* ICYMI: Illinois ethics panel accepts resignation and moves to quickly name acting legislative watchdog. Tribune…

- The state’s Legislative Ethics Commission agreed Thursday to a Sept. 30 retirement date for Michael McCuskey as the legislature’s top ethics watchdog and said it plans to move quickly to appoint an acting legislative inspector general who could end up serving the nearly two years remaining in McCuskey’s term.
- “The next step would be each of the four leaders has the opportunity to appoint a representative, as outlined in statute, to a search committee to consider any resumes that are submitted” for a permanent legislative inspector general, ethics commission Chair Rep. Jeff Keicher said.
- “Then those names, or name, comes to the (Legislative Ethics Commission) for consideration (and) putting forward to the entire General Assembly to then become the LIG,” he said. “But that appointment is only through the end of this LIG term, which ends June 30th, 2028. And then the (legislature) would need to act to reappoint or to appoint a new LIG starting July 1, 2028.”

* At 7:30 am, Gov. JB Pritzker will attend the Chicago Fire Department Engine 42’s annual 9/11 memorial ceremony. At 9 am, the governor will deliver remarks and participate in a volunteer service event for the 25th Anniversary of 9/11 at Union Station. Click here to watch.

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Capitol News Illinois | Judge declines to block Illinois’ ‘medical aid in dying’ law ahead of Sept. 12 start: But U.S. District Judge John Tharp rejected those arguments, writing in his order Thursday that lead plaintiff Ebony Payne, a Chicago resident who is paralyzed from the neck down and suffers from severe asthma, had failed to prove she will suffer irreparable harm when the law goes into effect. “Ms. Payne’s intangible injuries rest on her speculation that physicians in Illinois will decide, en masse, to abandon their existing duties to their patients,” the judge wrote. “She has not persuaded the Court that this is anything other than speculation.”

* Chicago Reader | Advocates sue over Illinois court transparency: The Better Government Association and DuPage County–based nonprofit Radical Hospitality Ministries are suing the Illinois state judiciary for failing to comply with a legal obligation to collect and publish data about people awaiting trial. The Pretrial Fairness Act requires the judicial branch to collect data—including the ethnicity, gender, charges, case outcomes, and rearrests—on people facing trial. The information, advocates say, would equip Illinois with the necessary tools to support the state’s pretrial population and monitor whether the law is reducing racial inequality as intended.

*** Statehouse News ***

* WBEZ | Construction sites will be required to be more welcoming to women under a new Illinois law: “Construction sites historically haven’t necessarily been the most welcoming environments for many women,” said state Sen. Graciela Guzman, D-Chicago, who championed the legislation. “Bathrooms, in themselves, have been a potential tool for harassment or unequal treatment.” Under the new law, employers will have to provide a designated women’s restroom with an internal lock, and women who are breastfeeding will be able to request a sanitary place to express milk.

* Press release | SIU’s Simon Institute hosts alumna Shantel Franklin to discuss her career path into politics: Franklin, a 2016 SIU Carbondale graduate in political science and former Paul Simon Public Policy Institute Alexander Lane intern, will speak beginning at 6 p.m. at the Tedrick Welcome Center. A reception is from 5 to 6 p.m. at the center. Franklin is the Democratic nominee and is running unopposed for Illinois’ 8th District state representative seat in the November 2026 election.

* Springfield Business Journal | Amy Beadle joins governor’s office: Amy Beadle has joined The Office of Illinois Governor JB Pritzker as the new director of Executive Mansion operations in Springfield. Beadle will work closely with the First Lady of the state of Illinois, MK Pritzker, and various teams throughout the Governor’s Office to coordinate events and project manage the overall operations of the Executive Mansion, including the oversight of staff in the execution of successful events and other collaborations for the first family.

*** Chicago ***

* CBS Chicago | As he prepares to run for mayor, Alexi Giannoulias hoping to keep the Bears in Chicago: “I think we need to fight for Chicago. To me, it’s not about Indiana or Arlington Heights. That’s a decision the Chicago Bears have to make,” GIannoulias said. “People are already screaming and freaking out, rightfully so, about their property tax bills, and you have a franchise that’s worth $10 billion continue to ask for handouts and giveaways. I think there’s a smarter process. I think a strong mayor would have been a little more in front of this process to make sure that they stayed in Chicago. … I am not giving up on them staying in Chicago.”

* Block Club | Matt O’Shea Says ‘Demanding’ Job As 19th Ward Alderman Should Go To His Chief Of Staff: O’Shea endorsed his chief of staff Erin Ross as his successor. Ross has worked at the 19th Ward office since 2024. She previously was executive director of the 95th Street Business Association, a position she held for over a decade. “Erin has always been someone who is a person of integrity, compassion, a good listener, a problem solver, and she can be tough when she needs to be,” O’Shea said. “To be completely honest, I think she’ll be an upgrade.”

* Tribune | After years of delay, funding to restart Chicago-Quad Cities rail service has Illinois back on track: The last piece of the funding puzzle fell into place in late August when the Federal Railroad Administration agreed to extend Illinois’ access to federal money first committed under President Barack Obama in 2010. U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat who helped secure the original funding, said the extension allows the state to “finally make this long-planned project a reality and open up new transit possibilities for Illinoisans.” Other pieces were already there. The Quad Cities built a station combining bus and rail service, and the state already owns the trains that will make the trip.

* Tribune | Judge upholds permit for controversial cannabis shop in Streeterville: A judge Wednesday upheld the city of Chicago’s approval for a cannabis store to operate in Streeterville, despite a prior determination by the city zoning administrator that the shop was too close to a school. Court documents in the case showed that Helen Shiller, a member of the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals who voted to approve the permit, has a son who owned a 3% stake in the dispensary, raising concern over what critics called a conflict of interest.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Southtown | Will County judge orders $16,500 in attorney fees for dismissed defamation lawsuit: A Will County judge recently dismissed a defamation case filed against Homer Glen Mayor Christina Neitzke-Troike, former Will County treasurer candidate Raj Pillai and two local podcast hosts under the Illinois Citizen Participation Act. Judge Brian Barrett ruled in favor of the four defendants and awarded about $16,500 in attorney fees, which included $7,500 to Pillai and $9,000 to Neitzke-Troike and podcast hosts Justin Virgin and Danny Souri, who were all represented by the same attorney.

* Daily Southtown | Calumet City Clerk Nyota Figgs accuses Mayor Thaddeus Jones of malicious prosecution in new lawsuit: She’s accusing Mayor Thaddeus Jones and attorneys representing Calumet City of civil conspiracy, malicious prosecution and abuse of process for their handling of the document destruction lawsuit, according to a new lawsuit her attorneys filed Tuesday. While the city eventually reimbursed Figgs for attorneys fees, attorney Edward Moor of Moor Law Office says the clerk is entitled to damages for suffering over four years, as the document destruction lawsuit filed in October 2021 dragged on. Moor is also representing Calumet City’s 2nd Ward Ald. Monet Wilson in ongoing litigation against Jones for slanderous political messaging.

* Sun-Times | In CBP officer’s rape trial, woman describes alleged attack at Schaumburg hotel: ‘He showed a badge’: The feds say Uribe committed six attacks between February and October 2022, but his attorney told jurors Wednesday he’d been set up by a prostitution ring overseen by a boss in China. He admitted Uribe visited prostitutes and is a “flawed” human being, but he said there’s no proof that Uribe robbed and raped the women, as prosecutors allege.

* Daily Herald | Elgin police chief assures public: No Flock cameras, no misuse found in license plate reader audit: Police Chief Ana Lalley told the city council Wednesday that her department utilizes 27 cameras in nine locations throughout the city. The automated license plate recognition (LPR) system is comprised of Genetec and Axon cameras, which other agencies cannot access. “The Elgin Police Department does not use Flock for license plate readers and does not currently have any signed agreements with Flock,” Lalley said. “This was a decision that was made several years ago, as the model did not fit with the philosophy of the department.”

* Daily Herald | DuPage Water Commission gets more federal money for new Lake Michigan water project: The Lake Michigan Regional Water Supply Initiative will include building a raw water intake and tunnel offshore near Glencoe, a water treatment plant in Northbrook, and purified water transmission lines to connect the system to the DuPage Water Commission’s facility in Elmhurst. Planning began in 2023. The water commission and the Northwest Suburban Municipal Joint Action Water Agency formed a partnership. The Northwest agency serves Streamwood, Schaumburg, Rolling Meadows, Elk Grove Village, Hanover Park, Hoffman Estates and Mount Prospect.

* Daily Herald | Idled since April, the Reserves of Lake Zurich residential development project to reboot: With a stop-work order issued in April lifted and other issues resolved, a long-planned residential development called the Reserves of Lake Zurich is back on track. A supplemental agreement with developer OSK Capital Partners LLC refines terms of the original pact for the project on nine acres between Old Rand and Buesching roads. Comprised of 18 single-family homes and 18 townhouses, the project was idled after the village issued a stop-work order due to non-payment of site plan and wetland permit fees.

*** Downstate ***

* Illinois Times | Grayson’s death likely to erase his conviction: In a legal twist that the family of Sonya Massey didn’t expect, the murder conviction of her killer, former Sangamon County sheriff’s deputy, Sean Grayson, likely will be erased because of his death during an ongoing court appeal. Grayson’s lawyers cite the well-established legal doctrine of “abatement ab initio” – striking down something as if it never happened – in a Sept. 10 motion that asks the Fourth District of the Illinois Appellate Court to throw out Grayson’s October 2025 second-degree murder conviction.

* WSIU | Union County state’s attorney sues to block cuts at Choate Mental Health Center: The complaint alleges IDHS has failed for nearly a decade to comply with court orders to provide timely inpatient services for individuals detained in county jails across Southern Illinois, calling the noncompliance a systemic issue. Furthermore, the suit claims IDHS violated the Mental Health Inpatient Facility Access Act by systematically reducing state-operated inpatient mental health bed capacity with bed reductions for Choate.

* WCIA | Urbana PD opens new ‘Community Engagement and Violence Prevention Center,’ swears in new chaplain: “They will have access to help for domestic violence, for any type of report that they’ve made in terms of follow-up; they’ll have access to – if they want – a clergyman. If someone wanted to have prayer, that will be available,” Chief Larry Boone explained. Sgt. Antwan Funches is the one overseeing it, working with another officer, a community liaison and a mental health clinician from Rosecrance.

* WGLT | Bloomington Election Commission names Will Nesbitt new executive director: Will Nesbitt, the former executive director of the Danville Election Commission from 2015-2017, has been appointed to replace Luke Stremlau. […] Nesbitt served as the youngest election commission director in Illinois history at age 21. He also worked as an account manager and then sales manager for a nationwide election hardware and software company in two stints from 2018-2025, according to his LinkedIn page. […] In between stints with the election equipment company, Nesbitt served as a manager for Republican U.S. Rep. Mary Miller’s Danville office. He resigned in January 2021 after Miller made a remark about Adolph Hitler that sparked calls from many elected officials for her to resign.

* 25News Now | Tazewell County voters to consider 1% sales tax referendum for schools: The Tazewell County School Facilities Sales Tax referendum will appear on the Nov. 3 ballot and ask voters whether a 1% sales tax on qualifying retail purchases should be imposed in Tazewell County. The 1% Illinois County Schools Facility Tax, also known as a one-cent tax, would fund improvements to school facilities based on their individual needs. Items that would be taxed include general retail merchandise, restaurant dining, gas station purchases and online orders, according to Deer Creek-Mackinaw CUSD 701.