* Subscribers know more. WTTW…

CPS is facing a $734 million shortfall with a deadline to pass a balanced budget coming next Friday, but the options facing CPS board members and the interim CEO appear to be narrowing.

On Wednesday, Gov. JB Pritzker reiterated to reporters that the district should not be relying on more money from Springfield, saying there wasn’t money “just lying around.”

“At the local level every school is going to have to do whatever is required in order to protect those students, and I will stand with them in that endeavor,” Pritzker said. “But there is not extra money lying around in Springfield. What CTU and the mayor are talking about — which is providing another $1 billion or $1.6 billion for Chicago Public Schools — that’s just not gonna happen. And it’s not because we shouldn’t. We should, we should try to find the money, but we don’t have those resources today.”

WBEZ…

At a South Side school Thursday, CTU President Stacy Davis Gates seized on the governor’s message of financial sparsity, asking incredulously whether Pritzker really meant to deny more state resources for CPS.

“We heard our governor say ‘no’ to paying what they owe to the schools like Fort Dearborn,” she told reporters outside Fort Dearborn Elementary School in the Brainerd neighborhood. “Because I am a teacher, I know that sometimes people have the wrong answer to the right question, and the wrong answer yesterday was ‘no.’

“I don’t think he means ‘no,’” she said of Pritzker. “I think he means we’re going to have to get together, create [a] coalition and put the pressure on billionaires to pay their fair share in this state.”

Davis Gates said CPS teachers have had to dip into their household budgets to bring toilet paper and paper towels to their classrooms to make up for resources missing from their school buildings because of “the failures of our governor and our super-majority Democratic Illinois General Assembly.”

“Ask him again today: Did he really mean ‘no’?” she said of the governor. “Ask him again: How can he refuse these beautiful Black children in this neighborhood the resources that they deserve? Ask him again if he’s serious about not paying his debt.”

* WTTW…

[Menard Correctional Center] has been on lockdown nearly every day since September 2023, according to data from the Illinois Department of Corrections. Lockdowns, according to officials, are largely the result of short staffing. On average, Menard has only been able to staff 44% of the prison so far this year, according to emails.

Menard, the largest maximum-security prison for men in the state, isn’t the only facility facing heightened lockdowns — Illinois is currently experiencing the highest amount of prison lockdowns in the state since 2020. […]

The record high is in large part due to staffing shortages, according to IDOC data. For example, in May, 86% of lockdowns were due to a lack of staff, data shows. […]

To understand the impact of lockdowns, WTTW News sent a list of questions to those incarcerated at three prisons in Illinois with particularly high lockdown numbers: Menard, Pinckneyville, a medium-security prison for men, and Logan, a facility for women north of Springfield.

Go read the rest.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Crain’s | A make-or-break veto session looms for Chicago transit: Gov. JB Pritzker sounded an optimistic note that a mass transit rescue will be ready for the General Assembly’s fall veto session, confidence that was echoed by a key legislative leader. “There is a bill that’s being developed and resources associated with that bill that will come forward at the time of our veto session in October,” Pritzker said yesterday when asked about transit funding. “There’s still a lot of work being done — lots of it has been done already. But . . . it’s not soup yet.”

*** Chicago ***

* CBS Chicago | Chicago area man remains in ICE custody after wife says they took wrong turn at U.S.-Canada border: The couple was in Michigan for their construction business when Kristina Ramirez said they made a wrong turn toward Canada. Kristina said along with Sergio, she was detained for three days despite being a U.S. citizen. […] She added: “My husband is not a murderer. My husband is not a criminal. My husband is a very loving, a good person.” Sergio’s immigration attorney said the 32-year-old has been in the U.S. waiting for his U visa application to be approved, and he is eligible for permanent residency through his marriage. His immigration status is under deferred action.

* Block Club | Troubled Bronzeville Nursing Home Could Shut Down After Years Of Complaints, Violations: The potential closing of Southview Manor, 3311 S. Michigan Ave., comes after the Illinois Department of Public Health released a quarterly report on nursing homes that outlined multiple violations at the facility, ranging from an inadequate response when one resident sexual assaulted another to failure to document medication and clinical needs. Southview Manor’s violations date back to 2022, when one resident suffering from Alzheimer’s went missing for 16 hours on one of the hottest days of that year. Staff failed to properly assess the woman’s risk of leaving the nursing home without permission or supervision, despite her previously being identified as a wanderer, the report states. Police found her the next morning and took her to a nearby hospital.

* Block Club | More Kennedy Expressway Lanes Reopen — And Construction Could Wrap By Thanksgiving: All lanes on the expressway north of Addison Street will reopen over the next week, according to a Wednesday news release from the Illinois Department of Transportation. “Reducing the overall length of the work zone by 2 miles represents the latest significant milestone in the ongoing expressway rehabilitation from Ohio Street to the Edens Expressway (I-94) junction,” according to IDOT. But some more ramps and lanes will have to temporarily close overnight for “removing the work zone” between Addison Street and Pulaski Road over the next week. People should prepare for “significant delays” and plan for extra time, according to IDOT.

* Sun-Times | How one Chicago museum is leading the charge for bilingual access to American cultural sites: Spanish is no longer an “afterthought,” says Antonio Díaz Oliva, an editor at the MCA. Instead, the staff at the institution, where bilingual efforts launched in 2020, thinks about it from the beginning stages of a new exhibition. They also put a lot of thought into addressing the nuances in language that might work best for specific galleries based on topic — for example, some Chicagoans might speak a blend of Mexican and Puerto Rican (or MexiRican) Spanish.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Naperville Sun | Naperville council directs staff to negotiate electricity contract terms with IMEA: The decision comes after many lengthy discussions and debates regarding the future of the city’s electricity source, including a nearly five hour workshop last month weighing the pros and cons of renewing with Naperville’s long-time energy provider IMEA. Mayor Scott Wehrli introduced the motion at the Tuesday night council meeting calling for city staff to continue negotiating with the IMEA on the city’s key areas of concern, a proposal he announced on social media the day before the council meeting. Much of the mayor’s proposal centers on concerns about lowering the city’s carbon footprint.

* Naperville Sun | Sales tax hike dumped in favor of 1% grocery tax by Naperville council: The Naperville City Council reversed course Tuesday on how it would replace the lost income from the soon-to-be-defunct state grocery tax, abandoning plans to increase the city’s home rule tax in favor of a local 1% grocery tax. Councilman Benny White, who previously supported increasing the home rule sales tax to compensate for the $6.5 million loss in state grocery tax money, said he had a change of heart after concluding a hike in the sales tax would place a heavier burden on local business owners and those struggling to afford items like diapers and basic cleaning supplies.

* Daily Southtown | Will County Executive Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant boasts of successes, presents $791 million budget: Will County leads the state in numerous categories, including population growth, job creation and single family housing development, said County Executive Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant. Demands for county services have grown with the population, Bertino-Tarrant said during her annual State of the County address Thursday, where she also introduced a $791 million balanced budget for fiscal year 2026. In November, the County Board approved a $832 million budget for Fiscal 2025, with $273 million in the corporate fund, which is used for county operations, and about $558 million in special revenue funds which are restricted in their use.

* Daily Herald | District 211 residents hotly debate transgender player on Conant H.S. girls volleyball team: The conservative group Citizens 4 Kids Education (C4KE) called on members and supporters to voice their disapproval. Many expressed concerns about injuries female athletes could suffer by being pitted against transgender players. Defenders of transgender athletes argued serious injuries in sports aren’t confined to a transgender player being involved.[…] In contrast, Justin O’Rourke of the Community Mental Health Project criticized the way C4KE tried to draw people to the meeting, adding that members of the LGBTQ community are more vulnerable to mental health issues and suicidal thoughts because of the way they’re treated by others. “This is not about safety at all,” he said of the group’s concerns. “This is about prejudice and bigotry.”

* Daily Herald | District 59 superintendent defends equity efforts, but supports board’s search for successor: The board has retained Libertyville-based search firm BWP & Associates to help identify and select a new superintendent, who would be in place for the start of the 2026-27 school year. The leadership change in the Elk Grove Village-based prekindergarten through eighth-grade district isn’t unexpected, after a slate of candidates that formed in opposition to Bresnahan’s equity plan was swept into office after the April 2023 election. The month before, the old board inked a contract extension with Bresnahan, keeping her in the role until June 2026.

* Daily Southtown | Tinley Park District 146 teachers union declares impasse over contract negotiations: While most of the contract’s provisions are settled, the Tinley Council Teachers 146 of Local 604 is fighting for higher wage increases and improved retirement benefits than the district is offering. Negotiations began in February, and the most recently approved contract expired July 31. The district’s most recent offer includes wage increases of 6% for each of the next two school years and 5% for the 2027-2028 school year. Keegan Kociss, a spokesperson for the district, said District 146 teachers are among the highest paid in the surrounding area, saying the district’s proposal is “generous and it’s fair and it keeps our taxpayers in mind.”

* Tribune | Northwestern reaches a settlement with former coach Pat Fitzgerald, who was fired amid a hazing scandal: Northwestern has reached a settlement with former football coach Pat Fitzgerald nearly two years after he sued the university for $130 million following his firing amid a team hazing scandal. Fitzgerald announced the settlement Thursday through a statement via his attorneys, saying he had resolved his claims of breach of contract, defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress with the university to his satisfaction. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed. “Though I maintain Northwestern had no legal basis to terminate my employment for cause under the terms of my employment agreement, in the interest of resolving this matter and, in particular, to relieve my family from the stress of ongoing litigation, Northwestern and I have agreed to a settlement,” Fitzgerald said.

* Daily Herald | West Chicago mayor’s renderings spark community interest in downtown development: West Chicago residents are responding to a series of renderings of downtown improvements Mayor Daniel Bovey recently posted on Facebook. That was exactly Bovey’s intent with the 19 pictures of elements, including a public plaza, courts for athletics, a marketplace and more. Several elements incorporate West Chicago’s history with the railway that runs through the downtown, and a vacant, 150-year-old station. “This is not a plan. We’re inviting the community to be part of the plan from the get-go, so give us your feedback,” Bovey told the Daily Herald this week.

*** Downstate ***

* Rochelle News-Leader | Ogle County Board: Special use permit for solar facility in Mt. Morris Township denied: At its monthly meeting Tuesday, the Ogle County Board voted 17-4 to deny a special use permit for the construction and operation of a two-megawatt community solar energy facility in Mt. Morris Township at 8400 Haldane Road on 17.58 acres. The special use permit was requested by DG Mount Solar of Juno Beach, Florida. Voting in favor of approving the special use permit were Board Members Wayne Reising, Joseph Simms, Susie Corbitt and Don Griffin. “It’s very good farmland,” Board Member Marcia Heuer said. The board has considered a number of special use permit for solar facilities in recent years. Back in December, the board narrowly approved a special use permit for a solar project between Forreston and Polo after previously denying that project due to it being on productive farmland. That petitioner changed its siting to less productive farmland and filed a lawsuit against Ogle County for the denial, stemming from a recent new state law that set statewide standards for wind and solar farm siting and took away previous local controls such as at the county level.

* WSIL | Glenn Poshard event at SIC supports Harrisburg food pantry: Dr. Glenn Poshard will perform a special poetry and music program at Southeastern Illinois College on Sunday, Sept. 7. The event, will take place at 2 p.m. in the George T. Dennis Visual & Performing Arts Center;. The event is also free with donations going to the 4Cs Food Pantry in Harrisburg. Poshard’s program, “Beginnings and Endings,” combines his poetry with music to explore themes of love, faith, and life’s turning points. Attendees have praised his presentations as deeply moving. “This reading is about more than poetry — it’s about connecting to one another in our shared humanity and helping hungry children in our region,” Poshard said.

* WCIA | Mattoon business owner calls on the city to do more after losing money from water issues: The Mattoon City Council is still facing some heat from people in the community after a harmful algae bloom made the city’s water unsafe for use last month. “It’s a good little town, but I just feel like there are a lot of things that could be done better and that should be done better,” said Michelle Cook, owner of 4 Paws Spa and Boutique.

*** National ***

* Law Dork | Judge orders DOJ to give more info on subpoenas targeting trans minors’ medical care: A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the Trump administration to provide information in two weeks about the scope of the Justice Department’s unprecedented investigation into the provision of gender-affirming medical care for those under 19 across the country — including in states where the provision of such necessary care is legal. The order from U.S. District Judge Mark Kearney came in a challenge filed by one of the hospitals targeted in the Justice Department’s attack on the provision of such care for minors. DOJ’s actions broke widely on Wednesday in multiple news reports, although Kearney’s Wednesday order is first being reported at Law Dork.

* Defector | It Took Many Years And Billions Of Dollars, But Microsoft Finally Invented A Calculator That Is Wrong Sometimes: If using Excel professionally is both an art and a science, adoption of Copilot could easily lead to a generation no longer able to properly use or understand it, while still somehow not actually allowing them to produce a useable result. Writ large this is the most poisonous and perhaps longest-lasting result of so much of the AI explosion, and its subsequent force-feeding into every revenue-generating maw—and on some level, is the entire business model: Get people addicted to the thing to the extent they can no longer function without it, and they will simply have to learn to live with it doing a bad job.

* PC Mag | Site Behind Major SSN Leak Returns With Detailed Data on Millions: How to Opt Out: National Public Data, a website infamous for its role in leaking millions of Social Security numbers last year, has returned with the ability to look up anyone’s personal information. The site shut down in December amid a wave of lawsuits against parent company Jericho Pictures after a breach exposed an estimated 272 million unique SSNs and 600 million phone numbers. Since then, the site has been relatively dormant. But today, we spotted the nationalpublicdata.com domain springing back to life with a new interface.