* Here you go…

* Tribune | Criticism continues against Gov. Pritzker’s move closing health care enrollment for immigrants: Backlash continued to rain down on Gov. J.B. Pritzker Wednesday following his decision last week to close enrollment for a state-funded health insurance program for immigrants under 65 as other Illinois officials highlighted that a bill is sitting on the governor’s desk that would allow the state to issue regular driver’s licenses for noncitizens. Though not connected, the two issues took center stage as Pritzker continues to push back against criticism from Latino lawmakers and immigrant advocates that his administration’s decision on the health insurance program was “immoral and fiscally shortsighted.” Pritzker has defended the move because program costs are skyrocketing.

* Capitol News Illinois | Activists accuse governor of ‘aligning himself with anti-immigrant Republicans’: The Healthy Illinois Campaign, which advocates for health care equity for noncitizens, called the freeze “immoral and shortsighted,” saying it will force people “to forgo cancer treatment, diabetes care, mental health care, and countless other kinds of necessary medical treatment.”

* Sun-Times Editorial | A year after Roe v. Wade was overturned, Illinois is fighting hard to protect abortion rights: On a smaller scale, abortion rights are under attack in municipalities across the country, where far right anti-abortion activists are seeking to influence local city councils and target clinics in states where abortion remains legal. Their viewpoint is in the minority, but it’s a loud and dangerous minority.

* SJ-R | Contract negotiations between AFSCME, governor’s office ongoing: The end of June marks both the last day of Fiscal Year 2023 and the state’s four-year contract with Council 31 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union, the state’s largest union for public service workers. Republicans in Springfield, however, have asserted the newly passed $50.4 state budget does not account for those expenses.

* WCIS | Potential CO2 pipeline in Central Illinois faces local pushback: But local property owners and residents have concerns that the pipeline could affect their community and have tried to block the process until their questions are answered. Navigator Co2 Ventures is looking to construct a pipeline that would stretch to five states, including Illinois. It would create thousands of jobs, bring in $47 million dollars of funding to Sangamon County over 30 years, and lower CO2 levels. But residents aren’t sold on the project.

* Rockford Register Star | General Mills breaks ground on massive distribution plant in Belvidere: General Mills has had a 20-year presence in Belvidere, and the center will allow the company to increase its distribution capacity to customers throughout the Midwest.

* WIFR | Walmart brings good news to Belvidere: - With the future of the Stellantis automotive plant uncertain, Belvidere received good news Tuesday, as the world’s largest retailer announced plans to break ground on a $1.2 billion distribution hub later this year.

* Crain’s | Chicago now averages nearly one mass shooting a week: In the last year — from Jan. 19, 2022, to June 18, 2023 — there were 42 reported mass-shooting incidents, the lab found. Bad as that is, it represents a slight improvement from a total of 98 over the last two years, and 150 over the last three years. The latter averages out to 50 times in each 52-week year.

* WBEZ | Candidate Brandon Johnson wanted police out of schools. Mayor Johnson says otherwise.: At a City Hall briefing, Johnson said he would defer to elected Local School Councils, composed of parents, community members and staff at individual schools, who since 2019 have been responsible for voting on whether to keep their officers.

* WTTW | 2 More Chicago Public Schools Vote to Remove Resource Officers From Their Buildings: According to CPS officials, two high schools have voted to remove one or more of their school resource officers ahead of a Board of Education vote on a one-year contract renewal with the Chicago Police Department that otherwise will largely remain the same as this past year’s deal.

* Tribune | Inflation-boosted sales taxes and thousands of job vacancies add up to budget surplus for Cook County, but $85 million deficit is expected in 2024: “We’ve made hard decisions along the way. We raised the sales tax in the summer of 2015 so we could meet our pension obligations. I think of the publicly funded pensions in the state, we’re doing pretty well,” Preckwinkle told reporters during a Wednesday briefing. “We’ve managed, too, to deal with some pretty significant bumps in the road during the pandemic.”

* Telegraph | IDOT announces Illinois 255 project: Illinois will spend $15.2 million to resurface 10 miles of Illinois 255 between Seminar Road in Alton and Illinois 143 in Roxana. The project was the only Metro East work cited in the bid letting announcement. A schedule for the work was not announced.

* Press release | Doug Scott starts tenure as ICC Chairman following nomination by Gov. Pritzker: Effective immediately, Doug Scott will serve as Chairman of the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC). Scott was appointed by Governor JB Pritzker earlier this year to serve out the remainder of outgoing Chairman Carrie Zalewski’s term.

* Sun-Times | Vintage business signs could be saved under proposed ordinance: The proposal is aimed at protecting Chicago’s most iconic “vintage signs,” such as the Grace’s Furniture sign in Logan Square. It also would create legal protection for murals that some businesses use to tout their product.

* Sun-Times | ‘Where are the funds?’ state official asks after Ald. Walter Burnett Jr. says ‘catastrophic flood’ destroyed records on missing campaign money: Cadigan’s comment came Wednesday as the elections board discussed whether to ask either the Illinois attorney general’s office or the Cook County state’s attorney’s office to investigate the missing campaign money.