* ICYMI: President Donald Trump cancels $583 million in energy projects for Illinois, one of many blue states affected. Tribune…

-Among those set to lose tens of millions of dollars in anticipated funding are power giant Exelon, the University of Illinois, the nonprofit Gas Technology Institute, which is based in Des Plaines, and a handful of other entities in Illinois.
- U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat, said in a statement that the cuts aim to eliminate 33 awards in Illinois, totaling more than $673 million, but that $90 million of that amount had already been spent. That translates to a loss of approximately $583 million.
-The money was slated for transportation electrification, solar energy, “green” buildings and a range of other energy initiatives, according to a document released by Duckworth’s office.

* Related stories…

• AP: Trump administration cuts nearly $8B in clean energy projects in states that backed Harris
• Sun-Times: Plans to contain harmful gases, improve electric grid in Illinois nixed by Trump
• WaPo: Trump officials cancel $7.6 billion in clean energy projects

The summer of 2025 has been a tough one for residents and businesses in the Ameren Illinois service territory. Supply constraints, extreme hot and humid conditions, and increased energy usage have led to a significant spike in electricity prices and higher-than-normal monthly bills for residential, commercial and industrial energy users. We appreciate and thank legislators, regulators and stakeholders who are working hard to address the energy challenge in Illinois. Energy policy is complex, and we’re encouraged that there are some creative ideas being proposed and a willingness to work together to find answers.   

While Ameren Illinois cannot control the price or availability of energy, we can ensure that the system that delivers energy to homes and businesses — electric poles, wires, and technology; and natural gas distribution pipelines and storage fields — is equipped to operate at peak performance to withstand severe weather events, facilitate business expansions that grow local communities, and enable the transition to renewable generation.

We have an opportunity to build an energy system that is smarter, cleaner, reliable, resilient, and affordable for Illinois families and businesses. As discussions on short- and long-term legislative solutions occur this fall, we will continue to advocate for our 1.2 million customers.   

If you know of someone who is struggling to pay their energy bill, please encourage them to visit www.AmerenIllinois.com/PathToSavings for information on available financial assistance and energy saving programs. 

* Tribune | Metra, CTA awarded federal grants that could require cooperation with immigration enforcement: The CTA was allocated $15.7 million in transit security money this year, spokesperson Manny Gonzales confirmed. The region’s commuter rail system, Metra, received a grant of about $688,000, said agency spokesperson Michael Gillis. Gillis said Metra was still deciding whether or not to take the grant, which would be used by the Metra Police Department to test out the use of drones to respond to threats and emergencies, he said.

* WMBD | Illinois soybean farmers in ‘danger of bankruptcy’ due to tariffs: The Trump administration has considered giving a bailout for farmers, but Costello said this would be a one-time payout that wouldn’t make up for the lasting damages from tariffs. U.S. Rep. Eric Sorensen, who represents areas of Peoria and the Twin Cities, said Trump prioritized Argentina over American farmers. “Instead of giving a bailout to a self-imposed disaster, how about some common sense: stop blowing up critical trade relationships,” he said on Facebook.

* Tribune | State, local officials establish ‘unified command’ to address safety concerns outside Broadview ICE building: At the request of Broadview police, Illinois State Police and the Cook County sheriff’s office — with assistance from the state and county emergency management agencies — have established a “unified command” to address public safety concerns outside the holding facility, according to a news release from state police Thursday evening. Officials are setting up designated areas “where people can safely exercise their rights,” according to state police. The areas stretch along either side of Beach Street down to Lexington Street with a safety lane in between to allow for emergency vehicle access, according to a state police map. There is also an additional designated “restricted area” along existing fencing outside the facility, the map shows.

* Crain’s | RTA cuts 2026 transit gap in half — but funding fight remains: The RTA previously estimated the region’s three transit agencies — Metra, Pace and the Chicago Transit Authority — faced a collective $771 million fiscal cliff beginning next year when federal COVID-19 relief funding expires. That number will be lowered to somewhere south of $300 million at a meeting tomorrow of the RTA committee created to tackle the crisis, according to sources familiar with the situation. The RTA is meeting with the transit boards today to finalize the estimate.

* Capitol News Illinois | Here’s what’s in Illinois’ $50.6B six-year infrastructure plan: The plan spans all 102 counties and includes $32.5 billion over six years for roads and bridges, including $25.7 billion for the state system and $6.8 billion for the local system. It covers 8.4 million square feet of bridges and 7,107 miles of state roads, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation. The local funding will cover 1,654 lane miles and more than 1.3 million square feet of bridge deck.

* Crain’s | Business groups turn up heat ahead of transit reform negotiations: With the Regional Transportation Authority set to unveil a revised forecast of its looming fiscal cliff, groups representing retailers, hoteliers, manufacturers and downtown landlords are turning up the pressure on Springfield to act. They’re calling for greater transparency from the RTA and its service agencies — and a clear plan for efficiency, security and fare hikes — before new tax revenues are approved to keep trains and buses running. The RTA board committee created to address the crisis meets tomorrow and will release a new projection of the funding required to avoid the region’s three regional transit agencies collectively barreling over the cliff expected in 2026 when federal relief dollars are exhausted.

* Tribune | Chicago Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin will pay $30,000 to settle ethics cases: The Chicago Board of Ethics found in April 2024 that Conyears-Ervin violated the city’s ethics ordinance 12 times and issued the maximum fine of $60,000, or $5,000 per breach. In keeping with its rules, the ethics board did not name Conyears-Ervin at the time, but the Tribune identified her as the subject of the board’s ruling. The board found that Conyears-Ervin used city time and resources to plan, schedule and coordinate appearances at four churches to “further (her) personal and political objectives, including but not limited to promoting the candidacy of two individuals for state office,” according to the settlement agreement released this week.

* WGN | Chicago arrest video sparks claims of excessive force by federal agents: While the Department of Homeland Security says the incident stems from a theft, witnesses told WGN-TV that what they captured on video differs from what DHS said took place. Maurice Woodard is the organizing director of Equity and Transformation Chicago. It was at the organization’s headquarters near California and Congress where Woodward says he witnessed the unsettling scene unfold on Tuesday around 2:30 p.m. “The federal agents had shut down traffic on all four ways. As they were doing that, they had a guy down on the floor surrounded, and they kind of picked him up by the neck, roughed him up – a lot more than roughed him up – put him in their vehicle, and held him there until [Chicago Police Department] arrived,” Woodward said.

* The Triibe | New details emerge surrounding incident that led to a Black man being ‘choked’ by the feds in Chicago: The CPD spokesperson added that “at no point did CPD coordinate or assist federal authorities with immigration enforcement.” However, it remains unclear how or why federal agents apprehended the Black man. In a separate video shared with The TRiiBE, an agent says to a witness recording the scene, “Just so you guys know, this is not an immigration enforcement action.” The agent goes on to say that they are responding to a robbery in progress.

* ABC Chicago | Solution possible for ‘chronic safety issues’ with US Postal Service vehicles parked in Lincoln Park: He says, as of now, there is only one entity capable of legally ticketing or towing these mail trucks, leaving Chicago police legally powerless. “Strangely enough, frustratingly enough, only the post office police force could do this… and obviously that wasn’t going to happen,” Quigley said. “Talk about frustration, the inability of the federal government to coordinate… there was almost nothing we could do besides embarrass them.”

* Over in Wrigleyville…

* Sun-Times | New barricades erected near Broadview ICE facility in effort to limit protesters from blocking street: Barricades will be placed on each side of Beach Street, from Lexington Street to nearly the silver wire fence that the feds erected Sept. 23 across Beach Street, to keep protesters off the roadway and to allow vehicles to pass through. The barricades will “protect the health and safety of all individuals, including nearby Broadview residents and businesses, and enable the peaceful expression of First Amendment rights,” the Cook County sheriff’s office said in a news release Thursday.

* Chicago Reader | DHS shops local: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is shopping local for some of the various so-called “crowd control” weapons that agents are using to brutalize protesters. The federal government has approved $1.7 million in purchases this year from United Tactical Systems (UTS), the Lake Forest–based company behind PepperBall, which sells the namesake projectiles along with launchers and tactical gear. According to USASpending.gov, the federal government has paid UTS $14.3 million since 2008. Almost all federal purchases have come from the DHS, which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection.

* Block Club | Veterans Speak Out Against ICE’s ‘Mob Tactics’ In Broadview: ‘Our Democracy Is Being Crushed’: “They know that they can’t arrest us just simply for protesting. So instead, they drag us away onto their property and give us felonies for trespassing. That’s how they’re silencing us,” Demi Palecek, a veteran and candidate for Illinois’ 13th Congressional District, said at a Thursday news conference. The brief criminal complaints allege that the people facing charges resisted arrest, threatened and assaulted officers from a number of federal law enforcement agencies who were trying to push back crowds from the facility.

* Naperville Sun | Criminal eavesdropping charges won’t be filed against Naperville D203 board member: No criminal charges will be filed against Naperville District 203 School Board member Melissa Kelley Black as a result of the eavesdropping complaint filed by the district with the Naperville Police Department and the DuPage County state’s attorney’s office. The complaint stemmed from comments Kelley Black publicly made at a June 2 meeting in which she alluded to recording a Citizens Finance Committee meeting in May. […] No charges will be filed and the investigation into the complaint is now closed, Naperville police Cmdr. Rick Krakow said. The department was unable to establish whether an audio recording was ever made, he said.

* Daily Herald | Work begins to replace century-old railroad bridge in Naperville: Construction has begun to replace a 110-year-old railroad bridge over North Aurora Road in Naperville. It is the final stage of construction for the North Aurora Road Improvement Project, a 20-year effort to reduce congestion and crashes on North Aurora. Naperville, the Naperville Township Road District, and the city of Aurora signed an agreement in 2006 for the project, with Naperville taking the lead. The plan was revived in 2015.

* Aurora Beacon-News | Four job resource kiosks opening in Aurora, with more to open in Kane, Kendall and DeKalb counties: The job kiosks are an initiative by workNet Batavia, which serves Kane, Kendall and DeKalb counties and aims to be a “one-stop career resource center offering services for both job seekers and employers,” according to a news release from Kane County and workNet Batavia. There are 15 kiosks in all that will be placed throughout Kane, Kendall and DeKalb counties, but the four in Aurora are meant to be a sort of pilot program, according to Jasmine Walker, a Workforce Development Board manager with Kane County. The Workforce Development Board oversees job training and employment services in Kane, Kendall and DeKalb counties.

* WCIA | Sean Grayson, former deputy accused of killing Sonya Massey, opts for jury trial: “I am glad that they decided to go with a jury trial as opposed to a bench trial. I think the community and the world wants to see this played out,” community activist Teresa Haley said. The defense and prosecution made it clear, there were no plea offers or negotiations made on his charges. Grayson faces up to 60 years in prison for first degree murder and an additional 25 to life if he is found guilty of using a firearm to commit that murder.

* WICA | ‘There’s no victory here’: Lawyer for driver involved in deadly YNOT crash speaks after investigation concludes: “We knew all things considered that she was not driving recklessly,” he told WCIA Thursday. “She was not doing anything out of the ordinary. She was returning home from work like it would have been when she suffered this unforeseen seizure.” Hanken also said this conclusion comes with some relief but would not characterize his client as winning. “There’s no victory here,” Hanken added. “This is a tragic situation, and if people could go back in time and change it, they would.”

* Illinois Times | Losing health care coverage: Dr. Janet Albers is sad that thousands of Springfield-area patients could lose Medicaid coverage and delay care because of Republican President Donald Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill.” Albers, a family physician, told Illinois Times that she saw many previously uninsured patients get screened for cancer and chronic health conditions, then obtain lifesaving treatment, after the expansion of Medicaid eligibility in Illinois in 2014 allowed more low income people to be covered by the program, which is jointly funded by the state and federal government. Because of the Affordable Care Act, 90% or more of the cost of the expansion has been covered by the federal government.

* WCIA | ‘Helps us make ends meet’: Electric prices drop by 31% as October starts: Central Illinois’ largest electric utility company’s prices are going down by more than 30%, leaving people and business owners excited. Ameren customers have reported receiving bills that were double their usual price. Now, they’re hoping this drop is here to stay.

* News-Gazette | City of Champaign Township board frustrated at not being kept in loop on shelter proposal: Additionally, board member Kathy Shannon expressed concern that the proposal for Strides — which officials estimate will run out of funding by mid-February or early March 2026 — was created without the board’s input. “I think that this town board has asked repeatedly to be updated on things, to be involved in things, and the fact that we are finding out about this so late after it happened feels like more of the same,” Shannon said.

* WGLT | Illinois Supreme Court will not hear Jamie Snow and Barton McNeil murder cases: The Illinois Supreme Court has denied requests to hear a pair of high-profile McLean County murder cases. Jamie Snow and Barton McNeil have both had their appeals to the state’s highest court turned down. Both men were convicted of murder in the 1990s and have maintained their innocence. They each have representation from the University of Chicago Law School’s Exoneration Project. McNeil also has support from the Illinois Innocence Project.

* WSIL | Mayor announces $4M+ in funding for Du Quoin road project: The Mayor said he secured a $2,529,000 grant from the Delta Regional Authority and a $680,000 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) from Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO). Additionally, an $800,000 loan was obtained from IDOT at zero percent interest, with yearly payments starting in September 2026. “Just yesterday we received notification from Gov. Pritzker’s office that our request for full loan forgiveness has been approved,” the Mayor said. Downs said more than $4 million in grants and loans have been secured without directly impacting Du Quoin taxpayers.

* WICS | Congresswoman Budzinski demands action on deteriorating Springfield hotel: In a letter to Tower Capital Group General Manager Al Rajabi, Budzinski expressed concern over the property’s mismanagement, which she said has “directly undermined the city’s growth and prosperity.” She emphasized that Springfield deserves a “vibrant, thriving downtown business district” and criticized the owners for “repeated failures, unkept promises, and allegations of misconduct.”

* Inside Climate News | EPA Moves to Prioritize Review of New Chemicals for Data Centers: While the Environmental Protection Agency, which made the announcement last month, has prioritized new chemical reviews for some industries in the past, advocates said the new EPA effort and an accompanying executive order, “Accelerating Federal Permitting of Data Center Infrastructure,” signed by President Trump go well beyond data centers and benefit the fossil fuel, nuclear and semiconductor industries, among others. They include what advocates said is unprecedented language that calls for the EPA to “ease” and “reduce” regulations.

* CNBC | Apple removes ICE tracking apps after Trump AG pressure: ICEBlock has been downloaded more than 1 million times since it was introduced this year, according to data provided to NBC News by the app tracking firm Appfigures. The app hit a high of nearly 114,000 downloads in a single day on July 1, a day after a CNN article about the app sparked criticism from the Trump administration.

* NYT | Kennedy Fires N.I.H. Scientist Who Filed Whistle-Blower Complaint: Three weeks after a leading scientist at the National Institutes of Health filed a whistle-blower complaint against the Trump administration, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy fired her, according to her lawyer and a copy of the termination letter. Her dismissal was the latest in a series of steps the Trump administration has taken against government scientists and environmental experts after they warned that administration policies were endangering public health and safety.

* New Yorker | The Hidden Harms of CPR: There are times when these risks are worth taking. CPR can save lives when patients are relatively healthy, and when the cause of their death is reversible or unclear. Damar Hamlin, the Buffalo Bills player whose heart stopped during a nationally televised game in January, typifies the person for whom CPR was invented: young and fit, and the victim of a sudden, treatable injury rather than a progressive disease. Still, less than ten per cent of people who receive CPR outside a hospital survive. Inside hospitals, where CPR begins quickly, the odds are slightly better, but only for those who aren’t in the last stages of life. A mere two per cent of adults over sixty-seven with severe chronic disease, including cancer, are alive six months after CPR, and they often deal with pain, physical debility, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Reversing a death is not the same as restoring a life.