* ICYMI: Chicago Board of Education unanimously votes to halt school closures until 2027. Tribune…

During his remarks Thursday evening, [CPS CEO Pedro Martinez’] addressed the “misinformation campaign” he claimed was waged against him regarding school closures, reiterating that the district has no plans to close schools. He also discussed his role in authoring a resolution extending a moratorium on school closures until January 2027. However, Martinez did not address speculation that he would soon be ousted.

“There is simply no truth to this,” Martinez said at the meeting. “To put this issue to rest once and for all, I’m asking the Board to adopt the resolution today, clearly stating that CPS will not close or consolidate any schools before the fully elected school board is in place on January 2027.”

CTU Vice President Jackson Potter stepped to the podium at Thursday’s board meeting, calling on Martinez to amend his resolution on school closures, claiming that it currently doesn’t fully protect schools as it doesn’t ban co-locations, in which schools share facilities without any changes to school programming.

“We’re debating school closures, staff reductions, rather than implementing a plan for transformation or suing the banks for their graft and deceit,” Potter said. “We’re going through stages of grief. We’ve been traumatized by closing lists that have been mistakenly given to us in the past, and then they pretend to be theoretical and become a harsh reality. We’re reminded the same procedures for co-locations do not apply as they do with closures and consolidations because neither the law or the resolution you aim to pass tonight would prohibit this form of school action. Therefore we’ve amended your resolution,” he said.

* Related stories…

∙ Sun-Times: No action taken Thursday at CPS board meeting on fate of CEO Pedro Martinez
∙ Tribune: Mayor Brandon Johnson cites work ‘to transform this public school system’ when asked about wanting schools chief out
∙ WBEZ: As Chicago’s mayor tries to oust CPS’ Pedro Martinez, the CEO’s contract is a major hurdle

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* WGLT | McLean County clerk predicts 80% turnout as early voting begins: McLean County Clerk Kathy Michael manages elections in the county except for Bloomington, where it’s handled by the city’s election commission. […] More than three of four registered voters [76%] in McLean County cast ballots in the 2020 presidential election. Michael predicted voter turnout could reach 80% in McLean County this year with the rise of early voting and mail-in voting. “We’ve had the [biggest] response of the vote-by-mail applications coming back — hundreds,” said Michael, who encouraged voters to cast their ballots before Election Day to avoid a wait.

* Capitol News Illinois | Capitol News Illinois launches Election Guide as early voting begins in Illinois: Capitol News Illinois’ interactive guide aims to help navigate the process of voting, from how to register and what to do if you feel your rights have been violated. While early voting began this week for most of the state, the same can’t be said for Chicago and the rest of Cook County. Early voting begins Oct. 3 in the city, while voting in suburban Cook County begins on Oct. 9.

* Daily Herald | What’s happened to crime rates, court-skipping since cash bail went away?: In fact, the report finds — with some important caveats — that both crime and court-skipping have declined in the past year. “This isn’t any kind of definitive word on the law and its impact,” noted Professor David Olson, who co-directs the center that is in the first stages of a four-year study of the PFA’s impact. “These (findings) certainly could change and evolve.”

*** Statehouse News ***

* NPR | Law aims to protect tenants with complaints from landlord retaliation: The bill was proposed by state Rep. Will Guzzardi, a Chicago Democrat. “Far too often tenants face retaliation for … trying to exercise their basic rights, trying to make sure that the unit that they live in is habitable and safe,’ he said, “And when they complain about conditions or raise questions with their landlord, instead of getting those conditions fixed or getting good answers from their landlord, they get an eviction notice on their door.’’

* Crain’s | Millionaire’s tax could raise $4.5 billion for property tax relief: report: A new state estimate shows a so-called millionaire’s tax up for an advisory referendum on the November ballot could generate at least $4.5 billion for property tax relief. WBEZ Chicago and Chicago Sun-Times reported the figure today after obtaining it through an open records request. The ballot measure, which is non-binding, asks voters: “Should the Illinois Constitution be amended to create an additional 3% tax on income greater than $1,000,000 for the purpose of dedicating funds raised to property tax relief?”

* Tribune | State agency lacks data to back $6 million in unemployment claims, audit finds: The state agency charged with distributing unemployment benefits continued to fall short in administering claims filed during the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving auditors unable to determine if more than $6 million wound up in the proper hands, according to a report released Thursday. The report from Auditor General Frank Mautino’s office marked the latest criticism of the Illinois Department of Employment Security, which has come under scrutiny over the last few years for how it administered the distribution of unemployment benefits throughout the pandemic.

*** Chicago ***

* Sun-Times | Burnett says to count him out of ShotSpotter veto override: Zoning Committee Chair Walter Burnett said the City Council gains nothing by further “antagonizing” the mayor. So while he voted to keep ShotSpotter, if the Council tries to override a threatened Johnson veto, he won’t back that effort.

* Tribune | Chicago Board of Education unanimously votes to halt school closures until 2027: In a unanimous vote, the seven-member Chicago Board of Education voted Thursday to prohibit school closings until 2027. The vote concluded – at least for now – an increasingly fractious month in which the district faced accusations of clandestinely plotting to close schools and the fate of Chief Executive Officer Pedro Martinez’s job was in constant question.

* WBEZ | CPS enrollment increases a bit for second year in a row; also a bump in English language learners: After Chicago Public Schools enrollment increased for the first time in more than a decade last year, the total number of students has gone up once again to 324,311, officials said Thursday. That’s a less than 1% increase compared to last year’s official count of 321,539 — and a drop from later in the school year, when newly enrolling migrant students brought numbers up by the spring.

* WGN | Hire360 opens new training hub to boost diversity in Chicago’s construction and trades: Apprentice Edgar Vallejo spoke with WGN News about his experience. “It allowed me to get into the carpenters’ union. They gave me all that information, and honestly, right now, it’s been the best decision that I could have ever made,” Vallejo said.

* CBS Chicago | U.S. EEOC lawsuit accuses Chicago’s Admiral Theatre of sexual, racial discrimination: The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission accused the Admiral of creating a hostile environment toward the entertainers. The lawsuit claimed the Admiral subjected female dancers to hostile and dangerous conditions. Among the allegations were that the dancers were exposed to harassing and sometimes violent behavior from patrons at the club—including grabbing, groping, slapping, and even sexual assault.

* CBS Chicago | Hurricane Helene’s effects will be felt in Chicago as early as Friday, according to forecasts: The storm is racing inland at an unusually fast forward speed, so even as its access to warm water which serves as hurricane fuel is cut off after landfall, the storm will not have much time to weaken on its journey through the southeastern U.S. Hurricane warnings were placed into effect 200 miles inland – nearly to Atlanta, Georgia, where 70 mph wind gusts will be possible Thursday night. As the storm is absorbed into a larger area of low pressure sitting to its west, a tight pressure gradient will lead to strong winds as far north as Illinois and Indiana.

* Tribune | Chicago White Sox defy the odds — and their fans — with a stunning sweep to delay a date with infamy: Did all the negative attention inspire the Sox? “I don’t know if it motivated us,” right fielder Dominic Fletcher told me afterward. “But it definitely feels good when it feels like the whole world is rooting against you, and you go out there and get a few wins.”

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* CBS Chicago | After judge’s order restricting Mayor Tiffany Henyard, who’s running Dolton, Illinois?: “I’ve been covering government in Northern Illinois for more than 40 years, and I’ve never seen anything like this,” said David Greising, president and chief executive officer of the Better Government Association. “This has been a slow-moving train wreck for months.” “The trustees, when they can get a quorum, are the ones running Dolton,” Greising said.

* CBS Chicago | Sauk Village, Illinois clerk speaks after fight with mayor during village board meeting: During the Tuesday night meeting, the clerk grabbed the mayor’s gavel after she made several requests for the mayor to stop pointing it at her. Out of frustration, she yanked it out of his hand and threats were made. “I personally extend my apology, because it’s not typical of me,” Campbell-Pruitt said. Campbell-Pruitt said she was defending herself in the exchange. She admitted she physically touched Burgess and grabbed the gavel from him.

* NBC Chicago | ‘Report, not repost’: Suburban police, school district leaders send message to parents amid rise in threats: The letter, issued by the Chief of Police in both cities, the DuPage County and Will County State’s Attorney and the superintendents of Naperville School District 203 and Indian Prairie School District 204, encouraged starting an open dialogue with children on the severity of the threats. “Parents, please discuss the topic of school threats with your child in an age-appropriate way and pledge as a family to both report threats to the proper authorities and refrain from sharing threats and rumors with others,” the statement said in part.

* Daily Herald | ‘Steadfast leadership’: Wheaton city manager reflects on career: Distilling Mike Dzugan’s career into a few top accomplishments isn’t an easy thing to do. Dzugan has spent more than three decades in Wheaton government, first as the assistant city manager and then as city manager. Over the years, he oversaw some major construction. More recently, the city wrapped up a $35 million downtown streetscape project that also replaced infrastructure, reconfigured parking and created new gathering spaces, including the French market pavilion.

* Tribune | The American Toby Jug Museum in Evanston is closing. What does one do with 8,500 Toby jugs?: A Toby jug is one of those old-timey ceramic mugs shaped to look like a person — traditionally, a caricature of a British drunkard, ruddy complexion, tricorn hat, long coat, on a stool, cradling a mug of lager. Across the 250 year or so history of the Toby jug, there have been jugs with the likenesses of Winston Churchill and Barack Obama, Shakespeare and Charles Dickens, Gandhi, Hitler and Spuds MacKenzie. A Toby, to be specific, shows a full figure likeness, and a “character mug” shows only the bust of a figure. But Mullins bought both, and anything else (pitchers, thimbles) remotely related.

* Daily Herald | ‘We all are Americans’: Early voters share hopes and fears for the presidential election: DuPage County Clerk Jean Kaczmarek said early voting turnout Thursday broke a record, with 1,533 people counted across five sites compared to 660 in 2020. About one-third of suburbanites interviewed in the course of an hour cited economic issues including tariffs and inflation as crucial.

* Lake County News Sun | Early voting begins in Lake County; ‘I tell everyone to vote as soon as they can’: Bill Weber of Lake Villa, the brother of state Rep. Tom Weber, R-Lake Villa, said he always votes early on the first day because it frees him to help his brother’s campaign the rest of the time until Election Day. “I tell everyone to vote as soon as they can,” he said. “You never know if you might be sick, or be busy at work on Election Day. And, vote at the courthouse. You don’t have to worry about fraud there. If you vote at the courthouse, you know your vote will be counted.

* Shaw Local | Attorney lays some blame on Trump for Lockport couple’s role in Jan. 6 riot: In a sentencing memorandum on Wednesday, Daniel Hesler, attorney for Kelly Lynn Fontaine, 54, said the “simplest explanation” for why Fontaine and her husband Bryan Dula, 53, went to Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021 was “because Donald Trump invited them.” […] On June 10, Fontaine and Dula pleaded guilty to a federal misdemeanor charge of disorderly or disruptive conduct on the grounds or in the buildings of the U.S. Capitol. The Lockport couple also pleaded guilty to another misdemeanor charge of parading, demonstrating or picketing in the Capitol building.

*** Downstate ***

* WGLT | ISU imposing 2% budget cut in every division for current year: In a “Dear Colleagues” email to the campus, provost Ani Yazedjian said every division will cut its budget by 2% for the current budget year that began in July. That is in addition to a pay freeze announced last week in president Aondover Tarhule’s annual State of the University address. At that time, Tarhule confirmed the three-year structural deficit could rise to $32 million, or about 6% of the general fund budget, at the end of that period.

* WGLT | Bloomington-Normal unemployment drops below 5%: According to data released by the Illinois Department of Employment Security [IDES], a bulk of the new jobs are in Leisure and Hospitality. That sector added 600 jobs, while Private Education and Health Services [+200], Mining and Construction [+200], Manufacturing [+100], and Retail Trade [+100] also saw job growth. Professional and Business Services [-300] and Financial Activities [-200] lost jobs.

* WCBU | Bradley University enrollment dips below 5,000 for first time in over 30 years: Bradley University’s total enrollment has dipped below 5,000 students for the 2024-25 academic year. Total enrollment is about 4,800 students, a university spokesperson told WCBU on Wednesday. That’s down from 5,217 total students in 2023-24. It’s the lowest overall enrollment Bradley has posted since at least 1990.

* QC Times | Moline to rehabilitate bridge to Rock Island Arsenal: According to a city press release, the project will replace the current bridge deck and parapets with modern updates. Beams, beam bearings and seats will all be rehabilitated, and new street lighting will also be installed. The project will ensure that large vehicles, such as emergency vehicles, can access the military installation, assisting critical readiness at the Arsenal.

* Herald-Whig | ‘This is a trend … that needs to stop’: QPS, QPS address school threats: QUINCY — Quincy Public Schools and the Quincy Police Department offer some simple advice for community members tied to the recent threats to area schools. If you see something, say something to local law enforcement and school officials — not to a social media account. “While the online chatter and anxiety regarding these threats continues to escalate, we need your help to end the hold these threats are having on our students, staff and families,” QPS Superintendent Todd Pettit said. “Resharing hearsay, rumors or false information on the internet has created panic that makes it difficult for law enforcement and school officials to investigate these threats.”

* WCIA | Champaign County records first human case of West Nile Virus: The Champaign-Urbana Public Health District said human cases would be probable after it upgraded the county’s West Nile alert status at the start of the month. Now, a Champaign resident in their 60s has tested positive, health officials said. Champaign County is the third county in Central Illinois to record at least one human case, after Christian and Coles Counties recorded one each. There are a total of 43 cases statewide and at least one death.

*** National ***

* Sun-Times | Kudos to Illinois lawmakers for proposed bill to hop away from kangaroo slaughter: Kudos to U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., for introducing legislation to ban the sale of kangaroo parts in the United States and stem the killing of 1.5 million of the iconic marsupials per annum. Demand for soccer cleats made from kangaroo skins is driving an unprecedented commercial slaughter of native wildlife. Last year, Nike, Puma and New Balance announced policies to stop sourcing kangaroo skins, but the world’s largest athletic shoe sellers, Adidas, is still driving the massacre of the iconic marsupials.