* ICYMI: Gov. Pritzker signs measure creating new state agency for early education. Sun-Times…

- The newly signed law will create the Department of Early Childhood.
- The department will oversee early education programs, including the Preschool For All program, child care assistance programs and day care licensing.
- This year’s budget included $14 million to create the new department.

* Related stories…

∙ WGEM: Gov. Pritzker signs bill creating new Illinois Department of Early Childhood
∙ WGIL: Local lawmaker says state Office of Early Childhood is necessary
∙ Capitol News Illinois: Pritzker signs bill creating new Department of Early Childhood

At noon the governor will sign the pro-business bill omnibus package. Click here to watch.

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* WTTW | After Earning a Degree From Northwestern While Incarcerated, Michael Broadway Dies in Custody at 51 as Family Questions Medical Response: Friends who witnessed his death last week said he “didn’t have to die.” When asked about specific allegations around the timeline of Broadway’s death, a spokesperson for the Illinois Department of Corrections responded that “at this point, we’d only be able to confirm his death on 6/19/24” and that “the investigation is ongoing.”

* Crain’s | CME and Google to build new facility to move trading into the cloud: The two firms will develop cloud and colocation facilities — space rented to clients for their own IT equipment — next to CME’s existing data center in Aurora, executives said Wednesday. Construction will start later this year and the transition will happen in phases, they said. CME and Google began a 10-year alliance in 2021 to migrate data, clearing services and eventually trading into the cloud. As part of the agreement, Google made a $1 billion equity investment in the derivatives exchange.

*** Statehouse News ***

* WAND | Advocates urge IL lawmakers to close loophole allowing domestic abusers access to guns: “We felt really confident after hearing the oral arguments late last year of the way the Supreme Court was going to come down,” said Maralea Negron, director for The Network. “I think it wasn’t a huge sticking point. But for those that did have concerns, the decision is very straight forward. It comes down on the side of survivors. We’re really hopeful that the General Assembly will do what we’ve been asking, what is pass Karina’s Bill in veto session.”

* Press Release | Swanson Named Illinois VFW’s Representative of the Year: Earlier this month, Illinois State Representative Dan Swanson was named Illinois’ Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Representative of the Year. He received the honors at Joint Opening Session of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Department of Illinois state convention in Springfield. Swanson, a veteran himself, has long championed veterans’ issues and has been an advocate throughout his service in the Illinois General Assembly. He was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2017 and currently serves on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee.

*** Chicago ***

* Sun-Times | Johnson announces dates, times for budget forums: Last year, Johnson used public input generated by a similar series of budget roundtables to craft a $16.77 billion budget that, among other things, added 4,000 summer jobs for Chicago’s youth and re-established a stand-alone Department of Environment. The mayor used a record $434 million in surplus funds from tax increment financing districts to balance his first budget. He also froze the city’s property tax levy.

* NBC Chicago | Thousands of DNC protesters expected, raising questions about security, neighborhood impact: “We don’t think it’s the city hiding the ball. We think that the city is dependent on decisions made by other agencies in the city or federal agencies, FBI, Secret Service,” said Chris Williams, the attorney representing the Coalition to March on the DNC. The coalition, which represents 125 protest organizations and counting, has been fighting a legal battle with the city over its denial of protest permits. The city declined the protesters’ request to set up at Union Park, just blocks away from the United Center, offering a spot several miles away on Columbus Drive instead. Protesters have maintained the spot near Grant Park is not a viable solution because it’s not within “sight and sound” of the convention hall.

* CBS Chicago | Chicago paramedics experience burnout amid staffing shortage, firefighters say: Chicago firefighters are calling out the city for not having enough ambulances and paramedics to safely serve the city, and they want that fixed as part of a new union contract. They plan to protest at next week’s NASCAR event, then outside of the Democratic National Convention.

* Tribune | NASCAR Chicago Street Race returns with shorter setup, fewer skeptics and hopes for less rain: “I think the big difference this year versus last year is people have an understanding of what the event is and how it comes together and what to expect,” said Julie Giese, 46, president of NASCAR’s Chicago Street Race. “It wasn’t as bad as everyone expected last year as far as moving around the city.” Tim Calkins, a marketing professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, said Chicagoans are generally less concerned after seeing NASCAR successfully pull off the first street race in its 75-year history amid biblical rains last summer.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* ABC | Illinois man accused in mass shooting at Fourth of July parade expected to change not-guilty plea: The statement released by Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart’s office did not provide more detail on the expected changes or how it could influence sentencing. Crimo would face a mandatory sentence of life without parole if convicted of first-degree murder.

* Cook County Record | Judges’ association member recuses himself from case demanding judge association members recuse themselves from cases: U.S. District Judge Jorge L. Alonso is asking to be removed from a case that claims members in the state’s largest judicial lobbying group– of which he is one– play favorites and back the rulings of their fellow members over those of litigants. Alonso, a member of the Illinois Judges Association (IJA), asked on June 18 that Edward “Coach” Weinhaus v. Regina A. Scannicchio, et. al. be reassigned to another judge in the U.S. District Court.

* Sun-Times | Cook County agency employs Indiana politician who pleaded guilty in federal case: While his brother James Snyder has appealed his bribery conviction all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court — which is expected to issue a potential landmark ruling in the matter soon — Jon Snyder landed a new government job across the state line. He’s now working for an obscure but influential Cook County agency. Documents obtained by WBEZ show Cook County Board of Review Commissioner Samantha Steele hired Jon Snyder to join her staff as a $75,000-a-year analyst for commercial property tax appeals cases in December 2022.

* Tribune | North suburban commuter service to close, a sign of changing corporate office landscape: The Transportation Management Association of Lake-Cook Corridor will end operations July 1. The organization had for years run shuttles to north suburban campuses, providing one option to solve a problem that has long vexed suburbs: how to help employees travel the last bit of their commute between a train or bus station and their office. The closure comes amid a dramatic reshaping of the region’s corporate landscape. In just the north Cook County and south Lake County area once served by the TMA, insurance giant Allstate sold its sprawling Northbrook campus in 2022 and downsized. Baxter International tried to sell its Deerfield property, but eventually pulled it off the market after a prospective buyer pulled out when neighbors campaigned to derail a warehouse facility a developer proposed for the site.

* Daily Herald | Harper College student named Soldier of the Year by Illinois Army National Guard: At 19, Nathan Johnson is one of the youngest soldiers ever to win first place in the physically grueling, three-day Illinois National Guard Best Warrior Competition. Due to his rank as a junior enlisted man, Nathan Johnson, from Arlington Heights, was named Soldier of the Year by the Illinois Army National Guard at the April competition, which took place at the Illinois Guard training ground in Sparta.

*** Downstate ***

* Crain’s | VW’s lifeline to Rivian could help Illinois hang onto jobs: Volkswagen is throwing Rivian a $5 billion lifeline, a badly needed vote of confidence in the startup automaker that employs more than 8,000 people at a factory in downstate Normal. The German auto giant said it will invest $5 billion in a joint venture with Rivian, including an initial $1 billion infusion and another $1 billion in each of the next two years.

*** National ***

* STL Today | Acclaimed St. Louis restaurant Bulrush closes. Owner cites ‘hate politics’ in Missouri: Connoley, who is gay, cited Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s actions toward transgender people, including attempts to seek their medical records. “I’ve done LGBT advocacy for a long time, 30-plus years, and I’ve never seen something like this,” Connoley said. “Normally, it’s legislative, and there’s work you can do with your representatives and constituents. But here, it’s one person doing hate politics.”

* AP | Nation’s first publicly funded religious charter school blocked by Oklahoma Supreme Court: The high court determined the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board’s 3-2 vote last year to approve an application by the Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma for the St. Isidore of Seville Virtual Charter School violates the Establishment Clause, which prohibits government from making any law “respecting an establishment of religion.” The ruling also says both the Oklahoma and U.S. constitutions, as well as state law, were violated.