* IDES | Jobs Up in Most Metro Areas in August: Over-the-year, total nonfarm jobs increased in eleven metropolitan areas, decreased in two and was unchanged in one for the year ending August 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.

* WICS | ACLU meets with Springfield Police Department about Pre-Trial Fairness Act: The meeting also gave the police department a chance to explain what new training was involved and how paperwork would be filled out when it comes to citations. […] “People were afraid that the doors to the jail were going to be open and all kinds of violent offenders were going to be released. That’s not the case at all. If a violent offender is arrested we’ll be in contact with the state’s attorney’s office to let them know why we feel the subject needs detained,” Commander Sara Pickford said.

* ABC | Illinois man pleads guilty to trying to burn down planned abortion clinic: Philip J. Buyno of Prophetstown, Illinois, entered the plea Tuesday to a federal charge of attempting to use fire to damage a building used in interstate commerce. Buyno admitted that, on May 20, he brought several containers filled with gasoline with him and used his car to breach the front entrance to a commercial building in Danville to burn it down before it could be used as a reproductive health clinic, prosecutors said.

* Capitol News Illinois | Former Illinois State Police trooper who pleaded guilty in relation to deadly crash postpones hearing: Henry Haupt, a spokesperson for Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, said in an email that the hearing had been postponed until Nov. 1 at Mitchell’s request. Mitchell pleaded guilty to two counts of reckless homicide and two counts of aggravated reckless driving in connection with a crash the day after Thanksgiving in 2007 on Interstate 64 east in St. Clair County. That conviction triggered the revocation of his driver’s license. He has tried five times in the past to have his license reinstated.

* WAND | IDHA grant provides millions in neighborhood revitalization: The Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA) Board approved $19 million to support affordable housing and community revitalization efforts across Illinois. The grants are being awarded under the Strong Communities Program (SCP), the initiative will provide funding to 68 units of local governments and land bank authorities for the acquisition, maintenance, rehabilitation, and demolition of abandoned residential properties in their communities.

* WSIL | Perry County Steelworkers could go on strike soon if good faith negotiations don’t resume: Eaton’s final offer consisted of a 4 percent increase in wages over the first year and a 3 1/2 percent increase each of the next two years. It was rather appalling to the membership for what they were asking for,” said Dodds.

* WTTW | Chicago Sues Monsanto for Polluting City’s Air, Water, Soil with Toxic Chemicals: “Monsanto knew for decades that its commercial PCB formulations were highly toxic and would inevitably produce precisely the contamination and human health risks that have occurred, perpetuating the environmental abuse and stark inequities so many of Chicago’s neighborhoods have long suffered from,” Johnson said in a statement.

* Sun-Times | Mayor Brandon Johnson’s team will scrap INVEST South/West name, but not its aims: While Johnson’s team is still evaluating the program, they may take “a very different path” toward investing in the South and West sides, and a forthcoming approach won’t be dubbed INVEST South/West, according to Johnson’s Deputy Mayor of Business and Neighborhood Development, Kenya Merritt. […] But Merritt would not say what exactly Johnson’s new approach will look like. When asked what needs to change about the program, Merritt said Johnson wants to see results.

* Crain’s | Chicago-area home prices growing at twice the speed of the nation’s: The median price of homes sold in the nine-county Chicago metro area rose to $339,900 in August, up 9.6% from the same time a year ago, according to data released this morning by Illinois Realtors. Nationally, the median price increased 3.9% to $407,100, according to a separate report from the National Association of Realtors.

* CBS Chicago | No threat found after Chicago area school evacuated over bomb threat: North Shore School District 112 said Red Oak Elementary School was evacuated Thursday morning and students were safely relocated to Sherwood Elementary School, after a call of a bomb threat. Shortly before 10:30 a.m., police and school district officials confirmed a thorough search of the building found no credible threat. The school was set to resume normal operations at 11:30 a.m., with all bus routes running at 11 a.m.

* AP | Biden uses executive power to create a New Deal-style American Climate Corps: In an announcement Wednesday, the White House said the program will employ more than 20,000 young adults who will build trails, plant trees, help install solar panels and do other work to boost conservation and help prevent catastrophic wildfires.

* Tribune | Rupert Murdoch, whose creation of Fox News made him a force in American politics, is stepping down: Rupert Murdoch, the 92-year-old Australian media magnate whose creation of Fox News made him a force in American politics, is stepping down as leader of both Fox’s parent company and his News Corp. media holdings. Fox said Thursday that Murdoch would become chairman emeritus of both companies, effective at board meetings in November. His son, Lachlan, will become News Corp. chairman and continue as chief executive officer of Fox Corp.

* AP | 4 free COVID-19 tests per household will be available Monday — how to get them: Orders can be placed online starting Monday via COVIDtests.gov — and the tests will be delivered for free by the U.S. Postal Service, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

* USA Today | Paying for X? Elon Musk considers charging all users a monthly fee to combat ‘armies of bots’: Musk said X will come out with a “lower-tier pricing” than the existing cost for current X premium subscribers. He did not specify what the pricing could be. “We want it to be a small amount of money,” Musk said. “This is a longer discussion, but in my view, this is actually the only defense against the vast armies of bots.”

* NYT | Mexico Feels Pressure of Relentless Migration From South America: In Mexico, people coming from South America are outpacing those from Central America for the first time since data has been collected. Mexican officials recorded 140,671 migrants from South American countries the first seven months of the year, compared to 102,106 from Central America, with record numbers coming from Venezuela and Ecuador.

* MediaIte | Project Veritas Suspends All Operations Amid Devastating Layoffs and Fundraising Struggles: Six staffers were laid off from the embattled organization this week, sources said, including all remaining journalists and one development associate. One former Project Veritas staffer said just 11 people remain on the non-profit’s payroll, including CEO Hannah Giles. Kiyak wrote in the letter that the group cannot “carry the present staff count any longer” and reminded those being laid off of their nondisclosure agreements.

* Tribune | ‘I’m a little bit of everything’: Margarito Flores opens up in exclusive interview about twins’ rise to top of Chicago drug trade, new law enforcement seminar: Chicago-born Margarito Flores Jr. was around eight years old when his father started taking him and his twin brother Pedro on car rides to Mexico. It was mostly business for his father, a hard-scrapping immigrant making ends meet by hauling drugs across the border.