* Bloomberg…

The New York Stock Exchange plans to move its Chicago equities exchange to Texas, the latest firm seeking a slice of the financial services industry in a state where the taxes are lower and regulation looser.

NYSE said it will reincorporate its NYSE Chicago operations in Texas and will launch the fully electronic exchange in Dallas, pending regulatory filings. The exchange will serve companies from Texas and around the world, it said. NYSE Chicago is the successor to the Chicago Stock Exchange, founded in 1882.

NYSE’s move underscores the heightened allure of Texas for corporations and financial firms seeking to benefit from a more relaxed regulatory environment than blue states like New York and California. Dallas is host to the Texas Stock Exchange, which counts BlackRock Inc. and Citadel Securities among its backers and plans to begin trading in early 2026. Nasdaq last year reorganized its listings business into three regional divisions including Texas.

“As the state with the largest number of NYSE listings, representing over $3.7 trillion in market value for our community, Texas is a market leader in fostering a pro-business atmosphere,” NYSE President Lynn Martin said in a statement.

* Illinois Department of Agriculture…

The Illinois Department of Agriculture (IDOA) is issuing a 30-day suspension, effective today, Tuesday, February 11, 2025, on the exhibition or sale of poultry at swap meets, exhibitions, flea markets, and auction markets in response to the ongoing threat of H5N1 avian flu. The move is intended to reduce and prevent the spread of the disease, which has been detected in commercial and backyard flocks in Illinois.

“Prevention is our most effective tool to mitigate the spread of avian flu. By being proactive in biosecurity and limiting poultry movement and exposure, we are protecting the public as well as the poultry industry,” said Dr. Mark Ernst, IDOA State Veterinarian.

Avian flu is caused by an influenza type A virus which can infect poultry (such as chickens, turkeys, pheasants, quail, domestic ducks, geese, and guinea fowl) and wild birds (especially waterfowl). Avian flu virus strains are extremely infectious, often fatal to chickens, and can spread rapidly from flock to flock. […]

Everyone is reminded not to handle or attempt to capture wild waterfowl or other birds displaying signs of illness. Due to risk of infection to other animals, dogs, cats and other pets should be kept away from the carcasses of birds that may have died from avian flu.

* WTTW | After Madigan’s Conviction, Lawmakers Ask: Has Illinois Done Enough to Root Out Corruption?: “The time to start cleaning up Illinois government was many years ago,” House Minority Floor Leader Patrick Windhorst (R- Harrisburg) said. “That work should begin in earnest now.” Some Democrats say with Madigan four years out of the speaker’s chair, that change has already happened. In a statement, Gov. J.B. Pritzker called the verdict an “important message to anyone in government” that “if you choose corruption you will be found out, and you will be punished.”

* If you need a refresher…

* WAND | Attorney General Raoul joins coalition proving guidance for businesses on diversity and inclusion: The guidance comes in response to a Trump Administration executive order that targets “illegal DEI and DEIA policies.” The coalition’s guidance informs companies that efforts to seek and support diverse, equitable, inclusive and accessible workplaces are not illegal, and the federal government cannot prohibit these efforts in the private sector through an executive order, Raoul said.

* WTTW | Chicagoans Dissatisfied With CPD, Have No Confidence in Reform Push: Federal Court Monitor Survey: The third community survey from the monitoring team charged with enforcing the federal court order known as the consent decree found that Chicagoans’ confidence in CPD and the reform effort is exceedingly low, despite a reform push that is slated to cost Chicago taxpayers $208.8 million in 2025 alone. The survey’s results are the latest indication that CPD has so far failed to address the decades of brutality and civil rights violations that led to the consent decree, even as that binding federal court order prepares to mark its sixth anniversary.

* Block Club | Heartland Alliance Health Clinics, Food Pantries Will Close This Month, Earlier Than Planned: Heartland Alliance Health will abruptly close its clinics and food pantries in less than two weeks, far sooner than what employees were initially told last week. The community health care nonprofit will close its three food pantries Feb. 22 and its Uptown and Englewood clinics Feb. 26 due to financial issues, according to Michael Brieschke, chair of the union representing many Heartland workers.

* Sun-Times | After Sun-Times inquiries, Tara Stamps says she’ll step down as Mayor Johnson’s campaign chair : Cook County Commissioner Tara Stamps says she’s stepping down as chairperson of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s campaign fund, after facing questions about whether it was appropriate for her to be overseeing it at the same time that she’s on the payroll for the Chicago Teachers Union. “It just made sense,” Stamps said this week. “For all parties involved.” A Chicago Sun-Times reporter asked Stamps and Johnson’s aides earlier this month whether her employment with the CTU — which is in the midst of contract talks with Chicago Public Schools — presents a conflict of interest.

* The Newberry | Newly Digitized: E. Winston and Ina D. Williams NAACP papers: The Newberry has launched a new digital collection featuring photographs, brochures, correspondence, and more documenting the Chicago chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The E. Winston and Ina D. Williams NAACP papers—made up of over 1,000 individual items—are the latest of the Newberry’s holdings to be made freely available online for study and re-use by researchers worldwide.

* Block Club | Isadore Channels, 1920s Trailblazing Athlete, Was ‘Queen’ Of The Courts: In Chicago, Channels began a new era as another kind of pioneer, clinching titles and setting records on the basketball and tennis courts before quietly retiring from sports to become a nurse. Channels “may have been Chicago’s first trash-talker, pre-dating Chicago Bulls star Michael Jordan by more than 50 years,” according to the Black Fives Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving the history of Blacks in basketball. Yet, Channels’ story and legacy as “one of the greats” has gone largely unrecognized, Pruter said.

* WBEZ | Chicago History Museum workers want to join an arts industry unionization wave: About two dozen workers at the Chicago History Museum have signed a letter saying they plan to unionize. In the letter, issued Wednesday morning, the employees said they are seeking clear communication from management and competitive wages. The move is one in a wave of similar organizing efforts at other Chicago cultural institutions. The workers are organizing with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, or AFSCME Council 31. Workers from the Art Institute of Chicago, the Field Museum and Newberry Library, among others, have joined that same union in recent years.

* Daily Herald | Elgin moves to ban sale of THC products: Saying they couldn’t wait any longer for the state to provide guidance, Elgin City Council members on Wednesday granted preliminary approval of a citywide ban on sales of synthetically derived THC products. The ordinance, which needs final approval during an upcoming city council meeting, would ban the advertisement, display, sale and delivery of Tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, products without a state license.

* WBEZ | Ravinia announces a $75 million renovation plan for the Highland Park venue: The Ravinia Festival in Highland Park will undergo a $75 million, multi-year transformation of its 36-acre music campus over the course of the next several years, leading up to the outdoor venue’s 125th anniversary in 2029, it was announced Thursday. This marks the first such all-encompassing renovation since the iconic park, with its Prairie School architecture and sprawling lawn/picnic areas, opened in 1904 as a summertime “high-end amusement park” and music-venue escape from the congestion of Chicago at the turn of the century.

* Shaw Local | Plainfield playground dedicated to Muslim child killed in alleged hate crime: On Wednesday, the Plainfield Park District’s Board of Commissioners passed a resolution honoring the memory of Wadee Alfayoumi, 6, by naming a sensory playground at Van Horn Woods in his remembrance. […] In a statement, Carlo Capalbo, executive director of the park district, said the district is “honored to dedicate this playground to Wadee’s memory.” “Our hope is that it will serve as a space where all children, regardless of ability, can experience the joy of play,” Capalbo said.

* CBS | Residents describe interactions with Illinois sheriff’s office tied to Sonya Massey’s death: “I was terrified”: When Billie Greer saw the video of Massey, her reaction was that she thought it could have happened to her. In 2022, Greer got a knock on her door by a different Sangamon County Sheriff’s deputy than the one who shot Massey. When she declined to accept court paperwork for a relative, she said a longtime deputy followed her to an elderly neighbor’s home where she was delivering food and arrested her.

* Press Release | Southern Illinois University Carbondale officially among top research schools in the U.S.: Southern Illinois University Carbondale today (Feb. 13) has officially entered the ranks of the top research universities in the nation: It has been designated Research 1, or R1, in the Carnegie Classifications of Institutions of Higher Education. The prestigious designation by the American Council on Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching confirms SIU Carbondale is in the same league as elite private and flagship universities across the country. Less than 5% of the nearly 4,000 classified institutions are designated Research 1: Very High Spending and Doctorate Production.

* WCIA | Popular true crime Netflix show filming in Kankakee Co.: The third season of “Monster” has taken over downtown Momence. And, according to the Momence Police Department, crews were filming on Wednesday, beginning around 9 a.m. The scene took place on Washington St. and involved a large number of men, armed with rubber/plastic prop firearms. The firearms are “non-operational” according to police. But, for safety reasons, police inspected the weapons before filming.

* WJBD | Lincoln Unlocked brings new digital experiences to presidential library: Museum visitors can point their phones at exhibits to see historic figures spring to life. They can take themed tours to dive into the roles of women and African Americans during Lincoln’s life. And they can hear “Lincoln” deliver the Gettysburg Address or listen to a music box owned by Mary Lincoln. It’s also an accessibility aide, offering content in six languages and enriching visits for people who are Deaf or visually impaired.

* News-Gazette | After 12 years of work, it’s showtime for Hoopeston’s Lorraine Theatre: When the lights go down today for the first showing of the new film “Captain America: Brave New World” at the Lorraine Theatre, the president of the Save the Lorraine Foundation will be thinking about all the volunteers, hours of work and donors and community members who made it a reality. Alex Houmes said reaching this historic night has involved more than 12 years of fundraising, renovations and equipment upgrades at the more-than-100-year-old theater at 324 E. Main St., Hoopeston.

* Chalkbeat | Linda McMahon invested in dozens of bonds funding public school projects across the US: Based on her holdings, it’s likely McMahon earns at least $900,000 a year in interest payments from investing in those public education-related bonds in two dozen states, a Chalkbeat analysis found. That’s based on the minimum value of the bonds and assumes a conservative 2.5% yield on the investments. […] A representative for McMahon could not be reached for comment. But McMahon has said she would divest from 78 bonds that fund public education projects, the ethics forms show, including 64 bonds issued to K-12 school districts or agencies.

* WaPo | Animal owners used these chips to track pets. Then the company went dark: For years, animal shelters and veterinary clinics have implanted grain-of-rice-size microchips in cats and dogs meant to help reunite them with their owners. Clinics scan the implant to get its unique number and call the chip company to find a lost pet’s family. But what happens when the microchip company disappears, taking its pet-owner information with it? That’s the situation facing potentially thousands of pet owners who used devices from pet-chip maker Save This Life, which has stopped responding to all entreaties even as its data has disappeared, according to animal shelters and others in the industry.