* Rich told subscribers about this cash stash in November. ICYMI: Groups demand release of after-school program funding. Capitol News Illinois…

- In 2023, the Illinois State Board of Education miscalculated how much federal funding would be available and made commitments to award more grants than the state could afford to fund.
- As a result, ACT Now and many of the after-school programs it represents sought, and received, $50 million in state funding in this year’s budget to make up for the loss of federal funding.
- But now, seven months into the fiscal year, none of that money has been released by ISBE.
- In an email, a spokesperson for ISBE said the agency would like to see the organizations receive their funding as well, but they need more direction from the legislative leaders about how they want the money distributed.

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* PUCK | The Pritzker Prize: Peter Hamby: With Democrats, it feels like there is a leadership vacuum that needs to be filled. You were one of the few Dem governors to come out and condemn the January 6th pardons and clemencies, pretty loudly. But otherwise, it feels like Democrats are being very cautious right now, and there’s room for someone out there to fill the leadership vacuum. Pritzker: Let me begin by saying I was governor in the last two years of the last Trump administration, so I have lived through how to protect our state in the context of a president who wants to take people’s freedoms away and doesn’t give a damn about average everyday working Americans. And of course, at the beginning of Covid, we literally had to protect people’s lives from what they were doing in Washington. So I bring that to the fight.

* Capitol News Illinois | Trump tariffs could impact hundreds of billions of dollars of trade in Illinois: Illinois received $127.8 billion of imports from China, Canada and Mexico in 2023, according to DCEO. Canada is Illinois’ largest partner for both imports and exports, with the state receiving $65.6 billion of goods from the country in 2023. Illinois is highly dependent on oil and gas from Canada, meaning consumers could be in line for higher energy and gas prices. About 72% of Illinois’ imports, or $47.4 billion, from Canada in 2023 was oil and gas, according to DCEO.

* Tribune | Jury ends deliberations Monday in Madigan case without reaching a verdict: Jurors have to consider 23 counts against Madigan alleging an array of schemes to enrich his political allies and line his pockets. McClain is charged in six of those counts. To assist their deliberations, jurors have about 100 pages of legal instructions, dozens of undercover recordings, and hundreds of emails, texts and other documents entered into evidence.

*** Statewide ***

* SJ-R | Spring is quickly approaching. Here’s what The Old Farmer’s Almanac is predicting: The Old Farmer’s Almanac predicts most of Illinois will see a dry spring with normal temperatures. The southern part of the state is predicted to see a cool and dry spring, and the northwestern section will see a warm and dry season.

* WCIA | ISBE looking for 2025 state sponsors in federal summer meal program: The SFSP provides funding to public or private nonprofit organizations to serve meals to children meals during the summer months when schools are not in session. Last year, Illinois had 144 SFSP sponsors and 1,585 meal sites. An additional 187 sponsors with 379 sites participated through the Seamless Summer Option (SSO), a similar program for school districts already operating the National School Lunch Program. The SFSP served more than 4.3 million meals and snacks last year, a 12% increase from 2023.

*** Chicago ***

* WTTW | Johnson Vows to Try Again to Hike Taxes on Sales of Million-Dollar Homes to Fight Homelessness: Speaking at a town hall about the state of Chicago hosted by WTTW and community organization My Block, My Hood, My City, Johnson blasted “corporations” and the “ultra rich” for the failure of the ballot measure known as Bring Chicago Home, which was rejected by 53% of Chicago voters in March. “The interests of the ultra rich confused as well as baited voters into believing that that revenue would go somewhere other than what we had purposed it for,” Johnson said. “Here’s what I’m asking the people in Chicago: At the point of which we go for this revenue again, let’s not allow the interests of the corporations as well as the ultra rich to dictate what working people deserve in this city. We have to pass Bring Chicago Home.”

* FOX Chicago | New poll shows Chicagoans losing confidence in Johnson, CTU: ‘Politically toxic’: Commissioned by the Libertarian Illinois Policy Institute, the poll surveyed a diverse cross-section of Chicagoans from various neighborhoods and ethnic backgrounds. […] The poll, conducted from Jan. 21 to Jan. 23, surveyed 798 voters and asked, “Do you have a favorable opinion of Mayor Johnson?” Only 14% of respondents expressed a favorable view, with 80% reporting an unfavorable opinion, and the rest offering no opinion.

* Sun-Times | Trump threatens to fire more than 100 Chicago EPA workers: The warnings came in an email sent last week to most-recently hired workers who have not yet put in enough time to enjoy more job-protection benefits. “As a probationary/trial period employee, the agency has the right to immediately terminate you,” the email said. “The process for probationary removal is that you receive a notice of termination, and your employment is ended immediately.”

* Streetsblog | Partying like it’s 2025: CTAction’s Dorval Carter retirement celebration heralds a new era for Chicago transit: Attitudes towards the CTA president’s career were less rose-colored at “Dorval Carter’s Retirement Party,” hosted by Commuters Take Action (CTAction) last Friday at The Emporium Arcade Bar in Logan Square. (The group’s policy organizer Morgan Madderom said they threw a previous retirement party for Carter last November, but that had been a suggestion, rather than the reality.)

* Sun-Times | Metra Electric 103rd St. station to reopen, 95th St. to close for 2 years of rehab: The construction is part of the Metra Electric Community Initiative to modernize 13 stations on the line stretching from the Loop to the far south suburbs. The 103rd St./Rosemoor station is the second station to be rebuilt under a $33 million contract to also redo the 79th Street Station, which reopened in December, and the 87th Street station, which is under construction.

* WGN | Hundreds of ducks found sick or dead along Lake Michigan as outbreak of H5N1 bird flu hits Chicago area: The Chicago Bird Collision Monitors (CBCM), a volunteer conservation project dedicated to the protection of migratory birds, said in a post on its Facebook page Sunday that the bird flu outbreak “is posing a serious threat to the bird life in the Chicago region this winter.” The outbreak started in December and has now spread from a few reports in the suburbs to hundreds in the city, along Lake Michigan, over the last week. Birds affected include geese, hawks, owls, at least one eagle and ducks.

* Crain’s | Air Wisconsin laying off 200 O’Hare staff: The airline, based in Appleton, Wisc., announced job cuts in a WARN notice filed with the state on Jan. 31. The notice comes on the heels of Air Wisconsin ending its agreement with American in which the carrier operated under the American Eagle regional service banner. According to a company statement, the two airlines will enter a codeshare and interline relationship starting in April. This shift will enable Air Wisconsin to prioritize federally subsidized essential air service routes, which connect smaller communities to major airports.

* Sun-Times | On the brink of extinction, Chicago’s last human-operated elevators get a temporary reprieve: The Fine Arts Building elevators on South Michigan — three of them — are being sacrificed in the name of efficiency. And they were expected to be replaced by mid-2025. Blame (or thank) unspecified construction delays, a spokeswoman for the building told the Chicago Sun-Times. So if you’re paying a visit to the building for, say, a voice lesson or to have the strings replaced on your violin, you’ll still be able to ride one of the manually operated Otis elevators through the end of 2026.

* WGN | Historic meeting in Illinois paved the way for Black citizens’ rights: Friday, Feb. 7, will mark 160 years since Illinois struck down laws that kept free Black people from entering the state and gave those already in the state just 10 days to get out. Twelve years before that, a historic meeting took place in what’s now downtown Chicago, at Clark and Randolph, where men and women from across the country worked to find a way for Illinois’ Black residents to enjoy the American promise of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Herald | DuPage County keeps federal lobbyist: The lobbying firm has “gotten us $1.1 million in stormwater management projects, $250,000 in infrastructure and mobility work, $300,000 in flood reduction, plus they track all of the federal grant and funding opportunities for DuPage County,” said Dawn DeSart, chair of the board’s legislative committee.

* Crain’s | Lawsuit claiming Cook County tax sales violate property rights seeks class-action status: In a request for class-action status filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on Jan. 24, attorneys allege Cook County violates property owners’ constitutional rights when it auctions off the unpaid taxes on a property to third parties that can eventually take over ownership of the property. Because the owners often have equity in their properties that is separate from the tax debt, and lose all of it at a tax sale, the suit alleges that the sale amounts to a violation of the Fifth Amendment’s prohibition on “private property be(ing) taken for public use.” The suit also alleges that the sales violate homeowners’ Eighth Amendment right not to be subject to excessive fines.

* Tribune | Dolton employees without life insurance after premiums go unpaid; Mayor Tiffany Henyard skips meeting: The news caught trustees by surprise at their meeting while voting to renew health insurance coverage, although the cost for that has increased. Life insurance for more than 100 employees ended last August because premiums hadn’t been paid, trustees were told. A representative for the village’s employee insurance consultant said that message’s about the termination of life insurance had been relayed to village administration, including Mayor Tiffany Henyard.

* Daily Southtown | Dismissals and rulings keep Napoleon Harris and Thaddeus Jones on ballots: Within the township, Calumet City Mayor Thaddeus Jones, who is challenged in the Democratic primary Feb. 25, recently won his case against an objector claiming he is unable to serve both in the Illinois House of Representatives and as mayor. Calumet City Clerk Nyota Figgs, running on a slate with Jones’ challenger for the mayor’s seat, 6th Ward Ald. James Patton, filed the objection that was first dismissed by the city’s electoral board and on Thursday dismissed by Cook County Judge Araceli R. De La Cruz.

* Shaw Local | Lee County family planning medical director steps down due to employer OSF HealthCare reproductive care policy: The Lee County Health Department has selected a new family planning medical director after its former director was told by their new employer, OSF HealthCare, to step down due to the Catholic health system’s restrictive policies for reproductive care, LCHD’s administrator says. The health department’s new family planning medical director, Dr. Christine Doyle, an OB/GYN at UW Health Swedish American Hospital in Rockford and a former KSB OB/GYN, has replaced Dr. John Plescia, former KSB - now OSF - family medicine physician in Oregon.

* ABC Chicago | Northwestern University among 5 colleges in Trump probe by Education Dept. over alleged antisemitism: Under the new administration, The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights is now reviewing how pro-Palestinian protests were handled across campuses. The five universities being targeted by the probe are Columbia University in New York University of California - Berkeley, Portland State University in Oregon, the University of Minnesota and Northwestern University.

*** Downstate ***

* Herald Whig | Quincy Council considers adding grocery tax with state’s to sunset: Ahead of Monday’s City Council meeting, the council’s Finance Committee met and discussed the option of adding a 1% sales tax on grocery sales in the city that would start Jan. 1 2026. “We run the city on sales tax, and that’s what this is, a sales tax,” said Alderman Mike Rein, R-5, who chairs the Finance Committee. “It’s devastating for the city to lose the revenue base, because the demands of the city aren’t going down, (but) neither are we expanding city government, we’re trying to just maintain the status quo.”

* WSIL | SIU gears up for Saluki Con 2025: This annual event brings together interests in science, technology, and pop culture. Some of this year’s big attractions include workshops and demonstrations, comic book vendors, and a cosplay contest. Among this year’s special guests will be actor Sean Astin, famous for his roles in Goonies, Stranger Things, and the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

* WCIA | ‘You don’t know what your neighbor’s doing’; IL fire officials talk safety after string of apartment complex fires: Champaign County has seen three apartment complex fires in a little more than a week. Now, officials say it’s time to go on the offensive — taking steps to protect against flames that could be as close as next door.

* WCIA | ‘It was surreal for us’: Urbana girls program’s win first regional wrestling title: Urbana will head to the Highland sectional meet on February 14 to compete for spots at the state finals. “They wrestled the best they could and we won some matches that we didn’t think we were winning,” said Urbana head wrestling coach Phil Sexton. “And overall, it was an awesome experience. It was surreal for us.”

*** National ***

* WIRED | A 25-Year-Old With Elon Musk Ties Has Direct Access to the Federal Payment System: A source says they are concerned that data could be passed from secure systems to DOGE operatives within the General Services Administration (GSA). WIRED reporting has shown that Elon Musk’s associates—including Nicole Hollander, who slept in Twitter’s offices as Musk acquired the company, and Thomas Shedd, a former Tesla engineer who now runs a GSA agency, along with a host of extremely young and inexperienced engineers—have infiltrated the GSA, and have attempted to use White House security credentials to gain access to GSA tech, something experts have said is highly unusual and poses a huge security risk.

* Newsweek | US Treasury Sued Over DOGE’s Access To Sensitive Information: The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, argues that Musk’s team is using the system in violation of multiple privacy laws, including 1974’s Privacy Act, and other regulations that dictate who is authorized to access the network. The Alliance for Retired Americans, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) are seeking a restraining order to keep DOGE out of the system. Scott Bessent, President Donald Trump’s Secretary of the Treasury, the Department of the Treasury and Bureau of the Fiscal Service were named as defendants in the civil action suit.

* AP | RFK Jr. misled the US Senate on measles deaths, Samoa’s health chief says: “When the tissue samples were sent to New Zealand, most of those people did not have measles,” Kennedy told U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat. Ekeroma, a medical doctor who also holds a doctorate in health, said that the claim was a “huge denial” of the fact that doctors from several countries traveled to Samoa to treat measles patients. The Samoan official wasn’t the health chief during the outbreak, but confirmed key details with his predecessor, he said. Only one autopsy was carried out and no postmortem tissue samples were sent abroad, which was not unusual because measles is a simple disease to diagnose, said Ekeroma.

* AP | Black History Month explained: Its origins, celebrations and myths: Black History Month wasn’t always a monthlong celebration. In February 1926, historian and author Carter G. Woodson created Negro History Week. It was a weeklong celebration in an effort to teach people about African-American history and the contributions of Black people. […] “I think Black folks understood what they had contributed to America’s historical narrative, but no one was talking about it,” said Kaye Whitehead, the organization’s president. “No one was centralizing it until Dr. Carter G. Woodson was in 1926.”