* ICYMI: Sale of Illinois newspaper group puts new state law to the test. Capitol News Illinois…

- The Strengthening Community Media Act took effect on Jan. 1. The law requires Illinois media companies to provide the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, local county government, the company’s employees and any Illinois nonprofit that might be interested in buying the business with 120 days’ notice before the sale happens.
- Better Newspapers Inc. sold eight Illinois newspapers to Paxton Media Group in Kentucky. Employees and county clerks in several of the areas served by the newspapers say the buyer did not provide the 120 days’ notice required by the new law.
- But since the law doesn’t include any enforcement mechanisms or penalties for noncompliance, it’s not immediately clear who, if anyone, can force compliance.

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Politico | Harris’ score-settling, elbow-throwing, bridge-burning memoir: Some Democrats, such as Shapiro and then-Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, she writes, were quick to line up behind her as she made calls to amass support for the party’s nomination. “Before you say anything, I’m all in,” Harris recalled Buttigieg saying. But others, such as Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, were more reticent, according to Harris. Whitmer, she wrote, signaled support but said she needed to “let the dust settle” before making a public statement. And Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, noting his state was hosting the party convention that summer, said he could not commit to supporting her.

* Center Square | Pritzker touts quantum future, state senator urges caution for taxpayers: The governor spoke Thursday at the Quantum World Congress in Virginia and encouraged attendees to relocate to Chicago and Illinois. “We have Duality, which is the nation’s first quantum startup accelerator,” Pritzker said. “We have the second-highest number of Fortune 500 companies, the customers for quantum, of any region in the nation.”

* Legal Newsline | DOJ joins Bost at SCOTUS in fight over IL mail-in vote rules: The arguments will not involve the merits of Bost’s legal claims. Rather, the high court will take on the question of whether federal judges in Chicago wrongly denied Bost the chance to challenge Illinois’ vote-by-mail regime at all.

*** Statehouse News ***

* CBS Chicago | CTA warns service could stop at 9 p.m. daily without more money from Springfield: CTA officials on Thursday warned they might be forced to eliminate 24-hour service next year, with buses and trains possibly running only from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., if state lawmakers don’t provide hundreds of millions in funding to bail out the Chicago area’s three mass transit agencies.

* Capitol City Now | Pritzker to MSNBC: Suspension of Jimmy Kimmel is ‘dangerous’: “Everybody should be saying that ABC should reverse their decision,” said Pritzker. “This is not something they should have been doing. I don’t think that ABC, at least historically, has not been an organization that has exhibited this kind of behavior. But, now we’re seeing the pressure that can be brought by the federal government. You can imagine the pressure that’s on Disney and ABC and on their business, based upon what’s been said so far today.”

* WMBD | Hemp regulation getting closer to consensus according to Illinois House Speaker: “As my time as Speaker, it is the single most contentious topic,” he said. “The issue has been so divisive in our caucus three times, but they don’t realize how close they are,”

* Herald & Review | Remembering Jim Edgar through the friendship he shared with my father: I share a hometown with Edgar, who died Sunday at age 79. Not only did we both grow up in Charleston, but Edgar and my dad were the same age, grew up on the same block and both graduated from Charleston High School in 1964. My dad, Bill Hall, loved to tell stories of their 1950s childhood shenanigans. A particular favorite was about a fort they once built on the top of a carport, something that seemed incredibly exciting to me as a kid. The details of those stories escape me now, but my dad loved to talk about his childhood friendship with Jim Edgar; it was clearly special to him.

* Capitol News Illinois | Illinois to issue its own vaccine guidelines: Pritzker also noted Kennedy’s recent firing of top CDC administrators, including the agency’s director Susan Monarez, as well as the abrupt dismissal of the entire board of CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. “This is about making sure no family in Illinois is left wondering if they can protect themselves against preventable serious illness,” Pritzker said in a statement. “When the federal government abandons its responsibility, Illinois will step up. We will follow the science, listen to medical experts, and do everything in our power to enable families to receive the care they need.”

* ABC Chicago | Illinois officials reflect on 2 years with no cash bail on anniversary of Pre-Trial Fairness Act: “If you’re a danger to the public, you shouldn’t be able to buy your way out of jail like a Jeffrey Epstein type, while at the same time, if you’re not a danger to the public, you do not need to be incarcerated before you’re found guilty,” Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke said. Removing cash from the decision to detain someone is the foundation of Illinois’ two-year-old Pre-Trial Fairness Act. The law says State’s Attorneys must file a petition to detain someone. A judge makes the determination. Any crime that carries a mandatory prison sentence are all eligible for detention.

*** Chicago ***

* AP | As Immigration Arrests Spike in Chicago, Activists Escalate Tactics to Fight Back: When word of increased enforcement in Chicago ramped up, Baltazar Enriquez started buying orange emergency whistles so people could warn others of nearby ICE agents. He said they are reliable even when technology fails. “If they hear that sound, they immediately start closing their doors, locking their gates,” he said of neighbors. “This has worked for us here. People are asking us, ‘Can I get a whistle?’ ”

* WTTW | Chicago Spent $119.7M on Police Overtime in 6 Months, 20% More Than Its Annual Overtime Budget: Watchdog: CPD spent an additional $46.4 million on overtime in July and August, which are typically two of the most violent and busy months of the year, according to the inspector general database. In all, the database said, taxpayers spent more than $166 million on CPD overtime in just eight months, ensuring that the city will exceed its annual overtime budget for the seventh straight year.

* WTTW | Stalemate Over Serious Chicago Police Discipline Cases to Continue as Illinois Supreme Court Weighs Police Union’s Plea to Intervene: The 2-1 decision by Illinois’ 1st District Appellate Court was reached in error, according to the appeal filed by the police union asking the Supreme Court to take up the issue. The court will consider the request during its November term, said Christopher Bonjean, a spokesperson for the Supreme Court. That will ensure the deadlock will continue for at least several more months, Chicago Police Board President Kyle Cooper said.

* Sun-Times | Chicagoans oppose tax hikes proposed by mayoral task force, poll finds: Only 16% of those surveyed support locking in annual property tax increases at the rate of inflation — as suggested this week by Johnson’s Financial Future Task Force and favored by the two most powerful members of the mayor’s City Council leadership team. Raising the $9.50-a-month garbage fee frozen since its 2015 inception, another idea the task force championed, drew 20% support.

* Crain’s | Chicago’s safety-net hospitals look for ways to cope with looming federal cuts: First up, for CCH, is a potential $120 million annual cut to its bottom line should federal disproportionate share hospital funding — cash usually doled from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for uncompensated care — not be renewed, says Dr. Eric Mikatis, president and CEO of the health system. It’s a distinct possibility, given a Republican-controlled Congress that’s keen to cut spending and the current fight over a government shutdown. A vote in the U.S. House today might provide a temporary stay of the DSH cuts through late November, and a longer-term solution has been discussed. “But that $120 million is not something we included in any of our budget planning,” he said.

* Crain’s | Chicago Fire, Related Midwest win city panel OK for South Loop soccer stadium: The Chicago Plan Commission today approved rezoning Related’s 62-acre site along the Chicago River south of Roosevelt Road to allow the 22,000-seat stadium that Fire owner Joe Mansueto aims to build for the Major League Soccer franchise. The sign-off moves the proposal forward for consideration by the City Council’s zoning committee and the full City Council, key hurdles the team and developer must clear to meet Mansueto’s goal of completing the privately-financed $750 million stadium in time for the 2028 season.

* Nadig Newspapers | Former Patio Theater operator has contract to buy Portage Theater, which has $503,000 in owed taxes: The shuttered Portage Theater, 4050 N. Milwaukee Ave., is under contract to be sold for $25,000 to Chris Bauman, founder of the Zenith Music Group that has operated the Patio Theater and Avondale Music Hall, according to recent court testimony. Any buyer of the theater would presumably also have to pay the county more than $500,000 in back taxes, Curt Bettiker, the count-appointed receiver for the theater, said at a Sept. 11 housing court hearing.

* Tribune | Daughter tries to distance herself from backlash against pro-Trump Chicago restaurateur: A day later, Sanchez’s daughter — Samantha Sanchez, a fellow restaurateur who owns La Luna in Pilsen and La Lunita in Logan Square — issued a statement distancing herself and her businesses from her father’s politics. “I want to address the ongoing attacks and false claims that I and my restaurants are ‘pro-Trump,’” her statement read. “Let me be absolutely clear: I have never expressed, posted, shared or endorsed support for Donald Trump in any way.” Noting that she has faced backlash directed at her because of her father’s political beliefs, Samantha Sanchez stated, “His beliefs are his own and do not represent me, my businesses, or my team.”

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Tribune | Cook County property tax bill delay continues; board creates fund for governments: Now the county has launched a $300 million loan fund to help cities, towns and other taxing bodies that will struggle to make ends meet without those property tax revenues in hand. The new system was supposed to be ready in April. County leaders committed to officially make the switch off their legacy system — housed on decades-old mainframe computers — to fully adopt Tyler Technology’s system in May in time for the normal bill schedule, with bills due by Aug. 1.

* Tribune | From elementary to higher ed, Chicago and suburban schools prepare amid ICE activity in neighborhoods: A suburban Chicago student is in custody after being arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers at Elgin Community College Thursday morning, the college said, two days after a U.S. citizen from the suburb was briefly detained in what the government is calling an immigration enforcement blitz in the Chicago area. The student was taken into custody in the parking lot of Building K, a statement to the school community said. The building houses the college’s Adult Basic Education Center, which offers English as a second language classes, GED preparation, citizenship classes and workforce development resources.

* Daily Southtown | Blue Island police help woman after her husband was taken into ICE custody: Officials also said Blue Island police assisted the family of the detained person by ensuring the safety of family members, helping them recover important documents from their vehicle and making sure the vehicle was not towed. “The city of Blue Island remains committed to the safety and well-being of all residents while respecting the jurisdiction of federal authorities,” an official said Thursday. Officials said local law enforcement was not involved in the federal stop. Blue Island police Chief Jason Slattery said he saw five officers dressed in olive drab vests take a man into custody, leaving behind the man’s car in a no-parking, tow away zone when he arrived on the scene at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday.

* Daily Herald | Des Plaines mayor responds to ICE detentions in city: In his written remarks, Goczkowski reiterated that the city does not work with the U.S. Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and encouraged citizens and non-citizens alike to learn their rights. “Our job is to serve Des Plaines residents, not to question where they came from or their status,” he wrote. The message comes after reports that federal agents arrested the men Tuesday morning at a gas station near Ballard and Potter roads, on the city’s east side. One of the men is a U.S. citizen and was later released, according to reports.

* Shaw Local | Will County State’s Attorney’s lawsuit seeks to remove Joliet City Council member from office: The lawsuit was filed on Tuesday, and it is known as a “quo warranto” complaint, which is Latin for “by what warrant” and it is used to challenge a person’s right to hold public office, according to the Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute. The lawsuit from Glasgow’s office claims Moreno filed a “false statement of candidacy regarding his qualifications” and he was not a resident of Joliet for a year before the April 1, 2025, election, as required under state law.

* Daily Southtown | Harvey Park District sued in claim it blocked commissioners from serving: According to the civil complaint by Cotton and Brown-Oneal, the Park District, through its attorneys the Del Galdo Law Group, sent a letter to Cotton on May 8 saying that his being indebted to the Park District led to his seat being vacated. The letter, which was offered as part of the complaint, defended the decision with Illinois statute that deems a person ineligible of serving as park commissioner “if that person is in arrears in the payment of a tax or other indebtedness due to the park district.” The complaint states that the letter “is not based on any truth, and legally without any merit whatsoever.”

* Naperville Sun | Jain takes seat on Naperville council amid concerns about selection process transparency: Near the end of the meeting, Councilman Nate Wilson raised general concerns about the city’s appointment process. […] “Under current law, we can fill a vacancy in closed session,” Wilson said. “That’s legally permissible. However, in my opinion, it limits transparency and may undermine the public’s confidence in council’s actions.” More specifically, Wilson said he believed that excluding the public from deliberations opens the council up to the perception that “decisions are being driven through personal relationships” and “political favoritism.”

* Daily Southtown | Small libraries in south suburbs feel federal cuts to already limited resources: Furthermore, the “catch-22,” Rodrigues said, is libraries with lower funding also have fewer resources to use on applying for grants. That makes it hard to compete with libraries that can hire a professional grant writer. Rodrigues said she applies for grants on top of her other work throughout the week. “It’s a little sad sometimes when you go to communities that have such better funding and see all these nice things you could get for your community that we won’t have,” Rodrigues said.

* Daily Herald | Did ducks at a Buffalo Grove pond die of botulism? Village working with state to find out: IDNR officials told the village it received initial reports of dead waterfowl in mid-August and conducted a site visit confirming 15-20 mallard duck carcasses and several dozen live birds around the pond. Several carcasses were collected and submitted to the National Wildlife Health Center for botulism testing, though tissue quality proved insufficient for testing. Additional reports of dead ducks surfaced early this month. While an IDNR official heard birds showing clinical botulism signs were taken to a rehabilitation facility where infection may have been confirmed, the agency said future testing would require access to dying rather than dead birds.

*** Downstate ***

* SJ-R | News station denies suspending former Springfield TV anchor over Charlie Kirk comments: Reached by The State Journal-Register, Heather Nodine, who is news director for the formerly Sinclair-owned station, said the station has not suspended or fired anyone in the past 90 days, though she was unable to comment on Harmony’s situation specifically. […] Harmony was a sales employee whose job was to produce and anchor Marketplace, a sales-based program that features clients who pay to have interviews on the air, Nodine said. Harmony was not employed as a journalist and never worked within the station’s news department, Nodine added.

* WAND | Protesters warn that ADM’s proposed CO2 project puts Decatur water at risk: Illinois People’s Action posted to Facebook Sept. 10 that ADM wants to “dump 95 million tons of dangerous CO2 waste” in the Decatur area, including Lake Decatur. The group added in the post that the ADM corporation is “already in violation” of the U.S. Safe Drinking Water Act following a 2022 accident.

* WCIA | State reps come together to talk energy rates — and social services cuts: State representatives Carol Ammons and Paul Faraci came together for a joint town hall at the Illinois terminal in Champaign. They brought in experts to talk about cuts to social services and rising energy costs. Ammons says the higher costs surprised even her — causing her to help put this on today. “We said, let’s invite Ameren in here. Let’s talk about what can be done.” said Ammons, “And at the same time, we asked Community Solar and the Solar for All program that is really helping people lower their energy costs at the same time. But a lot of people don’t know about the program. So, we decided to bring both of these things together into one town hall so that people can get some resources and some answers at the same time.”

* WAND | Demolition begins at Pillsbury site in Springfield: “My dad worked there, my uncle worked there, I had a cousin who worked there, my brother-in-law worked there, my mother-in-law worked there, so did my father-in-law,” Wilkinson said. “I know it has to come down, but it’s sad to see.” That bittersweet sentiment was shared by many former employees, who got emotional watching the smokestack fall to the ground. It marks the beginning of a large-scale demolition project, set to be completed by summer 2026.

*** National ***

* Brennan Center | Limiting the Military’s Role in Law Enforcement: The Posse Comitatus Act rests at the center of a web of laws, regulations, and policies that govern what the U.S. military can and cannot do domestically. It is a crucial safeguard for the preservation of both American democracy and constitutional liberties. At the same time, it is riddled with exceptions, loopholes, and ambiguities that leave it surprisingly weak. The most dangerous exception by far is the Insurrection Act, which gives the president virtually limitless discretion to use the military as a domestic police force. But there are also other ways in which the Posse Comitatus Act fails to provide robust protection against the use of federal troops for law enforcement purposes.

* Crain’s | Durbin slams RFK Jr. as ‘danger’ to kids as CDC panel votes against MMR vaccine: “RFK Jr. will be the first Secretary of HHS with a body count,” Durbin said in a speech. “He is a danger to the children of America.” The Illinois Democrat’s speech comes one day after testimony before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions by Dr. Susan Monarez that Kennedy fired her as director of the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention after she pushed back against his skepticism of vaccines and medical research.

* NYT | Kennedy’s Advisory Panel Votes to Limit M.M.R.V. Vaccine for Children Under 4: Many of the panelists also seemed unsure about the purpose of the Vaccines for Children program, which provides free shots to roughly half of all American children. Approving which vaccines the program should cover is a key function of the committee.

* Bloomberg | China Seeks Trade Edge, Shunning US Soy in First Since 1990s: For the first time since at least the 1990s, China hasn’t bought any US soybeans at the start of the export season, a sign that Beijing is once again using agriculture as leverage in its trade fight with Washington. As the world’s top soybean buyer, China wields enormous influence over global markets. Now it’s reviving a familiar tactic of holding back on US purchases — deployed during the first trade war under President Donald Trump — as the two countries navigate a fragile truce.