* Press release…

Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson released the following statement on the new arrival of asylum-seekers in Chicago:

“The truth of the matter is that we have governors around the border who have demonstrated they are not open to collaborating, and that of course is a disappointment. I’m prepared to have conversations with everyone — particularly those who have used this as a weapon against cities — because asylum seekers are experiencing extremely difficult conditions, both emotionally and physically.

“What we will do day one is make sure there is a real effort to coordinate our resources at the federal, state, county and city levels. We are already in the process of developing the infrastructure for that type of coordination, but also for engaging in a real community process that allows for our response to not just meet the need, but include all stakeholders in solving what is ultimately a crisis that was engineered by outside forces.

“I’m going to work collaboratively with the people of Chicago and alderpersons who represent areas where we can be supportive for asylum seekers to make sure every community, and every person in it, is protected. Many communities have for too long been denied basic amenities and resources that could help strengthen them, but the stronger our communities are, the better position we are in to support both newcomers, and current residents and families.”

* From Springfield Mayor Misty Buscher’s inaugural address today…

I would like to share with you a quote by Abby Wambach, because this is our vision for the next four years. “I never scored a goal in my life without getting a pass from someone else.” The Mayor cannot score a goal, without getting a pass or many passes from the other members of the team that are the other twelve elected officials. We are team Springfield, we are going to make many goals, together. Our Team that the citizens have elected are going to take our passions and turn them into actions for a better Springfield.

More on Wambach is here.

* Crain’s…

A bill that would make it easier to move tens of thousands of effectively abandoned residential lots back onto the tax rolls and into productive use has picked up some late-session momentum in Springfield, clearing a House committee this morning.

Under the proposal pushed by Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas and The Chicago Community Trust, an estimated 50,000 tax-delinquent properties that have not been claimed by anyone, most of them residential lots on the South and West sides, could pass into county control in three years or shortly thereafter, rather than going four, five, six years or longer as a neighborhood blight.

The county still would have to put the delinquent property up for sale once in its annual scavenger sale and give the owner an opportunity to pay off the tax debt. But after one attempt at a sale, the county could acquire the properties, arranging for resale or passing them on to the Cook County Land Bank Authority or Chicago and other municipalities that seek redevelopment of largely empty areas.

The bill would apply statewide, says sponsoring state Rep. Kam Buckner, D-Chicago, who was able to get the bill through the House Revenue Committee by an 11-6 vote. But the major impact would be in Cook County, which has had a persistent problem with abandoned properties in certain neighborhoods for decades. “We need to do something different,” Buckner said.

* Comptroller Mendoza…

Democratic and Republican state senators unanimously approved Comptroller Susana A. Mendoza’s Act-of-Duty bill to cover Chicago first responders severely stricken by COVID-19 in the days before vaccines were available.

The bill, which was unanimously approved by the state House of Representatives last month, now goes to Gov. Pritzker for his signature.

“My brother and all his fellow officers targeted by the city’s unfair policy are so grateful for today’s vote by the state Senate. We can’t say ‘Thank You!’ enough to Senators Cunningham, Senator Fowler, Representative Hoffman, Speaker Welch and all the legislators who fought for this,” Comptroller Mendoza said.

Comptroller Mendoza’s brother, Chicago Police Det. Sgt. Joaquin Mendoza, was the first COVID disability case to go before the city’s police disability board, which adopted a policy of not giving disability pensions to officers disabled by COVID.

“I watched in disbelief as the board’s majority inexplicably ruled against their own doctor’s findings and gave my brother only an Ordinary Disability benefit instead of a Duty Disability benefit, which means he’d only get 50% of his salary for five years and no health care insurance,” Comptroller Mendoza said.

* Sen. Preston…

State Senator Willie Preston passed a measure to remove all references to the death penalty in criminal statutes.

“The language we use influences attitudes and behavior,” said Preston (D-Chicago). “It’s important that we clean up the language used in our laws to avoid creating unconscious biases.”

HB 3762 makes improvements to the language used in certain criminal laws by removing the use of all references to the death penalty. Capital punishment has been abolished in the Illinois since 2011. Removing references that refer to death sentencing and the type of drugs that can be administered to cause death constitutes a vital component of the Illinois culture to avoid unintentional predispositions when determining sentencing for defendants.

“How we choose to write and speak on laws plays a big role in how others see the law,” said Preston. “We may perceive something to be harmless, when in reality we are unknowingly influencing the world around us. These improvements help mitigate that.”

House Bill 3762 passed the Senate.

* Washington Post…

Turnout in last year’s midterm elections fell from a century-high point of 50 percent in 2018 to 46.6 percent in 2022, and census data released Tuesday suggest the drop was concentrated among Black voters, younger voters and college graduates.

Black voter turnout dropped by nearly 10 percentage points, from 51.7 percent in 2018 to 42 percent in 2022, according to a Washington Post analysis of the Census Bureau’s turnout survey. White voter turnout slipped by only 1.5 points to 53.4 percent. The 11-point turnout gap between White and Black voters is the largest in any presidential or midterm election since at least 2000.

* Isabel’s afternoon roundup…

* Commerical-News | Marron calls for Project Success funding : State Rep. Mike Marron has called on the Illinois State Board of Education and Gov. JB Pritzker’s office to fix a funding error that resulted in cuts made to Project Success of Vermilion County. Funding for one-third of the nonprofit organization’s after school enrichment programs has disappeared, prompting them to make the decision to cease programming at six sites in Westville, Georgetown and Oakwood come August.

* Daily Herald | Naperville gun shop owner gives city until Monday to start negotiating end to gun sale ban: Naperville officials have declined to comment on the offer, but — with the state law in place — Bevis and his lawyers believe the Naperville law is redundant and unnecessary. “Now (Naperville) can get out of the ordinance even easier,” Bevis said after Thursday’s court ruling was announced. “This might entice them to act quicker.”

* Tribune | Brandon Johnson ran a pro-worker, tax-the-‘ultra-rich’ campaign. Can he and business leaders find common ground?: Johnson during his campaign proposed hiking a tax on hotels, reinstituting a city head tax, tripling the tax on high-end real estate transactions, taxing jet fuel and levying tolls on securities trading. Business leaders also expressed concern about Johnson’s positions on policing following two rounds of civil unrest that ended in wide-ranging theft and property destruction that also diminished the city’s downtown and other commercial corridors.

* Illinois Answers Project | Explained: Chicago’s Migrant Crisis: Last week the city was caught flat-footed when migrants began arriving at O’Hare International Airport. Those arriving were Venezuelan migrants and given a one-way ticket from Texas. About 40 people, mostly young women and children slept outside a homelessness center inside the airport, Block Club Chicago reported.

* Block Club | Migrant Shelter At Old South Shore School Could Open Next Week As Neighbors Shout Down City’s Meeting On Plans: As migrants sleep on police station floors and eat expired meals, city officials unveiled plans for temporary migrant housing at a chaotic meeting — outraging hundreds of South Shore residents and Ald. Michelle Harris.

* Daily Herald | What’s behind the ‘epidemic’ of drivers recklessly fleeing from police?: Instances of drivers recklessly fleeing from police have reached “epidemic” levels, DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin says. And the stats back him up. Last year, his office prosecuted 82 cases of aggravated fleeing and eluding, up from 54 in 2021 and 51 in 2020. With 14 cases in April alone this year, the office is on pace to far exceed last year’s total.

* Sun-Times | Gun assault rates for kids doubled in Chicago, 3 other big cities during COVID pandemic, even worse for Black children, study finds: The analysis led by Boston University’s Jonathan Jay, who studies urban health, included a review of gun assaults between mid-March 2020 and December 2021 in Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and New York. It found that Black children were 100 times as likely as white children to be victims of fatal and nonfatal shootings. Pre-pandemic, they were 27 times as likely. The researchers excluded accidental shootings and incidents of self-harm.

* WCIA | Former Sangamon. Co police chief accused of possessing child pornography: An arrest warrant and charging documents made available by the State’s Attorney’s Office show that James Hillyer is charged with eight counts of possessing child pornography, five counts of official misconduct, and one count of grooming. State’s Attorney Dan Wright said Hillyer turned himself in on Thursday following the warrant being issued; he remains in custody at the Sangamon County Jail on a $150,000 bond.

* CBS Chicago | Former U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk speaks publicly for first time in more than five years: Kirk served only one term – he lost a bid for reelection in 2016 to Democrat Tammy Duckworth. And in January 2012 – just over a year into that one term – Kirk suffered a stroke. […] “I had somewhat of a speech impediment after the stroke. The toughest thing to do is to keep the attention of a senator - they have strong ADD,” Kirk said. “The thing I most insisted on, that I could speak fast enough to keep their attention.”

* ABC Chicago | 2 more victims identified in downstate I-55 pile up that killed 7, injured over 30: Illinois State Police identified two more people killed in the dust storm pileup crash on I-55 Monday. A total of seven people died in the massive crash. The two victims were identified as Amy and Michael Zinchuk of Champaign. A memorial for will be held for them Friday.

* Crain’s | CTA is getting $200 million from the feds for new train cars: “This is a big win for the city of Chicago,” said U.S. Rep. Michael Quigley, the ranking Democrat on the transportation, housing and urban development subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee. “This is part of why I wanted to be on this committee, to make a difference.”

* Missouri Independent | Missouri marijuana sales top $350 million during first three months of legalization: Missouri’s recreational marijuana sales came in at $91 million for April, according to a report the state released on Friday. That’s up from February’s $71.7 million and on par with March’s $93.5 million — for a total of $256 million in the first three months.

* Fox Chicago | Judge rules Chicago’s lack of blind pedestrian aids breaks the law: There are about 3,000 intersections in Chicago with pedestrian crossing signals but only a couple dozen have alert systems for blind people. The judge said that’s a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

* Media Matters | Right-wing conspiracy theories drive GOP-led states to pull out of important interstate voter data-sharing effort: In January 2022, The Gateway Pundit launched a series of articles accusing the Electronic Registration Information Center of being a George Soros-funded “left wing voter registration drive disguised as voter roll clean up.” Other right-wing outlets followed suit, creating new narratives to frame a once-mundane data-sharing effort as a bad actor. Since this misinformation campaign began, six states have pulled out of ERIC, with Republican elected officials echoing theories promulgated by right-wing media. Former President Donald Trump also chimed in, posting on Truth Social that GOP-led states should “immediately pull out of ERIC, the terrible Voter Registration System that ‘pumps the rolls’ for Democrats and does nothing to clean them up.”

* Sun-Times | Jerry Springer’s softer side — helping children with disabilities in Evanston : Katie Springer, the talk show host’s daughter, began volunteering at Park School in Evanston in 1997. “Because it was so important to Katie, it was so important to him,” said Brenda Hadden, a teacher at Park School and longtime friend of Katie Springer’s.

* Tribune | Tribune Publishing to exit Freedom Center printing plant to make way for Bally’s Chicago Casino: The sprawling printing plant, which has enjoyed a four-decade run as the nexus of newspaper publishing and distribution in Chicago, is slated for demolition to make way for a $1.74 billion casino and entertainment complex to be built in its place along the Chicago River.