* Subscribers were briefed this morning. Tribune…

In the final days of the spring session, lawmakers are working on a legislative package aimed at addressing the state’s growing energy needs and rising costs without derailing the ambitious goals championed by Gov. JB Pritzker to make the state carbon-free by midcentury.

“What we’re trying to do is find ways to ensure those capacity spikes don’t continue for years into the future, and there’s really only two ways of doing that, and that’s by either decreasing demand for electricity or increasing supply,” said state Sen. Bill Cunningham, a Chicago Democrat who’s leading energy legislation efforts in the Senate. “I think that’s really the underlying impetus for energy bills this session.” […]

The legislative draft also would create an ambitious new goal for large-scale energy storage through large batteries that would absorb excess wind and solar power for later use, along with goals to deliver clean, low-cost energy, while also promoting several efficiency measures supporting virtual power plants.

Cunningham said that if the larger legislative package does not come together, proposals within the measure could still be pushed as individual bills.

* Chalkbeat…

Illinois lawmakers have passed a bill that will help school districts expand dual language programs, in which students are taught in English and another language throughout the school day.

House Bill 3026 passed the Democratic-controlled Senate along party lines with a 43-12 vote on Thursday. The proposal now heads to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office for final approval.

The bill requires the Illinois State Board of Education to create guidance for school districts interested in establishing new dual language programs or expanding existing programs. The guidance must be completed by Dec. 15, 2026 and would be required to cover topics such as curriculum, instruction, assessment and accountability, and professional development for staff.

* Tribune…

This past Memorial Day weekend saw an overall decrease in gun violence compared to last year, according to Chicago police data.

According to preliminary data from 6 p.m. on Friday to Monday at 11:59 p.m., there were 21 shooting incidents over the holiday weekend, with 24 victims involved. Police also said that there were three homicides over the weekend.

Tribune reporting from last year said there were at least 31 shooting incidents during Memorial Day weekend of 2024.

Gun violence citywide has also decreased in recent years. As of last week, Chicago police said that the city has seen a 22% decline in fatal shootings and a 32% decline in shootings compared with 2024.

*** Statewide ***

* Farm Week | County fair season begins across Illinois: While some fairgoers may be counting down the days until they can enjoy a corn dog and a lemonade shake-up, the Greene County Fair and the Martinsville Ag Fair are set to launch the county fair season this week. “It’s promotion of agriculture. It’s bringing people in that are not familiar with agriculture to see what people in agriculture do,” said Greene County Fair Board Secretary Mark Walker about county fairs.

*** Downstate ***

* Muddy River News | DCFS report: Denman Elementary physical education teachers gave ‘birthday spankings’, taped students mouths shut: While the investigation revealed no lasting physical marks from these actions, it was determined that such behavior was “wildly inappropriate, but not criminal” since there were no sexual connotations. Multiple parents with students at Denman, as well as Denman teachers, verified the incidents with Muddy River News. They said their children had begged them not bring treats or attempt to have their respective classes recognize their birthdays at school for fear of getting the “birthday spankings.” The names of the students, families and teachers asked for their names to be withheld for fear of repercussions from within the Quincy School District.

* SJ-R | Here’s why a Springfield attorney was suspended for 2 years: The Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission, which operates under the state’s Supreme Court, last week ruled on the case of Salena Rachelle Young after a complaint was submitted in 2024. Young “knowingly” submitted timesheets to the Illinois Attorney General’s office showing she worked full days while she also worked part-time as a Sangamon County assistant public defender and operated a solo law practice.

* WJBD | Unemployment drops across South Central Illinois: The Illinois Department of Employment Security reported unemployment dropped nine-tenths of a percent in April to 3.5-percent. That’s nine-tenths of a percent lower than in March and a full percent lower than a year ago. The data translates into 560 on the unemployment rolls in Marion County, down 150 from March. The county’s work force also grew 190 people to 16,204.

* BND | Millstadt-area resident finds black bear in her yard. What to do if you see one: The bear stuck around Seavey’s home, and she spotted him again the morning of May 20, curled up in a ball underneath one of the trees in her backyard. He then got up, stretched, yawned and walked down her driveway headed across her front yard. “I was like, ‘Oh, you have got to be kidding me,’” Seavey said.

* WSIL | Thrillville Thrillbillies season opener begins today: First pitch is set at 7 p.m. at Mountain Dew Park. Officials say the first 1,000 fans will receive a magnet schedule. New for this season is the “All You Can Eat Seat”. Thrillbillies officials say every seat is an all-you-can-eat seat. As a way to encourage more fan turnout, the $20 tickets could feed a family of four for $80.

*** Chicago ***

* Crain’s | How the South Works quantum transformation is unfolding: If the Silicon Valley-based company is successful, it will help turn what has so far been a lab experiment into the next big thing in technology. By using a radically different approach to computing, quantum technology could result in unbreakable cybersecurity, new treatments for disease or creation of composite materials in a fraction of the time, and modeling of weather patterns more accurately and over longer periods than what is possible now. It’s a moonshot with no guarantee of success, one that nonetheless has proven irresistible to startups, big tech companies and academic researchers.

* Crain’s | Across from proposed quantum campus, residents weigh risks and expectations: hey’re asking: Will the project bring jobs? Will gentrification displace us? And top of almost everyone’s mind: What are the possible health and environmental effects of extensive construction on a site they suspect is still contaminated with toxic chemicals and heavy metals? Anne Holcomb owns a multi-unit South Shore building. She gets calls “from real estate speculators at least once a week. She tells them, “You don’t want to buy over here until the whole thing is built, because during construction, everyone over here will be poisoned by breathing toxic construction dust from that brownfield. I’m sure you wouldn’t want that liability.”

* WTTW | 3 People Killed, 24 Shot Across Chicago Over Memorial Day Weekend, Well Below Other Recent Years: Police: According to Chicago Police Department figures, 24 people were shot in 21 separate shootings between 6 p.m. Friday and midnight Monday. That marks a steep decline from the same weekend in 2024, when at least 41 people were shot, nine fatally. In 2023, more than 50 people were shot over the Memorial Day weekend, including 11 who were killed. The previous year, 47 people were shot, nine fatally.

* Tribune | After years on the front lines of violence prevention, Englewood group faces layoffs as DOJ shifts priorities: His team of workers does round-the-clock work to tackle the root causes of community violence, leading peer-to-peer support and group therapy sessions. They help kids apply for college and jobs, and host programming for kids. They are often the first to crime scenes, even before police. In late April, due to the end of a federal grant that supported many of those efforts, Perkins had to lay off five of the outreach staff at his violence intervention nonprofit, Think Outside Da Block. His organization isn’t the only one that received cuts, and he said there will be half the number of people this summer out in the community mediating conflicts.

* WBEZ | 16 new Chicago speed cameras to start ticketing drivers just days from now: The new cameras, mostly placed on the North Side, are about to finish a 30-day warning period and a two-week blackout period so notices could be delivered. […] One of the new cameras at 4716 N. Ashland Ave. is painted black, and has a smaller profile than older, gray speed cameras drivers are familiar with. The camera, attached to a light pole across from Chase Park, has been flashing in recent weeks as drivers sped past.

* Crain’s | Advocate Trinity’s South Works investment aims to address health equity: When completed, at a budget of about $300 million, the new hospital will have state-of-the-art technology and an emergency department designed to address the urgent needs of its patients, but with far fewer in-patient beds than the current structure. The present 205-bed facility is being replaced by a 53-bed hospital, as Advocate says its current patient volume is about 72 in-patients per day and new sites of care are meant to absorb lower-acuity patients.

* Block Club | Meet Chicago Public Schools’ Only Competitive Bass Fishing Team: Taft hosted the Skokie Lagoons tournament for the first time since starting its bass fishing team in 2009. It is still the only Chicago public school with such a team, and the Norwood Park High School team’s roster has grown from four members to 15. “A lot of the kids who are on this team are very squirrelly, but they calm down when they fish,” said Scott Plencner, a Taft history teacher who coaches the team. “It gives them something to focus on; it’s kind of meditative.”

* Block Club | As Pet Surrenders Surge, Chicago’s Overcrowded Animal Shelter Sounds The Alarm: Chicago Animal Care and Control has taken in an average of 56 pets per day so far in May at its Pilsen shelter, said Armando Tejeda, the agency’s public information officer. That’s up significantly since 2013-2017, when the shelter took in an average of 34 animals per day, Tejeda said. “We’re doing the best we can as far as managing transfers and adoption, but just to be on this track and trying to sustain this intake volume, it’s increasingly hard,” Tejeda said.

* Chicago Mag | Requiem for the Montrose Beavers: “No animal has been more important to the natural and social history of this region than the beaver,” Joel Greenberg wrote in his 2002 book, A Natural History of the Chicago Region. Indeed, these engineers of the animal kingdom transformed the land, building dams that created ponds and wetlands. And their dense, water-repelling fur was highly desired by humans, who turned those pelts into fancy hats. But trapping — and destruction of wetland habitats — decimated the species. By the time Chicago became a town in 1833, the wood-chomping rodents were getting scarce here, and by the end of the 19th century they were entirely gone.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Aurora Beacon-News | New Aurora Mayor John Laesch chooses his leadership team at City Hall: Soon after taking office, Laesch hired three new people from his transition team to work in the Mayor’s Office and recently appointed four others, with approval from the Aurora City Council, to other upper city management positions. Shannon Cameron, who led Laesch’s transition team, was hired to be his chief of staff — a position that seems to functionally replace the chief management officer position formerly held by Alex Alexandrou. The job of the chief of staff position, Laesch told The Beacon-News, will be to run the city when he is not around, even though he plans to be hands-on with city staff. The goal is to have him and Cameron be “interchangeable,” he said.

* Tribune | New Homer Township leadership pledges to reduce highway commissioner salary, review civic center costs: It’s been about three months since the Homer Township Reset slate won the February Republican primary, ousting the incumbent administration, and the group is ready to get to work, Homer Township Supervisor Susanna Steilen said. Because the Reset party ran unopposed in the April 1 election and state law states most township officials assume their duties the third Monday of May, it’s been a long wait, Steilen said. The Reset slate, which also includes Highway Commissioner John Robinson, Clerk Tami O’Brien, Collector Sara Palermo and Trustees Ken Marcin, Chris Sievers, Don Melody and Keith Gray, were sworn in May 19.

* Naperville Sun | Naperville-based Alive Center for Teens to start franchising: The nonprofit is ready to start franchising, the center has announced. With locations in Naperville, Aurora and Hanover Park, the organization has launched a social franchise model and is hoping to “significantly expand its proven teen support system statewide,” the release said. “That’s really the message we’re (giving) out, that we’re here,” said Kandice Henning, CEO of The Alive Center. “That we have a solution that is proven and works and we are willing to share it. We really want to help more kids and impact more kids in a positive way. (We want to) help more families and more communities ultimately.”

* Daily Southtown | Tinley Park, Park District pair up after spat on Fourth of July fireworks: There has been friction between the village and Park District over control of the former Tinley Park Mental Health Center, which the Park District bought from the state last year for $1 and has plans to redevelop for recreational uses. The village had also sought to acquire the 280-acre property, northwest of Harlem Avenue and 183rd Street, with plans to develop it for property and sale tax generating entertainment uses.

*** National ***

* NYT | Trump Allies Look to Benefit From Pro Bono Promises by Elite Law Firms: Earlier this year, the Trump administration agreed to spare Skadden and eight other large law firms from executive orders that could have crippled their businesses in exchange for commitments from those firms to collectively provide nearly $1 billion in pro bono legal work and represent clients from all political points of view. Now individuals and organizations allied with Mr. Trump are starting to request that the firms make good on the free legal work they committed to perform, according to 11 people briefed on the outreach, including some who requested anonymity to discuss internal law firm business.

* WIRED | There’s a Very Simple Pattern to Elon Musk’s Broken Promises: WIRED examined the history of Musk’s pledges on everything from Full Self Driving, Hyperloop, Robotaxis, and, yes, robot armies, with a view to reminding ourselves, his fans, and investors how reality in Elon’s world rarely matches up to the rhetoric. Tellingly, Musk’s fallback forecast of “next year” turns up repeatedly, only to be consistently proven wrong.

* NYT | The C.D.C. Now Says Healthy Kids Don’t Need Covid Shots. Is That True?: It’s true that for many children, a case of Covid will be inconsequential. They might have a runny nose, a cough or other mild symptoms, if any at all, and bounce back within a few days. But some children do become seriously ill and, in rare cases, die from their infections. And data shows that over one million U.S. children have developed long Covid.