* Planed Parenthood Illinois Action…

The Planned Parenthood Illinois Action (PPIA) Board announced its endorsements for the offices of Illinois State House, Illinois State Senate, and the statewide advisory ballot measures on the 2024 ballot on Sept. 26. The PPIA Board also made recommendations for Chicago School Board candidates.

The PPIA Board has made endorsements in the majority of the races for the Illinois General Assembly. These candidates have all submitted questionnaires that indicate their support for sexual and reproductive health care policies at the state level. A full list of the Planned Parenthood Illinois Action endorsed candidates is listed on our website at www.ppiacation.org […]

Advisory Ballot Questions endorsed:

The PPIA Board is also proud to recommend our supporters vote YES for all three advisory ballot questions.

Of special importance to Planned Parenthood Illinois Action is the advisory question to mandate insurance coverage of invitro-fertilization (IVF) treatments for Illinoisans seeking to start families. Planned Parenthood Illinois Action fights for all Illinoisans to have the right to make decisions on their family planning. […]

These endorsements come on the heels of PPIA announcing a day of action to raise awareness of the dangers Project 2025 can have on Illinois. Project 2025 aims to create significant barriers for individuals seeking reproductive health care, particularly for marginalized groups who already face challenges in accessing quality health services. Through their legislative action and policy support, Anti-choice politicians in Illinois have already made their agenda clear. In the last legislative session, anti-sexual and reproductive health care politicians have introduced 53 bills that would dramatically limit access to essential health care.

* Riverbender…

A new pilot program utilizing the state’s public libraries to improve court access will offer guidance for Illinoisans struggling to navigate the legal system on their own. O’Fallon Public Library, which is in the 20th Judicial Court in St. Clair County, is part of the new statewide program and it was selected for this pilot program.

The goal of the pilot program is to help people without lawyers — who may have limited technology capabilities or transportation challenges — more easily access legal information and assistance at their local public library.

O’Fallon Library Director Ryan Johnson said there is training involved before O’Fallon Library will officially begin the assistance for individuals on court-related issues. He will have staff well-versed in various forms in the filing process and also there will be a Zoom court for people to respond to some court-related issues, among other new services. […]

Using a data-driven approach, 18 libraries across the state were selected for the pilot phase based on the volume of litigants without lawyers, geographic and/or transportation limitations to local courthouses, broadband internet access constraints and interest from public libraries in the area.

* WSIL…

Hundreds of Ameren workers from Illinois and Missouri are helping to assist those on the east coast with recovery efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

Ameren stated they are sending 125 Ameren personnel and 210 contractor personnel and line workers to help assist crew from Appalachian Power in Charleston, West Virginia.

This includes 160 which are from Illinois, with five of those members from the Marion and Anna region. […]

“Mutual aid literally places thousands of boots on the ground to help the East Coast power companies with their restoration efforts. We were prepped and ready to answer the call for people affected by Hurricane Helene,” said Lenny Singh, chairman and president, Ameren Illinois. “My thoughts and prayers are with those in the aftermath of the hurricane and for all personnel traveling to respond to this event.”

*** Statehouse News ***

* The Telegraph | Katie Stuart campaigns for 5th term in Illinois’ 112th House District: Katie Stuart is looking to win her fifth term as a state representative in the 112th District and is keeping busy as election day draws closer. She is facing a challenge from Republican Jay Keeven. “I’m out every day talking to folks, going door-to-door and just listening to concerns and sharing what I’ve been doing for the district,” she said recently.

*** Chicago ***

* WTTW | Chicago Spent $129M on Police Overtime in 6 Months, 30% More Than its Annual Overtime Budget: This means the city is on pace to spend at least $258 million on police overtime by the end of the year, even as officials imposed limits on overtime for all city departments, except for police and the Chicago Fire Department, amid a massive budget crunch. CPD exceeded its budget for overtime in 2024 even after Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling stopped assigning police officers to sit in prominent spots downtown with their emergency lights flashing, as part of CPD’s strategic deployment initiative.

* Block Club | Fire Union Blasts Removal Of Paramedics From Mental Health Emergency Response Program: Union President Patrick Cleary said CARE’s exclusion of Fire Department personnel violates the union’s contract as non-union members would perform city EMS services. Cleary also said proposed changes to union members’ hours, wages and conditions of employment must be brought to the bargaining table. The Firefighters Union learned about the changes to CARE program through a job posting shared by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. The April job posting was for an EMT and was listed under the health department. “We do that. Those are our duties,” Cleary said. “You can’t offer our work to another entity.”

* Sun-Times | Someone in Chicago hit me with their car and fled: On my way back, a block away from home, I was crossing the street where I had eight seconds left on the traffic signal. At the same time, a northbound gray car eagerly waited to make a left turn. While attempting to beat the red light, the driver sped up, hit me and left me in the middle of the street — about 10 feet away from the crosswalk. […] And the person responsible? No consequences, just a mini victory by beating the light and getting home a few minutes earlier that day. […] I thought about them when I learned how to stand and use a walker, when I got doctor approval to start walking with a cane, when I took my first steps without assistance and when I ran my first three miles a few weeks ago.

* CNN | America’s Greyhound bus stations are disappearing: Greyhound’s lease for its terminal in Chicago expires next month. Not only would that mean Greyhound could leave the city, but FlixBus, Barons, Burlington Trailways and other lines that also operate from the terminal could be forced to leave as well. A representative for Greyhound told CNN that there are no proposals for a lease extension. The city, which regulates curbside pickup and drop-off locations, told CNN that it is looking for alternative options for facilities. Both Greyhound and city leaders say they are committed to finding a solution.

* Sun-Times | Metra working to recover after messy morning rush: The Union Pacific Northwest, Milwaukee North, North Central Service and Heritage Corridor lines were all affected, a Metra spokesperson said. The disruption was caused by the Canadian National Railway’s positive train control system. That system is a safety measure used on tracks and at rail crossings to prevent collisions, derailments and work zone mishaps. All railroads are required to have it.

* Sun-Times | A weird and warm time surrounds returning salmon around Chicago: Even the idea of salmon in Lake Michigan is weird. In the 1960s, Michigan’s Dr. Howard Tanner concocted the audacious plan to use Pacific salmon to control invasive alewives that were turning Lake Michigan beaches into stinking messes. The plan worked, to the point where now lake managers balance alewives to the amount of salmon in the lake. That would’ve been absurd 57 years ago.

* WBEZ | As Jimmy Carter turns 100, listen to this 1988 WBEZ interview when he warned of rising temperatures: Carter came to WBEZ as the country was in the midst of a presidential campaign, with then-Vice President George H.W. Bush and Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis vying to succeed Reagan. […] While he was reserved in his criticism of Reagan, Carter said the country was sliding backward on environmental policies under his successor. In remarks that may sound eerily modern, Carter — who proclaimed himself the first environmental president — said it was time to act to reverse signs of a warming planet.

* Tribune | The secret lives of Maurie and Flaurie, the Superdawg rooftop icons in Chicago: The refurbishment includes new LED eyes replacing the incandescent eyes for the first time. But the original paper-mache will remain “The last time they were down, we looked inside,” Berman said. “And there was old newspaper.”

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* WLS | Ford Heights appoints acting mayor after former mayor resigns over theft, misconduct convictions: Tensions between some residents and city officials ran high as current Trustee Freddie Wilson was appointed acting mayor of the struggling southern suburb. […] While there is support for the new mayor, others question his ties to a corrupt Mayor Griffin, who served from 2009 to 2017 and again beginning in 2021. “That’s got nothing to do with me,” Wilson said. “Whatever the mayor might have made mistakes doing, that was on the mayor. Don’t hold me accountable for what the mayor did.”

* Sun-Times | Chicago Marathon and United Center ditch plastic water bottles with help from Rosemont company: When runners cross the finish line at next month’s Bank of America Chicago Marathon, they won’t get plastic single-use water bottles. Instead, they’ll get aluminum ones made by Culligan International, a Rosemont-based water filtration and treatment company. The roughly 50,000 marathon runners can also refill the metal bottles at Culligan’s portable refilling stations throughout Grant Park during the post-marathon party on Oct. 13.

* Lake County News-Sun | Development of Waukegan’s downtown, lakefront moving at different speeds; ‘We have to learn what developers may want’: Already working with the Waukegan Planning & Zoning Commission, the Waukegan Community Development Partnership is proposing the renovation of the one-time YMCA on Clayton Street and a former restaurant on Genesee Street into multiuse facilities. […] Mayor Ann Taylor said plans for the lakefront will take longer, in part because of contaminated land from the city’s industrial past and the reluctance of the Canadian National Railway to part with its right of way bordering the western part of the lakefront area.

*** Downstate ***

* Telegraph | Illinois retiree challenges Rep. Mary Miller as write-in candidate: Looking at his ballot in the spring Democratic primary, William Bonnett noted there were only two races listed – the presidential election and a judicial race. So Bonnett, 70, a retiree in Ashland, Illinois, a small town northwest of Springfield, decided to do something about it – he signed up as a write-in candidate against Republican incumbent Mary Miller in the 15th Congressional District. He described himself as a “volunteer Democrat.”

* Sun-Times | Oak Lawn man, 18, dies in shooting near Illinois State University, another 18-year-old injured: A person was killed and another was critically wounded in a shooting early Sunday near Illinois State University in downstate Normal. The victims are not associated to the university, police said.

* SJ-R | Unhoused people return to encampment site after city of Springfield removes items: Multiple people brought food to the seven or so people present in the morning, carrying bags of Lunchables, sandwiches, bottled water and doughnuts. “We’re not supposed to close up our bowels of compassion and not help,” said Michelle Myers who handed out sandwiches she had made. “It becomes very political and so forth… but we are still supposed to help. And that’s just being a Christian and a humanitarian.”

* WAND | UIS Illinois Innocence Project marks International Wrongful Conviction Day: As part of the flag display, the “UIS blue” flags represent the 555 people exonerated in Illinois. Those men and women lost 4,657 years of their lives to wrongful incarceration, the University of Illinois Springfield said. […] IIP has helped exonerate/release 24 innocent men and women in Illinois who were wrongfully convicted of crimes they did not commit and wrongfully imprisoned for a collective 546 years at a cost of $35 million for incarceration alone.

* WGEM | Quincy church hosts scam education seminar: Pastor Orville Jones stated senior citizens are the most likely to fall for phone scams due to a lack of education about technology. That’s what prompted him to start a seminar to educate seniors about scams. “We get these phone calls, sometimes they’re threatening and say they’re from the IRS,” Jones explained. Guest speaker Don O’Brien of the Better Business Bureau explained to the attendees that asking the scammers questions that an actual government employee would know is just one of the ways that seniors can avoid the scam.

* PJ Star | Peoria-based healthcare system named one of the best employers in Illinois: Peoria-based OSF Healthcare was named to the Forbes list of best employers in Illinois for a sixth year in a row. […] OSF has nearly 24,000 employees in more than 150 locations, including 16 hospitals in Illinois and Michigan, according to the healthcare system. OSF was the only Peoria-headquartered business to make the list.

*** National ***

* AP | Abortion pills will be controlled substances in Louisiana soon. Doctors have concerns: Opponents argue the classification could have catastrophic impacts in a state that already has a near-total abortion ban and one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the nation. Doctors fear the reclassification will cause delays in accessing the drugs — mifepristone and misoprostol — which together can be used to manage miscarriages, while misoprostol induces labor and treats severe bleeding after delivery. They also worry the practice of reclassifying the drugs might spread beyond Louisiana.

* NYT | Verizon Mobile Users Report Outages Across the U.S.: According to the website Downdetector, which tracks user reports of internet disruptions, more than 104,000 cases of Verizon outages were reported across the country as of 11:30 a.m. Eastern, more than an hour after the first issues were reported. By about noon, that number had dropped to around 78,000