* The Sun-Times has more details on what federal agents will be up to at Naval Station Great Lakes…

Hundreds of federal agents who are being sent to a north suburban naval base this week are expected to leave the facility before dawn each morning to carry out President Donald Trump’s mission to curb crime and make immigration arrests in Chicago, officials have been told.

The 230 agents, at least some of whom work for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, are coming from Los Angeles, where an immigration blitz this summer spurred protests that pushed Trump to call in the National Guard, sources familiar with the planning said.

At least 30 agents already have arrived at Naval Station Great Lakes near North Chicago, where they’ve been practicing crowd control with shields and flash-bang grenades, the sources said. Similar training has been underway for several months. […]

Roughly 140 unmarked vehicles that will be used in the operation have been sent to the base, which is the Navy’s largest training station and the largest military installation in the state, according to sources. Officials are seeking to establish a no-fly zone to keep away news helicopters and drones that aren’t already prohibited from flying in the area.

* The Tribune…

The nearly 30,000 people incarcerated in Illinois prisons may begin having their mail scanned and subjected to other security measures following reports that those incarcerated and staff members who work in state prisons were in danger of being exposed to harmful chemicals from illegal drugs and other substances being smuggled into the facilities.

The stricter security rules, which are being implemented for the next five months on an emergency basis, were quietly imposed a few weeks ago by the Illinois Department of Corrections. They allow, but do not mandate, IDOC to implement a process to electronically scan and digitize incoming mail and print it for a person incarcerated or send it to them electronically. The head of IDOC also would have the authority to exclude incoming mail from the process.

Authorized through the state’s bipartisan Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, the new measures went into effect Aug. 14 and come amid a protracted push by Republican lawmakers in the General Assembly’s superminority and a union representing IDOC employees raising concerns that the department was failing to protect workers and people behind bars against drugs such as fentanyl and other substances apparently being sent covertly through the department’s mail.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Capitol News Illinois | Illinois’ tourism push includes millions for NASCAR events: State records obtained by Capitol News Illinois show the state has spent nearly $7 million hosting or sponsoring the sport since 2022. That includes sponsorship of the Enjoy Illinois 300 scheduled for Sunday at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison just across the river from St. Louis. The state-sponsored race is the second playoff race on the Cup Series schedule. It’s one of four NASCAR races scheduled to take place in Illinois this year.

* Sen. Lakesia Collins | Prioritize funding after-school programs: As chair of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus, I’ve fought to secure $50 million in the state budget for after-school grants. But I also know that funding without timely follow-through is an empty promise. Delays in releasing those funds are already putting these programs at risk — and families can’t afford to wait. I’ve spoken with parents who are desperate to find care that matches their work schedules. I’ve met youth workers and mentors who’ve had to walk away from kids they’ve known for years, because their programs were defunded. I’ve seen the heartbreak and the uncertainty. And I refuse to accept it as normal.

*** Chicago ***

* Injustice Watch | Superintendent of Chicago’s youth jail might not live here, records show: Nine current and former employees of the detention center — many of them critical of what they describe as mismanagement and poor leadership at the facility — told Injustice Watch that Dixon is rarely seen. And a trail of public records ties Dixon to a suburb outside Detroit, where he ran the juvenile detention center for nearly two decades before agreeing to move to Cook County for the superintendent job in 2015. Dixon has been registered to vote in Michigan since 1995, and he has voted absentee consistently since 2012, including, most recently, in the 2024 primary and general elections, records show.

* Sun-Times | Family of teens shot at Douglas Park pool sue former lifeguard, Chicago Park District: “Kids [are] supposed to be able to go to the park to play,” Jeremy Herred Sr., Jeremy’s father, said at a new conference announcing the lawsuit Wednesday. “Our kids went to the park to play and got shot by an employee. It’s crazy.” The boy’s families filed a lawsuit this week against Leto and the Chicago Park District, who they alleged hired and promoted Leto despite reports of aggressive and threatening behavior.

* Block Club | CPS To Pay $700,000 To Fired Lincoln Park High School Principals After 2020 Scandal: The settlement follows a May decision by former CPS CEO Pedro Martinez to remove both principals from the district’s “do not hire” list. “This case shows the choice for CPS should not be either protecting students or treating their teachers, coaches and principals with dignity and some due process. It needs to do both,” Bill Choslovsky, the attorney who represented Thuet and Brumfield, told Block Club. “That’s the ultimate lesson of this five-year saga.”

* Crain’s | Howard Brown nurses authorize strike over pay, staffing: The Illinois Nurses Association, which represents 32 registered nurses at the LGBTQ-focused health care provider, says Howard Brown Health’s cost-of-living increases fail to keep up with inflation and the strike would come following “years of alleged chronic understaffing” and turbulent labor disputes between Howard Brown Health and the non-nurses HBH Workers United union. “Nurses argue that chronic understaffing and sub-standard pay have made their jobs worse in recent years,” the union said in a press release. “They believe staffing issues will persist until HBH makes nursing jobs more attractive to applicants.”

* Sun-Times | Northwestern Medicine opens outpatient clinic in Bronzeville: The 120,000-square-foot center also has free parking for patients. There is a large community space and a room for local retail in the clinic’s building. “Increasing access to world-class health care in Bronzeville will make a generational impact on the health and wellness of this community,” Dr. Kimbra Bell, medical director at the Northwestern Medicine Bronzeville Outpatient Center, said in a statement.

* Tribune | Veterans, advocates urge National Guard members to resist potentially unlawful Trump orders: “Service members signed up to uphold the Constitution,” Brad Thomson, a member of the National Lawyers Guild’s Military Law Task Force, said at a news conference Tuesday at Federal Plaza in the Loop. “Service members did not sign up to become pawns for a president trying to score political points against the opposing party.”

* Tribune | After killings in Mexico, lawyer seeks help from Chicago attorney — but Trump-era cuts hamper their work: With cuts earlier this year and Washington’s further retreat from international aid, reinforced by the $9 billion rescissions package Congress approved this summer and Trump’s $4.9 billion proposed pocket rescission last week, the federal funding that helped pay for Lee’s work was decimated, and the program’s future is uncertain. The initiative, Justice Defenders, is run by the American Bar Association, which said it received up to $3.4 million annually in federal assistance for the program from the U.S. Department of State. For years, the program has supported lawyers’ work in dozens of countries, shedding light on human rights abuses and strengthening rule of law standards in criminal justice systems. While Lee and other lawyers offered legal services for free, the federal funds helped cover travel, research and other costs.

* Crain’s | Mary Dixon moves off ‘Morning Edition’ as WBEZ revamps its lineup: Starting Sept. 15, the local NPR affiliate WBEZ-FM 91.5 will add “In the Loop with Sasha-Ann Simons,” a local news talk show airing from 9 to 10 a.m., and “Say More with Mary Dixon & Patrick Smith,” a live show featuring conversations with Chicago listeners from 10 to 11 a.m. Dixon, who had been the local host for NPR’s “Morning Edition,” will be replaced by WBEZ anchor and reporter Clare Lane, who has filled in as an anchor at “Morning Edition” before, as Dixon moves into her role with “Say More.”

* Chicago Mag | Mike Reed’s Next Act: The result is Sound & Gravity, a five-day, six-venue event with a more intimate and esoteric appeal. Running September 10 to 14, it features headliners like Drag City troubadour Bill Callahan and Nigerian desert-blues shredder Mdou Moctar. They’ll share stages with Chicago jazz mainstays Michael Zerang and Ken Vandermark, plus more than 50 other acts from around the world — a wide-ranging mix of rock outliers, free-jazz improvisers, and contemporary classical performers that reflects Reed’s varied interests. The lineup expands on what Constellation does year-round. Says Reed: “I want to keep doing music the way I want to do it, outside the desires and the trends of the popular culture.”

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Southtown | National Republican movement visits Orland Park in push for stricter voting measures: The Republican advocates on tour, called the Tea Party Patriots, argue the proposed Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, which would require states to obtain documentary proof of citizenship in order to register to vote in federal elections, would close a loophole in voter registration rules, according to Jenny Beth Martin, honorary chairman of Tea Party Patriots Action. Advocates from Will County Now, a chapter of the National Organization for Women, said on social media they planned to protest the event because it was “dangerous misinformation,” and the proposed legislation would “actually disenfranchise legitimate voters way more than it prevents those who are ineligible from voting.”

* ABC Chicago | Valley View District teachers file ‘intent to strike’ notice: The district covers Romeoville and Bolingbrook The teachers union there filed an official notice of their intent to strike. The teachers and the district are arguing about an additional 20 minutes being added to the school day. District officials say the extra instructional time will lead to higher test scores. Teachers say it puts unnecessary burdens on staff.

* Evanston Roundtable | Chicago Stars to play 2026 season at Northwestern Medicine Field: The Chicago Stars officially named Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium as their home for the 2026 National Women’s Soccer League season on Wednesday morning, confirming a decision rumored after the city of Evanston granted the team zoning permission. This decision comes just days before the team will play their “Lakefront Faceoff” on Sunday.

* Daily Herald | Waukegan finalist for Netherlands-based solar panel maker’s U.S. headquarters: The former Johns Manville Corp., property on the far northeast side of the city is one of two locations being considered as Solarge USA reaches the final stage of a national site selection process for its first U.S. facility. An unspecified site in Kansas is the other potential location, a company official said last Thursday during a presentation to the Lake County Board’s finance and administrative committee, which is expected to discuss and make recommendations on potential incentives.

* Evanston Now | City’s call for ban on masked agents advances: The resolutions will head to the City Council on Sept. 8 for final consideration, just as Chicago braces for a federal immigration blitz that Gov. JB Pritzker on Tuesday said was imminent. The city’s Human Services Committee passed the resolutions with little conversation, backing both proposals that stemmed from a referral by Ald. Parielle Davis (7th) in July, cosponsored by Alds. Shawn Iles (3rd) and Clare Kelly (1st).

*** Downstate ***

* Daily Egyptian | SIU denies FOIA request asking for all syllabi: SIU refused to comply with a mid-August Freedom of Information Act request from a media organization, Metric Media, for a complete list of classes, professors and syllabi from the spring 2025 term. The request, which professors say is a scare tactic, was sent to SIU among other schools around the country. […] Metric Media is an online media company registered in Missouri but based out of Delaware. Their content has been described by the Columbia Journalism Review and Deseret News as “pink slime journalism,” a term coined in 2012 by journalist Ryan Smith to draw comparisons between processed, low quality meat and low quality, templated or stolen content.

* IPM Newsroom | U of I will offer students on-campus abortion access starting this fall, following new Illinois law: Awais Vaid, the executive director of U of I’s McKinley Health Center, said the law allows the university to have a contractual agreement with a provider in the community. “If a student comes to us with medication abortion requirements, we will do the intake in house, and then we’ll do what is called a warm handoff,” Vaid said. McKinley is partnering with Planned Parenthood in Champaign. Warm handoffs will occur on a “priority basis,” Awais said, meaning students will be seen in order of urgency.

* WGEM | WIU to continue ROTC program : The Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program will continue at Western Illinois University. According to WIU, the U.S. Army announced plans to maintain the ROTC program at the university after it was inactivated at the end of June. WIU said the ROTC program has been active for over 50 years at the university and has developed more than 1,000 cadets. Click here for some background.

* PJ Star | Washington moves step closer to repairing damaged historic bridge: After the initial bid to repair Tazewell County’s oldest bridge was tabled and then rejected by the city, the project will once again go up for bidding in September. The Washington City Council approved an amended resolution for work on the city’s historic Candlewood Bridge, built in 1894. The bridge showed significant deterioration over the years, and was closed in 2023 at the recommendation of the city’s bridge inspector and the Illinois Department of Transportation after a wingwall collapsed into the below creek. In May, the council passed a resolution approving $356,188 in motor fuel tax funds to repair the bridge. The resolution approved Monday was higher, putting $550,000 toward the project.

* WGLT | Littered fishing line in waterways concern Bloomington-Normal bird experts and residents: Also known as “Local Tarzan,” Cavalera said he has rescued “hundreds” of birds from fishing line, and has a video of himself rescuing two geese tied together in fishing line at Miller Park Lake. Cavalera said his solution to preventing this issue is not going to be everyone’s favorite. […] Cavalera said if people have the integrity to get the $15 license every year to fish, they are probably less likely to throw trash and discarded fishing line around the lakes.

*** National ***

* Chalkbeat Colorado | Banana phones and cozy corners: Colorado’s third year of universal preschool gets off the ground: It was the first day of preschool in the Otters classroom at El Nidito, a bilingual child care program at The Family Center in Fort Collins. The little boy and his 11 classmates are among 40,000 children enrolled in Colorado’s universal preschool program this year. The $349 million program offers tuition-free preschool — typically a half day — to all children in the year before kindergarten. […] But wrinkles remain. The state is still fighting two lawsuits brought by religious preschools that objected to non-discrimination rules protecting LGBTQ children, families, and employees. Both suits are pending in federal appeals court. And the national early childhood group found that Colorado meets only two of 10 benchmarks meant to ensure that preschool classrooms are high quality.

* NYT | Florida Says It Plans to End All Vaccine Mandates: Florida plans to become the first state to end all vaccine mandates, including for schoolchildren, rejecting a practice that public health experts have credited for decades with limiting the spread of infectious diseases. […] He added that the administration would be “working to end” all vaccine mandates. “Every last one of them is wrong and drips with disdain and slavery,” Dr. Ladapo said.

* WaPo | The group behind Project 2025 wants a ‘Manhattan Project’ for more babies: It hopes to steer funding for child care away from programs like Head Start and toward individual families — specifically to encourage parents to stay home and rear children. And the group wants Trump to issue executive orders requiring all proposed policies and regulations to “measure their positive or negative impacts on marriage and family” — then overhaul or end programs that score poorly.