* Center Square reporter Sean Reed…

*** Statehouse News ***

* Press release | ICUL Announces Retirement of Keith Sias at Year End 2026: The Illinois Credit Union League (ICUL) announces the retirement of Keith Sias, SVP Federal Advocacy, at the end of 2026, concluding more than 33 years of service to Illinois credit unions. When Sias joined ICUL on March 1, 1993, as its first in-house advocacy professional based in Springfield, the hire signaled that advocacy was ICUL’s highest priority and established a strong, consistent presence for credit unions in Springfield. Sias has served as both a state lobbyist as well as a key advocate on federal issues for credit unions throughout his entire ICUL career. He has educated credit unions and policymakers, advanced meaningful legislative initiatives, and helped shape federal advocacy priorities through his service on the American Association of Credit Union Leagues’ (AACUL) Advocacy Committee. His peers named him the 2015 Speaker of the Illinois 3rd House, and he received the 2025 AACUL Farley Award for excellence in credit union advocacy.

* Block Club | State Rep. Hoan Huynh, Accused Of ‘Missing’ On The Job, Says He Closed Office Due To Online Threats: Amid claims he is “missing” on the job, State Rep. Hoan Huynh is defending his decision to close his district office — and is taking to social media to frequently prove he’s still performing his duties. […] A Freedom of Information Act request placed with Chicago and state police did not return records pertaining to threats made against Huynh or his office between October 2025 and March 2026.

*** Chicago ***

* Tribune | Commander disciplined in ‘Blitz’ response moved out of patrol leadership: The leader of a South Side police district who was recently disciplined in connection with the Chicago police’s response to a high-profile confrontation on the city’s Southwest Side during Operation Midway Blitz has been removed from his post and transferred to a non-patrol division, police announced Thursday. Cmdr. Joseph Mark, who has overseen day-to-day policing in the Deering (9th) District since July 2024, will now lead the department’s alternate response section, according to a Chicago Police Department news release. The alternate response section handles nonemergency calls. It’s also the typical landing spot for cops who have been stripped of their police powers.

* Sun-Times | Lime warns Divvy deal could push company from Chicago: Lime said it wants the city to rewrite the Divvy deal to “address monopoly concerns.” The company also asked the city to consider its proposed automatic pricing discount for low-income residents. Lime said Lyft’s current low-income discount pricing is 34% higher than that of Lime’s own access program, and that Divvy’s prices are 19% higher than Lime’s on the South and West sides.

* Tribune | Plastic surgeon with 8 patient deaths faces another license suspension: A plastic surgeon whose Illinois license was suspended following a Tribune investigation that found eight patient deaths connected to his Chicago clinic is now temporarily barred from practicing medicine in his home state of Michigan. The Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs recently suspended Dr. Ayoub Sayeg’s medical license, meaning he cannot practice in the state until the matter is resolved through an administrative hearing process.

* Tribune | ‘Flying off the shelf’: Sports apparel stores scramble to keep up with demand for White Sox merchandise: At downtown sports apparel shop Chicago Sports & Novelty, manager Loretta Rizzo laid out a freshly stocked stack of Munetaka Murakami jerseys. “We’ve sold out of these three times,” she said, pointing to the pile of black and white fabric with the White Sox first baseman’s name spelled out in Japanese characters.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Tribune | Lawmakers and deputy governor discuss West Suburban hospital’s future in meeting that’s short on details: Neither of the lawmakers in attendance — Illinois Senate President Don Harmon and House Assistant Majority Leader Camille Y. Lilly — discussed Insight specifically during the meeting, though Harmon expressed broad concerns about the hospital’s future, telling the crowd, “We should not view opening a bad hospital as progress.” After the meeting, Harmon told the Tribune he has “great reservations about Insight based on their track record both in Illinois and other states.”

* Daily Southtown | Cook County removed 100,000 cubic yards of debris, pledges another $8 million toward effort: Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said about 100,000 cubic yards of debris has been removed from south suburban areas affected by severe storms in August, and pledged another $8 million to continue that effort. The funding comes in response to the Aug. 11 storms that swept across Southern Cook County, burdening many areas with the task of repairing severe storm damage. The county committed to about two weeks of work across affected south municipalities, officials said.

* Elgin Courier-News | East Dundee village president censured for partisan politics, ‘inappropriate’ comments: East Dundee Village President Dan Pearson was formally censured by the village board Monday for inviting two Republicans, one of whom was gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey, to give political speeches during the village’s Oktoberfest. The censure was unanimous and also cited other actions and comments Pearson has made, including his endorsement of a candidate’s social media page comment stating the “language in America is English” and “inappropriate and distasteful comments” made mostly toward women during the Oktoberfest stein-holding contest.

* Daily Herald | At residents’ request, Kane sheriff removing Flock cameras from Geneva-area neighborhood : The move comes after the Mill Creek Special Service Area Advisory Board voted Monday to ask that the Flock cameras be taken out of the neighborhood. “While ALPR cameras are effective law enforcement tools, the Sheriff’s Office recognizes the importance of considering community concerns when determining where and how public safety technology is used,” the sheriff’s said in Tuesday’s announcement.

*** Downstate ***

* WCBU | East Peoria primed to expand Flock as neighboring Creve Coeur deals with alleged misuse: The East Peoria City Council will weigh whether to add an additional 10 Flock-branded cameras to the police department’s program, nearly doubling its investment in license plate reading technology as the town next door deals with the fallout of alleged misuse by its police chief. Former Creve Coeur Police Chief Justin Egan is off the job, accused of using his city’s three Flock-branded license plate cameras to track his ex-wife and ordering others to help. Egan, plus his deputy chief and one rank-and-file officer, abruptly resigned last month amid revelations he is under investigation by Illinois State Police.

* Illinois Times | Manufacturing group highlights new UIS degree to support growth in automation: A manufacturing lobbying group made a stop in Springfield to highlight the launch of a new major at University of Illinois Springfield related to the growth in automation. The visit was part of the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association’s “Makers on the Move” bus tour that seeks to celebrate October as Manufacturing Month and the growth of career opportunities in the industry. “Today’s modern manufacturing involves AI, machine learning, robotics and amazing technology that improves productivity, eliminate waste, optimizes energy and creates newer and better products every single day,” said Mark Denzler, president and CEO of the Springfield-based Illinois Manufacturers’ Association.

* WGLT | Illinois Wesleyan sets sights on $200 million fundraising goal: “For a university of our size with the alumni base of our size, that’s quite ambitious, but we fully believe it’s well within our reach,” IWU president Sheahon Zenger said in an interview. Wesleyan set a record over the previous fiscal year, with $35 million raised, including $3.6 million for the All in for Wesleyan day in the spring that set a record for the most money raised in a single day by a McLean County higher education institution.

* Heartland News | Village of Valier weighs options after nearly a year without its own police department: Officials said challenges with the cost of maintaining a full-time department, along with staffing and liability, are the reason they are looking at outsourcing police services. “The cost of equipment, body cams, things of that nature, the upkeep, all that stuff’s ever changing. And I mean, let’s face reality, we have a town that’s a little bit more than 500 people, one officer to act as chief cover all that. It’s a big investment,” Dudzinski said.

* Capitol News Illinois | Illinois state fairs attracted over 1 million visitors for second year in a row: About 714,000 visitors attended the Springfield fair, while a record 287,000 visited the one in Du Quoin. Springfield’s attendance was the third highest in its history but set a new single-day attendance record of nearly 104,000 visitors on Friday, Aug. 21. The Springfield fair also set a pair of concert attendance records with both Ella Langley and Lainey Wilson drawing 15,533 fans to sold-out shows. Other featured concerts included The Chicks and Wiz Khalifa. The Springfield fair sold 72,143 concert tickets, which set a new overall record for grandstand performances.

*** National ***

* Reuters | McDonald’s hit with class action alleging AI-powered menu price-fixing: McDonald’s (MCD.N) has been sued in federal court in Chicago in a proposed nationwide class action alleging the fast-food company illegally ‌coordinates menu prices across its franchises and company-owned restaurants through an AI-powered pricing system. The lawsuit, filed on Friday, said McDonald’s violated US antitrust law by conspiring with independent franchisees to fix prices using algorithms trained on nonpublic data.

* AP | Paramount completes its takeover of Warner Bros to become one Hollywood giant known as Skydance: Including billions of dollars in debt, the Warner acquisition amounts to nearly $111 billion. Ellison’s Skydance bought Paramount for $8 billion last year before setting its sights on Warner. What followed was one of the biggest tie-ups ever in the media and entertainment industry.