BREAKING: The Supreme Court keeps President Trump’s National Guard deployment blocked in the Chicago area for now.

NEW from me: Northlight Theatre is coming back to Evanston next year, with construction on their new state-of-the-art theater coming along nicely I got a look inside yesterday:

Kat had been largely off X for a while the past few months only occasionally posting larger updates on the site For a while she was posting on both but after the protests in Broadview and the attention it attracted in conservative media it seems she moved mostly over here

There's been a lot of drama in Evanston over parking requirements in the Envision Evanston plan. Well, with a stroke of a pen, Governor Pritzker just got rid of those 💪 @evanstoneta.bsky.social @mattheweadie.bsky.social @alexhairysun.bsky.social

Evanston Now’s Jeff Hirsh spoke this week with Daniel Durango-Cohen, a junior at Brown University and ETHS grad who was in the same engineering building last Saturday where the tragic shooting took place “In hindsight, this really could have ended differently if I ran in the other direction.”

Exclusive: AIPAC getting very involved in #IL09, viewing the race as one of the most important races nationwide and the potential lead domino for the Democrats' 2026 midterms But to win, AIPAC is first trying to get Bruce Leon to drop out

Border Patrol boss Gregory Bovino has left Chicago, according to reports. blockclubchi.co/4aqNZia

Inbox: State Rep. Abdelnasser Rashid (21st District), who represents parts of the southwest side of Chicago (Berwyn, North Riverside, La Grange Park, Bedford Park) is endorsing Kat Abughazaleh Rashid is the first state-level elected official to endorse Abughazaleh's campaign for #IL09

Scoop - Kat Abughazaleh brought in a new campaign manager last month, moving her previous campaign manager to a “senior adviser” role This, and more, in this week’s wrap-up of news in #IL09

Good day to support @brooklinenews.bsky.social and @samjmintz.bsky.social brookline.news

A Biss campaign source had a response to this: “Is the Fine campaign sure they really want to have a conversation about fundraising in this race?”

This post appears to be a swipe at Daniel Biss, who sent out a fundraising email soon after confronting Bovino yesterday But an email late Wednesday night explicitly says, "Don't worry, this isn't a fundraising email," with a donation link at the bottom

I don’t get to cover #IL08 but here’s a big endorsement from it anyway

Scoop — Daniel Biss is out with a list of new labor endorsements this morning in #IL09, from IBEW Local 134, LiUNA Chicago Laborers District Council, Mid America Carpenters Regional Council and Painters District Council 14.

Over on X, Bovino responded to one of my posts urging people to self deport and claimed that the people arrested today were “at a baseline, criminals” but of course did not respond to what prompted the arrests and why his agents shattered a window in the process

In a post on X, Bovino is claiming that both EPD and the Chicago police assisted CBP today in what he called a "excellent day in Evanston!" Both departments are disputing the claim they assisted

Biss' congressional campaign is out with a fundraising email on his interaction with Bovino today in Evanston

Statement from the city and Evanston police

Thread of some photos from Evanston's standoff with border patrol today All photos here are from the Home Depot parking lot on Oakton, where agents smashed a truck window and detained at least one person, according to bystanders and mayor Daniel Biss

BREAKING: Federal immigration agents were back in Evanston on Wednesday as a caravan led by CBP chief Gregory Bovino detained at least one person, smashing a window in the process. Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss confronted Bovino in the tense standoff evanstonnow.com/biss-confron...

Evanston police were on site at both the gas station and the Home Depot Police Chief Schenita Stewart spoke with at least one agent at Home Depot as the agents were driving out of the lot EPD was helping direct traffic for both the CBP and civilian cars as traffic on Oakton was quickly snarled

Mayor Biss tells me it's his understanding that CBP has left the city as of 2 p.m., but wasn't able to say for certain I drove around for the past ~30 mins and didn't see any vehicles, although a caravan of civilians was following the agents out of the Home Depot lot

NEW: Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, who is running for Congress, confronted Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino today:

At least one person has been detained here that we've seen. Large crowd shouting "shame!" at the feds.

Currently watching CBP agents intimidate Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss in a Home Depot parking lot.

Chaotic scene at Home Depot where at least two were taken, per Daniel Biss Agents smashed in a window (pictured) They headed east on Oakton

Border Patrol is at the Evanston Home Depot. Community members here blowing whistles blowing, DHS chopper flying very low above us.

ABC 7 spotted Bovino at the Mobil station at 1950 Green Bay Rd. in Evanston

ICE/border patrol is back in Evanston this morning, per Mayor Daniel Biss CBP Chief Gregory Bovino was spotted yesterday in Cicero, per @blockclubchi.bsky.social and other reports

NEW — Three Skokie trustees are backing Bushra Amiwala in #IL09 Amiwala is one of two candidates from Skokie, an extremely diverse part of the 9th District that's likely to play an important role in the winner of the March 17 primary

The Justice Coalition, a pro-Palestinian advocacy group, is endorsing Kat Abughazaleh in #IL09 The group was the sponsor of this poll that showed Abughazaleh and Daniel Biss tied at 18% I reported at the time they would be endorsing a candidate in light of the results, and now have

Last month, I spoke with State Sen. Mike Simmons (also a candidate for #IL09) who helped push for the People Over Parking Act to make its way into the newly signed transit overhaul bill Today, he called it a "huge day for our state and for our country." evanstonnow.com/simmons-call...

NEW from me — After signing into law the Northern Illinois Transit Authority Act, Gov. JB Pritzker called it a "once-in-a-generation investment" into the region, but cautioned that implementation and significant changes will take time evanstonnow.com/pritzker-sig...

The @theintercept.com sent a reporter to a fundraiser in Los Angeles yesterday after I reported last month that AIPAC's board president was hosting a fundraiser for her campaign They were turned away at the door, but attendees confirmed they were there for the fundraiser

NEW — Gov. JB Pritzker will sign the Northern Illinois Transit Authority Act this morning at Union Station The bill, passed in the final hours of the fall veto session, directs over $1.5 billion in funding to rework the region's public transit and avoid a massive fiscal cliff

NEW — In light of the tragic shooting at Brown, I took a look at where the #IL09 candidates stand on gun control, from a gun violence survivor candidate, to calls for repealing the 2nd Amendment and near universal support for background checks Read it here: evanstonnow.com/where-the-ca...

Full statement from House Majority Leader Rep. Robyn Gabel (D-Evanston)

NEW – Illinois has joined 11 other states and DC this morning in enacting 'right-to-die' legislation for terminally ill adults who consent to ending their lives The measure was co-sponsored by Evanston Rep. Robyn Gabel and Glenview State Sen. Laura Fine, among others

It's getting busy in Illinois politics, so I'm launching a weekly (for now) wrap-up of news in #IL09 and other relevant news ahead of the March 17 primary This week: A look at fundraising number claims, scoops on new ads and a look at where things stand 3 months out Find it👇🏼👇🏼

NEW Illinois Senate poll from Public Policy Polling Krishnamoorthi: 32% Stratton: 20% Kelly: 8% Undecided: 39%

Pritzker's response to Indiana "Illinois will remain vigilant..."

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For the Evanston folks who remember the Popeyes controversy: Last night, Evanston's Economic Development Committee forwarded a plan that would give a $400,000 TIF-funded grant to the Heartwood Center-backed soul-food restaurant where Popeyes nearly opened City Council gets final say next month

Amiwala's campaign response to this fundraising email using Jasmine Crockett's name is below Her campaign did not comment on a similar email sent in September "from" Rep. Summer Lee, that Lee's campaign told me they were unaware of and did not approve

Inbox: Equality PAC, co-chaired by Reps. Mark Takano (D-CA) and Ritchie Torres (D-NY), announced Thursday it's supporting State Sen. Mike Simmons in his bid for #IL09 Simmons is the first openly LGBTQ+ person to serve in the Illinois State Senate

Inbox: With three weeks until the end of the year, #IL09 candidate Kat Abughazaleh is out with new fundraising numbers saying she’s raised over $1 million since October 1 Politico reported this week that State Sen. Laura Fine told donors she’s raised $800,000 in Q4

Northwestern University says frozen federal funding is beginning to flow, one week after agreeing to pay a $75 million fine to the Trump administration to close investigations and free up funding NIH grants are unfrozen and DoD stop-work orders are being paid out, NU said today

NEW in #IL09: Kat Abughazaleh is running this ad on cable starting tmrw, per her campaign The buy is $170,000 She committed to no cable ads at her campaign launch but has clearly changed her mind after significant pushback from supporters on that position

Spotted: Co-sponsors Sen. Mike Simmons and Rep. Hoan Huynh, both #IL09 candidates, at the governor's bill signing today. Sen. Laura Fine, another co-sponsor, was not present as she's apparently on a fundraising trip this week in New York Her campaign didn't provide comment but did post about it

In other AFL-CIO news, the union is also throwing its support behind Patrick Hanley of Winnetka to replace State Sen. Laura Fine in the 9th State Senate District I called Hanley and he told me he was "so proud and delighted" for the endorsement