* ICYMI: Study finds recidivism down among youths in Cook County court program offering links to social services. Tribune…

- Instead of traditional prosecution, eligible youth are connected to services such as counseling and education. If they successfully complete the program, prosecutors dismiss the case.
- The Chapin study examined 144 participants between 2022 and 2023 during a time when the initiative expanded beyond a pilot program.
- The study found that 18% of participants picked up a new charge, in contrast to 28% of a comparison group. The review also found high participation among the juveniles referred to the program, with 85% graduating and nearly all successfully hooking up with at least one community-based service.

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* CBS Chicago | Woman charged in shooting at Illinois state senator’s home; attack not politically motivated, police say: Based on surveillance video footage from several homes and license plate reader technology, detectives were able to identify the vehicle used in the shooting, and Thompson was taken into custody within 30 minutes in south suburban Lansing, near the Indiana state line. During questioning, Thompson confessed to the shootings, and said her intended target was an estranged relative who lives in the area. Police said the shooting was not politically motivated, and Thompson was not at the home she intended to target.

* Investigate Midwest | Rural Illinois’ food economy depends on immigrants: In Macon County, anchored by Decatur and the global headquarters of Archer Daniels Midland, nearly 1,000 immigrants have arrived in the last four years – but the county has still lost more than 3,000 residents in that time, showing how immigration can slow but not always reverse population loss. While two-thirds of Illinois’ land is devoted to farmland, the state’s hundreds of food processing plants also drive its nonmetropolitan economies — and they rely heavily on immigrant workers, both legal and unauthorized. Food manufacturing is concentrated in the Chicagoland region, including Kane, DuPage, Lake, and suburban Cook County. Between 2023 and 2024, over 50,000 migrants arrived from the southern border to Chicago.

* WAND | Illinois Supreme Court hears arguments over class action lawsuit filed against Walgreens: Calley Fausett used a debit card at a Walgreens in Arizona and realized 10 digits of her card number were included on the receipt. The federal Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act states that receipts cannot show more than five digits of a card. Fausett filed a class action lawsuit in Illinois stating the company broke the law and put customers at risk for identity theft. Walgreens’ attorneys argue this violation was not enough to give Fausett standing to sue, as she did not suffer concrete harm.

*** Statehouse News ***

* NBC Chicago | Video of Illinois senator goes viral as she warns of masked agents on suburban street: Villa said individuals who appeared to be masked ICE agents approached people in the community. “These masked individuals came upon people with the color of my skin and picked them up,” she stated. “One of them was in a van. There was about 13 people, including a minor. One was at a grocery store, an apartment complex, and someone simply walking on the side of the street. This is why we have gathered here today to talk about and show the strength of this community, this immigrant, beautiful community.”

* Daily Cardinal | Pritzker talks preserving democracy, encourages peaceful protest at Cap Times Idea Fest: Pritzker said he “hates” the mid-decade redistricting currently going on, adding that President Donald Trump is clearly trying to “manipulate” the system, which directly goes against what the framers intended. […] “If Missouri does it, Maryland is going to need to do it. If Indiana does it, it may be that Illinois has to do it,” Pritzker said. “That may be what happens now that you know they’re going to take advantage of every opportunity they’ve got. I don’t like any of this again. I don’t want to do it… But it can’t just be the good Democrats that are doing independent commissions.”

* WGN | Pritzker slams ABC’s indefinite suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show: ‘An attack on free speech’: “A free and democratic society cannot silence comedians because the President doesn’t like what they say,” Pritzker said on social media Wednesday evening, as his comment came within minutes of news breaking that ABC would pre-empt “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” indefinitely over the host’s remarks. “This is an attack on free speech and cannot be allowed to stand,” Pritzker added. “All elected officials need to speak up and push back on this undemocratic act.”

* Founder of Cor Strategies Collin Corbett…

Ted Dabrowski's campaign uses a super cool photo behind Ted in a lot of their stuff (first photo).

I've felt like an idiot because I could not figure out where that is. I know it's not the Illinois state capitol, even though the campaign seems to think it is based on what they… pic.twitter.com/6HmDrstiDJ

— Collin Corbett (@CollinCorbett) September 17, 2025

* 25News Now | Republicans and Democrats oppose potential statewide delivery tax in Illinois: “For us, especially in central Illinois, maybe even some of the more rural areas of the state, a lot of people really do rely on deliveries to be able to be connected to the world, so to pay a tax on those deliveries to me, to fund transit up in the Chicagoland area, seems not like a really great idea,” said Democratic State Representative Sharon Chung of Bloomington.

* WMBD | Quad Cities area Democrat to challenge for Illinois House seat against Peoria Republican: 25 News reports that Nicole Dopler of Rapids City is running as a Democrat for the 73rd District. The seat is currently held by Republican Ryan Spain of Peoria. The district covers portions of Peoria, Woodford, Marshall, and Stark Counties. Dopler says she is campaigning to protect healthcare and education, as well as getting young people access to affordable housing and higher education.

*** Chicago ***

* Crain’s | Union-backed amendment scrambles granny-flats legalization push: At the Sept. 25 meeting, Ald. Marty Quinn, 13th, plans to introduce an amendment that would let aldermen block accessory dwelling units in their wards. Quinn, a longtime opponent of ADUs in single-family neighborhoods, also wants contractors on such projects to use certified apprenticeship programs.

* Sun-Times | Snelling pushes to keep police vacancies in budget, seek other cuts to close city deficit: Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling vowed Wednesday to resist any attempt to eliminate altogether 984 police vacancies — even as Mayor Brandon Johnson struggles to erase a $1.15 billion shortfall after two straight years of deficit spending. Johnson has ordered all of his department heads to cut 3% to 5% from their 2025 budgets. Instead of cutting vacancies, Snelling said he plans to meet that $92 million mandate through a hiring slowdown. He plans to hold open those 984 police positions, but budget less money for those vacancies he knows the city won’t be able to fill.

* Sun-Times | 30 arrests reported in Trump’s deportation campaign in Chicago — but feds won’t provide full tally: But about half of the names and alleged charges released by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security couldn’t be definitively matched to court records. Officials have also released sparse details about the past arrests, making it difficult to independently verify some of the alleged crimes.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Evanston Now | Metra hoping to avoid service cuts in 2026: The Metra Board of Directors was told on Wednesday that, according to a presentation, the
“goal is to avoid 2026 service reductions; reductions needed in 2027 and 2028.” […] However, sales tax revenue, which helps fund transit, is coming in surprisingly higher than expected, a $35 million bump for Metra. The higher revenue is generated by more online purchases being taxed.

* Sun-Times | Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum condemns fatal ICE shooting in Franklin Park: Sheinbaum joined a growing chorus of calls for a thorough investigation into the death. Villegas González appears to be the first person shot and killed by an on-duty ICE agent since President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January. Gov. JB Pritzker on Monday said his office has asked ICE for “all the information around” the shooting, but admitted, “they have given very little.”

* Daily Herald | Mount Prospect proposes regulations for e-bikes, e-scooters, e-motos: “I believe in stronger fines than what’s in place here,” said Trustee Vince Dante. “I don’t think $50 up to $500 is going to be a deterrent for them to not do it again.” Police Chief Michael Eterno pointed out the safety concern by sharing a photo of a young rider performing a wheelie on Northwest Highway. Eterno quoted figures from the Consumer Product Safety Commission showing nearly 361,000 emergency room visits from 2017-2022 for micro-mobility device accidents, with children under 14 representing 36% of injuries.

* Evanston Now | Biss vetoes grocery tax: Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss Wednesday vetoed the city’s grocery tax ordinance, passed by the City Council on Monday. The ordinance would implement a local 1% grocery tax, filling the $2.5 million annual revenue gap that city staff estimated Evanston would face with the expiration of state-imposed grocery tax at the start of 2026.

*** Downstate ***

* BND | East St. Louis schools address unreliable bus service as frustrations mount: The district contracts with Illinois Central School Bus in Caseyville to transport its students. The drivers are employees of Illinois Central, not the district. A shortage of bus drivers — which drivers say is the result of alleged mistreatment by Illinois Central — has led to delays, overcrowding and, in some cases, buses not arriving at all, community members reported.

* Illinois Times | WICS anchor resigns following her unauthorized on-air tribute to Charlie Kirk: WICS news director Heather Voudrie Nodine told Illinois Times no one at the station has been suspended or fired in the last 90 days. … In most of the stories she is described as a “news anchor.” But the WICS news director also said that is inaccurate. Nodine said Harmony has never worked for WICS’ news division. She said Marketplace, the show Harmony hosted, is produced by the station’s advertising department and that she was an advertising employee

* WGLT | Concerns over ICE limits attendance at Hispanic heritage celebration at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Bloomington: Organizer Criselda Joaquin said this year’s attendance was down an estimated 2,000 visitors because of fear of ICE raids. “The turnout has been less this year. I did have a couple of community members drop out selling food, and their reason being everything that’s been going on with immigration in Chicago, which has been disheartening but I completely understand,” Joaquin said.

* WGLT | Panel: Accessing prenatal care in Central Illinois is not easy for some women: Transportation challenges, difficulty acquiring obstetric care, and the limitations of language barriers are major priorities to be addressed in Central Illinois, according to the panelists. […] Statistically, higher rates of diabetes and hypertension are present in some Black and brown communities, said Rebert. But sometimes those aren’t addressed during pregnancy. “Historically Black women have been mistreated by the medical community, [and that’s resulted in that population having] a fear of the medical community. And there are some biases within providers against those communities, as well,” she said.

* WIFR | Pearl Place Apartments in Belvidere wins 2025 Landmarks Illinois preservation award: The 2025 Landmarks Illinois Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Preservation Awards honor Pearl Place Apartments in Belvidere. The restoration of the historic Garfield School made it possible for the building to continue serving seniors and veterans in the area, rather than being converted to market-rate apartments, according to Landmarks Illinois.

*** National ***

* NYT | The Hepatitis B Vaccine Is Under Threat. Here’s What to Know.: Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has repeatedly questioned whether babies should continue to receive the vaccine on their first day of life. […] Most pregnant women in the United States are screened for hepatitis B in the first trimester. But screening isn’t perfect, and testing negative in the first trimester “doesn’t mean you cannot contract hepatitis B later on,” said Dr. Amanda Kost, a family medicine doctor at University of Washington Medicine. Some research suggests as many as 14 percent of pregnant women may not get tested, which may be because of inadequate prenatal care or because they refuse the test. There is also a rare risk of false negatives. These screening gaps are one reason doctors recommend a first dose of the vaccine the day a baby is born.

* Crain’s | Nonprofits push back as Trump hints at crackdown after Kirk killing: “At a moment that is fragile and fraught, we must rise to the higher standard we all collectively desire. Now is a moment for leadership that drives unity rather than sows further division. Our organizations will continue focusing on helping people across all backgrounds, geographies, ideologies, and belief systems, to heal, thrive, and live peacefully together, protected by the freedoms guaranteed in our Constitution,” the letter concludes. Among the 100 philanthropies to sign the open letter are the MacArthur Foundation, the Joyce Foundation, Woods Fund Chicago, Spencer Foundation, Terra Foundation for American Art, Michael Reese Health Trust and Grand Victoria Foundation.

* The Atlantic | Who to Trust If You Can’t Trust the CDC: Today, Monarez testified before a Senate committee that Kennedy fired her after less than a month in her role because she refused to accept his vaccine policy. According to Monarez, Kennedy demanded “blanket approval” of all recommendations made by the agency’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which Kennedy dismantled in June and has since remade in his own anti-vaccine image. Over the next two days, the group is scheduled to discuss vaccines for COVID, hepatitis B, and other diseases. According to a Washington Post report, at the meeting, Trump-administration officials also plan to use a database of unverified vaccine-injury reports to link COVID shots to the deaths of 25 children.