* House Speaker Chris Welch tamps down the hyperbole about bills that passed committee which are unfavorable to Chicago’s mayor…

On efforts by some Democrats to rein in Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, Welch offered a reminder of the math: it takes 60 votes from his caucus to get a bill on the floor. “A strong Chicago makes for a strong Illinois,” he said. In other words, Don’t assume proposals to block Chicago’s push for a business “head tax” or to halt the phaseout of tipped wages are going anywhere fast.

From Rich: These bills are most likely a combination of member management and a warning shot.

* Crain’s…

Gov. JB Pritzker’s office says President Trump is again punishing his enemies, this time with a “sham” probe by federal health officials over the legality of state laws requiring health plans to cover abortions.

The question of whether 13 states’ abortion coverage laws violate the Weldon Amendment, a federal “conscience clause,” is the latest effort by the Trump administration to limit the power of states like Illinois to provide or protect abortion care services. […]

Last month, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights said it was investigating 13 states for “coercing health care entities to provide coverage of, or pay for, abortion contrary to conscience.” […]

“The Trump administration continues to punish states the president does not like and this is a sham investigation carried out by people with no regard for the rule of law or the well-being of the American people,” Pritzker’s office said in a statement to Crain’s. “The Office of Civil Rights used to investigate instances of serious civil rights violations, but that is clearly no longer a priority. Illinois will continue to follow the law while protecting reproductive health care and freedom for our citizens.”

*** Statehouse News ***

* Capitol News Illinois | Waymo begins testing in Chicago as bill seeks to legalize autonomous vehicles: Rep. Kam Buckner, D-Chicago, said AV legislation has a long road ahead to address constituent concerns over safety, insurance and job losses for rideshare and cab drivers. In January, he introduced the Autonomous Vehicle Pilot Project Act, which would open counties in Illinois with over 1 million residents, as well as the counties of Sangamon, Madison, St. Clair, and Monroe, to automated commercial vehicles. But the bill has since been held up in the Rules Committee, an early step in the process that means it’s far from passage, especially in the current legislative session. Other bills supporting the industry also have yet to get the necessary support.

* Crain’s | Pritzker calls for Trump’s removal as Iran tensions escalate: Gov. JB Pritzker, widely considered to be sizing up a run for the presidency, this morning called on President Donald Trump’s cabinet to remove him via the 25th Amendment. In a social media post pointing to Trump’s recent threats to Iran, the governor wrote, “This is not foreign policy, it’s a deranged mad man threatening to wipe out an entire country.”

*** Chicago ***

* Tribune | Activists threaten lawsuit over Chicago Housing Authority CEO vote: “There was not adequate or proper notification to the public about what they were doing. We believe this was done intentionally and deceptively,” Roderick Wilson, executive director of the Lugenia Burns Hope Center, said at a news conference outside CHA’s downtown headquarters. “Our goal is to rescind this vote. CHA has an opportunity now to do this before we do.” Brewer, who has publicly opposed Burnett’s candidacy, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Johnson’s allegations. Last week, Brewer said the agency would move on from its CEO drama, with or without the mayor — whom he previously accused of favoring political “cronies” over the interests of public housing residents.

* Tribune | Downtown office buildings emptied out by the pandemic are being scooped up and refurbished with new amenities: The new building owners watched downtown property values collapse over the past six years, and they’re buying office complexes at a fraction of the prices they sold for in the past. That’s allowing them to offer lower rents and frills that previous owners couldn’t afford. “That’s the formula that seems to be working,” said California-based developer Andrew Brog, who bought his first Chicago office building in 2024. “Provide deals that are lower than the marketplace, improve the building and improve the tenant experience. Many of these distressed buildings have been zombies for a long time.”

* Block Club | The Chicago Sky Trade Angel Reese — And Fans Are Furious: The timing of the move is also curious because Chicago is set to host the WNBA All-Star game on July 25 at the United Center, only the second time the city has done so. “We can’t wait to build on the success of the previous All-Star game and celebrate the explosive growth of the league by showcasing the WNBA’s biggest stars on a world-class stage,” Sky CEO and President Adam Fox said in a statement when the game was announced. But now, if Reese is there, she will be representing another team.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* WTTW | No Evidence of White House Influence in ‘Broadview Six’ Charges, Court Finds: U.S. District Judge April Perry on Tuesday found much of the defense motion to be moot after federal prosecutors said they found no evidence of outside communications coming from the White House or Trump officials pushing for them to file charges specifically against the defendants in this case. Perry also rejected accusations by the remaining four defendants — Kat Abughazaleh, Michael Rabbitt, Andre Martin and Brian Straw — of a selective prosecution based on their status as political candidates or public officials.

* Daily Southtown | Will County Board member Jacqueline Traynere given court supervision in email case: Will County Board member Jacqueline Traynere, of Bolingbrook, was sentenced Tuesday to three months of court supervision and ordered to pay $514 in court fees after she was found guilty last month of two misdemeanor counts of computer tampering. Traynere, the former Democratic Leader, was accused of logging into the email account of then-County Board Chair Judy Ogalla, a Republican, in 2024.

* Evanston Now | Alders split on sweepstakes machines : City Council members on Evanston’s Human Services Committee were on different pages Monday night about how to regulate already-existing sweepstakes machines — whether they should even be allowed in the city. In a referral from Ald. Bobby Burns (5th) submitted last June, alders were being asked Monday to provide city staff feedback about what they feel regulation, taxation or a ban could look like, with at least two alders, Shawn Iles (3rd) and Krissie Harris (2nd), signaling they’d support an outright ban.

* Daily Herald | ‘It starts with volunteers’: Making lakes healthier comes from teamwork and knowledge: “A healthy lake is enjoyable to view, free of odor, supports recreation and healthy, diverse aquatic life,” says Becky Sawle, co-chair of the group that has experienced a jump in interest after a successful pilot program last year. Often the culprit is high phosphorous that leads to summer algae blooms that can make a lake look like pea soup and use oxygen fish need to breathe.

* Daily Herald | ‘Can’t have this happening again’: Arlington Heights mayor fines seven businesses for underage alcohol sales: Arlington Heights Mayor Jim Tinaglia on Monday levied fines ranging from $500 up to $5,000 — and the possibility of a license suspension — on seven businesses cited for selling alcohol to minors. Tinaglia, elected a little more than a year ago, presided over his first liquor license violation hearing as the local liquor commissioner Monday afternoon at village hall.

*** Downstate ***

* Illinois Answers | Mentally ill man restrained in chair for 3 days settles case in Williamson County: A man with mental illness who says he was strapped down to a chair for three days at Williamson County Jail reached a settlement in his civil rights case against the county. Jail staff restrained Travis Braden, 39, to a chair in 2022 after he expressed suicidal ideation and swallowed a piece of metal. He filed a complaint against the county months later, represented himself from prison and settled in January for $27,500. “To me, it wasn’t enough,” Braden said. “… And the sad part of it is, there’s no accountability behind it.”

* WGLT | Normal Police plans drones as first responders in pilot project: “The type of drone that we’re looking at, it would only require one drone at this given time, and I kind of look at it as a pilot,” Police Chief Steve Petrilli said in an interview on WGLT’s Sound Ideas. “We’ve seen it play out in other jurisdictions, other municipalities, even here within Illinois. It seems to be a value add.” Petrilli said the department will start using the drone this summer and will wait to see the return on investment before seeking out another drone.

* WTVO | Belvidere School Board to vote on fate of Perry Elementary on Thursday: On the agenda is a formal action titled “Potential Closure of Perry Elementary School,” which contains a transition plan outlining how families would be reassigned if the school is closed. […] In September 2024, the board voted to keep the school open, but officials now say the timing of major building renovations has forced renewed discussion about whether that investment makes financial sense.

*** National ***

* Reuters | IEA chief: current oil and gas crisis worse than 1973, 1979, 2022 together: The current oil and ‌gas crisis triggered by the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is “more serious than the ones in 1973, 1979 and 2022 together”, Fatih Birol, the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA), told ⁠Le Figaro newspaper. “The world has never experienced a disruption to energy supply of such magnitude,” he said in an interview with the French newspaper released in its Tuesday edition.

* The Wrap | McClatchy Journalists Revolt Against AI: ‘It’s a Betrayal’ : More than 30 staffers in the paper’s union sent a letter to Bee management on March 27 stating they would withhold their bylines from stories created by their parent company McClatchy’s “content scaling agent,” a generative AI product that produces new pieces using the reporters’ existing work.

* STAT News | A star scientist showed that better genetics lessons could reduce racism. It was the death knell for his career: “What I really wanted was to take a sledgehammer to prejudice,” Donovan said. “I was naive enough to think that we could teach genetics and actually make a real dent in this problem.” He spoke to STAT from his home in rural Colorado, where for the last year he has been trying to process the abrupt end — not just of his career as a scientist, but of a personal crusade he embarked on two decades ago to help kids become fluent in the facts of human DNA. And in the process, to maybe, finally, find a way to inoculate future generations of Americans against the kinds of genetic misinformation that has been fueling white supremacist belief systems for centuries.