Thank you for joining us.

How are things in?

Are you in Carbondale where you?

Yeah, I'm in Carbondale.

So yeah, life is good to be.

The students >> Back after Thanksgiving and gearing up for Finals.

So yeah, was >> Awesome.

All right.

Well, C joinif%And from trash fish to gardeners of the Great Lakes.

How the Shedd Aquarium is working with a group of community scientists to learn more about sucker Fish.

>> Now to some of today's top stories, the Chicago Police Department reports a drop in crime rates across several categories.

Cpd says there were 36 homicides in November that 31% lower than November 2023. overall, they say homicides are down 9% year to date.

They also report shooting incidents are down 18% from last November and shooting victims are down 20%.

The lowest figure in 5 years in its monthly crime report.

The department also recognized Officer Enrique Martinez who was killed in the line of duty on November.

4th and that 58 Chicago police officers have been shot or shot at while on the job this year.

The company that manufactures iconic sweets like Jelly belly Limon head in nerds is facing a lawsuit.

Ferrara Candy is being sued by a worker advocacy organization alleging the Chicago based company does not make short temp workers understand the potential risks they face while on the job violating state regulations.

This follows the 2022 death of a temp worker at the gurney facility of Marco Pizza company who attorneys say was told to clean the machine while it was running and a 2021 death of another temp worker who died under similar circumstances.

In a statement Ferrer at denies the allegations and says the lawsuit has no merit.

The case also names to staffing agencies.

And there's more information on our website.

Traveling through O'Hare Airport, though, just got a little sweeter today.

Brown Sugar Bakery opened a location at the O'Hare Food Court in Terminal 3.

Its founder, Stephanie Heart started the bakery in her greater Grand crossing neighborhood in 2002 and remarked on how her business has been able to grow.

>> And in 2016 when we went to Navy Pier, I got the bright idea that I could date for entire Chicago.

But I just want to let you that coming here in 2024.

Is exposing Brown Sugar Bakery and the Grand crossing neighborhood to the >> It's got a department of Aviation cut the ribbon on the bakery's new location today as well as veteran Roasters.

A local coffee company dedicated to hiring unhoused and at-risk veterans.

Despite the frigid temps the last few days, Chicago's actually on track to having its warmest year ever.

>> So far the city has maintained an average temperature of 57 degrees to be 2012 is record of 54.5 degrees.

December will have to keep an average of a toasty 27.0 One degrees should be easy, though, considering our typical December's hover just over 30 Beach Day.

Some Chicagoans might actually do it.

Coming up, some downstate counties are considering a breakup with Illinois.

We explain the pros and cons next.

>> Chicago tonight is made possible in part why the Alexander and John Nichols family.

The gym and K maybe family.

The Pope Brothers Foundation.

And the support of these donors.

>> Happy birthday, Illinois.

It's been 206 years since the state's founding, but some down state residents say it's time to create another one.

7 Illinois counties were added to the growing list of those wanting to explore breaking away and forming their own state signaling they're dispatch dissatisfaction with what's happening in Springfield and Chicago.

Joining us now with more is John Shaw, director of the Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University.

John, thank you for joining us.

7 boys 7 more supporting the referendum.

What does this do?

What does this mean now?

>> You know, I think it's an interesting development in meetings.

I think it's an input as it's an important development.

I think it's interesting, but I do not think it is a cataclysmic development.

I frankly, I think it's being somewhat oversold.

I mean, these votes, these referendum, I think, are largely expressions of frustration there kind of can amount to signaling that are concerned about people's economic circumstances.

Some of the cultural battles we've been having.

But I don't think there's a real prospect for any of these counties to actually come together and create a new state.

It would be, just too hard to do legislative lay But I think it's important for policymakers to pay attention to this because I do think there are some currents of of concern and frustration that need to be addressed.

>> And Jon, this isn't unique to Illinois.

What is what is driving these movements?

>> Well, I do think there's a couple things me, first of all, there's just general frustration with people's lives.

I mean, it's been well chronicled.

The election showed it pretty clearly that people do not think that the United States is moving in the right direction, their current, they're concerned about the economy.

They're concerned about cultural issues.

So there's a lot of just overall concern about the circumstances of life.

I think Illinois, there's also the kind of perennial problem.

The downstate Illinois, thanks.

Chicago area is too strong, too powerful to politically connected and there is a sort of false believe that downstate Illinois, is just funneling resources to Springfield.

The dinner funneled to Chicago.

The sense of being aggrieved.

I think the economic analysis shows that downstate Illinois is actually doing OK in terms of Springfield and state services.

But there is perception that that Chicago's quote ripping off downstate Illinois and talk more about that about the impact of Chicago and Cook County on Downstate.

>> Well, I think there's a perception that, you know, Chicago is the political and economic and cultural powerhouse.

You know, the the legislative leaders are based out of Chicago.

The governor.

>> Spends most of his time there much of his time there.

So there is this perception that the power and Illinois government resides in the Chicago area and they they have special kind of power and clout in Springfield that allows them to get what it wants and and disadvantages downstate again, I think the analysis shows the down State, Illinois does pretty well when it comes to the state budget.

But they're that's not the perception down here.

And there is a sense of grievance that I think it's fueling some of These are referenda to, you know, create a 51st state.

>> The last time states seceded it was 18, 60.

That is in West Virginia became its own state.

And to be clear, that was before the Civil War.

Remind us what are the steps for this to actually happen?

>> Well, it would have to be approved.

I resolution or legislation would have to be approved by the Illinois General Assembly.

Then it would have to be approved by the Congress and signed by the president.

And just I mean, under curtain circuit current circumstances.

I mean this, this new Illinois, as it's sometimes called, would be heavily Republican.

So there would be 2 Republican senators.

There's no way the Illinois General Assembly, Democratic super majorities.

He's going to let that happen.

Even if it did, we will go to to the Congress.

The filibuster still in place.

Democratic senators were certainly filibuster So there is no immediate prospect of this happening or even you no longer term.

I mean, I think this I think this is important only in the sense that it shows just shows the discontent and the fear, the frustration that many feel.

And I think leaders in Springfield would do well to just, you know, sit down and have some listening sessions with downstate lawmakers and, you know, kind of political thinkers and thought leaders and try to get a better sense of what the realistic concerns are of people and how they might be addressed.

I think that's exploring.

Yeah, you mentioned, you know the process obviously rightfully You know, we've heard other states talking about this >> Eastern Oregon considering joining the neighboring state.

There is this also sort of reflective of of an urban rural divide in the country.

>> I think so.

I mean, I think this is these these groups are these part of the country that are talking about leaving, you know, are largely large to a world.

I going back into the 1970's Allen oil and Western Illinois.

There was this movement called forgot Tonia.

That began a sort of a prank that took on a kind of a momentum that I don't think even it's a it's a it's originators expected to create a new, I think was actually down a new country.

So I think this is this is a long story about the disconnect, a divide between rural and urban.

It obviously is a profound problem United States.

And as a society, we need to find a way to bridge these 2 worlds because the disconnect is very jarring and it leads to political unrest and a lot reactionary policies.

And I think, you know, you have to see these referenda is effectively a reactionary.

I response to frustrations and concerns about people's Daily lives and downstate Illinois.

>> How should the Democrats, the party in power, how should they respond to counties that are that are taking his votes, which we know or not binding, should the Democrats, the party in power today be hearing this?

>> I think they should you know, if this won't get their attention, you know, the November 5th probably did.

You know, in terms you know, the you know, Democratic share of the vote in November went down significantly.

And I think, you know, part of that is discontent with the Democratic base, but also some some really anger from down state, Illinois.

So I think it was just makes good public policy sense for Democratic lawmakers and Republicans to reach out and to have some of these serious conversations about what the state can do.

You know what the national government can do to make you know, the the rural parts of the state and country operate more effectively.

And the you know, more kind of stable home for people.

>> Ok, John Shot, SIU Carbondale, thank you so much for joining us.

My pleasure.

Thank you.

Up next, our Spotlight POLITICS team has the latest on the Madigan trial.

The city's do not hire list and >> that looming budget deadline.

With a December 31st.

Deadline looming to pass the city budget Mayor Brandon Johnson City Council remain divided over how to close the budget gap.

Meanwhile, alders demand reforms to the city's do not hire list.

And in the 7th week 7th, everybody could imagined trial.

It was the defense's turn to grill.

Former alderman turned FBI mole Danny Solis here with all that more is our spotlight.

Politics team Amanda, Vicki Hatter, Sharon and Nick Blumberg.

Hello again, everyone maybe the holiday season, but of course, there is no holiday from dealing with the budget deadline at City Hall.

Heather, where are the mayor and the city council in terms of getting to a compromise?

Well, that's a good question, because as I reported yesterday, Mayor Johnson said he stopped negotiating the budget in public.

So >> the city council is going to try to pass the budget on December.

11th in December 13th, the 2, 2 step project.

But they have somewhere in the neighborhood of 150 million dollars ish to fill.

And that's assuming that they raise attacks on computer services leases by 2% to generate about 130 million dollars.

So there's a sizable gap left by that refusal of the city council to pass a property tax increase.

Now everyone at City expect some level of property tax probably tied to inflation over the last year to be included in the budget because otherwise the math just doesn't work.

But it's not clear what else will be included or if there will be cuts.

And Mayor said that his red line, he won't approve a budget that cut services or lay-offs.

City employee got to come from somewhere Heather.

We also heard Mayor Johnson for the first time he's addressing the firing of his longtime friend and close aide Ranieri's addressing it yesterday.

>> What are we here?

So he said that he basically inherited a process and that process was 5 followed, but that he didn't know anything about the allegations against Ranieri's until the Chicago Tribune and other news media organizations, including Wt Tw requested the file that prompted Ranieri's to be fired.

Now, we should say that he denies any allegations of harassment or Anti-Semitism or misogyny.

And the mayor said, look, there's a process.

We followed it.

There's you know, I will not allow any of that to take place in my office, but he said he didn't know about until it's sort of rock over the media.

We heard several older people today sort of question about why he appears to have been the last to know about this issue.

Someone who works so closely with him on the 36th Ward Alderman Gilbert Villegas and 30nd Ward Alderman Scott Webb.

It us back held a news conference outside City Hall demanding reforms to what's known as the city's do not hire list.

>> There's a lot of inconsistencies around.

Just do not hire list.

And it's very, very, very great.

And so what Alderman want back and rest of us are going put some guardrails around here to make sure there's more transparency around this process.

>> So, Nick, what exactly is the do not hire list and why were these 2 mayoral critics calling for changes to it?

Well, this is a longstanding practice in the city.

It's exactly what it sounds like.

If someone is fired for serious misconduct or if it's they resign rather than being fired or retire.

Or if it's discovered later that there was some serious misconduct while they were on the job, they are placed on this.

Do not hire list.

You cannot appeal it until at least one year has gone by department heads are supposed to put together, you know, essentially a memo saying here's what went wrong.

Here's the you know, the supplementary information.

But, you know, the policy has has come under fire because there's just not enough detail there.

We don't know enough about what serious misconduct could potentially entailed violating department rules.

We don't necessarily have a robust enough appeals process and then this is tied up in, you know, sort of the Ranieri's firing.

This is not why he is gone from the city.

But, you know, he came under fire for pushing out some former Lori Lightfoot staffers and then putting them on the do not hire list for reasons that critics and a lot of were purely political.

So all this is coming together and sort of a swirl of what are the right policies that should be in place.

How do we ensure that a chart city hall is actually doing right by most recent meanwhile, has at least thus far not been placed on that.

Do not hire list.

I can report that they expect him to be added to that list it.

And reported that there was a deputy chief of the police that should have been placed on the do not hire list.

And for some reason, what's not after city's watchdog found that he gauged engaged in excessive McCown misconduct in August 2020.

So this is sort of a black hole of city operations.

>> And it's designed to prevent people who have committed sort of wrongdoing or malfeasance from finding another job with another city department or another city agency.

I think what we heard from the all the people today is it working as expected?

But yet here point, Amanda, the fact that there were these serious allegations that he did end up, you know, leaving the city and was not initially placed on that list raised.

I think, you know, understandably a lot of questions.

So turning to the Vatican trial week, was the defense's turn to grill.

Former alderman turned FBI mole Danny Solis.

Amanda.

>> How did he hold up?

>> I mean, he there.

He had to go under many days, first of direct examination, the cross.

And let's be clear, this is what he had expected and frankly signed up for.

If you get a get out of jail and get to keep you in $100,000 plus pension card from prosecutors.

You're going to have to do something for that mess and faculty dead standing up to questioning that really coming under fire for not just what we heard on the tapes and continued questions from defense attorneys as to whether it was ever the former House speaker himself that was pressuring for a deal or a quid pro quo.

And in fact, in exchange highlighted where you had on Danny Solis saying, you know, you've done so much for and again, I want to do something for you in the former speaker saying don't worry about it.

That was highlighted.

But also, I mean, it his own indiscretions came up.

Some we talked about previously be is more the little blue pill, but also questions about campaign finance violations, potentially tax fraud, potential other areas that may have sort of come up against the law that he might be embarrassed about.

And so really what you went through a flogging on the stand, OK?

So from the federal courthouse to the state's attorney during Eileen O'Neill, Berks swearing-in ceremony yesterday, it could count as the county's top prosecutor.

Of course.

>> She compared Chicago war zone.

Nick, what does she plan to do about that?

Will she announced some new changes to the pre-trial detention policy?

You know, previously prosecutors had had discretion as to whether they would request that.

>> But now there's a policy in place for certain very serious offenses are very serious allegations.

>> They're going to go after that.

4 defendants who had something like an extended magazine on a gun or a ghost town.

They're going to go after it automatically for domestic violence related cases.

When there's, you know, a weapon involved, you know, for a assault cases with the victim under 13.

So these are the kinds of things that, you know, based on the numbers that we've seen, prosecutors were regularly asking for pretrial detention and a lot of these cases.

>> Now, this is the message from the top.

And she said this is necessary, as you mentioned, because Chicago is in, you know what she sees as sort of a war zone with gun filings.

We should mention, as we've reported before, you know, homicides shootings are trending downward, including this year over last.

And it's interesting to see because this is the kind you know, rhetoric that we've heard from, for example, President elect Donald Trump who has, in fact used those words, said Chicago is about as dangerous as Afghanistan.

Certainly she's coming at this from a very different political perspective, but trying to use some pretty strong language to or, you know, draw the lines are out what she thinks her new office needs to be doing.

All right.

So a former Mayor Rahm Emanuel is back on the political scene few months before ending his time as U.S. ambassador.

>> To Japan now during an interview with The New York Times, he did not rule out a run for chair of the Democratic National and defending his time in Chicago.

Heather, what stuck out to you?

As you know, his political reemergence in about 30 seconds?

What was interesting that he was neither asked about in our mention pluck one McDonald course the 16 year-old who is murdered by Chicago police officer.

He also defended the school closures that were so controversial more than a decade ago.

And he bemoaned the red tape that he had to sort through to build the new Green Line Station near McCormick Place.

And it was an interesting defense of his tenure in time that I had not heard many a year, which means we're in for another round of a lot has happened since we left Chicago as mayor as well.

That is spotlight.

Amanda had Onek Lumber.

Thanks.

Team.

Up next, a so-called bottom feeder gets their own spotlight.

Rough finish.

Bottom feeders, trash fish.

These are just some of the nicknames for suckers.

The most abundant group of migratory fish in the Great Lakes.

But this much maligned fish is actually super important to the health of our ecosystems, Shedd Aquarium scientist has recruited a team of volunteers to help her learn more about the suckers life cycle and along with collecting data, they're helping her change perceptions about this fish or Patty.

Lee joins us now with more.

Patty.

First, tell us about sucker Fish in the role they play in the Great Lakes.

Well, they're not land breeze, which somebody him for they are in need of fish in the Great and that rough designation means that they're not a game fish like Trout are out.

While I that people actively want to catch and >> 8.

But as you mentioned, they are super important to the ecosystems because they are that migratory fish that moves every spring from the lakes, into our streams and creeks into the tributaries.

And they act like little gardeners, fertilizing the stream beds and they also serve as prey 4 other larger fish.

Birds like eagles and osprey and even wolves.

So they're a vital part of the food chain do a lot of lot of work.

Certainly do a lot of shed scientists is working to change the narrative around suckers.

How are volunteers helping her do that?

Dr Karen Murchie at the Shedd Aquarium.

You know, because of that designation, what they've been labeled an they're not as valued.

>> As a game fish, there hasn't been a whole lot of studies done on them and we don't know very much about them and considering how important they are.

We don't know what threatens them or what their vulnerabilities are.

And one of the most important things that we need to know is what triggers that migration.

So that's what Dr Murchie has been studying because she can't be everywhere at once.

She needs all of these volunteers to monitor streams basically from the north suburbs of Chicago, up to the tip of Door County all along.

Lake Superior and she has them, you know, every day going out to their assigned station and checking are the suckers here yet or this occurs here yet noting all of the conditions and then when do they actually show up right sure they'll be fun for those who watching come with that report.

So in these 8 years of collecting data, what are the findings and what they mean?

So after going through all of this data, temperature is a huge Precisely.

They determine the precise temperature, which 43.3 degrees Fahrenheit.

That's the water temperature in those creeks that this occurs.

We're like, alright, time to go reproduce and actually on top of that, with the volunteers have also done is while they're at their sites, talking to all the people are like, what are you doing?

And they're telling them all the things that I just told you about sucker Fish.

So multiply Dr Murchie by all the volunteers.

She has plus meet.

Plus, you now get the word out about sucker Fish.

Not a trash study.

We're at 43.0 3 degrees agrees.

Not a 10th.

light on your mark.

Get set.

Go spa 15 seconds left.

Patty, what is next for care in March and volunteers will now that they've got that temperature.

It's like what else might go along with that?

And is there a potential for mismatch between when they're ready?

If the water gets warmer earlier, then when plants and other things are ready to take up those nutrients that they're bringing.

So again, it's this whole intricate web that we're only just now starting to actually take a look at very interesting sucker Fish.

Patty, what Lee, thank you so much.

Thanks, Prentiss.

And you can read patties full story on our website.

That's wt tw dot com slash news.

We're back with more right after this.

>> And >> that's our show for this Tuesday night from seasonal markets, ice skating.

There are a lot of options out there for getting in the holiday spirit.

So check out our Instagram at W t Tw Chicago for a rundown of 5 Christmas classics and visit our website for more holiday events.

Happening across the area and join us tomorrow night at 5.30, and a special time 11 how 2 local anti-violence advocates used basketball as a tool to talk through past pain.

Now for all of us here at Chicago Brandis Friedman, thanks for watching.

Stay healthy and safe and have a good night.

>> Closed captioning is made possible by Robert a cliff and Clifford law Chicago, personal injury and wrongful death.

And