* WCIA…

An incident at a polling place in Champaign County has lead county officials to clear up confusion about what is — and isn’t — allowed at a polling place.

On Saturday, a man wearing a Trump hat walked into the polling location. He was told to take the hat off, because wearing it into the polling location was against state law. […]

State law is clear on the matter. Anywhere within 100 feet of a polling location is a no-campaign zone. That bars political signs, campaign materials and clothing from being allowed within. It is also illegal to openly advocate for a candidate or to try to influence others in any way within that radius. […]

After being told he would have to remove his hat in order to receive a ballot, the man with the Trump hat went live on Facebook. In the video, you hear another person at the polling location tell him to stop recording. After the man taking the video turned the camera to the other voter, he slaps the phone out of his hand. The video does not show what happened next. The man who took the video declined an interview with WCIA.

* ABC Chicago…

The 2024 presidential election is unlike any other in American history, and officials are preparing for the possibility of more violence regardless of who wins. […]

“We know that the environment is very fraught and volatile right now. We know that. How’s that gonna manifest itself, we don’t know,” said Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart.

Dart is preparing his officers for any possibility of violence.

From the political side, Dart sent a bipartisan letter to other sheriffs in the state warning “a great number of our citizens will be deeply disappointed in this election’s outcome, requiring us to remain vigilant and vocal in our opposition to political violence.

* Americans for Prosperity-Illinois…

Today, Americans for Prosperity-Illinois (AFP-Illinois) filed an ethics complaint with the Illinois State Board of Elections alleging that the Rochester Public Library District is illegally using public resources to conduct a vote yes campaign for a massive 169% property tax hike.

The Rochester Public Library District board and certain staff members have held multiple public meetings to discuss illegally supporting a referendum to raise taxes – known legally as election interference.

Per published Rochester Public Library District board meeting minutes over a period from 2022-2024 board and staff members discussed in public meetings:

- “Recruiting members for Vote Yes Committee.” (6/8/2023)
- “Recruit, Train, and support” for the Vote Yes Committee (9/21/2023)
- “Begin the campaign for the referendum.” (11/9/2023)
- “The board discussed how to structure the Vote Yes honorary chairs and others who can serve on the committee.” (1/11/2024)
- “(President) Deen has drafted a campaign plan and will share. (1/11/2024)

The property tax hike referendum, if passed, would…

- Raise the Library District’s property tax levy by 167%. (Source)
- Increase the average homeowner’s property tax bill by $444 a year. (Source)
- Allow for bigger annual property tax levy hikes each year going forward. (Source)

*** Statehouse News ***

* Center Square | Illinois veto session set for week after election: Gov. J.B. Pritzker said he has a legislative agenda, but doesn’t expect much until the new General Assembly is seated in January. “Lots of agenda. Not necessarily for the veto session,” Pritzker said at the Governor’s Mansion in Springfield Monday. Typically, veto session is where legislators consider acting on vetoes from the governor, to which there haven’t been any this year of the 469 bills legislators approved.

pic.twitter.com/qFRIiDqeZc

— Illinois Comptroller (@ILComptroller) October 31, 2024

*** Chicago ***

* Block Club | Changes Underway At CHA As Board Taps Chair As Interim CEO: The agency’s board of commissioners voted unanimously Thursday to appoint Angela Hurlock as the interim replacement for outgoing CEO Tracey Scott until a permanent leader can be found. Hurlock recused herself from the vote. Vice chair Matthew Brewer will now lead the board, at least temporarily. Hurlock was appointed to the CHA board in 2019. She also serves as executive director of Claretian Associates, a South Chicago community group that develops affordable housing and offers programs for homebuyers and others on violence prevention.

* Block Club | Prepare Yourselves: It Will Be Dark Before 5 PM Starting Sunday: The end of daylight savings time in Chicago is Sunday — paving the way for pre-5 p.m. sunsets. Clocks roll back an hour starting 2 a.m. Sunday, and the sunset for that day is set for 4:43 p.m., according to SunriseSunset. The city will continue to lose precious minutes of daylight each day after Sunday for over two weeks, on a slow march to its earliest sunsets of the year: 4:19 p.m Dec. 6-11.

JUST IN: The day after the World Series ends, the feds announce the Cubs have agreed to improve wheelchair access at Wrigley Field to resolve a lawsuit over accessibility violations in its $1 billion ballpark renovation.
background: https://t.co/KcNBe1LKwI

— Jason Meisner (@jmetr22b) October 31, 2024

* Block Club | Uptown’s XMarket Vegan Food Hall Closing After 1 Year In Business: “We poured our hearts into creating a space for the vegan community, but the challenges have been real,” the post read. “It breaks our hearts to be here, but in order to keep our other missions alive—running the two largest vegan platforms online—we need to shift our focus.” Ahead of the closure, everything inside the grocery-style bodega is 50 percent off, XMarket said.

* Tribune | For Chicago-area witches and pagans, Halloween ushers in a season of reflection on mortality: Though it’s hard to find a definite count of how many people practice witchcraft in Chicago, one minister whose congregation serves northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin estimated that the Chicago area is home to between 20,000 and 27,000 pagans, whose religions are anchored in the Earth’s rhythms and may employ witchcraft as part of their spiritual practice.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Herald | School expansion and pension reform: Here’s what’s on the ballot in the Northwest suburbs : Barrington Area Unit District 220 is seeking a $64 million tax hike that would help build a new high school auditorium, fund security improvements across the district and enhance the science, math and arts curriculum. If voters approve the plan, the owners of a $500,000 home would see an increase of about $235 a year on the district’s portion of property tax bills, officials said.

* Daily Herald | Marter alleges fraud in U.S. elections, but Underwood insists they’re secure: Democratic U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood of Naperville and the Republican challenger for her 14th District seat, James Marter of Oswego, strongly disagree about whether American elections are secure. In a recent joint candidate interview, Marter claimed election fraud is rampant and “comes in many forms.” Underwood, who has served the 14th District since 2018 and is seeking a fourth term, insisted elections in the U.S. are secure “without a doubt.” But she also said voters remain vulnerable to election misinformation spread electronically by adversarial nations.

* Daily Herald | GOP congressional candidate says terrorism is ‘fundamental’ to Palestinian society: During a discussion about Israel and the war in Gaza, Republican congressional candidate Seth Cohen called terrorism a core part of Palestinian society. “It’s just fundamental to the Palestinian life right now,” said Cohen, a Chicagoan trying to unseat longtime U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky in the largely suburban 9th District. Schakowsky and Cohen, both of whom are Jewish, differ on how best to bring lasting peace to the region. Schakowsky, of Evanston, supports establishing a Palestinian nation alongside Israel. Cohen, of Chicago, opposes the two-state solution.

* Tribune | Oak Park and River Forest students to represent at board meetings: Come January there will be a student at the table during meetings of the Oak Park and River Forest High School District 200 Board of Education after the board unanimously approved a pilot project to include student delegates. While there will be eight student delegates in all, two from each class, only one student, a senior, will sit at the board table during meetings. That student will be able to participate in board discussions but will not, as is required by state law, have a vote. Students will also not participate in closed sessions of the school board and not have access to closed session materials.

* Daily Southtown | Thornton Township bills paid after month-long standoff between Supervisor Tiffany Henyard and trustees: The township continues to operate without a budget, with Henyard’s proposal listed repeatedly on meeting agendas failing to receive adequate support. But after the past two meetings were canceled due to disagreements over meeting location and safety protocols, the board approved bill payments and employee insurance updates. “By (trustees) not paying bills, they have been hurting a lot of department heads, which are here today,” Henyard told attendees after the meeting. “Their board members have not shown up to take care of the business, which is up for vote every two weeks.”

* WGN | ‘We’re giving away $2.2 million’: Trustee walks out ahead of Henyard’s 100% homeowner tax refund proposal: “The business got done,” Gonzalez said. “The bills were paid. The employees will have insurance.” The next items on the agenda are employee bonuses and a 100% tax refund for all homeowners. “We’re giving away $2.2 million to the residents of Thornton Township,” Henyard said.

*** Downstate ***

* WMBD | Peoria County Coroner’s office holding service and burial for unclaimed descendants: Fifty-eight people will, at long last, go to their final resting place. The Peoria County Coroner’s Office will bury 58 cremains of people who were not claimed by relatives or friends this Friday at Springdale Cemetery.

* WCIA | Crews battle ravine fire at Fox Ridge State Park overnight: Ashmore Fire Chief Clay Berner told WCIA he and about 12 to 15 of his firefighters responded, along with the same number from Hutton, at around 9 p.m. A caller reported smelling smoke in the park and firefighters arrived to find a ravine on fire. Berner said the fire’s cause is unknown, but he did say prevailing drought conditions played a role. Firefighters were on both sides of the ravine trying to fight the fire, in dark conditions on the sides of a steep drop-off.

* KSDK | ‘Beautiful and sensitive’: Endangered coral are being grown in southern Illinois, for a cause: “Scientists at SIU’s Center for Fisheries, Aquaculture, and Aquatic Sciences came up with the idea to grow coral, an invertebrate animal, about a decade ago, just as construction was beginning on the initial phase of the Saluki Aquarium in 2012,” the press release said. The aquarium currently houses about 10,000 gallons of research and display tanks, with officials hoping to add another 9,000-gallon marine display and teaching aquarium soon.

* PJ Star | Hollywood star John Travolta shows up at restaurant in small Illinois town: The Uptown Grill has been a mainstay of great food and service for nearly 40 years in La Salle. But over the years they’ve had something else on the menu, too: Celebrity visits. John Travolta, the A-lister with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, also showed up and took a seat in the Uptown Grill for dinner Saturday.

*** National ***

* WIRED | Workers Say They Were Tricked and Threatened as Part of Elon Musk’s Get-Out-the-Vote Effort: In Michigan, canvassers and paid door knockers for the former president, contracted by a firm associated with America PAC, have been subjected to poor working conditions: A number of them have been driven around in the back of a seatless U-Haul van, according to video obtained by WIRED, and threatened that their lodging at a local motel wouldn’t be paid for if they didn’t meet canvassing quotas. One door knocker alleges that they didn’t even know they were signing up for anything having to do with Musk or Trump.