Isabel’s morning briefing
Tuesday, Oct 7, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller * ICYMI: National Guard deployment moves ahead in Illinois after judge declines state’s suit to block Trump call-up. Tribune…
- Attorneys for the federal government said during a brief court hearing Monday afternoon that Texas National Guard units were in transit to Illinois and weren’t expected to “begin getting into position to perform federal protective missions until tomorrow at the earliest.” - Illinois Guard members have been ordered to report Tuesday. The federal government is uncertain when it will be ready for its “federal protective mission,” Trump administration attorneys told [U.S. District Judge April Perry]. * Related stories… Sponsored by Ameren Illinois
* Governor Pritzker will attend the North Star Summit for a panel with Governor Walz to discuss state leadership at 3:45 pm. Click here to watch. * American Prospect | How ICE Hides Detainees From Their Lawyers: Herrera left the facility that day with no idea where Giménez González was being held. The next morning, he returned to Broadview with elected officials, other advocates, and Giménez González’s wife to hold a press conference demanding information from ICE. At the end of the press conference, Giménez González’s wife received a phone call from her husband. He confirmed that he was being held in Broadview, just behind the building’s boarded-up windows and chain-link fence. “His wife handed me the phone. I was talking to him, and his tone changed, and someone asked him who he was talking to,” Herrera said. “And he said, ‘a lawyer.’ And then he told me later that he was made to get off the phone.” * WCIA | Illinois retirees, federal employees share concerns as shutdown drags into 6th day: Unfortunately Innis just can’t get away from the shutdown. He is still receiving Medicare but if a problem comes up with his coverage no one is there to pick up the phone. He also likes to fly but shutdowns at FAA has him worried about overworked air traffic controllers. But that’s not all. “I am also a veteran, so all the VA stuff that you’re hearing about, that stands to affect me if I should have any problems that way. So you’re just getting hit from every angle,” Innis said. * ABC Chicago | Journalists, unions sue ICE, DHS alleging ‘extreme force’ during Broadview detention center protests: Chicago journalists and unions have sued U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security, alleging the federal government has used “extreme force” against reporters and TV crews during protests in Broadview. The groups suing include NABET Local 41, which represents members of ABC7 Chicago and other local TV stations. Click here for the proposed temporary restraining order. * Tribune | Feds: Chicago gang member solicited murder of Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino: Juan Espinoza Martinez, 37, of Chicago, was arrested Monday morning and charged in a criminal complaint unsealed Monday with one count of solicitation of murder-for-hire. A court appearance has not yet been set, and it was unclear if Martinez had a lawyer. According to the complaint, Martinez, a ranking member of the Latin Kings, told a law enforcement source after an immigration agent shot a woman in the Brighton Park neighborhood “that he had dispatched members of the Latin Kings to the area of the 39th and Kedzie … in response to the shooting.” * Tribune | Chicago police will respond to federal calls for help, Larry Snelling says, and denies cops were ordered to stand down: “We want to make sure when we show up, we’re keeping every single person in this city safe, and we want to keep the peace,” he said. Snelling spent about 10 minutes of the 50-minute news conference defending Chief of Patrol Jon Hein following furor over a Saturday dispatch attributed to Hein that “no units would respond” to a call for assistance from armed Border Patrol agents who said they were in the middle of a crowd in Brighton Park following the traffic crashes and shooting. * Block Club | 27 Police Officers Among Those Injured By Tear Gas During Weekend Protest, Chicago’s Top Cop Says: Officers were also on the scene when federal agents began firing tear gas at the crowds. He said there weren’t any major injuries as a result, but 27 police officers were “affected.” “In order to help out at this location, we pulled officers from other places, and they did not have the equipment to fight off the chemical agent, and they were affected by it,” Snelling told reporters. “Our officers are resilient and tough. Those officers are doing good.” * Block Club | Mayor Brandon Johnson Bans Use Of City Property For Immigration Enforcement: The order follows reports that federal agents recently used city-owned lots at Harrison and Kedzie and at 46th and Damen for immigration operations, actions that city officials said erode community trust and violate Chicago’s Welcoming City Ordinance. * ABC Chicago | Waukegan mayor steps in as federal agents detain woman outside City Hall: VIDEO: Video shows Mayor Sam Cunningham talking to federal agents. Cunningham told ABC7 he saw the woman being cuffed, and then, she started calling his name. Cunningham helped get her car towed while she was being detained. ABC7 spoke with the woman’s father. He says she is an American citizen and that she was charged with obstructing a federal investigation. * Aurora Beacon-News | Aurora Mayor John Laesch proposes campaign ethics reform measures: The proposed changes to city code would put a $500 cap on campaign donations from those doing business with the city or looking to, would expand required economic interest disclosures and would set limits on how city property can be used for political purposes, among other things. The Aurora City Council’s Rules, Administration and Procedure Committee is set to hear the proposals at 3 p.m. on Tuesday. * Daily Southtown | Car crashes into Dolton Trustee Kiana Belcher’s campaign office: Kiana Belcher was using the office at 14200 Martin Luther King Drive as her campaign headquarters as she seeks election to the 5th District Cook County board seat in 2026. The office is no longer usable after the crash through the building’s main entrance, Belcher said Monday. “I don’t know if it was intentional or not,” Belcher said. “But at this point, I just know that the vehicle landed directly in the middle of the campaign office.” […] The driver was treated for nonlife-threatening injuries. No campaign staff members, volunteers or pedestrians were injured, Belcher said. * Daily Herald | Colin Gilbert confirmed as new Arlington Heights trustee: Colin Gilbert, an Arlington Heights attorney known for his involvement in community organizations and businesses, was confirmed and sworn in Monday night as a village trustee. Gilbert was Mayor Jim Tinaglia’s pick to replace Scott Shirley, who resigned last week to spend more time taking care of his elderly family members and at his full-time job as an engineer. * WGLT | Another aspect of the city-county-town dispute on sales tax money comes to light: A great deal of the public focus so far has been on the unspent mental health money in the Mental Health and Public Safety fund. Another approved use of money from the decade-old agreement is to replace an aging electronic record management system that integrates information for the courts, law enforcement, and other stakeholders. There has been a lot of unhappiness about that project too. The aging suite of programs called the county’s Electronic Justice System, or EJS, has tied together 14 McLean County police agencies, prosecutors, court services, circuit clerk, juvenile probation, and the coroner’s office with a common set of records and access. It also uses software that’s no longer supported and contains security vulnerabilities. * WGLT | Normal Town Council approves $8M contract for new records management system: The council approved a 10-year agreement with Axon for an unlimited premium plan of an integrated ecosystem of connected hardware and software, with the town citing evolving technology needs for its law enforcement officers. The system includes an agreement for body worn cameras, in-car camera systems, interview room cameras, digital evidence servers and records management for the Normal Police Department. * BND | Interested in a historic fixer-upper? Belleville may have a deal for you: The city of Belleville is buying two historic brick homes from St. Clair County’s delinquent tax agent with plans to either demolish or sell them, depending on local interest. Officials see the home at 102 N. 11th St. as the one most likely to become part of the infill program, which allows people to buy city-owned derelict buildings for $1 if they agree to renovate them. * NYT | Trump to Unveil Farmer Aid as China Shuns U.S. Crops: Punishing Chinese tariffs that prompt painful retaliation. American farmers on the brink of bankruptcy. A multibillion-dollar bailout to keep farmers afloat. It is 2018 all over again as the Trump administration prepares to address the same policy crisis it faced seven years ago when President Trump, who imposed stiff tariffs on Chinese imports, had to shield the U.S. agriculture industry from the fallout of his trade war. * Talking Points Memo | The Trump Admin’s Mostly Unnoticed Move to Crack Down on the Opposition: The orders have little legal grounding (the Antifa order, for example, applies a law that exists only for foreign groups to a poorly defined term for domestic protestors). But that does not fully blunt their effect. One former DOJ counterterrorism attorney argued to TPM that the threat of the orders comes not necessarily in the form of imminent charges but in the lengthy, resource-draining investigations that are set to begin. They could have other impacts, too, on opposition groups seeking to participate in politics or civic society: funders curtailing contributions to certain nonprofits, advocacy groups rolling back campaigns that differ from the White House’s view of social issues, and other firms like banks declining to work with organizations on the administration’s list. * Financial Times | America is now one big bet on AI: The hundreds of billions of dollars companies are investing in AI now account for an astonishing 40 per cent share of US GDP growth this year. And some analysts believe that estimate doesn’t fully capture the AI spend, so the real share could be even higher. AI companies have accounted for 80 per cent of the gains in US stocks so far in 2025. That is helping to fund and drive US growth, as the AI-driven stock market draws in money from all over the world, and feeds a boom in consumer spending by the rich.
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- Blazzzer - Tuesday, Oct 7, 25 @ 8:31 am:
Rich and Isabel, Now that the Illinois National Guard is being mobilized, any word on what Christian Mitchell will do? I’ve been waiting to see his response. If it’s out there, then I missed it. Thanks!
- RNUG - Tuesday, Oct 7, 25 @ 9:05 am:
== federal judge declined to issue an immediate order blocking … ==
At 500+ pages in the filing from Illinois, I can fully understand the judge deferring any immediate action. They haven’t even had time to thoroughly vet it. I assume one or more clerks are reading it now.
But at that length, it sounds like Illinois tossed in anything they could think of in hopes something would stick.
- Demoralized - Tuesday, Oct 7, 25 @ 9:25 am:
==in hopes something would stick.==
The only thing that should have to stick is pointing out the illegal act of sending the military in against US citizens. You make this all sound benign RNUG.
- BE - Tuesday, Oct 7, 25 @ 9:43 am:
Farmer welfare and giving $20billion to Argentina while the GOP says that we can’t possibly afford to help people have enough food to eat and healthcare. Oh and also now they’re saying that we shouldn’t pay workers/backpay workers for the shutdown, too.
The AI/economy stuff is horrific. How can the economy survive when it pops?
- Grandson of Man - Tuesday, Oct 7, 25 @ 9:58 am:
“A multibillion-dollar bailout to keep farmers afloat”
Where is the anti-welfare crowd now, to complain about socialism and handouts for poor life choices? Must be hanging out with Illinois doomers, who never say a bad word unless it’s Democrats.
- JoanP - Tuesday, Oct 7, 25 @ 10:01 am:
@RNUG -
The complaint is only 69 pages, not 500.
(I made a comment that included a link to the complaint, but it didn’t post, probably because of the link. )
- Pundent - Tuesday, Oct 7, 25 @ 11:57 am:
It’s imperative for the Attorney General to capture all of the relevant counts, violations, and citations in their filing. And even if it was 500 pages (it’s not) the courts are equipped to deal with it. This case, like many others, was a destined for the Supreme Court And having a complete record of constitutional violations is critical. Sadly by the time the lower court issues its ruling the President will have moved on to invading his next city.