Good morning, Chicago. ✶
🔎 Below: The state has mailed letters to thousands of Medicaid enrollees with low incomes or a disability. They could lose coverage as soon as Oct. 1.
🗞️ Plus: How small businesses are embracing AI, construction sites make room for women and more news you need to know.
📝 Keeping score: The Cubs beat Atlanta, 7-3; the White Sox bested Cleveland, 7-3.
🌧️ Today’s weather: Showers and thunderstorms with a high near 81.
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⏱️: A 7-minute read
TODAY’S TOP STORY 🔎
Thousands of Illinoisans may lose their health insurance
Reporting by Kristen Schorsch
Warning signs: Gov. JB Pritzker’s administration is alerting thousands of Illinoisans on Medicaid that they will lose or are at risk of losing their health insurance due to President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill. Officials estimate about half of these enrollees live in Cook County.
Key context: The state has mailed letters to people who have Medicaid public health insurance, a state-federal program for those who have low incomes or disabilities. Roughly 3 million people have Medicaid coverage in Illinois, about 1 in 4 people.
Who’s affected: Starting Oct. 1, about 8,500 people who are not U.S. citizens but have legal status, such as refugees and survivors of trafficking, will lose coverage. Next year, about 700,000 people ages 19 to 64 without children could lose coverage if they don’t meet work or volunteer requirements — and they’ll need to prove they’re eligible every six months.
POLITICS ✶
Construction sites required to be more welcoming to women under a new law
Reporting by Isabela Nieto
New law: Starting in January, construction worksites with female workers and more than 10 employees will be required to provide accommodations for menstruation and lactation under a state law Gov. Pritzker signed last month.
What’s new: Employers will have to provide a designated women’s restroom with an internal lock, and women who are breastfeeding will be able to request a sanitary place to express milk. Also, construction employers will have to provide a minimum of 10 menstrual products like tampons or pads, a refrigerator to store breast milk and running water to wash hands or breast-pumping equipment.
Key context: It’s the culmination of a legislative push in Springfield to make the state’s predominantly male construction industry embrace a new level of diversity, one that hasn’t existed since Chicago staked its claim on inventing skyscrapers.
AI CARAMBA 🤖
How small businesses are embracing AI
Reporting by Amy Yee
Riding the wave: Many of Chicago’s small businesses have turned to artificial intelligence for help with various tasks in an attempt to hold down costs in the face of inflation and labor shortages. It’s part of a growing wave of AI momentum among small businesses.
For example: Mary Nguyen Aregoni, owner of the West Loop restaurant Saigon Sisters, says she uses AI for email campaigns, social media and taking notes at meetings. She also uses AI to respond to reviews and emails, to review legal documents to spot red flags and to answer questions that arise while running a busy restaurant. Aregoni says she once asked Gemini to check whether 100 catering trays would fit into her car.
Key context: Recently, there have been several warnings about AI from those within the industry, reviving a long-running debate over whether AI could ever escape human control and even threaten humanity’s survival — and whether the companies developing the technology are doing enough to prevent such a scenario, the Associated Press reports.
MORE NEWS YOU NEED 🗞️
- Details emerge in Chicago rapper’s slaying: Bloodhound Q50, born Mikquale Cooper, had lost friends and collaborators to gun violence — and recently acknowledged in an interview that he was likely also a target. On Sunday, Cooper, 22, was fatally ambushed by six gunmen.
- Fed’s trial continues: Days into the trial of U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer Luis Uribe, who is accused of several “gunpoint sexual assaults” of sex workers, a woman testified Monday that her boss in China told her to ask Uribe “not to harm our girls” in exchange for free sex.
- New acting IG: State lawmakers named David Risley acting legislative inspector general effective Oct. 1, replacing Michael McCuskey, who announced his resignation following complaints about his handling of sexual harassment allegations that have roiled Springfield.
- SCOTUS rejects mail ballot restrictions: The Supreme Court rejected President Trump’s bid to restrict mail ballots for the midterm elections, the AP reports. The decision allows states to continue sending out mail ballots under the same processes they’ve used for years.
- Trump endorses Bailey: Trump said Sunday he’s “all for Bailey” once again in the Illinois governor race, handing GOP firebrand Darren Bailey an endorsement that’s unlikely to do him many favors as he tries to court Chicago-area moderates in his rematch against Gov. Pritzker.
- THC education: Last week, a group of mostly parents gathered for an experts’ forum on highly concentrated THC products, hoping to empower themselves and their teens with information about cannabis use.
- Equity Jeff Awards: At the 58th-annual ceremony, “Leopoldstadt” took home five prizes, the Black Ensemble Theatre was honored for reaching its 50th season, actor Brendan Hunt celebrated a win and more.
FROM THE PRESS BOX 🏈⚾🏒🏀
- Secrets to success: Hall of Famer Drew Brees’ comment in a pre-game meeting stuck with Bears QB Caleb Williams on Sunday, coach Ben Johnson said.
- After scout’s resignation: Following the resignation of scouting director Mike Shirley amid an internal investigation, the Sox might reimagine their amateur scouting process.
- Hawks in training: What does coach Jeff Blashill want to see from the Blackhawks? Puck possession and “swagger,” as they continue a shortened training camp this week.
- Sky back at it: They’ll return from the FIBA World Cup break to play the Mystics Thursday, with only four games left after already having been eliminated from the playoffs.
- Bulls preview: First-year executive Bryson Graham is from the school of SLAP (size, length, athleticism, physicality) — as is coach Tiago Splitter — and while Josh Giddey and Norman Powell check a lot of those boxes, will the entire backcourt follow as fall camp is set to start in a few weeks?
- High school football Week 4 takeaways: CSL South on the rise, Israel Abrams sparkles for Montini and a Fox Valley shakeup.
CHICAGO MINI CROSSWORD 🌭
Today’s clue: The ___ House (Frank Lloyd Wright landmark in Hyde Park)
BRIGHT ONE 🔆
Top art gallery shows to take in this fall
Reporting by Ambar Colón
The fourth annual Chicago Exhibition Week kicked off Monday with more than 50 participating galleries opening their doors for art through the weekend.
This week’s highlight is a series of opening receptions on Wednesday and Thursday, when major blue-chip, mid-sized and several nontraditional spaces invite the public to see exhibitions by major artists, including Jaume Plensa, Clotilde Jiménez and Brendan Fernandes.
Exhibition Week organizers say the arts initiative is a chance for Chicagoans, especially those less familiar with the art world, to get to know the city’s gallery scene in an approachable atmosphere.
One thing to note: you can still catch many of the exhibitions opening this week at participating galleries throughout the fall, some even into the new year.
If you tap the image above or the button below, you’ll find our list of 10 don’t-miss exhibitions.
More fall guides:
- 10 storefront theater shows to see
- The ultimate guide to Chicago’s fall film festivals
- Richard Roeper’s 12 most anticipated movies out this season
PICTURE CHICAGO 📸
Keke Palmer leads a Pilates class Sunday at the Salt Shed. In a moment defined by GLP-1s for weight loss, the Robbins native said she’s focused on building community and strength, rather than being thin.
Candace Dane Chambers/Sun-Times
YOUR DAILY QUESTION ☕️
Did you feel that chill in the air Monday? It looks like autumn is around the corner, so we want your take: What’s a clear sign that fall has arrived in Chicago?
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 are your predictions for this new Bears season?
Here’s some of what you said, edited for length and clarity.
“Da Bears will be like the Cubs. They will make the playoffs and flounder. Ben Johnson becomes Craig Counsell — highly overpaid to fall short every year.” — Tom Petraitis
“If the defense improves, they could reach the Super Bowl… I think the defense is the weak point.” — Cesar Estrada
“That defense will cost them some games. The offense will be top three in the league.” — Michael Foster
Thanks for reading the Sun-Times Morning Edition!
Got a story you think we missed? Email us here.
Written and curated by: Matt Moore
Editor: Michael Lansu and Esther Bergdahl
Hat tip: Esther Bergdahl for “AI caramba”