* Center Square…

Gov. JB Pritzker says unethical public officials should self select themselves out of office if they choose to break the law.

When a reporter asked Pritzker about ethics reform during an event in Elmwood Park on Tuesday, the governor said no one should be serving in public office if they are not following the rules and acting in an ethical fashion.

“In fact, they ought to self select themselves out if they’re going to choose to break the rules or break the law,” Pritzker said. […]

When asked why ethics reform didn’t rise to the same priority level as Chicago Bears stadium legislation or the POWER Act to regulate data centers, Pritzker said ethics reform ideas have been floating around for some time.

“Not enough hearings have been done on them, but I’d love to take them up. I think it’s more likely that we would take them up in the general session beginning next year,” Pritzker said.

* Tribune…

Take two? Mayor Brandon Johnson will again propose Chicago hit big corporations with an employee head tax — with an exemption in less wealthy parts of the city — when he unveils his budget proposal Wednesday, sources said.

Johnson is also proposing the city borrow an eye-catching $480 million to pay for police-related lawsuit settlements and raise personal property lease transaction taxes from 15% to 20%, a move that would hit large businesses hardest and raise an estimated $234 million. […]

Johnson’s head tax would levy a monthly $25 charge for every staffer at companies with more than 125 full-time employees. But unlike his 2026 plan that aldermen rejected, it would include a key carve-out: Companies in officially-designated socioeconomically disadvantaged areas, including large swaths of the city’s South, Southwest and West sides, would receive a rebate on the tax. […]

Furthermore, he wants to bump taxes on liquor purchased for off-site consumption to raise $13.8 million and create a new $.15 tax on packages to bring in $9 million.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Subscribers know more. The Daily Egyptian | Doody, Markel offer competing visions for 118th District: Doody described the aviation and agriculture programs as significant assets for southern Illinois. He expressed the importance of lowering the cost of living in the area to retain more students after graduation. He said high property taxes force young adults to leave the area. “If we don’t get a handle on our property taxes, that impacts everything,” Doody said. “When a young person graduates SIU and buys a home, they get sticker shock.”

* Capitol News Illinois | Illinois Democrats eye suburbs in push to expand supermajorities: The districts are among the few places in Cook County still represented by Republicans. Two-thirds of residents in the broader Senate district make above six figures. But since the 2021 remap, races for the two seats have been close. In major statewide elections, Democrats have won decisively in recent years. Gov. JB Pritzker and Vice President Kamala Harris both won the district by about 10 points in 2024 and 2022, respectively. But those same voters have split their ticket, allowing McLaughlin to win reelection twice.

*** Chicago ***

* Crain’s | Johnson brings back the head tax — with a new twist: The revised proposal, which Johnson will unveil in his 2027 budget address Wednesday, would charge companies with more than 125 employees $25 per worker each month. It’s a second attempt to impose a tax that City Council rejected last year, helping fuel a rebellion against the mayor’s spending plan.

* Ald. Desmon Yancy | Mayor Brandon Johnson’s problem isn’t the City Council. It’s the coalition he lost.: Start with his own Finance Committee chair, Ald. Pat Dowell, who endorsed Johnson when he was an underdog and got the most powerful assignment a mayor hands out. Add the chair of the Black Caucus, Ald. Stephanie Coleman. Add the aldermen he hand-picked to run council committees in 2023, jobs a new mayor gives only to people he plans to govern with. Then add members of the Progressive Caucus, including me. I ran as a progressive and came to City Hall to help a progressive mayor deliver. I don’t need lessons on adjusting to a progressive agenda. These weren’t his opponents in 2023. They were his foundation. With them, he never had to beg for 26 votes. Now count who has walked out the door: his own finance chair, the chair of the Black Caucus, committee chairs he appointed and progressives who once treated his victory as their own.

* Block Club | On Chatham Business Tour, Mayor Talks Recent Burglary Sprees: ‘More Work To Be Done’: On the tour, Johnson gave Abrams and his shop a City Council resolution honoring his “40 years of service” and for helping “make Chicago a better city.” Joined by Ald. William Hall (6th) Johnson stopped next door to have his shoes shined by the boss himself at Boss Shine Shoe Shop, 349 E. 75th St. The mayor also found himself talking about something that’s fresh on the minds of many 75th Street shop owners: a rash of burglaries and break-ins targeting small neighborhood businesses.

* WTTW | Chicago to Test New Gunshot Detection System in 6 South, West Side Districts: Johnson: The system, which representatives of the mayor did not detail in response to questions from WTTW News, will operate in the Wentworth (2nd), Calumet (5th), Englewood (7th), Deering (9th), Ogden (10th) and Harrison (11th) police districts, according to a letter from Chief Procurement Officer Sharla Roberts to the City Council’s Committee on Contracting and Oversight Equity.

* Sun-Times | 200 live cockroaches, ‘black slime’ found at Lake View hospital cafeteria during inspection: Patients at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center won’t be eating food prepared in the on-site cafeteria for awhile after it failed a health inspection that found more than 200 live cockroaches in multiple food preparation areas. The inspection, on Friday, found cockroaches near the grill, fryer, steamer and storage areas of the cafeteria at the medical center at 836 W. Wellington Ave. in Lake View, according to Chicago Department of Public Health records.

* Tribune | Origin of CEO’s ‘will’ at center of family’s ownership squabble over Harold’s Chicken brand: More than 10 months after the CEO of Harold’s Chicken Shack died, the effort to settle her estate and determine ownership of the legendary local restaurant brand has, for now, honed in on a notary public from the western suburbs called to testify about the authenticity of the executive’s purported last will and testament. No dollar figure has been assigned yet, but attorneys for Kristen Pierce-Sherrod’s widower said in recent court filings that the estate could be worth more than $4 million.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Naperville Sun | Conroy seeks second term as DuPage chair against challenger Grasso: Conroy, of Lombard, became the first woman and Democrat to lead the county board in decades. Her victory also came as Democrats won majority control of the county board. “I’m running again because of the amazing work we’ve achieved in four years, and there’s more work to be done,” Conroy said. “I love DuPage County, and it’s a privilege to get to represent this community.”

* Daily Southtown | Lincoln-Way East on probation with Illinois High School Association after alleged racist taunting: During the probation, the IHSA will not deny the school any privileges through the nonprofit that organizes high school sports across the state. But the IHSA said more serious consequences will follow future policy violations, according to the organization’s news release.

* Aurora Beacon-News | Kane County Forest Preserve District adds 33 acres to Bliss Woods preserve in Sugar Grove Township: The addition sits along Bliss Road, adjacent to the eastern section of the preserve, the Kane County Forest Preserve District said in a news release. It features intact forest-floor wildflowers and massive oaks, officials said. First established in 1928, Bliss Woods is Kane County’s second-oldest forest preserve, according to the district. Visitors to the preserve can see the last remnant of the Kaneville Esker, a winding ridge of gravel and rocks created by a river of water flowing underneath a melting glacier around 13,000 years ago, according to the forest preserve district. Most of the esker is gone after years of gravel mining.

* Daily Herald | Suburban schools named 2026 Governor’s Blue Ribbon winners: Suburban schools were among the 16 public and eight private institutions Illinois is honoring for exemplary academic achievement through a state initiative that models the now-defunct federal Blue Ribbon program canceled by the Trump administration. Gov. JB Pritzker and the Illinois State Board of Education on Tuesday recognized the 24 schools as 2026 Governor’s Blue Ribbon Schools during a ceremony at John Mills Elementary School in Elmwood Park.

*** Downstate ***

* Crain’s | U of I’s biggest donor is giving another $100M — and thinking even bigger: Larry Gies is doubling down on his alma mater, donating another $100 million to the business school that bears his name at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The Chicago private equity executive gave $150 million to the College of Business in 2017, followed by a $100 million gift to the U of I’s athletic department in 2025. His $350 million in combined giving makes him the largest individual donor in the school’s history.

* Illinois Times | Candidates file for Springfield City Council seats: Ward 7 Ald. Brad Carlson, who usually presents a closely shaven face during city council meetings, looked as though he may have skipped this part of his morning routine to be the first in line. Carlson said he arrived at the city building at 4:30 a.m. “People were eager to sign my petition, so I just wanted to show them that, ‘Hey, thanks for signing, thanks for the trust you’ve given me to run again,’ and so I kind of want to return the favor and be the first in line,” he said.

* Illinois Times | City Council to weigh ShotSpotter renewal: The ordinance for a three-year renewal totaling $1.1 million is slated to be reintroduced after being taken off the agenda at a September council meeting. Springfield Mayor Misty Buscher told Illinois Times her administration was seeking more data on the effectiveness of the technology before bringing it up for a vote. Data has since been obtained and confirms that the location of the detectors correlates with where a majority of shots fired occur, she said. The language of the ordinance itself is unchanged from when it was initially introduced.

* WQRF | Rockford school named Illinois 2026 governor’s Blue Ribbon School for excellence: Brookview Elementary, at 1750 Madron Road, part of Rockford Public Schools, was one of eight public schools recognized in the “Achievement Gap Closing” category. The designation honors schools that have demonstrated significant progress in narrowing academic achievement gaps among student groups.

*** National ***

* AP | Can larger batteries safely power residential buildings? A project in New York aims to show how: The 3.75 megawatt-hour lithium-ion battery system, which can power the Peace Bridge Place affordable housing complex for several days, is among the largest battery systems in a U.S. residential building, manufacturer Viridi and developer Good Carbon Co. said Tuesday. “We want our electric power to be resilient, affordable and available. Distributed battery storage accomplishes all three,” Viridi CEO Jon M. Williams said. “The only thing that has been holding up installations at scale is safety; a lot of the products on the market over the last 10 years have burned things down.”