* ICYMI: Pritzker threatens to veto any budget containing ‘broad-based’ tax increase. Capitol News Illinois…

- Gov. JB Pritzker said Wednesday he will not sign a budget that includes broad tax hikes to fund new spending as lawmakers are in the final hours of budget negotiations.
- Pritzker said he would specifically veto any budget that includes tax increases on individuals, corporations or the sales tax – the three largest sources of revenue in the state budget. Pritzker also ruled out a sales tax on services to provide new funding to the state.
- While Pritzker ruled out “broad-based” tax increases, it’s not clear whether he’d approve more targeted tax increases, particularly those that may not directly be paid by “working families.”

* Related stories…

∙ ABC Chicago: Governor Pritzker threatens to veto any budget containing ‘broad-based’ tax increase
∙ Tribune: Gov. JB Pritzker vows no ‘broad-based’ taxes to address budget hole

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

* Governor Pritzker will honor Illinois law enforcement officers at the Illinois Law Enforcement Medal of Honor Ceremony in Springfield at 1:00 am. Later, at 6:00 pm in Chicago, he will moderate a fireside chat with Senator Ron Wyden about the Senator’s new book. Click here to watch.

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* WAND | Former Gov. Jim Edgar honored at Illinois State Library: “It’s a privilege to honor the legacy of Governor Jim Edgar – an incredible statesman, advocate and friend – for his career of service to our state and its citizens,” Giannoulias said. “The Jim Edgar Reading Room enshrines the former Governor and Secretary of State’s legacy and indelible contributions to our state’s library, which continue to have a profound impact throughout our state.”

* Crain’s | AMA urged to move medical board exams out of states that target abortion, gender care: In testimony submitted to the Chicago-based AMA, the attorneys general, including Illinois’ Kwame Raoul, argued that mandating in-person board certification testing in states that have aggressively criminalized or penalized reproductive and gender-affirming health care “endangers providers and threatens access to essential care nationwide.”

*** Statewide ***

* Sun-Times | Illinois doctors sound alarm on dropping COVID-19 vaccine recommendation for kids, pregnant women: Dr. Corinne Kohler, a family practice physician and president-elect of the Illinois Academy of Family Physicians, noted that the vaccine is not only intended to prevent severe illness but also to stop spread of the virus. “One of the other impacts in not immunizing, especially children, is that they are such a vector for viral diseases,” Kohler said. “When they’re not immunized, and even if they have mild or asymptomatic illness, they are still spreading it, especially to our vulnerable populations.

*** Statehouse News ***

* WGN | Lawmakers, groups rally against Medicaid cuts as state budget deadline looms: Elsewhere at the Capitol, Black interest groups and business owners, still reeling from the lack of diversity in the state’s legal cannabis industry, want Pritzker and the Democratic majority to make good on their economic access promises. “Political leaders who are vying for national offices need to demonstrate effective and equitable leadership here in Illinois,” said Creola Hampton with the Black Leadership Advocacy Coalition for Healthcare Equity.

* Business groups concerned about a possible Digital Ads Tax sent a letter to State Senators. Click here to read it.

*** Chicago ***

* Sun-Times | Long-stalled Navy Pier marina opens: After more than a decade of political waves that nearly sunk a $16 million marina project, boaters will finally be able to dock at Navy Pier for as short as one hour or as long as two weeks. The privately funded marina with space for 150 vessels opened Wednesday thanks to the persistence of its founder and developer, Randy Podolsky. “For those of you who may not recognize me, it’s because I’ve aged quite a bit since this project started. … I had hair, and it was black in 2015 when this started,” Podolsky joked during Wednesday’s ceremony.

* Crain’s | Southwest Side health centers CEO resigns after 17 years: Esperanza, a Federally Qualified Health Center group, made the announcement today, saying Fulwiler served during “a transformative era for one of Chicago’s leading community health organizations.” Ryan Gadia, Esperanza’s chief financial officer since 2018, has been appointed interim CEO during the search process. The Esperanza board of directors has launched a national search for a permanent president and CEO, the organization said in a press release.

* WGN | Kinzinger talks Trump and his own future in Chicago speech: Kinzinger spoke with WGN ahead of a speech Wednesday evening in Chicago. Since leaving office, he has traveled the nation for his “Country First” political action committee, telling the story of being one of only two republicans to serve on the Jan. 6 Committee. Despite having a conservative voting record, Trump supporters branded him a “RINO,” which stands for “Republican In Name Only.”

* Sun-Times | Andy Austin, whose sketches brought Chicago’s biggest trials to the world outside the courtroom, has died at 89: Before Andy Austin became a top courtroom sketch artist in Chicago, she had to overcome an artistic crisis. She’d grown weary of fruit. Apples and oranges, to be exact. Ms. Austin was a stay-at-home mom who’d studied art before moving from Boston to Chicago for her husband’s job, and she was looking for more exciting subjects to sketch than the produce that sat on her dining-room table.

* WBEZ | ‘Matrix’ filmmaker Lilly Wachowski on making movies about trans identity and liberation: Bound will screen this weekend at Chicago’s Music Box Theatre’s Sapphopalooza film festival. Lilly Wachowski will attend the screening and participate in a postshow talkback. WBEZ spoke with Wachowski about why Bound still resonates with audiences 30 years later, what really inspired The Matrix and what it’s like for LGBTQ+ artists making films today amid an era of contraction in Hollywood.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Shaw Local | Mayor D’Arcy: Joliet having ‘renaissance’ as city rebrands itself as ‘a destination’: Before D’Arcy’s speech, Penn Entertaintment on Wednesday announced an Aug. 11 opening date for its new Hollywood Casino Joliet at Rock Run Collection, providing material that D’Arcy was able to use in describing the city’s advancement as a destination center. Downtown redevelopment includes the new city square that is expected to be completed by the end of this year. D’Arcy said the city also was focusing attention on the Louis Joliet Mall area, the city’s primary retail and restaurant district that could be supplanted by the Rock Run Collection project.

* Aurora Beacon-News | Will White appointed to vacant Aurora City Council alderman at-large seat: One of the two alderman at-large seats on the Aurora City Council was left vacant when John Laesch, who used to hold the position, was elected to be the city’s next mayor earlier this year. White, who is a 6th Ward resident, was appointed to the vacant seat by Laesch and approved by the City Council at its meeting Tuesday. “I’m very humble and blessed,” White told The Beacon-News on Wednesday. “I look to learn from those who are already alderpeople, and I’d like to see how I can best lend my services to the cause of moving Aurora forward.”

* Daily Herald | Schaumburg prohibits drones within 100 feet of village-owned property: The village’s decision follows a similar rule imposed by the Schaumburg Park District, Schaumburg Police Chief Bill Wolf said. The new regulations won’t prevent overhead photography, officials said. “It’s a safety thing, more than anything else,” Wolf explained.

* Naperville Sun | Police make firearm-related arrest No. 11 at Naperville Topgolf lot since early February: Officers were conducting a proactive patrol outside the 3211 Odyssey Court business when the odor of cannabis drew their attention to a specific area of the facility’s lot, Naperville police Cmdr. Rick Krakow said. Looking inside a parked, unoccupied vehicle, they observed several open alcohol containers and a handgun in plain view beneath the driver’s seat, Krakow said.

*** Downstate ***

* WCIA | ‘They have to go somewhere’; Danville officials trying to regulate public camping, mitigate homelessness: Yates said the ordinance is meant to tackle a complex issue of balancing property owner’s rights and the struggles homeless people face. On the other hand, Dwelling Place Day Center — that provides weekly services to the homeless — said the ordinance isn’t a comprehensive plan since it doesn’t offer an alternative of where people can go if they’re not allowed to camp out in parks or public spaces.

* SJ-R | ‘I did it for my mom.’ Sonya Massey’s son reflects on relationship with his mom before graduation: After Sonya Massey’s killing, Sontae Massey pulled his cousin aside. “I said, ‘It’s not fair that you have to become a man right now, but you’ve got to,’” he told Hill-Massey. “He looked at me, and he said, ‘I understand.’

* WGLT | ‘Realizing rights can be taken away’: Women organize first NOW chapter in Bloomington-Normal: Lindsey Delahunt is the president of Normal NOW, which officially launched this month with the group’s first member meeting. “NOW is a grassroots feminist group dedicated to advocacy, education and building a strong local network,” Delahunt said. “We hold monthly meetings, we’re going to participate in community events, and we organize around issues that matter — from reproductive justice to equal pay and LGBTQ rights.”

* WGLT | ‘An assault upon the promise of America’: NEA cancels literary grants affecting Normal-based Obsidian: A form letter obtained by WGLT said the NEA is “updating its grant making policy priorities to focus funding on projects that reflect the nation’s rich artistic heritage and creativity as prioritized by the President.” Obsidian received support from the NEA for the past six consecutive years. Harris said they were counting on $25,000 awarded by the NEA earlier this year to pay contributors and editors for their upcoming edition, and cover production costs for the digital and print journal. A second $40,000 grant applied to Obsidian’s 50th anniversary journal, was nearly complete when it, too, was canceled.

*** National ***

* CBS | Court strikes down most of Trump’s tariffs, ruling them illegal: The ruling — issued by a panel of judges on the U.S. Court of International Trade — halted the sweeping 10% tariffs Mr. Trump assessed on virtually every U.S. trading partner on “Liberation Day” last month, with higher tariffs threatened for dozens of countries. The court also blocked a separate set of tariffs imposed on China, Mexico and Canada by the Trump administration, which has cited drug trafficking and illegal immigration as its reasoning for the hikes.

* Barron’s | Federal Reserve Staff See Increased Recession Risk in Wake of Tariffs, Minutes Show: Federal Reserve staff now view a recession as “almost as likely” as their baseline forecast, according to minutes from the central bank’s May meeting, released Wednesday, highlighting the challenges current trade policy poses for the bank.

* WaPo | HHS cancels funding for Moderna to develop vaccines to combat bird flu: Under President Joe Biden, HHS had announced its intent last summer to award $176 million and then a subsequent $590 million in January to Moderna amid an outbreak of bird flu in dairy cattle. The virus has infected 70 people since last year, and federal health officials had previously described the effort as critical to strengthening the country’s pandemic preparedness. […] On Wednesday, Moderna announced that it had received positive interim data about immune response and safety from an early-stage clinical trial of roughly 300 healthy adults ages 18 and older. The move by HHS throws the future of the effort into uncertainty, and the company said it will explore alternatives for late-stage development and manufacturing of the vaccine.

* Mother Jones | Utah Study on Trans Youth Care Extremely Inconvenient for Politicians Who Ordered It: The consensus of the evidence supports that the treatments are effective in terms of mental health, psychosocial outcomes, and the induction of body changes consistent with the affirmed gender in pediatric [gender dysphoria] patients. The evidence also supports that the treatments are safe in terms of changes to bone density, cardiovascular risk factors, metabolic changes, and cancer…