* Illinois Answers Project…

Evanston officials have improperly distributed millions of dollars in road contracts for more than a decade, skirting an Illinois law that requires municipalities to seek authorization from the state and advertise in a weekly bulletin, records show. Now the city could be on the hook to pay back that money to its motor fuel tax fund.

Emails, memos and other internal documents show the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) has repeatedly identified deficiencies and recommended Evanston take corrective actions to resolve “noncompliant activity” and “unauthorized” expenditures, according to public records reviewed by the Illinois Answers Project.

And, while the city has approved use of motor fuel tax funds for dozens of projects since mid-2020, only a handful have been advertised in IDOT’s weekly bulletin, according to documents reviewed by Illinois Answers. A street resurfacing project approved earlier this year draws on over $1.4 million of the city’s motor fuel tax funds, but wasn’t advertised in the bulletin. […]

[Ald. Clare Kelly] began drawing attention to the issue earlier this year, when she identified a $20-million discrepancy between the balances IDOT and Evanston reported for the city’s motor fuel tax fund. She started asking the city and IDOT about the discrepancy, and IDOT initiated another review. The city is now scrambling to reimburse the money, and has reclassified older expenditures to cover the gap, emails reveal.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Center Square | Acting legislative watchdog calls for more staff, changes; some not convinced: Michael Martin, a former Speaker’s office staffer and was a Legislative Coordinator for multiple lawmakers, filed a complaint listing multiple lawmakers for varying degrees of mistreatment and over the termination of his employment in 2025. Martin, who subsequently met with Risley and an investigator from the LIG’s office after meeting with McCuskey to review his complaint – which he characterized as unprofessional – said he plans to re-file his complaint now that McCuskey is gone.

*** Chicago ***

* Crain’s | Vote on Johnson’s pick for top attorney stalled: The City Council’s Budget and Government Operations Committee was originally scheduled to vote today on the nomination of law professor Renee Hatcher to replace the retired Mary Richardson-Lowry as the city’s corporation counsel, but the action item was pulled from the agenda.

* Fox Chicago | Feds reject parts of plan aimed at protecting Chicago electricity customers: Starting Monday, Oct. 12, PJM Interconnection — the regional grid operator serving Chicago and much of the Midwest and East Coast — will launch a new “Large Load Registry”, according to Utility Dive. The registry is a database where utilities must report customers using large amounts of electricity at a single site, such as a data center or factory. The idea is to help PJM keep tabs on where these big power users are popping up so it can plan ahead and avoid surprises that could strain the grid.

* Daily Herald | Share opinions, offer ideas on transit at first NITA open house at Union Station: You can wonk out or get answers to basic questions at the Northern Illinois Transportation Authority’s first open house from 3 to 6 p.m. Wednesday at Union Station. “The event is designed for you to explore at your own pace, walk through the rider journey on the regional transit system, discuss pain points and future improvements, and learn more about what the NITA, CTA, Metra, and Pace have planned for regional transit in 2027 and beyond,” officials said in a statement.

* Sun-Times | We asked for your dream transit project. Here’s what you told us: The Northern Illinois Transit Authority is planning next year’s budget for CTA, Metra and Pace. Many of you asked for a dedicated north-south corridor, outside Downtown, to connect L lines. Other ideas were more creative.

* WBEZ | Long a foregone conclusion, property tax hikes will no longer be a given under elected CPS board: Chicago’s school board has long relied on increasing property taxes annually — the only avenue the school district has available to raise revenue on its own. Those increases have generated more than $100 million every year and helped balance the underfunded school district’s budget. But with the Chicago Public Schools board moving from mayoral control to the entire school board being elected for the first time on Nov. 3, new political considerations mean tax hikes might no longer be a foregone conclusion.

* Sun-Times | Group cheered as woman was sexually assaulted at University of Chicago frat house: police report: On Tuesday afternoon, University of Chicago issued an alert saying that “a person of interest has been identified.” No arrests have been reported. The woman’s friends said that a group of men had tried to block them from entering the bathroom after the men were seen “cheering and appearing to encourage the activity inside,” according to the report.

* Crain’s | Loretto fraud defendants partied in Dubai with Texas AG Ken Paxton: report: Ahmed gave $190,000 to Paxton’s campaign, including $25,000 days after he was indicted, according to campaign-finance records cited by the Journal. Paxton is in a hotly contested Senate race against Democratic state Rep. James Talarico. Paxton won the Republican primary with an endorsement from President Donald Trump and is widely viewed as a linchpin for the GOP strategy to keep control of the Senate. “Like President Trump, Ken Paxton has been politically persecuted for years, and every time, voters have seen through it and sent him back to office because they know he has always fought for Texas,” Paxton’s senior adviser, Nick Maddux, said in a statement to the Journal that did not address the Dubai trip.

* Block Club | A Billionaire’s Squirrel-Feeding Operation Is Driving Lincoln Park Neighbors Nuts: Over the past few months, the Seid-family feeding has ramped up, forcing Ald. Knudsen to levy civil fines for causing damage to the park. The problem with ticketing a billionaire tens of thousands of dollars? They can pay it. “I always say ticketing usually leads to better behavior. It’s how we resolve things in our office all the time,” Knudsen told Block Club. “But sometimes you run across somebody who sees a ticket as a cost of continuing their bad behavior. This is a family that didn’t take that cost and really bat an eye.”

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Herald | Why Schaumburg is looking at ending developer impact fees for additional road capacity: Transportation Director Sidney Kenyon recommends the remaining $3.1 million in the fund go toward the planned realignment of Thoreau Drive north of the Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center Hotel to better accommodate a new entertainment district. During the heyday of the village’s growth, the impact fee was imposed on developers for projects requiring new or wider roads and expanded intersections. But the last comprehensive road improvement plan (CRIP) for which it was eligible was approved in May 2019.

* Tribune | Wilmette aims to modernize fire stations, attract women firefighters: Wilmette does not have any women among the department’s 45 firefighters and the fire station redesign is seen as one way to help change that. “We have long had difficulty attracting women to our fire service and this step is long overdue,” Village President Senta Plunkett said at the Sept. 8 meeting. The meeting was attended by Illinois House Majority Leader Robyn Gabel, who secured a $350,000 Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity grant for the renovations.

* Tribune | Years later, migrants bused into Oak Park area still living in limbo: Brito is a longtime immigrant advocate and activist, and a newly-minted PhD of urban planning, who has been working with Oak Park-based aid groups since 2022. She’s also one of the first people Suarez met when he landed in Chicago. Brito is a friend and advocate to many migrants, and she’s seen the same storyline over and over. “They know (their status) is not guaranteed,” she said. “It’s not something they can depend on. They think, ‘Let me work, work, work and do as much as I can because something might happen to me.”

*** Downstate ***

* WCBU | First phase of jail improvements included in Peoria County’s proposed $183M annual budget: Peoria County’s tentative budget for the 2027 fiscal year maintains the current property tax rate, fully funds pension obligations and covers costs for new laundry and kitchen facilities at the Peoria County jail. County administrator Scott Sorrel said the proposed $183 million spending outline emphasizes service efficiency and maintaining infrastructure. “This year’s recommended budget really reflects the priorities of the county board, and that is continuing to be the best value for Peoria County taxpayers,” said Sorrel.

* Illinois Times | Erin Conley not seeking reelection to city council: Ward 8 Ald. Erin Conley announced Sunday she won’t be seeking a third term on the Springfield City Council, leaving only one declared candidate in the Ward 8 race. Candidates have from Oct. 19-23 to file their petitions for the Consolidated Primary Election, scheduled for Feb. 23. A candidate running for Ward 8 needs a minimum of 265 valid signatures on their nominating petitions, according to the city clerk’s office. Petition requirements are based on 1% of the total votes cast in the last preceding mayoral election.

* WCIA | Paris field fire burns 55 acres of crop stubble, unharvested corn: More than 50 acres of land near Paris were burned on Monday after a combine caught fire and the flames spread to crop stubble. The fire happened northeast of Paris near Edgar County 1900th Street and Clinton Road. Fire Chief Zack Janis said both the Paris Fire Department and Paris Community Fire Protection District were dispatched at 1:33 p.m. for a reported combine fire that was spreading into standing corn that was being harvested.

* WAND | Grant program could bring fresh food options to Downtown Springfield: The grant operates under the Illinois Grocery Initiative through the New Stores in Food Deserts program. It supports new grocery stores in food deserts. Jay Shanle is the executive director of Downtown Springfield Inc. (DSI). When DSI shared information on the grant and pitched the idea to open a grocery store downtown through its Facebook page, more than 250 people liked the post, and dozens commented in support. “A lot of people, when we think of grocery stores, we think about what we typically interact with, which are the big box stores,” Shanle said. “This doesn’t have to be a big box store … it’s okay to start small and scale to the demand of the community and grow later.”

*** National ***

* USA Today | Can you sue over targeted ads? ‘Blockbuster’ Supreme Court case to decide: The law at issue, the Video Privacy Protection Act, was enacted in response to the decision by the Washington City Paper to release a list of 146 movies rented from a local video store by Robert Bork, who had been nominated by President Ronald Reagan to serve on the Supreme Court. The outrage surrounding disclosure prompted Congress to create stiff penalties for any video tape service provider who discloses personally identifying information about a customer.

* Media Matters | What is Joe Rogan saying about elections ahead of the midterms?: Heading into the midterm elections, podcaster Joe Rogan has used his podcast to peddle misinformation, baseless claims, and conspiracy theories about elections, claiming Democrats “want to cheat,” that it is “common” for them to steal elections, and that the reason they are not advocating for voter ID requirements is so that noncitizens can vote. Media Matters reviewed Rogan’s show from July 1, 2026, through September 14, 2026, and found that recent episodes espousing such election misinformation earned over 10.8 million views on YouTube — 41% higher viewership on average than his other episodes.

* AP | Mariano’s owner Kroger to lay off 3,000 corporate employees over 3 years as it leans into AI: Kroger last month outlined its AI strategy, meant “to improve the customer experience, make work easier for associates and produce better business outcomes.” Cincinnati-based Kroger is the largest standalone U.S. supermarket chain with 409,000 employees and more than 2,700 stores operating under various brands, including Ralphs, King Soopers, Smith’s and Fred Meyer.