What a government shutdown could mean for Chicago

Good morning, Chicago. ✶

🔎 Below: The federal government is shut down after lawmakers failed to pass a spending bill. We explain what that could mean for Chicago and the rest of the state.

🗞️ Plus: President Donald Trump says military troops are coming to Chicago “very soon,” developers break ground on Illinois quantum computing park in South Chicago and more news you need to know.

📝 Keeping score: The Cubs beat the Padres, 3-1; the Fire won over Inter Miami, 5-3, clinching their first playoff spot since 2017.

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⏱️: An 8-minute read


TODAY’S WEATHER 🌤️

Partly sunny with a high near 78.


TODAY’S TOP STORIES

House Speaker Mike Johnson and Vice President JD Vance spoke to members of the media outside the West Wing at the White House in Washington, Monday, Sept. 29, 2025, in Washington.

From left, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Vice President JD Vance speak to the media Monday outside the White House.

Evan Vucci/AP

What a federal government shutdown could mean for Chicago and Illinois

By Tina Sfondeles, Alden Loury and the Associated Press

Government shutdown: President Donald Trump and Congress failed to strike an agreement by Wednesday’s deadline to keep government programs and services running, plunging the country into a government shutdown. 

At issue: Democrats demand funding for health care subsidies that are expiring for millions of people under the Affordable Care Act, which will spike the costs of insurance premiums nationwide. Republicans have refused to negotiate for now and have encouraged Trump to steer clear of any talks. 

Furloughs, losses: Roughly 750,000 federal workers are expected to be furloughed nationwide, with some potentially fired by the Trump administration. An estimated 153,000 federal employees in Illinois includes federal law enforcement and more than 22,000 active duty military members. The exact number of furloughs and job losses is not yet known. 

No pay: Active duty service members and some law enforcement officers will remain at work but won’t receive pay until funds are appropriated. Nonessential workers are typically furloughed until Congress approves government spending. Air traffic controllers and TSA officers would also be working without pay, which could lead to huge delays and longer wait times at airports.

Key context: The longest government shutdown lasted 34 days from late 2018 into early 2019 — led by a stalemate between Trump and congressional Republicans over his request for a $5.7 billion border wall.

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WATCH: GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN IMPACTS ▶️

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Protesters march down Michigan ave during an anti-ICE protest in downtown Chicago, IL on Monday September 30, 2025.

Protesters opposed to immigration enforcement and military presence in the Chicago area march Tuesday on Michigan Avenue. | Jim Vondruska/For the Sun-Times

Jim Vondruska/For the Sun-Times

Trump suggests Chicago, other Democrat-led cities for military training, says troops coming ‘very soon’

By Tina Sfondeles, Mitchell Armentrout and Violet Miller

Escalated threats: President Trump on Tuesday escalated his threats against Democratic cities, telling about 800 of the country’s top military officials that he’s using “dangerous cities as training grounds” for the military and will be going into Chicago “very soon.”

Downtown protest: An estimated 350 protesters marched on Michigan Avenue, chanting “No Trump, no ICE, no troops.” Among the demonstrators the Sun-Times interviewed: a teacher bruised by federal agents with grenades and pepper balls during recent Broadview protests and a Marine Corps veteran denouncing Trump’s military deployment plan.

More headlines:

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Illinois Governor JB Pritzker speaks at the groundbreaking of the Illinois Quantum & Microelectronics Park (IQMP) on the South Side, Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025. IQMP is the first phase of Quantum Shore Chicago, a 440-acre master-planned technology and innovation district along the Chicago lakefront.

Gov. JB Pritzker speaks at the groundbreaking of the Illinois Quantum & Microelectronics Park in South Chicago.

Candace Dane Chambers/Sun-Times

CRG, Related Midwest break ground on Illinois quantum computing park

By Abby Miller

Quantum leap?: Developers and elected officials broke ground Tuesday on the state’s quantum campus in South Chicago, where Palo Alto, California-based PsiQuantum will build the country’s first utility-scale quantum computer. The event comes more than a year after officials announced the 128-acre Illinois Quantum & Microelectronics Park at the former U.S. Steel South Works facility. The park’s economic impact is estimated to be $50 billion over the next 20 years, Mayor Brandon Johnson said.

Community reaction: Some small businesses and neighbors are excited about benefits the quantum campus will bring, after the land sat underutilized for decades. But others are pushing for a community benefits agreement, which would provide assurances that residents won’t be poisoned by contaminants at the site, won’t be displaced by rising property values and would gain new jobs.

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GAMES AND CROSSWORDS 🧩

GAMES AND PUZZLES

    This week’s Chicago-style crossword theme is: Architecture

    Here’s your clue: 
    1A: Frank Lloyd ___ (architect born and raised in Oak Park)

    PLAY NOW


    MORE NEWS YOU NEED

    The Rev. Nelson Daniel Rupp, shown in inset from a St. Augustine high school seminary yearbook photo from the 1970s, and a school bus from the priestly training ground.

    The Rev. Nelson Daniel Rupp’s St. Augustine high school seminary yearbook photo from the 1970s; a school bus from the priestly training ground.

    Provided/Friends of the Felt Estate

    • Priest’s alleged abuse: The Rev. Nelson Daniel Rupp, accused of child sexual abuse, was among the instructors at a seminary high school attended by future Pope Leo XIV, then known as Robert Prevost.
       
    • Durbin rejects award: Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin has turned down a lifetime achievement award that was to be given to him at an Archdiocese of Chicago reception in November, Cardinal Blase Cupich said. Bishops and conservative groups had criticized the decision to award Durbin, citing his support for legal abortion.
       
    • Vivian Maier trove: Newly released photos and personal items once owned by Vivian Maier, the Chicago nanny who later gained world renown for her photography, are currently being auctioned.
       
    • 3.5 stars for ‘Big White Fog’: With a 17-person cast, director Ron OJ Parson takes a 1938 classic and makes it digestible and thought-provoking for contemporary audiences, writes Mike Davis in a review for the Sun-Times.

    CHICAGO STORIES 🗞️

    Sun-Times columnist Mary Mitchell poses at the bar with her byline at Billy Goat Tavern in Streeterville, Friday, Sept. 26, 2025. | Barry Brecheisen/For the Sun-Times

    Mary Mitchell points to her place among Chicago’s journalism legends.

    Barry Brecheisen/For the Sun-Times

    Journalism titan Mary Mitchell joins the greats on the Billy Goat Tavern’s wall

    Reporting by Esther Bergdahl

    Another accolade: More than a year after she filed her final column, capping 34 years at the Sun-Times, award-winning journalist Mary Mitchell netted another recognition in her storied career: Her name on the wall of the Billy Goat Tavern.

    Among peers: Friends and former colleagues gathered Friday under Michigan Avenue to see tavern staff place a blown-up rendering of Mitchell’s byline on the bar’s wall.

    Unofficial HOF: Mitchell’s name on the Billy Goat’s wood paneled wall puts her in the company of other local media greats like Studs Terkel and Mike Royko, whose bylines are also part of the unofficial journalism hall of fame. Mitchell is the third woman on the wall and the first woman of color.

    READ MORE


    FROM THE PRESS BOX ⚾🏈🏀

    • Cubs’ perfect day?: The Cubs started the postseason on a perfect note. Steve Greenberg writes: Could a day at Wrigley Field be any better?
    • Bears’ stadium details: The Bears on Tuesday released renderings and an economic impact report for their new Arlington Heights stadium.
    • Okoro’s promise: The Bulls are hoping that the addition of Isaac Okoro will change the team’s defensive mindset.
    • Basketball forecast: Joe Henricksen takes a look at the local basketball players likely to make the biggest impact on area colleges.

    BRIGHT ONE 🔆

    Makaya McCraven

    Chicago musician Makaya McCraven.

    Itzi Marques

    Drummer Makaya McCraven makes musical time capsules

    By Hannah Edgar

    Makaya McCraven is one of those rare artists whose sound can be picked out of a lineup. Ten years ago, the Rogers Park musician, 41, struck upon a new approach: What if he took recordings from his live shows — and, as a gigging musician, he played a lot of those, in settings glamorous and unglamorous — and layered them with studio-recorded material?

    The idea isn’t new; albums billed as live recordings are usually “Frankensteined” in some way. But McCraven’s approach was to loop licks so that they become steady as a hip-hop producer’s beats. Then, to add another layer to the musical matryoshka doll, McCraven plays elaborations upon the produced version — now bearing little resemblance to the original gig material — in live performances. Though the drums are McCraven’s home base, his website bears a different title first: “Beat Scientist.”

    “I say I come from the jazz tradition and the lineage of that. But I think that’s already complicated, and maybe problematic in many ways,” says McCraven, who was exposed early on to jazz greats by his father, drummer Stephen McCraven. “I’m trying to just make music as a modern person in a modern, crazy world.”

    Four new EPs, out physically Oct. 10 and via streaming Oct. 31, capture musical vignettes over the last decade. The two newest, “Techno Logic” and “The People’s Mixtape,” feature live performances as recent as January of this year. The oldest, “PopUp Shop,” dates to the same period as “In the Moment,” the 2015 album through which McCraven first experimented with his new hybrid style.

    READ MORE


    YOUR DAILY QUESTION ☕️

    What’s a book that changed the way you think about Chicago? Tell us why.

    Email us (please include your first and last name). We may include your answer in Thursday’s Morning Edition newsletter.


    Thanks for reading the Sun-Times Morning Edition!
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    Written and curated by: Matt Moore
    Editor: Eydie Cubarrubia


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