* This is a tiny budget pressure, but it’s still an ask. From another publication…

With a May 19 deadline looming to wrap up state legislative work, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle drove to the state Capitol on Wednesday to make a direct ask of lawmakers to pick up the slack on paying for the health care costs of asylum seekers coming to Illinois.

What she wants: Preckwinkle says the county needs an additional $1.8 million a month to run the Cook County Health system that has been caring for the thousands of migrants who have landed in Chicago — either by bus or plane — since last year. That funding would be in addition to the $1.8 million that the county already kicks in.

Up until February, the state had been paying an estimated $1.6 million for medical care. Then it stopped, and the county took on paying it all. Preckwinkle now worries the task will be more difficult with the expected influx of migrants when Title 42 expires May 11. That’s the Covid-era rule that has allows U.S. officials to turn back thousands of asylum seekers.

I asked the governor’s office for a response…

The Governor’s focus remains on investing in priorities he outlined during his budget address. His administration is working closely with the General Assembly to ensure that additional priorities fit within a balanced budget framework.

Not exactly an endorsement, but it looks like they’re keeping an open mind.

* Press release…

In an effort to prevent yet another long, hot summer of violence, Rep. Danny K. Davis (D-7th) is hosting a prayer and peace breakfast Friday, May 5th, 7 a.m.-12 noon, at the St. Paul Church of God in Christ, 4526 S. Wabash, where clergy and community leaders will hammer out an anti-crime agenda they plan to give to Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson.

The conference is a reaction to the recent teenage takeover of the Loop and the political fallout that pursued. However, the clergy want to present a holistic proposed solution to Johnson rather than focusing only on anti-crime suggestions.

“We are doing this to help create peace and forgiveness,” said Rev. Paul Jakes, pastor of the New Tabernacle of Faith Baptist Church. “We have other issues that may be the basis for the crime, like the long neglected communities of color, homelessness, the lack of jobs, mental illnesses, inadequate schools and a need for better public safety.

“We are taking a pro-active stance in helping Mayor-elect Johnson get a handle on a myriad of social and economic problems he is inheriting,” Rev. Jakes said. We are inviting the public and they are welcome to bring their suggestions.”

* This is always a big event…

The annual Illinois Peace Officers Memorial Service to honor law enforcement officers killed in Illinois in the line of duty, including 12 who died in late 2021 and during 2022, was held Thursday, May 4 at the Illinois Peace Officer Memorial sculpture on the Illinois State Capitol grounds in Springfield.

“This annual ceremony honors those who made the ultimate sacrifice while serving their communities,” said Illinois Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) State Lodge President Chris Southwood. “Every man and woman in this difficult and dangerous profession knows the risks they face every time they put on the badge. This memorial service is a testament to those risks and to the selfless courage of the officers who laid down their lives to keep us safe.”

The 12 officers killed during late 2021 and in 2022 include: Officer Nicholas Kozak, Forest Park Police Department, November 27, 2021; Officer James R. Svec, Chicago Police Department, December 8, 2021; CBP Canine Officer Jeffrey P. Dela Cruz, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, December 23, 2021; Officer Jose M. Huerta, Chicago Police Department, December 23, 2021; Detective Joseph A. Tripoli, Chicago Police Department, January 3, 2022; Deputy Sheriff Michael John Queeney, Will County Sheriff’s Office, January 8, 2022; Officer Brian Romel Shields, Aurora Police Department, January 11, 2022; Deputy Sheriff Joseph Robert Tinoco, Cook County Sheriff’s Department, January 13, 2022; Sergeant Kenneth John Thurman Sr., Aurora Police Department, January 19, 2022; Deputy Sheriff Brian J. Norton, Ford County Sheriff’s Office, February 5, 2022; Officer Brian Lee Sember, Ottawa Police Department, April 3, 2022; and Deputy Sheriff Nicholas Donald Weist, Knox County Sheriff’s Office, April 29, 2022.

In addition, five officers who were confirmed to have died in the line of duty in the past but who had not yet been officially included on the memorial were recognized. These include: Sergeant Claude E. Bowman, Cook County Highway Patrol, July 7, 1923; Sergeant Francis J. McGraw, Chicago Police Department, May 6, 1942; Officer Charles Hibsch, Chicago Police Department, November 9, 1947; Officer Dennis F. Collins, Chicago Police Department, July 3, 1953; and Deputy John Venton Donaldson Sr., Ogle County Sheriff’s

The day’s observance began with the lineup of squad cars from around the state at the Illinois State Fairgrounds. The procession departed the fairgrounds and arrived at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception for a memorial church service. The procession then traveled to the State Capitol for the 11 a.m. ceremony.

* Center Square…

Illinois generated about $562 million from marijuana in 2022, placing the state ahead of every of every other in the country in that department except California, according to data from the Marijuana Policy Project.

Overall, tax receipts grew by 10% in Illinois last year, with all the growth coming despite the state being slow to distribute new licenses after legalizing recreational marijuana sales in 2020. In addition, the state charges some of the highest taxes in the country at nearly 40% when local taxes are included, compared to just 10% for Michigan.

* Press release…

Governor JB Pritzker and the Illinois Immigrant Impact Task Force released a report examining various issues affecting immigrant, refugee, and limited English proficiency communities, sharing recommendations the state can take to improve services to immigrant communities. The Task Force identified thirteen issues in the legislation ranging from citizenship assistance, business development, education access, discrimination prevention, immigration detention, COVID-19 relief, language access programs, and more.

The report emphasizes the importance of programs and resources provided by the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) in supporting immigrant communities. These programs include language assistance, referrals to community resources, and the Refugee and Immigrant Services Program, which offers various services to help refugees and immigrants integrate into their new communities.

The report also highlights Illinois serving as a welcoming state and IDHS’s efforts to address the unique challenges undocumented immigrants face. These efforts include the creation of a hotline for individuals to report fraudulent immigration services, as well as the provision of legal assistance to immigrants facing deportation.

The report is here.

* Press release…

In 2020, House Republican Representatives Ryan Spain, Jim Durkin, and Andrew Chesney launched a special investigation committee to examine then-Speaker Michael Madigan’s involvement in the ComEd bribery scandal. Rep. Emanuel “Chris” Welch served as chairman, called the process a sham and chose to abruptly end the investigation after hearing from just one witness. Welch now serves as Speaker of the House and was supported in this effort by Rep. Lisa Hernandez, who now serves as Chair of the Democratic Party of Illinois.

“We convened and launched an important investigation with substantive work asking for follow-up and investigation into these matters we’ve heard about in detail in the prosecution and now the guilty verdicts which have been delivered this week,” said Rep. Ryan Spain. What was the response from the Democratic legislators that participated in that Investigating Committee? Coverup and sweeping the facts under the rug.”

This week, four of Mike Madigan’s ComEd allies were found guilty of bribery conspiracy in federal court because of their efforts to gain Madigan’s favor while he served as Speaker.

“For too long, we have allowed the poor ethical behavior of people like Mike Madigan, his associates, and others to become the way we do business in the State of Illinois, and unfortunately, the “Madigan Way” is still the way in which our government works here in Springfield. It has to stop now,” said Rep. Ryan Spain.

Nothing has changed since Madigan’s indictment to prevent this type of behavior and nothing will change until the majority party gets serious about ending corruption and reforming the Madigan Rules which govern the House of Representatives.

Emanuel “Chris” Welch is now Madigan’s handpicked successor as Speaker of the Illinois House. Lisa Hernandez is now Chairperson of the Democratic Party of Illinois. “It’s time to throw out the Madigan playbook, pass robust ethics reform measures, and give Illinoisans an honest state government they can believe in,” concluded Spain.

* Isabel’s afternoon roundup…

* Tribune | Illinois’ property tax sale system on path to potential reform: A new Senate bill amendment backed by the Cook County treasurer’s office and the Chicago Community Trust seeks to reform Illinois’ property tax sale system. Backers such as state Rep. Kam Buckner, a Chicago Democrat, say the bill would cut the cost for homeowners trying to pay off property tax debt in half, close a loophole that critics said allowed private investors and hedge funds to profit off local governments and help get vacant or abandoned properties back on the tax rolls.

* WBEZ | Greater Ashburn residents want to revamp a program once designed to curb white flight: SWGHE is one of three such Chicago programs that were created under a 1988 Illinois law out of fear white homeowners would flee the city after the election of Harold Washington, Chicago’s first Black mayor. The programs on the Southwest and Northwest sides are funded by nominal property taxes collected from every homeowner in their respective districts. Those who enroll in the program by paying for an appraisal of their home are offered a guarantee: They won’t lose money if they hold on to their homes for at least five years before selling, even if property values fall. That’s unless the reason prices decline is an economic recession.

* Illinois Answers | Tax hikes to ebb for many north suburban businesses, leaving homeowners on the hook: Residential valuations in five north suburban townships are 15% higher for the 2022 tax year than they were in 2019, the last time north Cook County was reassessed, new data from the county Board of Review show. At the same time, combined commercial and industrial valuations edged downward by 1% compared to their last turn under the microscope.

* WBEZ | Cold hard floors, no privacy, asylum seekers make do at Chicago Police Stations: At several of Chicago Police Department Stations, you’ll find Little Caesar pizza boxes, Dunkin Donuts coffee cups and other items surrounding the migrants who lay sit or stand in the vestibule of these stations, with little to protect them from the blowing wind when the front doors open. The Diaz family arrived at one two weeks ago. Their journey began two years ago when they left their native Venezuela and found a temporary home in neighboring Colombia. Then they went to Mexico before arriving in Chicago. Joana Diaz says it’s been tough. She says they had to sleep on bare floors with no sheets, no food or access to showers and sometimes they aren’t made to feel welcome.

* AP | Proposed carbon dioxide pipeline that would end in Illinois hits legal road bump in Iowa: In his ruling Wednesday, District Judge John Sandy denied a pipeline company’s request for an injunction that would allow survey crews access to Martin’s Koenig’s farmland near Sioux Rapids in northwest Iowa. Sandy said a law giving crews that access violated the state constitution because it doesn’t provide just compensation for damages to landowners in exchange for the loss of their right to deny entry to their land, according to the Sioux City Journal.

* Tribune | From card dealers to seamstresses, Bally’s Chicago hiring more than 700 to open temporary casino at Medinah Temple: While Bally’s is staffing up, it remains to be seen whether the temporary casino will be licensed and ready to welcome gamblers by its planned opening in July. It is already slightly behind schedule, with the start date initially targeted for June.

* WTTW | A Faith Leader Was Convicted of Sexually Abusing a Student and Employee. He Still Lives Within Feet of the School: “It sounds like a very unusual and very specific allowance for somebody,” Rivette said. “If some sort of allowance like that was in place for somebody, there has to be a really big assurance that the person would not have access to children at all, or any vulnerable populations, because generally people that sexually offend have patterns of behavior that aren’t easily broken.”

* Sun-Times | Lincolnwood construction company owner charged with smuggling workers through Romanian ‘Godfather’ Luigi Cristinel Popescu: Tudor Deaconu, owner of TDA Construction Inc., arranged for Canadian smugglers from Romania to bring a married couple, their child and another adult to the United States without the proper visas, according to an indictment unsealed last month.

* WBEZ | Save A Lot officials face off with Englewood residents over plans for shuttered Whole Foods site: As a possible resolution for the months-long conflict, Ald. Stephanie Coleman (16th) — whose ward is where the site is located — and community members are asking the Ohio-based company to break its lease at the Englewood site and focus on their other stores around Chicago.

* Crain’s | Metra gets a lift from Kennedy construction: The biggest increase came on the Union Pacific Northwest line, which runs from downtown through suburbs such as Arlington Heights. It recorded a post-pandemic high of 25,900 passenger trips on Wednesday, April 12, up 30% from the same-day average during the previous six weeks, according to Metra. Eight of the 10 best weekdays for ridership on the UP Northwest since the pandemic began have come since the Kennedy construction started.

* SJ-R | Chicago group closes on financing for Poplar Place redevelopment: Construction will be done in phases and is set to begin later this month, Mayor Jim Langfelder said. It will consist of 25 structures, or 50 duplex units and 50 structures that are single-family houses, lessening the density from its previous 125 structures.

* Crain’s | Chicago firm closes $300 million fund for opportunity zones, plans another: The Chicago-based real estate firm announced today that it has closed its second qualified opportunity zone fund at $300 million, adding to the nearly $265 million it raised for its first fund in 2021. The combined total ranks Origin among the top 2% of fund managers by equity raised for the federal opportunity zones program, according to data tracked by San Francisco-based tax advisory and consulting firm Novogradac.

* WCIA | Is it safe to eat fish from Illinois water? IDPH releases mercury, PCB advisory list: The IDPH released an updated map of affected waters on Wednesday, including many in Central Illinois. In that update, three lakes were added to the list of waters with methylmercury advisories while seven lakes and rivers saw advisories for polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) removed.

* KWQC | Illinois Extension Outreach Center organizes storm clean-up at Chippiannock Cemetery: Crews in Rock Island are still working to clean up storm damage from April 4, after an EF1 tornado passed right through the Chippiannock Cemetery, uprooting historic trees and causing significant damage.

* Crain’s | State Street and Deerfield office buildings listed among state’s most endangered: The nonprofit advocacy group’s annual list of the most endangered historic places, released today, warns of imminent threats to nine sites around Illinois, including an affordable housing project at the state’s extreme southern end, in Cairo, and a neglected mid-1800s wooden bridge at its extreme northern end, in Richmond.

* Tribune | Violins from the Holocaust part of Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra’s season finale in Palos Heights: Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra closes its 45th anniversary season with violins from the Holocaust. May 13′s Dvořák & Beach at Trinity Christian College’s Ozinga Chapel in Palos Heights also features the world premiere of Jonathan Cziner’s strings-only composition “Nifrach,” which is dedicated to his grandparents Manfred and Linda Blum, the former who lost many family members in the Holocaust.