* Gov. DeWine is not happy with Gov. Pritzker…

Gov. Mike DeWine (R-OH) brushed off “absurd” accusations made against Republicans by fellow Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D-IL).

Pritzker recently accused Republicans of regressing freedom within the United States and has started a new organization aimed at promoting pro-choice policies across multiple states, including Ohio, while combating “the right-wing extremists who want to take us backwards.”

In response to Pritzker’s funding efforts and extremism accusations, DeWine told Fox News Sunday they were “absurd.”

“Well, that’s just absurd, and he knows that’s absurd; he knows me,” DeWine said. “That is not what we’re trying to do at all. It is interesting; the pro side in this has spent about $35 million to try to mislead the voters of the state of Ohio. It is interesting to me that a governor of Illinois would come in with a half a million dollars contribution. If you look at all the other people who are doing this, these are the same people who want to get outside their own state and control what is going on in other states.”

* I wonder how one pronounces “SQMS”…

Today, Governor Pritzker joined international dignitaries and ambassadors, leaders at the Department of Energy and local universities, and other elected officials to celebrate the opening of Fermilab’s new Superconducting Quantum Materials and System Centers (SQMSC) Garage. The SQMSC Garage is one of the five Department of Energy National Quantum Information Science Research Centers, and one of the largest quantum research labs in the world.

“The SQMS Quantum Garage signals a new era in this field, and represents the best of our National Quantum Initiative,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “SQMS will accomplish what few other can—building on Fermilab’s unique strengths in related accelerator technology and particle physics, and creating a global partnership which spans across academia, national labs and industry, and federal agencies to reach a new quantum frontier. I’m thrilled to see our state attract the best in quantum science, and I am committed to making Illinois the premier hub of quantum development.”

Fermilab’s new SQMSC Lab will bring together a multi-sector coalition, including hundreds of experts from dozens of institutions across four nations, that will collaborate to bring quantum technology to scale. SQMS will be overseen by Director Anna Grasselino, who leads this team of world-renowned scientists and serves on the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE). The lab contains the first commercial quantum processor deployed on-premise at Fermilab. It has quantum sensors with the potential to discover dark matter and new gravitational waves sources. It also has training platforms dedicated to providing hands-on education for growing the next generation quantum ready workforce. These platforms will enable scientists, industry, and start-ups to advance quantum technology and help solve challenges in fundamental science.

…Adding… A commenter asked why it’s called a garage, so I asked…

So glad you asked! The Quantum Garage was originally a regular garage and we decided to keep the name since so many amazing inventions and ideas began in garages. Here's a before pic! pic.twitter.com/3OvMHJijzl

— SQMS Center (@sqmscenter) November 6, 2023

* Tribune…

Thursday’s chaotic [city council] meeting was called in an attempt by Ald. Raymond Lopez, 15th, and Ald. Anthony Beale, 9th, to add a question to March primary ballots asking voters “Should the city of Chicago continue to keep its designation as a Sanctuary City?”

The question would have been non-binding, so even if it made it on ballots, it would not change the city’s current sanctuary policy to not cooperate with federal law enforcement on deportation of immigrants in the country without legal permission. The policy also ensures immigrants can use city services. It would not change the city’s current response to the influx of asylum seekers, either.

*Hard sigh*

* Illinois Policy Institute…

Stacy Davis Gates gets a homeowner’s tax break for an Indiana home she doesn’t live in

But scroll down…

While there are no homestead deductions listed on the home Davis Gates and her husband own in Illinois, that doesn’t change the fact she would owe Indiana more if she were not taking the deduction.

She’s not taking a homestead deduction in Illinois? So she’s paying more Cook County property taxes than she’s required to pay?

* Isabel’s afternoon roundup…

* Center Square | Cook County nursing home officials warn of layoffs if tax system not addressed: A bill at the Illinois statehouse would have reduced the tax rate on nursing homes from 25% of their market value to 10% but was vetoed by Pritzker over fears of raising property taxes on residents of Cook County. The state legislature can override the veto, causing the bill to become law, if they vote and receive a three-fifths majority. The measure passed the Senate in May unanimously. In the House on concurrence, the measure passed with 95 yes votes, zero no votes and two voting present, a veto-proof majority.

* Illinois Times | Jenny Thornley pleads guilty: The former chief financial officer for the Illinois State Police Merit Board and former volunteer in JB Pritzker’s first gubernatorial campaign pleaded guilty Nov. 3 to forgery resulting in undeserved overtime pay and was sentenced to 18 months of conditional discharge. Jenny Thornley, 43, of the 2800 block of Hilltop Road in Springfield, pleaded guilty to the felony charge of electronically creating the signature of her boss, former Merit Board executive director Jack Garcia, so she could cheat the state in 2019 out of slightly more than $10,000 in overtime she never worked.

* WBEZ | Alderpeople accuse Carlos Ramirez-Rosa of threatening to stall zoning changes: The accusations were detailed in a letter drafted Thursday night by Ald. Scott Waguespack, 32nd Ward. An initial draft obtained by WBEZ called for Ramirez-Rosa to be formally censured by the City Council and that the Board of Ethics and Office of the Inspector General investigate alleged threats Ramirez-Rosa made for also abusing his power.

* Tribune | Jury selection begins in ex-Ald. Edward Burke’s high-stakes federal corruption trial: Live questioning of prospective jurors will likely take at least two days, with Kendall asking initial questions and each side getting the chance to follow up with specific issues. Opening statements in the case could come as soon as Wednesday. Monday’s proceedings will mark the first time Burke has stepped foot in the federal courthouse since his arraignment on the indictment on June 4, 2019, shortly after Burke had been sworn in for a record 13th full term as alderman.

* WCIA | Illinois Department of Insurance fines Blue Cross Blue Shield again for violating the Network Adequacy and Transparency Act: The state agency previously fined Blue Cross Blue Shield in March more than half a million dollars for violating laws related to network adequacy. Agency officials say they have fined the company an additional $231,900 because Blue Cross Blue Shield has delayed implementing changes to their provider directories to address the network adequacy violations from the first fine.

* Block Club | Police Tout New Training Academy As Monitor Says Reforms ‘Continue To Lag’: In its latest report published Wednesday, an independent police watchdog once again took the department to task for minimal progress on its federal consent decree: expansive reform requirements the department was put under following the police murder of teenager Laquan McDonald almost a decade ago.

* Beacon-News | Kane County residents can get look at new voting equipment: Kane County Clerk John Cunningham called the new equipment “an upgrade of our current equipment.” The new equipment is different, though, in that it gives voters a printed version of their ballot which they then put into a ballot box. Voters will start their voting on a touch screen instead of the rolling wheel that has been in use in the county for years.

* Tribune | Three Illinois hospitals keep straight-A streak in new Leapfrog hospital safety grades: Just under 25% of Illinois hospitals earned A grades this fall from hospital safety nonprofit The Leapfrog Group, including 18% of Chicago’s 22 eligible hospitals. The grades examine safety procedures at general hospitals nationwide, focusing on prevention of medical errors, accidents and infections.

* Crain’s | City plans (again) to put O’Hare concession contracts out for bid: The city plans to put the contract out for bid early next year, Chicago Aviation Commissioner Jamie Rhee told a City Council committee earlier this week. The Department of Aviation had planned to put the contract out late last year or early this year, but it got delayed.

* AP | A small Illinois city ticketed a local reporter for asking why its infrastructure collapsed and flooded under heavy rainfall: It’s the latest of several recent First Amendment dust-ups involving city officials and news outlets around the country, following this week’s arrest of a small-town Alabama newspaper publisher and reporter after reporting on a grand jury investigation of a school district, and the August police raid of a newspaper and its publisher’s home in Kansas tied to an apparent dispute a restaurant owner had with the paper.

* AP | Oldest black hole discovered dating back to 470 million years after the Big Bang: The findings, published Monday, confirm what until now were theories that supermassive black holes existed at the dawn of the universe. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and Chandra X-Ray Observatory teamed up over the past year to make the observations. Given the universe is 13.7 billion years old, that puts the age of this black hole at 13.2 billion years.

* WGN | Victory Auto Wreckers to close this month: Victory Auto Wreckers’ owner Kyle Weisner told Dean Richards during an interview on WGN Radio Sunday that the longtime auto salvage yard will close on November 18. Victory Auto Wreckers, located in Bensenville, has been in business since 1945. Weisner’s family has owned it since 1967. The auto salvage yard is known for it’s iconic commercial, “that old car is worth money” — that Dean Richards has voiced since 1991.