* ICYMI: National Guard leaving area as Homeland Security shutters local command center, reports say. Block Club Chicago…

- National Guard members sent to the Chicago area will return home as the Department of Homeland Security has left its command center at an area military base, according to media reports.
- The moves come days after Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino, who led the local enforcement efforts for Homeland Security, was confirmed to have left Chicago.
- Citing a Homeland Security official, the Sun-Times previously reported 1,000 federal agents could return to Chicago in March.

* Related stories…

• ABC Chicago: DHS leaves command center at Naval Station Great Lakes in North Chicago, city officials say
• The Hill: Trump administration to withdraw some National Guard troops from Chicago, Portland: Reports
• WLOS: Hundreds attend demonstration opposing ‘Charlotte’s Web’ ICE operation in North Carolina

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

Sponsored by PhRMA

340B hospitals mark up medicines and pocket the profit

Did you know 340B hospitals can charge thousands of dollars for medicines they might have bought for a penny? And they pocket the profit – passing the bill to Illinois patients, employers and taxpayers who are hit with higher medicine costs. The fact is this government program was created in 1992 to help patients access more affordable medicines. Today, the 340B program has become less about patients and more about boosting the bottom lines of hospitals and for-profit pharmacies. Tell Congress it’s time to fix 340B. Read more.

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

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Tribune | Staffer of Illinois Senate President Don Harmon robbed at knifepoint, authorities say: The staffer was not hurt during the incident, which occurred at Harmon’s district office in the 6900 block of West North Avenue in Oak Park, and Harmon said in a statement on Sunday that it did not appear “to have been politically motivated.” […] The man asked “about a bill,” and at one point, when the assistant looked away and turned back, the man was holding a knife in one hand and the assistant’s cellphone in the other, Yopchick said.

* ABC Chicago | FAA ends restrictions for flights at O’Hare, Midway airports: The end of reductions, that caused mass cancellations and delays, comes in time for the Thanksgiving holiday next week. Earlier this month the FAA issued an order to cut down flights, up to 6-percent, at large transit hubs. At the time, the agency cited safety concerns due to staffing shortages during the record-long government shutdown.

* Tribune | Illinois consumers face high health insurance prices, with Obamacare subsidies still in limbo after shutdown: [H]undreds of thousands of Illinois residents will face higher costs if the federal government doesn’t extend enhanced tax credits that reduce the monthly costs of insurance bought through the Affordable Care Act exchange. The issue was at the heart of the government shutdown, and though the shutdown is over, the fate of the enhanced subsidies remains in limbo. Meanwhile, many other Illinoisans are also facing higher prices for the insurance they get through employers. Across the country, the cost of health benefits per employee is expected to rise 6.5% on average next year, the highest increase since 2010, according to responses from more than 1,700 employers surveyed by consulting firm Mercer.

*** Statehouse News ***

* STLPR | Want to change your name? A new Illinois law means more privacy during the process: In Illinois, a new law, Public Act 103-1063, took effect in March that eliminated that requirement. It also reduced the amount of time a petitioner must reside in the state before applying from six months to three months. And it allows individuals to file a motion to impound their name-change record if it would have a negative impact on the person’s health or safety. In those cases, however, the name change must be reported to Illinois State Police so that criminal history transcripts can be updated, if applicable.

* Tribune | Gov. JB Pritzker’s Accountability Commission still ramping up as federal immigration surge starts to subside: Even as the controversial head of the federal operation, Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino, has left Chicago in recent days, the commission’s website remains bare bones, with a phone number to contact an outside organization added Friday only after an inquiry from the Tribune. As of Friday, the site still did not provide an email address or other digital method for contacting the commission to share the type of eyewitness cellphone videos the governor has repeatedly asked the public to record and hand over since the chaotic, violent crackdown began in early September.

* Capitol News Illinois | From new train lines to parking regulations: What else is in Illinois’ transit bill: A key priority for lawmakers in the bill was supporting development near public transportation corridors and stops. The bill would allow transit agencies to buy, build, own, operate or maintain sites for residential or commercial development. Areas for development would be within a half mile of a train station or one-eighth of a mile of a bus stop. The goal is to allow more people to live, work or engage in economic activity with easy access to public transportation.

*** Chicago ***

* Sun-Times | Mayor Johnson will push for budget vote next week, even with Finance chair opposed to head tax ‘at any level’: Dowell said she has no idea whether Johnson has the votes to push the head tax through her committee over her objections. “I want to have a conversation with some colleagues about this budget, and those conversations will continue, hopefully through the weekend,” she said. “I want to look at this budget comprehensively. I just don’t want to foreclose on any options at the moment.”

* Crain’s | Johnson to City Council: Give alternatives to my $16.6B budget: After the meeting, Johnson essentially told the City Council it’s time to put up or shut up. “There has not been one alternative that has been presented,” the mayor said. “I’m for more deliberation if we’re actually debating over something, but to slow it down just for the sake of slowing it down, it just doesn’t make sense.”

* Sun-Times | Johnson signs executive order directing more resources to organizations affected by SNAP funding lapse: Johnson also announced a micro-grant program to support local retailers and restaurants that have been “hit by the one-two punch of reduced SNAP purchasing power, fear-driven drops in foot traffic from escalated immigration enforcement, and rising requests for free and donated goods.”

* Tribune | Under new leadership, can Columbia College Chicago overcome its financial woes?: The school’s revenue streams have been hollowed out by shrinking enrollment, now hovering at 4,400 students. Administrators clawed their way back from a bitter, 49-day adjunct strike in late 2023. Still, even after program cuts and layoffs, they face a $40 million structural deficit. It’s an uphill battle — yet Bolton remains undeterred. The president has cast herself as a “student-centered” leader, a champion of the arts. She has professed a commitment to financial stability with equal parts pragmatism and optimism.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Sun-Times | Black neighborhoods hit hardest with Cook County property tax bill increase, analysis finds: Pappas summed up the issue in a news release: “When the Loop gets a cold, the rest of the city gets pneumonia.” Lance Williams, professor of urban studies at Northeastern Illinois University, said the shifting tax burden to the city’s poorest residents is a result of bad public policy. “It’s unfortunate that this crisis downtown now has to be felt by Black and brown neighborhoods,” said Williams, a South Sider who is studying the links between public policy and neighborhood disinvestment and violence.

* Sun-Times | Pastors speak of brutality of arrests at hands of local cops at Broadview ICE facility: […] Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson said protesters, whom she called “out-of-towners,” had “chosen their fists,” though video of Woolf’s arrest minutes after the protesters were pushed out of the street shows the situation was calm before an officer grabs him by the wrist from the crowd. The Cook County Sheriff’s Office noted four officers were injured during the protest. It did not answer if changes were being made after the mass arrest Friday or address accusations the agencies were in violation of the TRUST Act, which prohibits Illinois law enforcement from working with federal agents on immigration enforcement.

* Daily Herald | Palatine leaders hope to rebuild trust in wake of immigration arrests: Palatine is taking steps to address community concerns stemming from recent federal immigration enforcement in the village, including a resolution, an online resources page and the creation of a focus group. The village council on Monday will vote on the resolution, which states the mayor, village council and village staff do not condone the tactics of federal agents that have been witnessed by the community. “The stress that recent federal actions have caused on our community is creating fear and eroding the trust that the Village and law enforcement have built through the past several decades,” the resolution reads.

* Tribune | Naperville Council considers funding for police mental health crisis response next year: Councilman Ian Holzhauer pushed the city to explore funding options for the Naperville Police Department’s Mobile Crisis Intervention Team (MCIT) at a budget overview workshop Monday, arguing that fully funding the program is critical to properly addressing mental health crises in the city. “We’ve been talking about this program for years and this is an essential to me,” Holzhauer said. Earlier this year, city staff were staring down a $6.5 million deficit caused by the elimination of the state grocery tax alongside a $4 million deficit caused in part by skyrocketing health insurance costs and a decline of certain city revenue sources. The city has since found ways to plug both, but noted that this year’s budget calls for no new positions and few new initiatives.

* Aurora Beacon-News | Yorkville City Council gives first green light to controversial 1,000-acre data center campus: There would be a total of 14 data center buildings, along with two electrical substations, a utility switchyard and stormwater detention basins, according to the city. After two public hearings over the summer, the rezoning of the land for the project and a Planned Unit Development, or PUD, and preliminary PUD plan were recommended for approval in July by the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission.

* Aurora Beacon-News | Aurora agrees to financially support Paramount Theatre with ‘one-time’ $2 million payment: That proposed 2026 city budget doesn’t just have a reduction in the previously-discussed funding for the Paramount. It includes none of those funds at all, which surprised theater officials. But on Friday, a joint statement from the city of Aurora and the Civic Center Authority said that an agreement had been reached for the city to support the organization with a “one-time off-ramp” payment of $2 million. This payment, the statement said, will ensure the organization can continue running its live performance spaces throughout downtown as well as the Paramount School of the Arts.

* Daily Southtown | Thornton Township District 205 giving teachers $5,000 bonuses for good attendance: The bonuses for teachers present for 95% or more of the school year, or absent for about nine days, were first instituted for the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 school years in negotiations with the district’s faculty union. They were later extended through the current school year as part of a separate agreement with the union. The District 205 faculty union did not respond to requests for comment.

* Daily Southtown | 41 towns receive $118,000 each from Wind Creek Casino’s first year: The remaining 3% is split equally among 43 municipalities, including East Hazel Crest and Homewood, and distributed monthly. As of Nov. 7, that came out to $118,154.10 apiece. The money can only be used for capital improvement projects or pension payments. “A lot of the municipalities are underfunded, so they use that money for their pension plans,” said East Hazel Crest Village President Thomas Brown. “I think it probably draws some more businesses.”

*** Downstate ***

* WGLT | McLean County budget priorities similar to current spending plan: McLean County Board chair Elizabeth Johnston said the priorities in next year’s $144.5 million budget approved this week remain similar to the current year spending plan. “This budget really looks at maintaining the quality of services for McLean County, but what we’re also looking at doing is the investments in our buildings, that deferred maintenance. We are looking at HVAC upgrades across the buildings. We’ve got lighting upgrades moving to LED ballasts in many of our facilities to increase energy efficiencies,” Johnston said on WGLT’s Sound Ideas.

* WCIA | ‘It all started with us just needing support, wanting to get together’: Spouses, partners of first responders finding community in Champaign: On Sunday, Champaign firefighter’s loved ones bonded over their experiences and met for their annual Firefighter Spouse Appreciation Brunch. They also welcomed new spouses into the family, giving them a glimpse of what their future can hold and the support their group has to offer.

* WSIL | Vienna High students gain hands-on construction experience: Six students from Vienna High School are participating in the Illinois Laborers and Contractors Construction Craft Preparation Program. This program provides hands-on experience in the construction industry alongside valuable technical training. […] “We are proud of these young men for taking initiative and investing in their futures,” Giffin said. “Opportunities like this bridge the gap between classroom learning and real-world experience, and that is what education is all about.”

*** National ***

* CNN | Charlotte is the latest stop on DHS’ immigration blitz. Locals say it’s political: Immigration into the city has increased in recent years. Around 18.2% of the city’s population was foreign-born in 2023, according to US Census data, around double that of North Carolina at large. And there have been disagreements in the city in the past about immigration enforcement. Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden ended the county’s decadelong 287(g) partnership with ICE in 2018, to the chagrin of Republican officials.

* Fortune | There’s still ‘no evidence’ China is buying all the U.S. soybeans it promised under Trump’s trade deal amid oversupply from South America: China’s soybean processors have purchased about 40 million tons from South America this season and “have zero financial incentive” to buy more U.S. soybeans, he added. Such purchases would have to come from state buyers for China’s reserve, but there’s very little indication that they are on track to buy 12 million tons by year’s end or 25 million next year, Suderman warned.

* NYT | Homeland Security Missions Falter Amid Focus on Deportations: Homeland security agents investigating sexual crimes against children, for instance, have been redeployed to the immigrant crackdown for weeks at a time, hampering their pursuit of child predators. A national security probe into the black market for Iranian oil sold to finance terrorism has been slowed down for months because of the shift to immigration work, allowing tanker ships and money to disappear.