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Isabel’s afternoon roundup
Tuesday, Oct 27, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller
* Shaw Local…
* Press release | AG Raoul leads lawsuit against Trump administration rule that guts Corporate Transparency Act: Attorney General Kwame Raoul and Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield co-led a coalition of 21 attorneys general in a lawsuit to stop the Trump administration from gutting the Corporate Transparency Act, which helps police and prosecutors catch money launderers, fraudsters and tax cheats. In their lawsuit, Raoul and the attorneys general challenge a new regulation that overturns a legal rule in the Corporate Transparency Act that requires businesses tell the federal government who actually owns and controls the business. Raoul and the coalition explain criminals often stash money in shell companies that are designed to hide from law enforcement and taxing authorities the personal information of those who own or control the business. The U.S. Treasury Department is using its Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) to exempt 99.9% of businesses from the law. FinCEN also announced it will purge all existing ownership data for those exempted businesses by February 2027. * KSDK | Video: Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker on 2026 midterm election * Smile Politely | Questions for Candidates: Mary Catherine Roberson for District 104: Mary Catherine Robeson is a familiar name throughout Champaign-Urbana and Danville, and even graciously participated in our What’s in your Bag, C-U series back in 2019. She’s been involved in community work, activism, and education for years, including working for the City of Champaign as a Community Relations Specialist and most recently as Director of Constituent Services for IL-02 Representative Robin Kelly. Now, she’s running to represent District 104 in the Illinois House of Representatives. The seat is currently held by Republican Brandun Schweizer, who defeated Democrat Jarrett Clem in 2024 by just a few hundred votes. So, flipping this seat is certainly within reach. * Chalkbeat Chicago | Getting lots of campaign material for Chicago’s school board election? We fact-checked some of it.: Earlier this month, we asked readers to send in campaign material so that we could fact-check the items that super PACs and candidates have bankrolled. We reviewed a handful of items to add clarity, context, and in one case, a correction. The items represent a small sampling of what’s out there. * Sun-Times | Special Council meeting could blow $75 million hole in Mayor Johnson’s budget: Finance chair and 3rd Ward Ald. Pat Dowell, Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd), who preceded Dowell as Finance chair, and Ald. Nicole Lee (11th) want to compel Johnson to use the $75 million up-front payment from Stonepeak they negotiated without the mayor’s help to be applied to the 2026 city budget as an extra payment that chips away at the city’s $36 billion pension crisis. Without consulting the City Council, Johnson decided to use the $75 million windfall to help defray the cost of the $363 million pension advance for 2027. That’s not what the Council intended, nor was it required by the ordinance, which passed 46-3. * Tribune | Aldermen seek to take control of parking meter money from Mayor Brandon Johnson: In an unrelated news conference at City Hall Tuesday, Johnson shrugged off that possibility as another fiscal problem aldermen would create for themselves, saying “they have prerogative to do that.” “If the City Council decides to use their authority to put an additional $75 million on top of the supplemental payment, of course, again, that is their prerogative,” the mayor told reporters. “In terms of what they will do to find another $75 million, look, we’re talking to alders every single day. What we saw last year was obviously incomplete. We do not want to go down that road again.” * WTTW | Chicago US Attorney Launching Hotline to Report Fraud, Voter Intimidation Ahead of Next Week’s Election: Chicago’s top federal prosecutor said his office is putting a plan in place to protect voters from “intimidation or interference” as they head to the polls ahead of next Tuesday’s Election Day. U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros on Tuesday said voters can report possible violations including fraud and voter intimidation directly to his office amid concerns over the security of voters and the elections themselves. * ABC Chicago | Chicago unveils COVID-19 memorial monument and park in Illinois Medical District: The site, once a vacant space, was transformed into a tribute in the center of the Illinois Medical District, which was established in 1941. The project was made possible through $4.95 million in funding and grant support. “This is your park, come often, find a moment of peace and make it your own,” said Allyson Hansen, chief executive officer and executive director of the Illinois Medical District Commission. * Block Club | Clark Park Named Chicago Park District’s 2nd Arboretum, After Palmer Square Park: With 22.42 acres of green space, Clark Park is the Chicago Park District’s second Level 1 Arboretum after Palmer Square Park, 2200 N. Kedzie Ave., was named one last year. Clark Park’s soccer fields and bike trails sit on land formerly occupied by Riverview Park, which closed in 1967 and was once billed as the world’s largest amusement park. * Naperville Sun | Eight candidates running for Naperville City Council, two to vie for mayor: Council members whose seats are up for election are Patrick Kelly, Nate Wilson, Josh McBroom and Supna Jain. “Petitions submitted! Nearly 1,200 signatures, thanks to all of you who signed and helped along the way,” Jain wrote on social media after she filed her petition Oct. 19, which was the first day of the filing period. “So grateful to have you on this journey with me!” Wilson and McBroom filed their petitions Monday, according to the city’s list. Kelly, who is finishing his second council term, is the only incumbent not seeking reelection. Between work at his law firm and the various activities his three kids are involved in, life has become busier and it was a good time to step back, he said. * Tribune | Lake County sheriff facing election challenge from retired deputy: Buchberger also said he wants a more robust school presence for officers to work on instilling character into students. He said he worked with a school group as a deputy and said he got great results. Idleburg said he has had a body scanner installed at the jail and has two police dogs assigned to the facility. He acknowledged that staffing the jail is an ongoing challenge, but said his office is always trying to hire correctional officers. * Tribune | Skokie Park District Nov. 3 referendum would create a park, improve another, hike property taxes: Residents of homes in the district valued at $500,000 to $1 million would pay approximately $183 to $379 annually for 20 years for these amenities through an increase on their property taxes, according to a property tax calculator at skokieparks.org/proposal. * Brownfield Ag | Nearly one million Illinois chickens killed in latest HPAI detection: Dr. Mark Ernst tells Brownfield, “We did identify a case in a commercial flock, and since that time, the flock has gone through a depopulation, and they’re currently still working on disposal activities and then disinfection of the facilities.” The USDA has confirmed that 934,600 birds were affected by the outbreak at a Clinton County commercial table egg layer facility in southwestern Illinois operated by Rose Acre Farms, the nation’s second-largest egg producer. * Seattle Times | Midwest newspaper finds success going offline, spurning Facebook: It seems counterintuitive now that most people get news from digital devices but an Illinois publisher found success keeping his newspaper almost entirely offline, and away from Facebook as much as possible. Jeff Egbert decided it’s more profitable to run the Perry County Weekly-Press without a website. That requires people to buy a copy or subscribe, and makes it harder to copy and republish his work online. * American Journalism Project | American Journalism Project invests in Illinois Times to expand local reporting in Central Illinois: The American Journalism Project’s new $500,000 grant will build on that local commitment, bringing the combined investments to $1 million in support of the organization’s transition and long-term sustainability. AJP’s investment will support a director of development and a corporate engagement manager as the organization builds membership, major gifts and local foundation support. The funding will also be paired with strategic guidance and organizational support to help sustain Illinois Times’ expanded journalism. * Reuters | Hacking attempts against US Federal Election Commission system triggered outage, email shows: In a statement, the FEC said that, “at this time, the FEC’s electronic filing system is currently offline and our IT staff are actively working to restore service.” The FEC, which tracks the spending of candidates and political committees, said that users could still search the website for past reports. It declined further comment on the outage. […] The FEC does not play a role in administering US elections and the outage should have no effect on voters’ ability to cast ballots. The outage prevents organizations from filing the FEC’s 24-hour and 48-hour spending reports, which show how much political groups and others are spending on specific races. * NYT | Why Is Halloween Candy So Expensive?: The average cost of a 100-piece bag has jumped 71 percent in the last five years. Consumers are thinking twice about what they’ll spend. […] Some households are getting even more creative. “I’ve switched to passing out ramen,” said Angie Vasey, a teacher who lives in Round Lake, Ill. The packets of instant soup were on sale this year for 10 cents apiece.
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