* ISP sending a message to Rep. Slaughter…

* Sun-Times…

A systems outage at Lurie Children’s Hospital that began Wednesday is a result of a cybersecurity matter, the hospital said.

“We are taking this very seriously, are investigating with the support of leading experts, and are working in collaboration with law enforcement agencies. As part of our response to this matter, we have taken network systems offline,” the hospital said in a statement Thursday night.

The hospital is open and continuing to provide care to patients and is working to establish a call center, the statement said.

The outage is affecting the phone, email and electronic systems at all of Lurie’s 55 offices in the Chicago area.

* Crain’s…

A bill set to be introduced in the General Assembly next week by state Rep. Elizabeth Hernandez, D-Cicero, and supported by the One Fair Wage group, would go a step further and eliminate the tipped wage statewide by Jan. 1, 2025, effectively forcing restaurants across Illinois to pay their workers a higher minimum hourly rate than Chicago restaurants by next year.

Whether the bill can move through Springfield as written is another matter, but even if the language is changed to provide a longer phaseout period, the legislation would provide more parity between Chicago restaurants and others in the state, potentially alleviating a concern of moderates in the City Council that restaurants in the city would flee for the suburbs.

That the bill is being introduced by Hernandez could make it a higher priority for state legislators. Hernandez also serves as chair of the Democratic Party of Illinois, which fundraises for party-backed candidates, a position she obtained with the help of Gov. J.B. Pritzker after a protracted interparty battle.

“Tipped workers in the suburbs and across Illinois should not be paid a sub-minimum wage for doing the same job as workers in Chicago,” Hernandez told Crain’s in a written statement. “This legislation will help level the playing field for workers across the state while also ensuring all businesses can continue to attract employees in this tight labor market.”

* Spring is coming early…

* Heh…

* Here’s the rest…

* Daily Herald | Cavern excavation completed for Fermilab-based neutrino experiment: The three caverns, located a mile below the surface, are the core of a new research facility that spans an underground area about the size of eight soccer fields. Two caverns will house the detectors; the third will house utilities. Neutrinos will be sent from Fermilab in Batavia 800 miles west to liquid argon-filled detectors at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, South Dakota. The goal is to have the first detector operating by the end of 2028.

* Sun-Times | CTU President Stacy Davis Gates was using ‘metaphor’ when she told teachers to ‘punch their principal in the face,’ union says: Hozian and Davis Gates did not respond to requests for comment, but a CTU spokesperson told the Sun-Times Thursday the case was closed and the report was marked as non-criminal. “We believe that this police report was filed in reference to a figurative comment made by President Davis Gates during impromptu remarks to union members … while talking about using the contract to challenge principals who bully our members,” an email sent out to CTU members said.

* STL Today | Illinois congressional contest reflects broader split in GOP: Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, explains why his experience makes him worth keeping in Congress. Darren Bailey says it’s exactly why he needs to go.

* Crain’s | Illinois getting share of $500 million opioid settlements: Illinois will receive $11.4 million of a $350 million national settlement with New York-based marketing and communications firm Publicis Health, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s office announced Feb. 1. Meanwhile, Illinois will collect a slice of a $150 million multistate settlement with London-based opioid manufacturer Hikma Pharmaceuticals. The exact amount expected to come to Illinois was not disclosed.

* Block Club | Magnificent Mile Association Hopes To Bring New Businesses Downtown With Storefront Grant: Separately, the Magnificent Mile Association received two storefront grants from the city to activate two vacant stores. One was used in 2022 to bring in a four-month exhibition by Kavi Gupta Gallery at a vacant retail spot at 535 N. Michigan Ave. The other was used in 2021 to open Colores Mexicanos, an artisan Mexican gift shop, for a one-month stint at an empty store at 605 N. Michigan Ave, along Chicago’s high-end shopping corridor.

* Daily Herald | To combat climate change, Glen Ellyn couple helps fund solar projects: The couple has now supported 18 projects across the country, the majority in Illinois. With four still in progress, Jens estimates by the end of 2024, the developments will produce a total of 1,100,000 kW. The projects span a variety of groups, from churches to government organizations.

* WICS | Police clear Springfield High School from bomb threat: After investigating and searching the grounds, the SHS administration and Springfield Police and the Secretary of State Police who operate our security dogs have deemed the building clear and students are returning to the building to continue the school day as usual. Out of an abundance of caution we are also having all students re-enter the building through our metal detectors with law enforcement overseeing the return. Students will return to their second hour and then will begin the lunch shifts before continuing with their schedule.

* Sun-Times | Ex-Chicago gang leader’s third chance gets him an invitation to the White House: CeaseFire was launched in Chicago more than two decades ago on the West Side to address the city’s rampant gun killings. The concept — to treat violence like a curable disease — has since spread to New York, New Orleans, Baltimore and cities abroad. Many agencies have adopted the strategy.

* Block Club | Southwest Siders Call On Federal Agency To Preserve Damen Silos From Demolition: The permit process with the Army Corps of Engineers is needed because the site is positioned along the south branch of the Chicago River, and demolition could affect the “course, condition or capacity” of the water, Colin Smalley, a regulatory project manager with the agency, said at a Thursday meeting where neighbors voiced support for saving the silos.

* Tribune | University of Illinois police knew details about Terrence Shannon Jr. investigation but didn’t share with school officials, records show: Shortly after Lawrence police began their investigation in September and continuing throughout the fall, Whitman said the school’s Division of Intercollegiate Athletics knew little about the allegations against Shannon. Any information relayed from Lawrence investigators to athletics officials via the University of Illinois Police Department was “verbal, unsubstantiated and vague,” he would later say in a court filing, and “not sufficient to trigger” a student-athlete discipline policy.

* WGN | The Great Migration: How a Chicago newspaper helped shape the nation: But in the nearly 100 years between the signing of the 13th Amendment and the signing of the Civil Rights Act in 1964, something happened that would go on to shape the nation. At the beginning of the 20th Century, 90% of the African American population lived in the South, under conditions that can really only be described as oppressive.

* News-Sun | Lake County to accept potentially harmful, hard-to-recycle items; ‘Waste haulers do not want to take them’: Properly disposing of paint, tanks, fire extinguishers and even no longer-needed children’s car seats can prevent environmental damage, and the Solid Waste Agency of Lake County (SWALCO) has a program to make it easier in a sustainable way.

* Press Release | Illinois Pork Producers Association Honors Retiring Directors: Jill Brokaw is a third-generation pig farmer and grew up on her family farm in Joy, Ill. Over the years she has had many industry experiences, including working with her family’s farrow to finish swine operation, management of their feeding and nutrition system and feed mill, as well as row crop farming. She is currently co-owner of Biddle Gilts, LLC., with her father, continuing their decades of partnership with PIC genetics in the sale of female breeding stock throughout the Midwest.

* CNBC | U.S. economy added 353,000 jobs in January, much better than expected: Wage growth also showed strength, as average hourly earnings increased 0.6%, double the monthly estimate. On a year-over-year basis, wages jumped 4.5%, well above the 4.1% forecast. The wage gains came amid a decline in average hours worked, down to 34.1, or 0.2 hour lower for the month.

* WBEZ | New indoor pickleball complex in Lincoln Park blends sport with beach resort vibes: Pickleball in paradise. It’s not a Jimmy Buffett song — it’s the concept behind the newly opened indoor pickleball facility in Lincoln Park where palm fronds and cabanas flank eight indoor courts.

* The Triibe | The settlement that DuSable built: Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable’s settlement at the mouth of the Chicago River is the heart from which the city of Chicago was built. As time passed, and ownership of the land changed, its history has been smudged, so much so that most people had no idea he lived there until the mid 20th century. DuSable, Kitihawa and their children first showed up in future Chicago during the 1780s. They built a five-bedroom home, a horse mill, a bake house, a dairy, a smokehouse, a poultry house, a workshop, a stable, a barn, an orchard, and huts for DuSable’s employees. The family lived and worked on this land for at least a decade. It is unclear why DuSable moved his family to St. Charles, Missouri, where he ended up living a modest life as a ferry operator.

* Alyssa Rosenberg | Opinion I’m pro-choice, but I’m grateful for what pro-life groups did this week: In today’s fractious political world, it’s important to extend credit where it’s due. And so, as a pro-choice liberal, I want to thank a group of pro-life organizations that spoke up this week in support of a congressional deal to improve the child tax credit. Antiabortion Americans United for Life hailed the bill, which will primarily help lower-income families and families with a larger number of children, as “a core part of an American pro-life and pro-family future.” Pro-choice Center for American Progress President Patrick Gaspard described the legislation as “an unmissable opportunity to reduce poverty among low-income children and families.”

* Newsweek | Texas Border Convoy Descends into Antisemitism: The video shows Michael Yon making false claims regarding so-called “terrorists coming across the border being funded by Jewish money.”

* Sun-Times | A list of every known Illinois resident charged in the U.S. Capitol breach: More than 1,200 people have been arrested in connection with the attack in almost all 50 states. That includes Illinois, where at least 46 residents face federal charges. They come from all around the state and include a onetime CEO, a Chicago police officer and a member of the Proud Boys.

* NYT | Trump’s Tariffs Hurt U.S. Jobs but Swayed American Voters, Study Says: The findings contradict Trump’s claims that his tariffs helped to reverse some of the damage done by competition from China and bring back U.S. manufacturing jobs that had gone overseas. The economists conclude that the aggregate effect on U.S. jobs of the three measures — the original tariffs, retaliatory tariffs and subsidies granted to farmers — were “at best a wash, and it may have been mildly negative.”

* SJ-R | The IHSA basketball state finals host contracts are expiring. Here’s what could be next: The format of four enrollment class state finals spread across a three-day weekend, Thursdays through Saturdays, was first played two years ago. Previously, the boys and girls final fours were held over four consecutive weekends, on Fridays and Saturdays, in Peoria and Normal, respectively. [IHSA’s Matt Troha] says the overall anecdotal feedback has been positive on the single weekends. He anticipates the IHSA will continue with that format moving forward. The IHSA still wants to give the IHSA basketball advisory committee and its board of directors a chance to formally review and discuss, according to Troha.

* Sun-Times | Groundhog Day Chicago — ‘Woodstock Willie’ does not see his shadow, heralding an early spring: On hand for the festivities was beloved WGN chief meteorologist Tom Skilling, attending his very first Woodstock Groundhog Day event, according to the television station’s report. Skilling will be retiring from his longtime weather post at the station on Feb. 28. To honor Skilling, Woodstock Mayor Mike Turner officially declared Friday as “Tom Skilling Day” in addition to “Groundhog Day.”