* WGN…

Gov. JB Pritzker was on the city’s Near West Side on Wednesday morning to speak about a statewide initiative that has designs on ending the HIV epidemic in Illinois within the next decade.

Getting to Zero Illinois (GTZ-IL), as its website states, is a community engagement initiative that aims to end the HIV epidemic in Illinois by 2030. […]

On Wednesday, Pritzker was among those gathered for a workshop at the University of Illinois Chicago Student Center West on Wolcott Avenue. The governor spoke about GTZ-IL, praising the initiative and vowing continued support from his administration.

“We will work together to reduce structural and institutional barriers to diagnose and treat,” Pritzker said. “We will expand access to care while breaking down the stigma for people living with or vulnerable to HIV, to seek help or to receive a diagnosis as soon as possible.

* Injustice Watch…

Over the last two decades, Chicago’s political leaders have spent tens of millions on attempts to treat children arrested by police more like children and less like a public safety menace. […]

Now, an Injustice Watch examination of Chicago’s efforts at youth justice reform — including dozens of interviews, thousands of pages of public records, and a decade of arrest data — reveals an inept, grindingly slow response to kids who commit crimes. It’s been a Band-Aid on a deep wound.

The investigation showed the city has hired contractors with records of failure, the Chicago Police Department didn’t buy in to key reforms, and a long-promised new program has delivered barely any help to the thousands of kids who might need it.

The latest failure is a $10 million initiative offering some kids who have been arrested one to three months of services — including help with school, legal support, or counseling. While police arrested about 3,600 kids last year, they referred only 286 to the program in its first 11 months. Of those, only 35 completed the program. That’s roughly one for every 100 kids police arrest.

* Illinois Department of Transportation…

IDOT is unveiling five new photo enforcement vans that will be used throughout Illinois work zones starting this construction season, a continuation of a program that traces back 20 years ago. The vehicles are the result of a new contract with Modaxo, which allows for as-needed equipment updates and a “train the trainer” program that will put operations firmly in the hands of IDOT and Illinois State Police.

Bearing clear markings designating them as speed photo enforcement vehicles, the vans feature updated technology and a large sign that displays the speed of approaching vehicles. Highway Safety Programs Unit Chief Juan Pava said the improved technological features are a boon to the program.

“We are going to have lidar-based speed detection, which is a huge improvement over our previous contract that had radar speed detection,” Pava said. “We have new cameras with much higher resolution, as well as new safety features within the units to keep the troopers who are deploying them safe. We’re hoping that with this new technology, we’ll be able to get better metrics to truly understand the speed issues in work zones and increase the effectiveness of the speed photo enforcement program.”

The vehicles will be used exclusively in work zones while workers are present, as mandated by the 2004 passage of the Automated Traffic Control Systems in Highway Construction or Maintenance Zones Act. Through district staff, IDOT determines where the vans should be deployed, with ISP troopers staffing them and handling any necessary ticketing. […]

“This is not a revenue generating program. The primary benefit is speed reduction and behavior change,” said Work Zone Safety Engineer Nathan Peck. “That’s why we use a big white van. We want it to be visible. It’s all about deterrence, presence and visibility.”

* WBBM Radio reporter Mallory Vor Broker…

To combat carjackings, ⁦Illinois Secretary of State ⁦@Giannoulias⁩ announcing $11 million in new grants to several law enforcement agencies ⁦@WBBMNewsradio⁩ pic.twitter.com/qmoXprUv8F

— Mallory Vor Broker (@MVorBroker) June 26, 2024

* AP…

The Chicago White Sox have now had the worst half-season in the franchise’s 124-year history.

And they’re on pace to challenge for the ignominious title of worst team of all-time.

Shohei Ohtani hit a leadoff homer and a tiebreaking RBI single Tuesday night, leading the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 4-3 victory over the White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field.

For reference, the 1962 New York Mets went 40-120, which remains the worst record ever since MLB went to a 162-game schedule prior to that season (the Mets had two postponed games that season that were not made up).

*** Chicago ***

* Tribune | Chicago reaches deal with protest organizers ahead of DNC: The ACLU of Illinois filed a federal lawsuit against the city last month on behalf of a coalition of LGBTQ+ and abortion rights groups, “Bodies Against Unjust Laws,” that sought a protest permit during the DNC. Wednesday, the ACLU announced the coalition was granted a permit to march south along Michigan Avenue from Wacker Drive to the statue of Union Army Gen. John Logan near 9th Street. The march is scheduled for 5 p.m. Aug. 18, the day before DNC activities begin in earnest.

* Chalkbeat | Chicago schools that removed police officers saw slight drop in high-level discipline violations: study: The study’s authors looked at the district’s more than 80 CPS-run high schools, and focused on those that removed officers after the summer of 2020, when the Chicago Board of Education directed Local School Councils to decide if they wanted SROs on campus. As of last school year, 39 high schools had on-campus police officers staffed by the Chicago Police Department, while 44 other schools had none, according to the study. Fourteen schools had voted since 2020 to remove them. The Board of Education plans to remove the remaining officers starting this fall.

* Sun-Times | CPS dropping school police officers didn’t change students, teachers feeling safe, U of C study reveals: A study released Wednesday by the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research examined the effects of CPS schools removing their police officers and found there were minimal changes to perceptions of safety. But the analysis discovered a reduction in high-level discipline infractions at schools that had gotten rid of their cops, and found Black students were more likely to have officers in their schools than other racial groups.

* Sun-Times | City prepares for large crowds at Pride Parade: The parade gets underway at 11 a.m. in Uptown, passes through Lake View and ends in Lincoln Park. The Office of Emergency Management and Communications said it is expecting large crowds and is preparing to ensure the safety of all attendees. Temporary black-and-white markers will be hung atop light poles along the parade route to mark the location. If anyone is lost or in need of help, the markers will allow first-responders to find the caller.

* Block Club | What Does The ‘Chicago Accent’ Actually Sound Like?: It’s a distinct sound: beginning “th” sounds become to “d” sounds, so that “this” or “those” becomes “dis” or “dose.” You add an exaggerated “s” to proper nouns, like the “Jewels” and “Soldiers Field.” And you have to have the flattest “a” in words like “cat” or “bag.” But there are actually many Chicago accents with different origins, and they span far beyond the North Side climes that soak up a lot of the cultural conversation. That reflects in the media set in, or filmed in, the city — often with non-Chicago actors who must learn the many ways we speak.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Sun-Times | Man accused of assaulting State’s Attorney Kim Foxx is placed on electronic monitoring: William Swetz, 34, was released from custody after appearing in court Sunday on aggravated assault and aggravated battery charges. He was ordered to have no contact with Foxx. But Swetz was back in court Tuesday morning after he was allegedly seen on surveillance video driving past Foxx’s home after his Sunday appearance, according to court records. The judge on Tuesday ordered him to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet.

* NBC Chicago | Chicago suburb to host Illinois’ ‘largest’ fireworks show for 4th of July: July 4, Itasca, in DuPage County will host “Illinois’ largest fireworks show,” according to a press release. The live pyrotechnics show takes place place at Hamilton Lakes, west of Chicago O’Hare International Airport at the intersection of I-390 and Park Boulevard, the release said. According to organizers, the 2024 fireworks show marks the event’s 27th year.

*** Downstate ***

* SJ-R | Longtime Springfield Urban League leader, voting rights lawsuit plaintiff, dies at 81: Howard Veal Sr., the longtime head of the Springfield Urban League and a class action plaintiff in the voting rights lawsuit that led to the creation of Springfield’s aldermanic form of government, died June 12. […] Speaking to The State Journal-Register Monday, Frank McNeil, one of the original plaintiffs in the lawsuit with William Washington and Rudy Davenport, said Veal, representing the Urban League, and Archie Lawrence, representing the Springfield NAACP, bolstered the suit by bringing in “all classes of individuals. It extended (the lawsuit) beyond three individuals.”

* WGN | Authorities to identify victim in 1976 cold case in Grundy County: Authorities in Grundy County are preparing to make a major announcement this week in the case of an unidentified woman whose body was found along a road near Seneca, Illinois, in 1976. Grundy County Coroner John W. Callahan said Tuesday that his office has identified the victim in the 1976 cold case and will release her identity during a news conference in Morris, Illinois, on Thursday afternoon.

*** National ***

* Tribune | Paris puts Park Ridge artist’s statue of Lincoln on display near Champs Elysee: Many connections fell into place — and many challenges had to be overcome over the course of a decade– for Park Ridge’s Kalo Foundation, a nonprofit arts group, to ship the mold of a bust of Abraham Lincoln by Park Ridge’s best-known artist, Italian-American sculptor Alfonso Iannelli, to France, have it bronzed and then ceremonially presented to the city of Paris for permanent display near the Champs Elysee. Kalo Foundation officers flew to France for its official unveiling by officials of Paris’ 8th arondissement on May 13. In the decade from idea to execution, the process of casting the plaster Lincoln bust into bronze and donating it to Paris had to overcome several tripwires, including the deaths of its original French and Park Ridge backers, the COVID pandemic and fundraising challenges.

* NYT | Why U.S. Schools Are Facing Their Biggest Budget Crunch in Years: A flow of federal dollars — $122 billion meant to help schools recover from the pandemic — is running dry in September, leaving schools with less money for tutors, summer school and other supports that have funded pandemic recovery efforts over the last three years. At the same time, declining student enrollment — a consequence of lower birthrates and a growing school choice movement — is catching up to some districts.