* ICYMI: ‘It’s a disgrace’: Chicagoans describe jarring encounters with feds as judge prepares to rule on ‘blitz’. Sun-Times…

-An eight-hour hearing in her courtroom featured emotional testimony from witnesses who spoke of jarring encounters with armed federal agents, as well as sworn testimony by U.S. Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino. And it revealed the ongoing disconnect over the level of danger faced here by federal law enforcement.
- Bovino, in full uniform, testified on video that the use of force by federal agents in Chicago has been “more than exemplary.” He also testified he would have used more tear gas in Little Village last month if he’d had it. And he admitted that he threw it before he was purportedly hit in the head by a rock, contradicting earlier claims, lawyers said.
-U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis says she will rule on a more permanent preliminary injunction at 10 a.m. Thursday. That ruling will almost certainly be appealed to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

* Related stories…

• NYT: Federal Judge Imposes Restrictions on ICE Facility at Center of Illinois Protests
• Tribune: Federal judge issues temporary restraining order, finding substandard conditions at Broadview immigration facility
• CNI: Judge orders ICE to clean up conditions in Broadview facility that’s ‘become a prison’

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Sun-Times | Federal judge issues temporary restraining order governing conditions at Broadview ICE facility: Among other demands, the judge is requiring officials at the ICE facility to provide detainees with a clean bedding mat “with sufficient space to sleep”; adequate supplies of soap, toilet paper, towels, oral hygiene and menstrual products; a shower for at least every other day; three full meals with water per day; and prescribed medication. Holding cells must be cleaned twice per day.

* Tribune | US Rep. Jesús ‘Chuy’ García defends insider move that cleared path for top staffer to enter Congress: “The clock was ticking, and I was concerned about having an option,” said García, 69, outlining a series of events last week that included his cardiologist admonishing him to take better care of his health and step away from the stress of Congress. That appointment occurred on Oct. 27, the same day his candidate paperwork was filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections in Springfield, he said.

* Tribune | Gov. JB Pritzker says an Indiana remap might force Illinois to act as he celebrates Democratic wins Tuesday: “An awful lot of people want us to consider redistricting and I have to say we’re watching what Indiana does. You know, we’ve been looking at pairing with different states,” Pritzker told reporters in Alton. “We don’t think that this is a good idea, the redistricting across the country, not a good idea. But unfortunately, Donald Trump is trying to cheat,” he said. “So we’re watching what Indiana does. We may have to react to that. It’s certainly something that people have considered here and the legislature has considered here, but we’ll have to see what happens.”

* Capitol News Illinois | Inmate families, advocates speak against mail scanning program: “People often read and re-read mail to remind them of their support system,” he said. “To digitize physical mail is to eliminate the art, beauty and emotion, the texture and even a scent that is unique to physical correspondence. Additionally, there is no evidence to support that the proposed permanent rules will be effective in stopping contraband from entering the IDOC.” Ben Ruddell, director of criminal justice policy at the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, also questioned whether any evidence supported the idea that the mail was a major source of contraband. He said limiting inmates’ access to mail raised many legal concerns, including First Amendment rights of prisoners and the people who correspond with them.

*** Statewide ***

* Chalkbeat Chicago | Illinois releases draft proposal of new school rating system: Illinois is planning to change how it labels schools and switch some of the data it uses to assign those designations. A draft of the accountability redesign posted by the Illinois State Board of Education indicates there would still be five labels, but their names would change slightly. The proposed changes would eliminate the use of the 9th-grade On-Track metric, which measures the percentage of freshmen likely to graduate based on their attendance and grades. The draft also suggests swapping out chronic absenteeism, which measures how many students are absent for 10% or more of the school year, and instead measuring how many students are present for 90% or more of the school year.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Capitol News Illinois | Illinois lawmakers approve state-specific vaccine guidelines, punt on gambling bill: House Bill 767 would allow IDPH Director Sameer Vohra to issue state-specific guidelines while granting more authority to the Immunization Advisory Committee — a group of doctors, nurses and public health professionals who offer guidance to the director. “This bill makes important changes that both codify the role of trusted experts in our vaccine recommendation process and ensure science-based vaccine access through Illinois-regulated insurance plans,” Vohra said in a news release.

* Press release | Kifowit’s Momentum Grows Heading Into November; Painters District Councils 14, 30, and 58 Endorse State Rep. Stephanie Kifowit for Illinois: Illinois Painters District Councils 14, 30, and 58 have announced their endorsement of State Representative Stephanie Kifowit for Illinois Comptroller, citing her tireless work ethic and dedication to organized labor. The Councils represent over 10,000 members statewide.

*** Chicago ***

* WGN | ‘Absolute terror’: Day care teacher detained by ICE agents on Chicago’s North Side: “ICE agents followed her in and violently detained her. There was a child inside, they identified it as a school. Her sister was on site and showed her paperwork. ICE took her away, nevertheless,” said Ald. Martin. He added, “This is truly horrible. You have the president who will say ‘we’re taking the worst of the worst off the streets’ and ‘there’s more to come in Chicago’ and like, what else? They’ve come to hospitals. They’ve come to day cares. What’s next?”

* NBC Chicago | Chicago residents say immigration enforcement is leading to children getting tear-gassed: “I didn’t know what happens when a 2-year-old — they’re so little and their little lungs and everything — gets tear gas in them? And it’s on you?” Parise said. “I didn’t see a ton of what was going on, because my only thing in my mind was like, ‘I have to get home, and we have to get this rinsed off.’” That day, Parise said, she blew through her front door as her husband stared on, startled. She shouted “We just got hit with tear gas!” and headed to the bathroom, where she rinsed her daughter repeatedly, then herself, with water. When that didn’t work, she said, she doused them with milk.

* Tribune | More money, stricter rules for Chicago police overtime spending face City Council scrutiny: Mayor Brandon Johnson hopes to give the Chicago Police Department a bigger pot of cash to spend on overtime next year, but wants the money to come with strings attached. […] The department is expected to provide monthly reports and participate in quarterly City Council hearings on its overtime spending next year, where aldermen will decide whether the department can exceed its new overtime cap of $200 million. Police officials are required to compile a monthly report with hours of overtime within each district, the reason for the overtime and other details, including whether it is reimbursable or when officers are detailed to a sister agency such as the Park District.

* Sun-Times | CPS CEO search narrowed to 2 candidates and interim CEO Macquline King not 1 of them, sources say: The Chicago Board of Education has narrowed its choice for the next leader down to two candidates and current interim CEO/Supt. Macquline King did not make the cut, according to multiple sources close to the search. […] “We’re just very extremely disappointed, upset and angry for her not to make the final cut,” said Dwayne Truss, a former school board member who is active with the West Side NAACP. Truss said the organization was told about the decision by its own source. “It is totally disrespectful and we hope there’s no politics.”

* Block Club | From Chicago To LA, Neighborly Solidarity Fuels Resistance To ICE: But with Immigration and Customs Enforcement set to receive a $75 billion budget increase, LA and Chicago are offering a blueprint to residents of other cities for the fight to come. In recent weeks, Block Club Chicago and LA Public Press interviewed people in both cities to understand how activists are defying ICE, learning from each other, documenting agents’ actions and supporting people impacted by arrests.

* Sun-Times | Watch how government ‘propaganda’ techniques portray Chicago as a city at war with the feds: Altogether, the media blitz aims to build public support for these enforcement efforts. Yet the government’s storytelling doesn’t always match what’s happening in communities across the nation’s third-largest city and its suburbs. Nick Cull, a professor at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, calls it government “propaganda.” “By propaganda, what I mean is mass political persuasion,” says Cull, who co-edited the book “Propaganda and Mass Persuasion: A Historical Encyclopedia, 1500-present.”

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Herald | DuPage County pays up on two overdue election-related bills: “Nothing has changed regarding these legitimate and essential services that were performed for the voters of DuPage County,” she said. “There is no rhyme or reason to the county’s payment procedures. It’s just whatever direction the wind is blowing.” In the clerk’s request for a temporary restraining order to get the bills paid, officials from both companies indicated they would not provide services for the 2026 elections if the bills were not paid. They also wanted assurances that they would be paid for any services provided for the upcoming elections.

* Tribune | ‘Doesn’t look good’: ICE agent charged with drunken driving after shift at Broadview detention center: According to police video obtained by the Tribune, Diaz-Torres told officers he had just finished working an 18-hour shift at the ICE holding facility in Broadview and was heading straight to his hotel in Lombard. Though it was nearly 2 a.m., and Broadview is less than 10 miles away, Diaz-Torres couldn’t account for his whereabouts during the roughly 90-minute period after his shift ended and said he didn’t know which direction he had traveled after work.

* Lake County News-Sun | Waukegan police hail significant drop in crime: ‘We’re able to stop things before they happen’: Between Jan. 1 and Sunday, the overall crime rate dropped 11.76% from the same period last year, with crimes against persons falling 9.5%. The murder rate fell 40%, and there was a 44.44% reduction in rapes. “We increased the number of officers on patrol, particularly at night,” Police Chief Edgar Navarro said. “We increased the number of investigations. We moved people around. We increased the number of detectives in the criminal investigation unit. We used the drug and gang unit.”

* Daily Herald | Mount Prospect residents call for village response to ICE, submit petition: Mount Prospect residents packed village hall Tuesday demanding Mayor Paul Hoefert and the village board take action in response to federal immigration enforcement operations in their community. But Hoefert issued a statement saying the U.S. Constitution prevents municipalities from regulating federal immigration officers. “If one of our Mount Prospect police officers were to actively obstruct or impede a federal agent during the course of their duty, that officer would be in violation of federal law and subject to arrest and federal criminal prosecution for a criminal offense,” he said.

* Crain’s | How the transition to a new Pope delayed plans for Northbrook townhomes: A pair of longtime developers who have a deal to build townhouses on the site of a shuttered Catholic church in Northbrook sued the Archdiocese of Chicago over a delay that’s being blamed on recent events at the Vatican. The developers got nicked by a historic change of leadership in Rome, church officials tell Crain’s. The developers’ $7 million purchase of the 12-acre Our Lady of the Brook property on Dundee Road was contracted to close Sept. 2, according to the suit filed by development entity Venture 1 OLB against the Catholic Bishop of Chicago in Cook County Circuit Court.

* Daily Herald | Wheaton proposes modest tax increases as part of next budget: Based on council feedback, city staff has recommended a combination of a 3% increase in the property tax levy, an increase in the local sales tax rate from 1% to 1.25%, and an increase in the natural gas use utility tax from 3 cents per therm to 5 cents per therm. The city last increased the local sales tax rate more than 15 years ago. The city has had no increase in the property tax levy for six years through this year. About 11.4% of a resident’s property tax bill goes to the city.

* Crain’s | Glenview buying former Signode campus to control redevelopment: Setting up what Glenview’s top planning official called “one of the largest redevelopment opportunities that we have within the village’s limits,” the pending sale would kick off a process to create a master plan for the site with potential uses such as public and school playfields and sports facilities, park space, open space and retail businesses, among other “community-centered” options.

*** Downstate ***

* WCIA | LeRoy approves temporary food assistance program: LeRoy’s City Council has approved a temporary food assistance program and residents interested in applying can do so at City Hall. After being approved, recipients will get a voucher which can be used at Kirby Foods (IGA). Eventually, the city said the vouchers may be used at Dollar General. Households of 1-2 people will get $125 per month, while households with three or more people will get $275. LeRoy said the amounts must be used in a single shopping visit and only SNAP items can be purchased with the voucher.

* 25News Now | Nearly a third of Tazewell County Board members not seeking re-election: Tazewell County Board is experiencing and unknown number of vacancies for its board, as six members are not seeking re-election, almost a third of the board. Half of the county board members not seeking re-election said they are deciding to step away fpr personal reasons, with one incumbent changing their mind and filing last minute. The other three members were not available for comment.

* WMBD | A number of Tazewell County Board members are stepping down: “The primary reason is personal,” Schneider said, “My wife and I have a young family, my real estate business has really taken off and it’s hard to do everything well.” Schneider said that the job of a county board member should be done well, as the role entails major financial and personnel decisions that take time to make. For him, it was time to step down, but he encouraged young people to run for the position after serving for almost four years.

* STLPR | Venice grocery store, backed by state grant, will soon begin construction: The Illinois Grocery Initiative covered $2.4 million of the $5 million total cost to build the store and restaurant in Venice. The General Assembly created the $20 million program in 2023 to help seed grocery stores in food deserts in urban and rural parts of the state. The closest grocery stores or supermarkets are at least four miles away from Venice residents in Granite City. Urban communities are considered to be a food desert if grocery stores are more than one mile away, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

* WCIA | U of I political science professor expects more funding issues, travel delays if shutdown drags on: Already, the FAA said it plans to reduce flights by 10% at 40 airports by the end of the week. “That might make more lawmakers nervous that a lot of constituents will end up angry that there will be extreme delays at airports just before the Tuesday and Wednesday before Thanksgiving when a heck of a lot of people travel,” said Gaines

* Capitol City Now | Pritzker sticks up for Staunton man: The plight of a Staunton businessman was one of the subjects Gov. JB Pritzker hit Wednesday at a stop in southern Illinois. “Ismael Sandoval was a business owner for two decades in a community that showed up for him,” Pritzker said, “when he was taken away by Donald Trump’s storm troopers because of the color of his skin; and then they found out he was undocumented, and they said, we’re not sending him back. The people of Staunton and the surrounding communities know him and know him to be a good man who has raised his family there, and they showed up, and they are protesting to have him returned to their community.”

*** National ***

* ABC | Household debt in America has hit a record high: Report: Total household debt reached $18.59 trillion from July through September of this year, up by $197 billion from the previous quarter. Overall debt levels are up by $4.4 trillion since the end of 2019, just before the pandemic recession. In a call with reporters Wednesday, researchers at the New York Fed said overall household balance sheets do remain “pretty strong,” though there are some signs of weakness among younger borrowers.

* WGLT | Rivian CEO touts AI as the near future for automobiles: The head of electric vehicle maker Rivian says the future is not just EVs, it’s artificial intelligence and autonomous vehicles. And it’s coming sooner than you might think. Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe scattered enthusiastic comments about AI and autonomous vehicles throughout an hour-long third quarter earnings call with financial analysts.

* NYT | Trump Officials to Cut Air Traffic at 40 Major Airports if Shutdown Continues: Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the reductions were an attempt to “alleviate the pressure” on air traffic controllers, who have been working without compensation since the start of the shutdown and have not received a paycheck since mid-October. He said the administration would announce the affected markets on Thursday, as the year’s busiest travel season approaches.

* LA Times | California backs down on AI laws so more tech leaders don’t flee the state:California’s tech companies, the epicenter of the state’s economy, sent politicians a loud message this year: Back down from restrictive artificial intelligence regulation or they’ll leave. The tactic appeared to have worked, activists said, because some politicians weakened or scrapped guardrails to mitigate AI’s biggest risks. California Gov. Gavin Newsom rejected a bill aimed at making companion chatbots safer for children after the tech industry fought it. In his veto message, the governor raised concerns about placing broad limits on AI, which has sparked a massive investment spree and created new billionaires overnight around the San Francisco Bay Area.