* Here you go…

* WBEZ | An Illinois town was at risk of becoming a local news desert. Then a startup newspaper began publishing: Stout now has time to write for a growing startup that’s harnessing the journalism expertise that’s still in Macomb to fill the local news void. It’s called the Community News Brief. “People really realize they’re getting something local,” Stout said of the Brief, which was founded by editor Lynne Campbell, a McDonough County native with a robust journalism and marketing resume including time with Gannett’s owner, GateHouse Media.

* Russ Stewart | Leftists plot “Peoples Forums” as state Rep. Andrade mulls Senate pick: Rumors abound that state Representative Jaime Andrade Jr. (D-40) will be the area Democratic committeepersons’ pick to fill the soon-to-be-vacant 20th District state Senate seat, from which incumbent Cristina Pacione-Zayas will depart on May 15. The senator will become new Mayor Brandon Johnson’s first deputy chief-of-staff for policy and director of intergovernmental affairs.

* Illinois Newsroom | Providers say Illinois set to become haven for gender-affirming care: Michelle Hanlon, a nurse at the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District and trans woman, said she’s had to turn down work opportunities because not every state has the same protections for the trans community as Illinois.

* Center Square | Republicans reveal proposals they say will spur jobs, help families: House Bill 4085 would allow the Illinois Commerce Commission to keep a power plant online if they feel the closure would put the health of the power grid or the affordability of power in jeopardy.

* KFVS | Grand opening of Cairo, Ill. grocery store set for June: The grand opening for Rise Community Market in Cairo will be Friday, June 16. Organizers say the event will start at 10 a.m. They said they’re finalizing vendor agreements and selecting/pricing products. They’re also in the process of hiring an assistant manager, full-time clerks and stocking positions.

* WMBD | Positive nursing outlook in Central Illinois: The 2023 AMN Healthcare Survey of Registered Nurses examined the pandemic’s impact on 18,000 nurses’ career plans, job satisfaction, and mental health. Thirty percent of nurses said they are likely to leave their nursing careers post-pandemic and just 15 percent said they will stay in their hospital roles. And 95 percent reported a moderate or severe nursing shortage at hospitals.

* Crain’s | The high-profile union organizing campaign at Starbucks spotlights Mellody Hobson’s dual role: In her day job, she’s co-CEO of Ariel Investments, which manages hundreds of millions in pension funds for union workers, including members of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). On the side, she serves as chairman of Starbucks as it battles SEIU’s efforts to unionize the coffee chain’s stores.

* NYT | Generation Connie: It was on my first day of college at the University of California, Berkeley, when I started to realize there were more of us out there. […] Afterward, I went back to my dorm room and typed “Connie” into the campus Facebook. I found the girl from the sandwich line — and I also found many, many more. In my freshman class alone, there was a Connie Zheng, a Connie Guo, a Connie Xu, a few Connie Chengs, and multiple Connie Wangs. No wonder the university email address I’d wanted had been taken. All this time, I’d thought the story of my name was special; little did I know it was the story of a generation.

* The Guardian | ‘It’s hell’: life under the American mobile home king who calls himself a ‘grave dancer’: Billionaire Sam Zell is the largest mobile home landlord in the US, but his tenants say they reckon with disrepair, neglect, flooding and rising rents. Some have had enough