* Crain’s…

The treasurers of eight US states have written an open letter to Tesla Inc.’s board of directors questioning the direction of the company and the level of attention Elon Musk is paying to its mounting challenges.

The overseers of funds and investments for Illinois, California and half a dozen other states cite Tesla’s sagging stock, disappointing first-quarter deliveries and surge of trade-ins by vehicle owners as being among their causes for concern.

“Meanwhile, CEO Elon Musk continues to divide his attention across multiple companies and a high-profile advisory role within the federal government,” the treasurers wrote. “These external commitments raise serious questions about whether Tesla’s leadership is fully engaged in addressing the company’s core challenges.”

The letter — pulled together in coordination with the advocacy group Americans for Responsible Growth — heaps more pressure on Tesla and Musk ahead of the company releasing first-quarter earnings results after the close Tuesday.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Tribune | Jury sends out questions during deliberations in state Sen. Emil Jones III bribery trial: Jurors resumed deliberations in the federal corruption trial of state Sen. Emil Jones III, and early Tuesday afternoon sent questions to the judge during their talks. Included in them was whether Jones needed to agree to accept something worth $5,000 or anything of value, and whether a decision to do so needed to remain in place without Jones changing his mind. The panel also asked about the difference between federal and state laws against bribery. The judge gave lawyers in the case an hour to come up with proposed answers to the jury’s notes.

* Capitol News Illinois | Pritzker balances messaging as some Dems encourage party to avoid LGBTQ issues: Pritzker was confronted with polling data on LGBTQ issues during his first FOX News interview as governor earlier this month. The March FOX News poll showed 68% of respondents favor President Donald Trump’s executive order attempting to ban transgender women from women’s sports, and 54% support federal policy that recognizes only two genders. Pritzker brushed aside the poll. “You can go issue by issue and you can ask a question whether people support this issue or that,” he told the FOX News host. “Here’s what people really care about: They care about their health care, they care about their affordability, they care about the kitchen table issues that really matter every day.”

* Chicago Mag | With ridership lagging and a fiscal reckoning looming, the L is in trouble. Here’s why our train is worth saving: Even acknowledging that the CTA is underfunded, it’s fair to wonder whether the agency could be doing more with the resources it has. Stephen Schlickman, the head of the RTA from 2005 to 2010, recalls that in 2007 his agency faced a $400 million shortfall, so he requested that the Illinois auditor general conduct a review to ensure that the problem wasn’t mismanagement. He questions why the CTA doesn’t undertake a similar probe. (The CTA says it conducts its own audit annually and is subject to triennial audits from both the Federal Transit Administration and Illinois Department of Transportation.) And he can’t make sense of how the CTA spent its COVID relief money: “I’m sorry, they got billions of dollars from the federal government, and why the service, crime, filthiness of the CTA became so bad is beyond me.”

* American’s Work force | Reviving the Springfield and Central Illinois Trades and Labor Council: Yelverton began by sharing his journey from Las Vegas to Illinois, where he said he found a home in the labor movement. He has spent the past 19 years with the Illinois Federation of Teachers. In 2020, after being named Interim President, Yelverton was elected President of the Springfield and Central Illinois Trades and Labor Council. Under his leadership, the council has been rebuilt from the ground up, as he was the first President elected after the Council came out of Trusteeship. Now, the council has grown within the community through engagement and supporting young people with scholarship programs, Yelverton said.

*** Statewide ***

* WAND | Multiple university presidents in Illinois sign letter criticizing federal ‘government overreach’: The letter cites the importance of higher education to American prosperity and common good. And while the presidents are “open to constructive reform and do not oppose legitimate government oversight, they dispute “undue government intrusion in the lives of those who learn, live, and work on our campuses.”

*** Downstate ***

* WMBD | 1% grocery tax approved by Washington City Council: It’s become a hot topic across Illinois after Gov. JB Pritzker and the General Assembly eliminated the statewide 1% tax on groceries beginning Jan. 1, 2026. Since then, municipalities from Pekin to East Peoria and across the state have adopted similar ordinances in an effort to maintain the sales tax revenue that would be lost if they go along with the state’s repeal.

* Daily Egyptian | SIU admin, faculty seek clarity as ‘multiple’ international students affected by visa crackdown: At an SIU Faculty Senate meeting on Tuesday, April 15, Provost Sheryl Tucker told concerned faculty members that “multiple” students had been affected – though she declined to give an exact number, citing federal privacy laws under FERPA. […] This marks the first acknowledgment from SIU that more than one international student has been caught in the federal dragnet. Previously, the university had only confirmed a single case – a student whose visa was revoked and who has since left the country.

* WGLT | Bloomington council weighs housing incentive options, hears annual report from police chief: The housing shortage is on the minds of many in Bloomington, including the city council. During a meeting Monday, Deputy City Manager Billy Tyus presented an update on the issue. Tyus discussed changes the council could make to incentivize developers to build in Bloomington. In a time of economic uncertainty, he emphasized the value of putting forth a clear “standardized incentives” plan. Knowing what help they can expect to receive in advance, Tyus said, would help dispel developers’ reluctance.

* WCIA | Classes cancelled at Tri-Point schools due to threat: Tri-Point Superintendent Jay Bennett said in a letter to the school community that administration received notice early Tuesday morning of an anonymous threat. He cancelled school on all three campuses in the district on Tuesday as student and staff safety is their top priority.

*** Chicago ***

* Sun-Times | Yusef Jackson invests in company that’s reaped big profits from state of Illinois program: Yusef Jackson — a son of the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. and brother of U.S. Rep. Jonathan Jackson, D-Ill. — invested in a company that has profited for more than a decade from a controversial, lucrative arrangement with the state of Illinois, records show. The financial interest of Yusef Jackson surfaced recently in court records in a federal civil case involving Vendor Assistance Program LLC. The clout-heavy, Chicago-based VAP has pocketed hundreds of millions of dollars through a state program that allows it to buy up government debt to vendors and later collect the late-payment penalties from the state. VAP started to work on the state program in 2011, amid a huge backlog of payments to vendors; politically connected lawyer Brian Hynes co-founded the company and was a main investor for many years, according to public records.

* Chicago Mag | A History of Violence: In Chicago, as in so many American cities, it’s hard to imagine a more intractable public policy problem than gun violence. But University of Chicago Professor Jens Ludwig, 56, cofounder and director of the school’s Crime Lab, delivers some hope in his groundbreaking new book, Unforgiving Places: The Unexpected Origins of American Gun Violence. Based on a wealth of scientific data on decision making by violent criminals and his own fieldwork in Chicago, he offers social policy strategies for transforming neighborhoods into safer spaces.

* Borderless | Chicago’s Venezuelan Community In Limbo Amid Trump’s Push To End Deportation Protections: The Venezuelan community in Chicago is grappling with fear and uncertainty after President Donald Trump’s attempt to terminate Biden-era deportation protections. Although a federal judge recently blocked the effort to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS), many immigrants say the damage is done, reigniting anxieties that they may be forced to return to a country they fled amid violence, political persecution and economic collapse.

* Sun-Times | Sex, drag and Whitney Houston: ‘Wake of a Dead Drag Queen’ returns with a flamboyant punch: To Guest, who is a queer Black man, “At the Wake of a Dead Drag Queen” is personal, connecting him through the art form to his uncle and to Southern drag culture. This is the play that sparked his career, winning him awards and helping to pull himself out of despair when his acting career stalled.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Crain’s | Prime Healthcare, new owner of Joliet hospital, shutters its pediatric services: Prime Healthcare, the new, for-profit owner of St. Joseph Medical Center in Joliet, is suspending pediatric care at the former Ascension hospital that its owned since March 1. The hospital will continue to provide pediatric emergency care as a certified Emergency Department Approved for Pediatrics, but will offer alternative roles at St. Joseph or one of its seven other Chicago-area hospitals to eight pediatric care staff members, a spokeswoman for the health system said in a statement last night. Its two pediatricians have been offered positions with Prime’s affiliated medical group.

* Sun-Times | ‘Long and rather wrenching’ sentencing expected for Highland Park parade shooter on Wednesday: Robert Crimo III will likely get life in prison for killing seven people and wounding four dozen on July 4, 2022. But it is unclear whether he will show up in court since much of the hearing could take up hours of survivors’ victim-impact statements. Prosecutors have not said how many victims are set to talk in court. If enough do, the hearing could stretch into a second day.

* Illinois Answers Project | Cook County Jail Restrained People In Chairs 874 Times — And Never Reported It To The State: Cook County Jail used restraint chairs nearly 900 times from 2019 to 2023 and failed to report the incidents to the state unit that monitors jails, as required by state regulations, Illinois Answers found. “They’ve admitted somewhat of a … failure and misunderstanding,” said Illinois Rep. La Shawn Ford, who represents part of Cook County. State standards require jails to report use of a restraint chair as an “extraordinary or unusual occurrence” to the Jail and Detention Standards Unit (JDSU) within the Illinois Department of Corrections within three days of the incident. But Cook County Jail never did that.

* Daily Herald | Illinois PGA again trying something new: The Illinois PGA Open Series tees off on Monday at White Eagle in Naperville. That’ll be the first of six one-day tournaments open to IPGA professionals (members and associates), amateurs with a handicap index under 10.0 and other professionals at least 18 years old. Players under 18 may be accepted but must submit a playing resume first. […] “We have been talking internally, and branching out to more of our staff,” said Andy Mickelson, the IPGA tournament chairman, director of golf at Mistwood in Romeoville and the section vice president. “We went to the CDGA (Chicago District Golf Association) to get their blessing. It’ll be good for tournament golf in Illinois. We think it’ll be a big hit.”

*** National ***

* TNND | Tariffs will stifle US and global economic growth, slow progress on inflation: IMF: President Donald Trump’s far-reaching tariffs and the chain reaction of countermeasures they’ve triggered, if sustained, are likely to curb economic growth in the United States and the rest of the world this year, the International Monetary Fund said Tuesday. Economic growth in the U.S. is forecast to slow to 1.8% in 2025, ninety basis points lower than the IMF’s prediction from January. In 2024, America’s economy grew at a pace of 2.8%.

* Reuters | US FDA suspends milk quality tests amid workforce cuts: The Food and Drug Administration is suspending a quality control program for testing of fluid milk and other dairy products due to reduced capacity in its food safety and nutrition division, according to an internal email seen by Reuters. The suspension is another disruption to the nation’s food safety programs after the termination and departure of 20,000 employees of the Department of Health and Human Services, which includes the FDA, as part of President Donald Trump’s effort to shrink the federal workforce.

* LA Times | DOGE layoffs of federal mediators leave grocery chain talks, other labor disputes in limbo: In fiscal 2024, the agency, which has a budget of $54 million, employed about 143 full-time mediators who conducted more than 5,400 mediated negotiations and provided some 10,000 arbitration panels. And recent estimates show that the mediators’ services save the economy more than $500 million annually, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit cites data from the agency’s website that have been scrubbed in recent weeks. Just five mediators and a few support staff workers remain at the agency after the cuts, according to the lawsuit.