* Shaw Local…

Food truck operators in northern Illinois say rising food, fuel, and operating costs are squeezing their businesses, but some say the biggest challenge comes from having to navigate different regulations and fees as they cross county lines.

Lawmakers in Illinois had been working on House Bill 1052, the Food Truck Freedom Act, until the spring legislative session, when it died, to help bring relief for food truck operators who work across county lines.

The bill would establish a single, statewide reciprocal licensing system for food trucks. Supporters of the bill believe it will lower permitting costs – potentially by thousands per year – for food truck operators while maintaining safety and public health standards.

State Rep. Jeff Keicher, R-Sycamore, said legislative work would have to resume in the new year to help these entrepreneurs in navigating the challenges they face.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Press release | Gov. Pritzker Cuts Ribbon at Voortman’s Grand Opening Facility: Today, Governor JB Pritzker joined the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) and Voortman Steel Machinery leadership to commemorate the grand opening of the company’s $51 million expansion project. Illinois is home to Voortman Steel Machinery’s U.S. headquarters, and Governor Pritzker broke ground on the project in October 2024 when it was first announced. ​ ​ Voortman’s expansion is another example of Illinois’ position as a growing hub for advanced manufacturing and supply chain and adds to a growing list of companies expanding or establishing their business in the state, including Ability Engineering Technology, Combe, Hyundai Translead, and more. ​ ​

*** Chicago ***

* Crain’s | Labor backs Amtrak project near Rate Field as City Hall fights it: The Chicago Federation of Labor today threw its weight behind the $900 million facility proposed on an existing rail yard between 33rd and 35th streets. The project — just steps from the White Sox’s ballpark on the eastern edge of Bridgeport — is the first of a two-step process that would allow billionaire Sox owner-in-waiting Justin Ishbia to take control of Amtrak’s 14th Street Coach Yard along the Chicago River south of Roosevelt Road, where he aims to build an 80-plus acre mixed-use district anchored by a new stadium for the team.

* NBC Chicago’s Paris Schutz…

CTU-backed Chicago Board of Ed Presidential Candidate Hilario Dominguez - dinged by the city's ethics board and facing $250 daily fines for not completing ethics training for lobbyists: pic.twitter.com/m78lJqsgsG

— Paris Schutz (@paschutz) September 24, 2026

* Sun-Times | Chicago Public Schools enrollment drops by more than 11,000, accelerating long-term downward trend: CPS enrollment has been on the decline for more than two declines. This year’s drop of 11,500 students, one of the largest one-year drops in more than a decade, amid the federal immigrant deportation campaign. Most of the biggest enrollment drops came in predominately Latino neighborhoods.

* Sun-Times | Finance Committee backs $2.5 billion sale of Chicago parking meters after sweetening lopsided deal: The committee passed the measure, with only two Council members, Budget Committee Chair Jason Ervin (28th) and Ald. William Hall (6th) voting against it. The full City Council must still approve the proposed deal. “Today is a historic day,” Dowell said. “Today, we have the opportunity to not only apologize” to taxpayers who got the short end of the deal, “but back it up with real tangible benefits for the first time.”

* WTTW | Chicago Launches Street Psychiatry Pilot Program to Bring Care to Unhoused Patients: The program, which began its work about a month ago, is administered by teams of specialized healthcare workers who engage with people at shelters, parks, encampments, CTA transit areas and other community locations. The program specifically aims to engage with people who may cycle between hospitals, jails and shelters, according to program administrators.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Injustice Watch | Your guide to the November 2026 Cook County judicial elections: Injustice Watch does not make recommendations or endorsements. Our team of investigative journalists researched all 61 appellate and circuit court judges running for retention so you can make your own decision about who you want to keep on the bench.

* Aurora Beacon-News | East Aurora School District 131 board approves $272.4 million 2026-27 budget: The district’s projected expenses total around $272.4 million, which is up nearly $10 million from last year. Expected revenues are projected to come in at around $265.6 million this year, according to numbers provided by the district on Monday. This fiscal year began on July 1, 2026, and extends through June 30, 2027.

* Daily Herald | DuPage suspends early voting due to technical problems: Adam Johnson, chief deputy clerk for the county clerk, said the voter registration database was not pulling up the correct dates of birth for some voters. Instead, it used the individual’s registration dates. In addition, an issue caused a candidate for the Kane County Regional Office of Education, which covers part of western DuPage, to be excluded from ballots. The candidate’s filing petition was challenged. But the challenge was denied, and the person’s name was allowed to appear on ballots.

* WTTW | Northwestern’s Non-Tenure, Adjunct Faculty Launch New Unionization Bid: Wednesday marked the launch of a new union organizing drive by non-tenure eligible and adjunct faculty at the Evanston-based university after two years of organizing conversations. “Again and again, we have heard that our colleagues want a meaningful voice in the decisions that affect our work and our students,” Averill Curdy, a Northwestern faculty member said in a statement. “Forming a union will strengthen and amplify the voice of the teaching faculty. In a union, we can help ensure fair and gender-equitable raises, protect academic freedom, and make Northwestern an institution where outstanding educators want to build their careers.”

* Pioneer Press | An AI school without teachers looks to move into Evanston’s former Roycemore building: Originally founded in Austin, Texas, in 2014, Alpha School currently operates nearly two dozen campuses across the U.S, with grades ranging from pre-K to high school. Its recently-opened pre-K-8 location in downtown Chicago charges $55,000 in annual tuition, according to the school’s website. Now, the AI-based school network has its sights set on Evanston, according to a zoning application filed by Alpha School to occupy the former Roycemore School site at 1200 Davis Street.

* Daily Herald | Deer Park Town Center sold in reported $125 million deal: The announcement comes a day after officials in Mount Prospect confirmed the $95 million sale of the Randhurst Village shopping center to a Nevada-based real estate firm. The reported $125 million price tag for Deer Park tops the $122 million sale of the Village Crossing shopping center in Skokie that was announced earlier this month. That was the largest retail property sale in the region since $147 million was paid in 2016 for the retail portion of the Sullivan Center on State Street in Chicago.

* Naperville Sun | ‘It was an insane feeling’: Naperville-based, all-girls robotics team headed to international competition: When the Naperville-based team Robot Penguin took 4th place in the World Robot Olympiad Americas Open Championship in Panama last year, the newly formed all-girls team had been working out of a three-car garage that could feel a bit cramped at times. “In the garage, I remember we’d have like a bunch of fans for the robots and for the humans just like completely set up all around,” Hamsini Chennupati, 14, said. “It would be extremely cold in the winter or when it rained, we could hear the garage door getting pelted with rain.”

*** Downstate ***

* BND | Cahokia teachers reach tentative contract agreement ahead of strike deadline: In a video posted to Facebook, union members said teachers have postponed a strike that was set to begin Friday. They say the deal also means students will be able to hold their homecoming events Friday, a key point that led students to stage a walkout earlier this week. The terms of the agreement between the union and the district still need to be finalized and involve what the union calls some “give and take” on both sides. A union member vote is planned for next week.

* WAND | Teutopolis receives $1M in EPA funding for water main replacement projects: The funding will replace about 21,000 feet of cast iron water lines installed in the 1940s. According to Bost’s office, the village’s existing water system has left some homes with discolored water, “unpleasant” odors and low water pressure.

* WCBU | Peoria to offer city workers a paid day off to serve as election judges: The Peoria City Council on Tuesday approved an administrative policy that provides eight hours of normal wages for workers appointed to serve as an election judge for any primary, general, consolidated or special election. “We’re not anticipating we’re going to see 50, 60 or 70 employees take this up. We might get two or three, or four, or five,” said City Manager Patrick Urich. “But that’s really just looking at this as another opportunity to encourage civic participation.”

* WGLT | McLean County safety agencies say new emergency dispatching system is one step forward, two steps back: The Metro Mclean County Centralized Communication Center [Metcom] Board and the county signed the contract to buy the system in late 2024. ProPhoenix had promised to have it up and running in less than a year. Nearly two years later, Normal Police Chief Steve Petrilli said it’s still not working as advertised. “We’re still undergoing several large projects within the county, and it’s just frustrating when they have projects that cost this much to the taxpayers. They require hours upon hours of staff time and to not get them across the finish line and an end product that we feel is making us more efficient, more effective at what we do, that’s the frustrating part,” said Petrilli.

*** National ***

* AP | ICE is wasting tens of millions of dollars on ‘uninformed’ detention projects, report finds: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other agencies have wasted tens of millions of dollars pursuing ill-conceived plans to rapidly increase detention capacity, and the total will likely rise due to ongoing mismanagement, congressional investigators warned Thursday. The U.S. Government Accountability Office documented costly problems in several initiatives ICE has pursued since President Donald Trump returned to office in January 2025 and ordered the mass arrest and deportation of people who are in the country illegally.

* Bloomberg | Ken Griffin runs into Miami resistance over personal helipad: The leaders of eight luxury condominiums lining Biscayne Bay are urging local officials to reject Griffin’s plan to land his helicopter at a marina he is building for his yachts near the city’s port. The proposal is expected to be reviewed by the Miami Beach land-use committee at a public hearing on Thursday scheduled for 1 p.m. local time before being considered by other city officials later this year.