* ICYMI: Cindy Bailey, GOP candidate’s wife, pushes back on claims in Pritzker ads. Capitol News Illinois…

- Darren Bailey’s wife held a news conference Tuesday to argue Gov. JB Pritzker’s ads inaccurately portray his treatment of women.
- “Darren Bailey’s record is clear: he believes women shouldn’t have a right to make their own medical decisions, and the school he founded teaches that women should be subservient to men,” a Pritzker spokesperson said. “A last-ditch effort to save his flailing campaign doesn’t change that.”
- Cindy Bailey was joined by Kristina McCloy, the founder of Concerned Parents of Illinois, a conservative advocacy group. Pritzker’s campaign has criticized McCloy for stating on social media that authorities were covering up attacks by Black children on white children in schools.
- From Politico: When asked if she might one day run for office, Bailey said, “Never say never.”

* Gov. JB Pritzker has no public events scheduled today.

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Bloomberg | Feds offer Constellation $5 billion in financing to spur nuke development: The Trump administration is offering as much as $5 billion in financing to Constellation Energy Corp. to upgrade and modernize the nuclear operator’s fleet of reactors in Illinois, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. The projects backed by the conditional loan commitment are expected to add nearly 1.1 gigawatts of electricity and help strengthen the grid and lower costs, according to the Energy Department. Constellation shares surged on the news.

* Crain’s | Chicago home prices rising at twice the rate of inflation: City home prices were up 8.3%, more than two times the rate of inflation. That’s according to monthly data released last week by Illinois Realtors, a statewide industry group. One of the few products whose prices are rising faster is Halloween candy. What the two have in common is that buyers are still in the market for both Halloween candy and Chicago-area homes.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Aurora Beacon-News | Race for 65th District seat in Illinois House features Rivard, Ugaste: If elected, Rivard said he wants to focus on improving representation for the district, acquiring more resources through things such as grants and helping local municipalities by making sure mandates from Springfield are funded. “I want to bring actual representation to the district, a seat at the table for everybody in the community,” he said. “I’ll be at the table. I’ll be at negotiations and I won’t be grandstanding or introducing bills after session is over. I’ll be at the table talking to the stakeholders, the community and legislators.”

* Sun-Times | Pritzker’s PAC is spending to back Dems in heated Kansas, Mississippi Senate races: The latest investments include a $1 million ad buy in the Mississippi U.S. Senate race, where Democrat Scott Colom, a district attorney, faces Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith, who blocked Colom’s nomination to be a federal judge during the Biden administration. In a sign the race is competitive, Trump on Monday held a rally in Corinth, Mississippi, to support Hyde-Smith. Polls conducted in August and October by Democratic pollsters showed Colom with a slight lead in a state that has the largest proportion of Black voters in the country.

* CBS Chicago | In second attempt to unseat Gov. JB Pritzker, Republican Darren Bailey is changing tactics: Asked if it’s a tough time to run as a Republican for statewide office during President Trump’s second term, Bailey said, “it has its adversities.” “But President Trump still has time to show fruit of some of the decisions that he’s made,” Bailey said. “The clock’s ticking.”

* Tribune | Illinois’ 7th Congressional District: Progressive La Shawn Ford poised to succeed Danny Davis: “By nature and by life, I’m a progressive,” Ford said. “I’ve had to fight for progressive ideas, and acceptance and change, for the existence of Black people and the unrepresented and unheard populations my whole life, even before I was elected.” Koppie, who has made opposing abortion the center of his campaigns since the 1990s, has called hosting campaign events “futile” and has raised little money. The two candidates have not appeared together in a debate or forum and have no plans for one.

*** Chicago ***

* Tribune | Mayor Johnson steps up political attacks on billionaire businessman Michael Sacks: Mayor Brandon Johnson on Tuesday accused billionaire businessman Michael Sacks of leading a “nasty coalition of billionaires” who are using their wealth to elect school board members who would close more Chicago Public Schools. Johnson never mentioned Sacks by name. But it was clear he was talking about Sacks, who has helped bankroll a political action committee known as Common Ground Collective that has raised more than $5 million to elect Jessica Biggs as school board president and other school board members who would not be beholden to the Chicago Teachers Union.

* Block Club | Work Finally Begins On DuSable Park, Nearly 40 Years After Land Was Set Aside For It: The $15 million project is moving forward with help from the development firm Related Midwest, which is currently building 400 N. Lake Shore Drive, a residential skyscraper project at the former Chicago spire site. The project is being paid for with $5 million in Open Space Impact Fees and $10 million from Related Midwest.

* Crain’s | O’Hare’s massive restaurant and retail shake-up nears decision time: Chicago Aviation Commissioner Mike McMurray says selection of the winners of long-awaited contracts to operate restaurant, bar and retail concessions at O’Hare International Airport’s domestic terminals is imminent. McMurray expects to receive recommendations of the winners from a team of consultants “any day” and the department will begin negotiating contracts. Within 30 to 45 days, he hopes to submit contracts to the City Council for approval.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Tribune | Fritz Kaegi defends record as Cook County assessor, calls for more reform in last budget hearing: In particular, Kaegi on Tuesday said it’s “not adversarial” for him to to directly defend his property assessments at the county Board of Review. Hynes has said his relationship with the board — a quasi-judicial, three-member board that hears appeals to the assessor’s valuations — would be less adversarial than Kaegi’s. Kaegi has regularly butted heads with board members over their appeals, which often overturned his valuations of big business buildings.

* Sun-Times | East Aurora District 131 board member facing federal charges over fraud, kickback scheme: Annette Johnson — then-president of the District 131 Board and current board member serving on the district’s finance and personnel committee — faces four wire fraud charges in connection with the alleged plot that ran over the course of two years, according to prosecutors. Johnson is set to remain on the board through April 2029, according to the district’s website.

* Daily Southtown | Seven to run for Harvey mayor; candidates also file in Dolton, Lynwood and Riverdale: Harvey Mayor Christopher Clark died in January, midway through his second term. The City Council appointed 1st Ward Ald. Shirley Drewenski to serve out the term, but announced Oct. 2 she would not seek election. Instead, Drewenski endorsed former Ald. Marshun Tolbert, one of the two candidates who ran against Clark in 2023. Other candidates are 2nd Ward Ald. Colby Chapman, Anthony McCaskill, Nicole Gooden, Angelette Taylor, Lonnie Harrison Jr. and Terry Brown.

* Daily Herald | Demonstrators protesting fatal police shooting force Mundelein to cancel board meeting: The protest came less than a week after Lake County prosecutors announced no charges would be filed in the death of 37-year-old Mary Alice Love, who was killed by Mundelein police at her home May 11 during a mental health crisis. The Love family responded by filing a federal wrongful death lawsuit against Mundelein and police Sgt. Christopher Brigano, who reportedly fired the deadly shots. […] Village Administrator Eric Guenther tried to address the crowd and restore order from his seat at the dais, but his voice was drowned out by protesters’ chants and noise. With the crowd refusing to relent, Guenther stood and announced the meeting was canceled.

* Daily Herald | Why DuPage County Board member wants to be mayor of Downers Grove again: Downers Grove limits mayors to two consecutive terms, which prevented current Mayor Robert Barnett from seeking reelection. If reelected to the county board, Krajewski said he would resign his District 3 seat if he is elected mayor in the spring. “I think there’s more opportunity to get things done in Downers Grove,” Krajewski said. […] When asked why voters should still support his bid for county board, Krajewski said he would serve six months of the two-year term, adding there is still work he could do to help support animal services and other county programs.

*** Downstate ***

* WCIA | Board approves letter supporting protections for Mahomet Aquifer: According to Patrick Brown, Village Administrator, the resolution authorizes the Village President — Jason S. Tompkins — to send letters to Senator Chapin Rose and Representative Chris Miller supporting legislative efforts that safeguard the aquifer, promote responsible water use, and help ensure that decisions are made to preserve the resource for future generations. Brown said it also urges the legislature to resolve this issue during the fall veto session.

* WGLT | Decades of McLean County court records moving to new system in December: The case management system used by the McLean County jail, courts, state’s attorney’s office and public defender’s office will shut down in December after collecting county records for almost three decades. Trial court administrator William Scanlon said at the quarterly Criminal Justice Coordinating Council [CJCC] meeting that all of that data, including 28 years of booking photos and documents, is being loaded into a new system set to go live Dec. 7.

*** National ***

* AP | Disinformation videos, likely from Russia, are exploiting real people to malign Senate candidates: One of the targets is Sherrod Brown, who is running against Republican Sen. Jon Husted in Ohio. The video, which appears to include some AI manipulation, depicts a newscast and includes pictures of Haya Akbik, who interned for Brown several years ago, and other former staff members. It was appalling to Akbik, who told The Associated Press that any claims attributed to her in the clip are “completely made up.” “It’s my name, it’s my reputation, making this allegation, and it’s just completely false,” she said. “And it harms the senator, someone else, in the process. So, it’s just messed up.”

* NYT | Trump Administration Backs Down on an Opioid Ban After Kratom Industry Lobbying: Mr. Kennedy announced Oct. 9 that his department had “followed the science” and decided to allow some levels of the compound. The policy U-turn came after a number of kratom companies discovered the substance in products marketed as “natural” in recent months. The manager of a large kratom distribution company, faced with evidence of the compound in products at the center of several wrongful death lawsuits against him, mounted a concerted lobbying push.