* Follow along by clicking here and stand by for news…

JUST IN: I’m told there’s a verdict in the trial of longtime Madigan chief of staff Tim Mapes. https://t.co/5pjPdgoAdH

— Jon Seidel (@SeidelContent) August 24, 2023

* IDES…

Over-the-year, total nonfarm jobs increased in thirteen metropolitan areas and decreased in one for the year ending July 2023, according to data released today by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the Illinois Department of Employment Security (DES). Over-the-year, the unemployment rate increased in thirteen metropolitan areas and decreased in one. […]

The metro areas which had the largest over-the-year percentage increases in total nonfarm jobs were the Danville MSA (+2.6%, +700), the Elgin Metro Division (+2.4%, +6,200), the Champaign-Urbana MSA (+2.1%, +2,400), and the Springfield MSA (+2.1%, +2,300). Total nonfarm jobs in the Chicago-Metro Division were up +1.3% or +50,900. Total nonfarm jobs were down slightly in the Kankakee MSA (-0.5%, -200). Industries that saw job growth in a majority of metro areas included: Leisure and Hospitality (twelve areas); Education and Health Services and Government (eleven areas each).

The metro areas with the largest unemployment rate increases were the Danville MSA (+1.7 points to 6.6%), the Rockford MSA (+1.6 points to 6.8%), the Decatur MSA (+1.4 points to 6.9%), and the Kankakee MSA (+1.4 points to 6.1%). The only metro area with an unemployment rate decrease was the Chicago-Naperville-Arlington Heights Metropolitan Division (-1.1 percentage points to 4.0%). The Chicago Metro Division unemployment rate tied 2019 for a record low in the month of July.

* WGN TV…

It’s payday in south suburban University Park. But when village employees checked their bank accounts Wednesday they found they had been stiffed. […]

“It’s no coincidence that this happened on the first payday after new Village Manager Elizabeth Scott wrongfully terminated the one and only employee who maintained the village payroll,” said Anders Lindall of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees Council 31 (AFSCME).

All 30 of the village’s unionized employees went unpaid, according to union reps.

* IDOA…

Beginning Tuesday, August 29 the Illinois Department of Agriculture (IDOA) will host 31 international buyers from seven different Latin American countries to enhance existing relationships and increase export sales for the Illinois grain industry.

“The Illinois Grain Tour gives Illinois farmers, producers, and retailers the opportunity to showcase their world-class commodities and facilities to foreign investors,” said IDOA Director Jerry Costello. “We lead the nation in soybean production and nearly half of the soybeans and corn produced in Illinois are exported, resulting in billions of dollars in direct sales annually.”

In 2022, the Grain Tour returned to in-person for the first time since the pandemic and brought in $65 million in projected sales.

Participants begin the tour by meeting with representatives from the Illinois Department of Agriculture. The tour will also make stops at:

• RTS Farm, Aubur
• GSI, Assumption
• Farm Progress Show, Decatur
• Illinois Soybean Association, Bloomington
• Marquis Energy, Hennepin
• Seedburo Equipment Co., Des Plaines
• Delong Co., Joliet
• MANNS Traders, Chicago

All participants of the Illinois Grain Tour are required to pay their own airfare and a participation fee prior to joining the tour.

There will be a planned media stop at the Farm Progress Show in Decatur with Director Costello. Information regarding that stop will be shared in the following days.

* Congrats to Emily!…

I have long harbored a secret goal of winning the Marian Brockschmidt award for excellence in textile art from the…

Posted by Emily Bittner on Monday, August 21, 2023

More on Marian Brockschmidt is here.

* Isabel’s roundup…

* Crain’s | The whole physics world will be watching Fermilab soon. Here’s why.: To answer the question, scientists at Fermilab and around the globe will conduct an elaborate experiment that will have the attention of the physics community focused on the Chicago area for the next several decades. “The reason there’s such worldwide interest is there’s possibly another Nobel Prize at stake,” says Mark Messier, a physics professor at Indiana University who is among the researchers involved with the project at Fermi and who worked on a groundbreaking neutrino experiment in Japan in the late ’90s. “In the pantheon of physics topics, it belongs right up there with the Higgs boson.”

* Reuters | Mexico says it won’t modify decree on GM corn ahead of USMCA panel: Mexico won’t make any further changes to a decree on genetically modified (GM) corn ahead of a dispute settlement panel requested by the United States through the USMCA trade pact, Mexican economy minister, Raquel Buenrostro, told Reuters on Monday. Buenrostro’s comments come after the United States last week escalated its objections to the restrictions imposed by Mexico on imports of GM corn and requested a dispute settlement panel under the North American trade pact, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

* Chalkbeat | I helped two migrant teens enroll in Chicago Public Schools. It was anything but straightforward.: After a few minutes, the Kelly teacher opens the door for us. We walk up to the security guard, who is helping with registration. She looks at the papers in Maria’s folder and a smaller stack of papers Rosa brought. Both moms have their daughters’ birth certificates, but neither has any transcripts from previous years. Both girls completed seventh grade in Colombia before making the trek to the U.S., their mothers say, but there are no records. The security guard says she can’t register them without a transcript evaluation. How do you do a transcript evaluation without transcripts? We’re not sure what to do next, so we step out.

* Daily Herald | Could the White Sox find happiness at Arlington Park?: Arlington Heights officials say there is plenty of room at the 326-acre former horse racing facility for both its owner — the Chicago Bears — and the South Siders.

* WBEZ | Chicago’s homeless living on streets and in shelters sharply increased in 2021: An estimated 68,440 people were unhoused in Chicago in 2021 with a sharp jump in the number of people staying on the street or in shelters, according to a new report released Thursday by the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.

* People’s Fabric | Alleged CPD Child Predator Was Assigned to High Schools: A Chicago police officer currently facing charges of aggravated sexual assault, sexual abuse of minors, and filming his abuse of children was previously assigned as a substitute School Resource Officer (SRO) at two high schools on the city’s far Northwest Side, People’s Fabric has learned.

* Sun-Times | Jury awards $10.5 million to family of man killed in 2018 Rogers Park crash during police chase: Tuong Lam, 61, died after his car was struck by a drunk driver being pursued by CPD police officers in 2018. Chicago’s city law department said it’s assessing its legal options.

* Pioneer Press | Chicago Police Deputy Chief Loughran to take over as Glencoe Public Safety Director: The village has announced Sean Loughran, who has served with the Chicago Police for almost 27 years, has been hired as the new leader of the Glencoe’s Public Safety Department. He will succeed Cary Lewandowski, who is scheduled to retire Sept. 1.

* Post-Tribune | Valparaiso Creative Council raising funds for skatepark sculpture: “Our attempt is to raise $90,000 in 90 days,” she said. That’s not as simple as getting a few really large donations. “No one donor can be over 20% of what we’re doing,” she said. That shows broad public support for the group’s mission.

* AP | Transgender adults are worried about finding welcoming spaces to live in their later years: Now, as a wave of new state laws enacted this year limit transgender people’s rights, Narinesingh has new uncertainty about her own future as she ages. “Every now and then I have like this thought, like, oh my God, if I end up in a nursing home, how are they going to treat me?” Narinesingh said.

* Bloomberg | Student loan payments restart will dent US housing market, survey finds: About 70% of student loan borrowers — amounting to some 30 million people — are 25-49 years of age, a time of life when many Americans typically look to set up a new home, perhaps as they get married or have children. That source of demand is likely to come under pressure as household budgets are strained by student loan repayments after almost four years of forbearance.

* NBC Chicago | Chicago heat wave updates: At least 5 Chicago-area schools close due to heat-related issues: Many of Wednesday’s power outages from ComEd and WE Energy have been resolved. […] According to the National Weather Service, an excessive heat warning, with heat index values as high as 117 degrees will continue for all of northeastern Illinois until 8 p.m. Thursday.

* Sun-Times | More than 66,000 slated to receive up to $5,000 for unclaimed property: state treasurer: State Treasurer Michael Frerichs worked with lawmakers to create enhancements to a program that uses existing state records and technology to automatically return lost money to qualifying residents without the need to gather paperwork or file a claim.

* SJ-R | Springfield man sent to Arkansas prison for Capitol breach; another has Sept. 22 hearing: It wasn’t immediately clear when Adams reported to the facility. He was released on his own recognizance following his June 16 sentencing, said Daniel Ball, a public affairs specialist for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, reached Wednesday.

* BND | Men stole over $400,000 from Illinois mailboxes using stolen master key, feds say: Four men stole more than $400,000 worth of checks from mailboxes in Illinois, federal officials said. The men now face multiple federal charges, according to an Aug. 23 news release from the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois.

* Sun-Times | Driverless cars racing toward us: Waymo is taking on Los Angeles next, and will only say they’re coming to cities such as Chicago “as soon as possible.” Don’t expect the City Council to bail out taxi drivers — in 2017, Illinois passed a law banning local ordinances against self-driving cars. Such laws don’t work forever anyway. Just this month, Oregon passed a law allowing drivers to pump their own gas. Leaving New Jersey as the only state where pumping your own gas is a crime — a $250 fine if a driver touches the pump.