Isabel’s morning briefing

* ICYMI: The Illinois’ AG said it’s illegal for schools to use police to ticket students. But his office only told one district. ProPublica…

• The AG’s office found that Township High School District 211 in Palatine broke the law when administrators directed police to fine its students for school-based conduct, and that the practice had an “unjustified disparate impact” on Black and Latino students.

• But the AG’s office did not alert other districts of its findings, which came in July, and did not issue guidance that the common practice violates the law. That means its findings against the suburban Chicago district could have a narrow effect.

• The office also said that it is not investigating other districts for similar civil rights violations.

* Related stories…

- Tribune: AG finds Palatine schools broke law by using cops to ticket students, urges other districts to review policies

- ProPublica: An Illinois School District’s Reliance on Police to Ticket Students Is Discriminatory, Civil Rights Complaint Says

- Tribune: Bill to stop student ticketing suffers setback, delaying action to protect families from costly fines

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Tribune | 98% of Illinois residents drink water with fluoride. Why is this mineral’s longtime role being rethought?: “I’d say all of those claims have either been soundly refuted or he is exaggerating what the evidence really shows,” said Scott Tomar, associate dean of prevention and public health sciences in the College of Dentistry at the University of Illinois Chicago. “Water fluoridation — one of the nice things about it is it doesn’t require any special behavior on people’s part. Just drinking water or preparing your food with fluoridated water confers prevention benefits. And it’s one of incredibly few public health measures that actually saves money.”

* Daily Herald | Aqua Illinois customers to see water bill hike in the new year: The privately owned water utility has not released an estimate of the exact impact the increase will have on customer bills in 14 northern Illinois counties. But the approved increase represents a 43% reduction from the utility’s original request, which would have raised bills by an estimated $30 per month, according to the Citizens Utility Board consumer advocacy group.

* Sun-Times | Chicago’s Wild Mile — an urban oasis built on a dream: Day and night, visitors can descend an aluminum gangway behind the REI Co-op at North Kingsbury Street and West Eastman Street near Goose Island and find themselves seemingly walking on water, wandering across an almost imperceptibly rocking wooden boardwalk, surrounded by five-foot-high plants. This fall, the area of this string of small, human-made islands known as the Wild Mile, drew migrating white-throated sparrows, fall warblers and dark-eyed juncos to feast on the seeds of sedge, prairie clover and Joe-Pye weed. Tropical white and pink hibiscus blooms stood out among the fading greens and rusty browns of summer’s bounty, 60 native species in all.

*** Statehouse News ***

* WHBF | McCombie & Halpin on Illinois veto session & budget deficit: “The purpose of eliminating the grocery tax on the state level was to make sure that the state wasn’t benefitting from that tax, we weren’t getting any money from it, and in a time of high inflation we wanted to make those prices at least a little bit easier for constituents,” Halpin said “The language was amended so they could choose to use that tax for property tax relief, which I think we had already heard several municipalities had kind of hoped to do it that way, but also if they also wanted to use it for public infrastructures they could do that as well,” McCombie said.

*** Madigan Trial ***

* Tribune | Madigan corruption trial turns to the Danny Solis show: Solis, the former 25th Ward alderman-turned FBI mole, took the witness stand late last week to begin what will be a fascinating dive into one of the biggest public corruption cases in Chicago’s sordid history. His testimony — which could stretch well into December — will include clandestine video recordings Solis made in face-to-face meetings with Madigan, where the longtime House leader and head of the state Democratic Party allegedly used his official influence to shake down developers for business for his private tax appeal law firm.

*** Chicago ***

* Tribune | Cook County politician told cops, ‘I’m an elected official’ during DUI arrest: According to the arrest report, officers saw two crashed cars near the intersection. One officer reported that Steele was lying on the sidewalk near the accident and that Steele told him she had hit another car. At that time, the officer wrote in the report that Steele’s “eyes were bloodshot and glassy. I also detected a strong odor of alcoholic beverage coming from her breath as she spoke.”

* Tribune | Chicago food pantries respond to ‘extraordinary demand’ during Thanksgiving holiday season: Verenice Martinez, director of food distribution services, said Pan de Vida Midway Pantry — which is open Wednesdays and Fridays — has seen a 30 percent increase this year in people seeking assistance. She attributes the increase to inflation and the rising cost of living, including elevated food prices, after the COVID-19 pandemic. “The pandemic is clearly over, but we see that every walk of life is still being affected. There are some people that are still recovering from whatever COVID did to their families,” she said, adding that the pantry wants to get a walk-in fridge and freezer to increase its capacity. 

* WBEZ | Aussie pitches fundraising drive to provide 1,632 'backpack beds' for every homeless person in Chicago: Clark was in Chicago then, in 2013, to accept an award for the “backpack bed” he co-designed with his wife for the unhoused. The idea, which he said came to him in church, was to give people “warmth, comfort and dignity.” He helped distribute about 150 of his backpacks that convert into tents with a built-in mattress to homeless people across the city then. Now, Clark has returned to Chicago with the goal of handing out many more of the backpack beds. The goal is 1,632, to be exact. That’s the number of people estimated to be living on the streets, according to the city’s last Point in Time survey.

* Tribune | Man googled synagogues and Jewish community centers prior to West Rogers Park attack, prosecutors say: McCord said the examination of Abdallahi’s cellphone is continuing, but so far, investigators have located more than 100 antisemitic images, videos and screenshots.  His search history included a suburban gun store, firing range and two Jewish community centers, she said. He used Google Maps to favorite the locations of two synagogues, according to McCord.

* Block Club Chicago | Family Of Murdered Portage Park Woman Raising Funds For Funeral: On Friday, Lacramioara Beldie’s children, Ani, Antonio and Felix, launched a GoFundMe to raise money for their mother’s burial According to reporting from the Chicago Tribune, Lacramioara Beldie, who friends called Mirela, worked as a nanny. The fundraiser, organized by her daughter Ani Beldie, said she was “a second mother to many.”

* Tribune | Chicago voter turnout was second-lowest rate in 80 years for a presidential election: While election officials initially expected a high turnout, it ended up being markedly low for a presidential election. According to unofficial results, the Chicago Board of Elections reported that roughly 67.9% of registered city voters cast ballots in the election, roughly 3 percentage points less than the 71% turnout in 2016 and 5 percentage points lower than in 2020, when turnout was 73.3%.  

* WTTW | Plan to Transform Abandoned Railway in Pilsen Sparks Gentrification Concerns for Some Residents: CDOT recently hosted a community engagement meeting to gather residents’ input on repurposing the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) railway from West 16th and South Sangamon streets to West Cermak Road and South Laflin Street, near Benito Juarez High School. Officials emphasized that plans remain in early stages, with a final framework not expected until 2026.

* WTTW | Burst of Heavy Snow Made a Mess of the Roadways, But Brookfield Zoo’s Polar Bear Had the Time of His Life: Hudson the polar bear looked positively giddy as he frolicked in the snow at Brookfield Zoo. We should all love something as much as Hudson loves snow.

* Block Club | ‘Waves Of Snow’ Could Impact Thanksgiving Travel, Weather Service Says: The exact location and intensity of the storm system has yet to be determined three days out, National Weather Service meteorologist David King said.   “There’s still a lot of uncertainty with it,” King said. “With what we’ve been seeing in the models, it’s really kind of difficult to be able to pinpoint … where the focus is going to be, but there’s at least this kind of consistent signature we’ve been seeing where we’re expecting some sort of winter storm to happen.”

* Sun-Times | Bears find a new way to lose in heartbreaking fashion, but Caleb Williams offers reasons for hope: The Bears found another creative, cruel way to break your heart Sunday, losing 30-27 to the Vikings in overtime after trailing by 11 with 1:56 to play in the fourth quarter.  To get there, quarterback Caleb Williams threw a one-yard touchdown pass to Keenan Allen with 29 seconds left in regulation and a two-point conversion pass to DJ Moore to cut the lead to three. Kicker Cairo Santos converted only the third onside kick in 31 tries across the NFL this season when safety Tarvarius Moore jumped on the ball after it hit a Viking’s foot. Santos then drilled a 48-yard field goal to force overtime.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* WBEZ | A former employee of a Cook County agency sues over his firing, alleging retaliation: The ex-employee, Frank Calabrese, said he was an appeals analyst and communications director for Steele until he was fired in May — after talking about Steele and chief of staff Dan Balanoff with investigators for the county’s independent internal watchdog. In the complaint filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Chicago, Calabrese also accused Steele and Balanoff of pressuring him “to engage in political activity” against the two other Board of Review commissioners, Larry Rogers Jr. and George Cardenas.

* County Scanner | Officials announce 23 candidates that applied to fill vacant Lake County associate judge seat: The Administrative Office of Illinois Courts notified Lake County Chief Judge Daniel Shanes that 23 local attorneys applied for the associate judge vacancy in the 19th Judicial Circuit.  The seat has been vacant since former Associate Judge Theodore S. Potkonjak retired on October 4.

* Daily Herald | ‘He can park anywhere...except his public high school’: District, student in fight over parking in lot: The family emailed the school officials before the school year began to notify them that Gavin had an accessible parking placard and to ask which of the eight designated accessible parking spaces in the lot he should use. Central High officials told them Gavin would not be allowed to park at the school because he did not have a parking pass. Gavin applied for a parking pass through a lottery but was not selected before the school year or in a later lottery when spaces opened following a construction project.

* Daily Herald | Crystal Lake man pleads guilty for part in Jan. 6 assault: Court documents showed Giacchetti attended a rally at the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., and afterward made his way to the U.S. Capitol building. There, while on a restricted walkway on the South side of the Capitol, Giacchetti used a bullhorn to yell profanities and insults at law enforcement officers responding to the riot.

* Aurora Beacon-News | After breaking hip, former Butterball hotline lady from Aurora to be stuck in Turkey for Turkey Day: For more than two decades, Phyllis Kramer was not just a wise and calm voice on the other end of the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line, the Aurora woman became a recognized face, featured on TV shows and in regional and national news stories at this time of year. The New York Times. Good Housekeeping. Business Insider. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Fox News. Rachael Ray. Kramer even worked alongside comedian Stephen Colbert when he flew to the hotline headquarters on Diehl Road in Naperville to tape a segment for his late night show. This holiday, however, her story has taken an ironic twist: The Turkey Lady is stuck in Turkey for Turkey Day.

*** Downstate *** 

* WBBM | Springfield Police Department addresses social media rumors about migrants: “We are aware of recent social media rumors circulating concerning potential threats involving Venezuelan gangs,” the department wrote. “The Springfield Police Department did not generate this information and has no evidence to support claims of gang-related activity involving Venezuelan migrants.”

* WPSD | Comptroller Mendoza and staff provide Thanksgiving meals to Cairo families: The Illinois State Comptroller, Susana A. Mendoza, and her staff will distribute 150 turkeys and canned goods for Thanksgiving meals to residents in Cairo from 1:30 to 3 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 25, for the 8th year in a row. The effort is in partnership with Arrowleaf, which pre-screens the families in the Cairo area who will receive the meals. Donations from Laborers' Local 773 in Marion and Krispy Kreme in Marion also make the event possible.