>> Happy New Year.

And thanks for joining us on the week in review.

I'm Nick Lumber.

We hope you've been enjoying the holiday season tonight, I'm joined by some of my W t Tw News colleagues.

They'll open up their reporters notebooks to talk about the stories they'll be watching out for in 2026.

And help us understand why they matter and how they could affect you.

>> Joining us are Brandis Friedman, Heather Sharon, Joanna Hernandez and Matt Masterson, thank you all for being here.

I trust you found the while were going to any Heather, starting off with you, you've had quite the last couple months covering the dueling budget proposals from Mayor Johnson and a group of more moderate conservative alders, the latter of which of course eventually passed.

But Johnson's administration says this budget is out of whack.

Do we have any sense yet of when we'll know if the city is facing a deficit?

Well, we should pretty soon based on what the budget director and chief financial officer told the City Council when they sort of overrode their objections and their warnings to go ahead and pass this budget.

>> Just, you know, at the end of the year, there was a lawsuit filed over new online gaming tax that the city is counting on 20 6 million dollars.

There's also likely lawsuit over a plan to tax social media companies.

So most most years by this time, you sort of know what the city is in store for in the coming year.

There are many, many question marks in the city's budget.

Well, of course, you know, the mayor's been facing setbacks trying to get wealthy residents and businesses to pay up.

>> There was the bring Chicago home measure that failed there is that the head tax proposal that alters shot down.

Here's what the mayor told us last week about his sometimes contentious relationship with Alders.

>> Whenever leave leading in a transformational way, you know, folks will, you know, feel that pressure that doesn't intimidate me.

You know, the people of Chicago elected me to stand up for everyday people.

And that's essentially what I'm doing.

>> So how tough might it be to get measures that the mayor backs and it's getting, you know, the wealthy to pay more passed this year, especially with the city election looming in 2027.

I mean, I try not to make predictions, but I think the chances are probably somewhere between slim and none.

>> You're right.

We are headed into an election year here in Chicago, all 50 older people will be up.

The mayor says he plans to seek re-election and that is not the time elected officials typically look to impose new taxes on their residents.

Now, however, it's the mayor is right.

And the city's budget deeply on balance.

The city council may have no choice but to sort of figure out what to do and as much as they don't like taxing people election year, they distinctly dislike cutting services in election year as well.

Absolutely.

>> You know, anything covering the Trump administration's immigration enforcement efforts, which have slowed for now, but they're still actively expect another surge, perhaps in the spring to the folks that you talk with when you're out there reporting to they feel like they're better prepared, especially for like rapid response efforts more so than they were perhaps at the beginning of Operation Midway Blitz when it the short answer is yes.

I mean, we're watching these response groups of the more prepared and mean they've had to expend quickly rate of that had no choice.

>> From legal services to the know your rights campaigns to blow your whistle.

Trainings.

I mean, we're watching more volunteers join variety of groups right from on the ground, volunteering, blowing their whistles, seeing what's going on to their neighborhoods from that story that I did where there's a group of moms who go and pick up dozens of kids every day and drop them off at school because they don't want these kids to miss their education, right.

But then there's also these challenges because you just don't know when or where these ice operations are going to take place.

But there they've created the system right to offer all these variety of services where they prepared.

Yes, but there's still many, many challenges ahead.

Yeah, you don't necessarily know how that system needs to get deployed.

Yeah, I was just going to say that.

I think most of us were here last year, sort of looking ahead at 2025 and sort of saying we don't know what >> immigration is going to look like in 2025 and I think that had you sort of had a crystal ball and made the prediction and described happened in Chicago.

This the in the past year.

Nobody would have believed it because I think if you had said that there would have been multiple tear gas deployments on the streets, hundreds of people with no criminal records detained and deported or, you know, sort you know, held essentially incommunicado.

I think many people would have watched that show.

Sandbags are being unnecessarily alarmist.

And I think that that gives me deep pass and sort of trying to think about what's coming up in the next couple of months.

That we just don't know what the Trump administration has in store for Chicago.

And I think experience of last year should make us all Sari sort of wary of sort of knowing what is coming on.

speaking of, you know, the Trump administration math, they've been getting a ton of legal pushback, a flurry of lawsuits related to Midway blitz.

>> That you've been following for us.

What are you keeping an eye on in the coming months?

Some of the biggest ones are winding down.

The Trump administration's sought to just deploy National Guard troops that's been stopped by the Supreme Court.

The other lawsuit seeking to restrict federal agents use of force that is being voluntarily withdrawn later this year.

>> The big one that's still going right now is related to the Broad View.

Ice facility is the west Suburban facility.

That's also acted as a detention center which saw hundreds of people crammed into small rooms without bathrooms without private, without any privacy, without any medical treatment for for days on end when not supposed to be there for more than 12 hours.

There's order in place that restricts that it's supposed to last until the spring.

Currently the population at at the Broadview Center is way down because as you said, the operations have one gone for now, but it's going to pick back up.

And when that happens, what's going happen to the people who are held there?

This lawsuit?

He's going to try to regulate what's gonna happen there?

Are they going to get beds?

Are they going to get 3 meals a day?

Are they going to be able to talk to their attorneys or are ICE agents going to continue handing them sheets and asking them to voluntarily deported without explaining what's happening.

That's what people that testifying has been happening to them since they've been there over these That lawsuit is maintaining and back on the use of force one that is gone or will be gone shortly for now.

But that dealt with misconduct allegations that have already happened once ICE and Border Patrol comes back.

It's very likely he's going to be new misconduct allegations.

There could very well be a new lawsuit.

New litigation regulating that as well.

But we like toddlers point, going to know what's going to happen until it happens race against the clock, right?

absolutely.

>> Well, you know, brand us as we mentioned, it's expected there's going to be another surge coming up, possibly in the spring.

Of course, we're also looking at the midterm elections coming up in March do you think, you know, preps the fear of getting detained could depress turnout.

That something Governor Pritzker warned about National Guard troops that certainly immigration agents could have that effect as well.

Right.

And I think everybody who supports democracy is hoping that that won't be the case, right?

I think it will really depend, of course, on when those agents should turn up in the city and what kind of tactics they're using.

Our be deploying the same tactics that we've already seen or that they switched it up based you know, their experiences here as well as in other cities.

>> But I think, you know, for folks who don't like what they're seeing out of the Trump administration in election is their opportunity to make their voices heard.

Obviously, there in the city of Chicago, there are not a lot of Republicans or Trump supporters, but there are some.

So, you know, the reverse of that is true as for folks to make their voices heard.

But even if there is not a major national election aside from, you know, senator and of course, that the primary elections for the House of Representatives.

You know, that stuff is obviously on the ballot and very important.

The local staff is very important as well.

Talking to you school board.

hopefully that is not the case that folks still gonna use use their opportunity to vote and we will get to that school board elections coming up.

But you know, to any you've been reporting a lot on how this enforcement has had an effect on on businesses Chicagoland neighborhoods, especially ones with with Florida migrant populations.

>> What kind of work will folks be doing to try and help those businesses, those local economies recover?

You know that the reality is that it's going to take time and it's going to be really hard because people are so afraid to go out to restaurants.

I I just went to my favorite local restaurant last week and it was empty.

When is usually full on a let know, they really left a but really it's going to take some time.

We obviously seemed like community support.

We've seen people do fundraisers.

>> We've seen people raise funds.

We've seen people make videos to try to come to support these businesses.

But it's going to be hard because without any financial help.

But during the pandemic, we saw some of these businesses get help right now.

There's there's none of that.

So it's I wouldn't be surprised some of these business, unfortunately, they don't make especially after many that's, you know, struggled for years during COVID.

You know, this is yet another blow to them.

>> Well, Heather, another story we've been following is Chicago's police discipline system.

It's frozen in place right now pending a ruling from the state Supreme Court about whether officer discipline can go to a private arbitration versus a public hearing.

Here's some of what the Chicago Police board president had to say about that recently.

Police officers carry guns.

Police officers have the ability to decide life and death and is incredibly tough and dangerous job.

And I personally want to thank all the men and women, the Chicago Police Department for their lives on the line.

>> Every day to do that job.

But at that same time because of that ability to decide those issues and there's a certain responsibility in a level transparency.

But I think that they owe to the city of Chicago to make sure that accountability is transparent.

Public.

>> So Heather, remind us why arbitration is up for debate here.

And do we have any sense of when we might expect a ruling?

What we don't know when the Supreme Court is going to rule.

Unfortunately, they don't share our their timeline with us media.

Yeah, very much But it will be several more months and assuming that the Supreme Court eventually rules, it will be months after that before this new system is ready to sort educate these cases and they the most serious cases of police misconduct.

And really the question is whether officers should be subject to a public hearing that could result in their termination or suspension of up to a year.

And the city has sort of said we heard the police board president say these cases should be decided in public.

What we also saw a union president John Catanzara sitting right there.

They firmly believe that police officers have the right to have these matters handled in private because they are personal.

Discipline matters.

fact, some game and it's going to be up to the Supreme Court, which, of course, does have a majority of Democrats to figure out how to decide this very, very serious issue.

Yeah, a lot of folks watching ruling very closely met going back to the midterms for a minute 2026.

Will mark the full first time that Chicago's full 21 members school board is elected.

What are you going to be watching out for?

Is those races play out?

The spending is the obvious leaving about how much money is going to be going into these races.

We got a R.

>> their toes into this with the first round of this with half the board being elected in the previous cycle.

But with an entirely new board, it's going to be crazy to see what happens with the control there.

It's early controlled even up till now for decades and decades now it's going to you know, the board of the people.

They're going to pick every single one of these representatives.

even through this first year with a partially elected board, there's been far more discussion and arguments and I could probably count on one hand the amount of votes I've seen previous to this that had any no votes to everyone.

Every vote was always unanimous in favor of whatever was on agenda.

That's absolutely no longer the case.

There's been a lot of pushback on a lot of items that are brought by the mayor of this is also been brought by interim CEO Mechling King with her budget.

This has been a huge issue.

And once the board is fully elected and the mayor doesn't have control over any of these people, it's going to be very it's good.

It's going to be very interesting change to see how this goes going forward.

Democracies important.

It's also messy.

there's the money that goes into it.

I'm also curious to see about the the the sort of alliances that form.

We know that the charter organizations as well as we know that the Chicago teachers union are definitely going to want.

>> To get their money in it to get their candidates at the forefront.

I'm also very curious to see what kind alliances start to shake out at and the fact that the mayor has picked half of the sport already, those people have been serving four-year their incumbents.

It's very likely that many or all of them are going to be elected as the mayor may not have direct control of him as he has, but >> those people that put in place likely are going to continue on the board going forward.

Yeah, at least a lying.

But with it's not chosen by him, you know, rather the voters.

sticking with education Brandis.

There are also a lot of questions about how the unwinding of the Department of Education will continue to play out.

What effect on CPS and many other school districts for that matter.

Will you be watching for?

I think I think one of the big concerns that people are concerned about is of funding, right?

Because a lot of the roles and responsibilities of the Department of it have been, you know, sort of divided among several other cabinet level agencies.

>> Maybe the Department of Labor, which has never operated the Department of Education before and does not necessarily have that experience or the infrastructure to get it done.

How is that going to play out?

How are school districts still gonna be able to access the funding that they typically have the opportunity to access, be it through the portal or through grant funding and application opportunities to get some funding.

I think a lot of people are concerned about what will happen with funding for special education with title one and how that's going to get divided.

Are there going to be, you know, funding programs that once you've moved one out of the Department Education in to save interior or whatever.

If you've got redundancy, then does one of them get eliminated?

Now there's less money going to the problem altogether, which some folks would say.

That's the point, right?

They would see.

That is the point to to sort of eliminate some of that I'm also curious about whether or not CPS will continue to be the target of the department or whatever happens at the federal level.

The Department of Education or whoever is in charge specifically around the black student success plan.

Then the district has already taken a lot of heat over and we know just this week, the Brighton Park Neighborhood Council and the American Federation of Teachers, they are suing the Department of Education, even naming Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, as a defendant over funding cuts to full service community schools.

Are we going to see more like this?

obviously the unwinding of the Department of Education legislation has been introduced.

Congress still has to pass it.

And so is that going to happen before the election happens later on?

Could we be looking at a different Congress and a new bill doesn't get introduced if they don't get this done in this Congress.

Matt, you mentioned, you counting the interim CEO.

The district is still without a permanent leader.

>> Do we have any sense of the timeline as to when we may have a permanent CEO in place is no sign that it's going to get done anytime soon.

This year we've moved forward with Mac linking for several months and it appeared even as recently as November that there was going to be a new pick relatively soon.

Those names have backed out.

There's currently at mayor at that point was telling new people to submit their names.

That that point, the spotted been open for months and it doesn't seem like there's going to be a quick resolution to this.

There have been some calls for people to to to wait on this overall until the elected board is in place so that the mayor doesn't installing new CEO before then, but that's a year from now.

So that would be a very long time for an interim role.

Did it sounds clinking is not the person for this job.

least she was not one of the finalists who was named previously.

So she may end up serving for a very long time in an interim role.

But it seems like it's not under.

Does know gonna not gonna be an immediate resolution to this?

Yeah, I mean, it was a little bit of a surprise to hear that to me.

The mayor say that when it seemed like it was so close ally, because I wouldn't you know, bank on it anytime soon.

>> Yeah, well, you know, this is sort of growing pains right between transitioning from a early control board who where it was sort of a constituency of one to now this very complicated process to sort of name CEO and sort of, you know, get it through the board.

But, you know, like we said, democracy sometimes messy.

But I think it's important to note that now Chicago will join the rest of the state electing its school board.

Representatives.

So I think that that is a long sought sea change.

But I think it's one of those changes that nobody can truly predict how it's exactly going to have to play join another education story that you've been covering that we want to highlight.

This is Roosevelt University's efforts to help more people become pharmacists.

Tell us about that.

I really enjoy doing the story was a profession.

from everything the something But it was really interesting because a Walgreens partners with differing university is one of them being Roosevelt University in that time at the young man called Freddie Go MS and what's so interesting about him is that he started as a sales associate at Walgreens in Belmont Cragin and he graduated in what you want to do.

Of course, to heart hard decision.

But you realize that Walgreens and rows of a university partner to offer people to get their degree and pharmacist.

He got his doctors and pharmacies.

So now he's a manager at that same place that he started.

But what's a full circle moment is that he comes from his first generation.

comes from Mexican American household and he tells a story of remembering when he was little and having to go to the pharmacy in translating for his mom, which many of us have to do.

I did it as well.

So it's really nice.

A full circle moment.

And now he works with also students at Roosevelt University to intern them.

So they need more Latino pharmacists.

It was really nice to just get to see him in action and also see how customers are just happy to be able to communicate something positive to light-hearted story.

All right.

another, you know, we're waiting on that CEO timeline.

Another timeline.

We don't have a lot of insight into this is.

>> Chicago's community Police Oversight Commission.

They recommended changes to the police department's traffic stop policy.

Some 8 months ago.

Do you expect any action on that?

We have any sense of when there might be movement.

So this is one of the problems with the consent decree, right?

It is now as part of that project.

And there is no sort of internal deadlines that says you have to have this policy done by this time.

That's why we're approaching the 7th anniversary of the consent decree.

>> And the consent decree keeps expanding potentially to include the traffic stops.

What that will eventually mean.

I think it will look like it is still up in the air.

This is a situation where we have a disagreement between Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling and the Oversight Board Chicago.

Police want the ability to stop people on what they call a pretextual basis for broken lights and other sort of equipment violations where the commission says police officers should not be allowed in most cases to make those kind of stops that again, another 0, some issue and how it eventually gets resolved, I think will be a big, big story in this Well, you know, Brandis we talked a little bit about the Education Department.

>> We've also seen the Trump administration taking aim at dei initiatives.

A lot of companies and universities critics say are essentially bending the knee here.

Here is how one Northwestern University professor reacted after that school reached a settlement with the DOJ about dei policies and allegations of Anti-Semitism.

Let's take a listen.

>> The Trump administration is using its funding as a cudgel to force Northwestern to that enact their policy preferences, some of which are unconstitutional and many of which are illegal.

>> So if this sort of chipping away at the independence of universities continues, how dramatically could that change higher Ed in the U.S., especially if they start looking at, you know, some smaller names and like Harvard in Northwestern, right?

Well, in I mean, some right.

And I think we've already seen that happen.

I think there are some students who would argue that, you know, all of these changes are sort of a capitulation of these universities to the Trump administration.

>> You know, going forward, I'm especially interested to see if some of the steps that universities like Northwestern, you know, the steps that they are required to take under these agreements if they are going to, if you're going to start to see less diversity, both in their student enrollment but also in their faculty and staff or is that some some of that going to get rolled back?

You know, because of the scrutiny from from DOJ and are we going to start to see, you know, the schools become less diverse, that said, with regard to, you know, protect Jewish students.

A lot of, you know, Jewish students and their advocates have said that these steps are the right ones that need to be taken to protect them.

I'll be curious to see, you know, if there is some other need for students to have mass protests like the ones that we saw after October 7th, are they going to feel like their freedom of speech is being encroached upon?

No matter what they say, right, because some of some students have heard is absolutely hate speech and some they believe to be free speech.

I'm curious about that I think some of the bigger issues, though, or whether or not the Trump administration is getting is using funding to get what it wants sort of like what our expert, Laura Beth Nielsen just said there.

And I have to say, right, you mentioned.

We haven't seen this happen to some of the smaller schools, right?

But the tactics have specifically been aimed at elite schools in states where the governors are Democrats, right?

I'm talking about looking to the South Baylor, Vanderbilt him or a 2 lane.

All of those schools are in states where the governors or Republican they're not having this problem at a Trump administration.

Interesting.

I'm sure that's nearly a Quincy coming I can't predict the future.

write nor should we try All right.

Well, joining speaking of higher, Ed, I know you're watching out for a crackdown on people default on their student loans.

What are the details there?

There's no good news.

Yeah, news.

>> Now there's no good news for student loan borrowers.

So the news is that the Trump administration announced it will begin garnishing wages for bars were in the fall, which people which means that people not been paying their loans as early as next year, which means the Department of Education says it will send notices to about 1000 bars and then they will keep going throughout the month.

And of course, this comes as the yearlong pause of during the pandemic.

Many people didn't have to pay their loans.

But now, you know, they're very the Department of Education says are sending a 30 day notice.

You have time to make a plan or they will start garnish your wages.

So it's not great news going into this new year going to be a hit on some folks.

Got to FOX for sure.

>> Matt, you mentioned this earlier.

The status of ISIS broadview processing center actually uses the detention center.

There's also the possibility of new DHS facilities in the area.

What's on your radar there?

Christine Romans talked about touring facilities around Illinois.

Currently broadview is the only ice run facility in That is.

>> Obviously only meant as a detention center where people are held for 12 hours and then move, I'm sorry, processing center where they're moved out of state into a full-time detention center that doesn't exist in Illinois.

It's possible that they will look to purchase some sort of property to do something like that.

But the concern there is that broad view currently is operating relatively find the population.

There is very low.

There's a restraining order in place that mandates that people there get bad kids, get beds, get food, get proper treatment.

If they are concerned about that population skyrocketing.

Again, that's a big concern at that.

There already looking for another area to house people that they're going to detain.

You're thinking of the curious about is whether or not Secretary Noem, you know, as she's looking at these other facilities, if she's in touch with local officials in those areas because we know we've heard from the broad view, mayor, that the attention that that facility has gotten >> and brought to her city was not something that she ever wanted.

I think she's getting a lot of complaints from residents about the protests that in the skirmishes that it's or is she honestly really cares other people think.

>> And she nice to see if she even bothers.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I just want to I want to quickly touch on that.

I've won.

I've interviewed some people who've been detained in.

One of the things that they continue to say is just the inhumane conditions right?

>> There are happening in broad view, but other detention centers that they're being taken.

I don't think there's a lot of attention and that and people who are detained in these facilities and the way that they're being treated.

So I think that's something that I'm also going to keep an eye on and got to see what Christie Noem says because >> Watch out for this year.

But with you for on the case, I know we will have lots of information forthcoming.

That is all the time that we have for right now.

So our thanks to Brandis Friedman, Heather, Sharon, Joiner Hernandez and Matt Masterson.

And we're back to wrap things up right after this.

>> Tonight's presentation of Week in review is made possible in part by an and rich com BNSF railway.

And Francine and Doctor Anthony Brown.

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

The Pope Brothers Foundation, additional support is provided by.

>> And that's our show for this Friday night.

Be sure to sign up for our free email newsletter.

The Daily Chicago in that's awt Tw dot com Slash newsletter.

Now for the Week in review.

I'm Nick Lumber.

Thank you for watching.

Stay healthy, stay safe and stand for.

>> Have a great weekend.

smart trial using a lot of your life former House Speaker Michael Madigan, things stand.

He's got an appeal in a pardon pending what's happening there is appeal is underway part appeal to the president as well for for a pardon.

That scene.

Democratic politics in Illinois for a half-century and does not seem that he's going to be getting any clemency from the president.

His appeal is going to take probably most of 2026 before his eyes were presentation there.

He while his.

>> Confidence from the comet for all going away to jail now after their own convictions.

Michael McClain, began his prison sentence just this Other people who are conducting that as ready in jail.

So he's going to at least have a bit of a state that for now for to bills.

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