* ICYMI: As Illinois congressional delegation seeks answers, ICE cancels meeting. Capitol News Illinois…

- Immigration and Customs Enforcement leaders in Chicago canceled a meeting scheduled for Friday with members of Illinois’ congressional delegation.
- Illinois’ Democratic members of Congress had asked for a meeting with ICE Chicago Field Office Director Russell Hott. They were seeking to learn more about ICE and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s immigration enforcement operations known as Operation Midway Blitz in the Chicago area.
- Friday’s meeting was rescheduled to an unspecified day in October, the delegation said.

We will have a full ICE roundup posted later this morning.

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*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* AP | Regulators struggle to keep up with the fast-moving and complicated landscape of AI therapy apps: “The reality is millions of people are using these tools and they’re not going back,” said Karin Andrea Stephan, CEO and co-founder of the mental health chatbot app Earkick. […] Earkick’s Stephan said there is still a lot that is “very muddy” about Illinois’ law, for example, and the company has not limited access there. Stephan and her team initially held off calling their chatbot, which looks like a cartoon panda, a therapist. But when users began using the word in reviews, they embraced the terminology so the app would show up in searches.

* Daily Herald | Experts, parents push back on misleading Tylenol-autism claims: Illinois parents, doctors and medical associations are among those speaking out against claims made by President Donald Trump that the pain reliever Tylenol is linked to autism. “As both a mom of a child with severe autism and a business owner serving autistic families, I don’t believe there’s enough science to say Tylenol or vaccines cause autism,” said Linda Lynn, founder of Crystal Lake-based Rockin’ the Spectrum. “Making statements without evidence only spreads fear. What families truly need are reliable research, resources and compassion — not misinformation.”

* Daily Herald | Paratransit riders hit with major cuts to rideshare program starting this week: But with a multimillion dollar public transit shortfall looming in 2026, money is tight. Following a recommendation by the Regional Transportation Authority, rides on RAP and the related Tax Access Program (TAP) will shrink from an average of 240 a month to 30 a month and costs will rise from $2 a trip to $3.25 effective Wednesday.

*** Statewide ***

* Sun-Times | Senate candidate Robin Kelly releases ‘people over profits’ policy platform: Kelly’s plan, which she dubs the “People Over Profits Platform,” places a focus on “kitchen table issues.” It includes support for a minimum tax on individual taxpayers whose net worth for the taxable year exceeds $10 million and raising the minimum wage to at least $17 per hour by 2030. Kelly’s platform — with more than five months to go before the March 17 primary — focuses on fighting for affordability in healthcare, housing and childcare.

* Daily Herald | ‘He will be missed beyond measure’: Al Llorens, statewide education union president, dead at 73: Earlier in his career, Llorens taught fourth-grade phonics and middle school reading in Champaign, and as a math and science teacher in Kankakee and Chicago. He is remembered for his kindness, passion for public education and unions, his ability to put students first, dedication to IEA members. “Whether in the classroom or leading the Illinois Education Association, Al cared deeply about empowering the next generation and worked tirelessly to invest in their future,” said Gov. JB Pritzker in a news release. “He molded the minds of countless students and leaves behind a more equitable, supportive, and enriching education system.”

*** Statehouse News ***

* Republican gubernatorial candidate Ted Dabrowski…

Illinois’ business donor base is rallying around Ted Dabrowski’s gubernatorial campaign.

Richard Uihlein, CEO of Uline, is the most notable donor to the campaign given his major support of Republican candidates in recent elections. Uihlein contributed $250,000 to the Ted for Illinois campaign on Friday of last week.

James Perry, co-founder of Chicago-based private equity firm Madison Dearborn, has also contributed $250,000 to the campaign. Perry is joined by co-founder and Chairman Emeritus of Madison Dearborn, John Canning, with a $100,000 contribution.

Other donors contributing $100,000 or more include Chicago investor Noel Moore; Vince Kolber, CEO of Residco; Ed Bachrach, retired chairman and CEO of Bachrach Clothing, Inc.; and Alex Melvin, owner and chairman of Rural King.

Gerald Beeson, COO of Citadel, has also donated $50,000 to Ted for Illinois. […]

In all, Dabrowski has raised more than $1.2 million, the leading amount among candidates in the Republican primary, since announcing his candidacy on September 12, 2025.

* Tribune | New law has Illinois creating statewide office to support public defenders amid ongoing justice reforms: A new state law, recently signed by Gov. JB Pritzker, could eventually ease the workloads for county public defender’s offices, which represent people who can’t afford to hire private lawyers. The law, dubbed by supporters as the Funded Advocacy & Independent Representation Act, or FAIR Act, calls for the creation of a statewide public defender’s office to support underresourced, county-level public defenders. The new state office would provide access to more attorneys, forensic experts, paralegals and other office staff members to help address resource disparities between public defenders and county prosecutors.

* Sen. Lakesia Collins | Why I sponsored an Illinois ‘squatter bill’: To be clear — this measure isn’t about punishing vulnerable groups, displacing legitimate tenants or undermining civil procedures. It is simply a way to give the authorities the power and tools to protect the rights of property owners. Property owners will be required to provide proof of ownership or legal authority before law enforcement can intervene to ensure that innocent parties are not caught in the middle of a wrongful dispute.

*** Chicago ***

* Tribune | Chicago budget fight a political minefield for Mayor Brandon Johnson: To close a $1.15 billion 2026 funding gap by the end of the year, the freshman chief executive will have to dance through a minefield. He faces a restive crew of aldermen who are deeply skeptical of the mayor’s political standing, labor groups whose continued support may hinge on Johnson sparing their city union jobs and grassroots activists trying to push him left to live up to his “tax the rich” pledges while the business community chafes against those hopes.

* Sun-Times | City Council leader wants to raise maximum age for starting police officer to 55: Villegas said he introduced the ordinance at Thursday’s City Council meeting to “force a discussion” about creative ways to attract more candidates to a job that has lost its luster. “We’re finding it harder to fill this position. It forces the discussion to figure out how we are going to deal with the lack of interest from younger” applicants, he said.

* Block Club | Bruce Sagan, Hyde Park’s Newspaperman And Renowned Arts Patron, Dies At 96: Bruce Sagan, a Hyde Parker who counted among his many achievements a presidential recognition, the relocation of a prestigious ballet company to Chicago and seven decades at the helm of his neighborhood newspaper, died Sunday following a brief battle with cancer. Sagan, 96, was a longtime newspaperman, arts patron and “renaissance man” instantly recognizable by his bowtie and cardigan, loved ones said.

* Crain’s | These Starbucks stores in Chicago are on the chopping block: Starbucks did not publicly list which locations are closing. However, the company’s website appears to offer hints. The “store hours” pages for some specific locations now read as “closed” for the entire week starting Sept. 29. […] Separately, Starbucks workers have begun posting online about their stores receiving closure notices. The store addresses included in those posts are largely consistent with the stores Crain’s identified through the company’s website.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Aurora Beacon-News | Trips, bars and adult entertainment clubs: How officials say Aurora fiber network got $1 million in debt: OnLight Aurora is losing $27,000 each month, a large part of which is because of debt payments, Laesch said during a presentation to the Aurora City Council earlier this month. “Stunned is an understatement,” Aurora Ald. Ted Mesiacos, 3rd Ward, said after the presentation. “What you are showing us is of serious concern for our financial security.” Laesch alleged during the meeting that the organization got to its current financial state in part because of three failed attempts to bring internet service through city fiber to residents’ homes, including one that ended up costing over $110,000 in legal fees. And the organization, which had two employees, had a payroll of around $200,000 each year, he said.

* Aurora Beacon-News | Kane County considering allocating earned interest to close budget gap: At a meeting on Wednesday, Kane County Board Finance Committee Vice Chair Bill Lenert noted the possibility that interest earned through the county Treasurer’s Office may be able to balance the budget, and provided an update about the county’s budgeting process. Lenert said that he, the State’s Attorney’s Office and Treasurer’s Office think the county may be able to balance its budget using the earned interest rather than pulling money out of cash reserves, which the county has been doing since 2023.

* Fox Chicago | Northwestern University students barred from enrolling after refusing antisemitism training: In an open letter to university administrators, more than 200 current students and graduate workers, alumni, staff, faculty, and parents, claimed that training videos on antisemitism and “anti-Muslim, anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian biases” would actually reinforce discriminatory bias. The university’s administration said the students received reminders of the required training for several months before their registration was withheld.

* Crain’s | Metra to test cafe cars with free snacks on select lines: Metra will begin testing its new cafe car prototype on select routes next week. It plans to give free snacks and iced coffees to riders who offer feedback on the service. Workers gutted the second level of a car to create the prototype. For now, there is only one model, and Metra plans to move it between routes to reach as many riders as possible.

*** Downstate ***

* WGLT | Central Illinois Republicans rally for increased student privacy: All In cross references voter rolls with college directories, which HCC students may opt out of having made public. The Family Education Rights and Privacy Act [FERPA] prevents only the sharing of educational data such as grades and disciplinary records.

* WGLT | Austerity and persuasion key to Bloomington passing grocery tax: City Manager Jeff Jurgens said council sentiment evolved over time. Some of that involved staff conversations about the impact of not continuing the tax. “Coming with what unfortunately had to be a strong recommendation that the City of Bloomington needed to keep this tax. It was a tax that was already in place,” said Jurgens. “Our finance department projected it to be a very substantial number, $3 million to the city. And had we failed to keep it, it really would have put us in a position where we were not able to move forward on a number of projects, and likely would have faced some pretty severe cuts.”

* Illinois Times | Citizens Club discusses Springfield’s dysfunctional downtown: Dozens of Springfield residents, including government officials and concerned business owners, attended the Citizens Club of Springfield’s Sept. 26 meeting about a decades-old issue – the state of downtown Springfield. The meeting was moved from its typical location upstairs at the Hoogland Center for the Arts to the main floor LRS Theatre to accommodate the larger-than-usual crowd.

* Pantagraph | Gibson City solar project expected to connect to grid by 2026: The project will allow Archtop’s solar generation to use the infrastructure that connects the Gibson City Energy Center to the grid. Company officials said the project is intended to support Illinois’ clean energy transition. […] The Gibson City Energy Center’s interconnection switchyard will also be used by the Archtop Solar Project. Earthrise said that arrangement helped speed study and construction of the new array. The company said the additional power will help meet rising energy demand in Illinois.

* BND | Fairview Heights man who said he rammed police car on purpose is charged: Officer Travis Montgomery had stopped a 2016 Nissan Rogue for an expired license plate sticker, which police said was five years past due, around 9 a.m. Wednesday. As Montgomery approached the passenger side of the Nissan, Jennings allegedly drove his gray 2018 Chevrolet Camaro into the rear of the squad car, with its emergency lights activated. “The driver, now identified as Jennings, quickly exited his vehicle and approached the officer, who had his body camera activated,” the Fairview Heights Police Department said in a news release. “The driver admitted he had consumed alcohol and weed gummies. He then volunteered he purposely drove into the police vehicle because he does not like police officers.”

* WCIA | Teutopolis honors victims two years after chemical spill: The Teutopolis Fire District said the St. Francis Church bells will toll at 8:41 p.m. on Sept. 29 to honor the five victims who died in the anhydrous accident. Community members are invited to pay their respects at the church entrance or the courtyard west of the main entrance.

* WSIL | New initiative aims to boost SIU alumni businesses in Southern Illinois: Southern Illinois offers a business-friendly environment with flexible zoning, incentives for new and expanding businesses, and state and local support. Carbondale resources include the Enterprise Zone, Downtown Façade Improvement Program, and Tax Increment Financing Program.

* Shaw Local | Dolly Parton library lands in Kankakee County: The program will begin immediately and could cost about $200,000 annually to administer as partnerships grow over the coming years, said Mariah Vail, executive director of the local United Way. The program is being funded through United Way and the Community Foundation, as well as contributions from the Kankakee and Herscher school districts. The program costs nothing to families. Parents simply need to sign up to receive a children’s book monthly.

*** National ***

* AP | Private equity sees profits in power utilities as electric bills rise and Big Tech seeks more energy: In recent weeks, private equity firm Blackstone has sought regulatory approval to buy out a pair of utilities, Albuquerque-based Public Service Company of New Mexico and Lewisville, Texas-based Texas New Mexico Power Co. Wisconsin earlier this year granted the buyout of the parent of Superior Water, Light and Power and the owner of Northern Indiana Public Service Co. last year sold a 19.9% stake in the utility to Blackstone.

* Fortune | Larry Ellison predicts rise of the modern surveillance state where ‘citizens will be on their best behavior’: George Orwell’s 1984 warned of a future where Big Brother watches every move. Today, modern technology is making that vision a reality, and Oracle founder Larry Ellison—the world’s second-richest person—sees a growing opportunity for his company to help authorities analyze real-time data from millions of surveillance cameras. “Citizens will be on their best behavior, because we’re constantly recording and reporting everything that is going on,” Ellison said in an hour-long Q&A during Oracle’s Financial Analyst Meeting last week.

* NYT | ‘I’m From Here!’: U.S. Citizens Are Ending Up in Trump’s Dragnet: U.S. citizens, many of them Latino men, have been stopped and in some cases taken into custody by law enforcement officers who are carrying out President Trump’s immigration crackdown and who suspect the men are living in the country illegally. While many of those detained have immediately declared their U.S. citizenship to officers, they have routinely been ignored, according to interviews with the men, their lawyers and court documents. In some cases they have been handcuffed, kept in holding cells and immigration facilities overnight, and in at least two cases held without access to a lawyer or even a phone call.

* OPB | Hundreds protest at ICE building after Trump’s announcement of troop deployment to Portland: The memorandum deploying 200 members of the Oregon National Guard to Portland, as part of a larger deployment of troops to cities across the country, stated it was “to protect U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other U.S. Government personnel” carrying out the actions of the administration. ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the demonstration.