* ICYMI: Lawmakers ‘ready to move’ on transit reform, but funding agreement remains elusive. Capitol News Illinois…

- Just last week, as lawmakers readied to return to the Capitol for a two-week fall session beginning Tuesday, Oct. 14, the Regional Transportation Authority released a report saying they now anticipate the 2026 deficit to be just $202 million.
- “The cliff is coming,” Rep. Eva-Dina Delgado, D-Chicago, the House Democrat leading transit reform, told Capitol News Illinois. “It’s coming either in July or maybe it’s coming in October for Metra, and maybe it’s coming in (20)27 for Pace. But it’s coming. And I just think that we’re at a point right now where we’re ready to move.” … Delgado said lawmakers are on the “2-yard line,” but she declined to rule out any specific taxes from the final product. … Delgado said preserving free, reduced-fare and paratransit rides is also a major priority and added it is a key sticking point in negotiations over funding.
-“The reforms are easy to vote for,” Illinois AFL-CIO President Tim Drea told Capitol News Illinois. “The funding is not. So, if people are going to stand up and say, ‘I support public transit,’ they have to support it 100%, not just a little bit.”

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*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Block Club | ICE Violated Consent Decree With Warrantless Arrests, Federal Judge In Chicago Says: They claimed that such arrests violated a three-year consent decree banning warrantless arrests unless agents have probable cause to believe someone is in the United States unlawfully and is a flight risk. On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings concluded that attorneys for the National Immigration Justice Center and the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois provided enough evidence to show that ICE arrested 22 people without a warrant in violation of the consent decree and federal law.

* Tribune | ICC judges recommend cutting $110M from proposed Nicor Gas rate increase:
Two Illinois Commerce Commission administrative law judges issued a recommendation Monday to slash a proposed $314 million Nicor Gas rate increase by more than a third. The proposed order authorized a downsized $204 million rate increase for Nicor, which pending commission approval, would show up on the gas bills for the utility’s 2.3 million customers in suburban Chicago and northern Illinois beginning in January. The ICC is expected to issue a final ruling by Nov. 24.

* WCIA | Illinois climatologist: Rain won’t change drought conditions: State climatologist Trent Ford said he was getting readings of less than an inch in areas that got rain on Tuesday. Ford said one good thing about the dreary wet weather is that it’ll reduce evaporation due to cloud cover. But, Ford also said it’ll take a lot more rain than what we saw to reverse the drought conditions. “What we need is not just one big event, but several wet months consecutively throughout the rest of the fall, the winter into the spring to kind of dig us out of the, you know, the deficit that we have right now,” Ford said.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Sun-Times | Pentagon chief Hegseth more interested in pushups than talking with Illinois leaders, Pritzker says: “I got no call. And I got no call all afternoon, all evening, and I have not received a call at all,” Pritzker said in an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times Tuesday. “And it turns out that Pete Hegseth was at a football game, and he was doing pushups as part of a show of Guinness Book of World Records. So he was out having fun after saying that he was going to call me and didn’t. And they’re sending troops while he’s going to a football game and ignoring what he should have been doing.”

* Tribune | Gov. JB Pritzker says President Trump deploying troops to Chicago due to ‘dementia’ and obsessive fixations: “This is a man who’s suffering dementia,” Pritzker said in a telephone interview with the Tribune. “This is a man who has something stuck in his head. He can’t get it out of his head. He doesn’t read. He doesn’t know anything that’s up to date. It’s just something in the recesses of his brain that is effectuating to have him call out these cities. “And then, unfortunately, he has the power of the military, the power of the federal government to do his bidding, and that’s what he’s doing.”

* Press Release | Governor Pritzker Announces NANO Nuclear to Establish Operations in Illinois: NANO Nuclear recently acquired a property in the Chicagoland area featuring a 23,537 square foot stand alone facility, including a dedicated 7,400 square foot non nuclear demonstration area. The facility is expected to support nuclear engineers, component manufacturers, researchers, and support personnel who will work in collaboration with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign on NANO Nuclear’s lead project, the KRONOS MMR™ Microreactor Energy System.

* Jim Dey | State’s September revenues come out on the positive side: For September, revenues increased by $413 million (8.6 percent), and for the first quarter of fiscal year 2025-26, they were up by $450 million (3.7 percent). State income-tax payments were decisive, increasing by $307 million — 10.3 percent — in September compared with 2024. Comparing the first quarter of fiscal year 2025-26 to 2024-25, they’re up by $258 million — a 3.7 percent hike.

*** Chicago ***

* Sun-Times | Chicago cultural commissioner Clinée Hedspeth resigns City Hall post: Before reaching her year anniversary in the post, Hedspeth faced bullying accusations from several staffers. By spring, a group of more than 140 artists under the banner of Artists for Chicago called on Johnson to address the dysfunction within the department.

* NYT | Neighbors Warn Neighbors as Fear of ICE Ripples Across Chicago: Tensions are flaring up like small, intense wildfires. At elementary schools on the West Side, parents have organized to stand guard at dismissal time. Some construction businesses are keeping their warehouse doors open to keep an eye out for ICE agents. Owners of small businesses are doing their own deliveries, to protect their Latino employees from driving through the city streets.

* Tribune | Staffing issues cause ground delay at O’Hare amid government shutdown: According to flight tracking website FlightAware, 21% of flights departing O’Hare on Tuesday were delayed. “This is what happens when you have a government shutdown,” said Dennis Tajer, an American Airlines pilot based out of O’Hare and spokesperson for the Allied Pilots Association union. Tajer said he expects delays to get worse the longer the shutdown drags on. Still, he said, it’s the right call to institute a ground delay when staffing in air traffic towers is lacking.

* The Triibe | So, about that letter of support for Chicago Ald. Jessie Fuentes: 13 alderpeople didn’t sign it: Back in January, Alds. Beale, Quinn, Lopez, Tabares, Scott, Sposato, Napilitano, Reilly and Gardiner were among the 11 councilmembers who voted in favor of amending the city’s Welcoming City Ordinance to allow Chicago police to work with federal immigration officials. It was rejected by a 39-11 vote. The TRiiBE interviewed Fuentes after the letter of support went out. “If any of those alderpeople don’t find that incident a violation of our constitutional rights, then I don’t know what they will find a violation of our constitutional rights,” she said. “What I was doing in that moment was representing, standing up for my constituents as the local elected alderperson of the 26th Ward.”

* Sun-Times | Patricia Smith, a Chicago poet ‘who writes screams’: “The Intentions of Thunder,” the new collection of poems by the city’s own Patricia Smith, is a gorgeous, heartbreaking evocation of her life, family and troubled nation. Tuesday it was named as a finalist for the National Book Award.

* CBS Chicago | Jefferson Park residents confused over CDOT’s installation of bump-outs as solution to speeding: A chicane is a series of alternating curb extensions and islands that narrow the roadway and require vehicles to follow the S-shaped curving to discourage speeding.[…] The spokesperson said as with all CDOT designs, the installation was developed to accommodate larger vehicles and snow and ice removal operations. An object marker sign will also be installed on the new infrastructure to enhance visibility for drivers.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Herald | ‘Great fear and uncertainty’: Lake County leaders speak out against escalating ICE operations: Dulce Ortiz, executive director of Mano a Mano Family Resource Center and president of the board of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, said activities the group cautioned about in September were coming to pass. “We are here today with urgency and determination,” she said. “The escalation we warned about is here.”

* Lake County News-Sun | Border Patrol arrestee gets hero’s welcome at Waukegan meeting: ‘Stand up for what you believe in’: Slightly more than an hour after she was released Monday from federal custody for allegedly impeding a federal investigation, Dariana Fajardo arrived at Waukegan City Hall to say thank you to supporters, and before she left, she received four standing ovations. Arriving during a City Council meeting, she quietly took a seat and initially went unnoticed. As she sat there, she heard speaker after speaker talk about what happened to her earlier in the afternoon, when U.S. Border Patrol agents pulled her from her car and took her into custody.

* Daily Southtown | Will County Board will consider resolution to prohibit immigration enforcement: The Will County Board will consider next week a resolution asking the state and federal government to adopt polices to prohibit immigration enforcement in courthouses, schools and other sensitive community spaces and ensure that residents, regardless of immigration status, can live without fear of harassment and racial profiling. The proposed resolution was passed Tuesday at the board’s Legislative Committee meeting with four Democratic committee members supporting it. The measure moves to the County Board for a vote on Oct. 16.

* Tribune | Oak Park vote to protect gender affirming care generates community debate: With the addition of gender affirming to its Human Rights Ordinance, Oak Park will now prohibit village agencies or agents from providing information about or otherwise investigating or aid in the investigation of any person or entity for providing or receiving gender affirming care. The ordinance also states the village will object to any subpoena or requests for information from any out of state person or entity which is investigating someone in connection with a law criminalizing gender affirming care.

* Daily Herald | Will Buffalo Grove join other communities in regulating e-bikes?: Although the village has waged a public education campaign, including sharing information at such public events as the Buffalo Grove Police Bike Rodeo, it does not have an ordinance. Anderson suggested a local ordinance of limited scope that adopts current state laws, while enabling the village to use its own administrative adjudication program. Village Manager Dane Bragg said adopting state provisions would allow police officers to write citations.

* Aurora Beacon-News | Batavia police will be getting new body cameras with AI features: This will be a new contract for the department, as its current five-year contract with Midwest Public Safety for Getac body-worn cameras for officers is expiring in March, according to a memo from Batavia Police Chief Eric Blowers. As its current contract ends, the department considered three different vendors, including its current vendor, per the memo. The Axon contract was the most expensive of the three options, coming in at just under $765,000 for five years. […] Blowers said Axon’s services include AI features like an auto-transcription tool that he said will increase efficiency in writing police reports, and a live translation feature on the body cameras. They also offer an AI-assisted tool for making redactions on body camera footage for release.

* Block Club | 72 Drivers Ticketed In 10 Days For Using Shoulders To Beat Traffic, Cook County Sheriff’s Office Says: The Cook County Sheriff’s Office ticketed 72 drivers for illegally riding on expressway shoulders as part of enhanced patrols. The sheriff’s office has issued over 900 citations for the offense since late June, a spokesperson said in a statement. The emphasis on enhanced expressway patrols is meant to address “ongoing concerns about unsafe driving,” according to a video posted on the Cook County Sheriff’s Office’s X account.

* Daily Herald | Eyeing redevelopment, Des Plaines agrees to purchase downtown building for $1.1 million: The deal gives the city control over the former Leona’s at 1504 Miner St. While only occupying a fraction of an acre, the building fronts the main drag of downtown Des Plaines and is at an entrance to the Metropolitan Square development. “It is such a key, important piece,” Community and Economic Development Director Jeff Rogers told the city council before its vote Monday.

* Daily Herald | Amazon set to build high-tech service hub for delivery trucks in Arlington Heights: No employees will work in the garage, which will be constructed east of the main warehouse fronting Kennicott Avenue. Instead, an automated sensor system will scan each truck and assess maintenance needs, such as tire pressure and rotations.

* Daily Herald | Learn the history of the suburban trolley network Oct. 11: A new mode of transport was created after the discovery and commercialization of electric power. Learn about electric intersuburban trolleys at 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 11, at the Glen Ellyn History Center, 800 N. Main St. Douglas Rundell, a volunteer train operator at the Fox River Trolley Museum in South Elgin, will cover the fascinating history of some lines that served Northern Illinois, including the one that served the village of Glen Ellyn.

*** Downstate ***

* WIFR | Fire departments across Winnebago County leave Mercyhealth’s 911 system: In 2024, the chief led North Park through a major switch – leaving Rockcom for the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office. “It was a very hard decision because you have that connection to them too that you walk away from, and that’s hard to do,” said the North Park Chief. ”Like, ‘Oh boy, are they going to do this well?’” In an interview on Oct. 7, Hallstrom argued the switch paid off with better response times and budgets for his district.

* KWQC | Preliminary hearing postponed for 2 Mercer County School District employees: Amberly Norton and Andrea Long are facing charges after police said they illegally accessed students’ medical records. In court Tuesday, the preliminary hearing for Norton and Long was continued to Oct. 20. Norton and Long, along with the district’s superintendent, Timothy Farquer, were taken into custody on Sept. 24.

* WGLT | Town of Normal provides update on Vision 2050 Sustainability plan: Davison said at places like Uptown and the Connie Link Amphitheater, single-use water bottles are plentiful. At large events and meeting places, the department would like to see them eliminated. “It’s very specific, but it’s also a very high-profile item that we have at a lot of our events, especially when you think about all the events in Uptown and at Connie Link most of them are happening at the hottest part of the year,” she said. “And people need to drink water, that’s super important.”

* WSIL | Jackson County Ambulance Service celebrates first fielded all-female EMS crew: Jackson County Ambulance Service made history last night by deploying its first all-female crew. Led by Lt. Diamond, the team demonstrated professionalism, strength, and dedication. The ambulance district said this marks a significant milestone for Carbondale and Jackson County.

*** National ***

* CNN | Government shutdown hits air travel, closing a control tower and causing delays across the country: Perhaps the most dramatic impact was at the Burbank airport where the control tower was entirely shut down around 4:15 p.m. Monday afternoon. Flights could take off and land but had to follow procedures typically used at small airports without control towers. Delays of more than two and a half hours were reported at one point. Denver International and Newark Liberty International airports saw ground delays where flights were prohibited from taking off until controllers were able to handle them. Both airports are major hubs for United Airlines; the airline did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.

* Bloomberg | Can Canada Survive Donald Trump?: Canada’s future is less secure than perhaps at any time in postwar history. Over recent decades, with a free flow of trade between the nations, Canada has grown increasingly intertwined with the US. Three quarters of Canadian exports go to the US. Roughly half of foreign direct investment in Canada originates in the US. Until recently, many companies straddled the border as if no line existed. According to the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, 2.3 million jobs in Canada — 10% or more of total employment — depend on US trade. Tens of thousands of jobs have already been lost as result of President Donald Trump’s trade war. Even industries that might seem immune to US pressure are not: For example, an overwhelming share of Canadian crude oil exports go to the US. Remarkably, Canadian national defense depends even more on a deeply integrated US alliance.

* NYT | N.J. Attorney General Investigating Uber Over Handling of Sexual Assaults: The investigation was prompted by a New York Times report in August that found sexual violence on Uber rides was far more pervasive than what the company had previously disclosed, the people said. Uber received a report of sexual assault or sexual misconduct in the United States almost every eight minutes on average between 2017 and 2022, according to court documents.

* WATE | Dolly Parton not ‘feeling her best,’ sister says, asks for prayer: “Last night, I was up all night praying for my sister, Dolly,” Freida Parton said on Facebook. “I truly believe in the power of prayer, and I have been lead to ask all of the world that loves her to be prayer warriors and pray with me.” She added, “She’s strong, she’s loved, and with all the prayers being lifted for her, I know in my heart she’s going to be just fine. Godspeed, my sissy Dolly. We all love you!”