House Republicans walk out of chamber as J6/Trump resolutions begin (Updated x5)
Wednesday, Feb 5, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller * House Resolution 118…
The House Republicans called for a caucus meeting during debate. They came back in and then walked out during the roll call… ![]() The HGOPs are holding a press conference. * The other resolutions teed up for debate…
* HR115: Calls on President Donald Trump to stop the actions of his administration that are making communities less safe, undermining the rule of law, and raising the cost of living. Urges federal lawmakers to instead prioritize comprehensive reforms, including a pathway to citizenship, and focus on the safety of every community, the economic security of every family, and the rights guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution. * HR117: Condemns President Donald Trump’s efforts to undermine equal pay, make workplaces less fair, and limit opportunity. Condemns the false, hateful comments President Trump and his allies have used to impugn and demean working people. Renews commitment to prioritize equal pay for equal work, opportunities for all, and protections in our workplaces in Illinois. * HR119: Calls upon President Donald Trump to abandon his reckless tariff plans that would raise costs on Illinois families and businesses. …Adding… From the HGOP presser… ![]() …Adding… Rep. John Cabello (R-Machesney Park) was asked this question today…
He didn’t answer, and instead tried to pivot to the SAFE-T Act. He was asked again, and he didn’t answer again. * Rep. Chris Miller (R-No Relation) has talked on the floor this session about his strong support for the president’s actions and was asked for his thoughts. Rep. Cabello interrupted to say…
* House Republican Leader Tony McCombie…
…Adding… During the roll call on HR115, Marcus Evans calls out Republicans by name to ask if they want to vote… …Adding… House Speaker Chris Welch…
Please pardon all transcription errors. * From the House Republicans…
In closing, Rep. Kam Buckner called the Republicans “the Houdini caucus, silence and absence, ignoring the harsh realities of what their inaction will lead to for the people that they represent, proving that they’re in a rocky relationship with democracy. Nobody in any of our districts gets paid to leave their job early, and they don’t expect that of us. What they do expect is for us to fight, for them, to push back against ham handed, haphazard, nonsensical government action. And we, those of us who remain, will do exactly that.” …Adding… More from McCombie’s spokesperson…
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Isabel’s afternoon roundup (Updated x2)
Wednesday, Feb 5, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller * Crain’s…
* CBS Chicago…
…Adding… This will cause a stir…
* A little session update…
…Adding… After two Democrats spoke in debate, the House Republicans called for a caucus of between an hour and an hour and a half. * Equality Illinois…
* Tribune | Illinois attorney general says state will protect gender-affirming care, despite Trump executive order: After a week of uncertainty for Illinois hospitals and clinics over an executive order seeking to end gender-affirming care for minors, the Illinois attorney general issued a statement Wednesday saying the state will protect such care. The statement, from Attorney General Kwame Raoul and the attorneys general of 14 other states, says that federal dollars remain available to institutions that provide gender-affirming care despite the executive order, and that Illinois and the other states will take legal action if that funding is halted. * Click here for some background…
* The Triibe | Social justice organizations push to automate expungement and record sealing in Illinois: The Clean Slate Illinois Coalition (CSIC), which is leading the effort, aims to streamline expungement and record sealing statewide. Advocates say the economic impact is projected to restore up to $4.7 billion in lost income to the Illinois economy, as people with sealed records could see an estimated 20% wage increase, according to CSIC. For many impacted by the criminal justice system, the stigma of a conviction doesn’t end once their sentence is complete. A criminal record creates barriers to housing, jobs, and more, according to Antonio Lightfoot, who’s among those lobbying for the Clean Slate Act. * Crain’s | 2nd bill in Springfield aims to get rid of single-family zoning: The bill, HB 1814, calls for small municipalities in Illinois to let builders put up multi-unit structures on most lots that are now zoned for single-family residential. It complements a bill introduced a year ago that would do the same in large municipalities, including Chicago. * WAND | Amy Meek to serve as Deputy Director of the Illinois Department of Human Rights: Meek is a civil rights attorney. The announcement comes alongside Alex Bautista’s transition from IDHR after nearly 8 years of service to work on special projects with the Governor’s Office of New Americans. “Alex Bautista has been an essential advisor for the last 6 years. He was thoughtful, deliberate, and collaborative,” said IDHR Director Jim Bennett. “I am confident that Amy Meek will rise to the occasion in her new role as she leads our efforts to secure freedom from unlawful discrimination for all individuals in Illinois.” * Tribune | Following budget strife, Mayor Brandon Johnson says passing a spending plan is ‘City Council’s responsibility’: At an inaugural “Lakeside Chat” community engagement event to tout Johnson’s 2025 budget, the mayor and his budget director Annette Guzman sought to appeal directly to constituents after a bruising road to securing enough City Council votes for the $17.1 billion 2025 spending plan two weeks before the Dec. 31 deadline. But the event at Harold Washington Library, originally billed for 300 guests, saw only a few dozen attendees. * Crain’s | City asks judge to reconsider ruling on how TIF dollars are awarded: Cook County Circuit Judge Cecilia Horan ruled last month that an internal city committee that reviews funding requests for the city’s tax-increment financing districts met the definition of a public body and violated the Open Meetings Act by not holding public meetings or making committee agendas available, nor taking notes or audio recordings of the nearly monthly meetings. In a motion filed yesterday asking Horan to reconsider the ruling, the city argues the decision would have the “unintended consequence of chilling communications of high level officials that are necessary to do the business of the residents of the city of Chicago.” * FYI…
* More City Council drama…
* WTTW | Lawsuit Filed by Man Who Spent More Than 29 Years in Prison After Being Tortured, Wrongfully Convicted Set for Trial: The police detectives who tortured James Gibson were directly supervised by Jon Burge, a disgraced former Chicago police commander. Dozens of lawsuits and complaints alleging physical abuse have been filed against detectives trained by Burge, who city officials admit tortured and beat more than 100 Black men during his career. Although no physical evidence or eyewitness ever linked Gibson to the murders of 61-year-old Lloyd Benjamin and 56-year-old Hunter Wash in an Englewood garage in December 1989, the then 23-year-old was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison after telling police he was in the garage when the two men were killed. * Block Club | Chicago Fire’s Near West Side $80 Million Training Center Opening Next Month: The new “world-class” center includes two and a half hybrid grass/turf pitches, three synthetic turf pitches, a 10,000-square-foot inflatable dome and a 56,000-square-foot performance center containing the soccer club’s athletic and medical facilities. Construction is nearly done and the soccer club expects its professional team to start training at the Near West Side center before the Major League Soccer season begins in late February. Plans call for the center to officially open in March. * Crain’s | Citadel nears deal to shrink, move Chicago office: More than two and a half years after Citadel uprooted its headquarters from Chicago, the hedge fund is poised to slash its office footprint in the city and move out of its namesake Loop tower. Citadel is in advanced talks to lease about 55,000 square feet on two floors in the office building at 353 N. Clark St., according to sources familiar with the negotiations. The new office space in the 45-story River North tower would be a fraction of the 315,000 square feet it leases today at 131 S. Dearborn St., known as Citadel Center. * NBC Chicago | Here’s the timing of when icy roads could impact Chicago-area travel: A winter weather advisory will take effect Wednesday afternoon across all of northern Illinois and parts of northwest Indiana, as up to one-tenth of an inch of ice could coat untreated roadways and sidewalks, along with power lines and tree branches. The advisory will first take effect across areas south of Interstate 80, including LaSalle, Grundy and Kankakee counties in Illinois, along with Newton and Jasper counties in Indiana. The advisory will take effect at 6 p.m. in the rest of northern Illinois and northwest Indiana, and remain in effect until Thursday morning. * Daily Herald | Mental health advocates decry planned service cuts, layoffs at Arlington Heights hospital: Northwest suburban mental health advocates are speaking out against the planned cuts to inpatient psychiatric services and layoffs of more than 100 workers at Arlington Heights-based Northwest Community Healthcare. Arlen Gould, a board member of the North-Northwest Suburban Task Force on Supportive Housing for Individuals with Mental Illness, called the proposed cuts by corporate owner Endeavor Health “troubling” at a time when the demand for mental health treatment continues. * Tribune | North suburban schools prepare for potential immigration raids: Kalman Resnick, a Chicago-area immigration attorney, told Pioneer Press that it’s unlikely that immigration agents will attempt to detain students in school. “I don’t think it’s a priority (for the Trump administration) right now. They’re prioritizing people who are already in the process of deportation, either because they either have an outstanding order of deportation, or they have a criminal conviction,” he said. * SJ-R | Springfield-based health system names new president and CEO: The health system announced Mandy Eaton will be the new president and CEO beginning April 1. Eaton will take over for Ed Curtis who is retiring at the end of March. Before coming to Memorial, Eaton served as executive vice president and chief operating officer of Cone Health, a non-profit healthcare organization that includes five hospitals and numerous outpatient locations serving a five-county area in North Carolina. * WCIA | ‘I was absolutely shocked’; Effingham teacher surprised by classroom guest: “Hello, is this Becky Wilson?” said Governor JB Pritzker. “This is Governor JB Pritzker calling, how are you?” “Illinois is among the best states in the nation on these [test] scores for eighth graders for reading and math, and it can’t happen without great teachers like you,” he went on to say. * WAND | Peoria County now has one confirmed case of tuberculosis: The Peoria County Health Department has confirmed one tuberculosis (TB) case in the county, and the patient is now in active treatment. […] Claushayla Nunn, an epidemiologist at the health department, said when someone’s infected, they’re isolated. “The team of disease specialists will track and do Directly Observe Therapy [where they watch the patient take medication if there is an active patient,]” said Nunn. * AP | President Donald Trump’s birthright citizenship order is put on hold by a second federal judge: A federal judge on Wednesday ordered a second nationwide pause on President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship for anyone born in the U.S. to someone in the country illegally, calling citizenship a “most precious right.” U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman said no court in the country has endorsed the Trump administration’s interpretation of the 14th Amendment. “This court will not be the first,” she said. * AP | NWSL creates $5M fund for players as part of a settlement from abuse scandal in 2021: The funds will go to players who experienced abuse. The settlement also requires the league to maintain safeguards put into place following a pair of investigations released in late 2022 that found widespread misconduct that impacted multiple teams, coaches and players. It also gives the attorneys general, Kwame Raoul of Illinois, Brian L. Schwalb of Washington, D.C., and Letitia James of New York, the ability to oversee changes that the NWSL made after the scandal broke, and the ability to fine the league if it fails to uphold those changes. * AP | Pro-Trump Arab American group changes its name after the president’s Gaza ‘Riviera’ comments: Bishara Bahbah, chairman of the group formerly known as Arab Americans for Trump, said during a phone interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday that the group would now be called Arab Americans for Peace. The name change came after Trump held a Tuesday press conference alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House and proposed the U.S. take “ownership” in redeveloping the area into “the Riviera of the Middle East.”
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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Quick session update
Wednesday, Feb 5, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller
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Bat nabbed in Capitol
Wednesday, Feb 5, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller * Heh…
* Captured!… ![]()
An analogy is begging to be identified.
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Today’s number: 0.0009 percent
Wednesday, Feb 5, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller * WGN’s Ben Bradley and Andrew Schroedter…
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There’s No End To Credit Card Swipe Fee Greed
Wednesday, Feb 5, 2025 - Posted by Advertising Department [The following is a paid advertisement.] Credit card companies collect more than $172 billion in swipe fees from customers and businesses each year, but it’s not enough to satisfy their greed. As consumers and retailers continue to grapple with inflation, Visa raised swipe fees on January 1. Gov. JB Pritzker, Senate President Don Harmon, House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch and the General Assembly took a stand against swipe fee greed by passing the Interchange Fee Prohibition Act, which limits swipe fees from being charged on the sales tax and tip portion of transactions. This law will provide tangible relief to Illinois families and retailers of all sizes. While Visa and Mastercard fight to protect their unchecked duopoly in court, Illinois policymakers have sent a clear message that enough is enough.
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Here’s something you don’t see every day
Wednesday, Feb 5, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller * Sen. Dale Fowler wearing a fake mustache hanging out with Santa and showing off the beauty of southern Illinois…
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It’s just a bill
Wednesday, Feb 5, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller
* WAND…
* WTWO…
* Rep. Sonya Harper filed HB2557 yesterday…
* HB2534 filed by Rep. Nabeela Syed…
* WAND…
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Today’s quotable
Wednesday, Feb 5, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller * From The Hill…
Discuss.
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Open thread
Wednesday, Feb 5, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller * What’s going on in your part of Illinois?…
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Isabel’s morning briefing
Wednesday, Feb 5, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller * ICYMI: Advocates ask Illinois lawmakers to increase funding for the unhoused in new budget. WGLT…
- That would mark more than a 30% increase over what the state currently spends on the unhoused. - The Illinois Shelter Alliance said 4,000 beds are needed to address the increase in homelessness in the state. * Related stories…
∙ Daily Herald: Illinois can overcome its challenging budget realities ∙ Chalkbeat: While the state faces a tighter budget, Illinois’ schools chief asks for a boost in education funding * Sun-Times | What to do if you encounter a bird or animal with suspected avian flu: Don’t be a hero if you spot birds or animals showing signs of avian flu (dead or distressed birds, multiple signs of sickness). Our instinct is to help, but trying to help a bird with avian flu likely spreads it more. * Tribune | Madigan jurors end fifth day of deliberations with no verdict: The jury began its discussion Wednesday afternoon, kicking off the final phase of a landmark four-month trial. Altogether the jurors have deliberated for roughly 29 hours — longer than in two other recent high-profile corruption cases. The jury in the “ComEd Four” bribery case, which featured evidence that overlapped significantly with some of the evidence in the Madigan trial, reached a verdict after about 27 hours. Jurors in the racketeering trial of former Ald. Ed Burke found him guilty in about 23 hours. * Tribune | Gov. JB Pritzker stresses importance of federal education funding amid latest threats from Trump: “The Department of Education funds important programs like special education. We have in the state of Illinois many, many parents and their children who need special education and that funding is vital,” Pritzker told reporters at the Illinois state Capitol. “If they take that away, that’s going to be highly detrimental to the people of our state. So, I’m going to do everything I can to preserve that funding. I hope that that doesn’t end up being a target of their attacks. They should know better. It would be shameful to take it away.” * WAND | Illinois House Republicans demand Pritzker cut migrant services: When it comes to the budget, Cabello said that he wants to bring the new Department of Government Efficiency to Illinois, saying the state should follow Elon Musk’s DOGE and the federal budget cuts. “Let’s find out exactly how much money is going to help people and how much money is going to overhead,” Cabello said. “Because there’s probably way too much money going to the overhead.” * WAND | New study finds Illinois retail generates $112 billion in economic investment annually: The Illinois Retail Merchants Association told reporters Tuesday that retail is the state’s largest private sector employer, with 1.3 million people working in the industry. IRMA President and CEO Rob Karr said retail also brings in over $7 billion of income and sales taxes for Illinois. The state’s retail sector generates a combined direct and indirect total sales impact of $441 billion and supports 2.4 million jobs. * Crain’s | Johnson team pitches new hemp business license to a skeptical City Council: The city has yet to unveil a comprehensive regulatory framework to address concerns about where intoxicating hemp products are manufactured and how they are sold — despite resisting efforts at the state level that some argued would create a de facto ban on hemp gummies, vapes and other products with delta-8 and delta-9. These products have grown in popularity because of their relative availability and lower price compared to legal marijuana. * Tribune | Mayor Brandon Johnson’s campaign pledge to ban no-knock warrants uncertain amid renewed talks on Anjanette Young ordinance: Johnson confirmed in a City Hall news conference that his administration was working on an updated draft of the so-called Anjanette Young ordinance, named after the Black woman who took on the city following a wrongful police raid that made national headlines in 2020 after video showed Chicago cops leaving Young, a social worker, handcuffed and naked in her home during the search. But the mayor repeatedly dodged questions about whether his latest effort would include a major tenet from the original draft — a ban on no-knock warrants — that was the animating force behind Young’s demands for reform. * Crain’s | United Airlines looks to add gates at O’Hare as it revs up more growth: United currently has 88 gates to park arriving and departing aircraft at terminals. If the airline is awarded the additional six gates, it opens the door for more growth by O’Hare’s largest carrier at a time when the airport has been lagging behind some of its peers. * Block Club | Diehard Cubs, Sox Fans Won’t Be Able To Conquer A Red Line Doubleheader This Year: This year, the two teams will only play one three-game series on the same overlapping days in Chicago. The Cubs will host the Milwaukee Brewers and White Sox will host the St. Louis Cardinals June 17-19, but the games will start around the same time. * ESPN | Inside the Bears hiring of coach Ben Johnson: “Having gone through the process, and having interviewed an extensive field of candidates when Ben was clearly No. 1, and [general manager] Ryan [Poles] said we need to go get him, you had to be ready to move,” Bears chairman George McCaskey said. But before they did, the Bears hosted Tennessee State coach Eddie George on Jan. 19. That put the Bears in compliance with the Rooney Rule, which requires at least two external in-person interviews with minority candidates — Ron Rivera was the other. George’s interview was scheduled at least a week before, two sources said. It was George’s only head coaching interview this cycle. * WBEZ | His pizza wowed even Chicago’s best chefs. But there’s a gut punch.: Last July, doctors discovered cancer in Goldsmith’s stomach. It was a cosmic gut punch for a man who has spent two decades sending customers out the door with delightfully stuffed bellies. Three days after the Banchets, Goldsmith underwent surgery to remove the tumor in his abdomen, which had been successfully shrunk during rounds of chemotherapy. * South Side Weekly | Brazilian Funk Gains a Foothold in Chicago: The show Brazilian Funk Night combines “all of this Brazilian music with a funk groove and a lot of improvisation,” said Marcel Bonfim, the ensemble’s musical director and bassist. Bonfim is from São Paulo, Brazil, and has performed on stages such as the Chicago Jazz Festival and Jazz Showcase in the South Loop. A year ago, Bonfim released his debut album, Farewell/Despedida, an ode to his immigration journey from Brazil to the United States. He created Brazilian Funk Night as a passion project, with the December show as the second iteration of the night. It all began with inspiration from one of Brazil’s most prolific bands from the ’70s, Banda Black Rio. * Tribune | As Cook County’s environmental justice policy takes shape, communities voice priorities and concerns: Several days after Tara Stamps was appointed as a Cook County board commissioner in the summer of 2023, heavy storms flooded homes in her district’s West Side neighborhoods — including her own. “So I wasn’t just a representative, I was a victim,” Stamps said at a Monday town hall focused on the county’s draft of its first-ever environmental justice policy. “My uncle who lives with me who’s a double amputee diabetic, was just on his bed, like a life raft, in the basement. And what’s so sad about that is, so many of the elders were like prisoners in their own homes during this time.” * Daily Southtown | Harvey Mayor Christopher Clark drops out of race for Thornton Township supervisor: Christopher Clark announced Tuesday he withdrew his candidacy for Thornton Township supervisor to prioritize his work as mayor of Harvey. Clark said the challenges facing Harvey, including $165 million of debt, demand his full attention, leading him to drop out of the township race. “I want people in the city of Harvey to know and understand that even in this particular case, I am willing to make that sacrifice for them,” Clark said Tuesday. * Lake County News-Sun | Lake County volunteers search deep into the night for the homeless; ‘They left their warm homes to : Cunningham was one of more than 100 volunteers and a small fleet of cars patrolling Lake County on the night of Jan. 29 as part of the 2025 Homeless Point-in-Time Count that she has taken part in for over two decades. The county was broken into smaller regions, and teams of volunteers were given a map of several common locations to check within their regions. * Fox Chicago | Bus driver shortage in Homer Glen leaves students waiting, district scrambles for solutions: Just last week, 18 bus drivers were absent. Many of them were on medical leave, and others were on sick leave. There are also seven job vacancies right now. What that ultimately means, is that 10 workers from other areas had to get behind the wheel. That included retired drivers, mechanics, and dispatchers who had to step up. * Daily Southtown | New Lenox gun shop owner, business partner argue wrongful asset seizure and forfeiture abuse in federal lawsuit: New Lenox business owners Jeffery Regnier and Greta Keranen said their lives were turned upside down after officials raided their home and businesses in 2023 while investigating them for money laundering. Regnier said the investigation began due to a $750,000 cash deposit made to his bank, which he says came from a large spike in gun sales at his store, Kee Firearms and Training in New Lenox, during the COVID-19 pandemic. , who ran unsuccessfully in the 2022 Republican primary for the 1st Congressional District, and Keranen, of Kees Construction, face 29 felony charges for fraud and theft of COVID-19 relief funds as well as other offenses, according to two indictments filed in 2023. * WGLT | McLean County advisory group recommends spending around $1M to help unhoused: McLean County’s Mental Health and Public Safety Fund Advisory Council [FAC] is recommending around $1 million from the $1.5 million 2025 budget for the taxpayer fund go toward a non-congregate project for the unhoused population. “Between people living unsheltered and people providing services to those unsheltered consistently, we know that we have this gap for people that are chronically unhoused, and we need to shift,” Marita Landreth, the county’s behavioral health director, said in an interview with WGLT. * WCIS | Under new ISBE requirement, District 186 works to improve student literacy: District 186 has five schools placed on the intensive school list. Meaning, they went through one round, which is four years of an improvement year cycle. But, they have yet to reach the commendable list. Assistant Superintendent, Nicole Moody, said the new requirement will provide benefits for the district. “I think it’s a positive thing that our state board is partnering with districts about what’s happening with the schools,” Moody said. “Particularly the schools that need the most support.” * BND | Metro-east attorney steps up to help immigrants who fear deportation: Marleen Menendez Suarez’s law firm has been busy over the past few days, and it is all because of a Facebook post she published on Jan. 20 saying that she would prepare legal guardianship and power of attorney documents for free for anyone who fears deportation. “People are very afraid, and they’re very afraid for their children because many of them are U.S. citizens,” Suarez said. “What they’re facing is, if both mom and dad get deported, what happens to their kids, and this is what occurred to me, too. This is why I started doing what I was doing.” * Herald-Review | On ‘World Nutella Day,’ Gov. Pritzker ‘proud’ of Ferrero’s investment in Bloomington plant: Gov. JB Pritzker marks “World Nutella Day” in the Illinois Capitol. Officials with Ferraro were in Springfield to mark the occasion. * WAND | Icy conditions across central Illinois: Temperatures will be slow to climb above freezing today, especially north. Ice accumulations will range from a glaze across the south to one-tenth of an inch across our northern hometowns. The freezing rain will change over to all rain south by afternoon and across the north early tonight before ending late tonight. * PJ Star | Folk music icon Bob Dylan announces Peoria show. Here’s what you need to know: The city was one of 16 additional dates added Monday to Dylan’s Rough and Rowdy Ways World Wide Tour. The Prairie Home Alliance Theater at the Peoria Civic Center will host the musician at 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 9. Tickets go on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. Friday, Feb. 7. As of now, this is Dylan’s lone show in Illinois. * WGN | NFL replacing ‘End Racism’ message in end zones for Super Bowl LIX: According to the NFL, the end zones at Caesars Superdome for Super Bowl LIX will say “Choose Love” this year. The message aims to counter the catastrophes that have plagued the country since the start of 2025, including the New Orleans terror attack, the Los Angeles wildfires, and the most recent plane crashes in Washington D.C. and Philadelphia. * AP | Trump and Musk demand termination of federal office leases through General Services Administration: The order seems to contradict Trump’s own return-to-office mandate for federal employees, adding confusion to what was already a scramble by the GSA to find workspace, internet connections and office building security credentials for employees who had been working remotely for years. But it may reflect the Trump administration’s belief that it won’t need as many offices due to its efforts to fire employees or encourage them to resign. * Politico | Mass deportations haven’t arrived but Trump’s PR blitz has: And yet, the number of daily Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests, trumpeted each day on X, are still about where they were at times under President Barack Obama. Many of those detained have no violent criminal history and thousands have been quietly released for lack of detention capacity. Drugs and illegal immigrants are still slipping across the border each day.
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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Supplement to today’s edition and more news
Wednesday, Feb 5, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller
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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today’s edition of Capitol Fax (use all CAPS in password)
Wednesday, Feb 5, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller
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Live coverage
Wednesday, Feb 5, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller * 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.
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Selected press releases (Live updates)
Wednesday, Feb 5, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller
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Isabel’s afternoon roundup
Tuesday, Feb 4, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller * WBBM…
* Rep. Carol Ammons and Sen. Kimberly Lightford | A clear way to sustain our public universities: Adequately fund them: This January, Western Illinois University announced it would be launching a furlough program, its latest effort to address a budget crisis. In other parts of the state, public universities including Northern Illinois University and SIUC are reckoning with budget concerns as well. The impact of the state’s ongoing status-quo approach of inequitably and inadequately funding our public universities has been slow burning for more than two decades. Regrettably, it is our students who have been shouldering the cost of that shortcoming by shelling out more money to attend school at great personal or familial expense, or by sitting out the college opportunity altogether to avoid the debt they’d have to incur to attend. * SJ-R | Freezing rain expected for much of Illinois on Wednesday. Here’s what you need to know: Central Illinois can expect some freezing rain during their morning commute Wednesday, while northern Illinois is predicted to see freezing rain Wednesday night, according to the National Weather Service. Southern Illinois will see only rain. […] The Springfield area can expect to see patches of freezing drizzle by 5 or 6 a.m. Wednesday. Rising temperatures there should be just warm enough to change the freezing drizzle to simply rain in the late morning, said Chris Geelhart, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. * NPR Illinois | More Illinois colleges are offering full tuition scholarships. Are they too good to be true?: More and more Illinois colleges and universities are offering full tuition scholarships. “The Huskie Pledge,” “The Rockford Promise,” “The Illinois Commitment” — everyone’s got one now. But as nice as zero tuition sounds, is it too good to be true? […] [Saida Bajrami is a junior at Dixon High School she] says it’s helped her get to know her community. And, it also helped her earn a full-tuition scholarship at Sauk Valley Community College through their Impact Program. * Crain’s | Howard Brown picks next CEO: Dr. Travis Gayles, 45, will take over the top role at the LGBTQ+ health care provider March 3 after more than 200 other candidates were considered for the top role. Gayles comes to Howard Brown from school-based telehealth company Hazel Health, where he was chief health officer. He replaces David Ernesto Munar, who left Howard Brown about a year ago. Since then, Dr. Robin Gay has been serving as CEO on an interim basis. She will now return to her prior role as Howard Brown’s chief dental officer. * Block Club | Former CTA Boss Dorval Carter Jr. Likely To Get Major Salary Bump At Saint Anthony Hospital: Carter’s tenure as the highest-compensated employee in city government ended when he stepped down as CTA president on Jan. 31, giving up his $391,108 salary. But in a few weeks, he’ll start receiving a $137,000-a-year pension, according to the CTA. As a longtime federal employee, Carter also likely qualifies for a federal pension. Federal officials did not answer questions about Carter’s federal benefits. * Crain’s | ADM cutting up to 700 jobs as it keeps a close eye on tariffs: Agriculture giant Archer Daniels Midland is watching tariffs closely as it heads into an already uncertain environment in the global market for commodities. The Chicago-based company, which is facing its own challenges related to accounting woes and profit pressure from rising supplies of grain, said today it’s eliminating 600 to 700 jobs, including 150 vacancies. Tariffs announced by the Trump administration only add to its challenges. * Block Club | Chicago Brewers Fear Trump Tariffs Will Hit Canadian Suppliers: ‘I Can’t See Any Good For Us’: “Electricity is cheaper there so that’s where we make aluminum,” said Robert Gulotty, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Chicago who studies tariffs. “When you have an integrated U.S.-Canada-Mexico market … there’s not going to just be a waiting competitor to fill the gap.” Klein said he turned to Canada for cans after American companies serving larger competitors declined to ship the small brewery small quantities. He doesn’t have enough space to store truckloads at a time. * Sun-Times | ‘A day without immigrants’ in Chicago saw businesses close, CPS students stay at home: The movement encouraged participants to skip work and school and refrain from shopping for one day. The initiative spread across social media in response to Trump’s immigration crackdown. In Chicago, that began last week with highly publicized raids, sending ripples of fear throughout the community. * Sun-Times | Chicago police commander violated rules in raid on unlicensed strip joint, report says: Tyrone Pendarvis, commander of the Calumet District on the Far South Side, retired in August 2024, more than a year after one of his officers came forward to complain about those searches. During the early morning raids, that officer was recorded on his body-worn camera asking a fellow cop, “Is this illegal?” “No, we good, we with 500,” the other officer replied, referring to the code number for Pendarvis. * NBC Chicago | Illinois I-PASS users report more Illinois Tollway scam, phishing texts: Illinois tollway officials first warned of the phishing scam in the spring of 2024, with some reporting on social media that they had received text messages from an out of state number, claiming they had unpaid tolls owed to the agency. The latest messages appear to be from a 219 area code, according to screenshots of texts sent to users this weekend. * Daily Herald | Public EV charging stations being installed at Rolling Meadows city hall: The six 48 amp charging stations will be accessible 24/7 free of charge to Rolling Meadows residents and nonresidents alike, though there will be a 4-hour time limit to prevent misuse of the spaces and discourage overnight parking, said City Manager Rob Sabo. A seventh charger — this one at 32 amps — will be reserved for city fleet use. The less powerful charger is suited for smaller cars, and the city’s sole electric vehicle is a Chevy Bolt used by a building inspector. * WCIA | Champaign school board hears from candidates for open seat; no decision made yet: The Champaign School District took steps towards filling an important position Monday night. They discussed who will step into a board seat that has been empty since December. The board did not reach an agreement tonight on who should take over the seat yet. However, they did get a chance to meet with the three people vying for it. * WCIA | Champaign city councilman apologizes for ‘historical context’ swastika post: The City of Champaign released a statement from Davion Williams Tuesday morning, in which he wrote a “sincere and heartfelt” apology. He said it was never his intention to cause harm, but he acknowledged the pain he caused and said he takes full responsibility for the impact of his words. * WGLT | From day one, Illinois State University assistant coach Rob Judson has lived a basketball life: “As far back as I can remember, with my dad coaching and me following him to the gym and the Hebron legend that surrounded him all the time, basketball has been a very big part of my growing up experience and my life,” Judson said. * The Atlantic | The Doctor Who Let RFK Jr. Through: Ron Johnson may be the most anti-vaccine lawmaker in Congress; he’s the kind of guy who says he’s “sticking up for people who choose not to get vaccinated” while claiming without valid evidence that thousands have died from COVID shots. This morning, at the Capitol, Johnson walked over to his Senate Finance Committee colleague Bill Cassidy, a doctor and a passionate advocate for vaccination, and gave him an affectionate pat on the shoulder. The two of them had just advanced Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination to lead the Department of Health and Human Services to the Senate floor. * WSJ | The Super Bowl Has Never Seen Anything Like These Five Gigantic Humans: Offensive linemen are typically the largest players in football, but even by those standards, the Eagles are positively ginormous. Their five starting linemen, on average, stand at 6-foot-6 and weigh 338 pounds. By comparison, they’re more than an inch taller, and 26 pounds heavier, than their counterparts on the Kansas City Chiefs. * AP | Waffle House adds surcharge to eggs as massive bird flu outbreak leads to soaring prices: The Waffle House restaurant chain is putting a 50 cent per egg surcharge in place temporarily due to the biggest bird flu outbreak in a decade. The Georgia company said that the resulting egg shortage has led to a dramatic increase in its costs. Bird flu is forcing farmers to slaughter millions of chickens a month, pushing U.S. egg prices to more than double their cost in the summer of 2023. And it appears there may be no relief in sight with Easter approaching.
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Pritzker goes from saying state should ‘not resort to tax increases’ to balance the budget last week, to taxes ‘should not be the first, but rather the last’ resort today
Tuesday, Feb 4, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller * Last week the governor was asked about tax increases…
* Rich followed up at a press conference this afternoon by pointing out the highlighted quote above about not raising taxes and asked the governor if that would also apply to the mass transit fiscal cliff…
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Take care of each other, please
Tuesday, Feb 4, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller * NBC Chicago…
* The Illinois Department of Public Health…
We all know the statehouse is a petri dish of illness! This is a reminder to get your shots!
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COGFA: Base state revenues up 2.8 percent over last fiscal year, but lots of weakness in corporate and sales taxes
Tuesday, Feb 4, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller * From the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability’s monthly report…
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An odd way to push a bill in Illinois, of all places (Updated)
Tuesday, Feb 4, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller * No, you actually don’t gotta hand it to the anti-vax crank, Mr. Secretary…
Needless to say, when you’re trying to pass a bill that’s way out of your zone of influence, you have to read the room. …Adding… IMA…
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It’s just a bill
Tuesday, Feb 4, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller * ProPublica…
* Rep. Maura Hirschauer filed this legislation yesterday… You can read more about the Illinois Supreme Court ruling by clicking here. * WAND…
* HB2435 from Rep. Michael Crawford…
* WSPY… Aurora State Senator Linda Holmes says her office is working on bills for the spring legislative session now underway in Springfield. Rep. Joe Sosnowski filed HB2515…
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Report: IDOT’s obsequence to DNC VIPs delayed Kennedy project finish by a month
Tuesday, Feb 4, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller * I had a gut feeling since the Democratic National Convention started that closing the Kennedy’s reversibles for VIPs caused a significant delay in completing the expressway’s repairs. Thank goodness for reporters like Ben Bradley…
* Last summer, that exclusive VIP access to the reversibles brought to my mind the old Soviet ZiL lanes…
Ben has lots more on what further delayed the construction’s completion, so click here.
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Showcasing The Retailers Who Make Illinois Work
Tuesday, Feb 4, 2025 - Posted by Advertising Department [The following is a paid advertisement.] Retail provides one out of every five Illinois jobs, generates the second largest amount of tax revenue for the state, and is the largest source of revenue for local governments. But retail is also so much more, with retailers serving as the trusted contributors to life’s moments, big and small. We Are Retail and IRMA are dedicated to sharing the stories of retailers like the Drakefords, who serve their communities with dedication and pride.
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Open thread
Tuesday, Feb 4, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller * What’s going on? Keep it Illinois-centric please…
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Isabel’s morning briefing
Tuesday, Feb 4, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller * Rich told subscribers about this cash stash in November. ICYMI: Groups demand release of after-school program funding. Capitol News Illinois…
- As a result, ACT Now and many of the after-school programs it represents sought, and received, $50 million in state funding in this year’s budget to make up for the loss of federal funding. - But now, seven months into the fiscal year, none of that money has been released by ISBE. - In an email, a spokesperson for ISBE said the agency would like to see the organizations receive their funding as well, but they need more direction from the legislative leaders about how they want the money distributed. * PUCK | The Pritzker Prize: Peter Hamby: With Democrats, it feels like there is a leadership vacuum that needs to be filled. You were one of the few Dem governors to come out and condemn the January 6th pardons and clemencies, pretty loudly. But otherwise, it feels like Democrats are being very cautious right now, and there’s room for someone out there to fill the leadership vacuum. Pritzker: Let me begin by saying I was governor in the last two years of the last Trump administration, so I have lived through how to protect our state in the context of a president who wants to take people’s freedoms away and doesn’t give a damn about average everyday working Americans. And of course, at the beginning of Covid, we literally had to protect people’s lives from what they were doing in Washington. So I bring that to the fight. * Capitol News Illinois | Trump tariffs could impact hundreds of billions of dollars of trade in Illinois: Illinois received $127.8 billion of imports from China, Canada and Mexico in 2023, according to DCEO. Canada is Illinois’ largest partner for both imports and exports, with the state receiving $65.6 billion of goods from the country in 2023. Illinois is highly dependent on oil and gas from Canada, meaning consumers could be in line for higher energy and gas prices. About 72% of Illinois’ imports, or $47.4 billion, from Canada in 2023 was oil and gas, according to DCEO. * Tribune | Jury ends deliberations Monday in Madigan case without reaching a verdict: Jurors 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. * SJ-R | Spring is quickly approaching. Here’s what The Old Farmer’s Almanac is predicting: The Old Farmer’s Almanac predicts most of Illinois will see a dry spring with normal temperatures. The southern part of the state is predicted to see a cool and dry spring, and the northwestern section will see a warm and dry season. * WCIA | ISBE looking for 2025 state sponsors in federal summer meal program: The SFSP provides funding to public or private nonprofit organizations to serve meals to children meals during the summer months when schools are not in session. Last year, Illinois had 144 SFSP sponsors and 1,585 meal sites. An additional 187 sponsors with 379 sites participated through the Seamless Summer Option (SSO), a similar program for school districts already operating the National School Lunch Program. The SFSP served more than 4.3 million meals and snacks last year, a 12% increase from 2023. * WTTW | Johnson Vows to Try Again to Hike Taxes on Sales of Million-Dollar Homes to Fight Homelessness: Speaking at a town hall about the state of Chicago hosted by WTTW and community organization My Block, My Hood, My City, Johnson blasted “corporations” and the “ultra rich” for the failure of the ballot measure known as Bring Chicago Home, which was rejected by 53% of Chicago voters in March. “The interests of the ultra rich confused as well as baited voters into believing that that revenue would go somewhere other than what we had purposed it for,” Johnson said. “Here’s what I’m asking the people in Chicago: At the point of which we go for this revenue again, let’s not allow the interests of the corporations as well as the ultra rich to dictate what working people deserve in this city. We have to pass Bring Chicago Home.” * FOX Chicago | New poll shows Chicagoans losing confidence in Johnson, CTU: ‘Politically toxic’: Commissioned by the Libertarian Illinois Policy Institute, the poll surveyed a diverse cross-section of Chicagoans from various neighborhoods and ethnic backgrounds. […] The poll, conducted from Jan. 21 to Jan. 23, surveyed 798 voters and asked, “Do you have a favorable opinion of Mayor Johnson?” Only 14% of respondents expressed a favorable view, with 80% reporting an unfavorable opinion, and the rest offering no opinion. * Sun-Times | Trump threatens to fire more than 100 Chicago EPA workers: The warnings came in an email sent last week to most-recently hired workers who have not yet put in enough time to enjoy more job-protection benefits. “As a probationary/trial period employee, the agency has the right to immediately terminate you,” the email said. “The process for probationary removal is that you receive a notice of termination, and your employment is ended immediately.” * Streetsblog | Partying like it’s 2025: CTAction’s Dorval Carter retirement celebration heralds a new era for Chicago transit: Attitudes towards the CTA president’s career were less rose-colored at “Dorval Carter’s Retirement Party,” hosted by Commuters Take Action (CTAction) last Friday at The Emporium Arcade Bar in Logan Square. (The group’s policy organizer Morgan Madderom said they threw a previous retirement party for Carter last November, but that had been a suggestion, rather than the reality.) * Sun-Times | Metra Electric 103rd St. station to reopen, 95th St. to close for 2 years of rehab: The construction is part of the Metra Electric Community Initiative to modernize 13 stations on the line stretching from the Loop to the far south suburbs. The 103rd St./Rosemoor station is the second station to be rebuilt under a $33 million contract to also redo the 79th Street Station, which reopened in December, and the 87th Street station, which is under construction. * WGN | Hundreds of ducks found sick or dead along Lake Michigan as outbreak of H5N1 bird flu hits Chicago area: The Chicago Bird Collision Monitors (CBCM), a volunteer conservation project dedicated to the protection of migratory birds, said in a post on its Facebook page Sunday that the bird flu outbreak “is posing a serious threat to the bird life in the Chicago region this winter.” The outbreak started in December and has now spread from a few reports in the suburbs to hundreds in the city, along Lake Michigan, over the last week. Birds affected include geese, hawks, owls, at least one eagle and ducks. * Crain’s | Air Wisconsin laying off 200 O’Hare staff: The airline, based in Appleton, Wisc., announced job cuts in a WARN notice filed with the state on Jan. 31. The notice comes on the heels of Air Wisconsin ending its agreement with American in which the carrier operated under the American Eagle regional service banner. According to a company statement, the two airlines will enter a codeshare and interline relationship starting in April. This shift will enable Air Wisconsin to prioritize federally subsidized essential air service routes, which connect smaller communities to major airports. * Sun-Times | On the brink of extinction, Chicago’s last human-operated elevators get a temporary reprieve: The Fine Arts Building elevators on South Michigan — three of them — are being sacrificed in the name of efficiency. And they were expected to be replaced by mid-2025. Blame (or thank) unspecified construction delays, a spokeswoman for the building told the Chicago Sun-Times. So if you’re paying a visit to the building for, say, a voice lesson or to have the strings replaced on your violin, you’ll still be able to ride one of the manually operated Otis elevators through the end of 2026. * WGN | Historic meeting in Illinois paved the way for Black citizens’ rights: Friday, Feb. 7, will mark 160 years since Illinois struck down laws that kept free Black people from entering the state and gave those already in the state just 10 days to get out. Twelve years before that, a historic meeting took place in what’s now downtown Chicago, at Clark and Randolph, where men and women from across the country worked to find a way for Illinois’ Black residents to enjoy the American promise of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. * Daily Herald | DuPage County keeps federal lobbyist: The lobbying firm has “gotten us $1.1 million in stormwater management projects, $250,000 in infrastructure and mobility work, $300,000 in flood reduction, plus they track all of the federal grant and funding opportunities for DuPage County,” said Dawn DeSart, chair of the board’s legislative committee. * Crain’s | Lawsuit claiming Cook County tax sales violate property rights seeks class-action status: In a request for class-action status filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on Jan. 24, attorneys allege Cook County violates property owners’ constitutional rights when it auctions off the unpaid taxes on a property to third parties that can eventually take over ownership of the property. Because the owners often have equity in their properties that is separate from the tax debt, and lose all of it at a tax sale, the suit alleges that the sale amounts to a violation of the Fifth Amendment’s prohibition on “private property be(ing) taken for public use.” The suit also alleges that the sales violate homeowners’ Eighth Amendment right not to be subject to excessive fines. * Tribune | Dolton employees without life insurance after premiums go unpaid; Mayor Tiffany Henyard skips meeting: The news caught trustees by surprise at their meeting while voting to renew health insurance coverage, although the cost for that has increased. Life insurance for more than 100 employees ended last August because premiums hadn’t been paid, trustees were told. A representative for the village’s employee insurance consultant said that message’s about the termination of life insurance had been relayed to village administration, including Mayor Tiffany Henyard. * Daily Southtown | Dismissals and rulings keep Napoleon Harris and Thaddeus Jones on ballots: Within the township, Calumet City Mayor Thaddeus Jones, who is challenged in the Democratic primary Feb. 25, recently won his case against an objector claiming he is unable to serve both in the Illinois House of Representatives and as mayor. Calumet City Clerk Nyota Figgs, running on a slate with Jones’ challenger for the mayor’s seat, 6th Ward Ald. James Patton, filed the objection that was first dismissed by the city’s electoral board and on Thursday dismissed by Cook County Judge Araceli R. De La Cruz. * Shaw Local | Lee County family planning medical director steps down due to employer OSF HealthCare reproductive care policy: The Lee County Health Department has selected a new family planning medical director after its former director was told by their new employer, OSF HealthCare, to step down due to the Catholic health system’s restrictive policies for reproductive care, LCHD’s administrator says. The health department’s new family planning medical director, Dr. Christine Doyle, an OB/GYN at UW Health Swedish American Hospital in Rockford and a former KSB OB/GYN, has replaced Dr. John Plescia, former KSB - now OSF - family medicine physician in Oregon. * ABC Chicago | Northwestern University among 5 colleges in Trump probe by Education Dept. over alleged antisemitism: Under the new administration, The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights is now reviewing how pro-Palestinian protests were handled across campuses. The five universities being targeted by the probe are Columbia University in New York University of California - Berkeley, Portland State University in Oregon, the University of Minnesota and Northwestern University. * Herald Whig | Quincy Council considers adding grocery tax with state’s to sunset: Ahead of Monday’s City Council meeting, the council’s Finance Committee met and discussed the option of adding a 1% sales tax on grocery sales in the city that would start Jan. 1 2026. “We run the city on sales tax, and that’s what this is, a sales tax,” said Alderman Mike Rein, R-5, who chairs the Finance Committee. “It’s devastating for the city to lose the revenue base, because the demands of the city aren’t going down, (but) neither are we expanding city government, we’re trying to just maintain the status quo.” * WSIL | SIU gears up for Saluki Con 2025: This annual event brings together interests in science, technology, and pop culture. Some of this year’s big attractions include workshops and demonstrations, comic book vendors, and a cosplay contest. Among this year’s special guests will be actor Sean Astin, famous for his roles in Goonies, Stranger Things, and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. * WCIA | ‘You don’t know what your neighbor’s doing’; IL fire officials talk safety after string of apartment complex fires: Champaign County has seen three apartment complex fires in a little more than a week. Now, officials say it’s time to go on the offensive — taking steps to protect against flames that could be as close as next door. * WCIA | ‘It was surreal for us’: Urbana girls program’s win first regional wrestling title: Urbana will head to the Highland sectional meet on February 14 to compete for spots at the state finals. “They wrestled the best they could and we won some matches that we didn’t think we were winning,” said Urbana head wrestling coach Phil Sexton. “And overall, it was an awesome experience. It was surreal for us.” * WIRED | A 25-Year-Old With Elon Musk Ties Has Direct Access to the Federal Payment System: A source says they are concerned that data could be passed from secure systems to DOGE operatives within the General Services Administration (GSA). WIRED reporting has shown that Elon Musk’s associates—including Nicole Hollander, who slept in Twitter’s offices as Musk acquired the company, and Thomas Shedd, a former Tesla engineer who now runs a GSA agency, along with a host of extremely young and inexperienced engineers—have infiltrated the GSA, and have attempted to use White House security credentials to gain access to GSA tech, something experts have said is highly unusual and poses a huge security risk. * Newsweek | US Treasury Sued Over DOGE’s Access To Sensitive Information: The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, argues that Musk’s team is using the system in violation of multiple privacy laws, including 1974’s Privacy Act, and other regulations that dictate who is authorized to access the network. The Alliance for Retired Americans, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) are seeking a restraining order to keep DOGE out of the system. Scott Bessent, President Donald Trump’s Secretary of the Treasury, the Department of the Treasury and Bureau of the Fiscal Service were named as defendants in the civil action suit. * AP | RFK Jr. misled the US Senate on measles deaths, Samoa’s health chief says: “When the tissue samples were sent to New Zealand, most of those people did not have measles,” Kennedy told U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat. Ekeroma, a medical doctor who also holds a doctorate in health, said that the claim was a “huge denial” of the fact that doctors from several countries traveled to Samoa to treat measles patients. The Samoan official wasn’t the health chief during the outbreak, but confirmed key details with his predecessor, he said. Only one autopsy was carried out and no postmortem tissue samples were sent abroad, which was not unusual because measles is a simple disease to diagnose, said Ekeroma. * AP | Black History Month explained: Its origins, celebrations and myths: Black History Month wasn’t always a monthlong celebration. In February 1926, historian and author Carter G. Woodson created Negro History Week. It was a weeklong celebration in an effort to teach people about African-American history and the contributions of Black people. […] “I think Black folks understood what they had contributed to America’s historical narrative, but no one was talking about it,” said Kaye Whitehead, the organization’s president. “No one was centralizing it until Dr. Carter G. Woodson was in 1926.”
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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Supplement to today’s edition and more news
Tuesday, Feb 4, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller
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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today’s edition of Capitol Fax (use all CAPS in password)
Tuesday, Feb 4, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller
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Live coverage
Tuesday, Feb 4, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller * 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.
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Selected press releases (Live updates)
Tuesday, Feb 4, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller
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