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Isabel’s afternoon roundup
Tuesday, Nov 3, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller
* Shenanigans? NBC Chicago’s Paris Schutz…
* Sun-Times | Advocates say a loophole in an Illinois contract allows ICE to access data for immigration enforcement: The state’s victim-notification system known as VINE alerts crime victims when someone is released from jail, transferred or experiences a change in custody status. Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul signed the current contract with Appriss in May 2021, initially committing approximately $6.07 million. The contract runs through June 2028. A clause in that contract allows Appriss to share jail records with third parties. Privacy advocates warn this creates a pathway for information collected by Illinois jails to enter commercial databases used by ICE to identify and locate people for immigration enforcement. * Press release | Illinois EPA Launches Clean Trucks Program: Part of the broader Driving a Cleaner Illinois initiative, the Illinois Clean Trucks Program launches with two major initiatives to serve Illinois fleet operators: $3 million for the new Clean Fleet and Freight Concierge Service and $935,000 in Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) funding designed to directly help fleet operators replace older diesel vehicles with new, zero-emission alternatives. Together, these investments mark the beginning of Illinois EPA’s concentrated efforts to pair hands on, fleet-specific information with meaningful financial incentives to address the upfront costs of electrification. * Block Club | Illinois Midterm Election 2026: Far North Side Precinct Runs Out Of Ballots, Leading To Long Waits: Some Far North Siders saw extended waits to cast their ballots as their local polling place ran out of some paper ballots for some voters. Goudy Elementary School, 5120 N. Winthrop Ave., ran out of paper ballots for some 48th Ward voters Tuesday morning, prompting a long wait to use the single electronic voting machine, election judge Adam Honaker said. Honaker said the polling place ran out of the 50 paper ballots it was given by 8:15 a.m. * Sun-Times | Parking attendants strike at O’Hare, McCormick Place, Hyatt Regency: Members of Teamsters Local 727 began striking at 5:30 a.m. at the three locations, a union spokesperson said. The union represents nearly 1,200 members who staff parking garages across the city. They’ve been bargaining with the Chicago Parking Association over a contract that expired Friday, when 98% of voting members authorized a strike. The picket could potentially expand to other parking garages, such as at Navy Pier, according to the Teamsters. * Block Club | Overflowing Dumpsters Create Rat Nightmare In Logan Square. Could Weekend Ticketing Help?: The Logan Square resident recently launched a website and campaign called Ticket On Sundays to put pressure on city crews to ticket more owners of overflowing dumpsters with residents’ help. Albert’s campaign also urges city workers to count neighbor photos of overflowing garbage as evidence to ticket the owners in lieu of personally observing them. * The Athletic | Bears’ impressive win in Seattle cements their status as contender with Jeffery Simmons: Simmons’ first sack as a Bear was followed by a Grady Jarrett post-play face-mask penalty, but everyone could see Simmons’ impact from the get-go. He got into the backfield himself and finished with two tackles for loss. He got double-teamed often, which opened up lanes to the quarterback for his teammates. Montez Sweat had one of his better games in his return from suspension, lined up next to his college teammate. Linebacker Devin Bush’s sack came when Simmons got double-teamed. * Tribune | Chicago-based Brick is the latest bet against screen addiction: The Brick, invented in early 2023, is the latest attempt at limiting screen time and fighting phone addiction. When making contact with a phone, the device locks users out of certain apps and does not allow them back in until they physically tap the phone on the device again. […] Just 10 miles across the city, Brick’s creators, 26-year-old TJ Driver and 27-year-old Zach Nasgowitz, can be found at the company headquarters in River North. The Milwaukee-raised childhood best friends invented the device in Nasgowitz’s basement, and moved the startup to Chicago in 2024 after it went viral. With a staff of roughly 40 people who are all users, their office is littered with Bricks of varying colors. * Daily Southtown | Park Forest forcibly annexes 25 homes, plans annexation of 44 more properties: Neither action sat well with a large crowd of property owners who crowded into the board room to protest the village’s action and its plans to absorb more homes. […] The two votes against the annexation were by trustees Randall White and Tiffani Graham. White, a first-term trustee and a candidate for mayor in April’s election, said he was concerned about how the village managed the process. “These are not just properties on a map,” he said. “These are people’s homes. They deserve more than a notification. They deserve a conversation. Our greatest assets are not simply our buildings, our land or our revenue. Our greatest assets are our people.” * Evanston Roundtable | Councilmembers press city for changes to 2027 budget proposal: The budget-only meeting included a “Truth in Taxation” hearing on the overall proposed hike of 8.9% between the city and library’s property tax levies, well over the 5% threshold that triggers a legally-mandated hearing. After that ended, Senior Financial Analyst Michael Van Dorpe gave a brief presentation on the tax levies, which he acknowledged didn’t have “too much new content” compared to previous meetings. * Daily Herald | ‘A perfect opportunity’: Former Wheeling Kmart site may finally be redeveloped: A Gas N Wash operation — with fuel pumps, a convenience store and a car wash — is proposed for the land occupied by the plaza. It’ll be the village’s second Gas N Wash; the other opened last year on Hintz Road. A Reds Garden Center would be built where the Kmart stood. The 58-year-old Reds facility on Dundee Road in Northbrook is shutting down and would relocate here. * WGLT | Live Blog: 24,000+ people in McLean County voted before Election Day: The biggest expected wave of voters has not yet hit the vote center and polling sites at Illinois State University’s Bone Student Center. Becky Haas, lead election judge, said only about 120 voters had come to vote as of 10 a.m. today, but she expected larger numbers to come as morning turns to afternoon. Polls are open until 7 p.m. * WGLT | Normal looks at loosening housing and business regulations, lowering town tax rate: Proposed amendments to non-conforming residential housing and accessory dwelling units [ADUs] were discussed. Both amendments are meant to reduce regulations on these dwellings amid a tight housing market. Non-conforming housing is any dwelling that was built in line with previous zoning rules but no longer fits current rules, and would have to be built differently if constructed today. Under current rules, non-conforming housing cannot be rebuilt if it sustains major damage, cannot be enlarged and cannot undergo repairs that exceed half of the fair cash market value. Under potential new regulations, the 50% of fair market cash value threshold would be dropped if the property maintained the same footprint, unit count and height. * WCIA | Rantoul Village Administrator says he was relieved from his position: During his time as administrator for Rantoul, he cited village accomplishments like making Rantoul a destination for athletics with the family sports complex, boosting the local filmmaking industry with the rise of Flyover Studios and revitalizing the downtown area, among other things. “Regardless of the Mayor’s decision, I will walk away from this community very proud of what my team and I were able ot accomplish,” Eisenhauer added. WCIA reached out to the Mayor of Rantoul for more information but did not hear back by the time of publishing. * BND | Trump administration monitoring polling places in St. Clair and Madison counties: According to St. Louis Democratic Director of Elections Ben Borgmeyer, the DOJ told the Board of Election Commissioners that its monitors will remain outside, 50 feet or more away from polling places. They are to identify themselves as representatives of the department and may ask voters leaving the polls to talk about their voting experience. * NYT | Google Will Turn Off Search for Schools That Reject A.I.: A.I. features are now a standard part of Google’s commercially available search engine. “Search and A.I. are deeply integrated,” said Chris Phillips, vice president for education at Google. If a school has banned A.I., he added, students “will not have access to search, and they’ll see a message from their school that indicates it’s not available.” […] Lina Khan, a former chair of the Federal Trade Commission, said in a statement that Google was using its “search monopoly to coerce schools” into adopting its A.I. She added that multiple courts had found the tech giant liable for violating antitrust laws.
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