* NBC Chicago…

An NBC 5 investigation revealed dozens of Illinois hospitals failed to properly treat victims of sexual assault.

An Illinois law known as the Sexual Assault Survivors Emergency Treatment Act – or SASETA – was designed to ensure victims of rape and sexual assault get proper care. The law requires that hospitals offer forensic services including rape kits, and that they contact police, collect forensic photographs with the patients’ consent and provide them with things like access to a shower, calling a friend or a rape crisis counselor, among other services. […]

Between 2018 and 2024, NBC 5 Investigates found 88 hospitals failed to properly treat victims of sexual assault, according to our review of thousands of pages of state health department inspection reports.

In many cases, the hospitals were found to have poor recordkeeping – failing to document if a rape kit was collected or contact information for the victim.

But we also found more egregious errors, including Illinois hospitals that failed to contact police, left rape kits sitting on shelves for years or told victims they couldn’t offer them rape kits services and sent them home.

* Sun-Times…

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul announced Tuesday a conviction integrity unit within his office that will investigate claims of innocence. The unit will focus on whether new, credible evidence proves that individuals are serving prison time for crimes they did not commit. The unit has been in development since Raoul took office in 2019.

“Our (unit) has the opportunity to ensure that justice was received in these cases and redress wrongful convictions where mistakes may have been made,” Raoul said at a news conference.

To be considered for review by the unit, a person would need to have been convicted by an Illinois state court in a forcible felony case, which involves the threat or use of physical force.

In order for a case to be taken up by the unit, the applicant must show new evidence that wasn’t presented before. If the unit determines that person didn’t commit the crime, it will work with local state’s attorneys’ offices to seek relief for the applicant, and find the real offender.

The unit will be funded by the Illinois Attorney General’s office and a $1.5 million grant from the Justice Department.

* WNIJ…

Dana Foltz says that’s exactly how the universal newborn support system is supposed to work. She’s with the Stephenson County Health Department, which has been running the program since it started in 2018.

Their team of nurses visits families within three weeks of the birth. They help moms with things like breastfeeding and C-section healing, and they’re also there to answer any questions and connect them with additional services. […]

The key word in Universal Newborn Support is “universal.” In Stephenson County, every single family has access to this. There aren’t many other communities in Illinois that offer universal home visiting support. But there’s a plan to bring it to Rockford and Winnebago County soon.

Emily Klonicki is the executive director of Alignment Rockford — which is helping lead the community initiative along with groups like Brightpoint & the Winnebago County Health Department. She says Winnebago County could particularly benefit from a universal system. […]

They still have to put together a funding structure to secure the grants to pay for the program and choose a lead agency to run it — like the health department does in Stephenson County.

* Press Release…

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame®-inducted icons and rock music legends Def Leppard will bring their electrifying performance to the Illinois State Fair on Saturday, August 16, for an unforgettable night of rock ‘n’ roll. Known for their timeless hits and energetic live shows, the evening will include performances from Def Leppard’s legendary catalog, including chart-topping classics hits like “Pour Some Sugar on Me,” “Photograph,” and “Love Bites.”

“Our team has worked hard to elevate the quality of musical acts at the Grandstand during the Illinois State Fair,” said Illinois Department of Agriculture Director Jerry Costello II. “Def Leppard has a core memory tied to every one of their songs. For me, it’s “Photograph.” I’m looking forward to taking it all in at the Illinois State Fair.”

With over 110 million albums sold, two prestigious U.S. Diamond Awards, and a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame® induction, Def Leppard—Joe Elliott (vocals), Phil Collen (guitar), Rick Savage (bass), Vivian Campbell (guitar), and Rick Allen (drums)—are hailed as one of the greatest live rock bands of all time. Known for groundbreaking albums “Pyromania” and “Hysteria,” and an arsenal of hits like “Rock of Ages,” “Pour Some Sugar on Me,” and “Foolin’,” they bring unmatched energy and showmanship to the stage.

Since launching their catalog on streaming platforms in 2018, the band has gained 5.5 billion streams and continues to expand its global fanbase. The band’s critically acclaimed album Diamond Star Halos debuted in Billboard’s Top 10, while “Drastic Symphonies” with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra reached #4 in the UK, spending 15 weeks at #1 on Billboard’s Classical chart. After a recent collaboration with Tom Morello on “Just Like 73,” which soared to #1 on the Classic Rock chart, Def Leppard remains a dominant force, inspiring new generations with its electrifying live performances.

“Def Leppard’s catalog of hits is iconic. Songs like “Pour Some Sugar on Me,” “Foolin’” and “Rock of Ages” immediately have you singing along, maybe strumming an air guitar,” said Illinois State Fair Manager Rebecca Clark. “Their energy is infectious for fans of all ages.”

Tickets for Def Leppard will go on sale Saturday, November 16 at 10 a.m. via Ticketmaster.

Special holiday pricing makes tickets more affordable today through the end of the year. Until December 31, ticket prices are:
Tier 3 - $85 / Tier 2 - $90 / Tier 1 - $100 / SRO Track - $115 / Blue Ribbon Zone - $165

On January 1, 2025, the price of SRO Track and Tier 1 will increase by $10.

*** Madigan Trial ***

* Tribune | Defense in Madigan corruption trial confronts star government witness over jobs, favors: Seizing on a tactic strengthened by a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, defense attorneys in the Michael Madigan corruption trial began their cross-examination of a key witness Tuesday by trying to distinguish between exchanging jobs for official actions and simply currying favor with the formidable ex-House speaker. Fidel Marquez, the onetime head of ComEd’s governmental affairs team, spent nearly 15 hours over four days of direct examination telling the jury about a scheme to hire Madigan’s allies as consulting subcontractors and doing myriad other favors to bring the utility back into the speaker’s good graces. At the outset of his questioning, however, defense attorney Patrick Cotter sought to paint the effort as legal lobbying, not bribes.

*** Statewide ***

* Sun-Times | Advocates seek pardons for five Illinois veterans currently living in exile: Immigration advocates are calling on Gov. JB Pritzker to pardon five Illinois military veterans who were deported and currently live in exile. The veterans are in exile all over the world, including Mexico, Guatemala and India. Some were deported more than 20 years ago, according to the League of United Latin American Citizens. The group called for their return during a news conference Monday afternoon in the Lower West Side. “Today we celebrate Veterans Day … by calling for the immediate return of deported green card veterans who served honorably in the U.S. military, only to be sent into exile after facing legal challenges,” said Cecilia Garcia, director of the Illinois chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens.

* KHQA | 5th & 6th graders invited to compete in Illinois EPA poster, poetry, and prose contests: Teachers may display the submissions for voting and submit final entries to the Illinois EPA for further judging. Teachers may submit up to eight individual entries per school to the Illinois EPA by February 3, 2025. The creation of posters and written works gives students an opportunity to express and share what they have learned. The students whose works are chosen for the exhibit will receive a certificate and ribbon. The top twelve entries will be given special recognition and displayed on the Illinois EPA website.

*** Chicago ***

* WBEZ | What a second Trump term could mean for housing in Chicago and Illinois: To discuss what some of those proposals could mean for Chicago and Illinois, WBEZ’s Esther Yoon-Ji Kang sat down with Daniel Kay Hertz, director of housing for Impact for Equity. Kay Hertz also served as policy director at the Chicago Department of Housing from 2019 to 2024.

* WGN | Chicago Housing Authority streamlines waitlist process in new website: The Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) announce they have streamlined its waitlist application process as part of a new website redesign. The new website is located at www.thecha.org.

* Crain’s | Realtors group unveils new standards for conduct after sexual harassment scandal: Fifteen months after a sexual harassment scandal rocked the National Association of Realtors and quickly took down its president and its CEO, the influential Chicago-based trade association this week unveiled a new set of standards aimed at ensuring better conduct and culture in the workplace. The 11 policies include authoring a clear set of values that volunteers and employees should hew to, creating open pathways of accountability for any infractions, and regular “anti-retaliation” training for top leadership.

* Rick Kogan | An exhibition and a book revisit the life and death of Emmett Till: [T]here is a new book that devotes some of its nearly 300 pages to Till but also to the larger sham of American racism. Its title says a great deal, “Ghosts of Segregation: American Racism, Hidden in Plain Sight” (Celadon Books). It is the work of former Chicagoan Richard Frishman, who traveled more than 35,000 miles across America over five years capturing with his camera such things as once-segregated bathrooms, beaches, churches, hospitals, graves and hotels.

* Crain’s | Chicago’s largest accounting firms see decreasing headcounts among major players: The largest accounting firms in the Chicago area, which are ranked by local professional staff as of June 30, barely saw an increase in numbers from 2023 to 2024. These firms saw median growth of less than 1%. The top 25 firms didn’t see much of an increase in local certified public accountant, or CPA, headcounts either, with median growth hovering slightly above 0%.

* South Side Weekly | The Complicated History of the Globetrotters: Journalists and brothers Mark and Matthew Jacob’s book, Globetrotter: How Abe Saperstein Shook Up the World of Sports isn’t a hit piece. It’s also not sportswashing—the practice of utilizing sports to divert attention away from unethical behavior—even though Saperstein was himself guilty of it. Some of Saperstein’s players, budding hoops iconoclasts, and, perhaps most notably, the Black press including the Chicago Defender, often called Saperstein out for the minstrel vibes given off by the Globetrotters. Even as a kid who couldn’t quite formulate what I was watching at the time, I knew something wasn’t right.

* WBEZ | Pitchfork’s abrupt exit from Chicago seen as a ‘loss’ for music community: For nearly two decades, the July weekend was viewed as “a musical safe space for truly alternative people,” said Mike Bennett, a CHIRP Radio host. “It was a place they could really congregate and feel they were a part of something. That’s a loss for Chicago.” New York–based media giant Condé Nast, which owns Pitchfork Media, the longtime online music criticism website, broke the news on Instagram Monday that the festival would no longer take place in Chicago, where it originated 19 years ago. Condé Nast did not explain the decision.

* The Athletic | Bears fire OC Shane Waldron, Thomas Brown to call plays: The Chicago Bears have made a change at offensive coordinator. The team parted ways with Shane Waldron and tabbed passing game coordinator Thomas Brown to take over play-calling duties, the Bears announced Tuesday. The move comes after the Bears (4-5) scored only three points against the New England Patriots on Sunday. Chicago has tallied only 27 points in its last three games and hasn’t scored a touchdown since Week 8.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Herald | Three-way race emerges for Arlington Heights mayor: With longtime Mayor Tom Hayes opting not to seek a fourth term as the town’s top elected leader, the field to replace him includes two members of his village board — trustees Tom Schwingbeck and Jim Tinaglia. Filing alongside them Tuesday morning was Jon Ridler, executive director of the Arlington Heights Chamber of Commerce. Candidate filing remains open until Monday, so there’s still time for the field to grow larger.

* Tribune | Oak Park Democrats commiserate in wake of Trump victory: “This is tough,” said Democratic Party of Oak Park committeewoman Eileen Lynch, speaking to the standing room only crowd gathered Saturday at the group’s headquarters in Oak Park. “I’m finding it hardest to talk to my daughters who I infused with Democratic activism. This is a devastating setback and I don’t know what we’re going to do.” But some also took a longer view. State Sen. Don Harmon, president of the Illinois Senate and the Democratic committeeman for Oak Park, preached resiliency, saying that setbacks are inevitable in politics. Harmon recalled when he was a student at St. Chiles Catholic School in Oak Park and did some volunteer work for 1972 Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern, who lost in a landslide to Richard Nixon.

* Daily Herald | Motor Werks expansion debate moves to Barrington village board: A proposed expansion of the Barrington Motor Werks campus made its way before the village board Monday, as did neighbors complaining about the project. Motor Werks owner Mario Murgado wants to add a two-story, 110,000-square-foot, two-story building at the corner of Dundee Road and Grove Avenue for a Porsche dealership. But residential neighbors are opposed, complaining the campus is already too loud and busy.

* News-Sun | Lake County planning to double number of traffic roundabouts: ‘Illinois is coming around on them, no pun intended’: Lake County is looking for feedback on a proposed roundabout at Hunt Club and Stearns School roads in Warren Township as it moves to double the number of roundabout intersections within its system in the coming years. It won’t be the first roundabout in Lake County, although its only the second multi-lane roundabout built by Lake County, the first being River and Roberts roads in the village of Lake Barrington in 2015. The $15 million project, which includes drainage improvements and a bike path, is planned to be finished in 2027.

* Daily Southtown | Matteson police say teacher’s aide arrested after endangering a child at Marya Yates Elementary School: Matteson police said Friday charges were pending for battery and endangering the life and health of a child, but as of Tuesday a spokesman would not comment on the status of charges or whether the teacher’s aide was still in custody. Police said in a news release that just before the end of the school day Friday, the 8-year-old boy was running in the hall when a 26-year-old female teacher’s aide grabbed him. The teacher’s aide dragged the student about 20 feet into a classroom and dropped him partially in the doorway, police said.

*** Downstate ***

* Daily Journal | Iroquois to leave Illinois?: Iroquois County Board Chairman John Shure said a group known as New Illinois approached the county board about the ballot request. Shure said some residents have asked him in the county could secede from Illinois and join Indiana. “Obviously we don’t think this will go anywhere,” he said in reference to forming a new state. “But we want to send a message to Springfield that we are not satisfied.” He said the vote result is just about what he thought it might be for this Republican-dominated county. “I’m happy with the result,” Shure said. “It accomplished what we thought it would be.”

* WIFR | Winnebago Co. leaders prepare for potential mass deportations under Trump’s ‘border czar’: For decades, Sara Dady helped migrants in the Rockford area. While planning to oppose Trump’s policies, she learns from past immigration fights in Winnebago County. “We’ve been here before under a Trump administration,” concedes Dady. She references a 2017 incident where Winnebago County Sheriff Gary Caruana walked away from housing ICE detainees in the county jail; the attorney credits community pressure to stopping the planned center.

*** National ***

* Reaters | Kraft Heinz pulls Lunchables meals from US low-income lunch program: Chicago-based Kraft Heinz announced plans to sell to the school lunch program early last year at an industry conference, saying it would target the $25-billion educational market. But demand fell short of the packaged food manufacturer’s expectations, the company said, as it looks to revive its well-worn brands such as Lunchables, Jell-O and Crystal Light, and grow sales volumes, which have faltered after multiple price hikes.