A Federal district court judge in Rhode Island is continuing to weigh the legality of the Trump administration’s move earlier this week to freeze trillions in congressionally approved Federal funding despite the administration’s action on Wednesday to rescind the order that authorized the freeze effort.
On Monday, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) declared a freeze on most Federal grant and loan program payments with an aim to defund Federal programs that don’t align with the president’s agenda – creating nearly universal confusion as agencies and funding recipients alike scrambled to fall into compliance with the order and understand how it would impact them.
Subscribers had access to the proposed TRO from the various state attorney general plaintiffs as well as the response from the federal government.
* Chief Judge John J. McConnell, Jr. of the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island today…
In Count I, the States allege that the Executive’s actions by the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) violate the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”) because Congress has not delegated any unilateral authority to the Executive to indefinitely pause all federal financial assistance without considering the statutory and contractual terms governing these billions of dollars of grants.
In Count II, the States allege that the Executive’s actions violate the APA because the failure to spend funds appropriated by Congress is arbitrary and capricious in multiple respects.
In Count III, the States allege that the failure to spend funds appropriated by Congress violates the separation of powers because the Executive has overridden Congress’ judgments by refusing to disburse already-allocated funding for many federal grant programs.
In Count IV, the States allege a violation of the Spending Clause of the U.S. Constitution. U.S. Const. art. I, § 8, cl. law 1.
And in Count V, the States allege a violation of the presentment (U.S. Const. art. I, § 7, cl. 2), appropriations (U.S. Const. art. I, § 7), and take care clauses (U.S. Const. art. II, § 3, cl. 3) (the Executive must “take care that the laws be faithfully executed . . .”)
The Court finds that, based on the evidence before it now, some of which is set forth below, the States are likely to succeed on the merits of some, if not all, their claims. The reasons are as follows:
• The Executive’s action unilaterally suspends the payment of federal funds to the States and others simply by choosing to do so, no matter the authorizing or appropriating statute, the regulatory regime, or the terms of the grant itself. The Executive cites no legal authority allowing it to do so; indeed, no federal law would authorize the Executive’s unilateral action here.
• Congress has instructed the Executive to provide funding to States based on stated statutory factors—for example, population or the expenditure of qualifying State funds. By trying to impose certain conditions on this funding, the Executive has acted contrary to law and in violation of the APA.
• The Executive Orders threaten the States’ ability to conduct essential activities and gave the States and others less than 24 hours’ notice of this arbitrary pause, preventing them from making other plans or strategizing how they would continue to function without these promised funds.
• Congress appropriated many of these funds, and the Executive’s refusal to disburse them is contrary to congressional intent and directive and thus arbitrary and capricious.
• Congress has not given the Executive limitless power to broadly and indefinitely pause all funds that it has expressly directed to specific recipients and purposes and therefore the Executive’s actions violate the separation of powers.
The Executive’s statement that the Executive Branch has a duty “to align Federal spending and action with the will of the American people as expressed through Presidential priorities,” (ECF No. 48-1 at 11) (emphasis added) is a constitutionally flawed statement. The Executive Branch has a duty to align federal spending and action with the will of the people as expressed through congressional appropriations, not through “Presidential priorities.” U.S. Const. art. II, § 3, cl. 3 (establishing that the Executive must “take care that the laws be faithfully executed . . .”). Federal law specifies how the Executive should act if it believes that appropriations are inconsistent with the President’s priorities–it must ask Congress, not act unilaterally. The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 specifies that the President may ask that Congress rescind appropriated funds.3 Here, there is no evidence that the Executive has followed the law by notifying Congress and thereby effectuating a potentially legally permitted so-called “pause.” […]
Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote when he was on the D.C. Circuit:
Like the Commission here, a President sometimes has policy reasons (as distinct from constitutional reasons, cf. infra note 3) for wanting to spend less than the full amount appropriated by Congress for a particular project or program. But in those circumstances, even the President does not have unilateral authority to refuse to spend the funds. Instead, the President must propose the rescission of funds, and Congress then may decide whether to approve a rescission bill. […]
The Court finds that the record now before it substantiates the likelihood of a successful claim that the Executive’s actions violate the Constitution and statutes of the United States.
The Court now moves on to the remaining three injunction considerations.
Irreparable Harm
The States have put forth sufficient evidence at this stage that they will likely suffer severe and irreparable harm if the Court denies their request to enjoin enforcement of the funding pause. […]
Balance of the Equities and Public Interest
As the Court considers the final two factors, the record shows that the balance of equities weighs heavily in favor of granting the States’ TRO. […]
Mootness
The Defendants now claim that this matter is moot because it rescinded the OMB Directive. But the evidence shows that the alleged rescission of the OMB Directive was in name-only and may have been issued simply to defeat the jurisdiction of the courts. The substantive effect of the directive carries on.
Consistent with the findings above, and to keep the status quo, the Court hereby ORDERS that a TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER is entered in this case until this Court rules on the States’ forthcoming motion for a preliminary injunction, which the States shall file expeditiously.
During the pendency of the Temporary Restraining Order, Defendants shall not pause, freeze, impede, block, cancel, or terminate Defendants’ compliance with awards and obligations to provide federal financial assistance to the States, and Defendants shall not impede the States’ access to such awards and obligations, except on the basis of the applicable authorizing statutes, regulations, and terms.
If Defendants engage in the “identif[ication] and review” of federal financial assistance programs, as identified in the OMB Directive, such exercise shall not affect a pause, freeze, impediment, block, cancellation, or termination of Defendants’ compliance with such awards and obligations, except on the basis of the applicable authorizing statutes, regulations, and terms.
Defendants shall also be restrained and prohibited from reissuing, adopting, implementing, or otherwise giving effect to the OMB Directive under any other name or title or through any other Defendants (or agency supervised, administered, or controlled by any Defendant), such as the continued implementation identified by the White House Press Secretary’s statement of January 29, 2025.
Defendants’ attorneys shall provide written notice of this Order to all Defendants and agencies and their employees, contractors, and grantees by Monday, February 3, 2025, at 9 a.m. Defendants shall file a copy of the notice on the docket at the same time.
Defendants shall comply with all notice and procedural requirements in the award, agreement, or other instrument relating to decisions to stop, delay, or otherwise withhold federal financial assistance programs.
The TRO shall be in effect until further Order of this Court. A preliminary hearing, at which time the States will have to produce specific evidence in support of a preliminary injunction, will be set shortly at a day and time that is convenient to the parties and the Court.
*** UPDATE 1 *** Speaker Chris Welch…
The Trump administration’s unlawful order should never have been issued. I’m grateful to Attorney General Raoul’s leadership in this fight for the resources families need to make ends meet, afford rent, put food on the table, and get ahead.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Gov. JB Pritzker…
As I’ve said since it was released and as was previously supported by Tuesday afternoon’s action in court, these cuts were a blatantly illegal power grab intended to cripple programs that provide essential services for millions of the most vulnerable Americans. This ruling specifically calls out the falsehood told by the White House Press Secretary that the retraction of the order does not affect the intent to cut funding. I’m grateful to Illinois Attorney General Raoul and the other Attorney’s General who brought this action, and I pledge to continue to fight unlawful and harmful authoritarian actions like these on behalf of Illinoisans
*** UPDATE 3 *** Comptroller Mendoza…
Millions of Illinois residents, young and old, urban and rural, Republican and Democrat, who receive federally funded state services can be thankful that a federal judge today blocked the Trump administration’s confusing, unconstitutional and dangerous funding freeze.
The constitution empowers the president to align federal spending with Congressional appropriations, not presidential priorities, the judge wrote.
Veterans and poor people who need health care in all 102 counties of Illinois, college students trying to finish their semesters, and school kids in Head Start programs should not be held hostage to political games.
Even as presidential staff try to backpedal, this week has been filled with panic for our most vulnerable residents. These actions create chaos rather than stability and predictability, putting American lives at risk.
My office is closely monitoring the situation and will keep getting payments out as fast as we can.
Many downstate Illinois residents dislike Chicago’s strong influence in the state. Last year, a total of 33 counties voted to secede from Illinois and form their own state. Huston invited those counties to join Indiana. He even created a commission to study the possibility.
That’s first-rate trolling.
I thought it’d be fun to think through the prospect of Indiana picking up these 33 counties. Would it be good for Indiana? Would it be good for those counties? Would it be good for the remaining 69 Illinois counties? […]
Adding the [Illinois] secessionist counties to Indiana would cut [Indiana’s] per capita income enough for us to slide from 14th to 11th place from the bottom. Only 18.6% of adults in these counties have completed college, while the Illinois total is 36.7%. This new “secessionist” state would instantly be the least well-educated state and would be right about where the USA as a whole was in the late 1980s.
*** Statehouse News ***
* Capitol News Illinois | Parents: School didn’t help our child after an older child repeatedly sexually assaulted her: A Stonington couple hopes the Illinois General Assembly takes their daughter’s sexual abuse more seriously than the Taylorville school district seems to. Ashley and Chadd Peden (pictured) appeared at a statehouse news conference Wednesday with State Sen. Steve McClure (R-Springfield) and State Rep. C.D. Davidsmeyer (R-Murrayville). Their bill would require an immediate expulsion in such cases.
*** Statewide ***
* NBC Chicago | Real ID appointments filling up ‘fast.’ Tip to know if you want to secure your spot: Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias said last year that his office was stepping up efforts to ensure that residents get REAL ID-compliant identification prior to the May 2025 deadline, but acknowledged there are “tremendous concerns” about what will happen as the deadline arrives. “We feel pressure … Our facilities will swell up, and it will be a problem if people don’t get out and get their REAL ID’s,” he said at the time.
*** Chicago ***
* Tribune | Judge hands 32-month sentence to developer convicted in scheme to bribe Ald. Edward Burke: In sentencing Charles Cui, U.S. District Chief Judge Virginia Kendall said Cui violated the trust the public put in him as a lawyer through his corruption, and exacerbated it by later lying to federal agents and failing to turn over crucial emails to a grand jury in an attempt to cover it up. Kendall also said a message had to be sent to “other developers here in the city, especially those who are trying to make money on real estate and development of properties.”
* WBEZ | Taxpayers are out more than $30 million on University of Illinois’ scuttled South Loop project: The DPI project was still going forward last summer as two pro sports teams — baseball’s White Sox and soccer’s Fire — were looking to build their own, separate stadiums on Auchi’s land. The current status of those stadium plans is unclear. Dutta says it’s possible that the work the companies did on that proposal might still be able to be used to build on the Far South Side site of the planned Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park.
* Tribune | Obama Presidential Center subcontractor sues over cost overruns, alleges discrimination: Robert McGee, the owner of II in One, a South Side firm that provided concrete and rebar services for the center starting in 2021, sued New York-based Thornton Tomasetti in federal court earlier this month, seeking to be paid back for roughly $40 million in construction costs the local firm covered itself along with its joint venture partners. II in One blamed Thornton Tomasetti for changing standards, saying the company made an “improper and unanticipated decision” to impose new rules around rebar spacing and tolerance requirements, subjected the company to “excessively rigorous and unnecessary inspection,” and extensive paperwork that “impacted productivity and resulted in millions in losses.”
* Tribune | Chicago Sky to face Brazil in a preseason game on LSU’s campus to celebrate Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso: The Chicago Sky will play a preseason game against the Brazilian national team on LSU’s campus on May 2. The event will celebrate the team’s pair of second-year stars, pitting Kamilla Cardoso against her native country’s team while bringing Angel Reese back to Baton Rouge for her first game at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center since her senior season with the Tigers.
* Block Club Chicago | Volunteer-Run Avondale Maker Space Raising Funds To Buy Building From Landlord: The volunteer-run membership group has been negotiating with its landlord since at least September; the members will be able to buy the building if they raise $300,000, Plasterer said. […] Close to $100,000 has been raised for the mission so far, said Andrew Wingate, another member leading fundraising efforts. The group has a year to raise the money it needs, and its members hope to find various revenue streams over the next several months.
*** Cook County and Suburbs ***
* Daily Southtown | Teacher’s comment about deportations at Dixmoor school sparks fear as threat of ICE raids loom: Amid community fears of potential raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, Guadalupe Gutierrez sensed more chaos when her cousin came home from Dixmoor’s Rosa Parks Middle School crying. “He told me, ‘I’m scared to go out,’” Gutierrez said Tuesday. Gutierrez said her cousin and other students told her their teacher came into class holding up a newspaper with a story about potential mass deportations under President Donald Trump and saying, ‘I can’t wait for this to happen.’” […] The teacher said Thursday that “these are all false allegations,” declining to elaborate further.
* CBS Chicago | Solidarity volunteers patrol Chicago neighborhoods, responding to tips of possible ICE raids: A group in the western Chicago suburbs say they are taking action over changing immigration policy. They’ve created teams looking for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in progress and responding to tips about immigration detainments. The group describes themselves as advocates for immigrants and says they want them to know their rights. They spent part of their Wednesday making the rounds in Elgin.
* Daily Southtown | Judge reverses special prosecutor decision in Will County veto case: A Will County judge Thursday reversed his December ruling that would have appointed a special prosecutor to represent 10 Will County Board Republicans in a road widening dispute with County Executive Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant. Ten board Republicans filed a lawsuit last year against Bertino-Tarrant after she vetoed a resolution that would have stopped the planned widening of 143rd Street to five lanes through Homer Glen. Bertino-Tarrant originally signed the resolution that asked the county’s division of transportation to explore a three-lane alternative, but later said that was in error and issued the veto.
*** Downstate ***
* WCIA | ‘I strongly denounce this hate’: Champaign mayor responds to council member’s swastika post on Facebook: Council member Davion Williams changed his profile picture to the image of a swastika. The post quickly drew criticism in the comments, with people responding that the symbol is hateful. Williams replied, saying the swastika had been used for thousands of years prior across multiple cultures and religions to represent “good fortune, well-being, and spirituality” and symbolize “peace, prosperity, and the cyclical nature of life.” “I have just seen the swastika on Council Member Davion Williams Facebook page. I strongly denounce this hate,” she said. “I will be issuing a full statement today on this, but I did not want to let this hate happen without taking an immediate stand.”
* WCIA | Central IL nursing administrators call for communication to protect patients: People in long-term care facilities trust people like nurses to take care of them, but some people in the industry in Central Illinois say that doesn’t always happen. They say a nurse in St. Joseph has been disciplined for stealing drugs several times — and she still has an active license. They’re frustrated by what they see as a lack of communication between the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) and the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR). IDPH deals with the violations and disciplines the facilities. But when it comes to individuals who commit the acts, they see them continuing to work with little to no consequence.
*** National ***
* Investigate Midwest | Trump’s funding freeze chills agriculture industry: Rob Larew, president of the National Farmers Union, said farmers and ranchers throughout the U.S. were confused by this week’s order. “We’re getting questions from our members who have made investments on a number of fronts, everything from commercial kitchens to building out processing to even big questions about the IRA,” said Larew, referring to the Inflation Reduction Act. “We have very few answers right now and lots of questions.”
* BOLTS | This City Inspired A New National Standard for Policing Homelessness. Now It’s Cracking Down Even More: Since the campsites opened last summer, many have raised concerns over the conditions, which are gravel lots with portable toilets and no running water. Disability Rights Oregon (DRO) condemned conditions at the sites in letters to Bartholomew and the local police chief in September and October 2024. The organization cautioned that a requirement that residents vacate their plots every week, forcing them to shuttle back and forth between the two designated campsites if they had not secured housing, was “effectively impossible” for some with disabilities.
* AP | RFK Jr. kept asking to see the science that vaccines were safe. After he saw it, he dismissed it: But Kennedy repeatedly refused to acknowledge scientific consensus that childhood vaccines don’t cause autism and that COVID-19 vaccines saved millions of lives, and he falsely asserted the government has no good vaccine safety monitoring. While appearing to ignore mainstream science, he cited flawed or tangential research to make his points, such as suggesting Black people may need different vaccines than whites.
* Reuters | Exclusive: Musk aides lock government workers out of computer systems at US agency, sources say: The two officials, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, said some senior career employees at OPM have had their access revoked to some of the department’s data systems. The systems include a vast database called Enterprise Human Resources Integration, which contains dates of birth, Social Security numbers, appraisals, home addresses, pay grades and length of service of government workers, the officials said.
* You can read all 100+ pages of the jury’s instructions by clicking here. Happy hunting.
Click here to see the Tribune’s breakdown of the charges against Madigan and McClain.
* You can click here and here to follow the Madigan trial. If you want live updates on the trial, the Sun-Times will be texting out the latest on jury deliberations and the verdict. Click here to sign up.
“Apparently there is some kind of arts and crafts going on back there,” U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey quipped after reading the Thursday note. When another message from the jurors arrived later in the day, the judge joked that it would be a red flag only “if they start asking for pipe cleaners and macaroni.”
The panel was sent back to deliberate at about 3:15 p.m. Wednesday after attorneys presented roughly 27 hours of closing arguments this week and last. Jurors will 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.
* While we await a ruling, federal courthouse reporters Jon Seidel and Jason Meisner flagged these stories…
* Sun-Times | ‘Facts and common sense’: Chicago’s corruption jurors reflect on past trials as Ed Burke’s case nears: The views of those who spoke to the Sun-Times were just as varied. But the jurors largely praised the staff at the federal courthouse, believed they were fair to the defendants and did their best to follow the rules laid out by each judge. “All I had were the facts and common sense and some instructions,” said Tiesha Jones, a Chicagoan who served on the panel that convicted former Madigan chief of staff Tim Mapes of perjury and attempted obstruction of justice.
* Tribune | In State of State speech, Gov. J.B. Pritzker says Illinois needs to ‘root out the purveyors of greed and corruption’: “We must root out the purveyors of greed and corruption — in both parties — whose presence infects the bloodstream of government,” Pritzker said in his midday speech before the General Assembly. “It’s no longer enough to sit idle while under-the-table deals, extortion and bribery persist. Protecting that culture or tolerating it is no longer acceptable. We must take urgent action to restore the public’s trust in our government,” he said.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson on Tuesday declined to respond to a request from the Republican chairperson of the U.S. House Oversight Committee about the city’s self-proclaimed status as a sanctuary city.
Instead, Johnson referred questions to the city’s top lawyer, Corporation Counsel Mary Richardson-Lowry, who said the letter sent by U.S. Rep James Comer (R-Kentucky) was under “legal review.”
The letter from Comer, which does not have the legal force of a subpoena, also invites Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston and New York City Mayor Eric Adams to a hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Feb. 11. […]
Comer’s letter also requests all documents and communications related to Chicago’s sanctuary status, including those between each city, non-governmental organizations and state officials. State law also prohibits law enforcement agents from assisting federal immigration agents.
* OK, on a related note, I received a few of these releases today from the House Republican Organization…
Harry Benton Must Stand with Taxpayers, Not Illegal Migrants
Springfield, IL – While Illinois taxpayers shoulder the hundreds of millions of dollars wasted on sanctuary city policies, Rep. Harry Benton has remained silent. This week, Mayor of Chicago Brandon Johnson was invited to testify before Congress and provide documentation on Chicago’s “sanctuary city” policies. Chicago’s mayor is pushing back, showing an unwillingness to be transparent. Benton has been silent.
The people of Illinois are paying the price for Mayor Johnson’s radical agenda, and Harry Benton refuses to ask where the money is going. If Brandon Johnson won’t testify in Washington, then Benton must stand up and demand hearings in Springfield to bring transparency and accountability to this mess.
While Illinois families struggle with rising taxes, crime, and underfunded services, Benton continues to protect the failed policies draining state resources. Instead of demanding real solutions, he’s choosing to bury his head in the sand while taxpayers foot the bill.
The people of Illinois deserve answers. Will Benton deliver them, or continue protecting Chicago’s radical sanctuary city policies?
The 97th District comprises portions of Will and Kendall Counties.
* Similar one for Rep. Stuart. Excerpt…
The people of Illinois deserve to know just how much they’re paying for Chicago’s sanctuary city chaos. If Mayor Brandon Johnson refuses to answer questions in Washington, then Katie Stuart should demand hearings in Springfield to find out exactly what’s happening, how much it’s costing taxpayers, and who is paying the price.
* And Rep. Ness…
Taxpayers have already spent hundreds of millions of dollars covering the costs of Mayor Johnson’s disastrous immigration policies, yet Suzanne Ness refuses to ask where that money is going. If Johnson won’t testify in Washington, then Ness must stand up and demand hearings in Springfield. People across Illinois deserve answers.
* Meanwhile, Marter is already running again…
Congressional candidate Jim Marter released the following statement today, denouncing U.S. Representative Lauren Underwood’s repeated failure to support the safety and well-being of American women. Marter emphasized Underwood’s recent votes against key bipartisan legislation designed to protect women from violence, particularly crimes committed by illegal immigrants.
“In the first month of 2025, Lauren Underwood voted against the Laken Riley Act and the Preventing Violence Against Women by Illegal Aliens Act, both of which had broad bipartisan support,” said Marter.
“She even refused to support the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act. That’s three major votes in a single month that prove Lauren Underwood is not for women; she is for radical ideologies. She continually votes against the safety of American citizens, disregarding the victims of violence, perpetrated by criminal illegal aliens.
“Underwood has demonstrated an alarming lack of concern for the safety of women in her district. She has shown she is even unwilling to deport the most dangerous criminals—including rapists, pedophiles, and murderers. She is putting American women, our wives and daughters, neighbors and loved ones, in harm’s way. Additionally, her votes disproportionately endanger marginalized communities, where many of these violent criminals continue to victimize innocent people.”
Underwood defeated Marter by 10 points in November, doubling Kamala Harris’ five-point winning margin in the 14th District.
* I very much agree with the Chicago Tribune editorial board that one of the state’s three employee recruitment ads is cringey as all getout. But the Tribsters based their overall argument - that the state doesn’t really have a recruitment problem - on faulty data…
But as the state looks to lure more employees to join its ranks, it’s worth noting that state government added 15,600 jobs, among the highest gains of any industry statewide, from December 2023 to December 2024, according to an Illinois Policy Institute analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
The editorial board just hired a former IPI employee, so of course they’d use those numbers.
* I reached out to the comptroller’s office to double-check. Here’s the actual state headcount based on W2s issued, including temporary workers/contractors like snow plow drivers…
State employee headcount end of December 2023: 78,232
State employee headcount end of December 2024: 80,039
So, that’s an increase of 1,807 people, a 2.3 percent rise above the previous year, not an increase of 15,600.
* From the governor’s press secretary…
The Tribune’s editorial is an insult to hardworking state employees who dedicate their lives to serving the people of Illinois. State employees show up every day to do the critical work of supporting working families, making sure taxpayers receive benefits, providing healthcare services, and serving in law enforcement. Attracting and retaining talent to the state workforce positions Illinois to succeed.
Having a job where good healthcare is available, competitive benefits, and a commitment to public service is something we are proud of. After state government was stripped to the studs during the previous administration, Governor Pritzker took the necessary steps to rebuild a government that actually functions.
Some Illinois Democrats are pushing the General Assembly to pass legislation that would require the state’s five pension systems to divest from fossil fuel companies.
Under Senate Bill 130, the pension systems for legislators, state employees, university employees, teachers and judges would be prohibited from investing in any fossil fuel companies or their affiliates. Pension systems would be required to complete divestment in fossil fuel companies by 2030 but would be prohibited from making any new investments in them once the bill is signed by the governor.
Fossil fuel companies covered under the legislation include subsidiaries, affiliates and parent companies of 200 publicly traded companies with the largest fuel reserves in the world, the 30 largest public companies owning coal-fired power plants and any company with fossil fuel operations at the core of its business. […]
Rep. Will Guzzardi, D-Chicago, a budget leader in the House, said he believes divesting from fossil fuel companies will ultimately lead to better investment outcomes for pension systems as lawmakers search for ways to improve pension liabilities. Illinois has a $143.7 billion unfunded pension liability, according to the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability.
Democratic state Sen. Dave Koehler has started his sixth term seeking to advance legislation in several key areas including agriculture and the environment, but concerns about the state budget could overshadow much of lawmakers’ work during the spring session. […]
Koehler said he is interested in passing bills related to agriculture and the environment this spring. His bill, the Clean Transportation Standard Act, would seek to limit carbon emissions in transportation by creating a credit marketplace advised by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. Companies could earn credits from this marketplace for using plant-based fuel or switching to electric vehicles. Airline, rail, ocean-going, and military fuel would not be included. […]
Koehler also said he is planning to reintroduce a bill to raise the threshold for the estate tax to prevent farmers from losing their land to estate taxes. The bill did not get out of committee last year. […]
Koehler also plans to sponsor a bill with Rep. Sharon Chung to increase funding for Illinois State University through a change to the higher education funding formula.
Amends the Unified Code of Corrections. Eliminates provisions that a person must serve various percentages for particular offenses. Provides that the rules and regulations of the Department of Corrections shall provide that the individual in custody shall receive one day of sentence credit for each day of service in prison other than when a sentence of natural life imprisonment has been imposed. Provides that each day of sentence credit shall reduce by one day the incarcerated person’s period of incarceration set by the court. Provides that within 6 months after the effective date of the amendatory Act, the Department of Corrections shall recalculate each incarcerated person’s release date by crediting each person one day sentence credit for each day the incarcerated person has spent in prison on the current sentence. Provides that an incarcerated person serving a term of natural life imprisonment shall be eligible to accumulate sentence credit so that in the event that his or her sentence is reduced to something less than a sentence of natural life imprisonment, it can thereafter be credited toward his or her new sentence. Makes technical changes. Effective January 1, 2026.
Two state lawmakers have filed bills that would officially “lock the clock” by making daylight saving time permanent.
This would end the decades-long practice of Illinois residents setting their clocks forward one hour on the second Sunday in March and setting it back one hour on the first Sunday in November.
The bills, proposed by Reps. Bob Morgan, D-Highland Park, and Brad Halbrook, R-Shelbyville, would keep the time set as it is during the spring and summer. The practical effect of this would be darker mornings and lighter evenings during the fall and winter seasons. […]
In Illinois, at least a dozen bills on the subject — most of them within the past 10 years — have been filed by members of both political parties. Most of them aimed to move the state to permanent daylight saving time.
Nearly all those bills died without receiving a committee hearing in its chamber of origin. However, the Illinois Senate in 2019 overwhelmingly passed legislation sponsored by then-state Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, that would have transitioned Illinois to permanent daylight saving time pending federal legislation repealing or amending the Uniform Time Act of 1966. That bill, however, never got past the gatekeeping House Rules Committee.
Illinois is a bit below the national birth rate average (51.8 births per 1,000 women here vs. 54.5 nationally). So, not good for us, unless and until someone successfully sues.
Illinois does pretty well on that measurement. In 2023, for example, just 3.5 percent of all live births were delivered by those under 20 years old. Here are the same results for the surrounding states which wouldqualify for those additional USDOT funds…
President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Wednesday seeking to withhold federal funding from K-12 schools that teach “discriminatory equity ideology” or “gender ideology.”
The order defines discriminatory equity ideology as anything “that treats individuals as members of preferred or disfavored groups” rather than as individuals. That includes the idea that people can be inherently privileged or oppressed because of their race or gender, which likely targets concepts such as white privilege. […]
Federal funding accounts for about 8% to 10% of funding for K-12 schools but can represent a much larger portion in high-poverty schools and districts. […]
On Tuesday, the Department of Education opened a civil rights investigation into a Denver high school that converted a girls’ restroom to an all-gender restroom based solely off a local news report, rather than a formal complaint. That probe could be a preview of how the federal government might deal with schools that the Trump White House believes are ignoring or somehow flouting the executive order, without a time-consuming complaint or investigative process.
Coming to a school near you.
* Also, I’m still waiting to hear back from the Illinois State Board of Education on the potential loss of funds if this executive order stands…
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday that aims to steer large amounts of federal money away from public schools and toward private-school vouchers and other “educational alternatives.” […]
The executive order sidesteps Congress and directs the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to find ways to take existing money that goes to public schools, child care providers, and nonprofits and give it to families to use at private schools or for homeschooling expenses. […]
The order also directs the Department of Education to prioritize school choice programs in its discretionary grants.
The state board didn’t even give me the courtesy of acknowledging receipt of my question.
…Adding… The state board of education finally got back to me…
Hi Rich,
We do not have a definition of discretionary to make this determination and have not been provided any guidance on this issue from the U.S. Department of Education.
– On Wednesday, Chicago organizers withdrew pending motions requesting an emergency court order against the Trump administration’s raids in Chicago. Given that the Trump administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and a host of deputized federal law enforcement agencies have already begun their operations in Chicago, organizers will focus on responding to the immediate needs of communities while gathering additional evidence about the wide scope of rights violations federal law enforcement is creating in Chicagoan communities. These violations are far beyond the First Amendment violations alleged in this lawsuit.
The lawsuit will remain active while organizers engage in widespread outreach and fact finding on the ground. Local groups are committed to sharing vital know-your-rights information with local immigrant communities, monitoring immigration enforcement operations in Chicago, and growing the sanctuary movement even in the face of repression and the chilling effect from the Trump administration. […]
Filed on January 25, the lawsuit was brought forth by Just Futures Law, Community Justice Civil Rights Clinic of Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, and MK Law on behalf of four organizational plaintiffs: Organized Communities Against Deportation (OCAD), Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR), Brighton Park Neighborhood Council (BPNC), and Raise the Floor Alliance (RTF). In the filing, groups claim President Trump’s animosity toward sanctuary cities motivates his administration’s plan to unconstitutionally target and conduct raids in Chicago, a violation of groups’ First Amendment rights, an attempt to quash the sanctuary movement.
Today, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), represented by Democracy Forward and Bredhoff and Kaiser PLLC, filed suit against the Trump administration challenging efforts to politicize the civil service through illegal executive orders.
The lawsuit asserts that President Trump illegally exceeded his authority in attempting to unilaterally roll back a regulation that protects the rights of civil servants. The suit also names the Office of Personnel Management for its role in failing to adhere to the Administrative Procedure Act in its attempts to roll back this same regulation.
“AFGE is filing suit with our partner union today to protect the integrity of the American people’s government,” said AFGE National President Everett Kelley. “Together, we can stop the efforts to fire hundreds of thousands of experienced, hard-working Americans who have dedicated their careers to serving their country and prevent these career civil servants from being replaced with unqualified political flunkies loyal to the president, but not the law or Constitution.”
“Schedule F is a shameless attempt to politicize the federal workforce by replacing thousands of dedicated, qualified civil servants with political cronies,” said AFSCME President Lee Saunders. “Our union was born in the fight for a professional, non-partisan civil service, and our communities will pay the price if these anti-union extremists are allowed to undo decades of progress by stripping these workers of their freedoms. Together, we are fighting back.”
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is blocking those who took part in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol from working in state jobs, ignoring President Donald Trump’s attempt to offer them a clean slate last week in a sweeping set of pardons and commutations.
Late Thursday, Pritzker directed the state’s Department of Central Management Services, the state’s primary hiring authority, to restrict hiring of those who took part in the attack on the Capitol by declaring they had taken part in “infamous and disgraceful conduct that is antithetical to the mission of the State.” […]
Pritzker’s new directive marks the first and most direct pushback to Trump’s power spree that has tested the bounds of presidential authority through a fray of executive orders, including some that have drawn judicial rebuke. The Democratic governor of the Midwestern blue state has for years acted as an antagonist to Trump.
Pritzker’s directive is likely to draw legal challenges, but sources familiar with it said that working through the personnel code was thought to serve as the best legal footing should it face court pushback.
One of my most important duties as Governor is protecting public safety in the State of Illinois.Recently, Donald Trump issued more than 1,500 clemencies and pardons for individuals who were convicted or accused of rioting at the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021. These rioters attacked law enforcement officers protecting people in the Capitol, disrupted the peaceful transfer of power, and undermined bedrock principles of American democracy.
These rioters were accused or convicted of a combination of felonies and misdemeanors, including but not limited to: violence against law enforcement officers, threats against Members of Congress, destruction of federal property, and many other crimes. These crimes attacks threatened public safety as Members of Congress, staff, and other workers who were forced to hide from the violence for hours.
I am committed to building a State workforce that upholds our shared values and delivers results for the people of Illinois. Our State workforce must reflect the values of Illinois and demonstrate honesty, integrity, and loyalty to serving the taxpayers. No one who attempts to overthrow a government should serve in government.
The State’s Personnel Code, administered by the Department of Central Management Services (CMS)and by you as its Director, requires the rejection of candidates for State employment who have engaged in infamous or disgraceful conduct (20 ILCS 415/8b.4). To protect the integrity of our workforce and safety of our State, I hereby direct CMS to apply the State Personnel Code and consider any participation in the January 6 insurrection as infamous and disgraceful conduct that is antithetical to the mission of the State.
Thank you for your leadership at CMS building a workforce that reflects our shared values, prioritizes public safety, and prevents these rioters from attacking the rule of law in Illinois.
* Related…
* NPR | Criminal records of Jan. 6 rioters pardoned by Trump include rape, domestic violence: While many people had no criminal record prior to committing crimes on Jan. 6, NPR has identified dozens of defendants with prior convictions or pending charges for crimes including rape, sexual abuse of a minor, domestic violence, manslaughter, production of child sexual abuse material and drug trafficking.
* Law & Crime | ‘Efforts to … erase the insurrection’: Deletion of Jan. 6 database by Trump administration appears to violate federal law, watchdog says: The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a federal watchdog group, has penned an open letter to the Inspector General of the Department of Justice and the Archivist of the United States, urging them to “take action” and investigate the DOJ’s removal of its Jan. 6 database — detailing criminal charges and convictions related to the 2021 Capitol attack — which they call a “likely violation” of federal law.
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My sense is, I haven’t heard anything new, that things have calmed down quite a lot.
Having said that, there is no indication, you heard this from the White House press secretary, there’s no indication that the Trump administration has any intention of pulling back on the idea of a freeze or even an elimination of major federal programs that benefit people in the state of Illinois, Meals on Wheels, Head Start, Medicaid, things that really matter to people every day. Not to mention grant programs for state police, for local police, those are all things that are at risk as a result of the threat that was made.
And it’s clearly their intention to carry it out. It’s just that they got so much negative feedback all in one day from all across the country, including from Republican elected officials, Democratic elected officials and just nonprofits across the country. So, you know, I think they’re rethinking how they can still accomplish the goal without getting all the negative feedback. […]
We’re doing our best to put together a budget that is balanced. We’re doing our best to think about the contingencies that we might have to have as eventualities because of what we think might be coming from the Trump administration.
But every day we’re going to have to communicate to all the nonprofits and all the people in our states, and by the way, Republican mayors, Republican local elected officials that we talked to over the last 48 hours, deeply concerned about what the threat is to their local communities.
And so I think that, again, if we keep the pressure on and we keep communicating that, hopefully, hopefully they will be deterred from the worst parts of what they’re intending. Are we for efficiencies? Of course, we are. We all want to find efficiencies in government, and if they can find some and help us effectuate them, that’s great, but cutting programs massively to basically give a massive tax break to the wealthiest people in the country does not seem like something the American people will tolerate
We have worked so hard over the last six years to get nine credit upgrades, and I believe we have others that are coming to us because of being prudent. And if we balance the budget again this year, I believe people will finally see that Illinois can govern itself.
I heard that when I went to New York my first year in office. In fact, my first month in office. I met with the credit rating agencies, I met with the bond investors. And I heard this thing. I never heard anybody like, the most insulting thing you can get as a state, which is ‘We don’t think Illinois knows how to govern itself.’ And can you imagine?
And so I said, ‘Wait, well, I just took over. So could we, you know, could you give us the benefit of the doubt?’ And the answer was, essentially, no. ‘We’ve seen you mishandle budgets in Illinois,’ and not me, but previous administrations. ‘And so we need to see some consistency. We need you to balance the budget. We need you to make progress, etc.’ And I said, we’re going to do that. And I told them how we do it, and guess what? We’ve done it, and that’s why we’re getting credit upgrades, and we want to stay on that path.
So that, to me, is the most important thing we can have. Whatever it is that we do on the pension system has to be within the context of making sure we’re improving our credit. And if you think credit ratings don’t matter, let me tell you, hundreds of millions of dollars get spent in interest payments if we don’t get that right. And if we do get it right, savings of hundreds of millions of dollars, either in the potential for tax cuts or spending on the things that we really need to invest in.
It’s very important that we live within our means in this state, and that we not resort to tax increases as a way to, you know, to balance the budget, right? And so that’s what the communication we’ve had with our agencies and looking at all the priorities that we need to take care of.
Kaegi touted the need to pass “circuit-breaker” legislation in the General Assembly during Wednesday’s appearance. Supporters have floated several forms of a circuit-breaker program in recent months. Most involve a rebate or credit to low- or fixed-income homeowners who see their property tax bills rise above a certain percentage. Kaegi’s plan would apply to “the bottom half of people who are experiencing spikes of 25% or more,” he said Wednesday. “We know the key is making it a priority in Springfield.”
Ald. Desmon Yancy, 5th, and Ald. Mike Rodriguez, 22nd, joined suburban mayors from Hazel Crest, Burnham and Dixmoor at the news conference, saying quickly rising tax bills for low- and fixed-income homeowners are becoming unsustainable.
“My residents, the working-class residents of our communities, need stability so that they are not driven from their homes,” Rodriguez said. “We see just east of my ward significant displacements, and, yes, gentrification happening. We want to be on the vanguard of preservation.”
While Kaegi said his proposal has sponsors in both the Illinois House and Senate, it does not have a funding source for an estimated $200 million price tag.
* ICYMI: Chicago sued by white men barred from Bally’s casino investment. Tribune…
- Bally’s Corp. and the City of Chicago were accused of discriminating against white men in a lawsuit by a conservative legal group challenging a $1.7 billion casino project that offered a 25% ownership stake only to women and people of color.
- Richard Fisher and Phillip Aronoff allege they were unable to invest in the project because they’re White men, according to the suit filed Wednesday in federal court by the American Alliance for Equal Rights.
- The suit challenges a provision in the Illinois Gambling Act requiring gaming companies to establish diversity programs that award 25% of contracts and other agreements to women and minority-owned businesses.
- American Alliance for Equal Rights focuses on lawsuits targeting DEI initiatives and “distinctions made on the basis of race and ethnicity,” according to its website. The organization was founded by conservative legal activist Edward Blum.
* QC online | Illinois GOP lawmaker says she’s received ’some phone calls’ on undocumented IDOC inmates: Since then, Bryant claims she has received phone calls from employees about undocumented inmates. She instructed her staff to not ask for names of those calling her office in order to ensure they are not reprimanded. “I asked for the offender’s name, the offender’s institutional number, and what facility the offender is in which they’re located,” Bryant said at a press conference at the state Capitol on Tuesday. “So I don’t know if it’s their family who are calling, I don’t know if it’s staff at the facilities that are calling, specifically because I don’t want to know who those folks are, and then I can protect them from those who would go after them for reporting someone who has violated federal law.”
* Tribune | Madigan jury, flush with office supplies, finishes first full day of deliberations without reaching verdict: So far the only communication from the jurors has been about scheduling — and office supplies. Shortly before noon Thursday, they sent a note to the judge asking for more highlighters, sticky notes and white-out. That followed requests on Wednesday for “more pens and highlighters and tape” as well as “at least five more copies of the indictment.” “Apparently there is some kind of arts and crafts going on back there,” U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey quipped after reading the Thursday note. When another message from the jurors arrived later in the day, the judge joked that it would be a red flag only “if they start asking for pipe cleaners and macaroni.”
*** Statehouse News ***
* 21st Show | ‘It makes you wonder what is next’: Illinois Comptroller Susana A. Mendoza reacts to freeze on federal aid: Illinois Comptroller Susana A. Mendoza reacted to the freeze and how the state is reacting, including Attorney General Kwame Raoul and other states suing to stop Trump’s Executive Order. Besides that, she said the chaos caused by the changes has made many anxious. “We should always be looking to find efficiencies in government, to find wasteful spending… this is certainly not the way to go about it. It was a master class in incompetency,” said Mendoza. “It’s easy for people to say we should cut something until it’s their child’s cancer treatment that gets cut.”
*** Statewide ***
* Tribune | Illinois state flag has fans, and could keep flying after design contest: Ted Kaye, a vexillologist, or person who studies flags, calls it a “seal on a bedsheet” — an unflattering term for a flag design in vexillology circles — and said Illinois needs a rebrand. He noted that the flag’s details can’t be distinguished at a distance and that the white background can’t be used on graphic designs because the white bleeds into the background. […] [Rep. Terri] Bryant said she was not clear on what the costs of changing the flag might be and plans to request an estimate during the spring legislative session. But [Sen. Doris] Turner said she is confident the costs won’t be high. She noted that the commission is made up of volunteers and said the state would follow Utah in replacing flags gradually as they wear out.
*** Chicago ***
* WBEZ | New CPS Board boosts its legal tab as it faces its outgoing CEO in court: Initially, the board approved a $40,000 contract for firm Cozen O’Connor in mid-November, just two and a half months ago. While the amount is not much in the scope of a $9.8 billion budget, it shows that costs are adding up in a leadership drama that has gripped Chicago Public Schools since the summer. At its root is a bitter disagreement between the CEO and the mayor’s office over how to deal with a budget deficit and how to settle the Chicago Teachers Union contract.
* WGN | Irish immigrant living in Illinois faces growing fear amid nationwide federal immigration raids: She said she initially tried to fix things with an attorney but was told that she had no options to make things right. So she stayed, fell in love, and later became pregnant. But things eventually took a turn for the worse. “The relationship became extremely, like, abusive,” the woman said. “And any time I tried to leave with my children he would tell me, you know, ‘You’re not a citizen, they’re not going to let you take her.’”
* Tribune | Chicago sued by white men barred from Bally’s casino investment: Bally’s Corp. and the City of Chicago were accused of discriminating against white men in a lawsuit by a conservative legal group challenging a $1.7 billion casino project that offered a 25% ownership stake only to women and people of color. The city violated the civil rights of Richard Fisher and Phillip Aronoff, who said they were unable to invest in the project because they’re White men, according to the suit filed Wednesday in federal court by the American Alliance for Equal Rights.
* Tribune | For first time in 92 years, Walgreens suspends quarterly dividend amid financial struggles: The change comes amid struggles for the Deerfield-based retail pharmacy giant. Walgreens announced plans in October to shutter 1,200 stores over the next three years, including in Chicago. Walgreens has been cutting costs for years, including through layoffs in Illinois and other locations. Walgreens said in a news release Thursday that it was suspending quarterly dividends “as management continues to evaluate and refine its capital allocation policy consistent with the company’s broader long-term turnaround efforts.”
* Crain’s | WBBM gains ground as Chicago radio listeners demand real-time news: Driven largely by interest in the 2024 presidential election, WBBM Newsradio 780 AM saw its audience grow from a 4.8 to 5.7 in Nielsen’s annual audio ratings. The station held its No. 3 spot in the 2024 rankings and outperformed rival WGN Radio 720 AM, which saw listenership decline from 3.2 to 2.9, landing it tied for eighth.
*** Cook County and Suburbs ***
* Daily Herald | A serial killer prowling the suburbs? Here’s the truth behind viral posts: It wasn’t long before police there received numerous online messages and phone calls about the ominous reports, Deputy Chief Victor DiVito told us this week. It’s not clear exactly who’s behind the hoax or why, but versions of the post have appeared in groups from Pennsylvania to Washington state and Wisconsin to Louisiana. “It’s instilling fear, obviously, nationwide,” DiVito said.
* Daily Herald | Northwest Community Healthcare cuts more than 100 jobs, discontinues inpatient psychiatric services: Endeavor Health, which now runs the Arlington Heights hospital following a series of mergers and acquisitions, announced the job cuts to employees Wednesday and in a legal public notice published Thursday in the Daily Herald. The layoffs are tied to the upcoming discontinuation of inpatient psychiatric services effective April 11 and are expected to include nurses and others with specialized skills who work at the NCH Behavioral Health Center, 901 W. Kirchoff Road.
* Daily Herald | ‘Losing this funding will cause deaths’: Suburban leaders blast Trump’s federal funding freeze: “I am not being melodramatic when I say this — losing this funding will cause deaths,” said Laura Fry, Executive Director of Live4Lali, an Arlington Heights-based nonprofit group fighting substance abuse. Fry joined representatives from other suburban social service agencies at an online news conference Thursday to discuss the potential impacts of Trump’s $3 trillion funding freeze, the fate of which is unclear. Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart and Lake County Board Chair Sandy Hart also participated in the discussion, which was hosted by U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider of Highland Park.
*** Downstate ***
* Rockford Register Star | Letter carrier’s campaign for Rockford City Council raises federal Hatch Act concerns: A U.S. Postal Service letter carrier’s campaign for Rockford City Council is raising questions about a 1939 law that prohibits federal employees from participating in a partisan elections. Lawrence Steward, 41, of Rockford, grew to prominence when his friend and colleague Jay Larson was killed during a bloody March 27 spree of violence last year that left four dead and seven wounded in a Rockford neighborhood. Grief-stricken letter carriers across the region turned to Steward for guidance and leadership as president of the National Association of Letter Carriers Local 245. Steward said he has no plans to drop out of the election.
* WCIA | I-155 back open after standoff with driver, State Police say: State Police said they responded to Milepost 9 near Emden around 10 p.m. on Wednesday to help a driver on the highway. But, a portion of the interstate was closed in Logan County after the individual refused to leave their car. By 2 p.m. on Thursday, the individual still refused to leave their vehicle. As of 7 p.m. on Thursday, State Police confirmed that the individual was taken into custody and transported to an area hospital for treatment. All lanes of I-155 are open.
* Illinois Times | How the 1908 Race Riot led to the NAACP: On Aug. 14-15, 1908, mobs and demonstrators destroyed at least 21 Black businesses in Springfield and burned the homes of more than 40 families. Among those killed during the riot was William Donnegan, a prominent elderly Black cobbler and real estate investor who was lynched across from his house at Spring and Edwards streets. The day after Donnegan was dragged from his home, an out-of-town journalist named William English Walling came to Springfield and interviewed many local people. He published an article, “Race War in the North,” two weeks later in the New York periodical The Independent. Racial violence and lynchings were sadly common in many cities at that time. In 1905, W.E.B. DuBois and a few others had founded the Niagara Movement, a national civil rights organization.
* Illinois Times | Rail project gets closer to completion: During a presentation Friday, Jan. 24, at the Citizens Club of Springfield, city and county officials outlined plans to finish work on the sixth and final “usable segment” of construction to accommodate the new two-lane railroad along the 10th Street corridor. Construction of overpasses and underpasses is aimed at improving traffic flow and eliminating excess train noise between Stanford Avenue and Sangamon Avenue. The final usable segment, which will begin construction in spring 2025 and is expected to be completed in 2027, will include the North Grand overpass located from 11th to 19th Street, and the North Grand Avenue underpass from Ninth to 11th Street.
* Illinois Times | SIU’s economic impact: Illinois taxpayers support the Springfield-based medical school to the tune of $41.1 million in state general revenue funds each year, according to SIU spokesperson Catie Sheehan. That total is part of the $219.4 million in GRF money for the entire system, which also includes SIU’s campuses in Carbondale and Edwardsville. The report said the state’s investment in the medical school generated almost $36 million in tax revenues during the most recent fiscal year.
*** National ***
* WTTW | Pritzker Says Trump ‘Unfit to Lead’ After President’s Response to Fatal DC Plane Crash: An American Airlines flight from Kansas that was landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter on a training flight collided. Both aircraft crashed into the Potomac River, and authorities report no one survived. “While times of tragedy should be focused on mourning the victims and getting answers to their loved ones, we face the unfortunate reality that we must be honest with the nation about: Donald Trump is unfit to lead during moments of crisis like these,” Pritzker said in a Thursday evening statement, saying that “before victims have even been identified, Trump is blaming people.”
* CNN | Trump Administration’s Halt of CDC’s Weekly Scientific Report Stalls Bird Flu Studies: Its scientific reports have been swept up in an “immediate pause” on communications by federal health agencies ordered by Dorothy Fink, the acting secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. Fink’s memo covers “any document intended for publication,” she wrote, “until it has been reviewed and approved by a presidential appointee.” It was sent on President Donald Trump’s first full day in office.
* ProPublica | Boxed Up: A Portrait of an Immigrant Community Living Under Threat of Deportation: Box by box, the Nicaraguans who milk the cows and clean the pens on Wisconsin’s dairy farms, who wash dishes at its restaurants and fill lines on its factory floors, are sending home their most prized possessions, bracing for the impact of President Donald Trump’s mass deportations.
* You can click here and here to follow the Madigan trial. Click here and/or here to follow breaking news. Hopefully, enough reporters and news outlets migrate to BlueSky so we can hopefully resume live-posting.
A sudden rise in illnesses cancels classes at a growing number of Heartland schools.
Scott City, New Madrid County and eight other districts are dealing with the flu, COVID and more.
Anna School District #37 in Illinois canceled classes for two days because of the number of sick students. Now, leaders say they are using that time to deep clean school buildings for the protection of all students and staff.
“We’re going through. We’re wiping down all the lockers, the handles, all the doorknobs on the table tops, anywhere we can go,” said Superintendent Brent Boren. “We’re seeing Type A influenza, COVID and norovirus and it seems to hit all at once.”
*** It’s Just A Bill ***
* WTTW | Companies That Participated in the Slave Trade Could Face New Rules in Illinois Under Proposal: Companies that participated in the slave trade in the 17th and 18th centuries could have to fess up and pay up if they want to do business with Illinois in the 21st century. State Rep. Sonya Harper (D-Chicago), sponsor of the Enslavement Era Disclosure and Redress Act (House Bill 1227), said it’s a way for corporations that profited on the backs of enslaved people to help repair the legacy of harm caused for generations of Black Americans.
*** Chicago ***
* Daily Line | Ethics board recommends end to decades-old ‘unwritten’ practice after OIG report on mayor’s acceptance of expensive gifts: Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office failed to make a record of gifts the office has accepted publicly available and denied the Chicago Office of the Inspector General (OIG) access to a “gift room” where items such as luxury handbags and nice shoes were being stored, the OIG alleged in an advisory issued Wednesday. As a result, the OIG and Board of Ethics have advised the mayor’s office to no longer follow an “unwritten agreement” with the ethics board that has allowed the mayor’s office to skirt government transparency rules for decades.
* Chalkbeat Chicago | How are Chicago schools responding to increased immigration enforcement? Here are five examples.: In Brighton Park, a majority Latino neighborhood on the city’s southwest side, an elementary school principal has been sharing his experience as an immigrant, so that families feel more comfortable. In Pilsen, a predominantly Latino neighborhood and historically a neighborhood where Mexican families have immigrated to, a high school launched an emergency immigration chat and told parents that it’s OK for students with immigration concerns to stay home.
* NBC Chicago | Former Chicago Ald. Ed Burke requests commutation, reducing prison sentence: According to the U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Pardon Attorney, Burke has filed an application for a commutation of his sentence. A clemency case has been opened, and the petition is under review, according to the department’s website. The petition was filed in 2025, but it is unclear what date. That application is now up for President Donald Trump’s administration to grant or deny. It can take months, even years, before a sentence commutation is granted or denied. The application goes through several levels before it reaches the president’s desk.
* Block Club | Rogers Park Business Alliance Expands Classes For Entrepreneurs With New State Funding: The Rogers Park Business Alliance, a local chamber of commerce, was recently awarded a grant through the state’s Economic Empowerment Centers Program, which gives money to groups that provide local business support. With the infusion of $250,000 in state funding, the Rogers Park Business Alliance is rolling out Grow More/Progresando Más, a bilingual program to assist minority-owned small businesses in the neighborhood, said executive director Sandi Price. The money will be used for personnel to lead classes and events at no cost to business owners, she said.
* WBEZ | Charlie Trotter’s son fires up the stoves at his father’s legendary Chicago restaurant: “People under the age of 40 don’t know who Charlie Trotter was, and my goal is to change that,” Dylan said. Charlie died of a stroke in 2013, less than a year after closing the restaurant. “This is a historic Chicago landmark that should be known by everyone, young and old,” said Dylan. “I think the younger generation should look back at history and see: How did we get to where we are now?”
*** Cook County and Suburbs ***
* Tribune | Cook County state’s attorney to push for prison sentences in machine-gun cases: According to the policy, prosecutors on their own cannot enter into a plea agreement for a probation term or other punishments that do not involve prison time in cases where the defendant used or possessed “any machine gun conversion device, extended magazine, drum magazine, automatic switch, as well as a privately made firearm, ghost gun and/or defaced firearm.” Assistant state’s attorneys can seek permission from a supervisor if they believe the policy should be modified in individual cases, but officials said supervisors would likely only waive the terms in specific circumstances.
* WGN | ‘It got real crazy:’ The inside story of bad blood that boiled over into a brawl during a Thornton Township board meeting: Seconds after making slurs about Tiffany Henyard’s sex life and parenting, a fight erupted on the floor of the township meeting, with community activist Jedidiah Brown and Henyard’s boyfriend, Kamal Woods, coming to blows. Henyard herself even jumped in. “She ran from behind the table with a microphone in her hand and she hit me with it while another one of her staff members was kicking me in the head and I was defending myself against Kamal and other individuals,” Brown said.
*** Downstate ***
* WMBD | UPDATE: I-155 still closed in Logan County as ISP crisis team negotiates with driver: The Illinois State Police is asking drivers to avoid a five-mile stretch of Interstate 155 on Thursday, saying there has been “an incident.” […] The Illinois State Police has provided more information on the “incident” that is ongoing in Logan County. According to the state police, at 10 p.m., troopers responded to a motorist assist call on Interstate 155 northbound near Emden, milepost 9, in Logan County. The motorist then and now is refusing to leave the vehicle.
* KHQA | Western CUSD 12 shuts down for the week amid Influenza A outbreak: Western Community Unit School District 12 in Barry, Illinois will not hold classes the rest of the week due to an outbreak of Influenza A and other illnesses. On Tuesday, January 28th, when they made the announcement, nearly half of the students and a third of the staff were out sick in some buildings.
* NPR | Criminal records of Jan. 6 rioters pardoned by Trump include rape, domestic violence: Theodore Middendorf was accused by Illinois prosecutors of “Predatory Criminal Sexual Assault of a Child.” Prosecutors said in a court filing obtained by NPR that Middendorf “committed an act of sexual penetration.” Indiana state records indicate that Middendorf’s victim was 7 years old. Middendorf entered a guilty plea in that case in May 2024 and was sentenced to 19 years in prison. He is currently registered as a sex offender in the state and remains in custody on those charges. Separately, Middendorf pleaded guilty to destruction of government property for striking a window at the U.S. Capitol with a flagpole on Jan. 6. He had not yet been sentenced for his role in the Capitol riot when the Justice Department moved to dismiss his case following Trump’s order.
* SJ-R | All of Springfield’s McDonald’s soon to be owned by same person: As of Feb. 1, Mike Kasprzyk will own all 11 Golden Arches in the Capital City after purchasing two stores from to other franchise operators, Dr. Paul and Mary Breznay and Kim Derringer, in December. The back-to-back acquisitions doubled Kasprzyk’s Springfield footprint after only entering the market last year.
*** National ***
* NYT | Staffing was ‘not normal’ at airport tower, according to a preliminary F.A.A. report.: The controller who was handling helicopters in the airport’s vicinity Wednesday night was also instructing planes that were landing and departing from its runways. Those jobs typically are assigned to two controllers, rather than one. This increases the workload for the air traffic controller and can complicate the job. One reason is that the controllers can use different radio frequencies to communicate with pilots flying planes and pilots flying helicopters. While the controller is communicating with pilots of the helicopter and the jet, the two sets of pilots may not be able to hear each other.
* Chalkbeat | Trump executive order seeks to steer federal funds to private school vouchers: The executive order cites disheartening national test scores released Wednesday as one justification, saying families need options outside the public system. Securing federal funding has been a longtime goal of supporters of vouchers and educational savings accounts, which families can tap to pay for private education. Until now, with the exception of a voucher program in Washington, D.C., the use of taxpayer dollars for private education largely has expanded through state policy. A proposal to use federal tax credits to fund private school scholarships has not advanced in Congress — though new versions were recently introduced.
* The Atlantic | Why States Took a Gamble on Sports Betting: “I interviewed Charlie Baker, the former governor of Massachusetts who signed the bill legalizing bookmaking there in 2022, and then a few months later became president of the NCAA and has become a really vocal champion for limiting the amount of betting on college sports, particularly in light of the brutal harassment that college athletes and coaches get whenever their performance costs someone a bet,” Funt recalled. “It’s honestly horrifying, the sort of stuff they see on social media and in real life. And he has said point-blank, ‘I wish, in hindsight, this had stayed in Las Vegas.’”
* AP | Trump administration revokes deportation protections for 600,000 Venezuelans: Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Wednesday that the Trump administration has revoked a decision that would have protected roughly 600,000 people from Venezuela from deportation, putting some at risk of being removed from the country in about two months. Noem signed a notice reversing a move by her predecessor, Alejandro Mayorkas, in the waning days of the Biden administration to extend Temporary Protected Status. The change is effective immediately and comes amid a slew of actions as the Trump administration works to make good on promises to crack down on illegal immigration and carry out the largest mass deportation effort in U.S. history.
* I’ve been telling subscribers about this battle. From an Illinois Freedom Caucus press release…
The punitive measures Minority Leader Tony McCombie has taken against conservative House members are a blatant attempt to shut out conservative voices in the General Assembly, according to the Illinois Freedom Caucus members.
Because of irreconcilable differences in policy, approach and results, several House Republican members could not in good conscience support Leader McCombie in her run for Minority Leader. Instead, they opted for a respectful low profile swearing in ceremony at the Capitol. As a result of not receiving their votes for leader, the Minority Leader instituted childish retaliatory actions. Specifically, she has denied the following services from State Reps. Adam Niemerg (R-Dieterich), Brad Halbrook (R-Shelbyville), Chris Miller (R-Hindsboro), Blaine Wilhour (R-Beecher City) and Marty McLaughlin (R-Barrington Hills):
• Spokesman positions on legislative committees
• Access to larger offices that were consistent with their seniority in the House Republican Caucus
• Access to their state websites, emails, and email newsletter services
• Access to Communications staffers including access to social media sites, audio and visual services, graphic design, and press release services
• Secretarial services at the Capitol
• Biography services
• All press conference assistance services
• All outreach assistance services
• Media tracking services
• Access to Bill Analysis
• Access to research assistance from House Republican staff
• Access to House Republican staff generated media lists
The Illinois Freedom Caucus is issuing the following statement:
“Minority Leader Tony McCombie has officially declared war on conservatives. She seems to be more interested in going after conservative members of her own caucus than she is in taking on the Democrats who control every level of government in our state and who have run our state into the ground.
Our goal is to win seats so that we can advance a conservative Republican agenda in Illinois. While we do not believe Tony McCombie is the kind of leader we need to accomplish this goal, we nonetheless support the mission of the House Republican Caucus. We do not care about offices, titles or other accolades that go along with being an elected official. We are solely focused on enacting the kind of policies we need to turn our state around and voting against the bad policies. The idea that our own leader would impede our efforts is a major disappointment, but we will not be deterred in our fight to restore Illinois. She can put us in broom closets for all we care because it won’t change our resolve for our mission.
Our only regret is that the person who has presided over zero pickups in the last election and who is so desperate to be the minority leader is also so completely unserious about her job. We are not the ones who are suffering because of her bad leadership – it is the millions of Republican voters who are suffering at the hands of her failures. They deserve to have a Republican Leader who embraces conservative voices and works to unify the party, rather than a leader who attacks conservatives and demands absolute loyalty like a monarch.”
They missed McCombie’s criticism of Democrats during the recent inauguration because they held their own separate inauguration.
“This decision was not made lightly and remains subject to further review,” McCombie said in a statement. “Leadership resources are a privilege, not an entitlement, and they are allocated to those committed to advancing our caucus’s priorities — not fueling distractions.” There’s also a concern that the Freedom Caucus sometimes blurs the line of being a political organization. That’s not allowed when doing work in the Capitol. […]
McCombie isn’t the first to take away some privileges. Former House GOP Leader Jim Durkin also pulled back the benefits.
That statement wasn’t specifically a response to the above press release, I’m told.
You can click here and here to follow the Madigan trial. If you want live updates on the trial, the Sun-Times will be texting out the latest on jury deliberations and the verdict. Click here to sign up.
[O]n Wednesday, after three months of listening to testimony followed by a marathon week of closing arguments, the lead prosecutor in Madigan’s corruption trial presented that idiom to jurors before they were finally released to deliberate.
In a final attempt to weaken defense attorneys’ arguments over the racketeering, bribery and other corruption allegations against Madigan and his co-defendant, longtime Springfield lobbyist Mike McClain, Assistant U.S. Attorney Amarjeet Bhachu told jurors that Madigan and McClain were neither “stupid” nor “beginners.”
“Mr. Madigan and McClain are adept at making sure Mr. Madigan’s fingerprints are not left at the scene,” Bhachu said of an episode involving a proposed land deal that forms the basis of five charges against the defendants. “They’re not playing checkers. They’re playing chess. And the two of them are grand masters of corruption.”
It was a line Bhachu used nearly two years ago in closing arguments in a related trial in which McClain and three other former executives and lobbyists for electric utility Commonwealth Edison were charged with bribing Madigan.
When Michael J. Madigan’s longtime friend penned a retirement letter in 2016, he compared the record-breaking Illinois House speaker to Chicago’s famous “Boss” mayor, the late Richard J. Daley.
Michael McClain wrote that “Illinois is a great state because of your hand on the rudder, and you know instinctively now, just like Richard J. Daley, when to start, slow or turn off the engine.” […]
“He also had something else in his hand,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Amarjeet Bhachu said. “He had the trust that was placed in him by each and every member of the public. But in guiding that ship, if you will, Mr. Madigan abused that trust. He lost his way. He was blinded by profit. By power. By his desire to stay in power.”
Madigan threw that trust “overboard, abandoned it,” Bhachu said. And, in the final argument in Madigan’s four-month trial, Bhachu told the jury “you have the evidence” to hold Madigan accountable for “that sunken trust.”
Madigan and McClain’s attorneys, during their closing arguments, attacked Solis’ credibility. Madigan’s attorney Dan Collins went so far as to call him a “malignant tumor at the heart of this case.” […]
They pointed out that Solis testified he feigned his interest in the state board job as part of his undercover work. In a secretly recorded June 29, 2017 conversation, Solis also asked an uncertain property developer named Andy Cretal if there would be a “possibility” for Madigan to get legal work from his company ZOM Living’s “Union West” apartment project.
Bhachu, on Wednesday, countered that Madigan had plenty of chances to walk away from dealing with Solis — especially after June 23, 2017, when in another conversation Solis implied the Union West developers understood development “works” via quid pro quo arrangements. Madigan also continued helping Solis find a state board job in 2018, even after Solis told the then-speaker “I’ll continue to get you legal business” that June.
“Use your common sense here,” Bhachu told the jurors during his rebuttal closings on Wednesday.
The panel, which was selected anonymously, also announced they had elected Juror 16 as their foreman, a white man who appears to be in his 40s or 50s who said during jury selection he was born and raised in Chicago’s 19th Ward on the Far Southwest Side, where he still lives.
His parents were close friends with the previous 19th Ward alderman, Virginia Rugai, he said. He also knows the current alderman, Matt O’Shea, but does not discuss city operations or personal matters with him, he said.
The juror also said he had not done much political work apart from voting, and his recent contact with the ward office was limited to getting a block party permit. He works as an insurance underwriter and has three children, he said.
Juror 16 also said during selection that he did not want to be on the panel.
* More…
* WTTW | A Jury Will Now Decide Michael Madigan’s Fate. Here’s a Breakdown of the Landmark Corruption Case: After more than three months of testimony and arguments, a 12-person jury began deliberations Wednesday in the landmark corruption trial of powerful former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and his longtime right-hand man Michael McClain. Closing arguments began last week, 16 weeks after jury selection and opening statements got underway on the 12th floor of the Dirksen Federal Court Building in downtown Chicago.
A group of six Democratic governors pressed Senator Chuck Schumer of New York during a tense call on Wednesday night to be more aggressive in fighting back against President Trump’s nominees and agenda, all but begging the minority leader to persuade Senate Democrats to block whatever they could.
The call, described in detailed notes as well as interviews with two participants and five other people briefed on the conversation, revealed the growing tensions among Democrats about how forcefully they should oppose Mr. Trump. Mr. Schumer convened the call to discuss a collective response to the Trump administration’s attempt to freeze trillions of dollars in federal grants and loans, which was pulled back on Wednesday. […]
Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois and Gov. Maura Healey of Massachusetts each told Mr. Schumer that Senate Democrats should not vote for Mr. Trump’s nominees after the administration issued a memo freezing the funding. […]
Gov. Laura Kelly of Kansas, who is the chairwoman of the Democratic Governors Association and helped organize the call along with Mr. Pritzker, said their party needed to do a better job with its digital outreach in response to Mr. Trump. She called for Democrats’ online strategy to become “down and dirty.”
* The governor was asked about the call today during an unrelated news conference…
Pritzker: As to the call that we had last night with Leader Schumer in the US Senate. It was a productive call. We had a lively conversation about the challenges that people in our states are going through as a result of the threat of the freezes that appear to be the aim of the Trump administration. And Leader Schumer was receptive to things that we had to say. Understood, you know, he’s from New York. They also had the same things happen to them in New York, and he heard directly from people that are his constituents. So it was a good conversation. I think Chuck-
Reporter: Have the lines of communications reopened between the state and federal government?
Pritzker: Yeah, I haven’t heard of a failure to communicate between the two after that day. When there was so much of a challenge and we had some of our people rejected having conversations with our counterparts at the federal level. I haven’t checked in to see if those conversations have reopened. But my sense is, I haven’t heard anything new, that things have calmed down quite a lot.
Having said that, there is no indication, you heard this from the White House press secretary, there’s no indication that the Trump administration has any intention of pulling back on the idea of a freeze or even an elimination of major federal programs that benefit people in the state of Illinois, Meals on Wheels, Head Start, Medicaid, things that really matter to people every day. Not to mention grant programs for state police, for local police, those are all things that are at risk as a result of the threat that was made.
And it’s clearly their intention to carry it out. It’s just that they got so much negative feedback all in one day from all across the country, including from Republican elected officials, Democratic elected officials and nonprofits across the country. So I think they’re rethinking how they can still accomplish the goal without getting all the negative feedback.
In 2018, Joseph Dole was one of a group of students facing about 20 lawmakers. He didn’t have any public speaking experience, so he was a little nervous.
The students were in Stateville Correctional Center on life sentences. They had studied law journals and studies and formed teams, each arguing for the most effective way to bring parole back to Illinois. […]
Although the Illinois Department of Corrections canceled the class soon after the public debate, the students kept pushing their vision. They wrote House Bill 3373 (also known as Senate Bill 2129) for last year’s General Assembly and are introducing the bill again this year. […]
The state abolished its parole system in 1978. Prior to that, a board could let people out before completing their sentence.
“What we have now is a determinate sentencing scheme where you give people a fixed sentence. There’s no reviewing their progress throughout the sentence,” said fellow student, Raúl Dorado.
For more than four years, a bill to establish a Prescription Drug Affordability Board has floated through the halls of Illinois’s Statehouse to no avail. […]
[Rep. Nabeela Syed, D-Palatine,] and state Sen. Robert Peters, D-Chicago, filed the bill in each of their chambers of the General Assembly. Their biggest challenge could be just getting the bill to the floor. […]
In sessions past, the bill failed to reach that threshold. This year’s version is the same as past years, but while its substance hasn’t changed, Syed says legislators’ opinions have.
“I believe, especially now more than ever, we have the ability to get more than enough members on board to get legislation like this across… coming off of election season, many of my colleagues have heard at the doors that people can’t afford groceries, they can’t afford to pay their mortgage and they can’t afford their prescription drugs,” she said.
A sexual assault involving school kids in a small central Illinois community has prompted an Illinois lawmaker to take action.
State Sen. Steve McClure, R-Springfield, said he was shocked to find out that the student who committed the sexual assault was allowed to stay in class. […]
McClure introduced legislation that would require school districts to expel a student for at least one year for committing a sexual assault or sexual violence. He said many people have reached out to him after he presented the legislation. […]
Democratic lawmakers in Illinois have a long history of rejecting legislation that is considered a “penalty enhancement.” McClure said he doesn’t classify the bill as a penalty enhancement but a safety enhancement, and it is his hope that the offending student will go to an alternative learning center and get the treatment needed to get them on a better path.
Amends the Election Code. Provides that a person is not prohibited from photographing his or her own ballot at any time during the voting process or from viewing a photograph of a completed or partially completed ballot. Provides that any person who gives, promises to give, or receives any money or other valuable consideration in connection with the dissemination or viewing of a photograph of a completed or partially completed ballot is guilty of a Class 4 felony. Effective immediately.
Except as permitted by this Code, any person who knowingly marks his ballot or casts his vote on a voting machine or voting device so that it can be observed by another person, and any person who knowingly observes another person lawfully marking a ballot or lawfully casting his vote on a voting machine or voting device, shall be guilty of a Class 4 felony.
* Sen. Willie Preston…
Today, legislators and advocates gathered to announce the filing of Senate Bill 74 and House Bill 1224, landmark legislation to reform Illinois’ retainage policies.
“This legislation is about fairness and modernizing our laws to support Illinois contractors,” said State Senator Willie Preston (D-Chicago), chief sponsor of Senate Bill 74. “Our small businesses and workforce deserve payment practices that reflect the realities of today’s economy.”
The bills aim to end the practice of withholding payments from contractors across the board and instead adopt federal standards that impose retainage only when specific project issues arise. The bills would only apply to state agencies and public universities, not local governments or private developments.
Advocates called on lawmakers to support the legislation and act swiftly to pass it during the current session. “We urge lawmakers to recognize the urgency of this reform. Retainage policies affect thousands of workers and businesses across the state. The time to act is now,” said Jaemie Neely, Executive Director of the Federation of Women Contractors.
Advocates emphasized the detrimental effects of the current policy on contractors and small businesses, noting how delayed payments disrupt cash flow, limit job growth and threaten livelihoods.
“Retainage reform is a critical step toward fostering a healthier business environment in Illinois. Contractors should not have to wait for money they’ve rightfully earned,” said Jacky Gomez, Executive Director of the Hispanic American Construction Industry Association.
By aligning Illinois’ policies with federal standards, the legislation aims to provide contractors with the financial flexibility they need to complete projects efficiently while ensuring accountability in construction practices.
Sen. Sally Turner (R-Lincoln) has reintroduced a bill to allow tiny homes to be exempt from a 2023 state law requiring all homes to be built with electric vehicle charging capacity.
Turner told the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday that the well-intended law is actually a costly mandate for nonprofit organizations like the Central Illinois Veterans Commission.
“One of our most unique services in the CIVC is our tiny home projects we provide veterans with affordable permanent housing, and it’s tailored to their specific needs,” Turner said. “We have many of them that are handicapped and need that handicap accessibility.”
The bill passed unanimously out of the Senate Judiciary Committee and now heads to the Senate floor. Senators unanimously approved the same bill last year, but the plan died in the House.
* ICYMI: Illinois’ eighth graders outperform their peers in all but one state in national math and reading test. Tribune…
- Third through eighth graders showed the highest English proficiency rate to date, which, according to Pritzker, is “a testament to the great strides Illinois students are making academically,” the governor said in a Wednesday news release.
- According to the report, 70% of eighth-graders performed at or above grade level while 33% of students achieved proficiency, which in the assessment is described as a more “aspirational” level of performance beyond grade level.
- For the state’s fourth graders, 59% performed at or above grade level in both math and reading, while 30 expressed proficiency.
* WSIL | Brick thrown through window of State Representative Severin and State Senator Bryant’s joint office building: Both Severin and Bryant say they condemn the violent incident at their office and shared the following statement… “It is our honor to represent the people of Southern Illinois, and we take our responsibility to be their voice seriously. Our commitment has always been to advocate for policies that improve the lives of our constituents and all Illinoisans. Acts of violence like the one committed against our district office this morning will not deter us from that mission – instead, it only strengthens our resolve.
* WBEZ | Illinois settles two lawsuits linked to prison education programs: The department agreed to pay $90,000 to five men who say officials retaliated against them for debating parole reform in front of state legislators. In the other settlement, the state will pay $5,000 to a peer educator fired for teaching about racist Jim Crow literacy tests. Both cases involved prison education programs, and both showed prison officials struggling to respond when those programs prompted incarcerated people to engage with sensitive political and social issues.
*** Statehouse News ***
* WBBM | Gov. JB Pritzker yet to decide on run for third term: “Families of politicians go through a lot that they shouldn’t have to,” he mused. “They didn’t choose, necessarily, to be in that life. So that’s part of the decision-making process. And of course, the other part is… what’s ahead? What could we accomplish if we kept going?”
* Tribune | Assessor Fritz Kaegi says Chicago properties worth a combined $50.8 billion in 2024, calls for bill relief in Springfield: Kaegi touted the need to pass “circuit-breaker” legislation in the General Assembly during Wednesday’s appearance. Supporters have floated several forms of a circuit-breaker program in recent months. Most involve a rebate or credit to low- or fixed-income homeowners who see their property tax bills rise above a certain percentage. Kaegi’s plan would apply to “the bottom half of people who are experiencing spikes of 25% or more,” he said Wednesday. “We know the key is making it a priority in Springfield.”
*** Statewide ***
* Journal & Topics | Del Mar Resigns As State GOP Co-Chair Effectively Immediately: In early December, Del Mar announced his intention to resign from his role as state party co-chair. At the time, he told the Journal he planned to explore a run for a statewide office and would step down as state party co-chair in January or February. […] Del Mar in his letter Wednesday said: “I can no longer, in good conscience, remain in this role while awaiting a successor and facilitating a transition. To be clear I will remain in my duly elected role as state central committeeman, (of the) 5th Congressional District.” Del Mar is also the Palatine Township Republican committeeman and is running for reelection as Palatine Township highway commissioner in the April 1 election.
* Crain’s | After Trump’s opening volley on grants, Illinois’ research universities on alert: NU ranks 30th in the country, having received $678 million in federal support in 2023, according to data from the National Science Foundation. Data for 2024 is not yet available. UChicago, 41st, and U of I, 43rd, were awarded $477 million and $460 million in 2023, respectively. About 40% of funding for basic research, much of it done at universities, comes from the federal government, according to the NSF.
* Crain’s | Trump’s moves to curb abortion spending spell trouble for Illinois: “It’s going to increase the retribution that the federal government will take on the state of Illinois,” said Margie Schaps, executive director of the Health & Medicine Policy Research Group. “They’ve shown themselves to be vindictive.” Asked today how it was responding to the Trump administration’s recent actions, a Pritzker office spokesman told Crain’s: “During this time when reproductive health care has been under assault, Illinois will remain a state where every person is entitled to the full range of reproductive health care, including family planning services, birth control and abortion.”
* WTVO | Illinois receives 2 F’s on tobacco control report card: Illinois received an F grade in tobacco prevention and cessation funding as well as an F in restrictions on flavored tobacco products. Graders gave the state an A grade for having smoke-free air and access to cessation services, in addition to a C grade for tobacco tax.
*** Chicago ***
* WBEZ | New CPS Board president says he took the volunteer job because ‘I love this city’: Sean Harden says he knows this question is on many people’s minds. The 51-year-old single man with no children says he pursued becoming president of the Chicago Board of Education because he saw an area where he could step up. […] Harden faced an avalanche of criticism last week after it surfaced that he had requested a CPS driver and a car that would cost the school district $150,000. FOX News’ Paris Schutz reported that story based on internal CPS documents shared by sources. Harden points out that past board presidents have had cars and drivers, though the last two did not. The last president to have the service was Frank Clark, but he ended it some time between 2015 and 2018, CPS said. And budget crises are, as history shows, nothing new for CPS.
* Sun-Times | Text from Johnson to firefighters’ union president could ignite stalled contract talks: Asked what it will take to bring negotiations to a close, Cleary said: “Don’t give me what I could have gotten three-and-a-half years ago: an average, b.s. contract. Give me a good contract. Reward us for waiting so long.” Johnson directed his negotiating team to draft a substantive proposal on the outstanding issues of pay, benefits, staffing and equipment. Cleary wouldn’t reveal details of that latest proposal, which will be the subject of this week’s talks. The goal is to narrow to a handful the number of outstanding issues that must be decided by an independent arbitrator.
* Tribune | ‘I did something wrong’: Chicago man arrested by ICE asks forgiveness, victim’s mother supports possible deportation: In another video shared on social media, Pavuluri is shown sitting inside a black sedan as a federal agent opens the door and allows a reporter from the pro-Donald Trump website Frontline America to stick a microphone in the 31-year-old man’s face and question him. Pavuluri, who was born in India, explained he had been in prison since 2018, serving an eight-year sentence for a drunken driving incident that killed 20-year-old Mariyah Howard of Beecher. He had been released from prison only 16 days earlier, according to Illinois Department of Correction records. Looking into the camera, he asked for a “fair chance” and pleaded for grace from no one in particular. “I did something wrong,” said Pavuluri, who was in the country on a student visa at the time of the crash. “I’m sorry about what I did.”
* Sun-Times | Historian Shermann ‘Dilla’ Thomas partners with DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center: “We are thrilled that Dilla is joining our DuSable team,” Perri Irmer, DuSable’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “His knowledge of Chicago’s rich history and his dynamic approach to social media and storytelling will be a wonderful avenue to reach and engage with our community and with new audiences. We are excited for the future and look forward to the impact he will make in this new role.”
* Sun-Times | Gene Schroeder, NFL’s oldest known living ex-player who was once close to George Halas, dies at 95: In the summer of 1952, a young Gene Schroeder, fresh off his first season with the Chicago Bears, found himself at a party in Washington D.C. He was “kind of famous” among the partygoers for his sports ability by then, Carole Schroeder, his eldest daughter, told the Chicago Sun-Times. There he met his future wife, Doris Richey. They fell in love, and married only months later. Their connection laid the foundation for much of his life. When later asked how he managed to sustain a long and healthy life, he’d always give the same answer: “Sixty wonderful marriage years to a wonderful woman and a wonderful family.”
*** Cook County and Suburbs ***
* Sun-Times | Thornton Township board ‘deeply disturbed’ over brawl during meeting attended by Tiffany Henyard: Henyard’s lawyer said Wednesday says she was “verbally assaulted and her personal safety threatened” at the Tuesday night meeting. Thornton Township trustees issued their own statement bemoaning what they described as “chaos and violence.” “We are deeply disturbed by the events that transpired during last night’s board meeting,” the trustees said Wednesday morning.
* Daily Herald | ‘We were a little shocked’: As ICE knocks on doors in the suburbs, immigrant groups push solidarity: Last weekend, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers “were just knocking on doors at an apartment complex in Waukegan,” Ortiz said. If the agency is “targeting people with criminal backgrounds, why aren’t they holding warrants?” Immigrant Solidarity DuPage Coordinator Cristobal Cavazos headed to Palatine on Sunday after hearing of a contingent of ICE officers parked near a popular Hispanic grocery store. “They say, they’re just looking for criminals, don’t worry. But in the process, they nab anybody that they can get,” Cavazos said.
* Daily Herald | Forest preserve district sues to acquire property, while West Chicago wants housing there: The district is seeking to acquire roughly 43 acres or so on the north side of North Avenue, a bit west of Route 59. The tract is adjacent to the existing Pratt’s Wayne Woods Forest Preserve, and contains a remnant old oak ecosystem with more than 200 mature oak trees, noted Executive Director Karie Friling. “Some of these trees are more than 100 years old and are part of a unique, undisturbed ecosystem critical for supporting diverse wildlife, including insects, birds, and mammals,” Friling said in a written statement. “Adjacent development would degrade the ecological value of existing protected lands within Pratt’s Wayne Woods, diminishing its role as a sanctuary for wildlife and a resource for the community.”
*** Downstate ***
* SJ-R | Springfield may have new procedure for appointing vacant city positions: An ordinance about a new procedure to appoint certain vacant positions within the city of Springfield is up for debate after a debate of its own at Tuesday’s committee of the whole meeting. The ordinance, which will be taken up by the full city council on Feb. 4, seeks to create a formal appointment procedure when appointing a new mayor, treasurer or clerk. Public comment would be an active part of the process prior to a vote.
* WCIA | Rantoul mayor says village needs change to keep up with growth in community: Mayor Charles Smith said it could cost millions, and it all has to do with infrastructure. He said with several big businesses opening up in town and more on the way, they need a complete overhaul. The village currently has construction crews working on water and sewer expansion. Smith said the village also provides its own electrical service to the community and some of the system is outdated.
* WTVO | These neighbors are suing the Winnebago Landfill over littering, odor complaints: Illinois passed two new laws last year, requiring landfills to have cleaning facilities for trucks, and for garbage truck drivers to secure tarps over their load to prevent litter from escaping. However, DeBlauw said he hasn’t seen much of a change since the laws were enacted. “I don’t think that they abide by any cleaning of the truck,” he said. “They come out and … if it’s muddy or whatever they spread their mud out on the road…and you pick it up on your car when you drive by. And I don’t see where, if there are those laws, I don’t see where they’re following them.”
*** National ***
* ABC | Bird flu is ‘widespread’ among birds in Massachusetts, state officials say: There has been a history of intermittent bird flu outbreaks in Massachusetts since early 2022, officials said. In early January, an outbreak of bird flu was suspected of causing the death of Canada geese, swans and other birds in Plymouth. Now, more positive cases are being reported, officials said.
* You can click here and here to follow the Madigan trial. Click here and/or here to follow breaking news. Hopefully, enough reporters and news outlets migrate to BlueSky so we can hopefully resume live-posting.
Today, the Illinois Generative AI and Natural Language Processing Task Force released a new report that provides the first in-depth analysis by the state on the far-reaching effects of generative AI on civil rights, education, labor, consumer protections, and the environment. The report outlines critical recommendations for AI regulations and standards in Illinois.
Task force members, led by co-chairs Rep. Abdelnasseer Rashid (D-Bridgeview) and Sen. Robert Peters (D-Chicago), Secretary Sanjay Gupta of DoIT, labor leaders representing AFSCME Council 31, SAG-AFTRA, and joined by Rep. Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz (D-Glenview), the ACLU and others, held an event on Wednesday to announce the report.
“This report serves as both a call to action and a roadmap for ensuring that generative AI is harnessed responsibly in Illinois,” said Rep. Adelnasser Rashid, co-chair of the task force, “We need to foster innovation, while safeguarding against the very real risks that AI poses to privacy, equity, and public trust. Technology can be used to uplift – but only if there is transparency and accountability.” […]
Key recommendations include:
- Supporting Workers: Implementing proactive measures to reskill workers, protect labor rights, and mitigate economic displacement caused by AI automation.
- Safeguarding Civil Rights: Cracking down on algorithmic discrimination in hiring, housing, banking, healthcare, and other industries to ensure that AI does not perpetuate and amplify systemic bias and racism.
- Protecting Democracy: Regulating the use of deepfakes in political ads and communications to safeguard against misinformation and inference in our elections.
- Enhancing Privacy and Consumer Rights: Strengthening data protection laws and implementing privacy-first principles in AI applications to safeguard consumers’ rights and data.
- Fostering Sustainable AI Development: Encouraging the development of energy-efficient, low-carbon AI technologies to minimize environmental impacts. […]
Rep. Rashid will be asking the General Assembly to extend the task force into the future to allow for ongoing monitoring of the effects of AI in Illinois.
* Capitol News Illinois | State lawmakers weigh TikTok’s value: Rep. Patrick Sheehan, R-Lemont, posted his only two videos to TikTok in January. He said he likes comedy, recipe and workout videos, and he wants to reach out to his constituents. “My kids are on the platform, and they kept saying ‘Hey, you know, RFK Jr. is on the platform, and we see his videos everywhere. Now President (Donald) Trump’s on the platform, he’s everywhere, Joe Biden’s everywhere,” Sheehan said. “So, I got kind of interested in seeing how they were reaching out to a whole different type of audience, so I decided to get on.” Sheehan said he wasn’t concerned about using TikTok right now, despite the national security concerns.
* Tribune | State lawmakers move measure aimed at protecting warehouse workers amid complaints that demands for speed hinder safety: The measure, passed by state lawmakers earlier this month, is in response to reports that warehouse workers are too often pushed beyond their physical limits. In December, Amazon reached a $145,000 settlement with the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration over accusations that conditions at an Illinois warehouse left workers exposed to elevated risks of injury. If Pritzker signs the bill into law, Illinois would join five other states that have similar measures on the books and dozens of others that have introduced legislation attempting to address warehouse workplace issues.
* IDPH | IDPH Awards $4.5 Million in Grants to Support Governor Pritzker’s Birth Equity Efforts Across Illinois: The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) announced it has awarded $4.5 million to 12 groups across the state funded through Governor JB Pritzker’s 2024 Birth Equity Initiative. The grants, ranging from $100,000 to $700,000, were awarded through a competitive process and are designed to support innovative, community-based efforts that have the potential to reduce inequities in populations historically at higher risk for adverse birth outcomes. “Illinois has one of the most robust birth equity initiatives in the entire nation and today’s announcement brings us closer to a state where every mother – no matter her race, economic status, or ZIP code – is afforded the right to a safe and healthy pregnancy,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “We’re grateful to our community-based grantees who are assisting pregnant women and families to drive healthier births, improve long-term health outcomes and create more culturally responsive care infrastructure.”
*** Statewide ***
* KWQC | Illinois, Iowa eighth grade reading scores among highest in US on report card: But Illinois and Iowa showed mostly steady results, and eighth graders excelled in reading. Only two states scored higher than Illinois, and three in Iowa. Overall, Illinois is doing fairly well, especially compared to the national average. Math has seen a little improvement, but reading is staying steady with slight dips. Overall, Iowa shows steady results but with slight declines, especially in math and reading over the years, but it’s still performing better than the national average in most areas.
* Tribune | Advocate Health Care closing all 47 of its clinics inside Illinois Walgreens stores: Advocate noted that, as part of a recently announced plan to overhaul how it provides care on the South Side of Chicago, it will open care locations in churches and community centers where advanced practice providers (such as nurse practitioners or physician assistants) will address common needs such as colds, sore throats, flu and chronic disease management, over video calls. It also plans to expand services at its Imani Village outpatient clinic on the South Side.
*** Chicago ***
* Crain’s | Fritz Kaegi has finalized his Chicago property assessments. Now come the appeals: Commercial property values in Chicago grew last year by more than residential ones, according to new numbers from Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi, suggesting some of the local property tax burden will shift from homeowners to landlords when bills come out later this year. But that’s all likely to change in the months ahead. Kaegi today released the final figures from his 2024 reassessment of all Chicago properties, estimates that show the total assessed values of real estate citywide grew by 23% between 2023 and 2024.
* Unraveled | Cop who shot and killed Dexter Reed quits amid investigations: Officer Alexandra Giampapa, who played a lead role in the deadly traffic stop that killed Dexter Reed, Jr. last year, has resigned from the department as investigations into past misconduct mount. She was one of four CPD officers who fired at the 26-year-old during a traffic stop on March 21, 2024. Police records obtained via Freedom of Information Act request show the five-year veteran resigned from the department on November 17. Her resignation comes months after the Civilian Office of Police Accountability opened new investigations into a pattern of dozens of other potentially unlawful investigatory stops conducted by Giampapa and her team. Two weeks after her resignation, city lawyers tentatively reached an undisclosed settlement with Reed’s family.
* Crain’s | Griffin Museum of Science & Industry lands $10M grant to renovate historic South Portico: The project, which is supported by the grant from the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation — the largest donation in the foundation’s history — aims to increase accessibility to the museum, add modern amenities such as a cafe and create a new public space connecting the museum to the Columbian Basin and the rest of Jackson Park.
*** Cook County and Suburbs ***
* Lake County News-Sun | Waukegan hospital asks court to remove coroner from death investigation; accuses her of ‘vendetta’: Reacting to what it believes is a vendetta against Vista Medical Center East in Waukegan, Vista Health Systems sued Lake County Coroner Jennifer Banek Tuesday while seeking an independent investigation into the death of hospital patient Chelsea Adolphus of Waukegan. […] For the past year, Spiegel said Banek has posted critical and “false” remarks about the hospital on a dedicated social media page after she was relieved of her duties as a nurse anesthetist at Vista.
* Sun-Times | Cook County sends first installment of tax bills to 1.8 million property owners: Property owners can choose to make payments online at cookcountytreasurer.com. Over 12,000 owners have paid through the website, totaling $64 million in online payments. “Each year more and more people use our website to pay their property tax bills online,” Pappas wrote in a statement. “People like the convenience of paying online and not having to come downtown to pay in person or write a check and pay for postage.”
* Patch | Man Taken By ICE In Lake Co. Arrested For DUI 20 Years Ago: Family: A Waukegan father and grandfather who came to the United States from Mexico more than 30 years ago — and who was charged with a DUI more than 20 years ago — was arrested by ICE over the weekend. His daughter, Yenitza, told the Lake County News-Sun Andres Marquina obtained a green cardafter coming to the U.S., worked in a warehouse and raised a family in the U.S. He was working with an attorney to get the driving while under the influence charge expunged from his record.
* WAND | Sangamon County Juvenile Detention reopens: The Sangamon County Juvenile Detention is reopening after more than a year. The facility had been shut down after an armed teenager took another juvenile hostage and was killed by police officers in the fall of 2023. Kent Holsopple, the Director of Probation and Court Services, said Sangamon County worked closely with the Administrative Office of Illinois Courts to reopen the Juvenile Detention Center. “With the new security measures in place, including the use a body scanner, and adequate staffing levels the Administrative Office gave approval for Sangamon County to begin accepting juveniles who meet criteria for detention. Over the next 45 to 60 days as we proceed with the reopening we will work toward bringing juveniles currently being held in other counties back to Sangamon County,” Holsopple said in a statement.
* Sun-Times | Eastern Illinois University student dies in off-campus shooting after ‘disarming’ police officer: When officers arrived, they encountered Yahacov Dennis, 22. “A rapidly evolving event” then took place, and Dennis disarmed a police officer of his gun before turning it on himself and firing, police said. […] In a message shared on X, state Rep. Kam Buckner, Dennis’ cousin, said he was devastated by the loss. “While there are still more questions than answers, one thing that is certain is how deeply we loved him,” Buckner said.
* AP | Fed hold rates steady, says job market is solid, inflation ’somewhat elevated: The Federal Reserve left its benchmark interest rate unchanged Wednesday after cutting it three times in a row last year, a sign of a more cautious approach as the Fed seeks to gauge where inflation is headed and what policies President Donald Trump may pursue. The Fed reduced its rate last year to 4.3% from 5.3%, in part out of concern that the job market was weakening. Hiring had slowed in the summer and the unemployment rate ticked up, leading Fed officials to approve an outsized half-point cut in September. Yet hiring rebounded last month and the unemployment rate declined slightly, to a low 4.1%.
Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office improperly blocked public access to a City Hall room where they said they store Gucci bags, designer cufflinks and other gifts, according to an investigation by the city’s Office of the Inspector General.
A report released Wednesday by Inspector General Deborah Witzburg found Johnson’s office violated the city’s ethics policy that requires mayors to record gifts above $50 and “accepted on behalf of the City” in a publicly available log maintained on the 5th floor of City Hall. Covert OIG investigators visited the mayor’s office last June but were denied access to the log.
The report says Johnson’s staff refused to hand over the list of gifts and directed the undercover investigators to make a Freedom of Information Act request instead. The mayor’s office then allegedly blew past the deadline to respond and only produced an incomplete list of gifts over a month later after the OIG made an official document request.
Perhaps most troubling to the inspector general was how difficult it was to secure the information, which is supposed to be “promptly” reported to the Chicago Board of Ethics and the city comptroller so the items can be added to “an inventory of the city’s properly.”
Witzburg found every mayor since Eugene Sawyer in the late 1980’s has been exempt from those rules, based on an informal agreement with the Board of Ethics that has never been put into law.
OIG has been informed by [the Chicago Board of Ethics] of a 1989 arrangement made between BOE and Mayor’s Office during the administration of Mayor Eugene Sawyer. This arrangement, never codified in the text of the [Governmental Ethics Ordinance] as a further exception to the general rule prohibiting accepting gifts and never adopted in a formal BOE advisory opinion, allows the Mayor to disregard provisions of the GEO that require gift disclosures to BOE. Instead, pursuant to this unwritten agreement, successive mayors have been advised by BOE that they may keep a publicly available log of gifts instead of making statutorily required gift disclosures to BOE. This unwritten arrangement purported to relieve successive mayors from their responsibility of obtaining approvals from BOE and making disclosures to BOE that are expressly required of all City employees and officials by the GEO. According to BOE, this informal arrangement has continued until the present day and is communicated by BOE to mayoral staff during ethics trainings and in informal ethics opinions. BOE’s website does not clarify that gifts to a mayor would not be disclosed on BOE’s website due to the arrangement between BOE and the Mayor’s Office.
The arrangement between BOE and the Mayor’s Office, which excuses mayors from making statutorily required disclosures to BOE, is contrary to the plain language of the GEO and undermines requirements of the GEO that promote accountability and public transparency. BOE communicated to OIG that, pursuant to the arrangement, the mayor should log gifts “in a publicly available log book” which is “kept in the 5th floor suite of offices in City Hall.”
Samantha Slecka spent the better part of three days strapped down to a chair in Madison County Jail in the summer of 2022. It was the same jail where her fiancé had attempted suicide only months earlier.
She had been arrested and detained for meth possession and a warrant for possession of a controlled substance—a charge that was later dropped. Despairing, in withdrawal, and calling out for help in her cell, Slecka said she tried to take her own life.
In response, jail staff restrained her in a chair for 36 hours, then again the following day for nearly 12 hours. She said it was days before she saw a mental health professional.
“I was just screaming the whole time because it just … felt like I was being punished,” said Slecka, 40. “To not have even the ability to move anything—it’s just pretty traumatizing.”
In Illinois Answers’ investigation into the use, misuse, and abuse of restraint chairs in Illinois county jails, Madison County stands out. From 2019 to 2023, the jail reported more incidents exceeding the chair manufacturer’s upper limit–10 hours–than any other jail in the state. Neighboring St. Clair County restrained more people than Madison County did, but largely for shorter periods. […]
In most cases, county records indicated the person restrained had a diagnosed mental illness or need for mental health crisis intervention. Multiple people defecated or urinated on themselves while restrained, which experts often say is evidence of extended restraint or improper care.
Endicott assumed the role of jail administrator in August of 2023. He said inquiries from Illinois Answers in early 2024 prompted him to review and reform the jail’s policies and practices around the use of restraint chairs.
A few months ago, Endicott updated the jail’s system for documenting supervision checks on people restrained, switching from handwritten logs to electronic software. He said he has increased de-escalation training, which he believes has already led to “improvements” in reducing the need to use restraint chairs.
Endicott said he also plans to require staff to video all uses of restraint chairs. That hasn’t always happened in the past. When Illinois Answers requested video of one 17-hour incident from 2019, the county said no video was recorded.
Should be fun watching how all the cheerleaders for that unconstitutional nonsense yesterday react now - or whether the White House doubles down in a different way.
If you want to cut the federal budget, you gotta pass a bill.
The original memo is here, and the spreadsheet with impacted programs is here.
…Adding… More from NBC…
A senior administration official confirmed to NBC that the original OMB memo is rescinded, and said that additional guidance is to come.
…Adding… People are already rushing to their favorite reporters to take credit. From The Hill…
The decision came amid strong behind-the-scenes pushback from Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill, according to a GOP senator who was apprised of the decision to reverse the policy order. […]
GOP senators had been flooded with calls from community leaders who expressed confusion and concern about losing federal grants.
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, emailed the following statement after the retraction of the funding memo:
“In light of the injunction, OMB has rescinded the memo to end any confusion on federal policy created by the court ruling and the dishonest media coverage. The executive orders issued by the president on funding reviews remain in full force and effect and will be rigorously implemented by all agencies and departments. This action should effectively end the court case and allow the government to focus on enforcing the president’s orders on controlling federal spending. In the coming weeks and months, more executive action will continue to end the egregious waste of federal funding.”
The “dishonest media coverage.” Hilarious. Leavitt couldn’t answer questions about it yesterday.
They could’ve done funding reviews without unilaterally (and unconstitutionally) cutting off funding. This was such an unnecessarily cruel plan that was doomed to failure.
Each agency, department, or commission head, in consultation with the Attorney General, the Director of OMB, and the Director of OPM, as appropriate, shall take the following actions within sixty days of this order:
terminate, to the maximum extent allowed by law, all DEI, DEIA, and “environmental justice” offices and positions (including but not limited to “Chief Diversity Officer” positions); all “equity action plans,” “equity” actions, initiatives, or programs, “equity-related” grants or contracts; and all DEI or DEIA performance requirements for employees, contractors, or grantees.
provide the Director of the OMB with a list of all:
agency or department DEI, DEIA, or “environmental justice” positions, committees, programs, services, activities, budgets, and expenditures in existence on November 4, 2024, and an assessment of whether these positions, committees, programs, services, activities, budgets, and expenditures have been misleadingly relabeled in an attempt to preserve their pre-November 4, 2024 function;
Federal contractors who have provided DEI training or DEI training materials to agency or department employees; and
Federal grantees who received Federal funding to provide or advance DEI, DEIA, or “environmental justice” programs, services, or activities since January 20, 2021.
direct the deputy agency or department head to:
assess the operational impact (e.g., the number of new DEI hires) and cost of the prior administration’s DEI, DEIA, and “environmental justice” programs and policies; and
recommend actions, such as Congressional notifications under 28 U.S.C. 530D, to align agency or department programs, activities, policies, regulations, guidance, employment practices, enforcement activities, contracts (including set-asides), grants, consent orders, and litigating positions with the policy of equal dignity and respect identified in section 1 of this order. The agency or department head and the Director of OMB shall jointly ensure that the deputy agency or department head has the authority and resources needed to carry out this directive.
So, unless they want another court fight, they won’t be terminating much of anything. And the rest is what they should’ve been doing in the first place: Examining spending and reporting back to OMB.
…Adding… This is a different judge in the state attorneys general lawsuit…
Wednesday, Jan 29, 2025 - Posted by Advertising Department
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JERSEYVILLE — Today, Governor JB Pritzker joined the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) and local leaders to announce Regional Site Readiness Program awards totaling $31 million to support site readiness activities at 24 sites across the state. The program includes two competitive funding opportunities: Planning grants to support due diligence activities, studies and site plans, and Capital Ready grants to support capital infrastructure improvements. Through this funding, 13 Planning grantees and 11 Capital Ready grantees will undertake due diligence and development projects to better prepared sites to attract future investment and new job opportunities in the industrial sector across Illinois’ Economic Development Regions.
“Readiness planning, assessments, infrastructure improvements – these things are all the fundamental work that must be done for businesses and investments to flourish and jobs to grow across the state,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “In every corner of Illinois, there are communities that are overflowing with untapped potential but do not have the resources and support they needed to fully realize it. Now, standing in front of you, I’m happy to say a whole lot has changed – we are investing in our sites, we are thinking about the future, and we are growing economic development across the state.” […]
“Economic growth has a unique power to bring people together. It transcends differences and unites us around a common goal. These resources allow us to pursue developments that are not only the right fit for Jerseyville but align with our values, strengths, and ambitions,” said Jerseyville Mayor Kevin Stork. “Thank you again, Governor, DCEO, and Intersect Illinois for your partnership, vision, and belief in Jerseyville.”
* Pritzker took questions today from reporters. One asked whether he was concerned that Illinois, as a “Blue State,” would have contingencies on federal aid moving forward…
This upsets me, this whole conversation. Because, you know, once you get, I get it, you run in an election, and it’s, you know, it’s the red kid, you know, the Republican candidate against the Democratic candidate. And you know, you’re battling it out. It’s a battle of rhetoric.
And finally, the voters vote. Then you take office. Your responsibility is to all of the people that you lead and represent. So, you know, I’m a Democrat, but I know I did not win Jersey [laughs], Jerseyville. And I know that there are areas of the state that I didn’t win. It’s my responsibility nevertheless, to help build business opportunities and help education systems grow and, you know, get better, and invest in our community colleges and universities. I mean, it’s your job.
And so the idea that a president would target certain areas that didn’t vote for him, I think is something I hope we will not come to accept as okay. It’s not okay. So, that’s disturbing to me.
Do I think that this President will take out his revenge against states that didn’t vote for him? All I can say is, I hope not, and I’m going to try like heck to make sure that they don’t. And I do think that, as discovered yesterday, a lot of these programs, they affect red states, blue states all the same. And so it’s a bad idea to target when you’re going to hit some others that you didn’t know you would.
The long relationship between Michael J. Madigan and Michael McClain played a central role in multiple corruption trials over the last few years in Chicago, and a jury will soon begin to consider a sweeping racketeering conspiracy case against both men.
But first, McClain’s attorney sought Tuesday to define the relationship between Madigan and McClain for the jurors. Defense attorney Patrick Cotter told them that McClain was a lobbyist to Madigan, as well as an adviser. But, Cotter said, “he was also his good friend.”
“We know, now, he’s not,” Cotter told the jury. “And that’s — I guess that’s a casualty of this case. But it was real.”
Soon after Cotter made that comment, McClain reached for a tissue from his seat on the other side of the courtroom, and he pressed it against his eyes.
McClain was a diligent — if sometimes “blunt” and “earthy” — lobbyist who never agreed to or knew about any bribery scheme, his attorney Patrick Cotter told jurors in closing arguments Tuesday. He only ever acted out of a commitment to his clients and a true respect for Madigan, Cotter said.
“Did this very real, very unique and — I would submit based on the overall evidence in this case — very decent human being actually have the intent to engage in a conspiracy to bribe the person he thought of as his closest friend?” Cotter asked. […]
He brought up McClain’s retirement letter to Madigan, which was shown by prosecutors earlier in the trial and included a personal message to the speaker about their close bond.
“This was a very private letter,” Cotter said, adding that McClain “never in a million years” would have thought one day it would be held up in court as evidence in his own corruption trial.
Cotter on Tuesday also went after the government’s other star witness, former ComEd executive Fidel Marquez, who began cooperating with the FBI after agents approached him in January 2019 and secretly recorded meetings with McClain and their other colleagues.
Cotter reminded the jury of Marquez’s “long history of lying,” including to a judge during his divorce proceedings a decade ago and last spring when he attempted to buy a gun in Arizona and did not check the box that said he was convicted of a felony.
When questioned on cross-examination in November about McClain bringing job recommendations to ComEd from Madigan, Marquez acknowledged that it was part of McClain’s job as the utility’s chief external lobbyist – and that not all of the recommendations were hired.
Cotter also pointed out that Marquez kept his contention vague when testifying about the purpose of the alleged bribery conspiracy, repeatedly saying giving jobs and contracts to Madigan allies was to keep Madigan “positively disposed” toward ComEd’s legislative agenda.
* Cotter also went after FBI mole Danny Solis’ credibility. Jon Seidel…
Cotter: "Danny Solis shouldn't be trusted for anything. Anything. But he certainly shouldn't be trusted for something as important as a major federal crime charged against Mike McClain."
Another scheme outlined by prosecutors involved Madigan and McClain’s alleged efforts to illegally steer business to the speaker’s private property tax law firm amid efforts to develop a state-owned parcel of land in Chinatown into a commercial development.
Cotter denied that McClain was involved in any bribery in any of those alleged schemes and said that if there had been any recording or email that laid out the breadth of those allegations, the government would have found it and used it at trial.
“It’s not there,” Cotter said, “because the story isn’t true.”
After Madigan and McClain’s respective defense teams finish their closing remarks, the government will next present rebuttal arguments Wednesday before jury deliberations begin.
Illinois Senate Republicans Tuesday announced they would again try to repeal a law that limits state and local law enforcement’s participation in federal immigration enforcement.
Sponsors seek to reverse aspects of the 2017 law that prohibits law enforcement from participating, supporting or assisting the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Illinois law enforcement can currently only work with ICE if presented with a federal criminal warrant or otherwise required by federal law.
Senate Bill 1313 would rather require state law enforcement agencies to cooperate with ICE, “ensuring undocumented immigrants charged with or convicted of a felony are identified, reported, and deported,” according to a news release.
The bill is sponsored by State Sen. Neil Anderson (R-Andalusia) and was filed Tuesday morning. Additional legislation, sponsored by State Senators Terri Bryant (R-Murphysboro) and Andrew Chesney (R-Freeport), seeks to repeal the Illinois TRUST Act in its entirety.
Creates the Fantasy Sports Consumer Protection Act. Provides that the Illinois Gaming Board may regulate the conduct of fantasy contest operators under the Act. Allows the Board to levy and collect fees, surcharges, civil penalties, and, on adjusted gross fantasy contest receipts imposed under the Act, monthly taxes, and identifies other powers and duties of the Board. Includes restrictions, including requiring licensing, of fantasy contest operators. Includes license requirements and requirements for allowable fantasy contests. Contains provisions relating to denial of a license, independent audits, reporting and investigation of prohibited conduct, taxes, compulsive gambling and voluntary self-exclusion, and supplier diversity goals for fantasy contest operators. Amends the Sports Wagering Act. Excludes fantasy contests from the definition of “sports wagering”. Amends the Criminal Code of 2012. Provides that participants in fantasy contest wagering shall not be convicted of the offense of gambling when conducted in accordance with the Fantasy Sports Consumer Protection Act. Excludes any real estate, vehicle, boat, or any other property whatsoever used for the purposes of gambling under the Fantasy Sports Consumer Protection Act from the definition of “gambling place” under the offense of keeping a gambling place. Amends the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act. Grants the Illinois Gaming Board emergency rulemaking authority to implement the Fantasy Sports Consumer Protection Act. Effective immediately.
Creates the Safe Autonomous Vehicle Act. Provides definitions. Provides that upon notification to the Secretary of State, a Motor Vehicle Manufacturer may commence a safe autonomous vehicle project with a vehicle installed with an Automated Driving System after providing notification to the Secretary of State and after self-certification under certain conditions. Provides that the Manufacturer shall determine the geographical boundaries of the project and shall maintain incident records and provide periodic summaries to the Secretary of State and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Provides that the Participating Fleet in the program shall be insured by the Manufacturer who shall assume liability for incidents where the automated driving system technology is at fault for that incident. Provides that any person operates a vehicle with automated driving system technology without first satisfying the eligibility requirements in the Act shall be fined $10,000 for a first violation and a second or subsequent violation is a Class A misdemeanor. Preempts home rule powers. Effective immediately.
Illinois homeowners and drivers are increasingly blindsided with unwelcome news from their insurance companies that their homeowner and auto premiums are going up — in some cases, by double-digit percentages. […]
The General Assembly must prioritize two solutions this spring. The first is the Insurance Rate Fairness and Consumer Protection Act, which would limit excessive rate hikes and protect consumers from arbitrary pricing practices.
This bill that I have sponsored would require insurers to seek approval from the Illinois Department of Insurance before raising premiums. If the department does not approve the increase within 60 days, the insurer cannot implement the hike. Additionally, rate increases will be capped at 15% per year, unless the insurer can provide exceptional justification — such as increased claims from natural disasters or changes in the regulatory landscape. […]
Another bill, the Insurance Rate Transparency Act, would ensure consumers are fully informed about the cost of their insurance policies before they are forced to renew to address the many people who are caught unaware until their renewal notices arrive with dramatic premium increases.
* SB1342 from Sen. Don DeWitte…
Amends the Video Gaming Act. Provides that a municipality with a population that is greater than or equal to 1,000,000 may not pass an ordinance prohibiting video gaming within the corporate limits of the municipality. Provides that, in such a municipality, video gaming may be prohibited only by referendum. Preempts home rule powers. Provides that a tax of 34% is imposed on net terminal income in such a municipality and shall be collected by the Illinois Gaming Board, of which 83% shall be distributed to the Regional Transportation Authority and 17% shall be distributed to the municipality in which the terminal is located. Makes conforming changes.
Creates the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Act. Creates the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Fund as a special fund in the State treasury for the purpose of holding bitcoin as a financial asset. Provides that the State Treasurer may accept gifts, grants, and donations of bitcoin from Illinois residents and governmental entities for deposit into the Fund. Provides that the State Treasurer shall hold all bitcoin deposited into the Fund for a duration of at least 5 years from the date that the bitcoin enters the State’s custody. Allows the State Treasurer, after this period, to transfer, sell, appropriate, or convert to another cryptocurrency any bitcoin in the Fund. Adds provisions concerning the management and security of the Fund; reporting requirements; and voluntary donations of bitcoin by Illinois residents. Provides that the State Treasurer may adopt rules necessary to administer the Act. Effective immediately.
* Subscribers know more. ICYMI: Trump administration’s surprise federal funding freeze sows havoc across Illinois before being blocked by federal judge. Tribune…
- U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan blocked the Trump administration effort to freeze federal grants and potentially trillions of dollars in spending the action minutes before it was set to go into effect at 4 p.m.
- The administrative stay pauses the freeze until Monday.
- The judge’s decision capped a day filled with confusion, frustration and fear across the nation after Trump’s Office of Management and Budget called for the temporary pause on funding, including for programs related to “foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal,”
* SJ-R | Illinois Supreme Court will take up State’s petition on Sean Grayson’s detention: Oral arguments will be heard by the high court after the State and defense attorneys for Sean P. Grayson file briefs. The petition, or PLA, asks the Supreme Court to address a Nov. 27 ruling from the Fourth District Appellate Court that would have cleared the way for Grayson’s release from detention under the Pre-Trial Fairness Act, which is part of the Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today, or SAFE-T Act.
* WGN | ‘I’m worried about him’: Undocumented father of 4 removed from Elgin home during raid targeting different man: Ramos was wanted for a parole violation for aggravated battery with a firearm and charged with attempted first-degree murder. Family members said Ramos has not lived at the home for months. […] Agents did not find Ramos, but they did encounter 44-year-old Raul Lopez, a father of four who was living in the country illegally. A task force spokesman told WGN-TV that ICE was part of the team and removed Lopez from the house after finding him hiding in the attic.
*** Statehouse News ***
* Tribune | Illinois GOP sues over Democratic legislative remap, calling it ‘not just a little corrupt’: In their lawsuit, Republicans argued the boundaries drawn to give Democrats supermajorities in the state House and Senate are in violation of both the state constitution’s mandate that elections be “free and equal” and a requirement that districts be drawn compactly. The legislative boundaries enacted into state law in September 2021 were “drawn with the primary motivation to ensure Democrat victories and is anything but ‘free and equal,’” the lawsuit argues. “The Enacted Plan thus denies voters their equal right to participate in the political process and to elect representatives of their choice.”
*** Statewide ***
* Chalkbeat Chicago | Illinois’ 4th grade NAEP scores drop in both reading and math: The latest round of test scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as NAEP, released on Wednesday shows that Illinois students who missed school or went through the interruptions and struggles of remote learning may still have gaps in their education from that time. However, Illinois eighth grade students — who would have been in fourth grade when the pandemic started — either held steady or outperformed their peers in 2022 in reading and math but their scores lagged behind their peers who took the exam in 2019.
* Tribune | If you’re arrested by ICE in Illinois, what happens next? Legal experts explain the process: Nearly everyone else is up to the discretion of ICE on whether or not they should be detained, Hallett said. Deciding factors that go into that process include whether ICE believes a person is a flight risk, poses a danger to their community or even whether an ICE facility has enough beds to hold someone. “In many cases, ICE is sort of forced into releasing people because there simply aren’t beds available to detain them,” Hallett said.
* Daily Herald | Bicyclist fatalities: How Illinois aligns with — and differs from — national trends: Time of day for fatal bike crashes in Illinois differed significantly from the national trend. NHTSA refers to this as the “time/light condition,” reporting, “over half (56%) of bicyclist fatalities occur in dawn, dusk, or nighttime conditions; the highest proportion.” In contrast, 87% of Illinois bicyclists were killed during those same time/light conditions, based on 20 of 23 crashes in which time of day was identified.
*** Chicago ***
* WTTW | CTA Says Federal Funding for Red Line Extension Still Expected Despite Freeze: “Our position is that the Red Line Extension Project’s full funding grant agreement that the CTA and (Federal Transit Administration) executed recently, like similar grant agreements that the CTA secured for projects such as the Red Purple Modernization Program, is a binding and legal commitment by the federal government to provide the committed and obligated funds,” CTA spokesperson Tammy Chase told WTTW News in a statement. “As a result, we do not interpret any recent activity to have any impact on the federal government’s commitment to fund this essential transit project.”
* ABC Chicago | ICE arrestee from local weekend raid ordered released by federal judge: After spending roughly 48 hours in federal custody - first at the HSI offices in Lombard, then at the MCC Chicago federal prison - Martinez-Cermeno is scheduled to be released from custody Tuesday evening. While prosecutors mentioned that there is an “ICE detainer” for Martinez-Cermeno, and that ICE would likely take him into custody upon his release, the judge said this was legally unacceptable as ICE did not have the proper judicial warrant to detain him further, and that an ICE detainer is only a “civil request.”
* Block Club | Chicago Emergency Response Times Are Worsening. A Slain Rapper’s Mom Wants to Know Why.: Weekly’s lawsuit highlights a persistent chorus of concerns over Chicago’s emergency response times, which critics say are too slow to help injured people. In Illinois, the state’s administrative code requires fire departments to measure EMS response times against a standard of six minutes, one minute longer than the National Fire Protection Association’s widely followed five-minute standard. Weekly’s lawsuit states that the city’s failure to transport Duck sooner delayed his access to care that could have potentially saved his life.
* WTTW | Johnson Declines to Immediately Respond to Request to Testify to Congress About Sanctuary City Status: Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson on Tuesday declined to respond to a request from the Republican chairperson of the U.S. House Oversight Committee about the city’s self-proclaimed status as a sanctuary city. Instead, Johnson referred questions to the city’s top lawyer, Corporation Counsel Mary Richardson-Lowry, who said the letter sent by U.S. Rep James Comer (R-Kentucky) was under “legal review.”
* Dan McGrath | Wrapping up a miserable year in Chicago sports: The White Sox literally set a record for ineptitude with their 121 losses, but if you thought that was as bad as it gets, along came the Bears. They’ll finish 4-13 barring some unlikely miracle on Green Bay’s frozen tundra. They’ve done worse seven times in their century-long history — remember 1-13 in 1969? — but the 11-game losing streak the team will carry into next season is more representative of its flailing futility than the record.
*** Cook County and Suburbs ***
* FOX Chicago | Tiffany Henyard involved in scuffle at heated Thornton Township meeting: According to those present, Henyard’s boyfriend confronted the activist, Jedidiah Brown, leading to an altercation. Henyard reportedly pushed her table aside and ran to the back of the room, allegedly joining the brawl. Police were on the scene as the situation unfolded.
* Shaw Local | Will County schools, local governments evaluate plans after Trump’s call to freeze federal funds: Lockport Township Supervisor Alex Zapien said the potential ramifications of the pause on federal funding are “concerning,” with several vital initiatives that could be affected. “For example, [Lockport] Township currently has an ARPA-funded senior bus project in progress and this may face delays or disruptions depending on the length of this pause. Furthermore, our partnership with the fire department on a mental health counseling program, which serves residents who heavily rely on Medicaid, could be jeopardized if Medicaid funding in Illinois is indeed blocked as is being reported,” Zapien said.
* Daily Herald | ‘A better toolbox’: Winter presents unique opportunities for restoration work in forest preserves: The large-scale restoration work of removing aggressive, invasive species and helping native ones flourish follows seasonal changes across the collar counties. […] “When you’re out chainsawing down trees and dragging brush, it is super physically intensive, and so you are not cold because you’re working so hard,” said Shaela Rabbit, natural resources specialist with the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County. “When it’s not very cold and the ground isn’t frozen, that means that we can’t have large equipment helping us clear, and we can’t get as much done as during the winter.”
* 25News Now | City of Bloomington leaders contemplate solutions to ‘terrifying’ reality of housing market: During Tuesday night’s Committee of the Whole meeting, Bloomington Normal Economic Development Council President and CEO Patrick Hoban said as the population continues to grow, there is already a need for 4,500 houses in 2025. “The terrifying part is if you project that out to 2030 and 2035, it’s saying you need 16,000 houses,” Hoban said. According to Mid-Illinois Realtors Association President Tracy Patkunas, there are only 99 homes on the market right now in Bloomington-Normal.
* NBC | ICE makes close to 1,200 arrests in one day: Data first obtained by NBC News shows that Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested a total of 1,179 people on Sunday, which is more than the 956 arrests that the agency posted on X on Sunday night. But just 613 of those total arrests — nearly 52% — were considered “criminal arrests.” The rest appear to be nonviolent offenders or people who have not committed any criminal offense other than crossing the border illegally.
* NYT | Kennedy, in His Own Words: Flu, Diabetes, Autism and More: For years Mr. Kennedy has questioned the safety of vaccines, including those for polio and measles, two diseases that continue to harm children. More recently, he has said that he’s not planning to take vaccines away from Americans but wants to release safety data to the public — even though nearly all of the data is already publicly available.
* You can click here and here to follow the Madigan trial. Click here and/or here to follow breaking news. Hopefully, enough reporters and news outlets migrate to BlueSky so we can hopefully resume live-posting.
Today, Governor JB Pritzker directed agencies to report on potential impacts of President Trump’s illegal and unconstitutional federal funding cuts for Illinois’ most vulnerable communities and people. While the State will continue fighting these illegal actions, there are several areas of urgent concern the State will continue monitoring:
Access Issues for Federal Funding Portals
Despite official information from the federal government stating that programs that provide assistance directly to individuals will not be impacted, state agencies and partner organizations reported issues accessing payment systems throughout the day on January 28. Federal officials have not responded to requests for more clarity or on the status of payments and the systems, further adding to the uncertainty. Illinois officials experienced issues with the following systems:
• Payment Management System (PMS) portal operated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Throughout the day on January 28, 2025 Illinois officials and partners were unable to access the portal for at least part of the day for following programs:
o Medicaid and ACA expansion populations
o Home-delivered and congregate meal sites for seniors,
o Public Assistance and Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (disaster recovery and mitigation programs)
o Child care and Head Start programs
o Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF)
o Vaccinations and disease surveillance
• Electronic Line of Credit Control System (eLOCCS) portal operated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
o Rental assistance programs for people who are homelessness and/or have disabilities.
Resources for Illinois Families and Children
• Medicaid:
o Provides health care to 3.3 million low-income Illinoisans including children.
• Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG):
o Supports child care for low-income families for 140,000 children in over 80,000 households.
• Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP):
o Assists 300,000+ low-income households annually with energy bills.
• Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF):
o Provides cash assistance and work support for 75,000 low-income residents.
• Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) and Rapid ReHousing:
o Provides housing support for approximately 2,600 families and 9,000 Illinoisans.
• Child Welfare Programs:
o Support for foster care services, adoption services, guardianship and reimbursement for residential placements, impacting 20,000 children in care statewide.
• Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP):
o Provides meals to children enrolled at participating daycare centers, as well as older individuals with disabilities at adult day centers, providing 1,000,000+ meals to Illinoisans per year.
Support for Older Illinoisians
• Administration for Community Living (ACL) programs, including:
o Nutrition programs - 13 million meals served in 2024
o Supportive Services (e.g., transportation, in-home care)
o Family Caregiver Support Programs – 16,000+ caregivers in Illinois
• Senior Health Insurance Program (SHIP):
o Provides support to older Illinoisans with enrolling in healthcare. SHIP provided counseling to 103,000 beneficiaries in FY24.
• Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers (MIPPA):
o Helps low-income Medicare beneficiaries enroll in cost saving benefits, which supports 74,000 Illinoisans.
Critical Public Health Services for Illinoisans:
• Maternal and Child Health Services (Title V):
o Provides funding to improve the health of mothers and children through initiatives like prenatal care and infant screenings.
• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Programs:
o Funds mental health and substance abuse prevention and treatment services, including opioid response initiatives.
• Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs):
o Funds health care for underserved populations, including preventive and primary care services.
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) grants support programs for:
o Immunizations
o Disease surveillance (e.g., HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis)
o Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP)
• Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program:
o Provides essential medical care and services for individuals with HIV/AIDS.
• Preventive Health and Health Services (PHHS) Block Grant:
o Funds state-level public health initiatives, including chronic disease prevention and health promotion.
Support for Illinoisians with Disabilities
• Section 811 Housing:
o Provides housing support and services for persons with disabilities.
• The Illinois Council on Developmental Disabilities (ICDD):
o State agency that advocates for policy changes to promote choice, independence, productivity, and inclusion for people with developmental disabilities in Illinois.
• Employment Supports for Disabled Workers:
o Funding includes pre-employment transition services, supported employment programs, job training activities, and vocational rehabilitation programs.
• Respite Support for Families:
o Funding for emergency respite support for individuals with disabilities benefiting more than 1,100 families.
Economic Development for Illinois Communities
• Community Development Block Grant (CDBG):
o Provides grants to communities to expand housing and other economic development efforts.
• Community Services Block Grant (CSBG):
o Provides funding to combat poverty through local programs like job training and housing assistance.
• State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI):
o Provides funding to help small businesses access low-interest loans, venture capital and other financing.
• Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Title 1 Funding:
o Funds programs and resources to provide job search, education, and training activities to help jobseekers and our workforce.
Infrastructure:
• Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD):
o Access to significant federal funds for broadband expansion.
• Federal formula funding for transportation infrastructure:
o Includes highway, transit, and aeronautics programs and projects
• Federal discretionary grants funded under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and Inflation Reduction Act, including:
o National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program
o Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency Program
o Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Grant
o Airport Improvement Grants
o Port Infrastructure Grants
o Grants to Amtrak to improve passenger rail
o Rail Safety Grants
Agriculture
• Meat and Poultry Inspections:
o Provides risk oversight the entire meat and poultry supply chain. IDOA receives reimbursement from the federal government for up to half of its inspection activities.
Disaster Mitigation:
• Disaster Recovery and Mitigation Programs: Five state disaster programs are federally funded and would be unable to proceed:
o Public assistance (PA) and individual assistance (IA)
o Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP)
o Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC)
o Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA)
o Pre-disaster Mitigation (PDM)
Within minutes of the White House freezing billions in federal grants and loans, a federal judge temporarily blocked the funding pause from taking effect — issuing a "brief administrative stay" — until Monday at 5PM.
A federal judge has temporarily blocked a Trump administration freeze on federal grants and loans that could total trillions of dollars.
U.S. District Judge Loren L. AliKhan blocked the action Tuesday afternoon, minutes before it was set to go into effect. The administrative stay pauses the freeze until Monday.
The White House had planned to start the pause as they begin an across-the-board ideological review of federal spending.
*** UPDATE 2 *** The governor just said the state was able to access the Medicaid system as of about an hour ago (around 3 o’clock).
*** UPDATE 3 *** Pritzker went off on the president today…
The United States Constitution clearly states that Congress has the power of the purse and sets laws to obligate federal funding for all 50 states. What Donald Trump tried to do in the last 24 hours is illegal.
Let’s be clear, this is a demonstration of cruelty against people who depend on us, working families who rely on federal assistance to pay their rent, people who need help paying their utility bills, parents who need critical programs like Head Start for quality, affordable child care, and 3.5 million Illinoisans who get their health insurance through Medicaid. Despite what the White House press secretary said at the podium earlier, I believe it is my duty to report to you the truth of what actually happened today in Illinois.
Donald Trump’s administration is lying to you. The White House’s attempt to walk back what they did today does not match what we saw on the ground.
They assured us that Medicaid would not be affected. That was a lie. Our state agencies were unable to access the Medicaid system until an hour ago, preventing payments for services. And this has been reported from states across the nation.
When we reached out to federal agencies, they informed us that they have been directed not to discuss any guidance with states. They have canceled previously scheduled meetings for this week.
The White House assured us that Head Start would not be affected. That was a lie. Providers across the state experienced outages and some were unable to make their payroll. They assured us that they were doing nothing to take away individual assistance from the most vulnerable people in our state, but they refused to say that they would restore LIHEAP, the low income housing, Energy Assistance Program, payments to support the unemployment system and meals on wheels. These are programs that hundreds of 1000s of illinoisians depend on, children, seniors, veterans, working parents.
Let’s just be clear about what happened over the last 24 hours. At 7:42pm last night, we saw a memo from the White House saying that they were pausing federal funding across the board. This morning, along with all 50 states across the country, we discovered that our ability to access critical federal funding had been cut off, and now the administration would like us to believe that these were just coincidental website outages.
Donald Trump and his administration have not earned the benefit of the doubt. They are either lying to us or they are critically incompetent. This is what happens when you staff the federal government full of project 2025 contributors that don’t have any experience governing and don’t think that the laws apply to them. The consequences of their actions are not hypothetical. They are not numbers on a spreadsheet. These are real people, ordinary Americans struggle, struggling to afford groceries, rent, and health care.
Please pardon all transcription errors.
…Adding… More from Pritzker…
I was very happy to hear as I entered this room today that an administrative stay has been granted. Let me assure you, the state of Illinois will fight this unlawful order with everything we have. We’re working with the Attorney General, who has moved forward with other states to continue pursuing legal action to protect the people of Illinois. Last November, on the day after the election, I made a promise to the people of Illinois when it comes to threats to our freedom, health or security. If you come for my people, you come through me.
…Adding… More Pritzker…
You think it’s an accident that the memo came out last night and then this morning, our state agencies, like Medicaid could not access those systems? It’s not an accident. The intention here is to disrupt. The intention here is to make cuts, and it will affect people all across our state.
…Adding… Pritzker…
When our agencies reached out to the federal agencies, we literally were informed that they are not to speak with us.
-30-
*** UPDATE 4 *** The attorney general’s lawsuit is here.
[ *** End Of Updates *** ]
* Background is here if you need it. Some of what I’m using in this post is in the other post, but I’m trying to refocus and make this more readable.
The federal government is now saying the Medicaid portal will be back up soonish. I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see…
Update from the White House on the Medicaid portal shutdown - spokesperson says payments are still being processed and should be back up and running: https://t.co/CGEBLt9xpl
A notice at the top of the federal Medicaid Payment Management System website on Tuesday read: “Due to Executive Orders regarding potentially unallowable grant payments, PMS is taking additional measures to process payments. Reviews of applicable programs and payments will result in delays and/or rejections of payments.”
So, we don’t really know what’s going on.
* But, as I noted on the earlier post, even if the system goes back into operation, we still don’t know the fate of trillions of federal funding dollars that are being held up. From the Sun-Times…
Trump’s administration announced the pause in federal grants, loans and other financial assistance as they embarked on a sweeping review of spending — a measure aimed at “ending ‘wokeness’ and the weaponization of government,” according to a memo from Matthew Vaeth, acting director of the Office of Management and Budget.
The funding freeze could affect trillions of dollars and cause widespread disruption in health care research, education programs and other initiatives. Grants that have been awarded but not spent are also halted, according to the Associated Press. […]
In the federal memo, Vaeth wrote: “The use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve.”
Vaeth said each agency must complete a comprehensive analysis of all federal financial assistance programs.
“In the interim, to the extent permissible under applicable law, Federal agencies must temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance, and other relevant agency activities that may be implicated by the executive orders.”
The full memo is here, and the spreadsheet with impacted programs is here.
* Attorney General Kwame Raoul joined several other AGs around the country to file a lawsuit against the budgetary action. From his remarks today…
This unconstitutional pause in funding will have a devastating impact on the public safety, prosperity and quality of life of all.
Democrats and Republicans alike will be negatively impacted by this pause in funding.
It impacts our ability to go after offenders who prey on a our children, because this impacts our Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Our task force has enabled us to capture a record number of child predators. That is compromised.
It impacts… funding that allows our law enforcement partners to fight crime and impacts those who rely on Medicaid for life-saving health care.
It impacts our capacity to provide for veterans who served our country. Head Start and child care programs. The support for critical research at our universities. And support for farmers who grow our food. And of course, critical investment in infrastructure needed for our roads and bridges and keeping our working families working.
In the fiscal year ending in 2024, Illinois agencies received nearly $30 billion in direct federal aid, according to a report from the state Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability. More than $19 billion in federal funding went to the Department of Healthcare and Family Services in Medicaid-related payments, according to CGFA.
Billions went to grants in other parts of state government, including some $2.3 billion to the Department of Transportation, $401 million to the agency tasked with economic opportunity and $314 million to the Environmental Protection Agency, the same report said.
Challengers to Trump’s actions to withhold funding would likely cite the Impoundment Control Act, a law passed in 1974 to regulate the president’s control over the budget. This followed efforts by then-President Richard Nixon to withhold spending on programs he did not support, like Trump has indicated his intention to do.
Under that law, the president can temporarily withhold funds — but must notify Congress first, and the decision cannot be based on policy grounds. The president can also ask Congress to rescind spending decisions, which can also be grounds for a pause in spending.
The spreadsheet includes specific questions for over 2,600 specific accounts within agencies across the government, large and small — every Cabinet department and independent agencies ranging from the Federal Communications Commission to the Institute of Museum and Library Services to the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation.
The questions, intended to ensure that federal programs are in compliance with Trump’s executive orders and policy goals, include the following:
• “Does this program provide Federal funding to non-governmental organizations supporting or providing services, either directly or indirectly, to removable or illegal aliens?”
• “Is this program a foreign assistance program, or provide funding or support activities overseas?”
• “Does this program provide funding that is implicated by the revocation and rescission of the U.S. International Climate Finance Plan?”
• “Does this program include activities that impose an undue burden on the identification, development, or use of domestic energy resources (including through funding under the Inflation Reducing (sp) Act of 2022; and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act)?”
• “Does this program provide funding that is implicated by the directive to end discriminatory programs, including illegal DEI and ‘diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility’ (DEIA) mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities, under whatever name they appear, or other directives in the same EO, including those related to ‘environmental justice’ programs or ‘equity-related’ grants?”
• “Does this program promote gender ideology?”
• “Does this program promote or support in any way abortion or other related activities identified in the Hyde Amendment?”
• “If not covered in the preceding columns, does this program support any activities that must not be supported based on executive orders issued on or after January 20, 2025 (including executive orders released following the dissemination of this spreadsheet)?”
The Trump folks say the Impoundment Control Act is unconstitutional. We’ll see.
The scramble began late Monday, after the White House budget office circulated a list of spending programs under scrutiny that seemed to implicate virtually every function of the federal government. The funds it identified for review included a vast array of initiatives that help the poor, potentially arresting funds that provide rental vouchers, nutrition benefits and college aid to low-income Americans.
The administration also pointed to federal programs that inspect meat, poultry and eggs for potential foodborne illnesses, and payments to farmers whose crops are ravaged by natural disasters. And they included a sizable roster of initiatives to protect public health, seemingly aiming to freeze money meant to fight the spread of AIDS, research cancer causes and detection, and prepare for bioterrorism attacks. […]
The Trump administration also said it had set up a process for agencies to work with the White House on evaluating their funding, and already had approved “many programs to continue” operating normally. Otherwise, OMB said some spending could come back online in as quickly as a day, as the White House looked to deflect criticism that it had taken radical action.
* Governor JB Pritzker updated his public schedule…
Daily Public Schedule: Tuesday, January 28, 2025
What: Governor Pritzker to hold press availability to discuss Donald Trump’s unlawful actions to cut essential programs for Illinois working families.
Where: 555 W. Monroe – 3rd Floor Press Room, Chicago.
When: 4:00 pm
Watch: www.illinois.gov/livevideo
*** Madigan Trial ***
* Tribune | Evidence in corruption case really just ‘lobbying and politics,’ attorney for Madigan confidant argues: Michael McClain, a longtime confidant of ex-speaker Michael Madigan, was a smart and diligent lobbyist who never agreed to or knew about any bribery scheme, his attorney told jurors Tuesday in closing arguments in Madigan and McClain’s landmark public corruption trial. “What the evidence of this trial did show is lobbying and politics. Lobbying and politics,” McClain attorney Patrick Cotter said in his closing remarks, adding: “Lobbying and politics is not a crime.”
* Fox Chicago | Illinois GOP bill would require law enforcement to coordinate with ICE: Sponsored by State Sen. Neil Anderson (R-Andalusia), Senate Bill 1313 supports “targeted operations” to deport undocumented immigrants accused or convicted of felonies and calls on Illinois to take on an “active role” in helping ICE. […] The bill’s sponsor condemned Pritzker’s support of the Illinois Trust Act, which bars local law enforcement from helping ICE unless required by law or a criminal warrant.
*** Statewide ***
* Chalkbeat Chicago | Chicago Public Schools launches long-awaited site to show how schools are doing: The new school accountability dashboards replace the district’s controversial number ratings for schools, which CPS put on hold and then scrapped during the pandemic. Those ratings had drawn the ire of educators and some community members, who said they unfairly stigmatized campuses that serve students with high needs. The old level ratings had also factored into high-stakes decisions about school closures and staff overhauls.
* WCIA | CUB challenges Ameren Illinois’ proposed $134 million gas rate hike: The Citizens Utility Board (CUB) said that Ameren has already earned $111 million in gas rate hikes since 2021. And, the new proposal would increase “key delivery charges by more than 20 percent,” according to CUB Executive Director Sarah Moskowitz. CUB said that the proposed hike would increase the customer charge by about 24%, to $25.16 per month, and the per therm (unit of heat energy) distribution charge by about 28% to 56.207 cents per therm.
*** Chicago ***
* WBEZ | Chicago’s immigration sweeps have restaurant and food industry employers feeling anxious: Sam Toia, president of the Illinois Restaurant Association, said Monday that its members are “very anxious” about possible arrests of Chicago-area workers by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. But as of Monday morning, there had been no reports of restaurant employees being arrested; nor had Toia heard anything about workers failing to show up for work because of fears of an ICE raid.
* Sun-Times | Dr. Phil had no business taking part in ICE immigration raids in Chicago, Durbin says: “Dr. Phil has as much business being on these raids as he does performing surgery,” Durbin said. McGraw is a psychologist. Federal agents allowed McGraw enormous access during the Sunday operations, tagging along with President Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan, in Chicago to oversee the operation. The deal was mutually beneficial — Homan got favorable coverage as McGraw used his live coverage to build an audience on his MeritTV digital television network.
* WTTW | UChicago Terrorism Expert Says Jan. 6 Pardons ‘Normalized Major Political Violence’: “This has also legitimated and normalized major political violence,” said Robert Pape, political science professor at the University of Chicago, terrorism expert and the founding director of the Chicago Project on Security and Threats, or CPOST. “Nearly 200 of those granted clemency are militia group members who, by their very membership in violent groups, pose a danger, and many of those who were sentenced to long prison terms, not just because of their role in Jan. 6, but because they pose an ongoing threat to police, the government and to our country and many of the others.”
* NBC Chicago | NBC 5 colleague missing from Lakeview neighborhood: Chicago police are searching for Kevin Spencer, a 34-year-old man from the city’s Lakeview neighborhood. Spencer, who works in NBC Chicago’s IT department, was last heard from Friday Jan. 24, according to police. Spencer did not report to work this week, which concerned friends and family members say is uncharacteristic.
*** Cook County and Suburbs ***
* Daily Southtown | Wildfire at forest preserve near Tinley Park under investigation, officials say: Fifteen fire departments, coordinated by the Tinley Park Fire Department, responded to the blaze at 6 p.m., according to Carl Vogel, director of communications for the Cook County Forest Preserve District. Although the fire was outside Tinley Park’s jurisdiction, it was elevated to a second alarm brush box, prompting assistance from fire trucks across the area, according to a news release from the Tinley Park Public Safety Department on Facebook.
* Daily Herald | Suburban police navigating conflicting state, federal directives on immigration crackdown: Asked how police will navigate conflicting directives, Addison Police Chief Roy Selvik said he anticipates legal questions related to federal law versus state law to continue. “Our current policy mirrors the TRUST Act and state law, and our agency will continue to operate under the guidance and recommendations set by the Illinois attorney general’s office,” he said.
* Crain’s | Bizarre death fuels concerns at struggling Waukegan hospital: The Lake County Coroner’s Office is blasting safety and quality conditions at Vista Medical Center East in Waukegan following the death of a patient who had gone missing and was later found hypothermic on the facility’s roof. Chelsea Adolphus, a 28-year-old woman and Waukegan resident, was admitted to Vista Medical on Jan. 22 but was found the next day on the hospital’s roof wearing only a hospital gown at about 8:45 a.m. — almost seven hours after leaving her room, according to the coroner’s office.
* Daily Herald | Archdiocese rejects reprieve for St. Thomas of Villanova school in Palatine: “As a school’s enrollment decreases, it becomes increasingly challenging to rebuild, as families often seek assurances of long-term stability when choosing a school for their children,” he wrote. Fundraising efforts, he added, can add instability that further drives down enrollment.
*** Downstate ***
* SJ-R | Springfield nonprofit continues helping women recovering from substance abuse: The nonprofit was founded by Executive Director Rev. Margaret Ann Jessup providing transitional employment, mentoring, recovery tools and a safe community for women recovering from substance abuse. In 2021, the nonprofit opened a housing program, which saves girls in the home 70% of their income. “When I got out of seminary, I wanted to start something to benefit this community to help women other people couldn’t or wouldn’t help,” Jessup said. “When you’re in recovery and you have any criminal past or have problems with the courts, probation, all of those require you to meet with people at certain times, do outpatient rehab, do drops at different times … there’s a lot of barriers to success.”
* WCIA | The Fray to perform at the Devon’s Amphitheater in Decatur: On Tuesday, Decatur announced that The Fray will perform at the Devon Lakeshore Amphitheater on May 24, 2025. Tickets will go on sale Jan. 31 at 10 a.m. and can be purchased here. Prices range from $35 for lawn tickets, to $69 for standing pit or reserved tickets.
*** National ***
* NYT | Caroline Kennedy Urges Senators to Reject Her Cousin’s Nomination: She urged lawmakers, who will be questioning Mr. Kennedy at his confirmation hearings Wednesday and Thursday, to reject his nomination. She cited his lack of experience, misinformed views on vaccines and personal attributes. In the letter, she described how he led other family members “down the path of drug addiction. “His basement, his garage, and his dorm room were the centers of the action where drugs were available, and he enjoyed showing off how he put baby chickens and mice in the blender to feed his hawks,” Ms. Kennedy wrote. “It was often a perverse scene of despair and violence.”
* Axios | Which companies are rolling back DEI and which are standing firm: Mentions of DEI and “diversity equity and inclusion” in earnings calls have dropped roughly 82% since Q2 of 2021. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) dropped the word “equity” from its strategy, while corporate communicators have started to lean more heavily on terms like “belonging” and “diversity of thoughts and perspectives.”
* Rep. McLaughlin won his House race in November by just 47 votes. Sen. McConchie won his last race by just 385 votes. But McLaughlin now wants to replace McConchie…
Martin McLaughlin, a proven Republican leader and experienced public servant, has formally announced his interest in filling the 26th District Senate seat following Senator Dan McConchie’s upcoming resignation.
McLaughlin has extensive experience advocating for common sense policies and fiscal stewardship in the region for over a decade. His record of winning elections in challenging districts and his dedication to conservative principles make him the strongest candidate to retain the seat and ensure future Republican success.
“Many of you know my record of service, not only at the local level, but across the state,” McLaughlin said. “As a three-time elected State Representative and twice-elected Village President of Barrington Hills, I’ve consistently demonstrated my ability to win against well- funded opponents and deliver results for my constituents.”
McLaughlin highlighted his recent initiatives to engage low-propensity voters in Lake and McHenry Counties, which have already proven beneficial to Republican candidates. He emphasized his unique ability to energize voters and secure victories in a competitive district. “In my last election, I faced a $3.8 million opposition effort and still won decisively— outperforming President Trump by over 5% in the 52nd District, while spending only $170,000. This demonstrates my ability to stick to the real issues that matter to my constituents and allows me to effectively represent a purple district,” McLaughlin stated.
McLaughlin also addressed concerns about insider politics and nepotism, referencing Senator McConchie’s recommendation of the party chairwoman’s son for the seat. “Republicans have rightly criticized Democrats for engaging in such practices. The 26th District deserves a candidate with a proven record, not one selected through insider politics. Republicans believe in merit-based selection. If the committee chooses to go down this path, I will actively campaign for the seat in the 2026 primary - and I will win”.
Looking ahead, McLaughlin is confident in his ability to lead Republican efforts in the next election cycle, where 16 Republican Senate seats will be up for grabs. “I’m prepared to raise the resources necessary and ensure that our party succeeds, both in the 26th District and across the state,” he said.
“The party chairwoman’s son” he’s referring to is ILGOP Chair Kathy Salvi’s son Joe, who is a law partner with his father, Al Salvi.
…Adding… Sen. McConchie sent me his endorsement of Joe Salvi several hours ago, but it wound up in my spam folder…
Without reservation, I fully endorse Joe Salvi to be appointed to replace me as State Senator for the 26th District of Illinois.
I have competed in three general elections in this district. Even as the district has moved to the left, even when I have been outspent by the Democrats, I have always found a way to win. And not only have I won, I have regularly outperformed virtually every other Republican candidate on the ballot.
In short, I know exactly what it takes to win in this district. And Joe has it.
To win, it takes a commitment to our commonsense values while being accessible, relatable and reasonable. My reasons for endorsing Joe are simple.
Joe:
• Is loyal to our shared conservative values and to the Republican party.
• Developed the necessary campaign experience on Peter Roskam’s winning 2016 Congressional
campaign and honed the skills necessary to win.
• Has committed to raise the funds needed to bring the fight to the Democrats.
• Already has a team of volunteers ready to assist with parades, events and, most importantly, door
to door canvasing – an activity that Rep. Syed and Maria Peterson has proven translates into real,
bankable votes.
• Has an incredibly strong work ethic paired with an outgoing, friendly personality that is welcoming
and attractive.
• Possesses strong character and integrity. Joe will be the same person in Springfield that he is at
home. We can trust Joe.
I have personally known Joe for 10 years. In that time, he has always been positive, upbeat and optimistic – qualities too often lacking in our party today. He is married with young children presenting an image that voters love because it demonstrates that he understands them—that what they need from government are same things they will get from Joe–safety, security, and a government that otherwise stays out of their way.
Importantly, Joe has been a dedicated foot soldier to the party doing the hard work necessary to earn people’s votes. He has experience connecting with voters at events and out in public. Joe has the exact skill set necessary to keep this seat in Republican hands next fall.
In 2015, when I was first considered by Dan Duffy to serve as his replacement, people told me it was not my time, that it was ‘not my turn’. They said that I hadn’t been elected to another office yet. I didn’t let that deter me. In my first race, I was challenged by mayors Marty McLaughlin and Casey Urlacher. They tried to take me out. But I knew the district better than them. I knew what it took to win the hearts and minds of our neighbors. I won that race and every race since.
In considering who to support as my replacement, I looked for similar qualities. I wanted someone who was a trustworthy Republican and who had the personality and skill set needed to win.
Joe is that person. I hope you will join me in ensuring this district is in the best possible hands for the 2026 election cycle.
Thank you for your service to our party and your consideration in this important matter. If you have questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me at 312-933-2477.
Faithfully yours,
Senator Dan McConchie
26th District of Illinois
Illinois has been shut out of Medicaid, just hours after President Donald Trump’s administration announced a pause in federal grants, loans and other financial assistance as they begin a review of spending.
The funding freeze could affect trillions of dollars and cause widespread disruption in health care research, education programs and other initiatives. Grants that have been awarded but not spend are also halted, according to the Associated Press.
Though the funding freeze was supposed to take effect at 4 p.m. Central Time Tuesday, Gov. JB Pritzker’s office staid that the state of Illinois was shut out of Medicaid as of Tuesday morning. The government-funded health insurance program covered about 3.9 million people in Illinois in 2023, including low-income adults, children, pregnant women and people with disabilities.
“The use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve,” Matthew Vaeth, the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, wrote in the memo. “This memorandum requires Federal agencies to identify and review all Federal financial assistance programs and supporting activities consistent with the President’s policies and requirements.”
Vaeth wrote that each agency must complete a comprehensive analysis of all federal financial assistance programs.
* From the governor’s office…
Since last night, Governor Pritzker has been speaking with the Illinois’ federal delegation, local elected officials, non-governmental organizations, non-profits, and other Governors. The Governor has directed his senior team to assess the detrimental impacts of this unlawful action on the state’s budget and services. State agencies have reported to the Governor’s Office issues with accessing federal funding sites and disbursement systems, including Medicaid systems.
Governor Pritzker’s Statement from last night:
The US Constitution does not grant the President this unilateral authority. In Illinois, we will stand against unlawful actions that would harm millions of working families, children, and seniors.
BACKGROUND ON MEDICAID SYSTEM
The federal Medicaid PMS site refers to the Payment Management System (PMS), which is used by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to manage federal funding disbursements for Medicaid and other programs. The PMS serves as a centralized system to track and facilitate the distribution of grant funds to states and other grantees.
Key Details About the PMS Site:
• Purpose: The site allows state Medicaid agencies (like the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services) to request, track, and manage federal Medicaid funds and grants.
• Managed By: The system is operated by the Division of Payment Management (DPM) under HHS.
• Access: States and grantees access PMS via the official portal to request federal fund drawdowns, view disbursement reports, and reconcile payments.
U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, today released the following statement regarding the Trump Administration’s decision to freeze federal aid:
“Freezing federal funding that has already been allocated by Congress is unconstitutional. Above all else, it’s inhumane. Every American relies on federal funding—from public safety, disaster relief, medical research funding, and small business loans to Head Start and child care programs, veterans care, nutrition assistance, food inspections, and so much more. Denying critical funding for our families will not make America great.”
No later than February 10, 2025, agencies shall submit to OMB detailed information on any programs, projects or activities subject to this pause. Each agency must pause: (i) issuance of new awards; (ii) disbursement of Federal funds under all open awards; and (iii) other relevant agency actions that may be implicated by the executive orders, to the extent permissible by law, until OMB has reviewed and provided guidance to your agency with respect to the information submitted.
OMB may grant exceptions allowing Federal agencies to issue new awards or take other actions on a case-by-case basis. To the extent required by law, Federal agencies may continue taking certain administrative actions, such as closeout of Federal awards (2 CFR 200.344), or recording obligations expressly required by law.
Additionally, agencies must, for each Federal financial assistance program: (i) assign responsibility and oversight to a senior political appointee to ensure Federal financial assistance conforms to Administration priorities; (ii) review currently pending Federal financial assistance announcements to ensure Administration priorities are addressed, and, subject to program statutory authority, modify unpublished Federal financial assistance announcements, withdraw any announcements already published, and, to the extent permissible by law, cancel awards already awarded that are in conflict with Administration priorities, and; (iii) ensure adequate oversight of Federal financial assistance programs and initiate investigations when warranted to identify underperforming recipients, and address identified issues up to and including cancellation of awards.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said during a press conference Tuesday morning that he’s spoken with New York State Attorney General Letitia James about a legal challenge to the spending freeze.
“I spoke to my attorney general this morning. She’s head of the state attorneys general association,” Schumer said. “They’re going to court right away on this horror.”
Article I, Section 9, Clause 7 of the Constitution gives Congress the so-called “power of the purse” by granting it the authority to approve federal spending.
Congress has passed several laws regarding that constitutional authority, including the 1974 Impoundment Control Act, which says that the president cannot simply refuse to spend money Congress has appropriated.
Trump’s pick for OMB Director, Russ Vought, has repeatedly called that law unconstitutional and said he believes the president does have the authority to simply ignore sections of spending law that have been passed by Congress and signed into law.
The spreadsheet includes specific questions for over 2,600 specific accounts within agencies across the government, large and small — every Cabinet department and independent agencies ranging from the Federal Communications Commission to the Institute of Museum and Library Services to the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation.
The questions, intended to ensure that federal programs are in compliance with Trump’s executive orders and policy goals, include the following:
• “Does this program provide Federal funding to non-governmental organizations supporting or providing services, either directly or indirectly, to removable or illegal aliens?”
• “Is this program a foreign assistance program, or provide funding or support activities overseas?”
• “Does this program provide funding that is implicated by the revocation and rescission of the U.S. International Climate Finance Plan?”
• “Does this program include activities that impose an undue burden on the identification, development, or use of domestic energy resources (including through funding under the Inflation Reducing (sp) Act of 2022; and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act)?”
• “Does this program provide funding that is implicated by the directive to end discriminatory programs, including illegal DEI and ‘diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility’ (DEIA) mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities, under whatever name they appear, or other directives in the same EO, including those related to ‘environmental justice’ programs or ‘equity-related’ grants?”
• “Does this program promote gender ideology?”
• “Does this program promote or support in any way abortion or other related activities identified in the Hyde Amendment?”
• “If not covered in the preceding columns, does this program support any activities that must not be supported based on executive orders issued on or after January 20, 2025 (including executive orders released following the dissemination of this spreadsheet)?”
*** UPDATE 5 *** Illinois is among the states that will sue, according to the NYT.
*** UPDATE 6 *** Comptroller Mendoza…
I am prepared to stand with Governor JB Pritzker, Attorney General Kwame Raoul and Treasurer Michael Frerichs in fighting this egregious action by President Trump. The freezing of vital federal funds will immediately impact millions of students, parents, medical and health care recipients, women and children, and our schools in Illinois.
We are talking about medical care, law enforcement, veterans care, student loans, TANF, WIC, childcare assistance, school breakfast and lunch programs, Head Start programs, and more - federal programs that were authorized by the U.S. Congress.
My office is doing everything it can to process federal funds prior to the deadline. Because my office prioritizes Medicaid payments, we are current on those bills. In fact, on Thursday we processed all $518 million in Medicaid bills on-hand and received our federal match yesterday before the administration shut down our access to the Medicaid system.
However, I am very concerned about how long this “freeze” may last. It is reckless for President Trump to take this action with essentially no guidance or explanation about exactly which federal funds are included, leaving states to pick up the pieces and figure out how to best protect and provide services to their residents.
Our most vulnerable residents in all 102 counties, along with our healthcare, human services and social service providers, should not be punished by this action dictated by the Trump Administration.
The situation is reminiscent of the Rauner years, when the former Illinois Governor held the budget hostage for his social agenda that led to a budget freeze for more than two years and many providers, vendors, businesses and organizations suffered greatly as a result.
These actions create widespread disruption and chaos rather than stability and predictability, putting American lives at risk.
Likewise, no executive officer, even the President, should undermine the authority of the U.S. Congress in appropriating funds for federal programs.
The people across America that these federally funded programs serve, represent all walks of life – urban, rural, Democrat, Republican and everyone in-between. Disease and disability do not choose to affect one political party over another.
Freezing federal funds critical to providing medical and health care and every other critical category targeted poses a serious threat to all impacted Americans and no one should welcome this misguided action. If President Trump will not reverse his reckless and unconstitutional executive order, I hope and pray the courts will quickly do it for him.
*** UPDATE 7 *** And yet, the state is locked out of accessing some of these systems, including Medicaid…
On Tuesday, education policy experts said they did not believe that the federal government’s main funding stream for K-12 schools, known as Title I, would be immediately impacted by the funding freeze. Federal money, which accounts for about 10 percent of all public education dollars, is paid to states – generally in July and October – which then distribute funds to districts and schools. The promised funding for the current school year has already been received.
*** UPDATE 10 *** Speaker Welch…
What’s been coming out of Washington is sad and concerning on many levels. Blocking legally mandated funding for state and local governments is just another example of the Trump Administration abusing its power to sew chaos, disrupt progress, marginalize communities, and hurt the people he was elected to help.
*** UPDATE 11 *** From AG Raoul’s remarks announcing a lawsuit to stop this pause…
This unconstitutional pause in funding will have a devastating impact on the public safety, prosperity and quality of life of all.
Democrats and Republicans alike will be negatively impacted by this pause in funding.
It impacts our ability to go after offenders who prey on a our children, because this impacts our Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Our task force has enabled us to capture a record number of child predators. That is compromised.
It impacts… funding that allows our law enforcement partners to fight crime and impacts those who rely on Medicaid for life-saving health care.
It impacts our capacity to provide for veterans who served our country. Head Start and child care programs. The support for critical research at our universities. And support for farmers who grow our food. And of course, critical investment in infrastructure needed for our roads and bridges and keeping our working families working.
On January 20th, our nation had a peaceful transfer of power. But let’s be clear, January 20th was an inauguration, not a coronation. Congress is given the power to appropriate the funding. The executive branch cannot unilaterally disregard those appropriations passed by a separate and equal house of government.
We will collectively fight this unconstitutional mandate.
Please pardon any transcription errors.
*** UPDATE 12 *** Ugh…
In a press conference with five other Democratic attorneys general, New York AG Letitia James says at least 20 states have reported being locked out of their Medicaid reimbursement systems. That includes New York and Illinois. pic.twitter.com/LEAdqTXmdh
Update from the White House on the Medicaid portal shutdown - spokesperson says payments are still being processed and should be back up and running: https://t.co/CGEBLt9xpl
Senator Chapin Rose introduced Senate Bill 0211, a measure to expand financial disclosure requirements for public officials on Jan. 22, 2025.
The proposed legislation seeks to broaden the scope of information that must be included in the statement of economic interests filed by public officials. The key addition to the disclosure requirements is as follows:
Public officials would be required to disclose the names of their spouse, siblings, children, or parents who are employees, contractors, or office holders in the same unit of local government as the filer.
This new provision would apply to all individuals required to file a statement of economic interests under the Illinois Governmental Ethics Act. The bill aims to shed light on potential conflicts of interest and familial connections within local government structures.
Other notable aspects of the proposed amendment include:
- Maintaining existing disclosure requirements for assets, income sources, debts, and gifts.
- Continuing to require disclosure of relationships with registered lobbyists.
- Preserving the requirement to report family members employed by public utilities in Illinois.
Amends the Illinois Municipal Code and the Fire Protection District Act. Provides that an individual who is legally authorized to work in the United States under federal law is authorized to apply for the position of firefighter, subject to all requirements and limitations, other than citizenship, to which other applicants are subject. Effective January 1, 2026.
84th District State Representative Stephanie Kifowit says she has remained busy during the break between the end of the lame duck session and the start of the spring session, mostly working on re-filing legislation that didn’t pass in the last General Assembly. Legislators had until Friday to submit re-filed legislation for review.
Kifowit spoke about some of the bills she is re-filing, including a bill that would assist reservists and National Guard members serving in elected positions in participating in meetings remotely when they are called into service.
“This could cause them to miss a meeting or a board meeting, whatever position that they are in. So I filed it last year, didn’t get called in the house, filing it again this year. It would amend the Open Meetings Act to allow reservists and National Guardmen to be able to participate remotely and vote remotely if they are serving their country on duty. So I think that’s the right thing to do. It allows the folks that elected them to be properly represented, and it allows that individual to do their job as an elected official.”
Amends the Housing Authorities Act. Requires a Housing Authority that administers a housing voucher program to reimburse a rental property owner for any damage to its rental unit that is caused by a tenant who participates in the housing voucher program. Provides that reimbursement shall be for property damage not covered under a policy of property insurance that is beyond normal wear and tear and that is the result of the tenant’s negligence and abuse. Provides that any reimbursement amount paid to a rental property owner shall be repayable by the tenant to the Housing Authority. Permits the Housing Authority to offer and enter into an affordable repayment plan with the tenant. Provides that nothing in the amendatory Act shall be construed to permit a Housing Authority to deny a tenant housing assistance or terminate a tenant’s housing voucher based on the tenant having payment obligations under a repayment plan or on a tenant’s demonstrated inability to make payments under such a repayment plan.
State Representative Charlie Meier of Okawville has announced he’s collecting petition signatures for residents who oppose a recent legislative proposal that seeks to legalize prostitution in Illinois.
Democratic lawmakers have introduced a bill to decriminalize the exchange of money for sex among consenting adults. Those who support the bill say it will allow sex workers to operate safely with legal protections. The bill does not remove criminal penalties for sex traffickers or those who abuse sex workers.
Meier fears the threat to women and young girls will skyrocket if penalties for prostitution are eliminated. He also forsees an increase of sexual assault and human trafficking stemming from the proposal.
Meier has started a petition on his website for residents to express their opposition to legalized prostitution. He hopes to be able to present the 109th District’s opposition to this “dangerous legislation” to the legislators who support this movement, so they can “see that their agenda has no business in Southern Illinois.”
A “malignant tumor.” A “stage actor.” A “walking crime wave.” That’s how powerful Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s legal team refers to disgraced former Chicago Ald. Danny Solis who sought to “trick” the speaker into discussing illicit arrangements.
Madigan’s defense attorney Dan Collins told jurors Monday that Solis, the longtime 25th Ward alderperson turned government mole, carried out carefully orchestrated productions directed by federal investigators.
“As you evaluate the circumstances,” Collins said, “you’ve got to understand that these are staged circumstances.”
Collins’ remarks came on the fourth day of closing arguments in Madigan’s landmark corruption trial at the Dirksen Federal Building in downtown Chicago.
Collins called on jurors to clear Madigan and again distanced him from McClain. The defense attorney derided McClain as “Mr. Important” and argued that he embellished and exaggerated his influence with Madigan — once writing that he was “at the bridge with my musket” for Madigan’s family.
“Who talks that way?” Collins asked.
But Collins saved his most ferocious rhetoric for Solis, who represented the 25th Ward for more than two decades and rose to become head of the City Council’s Zoning Committee. FBI agents confronted him in June 2016 with evidence of his own wrongdoing, and he agreed to wear a wire against powerful politicians such as Madigan and ex-Ald. Edward M. Burke.
If Solis holds up his end of a deal he struck with prosecutors, Solis is expected to avoid a criminal conviction — and will never face an actual trial. Collins argued Monday that Solis’ “free pass” means jurors can’t trust him.
But Collins said there were two sides to Solis, and that the one Madigan was reacting to was a lie.
“Between the deal (Solis) struck, his effort to hide things from the government, and then his tax crimes that we discovered in our investigation, you know everything you need to know about Danny Solis and why you can’t trust him, Collins said. “He is not just a walking microphone.”
Solis played on Madigan’s devotion to his family when he framed his request for a state board seat as a way to support his wife and kids, Collins said. Solis in fact had no real desire to be appointed to a state board — he asked Madigan for a recommendation only at the direction of his government handlers.
“If somebody comes and asks for help, Mike, if possible, will help that person,” Collins said, reiterating a frequent phrase from his closings. “(Solis) asked Mike Madigan if he would help. And Mike said ‘yes.’ This is not a scheme, this is not a bribe, this is Mike Madigan saying ‘yes’ when he’s asked for help — and the kicker for Solis is to use family.”
Regarding former Madigan staffer Will Cousineau’s testimony, Collins said there were inconsistencies.
“He was scared to death up there,” Collins said of Cousineau. “He got himself an immunity deal.”
Collins said it was McClain who claimed he got the Reyes Kurson law firm a lot of business from ComEd over the years, even though firm partner Victor Reyes was a longtime Madigan ally.
“ComEd had a policy of supporting minority businesses,” Collins said.
“That cannot be a thing of value in exchange for official action.”
Collins further accused Solis of using dishonesty to implicate Madigan in the Chinatown land transfer episode. Solis, in 2017 and 2018, represented the area of Chinatown where the parking lot is located. Collins claims Madigan only got involved in the land transfer effort because Solis falsely told him that both the local community and the community’s Democratic state Representative Theresa Mah supported it. That effort sputtered in Springfield when it turned out neither claim was true.
As for potential developers Solis pitched to build on the site once Chicago took ownership of it, Collins denied Madigan wanted anything to do with them. He denied the former speaker even asked for an introduction. […]
The defense attorney concluded his presentation by reminding jurors to “see the man” of Mike Madigan, and warning them not to let their cynicism toward politicians fill in what he claimed were evidentiary gaps in the government’s case.
Though Madigan’s closings are now finished, jurors still need to hear closing arguments on behalf of Madigan’s codefendant Mike McClain, and the government’s rebuttal closings, before they begin deliberations.
Sorry to hear the news about Garth Hudson. He was a beautiful guy and the real driving force behind The Band. Just listen to the original recording of The Weight and you’ll see.
* Way back in the day, a bunch of us would gather every Sunday night at Bruce’s Tavern at 11th and South Grand for an open mic hosted by Springfield singer/songwriter Tom Irwin (more here). A handful of us, known as the Bruce’s Tavernacle Choir, would sing along with the featured performers. The Weight was one of our favorite songs…
* ICYMI: Congressional panel calls Johnson, other sanctuary city mayors to testify about ‘obstructionist policies’. Sun-Times…
- Mayor Brandon Johnson and the mayors of three other sanctuary cities have been called to testify before Congress as part of an investigation into how local policies are affecting enforcement of President Donald Trump’s promise of “mass deportations.”
- Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston and New York City Mayor Eric Adams were also summoned to testify at a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing Feb. 11.
- The mayors were also asked to hand over all documents and communications related to their cities’ sanctuary status, including those between each city, non-governmental organizations and state officials.
* Reuters | US reports first outbreak of H5N9 bird flu in poultry: The United States has reported its first outbreak of H5N9 bird flu in poultry on a duck farm in California, the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) said on Monday. U.S. authorities also detected the more common H5N1 strain on the same farm in Merced County, California, they said in a report to Paris-based WOAH, adding that the almost 119,000 birds on the farm had been killed by Dec. 2.
* WaPo | White House Budget Office Orders Pause in All Federal Loans and Grants: The White House budget office has ordered a pause in grants, loans and other federal financial assistance, according to a memo sent to government agencies on Monday, potentially paralyzing a vast swath of programs and sowing confusion and alarm among the array of groups that depend on them. The directive threatened to upend funds that course throughout the American economy: Hundreds of billions of dollars in grants to state, local and tribal governments. Disaster relief aid. Education and transportation funding. Loans to small businesses.
*** Statehouse News ***
* FOX | Homan demands apology from Illinois governor over ‘lie’ that ICE targeted Chicago school: ‘Sowing fear’: “Pedro Martinez lied,” Homan said on “America Reports,” Monday. Martinez, the CEO of Chicago Public Schools, said on MSNBC Friday that ICE agents visited an elementary school on the Southwest Side earlier that morning. […] “Governor Pritzker, rather than calling ICE and asking, ‘Did this happen or did it not happen?’ he goes on social media and terrifies elementary schoolers. … He accuses me of terrifying the community. No, he terrified the community. He terrified the children,” Homan said.
* Labor Tribune | Illinois completes minimum wage increase, among other pro-worker law changes this year: Another bump in Illinois’ minimum wage took effect on Jan. 1, as part of a number of changes in state’s Labor laws this year. Illinois’ minimum wage increased to $15 an hour as of Jan. 1, the final step in a series of raises that began six years ago. Youth workers also will see an increase to $13 an hour, and tipped workers will be paid $9 an hour.
*** Statewide ***
* WCIA | Illinois celebrated for clean energy efforts: Sunday was International Clean Energy Day, and Illinois is being celebrated as the state that came out on top as the national leader. Almost 100,000 solar installations are scattered across the state. That creates enough electricity to power almost 550,000 homes.
* WAND | State organization works to address attorney shortage in rural areas: In an effort to tackle the growing shortage of attorneys in rural communities, the Illinois State Bar Association has launched an innovative initiative. The Rural Practice Fellowship Program is a program aimed to connect law students and young attorneys with career opportunities in underserved rural areas. The Illinois Bar Association said this is to ensure that legal services remain accessible to all Illinois residents.
*** Chicago ***
* Sun-Times | As Trump eyes mass deportations, historians see parallels to past campaigns to force out immigrants: Olga Martinez recalled her father’s experience as a Mexican immigrant living in Chicago in a 1982 video interview that later became part of the Southeast Chicago Archive and Storytelling Project. She said the family never knew who was behind the trucks or financially backing the effort. “My dad always questioned, ‘Why were we asked to go back to our country?’” Martinez says. “You know, he saw the Serbians, the Croatians, nobody was asked to go back except the Mexicans.”
* Tribune | Illinois EPA opposes proposed toxic waste dump expansion on Southeast Side lakefront: In a letter filed in federal court, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency said the proposed expansion of a toxic waste dump on the Southeast Side would go against state law. It’s the latest development in a lengthy battle over the future of a 45-acre disposal site on the Lake Michigan shoreline. “This is a major win for our community, to have both the Illinois attorney general and the Illinois EPA say that the expansion of this toxic landfill will not be (approved),” said Amalia NietoGomez, executive director of social justice nonprofit Alliance of the Southeast.
* Crain’s | Illinois pitches Nvidia on South Side quantum campus: Representatives from the giant chip company were in town for dinner and a site visit to the planned Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park being built at the former U.S. Steel site on the Far South Side, according to several people familiar with the visit. Nvidia is the dominant maker of graphics-processing chips that are used to run artificial-intelligence software and supercomputers. The company’s name is synonymous with cutting-edge technology — and it was the most valuable publicly traded company in the world before a steep sell-off yesterday sparked by a Chinese company’s claim of being able to develop AI with fewer, cheaper chips.
* Sun-Times | Former CPS gym teacher sentenced to 17 years in prison for grooming, sexual assault of students: Andrew Castro, 38, pleaded guilty and was sentenced Friday on multiple charges, including predatory criminal sexual assault of a child under 13, aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a child and exploitation of a child under 13. Cook County Judge Domenica Stephenson sentenced Castro to 10 years for the assaults, seven years for each abuse case and one year for the exploitation charge. With some of the sentences to be served concurrently, the total prison term would be 17 years.
* Tribune | Olivia Clarke, who started group aimed at helping cancer patients with humor, dies: “Olivia’s passion was second to none. She poured her heart into everything she did — work, volunteerism, relationships, fun,” said Maria Black, chief marketing officer of law firm Kirkland & Ellis. “She had this spark of energy that never seemed to wane.” Clarke, 46, who lived on Chicago’s Near South Side, died of complications from breast cancer Jan. 15 at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, said her sister, Meagan Casey.
* Crain’s | Chicago winters reset the thermostat on what is normal: To be a Chicagoan is to know how to be cold. How to trudge through snow. How to grit your teeth and carry on as bone-chilling winds gust through the Loop. But these days, that defining regional characteristic is changing, because the climate is changing. What once was frigid is now merely chilly, and perhaps only occasionally so.
*** Cook County and Suburbs ***
* Daily Southtown | Nate Fields back on ballot as Thornton Township supervisor candidate, judge rules: The board, made up of township Trustees Chris Gonzalez and Darlene Gray Everett as well as Clerk Loretta Wells, voted last month to remove Fields and two other supervisor candidates from the April 1 ballot. Michael Smith and Keith Price, who is food assistance program manager in Supervisor Tiffany Henyard’s township administration, brought five challenges against Fields, only one of which stuck.
* Daily Southtown | Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard worked to hide true condition of village finances, former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot says: Just months after her election in 2021, there was a “concerted and systematic effort” by Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard to hide the condition of village finances from trustees, former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Monday. In her final report on her investigation into Henyard and village finances, Lightfoot told some 200 residents and others the concealment continued and that, by March 2022, trustees “were effectively cut off from receiving regular financial reports.”
* Lake County News-Sun | Lake County coroner calls for Waukegan hospital death investigation; says owners ‘must be held accountable’: Lake County Coroner Jennifer Banek said Monday she has asked state officials to investigate the death of a patient who died of hypothermia in her medical gown on the roof of Vista Medical Center East in Waukegan last week. Banek said she wants the Illinois Department of Public Health to probe the circumstances surrounding the death of Chelsea Adolphus, 28, who died about two days after checking herself into the hospital. Banek also said she sent a letter to the hospital asking that all evidence associated with the incident be preserved.
* Daily Herald | Friends of Barrington teen killed by train honor memory, hold village’s feet to fire: Friends of 17-year-old Marin Lacson gathered at a gazebo Monday evening near the downtown Barrington railroad crossing where she was fatally struck by a Metra train on Jan. 25, 2024. Approximately 50 people holding signs and candles celebrated her short life and mourned the anniversary of her passing. But several in the gathering took action, walking to nearby village hall to urge the village board and officials to move quicker to get pedestrian gates installed at the Hough Street crossing.
* Evanston Now | District 65 cuts 73 positions: Needing to wipe out $13.2 million in red ink, the Evanston/Skokie District 65 Board of Education voted Monday night to eliminate 73 jobs, including central office (26), teaching (18), and non-classroom school-level positions (29). The reductions, which take effect July 1, will eliminate about 5% of the district’s jobs. […] District 65 has lost more than 20% of its enrollment since 2018, but while the number of students had been coming down, the number of employees went up, with much of the growth coming under previous superintendent Devon Horton.
*** Downstate ***
* WAND | After-school program providers, parents demand Pritzker admin release grant funding: A coalition of after-school program providers, families and students called on Gov. JB Pritzker to release $50 million to fund their programs Monday. Advocates said state lawmakers approved the funds for their grants, but the Pritzker administration never distributed the money. Over 27,000 Illinois students lost their after-school programming this school year, and more than 2,000 staff are out of jobs due to the lack of grant funding. Susan Stanton, the executive director of Act Now, said after-school programs are critical for youth and teens.
* Shaw Local | Sandwich votes to ban sweepstakes machines: The Sandwich City Council has voted to ban sweepstakes machines – which look like slot machines but are unregulated and untaxed – from operating in the city. “It provides fairness to those who have legal gaming in our community,” said Sandwich Mayor Todd Latham, who had proposed banning the machines after discovering they were operating in one Sandwich business. “I still don’t understand even looking at the sweepstakes machines what you could win on the deal. It’s very unclear. I think it’s just simply misleading and not something that benefits our community.”
* PJ Star | DEI, immigration, homelessness show differences between two of the mayoral candidates: Questions about the City of Peoria’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts sparked debate Monday night between Peoria mayoral candidates Rita Ali and John Kelly. They presented different opinions about the effectiveness of DEI programs and their future in Peoria. Kelly, an at-large city councilman challenging Ali for her mayoral seat, drew multiple negative reactions from the crowd at a mayoral candidate forum put on by the Peoria chapter of the NAACP on Monday night when he made clear his skepticism of the effectiveness of DEI programs in Peoria.
*** National ***
* Fox Chicago | Indiana man fatally shot by sheriff’s deputy identified as Jan. 6 defendant: During the traffic stop, a Jasper County sheriff’s deputy attempted to arrest the suspect, but the suspect resisted, officials said. “An altercation took place between the suspect and the officer, which resulted in the officer firing his weapon and fatally wounding the suspect,” the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. Further investigation revealed the suspect was armed with a gun during the traffic stop.
* NOTUS | The Race for Dick Durbin’s Senate Seat Has Already Begun: Durbin is expected to make an announcement soon over whether he’ll run for reelection in 2026. Should he choose to retire, his seat would open up for the first time in nearly three decades. NOTUS asked all 17 members of the Illinois U.S. House delegation if they were interested in the Senate. Five members said yes, and observers expect several other federal and state figures to jump in — making for a far closer race than in 2017, when Sen. Tammy Duckworth was the obvious Democratic frontrunner to take on Republican incumbent Mark Kirk.
* The Atlantic | China’s DeepSeek Surprise: One week ago, a new and formidable challenger for OpenAI’s throne emerged. A Chinese AI start-up, DeepSeek, launched a model that appeared to match the most powerful version of ChatGPT but, at least according to its creator, was a fraction of the cost to build. The program, called DeepSeek-R1, has incited plenty of concern: Ultrapowerful Chinese AI models are exactly what many leaders of American AI companies feared when they, and more recently President Donald Trump, have sounded alarms about a technological race between the United States and the People’s Republic of China. This is a “wake up call for America,” Alexandr Wang, the CEO of Scale AI, commented on social media.
* NPR | Doctors opposing RFK Jr. rally in the lead-up to his confirmation: Noble laureates have written that Kennedy would put the nation’s health in jeopardy. The American Public Health Association, representing 25,000 professionals in that field, has come out against his nomination, based on his “consistent disregard for scientific evidence.” And recently thousands of physicians and others in health care have signed onto letters echoing these concerns.
* You can click here and here to follow the Madigan trial. Click here and/or here to follow breaking news. Hopefully, enough reporters and news outlets migrate to BlueSky so we can hopefully resume live-posting.
