| | | | |  | | By Shia Kapos | Presented by the Save My Scholarship Coalition | Happy Thursday, Illinois. Nonstop holiday music starts today, per Block Club.
|  | TOP TALKER | | D.C. BOUND: Mayor Brandon Johnson is headed to Washington to address what he calls an “international crisis” mayors are facing across the country trying to manage an influx of migrants. “This situation, quite frankly, is so jacked up,” Johnson told reporters in a press conference when asked about a letter he and other mayors dealing with housing migrants sent to President Joe Biden asking for assistance to deal with the crisis. Funding fiasco: “For some of these bordering mayors [in Texas, for example], they’re moving a half a million people through their respective cities annually. Thousands a week,” Johnson said. “But here's what's interesting. They have the full force of the federal government to help them do that. The federal government is spending money to send people to Chicago.” Also headed to D.C.: Along with Johnson, mayors from Los Angeles, New York City, Denver and Houston will be in D.C. to talk about the migrant situation, which has escalated in Chicago this week as temperatures have hovered at freezing and snow has dusted the city. Their first meeting is this morning with Tom Perez, the director of White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs before talking to members of the House delegation at 10 a.m. and then senators after that. “The federal government has to do more,” Johnson said Tuesday, pointing to the ease that some 30,000 Ukrainian immigrants came to Chicago in recent months. “Look, Chicago is leaning in. We have borne the brunt of the responsibility here. That’s not an equitable distribution of how the government should operate.” Johnson’s comments followed a racially charged debate Wednesday among City Council members on two related issues: whether to support a shelter in a South Side ward and whether Chicago should shed itself of its “welcoming city” status. The proposal to acquire a vacant Jewel store and parking lot at 115th and Halsted streets for $1 was opposed by Ald. Ronnie Mosley (21st), who represents the Black community. His concern: The vacant lot has been on track to be developed as Morgan Park Commons, a housing and retail space, and Mosley worries that effort will never come to fruition if the lot is turned into a base camp for migrants. Other council members backed him up, prompting two of Johnson’s allies, Alds. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th) and Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th) to delay the vote. As for the proposal for a referendum on whether Chicago should remain a sanctuary city, progressives pushed it to the rules committee, where legislation often goes to die. The governor’s take: Earlier in the day, Gov. JB Pritzker reiterated Johnson’s call for more help from the federal government. The governor said he’s been in contact numerous times with officials from the White House and Department of Homeland Security over the issue. He added that Texas border officials should also be warning migrants about Chicago’s weather. “They should convince [migrants] that they maybe shouldn’t come to the city of Chicago during the winter and that there are other places in the country they can go,” the governor said at an unrelated news conference. Worth noting: While the city has been scrambling to address shelter for migrants, the state has been handling wraparound services, including legal aid. RELATED Civic Federation urges City Council to devise contingency plan for migrant funding: “The $150 million in Mayor Brandon Johnson’s $16.6 billion budget is only “half of the projected amount necessary to care for asylum seekers,” the Civic Federation noted in its annual review of the city budget,” by Sun-Times’ Fran Spielman.
| | THE BUZZ | | NO BULL: President Joe Biden announced more than $5 billion in spending in rural America including nearly $54 million in grants in Illinois. We counted 100 farms and agriculture-focused groups that will get a boost — including Gibson City-based One Earth Energy, which is in line for a $1 million grant. The company is working to increase ethanol production, which would power cars. Big quote: “We’re not only transforming rural communities, we’re transforming our economy,” Biden said during a visit to a farm in Minnesota on Wednesday, via the Associated Press. He’s headed to Illinois next week. If you are Mayor Brandon Johnson, Playbook would like to hear from you. Email skapos@politico.com
| | | | A message from the Save My Scholarship Coalition: Over 9,500 students are counting on the Illinois General Assembly to save the Tax Credit Scholarship Program. If they fail to act NOW, then students from low-income families will lose their scholarships, causing many to leave their best-fit schools. Most of these students are Black or Brown, and 100% are from households with demonstrated financial need. Additionally, 26,000 more students from low-income and working-class families sit anxiously on the waitlist. Do the right thing. | | | | | WHERE'S JB | | At Lake Forest Recreation Center at 11:30 a.m. to announce new infrastructure improvements.
| | WHERE's BRANDON | | In Washington, D.C.
| | Where's Toni | | At the Chicago Center for Arts & Technology at 7 p.m. for the National Association of Health Services Executives inauguration ceremony. Break away from watching Bobby Knight clips and email me at skapos@politico.com
| | 2024 WATCH | | — Bailey, Bost compete in 'Trump primary': The former president hasn’t delivered an endorsement in the race, “but that clearly hasn’t stopped either candidate from pulling out all the stops while attempting to secure it,” reports Lee Enterprises’ Brenden Moore. — Pritzker’s abortion rights group spends $1.5M in Ohio, Virginia and Nevada to fight ‘extremism at every level,’ by Sun-Times’ Tina Sfondeles
| | | | GO INSIDE THE CAPITOL DOME: From the outset, POLITICO has been your eyes and ears on Capitol Hill, providing the most thorough Congress coverage — from political characters and emerging leaders to leadership squabbles and policy nuggets during committee markups and hearings. We're stepping up our game to ensure you’re fully informed on every key detail inside the Capitol Dome, all day, every day. Start your day with Playbook AM, refuel at midday with our Playbook PM halftime report and enrich your evening discussions with Huddle. Plus, stay updated with real-time buzz all day through our brand new Inside Congress Live feature. Learn more and subscribe here. | | | | | | | BURKE FALLOUT | | — An FBI mole at the 2016 Democratic National Convention: The origin story of the Ald. Edward Burke corruption probe: “While at the convention, Burke, the then-dean of the City Council and powerful head of the Finance Committee, approached [then Ald. Daniel] Solis and started pushing for clout-heavy demolition company Heneghan Wrecking for consideration in the massive $800 million renovation of the old main post office in Solis’ 14th Ward, court records show.
| | CHICAGO | | — State lawmakers propose new Chicago school board map days ahead of return to Springfield: “The new map represents the legislature’s third attempt at crafting boundaries for 20 districts, each of which will eventually elect a representative to the board that oversees Chicago Public Schools. The shift to an elected board was approved in 2021 and takes full effect after elections in 2026,” by Tribune’s Dan Petrella and Jeremy Gorner. The breakdown by Chalkbeat’s Becky Vevea: “The new map has seven majority Black districts, six where Latinos make up 50 percent or more of the population, and five where the population is 50 percent or more white.” — Council blocks plan to regulate little free libraries — for now, by Block Club’s Quinn Myers — West Town community group and Ald. Gilbert Villegas want answers on plan to address street robberies, by Tribune’s Sam Charles — Daughter of disgraced Alderman Danny Solis resigns from Chicago Park District post, by WBEZ’s Dan Mihalopoulos — Noise cameras would help ticket downtown drivers with loud mufflers under proposed city ordinance, by Sun-Times’ David Struett — Uber on the offensive: As rideshare companies face pressure from Springfield and City Hall to take on more expenses related to drivers, Uber is pushing back. Chris Dobbs, the company’s head of U.S. city operations, emailed Uber drivers, saying the company already is in line with Illinois’ commercial auto liability insurance rules. His email is here.
| | | | A message from the Save My Scholarship Coalition:   | | | | | COOK COUNTY AND COLLARS | | — Stadium and concert plans advance: “Mayor Daniel Biss broke a tie to advance the concert proposal after council members tied 4-4 on it,” by Evanston Now’s Bill Smith. — Oak Park opens police station, undisclosed shelter to families housed outdoors in tents as temperatures drop, by Pioneer Press staff
| | TAKING NAMES | | — Tom Skilling honored in Congress: Congressmembers Bill Foster (D-Naperville) and Mike Quigley (D-Chicago) "submitted a statement to the official Congressional Record honoring Skilling’s 45-year career as a meteorologist and personality throughout the Chicago area,” by Aurora Beacon-News’ Steve Lord. — Former Illinois Congressman Adam Kinzinger told Stephen Colbert on “The Late Show” that members of his own family disowned him over his views on the Jan. 6 attack on the capitol. It’s part of his book tour. Here’s the clip.
| | | | PLAYBOOK IS GOING GLOBAL! We’re excited to introduce Global Playbook, POLITICO’s premier newsletter that brings you inside the most important conversations at the most influential events in the world. From the buzzy echoes emanating from the snowy peaks at the WEF in Davos to the discussions and personalities at Milken Global in Beverly Hills, to the heart of diplomacy at UNGA in New York City – author Suzanne Lynch brings it all to your fingertips. Experience the elite. Witness the influential. And never miss a global beat. BE PART OF THE CONVERSATION. SUBSCRIBE NOW. | | | | | | | Reader Digest | | We asked whether you’re as open-minded as you used to be? Eli Brottman: “More open-minded after seeing things I thought would work (in politics and government) fail.” Jim Bray: “Neither more nor less open-minded. I never change.” Michael Gascoigne: “Exposure to different cultures has opened my mind substantially.” John Howell: “More so. If you don’t grow and evolve as you age you’re a dope.” Marilynn Miller: “In most things, more open minded. But not so in politics. Ever since the Newt Gingrich era, it seems the GOP would do anything to get their way.” La'Mont R. Williams: “More open-minded. The more I learn, the less I know.” Eric Willoughby: “Nope. Modern-day politics have become so toxic that the only strategy that some resort to is the impeachment of personal motive. Therefore, it is incredibly difficult to keep an open mind.” How are you just like yourself as a kid? Email skapos@politico.com
| | THE NATIONAL TAKE | | — Relatives of released hostages Judith and Natalie Raanan call for others still held by Hamas to be set free, by Sun-Times’ Emmanuel Camarillo — Economic blows batter Biden’s clean energy goals, via POLITICO — Netanyahu may not last, Biden and aides increasingly believe, by POLITICO’s Jonathan Lemire, Nahal Toosi and Alexander Ward — GOP senator to confront Tuberville on military blockade, by POLITICO’s Connor O’Brien
| | | | A message from the Save My Scholarship Coalition: Voters are very clear: They support the Tax Credit Scholarship Program by an overwhelming margin of more than 2:1. What’s at stake is the best-fit education of thousands of low-income students who receive a Tax Credit Scholarship or are waiting for one. Over half of the recipients are Black or Brown, and all the recipients qualify based on financial need. We cannot fail these children and their families. The Illinois General Assembly needs to extend the Invest in Kids Act Tax Credit Scholarship Program during this fall veto session. In addition to the 9,500 students who currently receive the scholarships, 26,000 more students from low-income and working-class families sit anxiously on the waitlist hoping to receive the same opportunities as some of their peers. This commitment is an investment in poverty reduction and economic acceleration, so lawmakers should do the right thing: Extend the Tax Credit Scholarship Program. | | | | | Transitions | | — Beth Beatty has been named city manager of Joliet, making her the first woman to serve in this role in the city's history. Beatty is a former deputy mayor of intergovernmental affairs and a former deputy CFO and has worked for Mayors Richard M. Daley, Rahm Emanuel, Lori Lightfoot and Brandon Johnson. — Stephanie Hor-Chen is now a partner in Blank Rome’s Chicago office in the finance, restructuring and bankruptcy practice. She was with Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP.
| | | IN MEMORIAM | | | — Herbert “Herb” Franks, a noted Illinois attorney who got his start in Rockford, has died. He was 89. Details here — Ady Barkan, who campaigned for Medicare for all while struggling with A.L.S., has died. He was 39, by New York Times’ Mike Ives
| | EVENTS | | — Tonight: Chesa Boudin, the Chicago native and former San Francisco DA, headlines a discussion on the film doc “Beyond Bars: It’s a Movement, Not a Moment.” Boudin was adopted as a child by Weather Underground leaders Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn while his birth parents, Kathy Boudin and David Gilbert, were incarcerated. Cook County State Attorney Kim Foxx and will also speak. The film by Robert Greenwald features footage and interviews of Chesa with his four parents. Details here
| | TRIVIA | | WEDNESDAY’s ANSWER: Congrats to Graham Grady for correctly answering that the Illinois senator who also had the name of a president was William McKinley, who served in the U.S. Senate from 1921 to 1926 after serving seven terms in the U.S. House. Hat tip to all those who guessed Barack Obama, which would have been a good trick question. TODAY’s QUESTION: Who’s drawn the largest crowd ever at Grant Park? Email skapos@politico.com
| | HAPPY BIRTHDAY | | State Rep. Stephanie Kifowit, ComEd comms VP Shannon Breymaier, Salesforce comms executive director Katie Hogan, Capital J. Productions owner JoAnn Fakhouri, actor David Schwimmer and POLITICO national Playbook reporter Eli Okun. -30- | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Ottawa Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
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