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Isabel’s afternoon roundup
Wednesday, Sep 2, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller * Crain’s…
* Daily Herald | NITA is in the driver’s seat for public transit with $8 million assist from consultants: The 20-member panel will be advised by the Boston Consulting Group, a firm hired by the Illinois Department of Transportation for up to $7.9 million over two years with options to renew their contract. The consultants, who started Aug. 17, will assist with centralizing certain functions such as procurement, finding efficiencies, searching for an executive director, and organizing the reinvented system.
Uihlein has written larger checks to state legislative candidates this year. * The Triibe | Chicago invested in a record 32,500 youth jobs this summer: In an exclusive one-on-one interview with The TRiiBE, Mayor Brandon Johnson announced that his administration made a record-breaking investment in youth this summer under the rebranded Chicago Youth Works. The city funded more than 32,500 paid opportunities for teens and young adults, the highest annual total in Chicago history, Johnson said. Employment models were largely split between minimum wages ($17.05 per hour) and stipends. “This is part of the hallmark, if you will, of my administration, investing in young people. I have made this case repeatedly that when we invest in our young people, when we invest in our communities, it creates safer neighborhoods,” Johnson said. * Crain’s | Johnson’s starring role in World Business Chicago videos draws ethics hearing: The City Council will hold an ethics hearing into promotional videos featuring Mayor Brandon Johnson that critics say blur the line between economic development and campaigning as he prepares for an expected re-election bid. Eight members of the council’s Ethics Committee requested the hearing over videos produced by World Business Chicago, the city’s economic development arm, that tout Johnson and his administration’s “Build Better Together” agenda. At least one of the videos was shared last week by Johnson’s campaign account on Instagram. * NBC Chicago | DuSable Lake Shore Drive bridge malfunctions due to heat, leading to major traffic jam: Major traffic was building on DuSable Lake Shore Drive Wednesday afternoon in both directions after a bridge malfunctioned due to the heat. The Chicago Office of Emergency Management posted about incident just after 11 a.m., saying the Lake Shore Drive Bridge at Grand was stuck in the “up” position. About 30 minutes later, the Chicago Department of Transportation said the DSLD bridge experienced a “heat-related issue” during a scheduled lift, preventing it from fully closing. * Pioneer Press | Clarendon Hills hires consultant in effort to reduce stormwater flooding: The village has entered into a contract with Christopher B. Burke Engineering Ltd. in an amount not to exceed $25,000 to begin a preliminary study of the stormwater areas north of Chicago Avenue. Public Works Director Brendan McLaughlin said the village experienced torrential downpours on Aug. 1, causing flooding in several areas. The hardest hit area was the vicinity of Middaugh Road and Walnut Street, where water entered some homes and made streets impassable. * Pioneer Press | As Niles North teacher faces federal charges, pact clarifies schools’ communication with Skokie police: Skokie police will continue their presence at Niles Township High School District 219’s campuses in Skokie under a newly updated agreement that spells out how officers and school administrators should respond to suspected criminal activity. Revisions to the agreement follow scorn from several district parents for the way school officials handled recent criminal allegations brought against a former Spanish teacher at Niles North High School, federally charged with transporting child pornography aboard an international flight. * Sun-Times | After drug arrest, calls emerge for Mark Stephens to resign as chairman of Triton College’s board: Mark Stephens, the longtime chairman of Triton College’s board of trustees, should resign his leadership position in the wake of his recent drug arrest in the suburbs, according to two colleagues on the panel. “This is an opportunity for us to move in a different direction,” says Triton board secretary Tracy Jennings. “So I’m hopeful he would see this and decide to resign that position.” * Tribune | Illinois heath officials responding to measles outbreak in Douglas County: Illinois health officials announced an outbreak of measles Wednesday in Douglas County in east central Illinois – news that comes amid a national resurgence of the illness. There have been at least four confirmed, linked cases of measles in Douglas County, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. An outbreak is defined as three or more connected cases. * Illinois Times | ShotSpotter stalls: Ordinance to extend contract is withdrawn, new language and amendment in the works : The City Council voted Sept. 1 to withdraw the ordinance for a $1.1 million, three-year contract for the acoustic gunshot detection surveillance technology. Ward 10 Ald. Ralph Hanauer made the motion, which he said was done at the request of the mayor. The unanimous vote to withdraw the ordinance occurred before any discussion took place at the council meeting. A revised version will be introduced to the council in a few weeks, said Mayor Misty Buscher. * WCIA | U of I grad helps launch new satellite, searching for black matter and new worlds: “It was pretty different, you know, my concept of it compared to what I really study now,” Choi said. “But there was something about the mystery of it that was really appealing, like black holes and things like that.” She said Roman has a wide field of view camera seeing about 100 times more of the night sky than the Hubble or James Webb telescopes. * Heartland News | Fairgoers can sample and buy Illinois-made products at Du Quoin State Fair: The Illinois Department of Agriculture(IDOA) is hosting the 2026 Illinois Product Expo at the fair. The products are available for sample and purchase at the Expo Hall on Friday, September 4 from 5 to 9 p.m.; September 5 from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.; and September 6 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. “Consumers are increasingly interested in where their food comes from, and the Illinois Product Expo is a great way to connect buyers with local farmers and producers,” said Jerry Costello II, Director of the IDOA. * Reuters | Blackout risk rises as heatwave stresses largest US electric grids: The risk of power outages is expected to escalate across a broad swath of the United States on Wednesday as intense heat will test the capacity of electricity supplies serving millions of homes and businesses from the midwest through the mid-Atlantic. The US Department of Energy warned of the potential for heightened blackout risks in the PJM Interconnection, the largest US electric grid, which serves 67 million people in a territory stretching from Washington DC to Chicago. * Harvest Public Media | Federal delays are holding up $21 billion for rural internet projects, as states wait for guidance: State officials are waiting for guidance on how they can spend billions of federal dollars earmarked for rural broadband projects. The federal Broadband Equity Access and Deployment, or BEAD, Program is meant to help states connect far-flung places to high speed internet. Congress allocated about $42 billion for BEAD in 2023 through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. It was the largest investment in federal broadband infrastructure in the nation’s history. * WIRED | Trump Administration Sides With OpenAI in New York Times Copyright Lawsuit: On Tuesday, the federal government submitted a letter to the court stating that the United States has a “strong interest” in whether AI training on copyright works is considered “fair use,” because it connects to whether the country’s AI industry can “retain global leadership in artificial intelligence.” (The “fair use” rule shields certain uses of copyrighted materials.)
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- Shytown - Wednesday, Sep 2, 26 @ 3:05 pm:
Triibe = Johnson PR machine. Guess who is funding most of these jobs? It’s not the city but philanthropy and business donors. But you won’t hear him speak to that.
- Give Us Barrabbas - Wednesday, Sep 2, 26 @ 3:26 pm:
Springfield should take a queue from Chicago about this shot spotter nonsense. It has something like a 75% failure rate I’ve made up detection. Chicago police discovered that all the bogus gunshot calls were diverting officers from planned patrol routes where they could have had more influence on reducing crime and had better response times. And when shot spotter suggests that there is gunfire in a particular neighborhood, you just know that the cops being dispatched to that call are already pre-primed to think they’re walking into a gunfight. I pity any an innocent bystanders when they show up with wrong information, motivating their judgment. The whole thing is a techno grift version of Lisa Simpson‘s anti-polar bear stone.
- Rudy’s teeth - Wednesday, Sep 2, 26 @ 3:26 pm:
Darren Bailey’s inability to raise funds and receive financial support from major Republican donors is a clear message. Darren, yer not their guy.