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Isabel’s morning briefing
Friday, Oct 23, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller * ICYMI: Illinois college hurt by international student drop to drain endowment. Bloomberg…
- Its plan prompted S&P Global Ratings to slash the university’s credit rating deeper into junk, to BB from BB+, with a negative outlook. The endowment’s market value was projected at $300 million as of fiscal 2026. - Schools like Illinois Tech are at risk since they’ve come to rely heavily on students from other countries. International students made up about 50% of total enrollment as of fall 2024, with the majority of its grad students hailing from outside of the US. Graduate enrollment fell 28% in fall 2025, according to S&P, and the university is expecting a 16% drop in total enrollment in fall 2026. * Related stories… * Gov. JB Pritzker has no public events scheduled today. * Capitol News Illinois | Illinois regulators move to bring video gambling under self-exclusion program: The Illinois Gaming Board proposed new rules Thursday to bring the state’s video gambling terminals under the program that allows problem gamblers to self-ban by requiring identity verification before players can purchase vouchers at video gambling locations. The new rules would also create new options for cashless wagering and player rewards programs. Gaming Board Administrator Marcus Fruchter said the move was “another critical step forward” in the agency’s goal to bring video gambling under the program’s umbrella. * Sun-Times | Gov. JB Pritzker doling out big bucks to help Democrats — and boost a 2028 presidential run: Since 2025, Pritzker has given at least $40 million to Democrats and allied causes — including campaigns for Congress, Senate, attorney general, secretary of state, county judges, and state parties in more than a dozen states, as well as ballot fights over abortion rights and redistricting. That figure includes $15 million he contributed to his own PAC called Ready for the Fight, which is running ads in Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama and Ohio. * Capitol News Illinois | Statewide races: Little-known GOP slate faces uphill battle against mostly incumbent Dems: Aside from the comptroller and Senate races, every other race for statewide office features established incumbents. And unlike 2022, when the Republican slate included two seasoned state lawmakers and a county auditor, the GOP’s candidates in 2026 — save for its repeat nominee for governor — are largely unknown faces in state politics or have achieved perennial status. No Republican even bothered to submit petitions to run for treasurer, leading little-known attorney Max Solomon to wage a write-in campaign to earn a spot on the November ballot. * Capitol City Now | Bailey says he will keep Logan Correctional Center open if elected governor: Logan will remain open during construction of the suburban facility, but many fear the city will suffer when it closes. “This is not the administration of 20 years ago that abandons properties,” Pritzker said last month. “In fact, our desire here is to use every resource we have in the state of Illinois to grow our economy.” * Daily Herald | 52nd Illinois House candidates differ on cash bail, school choice and Bears: McLaughlin introduced legislation he said would give the NFL team the property tax certainty it wants, as well as state funding for infrastructure improvements around a privately funded stadium. “If we’re going to have an $8 billion development in the state, particularly 10 minutes from here, I think it’s super important that we actually get off our rear ends in Springfield,” he said. Peterson does not support using public money to build a Bears stadium. She called McLaughlin “Hail Mary Marty,” saying he wants to hurl tax dollars downfield to “save the billionaire Bears,” rather than putting it toward schools and real estate taxes. * Block Club | Workers Rally Outside Austin Seat Manufacturer To Demand Better Pay, Working Conditions: The rally outside the Freedman Seating Company followed a report published this week by a nonprofit labor advocacy group in which three-quarters of company workers surveyed reported struggling to pay for utilities, food or housing in the last year. The report, published by Jobs to Move America in partnership with University of Illinois Chicago researchers, also detailed allegations of workplace hazards and fears of retaliation. * ABC Chicago | All elevated CTA stations in the Loop to be closed this weekend for track repairs: The Red and Blue lines are not expected to be effected, but all other lines are. Brown Line trains will stop at the Merchandise Mart. Orange Line trains will stop at Roosevelt. * NBC Chicago | Caleb Williams throws 2 TD passes as the Bears beat Drake Maye and the Patriots 30-24: “These nights are awesome,” Williams said. “You play against another good team on a primetime game in a short week, these games are awesome because you get to see who you are as a team. That’s who we are. We’re a smashmouth football team, an innovative team. And when things happen and things don’t go our way and the water is rocky, we stay steady.” * Tribune | Cook County proposing $18 million renewal with controversial vendor Tyler Technologies: If the County Board approves a renewal next month, the Texas-based company will make up to $18 million more. That would bring Tyler’s county taxpayer tab to $56.4 million from 2015 to 2029 for being in charge of a project outgoing Commissioner Sean Morrison described Thursday as “a cluster—-.” Many commissioners, while frustrated with the company, acknowledged they are essentially stuck. Tyler is among the most dominant government tech services contractors in the country, having acquired many of its competitors in recent years. Few, if any, could step in to replace them, let alone immediately. * Tribune | A year after ‘Broadview Six’ indictment, failed case still reverberates in federal court: Even though all charges were dismissed in May amid allegations of grand jury misconduct by Mecklenburg, the case continues to reverberate at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse, where U.S. District Judge April Perry is mulling whether others in the office obstructed justice in the case, which could lead to sanctions or even appointment of special counsel and criminal contempt charges. Perry has imposed an Oct. 30 deadline for prosecutors to turn over any internal communications showing whether U.S. Justice Department officials in Washington D.C. had a hand in the case — something Boutros’ office has emphatically denied. * Tribune | Nurses at Endeavor Health’s hospitals in Evanston, Glenview, Skokie, Highland Park move to unionize: If the election is successful, nurses at Endeavor’s hospitals in Evanston, Highland Park, Skokie and Glenview would be represented by Teamsters Local 743. Endeavor nurses are hoping to unionize because of unsafe staffing levels, heavy workloads and pay that hasn’t kept up with inflation and the cost of living, David Bernt, organizing director of Teamsters Joint Council 25, which represents workers across Illinois and Northwest Indiana, previously told the Tribune. * CBS Chicago | Thousands of new manufacturing jobs coming to Joliet area as Pritzker, Hyundai announce expansion: In March, the company announced Illinois would be its new home and it was bringing 2,475 jobs to Will County; now they’re doubling down on investment and job creation here. This division of Hyundai makes commercial transportation equipment. It will use two former manufacturing sites, including a former Caterpillar facility, to ramp up production. * Daily Herald | Amid residents’ concerns, Buffalo Grove considers annexation, 189-home development: Proponents say it would fill a need for housing in the area, especially for seniors. But some of the property’s neighbors are concerned about its potential impact on their neighborhoods and schools. […] The plan calls for 37 single-family homes and 152 townhouses, 38 of them intended for senior residents. The price for the single-family homes is expected to start around $800,000, with townhouses selling from the upper $600,000s into the $700,000s. * CNI | Proposed closing of 4 low-level prison facilities draws sharp rebuke in Du Quoin: A plan to close four downstate correctional facilities drew strong opposition at a public hearing Wednesday in Du Quoin, where critics cited concerns about future upkeep of the facilities and Illinois’ approach to the incarceration of young and low-level offenders. “We have watered down this program that we built in the late ’80s,” said Ty Petersen, staff representative for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31. “We have given up on the opportunity to change people’s lives in the Illinois Department of Corrections.” * WCIA | Champaign School District’s support staff union votes to ratify new contract: Flaningam said the contract guarantees members yearly raises ranging from 5.25% to 9.5%, along with access to paid parental leave and increased health insurance access. “Conversations with the administration were challenging, but remained respectful and productive throughout. We look forward to the board of education’s ratification and working in partnership with administration to build a stronger district together,” said Flaningam. * WAND | Sangamon County Mental Health Board hosts first community engagement event: The board is new to the community, but newly appointed Director Dr. Tatyana Gardner said this meeting gives the board a chance to connect with residents. “We want the community to have their voice heard. It’s important for me to make sure we’re including what the community needs in our one-year and three-year plans,” Gardner said. “So today is an opportunity for them to come express those opinions to us, so that as we’re drafting these plans, we’re able to include them.” * AP | Why reported challenges with touchscreen voting machines don’t signal election rigging: Election officials say the touchscreen challenges are almost always the result of user error or an easily fixed screen miscalibration, and say the number of complaints this year isn’t higher than it has been in years past, despite the outsized attention on social media. They emphasize that voters can select a candidate as many times as needed, consult a poll worker for help and review selections before submitting their ballot. * NYT | Airbnb Says Guests Shouldn’t Have to Do the Dishes Anymore: The policy, announced on Tuesday, will apply to bookings starting Nov. 20 and asks hosts to set “reasonable” house rules and to disclose them in a designated section of their listing. Hosts may not introduce new requirements or requests after a guest books, including through messages, signs in the home or conversations with guests. Checkout chores should not “require significant time or effort, or would typically be performed by a cleaner,” Airbnb said.
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- Yellow Dog Democrat - Friday, Oct 23, 26 @ 8:47 am:
I wouldn’t call myself a “Bears fan,” and I realize that the idea of keeping the Bears at Soldier Field is dead because the Bears see an opporunity to make more money.
But last night’s game was epic atleast in part because it took place at Soldier Field, clinched by “the third-longest field goal in Soldier Field history,” by a team that descibes itself as “ a smashmouth football team, an innovative team. And when things happen and things don’t go our way and the water is rocky, we stay steady” while playing for and in a city that Carl Sandberg decribed thus:
“Come and show me another city with lifted head singing so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning.
Flinging magnetic curses amid the toil of piling job on job, here is a tall bold slugger set vivid against the little soft cities;
Fierce as a dog with tongue lapping for action, cunning as a savage pitted against the wilderness,
Bareheaded,
Shoveling,
Wrecking,
Planning,
Building, breaking, rebuilding,
Under the smoke, dust all over his mouth, laughing with white teeth,
Under the terrible burden of destiny laughing as a young man laughs,
Laughing even as an ignorant fighter laughs who has never lost a battle,
Bragging and laughing that under his wrist is the pulse, and under his ribs the heart of the people.”
Arlington Heights is a lovely bedroom community, but there will never be any poems written about it. And for the love of the game, and those who love the game, I do hope the Bears will find a way to remain under Chicago’s ribs and in the heart of the people.
YDD
- Downstate - Friday, Oct 23, 26 @ 8:55 am:
Most private colleges are toast. The demographic drop means the schools are losing 15-20% of their student population.
Any non-public entity can only rely on the endowment for sustainability.
Banks are lending to small schools with the endowment being the only recognized collateral. After MacMurray sold it’s 60 acre campus for less than $1.4 million, it put a chill through the banking sector.
To put MacMurray’s sale in perspective, Larry Gies has given/pledged $350 million to U of I. For that same amount of money he could have purchased 250 MacMurray colleges.
- SOIL M - Friday, Oct 23, 26 @ 9:07 am:
CNI | Proposed closing of 4 low-level prison facilities draws sharp rebuke in Du Quoin
The impact of closing these facilities hurts the regions that they are located in far more than just the loss of jobs.
These are the crews who respond during and following disasters to fill sand bags, remove limbs and debris, and provide much needed support.
In times when this type of response isn’t needed, they clean roadways, keep up cemeteries, maintain grounds around state and local facilities, and colleges, maintain parks, and provide many other much needed assistance to state wildlife refuges, as well as the local municipalities around them.
In the process of being out working to help a community many of them have learned for the first time in their lives the gratification and self fulfillment that comes from working to help others. Many of them have found that inside of themselves that they had lost. Either way it gives them a needed incentive not to return to the life that put them there.
While i have seen firsthand the impact on the communities and state parks that they provide as well as the reward that they themselves find, here is the hard truth about them.
There are no longer enough inmates (sorry I dont know the correct term that is used today, I am old school) to fill these facilities.
To be considered for placement at one of these they had to pass a screening based on their sentence, past criminal record, and behavior while incarcerated.
Today with all of the early release, electronic monitoring, and other programs designed to keep them out of the prison system, these are the ones who would be filling those beds.
You aren’t sending class x felons to these places, and shouldn’t. To reclassify someone just so you can fill a bed at one of these places leads to disaster.
The ones who fill these institutions are now avoiding incarceration all together or being sent home early.
Personally I would love to see Dixon Springs, DuQoin, and the rest operating at full capacity, along with reopening already shuttered places like Hardin County and Tamms MSU. But the reality of it is that this will never happen. There is no longer enough people incarcerated that qualify to fill them.
- DuPage Saint - Friday, Oct 23, 26 @ 9:35 am:
In an odd way there is a parallel to Chicago Schools you have people saying underused schools should be kept open and downstate you have people saying underused prisons should be kept open. A weird version on not in my back yard
- Excitable Boy - Friday, Oct 23, 26 @ 9:39 am:
- Personally I would love to see Dixon Springs, DuQoin, and the rest operating at full capacity, along with reopening already shuttered places like Hardin County and Tamms MSU. -
Having less people incarcerated is a good thing, no matter how much you miss the free labor.
- Irreverent - Friday, Oct 23, 26 @ 10:28 am:
“Lock more people in cages so others can make money” is certainly a take.
- NIU Grad - Friday, Oct 23, 26 @ 10:34 am:
Unless a Democratic President can rapidly turn around the Stephen Miller immigration system on Day 1 in 2029, which I doubt there will be political appetite to prioritize, I don’t see how many universities like IIT can survive this administration.
- fs - Friday, Oct 23, 26 @ 10:42 am:
International students are a vital part of the student body at IIT. More than that, its architecture school was quite literally built because of international influence, and its graduates and professors from around the world created the Chicago skyline. If the school falls because of current immigration policy, it will be an immeasurable loss, and represent a lot of what is wrong with the direction this country has been heading.
- Paul Peterson - Friday, Oct 23, 26 @ 10:44 am:
There are at least 32 million Americans aged 18-24 for Universities to target for enrollment.
Not a good idea to put half your eggs in one basket
- Grimlock - Friday, Oct 23, 26 @ 10:52 am:
Paul Peterson - no Americans are missing out on a seat at a college because of international students. And international students subsidize the cost for American students because they pay full price.
- Irreverent - Friday, Oct 23, 26 @ 11:18 am:
@Paul
Who’s paying for that?
- Think Again - Friday, Oct 23, 26 @ 11:19 am:
= international students. And international students subsidize the cost for American students because they pay full price=
That is sort of the prevailing narrative; however, it is not necessarily true. Many elite research universities have scholarship programs available to international students.
https://www.uscholarships.us/scholarships-by/harvard-university
https://topscholars.illinois.edu/scholarships/scholarship-searches/prestigious-scholarship-for-international-students/
- Hoosier Daddy - Friday, Oct 23, 26 @ 11:21 am:
How is the enrollment at Junior Colleges? You know where you can get a degree that actually might find you a job or better prepare you for a four year school………
- Paul Peterson - Friday, Oct 23, 26 @ 11:38 am:
It’s categorically false that international students don’t take seats from American students
At UIUC 25 years ago it was less than 2%, now it is over 10%
Now more than 1 in 5 graduate students come from China
https://dailyillini.com/news-stories/university-news/2026/03/03/ui-chinese-international-enrollment-visualized/
- Remember the Alamo II - Friday, Oct 23, 26 @ 11:40 am:
=== It’s categorically false that international students don’t take seats from American students ===
Its because they are of a higher caliber than American students. For some reason Americans do not value education the same way that other nations do. It is why there are so many foreign students at U of I’s engineering school.
- Irreverent - Friday, Oct 23, 26 @ 11:45 am:
@Paul
Absolutely nothing in your post is evidence that those international students are precluding qualified Americans from being in those seats. What you’ve provided here is an example of what’s called “lying with statistics.” To be clear, I don’t believe you’re intentionally lying. However, that represents its own problem with your ability to understand statistical reasoning.
- Irreverent - Friday, Oct 23, 26 @ 11:46 am:
Conservatives are going to reduce the number of American graduates in an effort to reduce the percentage of foreign graduates. This is because they never moved on from drained-pool politics.
- Paul Peterson - Friday, Oct 23, 26 @ 12:12 pm:
The numbers speak for themselves but are somehow lying?
What evidence can you cite that backs the claim that no Americans have lost a seat at one of these elite universities because an international student took it?
How does that serve the state’s interest to educate a foreign student who then returns to China?
Do you consider China an ally or adversary?
- Irreverent - Friday, Oct 23, 26 @ 12:15 pm:
@Paul
Most community colleges offer Statistics 101 or similar. I have neither the time nor the energy to provide it to you for free. The rest of your gish gallop is just that and can be disregarded as such.
- Paul Peterson - Friday, Oct 23, 26 @ 12:47 pm:
I will refrain from personal insults and just cite the data from the Daily Illini article
The University saw a decrease in the percentage of in-state students every year between 2007 and 2019
The percentage of its student body made up of Out of state residents and international students increased every year
In 2000, 77% of enrolled students were in-state residents as compared to 55% today
In 2000 Chinese international students made up roughly 1.86% of all University students. Today that number is 10.24% of the student body.
- Irreverent - Friday, Oct 23, 26 @ 1:02 pm:
@Paul
It’s not a “personal insult” to reject your non sequiturs and bad-faith rhetorical games.
- No relation - Friday, Oct 23, 26 @ 1:02 pm:
@Hoosier
The community college enrollment in IL is improving. The high was around 2010 with about 379,000 headcount and it has been in steady decline ever since with an uptick in the last few years This year the prediction is 265,000.
I retired from a CC in 2010 and our Fall headcount was 8200. This year the college has 4300 which is a seven year high.
- Paul Peterson - Friday, Oct 23, 26 @ 1:21 pm:
Sounds you like you also cancelled your subscription to the Daily Illini
for all the non-sequitors and bad faith arguments fit to print
- Leslie K - Friday, Oct 23, 26 @ 1:30 pm:
==There is no longer enough people incarcerated that qualify to fill them.==
I have been trying to form a response to this, and am still speechless. We are supposed to be upset that there aren’t enough people being incarcerated for low-level offenses to staff free work camps?
- Demoralized - Friday, Oct 23, 26 @ 2:18 pm:
==Airbnb Says Guests Shouldn’t Have to Do the Dishes Anymore==
Good. I shouldn’t have to be your maid in order to stay in your rental. My issue is mainly the fact that they require people who stay to act as the maid and also charge a cleaning fee. Pick one or the other.
- thechampaignlife - Friday, Oct 23, 26 @ 2:27 pm:
===The University saw a decrease in the percentage of in-state students every year between 2007 and 2019===
Now do headcount. I will give you a hand: use the University’s enrollment data at https://dair.illinois.edu/access-data/student-enrollment/ with the Term and Student Level filters. Pre-Fall 2013 counts can be found under the Historical Data tab; it includes cross-tabs for Student Level and College but not residency unfortunately.
Why headcount? Because I can have a group of 10 robins and add 1 cardinal each year. I still have 10 robins, but the percentage of robins in the total bird count will decrease each year. Have any robins lost their place?
- SOIL M - Friday, Oct 23, 26 @ 2:48 pm:
Let me clarify something so everyone can understand it.
I stated that the reality of work camps and boots camps is that there are no longer enough inmates who qualify for them to fill them, or to keep them open.
I never said this is a bad thing. Never said it is a good thing. All I said is that is the reality of today as it exists.
I also pointed out that there is more than one benefit for the region where they are located. I also pointed out that there are also benefits to the inmates who wish to be in those programs.
There is no free labor. The State pays the cost of that labor, and the inmates ask to volunteer to participate in those programs. They then go through a screening process and interview before they ars selected to participate. Nobody is forcing anyone to work for no benefits.
The argument to keep them open, or to close them should be based on reality and not rhetoric.
- Rich Miller - Friday, Oct 23, 26 @ 2:50 pm:
===We are supposed to be upset that there aren’t enough people being incarcerated for low-level offenses to staff free work camps? ===
Apparently so, all in the service of Downstate.
- Rich Miller - Friday, Oct 23, 26 @ 2:53 pm:
SOIL, most of all your little essay was spent elevating these free work camps as indispensable to Downstate communities.
Maybe just stop and think about that for a few minutes before continuing.
- Archpundit - Friday, Oct 23, 26 @ 3:11 pm:
==Have any robins lost their place?
Exactly the right question. And those international students are subsidizing the rest of the student body. By increasing slots for international students we have increased total slots with full paying students while also increasing domestic students. We should view international students as an export that we are selling to support our domestic students.
- Excitable Boy - Friday, Oct 23, 26 @ 3:22 pm:
- Let me clarify something so everyone can understand it. -
I understood perfectly.
- Excitable Boy - Friday, Oct 23, 26 @ 3:31 pm:
- How does that serve the state’s interest to educate a foreign student -
A family friend of my wife came to the US on a student visa and got his BS and MS in computer science. He then joined the military and served our country and received a green card in return. After his service was complete companies competed to hire him and now he’s a highly successful programmer.
That’s how.
- Leslie K - Friday, Oct 23, 26 @ 3:38 pm:
@Excitable Boy 3:22pm +1
- Paul Peterson - Friday, Oct 23, 26 @ 3:41 pm:
UIUC consistently ranks as the US university with the largest total number of Chinese students.
How does that help Illinois when the “robins” educated here at our world class university fly back to China?
According to Pew, roughly 33-42% view China as a serous threat and 56% view them as a competitor.
https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2025/04/17/views-of-china-as-a-competitor-and-threat-to-the-us/
- Irreverent - Friday, Oct 23, 26 @ 3:51 pm:
@thechampaignlife
Valiant try. No accounting for the reactionary’s total inability to follow parallel reasoning.
- harp5339 - Friday, Oct 23, 26 @ 4:22 pm:
All I know is the influx of international students has brought much better food options in Campustown than when I was there in the ’80s, Garcia’s notwithstanding.