* Here you go!

* Capitol News Illinois | Chicago mayor-elect hails Illinois as ‘vanguard for progressive policy’ in speech to lawmakers: Some of Johnson’s agenda for the city, such as increasing the city’s real estate transfer tax on properties exceeding $1 million, would require action from the General Assembly. In his speech to lawmakers, he also supported a “revised school funding formula,” with unspecified changes that would “help ensure there is a nurse and a social worker in every single school in Chicago.”

* Sun-Times | Mayor-elect Johnson pitches unity to state legislators in Springfield: ‘Our challenges are not that unique’: Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson said he didn’t come to Springfield to “dictate” what Chicago needs when it comes to public safety dollars. “How do I call myself a collaborator and then I’m dictating?” Johnson asked reporters. “These are ongoing conversations.”

* Brenden Moore | Illinois recreational marijuana sales still growing, but at a slower pace: According to state data, monthly year-over-year dispensary sales growth dipped below 10% in June 2022. It hovered between 4% and 9% every month until this March, when it fell to just 2.9%. It’s a far cry from the exponential growth experienced in the first couple of years of the legal market.

* WAND | DoorDashers gather at capitol to make their voices heard: With fearing potential changes to come for the company, Dashers are hoping law makers understand the importance of flexible work opportunities. “The people that we’ve talked to have been very welcoming and wanting to hear our story. So, then this way they can think about it when some of those bills and stuff come up,” said Dean. “That they can actually fight for us.”

* Sun-Times | Legal assistance to expunge pot convictions goes unused across Illinois: Three years after pot was legalized, legal aid groups have been surprised by the small number of residents seeking out help clearing marijuana arrests from their records.

* WBEZ | Chicago Park District employees are accused of defrauding federal pandemic-aid programs: In a new report, the park district’s internal investigators say they dug into more than two dozen cases in an ongoing probe that’s prompted six employees to resign, with five other workers also facing discipline.

* Tribune | Paul Vallas outspent Brandon Johnson nearly 2-to-1 in losing mayoral bid: Vallas raised $18 million and spent nearly $17 million of it en route to a 52% to 48% loss to Johnson, according to recently filed state campaign finance records. Much of the money Vallas raised came from business leaders and private equity investors, many of whom have also contributed to Republican candidates across the country. Vallas ended the first quarter of 2023 with $1.7 million on hand, the campaign records show.

* WBEZ | Teary speeches, haikus and old war stories: Chicago City Council members bid farewell: Ald. Andre Vasquez said Lightfoot “had the hardest hand dealt to you of any mayor in the history of the city of Chicago,” and despite disagreements, “never did we have doubts that you didn’t fully believe and were committed to the decisions that you were making.”

* Sun-Times | City Council honors Mayor Lori Lightfoot, 13 departing members: Tears were shed, good-natured barbs traded, hatchets buried. One would never have known Ald. Edward Burke is leaving under the cloud of a federal indictment or that the mayor’s relationship with the Council was so contentious.

* WGN | About a dozen freight train cars derail in Blue Island: No injuries or leaks were reported and no hazardous materials were involved in the derailment around 9:30 p.m. in Blue Island, CSX said in a statement.

* Tribune | Jail beatings captured on film, 2 Cook County correctional officers accused, sheriff’s office says: Reginald Roberson, 52, was charged with battery and official misconduct following a sheriff’s office investigation of an incident in December 2021 at Cook County Jail, the sheriff’s office said in a statement Wednesday.

* Tribune | Van to deliver asthma and allergy treatment to Lake County children; ‘There are significant barriers to accessing health care … placed on some people’: The Reddings, who founded the Christopher D. Redding Youth Asthma Foundation in 2013 to honor their son, unveiled a specially designed van on last week that will take asthma and allergy care directly to kids who need it.

* USA Today | Supreme Court pauses for a second time action on mifepristone restrictions: Restrictions will continue to be on hold until 11:59 p.m. Friday. The latest order from Alito does not signal which way the court is leaning but does temporarily delay restrictions abortion rights advocates warned could limit availability of the drug.