* Tribune…

A federal judge on Wednesday denied a motion to toss out key charges against former House Speaker Michael Madigan in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling tightening the federal bribery statute.

In his written ruling, U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey said the indictment “explicitly alleges that Madigan performed official acts related to legislation affecting ComEd in exchange for ComEd’s hiring of certain individuals,” and therefore clears the bar imposed by the high court, which said “gratuities,” or rewards given to a politician after the fact, are not criminalized under the law. […]

Also Wednesday, Madigan’s attorneys asked that the jury be allowed to hear longer versions of certain recordings during the government’s case in chief, rather than just the clips prosecutors plan to play that don’t provide a complete picture.

The defense could potentially play those longer recordings later in the trial, when it is their turn to present evidence, but that “puts us in a hole on Day One,” having to correct misconceptions that were long ago embedded in jurors’ minds, Madigan attorney Lari Dierks said in court.

* The Tribune’s Chicago City Hall reporter Alice Yin…

Q: Have you asked the Board of Ed to fire Pedro Martinez?

Johnson: “No. When we talk to members of the Board of Education, what we’ve asked them to do is not cut our schools.”

— Alice Yin (@byaliceyin) October 2, 2024

* Governor Pritzker…

Today, Governor JB Pritzker joined the CyrusOne team, ComEd, and local elected officials to break ground on the new data center in Aurora. The new campus, which consists of two buildings totaling 446,000 square feet, will serve local communities and national networks through the creation of state-of-the-art digital infrastructure solutions.

“When I became governor, I pledged to make Illinois a home for the high-tech, high-growth industries of the future,” said Illinois Governor JB Pritzker. “This groundbreaking is the culmination of years of work with our partners at CyrusOne, and secures hundreds of construction jobs as well as over twenty data center positions for the people of our state. CyrusOne’s new data center joins the ecosystem of high-tech sectors that are flourishing in Illinois– from electric vehicles to quantum computing to chip manufacturers – that form the foundation of sustainable economic growth.”

CyrusOne selected Aurora for this $350 million investment with future growth and expansion capabilities in mind. The data center will create hundreds of construction jobs and more than 20 full-time positions. It is set to open in early 2026, a very quick timeline for a data center of this size, due in part to Illinois’ many economic development assets that create opportunities for companies like CyrusOne. […]

In partnership with the State of Illinois, CyrusOne has been approved for the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity’s data center investment program, which includes a Project Labor Agreement for the facility’s construction. IBEW will be the primary labor partner. CyrusOne has now invested over $1 billion across Illinois.

* WTVO…

Illinois State Police is utilizing new technology in an effort to prevent crashes caused when drivers fail to move over for stopped emergency vehicles.

State Police and the Illinois Department of Innovation & Technology partnered with Google to develop a real-time, GPS-based alert that will display a message on in-car navigation maps, such as Waze and, soon, Google Maps. As a driver approaches the GPS location of an ISP Trooper, they will see a police, crash, or disabled vehicle icon on their screen, advising them to slow down and move over.

“Too many Illinois State Police officers have been killed or injured in ‘Move Over’ crashes,” said ISP Director Brendan F. Kelly. ​ “The advanced warning gives people time to slow down and move over, reducing the risk of a crash for both drivers and troopers.”

*** Statehouse News ***

* WSIL | Illinois receives $2.3 Billion in federal funding: he U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is allocating $2.33 billion to Illinois in Fiscal Year 2025 funding. The agency made the announcement on October 1st. This money comes from the Biden-Harris Administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and will support 12 infrastructure programs in Illinois.

*** Chicago ***

* WBEZ | Dockworkers strike on East and Gulf coasts are expected to impact Chicago area’s freight hubs : Imports and exports will now be routed through West Coast ports. Rail lines that connect to Chicago will shift west and could get backed up now that other routes are out of commission. The greater Chicago area has one of the largest intermodal freight hubs in the U.S. The CenterPoint Intermodal Center, south of Joliet, “will likely see accelerated freight traffic, and even congestion, as goods destined for points East are brought into West Coast ports and re-routed across the U.S.,” said Erin McLaughlin, senior economist with New York think tank The Conference Board.

* Sun-Times | Fathers’ rights attorney Jeffery Leving suspended from practicing law for charging excessive fees: Editor’s note: While we were reporting this story, we learned that Jeffery Leving — the subject of this article who is also an advertiser and has contributed op-eds to the Sun-Times — attempted to prevent the Sun-Times from publishing “any negative content” about him, his law office or staff as part of an advertising contract. The newsroom and company leadership were never informed about the arrangement, which would violate our policies. The contract was not authorized and the Sun-Times is returning any money from the ads.

* Railfan | Metra Considers More Service to O’Hare: Metra said it would need an agreement with Canadian National (which owns most of the route) and CPKC (which dispatches part of it) to permanently expand service. It would also likely need to construct additional sidings and crossovers, as well as acquire more equipment. But Metra said it is studying all of that and is now seeking input from riders who used the expanded O’Hare service in August.

* Block Club | Fatal Police Chase On Southwest Side Puts Car Pursuit Policy Back In Spotlight: About 2 a.m. Tuesday, officers on patrol for robberies in the 5500 block of South Pulaski Road “attempted to investigate” a black Lexus sedan occupied by two people officers thought had guns, police said. Police did not say why they thought the people had guns. The driver of the sedan sped away from police, who pursued the vehicle to the 3500 block to South Ashland Avenue, where the sedan driver collided with an SUV at the intersection with 35th Street, police said. The passenger of the sedan was ejected and pronounced dead at the scene. The driver had a leg injury and was hospitalized, where his condition stabilized, while the driver of the SUV had minor injuries, police said.

* The Desk | Chicago CBS station to debut augmented reality news set: Paramount Global’s CBS station in Chicago will debut its new augmented-virtual reality news set during an afternoon newscast on Tuesday, the company announced this week. The set at WBBM (Channel 2) will be utilized for the station’s weather forecasts first before rolling out more broadly across news products. The set covers more than 1,100 square feet of studio space, the company said.

* Chicago Bears | 24 hours with Jonathan Owens and Simone Biles: For the first time in weeks, the couple swaps out their usual “I miss you” for a “See you soon. Due to a scheduling coincidence, Biles will perform at the United Center later that evening during a stop on the Gold Over America Tour [GOAT], where she is joined by other gymnasts from around the world to show off their elite abilities in arenas across the country. “We were planning out times to see each other [during the season] and it just so happened to work out like that,” Owens explains.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* News-Sun | Attorneys seek to suppress statements by alleged Highland Park parade shooter as suspect skips hearing: Robert Crimo III again declined to attend a court hearing Wednesday during which his attorneys said they are seeking to suppress statements he gave to police in the hours after the July 4, 2022, parade mass shooting in Highland Park. Lake County Judge Victoria Rossetti said she would issue an order to re-admonish Crimo that his lack of attendance will not delay his upcoming murder trial, and that Crimo could waive his right to confront witnesses should he not come to court.

* Daily Herald | Candidates for Kane County auditor face off at forum: Incumbent Kane County Auditor Penny Wegman, a Democrat, faced off against her Republican opponent Gretchen Butler on Monday, Sept. 30, during a candidate forum cohosted by local Leagues of Women Voters. Butler cited her 25 years of business experience — some of that owning a hardware store and running all the financials. “I feel like I’m qualified for this position,” she said, adding she would provide “nonpartisan leadership that crosses party lines.”

* Shaw Local | DuPage, 3rd Congressional candidates to face off in Wheaton forum: Candidates running for DuPage countywide offices will participate in a League of Women Voters forum on Thursday night at Wheaton City Hall. The moderated forum is set to feature the candidates in the race for the 3rd Congressional District seat — Democratic incumbent Delia Ramirez and Republican opponent John Booras — starting at 5:30 p.m.

*** Downstate ***

* Capitol News Illinois | Macoupin County state’s attorney asks for special prosecutor in Heinz case: A Macoupin County judge approved the appointment of a special prosecutor to review a criminal case against August Heinz, the funeral home director accused of giving dozens of families the wrong ashes. But the special prosecutor won’t be looking into Heinz’s handling of human remains. The prosecutor is instead looking into whether Heinz committed forgery. And the victim in that allegation is his ex-wife.

* Chancellor Austin Lane | Here’s how we increased enrollment at SIU-Carbondale: First, SIU Carbondale has focused heavily on local recruitment. The out-migration of students has been a challenge for Illinois universities, so there was an opportunity to focus on strategies to decrease that out-migration, including outreach to local school superintendents, principals and high school counselors, and partnerships with schools and youth organizations. These efforts have worked. We have seen a 10% increase in new students from Illinois.

* WCIA | Danville Police find school threat ‘noncredible’: Detectives investigating the threat found that the social media threat was made from a social media address originating in the Chicago area. Officials said it is “reasonable to believe” that the person who shared the threat is not in the City of Danville. “Through a threat assessment, the Danville Police Department believes the risk indicators in this incident are low and noncredible,” officials said in a press release. “There have been no direct engaging threats that are believed valid.”

*** National ***

* Crain’s | Michael Jordan sues ‘monopolistic bullies’ at NASCAR: The former six-time NBA champion with the Chicago Bulls and restaurant entrepreneur Bob Jenkins’ Front Row Motorsports teamed up to file a joint lawsuit against the racing league. They accuse NASCAR of hoarding revenue and engaging in unfair negotiations with partners, Front Office Sports reports.

* Bloomberg | Ozempic goes from threat to opportunity for packaged food makers: Less than a year ago, the head of Novo Nordisk A/S was fielding calls from “scared” food industry executives about his company’s blockbuster drug that suppressed cravings, and survey data suggested sales could be hurt by lower consumption. Now with a better view of how the medication is affecting behavior, packaged-food companies are trying to profit off of the Ozempic craze. Nestle SA has launched an entire product line of frozen food that specifically target those taking the drugs, known as GLP-1s. Conagra Brands is planning to highlight attributes such as protein content, which users are advised to boost during treatment. Campbell Soup Co. and Danone SA say their foods’ properties — such as being easily digestible and protein rich — will attract the cohort.

* NYT | The People Fleeing Climate Disasters Are Going to Transform the American South: Researchers now estimate tens of millions of Americans may ultimately move away from extreme heat and drought, storms and wildfires. While many Americans are still moving into areas considered high risk, lured by air-conditioning and sunny weather, the economic and physical vulnerabilities they face are becoming more apparent. One study by the First Street Foundation, a research firm that studies climate threats to housing, found that roughly 3.2 million Americans have already migrated, many over short distances, out of flood zones, such as low-lying parts of Staten Island, Miami and Galveston, Texas. Over the next 30 years, 7.5 million more are projected to leave those perennially flooded zones, according to the study.