* ICYMI: Trump abandons National Guard push in Chicago — for now. Crain’s…

- President Donald Trump said he is “removing” National Guard troops from Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland, after a number of legal setbacks, claiming that his deployments had helped reduce crime in the nation’s cities.
- “We will come back, perhaps in a much different and stronger form, when crime begins to soar again — Only a question of time!,” he added.
- Trump’s move comes a week after the US Supreme Court refused to let him send Guard troops to Chicago, a major setback in the president’s push to use the military in Democratically controlled cities to address what he and his supporters say is rampant crime and protests over his ramped up deportations of undocumented migrants.

* Related stories…

• Capitol News Illinois: Supreme Court rebuffs Trump’s planned National Guard deployment to Chicago
• Tribune: Rioters? Agitators? Immigration agents’ claims against US citizens mostly fall apart in court.
• Tribune: Cost of Operation Midway Blitz: $59M and counting
•

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Tribune | $350M Illinois Capitol renovation nears completion following weather delays: “Sometimes we run into rooms or spaces that once we demo it, it is a complete surprise,” Aggertt said in December, clad in an orange and neon-green-and-silver-striped protective vest and wearing a black hard hat. “We have made decisions best for the building and financially smart decisions, but sometimes that means we sacrifice in schedule.” The most visible change on the Capitol’s north side will be a two-level visitor welcome center that will become the building’s new main entrance. Before construction, the site served as a circular driveway used by lawmakers and staff.

* ABC Chicago | Online sportsbooks can still operate in Chicago in new year after last-minute licenses granted: The Sports Betting Alliance, which represents operators like DraftKings, FanDuel and three other online betting sites, sued the city Tuesday and requested a temporary restraining order to block a new 10.25% sports betting tax that goes into effect Jan. 1. […] On Wednesday afternoon, the Alliance agreed to drop the request for a TRO, but is moving ahead with the lawsuit, which claims the city tax is unconstitutional.

* Tribune | Feds to award Illinois $193M next year for rural health care as part of Big Beautiful Bill Act, as state braces for Medicaid cuts.: The federal government is awarding Illinois $193 million next year to support rural health care — money that’s part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, but not enough to make up for Medicaid cuts from the measure, state health leaders say. Illinois asked the federal government for $200 million a year for each of the next five years in its application for the funds. […] The federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced the award amounts for each state Monday, noting that states are getting an average of $200 million in the first year of funding. The largest amount of $281 million is going to Texas, and the smallest amount of $147 million is for New Jersey.

*** Statewide ***

* Capitol News Illinois | Illinois maternal mortality report finds rise in pregnancy-related deaths: The report studied 219 deaths that occurred in Illinois in 2021 and 2022 during or within one year of pregnancy. The two committees that reviewed the deaths determined 94 to be related to pregnancy. This is an increase from past data, which have been published in two-to-three-year increments since 2015. […] Of the pregnancy-related deaths that occurred in 2021 and 2022, the committees found 91% could have been prevented.

* Capitol News Illinois | State grants allow small Illinois farmers to develop local food-sharing networks: The law created funding to support small farmers and food distributors — those with fewer than 50 employees — in producing locally grown food for Illinois communities. The General Assembly found that 95% of the food consumed in Illinois is imported from outside the state. Shifting just 10% of that purchasing to local farms could generate billions of dollars in economic growth for Illinois, according to the law. But for Illinois to move toward purchasing more local food, farmers and food processors need adequate infrastructure to ensure the food reaches consumers predictably.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Tribune | State agency says information of more than 670,000 Illinois residents publicly exposed: The personal information of more than 670,000 Illinois residents may have been publicly accessible online for several years, the Illinois Department of Human Services said Friday. The department discovered Sept. 22 that maps created by one of its divisions on a mapping website were “publicly viewable due to incorrect privacy settings,” according to a notice shared with the media Friday. The maps were intended for the department’s internal use to help it make decisions about where to allocate resources, such as where to open new local offices.

* Tribune | ‘Still imprisoned in his mind.’ Illinois exonerees struggle without support after wrongful convictions.: Legislators have introduced a bill to raise compensation for exonerees based on the number of years they were wrongly incarcerated, and it passed without opposition in the House last year but hasn’t received a vote in the Senate. Democratic state Sen. Elgie Sims, who introduced the legislation to raise and remove a cap on state compensation for people who have been exonerated, on Friday said he’s actively working on it with advocates, the legislature and Gov. JB Pritzker’s administration. As a top budget negotiator, he’s looking at the costs and how many people could be included, he said.

* Sun-Times | Department of Justice challenges new Illinois law barring federal immigration actions at courthouses: “The Department of Justice will steadfastly protect law enforcement from unconstitutional state laws like Illinois’ that threaten massive punitive liability and compromise the safety of our officers,” Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division said in a news release. The lawsuit also claims that the law jeopardizes the safety of immigration agents, who have reportedly faced harassment, doxxing and threats as tensions over immigration flare.

* Tribune | Madigan confidant Michael McClain reports to prison: Former ComEd lobbyist Michael McClain, a longtime ally and confidant of disgraced former House Speaker Michael Madigan, reported to prison Monday to serve a two-year sentence for his role in what federal prosecutors have described as a sprawling bribery scheme targeting Madigan, federal prison records show. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator, McClain, 78, is being held at a minimum-security prison camp with an adjoining medical facility in Kentucky.

* Sun-Times | Blagojevich seeks ex-ComEd CEO’s clemency from political corruption conviction: Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich is lobbying President Donald Trump for ex-ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore’s clemency after she was convicted of conspiring to influence former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan in exchange for legislation favoring the utility company. Blagojevich, whose 14-year prison sentence for political corruption was commuted in 2020 and pardoned last February by Trump, filed lobbying paperwork Monday with Congress to represent Pramaggiore. Pramaggiore was sentenced in July to two years in prison after she and three others were found guilty of a nearly decade-long bribery scheme to sway Madigan to benefit ComEd.

* Tribune | Hundreds of public employees investigated by the state of Illinois improperly took millions in PPP loans: About 400 government employees investigated by the state of Illinois improperly tapped a federal pandemic relief fund program meant to keep small businesses afloat — part of a nationwide wave of Paycheck Protection Program fraud that siphoned tens of billions of dollars from taxpayers during the COVID-19 pandemic. While more than 200 have lost their jobs or voluntarily resigned, some have been referred for criminal prosecution for fraudulently obtaining the taxpayer-funded forgivable business loans, according to an Illinois Office of the Executive Inspector General report.

* Tribune | Illinois attorney general ends year filled with lawsuits against the Trump administration with one more challenge: When Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul last week sued the U.S Department of Health and Human Services over its push to curtail gender-affirming care for young people, it put a bow on a year of legal actions against the Trump administration. The AG’s office has signed onto 48 lawsuits against the administration since President Donald Trump’s term began in January, according to a breakdown provided by the office.

* Sun-Times | Amid random ‘puncher’ attacks in Chicago, state panel aims to address jail churn with psych treatment: The Fitness to Stand Trial Task Force was created in a law signed by Pritzker in August that also gives court systems the ability to move people charged with petty crimes but who are unfit to stand trial out of county jails and into outpatient psychiatric treatment. Supporters say that will help address their illnesses more quickly and will also free up space in overcrowded state mental hospitals for people charged with more serious offenses.

* Tribune | Illinois House candidate for Lincoln Park area fueled by family hotel chain that drew scrutiny in lawsuit: Karim Lakhani was not named or blamed in the lawsuit and was not working for the company at the time of the incident. According to his LinkedIn profile, he was a student at Cornell University when the assault occurred 12 years ago. By the time the case went to trial nearly a decade later, he was serving as director of operations and development and was later promoted into the company’s executive ranks. The lawsuit resulted in a $1.8 million verdict against Lakhani Hospitality, after jurors concluded that Lakhani Hospitality had failed to take sufficient actions to prevent injuries to a guest, Karla Gress, who alleged she had been sexually assaulted by a hotel employee while staying at the Holiday Inn Chicago-Skokie, a hotel owned by the family business.

* Capitol News Illinois | Nearly 300 new Illinois laws set to take effect in 2026: Data compiled by the Illinois Municipal League shows that 656 municipalities — a little more than half of the state’s municipalities — have passed an ordinance establishing their own grocery tax. Those communities are home to 7.2 million people, or 56.5% of the state’s population. Three counties — Washington, Wabash and Moultrie — have also approved countywide grocery taxes.

*** Chicago ***

* Sun-Times | Mayor Brandon Johnson backs down, will not veto City Council’s alternate budget: Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson says he will not veto a 2026 budget that he has called “morally bankrupt,” instead allowing it to go into effect and staving off political gridlock and the risk of an unprecedented government shutdown. “I will not add the risk and speculation of a government shutdown to the profound worries Chicagoans face,” Johnson said after first announcing he would not veto a rival spending plan crafted by a coalition of mostly moderate and conservative City Council members that the Council officially passed Saturday. “I’ve made something absolutely crystal clear: We will hold firm to our values while negotiating the details,” Johnson added, after signing two budget-related executive orders he called the “first clarifications” on what will become the 2026 budget.

* Tribune | City Hall hiring freezes, including under Mayor Brandon Johnson, have proved to be more of a chill: In practice, that “targeted” freeze has proved to be more of a chill, as hundreds of workers were nonetheless brought onto the payroll since the Johnson administration instituted the policy in August, according to city records. While that follows the pattern of previous hiring freezes under Johnson and his predecessors, a leading mayoral critic nonetheless disapproved of the move when presented with the figures amid tense budget negotiations that only ended the weekend before Christmas.

* Tribune | North Side alderman pausing Chicago Zoning Committee meetings to pressure Mayor Brandon Johnson to pick chairperson: North Side Ald. Bennett Lawson, who has led the committee since August, said Monday he is no longer willing to serve as its interim chief. He has not called a Zoning Committee meeting for January and said Monday was the last possible day to do so. The decision stalls progress on potentially dozens of developments that will not be able to come before the City Council for final approval votes next month. “If I continue to be in the acting role, it kicks the can down the road,” Lawson, whose 44th Ward includes Lakeview, told the Tribune. “I think it’s going to force the issue and bring about a quick resolution.”

* Tribune | Here’s what Mayor Brandon Johnson’s 2024 tax returns show: Johnson’s tax returns show the family brought in just over $196,000 in wages for 2024, his second year as mayor of Chicago. His full salary as mayor of Chicago last year was just over $221,000. After claiming the standard $29,200 deduction for filing jointly with wife Stacie and the $4,500 child tax credit for his three children, records show he paid $22,427 in federal taxes for an effective tax rate of 16%. Like last year, the Johnsons didn’t claim any other income from investments, retirement fund distributions or capital gains in 2024.

* Crain’s | Chicago looks to close out 2025 with a 10-year low in violent crime:
By the numbers, 2025 is shaping up to be Chicago’s safest year in decades. As quickly and unexpectedly as crime and violence surged during the pandemic, they receded this year — and not just to pre-pandemic levels, but to historic ones. Chicago homicides, which hit a 10-year high in 2021, are on pace to reach the lowest total since the mid-1960s. Violent crime in general, which reached a 10-year high in 2023, is also likely to record a 10-year low in 2025, according to an analysis of the city’s Violence Reduction Dashboard conducted by the University of Chicago Crime Lab. Robbery, too, is down sharply.

* Tribune | CPD recovering a steady number of ‘ghost guns’ despite legislation meant to curb them: Reporting by the Tribune shows CPD has recovered about 400 ghost guns in each of the last few years, totals that have remained steady even after a state law meant to curb them went into effect in 2022. “Privately made firearms” are now the sixth most common make of gun recovered by CPD, topped only by familiar brands such as Glock, Taurus, Smith & Wesson, Sturm & Ruger and Springfield. Data from CPD show the department logs, on average, one gun recovery every 44 minutes throughout the year. Ghost guns have been recovered all over Chicago, but more than 10% of them were recovered in the Englewood (7th) District on the South Side this year, the most of any patrol district.

* Tribune | CPS board hikes property tax levy to capture extra $25M: The Chicago Board of Education voted this week to slightly increase its property tax levy, a move expected to yield an additional $20 million to $25 million for the school district. Due to a monthslong delay in county property tax data, Chicago Public Schools had initially set its tax request below the legal limit. The vote Monday captured the remaining allowable revenue, bringing the levy — the total amount of requested tax money — to $4.12 billion.

* Block Club | CTA State And Lake Station Closing Monday For 3 Years As Rebuild Begins: The elevated station will remain closed until 2029, when the new station is anticipated to open to the public, the CTA announced in December. Green, Brown, Orange, Pink and Purple line trains will not make stops at State and Lake during the duration of construction. The Red Line’s Lake subway station will remain open during the project, and riders of the other elevated lines are asked to use the fully accessible stations at Washington and Wabash and at Clark and Lake while State and Lake is closed, according to the CTA.

* Block Club | Chicago Prepares Development Plan For Industrial Zone With Priority For Water And Wetland: At the center of the redevelopment proposal is wetland restoration and easy citizen access to the Calumet River and Lake Calumet, the largest body of water in the Chicago. “What we would really like to see is a future for [the Calumet River] that protects ecology better, protects the water quality, and a transition based on the community’s vision,” said Adam Flickinger, planning director for Friends of the Chicago River.

* Block Club | Bears To Play Packers In Playoff Game At Soldier Field As Cinderella Season Continues: Next weekend’s playoff game will be the Bears’ first postseason appearance in five years, following a 21-9 loss to the New Orleans Saints in January 2021. It will also be the first playoff game at Soldier Field since 2019, when the Bears lost to the Philadelphia Eagles on a missed last-second field goal attempt in what is known as the infamous double doink game.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Southtown | Calumet City Mayor Thaddeus Jones’ attorney calls allegations false in federal extortion lawsuit: Calumet City Mayor Thaddeus Jones faces allegations of extortion from a former employee who filed a federal lawsuit naming both him and the city as defendants. Kenneth Jones, who was director of the city’s Emergency Services and Disaster Agency from February 2022 to August 2025, also claims the mayor retaliated against him and wrongfully terminated his employment. Mayor Jones, through his attorney Chrstopher Parente, said in a statement he expects the court will quickly dismiss the “frivolous” lawsuit.

* Sun-Times | Cook County distributing $2.3 billion in property tax revenue amid long delay due to computer issues: After a four-month delay due to prolonged technical issues, Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas’ office is taking “emergency steps” to distribute $2.3 billion in property tax revenue to local governments, she announced Friday. Pappas blamed Texas-based Tyler Technologies, which contracted with Cook County to upgrade the county’s computer system but has run into problems preventing the distribution of more than $8 billion in property tax funds to local governments, including school districts, that rely on the revenue. “That’s simply unacceptable,” Pappas said in a statement. “Local governments shouldn’t have to worry about their cash flow because a vendor after more than a decade of work has failed to deliver a working system.”

* Paulick Report | Illinois Racing Board Temporarily Shuts Down Hawthorne Harness Meet, OTB Network: The Illinois Racing Board has ordered financially strapped Hawthorne Race Course in Stickney, Ill., to cease live horse racing and off-track betting operations – at least temporarily. The order, made late Friday afternoon, came after Standardbred horsemen at the current harness meet were issued a second round of checks with non-sufficient funds to cover purses and, according to communications within the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association board of directors, Hawthorne failed to secure required bonds for 2026.

* Sun-Times | Insults, spoiled food and no bedding — inside a Chicago landscaper’s ordeal with ICE in Broadview: “They were shoving deportation papers under people’s noses immediately,” said Kristen Hulne, who runs the landscaping company he works for. “‘Here’s $1,000, sign this.’ People were signing not knowing they were self-deporting.” After two days, he was put on a bus to the North Lake Processing Center in Baldwin, Michigan. There they were divided into four groups, and given color-coded T-shirts according to risk — blue, orange and red. He was in the lowest risk group. At North Lake, treatment improved considerably, Estrada said, though he was “starving” — for the first two weeks until he could use a system where his wife put money in a commissary account so he could buy cookies, candy bars and instant ramen.

* WBEZ | Broadview detainees during Operation Midway Blitz were self-deporting at alarming rates, analysis finds: From Sept. 8 through Oct. 15, at least 154 people who were initially booked into Broadview have self-deported, more than nearly every other ICE detention facility in the nation during that time. That’s about 36% of all detainees booked into Broadview during that period who were no longer in ICE detention as of Oct. 15, faster than the 11% self-deportation rate during Trump’s second term before the immigration blitz began and much faster than a rate of 6% during the last year of the Biden administration.

* Sun-Times | Faith leaders denied access to pray with detainees at Broadview ICE facility on Christmas Eve: The Rev. Brendan Curran of the Resurrection Project said members of his organization sent letters and made calls to the Department of Homeland Security prior to arriving at the facility, but government officials refused to grant permission to enter. Curran said access to the facility by religious representatives had been allowed in previous years. It has been denied since President Donald Trump’s administration launched its deportation campaign in the Chicago area in September, Curran said.

* Bloomberg | Chicago suburban library blames tax delay for unpaid muni bonds: The Glenwood-Lynwood Public Library District failed to make a scheduled payment of principal and interest due on Dec. 1, according to a filing reporting a delinquency on Monday. The library has roughly $2.35 million of debt outstanding, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The missed payment for bonds sold in 2014 was caused by “delays in the distribution of property tax receipts held by Cook County, Illinois,” according to the district, roughly 30 miles south of Chicago. The library’s debt is paid from operational tax revenue and, if that falls short, is then secured by property taxes, according to an August 2024 report from S&P Global Ratings, which has assigned it a AA- grade.

* Legal Newsline | Lake Co. Circuit Clerk can’t undo $2.5M verdict for workers fired over politics: A federal judge has agreed to preserve a jury’s verdict ordering the Lake County Circuit Clerk’s Office to pay more than $2.5 million to three workers who say they were fired for supporting a Republican opponent of current Clerk Erin Weinstein. U.S. District Judge Andrea Wood filed an opinion Dec. 18 denying Weinstein’s request for a new trial on a dispute that dates back to the summer of 2016 when Michelle Higgins, Tiffany Deram and Joshua Smothers said they campaigned for Republican incumbent Keith Brin. The workers sued in October 2017, claiming Weinstein fired them shortly after taking office the previous December.

* Aurora Beacon-News | Aurora police to respond to all ShotSpotter activations on New Year’s Eve to curb celebratory gunfire: The department does not publicly release where its coverage areas are, but police leadership has said that around 40% of all confirmed shootings since 2022 have taken place within those two square miles, which represents just 4% of the city’s total land. “ShotSpotter helps officers get to the right location faster, improves situational awareness, and helps us hold offenders accountable while keeping our community safe – especially during high-risk times like New Year’s Eve,” Aurora Police Chief Matt Thomas said in a news release Tuesday.

* Aurora Beacon-News | Oswego extends agreements with federal and state lobbying firms: The Oswego Village Board recently approved extending agreements with federal and state lobbyists to help secure funds for the ongoing efforts to bring Lake Michigan water to the village through a connection with the DuPage Water Commission and a Metra commuter rail extension to Kendall County. Oswego has been working with federal lobbying firm Elevate Government Affairs since 2020 in partnership with Yorkville, Montgomery and Kendall County to share the costs associated with its representation.

* Aurora Beacon-News | Oswego approves new regulations for e-bikes, e-scooters: According to the ordinance, e-bicycles or e-scooters capable of traveling at more than 10 mph cannot be operated on sidewalks and are limited to bicycle paths and roadways. When on a roadway, operators are to follow all rules of the road, according to the ordinance. “Many times, these vehicles are operated by children who do not possess the knowledge and skills to operate these vehicles in a safe manner and at high speed,” Oswego Police Chief Jason Bastin said in a previous presentation to trustees.

* Tribune | Tinley Park considers new fees, fines and inspections to deter absentee landlords: The Tinley Park Village Board is considering six proposals to add rules on rental housing in an effort to better prioritize “community health over corporate wealth,” said Trustee Ken Shaw. Shaw said the policies, which include new fees and fines along with required in-person inspections for rental housing, aim to protect Tinley Park residents from absentee landlords and corporate speculation, and to ensure rental housing is safe and high quality.

* Daily Southtown | Harvey approaches 2 months with no City Council meetings, despite mass layoffs and financial crisis: Harvey ordinarily has City Council meetings on the second and fourth Monday of each month, for a total of 24 scheduled meetings a year. The most recent scheduled meeting, which was canceled, would have been Monday, and would have been the last meeting of the year. A spokesperson for Mayor Christopher Clark said it was not unusual for the final meeting in December to be canceled due to Christmas, despite it being listed on the city’s website. Fourth Ward Ald. Tracy Key said in the past, the city had scheduled around Christmas so that end-of-year conversations could still be held.

* Aurora Beacon-News | Kane County modifying its dial-a-ride system, hoping to streamline process and expand access: Until now, the program has been administered by more than 18 community sponsors, according to the county. Eligible county residents registered with the sponsor, often a township or city, which Brygette Lopez — who works in the county and serves as the main point of contact for Ride in Kane — said ultimately got “out of hand.” Under the changes, registration will be done by Pace, essentially eliminating the community sponsors from the process, according to Heidi Files, Kane County Division of Transportation’s chief of Planning and Programming.

*** Downstate ***

* Illinois Times | Logan County data center plans delayed: A public outcry and inaccurate information on social media about a proposed data center in rural Logan County have prompted officials to delay votes on zoning necessary for the project until at least February. In the meantime, representatives of Miami-based Hut 8 Corp. plan to make a presentation and answer questions about the company’s proposal to build a 500-megawatt data center on 200 acres of farm ground near Latham at 7 p.m. Jan. 5 in front of the Logan County Board’s Zoning and Economic Development Committee.

* Crain’s | One Illinois county charts its own path on property tax sales: With Illinois standing out as the only U.S. state that continues to take away homeowners’ equity when collecting property tax debts, at least one of its 102 counties is taking a different route. With the introduction of a one-page form, Rock Island County in western Illinois has taken a significant step toward protecting homeowners’ property rights in the county of about 145,000 people. It’s a step that could presage what other counties — and Springfield — may ultimately do to bring the state into compliance with a U.S. Supreme Court decision from 2023.

* WGLT | McLean County explores ways to fill funding gaps for childcare, visitation court services: The nonprofit Brightpoint supervises child custody visitation in cases of domestic violence and provides childcare for parents when they have hearings at the McLean County Law and Justice Center. Brightpoint was informed in October that its federal funding for those programs was being canceled. Trial court administrator for the 11th Judicial Circuit, William Scanlon, has said the programs only have enough funding to continue through the end of January.

* WSIL | RISE Community Market Announces Closure After Two Years of Service to Cairo: A grassroots effort built on community pride and local access is preparing to close its doors. The board of the RISE Community Market announced, the cooperative grocery will cease operations at the end of January, citing financial hardship and lack of foot-traffic made continuing unsustainable. Board members say the decision, made during a meeting Tuesday night, was emotional, but necessary. After reviewing operational data and customer traffic patterns, the board voted to close the co-op, with January 31, 2026, set as the final day of business.

* Crain’s | How Bloomington-Normal became the state’s hot home market: The outsized gains in Bloomington-Normal reflect the rise of Rivian, whose assembly plant turbocharged the twin cities’ economy. The electric-vehicle maker grew from 1,000 employees to more than 8,500 over four years but has since leveled off “The market was very tight,” Normal Mayor Chris Koos says. “There were a lot of people coming in with Rivian. Initially they thought they’d have 1,300 to 1,400 employees. They had no idea the trajectory they were going to be on.

* Tribune | Starved Rock, Illinois’ most popular state park, to get $18M trail upgrades in new year: “As you might imagine, with that much foot traffic, a lot of deterioration can occur to the trails, to the paths, to the bridges, stairways, boardwalks, retaining walls, all those things that support the trail system,” Todd Strole, assistant director of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, said at a news conference this fall announcing the work. “The last major trail system upgrade to this park was in the 1990s, and a lot of features have seen a lot of wear and tear since that time.”

* Illinois Times | Meet Springfield’s lasagna lady: Beth Rees is trying to make Springfield a better place, one lasagna at a time. She rents a modest house on the north end with her husband and two daughters, works a full-time job and, like many people, has sometimes struggled to keep the bills paid and put food on the table. For the past five years, she has also made thousands of lasagnas – more than 100,000 individual meals – for people in the Springfield community who might have otherwise gone without one.

* NBC Chicago | Illinois State hopes to make history as they seek first FCS national title: “As long as we get a bid in that playoff spot, we got a shot for everything,” Illinois State linebacker Tye Niekamp said. “And yeah, I think we don’t care about any expectations outside of what’s in our locker room, and I think that’s kind of shown in proving people wrong.” The Redbirds (12-4) took the long way to the program’s first berth in the title game since 2014. They play No. 2 seed Montana State (13-2), with the Bobcats back for a second straight season, a third in five years under coach Brent Vigen and a fourth appearance ever.