* Tribune…

Mayor Brandon Johnson touted his Springfield agenda as both “modest” and beneficial to the whole state of Illinois during a short Wednesday stop to the statehouse, where he will surely face steep headwinds to accomplish what he wants for Chicago during a tough state budget season. […]

“This is about what we have to do as an entire state to ensure that all of Illinois is supported,” the mayor told reporters ahead of a Wednesday meeting with Pritzker. “My responsibility is the city of Chicago. Our presentation is actually quite modest — the overall, ongoing issues for revenue, that will benefit the entire state.”

Johnson met with the governor for about half an hour, before convening with his former boss, Senate President Don Harmon of Oak Park, for about 10 minutes. He was also slated to meet Wednesday morning with House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch of Hillside.

After the disappointment from Johnson’s 2024 visit, the mayor hopes President Donald Trump’s second term, and the potential for the White House to deprive Illinois of key federal funding in a number of areas, has increased the urgency for state leaders to move on his Springfield wish list.

*** Statehouse News ***

* ABC Chicago | Chicago Mayor Johnson meets with Gov. Pritzker, others in Springfield over ‘reasonable’ funding asks: “I always appreciate the opportunity to speak with Mayor Johnson about Chicago’s priorities-many of which are already part of the ongoing conversations happening in the Capitol. Chicago is an economic and cultural engine for our state; when Chicago succeeds, we all succeed. It’s clear that the Trump Administration sees Chicago and Illinois as a top target of their cruel and chaotic agenda, so it’s critical that the leaders of our state maintain an open dialogue about how we keep Illinois moving in a better direction,” Welch said in a statement.

* CNN | Inside JB Pritzker’s public and private efforts to counter Trump and challenge fellow Democrats: [I]n the interview before the speech he stuck to saying he hasn’t even decided whether to launch the campaign for a third term as governor that aides are already planning, teasing more speeches around the country, and giving on-brand line: “This is a time for people to stand up and fight.”

* ICYMI: The governor is scheduled to appear on Jimmy Kimmel Live tomorrow night.

*** Statewide ***

* KFVS | AmeriCorps cuts affect programs across Missouri and Illinois: Katie Rhoades, Founder and Co-Executive Director, tells First Alert 4, “We heard at 7:14 p.m. on a Friday night that our AmeriCorps funding has been terminated, so we lost three federal grants before our original end date, which has amounted to about a $250,000 loss to the organization.” Rhoades says the organization is losing the equivalent of over 22,000 hours of service. Healing Action Network is now stopping victim intake and reducing staff.

*** Chicago ***

* Crain’s | Developer looks to force vote on $1B residential project near planned Bally’s casino: Zoning chair Ald. Walter Burnett, 27th, who also represents the area, has deferred the vote because of his fear it will be rejected unless the developer signs a labor peace agreement with SEIU Local 1 to not interfere with the union’s attempts to organize workers at its residential buildings. On April 21, the developer’s zoning attorney, DLA Piper’s Katie Jahnke Dale, sent Burnett a letter, reviewed by Crain’s, informing him the developer was attempting to bypass his committee through a city rule meant to prioritize affordable housing.

* Block CLub | Who Gets Housing First? While City Pressured To Fast Track Apartments For Some Homeless, Most Wait Years: But what happened at Gompers Park also revealed how the city’s process for determining who gets housing next is often secretive and confusing. And the events raise questions about whether the city plays politics by prioritizing housing for people in some encampments over many others in the city’s placement database. Without enough units to house everyone, the city and its nonprofit partners require unhoused people to enroll in a “prioritization” system to get connected to more long-term housing.

* WaPo | This patient expected a free checkup. The bill was $1,430.: Carmen Aiken of Chicago made an appointment for an annual physical exam in July 2023, planning to get checked out and complete some blood tests. […] A patient who needs blood tests for a specific medical concern — as Aiken did, for medication monitoring — could be required to pay part of the bill. That’s the case even if the blood test is performed during a checkup alongside preventive services. Some health insurers pay for standard blood tests as part of a preventive visit, but that’s not always the case.

* Crain’s | Chicago’s top cannabis companies lost millions amid industry slide: Verano Holdings lost $341.8 million and Cresco Labs lost $60.4 million in 2024, according to an analysis of public securities filings by Crain’s. The exception to the trend was Chicago-based Green Thumb Industries with $73 million in net income, filings show. The losses for Verano and Cresco were despite their respective revenues last year of $878.6 million and $724.3 million. Verano, founded in 2014, has marijuana operations in 13 U.S. states, while the footprint of Cresco, founded in 2013, spans eight states.

* Crain’s | Wacker Drive office tower hits the market, setting up a nasty blow for seller: There is no specific asking price for the property, but sales of other downtown office buildings in recent months suggest it is worth a fraction of that number today. The rise of remote work and elevated interest rates have driven away many deep-pocketed real estate investors from buying office buildings in Chicago, bludgeoning property values and fueling rampant distress that’s hampering the central business district’s post-pandemic recovery.

* WBEZ | Illinois’s coolest career is found in… rock and bone?: Pennsylvania’s coolest job was chocolate scientist at Hershey, while California’s was animator at Pixar. And Illinois? The survey found that respondents thought the coolest work you can do in Illinois is be a paleontologist for the Field Museum. […] Reset talks with Field Museum paleontologists to find out more.

* Sun-Times | 120-year-old Jackson Park pavilion sits as a park district ruin: A Chicago Park District spokesperson said it “is moving forward with plans” to renovate the building. She said the agency is working through a mandated federal environmental assessment procedure — a process that started this year — before work can begin. Here’s hoping that’s a good sign.

* Block Club | Uber Wrongfully Charged Riders Downtown Congestion Fee For Months: New rules went into affect Jan. 6 that allowed rideshare companies to charge a $1.50 congestion surcharge for all rides to and from Downtown between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. seven days a week, with the revenue benefitting the city. But customers since then have noticed they’ve been charged the fee late-night and early-morning trips outside of those hours. After Block Club Chicago reached out to Uber about the discrepancy, the company is now promising refunds.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Tribune | Downtown alderman considering Cook County Board run against Preckwinkle: Reilly, 42nd, told the Tribune he would make a final decision in the coming weeks, but claimed he’d been approached to take on Preckwinkle — who is so far uncontested for her fifth term — in recent weeks. He made similar overtures for a Congressional run against Democratic Rep. Danny Davis in 2015 and has also explored mayoral runs in past cycles but has stayed put in City Hall.

* WGN | Records reveal Tiffany Henyard’s taxpayer-funded positions paid $347,000 last year: Newly obtained records show Henyard’s gross pay at her two government jobs totaled more than $347,000 last year. The payout includes a total of $282,812 from the township. That includes an annual salary of $202,950, in addition to allowances for a telephone, vehicle and $59,400 for “expenses.”

* Daily Herald | Iconic ‘castle’ in Fox River Grove cancels all events after village rescinds special-use permit: “The Village of Fox River Grove has informed us that our existing special use permit is no longer valid, as it was originally issued under our parents’ names. They are now requiring us to go through the full process of reapplying for a new special use permit in order to continue hosting tours and events at the Castle,” the statement read.

* Daily Southtown | Homewood cuts out No Mow May, encourages other options to help environment: A founder of the environmental organization South Suburbs for Greenspace, Varmecky said she’s not very happy with Homewood’s decision to not participate this year in No Mow May, something it promoted last year to support pollinator health. “They did not give people a ton of notice,” Varmecky said Wednesday. “If they had announced this last fall then people would have had time to do alternate methods.”

*** Downstate ***

* WGLT | McLean County’s family treatment court lays groundwork to replicate program across Illinois: “It’s kind of an arm or an offshoot of the abuse and neglect courtroom,” connecting the recovery support process with intensive courtroom supervision, said McLean County associate judge Brian Goldrick, who presides over the court’s Child Protection Division. All family court clients are involved in Goldrick’s courtroom. He was among four panelists discussing the family court during a public forum Tuesday at the Bloomington Public Library. Women to Women Giving Circle hosted the event.

* WCIA | Vermilion Co. officials say loss of UPS facility would be ‘devastating’ after closing date set: Last month, officials in Vermilion County urged UPS not to close the Tilton shipping center in a letter. The letter, signed by Senator Faraci and Representative Schweizer, asked UPS to work with them to keep the facility open. As it currently sits, the facility will close on June 10th. 50 workers got word this week that their final days on the job will be June 9th.

* WSIL | Rural expressway expansion project from Southern Illinois to St. Louis Metro area moves to next phase: The project’s coalition held a meeting today to explain the environmental engineering study that will start in June. Murphysboro Mayor Will Stephens says they are still far away from starting construction. “This is a billion-dollar project, and so we have $6 million to help further the study of the corridor,” Mayor Stephens says. “But we are much closer now than we were six years ago.”

*** National ***

* NJ | Many nursing homes feed residents on less than $10 a day: ‘That’s appallingly low.’: In Illinois, Danielle Combs is suing River Crossing of Edwardsville, a half-hour drive from St. Louis, claiming the facility failed to assist her father Guy Combs when it knew that he was unable, or ill-equipped, to feed himself after having a stroke and losing some use of his arms. Each day, someone dropped off a tray of food in his room. Unable to feed himself, he could do little more than stare at the plate they had left for him, said his daughter.