* NBC Chicago…

Viral social media posts have claimed Illinois could “soon” impose a mileage tax of 30 cents per mile driven, but is that actually looming for motorists?

The short answer to that question is no. The measure that included a per-mile tax stalled out in the General Assembly during the spring session, and was never brought up for a vote before the Senate’s transportation committee.

What’s more, the “30 cents per mile” claim is not found within the text of the legislation, with the actual number likely being significantly lower.

As I told you yesterday, this bill stalled during the session. It never moved out of committee. Yet the myth lives on. From Facebook…

And it didn’t come out of thin air. Forbes may have actually started this misinformation campaign. They’ve since updated their story to reflect reality. Click here to read an excerpt of the original version.

*** Statewide ***

* AJ Wilhelmi | Medicaid cuts in Senate bill threaten care, access and jobs in Illinois: For Illinois, the impact would be severe and far-reaching. The Commonwealth Fund estimates our state could lose at least $2 billion in Medicaid funding each year. Just one element of the proposal — a 10-percentage-point reduction in the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) — would alone cost Illinois more than $800 million annually. The American Hospital Association estimates that each $1 billion in Medicaid cuts over 10 years would cost Illinois $2 billion in lost economic activity and more than $71 million in lost tax revenue. Multiply that by the projected $2 billion in annual cuts over 10 years, and the consequences become even more alarming.

* Illinois Business Journal | Illinois Farm Bureau, Illinois Press Foundation award grants to 26 high school journalism programs: More than $35,000 total in grants will be distributed to the schools in the fall to pay for laptops, cameras, broadcasting equipment, newspaper printing costs, website hosting fees and more. The Illinois Press Foundation Board of Directors’ Education Committee approved the grant recipients.

*** Statehouse News ***

* WAND | Gluten free food handling proposal arrives on Pritzker’s desk, awaits signature: The legislation requires all hospitality workers to receive training about what celiac disease is and how to stop gluten contamination with gluten-free food. Sen. Sally Turner (R-Lincoln) said this is a great way for Illinois to support people with celiac disease. “It’s interesting when you go to a restaurant and some don’t have a menu for celiac disease,” Turner said. “Sometimes the servers don’t even know what it is, so I think this awareness is a really good thing so we can fully understand it, ourselves and also people working in the industries.”

* WAND | Bill requiring seat belts on school buses arrives on Pritzker’s desk: This bill could mandate that any school buses manufactured in Illinois have three-point seat belts starting in 2031. Sponsors said this change is solely about student safety, as lawmakers on both sides of the aisle want children to come and go from school safely.

* Center Square | IL legislator continues quest to eliminate property taxes for 30-year homeowners: Proposed by Anderson earlier this year, Senate Bill 1862 seeks to end property taxes for state residents who have lived in and paid on residential properties for at least three decades. “I think it’s just a fundamental idea that at some point you have to own your own stuff,” Anderson told The Center Square. “Right now, in America, and I don’t care what state it is, you can pay your house off, pay property taxes for 40, 50 years and then you fall on hard times, can’t pay your property taxes and now the government can take it. At some point, you have to own your stuff. It has to be yours and you don’t owe anybody anything.”

*** Chicago ***

* Tribune | Bucking policy trend, public access to video of CPD Officer Krystal Rivera’s fatal shooting is delayed: A judge has barred the release of video and other materials related to the investigation into the friendly fire shooting death of Chicago police Officer Krystal Rivera, a move that came after the Cook County state’s attorney’s office asked that the information be shielded from public records requests. Rivera, 36, a four-year veteran of the department, was mistakenly shot and killed by a fellow officer on June 5 after a confrontation with an armed suspect.

* Edward Keegan | Chicago Fire stadium plans cry out for a bit of quirkiness: As shown, the new stadium is simple, unimposing and not unattractive. The developers explain that Gensler has designed in the “‘Chicago School’ of architecture,” but it’s more of a generalized warehouse aesthetic that you might find at a contemporary shopping mall anywhere in America. It cries out for a bit of quirkiness that would make the structure more distinctive and genuinely grounded in Chicago’s unique architectural culture. An exposed steel canopy over the stadium’s seating will provide welcome shade during the summer and some protection from precipitation, but its most important function is helping to define the stadium’s interior as a more intimate space than a 22,000-seat venue might otherwise feel. It’s also where a more contemporary take on Miesian structural expression might create a more memorable building.

* Block Club | South Side Community Gardens Need Water Access From The City — But Getting It Is A Struggle: Gladly’s farm isn’t the only one that’s had to get creative while tending to crops. Dulce Margarita Morales, co-founder and lead educator at Cedillo’s Fresh Produce, runs a farm and a neighborhood garden in Englewood. The farm has water access, but the garden has been without it since 2020, she told Block Club. “Before that, we were able to utilize it. But then all of a sudden, somebody came Memorial Day weekend [that year] and left the hydrant open for three days. Then the city came and put a cap on it,” said Morales, who has worked with the garden for nine years.

* Sun-Times | White Sox, MLB ban spectator who taunted Diamondbacks’ Ketel Marte: “Baseball is family,” the Rate Field video board declared from left field as Arizona’s second baseman walked to the plate Wednesday afternoon. “The White Sox community supports Ketel Marte.” Sox fans backed up that sentiment with an ovation for the All-Star infielder, but it sure didn’t feel like it a night earlier for Marte, who broke down in tears Tuesday after a fan hurled an insult about his late mother. The unidentified 22-year-old spectator’s vitriol earned him an indefinite ban from all MLB ballparks — and it forced fans, players and coaches to once again reckon with the verbal abuse that all too often rains down from the stands at the old ballgame.

* Block Club | The Barrel That Launched A Sour Beer Movement Is Now At Chicago’s Off Color Brewing: Last month, Laffler received a surprise visit from a longtime friend and industry peer from St. Louis who brought with him a freshly emptied French oak barrel. It was stamped with three characters synonymous with the brewing method that has captured so much of Laffler’s imagination: pH1. First used as a wine barrel more than 30 years ago, pH1 has taken on an almost mythological aura in the craft brewing industry. It’s been described as “beer famous,” and the batches it produces, a fraction of most breweries’ typical yields, have led beer enthusiasts to scour message boards with faint hopes of finding a bottle available for trade.

* Sun-Times | Ferris Bueller vest sells for $279,400 at auction: A vest worn by Matthew Broderick as the titular character in the Chicago-based cult classic, “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” sold for $279,400 after it was auctioned off by Sotheby’s New York. The vest, worn by Ferris as he played hooky and frolicked through some of the city’s most iconic spots — including Wrigley Field and the Art Institute — was put up for auction June 5.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Tribune | Toni Preckwinkle picks new Cook County Forest Preserves boss: After a year and a half without a permanent leader, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle has nominated a new head for the county’s Forest Preserves. On Wednesday, she named Adam Bianchi as her pick to become the district’s new superintendent. Her choice will face a vote from the Forest Preserves board — which has the same members as the Cook County board — next week.

* Naperville Sun | DuPage to establish community land bank, trust to incentivize more affordable housing: “People that work in DuPage and contribute to our economic stability (being) able to afford to live and raise their families here seems like it should be a fundamental right, but it’s something that we’re struggling with,” DuPage County Board Chair Deb Conroy said. “We want to fix it.” The average median household income in DuPage County as of 2023 was $106,961, according to census data. Meanwhile, as of last month, the median sale price of a home in DuPage was $425,000, per data from Redfin, a national real estate brokerage.

* Daily Southtown | Air Force veteran’s Park Forest home gets thousands in repairs through Cook County program: Launched in 2023, the Veterans Home Repair Program tapped $1.25 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds. Along with Kellogg’s home, the county program repaired the homes of veterans in Chicago, Blue Island, Calumet City, Dolton, Homewood, Lansing, Matteson and Richton Park. Interior and exterior work was done on all of the homes, with costs ranging from $15,000 to $45,000, according to the county.

* Daily Southtown | Defeated Markham Park Board member appointed to Bremen District 228 Board: Bremen High School District 228 recently welcomed a new board member, filling an almost three-month vacancy after the previous member ran for a village board. School Board members chose Laurence Patterson II to fill the vacancy. Patterson, who was a Markham Park Board member from 2019 to 2023, when he lost a reelection bid, said he is excited for the opportunity to continue his long-term goal of “breaking down generational barriers” and helping local youth engage with their community.

*** Downstate ***

* WAND | Champaign considers changes to parking requirements to boost affordable housing development: The city is considering eliminating the minimum parking space rules for new apartments and houses. The council hopes that this ordinance change will encourage the development of more affordable housing options, such as duplexes and townhomes. A formal vote on the proposed change is expected in the coming weeks.

* IPM | Champaign County workers threaten to strike over stalled contract negotiations: More than 100 workers rallied Monday afternoon outside the Champaign County Courthouse in Urbana. The group, represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, claims administrators are not offering fair wages or affordable insurance. “In this economy, everybody’s losing ground,” said local AFSCME president Cece Phillips. “We deserve to not worry about how to put food on the table. We work for the freaking county.” Phillips said the county has offered a 2% raise — which she said isn’t enough, especially for employees earning $16 an hour.

* BND | Controversial solar farm at Belleville cemetery to bring less income than expected: The original lease would have required Belleville Solar LLC to pay an initial lump sum of $500,000 and annual rent payments of $69,375. An amended lease will reduce the lump sum to $250,000 and annual rent payments to $50,252 for the first 25 years and $55,311 for the last 10, according to Mayor Jenny Gain Meyer.

* WGLT | Carle expands transitional outpatient mental health program to Normal: Carle BroMenn Medical Center developed its intensive outpatient program [IOP] called “Journey” in Normal based on a similar initiative at Carle Health Methodist Hospital in Peoria. “Having an IOP option allows us to offer patients a way to more easily transition back to their daily lives before they found themselves in crisis,” said Heather Hintz, executive director of Carle Behavioral Health, in a statement. “They receive more intensive and frequent treatment while also having some level of independence and return to their daily routine.”

*** National ***

* The Guardian | Harvard hired a researcher to uncover its ties to slavery. He says the results cost him his job: ‘We found too many slaves’: The initiative received its first public blow last spring, when two university professors on the committee to create a memorial stepped down, saying in a letter obtained by the student newspaper that the university had attempted to “dilute and delay” their efforts to reach out to descendants. The committee was formed in 2023, based on one of the recommendations of the Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery report to “honor enslaved people through memorialization”. In a statement made to the student newspaper, a spokesperson for the university said it “take[s] seriously the co-chairs’ concerns about the importance of community involvement and of taking steps that will enable Harvard to deeply engage with descendant communities”.

* Reuters | Judge blocks feds from withholding EV charger funds: The U.S. Transportation Department in February suspended the EV charging program, which was part of former President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, and rescinded prior approval of states’ spending plans. Lin’s ruling did not apply to District of Columbia, Minnesota and Vermont, which also sued over the funding rescission but did not provide evidence that they would suffer immediate harm as a result of the Transportation Department decision.