* Crain’s…

Buoyed by their success last time, local officials are moving to lure both the 2028 and 2032 Democratic National Conventions back to Chicago.

Multiple knowledgeable sources confirm that, per a request for proposal from the Democratic National Committee, a bid recently was filed on behalf of the Chicago Host Committee, the group that put together the 2024 convention here. The DNC historically has sought bidders only for one presidential nominating convention at a time but recently decided to go to a two-convention cycle to ease planning.

“We are moving forward after our great success in 2024,” said an informed source close to the bid. “We’re open to both 2028 and 2032.”

Winning the convention would be a major coup for Gov. JB Pritzker, whose aides and associates are the key movers behind the Chicago bid. Pritzker for months has dropped all kinds of hints that he’s exploring a race for the Democratic nomination for president in 2028, and hosting the convention that will make the decision in his hometown and in front of a local audience likely would only help his nomination prospects.

* Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi…

Today, Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi stood alongside community leaders and seniors to highlight how his primary opponent, Pat Hynes, is being bankrolled by property tax attorneys responsible for driving up homeowners’ tax bills — including property tax lawyers from the firm that helped cut Trump Tower’s tax bill last year.

“The race for Assessor is about who pays: big corporations and commercial properties like Trump Tower, or you, the homeowner. Pat Hynes has made his choice,” said Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi. “He’s being bankrolled by the same special interests who profit when homeowners’ tax bills go up. I’ve never taken a dime from property tax lawyers and never will. The Assessor’s office should work for working people, not developers, not corporations, and certainly political insiders like Trump.”

Trump Tower, represented by property tax appeal attorneys at Mayer Brown, saw its value slashed by $48 million, a whopping 39 percent. Reductions in commercial assessments shifted $450 million in taxes onto homeowners last year. The average Chicago homeowner is now paying $700 more on their property tax bill than they should be. Speakers at the press conference noted that Pat Hynes, who is running in the Democratic primary, has also taken $40,000 in donations from MAGA-Republican donors.

“Don’t forget that for decades, the Assessor’s Office was notoriously corrupt. Mansions and big developers paid less than they should while working class, Black, and Latino neighborhoods got stuck paying more. Fritz cleaned that up, and now the same property tax lawyers who worked that corrupt system are trying to buy it back with Pat Hynes,” said Ray Sanders of Northside Democracy for America.

Pat Hynes has taken $300,000 from the real estate industry, according to a review of his campaign finance records. This includes 115 donations from property tax attorneys and law firms who make their money helping commercial property owners appeal their assessments and shift their tax burden onto homeowners.

…Adding… Pat Hynes for Cook County Assessor…

Today, the Pat Hynes for Cook County Assessor campaign warned voters not to fall for yet another attempt by Fritz Kaegi to distract from his disastrous record of incompetence and political hypocrisy.

Kaegi has taken more than $160,000 in campaign contributions from real estate developers and property tax attorneys, the very same types of donations that he is now attacking Pat Hynes for accepting.

“Fritz Kaegi is desperately trying to distract Chicagoans from his record of failure with another dishonest and hypocritical political hit,” said Allison Schraub, Campaign Manager for Pat Hynes. “While Kaegi attacks Pat for taking contributions from the real estate industry, Kaegi conveniently forgets to share that he has also taken $160,000 from real estate developers and attorneys. In fact, real estate attorneys are so desperate for competent leadership in the Assessor’s Office that they are willing to risk reprisals from the Kaegi administration by openly supporting his opponent, Pat Hynes. That tells you everything you need to know about how badly this office has been run.”

Kaegi’s attack comes as his political standing continues to collapse. Recent polling shows his favorability at just 20 percent, and labor organizations and Democratic leaders across Cook County have abandoned him in favor of Pat Hynes. After years of mismanagement, Kaegi is still sitting on hundreds of millions of dollars in unassessed property value while shifting the tax burden from the county’s most recent assessment onto working families on the south and west sides.

“Instead of being proactive to ensure that South and West side communities wouldn’t shoulder the the shift in downtown property taxes to our neighborhoods that everyone knew was coming, he instead did nothing and allowed hundreds of millions in new construction and major improvements to homes and business across Cook County––especially in wealthier neighborhoods––go unassessed. Chicagoans can’t afford to get Fritz’d again,” added Schraub.

Pat Hynes has spent more than 30 years working in property assessment and local government and is widely respected as one of Illinois’ leading professionals in the field. As Lyons Township Assessor, he has been recognized for excellence in fair and accurate assessments. He is also a longtime volunteer firefighter, honoring his father’s legacy as a former Chicago firefighter. Hynes is a seasoned professional who understands the problems facing the system and how to fix them. He is the clear choice for Chicagoans who deserve competence, fairness, and an assessor who works for taxpayers, not a politician looking for someone else to blame.

* Capitol News Illinois | Providers say feds’ new rural health care grants to Illinois won’t cover Medicaid cuts: “These funds are good, and we’re going to put them to good use, but it’s not a solution,” said Jordan Powell, senior vice president of health policy and finance for the Illinois Health and Hospital Association. “It’s not going to mitigate the impact of the significant Medicaid cuts that are coming our way.” The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services said between 190,000 to 360,000 Medicaid recipients are at risk of losing coverage in Illinois because of new work requirements.

* Illinois Manufacturers’ Association President Mark Denzler, Illinois Retail Merchants Association Rob Karr | ‘Clean Slate’ law helps former inmates find work while boosting Illinois’ economy: That’s why both of our organizations — representing manufacturers and retailers in every corner of the state — strongly supported the passage of the Clean Slate Act. We applaud Gov. JB Pritzker for signing it into law as one of his first acts in 2026. Clean Slate automatically seals eligible, nonviolent criminal records only after people have completed their sentences and remained crime-free for up to three years. Instead of forcing individuals to navigate a costly, confusing court process, the law requires the state to review and seal qualifying records on a regular schedule.

* Active Transportation Alliance | Elaine Nekritz: The strategist behind Illinois’ transit victory: Though she’s stepping back from her formal roles, Nekritz doesn’t plan to slow down completely. She hopes to continue helping with the implementation of the NITA Act and advising her former colleagues. “As hard as it is to pass legislation, implementation is infinitely harder,” she said. “I want to help recruit people for the [NITA] board, for the transition committees, because the people occupying those seats will matter a lot.”

* WGN | Chicago Children’s Museum, Illinois State Treasurer partner to promote proactive financial planning for kids: “We encourage families not to wait until their kids are in high school,” Frerichs said. “But to start early, to start young … [Really] today is the best day to start saving because you can save and the growth in that account will be tax free.” According to the Bright Start program’s website, the savings can be used at state universities and community colleges, as well as trade and technical schools. Illinois parents of children born or adopted since 2023 also qualify for a $50 seed deposit by opening a Bright Start or Bright Directions 529 account before the child turns 10.

* CBS Chicago | This Identity Theft Awareness Week, Illinois Comptroller Mendoza has warnings, advice: “One of the most important things to remember is that ID theft can happen to anyone, even your children,” Comptroller Mendoza said in a news release. “That’s why it’s so important to safeguard personal information and keep an eye on bank accounts and credit cards.” Identity thieves steal people’s personal or financial information. The thieves can then use that information to make purchases with the victims’ credit cards, open new credit cards in the victims’ names, steal the victims’ tax refunds, get a job or medical care under false pretenses, and even impersonate the victims upon being arrested for or convicted of a crime.

* Sun-Times | Civic Federation pokes holes in Chicago’s alternative budget that passed: The Civic Federation was part of the financial brain trust guiding the group of conservative and moderate alderpersons that seized control over a budget process long dictated by Chicago mayors. But that didn’t stop Chicago’s oldest and most respected taxpayer watchdog group from poking holes in the final product. Monday’s report concludes there is precious little to show for what it called the “valiant effort to flex muscles the Council has always theoretically had, but never used.”

* Tribune | Trump signs Chicago Harbor Lock funding cuts into law: Funding for the Harbor could have gotten bumped up above the president’s budget proposal during the congressional appropriations process. An effort by Illinois Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth to secure more money, however, went nowhere. An appropriations “minibus” package, of which Army Corps funding is a part, passed the Senate without any amendments by an 82-15 vote Jan. 15. Durbin and Duckworth, both Democrats, were among those who voted to approve the measure. Trump signed the appropriations legislation Friday.

* Sun-Times Federal Courts Reporter Jon Seidel…

* Block Club | Sarah’s Circle Bringing More Women’s Housing To Uptown, Other Far North Side Development News: Sarah’s Circle wants to build a seven-story building with 54 apartments at 4458 N. Clarendon Ave., which has been a vacant lot for decades, group leaders said at a meeting Thursday night. The apartments in this building — called Sarah’s on Clarendon — would be exclusively permanent supportive housing, which is different from the group’s daytime support center and interim housing shelter, said Executive Director Kathy Ragnar. Women can stay in a permanent supportive housing apartment for as long as they need, and many women stay for the rest of their lives, Ragnar said.

* Block Club | 6 Chicago-Area Catholic Schools To Close This Spring, Archdiocese Says: In a Friday email, the archdiocese said St. Francis Borgia in Dunning, Sts. Bruno and Richard School in Archer Heights, St. Jerome School in Bridgeport, St. Stanislaus Kostka in Wicker Park, Our Lady of Humility in suburban Beach Park and St. Hubert in suburban Hoffman Estates will all be closing at the end of the school year.

* Block Club | Your Favorite Restaurant’s Playlist Was Probably Made By This Chicago Company: In addition to music curation, the company’s enhancement work can include sound system design and acoustic treatment, the latter of which involves crafting ways to “soften the space,” such as with ceiling treatments and rugs, Darling said. “It helps create a better experience interpersonally because you can turn the audio up and hear the quality of the audio well, but you’re also able to speak without shouting,” Darling said. “That helps to disarm people and make them feel comfortable and maybe just sink in a little bit deeper.”

* Daily Herald | Takeda expands footprint with lease of warehouse space at Innovation Park in Libertyville: Takeda declined to comment on why the warehouse space was needed or why it was being leased. The company also operates a manufacturing site in Round Lake, which is an integral part of the company’s Plasma Network, according to a spokesperson. The Round Lake facility employs 500.

* Evanston Now | NU dealing with increase in norovirus cases: The university also says it will “implement additional targeted measures in locations with a significant number of cases,” but no information has been released publicly on what those locations may be, nor where the increase originated, if that can be determined. The specific number of cases at NU has not been released either, as the university is citing student privacy rules.

* BND | Illinois State Police release video of trooper fatally shooting Maryville woman: The video then shows a trooper, who had exited his squad car and was standing in the parking lot, firing gunshots at Tarrence from an angle in front of her vehicle. […] Troy E. Walton, an Edwardsville attorney representing Tarrence’s family, was shown the video before it was released to the public. In a statement, he described the shooting as “an absolutely unnecessary and unjustified use of deadly force.” “The death of Rachel Tarrence is a tragedy,” Walton said in the statement. “It is yet another example of a senseless and avoidable death at the hands of law enforcement.”

* WGLT | Rivian’s first test R2s come off the line after fast-track expansion in Normal: Rivian’s new model, the R2, goes fast — zero to 60 mph in 3 seconds. Turns out, so does Rivian’s construction team. The electric automaker is starting 2026 with 2.6 million square feet of new space in Normal, where the R2 will be made. Construction took only 11 months — a staggering pace that required creative problem-solving, thousands of workers, and a $1.5 billion investment. The project — the size equivalent of building 14 Walmarts — even came in under budget. As a result, the first R2s — test models called manufacturing validation build vehicles — drove off the line earlier this month, with the first customer deliveries expected by June.

* SJ-R | Sean Grayson scheduled to be sentenced on second-degree murder charge: The former Sangamon County Sheriff’s deputy convicted of fatally shooting Sonya Massey in her home in the Cabbage Patch neighborhood off Stevenson Drive in 2024 is scheduled to be sentenced in Springfield at 9 a.m. Jan. 29. Sean Grayson, who responded to Massey’s home on a possible prowler call, was charged with first-degree murder, but a Peoria County jury made up of nine women and three men was given a second-degree instruction and found him guilty on the lesser charge, capping a week-and-a-half trial on Oct. 29.

* WICS | Inside Springfield police’s Real-Time Information Center: An exclusive tour: Serving as a second set of eyes, Tactical Analyst Information Officer Gage Thompson monitors the city and relays information to officers in the field. “When a car hits a license plate reader, we can get a timeline for where it is and try to find live video of it leaving a scene and moving throughout the city,” Thompson said. “It helps us build a timeline and identify patterns.” The center has been operating for a couple of months.

* Tri States Public Radio | Monmouth College secures $5M ‘transformational’ estate gift: A significant portion of the investment, just under $2 million, is targeted for digital transformation, one of five foundational pillars that Draves established after taking office in 2024. “To remain competitive and future-ready, Monmouth must modernize its digital environment, both behind the scenes and in the ways we reach, teach and engage students,” Draves said in the release. The college also plans to use the funds to remove long-vacant campus buildings and to permanently support Peterson Residence Hall.

* AP | Federal judge hears arguments on Minnesota’s immigration crackdown after fatal shootings: U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez is considering whether to grant requests by the state and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul to temporarily halt the immigration operation. She said the case was a priority, though she issued no immediate ruling. Menendez questioned the government’s motivation behind the crackdown and expressed skepticism about a letter recently sent by Attorney General Pam Bondi to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. The letter asked the state to give the federal government access to voter rolls, to turn over state Medicaid and food assistance records, and to repeal sanctuary policies.

* NYT | Elon Musk’s X Faces European Inquiry Over Sexualized A.I. Images: The European authorities said that X was being investigated for possible violation of the Digital Services Act, alleging that the company had not properly addressed the “systemic risks” of integrating the A.I. chatbot Grok into its service. Starting in late December, sexually explicit images generated by Grok, including of children, flooded the service, drawing worldwide criticism from victims and regulators. Mr. Musk was facing mounting scrutiny in Europe even before this latest Grok controversy. Last month, X was fined 120 million euros, or about $140 million, for violating Digital Services Act rules around deceptive design, advertising transparency and data sharing with outside researchers.

* NYT | Public Media Holds Its Apocalypse at Bay, for Now: But six months after the funding cuts, few public TV or radio stations have closed their doors. Many have scraped together a patchwork of funding from concerned donors, philanthropies or government grants. Others, facing insurmountable budget issues, have resorted to mergers with bigger stations to stay online. NPR and PBS have not gone anywhere. […] But there is not a lot of celebrating among public media executives and supporters. Much of the angst about the long-term future remains. They point out that much of the money making up for the loss in federal funding has come from one-off donations and grants — short-term fixes — that may have managed only to defer the true financial pain.