Good morning, Chicago. ✶
🔎 Below: A Chicago-area psychiatrist had his payments slashed after Blue Cross Blue Shield enacted a new “downcoding” system that doctors worry will make it more difficult for patients to get the care they need.
🗞️ Plus: Chicago police investigate a Border Patrol shooting, Illinois election officials say mail-in voting is still secure and more news you need to know.
📝 Keeping score: The Cubs fell to the Diamondbacks, 5-4; the White Sox beat the Rangers, 11-7; the Sky were defeated by the Sun, 87-81; the Fire lost to Monterrey, 2-1.
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⏱️: A 7-minute read
TODAY’S WEATHER 🌤️
Partly sunny with a chance of afternoon showers and thunderstorms and a high near 84.
CHICAGO JIGSAW PUZZLE 🧩
Piece together history to reveal more about today’s photo from the Sun-Times archives.
TODAY’S TOP STORY 🔎
New Blue Cross Blue Shield policy lowers payment for therapists, pediatricians
Reporting by Elvia Malagón
‘Downcoding’ policy: As of July 1, Blue Cross Blue Shield changed the way it evaluates some medical claims that health professionals regularly submit, resulting in lower payments for the same service than in the past, according to mental health clinicians, doctors and advocates.
Providers’ concerns: In recent weeks, Derek Phillips, director of psychiatry at Arcus Behavioral Health & Wellness in Chicago, had dozens of his claims reduced by Blue Cross Blue Shield, which means both he and the practice he works for earn less for the same amount of work. The small practice likely won’t be able to tackle appealing each downcoded claim.
How patients are impacted: For some doctors, the financial cost of Blue Cross Blue Shield’s decision to downgrade claims and lower reimbursement rates may be too much to bear. And it comes when finding a therapist is already a struggle for many people. One psychiatrist said he was considering dropping Blue Cross Blue Shield entirely, which could mean some patients will have to pay out-of-pocket.
IMMIGRATION ✶
Elite police unit investigating Border Patrol shooting of Chicago woman
Reporting by Jon Seidel, Sophie Sherry and Tom Schuba
Police investigation: The shooting of Marimar Martinez by a Border Patrol agent last fall is now being investigated by the Chicago Police Department’s Investigative Response Team, a unit staffed with deeply experienced detectives who will look to bring a case to Cook County prosecutors.
Roadblocks remain: Any charging decision involving a felony would still fall to the office of Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke. And potential roadblocks remain if the federal government refuses to cooperate with the police investigation.
Bottom line: This is a notable step forward in the latest effort to hold federal agents accountable, nearly a year after the Trump administration’s aggressive Operation Midway Blitz deportation campaign hit Chicago. No federal agent has been charged with an on-duty crime connected to Midway Blitz.
ELECTIONS 📫
Mail ballots are secure, Illinois election officials stress, after Supreme Court ruling
Reporting by Tina Sfondeles
Mail maligned: As courts continue to decide the fate of President Donald Trump’s executive order restricting mail-in ballots, Cook County and Illinois election officials say they’re going full speed on their preparations for early voting and vote-by-mail ballots in the November election. The prep comes amid Trump’s multipronged effort to sow doubt about mail ballots, leaving election officials to assure voters the process is secure.
Facility tour: Cook County Clerk Monica Gordon on Tuesday hosted U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, state Sen. Laura Murphy and voting rights leaders from ACLU Illinois, Common Cause and the League of Women Voters for a tour of Cook County’s ballot processing center in Cicero — a day after the U.S. Supreme Court paused a lower court ruling that had blocked parts of Trump’s March executive order.
Where things stand: Ten weeks before Election Day, we’ve got answers to some of voters’ outstanding questions around mail-in voting here.
MORE NEWS YOU NEED 🗞️
- NIPSCO wants price bump: Following a devastating derecho that ravaged Northwest Indiana and left hundreds of thousands without power for two weeks, the Northern Indiana Public Service Company filed documents that would raise electric bills for its customers.
- Measles in Kane County: The county’s health department confirmed an unvaccinated resident recently contracted measles, though is no longer infectious.
- Hospital cleaning out?: Resilience Healthcare CEO Manoj Prasad, owner of West Suburban Medical Center, is now allegedly moving equipment out of the hospital. Prasad previously vowed that the hospital, closed five months ago, would reopen this summer.
- Mayor plans to refinance: Mayor Brandon Johnson announced the city will refinance up to $525 million in debt to dig itself out of a now $85.1 million budget hole he said was caused by a slew of so-far-fruitless revenue streams passed in City Council’s spending plan.
- Museum workers ratify contract: Workers at the Chicago History Museum have ratified their first union contract, after what the union representing the workers called “some of the worst anti-union retaliation we’ve seen.”
- Film fest lineup announced: The Chicago International Film Festival returns Oct. 14-25 with a Bob Odenkirk project, spotlight on Michelin-starred chef Curtis Duffy and films from Tim Blake Nelson and Martin McDonagh.
PICTURE CHICAGO 📸
A makeshift memorial appears by a Dolly Parton mural in Edgewater, following news of the beloved star’s death at 80 on Tuesday.
Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times
ON WBEZ 91.5 FM 📻
In the Loop with Sasha-Ann Simons, 9 a.m.
- WNBA politicized: WBEZ’s Cheryl Raye-Stout, Marquita Wiggins of “Quita In the Mornings” on YouTube and Troy Taylor of Transmasc Society of Chicago join the show to discuss the politicization of the WNBA and why it’s become a flashpoint for culture wars.
- Return of Theater Club: Chicago Public Media’s Arts and Culture Desk launched the Theater Club last spring to provide Chicagoans with a discounted opportunity to meet new people and see new theater. WBEZ theater reporter Mike Davis joins the show to discuss the club’s return.
Say More with Mary Dixon and Patrick Smith, 10 a.m.
- Remembering Dolly Parton: Callers will weigh in to discuss the impact Parton and her music had on their lives.
FROM THE PRESS BOX 🏈⚾🏀
- Orange crush?: As much as the Sun-Times’ Patrick Finley, a self-professed uniform nerd, wants to hate the Bears’ new alternate uniforms, he actually likes them.
- Cubs’ postseason: As playoffs near, the Cubs seem to have it all, except for a starter who gives foes the shivers, writes Steve Greenberg.
- Sox’ slow start: The Sox’ trade-deadline acquisitions are off to a slow start, with reliever Huascar Brazoban and catcher Joey Bart out with injuries, and right-hander Luis Castillo and outfielder Brenton Doyle not showing immediate results.
- Pick-swap hell: With the Mystics’ succeeding ahead of schedule and the Sky knocked out of playoff contention, the Ariel Atkins trade from 2025 came back to bite them, writes Alissa Hirsh.
CHICAGO MINI CROSSWORD 🌭
Today’s clue: 5D: Poet and University of Chicago professor ___ Ewing
BRIGHT ONE 🔆
Mother Goose gets a Natalie Merchant makeover
Reporting by Kyle MacMillan
Singer-songwriter Natalie Merchant has spent years as an international star — first with the band 10,000 Maniacs and then as a solo artist. But one of her biggest musical satisfactions has nothing to do with the big-stage limelight.
Merchant’s “Cabinet of Wonder,” a digital children’s album, marks the culmination of an ongoing project she calls her “legacy.” It’s an ambitious educational collaboration with the Chicago Children’s Theatre and Chicago Symphony Orchestra that features an accompanying website with recordings, videos and teaching aids free for teachers, parents, children and anyone else.
The concept behind it all is simple. Merchant has set 14 Mother Goose nursery rhymes to music, using the familiarity and metrical patterns of the venerable texts combined with her catchy tunes to teach preschool and kindergarten-age children a love for both music and language.
“Children deserve beauty,” Merchant said, “and people who develop a sense of aesthetics at a really young age and who create beauty, make better citizens, make a better society, make a better world.”
YOUR DAILY QUESTION ☕️
What’s the most memorable meal you’ve had at a Chicago restaurant? Tell us why.
Reply to this question via email (please include your first and last name). We may run your answer in a future newsletter or story.
Yesterday, we asked you: What’s your pro tip for taking the CTA?
Here’s some of what you said…
“During rush hour, try to move to the center of the train car or to the back of the bus. It’s a more pleasant riding experience than being bunched up by the door with 30 others.” — Shane Tolentino
“Exit the bus via the back door so new passengers entering can swipe in quickly.” — Sue Wynn
“Always look before you sit.” — Anne Goodman
“If the train is full and you see a car that has one person in it, get in the crowded car. Your nose will thank you.” — Vaughn Heifner
“For going to Cubs games, park on Addison west of Ashland, or a side street nearby, and take the 152 bus.” — Justin Rickman
“Don’t wear a backpack, briefcase, or purse on your back or shoulders so that other riders have more room.” — Craig Barner
“On the bus, be sure to thank your driver! They put up with a lot.” — Gwendolyn Howard
Thanks for reading the Sun-Times Morning Edition!
Got a story you think we missed? Email us here.
Written and curated by: Matt Moore
Edited by: Michael Lansu