Good Tuesday morning, Illinois. What a treat. The first snowfall could be on Halloween, per the Sun-Times.

There’s a sense of urgency in Chicago City Hall this week as Mayor Brandon Johnson works to get migrants off the floors of police stations and O’Hare airport as temperatures hover near freezing.

He’s pushing ahead for the City Council to vote on acquiring vacant properties at 2241 S. Halsted Street in Pilsen and 115th and Halsted streets on Chicago’s far South Side to accommodate as many as 400 and 1,000 asylum seekers, respectively. The council’s Housing and Real Estate Committee voted to approve the acquisitions Monday, and the full council will vote on them Wednesday.

“This is for emergency use and the building will become part of a planned development with affordable housing” after the migrant crisis subsides, Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th) told Playbook of the Pilsen project, which he supports.

Ald. Ronnie Mosley (21st) is among aldermen worried that helping migrants is being done at the expense of residents already in the neighborhood. “I have residents who experience homelessness and need shelter beds for the winter as well,” he said.

Feeling railroaded: Mosley and Ald. Julia Ramirez (12th) say they didn’t get a say in the city’s decision to put migrant shelters in their wards. Ramirez was physically confronted by protesters opposed to putting a “winterized base camp” at 38th Street and California Avenue. It could take in 2,000 migrants.

And Ald. Silvana Tabares (23rd) says the city has moved ahead with selecting a migrant shelter at 7050 S. Pulaski Road in her ward even though she opposed it, according to a letter sent to a constituent and obtained by Playbook. “Constructing a migrant shelter in our community is unfair to our current residents due to current population densities, overcrowding in our local neighborhood schools, and overextended public safety resources and police manpower,” Tabares wrote.

Johnson’s view: “Chicago is a place strong enough to welcome and embrace newcomers while honoring our commitments to those who are already here, especially residents and communities that have long suffered from neglect and disinvestment,” he recently told the City Council.

By the numbers: Nearly 20,000 asylum seekers have arrived in Chicago since last summer. About 4,000 are sleeping on police station and airport floors or in tents outside. Earlier this month, Johnson presented a budget plan that includes $150 million to care for migrants. It’s a fraction of what’s needed, so he and aldermen are urging state and federal officials to step up.

Help from Springfield: Lawmakers have indicated migrant care is off the table for this month’s legislative session, but they could address it in the spring.

There will be opposition there, too. State Rep. Norine Hammond, a Republican from Macomb, has already introduced a bill calling for an end to the state’s “sanctuary status.” She sees the designation as a welcome sign for asylum seekers.

The heat is on: Johnson’s team announced this week that the city would deploy warming buses to provide shelter for asylum seekers. And there’s a call for coats. Migrants are coming from Venezuela and other warm climates with little but the clothes on their backs just as Chicago’s notoriously cold winter is about to set in.

Here’s a peek into how migrants are living on the street, via the Tribune’s Laura Rodríguez Presa.

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Normally, council members defer to each others’ wishes on ward land-use issues — but not this time, writes the Sun-Times’ Fran Spielman

THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT: The Illinois school report card shows students are doing okay in a lot of areas post-pandemic but still trying to catch up in others. Some key points from outlets statewide:

Post Covid recovery: “The annual measure of academic performance shows a second straight year of gains after two years of slippage due to Covid-19 pandemic disruptions. But while student proficiency levels inched up, they remain below pre-pandemic levels,” by the Daily Herald’s Alicia Fabbre.

On getting a cap and gown: Illinois saw the highest graduation rate in 13 years, “driven by Black and Hispanic students,” via the Tribune’s Shanzeh Ahmad, Sarah Macaraeg and Steve Sadin.

In reading and writing: “Nearly 35 percent of Illinois third through 11th graders scored at a proficient level in reading and writing on tests given last spring. This doesn’t match the nearly 38 percent rate from pre-pandemic 2019, but is higher than the 30 percent proficiency rate of the last two years,” by WBEZ’s Sarah Karp and Sun-Times’ Nader Issa.

In math, 27 percent of students between third and eighth grades were proficient, “a 1.6 percentage point increase. However, the 2023 scores still fell short of pre-pandemic levels,” by Chalkbeat’s Samantha Smylie. With Charts!

Staying on track: “In 2023, 87.4 percent of ninth-graders were on track to graduate – up from 86.6 percent in 2022, and the same 86.6 percent in 2019,” by Capitol News’ Peter Hancock. More charts!

The big quote: “We are moving fast toward recovery, but we still have a significant distance to travel,” State Superintendent of Education Tony Sanders said in issuing the report.

If you are Norine Hammond, Playbook would like to hear from you. Email [email protected]

No official public events.

At Discovery Partners Institute at 9 a.m. for the Sustainability Research & Innovation Congress. — At Walter H. Dyett High School for the Arts at 10 a.m. for a CPS high school achievement event.

At Discovery Partners Institute at 9 a.m. — At the Cook County Building at 11:30 a.m. for a special meeting of the Cook County Board.

Before you eat all the Halloween candy, email me at [email protected]

— Gearing up: In advance of next summer’s presidential conventions, the top Washington lobbying and communications firm Invariant has already done site visits to Milwaukee and Chicago to set up spaces for the firm founded by Heather Podesta, per POLITICO’s Daniel Lippman. Invariant has secured spaces in both cities for events with elected officials, lobbyists, political operatives and journalists.

— Springfield to D.C.: State Rep. Abdelnasser Rashid, a Democrat from Bridgeview, visited the White House on Monday for President Joe Biden’s signing ceremony of an executive order on Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence. Rashid is a member of a multi-state legislative working group on AI and the co-chair of Illinois’ AI task force.

FROM POLITICO: The politics of Biden’s vast new order, by Brendan Bordelon

— Time is fleeting for Illinois prison inmates hoping for medical release, by WTTW’s Brandis Friedman

— Land of Lincoln: The Illinois Manufacturers’ Association is out with its 2023 Made in Illinois poster. Pic!

— Aldermen delay vote on Johnson paid leave plan amid pushback: The proposal would require employers to let workers accrue up to 12 days of time off annually: six days for sick time and six days for paid time off. Some Black aldermen and business interests have pushed back at the proposal. “The ongoing debate demonstrates Johnson has work to do to assuage business community concerns,” writes the Tribune’s A.D. Quig and Talia Soglin.

— Workers return to Chicago Ford plant, with $400M investment coming down the road, by the Tribune’s Robert Channick

— Chicago’s top cop vows to rein in police OT spending as 2023 bill tops $200M, by WTTW’s Heather Cherone

— She’s ba-a-ack: Mackenzie Scott has donated $9 million through the Chicago Community Trust to Aunt Martha’s Health and Wellness nonprofit and $5 million to Skills for Chicagoland’s Future nonprofit. Scott, an author whose ex-husband is Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, recently gave $8 million to Cara Collective in Chicago.

— Northwestern pledges $100M for Evanston if it gets OK for Ryan Field concerts: “The school faces heavy local opposition to its proposal, which was rejected by the city’s Land Use Commission but now is pending before the City Council,” reports the Sun-Times’ David Roeder.

— Plainfield man pleads not guilty to hate crime and murder charges in attack on 6-year-old Muslim boy, by the Tribune’s Jake Sheridan

— Rosemont hotel no longer hosting pro-Palestinian event after receiving threats, by the Daily Herald’s Steve Zalusky

— Danny Solis’ rise and fall, from promising activist to disgraced Chicago politician to FBI mole: “The former 25th Ward alderperson sold his political soul for small favors, then tried to reclaim it by wearing a wire on two of the biggest powerhouses in the history of Illinois politics,” by the Sun-Times’ Fran Spielman and Mitchell Armentrout.

— Judge rules ex-Ald. Edward Burke’s comments on Jewish lawyers can be heard by jury, reports the Tribune’s Jason Meisner.

— Donald Trump Jr. was awarded with a complimentary lifetime membership to the Illinois State Rifle Association during his visit to Illinois last week, per the Illinois Review.

— Ken Griffin treated some 1,200 staffers and family members to a visit to Tokyo Disneyland. “The event, honoring Citadel’s 30th anniversary and Citadel Securities’ 20th, also included a Maroon 5 concert,” by Insider’s Sarah Jackson.

— Jim McMahon, the former Bears QB, is spotted playing catch with his grandson. Video

We asked for political-themed costumes.

Dave Dahl: A campaign poster.

Andrea Magaña: A baby Sen. Mitch McConnell, like this.

Ed Mazur: A stuffed ballot box.

Joan Pederson and John Straus would like to see Donald Trump in prison garb.

Patricia Ann Watson: Rudy Giuliani in an orange prison jumpsuit.

What’s one piece of advice you would hand down to future generations of your family? Email [email protected]

— Evanston teen Natalie Raanan back in Chicago after being held hostage by Hamas, by the Sun-Times’ Emmanuel Camarillo

— Israel aide drives wedge within Congress, via POLITICO’s Congress team

— Colleges under pressure to address antisemitism on campuses, by POLITICO’s Madina Touré

— Pierre Herman Rohrbach, a Chicago-area hairdresser who grew up swimming and fishing in the Rhine before moving to Illinois, has died. He was married to Millie Williams Gunn, mother of David and Christie Hefner. Details here

— Saturday: State Sen. Dan McConchie is hosting a free veteran luncheon and expo to honor veterans and their families in the 26th District. Location: Knights of Columbus center in Lake Zurich. RSVP: [email protected] or 224-662-4544

MONDAY’s ANSWER: Congrats to Dale Sachtleben for correctly answering that Illinois Co. and the Wabash Co. (which later merged as the Illinois-Wabash Land Co.) claimed to have purchased land from Native American tribes in Illinois. Their claims were denied by the British Crown, the Commonwealth of Virginia and the U.S. Supreme Court in Johnson v. McIntosh (1823).

TODAY’s QUESTION: Who was the first Illinoisan to appear on the cover of Time magazine? Email [email protected]

Marquardt & Co.’s John “Chip” Humes, immigration attorney Irma Wilson, Tribune columnist and former White House correspondent Ellen Warren and Playbooker Edwin Reyes.

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