* ICYMI: Abuse was caught on camera at Choate Developmental Center. The prosecutor offered plea deals. Capitol News Illinois…

- Union County prosecutor Tyler Tripp agreed to reduce felony aggravated battery charges to misdemeanors in abuse cases against Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center workers caught on tape abusing patients.
- Three days after one of those pleas, Gov. JB Pritzker announced massive job cuts at Choate, phasing out mental health and developmental disabilities placements at the facility.
- Tripp later filed a federal lawsuit to stop the elimination of developmental disabilities and mental health placements at the downstate Illinois facility.

* Gov. JB Pritzker has no public events scheduled today.

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Block Club | OpenAI Alerted Chicago It Accessed City Database Amid Reports Of Its Agents Going Rogue: “At this time, the city of Chicago is unaware of any sensitive information being obtained by OpenAI, nor is the city aware of OpenAI engaging in unauthorized use of city systems,” Novelo said in a statement. “The city publishes several data sets and dashboards for transparency and public awareness. The data in question was public data from a public facing dashboard.”

* CBS Chicago | 11 current, former Ford Heights, Illinois, officials to appear in court on charges of misusing funds: On Wednesday morning, all 11 will appear for an arraignment hearing at the suburban Cook County Courthouse in Markham, where they will get a chance to answer the accusations. Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said the defendants intentionally stole from taxpayers. They are accused of participating in a scheme to use the funds to pay for airfare, hotel accommodations and “exorbitant spending excursions” in casinos while vacationing in Las Vegas and Michigan City, Indiana.

*** Statewide ***

* Crain’s | Sacks family, Michael Reese Health Trust give $1.25M to Illinois abortion access fund​: The Michael Reese Health Trust is putting $1.25 million toward shoring up Illinois’ abortion access infrastructure, using a $650,000 grant from its newly renamed Wally Nathan Go Big Fund and an additional $600,000 gift from Michael and Cari Sacks to offset federal cuts to reproductive health funding. The funds will go to the Prairie State Access Fund, a private-public collaboration between the trust and Gov. JB Pritzker’s administration. The fund, meant to shore up the infrastructure of abortion access in the state, launched in January with an initial $1 million outlay raised by the trust.

*** Statehouse News ***

* 21st Show | Collin Corbett, independent candidate for Illinois governor: Corbett has acknowledged his campaign is a long shot, but it raises a number of interesting questions: What do voters mean when they declare themselves to be independent? Why hasn’t an “independent majority” made itself better known in our political system? And where does real change actually happen in American politics?

* Capitol City Now | Bailey winds down what could be his final campaign: “I fully anticipate winning this, because I think people are tired,” Bailey said during a visit Tuesday to the Capitol Media Group studios, “but whatever that is, whatever day it is, we live life expectancy, and whatever doors open, we’ll walk through it if we feel called.”

*** Chicago ***

* Tribune | Chicago aldermen require bigger majority for city-issued debt in blow to mayoral power: The proposal — an inside-baseball rules change to the public, but a hot-button issue at City Hall — won approval with a 32-15 vote. Many mayoral allies voted against it, and Johnson hinted later Tuesday he might veto the measure. Despite the split vote, debate was brief and only two aldermen spoke. Ald. Bill Conway, 34th, applauded requiring “broad consensus” on major new debt. “The risk we are facing going forward is becoming too tied up in paying the interest on the taxpayers’ credit card that will crowd out our ability to fund parks and schools and roads and police officers and mental health clinics,” he said.

* Ralph Martire | Corporate fund’s structural deficit — not Brandon Johnson — to blame for city’s financial woes: That’s vitally important because the corporate fund is Chicago’s primary operating budget. It covers the core public services residents expect city government to provide, including everything from police and fire protection, to streets and sanitation services, healthcare and social services. Fiscal difficulties in the corporate fund translate into inadequate service levels, which in turn translate into unhappy residents and a lower quality of life. Unfortunately, for over a decade and through numerous different mayoral administrations, city decision makers have struggled to cobble together a balanced budget for the corporate fund.

* Tribune | Illinois 4th district race: Rivals hit Patty García over ballot moves in race to succeed Chuy García: At the first opportunity, the three challengers went after Patty García for what they argued was an effort by her and her closest political allies, including the outgoing congressman, to clear the field and hand her Illinois’ 4th Congressional District seat. “I spoke out against it, and I am giving the people a choice by running as an independent candidate,” Chris Getty, the mayor of suburban Lyons, said of the political maneuvering. Though Getty is a Democrat, he’s running as an independent and sometimes sounds like a Republican. During the debate, Getty vowed that, if elected, he would not caucus with either Democrats or the GOP, a move that would make him even more impotent than most rookie members of Congress.

* Block Club | Wieners Circle Has Always Had Something To Say. What Happens When Its Owner Runs For Mayor?: “I’ve always felt like I’m sort of playing with house money. Every opportunity is house money for me at this point, based on where I’m supposed to be, based on where my pin drop is,” he said. “That’s just how I think about it, and it’s part of the inspiration for why I’m doing what I’m doing.”

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Herald | Suburban water agencies talking with Chicago, but moving forward with $6B plan to sidestep city: Commission board Chair Jim Zay and sources from the city confirmed Tuesday that the two sides will meet in Elmhurst to discuss a new contract that will supply water to the 30 communities, and about 1.5 million people, served by the agency. But those talks are overshadowed by last month’s announcement that the commission plans to partner with the Northwest Suburban Municipal Joint Action Water Agency on a $6 billion proposal to build a lake water intake, purification station and tunnels stretching across two counties.

* ABC Chicago | South suburban teachers file OSHA complaint over dirty schools: The union representing teachers in Cook County School District 130 has filed a complaint with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration after weeks of raising concerns about unsanitary conditions in school buildings. Teachers say gyms, lunchrooms, classrooms and bathrooms across the district remain dirty despite repeated complaints since the start of the school year. Union leaders said the OSHA complaint, which includes dozens of photographs, is intended to push the district to address the conditions.

* Daily Herald | East Dundee village president slammed for letting Darren Bailey speak at Oktoberfest: The organization charged that Pearson and Bailey, whose appearance at the event was captured on video posted on social media, violated state election laws. The East Dundee Village Board was urged to take action to censure Pearson for his actions. Illinois law states that “no public funds shall be used to urge any elector to vote for or against any candidate or proposition, or be appropriated for political or campaign purposes to any candidate or political organization.” […] Bailey was one of two Republican candidates invited by Pearson to the stage to give a political speech. The other, according to social media posts, was Jennifer Davis, who is running for the 8th District Congressional seat but is not seen in the video.

* Evanston Roundtable | Horton co-defendant pleads guilty, will testify against former superintendent: A co-defendant accused of running a kickback scheme with former Evanston/Skokie School District 65 Superintendent Devon Horton confessed to one count of wire fraud Tuesday as part of a plea deal with the federal government. As part of that arrangement, he’s agreed to testify against Horton and two other co-defendants in a trial scheduled to begin next month, according to the deal.

* Daily Herald | Saint Joseph Hospital in Elgin drops its trauma center designation: The hospital voluntarily removed the designation on Sept. 23. It notified the Illinois Department of Public Health of its plan five days earlier. “Trauma volumes at Saint Joseph Hospital have continued to decline significantly, and the hospital now treats only approximately two major trauma patients per month,” Mark Reece, regional vice president for marketing operations for facility owner Prime Healthcare, said in a written statement.

*** Downstate ***

* WCBU | Peoria Public Schools board approves tentative balanced budget, as recent audits remain unfinished: Peoria Public Schools District 150 has adopted a tentative balanced budget for the 2027 fiscal year with revenues exceeding expenses by $5.3 million. However, Superintendent Jerry Bell emphasized the financial plan likely will need to be amended once audits for the past two fiscal years are done. “The numbers that are in this budget were guesstimates and estimates based on the final or the last completed audit, which was during the 2023-24 school year,” Bell told the Board of Education during Monday’s meeting ahead of the Sept. 30 budget deadline.

* 25News Now | Caterpillar showcases AI, remote control tech at Edwards demo center: “The technologies that we’re bringing range from operator assist technologies all the way to remote control and autonomy. And that really helps our customers to solve these labor shortages and labor challenges, said Jaime Mineart, Caterpillar chief technology officer. “It helps them attract new laborers into this space by offering jobs that are easier to upskill and more attractive to do,” Mineart said.

* WCIA | Urbana City Council approves joint fire academy agreement with local departments: The resolution passed by the city council authorizes an agreement between the Cities of Urbana and Champaign, along with the Cornbelt Fire Protection District, to operate a Basic Operations/Advanced Firefighter Academy. The agreement would last for one year, with extension as an option if the parties agree to it.

*** National ***

* Media Matters | “Psyop”: The right-wing media figures claiming that midterm polls are designed to suppress conservative turnout: Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts told Fox that midterm election polling is a “psyop … to depress conservative turnout.” Roberts said, “I think that this prognosticating is a psyop by so many of these polling firms in order to do what, to depress conservative turnout. … Former Trump strategist Steve Bannon on midterm polling: “That psyop is out there pretty strongly.” Bannon said … Newsmax host Rob Finnerty on polling showing dismal support for Republicans and Trump: “Do you think maybe the left is doing that on purpose?”

* AP | Senate passes college sports bill that would rein in athlete payments and transfers: The legislation “places a cap on the students’ cut of the revenues, but there are no caps on coaches’ salaries or on the size of donations to athletic programs,” Murphy said last week. Groups like the NAACP, Congressional Black Caucus and AFL-CIO have also opposed the bill, in part, because it leaves unresolved whether athletes should be considered employees with the ability to collectively bargain.

* Houston Chronicle | Texas shattered energy demand records this summer. Here’s why the grid barely broke a sweat: Perhaps the most telling sign of the lack of stress was at the hour with the highest energy demand in the Texas grid’s 85-year history — 6 p.m. on July 22 — there was so much reserve generation that batteries connected to the grid were able to charge, instead of providing energy.