Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

Tuesday, Oct 6, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Center Square reporter Sean Reed…

*** Statehouse News ***

* Press release | ICUL Announces Retirement of Keith Sias at Year End 2026: The Illinois Credit Union League (ICUL) announces the retirement of Keith Sias, SVP Federal Advocacy, at the end of 2026, concluding more than 33 years of service to Illinois credit unions. When Sias joined ICUL on March 1, 1993, as its first in-house advocacy professional based in Springfield, the hire signaled that advocacy was ICUL’s highest priority and established a strong, consistent presence for credit unions in Springfield. Sias has served as both a state lobbyist as well as a key advocate on federal issues for credit unions throughout his entire ICUL career. He has educated credit unions and policymakers, advanced meaningful legislative initiatives, and helped shape federal advocacy priorities through his service on the American Association of Credit Union Leagues’ (AACUL) Advocacy Committee. His peers named him the 2015 Speaker of the Illinois 3rd House, and he received the 2025 AACUL Farley Award for excellence in credit union advocacy.

* Block Club | State Rep. Hoan Huynh, Accused Of ‘Missing’ On The Job, Says He Closed Office Due To Online Threats: Amid claims he is “missing” on the job, State Rep. Hoan Huynh is defending his decision to close his district office — and is taking to social media to frequently prove he’s still performing his duties. […] A Freedom of Information Act request placed with Chicago and state police did not return records pertaining to threats made against Huynh or his office between October 2025 and March 2026.

*** Chicago ***

* Tribune | Commander disciplined in ‘Blitz’ response moved out of patrol leadership: The leader of a South Side police district who was recently disciplined in connection with the Chicago police’s response to a high-profile confrontation on the city’s Southwest Side during Operation Midway Blitz has been removed from his post and transferred to a non-patrol division, police announced Thursday. Cmdr. Joseph Mark, who has overseen day-to-day policing in the Deering (9th) District since July 2024, will now lead the department’s alternate response section, according to a Chicago Police Department news release. The alternate response section handles nonemergency calls. It’s also the typical landing spot for cops who have been stripped of their police powers.

* Sun-Times | Lime warns Divvy deal could push company from Chicago: Lime said it wants the city to rewrite the Divvy deal to “address monopoly concerns.” The company also asked the city to consider its proposed automatic pricing discount for low-income residents. Lime said Lyft’s current low-income discount pricing is 34% higher than that of Lime’s own access program, and that Divvy’s prices are 19% higher than Lime’s on the South and West sides.

* Tribune | Plastic surgeon with 8 patient deaths faces another license suspension: A plastic surgeon whose Illinois license was suspended following a Tribune investigation that found eight patient deaths connected to his Chicago clinic is now temporarily barred from practicing medicine in his home state of Michigan. The Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs recently suspended Dr. Ayoub Sayeg’s medical license, meaning he cannot practice in the state until the matter is resolved through an administrative hearing process.

* Tribune | ‘Flying off the shelf’: Sports apparel stores scramble to keep up with demand for White Sox merchandise: At downtown sports apparel shop Chicago Sports & Novelty, manager Loretta Rizzo laid out a freshly stocked stack of Munetaka Murakami jerseys. “We’ve sold out of these three times,” she said, pointing to the pile of black and white fabric with the White Sox first baseman’s name spelled out in Japanese characters.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Tribune | Lawmakers and deputy governor discuss West Suburban hospital’s future in meeting that’s short on details: Neither of the lawmakers in attendance — Illinois Senate President Don Harmon and House Assistant Majority Leader Camille Y. Lilly — discussed Insight specifically during the meeting, though Harmon expressed broad concerns about the hospital’s future, telling the crowd, “We should not view opening a bad hospital as progress.” After the meeting, Harmon told the Tribune he has “great reservations about Insight based on their track record both in Illinois and other states.”

* Daily Southtown | Cook County removed 100,000 cubic yards of debris, pledges another $8 million toward effort: Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said about 100,000 cubic yards of debris has been removed from south suburban areas affected by severe storms in August, and pledged another $8 million to continue that effort. The funding comes in response to the Aug. 11 storms that swept across Southern Cook County, burdening many areas with the task of repairing severe storm damage. The county committed to about two weeks of work across affected south municipalities, officials said.

* Elgin Courier-News | East Dundee village president censured for partisan politics, ‘inappropriate’ comments: East Dundee Village President Dan Pearson was formally censured by the village board Monday for inviting two Republicans, one of whom was gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey, to give political speeches during the village’s Oktoberfest. The censure was unanimous and also cited other actions and comments Pearson has made, including his endorsement of a candidate’s social media page comment stating the “language in America is English” and “inappropriate and distasteful comments” made mostly toward women during the Oktoberfest stein-holding contest.

* Daily Herald | At residents’ request, Kane sheriff removing Flock cameras from Geneva-area neighborhood : The move comes after the Mill Creek Special Service Area Advisory Board voted Monday to ask that the Flock cameras be taken out of the neighborhood. “While ALPR cameras are effective law enforcement tools, the Sheriff’s Office recognizes the importance of considering community concerns when determining where and how public safety technology is used,” the sheriff’s said in Tuesday’s announcement.

*** Downstate ***

* WCBU | East Peoria primed to expand Flock as neighboring Creve Coeur deals with alleged misuse: The East Peoria City Council will weigh whether to add an additional 10 Flock-branded cameras to the police department’s program, nearly doubling its investment in license plate reading technology as the town next door deals with the fallout of alleged misuse by its police chief. Former Creve Coeur Police Chief Justin Egan is off the job, accused of using his city’s three Flock-branded license plate cameras to track his ex-wife and ordering others to help. Egan, plus his deputy chief and one rank-and-file officer, abruptly resigned last month amid revelations he is under investigation by Illinois State Police.

* Illinois Times | Manufacturing group highlights new UIS degree to support growth in automation: A manufacturing lobbying group made a stop in Springfield to highlight the launch of a new major at University of Illinois Springfield related to the growth in automation. The visit was part of the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association’s “Makers on the Move” bus tour that seeks to celebrate October as Manufacturing Month and the growth of career opportunities in the industry. “Today’s modern manufacturing involves AI, machine learning, robotics and amazing technology that improves productivity, eliminate waste, optimizes energy and creates newer and better products every single day,” said Mark Denzler, president and CEO of the Springfield-based Illinois Manufacturers’ Association.

* WGLT | Illinois Wesleyan sets sights on $200 million fundraising goal: “For a university of our size with the alumni base of our size, that’s quite ambitious, but we fully believe it’s well within our reach,” IWU president Sheahon Zenger said in an interview. Wesleyan set a record over the previous fiscal year, with $35 million raised, including $3.6 million for the All in for Wesleyan day in the spring that set a record for the most money raised in a single day by a McLean County higher education institution.

* Heartland News | Village of Valier weighs options after nearly a year without its own police department: Officials said challenges with the cost of maintaining a full-time department, along with staffing and liability, are the reason they are looking at outsourcing police services. “The cost of equipment, body cams, things of that nature, the upkeep, all that stuff’s ever changing. And I mean, let’s face reality, we have a town that’s a little bit more than 500 people, one officer to act as chief cover all that. It’s a big investment,” Dudzinski said.

* Capitol News Illinois | Illinois state fairs attracted over 1 million visitors for second year in a row: About 714,000 visitors attended the Springfield fair, while a record 287,000 visited the one in Du Quoin. Springfield’s attendance was the third highest in its history but set a new single-day attendance record of nearly 104,000 visitors on Friday, Aug. 21. The Springfield fair also set a pair of concert attendance records with both Ella Langley and Lainey Wilson drawing 15,533 fans to sold-out shows. Other featured concerts included The Chicks and Wiz Khalifa. The Springfield fair sold 72,143 concert tickets, which set a new overall record for grandstand performances.

*** National ***

* Reuters | McDonald’s hit with class action alleging AI-powered menu price-fixing: McDonald’s (MCD.N) has been sued in federal court in Chicago in a proposed nationwide class action alleging the fast-food company illegally ‌coordinates menu prices across its franchises and company-owned restaurants through an AI-powered pricing system. The lawsuit, filed on Friday, said McDonald’s violated US antitrust law by conspiring with independent franchisees to fix prices using algorithms trained on nonpublic data.

* AP | Paramount completes its takeover of Warner Bros to become one Hollywood giant known as Skydance: Including billions of dollars in debt, the Warner acquisition amounts to nearly $111 billion. Ellison’s Skydance bought Paramount for $8 billion last year before setting its sights on Warner. What followed was one of the biggest tie-ups ever in the media and entertainment industry.

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Pritzker asked about partial closure of Choate: ‘We saw repeated instances of people abusing their roles’

Tuesday, Oct 6, 2026 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Starting off with some background from Capitol News Illinois…

Union County State’s Attorney Tyler Tripp cut a deal with a worker caught on tape beating a resident, allowing the worker to walk free — seven weeks before he filed a federal lawsuit to stop the removal of people with developmental disabilities from a state-operated facility in southern Illinois.

After numerous news reports of residents being whipped, beaten, neglected and abused at the Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center, Gov. JB Pritzker announced a plan in March 2023 to improve residents’ safety. It included installing 75 surveillance cameras and increasing security staff and management presence in resident living areas, but he also warned that Choate’s future depended on correcting these safety conditions.

Then, less than a year later, a camera caught worker John Curtis Spaulding repeatedly hitting a man who had developmental disabilities. No one reported the assault for days — evidence of a continued code of silence at Choate. […]

Another Choate worker, Joseph Clark, was caught on camera abusing a patient and charged with a felony in May 2024. […]

Three days after Spaulding entered his plea more than two years later, in late July 2026, the Pritzker administration announced cuts at Choate, phasing out services to the general intellectual and developmental disabilities population, currently at 15, by the end of September 2026 and all 75 civil mental health beds by March 2027.

The elimination of services for developmentally disabled and mentally ill residents will result in the loss of 250 of the existing 500 jobs at Choate. This has spurred litigation both from Tripp and the union that represents Choate workers.

* The Southern…

The Illinois Department of Human Services cites a combination of hiring difficulties, aging infrastructure and a small local patient population in its proposal to make cuts at Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center. […]

The application is currently in the review process, during which the Health Facilities and Services Review Board staff will conduct a comprehensive review of the project. […]

Along with the inpatient psych unit, the application states the facility’s general units for developmental disabilities have already been dramatically reduced. […]

“Choate has faced chronic challenges in hiring and retaining licensed clinicians necessary to provide adequate inpatient psychiatric care,” the application reads. “There is a limited pool of health care professionals in the area surrounding Choate, making recruitment inherently more difficult as Choate competes with private regional facilities.”

* Gov. Pritzker was asked about his administration’s decision to scale back services at Choate at an unrelated press conference yesterday…

Reporter: I wanted to ask you about Choate, three years ago you said you were going to ramp up the mental health side and kind of pull back on the [developmental disability services] side. Back in July, you decided to change the scope. Can you take us through that?

Pritzker: I said, as you may recall, early on was that if we couldn’t fix the problems that existed at Choate, that we may have to close it. And I said that from almost day one that we needed to go work on fixing it but that the problems may not be fixable. It may be endemic. It may be part of the culture of the people who work in each of those facilities. And so we tried very hard, as you know, but we saw repeated instances of people abusing their roles at Choate. So I think the decision was that we want to make sure, first and foremost, that we are protecting the patients, the people who live in those facilities. That’s what we’re attempting to do by changing up the facility. As you know, we’re not closing all of Choate, and indeed, we’re going to have continue to have jobs there, and we continue to have jobs elsewhere for many of the people who work at Choate.

And we made sure to talk to AFSCME about that long before we ever made the announcement. And now I think there are folks who want to complain about the result. But my number one consideration is protect the people who live there.

* Related…

Capitol News Illinois | Choate workers’ union files lawsuit to block state from gutting mental health facility:

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PPP poll: Pritzker ahead by 20 points

Tuesday, Oct 6, 2026 - Posted by Rich Miller

* I don’t know anything about Chicago News Weekly, but I do know about PPP. I don’t vouch for anyone’s polling these days, but check it out anyway...

Gov. JB Pritzker holds a 20-point lead over Republican challenger Darren Bailey, while Democratic candidates are ahead in four other statewide races surveyed in the first statewide election poll commissioned by Chicago News Weekly.

The survey, conducted by Public Policy Polling from Sept. 30 through Oct. 1, included 569 Illinois voters. Pritzker received 54% support in the governor’s race, compared with 34% for Bailey. Independent candidate Collin Corbett received 6%, while another 6% of respondents were undecided.

Democratic candidates also led each of the other four statewide contests included in the poll. In the U.S. Senate race, Democrat Juliana Stratton received 49% support to Republican Don Tracy’s 36%, with 15% of respondents undecided.

Attorney General Kwame Raoul received 52% support, compared with 38% for Republican Bob Fioretti, while 11% were undecided. Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias led Republican Diane Harris 55% to 37%, with 8% undecided. In the comptroller race, Democrat Margaret Croke received 48% support to Republican Bryan Drew’s 37%, while 15% had not selected a candidate. […]

The CNW poll also asked voters about President Donald Trump’s job performance, 33% approved of the job Trump is doing as president, while 61% disapproved, and 6% were unsure.

Click here for toplines and some crosstabs.

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Some ideas to tame the Wild West of campaign ‘influencers’

Tuesday, Oct 6, 2026 - Posted by Rich Miller

* My weekly newspaper column…

My associate Isabel Miller and I worked on a story last week about paid influencers in campaigns. We decided to look into it after reading news reports about how the Chicago Teachers Union has been using paid influencers in its battle to control the elected Chicago school board and Mayor Brandon Johnson is also using them in his own reelection campaign.

Trouble is, the union and Johnson have not been disclosing that those influencer videos touting candidates are actually paid advertisements.

If you’re online at all, you know about these influencers. They’re usually young and some have built large followings by providing entertaining and informative content on whatever social media outlets they post on.

For the most part, it’s legal conduct. But campaigns not disclosing influencers’ official campaign involvement appears to be illegal under current state law, which we will get to in a bit. And since the state statute doesn’t specifically mention “influencers,” some folks want to make extra special sure that they’re covered.

For example, Rep. Curtis Tarver, D-Chicago, hasn’t yet filed a bill, nor has he apparently found a vehicle bill for the upcoming fall veto session. As mentioned above, a new law might not even be strictly necessary and, whatever the case, the Legislature has not sent a single campaign reform package to the governor’s desk in years (a topic for another day). But Tarver said he plans to introduce legislation requiring social media influencers to disclose when they’re being paid to push political messages.

During an interview with WGN Political Editor Tahman Bradley late last month, Tarver said the disclosure about who or what is paying for the content could appear on screen or be spoken, and that both the campaign and the influencer should be held responsible if that disclaimer is missing.

Tarver said proposed language is with the Illinois Legislative Reference Bureau and that he hopes to move it during the fall veto session.

The Illinois Election Code already requires a political committee paying for communications directed at voters and mentioning a candidate to ensure its name “is identified clearly within the communication as the payor.”

State statute doesn’t mention influencers, but a political committee that pays someone to publish an online post is still responsible for ensuring the post identifies the committee as the payor, said Illinois State Board of Elections spokesperson Matt Dietrich.

“The onus is on the committee to include attribution on the video, or social media post, etc., of ‘Paid for by,’” Dietrich said. “Only the committee, not the influencer, is obligated to follow the rules of the Campaign Finance Act.”

That’s the crucial gap that Tarver wants to close.

“The campaign knows they’re paying the influencer for the purpose of influencing individuals, and the influencer knows they’re being paid to do so,” Tarver said during the WGN segment. “The campaign may disclose on a quarterly basis, or something along those lines, or weekly whereas the influencer is in real time. So both of them should be obligated to do so.”

Currently, those payments must also be disclosed on the committee’s quarterly campaign finance report. The election code requires committees to list the “full name and mailing address” of anyone paid more than $150 in aggregate during the reporting period, along with the amount, date and purpose of the expenditure.

If a campaign uses a consultant to recruit and pay influencers, the report can’t always stop at the consultant. Once payments to the consultant reach $3,000 during the quarterly reporting period, existing state statute requires the committee to disclose how much went to each influencer, why they were paid and who benefited if the consultant was “only a conduit for payment to another.”

California and Texas already have requirements aimed specifically at paid political influencers.

California requires influencers to disclose when a political committee pays for a post. A new law signed this month will make the influencer and the committee jointly liable for civil or administrative penalties if the disclosure is missing. Texas requires social media users paid to post or repost political advertising to identify who paid for it.

Your thoughts on this?

19 Comments

Former House GOP leader Jim Durkin backs Pritzker

Tuesday, Oct 6, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Press release…

[Yesterday], Governor JB Pritzker was endorsed by former Republican House Minority Leader Jim Durkin. Leader Durkin, who served alongside Darren Bailey, denounced his extreme agenda and failed record in a new video.

Durkin pointed to Gov. Pritzker’s record of delivering for Illinois families, including passing common sense firearm regulation, improving our infrastructure, and building a strong fiscal foundation, as the reason he will be supporting Gov. Pritzker.

“I worked with Jim Durkin when he led the House Republican Caucus, and while we did not always agree on everything, I never doubted his devotion to the people of our great state,” said Gov. JB Pritzker. “He was a partner in rebuilding Illinois’ infrastructure and strengthening our fiscal foundation — and an opponent of MAGA extremists driven only by their infatuation with Donald Trump. Leader Durkin has the heart of a public servant, and I am honored to have his support in this campaign.”

“I served with Darren Bailey in Springfield, and I know what he is and isn’t capable of,” said Leader Jim Durkin. “Bailey stands for exclusion over inclusion, subtraction over addition. His politics don’t work for me or the Republican Party I know. He’s never accomplished anything for Illinois, and he’s not cut out for the job. Frankly, he cannot be trusted to lead our state. I’m a suburban Republican, and I’m not going to waste my vote for governor. In this election, JB Pritzker has my vote.”

Gov. Pritzker is committed to working with everyone, including those across the aisle, to deliver for working families. Bailey, however, has no record to run on, alienated his own party, and has an agenda that is too extreme for Illinois.

The video…

* The Chicago Tribune…

Bailey, who was at the Clay County courthouse to cast his early vote on Monday, accused Durkin of supporting Pritzker, a potential 2028 White House candidate, in exchange for a Cabinet position and called the former House GOP leaders’ decision “smoke and mirrors.”

Durkin was among the “failed leaders who led Republicans where we’re at, like the sheep to the slaughter,” said Bailey, who served two years in the House under Durkin’s leadership. “Jim Durkin never has been, never will be, a Republican. He showed his true colors today, and I think it’s going to be evident to everyone.”

* The Sun-Times…

Durkin brushed off the barbs [from Bailey] in an interview, rolling his eyes at “the Darren Bailey shtick.”

“He can bellyache as much as he wants about me, but I’ve done more for the party than he ever has or will,” said Durkin, who’s now an attorney advising local governments on economic issues.

“He needs to think about whether he’s value added to the GOP after November,” Durkin said. “He’s lost before. He needs to stick to what he’s best at. He’s a successful farmer.”

Neither publication mentions that Durkin is a registered statehouse lobbyist.

* Gov. Pritzker was asked about the endorsement yesterday at an unrelated press conference in the Metro East…

Reporter: For a police officer or a machine operator in Madison County who has never voted for a Democrat, why would suburban Republican Jim Durkin’s endorsement move that voter? What would you want that voter to take away from today’s endorsement?

Pritzker: Well, let me be clear, it was offered to us and I was so pleased to have the endorsement of the former leader of Republicans in the House of Representatives in Illinois. Look, we disagreed on a whole lot of things and I think you’ve seen that in public but very often in those conversations we were respectful with one another we made sure that even when we significantly disagreed we weren’t disagreeable and I think that relationship has carried on. We continue to disagree about a lot of things. But I think he respects the work that I did and I respect the kind of person he is.

* Bailey’s running mate Aaron Del Mar…

“Jim Durkin says he wants a stronger Republican Party, then endorses JB Pritzker. That’s surrender dressed up as leadership. He now works as a Springfield lobbyist, and this endorsement looks to me like an effort to strengthen his ties to the Democratic establishment and fatten his wallet. If Jim wants to campaign for Pritzker, he should own it. Darren and I will keep fighting for lower taxes, safer communities, and accountability for Illinois taxpayers.”

* Illinois Republican Party Chair Bob Grogan…

“JB Pritzker’s two-terms as Illinois governor have been a complete and total failure as he raised our taxes over and over, championed illegal immigrants and passed the most bloated state budget in history. This is who opportunists in search of relevance like Jim Durkin have aligned themselves with and is further proof that the only way to save Illinois is by electing new, strong leadership like Darren Bailey.”

* More…

WGN | Former Illinois GOP leader Jim Durkin endorses Pritzker over Bailey:

* Fox Chicago | Former Illinois GOP leader bucks party to endorse Pritzker: “I want a lot of people to know that I’m willing to speak up and do something about where the Republican party has gone in Illinois,” Durkin told Fox Chicago. “I speak for so many Republicans who are left in the middle who don’t know where to go because they don’t believe in some of the far left stuff that they see from the Democrats, but they’re also extremely dissatisfied with the way that the Republican party has moved to the extreme far-right. And speaking up, I think is something that is important to see where the party can actually analyze and say, you know what, this doesn’t work anymore.” The Bailey campaign responded to Durkin’s endorsement, saying he “and JB Pritzker, they don’t give a damn about you, and they don’t give a damn about anyone in the state of Illinois.”

* KSDK | Video: Former Illinois House GOP leader Jim Durkin endorses Pritzker over Bailey: Former Illinois House Republican leader Jim Durkin endorsed Gov. JB Pritzker in November’s election while sharply criticizing GOP nominee Darren Bailey.

* Politico | Durkin’s defection draws GOP fire: Durkin left the House after a bitter 2022 election cycle that exposed deep divisions within the Illinois Republican Party. Back then, Durkin refused to endorse Bailey for governor after Bailey defeated then-Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin — Durkin’s preferred candidate — in the Republican primary.

29 Comments

RETAIL: Strengthening Communities Across Illinois

Tuesday, Oct 6, 2026 - Posted by Advertising Department

[The following is a paid advertisement.]

Semillas is a Chicago plant shop with heart, inspired by the Mexican and Puerto Rican roots of co-founders Angélica Varela and Miguel Ángel Rivera Luna. Located in Pilsen, Semillas offers a curated selection of beautiful plants, thoughtfully crafted floral arrangements, workshops, and events, while celebrating the connection between nature, culture, and community. Stop by Semillas to learn something new and find the perfect plant to bring home.

Retail generates $7.3 billion in income and sales tax revenue each year in Illinois. These funds support public safety, infrastructure, education, and other important programs we all rely on every day. In fact, retail is the second largest revenue generator for the State of Illinois and the largest revenue generator for local governments.

Policies that support small businesses help communities thrive as retailers like Angélica and Miguel in Pilsen are better equipped to meet local needs. We Are Retail and IRMA are showcasing the retailers who make Illinois work. Please visit https://WeAreRetail.IRMA.org/.

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This really sucks but the docs say it ain’t gonna kill me

Tuesday, Oct 6, 2026 - Posted by Rich Miller

* I told subscribers this earlier today…

A routine medical exam found some cancer in my body.

Several doctors, oncologists, surgeons, etc. have told me that this cancer will not kill me. It’s very curable, I’m assured.

I’ll be undergoing chemotherapy and then surgery to remove a tumor. The side effects of the chemo are said to be mild, and should be very close to the symptoms I’m already having. I’m thankfully in no pain at all, and that should continue. It’s unlikely that my hair will fall out, so at least I have that going for me.

I’ve been very tired for weeks because I have an iron deficiency likely due to the tumor. I underwent an iron infusion late last week and it relieved most of my fatigue, but if you’ve been wondering why Isabel has been writing so many stories lately, that’s the reason. Now that I’m feeling better, I hope to be able to continue those infusions so I can work and function like a near-normal person.

I have only one request: Please don’t tie up my phone with texts and calls. I’m still working, after all, and plan to keep on keeping on as much as I can, so I’d rather that you send any well-wishes, etc. to my email account: capitolfax@gmail.com.

Thanks for your understanding. And I’ll let you know if anything changes. But, again, I’m assured that I’ll live through this. And what I can’t handle, Isabel can. She’s progressed a lot and is simply invaluable.

Discuss.

70 Comments

Isabel’s morning briefing

Tuesday, Oct 6, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* ICYMI: Federal judge sides with Kalshi, blocks new Illinois rules on prediction markets. Sun-Times…

* Related stories…

• Crain’s: Judge rules in favor of Kalshi in fight over Illinois regulations

* Gov. JB Pritzker has no public events scheduled today.

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Tribune | State Farm raising Illinois homeowners insurance rates by 8%: It may not cause the sticker shock of last year’s whopping increase, but State Farm is set to raise homeowners insurance rates in Illinois by another nearly 8% this fall, according to a recent filing with the state. […] While State Farm has been increasing rates in Illinois, the study found it offers the least expensive average home insurance rates nationwide among the major companies surveyed.

* Tribune | Constellation and Google announce plan to increase nuclear capacity in Illinois, two other states: Constellation Energy, the largest U.S. nuclear provider, agreed Tuesday to invest $4.3 billion to increase output at 11 nuclear plants in Illinois, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and then sell this additional power to Google over a 20-year period. About half of Constellation’s investment, or $2 billion, will be spent at the Byron, Braidwood, LaSalle and Quad Cities plants In Illinois, according to Paul Adams, a Constellation spokesman.

* Subscribers know much more. Crain’s | Bears’ Illinois stadium talks shift toward public ownership model: The Chicago Bears’ potential path to building a new stadium in Arlington Heights is veering toward a model that would leave ownership of the venue to a new public authority rather than the team itself. The approach — which cleared the Illinois Senate in May but never reached the House — has emerged as a focus of recent discussions among the Bears and state officials, sources familiar with the talks tell Crain’s. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Chicago Bears minority owner Pat Ryan met yesterday with Gov. JB Pritzker and senior legislative leaders, signaling that Illinois remains firmly in the game as the team weighs whether to build a new home in the northwest suburb or take up Indiana’s offer to finance a stadium in Hammond.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Tribune | Illinois’ acting legislative ethics watchdog warns lawmakers on sexual harassment: ‘Someone always knows’: “First, someone always knows about your behavior and someone will always talk about it to someone else, and sooner or later word will get to our office,” he said in a 10½-minute video posted Thursday on his office’s website. “Second, when we do hear about it, no matter who you are, given our investigative backgrounds in the (legislative inspector general’s) office, we’ve successfully investigated a lot bigger fish than you. So think about that and act like a decent human being.”

* WGN’s Tahman Bradley…

Democratic Party of Illinois files complaint with Board of Elections over Darren Bailey’s Chicago residence.

DPI alleges Bailey does not pay rent on his South Loop apartment/city campaign HQ and has failed to report use of the residence as a campaign gift or loan.

WGN @ 5. https://t.co/4y09FieLim

— Tahman Bradley (@tahmanbradley) October 5, 2026

* Ben McClellan is running against Rep. Kevin Schmidt…

George McClellan is a former fire chief, current nurse, and the best fighter for better jobs, healthcare, and wages in Illinois’ 114th district.

I was lucky to knock doors with George and his lovely wife, Melody. @jbpritzker and I are excited to have him in Springfield. https://t.co/NjQI0OqOKa

— Christian Mitchell (@cmitchellforlg) October 5, 2026

* WSIU | Candidates for 118th State Representative district share their priorities: With 4 weeks until Election Day, the League of Women Voters of Jackson County hosted an online forum for the candidates of the 118th State Representative district with Republican Scott Doody and Democrat Chip Markel.

*** Chicago ***

* Tribune | CPS watchdog reopens case into allegations school board president candidate had ‘inappropriate interactions’ with minor: The top watchdog’s statement this Friday reopening the investigation did not elaborate on why, but the woman told the Tribune she was surprised to learn about the earlier finding when she had never sat down for an interview. She has since reached out to the inspector general’s office, she said.

* Tribune | Woman slams CPS watchdog’s handling of investigation into school board president candidate’s alleged misconduct: “I experienced sexual grooming behavior by a former CPS employee and supervisor, Hilario Dominguez, in 2017 at The Resurrection Project,” the woman, now 26, wrote in the letter to CPS Inspector General Philip Wagenknecht’s office. “I am writing to share my anger, frustration, and disappointment, but most importantly, the deep sense of injustice I faced as a result of your poor conduct in relation to this investigation.” […] [Rep. Theresa Mah] Mah told the Tribune on Monday “at the time I asked (Resurrection Project CEO Raul Raymundo) about the allegations, a complaint had been lodged but then withdrawn, so there was nothing to investigate.” She previously told the Tribune that Raymundo had said he “conducted an investigation and found the claims to be false.” “Given what was reported, I don’t doubt there may have been feelings of discomfort; what was described sounds like horseplay, and that does not automatically equate to predatory behavior,” she wrote.

* Illinois Answers Project | A ‘backdoor loophole’ is pushing up property taxes with little accountability: Through tax-increment financing, or TIF, local governments in Illinois create geographic districts that divert property tax growth into special funds that can be tapped to help pay for construction. While TIF’s fiscal impact has been limited through most of its 40-year history, the tool has become an increasingly major contributor to the region’s runaway growth in property taxes in recent years, according to a joint analysis by Illinois Answers Project and the Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation.

* Crain’s | Chicago’s maternal care gap deepens with four closures this month alone: Four Chicago-area hospitals have closed or announced plans to close labor and delivery units this month alone, the latest in a years-long retreat from maternal care around the region that is leaving families farther from the nearest place to give birth. The latest announced closure came last week as South Side safety-net hospital Roseland Community Hospital said it would suspend labor and delivery at the end of the month.

* Tribune | Lawyers for Chicago woman shot by Border Patrol agent call for criminal charges: “This in our opinion is not a political issue,” attorney Christopher Parente said at a news conference to announce the filing of a federal lawsuit. “We are asking the Department of Justice to do something. It’s the Department of Justice. It’s not the Department of Republicans. It’s not the Department of Democrats. They have a civil rights division specifically there to investigate things like this.” Parente said if federal authorities refused to act, he’s hopeful that an ongoing Chicago police investigation will lead to charges being filed by Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen Burke, who has promised to have a specialized unit of prosecutors look at the evidence that’s been gathered.

* Crain’s | Jumbo $5.8B freight brokerage deal will ripple through Chicago: C.H. Robinson Worldwide’s blockbuster $5.8 billion acquisition of rival RXO will reshape the logistics industry and have a big impact in Chicago. Each of the giant freight brokers has a large presence here. C.H. Robinson is based in suburban Minneapolis but has hundreds of workers in Lincoln Park near the former Lincoln Yards development. RXO, headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., bought Chicago-based Coyote Logistics for $1 billion two years ago.

* Crain’s | Amazon pays $195 million for vertical warehouse next to Goose Island: Amazon paid $195 million last week for a high-profile warehouse between Goose Island and the Kennedy Expressway that it plans to turn into a hub for making same-day deliveries in the heart of the city. The Seattle-based e-commerce giant acquired the vacant, multistory industrial building at 1237 W. Division St., according to Illinois property records. The 571,423-square-foot vertical warehouse has sat empty since it was completed in 2024 by Chicago-based developer Logistics Property, which hired brokers to sell it last fall.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Tribune | Former Evanston D65 Superintendent Devon Horton changes plea to guilty in federal kickback case: Horton, who was indicted last year on 17 counts of embezzlement, wire fraud and tax evasion over his involvement in what prosecutors describe as an effort to misappropriate District 65 funds and award himself over $81,000 in kickbacks from approving the work contracts of three of his friends’ companies, pleaded guilty to three of those counts in federal court in Chicago Oct. 5.

* Daily Herald | Two former suburban police officers charged with misusing Flock license plate cameras: A grand jury indicted former Itasca police officer Marisa Ciccola, 30, on 13 felony counts of official misconduct, and eight misdemeanor counts of computer tampering, the DuPage County state’s attorney’s office announced late Monday. The grand jury also indicted former West Chicago officer Gerardo Solis, 39, on one felony count of official misconduct and one count of computer tampering, prosecutors said.

* WTTW | CPD Sergeant Who Led Botched Raid at Home of Anjanette Young Now Working as a Suburban Police Detective: Illinois’ First District Appellate Court ruled Sept. 8 that a Cook County judge properly upheld the Chicago Police Board’s June 2023 decision to terminate former Sgt. Alex Wolinski for his conduct in 2019, when he led a team of 12 officers into Young’s apartment looking for a man who did not live there. Wolinski can still appeal that ruling to the Illinois Supreme Court. Wolinski was hired by Niles about six months after the decision by the Chicago Police Board, which detailed multiple departmental rule violations. The city also settled a multimillion-dollar lawsuit over the raid.

* Sun-Times | Video gambling saturates Chicago area — nearly 80% of region allows video slots: Wealthy suburbs generally outlaw video gambling — with the North Shore communities of Evanston, Glencoe, Highland Park, Highwood, Kenilworth, Lake Bluff, Lake Forest, Wilmette and Winnetka all with prohibitions — while lower-income south suburbs generally allow it, including Dixmoor and Ford Heights. Some communities are rethinking their policies. North Chicago is tightening restrictions to “reduce the amount of gaming in town,” an official says. Bolingbrook recently scrapped a ban, legalizing video slots following a referendum. In Winfield, an advisory referendum is planned in the spring to gauge public support for keeping or lifting a ban.

* Daily Herald | Bartlett may ban sale of kratom, synthetic drugs and nitrous oxide for recreational use: Other suburbs that have imposed similar bans in recent years include Antioch, Batavia, Des Plaines, Elk Grove Village, Lake Zurich, Mount Prospect, Naperville and Wheaton. [Bartlett Police Chief Ryan Conway] is asking Bartlett trustees to discuss a ban Tuesday on the advertisement and sale of kratom and related synthetic drugs as well as recreational-use nitrous oxide.

*** Downstate ***

* WCIA | Mahomet residents rally against potential data center: John Bambenek discovered several officials with the Village of Mahomet were in talks with Clean Cloud Energy about potentially building a data center. He began a petition for a referendum on the April ballot to give the community a chance to decide if they want the project in their backyard. “The referendum is simple. The cure of having these secret conversations that will have a profound impact is to simply have an election,” said Bambenek. “The impacts of a data center like this, for good or for ill, are going to be felt at least countywide.”

* WCIA | Mahomet ends talks with data center developer: In a news release, Mayor Jason S. Tompkins said this decision came after “careful consideration of public feedback,” and added the questions and concerns residents raised “played a significant role.”

* WAND | Vendor error affects ballots in 9 Champaign County precincts: According to the Clerk’s office, impacted precincts included City of Champaign 6, 29, 37, Hensley, Pesotum, Philo, Sidney, St. Joe 1, and Urbana 3. An investigation found 28 voters had already cast incorrect ballots. The office stated that it will send replacement ballots to 607 vote-by-mail voters.

* WAND | Boys and Girls Club of Decatur holds community meeting to discuss next steps: The club has sat empty for over two months, and it needs $750,000 to reopen and continue operations through June 2027. “I understand they just want a safe place; they just want a safe place to come to after school, and they don’t really know all the stuff that goes on behind closed doors. I just know they want the club open,” said community member Ya-Hahn Reed.

* SJ-R | Perfect Harmony: Former Springfield TV anchor joins White House: A former WICS-TV show producer and anchor confirmed she is joining the White House team after a year as a correspondent for a conservative network. Beni Rae Harmony of Pleasant Plains was named assistant White House press secretary, even as President Donald Trump searches for a replacement for press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

*** National ***

* NYT | Dennis Hastert, Powerful Politician Disgraced by Child Sexual Abuse, Dies: J. Dennis Hastert, a once-obscure Illinois congressman who rose to become the longest-serving Republican speaker of the House before falling from grace in a sex abuse scandal that came to light after he left government, has died. He was 84. […] Mr. Hastert, a former teacher and wrestling coach, was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison in April 2016 for violating federal banking laws, having made millions of dollars in secret payments to cover up sexual misconduct with a male student. He was released in July 2017 and from then on lived out of the public eye despite his earlier prominence in Washington.

* CBS | The Alito Court: A rare interview with the influential Supreme Court justice: After two decades as a justice, Alito said he considered retirement earlier this year. Now 76, he said, “it’s something I think that somebody at my age has to think about every term.” Some conservatives had urged him to step down while Republicans have control of the Senate, so that President Trump could nominate his replacement. But Alito said that wasn’t a factor in the decision.

* Bloomberg | Google, Constellation Near Billion-Dollar Deal for Nuclear Power: Google parent Alphabet Inc. is close to an agreement to buy nuclear energy from Constellation Energy Corp., as technology companies race to line up power for the data-center boom. The tech giant is nearing a deal to pay Constellation $1 billion or more over the course of a multi-year agreement that’s expected to be announced as soon as this week, according to people familiar with the discussions, who asked not to be named because the information is private.

* AP | Michael Jordan makes $10 million commitment to UNC School of Social Work in honor of his mother: Six-time NBA champion and former North Carolina Tar Heels star Michael Jordan has made a $10 million commitment to the UNC School of Social Work in honor of his mother, Deloris P. Jordan. It’s the largest single gift in the School of Social Work’s history and will expand the reach and impact of the Global Social Development Innovations Center, according to a release Monday. The center will be renamed the Deloris P. Jordan Global Social Development Innovations Center and the Jordan Institute for Families. It will provide financial scholarships for Master of Social Work students.

6 Comments

MLB playoff open thread

Tuesday, Oct 6, 2026 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Not to mention some Lutherans…

* Pure joy…

You didn’t know you needed to hear it…

But you do.

The Japanese call of Munetaka Murakami’s first career MLB Postseason HR https://t.co/1AjHMvoJjF

— Ben Verlander (@BenVerlander) October 3, 2026

* If I could decide these things, I’d have the White Sox play the Brewers in the World Series. But that’s getting way, way ahead of ourselves, and those dudes can really play ball up there, so careful what you wish for…

This is what it’s all about man…bottom of the 9th, 2 outs, your best guy vs. one of the best closers…attacking the fast ball early, reading the slider, staying in the count, scraping a 103 mph foul ball, ball game. OCTOBER! https://t.co/EpMLt3ImHh

— CC Sabathia (@CC_Sabathia) October 5, 2026

We’ll get to my subscriber announcement soon, so stick to the topic, please.

14 Comments

Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Supplement to today’s edition

Tuesday, Oct 6, 2026 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today’s edition of Capitol Fax (use all CAPS in password)