Illinois
Illinois lawmakers consider banning third-party companies from selling restaurant reservations
Some Illinois lawmakers are proposing a legislation that would ban third-party service companies from selling restaurant reservations online.
Other states like California, Nevada, and Florida are considering similar proposals after New York passed a law last year.
Margaret Croke, who is the State Representative for Illinois’ 12th District is one of the sponsors of the bill that would ban the illegal sale of restaurants reservations online.
“I think this is going to help you get the reservation that you been wanting from that fun hot new restaurant that for some reason you’re racking your brain and why you can’t do this,” Croke said.
Croke is backing the proposed ordinance after running into problems herself trying to book a table at popular restaurants downtown.
“This doesn’t impact Resy, Open Table, Tock, actually those organizations have been in favor of legislations like this across the country,” she said. “This really impacts only those third-party vendors who are using bots and sometimes they are using individuals, but they’re actually taking something that is free and reselling them.”
She’s been working with the Illinois Restaurant Association, which drafted the ordinance.
“I think it will allow the customers of these restaurants to get these restaurants, and it would reduce no shows, which also helps the employees because you know, a lot of these third-party apps they’ll make reservations and people won’t show,” IRA president Sam Toia said.
Known as the Restaurant Reservation Anti-Piracy Act, it would ban third-party reservation service companies from listing, advertising, promoting, or selling reservations unless there’s a written agreement between the third party and the restaurant.
“Customers shouldn’t have to compete with bots or predatory third-parties’ resellers they should not,” he said.
One of the third-party companies is Appointment Trader. Founder Jonas Frey told NBC Chicago he feels as though his small company is being targeted and argues restaurants do not own the reservations, but the consumers.
“It’s not the restaurant’s reservations, it’s the person’s reservation,” Jonas Frey, Appointment Trader’s founder said. “It shouldn’t be prohibited that you sell what you own if you change your mind, especially if you have to be liable for no show fee if you don’t go—that’s crazy then there’s a restriction on what you can do with it.”
The platform launched in 2021 and has more than 80,000 active users. The website and app allow users to list, trade, and sell their appointments or reservations. Frey said they have piracy measures and metrics in place to combat against bots and scalpers.
“If every restaurant had the ability to dictate how their reservation can be sold it’s not going to be an actually free market so I can’t see how that could benefit any consumer,” he said. “We are the one that puts the little guy that generally does not have the ability have access to restaurants like this into those restaurants and they claim that we are hurting restaurants because we generate no shows and that’s literally made up.”
The proposed bill passed the committee unanimously, according to State Rep. Croke. The bill now heads to the House floor.
One person is dead after a fire inside a condo complex in south suburban Glenwood on Saturday evening.
It happened around 5 p.m. in the 900 block of 194th Street.
Glenwood fire officials said that crews responded to a second-floor unit inside the three-story building that was engulfed with flames.
It was confirmed that one person died in the fire. Their identity was not released.
Neighbors in adjoining condos were displaced. The Red Cross was working to provide further assistance to those affected.
Glenwood fire said they are working with the state fire marshal to investigate what led up to the blaze.
The 2025-26 FCS playoffs consist of a 24-team bracket with play starting on Saturday, Nov. 29 and concluding on Monday, Jan. 5. The top 16 teams seeded and the top eight seeds receive automatic byes to the second round, while the rest of the 24-team field (the remaining 16 teams) play in the first round.
Here’s everything you need to know for the Division I Football Championship postseason.
FCS championship bracket
Click or tap here to view the bracket
FCS championship schedule
All times Eastern
Quarterfinals
- Friday, December 12
- Saturday, December 13
Semifinals
- Saturday, December 20
- Semifinal 1 | 4 p.m. ET | ABC
- Semifinal 2 | 7:30 p.m. ET | ESPN2
National Championship
FCS championship rounds, dates
- Selection show: 12 p.m. ET Sunday, Nov. 23 on ESPNU
- First round: Saturday, Nov. 29
- Second round: Saturday, Dec. 6
- Quarterfinals: Friday, Dec. 12 through Saturday, Dec. 13
- Semifinals: Saturday, Dec. 20
- National championship: Monday, Jan. 5 on ESPN at 7:30 p.m. ET
FCS selections
The bracket selections for the 2025-26 FCS Championship was on Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025. The bracket was be revealed via a selection show on ESPNU at 12 p.m. ET and a selections release.
Eleven conferences (or conference partnerships/alliances) earn automatic bids to the playoffs. The FCS Championship Committee selects the remaining 13 at-large bids.
AUTOMATIC BIDS: Click or tap here to see all 11 of the clinched auto-bids
FCS championship history
North Dakota Dakota State is the reigning national champion, winning its 10 title in 2024 with a 35-32 win over Montana State. Here’s every FCS champion and runner-up from the past decade:
| Year | Champion | Coach | Score | Runner-Up | Site |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | North Dakota State | Tim Polasek | 35-32 | Montana State | Frisco, Texas |
| 2023 | South Dakota State | Jimmy Rogers | 23-3 | Montana | Frisco, Texas |
| 2022 | South Dakota State | John Stiegelmeier | 45-21 | North Dakota State | Frisco, Texas |
| 2021 | North Dakota State | Matt Entz | 38-10 | Montana State | Frisco, Texas |
| 2020 | Sam Houston | K.C. Keeler | 23-21 | South Dakota State | Frisco, Texas |
| 2019 | North Dakota State | Matt Entz | 28-20 | James Madison | Frisco, Texas |
| 2018 | North Dakota State | Chris Klieman | 38-24 | Eastern Washington | Frisco, Texas |
| 2017 | North Dakota State | Chris Klieman | 17-13 | James Madison | Frisco, Texas |
| 2016 | James Madison | Mike Houston | 28-14 | Youngstown State | Frisco, Texas |
| 2015 | North Dakota State | Chris Klieman | 37-10 | Jacksonville State | Frisco, Texas |
Click here for a full list of every champion since 1978.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WICS) — After a brief lull in the weather on Friday, now another winter storm is setting its sights on central Illinois. Come Saturday, our next round of Winter is set to arrive. A new weather maker sweeps across the Upper Midwest, causing more snow to develop by mid-morning on Saturday. A Winter Weather Advisory has been issued from 7AM Saturday through 8 PM Saturday evening. The snow will pick up intensity by late-morning and last through the afternoon into the early evening hours before ending. This new weather system will follow a path very similar to the previous storm system and spread a swath of moderate to locally heavy snow. Before the snow wraps up Saturday evening, expect another 2″-4″ for much of central Illinois, with afternoon high temperatures bitterly cold in the mid-teens.
But the worst blast of cold air comes in Saturday evening into Sunday. Frigid Arctic air surges down from Canada causing temperatures to really tumble, driving in the coldest weather we’ve had in a long time and certainly the coldest so far this season. A Cold Weather Advisory is issued from 8 PM Saturday through Noon on Sunday. Sunday morning will be dangerously cold with wind chills around 20 to 25 BELOW ZERO. With wind chills this extreme, it doesn’t take long to suffer from frostbite or hypothermia. Please stay inside to keep warm, but if you do need to venture out, limit the time you spend outdoors, and make sure to cover up all exposed skin by wearing a hat, scarf, and gloves. Sunday afternoon features lots of sunshine, but despite the sunshine, temperatures will be brutally cold and frigid with high temperatures stuck in the low single numbers while wind chills remain well below zero.
Expect more extremely chilly weather on Monday with wind chills still ranging from 5 to 15 BELOW ZERO in the morning and afternoon highs only reaching into the 20s. Then temperatures will finally start to warm up, and we should climb out of the deep freeze with highs in the mid to upper 30s on Tuesday.
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