* Invisible Institute and the Investigative Reporting Workshop…

Sean Grayson, the former Sangamon County Sheriff’s deputy now charged with murder in the fatal shooting of Sonya Massey, was previously discharged from the U.S. Army for serious misconduct, military records show.

Grayson, who is white, was indicted by a grand jury in the July 6 death of Massey, who is Black. Ben Crump, the family’s attorney, said the U.S. Department of Justice has also opened an investigation into the incident, but the agency said in a statement that it is “assessing the circumstances” and following the criminal case.

Documents obtained from the Kincaid Police Department, where Grayson previously worked, note that he was discharged in 2016 for “Misconduct (Serious Offense)” at the Fort Riley Army installation in Kansas. Army officials confirmed Grayson was a wheeled vehicle mechanic from May 2014 to February 2016, but declined to provide further details about his discharge.

“The Privacy Act and (Department of Defense) policy prevent us from releasing information relating to the misconduct of low-level employees or characterization of service at discharge,” Army spokesman Bryce S. Dubee wrote in an email. Officials at Fort Riley did not return voicemails seeking comment.

* WGN…

The terminated Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office deputy involved in the shooting death of a woman who called for 911 assistance worked at six different law enforcement agencies in the last four years, state records obtained by WGN’s Nexstar sister station show.

Since August of 2020, Sean Grayson worked less than one year at the Auburn (Ill.) Police Department, one year at the Logan County (Ill.) Sheriff’s Office, and then just over a year with the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office, the records obtained by WCIA show. He was also employed with police departments in Virden, Kincaid and Pawnee.

Grayson was arrested twice for Class A misdemeanor DUIs, once in 2015 and once in 2016.

* WTTW reporter Amanda Vinicky…

.@DemConvention's rules committee is meeting to decide next steps, with turnover at the top of the ticket ~a month before the DNC making things murky. Party chair @jaimeharrison says "delegates are free to support who they choose" as democracy works best when people believe in it

— Amanda Vinicky (@AmandaVinicky) July 24, 2024

* Crain’s…

Illinois and 29 other states reached a settlement with Cameo for potential violations of consumer-protection laws related to its business of providing paid celebrity video endorsements.

Cameo appeared to run afoul of consumer-protection laws by not providing “appropriate disclosures to consumers who purchased personalized video business messages that an endorsement of a product is a paid endorsement,” Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said in a statement. The company also failed to refund users who paid for the business Cameo feature but mistakenly signed up for the less-expensive personal message Cameo, Raoul said. […]

It’s not clear if there is a financial component to the settlement. It appears the investigation may be related to a product Cameo offered specifically for businesses for advertising. Cameo’s core business involves consumers paying celebrities, ranging from actors and pro athletes to people such as former Gov. Rod Blagojevich to record video messages, often as gags or birthday greetings.

Under terms of the deal, Cameo will implement programs and policies to help ensure its website and mobile applications users comply with all applicable state and federal laws, including the FTC’s Endorsement Guides, Raoul’s office said. Cameo will also implement a watermark system for paid advertisements, implement a system for legal disclosures to and acknowledgements from all celebrities and consumers and monitor paid advertisements for compliance and establish reporting mechanisms for non-compliant Cameo videos.

*** Statewide ***

* SJ-R | Here are 2 ways Illinois is trying to combat maternal mortality rates: Debra Tisckos, the director of maternal child health services at the Sangamon County Department of Public Health said that the rates of maternal mortality were high due to lack of prenatal and postnatal care, plus lack of education and access to proper care. “Things like hypertension, diabetes and just lack of prenatal and postnatal care are contributing factors,” Tisckos said in April during an interview with The State Journal-Register. “There needs to be more education out there on getting these things done, and more support and help for women that don’t know.”

* WCSJ | Illinois treasurer’s office launches Spanish I-CASH website: Treasurer Michael Frerichs says that there are many Spanish speakers in Illinois who could benefit from the new site. Frerichs says unclaimed property can come in many forms, such as forgotten items in a deposit box or a forgotten bank account. He says in many cases, it’s simple to reunite the property with its rightful owner.

* WSIL | Alcohol is Leading Factor for Deadly Boating Accidents in 2023, Illinois Officials Say: The Illinois State Fire Marshal stated alcohol continued to be the leading known contributing factor in deadly boating accidents for last year, totaling 79 deaths across the nation or about 17 percent of total deaths.

*** Chicago ***

* Tribune | A new north DuSable Lake Shore Drive? Long running idea takes step forward with a concept that leaves out bus lanes, includes more park space: That vision includes changes to the sharp curves and bottleneck-inducing traffic lights as the Drive enters downtown, and priority for CTA buses on exit and entrance ramps. It calls for adding lakefill in some places downtown and separating pedestrians from cyclists along the Lakefront Trail. It includes eliminating one lane of traffic north of Irving Park road. Missing from the concept are lanes on Lake Shore Drive that would prioritize the many CTA express buses that use the route. Transit priority lanes had been a key element of each of the other options that had been finalists for consideration.

* Tribune | Authorities investigating break-in at Cook County state’s attorney’s office: Authorities are investigating a break-in at the administrative offices of Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, officials said. Staff with the state’s attorney’s office contacted the Cook County sheriff’s office on Tuesday to report that several computers were missing at their offices at the main courthouse in the George Leighton Criminal Court Building, according to a statement from the sheriff’s office. Police opened an investigation, which is ongoing.

* ABC Chicago | South Side churches’ reading camp for Black boys getting national attention: Salem and Progressive Baptist churches started a pilot program to help improve the reading skills of young Black boys. It’s called Black Boy Literacy. The program was so successful last summer that the churches brought the reading camp back this year to prepare Black boys for the upcoming school year. What started as a pilot program– has become a model for other Black churches across the country.

* Block Club | More Than $400,000 Raised So Far In Chicago’s 2024 School Board Elections: The money is a mix of small donations from candidates’ friends and family, sizable personal loans and in-kind and financial support from existing political and labor groups, according to a Chalkbeat analysis of state campaign finance records. The political fundraising arms of the Illinois Network of Charter Schools, which has $3 million on hand, and the Chicago Teachers Union, which has around $175,000, are holding their fire for now, putting off making major donations to candidates. That’s not surprising: Many candidates are still sorting out challenges to their petitions to get on the ballot, and spending is likely to pick up once a clearer picture of the most competitive races and candidates emerges.

* The Triibe | Black businesses are looking to benefit from the DNC in Chicago: Stephanie Hart, owner of Brown Sugar Bakery in Greater Grand Crossing, said she is already reaping benefits from the upcoming Democratic National Convention (DNC), which is scheduled to come to Chicago on Aug. 19-22. In May, she catered a welcome party for delegates and people working the DNC. She said she reached out to convention organizers with hopes to become a vendor during the event.

* Tribune | As new Foxtrot owner plans to reopen stores, a former undocumented worker recounts his struggle to find a job and collect back pay: As a co-founder of Foxtrot and new investors plan to reopen about a dozen stores this fall, Mancera and most of the other 50 former immigrant workers who worked at the commissary continue to struggle to find new jobs to make ends meet. Mancera said that his quest for employment has been stymied by few opportunities, with competition from newly arrived migrants who are willing to work for extremely low wages and those who have legal work permits. Unlike former workers at the storefronts who qualified for unemployment, most of those who worked at the commissary are ineligible for unemployment benefits due to their immigration status.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Herald | ‘A game changer’: New pumping station promises to ease Des Plaines River flooding: A new $4.1 million pump station along the Des Plaines River in Mount Prospect will help neighborhoods that have been battered by flooding for decades, officials said at a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday. “This project is simply a game changer,” Mount Prospect Mayor Paul Hoefert said of the station on River Road north of Camp McDonald Road. “It will help provide an unprecedented level of flood protection for hundreds, if not thousands, of homes in Mount Prospect on the west side of River Road.”

* Tribune | County to consider $7.25 million settlement for wrongfully convicted ‘Marquette Park Four’ member: On the heels of the Chicago City Council approving a record $50 million settlement to a group of men once known as the “Marquette Park Four,” the Cook County Board will consider a $7.25 million settlement for one of those men who accused county prosecutors of wrongful incarceration and detention. The Charles Johnson deal is one of several costly settlements the county’s Finance Committee approved unanimously Wednesday, the others related to county-run Stroger Hospital. All of them, totaling $24 million, will be considered by the full board Thursday.

* Lake County News-Sun | Illinois catcher Camden Janik, a Wauconda grad drafted by Pirates, is ‘embracing the unknown’ as he turns pro: “You could tell that he was definitely on track to do something special, partly because he always just wanted to get better,” said Clay Kovac, Janik’s coach at Wauconda. “Playing pro ball was definitely in the back of your mind, but it’s not easy to play against great players day in and day out. I can’t say enough about him.”

*** Downstate ***

* WAND | Eastern Illinois Food Banks’s “Food Mobile” is hitting the road: The Eastern Illinois Food Bank serves over 18 counties, distributing food to over 100 people every day. […] “Our priority is definitely to provide as much inclusive, nutritious food to people as possible. We really want to be growing those stronger communities. Getting out into these communities and making it as simple as possible for people to receive food assistance. There’s no donation to small no, no way to get involved that doesn’t make too much of an impact.”

* WCIA | Danville company fined $200k by OSHA for two labor accidents: Inspectors from the DOL’s Occupation Safety and Health Administration responded to two incidents earlier this year at Viscofan USA Inc.’s Danville facility. One employee suffered broken bones and lacerations on Jan. 25 when their arm was caught in a roller machine. On Feb. 1, another employee suffered chemical burns while cleaning a pump. In both incidents, OSHA determined that the company “lacked adequate procedures for energy control and failed to have them in place before the workers began their tasks.” The agency also said Viscofan failed to train its workers on machine safety procedures and on use of hazardous chemicals

*** National ***

* AP | Experts say a twice-yearly injection that offers 100% protection against HIV is ‘stunning’: The shots made by U.S. drugmaker Gilead and sold as Sunlenca are approved in the U.S., Canada, Europe and elsewhere, but only as a treatment for HIV. The company said it is waiting for results of testing in men before seeking permission to use it to protect against infection. […] The prospect of a twice-a-year shot is “quite revolutionary news” for our patients, said Thandeka Nkosi, who helped run the Gilead research at the Desmond Tutu Health Foundation in Masiphumelele, South Africa. “It gives participants a choice and it just eliminates the whole stigma around taking pills” to prevent HIV.

* The Athletic | Simone Biles is back at the Olympics, and no one is telling her what to do anymore: The Paris Games are being billed as a rebirth for gymnastics, the culmination of that long and painful process. The change, however, started even before this Olympic cycle. It began in Tokyo when Simone Biles said she couldn’t go on and no one told her she’d better go anyway. […] “My ‘why’ is nobody is forcing me to do it,” she said. “I wake up every morning and choose to grind in the gym and come out to perform for myself.”

* ProPublica | He Was Convicted of Killing His Baby. The DA’s Office Says He’s Innocent, but That Might Not Be Enough.: Eaton read the journal knowing that in the years since the infant was taken to the emergency room, shaken baby syndrome has come under increasing scrutiny. A growing body of research has demonstrated that the triad of symptoms doctors traditionally used to diagnose the syndrome — brain swelling and bleeding around the brain and behind the eyes — are not necessarily produced by shaking; a range of natural and accidental causes can generate the same symptoms. Nevertheless, shaken baby syndrome and its presumption of abuse have served, and continue to serve, as the rationale for separating children from their parents and for sending mothers, fathers and caretakers to prison. It’s impossible to quantify the total number of Americans convicted on the basis of the diagnosis — only the slim fraction of cases that meet the legal bar to appeal and lead to a published appellate decision. Still, an analysis of these rulings from 2008 to 2018 found 1,431 such criminal convictions.