* ICYMI: Illinois legislators poised to grapple with trains, insurance and the Bears. Tribune…

- Perhaps the most significant item on the to-do list is deciding whether to implement sweeping changes and secure much-needed funding to keep buses and trains in the Chicago region running on time.
- Any legislation passed at this time of year that would take effect before June 2026 requires a three-fifths vote rather than a simple majority in both chambers.
- Energy costs are also top of mind as lawmakers may consider a response to spikes caused by technological advances amid the state’s recent efforts to boost clean energy jobs and promote renewable energy standards.

* Related stories…

• Center Square: Energy cost concerns loom as legislators look at policy changes
• Sun-Times: Lawmakers head to Springfield mulling transit reform, ICE response
• CNI: Illinois’ budget on track for deficit as new federal policies create challenges

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Sponsored by Ameren Illinois

The summer of 2025 has been a tough one for residents and businesses in the Ameren Illinois service territory. Supply constraints, extreme hot and humid conditions, and increased energy usage have led to a significant spike in electricity prices and higher-than-normal monthly bills for residential, commercial and industrial energy users. We appreciate and thank legislators, regulators and stakeholders who are working hard to address the energy challenge in Illinois. Energy policy is complex, and we’re encouraged that there are some creative ideas being proposed and a willingness to work together to find answers.   

While Ameren Illinois cannot control the price or availability of energy, we can ensure that the system that delivers energy to homes and businesses — electric poles, wires, and technology; and natural gas distribution pipelines and storage fields — is equipped to operate at peak performance to withstand severe weather events, facilitate business expansions that grow local communities, and enable the transition to renewable generation.

We have an opportunity to build an energy system that is smarter, cleaner, reliable, resilient, and affordable for Illinois families and businesses. As discussions on short- and long-term legislative solutions occur this fall, we will continue to advocate for our 1.2 million customers.   

If you know of someone who is struggling to pay their energy bill, please encourage them to visit www.AmerenIllinois.com/PathToSavings for information on available financial assistance and energy saving programs. 

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* BlueRoomStream.com’s coverage of today’s press conferences and committee hearings can be found here.

* Governor Pritzker will be in Hampshire at 3:15 for the ribbon cutting of a new five-megawatt community solar project developed by Nautilus Solar Energy. Click here to watch.

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Crain’s | Dire details of how Medicaid, SNAP cuts will hit Illinois come into focus: States will bear 75% of administrative costs, up from 50%. Those costs are an estimated $80 million annual increase to Illinois, the report said. And in October 2027, a new state cost-sharing requirement will begin for SNAP benefits tied to each state’s payment error rate.

* Capitol News Illinois | Ex-Speaker Madigan reports to West Virginia prison to begin 7 ½-year sentence: Decades ago, Morgantown was one of a few federal minimum security prisons jokingly referred to as “Club Fed” due to the activities offered. But [Prison Consultants of America Executive Director Michael Sabo] said it’s been 50 years since the Morgantown facility’s pool was decommissioned amid public outcry in the 1970s and noted its long-dilapidated tennis courts are likely now shuttered too. “They might show a movie on the weekends in the gym and maybe have popcorn,” he said. “But it’s not like ‘Club Fed’ years ago. He’s not going to a fancy place … I guarantee it.”

*** Statehouse News ***

* CBS | Illinois lawmakers considering new measure to add additional tax to rideshare, delivery services: An email from Uber last week explained, “legislators are considering a new measure that could add an extra tax on all rideshare trips.” Jessica Perjes, the owner of Tacotlan in Hermosa, on the city’s Northwest Side, took to social media to share a similar statement from Grubhub, which warned, “A new tax could add up to $1.50 to every order you receive.” “It just made me feel frustrated, because I was like, what else can we take?” she said.

* IPM News | Downstate transit groups say they need Illinois lawmakers to address funding shortfalls soon: Amy Snyder, the Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District’s deputy managing director, said the deficit will not take immediate effect on Champaign-Urbana’s MTD. But it may be a problem if a solution is not reached in this fall veto session or next year’s fiscal budget, resulting in route cuts, fewer buses and layoffs. “We wouldn’t have to pull back yet,” Snyder said. “But we would be pretty close, because we’re cutting the margins so close with the revenue against the expenses. We could be, down the road, in a situation where things get tight.”

* CBS | Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan begins serving 7 ½-year sentence: The man once known as the most powerful politician in Illinois is trading his suit for prison stripes. Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan reported to prison on Monday to begin his 7 ½-year sentence on corruption charges.

* NBC Chicago | Mike Madigan heads to prison to serve sentence on corruption charges, sources say: As part of his sentence, Madigan was required to report to jail on Oct. 13, though his defense team had requested he report to Terre Haute. Federal prosecutors sought a 12 1/2-year prison term. Madigan’s attorneys wanted probation, contending the government’s sentence would “condemn an 83-year-old man to die behind bars for crimes that enriched him not one penny.” Prosecutors also sought to ensure Madigan be barred from holding public positions, though his defense attorneys insisted “Mike is not going to hold office or seek office ever again.”

* Sun-Times | Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan is in prison: Prison camps like the one in Morgantown are known to have little to no fencing. And inmates have access to a prison commissary. At Morgantown, Madigan could purchase pitted dates for $4.35, a chess set for $7.10 and an alarm clock for $10, according to a menu online.

* CBS Chicago | Former Chicago Ald. Bob Fioretti to run for Illinois Attorney General: Fioretti ran for mayor in 2015 and 2019 — finishing in 4th place with 7.4% of the vote in a five-way race in 2015, and getting less than 1% of the vote in a crowded race in 2019. Fioretti also ran for Cook County Board President twice — losing to Toni Preckwinkle in the Democratic primary in 2018, and then challenging her again as a Republican in 2022. Both times, Fioretti finished with less than 40% of the vote.

* Tribune | On a tour in Chicago, state reps hear from museum leaders in an uncertain cultural funding landscape: This tour was the first of several planned by DuBuclet’s office to connect museum professionals directly to legislators in Springfield — to understand their needs, their fears and their importance in an increasingly fraught political landscape. “It’s not just about looking at pictures,” DuBuclet said. “It’s about preserving our history and understanding where we come from.” Though this first tour was not bipartisan, DuBuclet’s committee — MACE, for short — is. It has seven Democrats and four Republican members. Thursday’s three-museum jaunt was a blueprint for more tours to follow. One, tentatively scheduled for mid-November, will head to Chicago’s Museum Campus. Future tours will visit cultural institutions outside of Chicago, closer to Republican-led districts.

* Daily Herald | Glenbard school board president appointed to state House seat: DuPage County Democratic leaders have appointed the president of the Glenbard District 87 school board to an Illinois House seat. Margaret DeLaRosa has been sworn in to the 42nd District seat. She replaces Terra Costa Howard, a Glen Ellyn Democrat who resigned from the seat to become a DuPage County Circuit Court judge. State law prohibits judges from holding elected offices.

*** Chicago ***

* Tribune | ICE tickets Chicago man with legal residency $130 for not having his papers on him: ‘It’s not fair…I’m a resident’: The National Immigrant Justice Center in Chicago told the Tribune it has not yet seen any of its clients receive this sort of citation. But it’s part of a recent push by the Trump administration to ensure immigrants register with authorities and maintain their documentation to them at all times or face potential penalties.  The Immigrant Legal Resource Center calls it a “hateful tactic” meant to “cause panic and fear throughout the country.”

* Windy City Times | Ald. Jessie Fuentes to file lawsuit against ICE agent who handcuffed her in Humboldt Park incident : In an interview with Windy City Times, Fuentes said she has been consulting with lawyers about taking legal action and could file a lawsuit as soon as this week. The lawsuit would stem from an Oct. 3 incident inside the hospital’s emergency room, where Fuentes was responding to support a man injured during an encounter with federal immigration agents. “I’ve been doing fine since then, and my major focus has been making sure that we can get the support that’s needed for the individual who’s in the hospital,” Fuentes said.

* Tribune | Fighting Trump’s immigration blitz in Chicago, ward by ward: The aldermen were driven to Broadview, they said, by a shared fear infecting their wards. Trump’s “Operation Midway Blitz” raids have made parents uncomfortable dropping kids off at school and bread winners afraid to go to work, braking life in vibrant, historic and economically essential immigrant-filled communities, Rodriguez said. The Southwest Side alderman called it “terror.” He gestured over his left shoulder, where a federal agent outfitted in camouflage military battle gear stood near a rifle mounted to a sniper tripod pointed toward the tense, but largely peaceful protest.

* Crain’s | CTA plans 10% fare hike, joining Metra in raising rates : The Chicago Transit Authority says it plans to raise fares about 10% next year, following Metra’s announcement last week that it will raise fares 13% to 15%. With the new budget proposals by CTA and Metra, commuters are starting to get glimpse of how much of the tab they’ll be asked to pick up as pandemic-era federal funding dries up. Legislators are meeting this week to talk about ways to address the “fiscal cliff” across CTA, Metra and Pace that starts at $202 million next year and balloons to $789 million in 2027.

* Tribune | CTA defends safety practices after feds threaten funding : Leerhsen laid out the transit agency’s various crime-fighting initiatives, including its use of an AI-gun detection technology called ZeroEyes and the opening of a new strategic support center this summer in collaboration with Chicago police. “With access to CTA’s vast network of cameras across the transit system, and to city of Chicago street cameras, CPD officers assigned to the (strategic support center) monitor and track active and ongoing incidents, as well as assist detectives in identifying and locating offenders that commit crimes on the public transit system,” Leerhsen wrote.

* Tribune | Tony Fitzpatrick, a Chicago artist in many realms, dies at 66: Those who knew Tony then found him a little angry, a bit crazy, searching for ways to express himself. He would find it first in art, as in the crude but striking drawing he handed to a Tribune reporter at a 1981 memorial service for the recently deceased and by then nearly forgotten writer Nelson Algren, held at Second City. “This was drawn with old cigarette butts,” he said. What academic training he had in the arts took place at the College of DuPage. As he said about the school some years ago, “So much of my creative life began here. I did my first acting here. I started to seriously write poetry here. I made art here.”

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* CBS Chicago | Parents of teen tossed to ground, detained by apparent federal agent demand answers: The video shows Evelyn getting pulled out of the passenger seat. She is then thrown to the ground, all while saying she is not resisting arrest, as the officer handcuffed her and appeared to put a knee on her back. […] “While we were there, we were asking when they were going to be released, and what were going to be the charges, trying to figure out some kind of information because they weren’t giving us any information,” Gerado said.

* CBS Chicago | Forest Park officials say ICE agents detained U.S. citizens with excessive force at Concordia Cemetery: “Their constitutional rights have been violated,” he said. “Forest Park is one of many communities right now dealing with ICE and customs officials who are treating members of the community as if they’re less than.” DHS told CBS News Chicago the four employees were trying to impede their arrest of the two undocumented immigrants. Both of those undocumented men were eventually arrested. The four employees were released without any charges.

* WTTW | Broadview Mayor Shrinks Designated Protest Area Outside ICE Facility: Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson signed an executive order shrinking the designated protest area outside the suburb’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility following Saturday night protests that “degenerated into chaos,” Thompson announced Monday. The decision, made in consultation with the Illinois State Police and Cook County Sheriff’s Office, means protests are only permitted outside the ICE facility on Beach Street, and will no longer be allowed at 2000 S. 25th Ave.

* NBC | How immigration enforcement turned sleepy Broadview into a chaotic, militarized town: At one point, Nash said, an agent chased a man into his yard, breaking a fence and shooting rubber bullets. He said his kids and niece and nephew have not been able to get to school for the last four Fridays because the bus cannot get through to his home. Worse, plumes of tear gas deployed byfederal agents have been so potent it’s irritated two of the children in the home who have asthma — even when they’re inside, Nash added. An autistic child who also lives in the home has struggled at the relentless thrumming of helicopters constantly flying overhead, he said.

* Aurora Beacon-News | Aurora Mayor John Laesch condemns federal immigration enforcement activity after protest at City Hall: Federal agents have been in the Aurora area in recent days, state Rep. Barbara Hernandez, D-Aurora, and state Sen. Karina Villa, D-West Chicago, said in Facebook posts recently. According to a statement by Laesch on Friday, the city was also notified of federal agent sightings, which incited “panic and fear among residents.” “This unconstitutional deployment of federal officers resulted in multiple snatchings of community members, targeting, specifically, our city’s strong and diverse Hispanic population,” Laesch said in the statement. “I utterly condemn the wrongful use of federal funds to violate the civil rights of our residents.”

* WCPT…

Paul Wende from @63_local on the anti-ICE protests in Broadview, IL:

"We've been a part of this community here in Broadview since 1975. Working men and women of Ironworkers Local 63 have always been on the side of workers. We swore an oath to defend everyone, everyone in this… pic.twitter.com/osBKoTokOi

— WCPT820 AM (@wcpt820) October 13, 2025

* Sun-Times | Religious leaders are denied request to deliver Communion to detainees at Broadview facility: The Rev. Larry Dowling, one of the priests holding the Communion elements, said, “We’re just very disappointed because we simply wanted to bring the love of God and the presence of the Eucharist to these prisoners, which we had been allowed to do before all this stuff happened. So they’re basically rejecting us bringing the presence of Christ and the love of God.” A spokesperson for the coalition pointed to the 2008 Access to Religious Ministry Act, which allows religious workers “reasonable access” to jails and people in immigration detention facilities to meet with those who wish to “consult about their spiritual needs.”

* WGN | ‘I wonder about their intentions’: Chicago pastor speaks out after ICE agents shoot him in head with pepper balls in Broadview: “As I was praying audibly to them, they opened fire on me and shot me twice in the head and another five times in the body — at least. Parenthically the manufacture of pepper ball says on Page 4.1 of their safety manuel that pepper balls shot at heads, necks, spines and other sensitive areas, could be deadly. So I wonder about the training of these ICE agents and I wonder about their intentions,” Black told WGN News

* Aurora Beacon-News | Aurora reaches agreement with CyrusOne to address issues at data center: Nearby residents for months have been raising concerns around noise coming from the CyrusOne data center, located at the corner of Eola and Diehl roads on Aurora’s far East Side near Interstate 88. The company has responded by participating in community meetings and putting in place temporary measures while working on long-term fixes. On Thursday, lawyers from Aurora and CyrusOne both signed an agreement that sets a timeline for temporary and permanent fixes to be in place. It also lays out penalties for the company not following the order and includes a $40,000 fine that could be lowered.

* Shaw Local | Grundy County Supervisor of Assessments resigns to take Will County deputy assessor job: “About two weeks ago, our supervisor of assessment resigned, and since that time, the department has been working in high gear,” Kucharz said. “They just picked up the pace in order to push this because we are close to what we call publishing period time.” Kucharz said assessors are working toward publishing their assessments in mid-to-late October, and they are trying to get tentative equalized assessed values by mid-October.

* Shaw Local | DuPage County clerk goes to court to get two election vendors paid: The request for the temporary restraining order is the latest in a years-long battle between the Democrat-led DuPage County Board and the county clerk’s office, also headed by a Democrat. The two sides have clashed over how bills get paid and the internal control Kaczmarek has over her office. In August, a judge sided with the county board, saying the clerk must follow the county’s accounting procedures. A motion from Kaczmarek’s office challenging the county’s bidding procedures has not yet been ruled upon.

* Daily Herald | DuPage County looks to regulate short-term rental properties with annual fee, inspection : Currently, the county allows rentals of 30 days or more but not short-term rentals. Among municipalities, suburban towns have varying restrictions on residences that host guests through internet-based short-term rental platforms such as Airbnb and Vrbo. The Naperville City Council, for instance, decided in 2020 to ban short-term rentals. “We’ve chosen in this proposed text amendment to allow them and regulate them,” said Paul Hoss, who heads the county’s planning and zoning administration.

* Daily Herald | Metra customers not allowed to use motors to propel e-bikes, e-scooters onto train: Metra customers are now required to carry their e-bikes and e-scooters on and off the train without the assistance of electric motors. The new amendment to a bike policy was announced in a statement Friday by Metra, a rail system serving six counties in the Chicago area. Metra officials said the amendment was made in response to a “small but growing trend” of customers with “large, heavy” e-bikes or e-scooters needing someone to carry those devices on and off trains or using the electric motor to do so.

* WBEZ | Northwestern University professor among 3 to win Nobel Prize in economics : Joel Mokyr, a Dutch-born professor of economics and history at Northwestern University, is one of three researchers awarded the Nobel memorial prize in economics Monday for explaining how new products and inventions promote economic growth and human welfare. Mokyr, 79, learned about winning the prize about 4 a.m. Monday. “It was kind of an odd thing because we were in our summer place in Michigan, and I got up early in the morning, and I dashed off to my laptop to check what happened with the [Israeli] hostages,” Mokyr, who was raised in Israel, said during a phone interview. “I went to check my news, but my eyes fell on the email inbox and I got all these messages that say, ‘Congratulations.’ I go, ‘Congratulations? It’s not my birthday.’ Then I looked at my phone, and I realized I have an unanswered phone call with a country code of Sweden.”

*** Downstate ***

* WGLT | Split Bloomington council OKs directing grocery tax revenue to infrastructure spending: All revenue generated by the City of Bloomington’s local grocery tax that goes into effect next year will be used to pay for infrastructure improvements. Mayor Dan Brady said that includes not only roads, but sidewalks, buildings, sewer and water systems, and other capital projects. “The number one thing we all hear about is our infrastructure and our needs,” said Brady. “This is a way, with the funds by the taxpayers, that it’s protected to go towards what seems to be, for all of us, the number one priority from the citizens of Bloomington that we hear of so often.”

* Investigate Midwest | Immigrants helped save this Illinois meatpacking town: They are among hundreds of immigrants in Beardstown who arrived through humanitarian parole programs that have since been rescinded by the Trump administration, leaving them undocumented and out of work. Many of them were employed at DOT Foods and JBS, the world’s largest meat processor. These workers were part of a workforce that has long sustained both the town’s economy and its key role in the country’s food supply chain. For decades, Beardstown has been a case study in how immigrants have revitalized once-decaying rural towns, particularly in the Midwest. But the Trump administration’s crackdown on both documented and undocumented immigration threatens the stability of communities that have long relied on foreign-born workers.

* The Southern | Rural public media outlets adapt after federal funding cuts: For the first time in more than 50 years, PBS and NPR are operating without federal support. The new fiscal year began Oct. 1 with no funding set aside for public broadcasting, following cuts approved by Congressional Republicans in July. Jeff Williams, the station manager for WSIU-FM, the NPR affiliate at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, said the cuts have caused many layoffs, especially in rural areas, and local stations are left to find new ways to stay on the air. “It is something that every public broadcaster now across the country is having to deal with, especially rural stations like we are,” Williams said. “It’s a little more difficult to raise that kind of money in Southern Illinois, as opposed to Chicago or larger metropolitan areas, so it is a hit.”

* Journal Courier | Police lodge calls for removal of Department of Corrections’ acting director: The fraternal police organization’s Corrections Lodge 263 called Friday for Acting Director Latoya Hughes’ immediate removal. Hughes was appointed by Gov. JB Pritzker as acting director in 2023, previously having worked as the department’s chief of staff and chief inspector. […] Among others, the group referenced “multiple staff assaults” at Western Illinois Correctional Center in Mount Sterling since March, including a “feces bomb” attack that led to one correctional officer contracting Hepatitis C.

* IPM Newsroom | The National Arab Orchestra debuts in Central Illinois, increasing Arab visibility : The National Arab Orchestra started at the University of Michigan in 2009, where young Michael Ibrahim poured his passion for music and his culture into a student takht ensemble. Takht is a traditional Arabic music ensemble. Over time, the ensemble has grown, and 16 years later, it is a world-renowned orchestra with over 600,000 followers on YouTube and a fan base across the globe.  “People are contacting us from overseas to do concerts there, like Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates,” said Usama Baalbaki, co-founder of NAO and the vocalist. 

* WSIL | Ameren Illinois linemen aim for second championship in Kansas: Ameren Illinois linemen are set to defend their championship title at the 2025 International Lineman’s Rodeo in Bonner Springs, Kansas, on October 17-18. The team, led by Jason Novak, Austin Lewis, and Clayton Gulley from Marion, Illinois, aims to showcase their safety and precision skills. “Jason, Austin and Clayton’s pursuit of a second consecutive championship reflects teamwork, training and the highest standards of safety in the field – values that drive our entire organization each and every day,” said Luke Wollin, vice president of Electric Operations for Ameren Illinois.

*** National ***

* NYT | Black Unemployment Is Surging Again. This Time Is Different : The African American unemployment rate has surged over the past four months, from 6 to 7.5 percent, while the rate for white people ticked down slightly to 3.7 percent. On top of a slowing economy, the White House’s actions have disproportionately harmed Black workers, economists said.

* CNN | The planet has entered a ‘new reality’ as it hits its first climate tipping point, landmark report finds: “We are rapidly approaching multiple Earth system tipping points that could transform our world, with devastating consequences for people and nature,” said Tim Lenton, a professor at the Global Systems Institute at the University of Exeter and an author of the report published Sunday. Warm water corals are the first, according to the report.

* AP | Uncertainty over the economy and tariffs forces many retailers to be cautious on holiday hiring: Online behemoth Amazon Inc. said Monday it intends to hire 250,000 full-, part-time and seasonal workers for the crucial shopping period, the same level as a year ago. But job placement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas forecasts overall holiday hiring for the last three months of the year will likely fall under 500,000 positions. That’s fewer than last year’s 543,000 level and also marks the smallest seasonal gain in 16 years when retailers hired 495,800 temporary workers, the firm said.