It's Dec. 24th, and I've already seen "A Christmas Story," so there's no doubt I'll skip the TV marathon. Somehow I forgot that politics and newspapering intersect in at least one scene. If you've seen it more than 50 times, you'll recall Ralphie's dad is poring over the sports section when he turns to a news story and shares a headline about a man who swallowed a yo-yo. "Yeah — on a bet, some clodhopper down in Griffith, Indiana," the father says. Ralphie's mother responds, "They write the silliest things in the newspapers." Incredulous, Ralphie's dad stands up for the piece: "What do you mean, silly? I mean that's real news. That's not like that politics slop." Lucky for you, we serve no "slop" here. Even on the eve of a holiday, the news wheel keeps turning, with a government shutdown that's hurting, at the very least, airport security workers who won't get paid for work this busy travel season. There's also some pushback on Bill Daley's proposal to rename the Dan Ryan Expressway for his onetime boss, President Barack Obama — specifically from Ryan's descendants. And Sen. Dick Durbin hints he's running for a fifth term. Welcome to The Spin. |
 During a Sunday appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press," host Chuck Todd asked Sen. Dick Durbin, "Two years from now — you going to be on a ballot in Illinois in November of 2020? You made a final decision?" "I … tell people that I'm raising money and trying to lose some weight," the Illinois Democrat said on the program. "That's usually the first indication that you're up for re-election." Durbin's office didn't respond to an email asking for more concrete details. The 74-year-old was first elected senator in 1996, serving in Congress before that. Should he throw his hat in the ring and win, it would be his fifth term. You can watch Durbin's appearance, at around the 15-minute mark, here. Durbin also talked about the government shutdown, saying: "We've now reached a depth of dysfunction I've never seen in Washington." More on the shutdown below. |   |
 It wasn't long after we published a story about Chicago mayoral hopeful Bill Daley suggesting the Dan Ryan Expressway be renamed for Barack Obama that we started to hear from Ryan relatives. "I was very surprised," Dan Ryan III, the grandson of the road's namesake, said from New York hours after Daley floated the idea. "I couldn't figure out why he wanted to do it, considering his father was the one who named the expressway after my grandfather. "It was a very great honor for our family to have that name," Ryan III said. "And I can't imagine why anyone would want to change part of his own father's legacy to begin with, but also take away an honor from one person to honor another person." Daley's statement says a Cook County forest preserve is already named for Ryan. But, according to stories in the Tribune archives, the Dan Ryan Woods preserve was named for Ryan's father, Dan Ryan, who also served on the Cook County Board. Read the full story here. (Mike Riopell) Daley taxes: In case you missed it, Daley — the son of one Chicago mayor and the brother of another — released a limited version of his tax return. Bill Ruthhart has the story here. Preckwinkle drops Lightfoot challenge: Former federal prosecutor Lori Lightfoot's name is set to appear on the Chicago mayoral ballot, after Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle dropped her challenge Monday to Lightfoot's election petitions. Read John Byrne's report here. | |
 Federal employees who worked over the weekend at O'Hare and Midway airport security won't be paid until the government shutdown ends. Other effects of the shutdown might not be felt until later this week, and even then many agencies will keep running. One uniquely Illinois shutdown problem: Two weeks after the Land of Lincoln celebrated its 200th birthday, tours of the Springfield home Abraham Lincoln once owned have stopped. Read more here and here. | |
 From The Associated Press' John O'Connor: The foundation for the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum has for months been considering selling off some parts of a prized collection to try to pay off $9.2 million in debt it took on to buy it. Now, the AP says, a fire sale might not be enough. "Does it need an 1874 invitation to the wedding of the daughter of President Ulysses Grant? A 1928 memo to the wife of the law partner of Lincoln's son Robert Todd Lincoln? A 1948 limited edition copy of 'John Brown's Body,' the Stephen Vincent Benet poem? "Maybe not. But selling them would hardly make a dent in the Springfield museum's debt. A copy of Benet's Civil War folk epic from the same printing goes for under $100 online. A New York dealer sold an 1851 Junius Booth playbill several years ago for $400." Read the full story here. | |
 From the Tribune's Michael Hawthorne on the ongoing case of the Sterigenics plant in Willowbrook: "Chemical companies and government health agencies have known since at least the late 1970s that ethylene oxide mutates genes and causes breast cancer, leukemia and lymphomas. After owners of the Willowbrook plant applied for a new permit in the mid-1980s, state regulators estimated that people living within a mile of the facility could end up breathing the highly toxic gas at concentrations 14 times higher than studies suggested was safe at the time. "Yet time and time again, a Chicago Tribune investigation found, the multibillion-dollar chemical industry and its political allies in Washington have thwarted, weakened or delayed efforts to limit exposure to ethylene oxide, relying on the same tactics used to stall action on more well-known hazards like lead and asbestos." Read more here. Programming note: The Spin will take a break Tuesday and Wednesday but will return to work rested and ready to roll on Thursday. See you then. | |
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