* ICYMI: CTA Blue Line shooting: Four dead after being shot while sleeping, Forest Park mayor says WGN…

Forest Park authorities, including Mayor Hoskins, addressed the media during a press conference about the shooting late Monday morning.

The mayor noted that with two major train lines ending in the municipality of just 14,000 people, Forest Park leaders have appealed to state lawmakers for more resources.

“Our police department and our fire department respond to this location probably more than any other location in our jurisdiction,” Hoskins said. “Forest Park is the only community in Cook County … with two major train lines that end (there). So we provide police response, and fire and medical response.

“And so to the extent that our leaders in Springfield are considering any kind of CTA, mass-transit reorganization, we would ask them to consider investing additional resources — in terms of public safety, law enforcement personnel, what have you — to support a small community like Forest Park that has to respond to two major train lines ending (here).”

* Related stories…

∙ AP: 4 people fatally shot on Chicago-area train, police say
∙ Sun-Times: 4 sleeping passengers shot, killed on CTA Blue Line in Forest Park, suspect in custody
∙ NBC Chicago: Forest Park shooting: What we know after 4 shot, killed while sleeping on CTA Blue Line train

At 10 am Governor Pritzker will join ComEd for the electric vehicle rebate awards in Skokie. Click here to watch.

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Tribune | Federal judge rules section of Illinois’ concealed carry law unconstitutional: A federal judge in Rockford ruled it unconstitutional for Illinoisans with concealed carry permits to be prohibited from carrying guns on public transportation, a decision with uncertain implications for a decade-old state law. […] Johnston, who was appointed to the bench in 2020 by then-Republican President Donald Trump, noted in his ruling that in satisfying Bruen’s historical test standard, the defendants tried to cite a nearly 700-year-old law that prohibited people from carrying firearms in certain instances. But the plaintiffs argued that law “is too old and should therefore be afforded no weight in ascertaining an American tradition” and that it “has little bearing” on the Second Amendment.

* Daily Herald | What Senate leaders learned on summer road trip, as transit mega merger looms: “I don’t know of another system that has four different agencies with 21 appointing authorities … in the world,” Villivalam remarked in Naperville. “If the governance system was working so well, we would have the service that we all want — of course the funding has to happen.”

* WBEZ | GOP-tilted websites showed where Illinois judges live despite a law that protects their privacy: An election conspiracy peddler exposed dates of birth and home addresses online for more than 6 million Illinois voters earlier this year, including dozens of state and federal judges whose places of residence are legally protected, a WBEZ investigation has found. An analysis of more than 30 websites of Lake Forest-based Local Government Information Services also identified home addresses for those involved in a high-profile federal narcotics case involving a foreign drug cartel, prosecutors involved in public-corruption cases, prominent Illinois-based actors and musicians, Chicago sports luminaries and several billionaires.

*** Statehouse News ***

* AP | Women behind bars are often survivors of abuse. A series of new laws aim to reduce their sentences: Advocates for domestic violence survivors in Illinois celebrated earlier this month when Gov. JB Pritzker signed a bill into law making it easier for those who are incarcerated to get reduced sentences. House bill sponsor Rep. Kelly Cassidy was among those cheering. First elected in 2011, she has since written legislation designed to help survivors of gender-based and domestic violence, including the resentencing bill that was signed into law in August. The idea is that women who received harsh sentences without a court hearing about their histories of abuse should get an opportunity to tell their stories in court and potentially be resentenced.

You're a hero and a lifesaver, East Moline Mayor Reggie Freeman! We were speaking at the @RICoDemocrats #LaborDay picnic when a Navy vet had a heart attack. Not breathing. No pulse. Mayor Freeman, a former @EastMolinePD chief, gave him chest compressions until he came to. pic.twitter.com/cPN0WGDnpk

— Susana A. Mendoza ☮️ (@susanamendoza10) September 3, 2024

*** Chicago ***

* Sun-Times | 2 Chicago police oversight officials fired amid allegations of anti-cop bias at the agency: Two high-ranking employees of the agency charged with investigating Chicago Police misconduct were abruptly fired Friday, just days after one of them complained to the inspector general about bias against police. Matt Haynam, a $163,068-a-year deputy chief administrator for the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, said he was summoned to a virtual meeting with COPA Chief Andrea Kersten and general counsel Robin Murphy and told he was out, effective immediately. He said no reason was given.

📢Labor day news:📢 ACLU-IL Staff United will be striking starting at 8am tomorrow, in protest of @ACLUofIL management’s refusal to accept the NLRB’s settlement agreement. We are outraged at their refusal to pay us the wages the federal government agrees we are owed.

— ACLU of IL Staff United (@ACLUILUnited) September 2, 2024

* Tribune | Illinois mourns killing of Israeli hostages including Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, who had Chicago ties: One of six hostages confirmed killed by Hamas in Gaza over the weekend was Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, the 23-year-old son of Chicago natives Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg who was kidnapped from the Tribe of Nova music festival in the Negev desert in southern Israel on Oct. 7. On Saturday night, the Israel Foreign Ministry shared a confirmation from the family of the death of “their beloved son and brother.” Goldberg-Polin’s father had previously said the young man loved to travel and described him as a fun-loving, curious and funny person.

* Triibe | Leon brings late Chicago bluesman Eddie Taylor’s story to life in new film: A film documenting the life of blues legend and Chicago native Eddie Taylor is coming soon. On Aug. 21, The Rhythm and The Blues screened at Navy Pier. The family of the late Eddie Taylor, along with actor Leon and Chicago music stars like house DJ Terry Hunter, came together at the screening to honor and celebrate the life and legacy of the bluesman. The event also celebrated Chicago’s music history, honoring jazzist Herbie Hancock and the architect of the Mendel Bi Level dances, House Music legend Kirkland Townsend.

* Sun-Times | South Loop sandlot? White Sox, Related Midwest build temporary baseball diamond at stadium site: The Sox and developer Related Midwest brought their flashy renderings of a potential new South Loop stadium partially to life this week, creating a baseball diamond where players could eventually take the field if the team lands public financing for a ballpark in the vacant parcel known as The 78.

* WGN | South Side sisters go on once-in-a-lifetime experience to Sky vs. Fever: Walker and VMS Solutions CEO Kevin Corcoran donated $2,000 for tickets, while Walker organized a pre-game limo ride that would take Jade and Joy to Giordano’s for dinner, before traveling to Wintrust Arena for Friday night’s game. Walker also reached out to the Sky in hopes of partnering with the WNBA team to help reward the girls for their hard work and on Wednesday, the Sky came through.

* Daily Herald | Hey, White Sox fans, don’t skip the ending: Right now, after their 13-3 loss to the Orioles on Labor Day at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, the White Sox are 31-108. The 108 losses already are the most in Sox history, surpassing the dreadful 1970 team that went 56-106. […] Losing is what they do. It seems likely nobody has done it better.

* WBBM | ‘Keep the memories alive’: CTA revives decades-old railcars for special milestone: Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) riders got to experience a piece of history on Sunday, as the transit agency celebrated 40 years of service to and from O’Hare Airport. The idea to extend Chicago’s “L” to O’Hare Airport dates back to the 1950s, CTA officials said. It wasn’t until Labor Day in 1984, though, that O’Hare Station officially opened. At the time, Chicago was one of the only cities in the U.S. with direct, rapid transit to an airport.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Herald | St. Charles library joins League of Women Voters for program on ‘Nobody’s Fool’: Join a talk with Professor Dan Simons, co-author of “Nobody’s Fool: Why We Get Taken In and What We Can Do About It,” brought to you in partnership with the League of Women Voters of Illinois Mis/Disinformation Task Force. […] Simons is a professor of psychology at the University of Illinois where he heads the Visual Cognition Laboratory. In addition to his position in the department of psychology, he has courtesy appointments in the Charles H. Sandage Department of Advertising and the Gies College of Business. His research explores the limits of awareness and memory, the reasons why we often are unaware of those limits, and the implications of such limits for our personal and professional lives.

*** Downstate ***

* Center Square | Staff are ‘securing jobs’ at Decatur prison ahead of expected Logan prison closure: Illinois state Rep. Dan Caulkins, R-Decatur, confirmed employees from the Logan County Correctional Center have started to transfer to Decatur. “They’re trying to get ahead of this closure. They [Decatur] are seeing folks from the Lincoln facility coming to Decatur to fill job openings,” said Caulkins. The Illinois Department of Corrections said they are not currently under a hiring freeze at either the Stateville prison or Logan County Correctional. Stateville prisoners must transfer due to a recent court ruling. The department said they’re discussing with labor partners the impact of that order on IDOC employees.

* SJ-R | ‘They will have leadership.’ Coroner steps in as temporary Sangamon County Sheriff: Current Sangamon County Coroner Jim Allmon said it was “not sustainable” to hold his office and the title of sheriff together in the long run. But in an interview Friday with The State Journal-Register, Allmon said he would uphold “the constitution of (the sheriff’s) office and make sure things run smoothly, make sure that people in this community are safe.”

* WCIA | Mahomet-Seymour schools to put $112.8 million question on November ballot: Kenny Lee, the district’s superintendent, said if the $112.8 million question on November’s ballot is passed, it would build two new buildings, demolish the current junior high and work on other facility upgrades. One building would go behind Middletown Prairie Elementary and be dedicated to second and third-graders. The other one would be the new junior high, and go behind where the current one is. Then, more space would open up in the schools.

* KFVS | Giant City State Park to host 80th birthday event for Smokey Bear: Giant City State Park is holding an event next weekend to celebrate the birthday of Smokey Bear. This U.S. Forest Service icon is turning 80 years old this year and to celebrate, Giant City will be hosting the Wendelin Art Display, the best-known artist behind Smokey Bear.

* WTVO | Union Pacific’s Big Boy 4014 train steams into northern Illinois next week: The Big Boy 4014 is on a “Heartland of America” tour, running through 10 states to offer the public a chance to see the classic train up close. It is one of 25 built in the 1940s, and the only one to remain in operation today. The train, built to “conquer mountains,” last visited Rochelle in 2019 and was viewed by thousands of onlookers.

*** National ***

* Politico | Convicted fraudsters launch AI lobbying firm using fake names: LobbyMatic was founded last year by Jacob Wohl, who in 2022 was convicted along with his longtime associate Jack Burkman of felony telecom fraud after running a robocall campaign in largely Black neighborhoods in several states telling people not to vote by mail. An Ohio judge ordered them to spend 500 hours registering people to vote, and the Federal Communications Commission fined them $5 million. […] Running their new firm under pseudonyms appears to be the latest instance of shady behavior by a pair of convicted fraudsters who’ve become infamous in Washington for various schemes. Now, they are seizing on public exuberance around the promise of AI to transform the workplace — in this case, on K Street.