* ICYMI: ICC judges recommend slashing proposed $144 million Peoples Gas rate increase by more than half. Tribune…

- The order recommends the ICC approve a $66 million rate increase for Peoples, down from the $144 million request the utility made in July.
- “This is a step in the right direction, but we urge the ICC to go even further than the proposed order, at a time when it has never been more crucial for regulators to combat unwarranted utility costs,” Eric DeBellis, general counsel for the Citizens Utility Board, said in a news release Wednesday.
- Peoples Gas issued a statement Wednesday that the utility still is assessing the 390-page proposed order recommending reduction of the rate increase to $66 million.

* At 9 am, Gov. JB Pritzker will deliver remarks at the 2026 Governors’ Summit the State of PJM Interconnection in Chicago. Video will be available after the event.

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Block Club Chicago | White Sox Fans Down But Not Out As Team Drops 1st Home Game In Playoff Run To Guardians: The Sox fell to the Guardians 9-3 to narrow the South Side team’s American League Division Series lead to 2-1. They’ll have a second chance to advance at home Thursday. Unfortunately for the sold out crowd and those who tuned in from neighborhood bars, the chance would have to wait at least another day. “Tomorrow we’ll be a completely different team,” Danniele Farley said outside of Turtle’s Bar and Grill, 238 W. 33rd St. “The nerves will be out of our system.”

*** Statehouse News ***

* Oak Park Journal | O’Hare Flyer gets earful from Adduci and Welch: Ori Gottlieb, a village resident, asked Welch what, if anything, could be done legally to stop the project, and in the alternative, how opponents can make it more difficult to proceed. Welch did suggest there were steps he could take if needed, saying, “I can make it a little difficult.” Referring to the Illinois Department of Transportation and the Illinois Commerce Commission, he said he could “let ‘em know that your budgets can be held up at budget time, if you do things to negatively impact the communities that I represent.”

* Capitol News Illinois | Illinois Republicans seek attorney general’s help after Champaign County ballot errors: WCIA-TV in Champaign quoted Ammons as saying certain ballots were affected within those precincts: “On those 19 affected ballot types, what you would see, sometimes, is the 101st race that should have been the 103rd, or the 104th that should have been the 102nd.” He blamed the error on a vendor, though he said his office did not catch the mistake when they checked the ballots before distributing them. Ammons told WCIA the county could identify all mail ballots that contained errors and replace them, but some had already voted.

* Tribune | Illinois governor’s race: Collin Corbett, an ex-GOP strategist, hopes to find votes from those in the middle: Despite his campaign slogan, “Hope for Illinois,” Corbett acknowledges he has little realistic hope of upsetting Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker, a billionaire Hyatt Hotels heir who restocked his campaign fund with $65 million in August, or Republican nominee Darren Bailey, the conservative former lawmaker from southern Illinois who lost to Pritzker by almost 13 percentage points in 2022. Reaching the high single digits would be an improvement over recent independent and third-party candidates, Corbett said in a recent Tribune interview. But calling himself “an overachiever,” Corbett said he’s “shooting for 15%.”

* Capitol News Illinois | Pritzker declares Illinois a diesel disaster area, but fuel retailers are wary: But Harris said retailers are looking for further clarification at both the federal and state levels. He said the federal order suspends the tax and leaves retailers responsible for remitting it in January, while at the state level it remains unclear whether criminal penalties for distributors who sell dyed diesel for on-road purposes will remain.

*** Chicago ***

* Sun-Times | Mayor Johnson doubles down on his tax-the-rich mantra as budget deadline nears: He said he will use his 2027 budget to level the playing field that has allowed corporations to make “more money … than they’ve ever made in the history of the world,” including the “free labor period of slavery,” while working people “are standing in lines for food.” “We’re losing our democracy. I talk about Justice [Louis] Brandeis [who said], ‘You can either have a democracy or wealth in the hands of a concentrated few, but you can’t have both,’ ” Johnson said.

* CBS Chicago | Proposed $900 million Amtrak Bridgeport maintenance facility gets pushback from residents, alderpeople: Ald. Nicole Lee (11th Ward) introduced the resolution, signed by 36 alderpeople who expressed their opposition to the facility in its current form and location. “We know that we’ve got a big fight ahead of us. I think this is going to be fought on multiple levels. I’m working with the city and the corporation council’s office to establish whether or not we want to have the city pursue a challenge to the categorical exclusion,” she said.

* Crain’s | City Council grills Ishbia team and Amtrak over Bridgeport plans: Amtrak has committed to working with the Department of Planning & Development as the project moves forward, but will not seek formal approval from the city. Canal Edge, an entity created by Isbhia, is investing more than $125 million toward the development of a purpose-built Amtrak maintenance facility. The funding will combine with the $696 million in federal transportation funding to build out the new Amtrak facility and improve Amtrak’s South Branch Bridge. Ishbia’s contribution will allow him to take control of the current 14th Street site.

* Tribune | Block 37 changes hands, and its new owner promises a makeover: “State Street has caught some momentum, it’s like the Magnificent Mile was about two years ago,” Vance said, pointing to Barnes & Noble opening in August a multilevel bookstore at 150 N. State St. “And even though Edwards has been focused on suburban retail, they know and understand how to lease retail centers, and they also know the Chicago region, which is vital.”

* Crain’s | Google to pull back the curtain on Thompson Center transformation: At an Oct. 14 Crain’s event, four Google executives will discuss the company’s plans for the Helmut Jahn-designed landmark, which local developers Michael Reschke and Quintin Primo have been revamping in preparation for Google’s move into the former state government building.

* Sun-Times | City replaces homemade benches in Ukrainian Village with ADA-compliant seating: Last month, the Northwest Neighborhood Alliance installed two homemade benches — one at Damen Avenue and Thomas Street and another at Division Street and Oakley Boulevard — to provide a place for residents who rely on public transit to sit while waiting for their bus. The two benches, painted in the colors of the Ukrainian flag, caught the attention of city officials, who on Monday replaced them with ADA-compliant benches. “This was the best outcome that we could have hoped for,” said Sam Kovnar, 25, founder of the local group.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Tribune | Preckwinkle proposes stop-gap fixes, shrinking budget to address Cook County’s $550M shortfall: Preckwinkle’s administration plans to use a series of stopgap measures to help cover operations in lieu of new or increased taxes or layoffs in 2027 to bridge the shortfall left by a mix of federal healthcare cuts, rising employee pay and benefits costs and an expensive legal defeat preventing the county from using transportation “lockbox” dollars on its public safety offices.

* Sun-Times | Former Joliet police officer charged over alleged Flock camera misuse: Harrison makes for at least the third known case of a law enforcement officer being accused of misusing the database that tracks millions of drivers’ real-time locations in Will County this year. Fellow Will County municipality Channahon said it was reviewing its use of Flock cameras after an investigation found that its officers may also made unauthorized searches. The accused officers were placed on leave as an investigation continues.

* Daily Herald | Final labor and delivery shift at Mercy Medical Center in Aurora full of bittersweet emotions: The latest shake-up came last month when Prime announced it was closing down obstetrics as of Oct. 1, not only at Mercy but at St. Joseph Medical Center in Joliet and Resurrection Medical Center on Chicago’s Northwest Side. […] It was news that again raised concerns of some legislators, including Democratic U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood of Naperville, about increased maternal healthcare disparities and longer travel times for patients.

* Daily Herald | Bartlett trustees delay vote on banning kratom products: Nine speakers, most attending from out-of-state via Zoom, attested to the health benefits of naturally derived kratom, while blaming an influx of enhanced synthetic derivatives for the dangerous reputation it has acquired. Trustees could decide they have everything they need to make a decision at their next meeting on Oct. 20. Police Chief Ryan Conway proposed the ban on the advertisement and sale of kratom and related synthetic drugs as well as recreational-use nitrous oxide.

*** Downstate ***

* SJ-R | New harm reduction hub opens in downtown Springfield: Intricate Minds, a woman-owned community center providing access to free resources related to mental health, drug use and testing and hygiene, has expanded from their original home on the north side of town to the First Presbyterian Church at 321 S. Seventh St.

* WCBU | East Peoria votes to get gambling out of hotel lobbies: Commissioner Mark Hill proposed the update to liquor control regulations in East Peoria, which unanimously passed without discussion during Tuesday’s city council meeting. “We think that in this case that it’s to the betterment of the city to not allow the gaming machines in the hotel, motel,” Hill said. The move comes months after the Illinois Gaming Board approved Boyd Gaming’s plans to redevelop the Par-A-Dice Casino at its existing East Peoria location after Peoria’s attempt to lure the gambling operation across the river.

* WCIA | Danville Mass, Rural Transit unveil website with routes, ETA’s, more: The new website, City of Danville officials said, makes it easier to find and use transportation information. Riders can access real-time bus locations and estimated arrival times, review routes and schedules, and check fare information. The site also provides information about reduced or free fares available to eligible students, seniors, children and veterans.

* WCIA | Champaign Central girls flag football wins first regional title: For the first time in school history, Central girls flag football has won a regional title. The Maroons (12-2) defeated Peoria Richwoods 46-12 in the regional final. Central, who is one of two number one seeds in the Belleville East Sectional, takes on two-seed Edwardsville in a sectional semifinal at Belleville East on Saturday, October 10 at 10 a.m