* Here you go…

* Capitol News Illinois | Disparately resourced public defenders prepare for the end of cash bail in Illinois: “As a defender, one of the hardest things I have to do is have conversations with mothers, sisters…how are they gonna pull together the money to get their person out of jail?” Cook County Public Defender Sharone Mitchell, who was heavily involved in crafting the law in his previous job at the Illinois Justice Project, said at a recent media briefing about the end of cash bail.

* WBEZ | As state leaders fight to protect access to books, Chicago-area libraries keep getting threats: Michaela Haberkern figured a bomb threat at Aurora Public Library would happen sooner or later. It did on Tuesday. “I knew that [bomb threats were] happening across northern Illinois over the past six weeks or so,” said Haberkern, the library’s executive director. “We made sure that our emergency procedures were up to snuff, we made sure all the staff had recent and up-to-date training and so that they would know what to do. So when it happened, I don’t really know that I had any feelings. I was just like, ‘OK, we’re doing this.’”

* SJ-R | Democrats look to make downstate gains while Republicans go after Chicago suburbs in 2024: Democrats’ literal tent at the DuQuoin State Fair was part of their ongoing outreach to voters in deep red southern Illinois, ahead of an election battle for the White House, Congress, Illinois General Assembly, state Supreme Court and other local races.

* Tribune | After complaints about Pritzker’s Prisoner Review Board, advocates and observers say it has made a rightward shift: In the most recent time period, less than 15% of the 48 cases in that category that were reviewed by the board resulted in parole, according to records on the board’s website. That compares to slightly more than 40% of the 51 cases reviewed by the board in 2021.

* Tribune | UAW strike bypasses Illinois plants for now, but state’s auto industry has a lot riding on negotiations: The UAW, which represents 146,000 members across the U.S., directed workers at a GM plant in Missouri, a Stellantis plant in Ohio and a Ford factory in Michigan to walk off the job and onto the picket line, calling for a strike against all three manufacturers for the first time in the Detroit-based union’s 88-year history.

* WSPY | Democrat announces election bid for 70th District: Randi Olson, of Cortland, is announcing that she’ll seek the Democratic nomination to run for State Representative of the 70th District which covers parts of DeKalb, Kane, and McHenry counties.

* Windy City Times | Pritzker and Brady-Davis honored at Planned Parenthood gala: In a press release, PPIA President and CEO Jennifer Welch said, “This is one of the most important evenings for our supporters. Together we are celebrating recent legislative victories that strengthen protections for providers and patients in Illinois and those forced to flee from another state, expand access to abortion and gender-affirming care, and ensure Illinois continues to be a haven in the Midwest.”

* Tribune | Markham’s ex-public library director charged with embezzling more than $770,000 from cash-strapped town: According to the charges, Menzies was executive director of the Markham Public Library and managed the library’s finances, employees and services. He also oversaw funds provided by the neighboring village of Posen, which paid Markham thousands of dollars every month for its residents to be able to access Markham’s library facilities, the indictment stated.

* SJ-R | Kurtis Minder has been inside ransomware deals. Here’s what he thinks HSHS is up against: Healthcare centers and hospitals have become high-value targets and with good reason, Minder said. According to the cybersecurity firm Recorded Future, there have been at least 300 documented attacks a year on American healthcare facilities since 2020.

* The Intelligencer | Troy man released from custody after posting bail in first-degree murder case: Perham’s bond was set at $1 million, so he would have had to post 10% or $100,000 to be released. Madison County State’s Attorney Thomas A. Haine announced Wednesday afternoon that Perham was charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the wake of the early Tuesday death of Maha Tiimob, with whom he had a relationship, according to authorities.

* Sun-Times | Back to the kitchen? Mayor’s floor leader rejects latest restaurant industry compromise on subminimum wage: Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th) said the restaurant industry’s latest proposal to raise the minimum wage for tipped workers to $20.54 an hour at Chicago restaurants with more than $3 million in annual revenue is “dead on arrival.”

* Sun-Times | As he steps down, Chicago’s top planner reflects on neighborhood projects and an unfinished agenda: As a holdover with new Mayor Brandon Johnson and with no indication he’d be kept on, Cox opted to resign. At age 64, Cox said he has no immediate plans but wants to keep working in Chicago. “It adopted me,” he said. “It’s a gorgeous city. It’s been a city worth fighting for.”

* Reuters | Rahm Emanuel takes the spotlight with snarky China tweets: Emanuel, a legendary Washington political fighter who has served three Democratic presidents, had written on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that the recent disappearances of top Chinese officials resembled Agatha Christie’s best-selling crime novel “And Then There Were None,” which follows the mysterious deaths of guests at a mansion in Britain.

* Chalkbeat | Chicago Public Schools hired hundreds of tutors with federal COVID money. Can they keep them?: Since then, the number of tutors has grown. On the first day of school, CPS had more than 600 tutors, about three-quarters of the initial hiring goal of 850. Currently, tutors are working in 229 schools, but the district declined a request to provide a list of the schools and their locations.

* WBBM | Lt. Governor positive about business, trade after leading delegation in Japan: “When I think about how important it is, this is an example of why these types of trips and relationship-building opportunities are so critical. There is a real opportunity to attract those businesses or grow those businesses right here in Illinois.”

* The Guardian | Post-Roe, anti-abortion groups target law protecting clinics from violence: It was 22 October 2020, and one anti-abortion advocate was livestreaming a group of activists who were at the Washington DC-area clinic to, in their view, “rescue” people from having abortions. […] The woman in the video is Lauren Handy, a prominent anti-abortion activist who, along with four other defendants, was convicted late last month over her actions that October day. (Three more defendants in the case were convicted on Friday.) Specifically, the defendants were found guilty of illegally blockading the clinic in violation of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, or Face Act, a federal law that penalizes people for going beyond peaceful protest to threaten, obstruct or injure someone who is trying to access a reproductive health clinic, or to vandalize a clinic. They may now spend up to 11 years in federal prison.

* Crain’s | ‘The Bear’ Effect: How a TV hit is reviving Chicago’s gastro-tourism economy: “It’s not just the restaurants that were on ‘The Bear,’” said One Off co-owner Donnie Madia, who himself appears in two episodes of the Hulu show. “This is so great for our city and the importance of what our city is about, culinarily.”

* Crain’s | Jim McMahon to launch cannabis line in Illinois: Jim McMahon finally found his target. The former Bears quarterback has lined up a partner to manufacture and distribute his Mac 9 brand of weed in Illinois. Revenant Holdings, the company co-founded by McMahon and fellow NFL players Kyle Turley and Eben Britton, has been looking for a way into the Illinois market for about a year.