* ICYMI: Mautino ready to “come back home” after 30+ years in Springfield. Starved Rock…

- After spending more than half of his life involved with state government in Springfield, Frank Mautino is ready to spend more time back home in the Starved Rock area.
- Mautino says when his 10-year term ends at the end of this year, that’s it for him. Mautino says one term has always been the plan, saying “realistically you don’t want a 74-year-old auditor general.” He will stay on until the Illinois Audit Commission picks a replacement.
- Prior to being Auditor General, Mautino served 12 terms in the Illinois House of Representatives, on top of finishing out his late father’s term in Springfield.

* BlueRoomStream.com’s coverage of today’s press conferences and committee hearings can be found here.

* The governor will be at the Illinois State Library at 11 am to deliver remarks at the 40th Annual Police Officers’ Memorial Ceremony. Click here to watch.

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* WBEZ | Chicago hasn’t seen an April with fewer murders since 1962: The city’s 115 murders through this year’s first four months mark the lowest January-through-April tally since 2014. Even if the city’s violence intensifies during summer, as it traditionally does, Chicago appears on pace to hit Mayor Brandon Johnson’s goal for 2025 to have fewer than 500 murders, making it the quietest year in a decade.

* Crain’s | With Trump cuts looming, Johnson hits Springfield to plead for cash: The visit comes roughly a month before state legislators will vote on a budget, and Johnson defended himself against criticism his demands are coming in too late to be accommodated. Back in Chicago, the mayor’s budget team has been briefing members of the City Council on the need for more revenue from the state, the city’s first-quarter revenue, and how the budget will be affected as President Donald Trump cuts federal spending and dramatically downsizes federal programs.

* STLPR | More states are moving to scrap sales tax at the grocery store: In Kansas and Oklahoma, shoppers stopped having to pay a state sales tax on groceries in January and August, respectively. Now fewer and fewer U.S. states continue to charge the tax, including Missouri and South Dakota, and several states have proposed legislation to do away with it. Some worry about the lost state revenue without the taxes. But supporters on both sides of the political spectrum say the cuts are needed – especially as shoppers face expensive prices at the grocery store.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Capitol News Illinois | Stratton’s top priority in Senate campaign: Fighting back against Trump: “What people want, and need, is a stable leader in D.C.,” Stratton said. “Right now, with Donald Trump, we don’t have that. We don’t have someone who is focused on global issues overall and the impact.” Blocking Trump’s agenda must be the first priority, Stratton said, to allow congressional Democrats to move forward on proposals that address voters’ concerns. She said she didn’t know yet what her first bill would be should she win the seat.

* Capitol News Illinois | With 1 month left in session, lawmakers near deal on public transit reform: Villivalam, who chairs the Senate Transportation Committee, said he and his colleagues are “continuing discussions” about the bill. “As we head into the remaining weeks of our spring legislative session, I look forward to working toward a solution that provides safe, reliable, accessible, and integrated public transit to the northeastern Illinois region,” Villivalam said in a statement.

* Illinois Times | Illinois Republicans need diversity of views, a bigger tent: In previous conversations with political experts like UIS emeritus professor Kent Redfield and Illinois Republicans like former leader Don Tracy, there is a consensus that the gerrymandered legislative district lines within the state heavily contribute to the uneven distribution of political power. However, in the case of politics, power begets power. When an incumbent is in control, it makes it easier to remain in power, according to Redfield. “If I were Democrat, I would never agree to [independent map drawing] unless it’s on a national basis,” said Tracy. “What the Democrats have done to us in Illinois, we Republicans are doing to Democrats in other states where we have control. I’ve heard the Democrats make that argument, calling it unilateral disarmament, and I’m sympathetic to that.”

*** Statewide ***

* Sun-Times | Trump AmeriCorps cuts include grant terminations for $12 million in Illinois programs: Illinois nonprofits, government agencies and other organizations have seen $12 million in AmeriCorps grants terminated amid the Trump administration’s dismantling of the venerated federal agency for volunteer service. That includes grants administered to the Greater Chicago Food Depository, the Boys and Girls Club of Chicago and the Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana, whose AmeriCorps members were told by the federal government on Monday to stop all grant activities and to stop reporting for service, according to a state of Illinois email obtained by the Sun-Times.

*** Chicago ***

* ABC Chicago | Thousands expected to march, rally in downtown Chicago: Tens of thousands are expected to hit the streets for a May Day rally commemorating workers’ rights, but organizers say issues like immigration, education and healthcare will also be issues at the core of the message demonstrators want to send home. […] Leaders said the march will be part of hundreds taking place nationally, bringing people together impacted by the Trump Administration.

* Crain’s | Civic heavyweights push CPD to rethink community policing strategy: Several civic groups are offering the Chicago Police Department some lessons on how to implement community policing: a key part of the six-year-old federal consent decree that requires the city to reform some of the ways it fights crime. The groups hired a consulting firm, which interviewed 17 police departments nationwide about their approaches to community policing, as Superintendent Larry Snelling prepares to finalize CPD’s community policing strategy. It is among four reports CPD released today on feedback about community policing. The keys to success include making community policing the department’s core strategy, rather than a tactic; having a strong commitment from the top; and providing resources to the rank and file to make it a reality.

* Sun-Times | Snap curfew proposal on hold after objections at marathon City Council hearing: Hopkins blinked after his powerful co-sponsors — Budget Chair Jason Ervin (28th) and Finance Chair Pat Dowell (3rd) — asked for more time to iron out the legal kinks. “I want to make sure that what we’re doing is constitutionally sound — and I believe that it is,” Ervin said. “This is much better than where we started. Might there be some smaller thing that can be done? Maybe.”

* Sun-Times | Lincoln Square road closure offers glimpse of car-free streets: ‘A nice little breather’: “[The closure has] actually increased our business,” said Sean Herron, general manager of Gearhead Outfitters, 4724 N. Lincoln Ave., which has placed a sales rack full of merchandise on the sidewalk since the road closed. “From a personal perspective, living here in Lincoln Square, I think it’s a fabulous idea and I love seeing people out here,” Herron said. “But from a business side, we’ve got to do more studies.”

* Tribune | American Airlines to launch service to 7 new destinations from O’Hare next winter: American Airlines will begin flying to seven new destinations from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport later this year, many of them warm-weather tourism spots. Nonstop service to Curacao; St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands; St. Maarten; Guatemala City, Guatemala; and San José, Costa Rica, will launch in November and December. The Guatemala City flight will operate year-round, while the others will be seasonal winter flights.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Herald | Two measles cases confirmed in Cook County: One case was discovered in a suburban Cook County resident who went to a local hospital for medical care on April 28, according to a joint press release from the Cook County, Chicago and Illinois Departments of Public Health. The individual was isolated after being evaluated, and their vaccination status is unknown. The other case was found in an adult Chicago resident who first noticed a rash on April 25 and has been isolated at home since being diagnosed. This individual had one prior dose of MMR vaccine.

* Evanston Now | New council heavy with homeowners: Although U.S. Census survey data indicates 43% percent of Evanston households are renters, the 10 policymakers for the city — the nine council members and mayor — include eight homeowners and only two renters, Ald. Krissie Harris (2nd) and Ald. Bobby Burns (5th). That’s down from three renters on the last council, with the departure of Ald. Devon Reid (8th).

* Daily Herald | ‘This is totally different’: Itasca hotel offers rappelling experience: On Wednesday, Trujillo was among the first to experience the new “Altitude Zone” at the Westin Chicago Northwest. Launched in partnership with Meet Chicago Northwest and Over The Edge, Altitude Zone allows participants to rappel down the 12-story hotel with panoramic views of nearby lakes, neighborhoods and planes landing at O’Hare International Airport.

*** Downstate ***

* WGLT | Trump’s AmeriCorps cuts kill legal help program at McLean County’s courthouse: Illinois JusticeCorps placed fellows and other helpers at courthouses in 17 locations around Illinois, including the Law and Justice Center in Bloomington for the past 12 years. JusticeCorps members helped self-represented litigants find and fill out the right forms and get procedural guidance. Divorce and family cases were about half of the work, one JusticeCorps official said. That all ended this week. Illinois JusticeCorps was shut down Monday after losing its federal funding, as part of the Trump administration’s broader unraveling of AmeriCorps. The agency canceled almost $400 million in grants on Friday. Illinois and other states have sued to stop it.

* Sun-Times | Former Jan. 6 defendant found guilty of reckless homicide – not first-degree murder – over fatal 2022 crash: That jury found Shane Jason Woods, a man once convicted for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 U.S. Capitol riot, guilty of reckless homicide for driving his GMC Sierra the wrong way onto Interstate 55 near Lake Springfield on Nov. 8, 2022, killing Lauren Wegner of Skokie. But the jury rejected a more serious charge of first-degree murder, as Woods’ defense attorneys had urged them to do.

* WCIA | Impact Life supports Chatham with blood donations after hospitals ask for extra help: After the tragedy, two hospitals they supply asked for some extra units — 30 bags of “O” positive and “O” negative blood, 13 plasma and three platelets,. “So grateful for the volunteer donors that come in to help provide those blood products in advance of an emergency,” Account Manager Sara Palacio said. “And we invite everyone to find a time at a mobile blood drive or donor center where they can give.”

*** National ***

* Axios | Trump on possible toy shortage: “Maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30″: His comments came amid growing concern that that the 2025 holiday shopping season will be significantly disrupted. Toy Association CEO Greg Ahearn told the New York Times this week that the industry is facing “a frozen supply chain that is putting Christmas at risk.”

* WaPo | RFK Jr. will require shift in how new vaccines are tested, HHS says: All new vaccines will undergo safety testing in placebo-controlled trials prior to licensure — a radical departure from past practices,” an HHS spokesperson told The Washington Post in response to questions about Kennedy’s comments on the measles vaccines and general vaccine policy. Vaccines for new pathogens are often tested this way. But for well-researched diseases, such as measles and polio, public health experts say it makes little sense to do that and can be unethical, because the placebo group would not receive a known effective intervention.

* Daily Herald | Ready or not, REAL ID enforcement begins next week at airports: It’s not a drill — the federal government will begin enforcing REAL ID at airports on May 7, U.S. Transportation Security Administration officials reminded travelers Wednesday. But there is some wiggle room, authorities noted during a briefing at O’Hare International Airport. Adults will be required to show REAL ID driver’s licenses or cards to board a domestic flight, although certain alternates like passports also are acceptable. The rule also applies to some federal buildings.