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Isabel’s afternoon roundup

Tuesday, Sep 10, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* WTTW

Officials announced Tuesday they will move 1,200 migrants out of three shelters across Chicago as the crisis that has sent nearly 48,000 men, women and children to the city from the southern border enters a new phase.

Shelters in Little Village and in the West Loop will close Oct. 1 and a shelter in Hyde Park will close Oct. 24. All of the residents will be offered space in one of the 14 shelters the city will continue to operate, officials said.

In all, the closures of the shelters at 2241 S. Halsted Ave., 344 N. Ogden Ave. and 4900 S. Lake Shore Drive will reduce the city’s migrant shelter capacity by more than 3,000 beds.

After the three shelters close, the city will have approximately 2,000 additional beds, officials said. That will ensure that the city could handle an unanticipated surge in the final eight weeks before the presidential election, officials said.

* WCIA

The Springfield government has stopped its effort to criminalize homelessness.

An ordinance filed by Springfield mayor Misty Buscher and Alderwoman Lakeisha Purchase to set up fines for “public camping” was filed for emergency passage last week. After hours of public comment, the council decided to remove the emergency passage language and scheduled to discuss it further at the committee.

Now, they do not want the ordinance considered at Tuesday evening’s Committee of the Whole meeting.

“We understand and respect the concerns raised by local advocacy groups, stakeholders, and members of our community regarding Ordinance 2024-376,” they said in a joint statement Tuesday. “In light of these concerns, we, as sponsors of the ordinance, have decided to request that the ordinance be withdrawn from committee consideration.”

*** Statewide ***

* Fox 2 Now | Over 180 electric vehicle charging ports to be built along Illinois interstates: Gov. JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Transportation announced Monday that the state will be investing $25.3 million in vehicle charging stations. According to a news release, the grants will be going toward the construction of 182 new charging stations along Illinois interstates. Madison County will receive $649,240 in grants to install charging ports.

* The Atlantic | Why Police Officers Rarely Change Jobs: Why do police officers like Grayson keep getting hired? Part of the answer comes from today’s guest, UChicago law professor John Rappaport, whose research on “wandering officers” revealed the extent to which previously fired officers find jobs in new departments and the structural incentives of small departments to keep hiring them.

* Farm Week Now | Monarch sightings vary across Illinois: With monarch butterfly populations reported at historically low ranges last winter, experts and gardeners watched closely to see what that would mean to this summer’s populations in Illinois. Reports have been mixed with some people noting an absence of the colorful butterflies. “In Clark County, we’re pretty consistent with butterfly numbers this year,” said Don Guinnip, who has been active with sustainability and environmental issues with various commodity groups and farm organizations for years.

*** Chicago ***

* Sun-Times | Chicago Parking Meters LLC accused of violating city’s minority participation requirements: The 75-year lease requires CPM to utilize certified minority- and women-owned businesses for “at least 25% of annual expenses tied to operating the parking meter system, excluding construction contracts.” But that’s not what has happened. From 2011 to 2018, CPM “claimed MBE credit for a vendor that was not MBE-certified,” Witzburg said.

* Sun-Times | Jury awards $50 million to Chicago man who spent 10 years in prison after wrongful conviction: Brown was convicted at age 18, and spent around 10 years in prison before being exonerated in 2018. Information used to convict Brown was “obtained in clear violation of law,” the suit stated, continuing a pattern of Chicago police detectives using coercive interrogation tactics and targeting young Black men. The lawsuit argued that the defendants violated Brown’s fifth and 14th amendment rights by conducting an unconstitutional interrogation and infringing on Brown’s right to due process.

* Block Club | CTA Worker Who Witnessed Red Line Shooting Says Agency Leaders ‘Don’t Care About Our Safety’: “A manager insulted me right after, asking if it was because I owed somebody some money,” said Griffin, who was uninjured and now taking leave. Griffin said he had voiced concerns “ignored by management” that it was unsafe for switch workers to clock in and out at odd hours at the station instead of their work location a block away, which is inaccessible to the public.

* Sun-Times | Chicago Public Schools fires sports director David Rosengard: Rosengard’s time in charge was mired by several basketball scandals. In March, five Kenwood players, head coach Mike Irvin and two assistant coaches were ruled ineligible for violating Illinois High School Association rules. Chicago Public Schools’ Office of the Inspector General presented evidence and documents to the IHSA on Jan. 25 that revealed potential residency rules violations for multiple Kenwood basketball players. The IHSA investigated further.

* Tribune | Art Institute announces $75 million gift to create new gallery building on Michigan Avenue campus: The largest single naming gift in the Art Institute’s history will create the Aaron I. Fleischman and Lin Lougheed Building, which will house the museum’s collection of late 19th century modern and contemporary art, according to a news release. While the design and location have yet to be finalized, the building will offer “spectacular views of the park, the city and the lake,” and begin the process of “re-envisioning” the campus layout as part of a five-year old conceptual plan, according to the news release.

* Crain’s | JPMorgan Chase loans $10 million to jump-start South, West Side affordable housing projects: The loan is part of a broader commitment the financial giant made beginning in 2017 to provide $200 million in philanthropic capital and low-cost loans to address decades of disinvestment in Chicago’s poorest neighborhoods. The investment is modeled on an effort Chase pioneered in Detroit to help restore that city. CCLF, a nonprofit providing financial and technical assistance for community development, can leverage the capital from the loan multiple times over, creating as much as $40 million in financing for community projects, said Kevin Goldsmith, managing director of community development tax credits and intermediaries lending at JPMorgan Chase.

* WGN | Lincoln Square martial arts studio hit by vandals twice in 2 months; CAIR calls on CPD to investigate as hate crime: The studio’s owner, Eddie Redzovic, is a well-known YouTuber on The Deen Show where he frequently talks about his Muslim faith. […] The Center for American Islamic Relations, or CAIR, is calling on the Chicago Police Department to investigate this latest incident, and another nearby, as possible hate crimes. “It’s really concerning to us because we just got a case from the Muslim Community Center, about 10 minute walk from here, that something very similar happened to them a few days ago. If you look at the security footage, it appears to be the same car. Kind of the same manner in which the attack was taken out. So we’re very suspicious of this that this is the same person,” said Maggie Slavin of CAIR Chicago.

* Crain’s | Southwest Airlines cuts more flights at O’Hare: The low-cost carrier is flying about 14 flights on peak days at O’Hare, down from 18 in June, according to data from aviation-research firm Cirium. The cutback comes after a reduction in summer flying, which the carrier blamed in part on delays in getting new aircraft from Boeing. The new schedule is less than half the capacity Southwest was offering a year ago. The airline says the changes are in response to customer demand but “we remain committed to serving our Chicago-area customers from the airport they prefer.”

* Crain’s | Law firm planting new flag on Wacker Drive, cutting office footprint: The deal adds to the space-shedding movement that has battered downtown office landlords since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and fueled a historic wave of distressed properties in the heart of the city. It also shows how the newest and most-updated office buildings continue to outperform older ones as companies hunt for workspace that will help get employees to work in-person rather than remotely on a more regular basis.

* Block Club | Could Chicago’s Next Weird Tourist Attraction Be This Purse Full Of Lucky Charms?: Chicagoans are already going out of their way to visit the Lucky Charms purse, making sure the unofficial art installation remains undisturbed. […] A Block Club reporter checked out the Lucky Charms purse Monday afternoon and confirmed it was still hanging from the pole, undisturbed.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Sun-Times | S&C Electric opens massive Palatine manufacturing facility amid growing electric grid demand: Longtime Chicago company S&C Electric Co. held a ribbon cutting Tuesday to officially unveil its massive facility in Palatine that will meet the growing demand for its products and help increase its innovation efforts. The 275,000-square-foot manufacturing facility at 200 Sellstrom Drive opened earlier this year, and the company has steadily moved some of its production from Rogers Park, where it’s headquartered, over to the facility.

* Sun-Times | Ford Heights mayor’s corruption case is nearing a conclusion — six years after he was charged: Six years after Ford Heights Mayor Charles Griffin was charged with embezzling nearly $150,000 from the tiny cash-strapped south suburb, his case could soon come to a conclusion. A trial before Cook County Judge James Obbish quietly got started in recent months and, after a break in June, is slated to resume next Monday.

*** Downstate ***

* SJ-R | ‘Our blood bleeds the same.’ Favoritism of former police sergeant cited at crash: Jason Rule said Monday he started following Farley and Hopkins around Taylor Avenue at Stevenson Drive going towards the lake. Rule witnessed the accident, including Egan swerving from the driving lane across the turn lane into the Anchor Boat Club. […] “It was just atrocious to see everything that happened and the way they treated that guy. He’s laughing and smiling and giving high fives and dabs, laughing about the whole thing. It was ridiculous.

* WCBU | Peoria, East Peoria mayors tight-lipped on potential casino move: Speaking at the unveiling of a new downtown mural Tuesday, Peoria Mayor Rita Ali declined to speak at length about the city attempting to persuade Boyd to relocate the casino. “There’s an agreement that was signed many years ago that if land-based casinos were to come to this area, that they would be in Peoria. That’s basically all I have to say about that,” Ali said.

* WCIA | 50-pound pumpkin stolen from FFA plot of Rantoul school: Todd Wilson, the principal of Rantoul Township High School, posted on his Facebook page that a 50-pound pumpkin was stolen from the plot. Along with the theft of the pumpkin, Wilson said the vines of the plot were trampled, which he sarcastically called “a nice touch,” and “might make it easier for us to harvest the other pumpkins and gourds.”

*** National ***

* IGN | A Prominent Accessibility Advocate Worked With Studios and Inspired Change. But She Never Actually Existed.: According to the source, Craven allegedly received gifts and consistent praise and attention every time he would post about Bank’s ailments or recoveries. In order to prevent any legal ramifications, particularly if Craven was misleading clients, the source hired a private investigator, a retired Chicago police officer, who previously worked with an associate of the source. The goal of the investigation was to find concrete proof of Banks’ existence. Several days later, the investigator returned with no information. No immigration record, address, employment record, marriage license, or birth certificate was found. Banks, according to the investigator, was not a real person. IGN received the receipt of the investigation and can confirm the source was billed for these services.

* FOX Chicago | Recall of eggs, apple juice and deli meat: Recent list over various health concerns: The Boar’s Head recall involving more than 7 million pounds of deli meat is the most serious among the recent grocery recalls. The meats were recalled over serious listeria concerns. At least nine people have died and another 57 have been hospitalized, according to U.S. officials, marking the largest listeria outbreak since the 2011 outbreak linked to cantaloupe.

* NYT | Doctors Give Black Women Unneeded C-Sections to Fill Operating Rooms, Study Suggests: That’s the conclusion of a new report of nearly one million births in 68 hospitals in New Jersey, one of the largest studies to tackle the subject. Even if a Black mother and a white mother with similar medical histories saw the same doctor at the same hospital, the Black mother was about 20 percent more likely to have her baby via C-section, the study found.


  7 Comments      


Another day, another Henyard revelation

Tuesday, Sep 10, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* WGN last week

South suburban politician Tiffany Henyard threw a party over the weekend that included a heavy serving of damage control. […]

The event was promoted as the “Friends of Tiffany A. Henyard Picnic,” which immediately set off alarm bells among her opponents, who noted that “Friends of Tiffany A. Henyard” is also the name of the embattled politician’s campaign fund. […]

Trustees in Dolton – where Henyard is the mayor – and in Thornton Township – where she’s the supervisor – tried to block efforts to have public money pay for the gathering. […]

Henyard’s attorney, Beau Brindley, tells WGN Investigates the picnic was not a campaign event and that Henyard paid for some of the food provided out of her own personal funds.

She may have picked up part of the food tab herself, but taxpayers paid for the bulk of it.

* WGN today

WGN Investigates filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act for expenses related to the one day event. Records show Keke Wyatt was paid $30,000 to sing for 30 minutes. J. Holiday was paid $20,000 for a half-hour set. The township spent $6,600 to rent inflatable bounce houses. Other costs billed to township taxpayers include for everything from comedians to a sound system, staff to equipment and bring the total to at least $85,769. […]

Henyard has defended her taxpayer funded events as important to the 17 suburbs the township covers. “This is all for the babies,” Henyard said in a Facebook video she posted from the event. “They don’t show you this side of Tiffany Henyard: The productivity.” Her lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

After a year’s worth of WGN Investigates reporting detailing first-class travel, meals and more that’s now sparked a federal investigation, trustees in the two governments run by Henyard have tried to stop the spending. […]

Most of the contracts for the Taste of Thornton Township were signed before trustees put spending controls in place.

  15 Comments      


Stop Credit Card Chaos In Illinois!

Tuesday, Sep 10, 2024 - Posted by Advertising Department

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Pritzker says he has not had any discussions with city about its budget deficit

Tuesday, Sep 10, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* First, some background from the Sun-Times

Mayor Brandon Johnson on Monday froze hiring and travel in all city departments — including police and fire — and eliminated overtime “not directly required for public safety operations” to begin to confront Chicago’s burgeoning budget crisis. […]

He’s got just four months to fill a $223 million gap in 2024 caused, in large part, by the Chicago Board of Education’s refusal to absorb a $175 million pension payment for non-teaching school employees. After that, Johnson faces a $982.4 million deficit in 2025.

The mayor has warned “sacrifices will be made.” Those sacrifices will include freezing hiring at a $2 billion-a-year Chicago Police Department that already is roughly 2,000 sworn officers short of the strength it had just a few years ago.

It also means no new hires at the $663.8 million-a-year Chicago Fire Department, which is so short of paramedics and ambulances, the 80 ambulances it does have are “running night and day,” according to Pat Cleary, president of Chicago Fire Fighters Union Local 2.

* From the governor’s Q&A today

Q: Have you had any discussions with the City of Chicago about their budget, if they’re seeking any help or relief from the state?

Pritzker: No.

Q: No?

Pritzker: They have not approached us about any of it. I’ve read things in the newspaper by, I think, mostly by advocates, not really the city, about what they might want. But, no.

Q: Is that something your budget team is discussing on concentrating?

Pritzker: as you know, we don’t plan our next budget until you know, I introduce it in February and I don’t think there’ll be any supplemental that’ll be discussing what the city would want, that we haven’t been asked.

Q: How are you feeling about that deficit that we’re dealing with a higher increase, Governor, I’m assuming [you have] an eye on that?

Pritzker: Well, listen, we’ve faced a lot of challenges at the state level. As you know, when I came into office, we had a lot of bills to pay off. We had to balance the budget anyway. And then, you know, we’ve managed, sometimes through tough times. You may remember, mid-year we had to cut $700 million from our budget because, frankly, revenues were going off a cliff during COVID. So we’ve been in situations like this. It’s very, very difficult and challenging, but you know, it’s something you can tough your way through, and then you’ve got to plan for years to come. You know how you’re going to manage the balanced budgets going forward without, you know, raising, broadly, taxes on the people of Illinois, and we managed to do that.

Q: The mayor’s been calling your name out and that of the state saying ‘Billion dollars, if the state cared they’d come up with it.’ Do you feel like they’re trying to make you the punching bag?

Pritzker: All I know is that I think mostly they’ve been talking about education dollars, and I’m the first person to want to put dollars into education. So if we had extra money, it would go to education. But remember, Chicago is 20 percent of the population of Illinois, so when we put money into education, it’s got to go to the other 80 percent also. And so we are, we always look to do that. We’ve been increasing education spending at the state level already during my tenure, if you include higher education, to $3 billion and so if we had extra dollars, believe me, that’s the first place we would look to put it.

Q: Is that causing a rift in your relationship at all, though? I mean, he’s using your name in public spaces like this…

Pritzker: Well, I know that the press likes to talk about some rift. The mayor and I actually get along very well. And there are challenges that we both have dealing with, you know, making sure we balance our budgets. And so I know how difficult this situation is, and I certainly sympathize with it. The State of Illinois provides billions of dollars to the city of Chicago every single year, and we’re going to continue to do that, but we can’t just, you know, snap our fingers and somehow money, we don’t print money at the state level, as you know, they do at the federal level, but at the state level, we can’t do that. We just have to make sure we’re, you know, getting through these difficult times.

Please pardon all transcription errors.

* Quick video of that first question and his super-rare one-word response

Heh.

  14 Comments      


Pritzker doesn’t think city and state currently need as much migrant shelter capacity

Tuesday, Sep 10, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Tribune reporter…


* Gov. Pritzker was asked by a reporter whether that means no more migrants were coming or whether the state was going to close its shelters as well

Look, we’ve been prepared for the idea that Texas, that the governor of Texas, is going to, as he has, in a way that I find reprehensible, just load people onto busses and send them to cities. So we’re always prepared for the idea that that could happen. It hasn’t happened. It appears that the number of people crossing the border has been significantly diminished because of the policies of the Harris/Biden administration. And so I feel like, you know, we’ve got to be prepared and have some capacity, but I don’t think quite as much capacity as we had needed before. So hopefully that reduces some expenditures by the city, the county and the state. But importantly, we’ve got to be ready for, you know what is a humanitarian crisis if it comes.

  6 Comments      


Rate the Nagel ad

Tuesday, Sep 10, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* I told subscribers about this ad last week. Here you go

* Script

Hi, I’m Phil Nagel. As the son of a steelworker, a father and an Air Force veteran, I am nothing like that guy, Patrick Joyce, a career politician only looking out for himself. Joyce is controlled by the Chicago party bosses who gave him multiple pay hikes while we struggle. Joyce loves to raise our taxes but failed to pay his five separate times. Want to lower the cost of living? He’s not your guy. I’m Phil Nagel. Together, let’s change Springfield.

* I’m not sure how three of these folks had anything to do with Joyce’s Senate salary, but this is from the spot…

Nagel lost to Joyce by 10 points two years ago.

  15 Comments      


Uber Partners With Cities To Expand Urban Transportation

Tuesday, Sep 10, 2024 - Posted by Advertising Department

[The following is a paid advertisement.]

Uber is leading the charge to close critical transportation gaps, ensuring reliable access to its services in places that need it most, such as underserved areas like Englewood. This is a part of Uber’s broader commitment to augment and expand the reach of Chicago’s transportation ecosystem, focusing on overcoming the first-mile/ last-mile hurdles that have long plagued residents in farther afield neighborhoods. Uber aims to extend the public transit network’s reach, making urban transportation more accessible and efficient for everyone. Discover the full story on how Uber is transforming city transportation for the better.

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Jury selection underway in the trial of former AT&T boss La Schiazza

Tuesday, Sep 10, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Capitol News Illinois

Jury selection is set to begin Tuesday in the trial of former AT&T Illinois president Paul La Schiazza, who federal prosecutors allege bribed once-powerful Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan in exchange for favorable legislation in Springfield.

It’s the last in a series of related trials that have played out in Chicago’s Dirksen Federal Courthouse over the last 18 months leading up to Madigan’s own bribery and racketeering trial, which is scheduled to begin Oct. 8. A jury last year convicted four former executives and lobbyists for electric utility Commonwealth Edison on charges that they bribed Madigan with jobs and contracts for his allies over a nine-year period to help the utility win its legislative battles.

La Schiazza is accused of a similar scheme, albeit much smaller in scale. Instead of dozens of jobs and contracts for Madigan allies, AT&T’s alleged bribery involved the utility funneling payments to one man: former Democratic state Rep. Eddie Acevedo, who was also a subcontractor lobbyist for ComEd for nearly a decade.

Acevedo, who allegedly did little to no work for either utility, already served a brief stint in prison for tax evasion connected to the larger federal probe of Madigan’s world and is expected to testify in the former speaker’s trial.

CNI’s Hannah Meisel is in the courtroom today.

* The Sun-Times’ federal court reporter Jon Seidel


* Tribune

Among the new evidence will be testimony from former Madigan insider Tom Cullen, a lobbyist who prosecutors allege served as a go-between for the payments from AT&T to former state Rep. Edward Acevedo. Another witness, former AT&T lobbyist Stephen Selcke, is expected to offer a behind-the-scenes look at the utility’s efforts to get in Madigan’s good graces.

Prosecutors also want the jury to see email exchanges showing Madigan’s son, Andrew, asked La Schiazza to sponsor a nonprofit event in July 2017, less than two weeks after AT&T Illinois’ bill to end mandated landline service became law, allegedly with his father’s assistance.

Andrew Madigan wrote that the idea came “at the suggestion of our good friend, Mike McClain,” a former lobbyist and Madigan’s longtime confidant, according to a prosecution filing earlier this year. La Schiazza forwarded the request to a colleague in the legislative affairs department on July 12, 2017, writing “this will be endless,” according to the filing.

“I suspect the ‘thank you’ opportunities will be plentiful,’” the colleague allegedly emailed back, referring to the recent passage of AT&T’s coveted landline legislation, known by the acronym COLR, which was expected to save the company millions of dollars.

“Yep,” La Schiazza allegedly responded. “We are on the friends and family plan now.”

* Sun-Times

Prosecutors say that quip helps prove the $22,500 amounted to a bribe. But soon, it’ll be up to a jury to decide whether they’re right. La Schiazza faces trial Tuesday on a five-count indictment handed up in October 2022 amid the feds’ larger Madigan prosecution.

The trial, expected to take three weeks, is the last of a series of trials set to play out before Madigan faces his own racketeering trial Oct. 8. The once-powerful Southwest Side Democrat is also charged in the alleged scheme involving La Schiazza and AT&T Illinois. The utility previously agreed to pay a $23 million fine.

Other key players in La Schiazza’s case include Madigan’s longtime confidant, Michael McClain, and former state Rep. Edward “Eddie” Acevedo, recipient of the $22,500.

Acevedo, who allegedly did no work for that money, already has gone to prison for tax evasion. McClain faces trial alongside Madigan next month over the AT&T allegations and other charges.

But La Schiazza’s defense attorney argues his indictment is flawed. Tinos Diamantatos has said it “does not allege that Madigan even knew of AT&T’s hiring of Acevedo.” There’s no evidence of a so-called “quid pro quo,” he said, nor that La Schiazza knew he was acting unlawfully.

  7 Comments      


Open thread

Tuesday, Sep 10, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* What’s going on? Keep it Illinois-centric please…

  13 Comments      


Isabel’s morning briefing

Tuesday, Sep 10, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* ICYMI: Head of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s legislative affairs team resigns amid staff shakeup. Crain’s

    - Sydney Holman, the city’s deputy mayor of intergovernmental affairs, submitted her resignation yesterday.
    - According to sources, two of Homan’s deputies also left the team as part of a larger upheaval within the close-knit team charged with building relationships across the City Council and whipping votes to secure Johnson’s progressive agenda.
    - The mayor’s office circulated an internal organizational chart late last week that showed Holman’s team and staffers in community engagement would report to Kennedy Bartley, a leader in Johnsons’ progressive movement hired into the administration in May. Holman had previously resisted having to report to Bartley.

* Related stories…

Governor Pritzker will be at the Aspire Center for Workforce Innovation at 12:30 pm for a grant award presentation. Click here to watch.

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* WCIA | By the numbers: Illinois State Fair Grandstand Acts: WCIA obtained the number of tickets sold for each Grandstand Act at the 2024 Illinois State Fair from the Illinois Department of Agriculture. After the record breaking crowd for Lil Wayne’s concert, the next most popular acts were the pop boy band Jonas Brothers with 9,952, then country singers Keith Urban with 8,778 and Miranda Lambert with 8,216.

* SJ-R | Former Springfield police sergeant arrested after crash as residents protest: Michael A. Egan, 50, has been charged with aggravated DUI causing great bodily harm, a Class 4 felony. Authorities said Egan’s vehicle was traveling northbound on East Lake Shore Drive and made a left turn in front of a motorcycle which crashed into Egan’s SUV. Egan was taken into custody by Illinois State Police troopers and U.S. Marshals around 12:45 p.m. Monday. Egan will make his first appearance in Sangamon County Tuesday afternoon.

* RIP James Earl Jones



*** Statehouse News ***

* Daily Herald | When it comes to funding state-level campaigns, Pritzker in a league of his own: Even though he’s not running now, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has donated a whopping $25 million to his campaign committee this election cycle, according to Illinois State Board of Elections data. None of the Illinois residents on the nonprofit group OpenSecrets’ list of Top 100 donors at the federal level comes close to that kind of in-state giving ahead of the Nov. 5 election.

* WGEM | New Illinois law mandates coverage for medically necessary jaw treatments: Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) signed legislation Aug. 9 requiring insurance companies cover all medically necessary treatments for major jaw injuries. This includes oral and facial surgery, dental implants and prosthetics. “This law closes a major loophole for patients requiring necessary medical treatments for a life-threatening disease. It ensures that in a time of crisis, no one has to experience financial roadblocks to receiving medical care,” said state Sen. Laura Fine, D-Glenview, the bill’s Senate sponsor.

* SJ-R | Insurance coverage of abortion care protected by Illinois judge. What to know: A Sangamon County judge upheld a provision of the Illinois Reproductive Health Act in a ruling last week, maintaining that state-regulated health insurance plans that cover pregnancy care must also do so for abortion services. The Illinois Baptist State Association filed suit in 2020 against the law passed by state lawmakers in the prior year, claiming it violated their religious beliefs. Named in the suit was the Illinois Department of Insurance.

* Sun-Times | After Georgia school shooting, Illinois lawmakers, firearms safety advocates push stronger gun storage law: Illinois Democrats are calling for stronger gun storage legislation just days after 14-year-old Colt Gray allegedly killed two teachers and two students at a Georgia high school with an AR-15 style rifle purchased by his father. The legislation, sponsored by state Sen. Laura Ellman, D-Naperville, and state Rep. Maura Hirschauer, D-Batavia, would require gun owners to securely lock weapons in homes with anyone aged 18 or younger. Current state law requires storage in homes with those 13 or younger. Similar legislation was introduced in the spring session, but Hirschauer said she’s hoping to pass a new version — with some changes negotiated with Gov. JB Pritzker’s office, during the November veto session or in early January.

*** Chicago ***

* Tribune | Wheatland Tube closes Southwest Side plant, will lay off nearly 250 workers: Wheatland Tube reported the closure of its 4435 S. Western Blvd. factory in accordance with Illinois’ Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, which requires companies to report certain mass layoffs and plant closures two months in advance. Layoffs at the factory will begin about Nov. 1 and continue on a rolling basis through next year, a company spokesperson said. The company did not provide an exact date on which the factory would close.

* Block Club | Cleaning Up Contaminated Acme Steel Site Could Take Years, Feds Say As Neighbors Focus On Its Future: The property is contaminated, threatening nearby wetlands and waterways, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Neighbors may be exposed to contamination if they trespass on the site, officials said. Past studies and cleanups have found compounds which can cause cancer, reproductive disorders and nervous and immune system issues, as well as soil contaminated with cyanide.

* WTTW | Chicago Taxpayers Have Already Paid $1.1M to Fight Lawsuit Filed by Family of Adam Toledo as Trial Approaches: Chicago taxpayers have already paid more than $1.1 million to fight a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of Adam Toledo, the 13-year-old shot and killed by a Chicago police officer after a brief foot chase in March 2021, according to documents obtained by WTTW News. Three and a half years after Adam’s death spurred demonstrations and renewed calls for police reform, the lawsuit filed by his parents is set to go to trial Nov. 6, ramping up the pressure on lawyers for the city to negotiate a settlement in the high-profile case or face the possibility of a trial that could lead to a multimillion-dollar jury verdict.

* ABC Chicago | Jury awards $50M to man who spent 10 years in prison for Chicago murder he didn’t commit: Marcel Brown sued the City of Chicago, alleging he was coerced into making a false confession to an August 2008 murder. […] Brown was released from prison in 2018 after his sentence was vacated.

* Tribune | Chicago White Sox are ‘not going to rush into anything’ regarding managerial search, says GM Chris Getz: “I think if you would have told me (before the season) we were going to end up flirting with the (major-league) record (for losses) I would have been a little surprised,” Getz said Monday afternoon at Guaranteed Rate Field. “Now if you would have told me prior to the year that we would have ended up with over 100 losses, 105, 110, I wouldn’t have been as surprised. But this is the cards that we’ve been dealt at this point.

* WGN | Angel Reese uses social media to explain wrist injury that will sideline her the rest of WNBA season: “I fell on my hand when I got the and-one, when I fell back (and) fell on my hand and it is a small crack in my bone,” Reese said in a video posted to her TikTok late Sunday night. “Basically, the doctors told me that I could either not get surgery or have surgery. The risk of not having surgery – I could literally have arthritis at 22 years old. That wasn’t an option. The bone could literally crack and completely shatter. Right now, it’s like a hairline… They’re going to put a small screw in it. And I wasn’t going for it getting any bigger.”

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Herald | Union says Palatine wrongfully terminated public works employee: The International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150, AFL-CIO, announced it has filed a grievance in the termination of Charles Swanson, a seven-year employee. In a release, the union said the “village’s actions raise questions of workplace fairness and the value shown to employees working at the municipality.” Swanson suffered a workplace injury that required back surgery in January 2023, the union said.

* Daily Herald | Lake Zurich sales tax hike to help defray cost of $154 million Lake Michigan project: Village officials recently authorized a local sales tax increase of 0.5% to help defray scheduled rate increases associated with a pending switch to Lake Michigan water. The increase will bring the municipal sales tax rate to 1% or a penny on every dollar of goods sold in town. The overall sales tax rate will increase to 8% as it is in Buffalo Grove, Deer Park, Barrington and Highland Park for comparison. Village officials say the rate increase will generate an additional $2.5 million annually to be used for project-related expenses and debt service of the $154 million Lake Michigan water project.

* Daily Herald | Judge denies Mount Prospect’s request to halt operations at malodorous business: A Cook County judge Monday denied Mount Prospect’s emergency request for a temporary restraining order against animal feed producer Prestige Feed Products. Although the village provided ample testimony from neighbors about noxious odors reaching them from the plant at 431 Lakeview Court in Mount Prospect, Circuit Judge Clare Quish said the facts did not show “irreparable harm” without the emergency relief.

* Daily Southtown | Sept. 11 ceremonies set for some south and south suburban communities: Observances are planned in some south and southwest suburbs Wednesday in remembrance of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 1, 2001. Southland communities will gather at firehouses, city halls and memorials to observe the 23rd anniversary of the attack, which killed nearly 3,000 people after al-Qaida hijackers sent two planes into New York’s World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon and another into a field in Pennsylvania.

* Daily Herald | ‘Big Boy’ chugs through the suburbs, delighting observers: Thousands of spectators lined the tracks to photograph and view 4014’s passage. It is the second time massive black-and-graphite painted “Big Boy” has visited the area — the first was in 2019, shortly after the engine’s restoration to service. Sporting a 4-8-8-4 articulated wheel arrangement and stretching to a length of more than 132 feet, the engine is one of 25 examples of the largest successful steam locomotive ever built and is the only one of the eight remaining operable. The locomotives were produced by the American Locomotive Company between 1941 and 1944 and used by the UP for heavy freight service on Sherman Hill, west of Cheyenne, Wyoming.

*** Downstate ***

* WAND | Family of motorcycle crash victims meets with mayor and police: Caitlin Weiss and Cicely Leonetti — Farley’s sisters — said that she is currently sedated and on a ventilator. “We have a huge road to recovery.” explained Weiss. “He completely smashed my sister, so her pelvis was completely broken as an open loop fracture. She had broke her hip. She’s broke her clavicles and, maybe some internal organ injuries that they found when they opened [her] up during surgery.”

* Herald-Whig | Southern Airways officially objects to city request for new airline, denies safety issues: In a new letter to the U.S. Department of Transportation, Southern Airways Express objects to a request for the early termination of its contract with the city of Quincy. “Southern fully intends on not only serving the remainder of our current contract but also garnering (public support) as airline proposals are reviewed (for the next contract period),” reads the Sept. 4 letter from Southern Airways Chief of Staff Keith Sisson. “To this end, we respectfully ask the Department to allow the improvements and investment Southern is making in the marketplace to be realized … we implore the Department to resist the urge to comply (with the city of Quincy’s request) as such drastic action would lead to a globally unsustainable and damaging precedent for the EAS program and the airlines which serve its needs.”

* WCIA | Champaign high schools locked down after ‘unfounded’ 911 call of armed person: Officials said that as details of the call developed, the story the caller gave had several inconsistencies. No threat was found, and the lockdowns were lifted at 2:30. The Champaign Police Department is investigating the source of the call and is looking for any information that may assist in the investigation. At this time, no one has been arrested.

* WAND | Unit 4 board approves audit of special education department: Parents and advocates say there is a disconnect between special education teachers and leaders, the school principal, and district officials. One advocate claims an Elementary special education student was assaulted last month, stating during the public comment section, “The audit is a good audit, but its going to take time, and meanwhile we’ve got broken bones. And the same thing that happened to that little boy at Bottenfield, that same system happened again- we did not learn from that boy that was out of school for six months.”

*** National ***

* NYT | He’s Known as ‘Ivan the Troll.’ His 3D-Printed Guns Have Gone Viral: Court documents, corporate records and information posted on his social media accounts link the Ivan the Troll persona to a 26-year-old Illinois gunmaker named John Elik. The nephew of a state representative, Mr. Elik has emerged as one of the most important figures in the nascent international industry of 3D-printed guns. […] Dr. Basra and a security researcher, Nathan Mayer, first linked Mr. Elik to the Ivan the Troll accounts using online clues after he was identified in a lawsuit as an owner of a website promoting 3D-printed guns. The Times replicated and built on that research, using photographs and videos that Mr. Elik posted of his home and shooting ranges on his family’s property, including his aunt’s.

* DNYUZ | Greed, Gluttony and the Crackup of Red Lobster: New management had arrived in 2020 and tried to revive the chain with the corporate version of heart paddles. Thai Union, a seafood giant based in Samut Sakhon, Thailand, administered the shocks in the form of stern lectures, surprise inspections and cost-cutting measures that strained the staff to its breaking point. Now, by unveiling perpetual Endless Shrimp, Thai Union wanted Red Lobster employees to work even harder. “When they dumped this on us in June, we’d already been squeezed to the bone,” said Malcom Clarke, then a service manager at the Red Lobster in Orem, Utah. “We got emails from corporate saying: ‘This is a free-for-all. Get that shrimp out as fast as you can.’”

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* Pritzker: Cuts to Medicaid will be devastating to Illinois
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