* ICYMI: DHS Secretary Noem confirms more ICE resources are heading to Chicago for immigration crackdown. AP…

- “We’ve already had ongoing operations with ICE in Chicago… but we do intend to add more resources to those operations,” Noem said during an appearance CBS News’ ”Face the Nation.”
- Noem declined to provide further details about the planned surge of federal officers.
-Johnson and Pritzker have pushed back against the expected federal mobilization, saying crime has fallen in Chicago. They are planning to sue if Trump moves forward with the plan.

* Governor Pritzker will “address the people of Illinois amid reports of federal deployments to Chicago” at 3 pm. Click here to watch.

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* AP | Trump plans a hefty tax on imported drugs, risking higher prices and shortages: Trump has promised to impose hefty import taxes on pharmaceuticals, a category of products he’s largely spared in his trade war. For decades, in fact, imported medicine has mostly been allowed to enter the United States duty free. That’s starting to change. U.S. and European leaders recently detailed a trade deal that includes a 15% tariff rate on some European goods brought into the United States, including pharmaceuticals. Trump is threatening duties of 200% more on drugs made elsewhere.

* Tribune | Growing debate: Cannabis growers want the option of cultivating outside, but state regulators keep trying to stop it: But opportunities to grow cannabis outdoors in Illinois have been limited. State law, which requires that cannabis be grown in an “enclosed, locked facility,” allows greenhouses. But the law doesn’t address similar facilities like screen houses and hoop houses, which feature a metal frame with plastic sheets. The lack of clarity over the legality of such facilities has led to a tug-of-war between the cannabis industry and state regulators. Two companies won state permission to grow cannabis in screened houses, but regulators later tried to revoke that permission. The companies went to court and won rulings that allowed them to keep growing outdoors.

* DraftKings | Illinois Wager Tax FAQs: Beginning September 1, 2025, DraftKings will pass the Illinois wager tax through to certain customers and/or on certain sports bets placed in the state of Illinois. The pass-through tax on certain wagers will begin at $0.25 and will increase to $0.50 for certain wagers in excess of 20 million annual combined wagers placed on DraftKings’ online sportsbook in Illinois.

*** Statehouse News ***

* St. Clair County Democrats…

The St. Clair County Democrats have endorsed State Representative Margaret Croke for Illinois State Comptroller. Their organization is home to one of the top 10 Democratic voting counties in the state and is recognized for its role in strengthening civic participation and advancing policies that promote equity, opportunity, and accountability in government.

“St. Clair Democrats are proud to endorse Representative Margaret Croke for State Comptroller because she understands that sound finances are the foundation of good schools, safe communities and strong local economies,” said Robert Sprague, Chairman of the St. Clair County Democratic Central Committee. “Margaret has a proven track record of fiscal responsibility and public service, and has shown time and again that she understands the importance of protecting workers’ rights, supporting fair wages, and strengthening organized labor. She understands the challenges facing families all across our state. We know Margaret to be a watchdog for every region and every family in Illinois, and trust that she will bring fairness, accountability, and integrity to the office, ensuring taxpayer dollars are managed wisely and transparently.”

* McCombie | Illinois needs real energy solutions, not band-aids : In 2021, I voted for what’s known as CEJA, the so-called Climate and Equitable Jobs Act. I supported it for one reason: to keep Illinois’ nuclear plants like Byron and Cordova alive. Illinois is blessed with one of the strongest nuclear fleets in the nation and protecting that baseload power was essential. But let me be clear, if it weren’t for the support given to our nuclear fleet, CEJA would never have been needed. Unfortunately, Democrats used it as a vehicle to slip in unrealistic shutdown dates and expensive subsidies for other energy sources. That’s why I filed legislation to repeal those harmful portions and have done so every year since. I will keep fighting to fix the bad parts of CEJA because Illinois cannot afford an energy policy that puts politics before people. Other states are extending the use of coal plants and delaying shutdown deadlines to protect reliability and affordability. Illinois should do the same, rather than racing toward policies that drive prices higher and reliability lower.

* Capitol City Now | The grades are out on legislators and the environment: The Illinois Environmental Council is out with its 2025 legislative scorecard. “This year we saw 39 state representatives and 25 state senators receive 100 percent scores based on sixteen bills,” said the council’s executive director, Jen Walling, “and over fifty percent of sitting state senators and state House members have a lifetime score of greater than ninety percent.”

* Center Square | Alternative tax-hike ideas emerge to fund Illinois public transit: State Sen. Don DeWitte, R-St. Charles, told The Center Square that Senate Republicans are getting ready to propose their own new legislation. DeWitte said labor agreed to allow interest from Illinois road-fund dollars to be used for the transit fiscal cliff. He said Gov. J.B. Pritzker should do the same with the approximately $3 billion rainy day fund.

* Capitol City Now | Community college bachelor’s degree idea is not dead: The proposal to allow community colleges to grant bachelor’s degrees in some disciplines did not get through the Illinois General Assembly’s spring session, but Pritzker said this week the demand is too great. “There are some specific areas in industry where we need more people than the universities can produce for example certain kinds of nursing professions even if you had full programs at the univ’s, you couldn’t produce enough to fill all the positions that are available in the state of Illinois.”

*** Chicago ***

* Sun-Times | Mayor Johnson slams Trump’s plan to target Chicago, vows to ‘defend our democracy’ at Labor Day rally: Johnson, who cut his teeth at political rallies and served as a Chicago Teachers Union organizer, began his speech with a chant: “No federal troops in the city of Chicago! No militarized force in the city of Chicago! We’re gonna defend our democracy in the city of Chicago!” “Are you prepared to defend this land? … If this president decides to continue to break this constitution, it’s going to be the labor movement that stitches it back together,” Johnson added.

* Tribune | As federal immigration enforcement set to ramp up, strike over immigration protections in Little Village continues this Labor Day: On the strike line last week, workers told the Tribune their main concerns aren’t financial. They work through unbearably hot conditions inside the plant in the summer, they say. The ventilation is poor. They aren’t always given sufficient uniforms, they say, meaning they are sometimes forced to work around the chemicals in their own clothes and take them home to wash with their families’ laundry. The Mauser plant, worker José Manuel Ruiz said, is like a “prison.”

* South Side Weekly | Paramedics Out, EMTs In: Chicago CARE Program Caught in Labor Crossfire: The fire department had trouble finding enough paramedics who wanted to work with CARE, according to a June 9 report by arbitrator Peter Meyers. Difficulty filling the eight slots for fire paramedics meant that CARE vans sometimes weren’t deployed. Meyers found that seventy to eighty fire department employees were eligible to take an extra training to work with CARE, but only four responded to the department’s multiple requests for volunteers, and two were ineligible while one was already assigned to CARE.

* Sun-Times | Statue, dog park honoring slain CPD Officer Ella French unveiled: ‘Ella is still doing her job’: “I look at her, and I want to touch her,” Elizabeth French told reporters. “I could not have imagined a better birthday gift for her. … She’s beyond beautiful. This is just a wonderfully, wonderfully sad thing.” The artist, Erik Blome, said he began work on the bronze piece nearly a year ago. He relied on Ella French’s uniform — which was delivered to him by John Catanzara, president of the Fraternal Order of Police. A shelter dog served as a model for French’s dog.

* South Side Weekly | Shadow Arrests: Chicago Police Make Growing Use of Forced Psychiatric Hospitalization: For more than two years, the two newsrooms obtained and analyzed data from the Chicago Police Department on its handling of mental health-related incidents. Between 2023 and 2024, the first years for which comprehensive data is available, the number of police-initiated hospitalizations increased from 1,764 to 2,319—an increase of more than 30 percent. During these years, more than 20% of mental health calls responded to by Chicago police resulted in an officer deciding to forcibly hospitalize someone. In total, police have involuntarily hospitalized people for psychiatric reasons at least 6,700 times since 2021, according to the analysis. Chicago police officials did not respond to a list of questions about use of forced hospitalization.

* Sun-Times | New Chicago speed cameras drive surge in tickets. ‘I won’t drive down the street’: The 22 new cameras helped the city issue more than 91,000 speeding tickets over their first month of operation, according to a Sun-Times/WBEZ analysis of city data. In all, city data show 186 speed cameras issued more than 240,000 tickets in June, the most in any month in nearly three years. If history provides a guide, the new cameras will continue to catch drivers unaware until motorists change their habits. Five of the city’s six highest ticketing cameras in June were cameras that started operating that month.

* Crain’s | Kraft Heinz weighs splitting in two: report: Chicago-based Kraft Heinz is preparing to split itself into two companies, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. A transaction could be announced as soon as this week, though timing could still change. The plan would largely unwind the 2015 merger of Kraft and Heinz, a high-profile deal engineered by Warren Buffett and Brazilian private-equity firm 3G Capital. That combination created the third-largest food and beverage company in North America but struggled to deliver the growth investors had hoped for.

* Tribune | After losing two anti-violence workers to gunfire, Englewood nonprofit persists: ‘We have to be strong’: Last year, after five men working as peacekeepers were shot in separate shootings in the Little Village and North Lawndale neighborhoods — killing three — fellow outreach workers maintained that despite the risk, the anti-violence model is a long-term solution. “People ask me, how do I cope with it?” McKenzie said. “I go out there and I continue to keep going … because if we stop, we let a lot of people down. So we have to be strong … and show that (there’s) people out here that (are) losing so many loved ones back to back, and they’re not giving up.”

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Herald | ‘Backbone of the digital world’: Karis details plans for Naperville data center development: In nearby Hoffman Estates, the former Sears’ corporate headquarters has been razed to make way for a sprawling Compass Datacenters campus. And another developer, Karis Critical, is proposing a relatively “boutique” data center development on the north side of Naperville. The city’s planning and zoning board is set to review the proposal Wednesday. “It’s the backbone of the digital world and digital economy, and so I think having one in the right spot in your community has the benefits of infrastructure as well as the benefits of revenue creation for the city itself,” Karis CEO Jake Finley said.

* Shaw Local | Data center, solar facility proposal returns to DeKalb for approval, land annex: Champaign-based Donato Solar has submitted a petition to rezone and annex about 30 acres of land along the west side of Peace Road between Greenwood Acres and Challeger drives for development. The plans will go before the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission for the second time at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the DeKalb Public Library. City staff wrote in an agenda ahead of Tuesday’s meeting that the plan conforms to city code as proposed. “Due to the minimally invasive nature of ground mounted solar systems, after decommissioning, the land can return to agriculture or if so desired industrial or commercial uses,” staff wrote.

* Lake County News-Sun | Waukegan eyeing purchase of abandoned railway right of way; ‘(It) will unlock the whole area for developers and financial investment’: Now sitting in the mayor’s office, Cunningham said the time has come to talk to the railway’s decision-makers and find a price acceptable to both the city and Canadian National, thus opening 3.6 miles of lakefront for potential residential and light commercial development. “That’s the largest stretch of (undeveloped) lakefront land along Lake Michigan in Illinois, outside of (possibly) Chicago,” Cunningham said. “There could be very affordable housing there.”

* Daily Herald | ‘Round up the usual suspects’: How three men were men wrongly detained in Gliniewicz investigation: According to the lawsuit, Willoughby was traveling in the woods near his home on the day of Gliniewicz’s death when he was handcuffed, held on the scene for about two hours and then taken to the Round Lake Police Department, where he was held for several more hours before being released. […] Their attorney, Gregory Kulis, also was involved in legal action filed by two other men — Preston Shrewsbury and Manuel Vargas. On Sept. 2, while a helicopter hovered above their house, they claimed, SWAT teams entered without a warrant, detained them, searched the residence and ordered them to provide their DNA, he said.

* Daily Herald | Vintage vinyl: New album digs up rare ’60s Chicago garage rock from Arlington Heights’ The Cellar: “Ours lasted maybe a year and a half ’til somebody left and went to college. A lot of people got drafted,” said Bill St. John, who played bass guitar with The High Numbers. “Most of the garage bands like ours — you cut a record because it was cool to say you cut a record. But nobody was going to get it played on the radio or anything like that.” Now bands like The High Numbers — who took their name from The Who, who gave that earlier title up — are getting credit for their place in local music history on a new album that pays homage to the old Northwest suburban teen hangout.

* Daily Herald | Labor Day revelries mark the end of metaphorical summer in suburbs: This year’s ideally temperate Labor Day marked the metaphorical end of summer and the meteorological start of fall. For the record, meteorological fall is the period from Sept. 1 to Nov. 30 which meteorologists and climatologists use to track and compare weather data. Astronomical fall is the roughly three-month period beginning with the autumnal equinox beginning Sept. 22.

*** Downstate ***

* WGLT | Only counter-protesters show up for ‘March on Bloomington’ after flyers with swastika-like imagery: The flyers called for the March on Bloomington to gather at 7 a.m. Saturday at Miller Park and then proceed to the farmers market downtown. By 6:30 a.m., the group Punks Against Trump had already turned out nearly 100 counter-protesters near Grossinger Motors Arena, a few blocks from the farmers market. Several were decked out in “Blues Brothers” cosplay and signs, a reference to John Belushi’s line from the film, “I hate Illinois Nazis.” “We saw those flyers and were like, ‘Absolutely not,’” said Oriah Matich, leader of Punks Against Trump. They organized the counter-protest along with several partner organizations.

* WGLT | Officials: Incorrect info included on property value notices sent to much of McLean County: “Due to an error in the printing process, assessment notices from the McLean County Supervisor of Assessments dated August 28, 2025 were erroneously sent to incorrect addresses. Property owners in the following townships are affected: Anchor, Blue Mound, Chenoa, Cropsey, Danvers, Dry Grove, Empire, Gridley, Hudson, Lawndale, Lexington, Martin, Normal, Randolph, Towanda, White Oak, and Yates,” McLean County Clerk Kathy Michael said on Facebook, quoting a message she said she received from Chief County Assessment Officer Timothy Jorczak.

* WCIA | U of I students push bird-friendly design to reduce campus bird strikes: On the U of I’s campus, certain features make it dangerous for birds. For example, a bird may mistake the Quad’s reflection on a glass building for real trees and sky — and fly right at the building. At night, migrating birds can also become disoriented by artificial lights. Those involved in the project said they hope the data they collect will lead to building design changes, ultimately supporting bird conservation on campus. The Bird Strike Survey team is already speaking with the U of I about possible solutions. This includes applying overlays to windows to reduce reflections, or installing sticker grids that create the illusion of an obstacle birds can’t fly through.

* WCIA | ‘It’s not liberty, it’s tyranny’: Protesters at Capitol speak out against Trump Administration: Labor Day for most people is spent enjoying a day off of work. But for more than 100 people at the Illinois State Capitol on Monday, there is still plenty of work left to do. “Everything that all of us did could be gone. Just so someone can give tax cuts to a billionaire?” Dale Hawkins, a retired Union Boilermaker, said.

* NPR Illinois | Route 66 icon Bob Waldmire featured in art exhibition - through Dec. 23, 2026: Springfield native Bob Waldmire was often described as a gifted artist and cartographer who captured the essence of Route 66 through his whimsical maps and detailed drawings. Known for his meticulous attention to detail, his artwork often included historical and ecological information. Waldmire was also recognized as a gentle soul with a hippie spirit, living a nomadic lifestyle in his iconic 1972 VW Microbus. His work celebrates the nostalgia and culture of Route 66, and he was deeply committed to preserving its history.

*** National ***

* Micah Lee | Unfortunately, the ICEBlock app is activism theater: At this summer’s HOPE conference, Joshua Aaron spoke about ICEBlock, his iPhone app that allows users to anonymously report ICE sightings within a 5 mile radius, and to get notifications when others report ICE sightings near them. […] But unfortunately, despite the app’s goal of protecting people from ICE, its viral success, and the state repression against it, ICEBlock has serious issues: Most importantly, it wasn’t developed with input from people who actually defend immigrants from deportation. As a result, it doesn’t provide people with what they need to stay safe.

* ABC | Trump to make Oval Office announcement, White House says: President Donald Trump is scheduled on Tuesday afternoon at 2 p.m. ET to make an announcement from the Oval Office, according to the White House, which has yet to release further information. Some troops have questioned how the deployment—which is costing an estimated $1 million per day—affects their military readiness.

* The Daily Beast | Trump’s Crime Emergency Troops Reveal How Much Trash They’ve Collected: “Guardsmen have cleaned more than 3.2 miles of roadways, collected more than 500 bags of trash, and disposed of three truckloads of plant waste,” the National Guard said over the weekend in a statement shared by CBS.

* Reuters | Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, scholars’ association says: Eighty-six percent of those who voted among the 500-member International Association of Genocide Scholars backed the resolution declaring Israel’s “policies and actions in Gaza” had met the legal definition set out in Article II of the 1948 UN convention on genocide. Israel’s Foreign Ministry called the statement disgraceful and “entirely based on Hamas’ campaign of lies”. Israel has in the past strongly denied that its actions in Gaza amount to genocide and says they are justified as self defence. It is fighting a case at the International Court of Justice in the Hague that accuses it of genocide.

* NYT | He Plagiarized and Promoted Falsehoods. The White House Embraces Him: Mr. Johnson took the opportunity at the briefing to recount what he claimed was his own experience with crime in the nation’s capital in recent years. He said that he had recorded murders on a camera outside his home, and that his “house was set ablaze in an arson.” Any claims that Washington wasn’t dangerous, he said, were “lies.” […] In fact, police records show, nobody has been murdered since at least 2017 on the block where Mr. Johnson lived in Washington. And his home was not burned, though his next-door neighbor’s house was “intentionally set” on fire, according to the city’s fire department. Mr. Johnson left Washington permanently in 2021.

* NYT | Trump Orders Have Stripped Nearly Half a Million Federal Workers of Union Rights: The termination of protections followed an Aug. 1 appeals court ruling on legal challenges to Mr. Trump’s directive. The order, signed in late March, directed 22 agencies to ignore contracts for employees in specific unions. Last Thursday, Mr. Trump signed a second executive order stripping union rights from thousands of other employees at six additional agencies. Mr. Trump said that the affected workers had roles that touched on national security, and that provisions in their labor contracts could interfere with his policies being carried out. He cited, for example, the role that Department of Veterans Affairs employees play in providing care for wounded troops in wartime.