* ICYMI: Rate Field’s Owners Blindsided By Plans To Build Amtrak Facility Nearby, Don’t Want Sox To Move. Block Club Chicago…

- The head of the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority said Wednesday his board was blindsided by Amtrak’s plans to build a maintenance facility near Rate Field and lamented the possibility that the White Sox could leave their longtime home.
- “We are learning about this as you are,” Illinois Sports Facilities Authority board chair Leslie Darling told residents in attendance at Wednesday’s regularly scheduled board meeting at Rate Field. “We are doing everything we can to learn more information. We are working to set up a meeting with Amtrak so we can learn more as you all are learning more as well.”
- In response to questions from Block Club sent after the meeting, a spokesperson for Amtrak said there is a “railroad-owned easement” to a ramp in Lot G that would allow it to build on the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority property.

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

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Sun-Times | 5 public universities in Illinois use controversial Flock cameras to surveil campus, records show: That includes the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the largest campus in the state, and the University of Illinois Chicago, which is in the process of renewing its contract. Southern Illinois University Carbondale even employs a Flock surveillance drone that costs more than $40,000 a year. These schools, in addition to Western Illinois University and the University of Illinois Springfield, have spent more than $450,000 on Flock’s services since 2021, records show.

* Sun-Times | A law requires Illinois schools to teach Asian American history. Is it happening?: “Roughly 25% of teachers and students in the state of Illinois have had some participation with the Asian American curricular resources that have been made available since the bill passed,” Gong-Gershowitz, a sponsor of the bill, told WBEZ. […] The TEAACH Act was unfunded when it first passed, but in 2025, Illinois committed $2 million to inclusive K-12 history mandates. Some of that money was allocated to meeting the TEAACH Act’s mandate. But a standardized statewide Asian American history curriculum still hasn’t been established.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Daily Herald | Legislative panel weighs in on children’s mental health, data centers and state vs. local control: Two Republicans, state Rep. Martin McLaughlin and state Sen. Darby Hills, both of Barrington Hills, and two Democrats, state Reps. Nabeela Syed of Inverness and Anna Moeller of Elgin, fielded questions during the Barrington Area Chamber of Commerce legislative breakfast, held at the Barrington Park District headquarters.

* WGN | Bailey responds to Trump endorsement as Pritzker campaign continues attack ads: One of the latest ads centers on curriculum being taught at a school Bailey founded in downstate Illinois, alleging students are taught that dinosuars and humans were on earth at the same time, among other things. Bailey said he wouldn’t respond. “I don’t respond to it because it’s it’s absolute. It’s ridiculous,” said Bailey. “I mean, this is an this is the oldest game in politics that there is you distract from a failed record. He wants to divert and say things either about Trump or about me, but he doesn’t want to talk about his record of failure,” Bailey said.

*** Chicago ***

* Tribune | Mayor Brandon Johnson’s renters’ rights bill advances: Johnson’s amended measure would still create a new “tenants bill of rights” and ban an array of “junk fees” issued by landlords. It also would create a new Bureau of Rental Housing Services to enforce rental rules, establish a rental registry aimed at identifying hidden landlords with widespread complaints and secure city-funded legal representation for low-income tenants facing eviction. The policies have polarized aldermen, sparking Johnson opponents to craft their own counterproposal expected to face a Zoning Committee vote Thursday.

* Sun-Times | Chicago police supervisor who led botched Anjanette Young raid should be fired, appeals court rules: The decision came down last week, with the appeals court affirming the Chicago Police Board’s finding that Sgt. Alex Wolinski’s inability to lead or intervene “allowed the horrible treatment of Ms. Young to occur and continue.” […] Wolinski now works for the Niles Police Department, state records show.

* Block Club | ‘City’s Worst Landowner’ Ran Shell Company Scheme To Buy Maserati, Luxury Condo, Attorneys Say : Now, drawing on half a million pages of documents, including Wilson’s and Dass’s bank records and emails as well as written admissions by their accountants, city attorneys say the sisters were not just negligent property owners and landlords, but orchestrators of an elaborate shell company scheme. Attorneys filed a 91-page complaint in federal bankruptcy court in August detailing how the sisters allegedly bought, sold and transferred hundreds of properties among more than 40 shell companies to pocket millions of dollars and avoid millions more in city fines.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Tribune | Illinois Racing Board rejects Hawthorne’s request to run horse races in 2027: Despite going bankrupt, closing and selling their property this year, track officials filed a request to conduct racing next year, without publicly specifying where or how they could do so. At the board’s meeting Wednesday, a racing board official said Hawthorne was given a chance to correct its application, but “remained deficient and did not comply with the (state law) act or the rules.”

* Daily Southtown | Homer Glen, Bolingbrook residents speak out against Illinois American Water rate hike: Homer Glen Mayor Christina Neitzke-Troike asked Illinois American Water executives why they haven’t explained their reason for a rate hike before a Village Board meeting, town hall meeting or other communications or outreach. “I’ve never seen any of you in my village,” Neitzke-Troike said. “Our residents tell us they are left with little to no choice to either reduce water consumption to a barebones minimum or move away from the village because of the water and sewer rates,” she said. “How could this possibly be America?”

* Sun-Times | Jury weighs case of customs officer accused of sexual assaults — after prosecutor slams his ‘rape joke’: He meant Uribe’s quip on the witness stand a day earlier, as Uribe defended himself at trial against claims of sexual assault. When a prosecutor asked Uribe about one alleged assault, Uribe remarked that he “got a good workout in” and insisted the encounter was consensual. It took defense attorney Michael Clancy less than 10 minutes to assure jurors during closing arguments Wednesday his client had given a “horrible answer” — born out of frustration.

* Daily Herald | Ethics probe clears District 214 for pre-referendum polling, but critic calls it ‘unwritten loophole’
: An ethics investigation found Northwest Suburban High School District 214 officials didn’t violate ethics and election laws and policies by conducting polling in the lead-up to the district’s $295 million referendum. But the taxpayer advocacy group that filed the initial ethics complaint questions the report’s conclusion — determined by a law firm retained by the Arlington Heights-based district — and seeks further review by Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke and a formal opinion from Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul.

* Sun-Times | Ravinia will kick off $38 million more in renovations, this time to 122-year-old Martin Theatre: The Martin Theatre refresh will cost an estimated $38 million. The Northbrook-based Negaunee Foundation gifted Ravinia the funds to complete the modernization project. The building will close down after English singer-songwriter Jacob Collier performs on Sept. 23, and the first phase of construction will begin on the Martin in October, according to a press release. Next summer, the renovations will pause for performances slated during the 2027 season, but work will resume shortly after it ends, then officially reopen to the public during the 2028 season.

* Sun-Times | Evanston’s Harley Clarke Mansion could soon become community hub: The Evanston Historic Preservation Commission approved developer Celadon Partners’ plans to turn the historic mansion into an event space with amenities including a coffee shop and restaurant.

*** Downstate ***

* Illinois Times | The most well-staffed data center in Illinois?: For reference, that four-building data center campus would be large enough to comfortably hold 25 BOS Centers, and a baker’s dozen of the expanded BOS Center once it’s complete. Despite being nearly 30 times smaller than the planned CyrusOne data center, the current BOS Center employs 175 full-time and part-time staff – almost double the 100-employee figure touted by data center proponents. […] Blair Felter, CyrusOne’s vice president of marketing, told Illinois Times the company stands behind its projection that the data center will create more than 100 permanent jobs, despite a memorandum of understanding signed with the state in May that lists 25 full-time jobs.

* WGLT | Environmentalists say proposed McLean County carbon wells are dangerously close to fresh water: According to OneEarth, though, the wells would never reach full capacity. The EPA is recommending approval of the plan but is still taking public comment during the draft permit phase. The period is approaching its deadline of Sept. 23. The day before, Sept. 22, there will be a hearing at the Countryside Event Center in Gibson City for the public to ask questions of the EPA and give public comment.

* WCIA | Buyer purchases Lincoln College campus, aims to use space to bring jobs, investments to Lincoln: “This is an incredible opportunity for organizations to grow in a community that has so much to offer,” Uriah Kilgallin, CEO of LEAD, said in a news release. “A gift like this doesn’t come along often, and the benefactor who founded EZ 37:4-5 is opening the door for nonprofits and businesses alike to build something lasting here — new jobs, new investment, and, much like the referenced passage, breathing life into the economy of Lincoln. We’re excited to help connect the right organizations with this opportunity, and just as excited to introduce them to everything that makes Lincoln such a special place to grow.”

* WCIA | Mahomet-Seymour School District heading toward teacher’s strike after no deal reached: The Board of Education and the Mahomet-Seymour Education Association (MSEA) met Tuesday night to continue negotiating toward a collective bargaining agreement. Two weeks prior, the board presented what it called a final offer, but the MESA said it isn’t good enough; the union wants about another $500,000 in the package.

* Jim Dey | Ex-Champaign County prosecutor’s tryst with witness gets him in legal hot water: The Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission recently filed misconduct charges against former Champaign County Assistant State’s Attorney Christopher G. McCallum for his allegedly ill-advised personal relationship with a key witness in a murder case he was handling. The complaint said the witness later disclosed details of her relationship with McCallum to State’s Attorney Julia Rietz. “We had a discussion, and he resigned,” Rietz said.

* Illinois Times | Justice Ben Miller’s estate continues his efforts to help vulnerable women and children: Justice Benjamin K. Miller was the first Springfield native on the Illinois Supreme Court, serving from 1984-2001, and was chief justice from 1991-1993. Miller was highly respected in the Illinois judicial and legal communities and known for his ethics and efforts to improve the court system. He died in 2024 at the age of 87. The Justice Ben Miller Declaration of Trust recently gifted $3.2 million to the Community Foundation for the Land of Lincoln to establish a fund that will assist women and children in need.