John Greenfield

On Friday morning, October 31, Streetsblog interviewed Illinois House Majority Leader Eva-Dina Delgado. She was operating on minimal sleep after staying up until 5 a.m. for the passage of the $1.5 billion transit reform/funding bill at the state capitol. But she was also in a celebratory mood. The legislation she co-sponsored with Rep. Kam Buckner had finally crossed the finish line, not only saving Chicagoland transit, but also paving the way for first-class regional and Downstate bus and train service.

• Crain's: "Editorial: A long night yields long-overdue action on transit"

• "Illinois celebrates a historic win for public transit" (Active Trans)

"If I get home before daylightI just might get some sleep tonight"

Sadly, on Friday afternoon, the driver of a sedan fatally struck Maximiliano Lemus Jr., 72, in Little Village and fled the scene.

• More coverage of Pritzker playing Sir Thomas Bringdown III re: the House transit bill (Trib, Evanston Roundable, WTTW, WGN, CBS, NBC, Bloomberg)

Update Friday 10/31/25, 9:00 AM: It was scary when the Illinois General Assembly floor debate over transit legislation entered the Halloween witching hours. But thankfully it looks like we've avoided a "Nightmare on Second Street" (the roadway where the state capitol is located). Here are some features of the new legislation that passed with $1.5 billion for public transportation, raised without statewide taxes, which I gleaned from a report by Capitol News Illinois and a summary by Capitol Fax.

• Illinois Policy is back on their... ridiculousness, demanding upgrades to transit that are already in bill, while rejecting new revenue sources to fund them

• RTA board captain Kirk Dillard: "The real consequences of not funding transit in Illinois" (Tribune)

If you weren't already convinced that the Illinois Policy Institute think tank is an alarmist right-wing organization, just check out the homepage of their blog. The headlines are screaming at you in all caps. And they seem to carefully select the most unflattering screenshots possible of progressive leaders such as Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, a strategy right out of the Fox News playbook.