* Daily Southtown…

Calumet City’s municipal credit card statement showing charges from Hooters, a Gordon Ramsey restaurant, a hotel in New Orleans and a Cadillac lease have led aldermen to question whether Mayor Thaddeus Jones or another official is attempting to charge city taxpayers for personal expenses.

Concerns over city spending began when aldermen noticed the city was being charged for the lease payment of a Cadillac that, according to 6th Ward Ald. James Patton, is used by Jones’ wife, Saprina. […]

Patton noted Saprina is not a city employee. The agenda from a City Council meeting April 25 shows a request to pay $14,220 to Napleton River Oaks Cadillac Inc.

Jones declined requests for comment on questions regarding the Cadillac charges.

* JB Pritzker on SB2412, that prevents political party committees from appointing challengers if the party didn’t field a candidate in the primary, at an unrelated news conference today…

Well, as I understand that bill, and again, it just got put through I think yesterday and I haven’t seen the details of it. But as I understand, this is actually an ethics bill. It really does make sure that we don’t have backroom deals to put people on the ballot and run as a result of, you know, some small group of people in a smoke filled room making the choice. So I think to me more transparency is better.

* Jeremy Gorner…

* MAA shows some speed…

NEW VIDEO: @ChicagosMayor RUNS from me and another reporter as we tried to ask him about the arrest in the death of Officer Luis Huesca.

He did not comment. As you see he drove off.

More on this at 4 on @cbschicago pic.twitter.com/oFj7YfIRjP

— Darius Johnson (DJ) (@DariusJohnsonTV) May 2, 2024

*** Statewide ***

* WBEZ | Illinois environmental advocates say coal ash cleanup isn’t happening fast enough: Illinois set itself apart from the majority of the country when it finalized its coal ash rules back in 2021. Most states, save for a handful like North Carolina and Michigan, relied on 2015 federal guidelines designed to monitor and clean up only some coal ash residuals. Environmental groups scrutinized the rule for years as it excluded from potential oversight legacy coal ash ponds and landfills at power plants that were retired when the rule took effect. Now advocates say the forthcoming permits are dragging. “The Illinois EPA has been reviewing these proposed permits for almost two years,” said Andrew Rehn, the director of climate policy at Prairie Rivers Network in Champaign. “And that’s like a long time for these permits to sit and just be under review.”

* Sun-Times | Why does Illinois’ Department of Natural Resources claim the public has no right to 98% of waterways?: Not far from our office door in Champaign lies the source of the Embarras River, which flows southward for 195 miles, coursing through eight counties before emptying into the Wabash River. Early settlers used this river and others as corridors for travel, trade and fishing. In time, they enjoyed boating on it in places like Greenup in Cumberland County. But according to the DNR, not one mile of the Embarras River is navigable and hence open to the public. The agency says much the same about tens of thousands of other river miles, including popular canoeing rivers such as the Middle Fork of the Vermilion just east of Champaign, the state’s only nationally designated scenic river. Users of these rivers, the agency asserts, do so only with the implied permission of neighboring landowners — permission that any landowner at any time could withdraw.

* SJ-R | Organizations rally for social justice in schools, communities in Springfield: Black Greek organizations were joined by registered participants outside of the state Capitol on Wednesday to advocate for social justice in schools, communities and other spaces. The two oldest and intercollegiate Black organizations, Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity and Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority held, a joint advocacy day to focus on topics such as criminal justice reform, education and equitable health care.

* IDOT | Rebuilding Metro East: Interstate projects highlight another historic construction season: Entering one of its busiest construction seasons ever, the Illinois Department of Transportation announced today that major projects in the Metro East are planned or underway, fueled by Gov. JB Pritzker’s historic, bipartisan Rebuild Illinois capital program. Twenty major projects combined represent a total investment of nearly $825 million, improving safety and mobility while sustaining and creating good-paying jobs throughout the region.

*** Chicago ***

* Crain’s | Howard Brown Health workers ratify contract: The INA said the three-year agreement includes a 7% average pay raise, a $19.23 minimum wage across the organization, lower health insurance premiums, insurance coverage for part-time workers and two weeks of paid leave for gender-affirming care, among other things. The ratification ends a year and a half of tense labor relations for the LGBTQ-focused health provider, punctuated by two strikes and an investigation by the National Labor Relations Board.

* Block Club | Dom’s Kitchen & Market’s Sudden Closure Leaves North Side Food Pantry ‘Scrambling’ For Donations: Care for Real, the food pantry with locations in Edgewater and Rogers Park, used to get thousands of pounds of groceries from Dom’s before the upscale grocer abruptly closed late last month. The food pantry offered its clients pre-packaged meals like sandwiches and salads donated from Dom’s, Jen Kouba, Care For Real director of development and communications, said.

* Tribune Column |Why I’m boycotting the Kentucky Derby — and why Chicago sports fans should too: My boycott comes in response to the vital role the management team at Churchill Downs Inc. (CDI) played in the Bears’ 2023 destruction of the world-renowned and tradition-rich Arlington International Racecourse, one of the precious gems of Chicago sports. The rubble that remains is a monument to the greed of the people who run CDI and their disregard for the owners and trainers who raced their horses there and the fans and families who made trips to Arlington part of their summer sports and recreation menus.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Tribune | At Graue Mill, historical and environmental interests clash over removal of dam: It should have been a relatively simple project: Dozens of dams have been quietly removed across Illinois amid environmental and safety concerns. Instead, it took over a decade. A group of determined community members believed the dam was an integral piece of the Graue Mill. To remove it was to strip away a historic hallmark in the village, they argued.

* Daily Herald | Patience paying off for Buffalo Grove on Rohrman redevelopment: After more than a decade of sitting dormant, the former Rohrman property on Dundee Road in Buffalo Grove is on its way to new life. Buffalo Grove officials and representatives of Shorewood Development Group gathered with hard hats and shovels Wednesday to make a break with the past and break ground on the future. […] When the dust settles and construction is complete, the 16-acre site on Dundee Road between Old Arlington Heights Road and Bison Park will be home to a new Tesla sales and service center, a 224-unit apartment building and 30,000 to 40,000 square feet of retail space.

*** National ***

* Reuters | Bird flu outbreak in dairy cows fails to deter US raw milk sellers: Thirty of the 50 U.S. states permit the sale of raw milk, which accounts for less than 1% percent of U.S. milk sales. A nationwide survey of pasteurized milk - heated to kill pathogens - found avian flu virus particles in about 20% of samples tested. […] “Our consumers don’t like the FDA. If the FDA says to do something, they will do the opposite,” said Mark McAfee, owner of Raw Farm in Fresno, California, the largest U.S. raw milk dairy.

* AP | Some WNBA teams look for bigger arenas when Caitlin Clark’s Indiana Fever come to town: The Las Vegas Aces and Washington Mystics have moved their games against the Fever to bigger arenas. The numbers Clark generated in college indicates it’s a smart move. […] “She helps ticket sales, so I think it’s a really great time to have eyes. She’s going to be an elite player,” Aces coach Becky Hammon said. “She has been in college. She’s done stuff in college that nobody else has. She’s going to be a great player in the W. There’s no doubt about it.

* Crain’s | Why Walgreens and Walmart struggle to make health care profitable: Walmart’s health care strategy took an abrupt turn Tuesday, as the company announced plans to shutter all clinics and stop virtual care services. Industry watchers say Walmart’s decision to close all 51 centers isn’t surprising, given the steep challenges retailers face to profitably deliver health care services.

* 404 Media | Facebook’s AI Spam Isn’t the ‘Dead Internet’: It’s the Zombie Internet: I have spent more time than anyone I know endlessly scrolling through AI spam on Facebook. I have watched the evolution of Facebook’s AI spam go from slightly uncanny modifications of real images to the completely bizarre and obviously fake. I have done this from my own Facebook account, which I have had since 2005, as well as from two burner accounts I created specifically to track how AI-generated content is recommended on the platform and to see whether Facebook would put AI-generated images into my feed organically. I now use Facebook exclusively to see what kinds of bizarre AI content is going viral, and to attempt to figure out who is making it, why they are making it, and who is interacting with it.