* ICYMI: Building owner OK’d Trump administration’s raid of Chicago apartment complex, court records show. Sun-Times…

- Federal officials claimed the area surrounding the building in South Shore was a hub for Venezuelan gangs, but new arrests reports show it was targeted in the jarring raid because “illegal aliens were unlawfully occupying apartments.”
- Federal officials claimed the area surrounding the building in South Shore was a hub for Venezuelan gangs, but new arrests reports show it was targeted in the jarring raid because “illegal aliens were unlawfully occupying apartments.”
- All remaining building residents were forced out in December after the complex was foreclosed on, along with two other South Side buildings owned by Flood.

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*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* The pro-Stratton Illinois Future PAC placed $7.1 million in new ad reservations yesterday…

#ILPol: Pro-Juliana Stratton group, Illinois Future PAC, placed $7.1M in new ad reservations today.#ILSen ad support:
Aired:
?Raja Krishnamoorthi: $20.1M
?Stratton: $1.5M
?Robin Kelly: $98K

Future reservations:
?Stratton: $7.1M
?Krishnamoorthi: $3.6M
?Kelly: $995K

— AdImpact Politics (@AdImpact_Pol) February 4, 2026

* STLPR | Greater St. Louis Inc. took public officials on trips to tour huge data centers with Ameren in tow: One such trip took place in December, when officials from Greater St. Louis Inc. and Ameren traveled to a Google data center in Nebraska with city and county officials from communities in Missouri and Illinois, according to newly obtained documents. […] Madison County Board Chairman Chris Slusser, along with Cathy Hamilton, the county’s economic development director; Granite City Mayor Mike Parkinson; Troy City Administrator Jay Keeven; Jefferson County County Executive Dennis Gannon, and Festus City Council member Jim Trinnin attended the trip. Three Ameren employees from Missouri and Illinois were also on the trip.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Daily Herald | ‘All of us want them to stay’: GOP governor candidates opine on Bears’ threats to go to Hoosier state: “If I was governor, that property would be half-built by now,” said Heidner, who called the 326-acre site a “city inside of a city in Arlington Heights.” […] “I oppose giving any public money … directly to the Bears,” [Dabrowski] said. “Of course, for the infrastructure, this public infrastructure that would benefit all communities, I’m for that. But I’m not looking for deals that force our taxpayers to subsidize a big company like the Bears.”

* Tribune | Illinois voter guide to the 2026 primary election on March 17: Primary elections for federal, state and local races will all be on the ballot with voters deciding who will advance to the general election for the following offices. To see who is already representing you, click here and enter your home address.

*** Chicago ***

* Crain’s | Chicago banks see loan demand return as tariff and labor woes ease: Chicago banks posted strong profit growth in the fourth quarter as loan demand returned, and expectations are high for the year ahead even as uncertainty on interest rates looms. “Banks exceeded expectations in all the right areas,” said Terry McEvoy, banking industry analyst with financial services firm Stephens. “That momentum is a result of expanding net interest margins . . . returning loan demand, managing expenses and maybe even more importantly credit quality trends.”

* Block Club | Aida Flores Again Running For 25th Ward Aldermanic Seat: Aida Flores, born and raised in Pilsen, said in a Sunday news release she is again vying for the 25th Ward seat. Her announcement comes just days after incumbent Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez launched his bid for Congress — though he hasn’t yet said if he’ll also run for reelection as alderman. The 25th Ward covers Pilsen, University Village and a portion of Little Village. The 25th Ward election is Feb. 23, 2027.

* Block Club | South Side Irish Parade Names 2026 Grand Marshal And Honoree: Bill Letz, chair of the 2026 South Side Irish St. Patrick’s Day Parade, said the Tunnel to Towers Foundation has been “honoring those who have given their lives or been seriously injured in the line of duty for decades.” “We are pleased to name Tunnel to Towers Foundation as grand marshal, honoring the significant financial impact the foundation makes by helping the injured and their families across the country, in the Chicago area, and right here in our own community,” Letz said in a press release.

* Chicago Reader | Chicago housing workers call the city’s encampment closures ‘unconscionable’: The closure of the Chicago Avenue encampment “literally made no sense whatsoever,” said Ali Simmons, senior case and street outreach worker at the Law Project at Chicago Coalition to End Homelessness. In an interview, Simmons pointed to the closure as an example of what he sees as the futility and waste of encampment evictions more broadly. “If one person on a block is making a ruckus, [authorities] don’t come in and force the whole block to move,” he said. “So, why is it any different for somebody experiencing homelessness? [The city] collectively blamed everybody and displaced the whole encampment.”

* Crain’s | Willis Tower tenant nears big expansion: Trading firm IMC is close to adding about 100,000 square feet of new workspace in Willis Tower, a deal that would give the Dutch company one of the largest trading-firm footprints in Chicago as the downtown office market struggles with rampant vacancy. The Amsterdam-based company is in advanced discussions to drastically expand its footprint in the 110-story tower at 233 S. Wacker Drive, according to people familiar with the matter. IMC would lease more than 250,000 square feet in the skyscraper if the deal is completed, making United Airlines the only larger tenant at the property.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* The Real Deal | Not in this town: More Chicago suburbs crack down on short-term rentals: Skokie officials passed an ordinance Monday setting up a pilot program to ban new investor-owned short-term rentals in the village. And the Evanston City Council is considering passing tighter regulations to cap the number of short-term rentals in the city. The changes add to a growing list of local governments aiming to clamp down on the number of vacation rentals offered through apps like Airbnb and Vrbo. Neighbors have complained that dedicated vacation rentals create noise, disruptions and drive up costs in an already strained housing market.

* Aurora Beacon-News | Indian Prairie school board OKs almost $26 million in renovations at Neuqua Valley High School: In 2024, voters approved a proposal from the district to sell up to $420 million in bonds to pay for facility improvements. The bonds are to be paid for using a continuation of an existing 37-cent property tax per $100 of equalized assessed value that would otherwise have expired at the end of 2026, meaning the tax rate for residents in terms of their contribution to capital projects will effectively remain flat as a result of the referendum question’s passage.

* Daily Southtown | Flossmoor approves production studio development plan on village-owned land: The Village Board approved an agreement last month with the production company Only Believe Entertainment to develop abandoned village-owned land into a studio and production space. Flossmoor Mayor Michelle Nelson said the project will benefit the town by drawing in production crews and revenue for every new project. “Each one of these films has their own crew, contractors and whatnot, and artists and actors, so it’ll bring in a fresh new crew to the village whenever there’s a production happening,” Nelson said.

*** Downstate ***

* WGLT | Community leaders are apprehensive about prospects for insurance regulation: Patrick Hoban, head of the Bloomington-Normal Economic Development Council [EDC], last week expressed some alarm about the prospect of such regulation and its potential impact on employment and the economic base. “Some of this needs to settle down because what that will do to our community is unheard of. It’s not to scare everybody, but they at least are talking. But the concept that one industry makes up a third of our economy is terrifying. A quarter of all jobs rely on insurance,” said Hoban at an EDC presentation on the housing market.

* WGEM | Quincy Public School Board reconsiders superintendent salary after candidate feedback, reopens search: Despite the challenges, Arns reaffirmed the board’s commitment to filling the position. “It’s a required position in the district, it’s something we have to have, and it’s the one job of the board to hire the superintendent. So we’re committed to doing that, finding that right person.” Because the original salary range ($200,000) was insufficient to attract qualified candidates, the Board is working with their search firm, Hazard, Young, Attea, and Associates (HYA), to reopen the position for two weeks.

* TEXT:WIFR | Dept. of Education Secretary Linda McMahon to visit Illinois school for History Rocks! tour: The History Rocks! tour is organized by the U.S. Department of Education in collaboration with Turning Point USA and other organizations as part of the America 250 Civics Education Coalition. […] The event, planned for 2:30 p.m. Feb. 5, was arranged by the student organization “Club America,” the high school’s chapter of Turning Point USA. The calendar event hosted on the school’s website says Genoa-Kingston High School was selected as a host for the History Rocks! tour which will feature “national-level speakers.” No further details about the identities of the speakers have been officially announced.

* WGLT | Normal could dust off an old idea for a community sports complex: Mayor Chris Koos said one idea that has come up periodically over the last couple of decades is back again. “Surprisingly there’s a lot of chatter that I’ve heard, not just second hand from the focus groups but from studies and focus groups that the Chamber has done, is a sports complex,” Koos said in an interview with WGLT. Past sports complex initiatives have failed because of finances, and/or a lack of a public-private partnership. The last such initiative was in 2019-2020. It’s unclear given the interest rate climate and rising construction costs whether this time could be different.

* WCIA | Effingham neighbors pack city council meeting, share concerns about halfway home: At the city council meeting on Tuesday, neighbors said their small street isn’t the right location for a transitional house that focuses on helping people recover from addiction. Meanwhile, others in attendance said the tenants aren’t bothering anyone and this is just another example of “not in my backyard.” “I didn’t wake up one day and (say), oh, (I’d like to) use drugs today,” said Merl Moulton, who showed up to the meeting to tell his story and alleviate fears over the new house. “We just got to stop that kind of mentality with that — (just put) people in prison (who) suffer from an addiction problem.”

* WCIA | Macon Co. Beltway project on pause : The project was planned to be a 22-mile loop around the City of Decatur. Now, work is temporarily stopped as officials figure out what roads they should pay for and work on first. The original plan was for the roadway to be created in stages, starting with Busch College Road. But now, the city is looking at a different area to re-start construction.

*** National ***

* WIRED | Measles Is Causing Brain Swelling in Children in South Carolina: ncephalitis is a rare but severe complication of measles that can lead to convulsions and cause deafness or intellectual disability in children. It usually occurs within 30 days of an initial measles infection and can happen if the brain becomes infected with the virus or if an immune reaction to the virus causes inflammation in the brain. Among children who get measles encephalitis, 10 to 15 percent die. It’s not known how many children in South Carolina have developed this serious complication. Under state law, measles cases must be reported to the South Carolina Department of Public Health, but measles hospitalizations and complications do not need to be disclosed.

* Swarthmore | Understanding the Political Disconnect: To find out why lower-income people vote at significantly lower rates than other Americans, a group of Swarthmore researchers conducted in-depth interviews with a diverse group of 144 Pennsylvanians who do not vote regularly. Respondents described a deep sense of disconnection from politics, saying they don’t believe elected officials are sincerely interested in helping them or their families.