* ICYMI: Illinois Election 2024: Live results Axios…

-Polls are open 6am–7pm Tuesday in Illinois.
- Results will begin populating in the first half-hour after polls close and be updated live as counted votes roll in.

* Related stories…

∙ Injustice Watch: Your guide to the November 2024 Cook County judicial elections
∙ Daily Herald: Nearly 30% of all Illinois voters have already cast their ballot
∙ Pantagraph: McLean County’s early voting exceeds expectations of election authorities
∙ Daily Herald: What to expect on Election Day throughout the suburbs

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Sun-Times | Illinois to receive $40 million in opioid settlement with Kroger: Under the agreement, Illinois will receive more than $40 million of the $1.37 billion that the grocery chain agreed to pay in the deal, Raoul’s office said. The majority of Illinois’ money will go to the Illinois Remediation Fund to be used for drug abatement programs throughout the state.

* Tribune | Long lines and a blustery Election Day greeting Chicago-area voters — weather befitting the end of a turbulent campaign season: “Very windy yet mild and only sporadically showery weather is due Election Day,” iconic Chicago meteorologist Tom Skilling predicted. “It’s kind of fitting, isn‘t it, that strong winds are to buffet the area? Kind of fitting a tumultuous election would fall on a day with strong winds.”

* Press Release | Government Alliance for Safe Communities Announces $100 Million in Grant Opportunities for Violence Prevention and Community Violence Intervention Initiatives: The 2025 GASC funding initiative includes two grant opportunities for programmatic CVI funding totaling approximately $57 million, with additional funding opportunities to follow. These grant opportunities are available through the Reimagine Violence Prevention Services Program, sponsored by the Illinois Department of Human Services, and the Lead Organization for Expanding Capacity for Community Violence Interventions - Street Outreach Services sponsored by the City of Chicago.

*** Statewide ***

* WCIA | Attorney General reminds IL voters of their rights ahead of Election Day: The Illinois Attorney General has got extra staff working on Election Day to keep the election as free from interference as possible. More than 200 investigators and assistant attorney generals will be working on the day to monitor the election and polling places for illegal activities and to ensure all polling places remain accessible.

*** Chicago ***

* Block Club | If You Block A Bike Lane Downtown, You’ll Now Get An Automatic Ticket Or Warning: During the first 30 days of the program, the city will only be issuing warnings via mail to registered car owners found parking in bike and bus lanes. Starting Dec. 5, drivers found in violation will receive a mailed notice for the first offense and then will be fined for subsequent violations, according to a press release.

* Tribune | The issues facing school board candidates at a contentious time for CPS: Off-year elections in Chicago, such as mayoral and aldermanic races, typically favor traditional Democratic and progressive activists, according to Wayne Steger, a political science professor at DePaul University. This year’s school board race coinciding with the presidential election means voter turnout will be higher, but unpredictable — as former President Donald Trump’s supporters may bring differing opinions to the polls, Steger said.

* Block Club | City’s Largest Migrant Shelter Closing Next Week: The largest city-run migrant shelter is slated to close next week as Chicago continues to scale down its new arrivals mission by the end of the year. Inn of Chicago — steps away from the Magnificent Mile at 162 E. Ohio St. — has housed more than 1,500 migrants since opening as a shelter more than two years ago, when some of the first buses of asylum seekers began arriving in Chicago. The shelter will close Nov. 15, ending two-plus years of contention between the shelter and the area’s aldermen, city officials confirmed to Block Club on Monday.

* Cook County Record | ‘Palpable injustice:’ Appeals panel says Cook Co. judge wrongly allowed ‘one-sided’ trial vs restaurant owner: A state appeals panel says a Cook County judge wrongly allowed Loyola University to move forward with a “one-sided” trial, in which the court ultimately ordered a Chicago restaurant owner to pay more than $500,000 in allegedly past due rent and court costs, even though the restaurant owner’s lawyer was hospitalized, amid a fight over whether Loyola legally evicted his new fine dining restaurant from a Loyola-owned building after preventing the restaurant from reopening during the Covid pandemic. The decision from a three-justice panel of the Illinois First District Appellate Court reversed the decision of Cook County Judge Robert F. Harris.

* Sun-Times | Young Chicago police officer who ‘courageously protected this city’ shot to death in Chatham, 2 in custody: The slain 6th District officer would have marked three years on the job in December. The attack unfolded after officers stopped a vehicle with three occupants about 8 p.m. in the 8000 block of South Ingleside, Snelling said. As officers approached the vehicle one of the occupants opened fire on Martinez, Snelling said, adding that “it sounded like rapid fire.” The officer was struck multiple times. One of the occupants of the vehicle was also struck and killed by the gunfire.

* Sun-Times | Hotel tax could increase to boost tourism budget: Chicago’s hotel tax — already the highest among convention cities — may soon rise to 18.9% at downtown hotels to generate more than $50 million in annual revenue to help market the city. One year after the Illinois General Assembly authorized the concept, Choose Chicago is laying the groundwork to create a so-called Tourism Improvement District that would more than double the marketing agency’s annual budget by increasing the tax from the current 17.4%.

* ABC Chicago | PepsiCo facing union lawsuit after abrupt closure of Chicago plant: Teamsters Local 727 filed the suit in federal court, claiming the company unlawfully shut down the facility by violating the WARN act, or the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act. Teamsters Local 727 filed the suit in federal court, claiming the company unlawfully shut down the facility by violating the WARN act, or the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act. […] Some workers said they have been with the company for more than 45 years. The workers said they came to work as normal, and were told the plant was closing and to go home.

* Sun-Times | New manager Will Venable lays out plan on how he will manage White Sox: He also will try to impress upon suffering Sox fans that he doesn’t think the organizational picture is hopelessly bleak and that he accepted this job because he’s unbowed — and invigorated — by the sheer size and scope of the task at hand. ‘‘I understand the challenges and the adversity clearly,’’ he said, ‘‘and am looking forward to all of it.’’

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Herald | CTA shrugging off pandemic service lows; how about Metra and Pace?: As of Monday, Metra is running at nearly 100% of pre-pandemic trips overall, and in 2025 those numbers could increase a bit, officials said. Breaking it down, the commuter railroad is running 96% of the trains it provided before COVID-19 on weekdays, or 665 currently compared to 692, spokesman Michael Gillis said. On weekends, Metra is surpassing its 2019 levels.

* Tribune | Melrose Park police remove Trump campaign flag from building: Posting a campaign sign on public property, such as a police department, is illegal under Illinois law. Melrose Park Police Department representative Andrew Mack said the department did not know who had put the flag there and said it was taken down around 9:30 a.m., after State Rep. Norma Hernandez’s office alerted the department. Neither Hernandez’s office nor the Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s office, which enforces campaign signage laws, immediately returned requests for comment Monday evening.

* Patch | Video Gaming In Downers Grove? Voters To Weigh In With Referendum: When Downers Grove voters head to the polls on Election Day, they’ll weigh in on some important issues, including whether to allow video gaming within the village. In October 2023, village officials opted to present the referendum during the 2024 General Election. The move came in the wake of a unanimous vote to amend an ordinance that would have permitted video gaming as of Jan. 1, 2024.

* Patch | Cappel, Deane-Schlottman Vie For 49th District Seat: IL Election 2024: The voters in the State Senate 49th District will decide in Tuesday’s election whether to keep incumbent Shorewood Democrat Meg Loughran Cappel in office or replace her with Katie Deane-Schlottman, the Republican challenger from Joliet. According to the incumbent’s website, “A mother of three and caregiver to her elderly father, Meg knows what it’s like living paycheck to paycheck. Meg knows firsthand how important pensions are to working families, as she and her husband, Jason—who is also a public school teacher—have paid into Illinois’ pension system their whole professional careers.”

* Patch | Larry Walsh Jr., Jim Lanham Eye 86th District Seat: IL 2024 Election: State Representative Lawrence “Larry” Walsh, Jr., a prominent Democrat in Will County politics, faces competition in Tuesday’s general election from Republican challenger Jim Lanham in the race to represent the people of the 86th District. The 86th District includes parts of Joliet, and other towns such as Elwood, Channahon and Shorewood. Larry Walsh Jr. is seeking re-election.

*** Downstate ***

…Adding… News Gazette: System failures that led to inoperable voting machines at polling places throughout Champaign County Tuesday morning have been resolved, Clerk Aaron Ammons said shortly after 8 a.m.

* WCIA | Champaign County Polling Places Down: Many voters in Champaign County are not able to vote this morning after an issue that has brought most polling locations down. The Champaign County Clerk Aaron Ammons confirmed to WCIA this morning that there are network issues that are preventing people from voting. He told us there is no timeline to be resolved. He states it is all polling locations. Ammons also told us he got a call from Sangamon County that there are issues in that area as well.

…Adding…

Champaign county clerk Aaron Ammons tells WCIA they are having county wide network issues. “I’ve sent numerous messages and calls to our vendor who is in control of this and have not received response.” “I’ve also spoken with the states attorney to see if we can get an injunction…

— Kevin Lighty - WCIA 3 Chief Meteorologist (@KevinLighty) November 5, 2024

* WCIA | Schools, government offices across Illinois closed for Election Day: The public school systems in Decatur, Springfield, Urbana, Champaign, Effingham and Danville are all listed as closed, according to the district websites. Private schools have the choice in Illinois to stay open or close.

* Herald-Whig | Amazon distribution center coming to Quincy: Quincy Mayor Mike Troup and Great River Economic Development Foundation President Kyle Moore announced plans Monday morning for the 59,000-square-foot warehouse and distribution center on the north side of Wismann Lane between 42nd and 43rd Streets. Troup expects construction to begin “in coming weeks” at the site and take nine months to a year to complete.

* SJ-R | Cafe Moxo won’t return to East Adams Street following summer fire: A City of Springfield Building and Zoning Department permit for demolition has been issued to bring down the remnants of 413 E. Adams St. after a fire on June 19. Nickell said the demolition could begin as early as Nov. 11, but may be delayed due to the current stabilizers being installed on the adjacent building which once housed Cafe Moxo.

* Daily Journal | Farm community rallies around injured friend, shares message of road safety: “We’ve been through a lot,” said his wife, Lisa, who remains by his side and uses Facebook to keep friends and family posted each step of the way. “We have a huge community helping us,” she said of friends, family and neighbors doing hog chores, moving hay, selling pork and raising money to help with hospital expenses. […] VanWassenhove, who also works with the Illinois Department of Ag, hopes to eventually be fitted for a prosthetic leg but will also have a very long road to recovery. He has started physical therapy to strengthen his upper body. When ready, he will move to the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago, she said.

*** National ***

* Seattle Times | Boeing Machinists approve new contract, ending strike: The Boeing strike is over after 53 days. Machinists union members voted Monday to approve the company’s most recent contract offer, enabling Boeing to restart work at assembly plants in Everett and Renton and at parts plants throughout the region.

* WaPo | Fencing, boarded-up windows and prayers: D.C. readies for Election Day: For weeks, D.C. officials have sought to reassure residents anxious about the possibility of unrest. With polls showing the race deadlocked, officials said they are bracing for the possibility of days of uncertainty as states tally ballots but know of no credible threats.

* WGEM | Missouri Secretary of State sues DOJ for monitoring voting rights compliance: Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft announced his office, along with that of Attorney General Andrew Bailey, filed a lawsuit intending to block the U.S. Department of Justice from monitoring a polling place in the St. Louis area for compliance with federal voting rights laws. The Department of Justice is the federal government’s law enforcement arm, and performs these compliance checks every election cycle. Until 2022, no Missouri polling place was on the list of those to be monitored by the DOJ.

* WGN | The median age of US homebuyers has risen to an all-time high, Realtor report says: The median age of a first-time homebuyer in the United States has risen from 35 to 38 over the last year, according to the highlights of an annual report from the National Association of Realtors. When it comes the average U.S. homebuyer overall (i.e., people who purchased first homes, second homes, or had owned homes in the past), the median age rose even more drastically, from 49 in the 2023 report to 56 in 2024, the data suggests. This is the highest median age recorded since 1981, when the National Association of Realtors began keeping track.