* Melissa Conyears-Ervin has decided to run against Danny Davis. Lynn Sweet…

City Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin is poised to challenge Rep. Danny Davis in the March 2024 Democratic primary, changing her mind about not running if he seeks another term as Kina Collins announces a third try against Davis.

Davis, 81, a South Austin resident, has made it clear for months that he will be seeking another term in 2024. […]

She will show fundraising muscle in her first Federal Election Commission report, pulling in, according to a draft, $283,486 as of June 30.

The Davis campaign raised about $100,000 in the last quarter, a spokesperson said.

* Not a bad idea…

A Lincoln Avenue motel once known as a hot-pillow haven and targeted for demolition will be turned into “stabilization housing” for people with mental health and substance abuse issues, thanks to a plan to combat homelessness that could become a model for all 50 wards.

On Monday, the City Council’s Committee on Housing and Real Estate gave Mayor Brandon Johnson the go-ahead to acquire the Diplomat Motel, 5230 N. Lincoln Ave., for $2.9 million and turn its 40 rooms into supportive housing with a host of wrap-around service on site.

The plan is aimed at duplicating the nurturing, hotel-to-housing model that worked so well during the pandemic.

Residents would stay for three to six months.

* Subscribers have been briefed (including two updates today), but here’s Politico…

Natalie Toro, a Chicago Public Schools teacher, was appointed Monday evening to the sought-after 20th District state Senate seat vacated by Cristina Pacione-Zayas, who’s now in the Chicago mayor’s office.

Chicago Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd) and Clerk of the Circuit Court Iris Martinez both endorsed Toro, giving her a huge block of support over the other seven candidates, some of whom she will face in next year’s election. Waguespack and Martinez held large weighted votes that pushed Toro over the finish line. Here’s how the votes are dispersed.

The appointment process was tension-filled as it saw a range of Latino candidates from Democratic to progressive to left-of-progressive. Toro sits in the middle while Graciela Guzman, Pacione-Zayas’ Senate district director, is seen as the more progressive candidate. Only Toro and Guzman received votes.

Ald. Carlos Ramirez Rosa said Guzman lost out because committee people backed by the Fraternal Order of Police picked a more conservative candidate. In a statement, he praised the Northwest Side Progressive Coalition for supporting Guzman.

Toro drew a quick congratulations Monday evening from Sylvia Puente, CEO of the Latino Policy Forum and co-chair of the Illinois Latino Agenda. “We look forward to a productive working relationship,” she said in a statement.

The district is a bit more progressive than the weighted vote suggests. Gonna be a barn-burner of a primary.

* Rep. Kelly has done a lot right since being appointed to that seat in 2021…

Rep. Mike Kelly, D-Chicago, will avoid having to face another potentially-tough primary challenge from progressive Michael Rabbitt, who garnered 48% in 2022. #twill https://t.co/J1gOoE7I25

— Brenden Moore (@brendenmoore13) July 11, 2023

* Center Square…

Despite a heavy emphasis on equity at the Illinois Statehouse, a new study ranks Illinois as the worst state in the country on racial economic equality.

The personal finance website WalletHub placed Illinois near the bottom in several categories, including the difference between white and Black residents in median annual income.

“The fifth largest gap in the country,” researcher Jill Gonzalez said. “The same with the labor force participation rate. Illinois is again the fifth highest and the second highest when looking at the unemployment rate.” […]

Illinois ranked 40th in the poverty rate, 46th in the homeless rate, and 49th in the share of unsheltered homeless. […]

Other Midwestern states scored poorly in the study, including Wisconsin as the second worst state and Iowa the third worst in the country.

“Despite”? Maybe that would be the reason why this state needs to do more.

* Press release…

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle issued a disaster proclamation today for suburban Cook County in response to storms that hit the region on July 2. Several rounds of storms dumped nearly nine inches of rain in less than 24 hours in parts of the County, leading to severe flooding and other storm damage. Berwyn, Cicero and Stickney were the hardest hit suburban Cook County municipalities.

By signing this proclamation, the County is able to pursue all available resources to assist communities and residents in their recovery efforts.

The MWRD was criticized for not opening the Chicago River lock to Lake Michigan earlier. From its response…

The elevation of the Chicago River downtown exceeded Lake Michigan’s elevation so the locks were opened at 4 p.m. on July 2 and the reversal ended at 2:30 a.m. on July 3. Reversing to the lake only happens in extreme situations. Reversals dating back to 1985 are listed at this link: https://mwrd.org/sites/default/files/documents/Lake_Michigan_Reversals_0422.pdf

In other words, when the Chicago area waterway levels are higher than Lake Michigan, only then can the MWRD open control structures to move as much water as possible out of the system. We cannot open the gates and lock before that time. There is NO MAGIC KEY OR BUTTON to use at will. Opening the gates and lock not only provide overbank flooding protection but they allow for more capacity for stormwater. As a result, the MWRD can only reverse the waterway to the lake when the river level is ABOVE Lake Michigan levels. If we were to open the lock and gates too early, Lake Michigan would have a tsunami effect, overtaking the river and flooding everything in its path in downtown Chicago and along the waterways, totally decimating the riverwalk and municipalities downstream, on the South side and on the North side. The destruction that would be caused by opening the gates and lock too early is unimaginable.

Yikes.

* Isabel’s roundup…

* Tribune | ‘Let me put you on with the boss, OK?’: Feds detail wiretaps involving former Michael Madigan chief of staff: The 65-page filing Tuesday comes as prosecutors are seeking to play many of the recordings at Mapes’ trial next month on charges he lied to a federal grand jury investigating Madigan and his relationship with longtime confidant Michael McClain.

* Crain’s | Ryan Field backlash grows amid Northwestern football hazing scandal: A group of six NU tenured professors released a letter yesterday calling on the school to “halt that planning and marketing process (of the stadium) until this crisis is satisfactorily resolved,” joining a group of Evanston residents who called on the university to “pause” its project amid the scandal.

* Sun-Times | London bridges? Pritzker to lead United Kingdom trade mission with state business and education leaders: Gov. J.B. Pritzker in January traveled to Davos, Switzerland to speak at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting and promote the state’s achievements. And more international trips are in the works, according to his office.

* Bloomberg | Black workers account for 90% of the recent rise in unemployment: The unemployment rate for African Americans jumped for a second straight month in June as workers left the workforce amid early signs of a cooling labor market. That cooling has been uneven: The number of unemployed African Americans has increased by 267,000 since April, meaning they account for close to 90% of the 300,000 increase in overall joblessness during that period.

* Sun-Times | FOP vows court fight after Johnson rejects demand for 12 weeks of paid parental leave: In a YouTube video, FOP President John Catanzara slammed Mayor Brandon Johnson for setting one standard of benefits for his former union and a lesser standard for the union representing rank-and-file police officers.

* Tribune | Landmark Illinois wants to redefine historic preservation, and now has a $1 million Driehaus Foundation grant: Chicago’s Driehaus Foundation approved Monday evening $1 million in funding for a Landmarks Illinois program that revives historic buildings on the city’s South and West sides. The move will help fulfill the vision of philanthropist Richard Driehaus, the founder of Driehaus Capital Management who died in 2021, that historic preservation can both save beautiful buildings and develop underserved communities, according to Anne Lazar, the foundation’s executive director.

* Block Club | Italian American Groups Rip Alderperson For Tweet About Honoring Italian Ice, Coffee Maker Instead Of Columbus: Ald. Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez, who introduced an ordinance to change Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day, said her tweet wasn’t offensive and she “doesn’t have anything to apologize for.”

* Daily Southtown | Defeated Lockport High School candidate Mike Clausen promoted to Homer Township trustee: Clausen was sworn in as collector April 11, seven days after he lost his school board bid as part of the We the Parents Illinois slate, coming in sixth in an eight-person race for three seats. Township trustees appointed him to the board Tuesday to fill the vacancy of Matt Connelly, who resigned because he moved out of the township.

* Winnetka Talk | Proposed lakefront regulations stir up trouble in Winnetka: Justin Ishbia, who already owns five parcels along the lake, is willing to exchange one of those parcels — at 261 Sheridan Road — with the Park District in exchange for a 70-foot piece of beach property. The Park District would use its newly acquired property to connect two nearby parks and turn them into one, a project that has been dreamed of for decades.

* Axios | Golden handcuffs lock up Illinois’ housing supply: Nearly a quarter of Illinois homeowners with mortgages had a rate below 3% in the fourth quarter of 2022, per Redfin. And 38% of mortgage holders had a rate between 3% and 4%.

* Tom McNamee | Tylenol suspect James Lewis told me anyone could have poisoned those capsules — and calmly explained how: In the summer of 1987, as Chicago was coming up on the fifth anniversary of the Tylenol murders, I interviewed Lewis at the federal penitentiary in Danbury, Connecticut.

* WGN | See the largest movie theatre screen in Illinois: Emagine Entertainment has opened a Super EMX Theatre in Batavia, 550 N. Randall Road, that features what’s described as “the largest Cinemascope screen in the state of Illinois.” It’s over 96 feet wide and 53 feet tall, or just about the size of a regulation NBA court.

* CBS Chicago | Shedd Aquarium welcomes penguin rockhopper chick: A rockhopper chick joins the penguin colony. According to the Shedd, the last rockhopper chick born there was Diego. It was hatched in 2015. The chick, who currently does not have a name, is being taken care of by its cared for by its parents Edward and Annie, and the aquarium’s animal care team.

* Courier-News | Mullet growing contest and the Rhinestone Roper among the new attractions at this year’s Kane County Fair: Along with its usual array of 4-H Club projects, carnival rides and family-friendly attractions, this year’s Kane County Fair will be doing its part to bring back the mullet. A contest for the best mullet haircut is set for 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the livestock showing area on the county fairgrounds in St. Charles, the second day of the annual fair that runs through Sunday.