…Adding.. Madigan trial update…

Judge Blakey: the note reads "We have reached our limit for today. We would like to leave early and start fresh in the morning." https://t.co/cdcnCw9xvr

— Jason Meisner (@jmetr22b) February 11, 2025

* Click here for some background. WTTW…

Mayor Brandon Johnson is subject to the city’s ethics ordinance and prohibited from accepting most gifts worth more than $50, the Chicago Board of Ethics announced Monday.

No longer will gifts accepted by Chicago’s mayor on behalf of the city be covered by an “unwritten arrangement” dating back to the late 1980s during the administration of former Mayor Eugene Sawyer, Board President William Conlon said during a meeting Monday.

“Any informal agreement made years ago is over and revoked,” Conlon said. “The board expects compliance with the ordinance.”

Under the informal arrangement, gifts accepted by the mayor were supposed to be logged in a book that would be available for public viewing, while the items themselves were stored in the mayor’s suite of offices on City Hall’s fifth floor.

* State Fair update!…

The Turnpike Troubadours have also been added to the grandstand lineup.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Sen. Chapin Rose | Time for UI to stop short-sheeting its flagship campus: “Even after spotting the UI’s Chicago campus its special taxpayer add-ons for the hospital that it manages, under President (Tim) Killeen’s general operations allocations, the students of the Urbana campus end up effectively subsidizing the UIC campus.”

* SJ-R | New bill seeks more thorough review of officer candidates’ past employment: State Senator Doris Turner, D-Springfield, has introduced two measures in response to the fatal shooting of Sonya Massey in an unincorporated neighborhood of Springfield last July. Senate Bill 1953 would require law enforcement agencies to conduct a more comprehensive review of a prospective officer’s past employment to ensure that candidate is physically and psychologically fit for duty. The proposed legislation would include the creation of sheriff’s merit boards and sheriff’s merit commissions for counties with a population of at least 75,000.

* Crain’s | Illinois Realtors unveils legislative agenda aimed at easing housing shortage: “The biggest pain point for consumers right now is housing affordability, housing options,” said Tommy Choi, president of Illinois Realtors, the statewide association. Choi is also co-owner of the Keller Williams OneChicago brokerage. “It’s super important to focus on solutions that can help,” he said. In the past two weeks, state legislators have introduced five bills they wrote in collaboration with Illinois Realtors, all intended to reduce obstacles to building, buying and renting housing. They include proposals that would allow construction of multi-unit homes on many lots now reserved for single houses, get rid of bans on accessory dwelling units and hold the line on impact fees homebuilders pay to municipalities.

*** Statewide ***

* WAND | ‘Illinois Grown’ program to spotlight locally produced foods, products: “The Illinois Grown initiative is not just about food – it’s about supporting local communities,” said IDOA Director Jerry Costello II. “Consumers who buy Illinois Grown products can feel good knowing their money is going directly to Illinois farmers and producers.” Consumers who pledge to spend at least $10 of their weekly grocery budget on Illinois Grown items can sign up to receive a free shopping bag or sticker.

*** Chicago ***

* Sun-Times | Johnson warns of City Hall housecleaning triggered by disloyalty: ‘If you ain’t with us, you gotta go.’: Mayor Brandon Johnson says he should have “cleaned house faster” when he took office and now plans to correct that mistake by sending people packing. “If you ain’t with us, you just gotta go,” the mayor said. Johnson ominous warning that heads are about to roll before the mid-term benchmark came during an appearance Monday night at New Covenant Missionary Baptist Church, 754 E. 77th St. It was the first in a series of appearances the mayor’s office is calling Johnson’s “Faith in Government” initiative.

* Block Club | Heartland Alliance Health Shutting Down Clinics And Food Pantries, Affecting Thousands In Need: The clinics at 4009 N. Broadway and 5501 S. Halsted St. are no longer taking new appointments for patients and are directing people to other federally qualified health centers or clinics, according to Heartland’s website. After Block Club Chicago reached out, the nonprofit announced its closure on its website. There are 113 staff members at Heartland Alliance Health who will lose their jobs as a result of the organization shutting down, 50 of whom are in the union, Brieschke said. Between the low-cost clinics and the food pantries, the organization serves about 8,000 people a year, he said.

* Block Club | Cabrini-Green Lot Vacant For 50 Years Closer To Being Redeveloped With Mixed-Income Apartments: The Committee on Finance approved $14 million in tax-increment financing (TIF) funds for a $52.9 million mixed-income housing development at 547 W. Oak St., a vacant lot owned by the Chicago Housing Authority. City officials approved the project in 2021. Last spring, the Community Development Commission authorized the $14 million in TIF funding, but it still required the City Council’s approval. With Monday’s committee vote, the funding now heads to the full City Council for a final decision next week.

* Block Club | Chicago To See ‘Biggest Snow System’ So Far This Winter, With 3-6 Inches Expected Wednesday: By the end of it, there could be between three to six inches on the ground, a “pretty good bed,” said Gino Izzi, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. […] It’ll start snowing lightly Wednesday morning — with a period of heavy snow in the afternoon, according to Izzi.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Tribune | Cook County prosecutors seek to unionize in first major drive in decades: In the first major union drive to reach the office in decades, a group of assistant Cook County state’s attorneys have asked the office to voluntarily recognize a bargaining unit that would represent hundreds of lawyers working for the country’s second-largest prosecutor’s office. A majority of Cook County assistant state’s attorneys in the proposed bargaining unit have signed union authorization cards with Teamsters Local 700, according to a letter sent Monday to State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke. Teamsters representatives declined to say what percentage of attorneys signed cards.

* Naperville Sun | DuPage County Board votes to strip US Rep. Henry Hyde’s name from courthouse: The DuPage County Board voted 10-5 at its Tuesday meeting to remove the Republican congressman’s name from the building and related offices in Wheaton. While Democrats and Republicans voted along party lines on the issue, Democrats Lynn LaPlante and Lucy Chang Evans abstained from the vote and expressed disappointment that the matter was raised. […] “Here in DuPage County, public buildings serve all people, regardless of race, gender, faith or … economic status,” board Chair Deb Conroy, a Democrat from Elmhurst, said ahead the vote. “This resolution reinforces the notion that the buildings on this campus support the rights of all people to receive the services they need. … I believe our actions should reflect our values.”

* Daily Southtown | Oak Forest group, Midlothian library team up to fight ‘bedlessness’: Dave King and Ed Copher were looking in 2018 for a way to make a difference in their community and found while there were agencies devoted to fighting homelessness, there weren’t as many resources available to help people turn housing into homes. “I didn’t realize there was a need but the more I learned, the more I realized “bedlessness” is not a real word but is a problem in almost every single city across America,” said King.

*** Downstate ***

* WAND | Pres. Lincoln’s bank ledger arrives in Springfield for display: Abraham Lincoln had to eat, sleep and put money in the bank just like everyone else. Now you can see the transactions and bank movements he made throughout his life in Illinois. […] The treasurers office used to be a JPMorganChase bank, who originally held the former presidents ledger on display. When the bank firm sold the building to the state for $10, they took the original copy with them and now display it at their New York City headquarters.

* SJ-R | Here are the 10 most dangerous intersections in Springfield: When agencies look to invest in roadway safety, they analyze factors like the number of crashes, fatalities, injuries, and property damage, as well as the speed of a given roadway, said City of Springfield Traffic Engineer T.J. Heavisides. Heavisides said the city is aware that these intersections are seeing a high number of crashes. Safety funds have been awarded specifically for the intersections of MacArthur and Lawrence, and for South Grand and MLK. Consultants are working on designs to improve those intersections, he said.

* WCIA | ‘Change is long overdue’: Urbana Police Chief calls for end to gun violence in the community: In a letter addressed to the Urbana community Tuesday morning, Chief Larry Boone said that for months, the police department has collected data, spoken out and urged action to prevent firearm related deaths. But, despite their efforts, Boone said they were met with “skepticism and accusations.”

* SJ-R | Restaurant selling ‘Illinois Hot Chicken’ is opening first Springfield location: Pop-Up Chicken Shop, a Bloomington-based fried chicken restaurant known for its “Illinois Hot Chicken”, announced the restaurant is opening its first Springfield location in May. […] The menu ranges from chicken sandwiches to wings and whole buckets. The menu also offers the classic Springfield horseshoe sandwich with dill pickle fries, smoked gouda chipotle cheese and two chicken tenders atop Texas toast.

* WSIL | Cats of Carbondale hosts Valentine’s Day event to fix cats: Organizers say people can donate $30; a cat getting spayed or neutered will be named after its ex. Cats of Carbondale says the reason is that “some people (and cats!) just shouldn’t reproduce.”

*** National ***

* Rolling Stone | Alabama Shakes map out summer reunion tour: “This band and these songs have been such a source of joy for all of us. It is crazy that it has been 10 years since we released Sound and Color and eight years since we played a show. But, we didn’t want this to entirely be a look back. We wanted it to be as much about the future as the past. So we have a bunch of new music that will be released soon. We just can’t wait to experience that ‘feeling’ when we start playing those first few notes of ‘Don’t Wanna Fight’ or ‘Gimme All Your Love.’”

* Crain’s | Judge orders Walgreens to pay nearly $1 billion in COVID test case: Under their contract, Walgreens used PWNHealth’s physician network to order COVID-19 tests requested from Walgreens’ website during the pandemic. But in 2022, PWNHealth initiated an arbitration with the American Arbitration Association, alleging that Walgreens breached the exclusive agreement when it used medical professionals outside the contract to order COVID tests.

* Semafor | Fake, viral conspiracies on X stump politicians, media: Shawn Ryan built one of the country’s most popular podcasts, interviewed US President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance, and attracted more than a million followers on X. It was there, on Monday morning, where he shared a conspiracy theory about the governor of Pennsylvania with one piece of commentary: “Wow.” That theory implicated Gov. Josh Shapiro — with no evidence — in the July 13, 2024 assassination attempt on Trump. Nonetheless, it went on an amazing journey — from a pro se litigant who posted TikTok videos about her multiple anti-Shapiro complaints, to a Facebook page that posts about explosive crime stories, to millions of shares on Elon Musk’s microblogging site. It got enough traction on Monday for Dan Bongino to urge his conservative radio audience to “hold on this” and be skeptical unless his sources could verify it.

* WaPo | Kendrick Lamar’s performance was as Black and subversive as all get-out: Jackson as Uncle Sam was brilliant. Back in 2012, he played the role of a house slave, Stephen, in Quentin Tarantino’s “Django Unchained,” who protects his master at all costs and tries to thwart the uprisings against the White masters led by the character Django. During the Super Bowl performance, his Uncle Sam chides Lamar for being too Black, “too ghetto,” and asks him to tone things down — trying to dictate the boundaries for Blackness in White spaces.

* Latin Times | American Bar Association Condemns Trump Admin’s ‘Attacks’ on Constitution and Rule of Law: ‘This is Chaotic’: In a statement released Monday, ABA President William R. Bay said the administration is undermining the rule of law in ways that “most Americans recognize as wrong.” “Instead, we see wide-scale affronts to the rule of law itself, such as attacks on constitutionally protected birthright citizenship, the dismantling of USAID, and the attempts to criminalize those who support lawful programs to eliminate bias and enhance diversity,” Bay said.