* ABC Chicago…

The U.S. Department of Justice is appealing a ruling made in a lawsuit against Illinois, Cook County and Chicago over sanctuary city policies, the I-Team has learned.

The DOJ’s lawsuit filed back in February had accused the local, county and state governments of blocking federal immigration law, specifically rules in place preventing local and state law enforcement from participating in immigration enforcement, as well as the sharing the status of criminals in custody/when they would be released.

U.S. District Judge Lindsay Jenkins dismissed the lawsuit back in July, ruling, “(T)he United States lacks standing to sue… with respect to the Sanctuary Policies.” […]

The DOJ was given a month to amend its complaint, but according to court records, it did not do so, and Judge Jenkins’ ruling was converted into one with prejudice.

Nearly two months after that decision became final, Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate notified the court on Friday that the case would be appealed to the Seventh Circuit, according to a court filing.

*************** Advertisement ***************

For working families across our state, delivery is a lifeline, NOT a luxury. From groceries and meals to essential household items, people from all walks of life depend on delivery services to make ends meet, save time, and stay safe.

A new delivery tax would hit seniors, individuals with disabilities, and working parents juggling multiple responsibilities. It’s a burden Illinois families simply cannot bear.

Learn more today about how a delivery tax could impact your household.

*************************************************

* It’s that time of year again! The Senate and House staff held their annual Capitol Trick-or-Treat event yesterday. Thanks to the Office of the Senate President for sending this over…

This year the Capitol Trick-or-Treat event had 21 total locations. This year’s decoration judge was none other than Joe Crain. Joe would like to invite everyone to stop by Abe’s Haunted Hollow this Saturday, Oct. 25 from 4:30-7 p.m. at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.

Guests can play games and win prizes, take eerie photos with our special selfie station, walk through a giant pumpkin, dance to the music of DJ Dino-mite, and even join a séance with Mrs. Lincoln!

The first 500 children receive a gift bag that includes a lighted Halloween wand!

Abe’s Haunted Hollow is free to attend. Advance registration is not required.

Come in your favorite costume for all the fun in the museum and grab a spot afterward for downtown Springfield’s Halloween parade, which passes by the ALPLM.

* Some snaps…

* Joe Crain, Director of Public Programs and Community Engagement at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, judged this year’s decoration contest. Cue the drum roll.…

1st place: The House Democratic Policy & Budget staff with their theme of May 32nd. Special shout out to Sofia for being a top tier tour guide.

2nd place: The Senate Republican Communication Department with their theme of the Haunted Mansion.

3rd Place: The Senate Democratic Legislative assistants of C and F section with their theme of State Fair after Dark.

4th Place: The Senate Democratic Communication Staff with their theme of Wicked.

Congrats to the winners and big thanks to everyone who helped pull it together. Staff really goes all out for this one every year with the decorations, the costumes, the candy, all of it. Always a fun day around the building and much appreciated by everyone who gets to enjoy it.

*** Statewide ***

* Sun-Times | Sens. Durbin, Duckworth blast Trump for playing ‘political games’ in denying Illinois disaster assistance: Gov. JB Pritzker requested authorization of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Individual Assistance for impacted counties, as well as disaster loan programs to help Illinoisans following two severe weather events: a multi-day storm between Aug. 16 and Aug. 19 that passed through Boone, Cook, Kane, McHenry and Will counties, and another storm between July 25 and July 28 in Calhoun, Cook and Jersey counties. Durbin and Duckworth blasted Trump’s denial, calling it “yet another troubling example of the Trump administration putting politics ahead of people.”

*** Statehouse News ***

* Block Club | Transit Leaders Plead For Lawmakers To Fill $200 Million Shortfall As CTA, Metra Cuts Loom: Nora Cay Ryan, board member for the RTA, said agency officials should be sounding the alarm every chance they get on the agency’s fiscal cliff and putting themselves into rooms with lawmakers. The comments came after Rob Nash, RTA director for government affairs, said the agency has been left out of negotiations with lawmakers for some time. “In these meetings, I don’t feel the sense of urgency,” Ryan said during the Thursday meeting. “If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu. We are on the menu. So what do we need to be doing right now to get ourselves in that room?”

* The Telegraph | Democrat announces he will challenge for Illinois State Senate: Former Edwardsville Township Supervisor Kevin Hall announced Wednesday he would run in the Democratic primary for the 56th District Illinois Senate Seat held by Republican Erica Harriss. Harriss, first elected in 2022, announce she would seek reelection in June. Both are Glen Carbon residents.

* WAND | 5 things to do this weekend across central Illinois Oct. 24-26: Celebrate Halloween in spooky style at the Illinois Governor’s Mansion on Saturday! Kids can meet the Governor and First Lady—both in costume—while collecting candy and exploring all the fun on the mansion grounds. Enjoy hands-on crafts with the Illinois State Museum, check out a real Springfield Fire Department engine, and trunk-or-treat with Central Baptist Church. Don’t forget to snap a photo with the mansion’s annual pumpkin display, glowing with fall spirit and family-friendly fun!

*** Chicago ***

* Sun-Times | Masked immigration agents erode trust and intimidate, former No. 2 DEA boss, others say: Riley, who retired from the agency in 2017, said he didn’t authorize DEA agents to cover their faces even when some of their Mexican law enforcement counterparts did. When immigration agents obscure their faces, they risk undermining the legitimacy of every other police officer, according to Riley and the 35,000-member International Association of Chiefs of Police.

* Block Club | Feds Detain At Least 2 People During Random Stops In Wicker Park, West Town: An agent appeared to use a face-scanning app on his cellphone to identify the man sitting in the red truck before frisking and handcuffing him. Sebek approached the man and asked for contact information before agents sped away, saying they were off to a “secret” staging area to process detained people.

* Sun-Times | Taking the horror out of a Rogers Park viaduct’s murals: Enter Jim Ginderske of Rogers Park, who decided the viaduct with the creepy and haunted feel should not send pedestrians on a walking detour around Jarvis Square to avoid it. “That thing was a real horror show,” Ginderske says. “I got tired of looking at it.” So in 2024 Ginderske got to work, scraping about five pounds of peeling paint off the posts, the walls and the ceiling. He painted the posts’ arches lilac to complement the yellow warning color at street level.

* Block Club | Historic Portage Theater Has A New Owner Who Plans To Revive It As A Community Space: Bauman’s company, Zenith Music Group, bought the theater from its former owner for $25,000. Bauman said he will also address the more than $500,000 of back taxes owed on the property. Bauman, who organized events at the Portage Theater from 2014 to 2018, said his goal is to transform the theater into “the community center that it was built to be.”

* Sun-Times | Bears matriarch Virginia McCaskey advances in Hall of Fame’s contributor class: Virginia McCaskey, the Bears’ matriarch until her death in February, was one of 21 contributors to advance in the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s selection process. The Hall’s contributor blue-ribbon committee was tasked to select 20 people but the rules allowed for more in the case of a tie. Later this month, the committee will whittle the list to nine before narrowing it down to one finalist for the 2026 class.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Southtown | Backlash in Harvey follows sweeping furloughs in response to fiscal crisis: Harvey furloughed about 40% of city workers this week, following Mayor Christopher Clark’s announcement Oct. 16 the city would partially shut down services as a consequence of its financial situation becoming untenable. According to Clark, Harvey is $164 million in debt. Harvey’s total workforce is 167, and 69 employees were furloughed, leaving 98 to maintain the essential operations of government. That includes nearly half of the Fire Department, with 20 out of 41 total employees furloughed, and more than a third of the Police Department, with 24 out of 68 employees furloughed, according to city documents.

* Daily Southtown | Elk Grove Village hires well-connected municipal lawyer as new counsel: Michael Del Galdo, a heavyweight municipal attorney who briefly represented controversial former Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard and recently got a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement fence to come down in Broadview, is now adding Elk Grove Village to his list of clients. Del Galdo, senior partner and managing member of the Berwyn-based Del Galdo Law Group, officially starts Monday as the new village attorney in Elk Grove and will be introduced at the village board meeting Tuesday night.

* Daily Herald | DuPage judge refuses to force county to pay two election vendors: DuPage County Judge Bryan Chapman this week denied the county clerk’s request for a temporary restraining order to force the payment of the two bills, totaling more than $230,000. In his ruling Wednesday, Chapman said granting the TRO would require him to rule on the underlying case that DuPage County Clerk Jean Kaczmarek brought against the county. In that case, Kaczmarek argues the county cannot prevent her from procuring services or equipment needed to run her office.

*** Downstate ***

* Crain’s | Google power deal could clear way for $1 billion carbon capture plant in Illinois: Google has two data centers on the Midcontinent Independent System Operator grid, or MISO, which serves downstate Illinois. Google is the second major tech company to announce a power purchase agreement with a supplier connected to MISO. Meta, the parent company of Facebook, announced a 20-year deal to buy power from Constellation Energy’s nuclear power plant in Clinton.

* WMBD | ‘Tactically unsound judgements’: Inside the Courtroom: Sean Grayson trial – Day 5: Looking at the totality of the circumstances, Sean Grayson made several tactically “unsound” decisions leading up to the deadly shooting of Sonya Massey. And he didn’t see or didn’t act on several signs that the Springfield woman was having mental or cognitive issues. That’s the opinion of a University of South Carolina law professor who is an expert in police tactics and also the use of force. He was the opening witness on day five of Grayson’s murder trial.

* WCIA | The Trial of Sean Grayson: Live Updates: Wykoff also brought up how Sangamon County policy requires an officer to warn someone before they act, which Grayson did. “That is not a situation in where the warning was appropriate,” [Seth Stoughton, a professor of law and an affiliate professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of South Carolina,] countered. “You would not know if the training he received comported with generally accepted with best practices and principles?” Wykoff asked. “No, I would not,” Stoughton said.

* WGLT | McLean County tops 50% recycling rate goal for the first time: That target was set in the county’s 2017 Twenty-Year Solid Waste Management Plan and puts the county ahead of the national recycling average of 32%. Michael Brown from the Ecology Action Center [EAC] said this has been a long-term effort. “Our community has had a Solid Waste Plan, I believe, since the 90s, even late 80s. It was actually our precursor Operation Recycle that really pushed for a communitywide solid waste plan, even prior to the statewide mandate,” Brown said.

* WSIL | Salukis Build Here’ Kicks Off Downtown Carbondale: Hangar 9 was standing room only Thursday night as alumni, business owners, and city leaders gathered to celebrate the launch of Salukis Build Here, a new initiative aimed at bringing Southern Illinois University graduates back to Carbondale to live, work, and invest. The event, held in the heart of downtown Carbondale, marked the start of a collaboration between SIU, the City of Carbondale, the SIU Foundation, the Alumni Association, Carbondale Main Street, and the Carbondale Chamber of Commerce. Together, they’re working to highlight alumni-owned businesses and help more graduates plant roots in the region.

*** National ***

Punchbowl reports “White House officials determined they do not have the authority” to use contingency reserves —billions of $ that Congress provided for use when SNAP funding is inadequate— to fund Nov. SNAP benefits. But, that’s not what USDA’s now-deleted shutdown plan says: pic.twitter.com/zu7NPlfG5F

— Center on Budget (@CenterOnBudget) October 24, 2025

* Crain’s | Rivian will pay $250M to settle IPO class-action lawsuit: Rivian is paying $250 million to settle a shareholder class-action lawsuit stemming from its initial public offering in 2021. The electric vehicle maker, which assembles trucks and SUVs in Normal, did not admit wrongdoing. The company said insurance will pay $67 million and $183 million will come from cash reserves. Rivian had $7.5 billion in cash and short-term investments as of June 30.

* 404 Media | A $60 Mod to Meta’s Ray-Bans Disables Its Privacy-Protecting Recording Light: Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses usually include an LED that lights up when the user is recording other people. One hobbyist is charging a small fee to disable that light, and has a growing list of customers around the country.

* US Department of Justice | Justice Department to Monitor Polling Sites in California, New Jersey: Today, the Department of Justice announced that it will monitor polling sites in six jurisdictions ahead of the upcoming November 4, 2025, general election to ensure transparency, ballot security, and compliance with federal law. The Department, through the Civil Rights Division, enforces federal voting rights laws that protect the rights of all eligible citizens to access the ballot. The Department regularly deploys its staff to monitor for compliance with federal civil rights laws in elections in communities across the country.

* The Atlantic | No One Knows How Big Pumpkins Can Get: A decade ago, the world’s heaviest pumpkin weighed 2,000 pounds. Now the 3,000-pound mark is within sight. There are two Michael Jordans, both widely regarded as the Greatest of All Time. One is an NBA legend. The other is a pumpkin. In 2023, the 2,749-pound Goliath set the world record for heaviest pumpkin. Michael Jordan weighed as much as a small car and was even more massive—so broad that it would just barely fit in a parking space. Like all giant pumpkins, its flesh was warped by all that mass—sort of like Jabba the Hutt with a spray tan.