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Isabel’s morning briefing
Monday, Oct 26, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller * ICYMI: Farmers criticize timing of Trump and Pritzker diesel relief orders issued a month before election. Tribune…
- But farmers across Illinois say the relief may do little to offset costs they’ve already incurred. Some, like McHenry County farmer Chris McKee, have opted not to use dyed fuel on roads because they’re uncertain about the documentation required, whether they could face penalties after the relief period ends and whether the federal tax will eventually come due. - “If they’re really concerned about farming, this would have been in effect back in March or April, back when it would have made a difference,” Yeley said. “Not a month before an election.” - A spokesperson for the governor’s office said the administration acted in response to rising fuel costs. * Related stories… * Gov. JB Pritzker has no public events scheduled today. * Sun-Times | NITA has unprecedented power to develop land near transit. How could this change your neighborhood?: The NITA Act catches Chicago up to its peers. But it goes further by granting power to buy and develop land for reasons unrelated to transit, says Yonah Freemark, an expert on the method at the Urban Institute, a DC-based think tank. “There are some provisions that give NITA substantial power for undertaking transit-oriented development projects itself that virtually no other transit agency across the country has,” he says. “This could be a potentially massive change.” * Tribune | Potential buyer of Weiss and West Suburban hospitals has mixed track record: Insight’s Chicago hospital has also been cited for numerous safety issues, records obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests show. In 2023, state inspectors found safety problems in its behavioral health unit that were severe enough to place the hospital in immediate jeopardy, a serious designation that can lead to a facility being cut off from Medicare. The safety issues were resolved, and the Chicago hospital remains open. But state inspectors flagged problems at another Insight-affiliated hospital in Ohio, and that hospital was ultimately terminated from the Medicare program and closed. * CBS Chicago | Video: Pritzker rallies with United Auto Workers in Calumet City: UAW endorsed Pritzker in September, citing his support for Illinois workers. The governor reaffirmed his commitment to workers’ rights and well-paying union jobs. * River Bender | Alton Alderwoman Rosie Brown Shares Campaign for Illinois State Representative: She noted that property taxes and affordability are major concerns for constituents. Incumbent Illinois State Representative Amy Elik has served since 2021; Brown suggested it might be time for “a different “Property taxes are here to stay, but they can be managed,” she said. “I appreciate anyone trying to lower the cost. But property taxes remain one of the biggest issues in District 111. If homeowners and seniors are still struggling after six years, it’s fair to ask whether a different strategy is needed. The goal, I do believe, is in lowering property tax burdens and stronger schools, not at the expense of the people, but we have to find alternatives for this.” * Tribune | Chicago Bears stadium becomes a political game as midterms near. Can it score for Republicans?: “If JB Pritzker refuses to act and the Bears leave, he will own that failure,” Bailey said. “As governor, I will never step back and watch Indiana take any team of ours without putting up one hell of a fight.” But Bailey’s plan comes with one big caveat. What he didn’t say at the time, but later disclosed in interviews, is that the state wouldn’t put a dime toward the project until it rolls back gasoline tax increases and enacts relief for local property taxpayers. * Daily Herald | GOP’s Tracy gives his Senate campaign a big cash boost: Tracy, a Springfield attorney whose family owns Dot Foods, lent his campaign committee $1.5 million just a week before the quarter’s end, according to his latest Federal Election Commission finance report. That’s on top of the $2 million the former state Republican Party chair lent the campaign in August 2025. If his latest loan is taken out of the equation, Tracy’s fundraising last quarter was dwarfed by Stratton’s.
* Tribune | In Mayor Brandon Johnson’s fourth budget fight, is it ‘class war’ or reelection war?: “We don’t expect to take over the budget and try to rescue it like last year,” Ald. Scott Waguespack, 32nd, told reporters after Johnson’s speech. “We can do it, but it’s his job to provide a balanced budget that’s transparent.” It was a muted sequel compared with last December, when a victorious council majority glided out of those same chambers, legislative guns blazing after passing Chicago’s first aldermanic budget in four decades. * Tribune | Mold in Chicago-area schools is a growing problem as climate change intensifies summer storms: In recent weeks, mold has similarly derailed daily activities and operations across several public buildings in the area, including at least a handful of other schools in Chicago, multiple facilities in a southwest suburbs school district, two schools in Mount Prospect and a police station in Waukegan. As greenhouse gas emissions from human activities like fossil fuel burning increase average global temperatures, summers in the Midwest are becoming more humid. When the atmosphere warms, it can hold more moisture, leading to heavier downpours and local flooding. This causes storm damage and damp conditions in buildings, which can support mold growth and expose humans to bad air quality and health issues. * Crain’s | Chicago banks post strong profits despite macroeconomic shocks: “Despite the headlines that would lead some to believe that the banking industry would be showing either a slowdown in growth, a slowdown in loan demand or certain losses percolating within the loan portfolio, that just simply is not the case this quarter,” said Terry McEvoy, banking analyst at Wells Fargo. “The industry is seeing steady demand for business loans, steady growth in deposits. Borrowers are really managing around this high-rate environment and are continuing to invest and move forward, despite some of the geopolitical uncertainty.” * Block Club | Holiday Club Being Demolished To Make Way For New Uptown Apartment Building: Renderings show some terracotta included on the Sheridan Road-facing side of the future apartment building, though it is unclear if any of the original building’s masonry will be incorporated into the design. Thousands of bricks have been salvaged from the demolished buildings so far, according to Chicago YIMBY. * Tribune | Chicago facing last week of warm weather before temperature drops: Forecasts predicted highs would remain in the 60s and 70s over the next five days, potentially peaking at 79 degrees on Thursday, according to the weather service. “It has been an unseasonably mild stretch, and what is driving this pattern is we had a series of high-pressure systems moving through the Great Lakes, and high-pressure systems typically give us tranquil patterns,” said Brett Borchardt, senior meteorologist at the weather service. * Tribune | Cook County assessor favorite Patrick Hynes vows ‘stability,’ detente with appeals board: Hynes promises “stability” after years of record assessment increases, which Kaegi attributed to a hot housing market and efforts to correct years of undervaluing big business buildings under his predecessor. Hynes’ plans to offer developers custom estimates of their likely assessments and to ease tensions with the Board of Review would mark a sharp break. Kaegi’s two terms have been defined by conflict with commercial property owners and with the board, which often reversed his office’s valuations on appeal. * Crain’s | Silver Cross bets on outpatient growth to stay independent in crowded southwest suburbs: Silver Cross is doubling its capacity at its Lemont outpatient center, opening a 20,000-square-foot facility that brings more healthcare to the community outside the walls of the longtime independent New Lenox hospital. * NBC Chicago | First part of new tollway in Chicago suburbs opens to traffic: The first portion of a new tollway in the western suburbs opened to drivers and truckers early Saturday, marking a major milestone in the years-long project near O’Hare International Airport. The stretch is part of the new Interstate 490 that will eventually connect the Jane Addams Tollway near Des Plaines to the Tri-State Tollway in Franklin Park, skirting the western edge of O’Hare in the process. * Daily Herald | Retiring Kane County sheriff’s absence an issue in race for his successor: Republican Rob Russell has criticized Democrat Amy Johnson, Hain’s longtime second-in-command, for not publicly addressing the sheriff’s status when he took leave in the spring. “When you become a public official, part of your life, part of your private life, now is, you know, not as private as it used to be,” Russell, of Hampshire, said during an interview with the Daily Herald. But Johnson, the undersheriff since 2022, said she was honoring Hain’s family’s desire to keep the matter private, as well as acting on the advice of Kane County State’s Attorney Jamie Mosser. * Illinois Times | Candidates seek Springfield city clerk office: Voters will see a familiar name in at least one candidate running for Springfield city clerk. Former Sangamon County Recorder Josh Langfelder is joining the race after much internal debate, he said. […] Langfelder works at the Illinois secretary of state in the Illinois State Archives as an archival program administrator. “This (the city clerk job) falls right in the alley of my experience, of what I did previously and what I’m doing with my position now with the state archives,” he said. * IPM Newsroom | Champaign County Board members can no longer sign NDAs regarding county business: Effective immediately, county board members are barred from signing NDAs regarding any county business, except when dealing with confidential information or legal settlements. Defined in the ordinance, a non-disclosure agreement is “a legal contract between two parties that prohibits the sharing of information deemed confidential or proprietary.” […] This comes after Mahomet village officials signed an NDA with Clean Cloud Energy, a data center developer, but ended talks with the company after backlash from residents. * WCBU | East Peoria OKs traffic signal upgrades near ICC, carry-out mixed drinks: Commissioner Mark Hill noted the move does come with some restrictions, such as using clearly marked, tamper-proof containers and prohibiting third-party delivery. “It doesn’t sound like you’re going to get a sippy cup with the plastic lid and walk out the door with the mixed drink,” said Hill. * WCBU | Rural fire department schedules public hearing to raise levy after 2024 tax error: It’s the latest in a series of tax errors uncovered as four-term McLean County Clerk Kathy Michael, who is responsible for calculating tax rates, seeks to defend her position in the November election. Her Democratic opponent, Joshua Crockett, raised this potential fifth tax error since 2024 during a WGLT debate earlier this month. State law requires a public forum known as “Truth in Taxation” when proposed increases exceed 5%. Ellsworth FPD plans a 31% increase to its tax income to account for “errors in how the county handled tax matters in the 2024 and 2025 tax years,” said Pamela Bane, Ellsworth FPD president. * Reuters | Anthropic’s Claude accessed Georgia state vote count data behind paywall: “Claude didn’t access the state’s voter registration system or change or pull any voting records,” Anthropic said, adding that it has since taken steps to block these kinds of actions. Anthropic said in a blog post earlier this month it found examples of Claude “working around a restriction to reach data that was gated by a token or a fee” and some of these cases involved websites run by US government agencies at the federal, state, and local levels. * Tribune | Trump proposes eliminating race, ethnicity questions from 2030 census, alarming health, civil rights advocates: Also as proposed, the census would count only citizens and legal permanent residents and not immigrants who are without legal status. Advocates say this would tailor representation in the House of Representatives to those with legal standing, while critics like the American Civil Liberties Union say it violates the constitutional requirement to count all persons, and would reduce services to areas with larger immigrant populations.
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