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Friday, Oct 23, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller * Ben Scott…
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Isabel’s afternoon roundup
Friday, Oct 23, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller * Tribune…
* The Tribune’s Alice Yin…
* Center Square | Illinois elections board calls viral voting machine allegation ‘hoax’: While selecting judicial candidates, she said a message appeared on the screen stating, “People are not typically choosing this person!” […] However, the Illinois State Board of Elections rejected the allegation. “No voting machine in Illinois could display that message,” board spokesperson Matt Dietrich told The Center Square. “That post is a hoax.” Cook County Clerk Monica Gordon also issued a public statement addressing the video, calling its claims false and misleading. According to Gordon, voting equipment may display a notification when a voter leaves a contest blank or does not make all available selections, a situation known as an undervote. * WTTW | Johnson Makes Bid for Chicago Mayor Official By Filing Thousands of Signatures: To win a second term, Johnson will have to overcome a serious challenge from perhaps a dozen candidates, including Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias — who told reporters Monday that he filed approximately 60,000 signatures, is backed by the endorsement of much of Chicago’s organized labor community and has nearly $20 million in the bank. Johnson bucked tradition by filing his nominating petitions Friday afternoon, rather than first thing Monday morning — ensuring a shot at the first spot on the ballot — or next week, at the last possible minute, vying for the last slot on the ballot. […] Johnson will be listed sixth on the ballot. * Sun-Times | 3 years later, Kennedy Expressway traffic nightmare lives on: The analysis of traffic data found that June 2025 saw the worst backups ever on the outbound Kennedy, with drivers facing an average commute time of 74 minutes to get from Downtown to O’Hare between 2 and 3 p.m. on weekdays during that month. Average outbound travel times exceeded 65 minutes for each hour between noon and 7 p.m. on weekdays that month. On the inbound Kennedy, headed Downtown, the afternoon traffic jams have actually gotten worse since the end of the state project between the Edens junction and Downtown. * Bloomberg | Mark Walter borrowed from Chicago firm with investigators circling: In February, after getting served with subpoenas in a federal criminal investigation, the billionaire sports mogul Mark Walter’s insurance companies abruptly stopped lending to him. But within weeks, new loans started rolling in from a different source: a Chicago-based financial firm whose owners include his business protege, basketball legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson. * WGN | New inspection to take place at South Chicago Chapel, where over 50 decomposing bodies were found over the summer: On Friday, a court-ordered inspection is set to take place at a Southeast Side funeral home where more than 50 decomposing bodies were found in various states of decomposition over the summer. […]The inspection comes at the request of an attorney representing the City of Chicago and follows months of complaints by neighbors over the odor emanating from the building. * Lake County News-Sun | T5-funded study says data center will bring in billions; opponents scoff at the numbers: Landolfi questioned where Davies and T5’s numbers are coming from. What assumptions are these based on? What is considered “full build out”? He expressed distrust of any analysis coming from the village or T5, including the Greener Impacts study. He criticized the release of the study to the news media prior to the public, arguing it is to avoid being “checked by the people it’s meant to persuade.” He called for a publication of the full study, including its methods, assumptions, and model inputs. * Lake McHenry Scanner | State evaluating whether Vista can keep trauma center designation after anesthesia services suspended at Waukegan hospital: An anesthesia group suspended all services at Vista Medical Center East in Waukegan Thursday over a missed payment and state surveyors will be at the hospital Friday to evaluate whether the hospital can keep its trauma center designation. The hospital still had its trauma center designation as of Friday morning but the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) is actively evaluating whether it meets all of the requirements to keep it, a department spokesperson told Lake and McHenry County Scanner. The spokesperson said IDPH surveyors would be at the hospital Friday but did not know whether they had already arrived. * Crain’s | Trademark fight pits Musk’s AI-chip dreams against Northwestern prof’s startup: Mirkin’s startup, Tera-print, trademarked the name Tera-Fab for its line of nano-printing devices five years ago. In March, Musk announced a project to create a massive new AI-chip factory near Austin, Texas, that he dubbed Terafab. (Chip factories are known as fabrication facilities, or “fabs,” and Musk plans to create a terawatt of AI chips per year at the plant.) After Tesla filed trademark applications for Terafab in May, Mirkin’s company sent out a cease-and-desist letter, according to court filings. But before Tera-print could sue, Tesla and SpaceX fired a pre-emptive strike, asking a Texas federal court to issue a declaratory judgment that “they are not infringing any trademark rights claimed by Tera-print and are not violating any related laws.” * Daily Southtown | Frankfort Fire Protection District asks voters for first rate increase since 2000: “The last three house fires we had, only two people showed up on the first vehicle,” said Chief Paul Kinsella. “Which is, in the fire service, they really can’t do much until other people get there. So it’s really a safety concern.” The fire protection district provides emergency services to a 42-square mile area that covers portions of Frankfort and Mokena, along with Frankfort and Green Garden townships. * Daily Southtown | Will County health officials investigate E. coli cases linked to pumpkin farm: “We are working closely with Bengtson’s Pumpkin Farm, and the owners and staff have been fully cooperative,” said Sean Conners, director of environmental health. “As a precaution, the farm has voluntarily closed its petting zoo and is arranging for animal testing. These steps are part of our broader investigation as we look at all possible sources of exposure.” Bengston’s confirmed on its Facebook page it closed the petting zoo out of an abundance of caution, though the rest of the farm remains open. * Daily Herald | Debate about Flock cameras postponed in Mundelein: The Mundelein village board will hold a regular meeting at 7 p.m. Monday at village hall, 300 Plaza Circle. It’ll be the first board meeting since the Lake County state’s attorney’s office on Thursday announced it won’t file charges against a police sergeant who fatally shot resident Mary Alice Love in May while she experienced a mental health crisis. * WGLT | How fundraising and endorsements may shape the midterm election in McLean County: Pritzker, the billionaire governor who has self-funded his own campaign and is outspending Republican rival Darren Bailey 25-1 in his bid for a third term, is sprinkling money from his massive war chest to Democratic candidates and causes across the country. By comparison, Pritzker gave $50,000 each to Champaign County and Sangamon County Democrats, $40,000 to Peoria County Democrats, $10,000 to Democrats in Tazewell County and $5,000 to Macon County [Decatur] Democrats. While the McLean County Republican and Democratic parties have spent similar amounts on their campaigns over the last year [Republicans have spent $133,368 compared to the Democrats’ bill of $132,703 since July 1, 2025], Democrats reported six times the amount of cash on hand [$72,813-$12,357] that Republicans had at the end of the last quarterly filing period on Sept. 30, according to Illinois State Board of Elections [ISBE] records. * WCIA | U of I College of Law launches new master’s degree, graduate certificates: The College of Law at the University of Illinois has officially launched a new master’s degree and seven graduate-level certificates, with courses beginning next semester. The new degree is an online Master of Science in Law (MSL). It and the new certificates are described as being “built for working professionals who need legal knowledge but do not intend to practice law.” * ProPublica | Sexual Assaults on Campus No Longer Scrutinized as Closely Under Trump’s Education Department: The analysis shows how severely the department’s Office for Civil Rights has retracted from its mission, launching an average of about 100 new investigations a month — 1,839 total from Inauguration Day in 2025 through July 2026. The OCR launched an average of 310 new investigations each month in 2024 during the Biden administration, according to data previously obtained by ProPublica. * The Atlantic | ‘If Anything Happens to This Guy … Everyone Is Screwed’: “Explaining to my wife how there’s this one guy. And he alone is responsible for most of the world’s distribution of PHP,” a software developer named Ian Landsman wrote on X. “And if anything happens to this guy, that’s just it. Everyone is screwed.” He was referring to Surý. Surý, who lives in Czechia, does not work for the PHP Foundation. But alongside his day job as director of domain-name-system engineering at the nonprofit Internet Systems Consortium, in a volunteer capacity, he maintains and helps automate patches for the coding language. His work, with that of just a handful of others, has allowed countless websites and organizations to fix these vulnerabilities quickly. Over the past 48 hours, he’s become arguably the unsung hero of the entire internet—despite the fact that the only compensation he receives is from modest donations. “Ondřej will save the internet today,” a user in the PHP Subreddit wrote. * AP | Trump administration files lawsuit to block possible Democratic win in Alaska Senate race: The Trump administration has filed a lawsuit to block certification of the Senate race in Alaska if Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan loses the contest while another candidate, a former Chicagoan with the same name, is on the ballot, kicking off what many have feared could become a lengthy battle between the U.S. government and states over certifying an election where the president’s party is struggling.
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Buckner on Giannoulias’ self-driving car concerns: ‘I’m just assuming he’s been a little bit busy’
Friday, Oct 23, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller * First, some background from Capitol News Illinois…
* WBBM today…
Thoughts?
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Campaign stuff
Friday, Oct 23, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller * GOP gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey…
* JB For Governor…
* Meanwhile… 
* Karen Battaglia responds to a mailer backing Sen. Craig Wilcox (R-McHenry) that claims she supports putting accused abusers “back on the street before trial”…
* A Bryan Drew campaign text claims “just a few votes per precinct could decide” the comptroller’s race. That’s optimistic…
Drew is running against Rep. Margaret Croke (D-Chicago).
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Public university enrollment reached 11-year high, but international enrollment falls and WIU loses more ground
Friday, Oct 23, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller * Governor JB Pritzker’s office….
The statewide increase was just 287 students, or 0.15 percent. * According to the IBHE report, undergraduate enrollment grew by 2,464 students, or 1.8 percent. Graduate and professional enrollment fell by 2,177, or 3.9 percent, with declines at all 12 public universities. The biggest factor in that decline…
* From the governor’s press release…
And then there’s Western, which we discussed last year. WIU’s total enrollment fell another 16.7 percent, from 5,337 to 4,447. That’s 890 fewer students in one year. Undergraduate enrollment dropped 17.4 percent, and graduate enrollment fell 14.9 percent. Its freshman class is now 429 students, down from 923 in fall 2018. * More from the governor’s release…
Discuss.
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Isabel’s morning briefing
Friday, Oct 23, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller * ICYMI: Illinois college hurt by international student drop to drain endowment. Bloomberg…
- Its plan prompted S&P Global Ratings to slash the university’s credit rating deeper into junk, to BB from BB+, with a negative outlook. The endowment’s market value was projected at $300 million as of fiscal 2026. - Schools like Illinois Tech are at risk since they’ve come to rely heavily on students from other countries. International students made up about 50% of total enrollment as of fall 2024, with the majority of its grad students hailing from outside of the US. Graduate enrollment fell 28% in fall 2025, according to S&P, and the university is expecting a 16% drop in total enrollment in fall 2026. * Related stories… * Gov. JB Pritzker has no public events scheduled today. * Capitol News Illinois | Illinois regulators move to bring video gambling under self-exclusion program: The Illinois Gaming Board proposed new rules Thursday to bring the state’s video gambling terminals under the program that allows problem gamblers to self-ban by requiring identity verification before players can purchase vouchers at video gambling locations. The new rules would also create new options for cashless wagering and player rewards programs. Gaming Board Administrator Marcus Fruchter said the move was “another critical step forward” in the agency’s goal to bring video gambling under the program’s umbrella. * Sun-Times | Gov. JB Pritzker doling out big bucks to help Democrats — and boost a 2028 presidential run: Since 2025, Pritzker has given at least $40 million to Democrats and allied causes — including campaigns for Congress, Senate, attorney general, secretary of state, county judges, and state parties in more than a dozen states, as well as ballot fights over abortion rights and redistricting. That figure includes $15 million he contributed to his own PAC called Ready for the Fight, which is running ads in Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama and Ohio. * Capitol News Illinois | Statewide races: Little-known GOP slate faces uphill battle against mostly incumbent Dems: Aside from the comptroller and Senate races, every other race for statewide office features established incumbents. And unlike 2022, when the Republican slate included two seasoned state lawmakers and a county auditor, the GOP’s candidates in 2026 — save for its repeat nominee for governor — are largely unknown faces in state politics or have achieved perennial status. No Republican even bothered to submit petitions to run for treasurer, leading little-known attorney Max Solomon to wage a write-in campaign to earn a spot on the November ballot. * Capitol City Now | Bailey says he will keep Logan Correctional Center open if elected governor: Logan will remain open during construction of the suburban facility, but many fear the city will suffer when it closes. “This is not the administration of 20 years ago that abandons properties,” Pritzker said last month. “In fact, our desire here is to use every resource we have in the state of Illinois to grow our economy.” * Daily Herald | 52nd Illinois House candidates differ on cash bail, school choice and Bears: McLaughlin introduced legislation he said would give the NFL team the property tax certainty it wants, as well as state funding for infrastructure improvements around a privately funded stadium. “If we’re going to have an $8 billion development in the state, particularly 10 minutes from here, I think it’s super important that we actually get off our rear ends in Springfield,” he said. Peterson does not support using public money to build a Bears stadium. She called McLaughlin “Hail Mary Marty,” saying he wants to hurl tax dollars downfield to “save the billionaire Bears,” rather than putting it toward schools and real estate taxes. * Block Club | Workers Rally Outside Austin Seat Manufacturer To Demand Better Pay, Working Conditions: The rally outside the Freedman Seating Company followed a report published this week by a nonprofit labor advocacy group in which three-quarters of company workers surveyed reported struggling to pay for utilities, food or housing in the last year. The report, published by Jobs to Move America in partnership with University of Illinois Chicago researchers, also detailed allegations of workplace hazards and fears of retaliation. * ABC Chicago | All elevated CTA stations in the Loop to be closed this weekend for track repairs: The Red and Blue lines are not expected to be effected, but all other lines are. Brown Line trains will stop at the Merchandise Mart. Orange Line trains will stop at Roosevelt. * NBC Chicago | Caleb Williams throws 2 TD passes as the Bears beat Drake Maye and the Patriots 30-24: “These nights are awesome,” Williams said. “You play against another good team on a primetime game in a short week, these games are awesome because you get to see who you are as a team. That’s who we are. We’re a smashmouth football team, an innovative team. And when things happen and things don’t go our way and the water is rocky, we stay steady.” * Tribune | Cook County proposing $18 million renewal with controversial vendor Tyler Technologies: If the County Board approves a renewal next month, the Texas-based company will make up to $18 million more. That would bring Tyler’s county taxpayer tab to $56.4 million from 2015 to 2029 for being in charge of a project outgoing Commissioner Sean Morrison described Thursday as “a cluster—-.” Many commissioners, while frustrated with the company, acknowledged they are essentially stuck. Tyler is among the most dominant government tech services contractors in the country, having acquired many of its competitors in recent years. Few, if any, could step in to replace them, let alone immediately. * Tribune | A year after ‘Broadview Six’ indictment, failed case still reverberates in federal court: Even though all charges were dismissed in May amid allegations of grand jury misconduct by Mecklenburg, the case continues to reverberate at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse, where U.S. District Judge April Perry is mulling whether others in the office obstructed justice in the case, which could lead to sanctions or even appointment of special counsel and criminal contempt charges. Perry has imposed an Oct. 30 deadline for prosecutors to turn over any internal communications showing whether U.S. Justice Department officials in Washington D.C. had a hand in the case — something Boutros’ office has emphatically denied. * Tribune | Nurses at Endeavor Health’s hospitals in Evanston, Glenview, Skokie, Highland Park move to unionize: If the election is successful, nurses at Endeavor’s hospitals in Evanston, Highland Park, Skokie and Glenview would be represented by Teamsters Local 743. Endeavor nurses are hoping to unionize because of unsafe staffing levels, heavy workloads and pay that hasn’t kept up with inflation and the cost of living, David Bernt, organizing director of Teamsters Joint Council 25, which represents workers across Illinois and Northwest Indiana, previously told the Tribune. * CBS Chicago | Thousands of new manufacturing jobs coming to Joliet area as Pritzker, Hyundai announce expansion: In March, the company announced Illinois would be its new home and it was bringing 2,475 jobs to Will County; now they’re doubling down on investment and job creation here. This division of Hyundai makes commercial transportation equipment. It will use two former manufacturing sites, including a former Caterpillar facility, to ramp up production. * Daily Herald | Amid residents’ concerns, Buffalo Grove considers annexation, 189-home development: Proponents say it would fill a need for housing in the area, especially for seniors. But some of the property’s neighbors are concerned about its potential impact on their neighborhoods and schools. […] The plan calls for 37 single-family homes and 152 townhouses, 38 of them intended for senior residents. The price for the single-family homes is expected to start around $800,000, with townhouses selling from the upper $600,000s into the $700,000s. * CNI | Proposed closing of 4 low-level prison facilities draws sharp rebuke in Du Quoin: A plan to close four downstate correctional facilities drew strong opposition at a public hearing Wednesday in Du Quoin, where critics cited concerns about future upkeep of the facilities and Illinois’ approach to the incarceration of young and low-level offenders. “We have watered down this program that we built in the late ’80s,” said Ty Petersen, staff representative for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31. “We have given up on the opportunity to change people’s lives in the Illinois Department of Corrections.” * WCIA | Champaign School District’s support staff union votes to ratify new contract: Flaningam said the contract guarantees members yearly raises ranging from 5.25% to 9.5%, along with access to paid parental leave and increased health insurance access. “Conversations with the administration were challenging, but remained respectful and productive throughout. We look forward to the board of education’s ratification and working in partnership with administration to build a stronger district together,” said Flaningam. * WAND | Sangamon County Mental Health Board hosts first community engagement event: The board is new to the community, but newly appointed Director Dr. Tatyana Gardner said this meeting gives the board a chance to connect with residents. “We want the community to have their voice heard. It’s important for me to make sure we’re including what the community needs in our one-year and three-year plans,” Gardner said. “So today is an opportunity for them to come express those opinions to us, so that as we’re drafting these plans, we’re able to include them.” * AP | Why reported challenges with touchscreen voting machines don’t signal election rigging: Election officials say the touchscreen challenges are almost always the result of user error or an easily fixed screen miscalibration, and say the number of complaints this year isn’t higher than it has been in years past, despite the outsized attention on social media. They emphasize that voters can select a candidate as many times as needed, consult a poll worker for help and review selections before submitting their ballot. * NYT | Airbnb Says Guests Shouldn’t Have to Do the Dishes Anymore: The policy, announced on Tuesday, will apply to bookings starting Nov. 20 and asks hosts to set “reasonable” house rules and to disclose them in a designated section of their listing. Hosts may not introduce new requirements or requests after a guest books, including through messages, signs in the home or conversations with guests. Checkout chores should not “require significant time or effort, or would typically be performed by a cleaner,” Airbnb said.
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Good morning!
Friday, Oct 23, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller
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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Supplement to today’s edition
Friday, Oct 23, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller
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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today’s edition of Capitol Fax (use all CAPS in password)
Friday, Oct 23, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller
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Selected press releases (live updates)
Friday, Oct 23, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller
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