* WTTW…

State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke is defending Cook County’s ban on assault weapons, saying it “passes constitutional muster” as the U.S. Supreme Court is set to take up a challenge to that law later this year.

O’Neill Burke on Wednesday filed a 78-page brief with the high court, detailing the legality of the ban, which she said is necessary to “(protect) Cook County from carnage wrought from military-style weapons.”

“Undoubtedly, some Americans may enjoy owning AR-15s for use in target practice and other recreational activities,” O’Neill Burke wrote. “But the Constitution generally leaves it to elected representatives to decide when enjoyable but dangerous products may be sold to the public. And the Second Amendment does not dictate otherwise for a militaristic weapon that is excessively dangerous and ill-suited for self-defense or hunting.” […]

The Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments in this case Dec. 2.

* Press release…

Over-the-year, the unemployment rate decreased in 11 metro areas and increased in 1 for the year ending September 2026. Over-the-year, total nonfarm jobs increased in 4 metropolitan areas, including a record high for the month of September in Champaign-Urbana and consecutive months of year- over-year job growth for Lake (10 months) and Peoria (4 months). Total nonfarm jobs decreased in 7 metro areas and were unchanged in 1.

“Illinois continues to show economic resilience, with bright spots like Champaign-Urbana, Lake, and Peoria,” said Deputy Governor Andy Manar. “But that progress is unfolding against a backdrop of harmful economic policies from the federal government that create unnecessary obstacles for workers, employers, and families. We will continue to invest in the strength of our workforce and businesses, building on successes and working to ensure our communities can thrive despite the challenges created in Washington.”

The largest over-the-year percentage decreases in total nonfarm jobs occurred in the Illinois section of Davenport-Moline-Rock Island (-3.3%, -2,900) followed by a tie between Bloomington (-1.6%, -1,500) and Elgin (-1.6%, -4,900). Chicago-Naperville-Schaumburg jobs decreased by -0.1% or -2,700. Over-the-year percentage increases in total nonfarm jobs occurred in Lake (+0.8%, +2,800), Peoria (+0.5%, +800), and a tie between Champaign-Urbana (+0.2%, +200) and the Illinois part of St. Louis (+0.2%, +500). Kankakee posted no change in jobs. Industries showing job growth in most of the twelve metro areas included: Mining and Construction (10 areas), Private Education and Health Services (9 areas), and Government (8 areas).

The metro areas with the largest unemployment decreases were Kankakee (-1.2 percentage points to 4.2%), followed by a tie between Peoria (-0.9 percentage point to 3.8%) and Rockford (-0.9 percentage point to 4.4%). The only metro area with an unemployment rate increase was Chicago-Naperville-Schaumburg (+0.4 percentage point to 4.5%). Statewide, unemployment rate decreased over-the- year in 96 counties and increased in 6.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Sun-Times | Data centers will cost ComEd $3 billion but consumer groups worry Illinois households will be on the hook: omEd expects to spend more than $3 billion to connect data centers to its electric grid in the coming years, but it has only collected about one-fourth of the costs from data center developers — a troubling gap that could leave Illinois consumers on the hook, according to consumer groups. The figures are from ComEd’s cost projections that were included with expert testimony this summer in a regulatory matter before the Illinois Commerce Commission. The expert testifying on behalf of the Citizens Utility Board, Environmental Law & Policy Center, National Resources Defense Counsel, Vote Solar and the Union of Concerned Scientists analyzed the utility’s cost projections, which are based on 30 large-load users.

* Capitol News Illinois | Bill aims to study how self-driving vehicles can be integrated into Illinois transit: “There’s a just transition that could happen, you know, for every driver that leaves the app, like the Uber or Lyft app, then a (driverless car) can enter the road,” Koch-Farwana said. “Right now, there’s nothing in that legislation that regulates that or even cares about the working people behind it.” Buckner responded to criticism that AVs will take jobs away from rideshare drivers by saying that everyone needs to be part of the conversation as researchers explore how to implement these vehicles efficiently in the future.

* SJ-R | Turner trying to stave off challenge from Lesko in senate campaign: Frank Lesko, the Republican challenger in the 48th District Senate campaign, wants to downsize government the way the way he put himself out of a job — as Sangamon County recorder — on Dec. 1. The Springfield northsider upended a popular incumbent, Josh Langfelder, in a contentious and close election in 2024.

*** Chicago ***

* Tribune | City property tax relief program funded by suing Texas bus companies that sent migrants: Chicago is launching a property tax program setting aside $500,000 — some of which the city won by suing bus companies that delivered migrants from Texas — to pay for debt relief for households in three South Side neighborhoods, Mayor Brandon Johnson announced on Thursday. Cook County separately announced a proposed new program to help a small group of taxpayers catch up on delinquent property tax bills. The city program offers up to $5,000 to homeowners in Englewood, South Shore and the Lower West Side if they are at risk of losing their homes in a tax sale due to unpaid bills from 2023 or 2024, according to a news release from the mayor’s office.

* Tribune | Great waste in the Great Lakes: How plastic pollution is clogging our waters: The Chicago Tribune is exploring the plastics dilemma with a focus on the Great Lakes, the world’s largest source of fresh surface water. When confronted about their pollution, industry executives often have blamed consumers, using tactics borrowed from and shared with Big Tobacco, according to a Tribune review of thousands of government, scientific and internal industry documents.

* Chalkbeat Chicago | More than $9 million in spending is pouring into Chicago school board races. Here’s where it’s going.: Overall, special interest groups have spent more than $2.6 million on advertising since the start of October alone. That brings the total for independent expenditures on school board races to more than $6.7 million, according to an Illinois Answers and Chalkbeat analysis conducted after last week’s quarterly campaign finance reporting deadline. The spending includes millions of dollars on attack advertising to blast opponents. Campaigns reported spending $1.6 million themselves through Sept. 30, with groups and businesses spending another $589,000 on “in-kind” donations through Oct. 15.

* Block Club | New Schwinn Bicycle Documentary Examines Rise And Fall Of ‘Iconic’ Chicago-Born Brand: “There’s a difference between getting a ‘yes’ and an emphatic, ‘Oh my God, I need to tell you a story about my first Schwinn,” Clarke said. “If you’re above the age of 35 in this country, your first bike was a Schwinn — or at least you wanted it to be a Schwinn.” Initially, Clarke and his team expected to make a film similar to the book penned by Crown and Coleman, which focused on the Schwinn Bicycle Company’s bankruptcy case. But the more they dug into the company’s history, the more they became interested in the story “when Schwinn was killing it,” he said.

* Sun-Times | Chicago passengers could see fuel surcharge on taxi fares: The fuel surcharge went into effect Wednesday and was authorized by the Chicago Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection. The surcharge is implemented when both the AAA’s current average and month ago average price for regular gasoline in the Chicago area reaches $5 per gallon or more. Taxi drivers can charge $1 if the fare is $20 or less; $2 for fares between $20.01 and $40; and $3 for fares $40.01 or more. The surcharge applies to the fare before taxes, tolls and additional fees are added.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Bloomberg | Midwest gas prices jump after Joliet refinery upset: ExxonMobil Holdings Corp.’s Joliet refinery shut a key unit early Wednesday, according to energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie. The company is working to resolve an operational issue, a spokesperson said without providing additional details. While the Chicago market is most directly impacted, the Joliet plant provides supplies across the Midwest, including Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Ohio and Iowa.

* Evanston Now | Grover files petition paperwork in mayor race: Former Ald. Jane Grover filed petition paperwork Wednesday to get on the ballot for mayor next year, becoming the third candidate, after Jeff Boarini and Stephanie Mendoza to file for the race. Grover, who represented the 7th Ward on the Evanston City Council between 2009 and 2015. She resigned to take a job at the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, where she still works.

* Daily Southtown | Palos Heights District 128 voters face limiting rate increase to close district’s $2 million budget deficit: If approved, the increase will generate about $2.4 million in annual revenue to address ongoing challenges such as transportation, staffing shortages, maintaining class sizes and academic programs and preserving extracurricular opportunities, district officials said. District 128 schools are Chippewa Elementary, Independence Junior High, Indian Hill and Navajo Heights.

*** Downstate ***

* KWQC | Iowa, Illinois recommend $237M bridge to replace Centennial Bridge: Michael Kuehn with the Illinois Department of Transportation said the bridge is reaching the end of its useful life and has required frequent repairs, with yearly maintenance and inspections conducted on the structure. “We’re talking 85-year-old bridge. We could get some years out of this, but it would be limited. A new bridge structure would give us at least another 80 to 100 years of service life out,” Kuehn said.

* Illinois Times | New building for Mini O’Beirne Crisis Nursery: The nursery has been a neighbor to Fletcher Farrar and his wife, Mary Jessup, for the 36 years they’ve lived in Enos Park. “From our front window we’ve watched countless children being pushed in strollers down the sidewalk, and I remember helping neighbors in need take a child there, sometimes late at night,” Farrar said. “Mini O’Beirne has always been a good neighbor.” MOCN is set to be a bigger neighbor soon. It recently received a $250,000 Justice Ben Miller grant that will help it increase capacity in its emergency childcare nursery and grow its family support programs, including support groups, activity nights, parent education and referrals for additional services. About 20% of the funds may be used for a new building.

* BND | Belleville aldermen vote to terminate solar farm lease: Belleville City Council is terminating its lease with a Texas-based solar company that had planned to build a solar farm in an unused section of Mount Hope Cemetery. Mayor Jenny Gain Meyer had already confirmed in August that the company, Belleville Solar, had pulled out of the controversial project. But the matter is still being litigated in St. Clair County Circuit Court.

*** National ***

* NYT | Covert Russian Group Injects Baseless Claim Into the Texas Senate Race: The attack followed a flurry of Russian posts on social media in recent weeks and provided the latest indication that Moscow is once again targeting an American election with online influence operations. In recent weeks, Russia has ramped up those efforts, according to a U.S. official familiar with classified intelligence assessments on the matter. Most of the Russian content so far, spread by bot networks around the world, has targeted Democratic candidates, especially in closely contested Senate races that could determine control of Congress in Mr. Trump’s remaining two years in office. Still, the intelligence assessments do not specify that Russia is explicitly seeking to harm one political party more than the other, the official said.

* Bloomberg | Billionaires turned life insurers into cash machines. Now comes the reckoning.: The two billionaires helped pioneer what has become one of Wall Street’s most lucrative strategies: arranging for an investment firm to take over a life insurer, dial up annuity sales and plow the cash into higher-returning — and potentially riskier — assets. Along the way, the profits helped them build personal empires, including their joint ownership of Major League Baseball’s Los Angeles Dodgers and other sports teams.