* Avoq Senior Vice President Jeff Philips…

There is a legislative proposal under consideration that would impose discriminatory energy-related mandates on manufacturers, data centers, quantum computing campuses, and other large electricity customers seeking to bring investment to Illinois.

I’m sharing two attached letters that were sent to Governor Pritzker and legislative letters in strong opposition to this proposal. The letters are (1) on behalf of the AFL-CIO, Illinois Manufacturers’ Association, Constellation Energy, and Climate Jobs Illinois, and (2) on behalf of economic development organizations throughout Illinois.

Click here and here to read the letters.

* Catching up with the congressionals…

Cook County Commissioner Kevin Morrison announced that his campaign for Congress has raised over $100,000 since launching last week. This reflects a surge of enthusiasm for Kevin Morrison’s campaign, with a broad coalition of leaders and grassroots donors stepping up as early supporters.

Kevin Morrison had this to say about the impressive early fundraising haul: “I’m excited to see that so many people have added their voice to this campaign by chipping in. Together, we’ve already raised over $100,000 towards our shared vision. We still have more to do, but I know that with the strength of this grassroots team, we can continue building our momentum and win this election.”

It’s clear that Illinoians want Kevin Morrison in Congress, and the surge of early donations sends the message that the campaign is building the momentum to win. A full list of leaders who have endorsed Kevin Morrison for Congress is available here.

Morrison is running in the 8th Congressional District.

*** Statewide ***

* Fox Chicago | Raja Krishnamoorthi gains backing from suburban, downstate mayors in Senate bid: The list of 20 municipal leaders includes mayors from Krishnamoorthi’s home base of Schaumburg, as well as West Peoria, near where he grew up. […] Also on the list of municipalities: Oak Brook, Naperville, Addison, Bedford Park, and Moline.

* WAND | Gov. Pritzker, IDOT award $139.2 million to enhance local transportation options statewide: 66 projects were approved through ITEP including bike and pedestrian paths and trails, streetscape beautification and other projects designed to encourage safe travel across various modes of transportation at the local level. During the competitive call for projects, Rebuild Illinois allocated an all-time high in funding, with approximately 74% directed towards improvements in communities demonstrating significant financial need.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Tribune | Responding to Crosetti Brand case, lawmakers pass bill emphasizing domestic violence training for Prisoner Review Board: The Democratic-led House passed the legislation Tuesday by a near party-line vote of 74-37 and it now heads to Gov. JB Pritzker, who a spokesperson said Wednesday intends to sign the bill into law. The bill passed in the Senate last month, with three moderate Democrats joining Republicans in voting against it: Patrick Joyce of Reddick, Meg Loughran Cappel of Shorewood and Suzy Glowiak Hilton of Western Springs. The bill’s passage came 14 months after authorities say Crosetti Brand broke into his ex-girlfriend’s apartment on Chicago’s North Side and attacked her before fatally stabbing her son, 11-year-old Jayden Perkins, when the boy tried to come to her rescue. The 39-year-old Brand is on trial for the attack and Jayden’s family has filed a lawsuit against the review board alleging negligence in the case.

* Chalkbeat Chicago | Illinois poised to end mandate that educator evaluations include student test scores: The House voted 92-21 to pass Senate Bill 28 on Tuesday. Most Illinois House Republicans voted against the measure, while a few others voted in favor with the majority of House Democrats. With the passage of Senate Bill 28, the state will allow school districts to decide whether or not students’ test scores evaluate teachers’ and school administrators’ performance in schools. The newly passed bill weakens the Performance Evaluation Reform Act, known as PERA, which was passed in 2010 and required schools to use student growth metrics to evaluate teachers, principals, and assistant principal evaluations.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Naperville Sun | Naperville councilman McBroom, DuPage GOP, Awake Illinois battle District 203 over transgender female athletes: Roughly two-thirds of the speakers voiced their support for the right of transgender students to compete in sports and criticizing those who would turn a child into a political pawn by spreading their image on social media

* Daily Herald | West Chicago mayor and city council continue feud over staffing authority: During his first meeting on May 5, Bovey declared that the employment contracts for City Administrator Michael Guttman, city attorney Patrick Bond and Police Chief Colin Fleury expired when he took office. Bovey then appointed Assistant City Administrator Tia Messino as the interim city administrator and Jeffrey Jacobson as the interim city attorney. In addition, he reinstated Fleury on an interim basis. However, West Chicago City Council members did not vote on the staffing changes. And members of the 14-member council argued that Bovey can’t hire and release employees without their support.

* Daily Southtown | Country Club Hills District 160 Board spent $25K on conferences last year; parents raise concerns over school conditions: Between January 2024 to 2025, the seven-member board and Superintendent Duane Meighan spent $25,209 on registrations, travel, lodging and meals for conferences in Washington, San Diego, Dallas, New Orleans, Las Vegas and downtown Chicago, records show. Over the course of the year, board members attended eight conferences including one each in January, April, September and October, and two each in February and November. Expenditure reports for all eight conferences show the district did not initially allocate any money for travel when the fiscal budget was approved. Later, the budget was amended to include $63,177 which the district spent about 40% of that with a remaining $37,967.94 left to spend.

*** Chicago ***

* WBEZ | What could cuts to SNAP mean for Chicago?: House Republicans are proposing an estimated $300 billion in cuts to SNAP spending and looking to states to fill the financial gaps. On top of that, they’re also looking to make working requirements for benefits steeper.

* Sun-Times | Ald. Silverstein calls for investigative hearing on Uber overcharges: Silverstein on Wednesday said she would launch investigative hearings through the Committee on License and Consumer Protection, which she chairs, to uncover how Uber overcharged customers and determine how to prevent it from happening again.

* Block Club Chicago | Will City Council Sign Off On ‘Snap Curfews,’ Allowing Cops To Make Up Curfews On The Spot?: The measure was approved by the council’s Committee on Public Safety by a 10-7 vote Tuesday and comes after a year of advocacy from Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd), who has pushed for curfew-related legislation to curb teen takeovers. The latest version of Hopkins’ ordinance gives Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling the power to declare curfews for public places expected to be affected by large, unpermitted teen gatherings. In recent years, some of these “teen trends” — organized meetups of teens in parks, beaches and other public areas — have led to violence, sparking concerns from residents.

* Zak Yudhishthu | Want more affordable housing? Start by ending parking mandates: First, parking requirements limit the amount of housing that can be built, even when the zoning technically allows for more units. At its core, parking creates a problem of geometry — cars simply take up a lot of space. For example, Serra recently worked on a project in Humboldt Park where the zoning would have allowed seven units by right. However, because the parcel could only fit five parking spaces, only five units of housing were built — unnecessarily limiting new housing supply.

* Tribune | The sweeping art survey ‘First Homosexuals’ returns to Chicago, and a changed world: Visitors to the 2022 iteration will recognize works by Gerda Wegener, married to transgender artist Lili Elbe, and Konstantin Somov, a gay Russian artist. Others are new to this expansion, like doodles by author Federico García Lorca, a sculpture by actress Sarah Bernhardt, and the only full-length portrait of Oscar Wilde painted in his lifetime. “The reception in 2022 was just incredible,” said Chirag Badlani, executive director of the Alphawood Foundation. “Essentially, the day we closed, we said, ‘Let’s start planning.’”

*** Downstate ***

* WGEM | Potential Adams County solar farm will not have to pay city taxes: A new solar farm project by Virginia-based company Summit Ridge Energy might soon be coming to the outskirts of Quincy. In terms of paying Quincy city taxes, Summit Ridge may not have to. “It would pay county taxes and other taxing bodies in the area, but it is not within the corporate city limits, so it is not going to be paying city property taxes,” Quincy Planning Director Jason Parrott explained.

* WCIA | Mahomet considering new, high-tech body cameras and additional license plate readers for police department: Jason Tompkins, village president, said the Village of Mahomet had a “great discussion” about the proposed license plate readers during the meeting. Now, the board will vote on them at their board meeting next Tuesday. Right now, 12 license plate readers are scattered throughout Mahomet. Michael Metzler, the police chief, said many are near I-74, Route 47, and 150. He knows they have helped catch people as they leave town, but hopes adding more and reversing them could catch others as they enter the area.

* The Telegraph | Wood River City Council approves grocery tax: After the meeting, Stalcup said the tax generates about $800,000 for the city. Losing that money would probably mean some layoffs for the city. “That’s very significant for us,” he said. “It goes into the general fund and pays salaries and benefits and everything else.”

* BND | ‘Off and out of sight’: Metro-east high school clamps down on cellphones: The new policy, which the district’s school board unanimously approved Monday, limits when and where high schoolers can use their phones. It requires students to have their cell phones off and put away during instructional time, including study hall, whereas the current policy allows students to use their phones in class for educational purposes with their teacher’s permission. Under the new policy, students also cannot use their phones during passing periods, another marked change from the current policy.

*** National ***

* Wired | ‘A Billion Streams and No Fans’: Inside a $10 Million AI Music Fraud Case: Then, last September, Smith turned up at the heart of another music streaming incident, this one rather epic. The FBI arrested him and charged him in the first AI streaming fraud case in the United States. The government claims that between 2017 and 2024, Smith made over $10 million in royalties by using bot armies to continuously play AI-generated tracks on streaming platforms. Smith pleaded not guilty to all charges. (Through his lawyer, Smith declined to be interviewed, so this is very much Hay’s side of the story, corroborated by numerous interviews with people who worked with the two men.)