. She has centered her legislative priorities around making Illinois a hub for innovation and entrepreneurship, supporting small businesses and incentivizing investment, while advocating for balanced budgets that reflect Illinois’ values. Croke has led efforts to expand access to affordable childcare and passed legislation to address cyberbullying in our public and private schools.
— State Senate race: State Sen. Sara Feigenholtz is being endorsed by Ald. Brian Hopkins in her reelection bid.
— Board of Review race: Commissioner George Cardenas has withstood a challenge to his signatures. The hearing officer recommended that Cardenas has sufficient signatures and that his name can appear on the ballot, according to Cardenas’ team.
Kat Abughazaleh took some heat from her own supporters this week over double-booking herself last Friday, bailing on a Democratic Socialists of America candidate forum at the last minute for a dinner with Palestinian community members at a restaurant on the southwest side of Chicago.
In her campaign Discord server, an online open-to-the-public forum for streaming and group chatting, several of her own supporters called the lack of communication about missing the DSA forum a “really bad move.”
“How do you schedule something months in advance, remind people that it’s happening less than 2 weeks before it, then ‘accidentally’ schedule something else and not say a word about it?” one post read.
The campaign pointed to a scheduling conflict, and a DSA spokesperson told Evanston Now that the campaign “owned the decision for prioritizing the other event” and apologized for double-booking.
State Rep.Hoan Huynh was also a no-show at the forum after being slated to appear, citing a family emergency, according to event organizers.
State Sen. Mike Simmons and Skokie School Board member Bushra Amiwala were the other two candidates who appeared, speaking to a crowd of over 100 at Sketchbook in Skokie.
* Chicago Painters District Council 14 have endorsed Daniel Biss in the 9th CD…
* Two Tammy’s have now endorsed Juliana Stratton for Senate. Press release…
Today, United States Senator Tammy Baldwin (WI) announced her endorsement of Juliana Stratton for U.S. Senate. Senator Baldwin joins Senator Tammy Duckworth as the second sitting senator to endorse Juliana, in addition to Governor JB Pritzker, Ambassador Carol Moseley Braun, Congressman Danny Davis, Congressman Bobby Rush, Secretary Jesse White, Speaker Chris Welch and more.
“Juliana is the kind of leader who doesn’t just talk about our values – she lives them. She’s a fighter, and she’s also someone who listens, brings people in, and builds the kind of coalitions it takes to get things done. Juliana has spent her life serving her community and delivering for Illinois families,” said Senator Tammy Baldwin. “She’s defended the LGBTQ+ community, protected reproductive freedom, strengthened access to affordable health care, and fought for the middle class. I know she’ll be a strong partner for me and Senator Tammy Duckworth as we work to protect our shared values.”
* More…
* RiverBender | Holly Kim Hosts Voter Meet and Greet in Alton: Holly Kim, Lake County Treasurer and candidate for Illinois Comptroller, will host a Meet and Greet from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, at the Alton Sports Tap, 3812 College Avenue. The event will include free light bites and offers an opportunity for voters to engage directly with Kim. Kim currently manages Lake County’s finances and performs duties akin to those of a comptroller, including issuing checks and overseeing fiscal accountability. She is running to become Illinois’ next State Comptroller, aiming to continue the legacy of Susana Mendoza by bringing “strong, independent leadership” to the office.
* Press release | Lake County Treasurer Holly Kim Announces over $3 Million in Interest Revenue for TY24 Payable in 25: The Lake County Treasurer’s Office is pleased to announce that for Tax Year 2024, through strong negotiation and prudent management of public funds, the County Collector earned 3,222,519.71 in interest revenue. This additional interest income has been distributed among Lake County’s 278 local taxing bodies — including school districts, municipalities, libraries, fire protection districts, and others — providing each with revenue beyond their levied property taxes. Distribution amounts are determined by each district’s levy relative to the total levies countywide.
* IPM News | Petition objection derails campaign for Rep. Eric Sorensen’s primary opponent: Democrat Montez Soliz of Rockford posted on social media that he has been removed from the ballot in the Illinois’ 17th Congressional District race following an objection to his petitions. That district includes parts of Bloomington-Normal, Greater Peoria, the Quad Cities and Rockford. “Being taken off the ballot is a setback, not a verdict on our vision. It says more about how our system treats new voices than it does about the power of this movement,” Soliz said in the post. Illinois State Board of Elections spokesperson Matt Dietrich said no official action will be taken on the objection until the board meets Jan. 8. He said a hearing officer typically will discuss the case with the candidate and share their findings and recommendation. The board’s general counsel will also provide a recommendation, but those do not become public until the Board of Elections agenda appears online.
* Daily Herald | 33rd state Senate candidate removed from ballot: The Illinois State Board of Elections ruled that he did not have enough valid signatures on his petition. It said that after signatures were checked, Holt fell 120 signatures short. Former St. Charles alderman Rita Payleitner and Patrick Carroll of St. Charles had filed the objection, questioning 225 of the 1,047 signatures Holt submitted. The board agreed that 167 were invalid for various reasons. … Danielle Penman of St. Charles and Jessica Breugelmans of unincorporated Geneva remain on the Republican primary ballot. The winner will face Democrat Michele Clark in the fall. The current senator, Don DeWitte of St. Charles, did not seek re-election.
“There’s very few people who can afford to spend even a fraction of the money that Pritzker spent on his campaigns,” said Alisa Kaplan, executive director of Reform for Illinois, a group that advocates for greater transparency and public financing in elections. “You really want a system where that’s your pool of talent for your representatives?”
“I think it’s dangerous,” she said, “because even if you have this exception of the — quote, unquote — ‘good billionaire,’ it’s not a good basis for a political system.”
Teri Ricci, a 65-year-old retired university employee from Carbondale, Illinois, said she initially had no interest in backing “just another gazillionaire,” but ended up volunteering for Pritzker’s gubernatorial campaigns.
“He’s not in it for the money. He’s already got the money,” Ricci said in an interview at a Pritzker campaign event this summer as he launched his reelection bid. The first time Ricci heard him speak, Pritzker told the crowd that the good thing about having a lot of money was that he was not beholden to anyone.
Liz Brown and Litesa Wallace won best contract lobbyist last year, so they’re not eligible this year. Frances Orenic won best in-house lobbyist last year.
As usual, please explain your nominations or they won’t count, and please do your best to nominate in both categories.
* And when you’ve finished nominating, please click here and help us buy Christmas gifts for foster kids. Thanks!
The two most intense state legislative pressure campaigns I’ve witnessed both ended in failure.
Back in 2017, Gov. Bruce Rauner tried everything he could think of to stop legislative Republicans from voting to increase the income tax to about where it was right before he took office for his one and only term.
Both political and personal threats were made against a large number of Republicans. They’d be primaried out of office if they crossed Rauner, they were warned. At least one was told that some details about their after-hours behavior might somehow find its way back to their district.
The political atmosphere was ginned up against the Republicans to the point where one Republican House member revealed that someone had come to his home’s front door to leave a threatening written message.
They mostly stuck to their guns and Rauner lost. But quite a few of those “traitors” decided not to run again. Rauner ended up losing his reelection in a landslide.
A few years later, Rauner’s former nemesis House Speaker Michael Madigan turned his allies loose on a group of 19 Democratic House members who refused to vote for his reelection.
Members were threatened in all sorts of ways. Some felt physically intimidated. Many were promised nasty and well-funded primary races if they didn’t reverse course.
That didn’t work either and Madigan had to step aside after 50 years in the House, 36 years as House speaker and 23 years as the state Democratic Party chair. He’s now in prison.
But as crazy as those two fights were, they didn’t come close to what just happened in the Indiana state Senate.
As you likely know by now, a majority of the Senate’s Republican super-majority sided with Democrats and overwhelmingly voted down a bill that would have redrawn the state’s congressional maps to give the Republicans every U.S. House seat in the state.
The bill had been pushed hard by President Donald Trump and the White House. The idea is their way of protecting against what’s expected to be a very good electoral year for Democrats in 2026.
Trump threatened to field primary opponents against any Republican who dared cross him. Several members received anonymous threats of violence. And the remap bill’s sponsor and the state’s Republican lieutenant governor both said that the president had threatened to pull all federal funding from Indiana if he didn’t get his way.
An elderly senator claimed her grandson and his basketball team each received negative text messages about her.
Yeah, things got weirdly creepy. Illinois has nothing on that.
Gov. JB Pritzker had vowed that if Indiana passed a redistricting bill, Illinois would follow suit and redraw its own maps to give the Democrats at least one more seat. It was unclear whether he could gather the votes for such a ploy, but it was pretty good political rhetoric. And, who knows, it might’ve worked. But the point is now moot.
But I’ve been saying for a long time that I didn’t think a mid-decade congressional remap bill could pass here. The Black Caucus didn’t want it, and their members have enough votes to stop it.
And even though Pritzker refused to take the idea off the table after the Indiana vote, I still don’t see it happening here.
The Indiana Republicans’ arguments against the bill were sound, not only because they were under so much pressure from D.C., but because it just wasn’t the right thing to do.
Indiana’s map is already quite gerrymandered, and some complained a new map would’ve expanded the influence of wealthy Indianapolis over rural counties.
Illinois’ current congressional map is even more heavily gerrymandered than Indiana’s, and a new map would further expand the influence of urban and suburban areas over rural areas. Plus, there’s also that fairness thing. When is enough enough?
I seriously doubt Pritzker will be calling a reluctant legislature into special session if another “red” state steps up because he has bigger fish to fry in the coming spring. And no way will he ever risk alienating legislative Democrats anywhere close to the way Indiana Gov. Mike Braun has declared open war on his own Republican Senators.
Maybe Pritzker should just use some of his vast wealth to contribute heavily to the under-funded grassroots Missouri campaign to place a measure on their ballot that would reverse its Republican remap, which could, under Missouri law, pause the new map until the public votes. More than enough petitions were already submitted, but they’ll need help with legal fees to counter the coming pushback.
* ICYMI: Records reveal husband who shot and killed Berwyn assistant principal had his firearm license revoked by Illinois State Police. Tribune…
- Per state police data going back to 2009 through Dec. 4, there are 107,342 Illinois residents who have lost their right to own guns but a backlog of about 74,733 of those revoked cardholders, or nearly 70%, have yet to tell the state they aren’t in possession of any firearms.
- By 5:15 p.m., Nerissa, Joycelyn and Steven had all been pronounced dead, Cook County medical examiner records show. Nerissa and Joycelyn died of multiple gunshot wounds in a homicide, the medical examiner’s office determined through an autopsy. Steven died of a shot in the head in a suicide, the office said. State police sent a sixth, and final, noncompliance notification that day.
- Earlier this year, Gov. JB Pritzker signed legislation that requires law enforcement agencies to promptly remove guns and FOID cards from those subject to orders of protection. Known as Karina’s Law, But there are times — in Nerissa’s case, for example — that people do not secure orders of protection before tensions escalate, leaving them in a liminal space where stopgaps allotted by Karina’s Law don’t yet kick in.
* At noon, the Governor will make an announcement on new funding toward addressing homelessness in Springfield. At 4 pm, the governor will join community members in lighting the Menorah at the Governor’s Mansion. Click here to watch.
*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***
* Sun-Times | Chicago Housing Authority subject of HUD audit citing immigration and criminal activity, records show: The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Inspector General is conducting an audit of the Chicago Housing Authority to scrutinize its procedures around verifying residents’ immigration status and criminal backgrounds, according to documents obtained by the Sun-Times. “The objective of our audit is to (1) determine whether the Authority complied with HUD’s and its own requirements for verifying eligibility of individuals for HUD assisted housing based on criminal activity, citizenship, and immigration status, and (2) assess the Authority’s practices for preventing and addressing criminal activity,” the audit notice said.
* Tribune | 2 Illinois election board Democrats who blocked Senate President Don Harmon fines have ties to his donors: Even if the two had recused themselves, the sanction would still not have met the five-vote threshold for approval. But Terven and Genovese’s votes underscore that there is no formal conflict-of-interest policy for board members, although some members have recused themselves from matters if they had a relationship to an individual or organization with ties to a case
* WAND | A century of laughter and movie magic: Danville’s Dick Van Dyke celebrates 100th birthday: This week, there’s a spark in the air — the kind of magic only one man could leave behind. Danville’s favorite son, Dick Van Dyke turns 100 years old on Dec. 13. Inside Danville High School, theater students are honoring Van Dyke. They are rehearsing dance numbers across the same stage where a young Dick Van Dyke once performed back in the 1940s. Long before he tap-danced across London rooftops in Mary Poppins, or soared the countryside in “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” Van Dyke was a teenager discovering his love for performing right here at home.
*** Statehouse News ***
* Alton Telegraph | Illinois’ 2026 laws add AI hiring limits, repeal grocery tax and ban CFL bulbs: In a related law, Illinois has expanded leave of up to 10 days for part-time employees donating organs. Previously, only full-time employees were guaranteed the ability to take 10 days off to donate organs. I was surprised to learn that, in addition to donating blood, bone marrow, and one of your kidneys, you could also donate a lobe of your liver or a portion of a lung, pancreas, or intestine and live to tell about it.
* Capitol News Illinois | Illinois ag director says Trump trade policies are ‘crushing’ farmers: The Trump administration announced this week that it would make $12 billion available in the form of one-time payments to U.S. farmers to help weather what it calls “temporary trade market disruptions” in the wake of ongoing tariff disputes with America’s trading partners. But Jerry Costello II, director of the Illinois Department of Agriculture, said this week the latest aid package is less than half the size of the one offered in response to trade disputes during Trump’s first administration. He said the money being offered now is not nearly enough to make up for the losses farmers are suffering. “Tariffs are crushing farmers again,” Costello said in a statement. “Financial losses are worse this time around, yet the aid package is 50% smaller. We’re seeing repeated devastation with greater losses than Trump 1. It defies logic.”
*** Chicago ***
* Tribune | Mayor Brandon Johnson’s organizer roots at fore as he courts progressives in budget fight: The mayor is far from the only one firing shots. Those groups opposed to his budget have spent tens of thousands of dollars on ads blasting his spending plan, and specifically the controversial head tax at its center. “Chicagoans deserve honesty and transparency and real solutions that make our neighborhood safer,” one ad from a dark money group opposed to the head tax says. “Not a slush fund that puts politics over people.” Aldermen in the opposition have harried the mayor with daily news conferences and jabs.
* Crain’s | Can the City Council muscle through a budget without the mayor?: The mayor’s office has made calls to aldermen casting doubt on the revenue projections and legality of parts of the plan, hoping to prevent the Council revolt and pick up votes for Johnson’s $16.6 billion plan.To succeed, the Council coalition will need to hold together through a series of follow-up votes, including potential spending cuts that affect city worker benefits, and could falter if unions push back.
* Tribune | Number of unresolved CPD discipline cases crawls toward 500 during court fight: The process for meting out discipline in the most serious cases of misconduct by Chicago police officers has been largely at a standstill for more than two years. During that stretch, a backlog of unresolved cases has grown as a legal fight between the city and the largest CPD officers’ union has worked its way to the Illinois Supreme Court. In 2025, cases in that category swelled to near 500. As of mid-December, police Superintendent Larry Snelling still must decide whether or not to bring administrative charges in 490 cases in which the Civilian Office of Police Accountability sustained allegations of misconduct, city records show.
* Sun-Times | Brinshore Development and CHA had bumpy relationship before developer put 20 Chicago properties on sale: The Chicago-based national affordable housing provider is selling 20 properties across the city, or 2,435 units that include 695 units subsidized by the CHA, according to listing details. The properties are under “severe stress” due to defaults as a result of the CHA missing payments to Brinshore and deferred maintenance, Brinshore cofounder Richard Sciortino wrote in an August email to then-Chicago Housing Authority interim CEO Angela Hurlock.
* Chicago Reader | Waiting for weatherization: Though homeowners seek help from local organizations, CEDA and state and local government officials told the Chicago Reader that federal regulations governing the program have prevented many low-income homeowners from accessing its services. Applicants living in predominantly Black and Latine zip codes have been denied for the program at higher rates than those from the majority of Chicago’s white neighborhoods, according to a Reader analysis of applicant data. Meanwhile, thousands of homeowners elsewhere in the state linger on the program’s waiting list, a copy of the list shows.
* Crain’s | A massive new Wacker Drive office tenant is getting even bigger: Sweetening one of the biggest deals for the city’s office market since the pandemic, the Chicago-based energy engineering firm has leased three more floors in the 51-story tower at 77 W. Wacker Drive, a spokeswoman for the company confirmed. The expansion adds roughly 66,000 square feet to the massive anchor tenant lease the firm signed a year ago, bringing its new total footprint to nearly 448,000 square feet — roughly 60% more space than it is leaving behind at its longtime 55 E. Monroe St. office.
* Tribune | Southeast Side residents push for benefits as Chicago quantum campus moves forward: On Monday, community activists noted their first victory when the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency conditionally approved the developer’s remediation plan. “We were certainly right all along about the toxins in the soil,” said Holcomb, who for decades has seen previous potential developers ignore the problem. “It certainly is a win for us because we’ve been saying that for a while.”
*** Cook County and Suburbs ***
* Crain’s | Cook County property tax incentives need a refresh: study: In a report that could lay the groundwork for big changes to Cook County’s incentive programs, researchers from the University of Illinois Chicago and the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning recommended 30 steps county officials could take over the next two years to improve the efficacy of its property tax incentive system. More than 90 municipalities countywide use the incentive classifications to reduce businesses’ property tax bills, one of the most common lures for real estate developers and companies to invest in a particular area.
* Daily Herald | ‘Something’s got to give’: Sticker shock hits suburban Affordable Care Act enrollees: Zafar described a client who is diabetic and suffered two strokes. “He had an $80 a month plan … it went up to $400. He kept it because he has to have his ongoing care,” she said. Two forces are causing the crisis — the first is the expiration of pandemic-era enhanced tax credits on ACA premiums, which help low- and medium-income households offset insurance costs. Unless Congress extends the subsidies, they’ll end at midnight Dec. 31.
* Aurora Beacon-News | Aurora’s proposed campaign ethics reform measures moving forward with changes: Under the current proposal, Aurora would cap at $1,500 per year donations made to candidates running for city office from those doing business with the city. It would also expand economic interest disclosures required of candidates and elected officials. Recent changes to the proposal upped the donation limit from the originally-proposed $500 cap, removed further limits on cash donations and removed guidelines on how city property could be used for political purposes.
* Naperville Sun | Voters to decide in March on $120M bond sale for new Naperville activity center with indoor pools: Naperville Park Board members voted unanimously Thursday night to pursue the modified referendum after evaluating resident feedback, including the responses to a survey mailed to more than 53,000 households and texted to more than 60,000 people in the fall that received more than 8,000 responses. “To have over 8,000 responses to the survey, a 15% response rate for a community of our size, that’s a tremendous response,” Executive Director Brad Wilson said.
* Daily Herald | Palos Park prepares to use updated laser technology for speed enforcement: Palos Park police Sgt. Ross Chibe said he recently discovered when listening to a podcast that experts are using lidar technology to discover lost cities in the Amazon Rain Forest, the same technology that is now coming to the Palos Park Police Department, but to enforce safe driving. The department received a grant from the Illinois Department of Transportation, along with several other grants, to purchase a lidar device, which uses a laser to specifically measure the speed of individual vehicles.
* Daily Herald | Hersey High School wrestling coaches placed on leave amid internal investigation: Wrestling coaches at John Hersey High School in Arlington Heights have been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal review, Northwest Suburban High School District 214 officials confirmed Saturday. […] Mogge didn’t disclose what prompted the administrative leave and investigation.
* Daily Herald | ‘Quiet powerhouse’: McHenry County public defender retiring after almost 40 years on the job: After almost 40 years as McHenry County‘s public defender, Mark Cook, described as “a quiet powerhouse,” is retiring. Cook, among the longest-serving public defenders in the state, was appointed in 1986 and has led a “distinguished career” spanning “decades of dedicated public service,” McHenry County Trial Court Administrator Dan Wallis said.
* Daily Herald | ‘We will not cower’: Suburban Jewish community mark Hanukkah in wake of Australia attack: However, host Howard Kleinstein, the village’s director of digital communications, said the victims in Australia were on participants’ minds. “This is a happy celebration, but life takes precedence over death in the Jewish religion, and so while we think about it, we carry on,” he said. “And that’s the story of Hanukkah, carrying on.”
*** Downstate ***
* Capitol News Illinois | A once dying mall in Southern Illinois is getting a mighty makeover, thanks to $112M bond deal — created by the state and backed by local tax money — but the project has hit a speed bump: So far, nearly half of the $112 million in bond proceeds has been spent on the project. Cabaness declined to provide letters of intent from any major retailer committed to opening in the district to Illinois Answers Project and Capitol News Illinois, citing nondisclosure agreements. But Marion city officials said they are not concerned and said the project is proceeding as planned. Marion Mayor Mike Absher said in an interview the project aims to lure tourists to visit and stay in southern Illinois, with the initial phase including construction of a fieldhouse with an interactive golf driving range, a family entertainment center inside of the mall with bowling, go karts and laser tag, and a Hampton Inn hotel, all slated to open next summer.
* BND | Lawmakers press EPA for more research on metro-east pollution, health impacts: The CDC completed an air pollution investigation in Sauget on May 1, focusing on emissions from the hazardous waste incinerator Veolia North America-Trade Waste Incineration. In its final report, the public health agency stated that while it could provide some answers about community health impacts, inadequate data from the EPA prevented it from reaching other conclusions about the risks metro-east residents face today. The CDC suggested the EPA consider returning to Sauget to conduct additional research, including long-term air monitoring and soil testing.
* 25News Now | ‘Saddened’ OSF, Tylka to disallow medical aid in dying as governor makes it legal: OSF, Central Illinois’ largest healthcare provider, said it will not participate in any physician-assisted suicide after Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker signed into law the Medical Aid in Dying Bill (Senate Bill 1950). Carle Health, another of this area’s largest healthcare providers, has not determined whether it will offer terminally ill patients the option of seeking medication to end their lives.
* WCIA | City of Champaign activates sidewalk snow removal ordinance: In a news release, the Public Works Department said records indicate at least two inches of snow fell on the city. Residents will need to shovel their sidewalks and maintain a path the width of the sidewalk or 48 inches — whichever is less. If a property is located at a corner, the ramps must also be cleared. Sidewalks that are not cleared in time could be cleared at the expense of the property owner.
*** National ***
* CBS | Map shows more than 1,900 measles cases across U.S. as outbreaks grow: The largest outbreak so far this year has been in West Texas, with over 760 confirmed infections before the state declared the outbreak officially over in August. A growing number of cases have also been reported in other states around the country. In South Carolina, for example, dozens of students were quarantined in October due to an outbreak.
* 404 Media | How a US Citizen Was Scanned With ICE’s Facial Recognition Tech: Gutiérrez is a U.S. citizen. He told the officials this. He didn’t have any identification on him, but, panicking, he tried to find a copy on his phone. The agents put him into the car, where another two agents were waiting, and handcuffed him. Just sit there and be quiet, they said. Without Gutiérrez’s ID, the agents resorted to another approach. They took a photo of his face. A short while later, the agents got their answer: “Oh yeah, he’s right. He’s saying the right thing. He does got papers,” Gutiérrez recalled the agents saying.
* NYT | Trump’s Cuts to U.S. Labor Board Leave Festering Disputes and a Power Struggle: The agency, the National Labor Relations Board, has for months had merely a single member on its five-seat board, two short of the required number to hear cases. Even if the vacancies are filled — the Senate could vote to confirm two nominees from President Trump as soon as this week — the board could fundamentally change if the Supreme Court rules in coming months that the president has wide powers to fire appointed officials at federal agencies. “The inability of the board to function for the last year has highlighted, for people who care about labor relations in this country, how broken the system is,” said Lauren McFerran, a Democrat and former chairwoman of the N.L.R.B. “Anyone could have seen this coming, but a year of nonfunctional labor law is a crisis point.”
* The 2025 Golden Horseshoe Award for Best Democratic Illinois State Senator is a tie. Robert Peters…
Peters has come into his own and is truly a leader in his caucus. He remains with the principles and values he came into office with while recognizing what leadership needs. He is a go to for passing difficult legislation that others are hesitant to touch and he does it with great humor.
He worked endlessly to get this transit reform package passed while carrying other important legislation and working kindly with staff and lobbyists.
* The 2025 Golden Horseshoe Award for Best Republican Illinois State Senator goes to Seth Lewis…
State Senator Seth Lewis (R-Bartlett) is an eloquent spokesperson - he offered a robust debate on the budget bill as head of the GOP Budget Negotiation Team. He is very community-minded and responsive - and he showed some courage by being the lone GOP vote on the transit bill
Congratulations!
I somehow forgot to post this earlier today, so now it’s too late to start another category on a Friday afternoon. I checked and we have five-days’ worth of categories for next week, so we’ll be fine.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday issuing a single regulation framework for artificial intelligence, undermining the power of individual states.
“To win, United States AI companies must be free to innovate without cumbersome regulation,” the order says. “But excessive State regulation thwarts this imperative.”
The Trump administration, with the aid of AI and crypto czar David Sacks, has been pursuing a path that would allow federal rules to preempt state regulations on AI, a move meant to keep big Democratic-led states like California and New York from exerting their control over the growing industry.
Sacks and fellow tech investor and podcaster Chamath Palihapitiya stood beside Trump during the signing in the Oval Office. He was also joined by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
Sec. 2. Policy. It is the policy of the United States to sustain and enhance the United States’ global AI dominance through a minimally burdensome national policy framework for AI.
Sec. 3. AI Litigation Task Force. Within 30 days of the date of this order, the Attorney General shall establish an AI Litigation Task Force (Task Force) whose sole responsibility shall be to challenge State AI laws inconsistent with the policy set forth in section 2 of this order, including on grounds that such laws unconstitutionally regulate interstate commerce, are preempted by existing Federal regulations, or are otherwise unlawful in the Attorney General’s judgment, including, if appropriate, those laws identified pursuant to section 4 of this order. The Task Force shall consult from time to time with the Special Advisor for AI and Crypto, the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy, and the Assistant to the President and Counsel to the President regarding the emergence of specific State AI laws that warrant challenge. […]
Sec. 5. Restrictions on State Funding. (a) Within 90 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Commerce, through the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information, shall issue a Policy Notice specifying the conditions under which States may be eligible for remaining funding under the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program that was saved through my Administration’s “Benefit of the Bargain” reforms, consistent with 47 U.S.C. 1702(e)-(f). That Policy Notice must provide that States with onerous AI laws identified pursuant to section 4 of this order are ineligible for non-deployment funds, to the maximum extent allowed by Federal law.
“An executive order doesn’t/can’t preempt state legislative action,” posted Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on X Monday in response to Trump’s Truth Social post announcing the upcoming order, “Congress could, theoretically, preempt states through legislation.” DeSantis has recently proposed a series of AI-related measures.
John Bergmayer, the legal director of the nonprofit advocacy group Public Knowledge, agreed. “They’re trying to find a way to bypass Congress with these various theories in the executive order. Legally, I don’t think they work very well.”
In a post on X on Tuesday, Sacks suggested that the federal government can override state AI laws because it has the power to regulate interstate commerce.
Bergmayer disagreed, “States are, in fact, allowed to regulate interstate commerce. They do it all the time. And the Supreme Court just recently said it was fine.”
Bergmayer cited a 2023 Supreme Court decision where the court supported California’s power to regulate its pork industry even though the regulations affected farmers in other states.
A series of new Illinois laws set to take effect in 2026 will impact workers’ rights, including limiting the use of artificial intelligence.
An amendment to the Illinois Human Rights Act, which will take effect on January 1, will prohibit employment discrimination that utilizes artificial intelligence to consider factors like race or ZIP codes when making hiring decisions.
The bill also covers other protected classes including gender, religion and sexual orientation, according to the legislation.
According to the text of the legislation, the bill also prohibits AI using race, ZIP codes or other factors when determining acceptance or rejection of credit applications in the state of Illinois.
* Other Illinois AI news…
* 2024: Mayer Brown | Illinois Passes Artificial Intelligence (AI) Law Regulating Employment Use Cases: Based on the latest legislative developments, Illinois’s AI law underscores that use of AI in the employment context carries higher risks. Employers that are considering using AI for recruiting or other human resources-related decisions should consider conducting a bias audit on their AI systems and/or conducting sufficient diligence on the AI vendor providing such a tool. Those assessments should look at whether AI tools disproportionately impact certain groups—such as those of a certain race, gender, or age. Employers should document their analysis in an AI-impact assessment, keep records of any formal audits conducted on the AI system, and continuously monitor the AI system once it is used in the real world in order to make adjustments if the AI system deviates. Finally, employers should be transparent about their use of AI through appropriate AI pre-use notices.
* 2025: Press Release | Gov Pritzker Signs Legislation Prohibiting AI Therapy in Illinois: The Wellness and Oversight for Psychological Resources Act prohibits anyone from using AI to provide mental health and therapeutic decision-making, while allowing the use of AI for administrative and supplementary support services for licensed behavioral health professionals. This will protect patients from unregulated and unqualified AI products, while also protecting the jobs of Illinois’ thousands of qualified behavioral health providers. This will also protect vulnerable children amid the rising concerns over AI chatbot use in youth mental health services.
* Today: JDSupra | Sneak Peek: Illinois AI Workplace Notice Rulemaking is Coming – What to Expect + Your 5-Step Action Plan: As Illinois employers that use AI in employment decisions ready themselves for the new anti-discrimination, notice, and record-keeping requirements starting January 1, the Illinois Department of Human Rights is in the process of drafting the long-anticipated rules for compliance. Indeed, the Illinois Department of Human Rights (IDHR) recently met with stakeholders to propose rules to implement the new law. How will this big change impact your workplace? Here’s what you need to know about the state’s new employment-related AI law, the proposed rule, and the five steps you can take now to prepare.
* And a response from Rep. Dan Didech, who has sponsored some AI-related bills…
Many aspects of AI regulation should be addressed at the federal level, but this week’s executive order takes the wrong approach. By threatening to withhold statutorily guaranteed federal funds, it unlawfully punishes states that have acted responsibly in the absence of federal leadership.
States like Illinois have enacted targeted, commonsense guardrails to protect children, prevent discrimination, and ensure transparency when AI is used to make consequential decisions affecting people’s lives. These measures respond to real and documented harms and do not impede innovation or competitiveness.
The executive order also reflects a troubling pattern of the federal administration attempting to strong-arm private companies into advancing the president’s political agenda. Its directive to target state laws based on vague notions of “truthful outputs” risks being used to chill dissent, pressure AI developers, and coerce American companies into echoing government propaganda.
Illinois will not be bullied into abandoning its responsibility to protect its residents. Some aspects of AI policy are appropriately addressed through a uniform federal framework, while others reasonably reflect state-level judgment based on local needs and circumstances. Any federal approach should respect that balance, support innovation, and prioritize public safety over partisan interests.
…Adding… Rep. Abdelnasser Rashid…
“Once again, Donald Trump is trampling on our Constitutional separation of powers, while writing a blank check to corporations. This order prioritizes the interests of Big Tech over protecting consumers, ignoring broad bipartisan concerns about the social and ethical impacts of unfettered AI.
“I have been part of bipartisan efforts urging Congress not to preempt state regulation of AI. We have been successful, because it’s undeniable that AI can cause real harm to our residents through privacy invasions, algorithmic discrimination, deepfakes, and job losses.
“Genuine leadership on AI requires robust safeguards, democratic input, and accountability — not a federal fiat that effectively deregulates one of the most transformative and potentially harmful technologies of our time. We in Illinois will not be cowed into submission. We will continue to provide leadership on necessary AI regulation to protect consumers.”
* Every now and then we take a look at what AG Kwame Raoul has been up to because much of it isn’t covered by the news media. Press release today…
ATTORNEY GENERAL RAOUL FILES LAWSUIT OVER TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S UNLAWFUL NEW $100,000 FEE FOR H-1B VISA
Chicago – Attorney General Kwame Raoul today joined a coalition of 20 attorneys general in suing the Trump administration over its unlawful policy imposing a $100,000 fee on new H-1B visa petitions for highly-skilled foreign national workers.
In the lawsuit that will be filed, Raoul and the coalition allege the policy implemented by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) violates the law because it charges an additional, unwarranted fee that is contrary to Congress’ intent in establishing H-1B visas to temporarily fill positions in specialty occupations, like physicians, researchers, nurses and teachers. Additionally, the fee bypasses required rulemaking procedures and exceeds the authority granted to the executive branch under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).
“The $100,000 visa fee is devastating for all states, including Illinois, and threatens the quality of education, healthcare, and other core services available to our residents,” Raoul said. “The H-1B visa is essential to alleviate nationwide labor shortages, and I will continue to work with fellow attorneys general in protecting this critical program.”
President Trump issued a proclamation in September imposing an unprecedented $100,000 fee for new H-1B visa petitions, undermining the purpose of the program and making it harder to address severe labor shortages in critical fields. The policy affects any visa application filed after Sept. 21, 2025, and purports to grant the Secretary of Homeland Security broad discretion to determine which petitions are subject to the fee or eligible for an exemption. Raoul and the coalition are concerned that this unjustified measure could be applied selectively against employers disfavored by the Trump administration.
Raoul and the coalition’s lawsuit explains that Congress has on many occasions since the H-1B visa program’s inception modified it to meet employers’ labor needs while protecting the interests of American workers to ensure that they are not wrongfully displaced. For example, Congress has enhanced enforcement, increased penalties, and set fees though legislation for to prevent misuse of the program.
In petitioning for an H-1B worker, employers must submit an application to show employment of the H-1B worker will not negatively affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed U.S. workers.
Fees associated with H-1B visas have long been established by DHS following the APA’s notice-and-comment process pursuant to congressional authority, which limits fees to a reasonable amount necessary to administer the program. Typically, an employer filing an initial H-1B petition would expect to pay between $960 to $7,595 in regulatory and statutory fees. The Trump administration’s $100,000 fee far exceeds the actual cost of processing H-1B petitions. By imposing this additional fee, Raoul and the attorneys general argue that the administration is acting arbitrarily and exceeding the fee-setting authority granted by Congress.
Additionally, the Trump administration issued the fee without going through the notice-and-comment process required by the APA and without considering the full range of impacts.
Raoul and the coalition’s lawsuit state hospitals and other healthcare centers rely on the H-1B visa program to hire physicians, surgeons and nurses. Without foreign-trained physicians, the United States is projecting a shortfall of 86,000 physicians by 2036. Additionally, educators are the third-largest occupation for H-1B visa holders, with nearly 30,000 educators receiving the visas, and nearly a thousand colleges and universities employ hundreds of H-1B personnel to support their research and education missions.
In Illinois’ 2023-2024 school year, 3,684 teaching positions remained unfilled. The lawsuit explains that rising H-1B visa costs are disrupting international recruitment to address staffing needs. Some Illinois schools rely on the H-1B program to hire specialized staff for difficult to fill positions, including bilingual teachers, special education teachers, and bilingual speech-language pathologists.
Joining Raoul in filing the lawsuit are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin in filing the lawsuit.
* Tuesday…
ATTORNEY GENERAL RAOUL SECURES COURT VICTORY PREVENTING TRUMP ADMINISTRATION FROM HALTING DEVELOPMENT OF WIND ENERGY
Chicago — Attorney General Kwame Raoul won his lawsuit against the Trump administration over its unlawful order to freeze all federal permitting of wind energy projects.
In May, Raoul and a coalition of attorneys general filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s decision to indefinitely halt all federal approvals necessary for the development of offshore and onshore wind energy projects pending federal review. Today, a federal judge in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts vacated those actions, ruling that they were arbitrary and capricious and contrary to law.
“Wind energy is a key component in Illinois’ transition to a renewable energy future,” Raoul said. “The Trump administration’s attempt to effectively halt all wind energy development was illegal and baseless. I am pleased with the court’s decision, and I will continue to push back against the president’s unlawful actions.”
On Jan. 20, President Trump issued a memorandum that, among other things, indefinitely froze all federal approvals needed for the development of wind energy projects pending federal review. Pursuant to this directive, federal agencies stopped all permitting and approval activities.
In their lawsuit, the attorneys general alleged that President Trump’s directive harmed their states’ efforts to secure reliable, diversified and affordable sources of energy to meet their increasing demand for electricity and help reduce emissions of harmful air pollutants; meet clean energy goals; and address climate change. The directive also threatened to thwart billions of dollars of states’ investments in wind industry infrastructure, supply chains and workforce development.
Illinois is one of the top states in the country for producing renewable energy from wind, and even more development of wind power in Illinois is planned for the near future.
The coalition argued that federal agencies’ actions violated the Administrative Procedure Act and other federal laws because the agencies, among other things, provided no reasoned explanation for categorically and indefinitely halting all wind energy approvals. The lawsuit also argued that the abrupt halt on all permitting violated numerous federal statutes that prescribe specific procedures and timelines for federal permitting and approvals, procedures the administration wholly disregarded in stopping wind-energy development altogether.
Attorney General Raoul was joined in filing the lawsuit by the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and Washington.
* Last week…
ATTORNEY GENERAL RAOUL SECURES PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION BLOCKING PROVISION THAT CUTS OFF MEDICAID FUNDING FOR PLANNED PARENTHOOD
Chicago – Attorney General Kwame Raoul secured a preliminary injunction in an ongoing lawsuit to block the Trump administration from enforcing the “Defund Provision” in the recently enacted federal budget reconciliation law. The Defund Provision was designed to exclude Planned Parenthood facilities and other health centers that provide abortions from receiving federal Medicaid reimbursements for other essential health care services like cancer screenings, testing for and treatment of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), birth control, and other critical medical services. Because long-standing federal law already prohibits federal dollars from being used to cover abortion care, the Defund Provision is intended to completely prevent these reproductive health clinics from receiving Medicaid dollars for providing any essential health care services to low-income patients.
In July, Raoul joined a coalition of 22 states in filing a lawsuit challenging the provision.
“Planned Parenthood facilities play a key role in our nation’s health and wellness by providing comprehensive care to more than 1 million Americans,” Raoul said. “The Defund Provision is a cruel and unconstitutional attempt to create confusion and attack abortion providers while burdening states’ agencies and health care systems. I’m pleased with the court’s ruling, and I will continue advocating for vital federal funding that ensures every person in Illinois has access to the health care services they need.”
The injunction, issued by Judge Indira Talwani from the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, orders the Trump administration to not enforce the Defund Provision and requires the administration to ensure that Medicaid continues to be distributed as usual. Judge Talwani placed a seven-day administrative stay on the injunction to allow the administration an opportunity to appeal. […]
Attorney General Raoul was joined in filing the lawsuit by the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin, as well as the commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
As 2025 draws to a close, Illinois has reached a critical inflection point in its 16-year effort to boost educational attainment. The state set an ambitious goal in 2009: 60% of adults would hold a postsecondary credential by 2025. The result? Illinois hit 57.1%, falling just shy of the target—but the real story is what comes next.
Our new analysis, published by the Education Systems Center at Northern Illinois University, examines what this milestone means for Illinois’ future. We’ve found that while the state lacks a new vision to guide its next steps, the groundwork laid over the past 16 years offers valuable lessons for state and local leaders working to improve economic mobility.
Key findings:
• Progress made: Illinois increased adult postsecondary attainment from 38% in 2009 to 57.1% today—significant growth that occurred across all demographic groups.
• Persistent gaps: Despite overall gains, disparities remain stark for students from low-income households, students of color, English learners, and students with disabilities.
• Local innovation thrives: The Illinois Education and Career Success Network’s 20 Leadership Communities demonstrate that collective impact models work, especially during crises like the pandemic.
• Critical missing piece: Without a successor goal or statewide coordinating infrastructure, Illinois risks losing momentum on cross-agency collaboration that drove much of the progress.
What makes this timely:
As states nationwide grapple with declining college enrollment, workforce shortages, and equity gaps in education, Illinois’ experience offers a roadmap of both successes and cautionary lessons. With emerging industries like quantum computing, clean energy, and AI transforming Illinois’ economy, the need for an educated workforce has never been more urgent.
Why this matters now:
Illinois leaders haven’t yet developed a new postsecondary attainment vision for 2025 and beyond. This creates both a risk and an opportunity. Our report outlines two critical strategies: building a table of champions across education, workforce, and economic development systems, and investing in robust data infrastructure for continuous improvement.
As Illinois’ economy continues to diversify and its economic prospects improve as a result of recent developments in nascent industries such as quantum computing, clean energy, and artificial intelligence, it is even more important that Illinois’ public institutions organize around a collective vision of how public systems and resources, coupled with private sector investments and opportunities, can provide true economic mobility for all Illinois residents.
Such a goal will require two key strategies:
1. Building a Table of Champions
An inclusive vision should galvanize all sectors of Illinois’ education, workforce development, and economic development systems to see their place in providing economic mobility for all Illinoisans. Centering economic mobility can pressure our education and workforce systems to improve how learners are prepared for the jobs of tomorrow, and can drive employers to improve job quality. To ensure this goal can be achieved, the state should cultivate a table of statewide and local champions who can hold the vision and monitor and identify strategies to drive toward this vision throughout the P-20 and workforce pipeline.
2. Invest in Data
The state should invest in robust data systems and integration to ground both initial goal-setting and continuous improvement. State and local leaders need access to quality, longitudinal data to target and operationalize strategies that improve progressions through education to employment, and to evaluate where policy and programmatic interventions are generating the most impact. As federal data infrastructure and resources continue to weaken, this is even more essential to shore up at the state level.
I admit that the jargon is confusing me. Sounds like a task force and more study money.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested Luis Jesus Acosta Gutierrez, an illegal alien from Venezuela and suspected member of Tren de Aragua (TdA).
ICE officers attempted to conduct a vehicle stop, at which point Acosta resisted arrest by intentionally ramming an officer’s vehicle into a tree. Thankfully, the officer sustained no injuries.
Acosta then fled on foot and barricaded himself into an apartment of a person he did not know. The suspected gang member came out on the apartment’s balcony and officers tried to negotiate with him to leave the apartment. During this time, a large crowd of agitators formed and began throwing rocks and bottles at law enforcement officers. The local police department refused to protect ICE law enforcement officers.
All emphasis added.
* The Elgin Police Department released its own statement two days later…
The Elgin Police Department is continuing its investigations relating to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activities occurring in the 1600 block of Maple Lane last Saturday, December 6.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a press release on Monday, December 8 about the ICE actions conducted in Elgin on Saturday. The press release alleges “rioters threw rocks and bottles” at ICE agents and that the Elgin Police Department “refused to help protect ICE law enforcement.”
The police department’s emergency communications center received over 50 calls relating to the incident. Callers reported on vehicles blocking the roadway, persons having been struck by pepper balls and persons being exposed to other chemical irritants. The police department has contacted each caller to ensure no other services or reports from the police department are needed.
Police reports have been created in response to eight incidents, and the investigations are continuing on each of those reports. Elgin police officers at the incident site determined that federal agents dispersed chemical irritants on some bystanders. Elgin police officers assisted Elgin firefighters in providing medical treatment for that exposure, and seven persons were treated and released on scene. The Elgin police department filed six police reports for persons stating they were either struck or had been exposed to chemical irritants.
The police department has been reviewing the body worn camera footage of the officers responding to the community calls for services, along with the numerous videos recording the incident that have been posted on public social media accounts.
Preliminary findings indicate the police department received five calls from subjects who identified themselves as federal agents. None of those agents reported rocks or bottles being thrown at them when making their calls. When Elgin police officers arrived on the incident site in response to these five calls, no federal agent said that rocks or bottles were being thrown at them to the responding Elgin police officers. A federal agent supervisor who was not at the incident site called the Elgin police department alleging bricks were being thrown at federal agents and that tires were being slashed. An Elgin police supervisor on the scene at the time of that call did not observe any such activity.
The police department has reviewed its body worn camera footage during the time when federal agents were leaving the incident area. The footage shows that some federal agents, while walking to their vehicles, were simultaneously deploying what appears to be crowd control munitions. The footage also showed other federal agents simply driving away in their vehicles. Footage from one body-worn camera shows a single instance in which what appears to be a plastic water container being thrown by a bystander at a federal agent’s vehicle. The water container strikes the rear window of the federal agent’s vehicle and bounces off as the vehicle is driving away.
The police department’s review of videos posted on social media accounts shows an in- stance in which a bystander picks up what appears to be a snowball from the ground and then throws it at a federal agent’s vehicle.
A Tribune search of local court systems did not locate criminal matters matching Acosta Gutierrez’s name. Records, though, show that Acosta Gutierrez paid a fine for a 2023 traffic violation for driving without a license and the matter was closed in April 2024, according to McHenry County court. […]
The saga began in Elgin shortly after 9 a.m. Saturday in the 1600 block of West Highland Avenue. Acosta Gutierrez had been driving to a mechanic to get work done on his car, said Robert Held, an attorney and activist assisting Acosta with the case.
What happened next is in dispute.
Federal authorities said ICE was attempting a vehicle stop, and that Acosta Gutierrez rammed an officer’s vehicle into a tree. Held said it was an agent who rammed Acosta Gutierrez’s vehicle. […]
When asked about evidence of Acosta Gutierrez’s alleged affiliation to the Tren de Aragua gang, a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist group as of this year, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said, “DHS intelligence assessments go well beyond just gang affiliate tattoos and social media.”
“We are confident in our law enforcement’s intelligence, and we aren’t going to share intelligence reports and undermine national security every time a gang member denies he is one. That would be insane,” McLaughlin said.
* This post will likely be updated. Press release…
Governor Pritzker Signs Bill Expanding End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients
Illinois becomes 12th state to enact legislation to provide terminally ill patients with autonomy, dignity and peace at the end of their lives
CHICAGO – Today, Governor Pritzker signed the Medical Aid in Dying bill (SB 1950), a law that will provide qualified terminally ill patients with the option to seek medication to peacefully end their lives on their own terms in consultation with physicians.
To ensure the highest safeguards for patients, the law is effective in September of 2026, which affords participating health care providers and the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) significant lead time to implement stringent processes and protections as outlined in the law.
Also known as “Deb’s Law,” the bill honors Deb Robertson, a lifelong Illinois resident living with a rare terminal illness who has strongly advocated for the bill and shed light on the impacts on families and individuals struggling with terminal illness as they seek dignity and autonomy to peacefully end their lives on their terms.
“I have been deeply impacted by the stories of Illinoisans or their loved ones that have suffered from a devastating terminal illness, and I have been moved by their dedication to standing up for freedom and choice at the end of life in the midst of personal heartbreak,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “Today, Illinois honors their strength and courage by enacting legislation that enables patients faced with debilitating terminal illnesses to make a decision, in consultation with a doctor, that helps them avoid unnecessary pain and suffering at the end of their lives. This legislation will be thoughtfully implemented so that physicians can consult patients on making deeply personal decisions with authority, autonomy, and empathy.”
The legislation expands compassionate end of life options in a manner that establishes clear processes, guidelines, and protocols. Several safeguards are in place to ensure robust patient protection for Illinois residents. No physician, health care provider, or pharmacist is required to participate in the option. The law makes it a felony to coerce anyone to request the medication or to forge a request. Adult patients (18 or older) requesting end-of-life medication must:
• Have a terminal illness that will result in death within six months (as determined by two physicians).
• Be informed by their physician about all of their end-of-life care options, including comfort care, hospice, palliative care, and pain control.
• Have the mental capacity, confirmed by their physician, to make medical decisions.
• Make written and oral requests in order to receive the aid-in-dying medication, among other requirements. The request can only be made by the patient, not by the patient’s surrogate decision-maker, health care proxy, health care agent, attorney-in-fact for healthcare, guardian, nor via advance care directive.
Lawmakers and the Governor have heard numerous personal stories from families and individuals who have faced harrowing circumstances as they near the ends of their lives. Some were enduring unbearable pain, even travelling thousands of miles to seek medical aid-in-dying in other states and countries while sick. They also heard from families who spoke of the pain of seeing their loved one experience prolonged suffering that they were desperate and powerless to end.
“With this law, we are strengthening our commitment to compassionate care for every patient, bodily autonomy for every person, and basic human dignity at every stage of life,” said House Majority Leader Robyn Gabel (D-Evanston).
“Both of my parents died of cancer. I’ll never forget the helpless feeling of watching them suffer when there was nothing I could do to help them,” said Senate Assistant Majority Leader Linda Holmes (D-Aurora). “I believe every adult patient of sound mind should have this as one more option in their end of life care in the event their suffering becomes unbearable.”
“I want to thank Governor Pritzker for signing this measure into law – giving the full range of end-of-life options for Illinois residents,” said Deb Robertson, a retired Lombard social worker who worked to pass the Deb’s Law. “Today, I know the end for me could be near. But I’m pleased to have been able to play some role in ensuring that terminally ill Illinoisans have access to medical aid in dying.”
“As someone who is disabled, disability justice has always meant having the right to determine how I live,” said Beth Langen, a longtime disability rights advocate from Springfield who testified in support of Deb’s Law. “We know that disability is not terminal. And like anyone else, I may face a terminal illness in the future that will make death imminent. If I do, I want my right to self-determination to include the final days of my life.”
“My son, Andrew, died peacefully utilizing the option of medical aid in dying in California, where he lived,” said Suzy Flack, a former Naperville resident who testified in support of Deb’s Law. “Most of our family members were able to travel to be with him, but his grandmother couldn’t travel to California because of her age. She never got to see Drew for a final goodbye. No other family in Illinois will experience that hardship.”
“Deb’s Law adds medical aid in dying care to the full range of health options that Illinois residents can choose and safely access as a result of a deep commitment from our state’s leaders,” said Khadine Bennett, Advocacy and Intergovernmental Affairs Director at the ACLU of Illinois. “Terminally ill individuals living in Illinois will no longer have to agonize about spending their remaining days fearful of a painful death because the full range of end-of-life care options were not available in our state. We thank Governor Pritzker for listening to the people directly impacted by this issue and applaud his continued commitment to ensuring that Illinois continues to be a place where our residents are allowed to make the most vital, personal decisions throughout their lives without government interference.”
“We applaud Governor Pritzker for signing this compassionate legislation, honoring the 71% of Americans who support the option of medical aid in dying for their fellow Illinoisans facing their last months, weeks, or days with a terminal illness,” said Kevin Díaz, President/CEO for Compassion & Choices and Compassion & Choices Action Network. “Thanks to Governor Pritzker’s thoughtful leadership in signing Deb’s Law today, Illinois will become the first state in the Midwest to authorize medical aid in dying, joining the growing number of U.S. jurisdictions that have committed to law their dedication to patient-driven healthcare at all stages of life.”
“Today, Illinois affirms the dignity and autonomy of individuals confronting the final stages of a terminal illness” said Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Sameer Vohra. “IDPH is committed to implementing this new law with the highest ethical standards, transparency, and care, supported by strong safeguards and detailed reporting systems that protect patients and guide providers.”
“Abundant research has shown that strong safeguards like the ones in this bill not only protect the patient, but also improve end-of-life care,” said Dr. Cynthia Chatterjee, Psychiatrist and Physician, and member of the Illinois State Medical Society who testified in support of Deb’s Law. “With these safeguards, patients who meet all the requirements will be able to end terrible suffering from a terminal illness and experience an easy, comfortable death.”
“In signing this law, Gov. Pritzker has given those who are at the end of their life freedom from the fear of enduring unrelenting, needless suffering, and replaced it with the chance to experience death as the final sacred moment of their being,” said Episcopalian minister Reverand Judith Doran from Chicago.
PROCESS TO RECIEVE MEDICAL AID IN DYING MEDICATION
• Patients who meet eligibility criteria must make several oral and written requests in order to receive medical aid in dying medication.
• The written request must be signed by the requesting patient and witnessed by at least two individuals who attest that the patient has the mental capacity to make this decision, is making it voluntarily, and is not being coerced or doing so under duress.
• Patients who qualify must be able to self-administer the medication.
Patients who qualify and receive medication have the right to withdraw their request at any time or choose not to ingest it. The death certificates of those who take end-of-life medication under the bill will attribute their cause of death to the underlying terminal disease. The option to prescribe aid in dying will be available on September 12, 2026, when the Medical Aid in Dying bill goes into effect.
REQUIREMENTS FOR PHYSICANS
• Attending physicians must provide informed consent regarding all appropriate end-of-life care options, not just medical aid-in-dying.
• They must provide an in-person examination to determine whether the patient has an illness that will result in death within six months. Two doctors must concur.
• As part of the process, the physician must also confirm that the individual has the mental capacity to make the decision to pursue medical aid-in-dying. If there are any questions about fitness, the patient will be referred to a licensed mental health professional. If the mental health professional determines that the patient does not have mental capacity, the patient will not qualify for medical aid-in-dying.
• If a patient elects the end-of-life option as outlined in the Act, physicians must submit information within 60 days after the patient’s death to the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) regarding the patient, their diagnosis, notice that requirements under the Act were completed, and notice that medication has been prescribed pursuant to the Act. This information is to be considered confidential, privileged, and not discoverable in any civil, criminal, administrative, or other proceeding.
Health care professionals are not under any duty to participate in the provision of aid-in-dying and are not subject to criminal or civil liability for participating or refusing to provide aid-in-dying care to a patient in good faith compliance with the Act.
HEALTH CARE ORGANIZATIONS AND ENTITIES
Health care entities can also prohibit their staff from practicing aid-in-dying care while working for the organization. The Act also requires that an insurance plan, including Medicaid, cannot deny or alter benefits to a patient with a terminal disease based on the availability of aid-in-dying care, their request for medication pursuant to this Act, or the absence of a request. It does not require coverage of this care either by private insurers or Medicaid.
*** UPDATE *** Let’s use this app for our updates…
Friday, Dec 12, 2025 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Findings of a recent economic study were clear — the retail sector is a cornerstone of the state’s economy and crucial to our everyday lives. Retail in Illinois directly contributes more than $112 billion in economic investment annually – more than 10 percent of the state’s total Gross Domestic Product.
Retailers like Becca in LaSalle enrich our economy and strengthen our communities. We Are Retail and IRMA showcase the retailers who make Illinois work.
* Background is here if you need it. Always look at local reporters and commentators when the national news media swoops in on a big story. Jacob Stewart at the Indianapolis Star predicted what would happen in his state’s Senate a couple of days ago…
“Washington, D.C.-funded organizations in favor of redistricting are using extremely negative texts, videos and phone calls to try to win support for their cause,” State Sen. Jean Leising, R-Oldenburg, said in a statement. “These groups do not have the best interest of my rural area or the state of Indiana at heart, and their methods are completely unacceptable.”
After this statement, a redistricting lobbyist made a misleading post suggesting Leising had no clue how mass text campaigns worked. Others piled on and suggested she was old and stupid.
It seems too unbelievable to them that she cares more about what her district has to say than about Turning Point USA, a group that referred to Hoosiers as “Indianans” in a now-deleted post on X.
The Senate is the prouder chamber of the Indiana General Assembly. Senators tend to hate being treated like non-equals by lobbyists, the unofficial fourth branch of government. The only thing they hate even more is being treated like non-equals by the governor. […]
“Where we screwed up with property taxes is we had tens of thousands of people behind us, but not enough targeted in each district. We couldn’t overcome the power of the local city officials or school districts,” [Rob Kendall, a conservative radio host] told me. “The redistricting people are making the same mistake. Except a lot of their most vocal supporters don’t even live in the state.” […]
“I mean, I just think that if those maps pass, there’s a good possibility that three or four millionaires from Indianapolis will represent a third of the state, so I don’t know that that serves us well,” State Sen. Mike Crider, R-Greenfield, told the Indiana Capital Chronicle.
Over-the-top lobbying (we’ve seen that backfire at our own Statehouse with lefty Chicago “activists”), an “upper-chamber” superiority complex (”Fix it in the Senate”), failure to learn from past mistakes, and the ever-present urban vs. rural rivalry.
And this sort of thing is now happening in the Chicago budget fight. From February…
A nonprofit advocating for Gov. Mike Braun’s legislative agenda is taking lawmakers to task — and praising them, too — with a mid-six figure social media campaign.
Jean Leising spoke at a breakfast this fall at her 8th grade grandson’s school. Hours later, when she was set to give him a ride home from basketball practice, he bashfully told her that his entire team had received text messages about her that day — “and they were all bad.”
Recounting the moment to CNN shortly after she joined 20 other Republican state senators in rejecting President Donald Trump’s redistricting push, Leising said she laughed the moment off with her grandson — but that it ultimately led to her opposing the president.
“Boy, when I got home that night, that’s when I decided,” said Leising, a 76-year-old grandmother of eight, first elected to the Senate in 1988. “I was angry. So the next day, I said, ‘I’ve got to talk about this.’ Because this is over the top. This shouldn’t be the way it was.”
“But that was the beginning,” she added. “It only got worse from there.”
Spencer Deery’s son was getting ready for school when someone tried to provoke police into swarming his home by reporting a fake emergency.
Linda Rogers said there were threats at her home and the golf course that her family has run for generations.
Jean Leising faced a pipe bomb scare that was emailed to local law enforcement.
The three are among roughly a dozen Republicans in the Indiana Senate who have seen their lives turned upside down while President Donald Trump pushes to redraw the state’s congressional map to expand the party’s power in the 2026 midterm elections.
Over the past few days, I’ve asked both Republicans and Democrats here to explain why Indiana has become the new hotbed of GOP resistance to Trump. It is not the only state to rebuff the president’s redistricting demands; Kansas Republicans also have been unable to muster the votes for gerrymandering, and success in Florida is not assured. But no state has faced the White House–directed onslaught that Indiana has.
I received several answers. Most, however, said that the push for mid-decade redistricting simply ran afoul of the small-c conservatism on which many Indiana Republican legislators still pride themselves. “Midwesterners being midwestern,” one anti-redistricting advocate replied with a shrug outside the senate chamber. Republicans told me that state Senate opponents of redrawing the maps tended to be more institutionalist than MAGA, echoing a divide that still crops up among the party’s lawmakers in Washington. […]
Threats of primary challenges are more potent in Indiana state House races, where lawmakers are up for reelection every two years and will face a filing deadline early next year. Only half of the senators will be on the ballot next year, and a number of Republicans in the chamber have already announced their retirement. GOP senators also have reason to doubt that either Trump or his allies will follow through on promised spending in the coming years, particularly for those whose next election isn’t until 2028. “The idea that Trump would be spending political capital not just four months from now, but two and a half years from now, individually targeting Indiana senators who defied them on one vote? Just crazy,” Roberts said. By 2028, “they will have bigger fish to fry.” […]
A vote expected to be close turned into something of a rout, as a majority of Republicans in the senate banded together to reject a bill that Trump had aggressively pushed. “You don’t change minds by being mean, and they were mean-spirited from the get-go,” Senator Jean Leising, a Republican who voted no, told reporters afterward. With the matter settled, she said that she wasn’t worried much about threats of retaliation: “I’m sure that the president and the governor will get over it.” Another senate Republican who voted no, Eric Bassler, had higher aspirations for the message that Indiana sent today: “I hope that this is the beginning of the country stepping back from the brink.”
The Democrat party has been engaged in a vast far-reaching scheme to displace and disenfranchise Republican voters and their families through mass voter importation. And yet there are Republican lawmakers who eagerly facilitate the disinheritance of their own children. https://t.co/1RA5jchtTY
* Sun-Times | Indiana Republicans reject Trump-backed redistricting, easing pressure on Illinois Dems for remap: Pritzker, a vocal Trump opponent and potential 2028 presidential contender, suggested Illinois’ threat to retaliate helped defeat the measure across the border — and he didn’t rule out an effort to expand his state’s 14-3 Democratic edge. “Our neighbors in Indiana have stood up to Trump’s threats and political pressure, instead choosing to do what’s right for their constituents and our democracy,” Pritzker said in a statement. “Illinois will remain vigilant against his map rigging — our efforts to respond and stop his campaign are being heard.”
*Tribune | Illinois Democrats applaud as GOP-led Indiana Senate rebuffs President Trump’s push for new redistricting map: Democratic Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch described Indiana Republicans who voted against the remap as “courageous” and said they “rightly stood up to Donald Trump’s gerrymandering schemes.” “To protect and preserve our Republic, we need more Republicans across the country to stand up and fight back against Trump and MAGA’s tyranny,” Welch said in a statement. “In Illinois, we remain vigilant and committed to protecting our democracy.”
* ICYMI: Illinois Democrats applaud as GOP-led Indiana Senate rebuffs President Trump’s push for new redistricting map. Tribune…
-The heavily Republican-led Indiana Senate on Thursday rejected a mid-decade redistricting plan aimed at giving the state two additional GOP U.S. House members.
- Led by Gov. JB Pritzker, Illinois Democrats had been awaiting the outcome of the Indiana vote, warning that Illinois was ready to respond by redrawing its own boundaries to try to squeeze out at least one additional Democratic U.S. House district if Indiana Republicans had approved the new map.
-For now, it appears Illinois will stand down in that effort. “Our neighbors in Indiana have stood up to Trump’s threats and political pressure, instead choosing to do what’s right for their constituents and our democracy,” Pritzker said in a statement on X. “Illinois will remain vigilant against his map rigging — our efforts to respond and stop his campaign are being heard.”
More on this in a bit!
*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***
* Capitol News Illinois | Sen. Emil Jones III to enter deferred prosecution agreement after bribery mistrial: On Thursday, Jones told Capitol News Illinois that he wished the deferred prosecution agreement could’ve been executed earlier this year but was glad to put the case behind him. “Just happy that I’m able to move on, have a fair election,” he said. “Looking forward to getting back to serving the people. Sitting on some committees, passing some bills that’ll benefit my district.”
* CNI | New laws: Gun storage, police background check changes take effect in 2026: Gov. JB Pritzker signed Senate Bill 8, known as the Safe Gun Storage Act, in late July, which prohibits gun owners from storing their weapons in an unsecured way at any location where they know that the gun could be accessed by a minor, a person at risk of harming themselves or others, or by a person who is prohibited from possessing a firearm. Under the law, gun owners will be required to keep them in a locked container so that they are inaccessible or unusable by anyone other than the owner. Owners who violate the law could be subject to fines as high as $10,000.
*** Statehouse News ***
* CBS Chicago | Advocates, opponents seek to sway Gov. JB Pritzker on medical aid in dying legislation passed by Illinois General Assembly: Outside the governor’s Chicago office on Thursday, many disability advocates, religious leaders, lawmakers, and doctors have called on Pritzker to veto the bill that would legalize what they call state-sanctioned suicide “The question becomes where do you draw the line in the medical ethics dilemmas?” one physician who identified himself as Dr. Pete said. “We don’t need to go to this crossing of a red line of actually providing a means to directly end life.”
* WAND | Bill on Pritzker’s desk could raise minimum detainment age for minors, create juvenile justice task force: A bill on Gov. JB Pritzker’s desk would change the detainment age from 10 to 12 years old in 2026 and then to 13 years old in 2027. There would be a carveout for intense crimes like murder, aggravated sexual assault and aggravated vehicular hijacking. “The bill allows for a year to develop the final planning for implementation, building on the great work that has already been done throughout the years by the Juvenile Justice Commission,” said Rep. Justin Slaughter (D-Chicago). “Most importantly, this planning phase will create accountability to address service shortfalls throughout the state where identified.”
*** Chicago ***
* NYT | ICE Tells Watchdog It Has No Videos to Release of Chicago Operations: Immigration and Customs Enforcement told a nonprofit watchdog this week that it had found “no records” of body camera footage produced during its sweeping immigration enforcement operation in Chicago, raising concerns that it was skirting laws intended to ensure transparency and accountability. The assertion, contained in a response to a public information request from the Freedom of the Press Foundation, contradicted the Trump administration’s sworn court testimony and the fact that it had previously submitted video footage to a judge. The response also raised questions about whether the administration is fully complying with a court order that required the use of body cameras in the monthslong operation, which has included a string of allegations of excessive force.
* WBEZ | As move-out date arrives at Chicago building raided by feds, one resident looks back — and ahead: One day in 2024, in the lobby, Hightower ran into a wheelchair-bound neighbor, who asked for a slice of bread. “Most people ask you for money, so I’m like, ‘What’s wrong?’ ” he remembers asking the neighbor. “He told me, ‘I’ve been stuck in this lobby for two days because the elevator broke down.’ That hurt me. I wanted to carry him upstairs so bad, but I’m dealing with the surgeries and everything.”
* Tribune | ‘No space for us’: Parents claim overcrowding at Haugan Elementary but CPS disagrees and denies expansion: Desks, tables and play areas for children were packed tightly near the printing area. Boxes and bins of nameless items on shelves swallowed her in, she said. What was once a library had been converted into a very tight multipurpose room including a makeshift office space for counselors, teachers and the school’s dean. Students and parents also meet there for student counseling sessions or parent conferences, when necessary. Gomez found the crowding so concerning that she wrote it down in her personal journal so she’d never forget, she said. “There’s no space for us. … There’s no space for them to play,” Gomez wrote in Spanish in her notebook.
*** Cook County and Suburbs ***
* Daily Herald | Elgin police rebut DHS account of violence by protesters during immigration enforcement: DHS says ICE officers pursued Luis Jesus Acosta Gutierrez, “an illegal alien from Venezuela and suspected member of Tren de Aragua,” into the complex after he rammed an ICE officer’s vehicle into a tree during an attempted vehicle stop. The DHS release says “a large crowd of agitators formed and began throwing rocks and bottles at law enforcement officers” and that the “local police department refused to protect ICE law enforcement officers.” Elgin police disputed that account, saying that they received five calls from subjects who identified themselves as federal agents and that “none of those agents reported rocks or bottles being thrown at them when making their calls.”
* Crain’s | Cook County property tax incentives need a refresh: study: Property tax sweeteners are pivotal tools for promoting economic development across the Chicago area, but they need to be more flexible, accessible and equitable, according to a new study. In a report that could lay the groundwork for big changes to Cook County’s incentive programs, researchers from the University of Illinois Chicago and the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning recommended 30 steps county officials could take over the next two years to improve the efficacy of its property tax incentive system.
* Daily Southtown | Homer Glen OKs license plate cameras, despite referendum vote against plan: The Homer Glen Village Board voted 5-1 Wednesday to approve 12 license plate reader cameras at key access points throughout town. The Flock camera system will cost $57,150 plus an annual subscription of $49,500, officials said. The cameras are used by police to locate cars that have been involved in criminal activity. They can also locate missing persons. The Flock cameras read a vehicle’s license plate number and state information as well as its make, model and color. The cameras are not used for traffic tickets such as speeding or red-light violations, officials said.
* Patch | Arlington Heights Creates Immigration Resources Webpage: In sync with a recently passed ordinance that restricts the conduct of civil immigration enforcement operations on Village property, Arlington Heights has launched a new webpage dedicated to immigration resources. Officials said the intent of the webpage is to provide useful information for community members, along with any updates to the Village’s policies related to federal civil immigration enforcement activity.
*** Downstate ***
* KWQC | Western Illinois University to sell Quad Cities Campus building: The university’s Board of Trustees unanimously approved the sale during a meeting on Wednesday, according to a media release. WIU President Kristi Mindrup said the revenue from selling the building would allow the university to support students and programs. The university has consolidated on-campus academics into Riverfront Hall at 34th Street and River Drive to respond to student needs and growing demand for online and flexible learning, officials said.
* Vermillion County Watchdogs | IDOT: CRIS Mass Transit Has Severe Financial And Governance Deficiencies: In the letter: The audit revealed severe deficiencies in financial management, internal controls, and governance, including: For three consecutive years, only 46% of expenditures contain supporting documentation, Ineligible items charged to grants, Violations of the Open Meetings Act, Insufficient payroll documentation Significant reliance on credit.
* JP Star | Plans revealed for new Par-A-Dice Casino replacement in East Peoria: oyd Gaming will attempt to build its new $160 million casino, a replacement for the Par-A-Dice Riverboat Casino, in East Peoria, settling months of speculation while also raising new questions. Officials from Boyd Gaming unveiled their plans to build a new casino in East Peoria to the Illinois Gaming Board on Thursday morning. The gaming board will not make any determination about Boyd Gaming’s plan until February.
* WCIA | U of I community spreads holiday cheer with ‘Dial-A-Carol’ tradition: Thursday marked the start of Dial-A-Carol at the University of Illinois. Dial-A-Carol is a University Housing tradition that goes all the way back to 1960. During finals week, student volunteers will take the time to sing holiday songs to anyone around the world who calls, for 24 hours a day, from Dec. 11-17.
*** National ***
* AFL-CIO | Labor Movement Delivers Bipartisan Victory as House Passes Bill to Restore Federal Workers’ Union Rights: A bipartisan majority in the House of Representatives voted to pass the Protect America’s Workforce Act (H.R. 2550) today, a bill that would restore collective bargaining rights to 1 million federal workers by reversing President Trump’s March executive order. Following that order, the Trump administration has escalated its attacks, stripping away even more collective bargaining rights by unilaterally canceling union contracts for 700,000 federal workers.
* Crain’s | NASCAR settles antitrust suit with Michael Jordan’s racing team: According to published reports, attorneys for the teams told a federal judge today that the parties had “positively settled” the case, though terms were not disclosed. The agreement halts a jury trial that was in its second week and had already included testimony from Jordan, 23XI co-owner and driver Denny Hamlin and senior NASCAR executives including CEO Jim France. The dispute centered on NASCAR’s charter system, which functions much like franchise rights in other sports by guaranteeing teams entry into Cup Series races and a share of purse revenue.
* Pew | Teens, Social Media and AI Chatbots 2025: Even as teens express mixed feelings about social media’s impact, these sites remain a key part of their lives, with some using them “almost constantly.” Now, AI chatbots, like ChatGPT and Character.ai, are getting teens’ attention. Roughly two-thirds report using chatbots, including about three-in-ten who do so daily, according to a new Pew Research Center survey of 1,458 U.S. teens ages 13 to 17.
* Semafor | Washington Post’s AI-generated podcasts rife with errors, fictional quotes: Earlier this week, the Post announced that it was rolling out personalized AI-generated podcasts for users of the paper’s mobile app. In a release, the paper said users will be able to choose preferred topics and AI hosts, and could “shape their own briefing, select their topics, set their lengths, pick their hosts and soon even ask questions using our Ask The Post AI technology.” But less than 48 hours since the product was released, people within the Post have flagged what four sources described as multiple mistakes in personalized podcasts. The errors have ranged from relatively minor pronunciation gaffes to significant changes to story content, like misattributing or inventing quotes and inserting commentary, such as interpreting a source’s quotes as the paper’s position on an issue.
Who very soon will come our way?
Santa very soon will come our way
Donations always taper off the further we get into our annual fundraiser to buy Christmas presents for foster kids. Y’all have done a great job so far, but those kids are still counting on you and we only have a week to go, so please click here and help. Thanks!
