* Crain’s…

International graduate enrollment plunged 15.4% across the University of Illinois system this fall, slowing the university’s overall enrollment growth amid tighter visa rules and immigration uncertainty.

Total enrollment in the three-campus U of I system this fall grew 1.2% to a new record of 102,267 students, the university says. A year earlier, enrollment grew 3.4% to 101,081.

The university’s largest campus in Urbana-Champaign added 212 students this year to push total enrollment to 61,060. The Chicago campus remains the fastest growing among the three with a 3.7% increase to 37,199 students. The Springfield campus grew nearly 1% to 4,008 students.

But across the three campuses, undergraduate international enrollment declined 5.9% from a year ago, and the number of graduate and professional students dropped 15.4%. Last year, undergraduate international enrollment rose 5.9% but graduate students declined 8.8%.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Capitol News Illinois | Illinois governor’s race shifts to Texas:
“I absolutely could be in Illinois right now,” Pritzker said. “But here’s what I think: What’s good for the people of Illinois is if Democrats win across the country, and the Congress becomes a Democratic Congress.” Separately, Bailey’s running mate, Aaron Del Mar, told Capitol News Illinois that their campaign was meeting with Republican delegations from other states to pick their brains on initiatives they could push in Illinois.

* Crain’s | The region’s new transit board just picked a chief. His to-do list is long.: “This can’t just be a person refereeing between Chicago and the suburbs, right?” Buckner says. “This has to be somebody who understands what the regional transit system looks like, who can work with Springfield, make sure that the infrastructure and the capital funding is there, and who can play in the political space, because this is a political job in many ways.

* Press release | Rep. Morgan’s Cannabis Reforms Expand Medical Cannabis Access to 37 Additional Illinois Dispensaries: Previously, Illinois’ medical cannabis market remained limited to the initial 55 dispensaries licensed through the state’s original medical program, even as the adult-use marketplace expanded across the state. The new law creates a pathway for all dispensaries, including those licensed through Illinois’ social equity program, to serve registered medical patients while preserving the benefits available through the medical cannabis program.

*** Chicago ***

* WTTW | Despite More Diverse Applicants, Those Promoted in CFD Remain Overwhelmingly White, Male: Watchdog Report: His office found that the city’s use of hiring preferences — such as whether an applicant was a Chicago Public Schools graduate or military veteran — changed the makeup of who advanced, even as exam performance was consistent across groups. According to the report, during the 2022 hiring period, the city’s use of those hiring preferences may have decreased representation of Black applicants. And the number of women applicants declined across racial and ethnic categories as they moved through the onboarding process to enter the Fire Academy.

* WTTW | City Lawyers Recommend Paying $6M to Family of Man Killed by Driver Being Chased by Police: In April 2019, two months before Jordan was killed, CPD updated its policy to prohibit officers from initiating a pursuit when the most serious suspected offense was possession of a stolen motor vehicle. It is not clear why COPA did not determine that Moore violated that policy, even though he told investigators he stopped the Jeep and then pursued it because it had been reported stolen.

* Block Club | Rising Housing Costs In Avondale, Irving Park Continue To Push Out Longtime Residents, Study Shows: The DePaul Institute for Housing Studies last week released its updated map documenting displacement pressure, an analysis of census data, housing sales and property data from 2019-2025. The mapping tool shows parts of Avondale, Irving Park, Lincoln Square, the Near North Side and parts of the South Lakefront are becoming less affordable at faster rates than other neighborhoods. These higher-cost areas are increasing housing displacement pressures, making it more difficult for lower-income residents to stay, the map shows.

* Sun-Times | DuSable Lake Shore Drive Bridge closing overnight for maintenance a week after getting stuck: The closures are expected from 10 p.m. Thursday to 5 a.m. Friday, and on Tuesday, from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. Wednesday, according to the Chicago Department of Transportation.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Naperville Sun | Ninth candidate joins crowded Naperville City Council race: nother candidate, Michael Christin, is throwing his hat into the ring for a spot on the Naperville City Council, bumping up the number of candidates running to nine. Four council seats are up for election this spring. Council incumbents Josh McBroom, Supna Jain and Nate Wilson have confirmed they are running for reelection. Councilman Patrick Kelly is not seeking another term.

* Aurora Beacon-News | Aurora City Council delays decision on plan for hotel near Hollywood Casino site: The council is now set to vote on the project at its Sept. 22 meeting, ahead of a Sept. 25 deadline the developer said it has with the seller of the property near North Farnsworth Avenue where the proposed hotel would be built. “The 25th is kind of the critical date because we either have to cancel the contract or tell them we’re moving forward,” said Guy Pisani, development manager for Holladay Properties, which wants to open an ECHO Suites hotel by Wyndham offering extended stay options at the site at 1350 Corporate Blvd.

* Press release | Advocates press judge for receivership for shuttered Weiss and West Suburban hospitals: North and West Side patients, workers and advocates will hold a news conference Friday urging Cook County Circuit Judge Patrick Stanton to allow receivership for important Chicago-area hospitals that have closed in the past 12 months: Weiss Memorial Hospital in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago and West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park. On Thursday, the state stripped Weiss of its license. The news conference begins two hours before a scheduled 12 p.m. Cook County Court hearing in the long-running dispute over corporate control of the hospitals. Patrick J. Stanton, the judge presiding over the court case, will receive letters from former workers, patients and community members appealing for receivership. The letters will be delivered by the Coalition to Save Safety Net Hospitals.

* Aurora Beacon-News | Kane County pushes forward on plans to plant elm tree, initially meant for America’s 250th, at Judicial Center: fter months of deliberation, Kane County is still discussing what to do with an elm tree and plaque from the local Daughters of the American Revolution that had initially been central to the county’s plans for celebrating America’s 250th anniversary. Now, following failed plans to plant the tree at the county courthouse in Geneva and with the nation’s semiquincentennial having come and gone, the county board is looking to a new site for the tree — and a new holiday around which to celebrate it.

* Naperville Sun | 100-plus projects proposed in revamped Naperville bike, pedestrian plan: Plan recommendations include 112 new infrastructure projects, 10 intersection improvements, 12 enhancements to existing facilities, five policy recommendations and four program recommendations. Some of those suggestions include adding new bike lanes or signage that would help residents feel more comfortable when biking throughout the city.

* Daily Herald | ‘The work has been good’: Arlington Heights group home to expand capacity, despite opposition of neighbors: Shelter Youth & Family Services’ request to increase residential capacity — from six to 10 — comes five years after the Arlington Heights-based nonprofit moved its transitional living program to the duplex at 207-209 E. Valley Lane. The group home’s 2021 relocation — from busy Golf Road to a residential block just north of the Northpoint Shopping Center — came after a contentious and lengthy village approvals process, when board members ultimately agreed to set the six-person limit to assuage neighborhood opposition over safety and property values.

*** Downstate ***

* WCIA | Classes at Springfield middle school canceled for Thursday after water main issue: In an email to families that was also posted on Facebook, Springfield Public Schools said Franklin Middle School experienced “an unexpected water main issue” and had no running water. The school was unable to operate for the remainder of the day and, as a result, classes at Franklin was cancelled for Thursday.

* WGLT | El Paso burial site of first Black man to vote in Illinois confirmed 121 years after his death: More than 120 years after his death, local historians finally feel confident of the burial spot for the first Black man to vote in Illinois. A reddish granite headstone sits in a quiet plot near the back of El Paso’s Evergreen Cemetery. It proudly bears the name David A Strother. “He voted on Monday, April 4, 1870 in an El Paso City election,” the stone reads. “The first Negro ballot ever cast as a result of the fifteenth amendment.”