|
Isabel’s afternoon roundup
Wednesday, Sep 2, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller * Crain’s…
* Daily Herald | NITA is in the driver’s seat for public transit with $8 million assist from consultants: The 20-member panel will be advised by the Boston Consulting Group, a firm hired by the Illinois Department of Transportation for up to $7.9 million over two years with options to renew their contract. The consultants, who started Aug. 17, will assist with centralizing certain functions such as procurement, finding efficiencies, searching for an executive director, and organizing the reinvented system.
Uihlein has written larger checks to state legislative candidates this year. * The Triibe | Chicago invested in a record 32,500 youth jobs this summer: In an exclusive one-on-one interview with The TRiiBE, Mayor Brandon Johnson announced that his administration made a record-breaking investment in youth this summer under the rebranded Chicago Youth Works. The city funded more than 32,500 paid opportunities for teens and young adults, the highest annual total in Chicago history, Johnson said. Employment models were largely split between minimum wages ($17.05 per hour) and stipends. “This is part of the hallmark, if you will, of my administration, investing in young people. I have made this case repeatedly that when we invest in our young people, when we invest in our communities, it creates safer neighborhoods,” Johnson said. * Crain’s | Johnson’s starring role in World Business Chicago videos draws ethics hearing: The City Council will hold an ethics hearing into promotional videos featuring Mayor Brandon Johnson that critics say blur the line between economic development and campaigning as he prepares for an expected re-election bid. Eight members of the council’s Ethics Committee requested the hearing over videos produced by World Business Chicago, the city’s economic development arm, that tout Johnson and his administration’s “Build Better Together” agenda. At least one of the videos was shared last week by Johnson’s campaign account on Instagram. * NBC Chicago | DuSable Lake Shore Drive bridge malfunctions due to heat, leading to major traffic jam: Major traffic was building on DuSable Lake Shore Drive Wednesday afternoon in both directions after a bridge malfunctioned due to the heat. The Chicago Office of Emergency Management posted about incident just after 11 a.m., saying the Lake Shore Drive Bridge at Grand was stuck in the “up” position. About 30 minutes later, the Chicago Department of Transportation said the DSLD bridge experienced a “heat-related issue” during a scheduled lift, preventing it from fully closing. * Pioneer Press | Clarendon Hills hires consultant in effort to reduce stormwater flooding: The village has entered into a contract with Christopher B. Burke Engineering Ltd. in an amount not to exceed $25,000 to begin a preliminary study of the stormwater areas north of Chicago Avenue. Public Works Director Brendan McLaughlin said the village experienced torrential downpours on Aug. 1, causing flooding in several areas. The hardest hit area was the vicinity of Middaugh Road and Walnut Street, where water entered some homes and made streets impassable. * Pioneer Press | As Niles North teacher faces federal charges, pact clarifies schools’ communication with Skokie police: Skokie police will continue their presence at Niles Township High School District 219’s campuses in Skokie under a newly updated agreement that spells out how officers and school administrators should respond to suspected criminal activity. Revisions to the agreement follow scorn from several district parents for the way school officials handled recent criminal allegations brought against a former Spanish teacher at Niles North High School, federally charged with transporting child pornography aboard an international flight. * Sun-Times | After drug arrest, calls emerge for Mark Stephens to resign as chairman of Triton College’s board: Mark Stephens, the longtime chairman of Triton College’s board of trustees, should resign his leadership position in the wake of his recent drug arrest in the suburbs, according to two colleagues on the panel. “This is an opportunity for us to move in a different direction,” says Triton board secretary Tracy Jennings. “So I’m hopeful he would see this and decide to resign that position.” * Tribune | Illinois heath officials responding to measles outbreak in Douglas County: Illinois health officials announced an outbreak of measles Wednesday in Douglas County in east central Illinois – news that comes amid a national resurgence of the illness. There have been at least four confirmed, linked cases of measles in Douglas County, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. An outbreak is defined as three or more connected cases. * Illinois Times | ShotSpotter stalls: Ordinance to extend contract is withdrawn, new language and amendment in the works : The City Council voted Sept. 1 to withdraw the ordinance for a $1.1 million, three-year contract for the acoustic gunshot detection surveillance technology. Ward 10 Ald. Ralph Hanauer made the motion, which he said was done at the request of the mayor. The unanimous vote to withdraw the ordinance occurred before any discussion took place at the council meeting. A revised version will be introduced to the council in a few weeks, said Mayor Misty Buscher. * WCIA | U of I grad helps launch new satellite, searching for black matter and new worlds: “It was pretty different, you know, my concept of it compared to what I really study now,” Choi said. “But there was something about the mystery of it that was really appealing, like black holes and things like that.” She said Roman has a wide field of view camera seeing about 100 times more of the night sky than the Hubble or James Webb telescopes. * Heartland News | Fairgoers can sample and buy Illinois-made products at Du Quoin State Fair: The Illinois Department of Agriculture(IDOA) is hosting the 2026 Illinois Product Expo at the fair. The products are available for sample and purchase at the Expo Hall on Friday, September 4 from 5 to 9 p.m.; September 5 from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.; and September 6 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. “Consumers are increasingly interested in where their food comes from, and the Illinois Product Expo is a great way to connect buyers with local farmers and producers,” said Jerry Costello II, Director of the IDOA. * Reuters | Blackout risk rises as heatwave stresses largest US electric grids: The risk of power outages is expected to escalate across a broad swath of the United States on Wednesday as intense heat will test the capacity of electricity supplies serving millions of homes and businesses from the midwest through the mid-Atlantic. The US Department of Energy warned of the potential for heightened blackout risks in the PJM Interconnection, the largest US electric grid, which serves 67 million people in a territory stretching from Washington DC to Chicago. * Harvest Public Media | Federal delays are holding up $21 billion for rural internet projects, as states wait for guidance: State officials are waiting for guidance on how they can spend billions of federal dollars earmarked for rural broadband projects. The federal Broadband Equity Access and Deployment, or BEAD, Program is meant to help states connect far-flung places to high speed internet. Congress allocated about $42 billion for BEAD in 2023 through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. It was the largest investment in federal broadband infrastructure in the nation’s history. * WIRED | Trump Administration Sides With OpenAI in New York Times Copyright Lawsuit: On Tuesday, the federal government submitted a letter to the court stating that the United States has a “strong interest” in whether AI training on copyright works is considered “fair use,” because it connects to whether the country’s AI industry can “retain global leadership in artificial intelligence.” (The “fair use” rule shields certain uses of copyrighted materials.)
|
|
It’s taken Illinois 14 years to regain an ‘A’ rating from S&P, and we’re still at the bottom of the pack
Wednesday, Sep 2, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller * The Tribune way back in August 2012, during the Quinn administration…
* Fourteen years later, Illinois is finally back. Crain’s…
Illinois still has S&P’s lowest state credit rating, but it’s now just one notch behind New Jersey, Kentucky and Pennsylvania, all rated A+. Illinois hit rock bottom in 2017, when S&P knocked the state down to BBB-, just one notch above junk.
|
|
DuPage Republicans promote GOTV event that appears to violate state law (Updated x2)
Wednesday, Sep 2, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller * The DuPage County Republicans posted this inducement to early vote earlier today…  Click here for a full resolution screenshot of the post. * But there might be an oh-so-slight problem with the Illinois Election Code…
Might’ve been a good idea to call the lawyers first. This is pretty basic stuff. …Adding… The Facebook post has been deleted. …Adding… Illinois State Board of Elections spokesperson Matt Dietrich…
|
|
Roundup: Data centers face growing local resistance
Wednesday, Sep 2, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller * Politico…
* WAND…
* Champaign County is trying to write the rules before its one-year moratorium expires. IPM Newsroom…
* NPR Illinois…
* More…
* Capitol News Illinois | PJM’s big new data center plan: Make the states figure it out: PJM Interconnection, the biggest grid operator in the U.S., has finally settled on a plan to prevent data centers from causing other customers’ utility bills to soar further in its 13-state territory. That plan relies heavily on states themselves, and the utilities they regulate, to force data centers to secure their own power supplies — or face the possibility of getting their power cut off during grid emergencies. * Bloomberg | AI Data Center Spending to Reach $32 Trillion by 2050, PwC Says: Global data center spending is set to reach $31.6 trillion through 2050 to meet the world’s growing appetite for AI, an investment boom with no precedent in history, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. Dwarfing projects such as the railways, internet and electrification, spending on data centers could even hit $50 trillion over the next two and a half decades if AI adoption accelerates beyond PwC’s “central scenario” forecast, the firm said in a report Wednesday. For comparison: the US gross domestic product is roughly $30 trillion. * Utah News Dispatch | Utah can’t say how much it’s losing from data center tax break: “The scale and rapid growth of data-center investment raise legitimate questions about whether our current framework, and the data available to evaluate it, remain adequate,” Rep. Jill Koford, R-Ogden, said in an email. Koford sponsored a bill passed by the Legislature earlier this year requiring transparency around data centers’ water usage. Utah isn’t alone in its opaque approach to sales and use tax exemptions for data centers. A report from Good Jobs First, a nonprofit which focuses on corporate and government accountability, found that 14 of the 37 states with such exemptions don’t publish their official revenue losses in a timely manner. Those that do reported losing between $830,000 and $1.9 billion in 2025, with larger losses projected for this year and beyond. * The Dallas Morning News | More than half of Texas data centers broke law by not responding to water use inquiry: Information requests from state power and water regulators received responses from fewer than half of the data centers identified by the two state agencies. The dearth of information underlined a lack of transparency from data center developers that has fed growing public mistrust. Data centers’ rapid emergence in Texas has become a potent issue in this year’s election cycle, especially in rural communities that tend to be Republican strongholds. * Illinois Answers | Data Centers Near O’Hare Win Nearly $100M in Local Tax Breaks, Leaving Suburban Homeowners to Cover the Gap: The impact lands hardest on homeowners in suburbs where the tax base leans on a handful of big businesses. In northwest suburban Northlake, the average homeowner would save more than $2,000 on their annual tax bill — a difference of almost 30% — if local data centers did not receive valuation reductions and incentives, according to the analysis. At least 18 northwest suburban data centers won multimillion-dollar breaks in their taxable value from Cook County officials — in one case landing on a valuation far below what the business originally paid to buy its site.
|
|
Showcasing The Retailers Who Make Illinois Work
Wednesday, Sep 2, 2026 - Posted by Advertising Department [The following is a paid advertisement.] Cherish Matias combined her passion for early childhood education with her love of baking to create Cheri’s Berries Cafe and Play in Metropolis. It’s a one-of-a-kind space where kids can play, learn, and build social skills while parents enjoy homemade food, coffee, and baked goods. Since opening in 2025, Cheri’s Berries has become a welcoming gathering place for families in the community. Retail provides one out of every five Illinois jobs, generates the second largest amount of tax revenue for the state, and is the largest source of revenue for local governments. But retail is also so much more, with retailers serving as the trusted contributors to life’s moments, big and small. We Are Retail and IRMA are dedicated to sharing the stories of retailers like Cherish in Metropolis who serve their communities with dedication and pride. Please visit https://WeAreRetail.IRMA.org/.
Comments Off |
|
Isabel’s morning briefing
Wednesday, Sep 2, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller * ICYMI: S&P upgrades Illinois’ credit rating. Crain’s…
- It’s the ratings agency’s first upgrade of Illinois’ debt in three years. S&P joins Moody’s, which upgraded the state’s debt last week and issued its second upgrade in a year. - S&P cited the state’s rainy day fund of about $2.5 billion and better-than-expected budget performance for the year ended June 30, despite negative impacts from federal tax law changes. * Related stories… * Gov. JB Pritzker has no public events scheduled today. * Cook County Record | IL prescription drug ‘affordability’ law conflicts with fed law, judge says: A federal judge has shelved Illinois’ new so-called Prescription Drug Affordability Act, finding the state law almost certainly conflicts with federal law by burdening organizations that help insurers manage prescription drug benefits with extensive additional reporting mandates that the judge said would unconstitutionally compete with federal rules. On Aug. 31, U.S. District Judge Colleen Lawless entered an injunction, blocking Illinois state officials from enforcing the PDAA law, saying its reporting requirements are preempted by the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA.) * Capitol News Illinois | Judge orders federal logging project halted in Shawnee National Forest: A federal judge this week ordered the U.S. Forest Service to suspend a commercial logging project in southern Illinois’ Shawnee National Forest, finding the 2024 approval of the project under President Joe Biden violated the Endangered Species Act. The agency improperly approved the project in October 2024 without waiting for a final “biological opinion” from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, an East St. Louis judge ruled Monday. That opinion, which was completed six weeks after the Forest Service approved the logging project, identified the roughly 70-acre project area as home to the federally protected Indiana bat. * CBS Chicago | NITA replaces RTA as Chicago area’s mass transit oversight agency: “A lot of the reforms and the deadlines have been included in the NITA Act,” Vaishnav said. “They have already put in a lot of requirements to keep us on track.” Safety on transit it one of the biggest concerns for riders, but one highly anticipated safety program is not starting on Tuesday as originally planned. The $9.6 million Safe Ride Specialist pilot program is now expected to launch in the coming weeks. * Sun-Times | Did Trump detain the ‘worst of the worst’ in Chicago last fall?: During Operation Midway Blitz, 85% of the immigrants who were held had no prior criminal conviction, a Chicago Sun-Times / WBEZ analysis finds. Federal immigration agents often were more successful at detaining serious criminals in the months before and after the high-profile deportation campaign than during it. * Sun-Times | Mayoral candidates decry Chicago violence ‘crisis,’ even as summer murders hit 61-year low: Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, the best-financed mayoral candidate, pointed to shootings last weekend in an X posting: “Gun violence is more than a statistic, it’s a public health crisis that is cutting too many lives short.” U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley, talking up his mayoral qualifications on WBEZ two weeks ago, said Chicago faced a “public safety crisis” and claimed falsely that homicides were on the rise: “They’re dipping back up, obviously.” * NBC Chicago | Better connections, more frequent service coming to Chicago-area transit, leaders say: “We really want to make that connection seamless. And to be able to do that, we are focusing on inter-agency hubs, whether that’s Midway, Jefferson Park, Crystal Lake. These are places where we know a lot of riders transfer between services,” he said. Over the next couple years, NITA will put one service plan in place for the whole region. Another focus will be on how often the buses and trains come. * ABC Chicago | Community advocates call for environmental health assessment for South Chicago Chapel: The community organizers said they want to know more about that infestation. They’re calling for a comprehensive investigation making 15 demands, including full testing of the HVAC system and then a written report explaining whether the building is safe to enter. South Chicago Chapel is shut down, but the organizers call this request an urgent public health concern. They’re asking for written confirmation from leaders here at City Hall. * The Real Deal | Illinois Comptroller Mendoza keeps fiscal turnaround at center of Chicago mayoral pitch: Mendoza’s platform focuses on affordability and fiscal discipline, aiming to “fix the math at City Hall”— a major talking point in the election that plays to her strengths as the state’s CFO. The city’s property taxes will also be a closely followed topic; Mendoza proposed fixing them with a graduated tax system in her 2019 campaign before later dropping the plan. She cited rising construction costs, bureaucratic delays, rigid space mandates and excessive fees as issues holding back development in Chicago. TRD asked Mendoza about housing policy, the office market and business revival. * CBS Chicago | Illinois law cracking down on idling drivers near O’Hare back in motion: “The other night there were 30-some odd cars parked on just what we could see within eyesight,” said Rep. Brad Stephens (R-Norridge). It’s a problem Stephens has been trying to stop for years. He passed the O’Hare Driver Safety Act, but a key part was missing. The cameras were supposed to be installed last year, but lawmakers accidentally left the Illinois Department of Transportation out of the legislation. So, they had to go back to Springfield and fix it, pushing the rollout back another year. * Block Club | Aquarium Smokers Are A Chicago Barbecue Mystery: For the last 23 years, Adams has cooked on aquarium smokers like the one at Honey 1 BBQ, 746 E. 43rd St. in Bronzeville. While traditional smokers have metal sides, aquarium smokers have doors made from tempered glass that let chefs peer in at the meat as it bathes in fragrant smoke. The contraptions are unique to Chicago’s barbecue tradition, populating nearly every classic barbecue restaurant across the South and West sides. * Sun-Times | Illinois suburbs halt Flock use, suspend officers and review policy amid alleged improper use: Homer Glen announced Monday that it was suspending the use of Flock cameras within its borders pending an investigation after a Will County sheriff’s deputy was placed on administrative leave amid allegations he misused the database of license plate-tracking data. * ABC Chicago | Naperville City Council votes to ban kratom sales: The Naperville City Council voted 8-0 to ban the sale of natural and synthetic kratom, despite objections from some who said natural versions of the substance provide health benefits. The ordinance removes kratom products from store shelves in Naperville. However, it allows people age 18 and older to possess and consume the substance. * Daily Herald | No guarantee: DuPage clerk won’t commit to using $665,000 for election printing and postage: ohnson said the clerk’s office needs at least an additional $1.2 million, including the $665,000 the board approved Tuesday, to run a successful general election. “You want $1.2 million and a blank check,” Conroy shot back when Johnson referred to the shortfall. “That will never happen.” Board member Mary FitzGerald Ozog characterized the clerk’s actions as “retribution.” * Muddy River News | Quincy City Council grapples with solar farms: Adlerman Eric Entrup (R-Ward 1) announced a plan to avoid the neighborhood squabbles that have bubbled up recently over solar projects being shoehorned into properties with a special use permit. It’s actually amending the existing city code, Chapter 162.030, to establish a special use permit with conditions for commercial solar energy properties in a RU-1 or rural zoning district. He made a motion to send the amendment to the city’s plan commission, which was seconded and approved by the full council during Monday night’s weekly meeting. * WCIA | Officials discuss Bank of Springfield Center expansion, 3% hotel tax: The Springfield Metropolitan Exposition and Auditorium Authority held a special board meeting at the Bank of Springfield Center Monday to discuss a possible expansion project for the center. State Representative Mike Coffey, who also serves as chairman of the SMEAA, said that the board is 100% behind the expansion, and Springfield officials are actively re-thinking how they will pay for planned renovations. This comes after a plan to pay for the project fell short in the state legislature. * WGLT | State and federal emergency managers tour storm damage as county officials seek aid: “We’re really at that beginning step and these damage assessments are a necessary step in that process,” said Kim Keblish, a spokesperson for the Federal Emergency Management Agency [FEMA]. Representatives from FEMA, the Illinois Emergency Management Agency [IEMA], the U.S. Small Business Administration [SBA] and the McLean County Emergency Management Agency were going door-to-door in Bloomington-Normal on Tuesday to compile new claims and verify existing ones. * WCBU | Pekin grade school district gives bus company an ultimatum to fix student transportation problems: One consequence for failing to meet that deadline would be termination of the district’s five-year contract with the Alltown, which includes a $4.8 million payment in the first year. Parent Matthew Johnson, one of four public speakers at the board’s emergency meeting in the Washington Intermediate School cafeteria, supported the board’s action. “This company has a five-year contract with the district and they didn’t make it to Day 1,” he said. “The board needs to hold their feet to the fire. What’s happened is a catastrophic failure of the education process.” * WGLT | Amid investigation and lawsuit, Bloomington Police officer files for retirement: The announcement comes amid an internal investigation and federal lawsuit into Williams’ alleged conduct. The lawsuit alleges Williams violated the rights of two Bloomington DoorDash drivers during a June traffic stop. The City of Bloomington is a co-defendant. The plaintiffs’ attorney, Jared Kosoglad of Chicago, said Williams’ retirement does not absolve him from the lawsuit, on which he is named as an individual.
|
|
Good morning!
Wednesday, Sep 2, 2026 - Posted by Rich Miller * Dolly usually doesn’t get much credit for her guitar playing, but she could pick, even with those long fingernails… From Hillbilly Heaven to a penthouse on the coast This is an Illinois open thread.
|
|
Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today’s edition of Capitol Fax (use all CAPS in password)
Wednesday, Sep 2, 2026 - Posted by Rich Miller
Comments Off |
|
Selected press releases (live updates)
Wednesday, Sep 2, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller
|
| PREVIOUS POSTS » |
