Good afternoon! It’s finally Friday, and I’m excited to see the new “Beetlejuice” this weekend. Here’s what you need to know today.

1. There’s little evidence of violent gang members among Venezuelan migrants in Chicago, despite police alerts

Chicago Police advised officers to check crime suspects for tattoos linked to the El Tren de Aragua prison gang, but there’s almost no publicly available proof of the gang’s presence among migrants in the city, my colleagues Frank Main and Tom Schuba report for the Chicago Sun-Times.

Their analysis — based on news reports, crime data and court records — identified more than 30 migrants from Venezuela who’ve been arrested in Chicago and DuPage County since April. Only two of those cases involved violent crimes — a robbery and a stabbing — and just one of those migrants is listed in Chicago Police records as being a suspected member of the prison gang.

More than half the crimes were related to theft or shoplifting.

Law enforcement sources told the Sun-Times that they’re concerned laws designating Chicago and Illinois as places of “sanctuary” for migrants prevent police from tracking those who were previously arrested in their country of origin.

Experts said most of the Venezuelan immigrants in Chicago left because of rising crime and an imploding economy, and many arrived broke after being bused or flown from Texas. [Chicago Sun-Times]

2. Mayor Brandon Johnson wasn’t supposed to take campaign money from city contractors. He accepted them anyway.

The mayor’s political director, Christian Perry, called taking the money — about $46,500 total — an oversight and said it’s being returned, Robert Herguth and Tim Novak write for the Chicago Sun-Times.

Johnson’s political fundraisers in some cases appear to have solicited the contractors’ contributions.

As Herguth and Novak report: “Johnson’s campaign aides thought it was OK to take money from city contractors as long as the amounts fell below a certain threshold. Actually, though, Johnson was barred from taking any money from them after he was sworn in on May 15.”

The prohibition went into effect under former Mayor Rahm Emanuel and remains until a mayor changes or rescinds it, which neither former Mayor Lori Lightfoot nor Johnson have done. There are no penalties set for a mayor violating the ban, but a contractor or company executive breaking the rules could lose city contracts. [Chicago Sun-Times]

3. What you need to know about Chicago’s new paid leave ordinance that starts Dec. 31

The City Council yesterday approved expanding paid leave for workers within city limits over the objections of some major business groups.

The new policy applies to employees who in a two-week period perform at least two hours of work within city limits. However, the ordinance does not supersede collective bargaining agreements for unionized employees.

Starting Jan. 1, 2024, workers will begin to accrue one hour of paid leave and paid sick leave for every 35 hours worked — though employers have the option of granting all leave at the start of employment or each year. The requirement for both types of leave will be capped at 40 hours in a 12-month period, or five days of each annually. That means employers already providing this amount of leave don’t need to give employees more.

If an employee resigns, retires, is terminated or is transferred outside of the city, they can be paid out for their unused vacation days — but not for their sick days. [WBEZ]

4. Illinois’ controversial private school scholarship program is ending

Despite a concerted push from Republican lawmakers and advocacy groups during this week’s fall legislative session, lawmakers did not take action and the Invest in Kids tax credit scholarship program is set to sunset at the end of this school year.

The controversial program allows taxpayers to earn an income tax credit by donating to scholarship funds across the state that send students from lower-income households to private schools.

About 9,700 students received scholarships last year. Students with scholarships this year will be allowed to finish out the school year.

Proponents say the program offers school choice for low-income students. But critics argue the $75 million program takes money from already underfunded public schools and funnels public dollars to private schools, many of which are religious. [WBEZ]

5. The 2024 Grammy nominations are in

SZA received the most nominations this year, nine, followed by Victoria Monét with seven and Olivia Rodrigo, Taylor Swift, boygenius, Miley Cyrus, Billie Eilish, Jon Batiste and Brandy Clark with six each.

Swift became the first artist to reach seven nominations for song of the year. She’s also up for album of the year, an award she’s already won three times and would break the record if she won again.

The Barbie movie soundtrack also earned multiple nominations, including for Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?” and Dua Lipa’s “Dance the Night Away.” [NPR]

Here’s what else is happening

• Blackhawks rookie Connor Bedard became the youngest rookie since 1944 to have a 4-point game. [Chicago Sun-Times]

• “L” stations near offices have lost the most riders since the pandemic, according to a new analysis. [Chicago Tribune]

• Walgreens plans to lay off another 5% of its corporate workforce under its new CEO. [Chicago Tribune]

• Older adults will outnumber children by 2100, the Census Bureau predicts. [AP]

Oh, and one more thing …

Guilherme Peixoto, a village priest in northern Portugal, has been busy this month celebrating Masses at his two parishes, presiding over remembrances for the dead — and preparing the electronic music set for his next international DJ gig, The Associated Press reports.

Peixoto started DJing to fundraise for churches, but the pastime turned into an essential way for the 49-year-old Catholic priest to connect his ministry with young people.

“With electronic music I can take some message, I can be where young people are,” Peixoto told the AP a few days after returning to Laúndos from playing at a large Halloween festival in Italy. “They can think, ‘If it’s possible for a priest to be DJ, it’s possible for me to like music, and festivals, and be Christian.’ ” [AP]

Tell me something good …

What are your favorite cold-weather pastimes?

Pam says:

“No surprises here … reading is my all-time favorite year round, but especially in Winter when ‘the weather outside is frightful’ … and my gas fireplace is so delightful! Nothing thrills me more than opening up packages from Thriftbooks to see what ‘used’ books have come in today! Now, finding room for them is an issue, but somehow it works out!”

Thanks for all your responses this week! I’m sorry we couldn’t include them all, but it was great hearing from everyone.