* ICYMI: Banks file lawsuit challenging Illinois credit card fee law. Tribune…

- A coalition of banking groups on Thursday filed a federal lawsuit challenging a new Illinois law that blocks banks and credit card companies from charging retailers a small fee on taxes and tips.
- Illinois earlier this year became the first state in the nation to enact such a law, prompting outrage and an oppositional ad campaign backed by some of the largest financial institutions in the country.
- The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, argues the law should not be enacted in part because it is preempted by federal law for national banks. Other existing laws say it shouldn’t be applied to Illinois or out-of-state banks, the complaint argues.

Click here to view the lawsuit.

* Related stories…

∙ Law360: Banking Groups Sue To Thwart New Ill. Swipe Fee Restrictions
∙ Bloomberg: Bank, Credit Union Groups Sue Over Illinois Swipe Fee Law
∙ Credit Union Times: Bank & Credit Union Groups File Lawsuit Challenging New Illinois Law

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* SJ-R | Days of continued licensing delays in Illinois could be coming to an end: With goals to modernize and streamline an archaic system, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation recently announced it had reached an agreement to secure a new professional online licensing system. The state agency, in charge of licensing for health care, occupational professionals and more than 100 other professions, will partner with NIC Licensing Solutions, LLC to create the new online system. The $9 million investment will be paid over the next three years, IDFPR said in a news release.

* Tribune | Parking meter payoff for NASCAR cost Chicago $600K over two years: Parking spot closures tied to the race cost Chicago $348,306 in 2023 and another $273,665 in 2024, a Tribune records request revealed. The over $600,000 in so-called true-up costs covered by the city and owed to the parking meter system’s private owner further complicates the cost-benefit analysis of the race as the city and racing authority weigh its long-term future.

* Crain’s | Another Illinois university stares down a huge deficit: Northern Illinois University reported a $31.8 million deficit for fiscal year 2024 and now faculty and staff brace for what’s next as the school year approaches. “Who is not going to be scared about that big of a deficit?” said Kerry Ferris, a member of the tenure-track faculty union who previously served as the unit president. “There is some anxiety among the faculty and probably also among the students about how the school will reduce that deficit.”

*** Statehouse News ***

* Crain’s | Illinois bans legacy admissions at public universities: Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a law banning legacy admissions at state universities and colleges, making Illinois the most recent state to pass legislation prohibiting the admissions policy. The law capitalizes on recent backlash against the preferential treatment of legacy admissions, a movement that picked up momentum following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that struck down the use of race as a factor in university admissions.

*** Republican Day ***

* SJ-R | Illinois Republicans see Harris’ polling surge as ‘honeymoon period’ that’s destined to end: But Republicans at the fair insisted Harris’ surge in popularity will be short-lived. Among them was the keynote speaker at the rally, Matthew Whitaker, an Iowa native who served briefly as acting attorney general during the first Trump administration. “We’re in a honeymoon period with Kamala Harris,” Whitaker said. “The left is so excited that they have a candidate with a pulse. That’s a fairly low bar. I mean, we have a president in Donald Trump that not only has a pulse, he has a fire inside of him to save this country.”

* Tribune | Illinois GOP urges focus on policies, not personalities during party’s day at State Fair: “So, taxes, cost of living, crime, corruption. The most corrupt state in the nation,” Illinois Senate Republican leader John Curran of Downers Grove said in an interview before the GOP’s afternoon programming at the state fairgrounds. “This is what Gov. Pritzker’s Democratic allies have brought to Illinois.”

* Capitol News Illinois | Illinois Republicans see Harris’ polling surge as ‘honeymoon period’ that’s destined to end: Several people attending the Republican Day festivities at the fair acknowledged the dynamics of the 2024 race have changed markedly since the GOP convention. At that time, former President Donald Trump was leading in most national polls and in key battleground states, and Republicans were euphoric after he survived an assassination attempt just two days earlier. Meanwhile, many Democrats were openly questioning whether their presumptive nominee, 81-year-old President Joe Biden, was capable of serving another term in light of his weak debate performance against Trump in June.

* Capitol News Illinois | Notes & Quotes: Illinois GOP needs ‘a little mothering’ as new chair walks familiar Trump tightrope: Kathy Salvi, the GOP’s new chair, took over position last month after former chair Don Tracy resigned. The mother of six and unsuccessful candidate for U.S. Senate in 2022 once again referred to the ILGOP as her “165-year-old seventh child.” […] She takes over a GOP that holds no statewide elected offices and is relegated to superminorities in each chamber of the General Assembly. Her message has been one of healing from the party infighting cited in her predecessor’s resignation letter.

* Sun-Times | Republicans admit ‘we got lazy’ in blue Illinois — but vow at State Fair to boost GOP turnout: Illinois House Minority Leader Tony McCombie, R-Savanna, argued the party could snag several seats back from Democrats in November. But first, she said, Republicans need to acknowledge how they’ve ceded control to Democrats in recent years. “We are dealing with a party who wants to destroy small business, hurt our most vulnerable and make families feel that they need to be reliant on government for everything,” McCombie said of Democrats. “How did they do that? We let them. We got lazy. We believed the lie that our voice and our vote does not matter, but it matters.”

*** Chicago ***

* Sun-Times | Mayor says he wants a CPS leader who will fight for more funding as fate of current CEO hangs in the balance: A day after the Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ reported that plans are afoot to push out Chicago schools chief Pedro Martinez, Mayor Brandon Johnson stressed that he wants a leader who will fight for more funding for the school district so it can hire more staff, such as librarians and art and music teachers. The mayor declined to comment specifically on Martinez, calling it a “personnel issue.” Johnson credited Martinez with implementing some of his agenda, including a more equitable formula to distribute money to schools.

* Sun-Times | Under pressure from city’s watchdog, CPD reopens probe of cop who wore extremist symbol during racial justice protest: Officer Kyle Mingari was on duty and assigned to the protest when he was photographed wearing a face mask bearing the logo of the Three Percenters, a group allied with the anti-government militia movement. […] As the police department’s Bureau of Internal Affairs was investigating Mingari, reputed Three Percenters were charged in both the riot at the U.S. Capitol in January 2021 and a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

* Sun-Times | Chicago’s deadbeat migrant landlords get millions from City Hall despite tax troubles, other government debts: Remo Polselli went to prison for cheating on his federal taxes and then has had more tax problems with the IRS. Yet City Hall has spent $28 million to shelter migrants at two buildings owned by the Michigan landlord, the Sun-Times found. He’s one of two shelter landlords getting tax money despite owing the government.

* Sun-Times | Traffic may ‘grind to a halt’ after transit COVID-19 grants run out, RTA warns: Commuters could be spending a lot more time in cars starting in 2026 when the federal COVID-19 dollars propping up Chicago-area transit agencies run dry, according to a dire assessment from the Regional Transportation Authority. “The dense North Side of the city … is likely going to grind to a halt because more people [will] rely on cars to make trips,” the RTA’s program manager Peter Kersten said Thursday at the agency’s board meeting.

* Tribune | Dearborn Homes residents say their buildings are in disrepair; CHA says it is fixing the issues: Residents said at a news conference that tenants often get stuck in their units, unable to get groceries and attend doctor appointments, because the elevators are consistently broken. They also spoke about a rat infestation at the development, overflowing and inaccessible trash bins and safety concerns due to crime. […] The concerns from housing advocates and public housing tenants Thursday echo long-standing complaints from residents and their supporters for CHA to improve conditions at its properties and create more housing, as well as enduring calls for the agency’s CEO to step down or be fired by Mayor Brandon Johnson. Meanwhile, CHA said it is addressing the issues at Dearborn Homes.

* Tribune | CTA Red Line extension price tag jumps as project takes a major step forward: The contract also offers a window into how the costs of the massive project are shaping up. The latest estimates put the project at $4.8 billion before financing costs, about $1.16 billion over earlier estimates. Some of the project costs are expected to be covered by a large federal grant, and Chicago aldermen previously approved a special tax district that enabled the grant and will raise additional money. But the CTA wasn’t awarded as much federal funding as the agency initially sought, and will have to finance significantly more through bonds than initially planned.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Southtown | Illinois comptroller stops some state payouts to Dolton, threatens fines: Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza said Thursday she is immediately suspending what are called “offset” fund payments to Dolton for the village’s failure to turn over annual financial reports to her office. The money this year is on pace to total $135,000, and Mendoza said she is also threatening fines if Dolton doesn’t file the required reports. Those fines could total $78,600.

* Daily Herald | Elgin officials suspect illegal dumping caused fuel slicks on Fox River: [Elgin Fire Chief Robb Cagann] said authorities are investigating, but it will be a challenge, saying the source could be someone dumping in the middle of the night or pouring something down a floor drain in the vicinity. “This is not going to end tomorrow,” he said. “If the source is stopped, then we still have residual all over the system in those pipes. And the only way for that to get out is over time as it flushes out with the rainwater.”

* Daily Herald | After nurse scandal, District 25 implements new rules for how students get medication: Arlington Heights Elementary District 25 officials announced new procedures for how medication will be administered during the school day, after a nurse was fired for dispensing the wrong meds to students. Namely, prescription controlled substances that are dropped off at schools by parents must be verified not only by the school nurse, but by a witness.

* Daily Herald | How police are using virtual training to handle real-world challenges: The department’s new Operator XR System will transform how the department prepares its officers, Chief Tom Stefanson said, especially when it comes to meeting state requirements for de-escalation training, or responding to active-shooter situations. To use the system, officers wear a VR headset that immerses them in a 360-degree environment — unlike older training simulations where they instead faced a large display screen.

*** Downstate ***

* NBC Chicago | Years-old attendance record broken at Illinois State Fair thanks to one artist: According to organizers, the record was previously set in 2011, when Jason Aldean packed 15,329 seats at the annual summer event. Aldean was followed by Florida Georgia Line, with 15,204 in 2014 and Reba McEntire with 14,823 in 2019. But in 2024, a new genre took the top spot as Lil Wayne brought 15,427 people to the fair Wednesday.

* Rockford Register Star | Rockford leaders object to county solar farm proposal. Here’s why: At Monday’s Code and Regulation Committee meeting, Rockford City Council members voted unanimously to file a legal objection against the proposed 5-megawatt solar farm north of Rote Road. The solar farm would stand in the way of the city’s long-term land use and annexation goals as outlined in the city’s 2024 Comprehensive Plan, argued Scott Capovilla, the city’s planning and zoning manager.

* Daily Herald | Stein out, Bocek, Richards in for Buffalo Grove trustee race: Buffalo Grove Trustee Andrew Stein said he will not run for re-election. Meanwhile, Kevin Richards, vice chair of the village’s planning and zoning commission, said he is running for a two-year seat on the board, to fill out the unexpired term of Gregory Pike. Pike stepped down and was replaced by Denice Bocek.

* SJ-R | Chatham Township supervisor appointed to county board seat, will run in special election: The supervisor of Chatham Township was selected to serve on the Sangamon County Board. Justin Davsko, a Republican, will fill the District 26 seat vacated when John H. O’Neill III died on July 6. O’Neill served on the board 22 years.

* Rockford Register Star | Five fun facts about that giant Hard Rock Casino Rockford guitar: The giant marquee guitar is a replica of Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Nielsen’s famous checkerboard Hamer electric guitar. A similar checkerboard Hamer 1978 Explorer guitar he used as a backup instrument was on display at the temporary casino. Although the Cheap Trick rocker is known for sometimes using a five-neck custom job, the replica guitar is more traditional looking.

* WCIA | Springfield man reaches finals for national mullet competition: Here’s how to vote: Patrick Sosman started growing his mullet hairdo half-a-decade ago when he became a Twitch streamer. He said he wanted to stand out from the crowd. According to Sosman’s contestant profile, he believes the mullet “should be the official haircut of the USA,” and that “there is nothing more American than a mullet.”

*** National ***

* Herald-Tribune | New College of Florida tosses hundreds of library books, empties gender diversity library: A dumpster in the parking lot of Jane Bancroft Cook Library on the campus of New College overflowed with books and collections from the now-defunct Gender and Diversity Center on Tuesday afternoon. Video captured in the afternoon showed a vehicle driving away with the books before students were notified. In the past, students were given an opportunity to purchase books that were leaving the college’s library collection. Some discarded books included “Nine and Counting: The Women of the Senate”, “The War of the Worlds” and “When I Knew,” which is a collection of stories from LGBTQ+ people recounting when they knew they were gay. Several books from the GDC were retrieved by local activists from the SEE Alliance and a few students before they could be taken for disposal.