By Barton Lorimor Email | @bartonlorimor

* Surprise!

Yup, the animals have taken over the farm. Miller is out until next week, so you guys are stuck with me until then.

* A lot of you somehow survived the last couple of times I filled in, so you know the drill. I’ll try to get as many posts up before I have to go punch the time card, and then I will follow up with some updates in the afternoon over my lunch hour.

I am also going to include my information at the top of every post in the event you need to contact me. I do not have access to the capitolfax(at)gmail.com account, so if you have a press release you would like considered please send it here instead.

* Alright. Let’s get right to it…

* LITTLE LEAGUE ALLEGES ONLY 5 JRW TITLE PLAYERS LIVED WITHIN BOUNDARIES: Attorneys for Little League alleged JRW submitted a boundary map in May. After the championship series, JRW submitted a different map in which 12 of 13 players were within the boundary. Little League asserts after further investigation, the second map was intentionally backdated and the result, only five of the championship players actually lived within the boundaries.

* Illinois State Fair street to be named for Topinka

* Dawn Clark Netsch leaves $5 million bequest to university

* Jim Dey: Ruling in Salaita case not the final word

* Rent for One-Bedroom Apartments in Chicago Up More Than 11 Percent Over 2014

* CME Group cuts 3% of staff, with half coming from technology

* LEGIONNAIRES’ DISEASE CASES ON THE RISE IN ILLINOIS

* Day care smoking ban OKd

* Obama team scrambles for Illinois Dems’ votes on Iran deal

* Scott Walker hits Chicago, Downers Grove on Thursday: He will raise money for Illinois House GOP leader Jim Durkin and then keynote the DuPage County GOP Summer Reception. Durkin has known Walker since his days as a Milwaukee County executive. Durkin, so far not taking sides in the crowded 2016 GOP presidential primary, would be a logical choice for Walker to pursue to lead his Illinois campaign.

* Illinois Senator Darin LaHood — Bishop On Air

* Illinois Farm Bureau endorses LaHood for 18th Congressional District

* LaHood highlights agriculture on campaign stop

* CPS inspector general looks into why CPS vendor info vanished

* NFL draft will return to Chicago in 2016

* Metra: Construction to delay Rock Island Line trains through October

* CTA ordering 125 new buses as part of fleet modernization plan

* Elgin likely to OK $3.6 million to finish downtown improvements

* Rosemont tries to evict Toby Keith’s bar for back taxes, rent: According to the lawsuit, filed in July, Boomtown owes the Illinois Department of Revenue $379,958 worth of sales taxes and emergency 911 surcharge fees. It owes another $302,976 in 2014 local property taxes, including late fees, according to the Cook County treasurer’s office website. Though the village owns the property on which Toby Keith’s sits, the restaurant’s lease stipulates that it will pay its own real estate taxes.

* DuPage sheriff: Safer site needed for Downers Grove traffic court

* Plan could equip DuPage sheriff’s deputies with body cameras

* Curran says he’ll run for Lake County State’s Attorney

* Melissa Calusinski Case Front And Center In Lake County State’s Attorney Race

* Vernon Area library halts fines on overdue books

* Lake in the Hills begins to court auto dealers, retail developers

* Measurable performance part of Lake County incentive policy

* RI schools expect $1.4 million deficit next year

* Geneseo names new city attorney, engineer

* Mistake means higher Moline pension contributions: The total recommended increase — $1.28 million — is nearly triple how much the city’s contribution rose this year. Finance director Kathy Carr said the large jump in the city’s firefighter pension contribution is partially because of an error by the city’s former actuarial firm, Tepfer Consulting Group Ltd. Last year the firm recommended Moline increase its firefighter pension contribution by $9,000, much less than the $400,000 increase the city expected. Ms. Carr said when questioned about the figure, the firm said the lower-than-expected increase was because of cuts in firefighter staff. However, she said, Moline recently discovered the company’s recommendation was based on incomplete data it collected.

* County board rejects merging recorder, clerk offices

* Monticello takes over bridge, in line for $6 million from IDOT

* Villa Grove moving ahead on new municipal building

* Bloomington Budget Task Force could make recommendations in September

* [Quincy] Council agrees to continue electric aggregation program

* Downtown Springfield Inc.: Change Panhandling Ordinance

* Springfield aldermen mull restricting rentals on leased land

* Mold problem forces closure of Tri-Valley Elementary

* Congressman Rodney Davis talks Trump, Iran and More

* Williamson County’s 911 consolidation awaits state approval

* New Parking Coming to Downtown Carbondale

* Carbondale High School Installs Lightning Detection

Oh, and I don’t think anyone has forgotten the banishment hammer of death, right?