* Subscribers know more. ICYMI: Illinois Speaker Welch tries to contain fallout over handling of Harry Benton harassment allegations. Tribune…

- Speaker Welch said his office waited three months after the female staffer notified his office of a lengthy list of harassment allegations before taking any action, because the young woman said she wanted the speaker’s office to wait until she had left her job.
- But the former Benton staffer told the Tribune on Tuesday she did not recall telling the speaker’s office to delay taking action and, just weeks after filing her initial report of harassment allegations against the former Plainfield Democrat, she told the speaker’s office about additional inappropriate comments she experienced with Benton.
- Female House members who attended Welch’s virtual meetings Tuesday said there were discussions on potentially strengthening policies and procedures on reporting sexual harassment and other inappropriate behavior, as well as better training for lawmakers and staff.

* At 9:30 am, Gov. JB Pritzker will participate in a fireside chat with Kara Swisher at the Global Quantum Forum. At 11:10 am, the governor will host a press conference to announce a new company investing in Illinois at the Global Quantum Forum. Click here to watch.

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Tribune | Watchdog report on Cook County tax tech contract: ‘Nobody’s hands are clean’: A “myriad of problems spread across all parties involved … created a ‘perfect storm’ and severely delayed the implementation” of the county’s new property tax system, which is still incomplete, Inspector General Tirrell Paxton’s office concluded. The office reviewed the original contracts with Tyler Technologies and spoke to leaders of the county’s property tax offices and company officials from Tyler and two other contractors later brought on to provide oversight and project management.

* Illinois Times | Solar company, landowner sue Sangamon County: For the second time in as many weeks, the Sangamon County Board was served a lawsuit seeking to overturn a Board zoning decision. In June, the board’s legal adviser and assistant state’s attorney, Joel Benoit, warned the board of potential legal action from Summit Ridge Energy. He said the petition for a 20-acre solar farm on Lenhart Road submitted by the Virginia-based company, which has more than 100 solar farms in Illinois, follows legal guidelines.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Politico | Data boom meets boundaries: Gov. JB Pritzker made clear Tuesday that he wants Illinois to remain open for data centers — but only if they don’t drive up residents’ utility bills or strain the state’s power grid. Speaking at the Aspen Ideas: Climate conference, Pritzker defended his decision to pause state tax incentives for new data centers, arguing that the industry has “taken too much advantage” of Illinois’ incentive program while contributing to higher electricity demand. His message: Data centers are welcome, but they should “bring energy with them.”

* Capitol News Illinois | Bailey seeks to classify any organization receiving $10K in state grants as a ‘public body’: In an interview with Capitol News Illinois on Monday, Bailey’s running mate Aaron Del Mar said the campaign is getting behind stalled Statehouse legislation that would make NGOs that receive at least $10,000 or 20% of their total funding from the state subject to the Illinois Freedom of Information Act and the Open Meetings Act. “Every other level of government here in Illinois is subject to FOIA,” Del Mar said. “But we can’t see once that money leaves state coffers and goes to one of these NGOs or these vendors how they’re spending it. What is the actual outcome?”

* WGEM | Illinois lieutenant gubernatorial candidate makes campaign stop in Quincy: “There’s 102 counties in Illinois, 97 are ruby red Republican rural areas of Illinois. You need to go out there and govern for everyone and if you don’t actually put your boots on the ground, if you don’t go to these communities and talk to the people and see what the challenges are on that level, you can’t effectively govern,” Del Mar said.

* Press Release | Illinois Legislative Latino Caucus responds to continued escalation of ICE involvement: “We are also deeply concerned by the blatant violation of the Illinois Court Access, Safety and Participation Act, which prohibits federal immigration agents from making arrests at or near county courthouses. At the same time, ICE enforcement activity throughout Chicago and its surrounding suburbs has risen significantly. Data from the nonprofit Resurrection Project shows that calls reporting ICE activity have increased by nearly 50%.

* WMBD | IL State Treasurer returns a record $308 million to people, businesses, nonprofits: Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs says more than 567,000 residents, businesses, and organizations received their money back thanks to improvements through the I-CASH program. The Illinois State Treasurer’s Office is tasked with safeguarding and returning unclaimed property, including safe deposit boxes, unpaid life insurance benefits, and forgotten bank accounts, and is legally required to return unclaimed property to its owner or heirs, no matter how long it takes.

*** Chicago ***

* ABC Chicago | Mayor Johnson talks CPD superintendent opening, teen takeovers: Superintendent Larry Snelling retired last week and was replaced by Fred Waller on an interim basis. “We are going to go through a thorough vetting process over the next few months,” Johnson said. “Right now, although I have absolute confidence in Fred Waller as the current superintendent as we work to build safe and affordable communities. ”

* Sun-Times | Chicago’s air quality has improved, but experts warn wildfires, wind can change conditions: As nearly 900 wildfires continue to burn throughout Canada, experts say any fluctuations in air quality in the Chicago area will depend on wind direction and other factors. “Based on the wildfire episodes our city has experienced in the summers of 2023, 2025, and this year, residents should expect periods of changing air quality, depending on Canadian and U.S. West Coast wildfire activity and weather patterns,” said Serap Erdal, associate professor at the University of Illinois Chicago School of Public Health.

* Crain’s | After a $500M exit, this Chicago tech founder is back and building again: Now [Ed Bellis is] back at work, building another startup, Empirical Security, which just raised $25 million. He’s continuing the fight against hackers with his former Kenna colleague, Michael Roytman, and Jay Jacobs. […] The world is flooded with bugs, worms, viruses and all manner of malicious code that could exploit flaws or weaknesses in the myriad software used by companies to run their operations. Artificial intelligence only makes the problem worse. Empirical aims to pick up where Kenna left off in using sophisticated data analysis to sift through the potential vulnerabilities and zero in on the ones most likely to become threats for individual users.

* Block Club | Loyola’s Plan To Turn Closed School Into Student Housing Could Free Up Local Apartments, University Says: Loyola University Chicago and the Ignatian Mission Center are proposing a redevelopment of the St. Ignatius campus that would include housing for over 200 students and a social services center. The campus includes a church and rectory that have been empty since 2021, after the Archdiocese of Chicago announced it would merge with nearby parishes, and a school building that has been vacant for nearly 10 years.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Herald | ‘Perfect storm’ of bureaucracy blamed for Cook County’s long-delayed property tax system overhaul: Paxton’s report suggests the county’s procurement office take a larger role in future contracts that involve multiple elected offices. “Additionally, the county would have benefited from hiring a dedicated project manager at the outset to identify foreseeable risks, coordinate stakeholder expectations, and ensure that both internal and external responsibilities were clearly defined,” the report states.

* Daily Herald | Prestige, neighbors finalize settlement in class-action suit: A settlement between Prestige Feed Products and neighbors affected by odors from the former Mount Prospect animal feed plant was approved in a Cook County courtroom Tuesday. It concluded more than a year of litigation between named plaintiffs Mary Beth Stillmaker and Sargon Merza of Des Plaines and Prestige Feed Products and Cereal Byproducts Co. The defendants, Prestige Feed and Cereal Byproducts will pay up to $900,000 into a settlement fund, while the agreement states the animal feed company, which closed its plant at the end of 2025, does not admit fault. Attorney’s fees are capped at $300,000 of the total settlement. Plaintiffs may apply for a service award of up to $10,000.

* Daily Southtown | Cook County judge thwarts effort by former Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau to dismiss village lawsuit: While Pekau sought to dismiss the village’s claims for declaratory judgment and breach of fiduciary duty, only the latter was successful. The lawsuit, filed almost a year ago, aims to block Pekau from disclosing confidential information about the village he gained access to as mayor and require him to return the records he obtained. “The village maintains that former public officials do not have the authority to unilaterally disclose confidential governmental information acquired through their public office,” according to a news release posted to the village website on Friday.

* Daily Southtown | Will County Republicans make early call for reduced county levy in 2027 budget: The Republicans’ request would reduce the property taxes collected by about $4 million. While nothing specific was indicated to be cut, the Republican Caucus said “reductions should begin with administrative and discretionary spending rather than frontline services.” “Will County government should not automatically increase its property tax collection simply because state law allows it to do so,” a letter from the County Board Republicans to County Executive Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant said. “The County should first examine its reserves, administrative costs, contracts, staffing levels, and nonessential programs.”

* Daily Herald | Roselle mayor gets ‘a seat at the table’ on powerful new transit board: “We’ve got a lot of work to do with my peers on that board to make sure that we come full circle and really find solutions that are going to address the safety, the reliability but also the connectivity that our system’s struggling with today,” said Pileski. A supply chain senior manager, Pileski takes Metra’s Milwaukee District West Line to work regularly.

* WTTW | This Cook County Pond Had a Water Quality Problem. Now a Floating Island Acts as a Kidney: The goal is to add another 100 or so of the plant-filled rafts over the next five years in order to achieve the 1.5% surface area coverage research suggests is necessary for such wetlands to be effective, Feldmann said. If the wetlands work as hoped, they’ll serve as a giant natural filter, removing the excess of phosphates and nitrates choking the pond and contributing to algae growth, a lack of oxygen and an impenetrable murk.

* Daily Herald | NU’s Braun bills new Ryan Field as ‘best stadium in all of football’: It’s intimate, with a capacity of 35,000; has great sightlines and is designed to generate noise. Wildcats head coach David Braun will not wait for the Oct. 2 opener to make a bold declaration. “We’re going to be playing in the best stadium in all of football,” Braun said Tuesday during a tour for reporters. “I think all of us that are standing here right now would agree this is something like we’ve never seen in college football before.”

*** Downstate ***

* WAND | Residents learn more about proposed Macon County solar project: According to the company’s timeline, construction is expected to begin in 2028. If approved, the solar farm will be operational by 2030. Leeward stated that the project will generate about $30 million over its lifetime. Leeward Public Affairs Manager Kristen Rosenberger said that money can be used to benefit local communities.

* WAND | Springfield City Council green lights IDNR’s Y Block development plan: IDNR plans to use $4 million in state funding to create an amphitheater, landscaping and a children’s play area. “I would think as a business owner in downtown, I would want a nice, beautiful park where people might come more than just once or twice a week for the Levitt. I know we have a few other events; we have Pride, we have a few other events down there, but it’s really underutilized property,” said Ward 1 Alderman Jeff Cox. Some aldermen were concerned about how to hold IDNR accountable if the agency pulls out of the project or changes its scope. An amendment to put guardrails in place was narrowly defeated.

* WGLT | $84 million science complex will create ‘new front porch’ where ISU meets Uptown: The current Science Laboratory Building [SLB] will remain. The former Center for Civic Engagement building at Fell and North streets near Uptown will be demolished to make room for a nearly 12,000-square-foot greenhouse. The rest of the complex will consist of a three-story annex to the SLB, and a five-story science, technology, engineering and math building.