* Evanston Now…

The Democratic congressional primary field in the 9th district grew to 18 active candidates Tuesday.

Evanston economist Jeff Cohen, an advisor at Analysis Group in Chicago, announced he’ll join the field of candidates to replace Rep. Jan Schakowsky.

If all 18 make the ballot, it would give voters here the longest ballot for a congressional race in state history.

Cohen, who said in a news release that he believes his experience as an economist would separate him from the field, wrote, “If you want to fix the economy, send an economist.”

More on Cohen from Politico…

Jeff Cohen, a veteran economist, is announcing his campaign for Congress in the 9th Congressional District Democratic primary. “I’m running because of the concern I hear from every corner of the 9th District about the lack of affordability,” Cohen said in a statement. “There are reasonable (even bipartisan) ways to lower costs and increase income for many folks, but we have to stop sending politicians to Congress who don’t understand how the economy works.”

Cohen is a senior adviser at Analysis Group in Chicago, where he’s done analysis on the economic feasibility of the 2016 Olympics and Evanston’s pension challenges. Earlier, he worked for the Department of Justice, where he helped halt a proposed merger of health insurance giants Anthem and Cigna.

* Justice P. Scott Neville Jr. has been selected as the next Chief Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court. WTTW…

P. Scott Neville, a Chicago native and former Cook County judge, has been tapped to serve as the next chief justice of the Illinois Supreme Court.

Neville, who has served on the high court for the past seven years, will take over for current Chief Justice Mary Jane Theis beginning in October. He’ll become the second Black chief justice in Illinois history. […]

Neville himself said that public trust in the courts “requires justice that is accessible, procedures that are understandable, and support services that meet the needs of litigants.”

“I will also work to make the Illinois courts a national model, safeguarding the constitutional promise of equal justice without regard to who a person is, where they live, or what resources they have so all litigants are seen and heard,” he said.

*** Statewide ***

* Crain’s | Bears opener brings first big test of Illinois’ new sportsbook fees: It’s too early to say whether bettors will cut back their gambling budgets, move to the unregulated market or simply accept the fees. At least some bettors in Chicago seemed unfazed by the fees during the Bears’ loss to the Minnesota Vikings. Jerry Simon, for example, bets weekly on sports with individual wagers ranging from $10 to $500 across platforms like Fanduel, DraftKings and ESPN Bet. “Obviously tax is never good,” Simon said, though he maintained the entertainment is still worth the added cost.

* Crain’s | This cannabis giant was doing well in Illinois. It wasn’t enough to save the company:[4Front ex-Chairman Kris Krane] said the company had even been negotiating with a possible lender as recently as this past spring, and a deal to bring $40 million in cash into 4Front fell through just weeks before it filed a formal request for a court-appointed receiver in May. “We would’ve needed about $40 million to essentially handle a lot of the debt issues, to basically zero out a lot of the debt and consolidate the debt into one place,” Krane said. “And it looked like that was going to happen right up until about a month before we went to receivership. We went really, really, really far down the road with this lender.”

*** Chicago ***

* Sun-Times | El Grito is back on in Pilsen, organizers say: Organizers for El Grito in Pilsen will move forward with the celebration despite the threat of increased immigration enforcement across the city. It will be held 5 p.m. Monday — the evening before the beloved holiday — at St. Paul Catholic Church. “Canceling is not an option,” said Teresa Fraga, president of El Comité Cultural Mexicano de Chicago. “We are committed to celebrating our history.”

* Sun-Times | Another North Side homeless tent camp is targeted by the city: After several dangerous fires, a North Side homeless tent camp is scheduled to be torn down by the city beginning Tuesday. An estimated 15 to 20 people are living in tents and other structures along the Chicago River north of Bryn Mawr Avenue in Legion Park. City officials say the fires, three just this past summer, pose a serious threat and the wooded riverfront areas are hard to reach.

* Sun-Times | How Chicago doctors are encouraging telehealth during the expected ICE surge: “Any time there is a wave of increased ICE activity, we will see a wave of patients opting to cancel appointments or do them by telehealth,” said Steph Willding, CEO of CommunityHealth, a primary and specialty care provider that treats uninsured adults and many immigrants. […] “There’s a lot of ways in which our command structure right now is operating similarly to how we did during the first months of the pandemic, where we are taking it day by day,” Willding said.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Herald | ‘Odd thing out’: Neighbors upset about proposed data center development in Naperville: Karis Critical has proposed a pair of data centers near Naperville and Warrenville roads. A glass-and-steel building, designed years ago for Lucent Technologies, formerly occupied the site. There’s “quite a bit of fiber optic cable” tied to the original Lucent campus, Karis CIO Brett Rogers said. “So much of the public discourse around data centers is tied to AI data centers or hyperscale cloud data centers, very, very large facilities,” he said. “What we’re proposing we’d call a colocation data center or a metro data center. These tend to be a little bit smaller, tend to be highly networked, and that’s kind of why we like this site so much.”

* Tribune | Union Pacific sues Metra amid payment dispute: Last week, Metra scored a win in the conflict via a U.S. Surface Transportation Board decision that granted the commuter railroad the right to use Union Pacific’s tracks. But the STB’s decision did not rule on how much Metra should pay to use the tracks. According to the lawsuit, Union Pacific issued what it calls a “Condition of Entry” for Metra to use its tracks, setting what it described as “market-level” payment rates to take effect when the parties’ previous agreement expired this summer.

* WTTW | Staff Shakeup at Fermilab and Argonne as Buyouts Follow Budgeted Funding Drop, Federal Research Shift: The buyout programs at two of the Chicago area’s pre-eminent scientific research facilities come at an uncertain time for research institutions and universities across the country. The proposed budget for the DOE Office of Science, which oversees many of the national laboratories and provides support to research across the country, was cut about 14% for fiscal year 2026.

* Evanston RoundTable | Local grocery tax moves to city’s checkout counter: Evanston City Council members on Monday moved to back a local grocery tax to replace the state grocery tax, which expires Jan. 1, leaving time for them to override Mayor Daniel Biss’ intended veto. Rather than wait until their next regular council meeting in two weeks, councilmembers voted 6-3 to adopt a 1% grocery sales tax as a special order of business at a meeting scheduled next Monday, Sept. 15, anticipating the mayoral veto.

* Aurora Beacon-News | Geneva firefighters get new union contract: The Geneva City Council last week approved a four-year collective bargaining agreement with the Geneva Professional Firefighters Association Local 4287 that extends from 2024 through 2028. Included in the contract are 3.15% annual raises for firefighters and 2.65% raises for lieutenants. The union represents firefighters and lieutenants who are part of the Geneva Fire Department, per the new contract. It does not represent, for example, employees with designations of captain, deputy chief or fire chief or civilian employees of the department.

* Tribune | Hollywood Casino Joliet opens to big revenue boost in August: The $185 million facility, which opened on Aug. 10, generated more revenue in three weeks than its predecessor riverboat did in any full month over the past five years, according to Illinois Gaming Board data. Hollywood Casino Joliet jumped up to fifth among the state’s 17 casinos with nearly $11.2 million in adjusted gross receipts during 23 days of operation in August. The casino ranked fifth in admissions with more than 101,000 visitors, according to Gaming Board data.

* Daily Herald | Park district awards contract for demolition of Palatine Stables: With only Commissioner Sue Gould voting no, the park board awarded the contract to Strategic Demolition & Excavation of Elmwood Park for an amount not to exceed $133,500. Gould motioned to table the vote, but did not receive a second. Last year, the board voted to close the stables, located near Northwest Highway and Dundee Road. The property, built in the 1950s, was privately owned until 1988, when Palatine Park District acquired it.

*** Downstate ***

* WCIA | Champaign School District, teachers’ union reach three-year agreement: WCIA talked to school board member Christy Arnold and union President Mike Sitch. They’re both feeling good about what they put together and how it can set the district up for hiring success going forward. […] Some of the highlights include pay increase of 15-17% depending on the role, Champaign will now honor all experience from previous districts when it assigns its pay scale, and the implementation of two-weeks paid parental leave.

* WCIA | Long Creek votes to end ambulance service despite public opposition: In just eight months, the ambulances of the Long Creek Fire Department responded to 537 emergency calls, averaging 2.2 per day. They’ve transported 461 patients and maintained an average response time of 4 minutes and 34 seconds, which is far faster than the national benchmark of eight minutes or less in 90% of cases. Despite the success, the village board said the service is not generating enough money.

* Illinois Times | U of I to begin drilling test well this winter: Dr. Kathleen Campbell spoke in front of the Springfield City Council in June to express opposition to plans for drilling of a test well by University of Illinois Urbana Champaign’s Prairie Research Institute in partnership with City Water, Light and Power. Campbell, an emeritus professor at SIU School of Medicine and a Glenarm resident, lives roughly 5 miles from the test site – a rural plot off Pond Road in Pawnee. “I urge you to postpone, and preferably reconsider, the installation of this well,” Campbell told the council. “Though we are not CWLP customers, my neighbors and I are expected to bear the risk of a future carbon sequestration project. Experience tells us those risks are real.”

* WSIL | Lawyer in the Library program expands to Cairo Public Library: Alexander County Presiding Resident Circuit Judge Jeffery A. Farris, Cairo Public Library Director Toya Wilson, and First Judicial Circuit Chief Judge William J. Thurston announced the program’s expansion. Attorney Julian Valdes volunteers his time to support this initiative as well. The program offers patrons a chance for a 20-minute private session with an attorney to receive legal advice or assistance with documents. There is no fee, but pre-registration with the library is required.

* Tribune | Illinois renames its football venue Gies Memorial Stadium after $100 million donation from alumnus: The donation comes in the midst of a massive change in college sports thanks to the finalization of the House vs. NCAA settlement in June. College athletic departments now can participate in direct revenue sharing with their athletes, with the cap set at $20.5 million this year, and many still are figuring out how to navigate the new landscape. It also comes at a time of buzz around the Illinois department under athletic director Josh Whitman. The football team is ranked in the Associated Press top 10 for the first time since 2001. The men’s basketball team has won 20-plus games in six straight seasons, made an NCAA Tournament Elite Eight appearance in 2024 and advanced to the second round in 2025. The women’s basketball team has made two NCAA Tournament appearances in coach Shauna Green’s first three seasons.

*** National ***

* NYT | To Shrink Mamdani’s Lead, Cuomo Seeks to Broaden His Campaign Team: Now, as the contest enters its final two months, Mr. Cuomo — known for keeping a tight circle of advisers — is expanding his team to include a new campaign manager, Greg Goldner, who has worked on campaigns in Chicago for Rahm Emanuel, the former congressman and mayor; and a new pollster, Cornell Belcher, who worked on Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns. The selection of Mr. Goldner, who helped create a super PAC that sought to defeat Brandon Johnson in the Chicago mayor’s race in 2023, seemed aimed at drawing a parallel between Mr. Mamdani and Mr. Johnson, another progressive leader, whose mayoralty has been besieged by problems.

* Crain’s | Rivian plans $45,000 R2 crossover for 2026 in push toward mainstream: The move toward more mainstream vehicles begins with the midsize R2 crossover in the first half of 2026 with a starting price of around $45,000 before shipping, the company has said. The California electric vehicle maker will assemble the R2 at its factory in downstate Normal while it builds a new plant near Atlanta, which will make the R2 and a less expensive R3 model as early as 2028. Rivian hasn’t disclosed pricing for the R3.

* Columbia Journalism Review | I Tested How Well AI Tools Work for Journalism: Jeremy Merrill, a journalist at the Washington Post, used to spot-check AI tools to see which ones might work best for his data projects. But he realized his spot-check method was inadequate. “Vibes are not enough,” he said. “You’re not taking a good enough look at your real data. Is it 60 percent accurate? Seventy? Ninety-five? You just don’t know.”