Hey there! We could see pre-pandemic levels of travelers next week for Thanksgiving. I’ll be loading up my queue of podcasts for when I hit the road. Let me know what you’re listening to. Anyway, here’s what you need to know today.

1. Michael Madigan is still raising money despite being indicted by the feds

The former Illinois House speaker “has been personally soliciting campaign contributions for his Democratic ward organization — and has gotten more than $400,000 for the political fund, including $20,000 this month,” according to an investigation by WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times.

The windfall in campaign contributions comes as federal prosecutors accuse Madigan of abusing his leadership position as the top Democrat in the House to enrich himself and his allies.

Nothing legally prevents Madigan from asking for contributions. Among the biggest donors are labor unions, including the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150 and its national political arm, the Engineers Political Education Committee, the LiUNA Chicago Laborers’ District Council Political Action Committee and the Laborers’ Political League Great Lakes Region fund.

Officials with several union groups declined to comment about giving money to the Madigan-led fund. [WBEZ]

2. Chicago Public Schools is watching social media account of students

Chicago Public Schools has hired a company to scour social media messages posted by students, hoping to prevent “violence and self-harm as the district responds to an uptick in school shootings nationally and in the number of local students expressing suicidal thoughts,” reports Chalkbeat Chicago.

School districts across the country have made similar moves, but there is no independent research or evidence so far showing these programs are effective, Chalkbeat reports.

Civil rights advocates say these programs are an invasion of student privacy and may do more harm than good.

“Kids have to have good relationships and trust with adults in their school communities, and that’s how we prevent stuff from happening,” Cassie Creswell, director of the nonprofit Illinois Families for Public Schools, told Chalkbeat. “Spying on kids is not how we do that.” [Chalkbeat Chicago]

3. Taylor Swift broke Ticketmaster. Now calls are growing to break up the ticketing giant.

The Justice Department has launched an antitrust investigation into the parent company of Ticketmaster, which faced a meltdown this week over the ticket sales of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, reports The New York Times, citing sources familiar with the citation.

“Staff members at the agency’s antitrust division have in recent months contacted music venues and players in the ticket market, asking about Live Nation’s practices and the wider dynamics of the industry,” the Times reports.

Parts of Ticketmaster’s website crashed earlier this week during a mad rush to buy presale tickets for Taylor Swift’s tour next year. As a result, Ticketmaster canceled today’s scheduled public sale of tickets because there were not enough left.

Critics are now renewing calls to break up Ticketmaster, which they say has become a monopoly that abuses its power at the expense of consumers. [NYT]

Meanwhile, it could cost you thousands of dollars on resale sites for a ticket to one of Swift’s shows in Chicago this summer. [Block Club Chicago]

4. Is this the end of Twitter?

A fresh exodus of Twitter employees is fueling concerns (on Twitter) about the future of the social media giant, which had already laid off about half of its workforce last week, reports The Washington Post.

Earlier this week, new owner Elon Musk gave workers an ultimatum: Stay and work longer hours or leave. Hundreds of employees choose the latter, including engineers with critical roles, like keeping servers running.

“I know of six critical systems (like ‘serving tweets’ levels of critical) which no longer have any engineers,” a former employee told the Post. “There is no longer even a skeleton crew manning the system. It will continue to coast until it runs into something, and then it will stop.” [WaPo]

5. If you still need to buy a pie for Thanksgiving, you better get on it

Chicago bakers are already working hard to fill out thousands of orders, meaning that with Thanksgiving just under a week away, now is a good time to get your order in before it’s too late, reports Block Club Chicago.

“This time of year, we’re making pies ’til they’re coming out of our ears,” Dobra Bielinski at Delightful Pastries told the website. “People don’t realize that pie making is very, very, very labor intensive.

“I don’t have a pie machine that I just pop the ingredients into and it spits out pies. It’s all handmade, and the fun never ends.”

If you still need a desert for the big day, Block Club compiled a handy list of bakeries that are taking orders. [Block Club]

Here’s what else is happening

• Attorney General Merrick Garland named a special counsel in the investigation of classified documents taken from Mar-a-Lago. [AP]
• U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York announced he will run to replace House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as the party’s leader in that chamber. [NBC News]
• Some octopuses may intentionally throw objects at creatures who are in their personal space, researchers say. [Washington Post]
• “Dating app” Grindr is now zero feet away from the New York Stock Exchange. [Wall Street Journal]

Oh, and one more thing …

By now you probably know there’s a new Rundown podcast. And Chicago-native Hannibal Buress today talks to host Erin Allen about a new title on his resume — rapper. He just dropped a new single, “Knee Brace,” under the moniker Eshu Tune. [WBEZ]

If you’re looking for more things to listen to this weekend, whether you have days off or are heading to work, my friends at Curious City dig into the history of one area of the city that’s a pleasure to walk through — Little India. [WBEZ]

Tell me something good …

Winter definitely feels like it has arrived in Chicago. What’s something you do to make this time of year more cheerful?

Renuka writes:

“It makes me happy to see lights lit ALL OVER THE PLACE in Chicago! Those only winter activities like zoo lights, skating in Warren or Millennium park, seeing Santas walking around, white elephants at work, roaring fires roasting at the parks, my ma and niece’s birthdays, movies at the theater, homemade hot chocolate powder from my s-i-l — and of course, making snow angels and gently throwing snowballs. Happy winter to all!”

Thanks to everyone who wrote in this week. I’m sorry I couldn’t share everyone’s response, but it was nice hearing from y’all.