* Crain’s…

Sen. Bill Cunningham, the Senate’s lead negotiator on the [megaproject/Bears bill], told Crain’s the Senate is reviewing the legislation and a list of requests from the Bears, but he doesn’t feel pressure to hurry what should be a “deliberative process.” […]

“We agree with the House’s effort to embed a property tax relief mechanism in the bill for residential property taxes,” Cunningham said. “The concern is, if that is done, you end up with a situation where the payment in lieu of taxes gets to a point where the (developer) feels that it is too costly to go ahead with the megaproject.”

But there’s no easy answer to keep property tax relief in the bill if the 50% set aside is taken out — and reaching a compromise is “exactly why we didn’t run a bill this week,” Cunningham said.

“Figuring that out is complicated, and it’s going to take a little bit of time,” he said.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Center Square | Independent tax tribunal faces elimination by Pritzker budget proposal: The chief judge of the Illinois Independent Tax Tribunal says it will be bad for taxpayers if his agency is eliminated on July 1, as proposed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker. The General Assembly created the independent tribunal in 2013, with the stated purposes of increasing fairness in the tax system and resolving disputes between taxpayers and the Illinois Department of Revenue. The tribunal’s jurisdiction is limited to certain Illinois statutes and it generally hears cases involving more than $15,000 of interest and penalties.

* Sun-Times | Gov. Pritzker pausing public duties after health procedure: Gov. JB Pritzker on Friday underwent a “routine outpatient urology procedure” and will be stepping back from public duties next week. Pritzker, 61, underwent the procedure on Friday morning and will fulfill his duties next week but pause public events while resting, the governor’s office said. “The Governor is grateful for well-wishes and looks forward to resuming public events soon,” spokesperson Matt Hill said.

* Center Square | Civic federation funds ‘persistent structural imbalance’ in Illinois: The Chicago-based government research organization examined how Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2027 advances the state’s goals for financial stability. The report said Illinois’ fiscal position is likely to weaken unless the state adopts policy changes to better align revenues and expenditures, support stronger economic growth and expand the tax base.

*** Chicago ***

* Tribune | Two officers face internal affairs probe over search of suspect before shooting of cops at Chicago hospital: Sources with knowledge of the investigation confirmed the subjects are two patrol officers assigned to the Albany Park (17th) District who took Talley into custody on April 25 after he allegedly robbed a dollar store. The officers are not the two who were shot. Paperwork on the matter was not immediately made public. Chicago police officials did not comment Friday.

* Tribune | United Airlines cuts summer O’Hare flights at behest of FAA: The FAA originally ordered flight cuts to start mid-May. But the feds subsequently pushed back the start date until June 2 “to give airlines additional time to adjust their schedules,” the agency said. The order will be in effect until late October. In a letter to employees Thursday, the airline’s vice president of O’Hare, Omar Idris, said the airline’s June schedule would include about 650 daily departures at the airport. The airline had planned to fly about 780 flights out of the airport per day this summer.

* WBEZ | When immigration agents arrested a Chicago mother, a stranger stepped in to care for her 3 kids: It was dark. The kids were pulling a wagon, loaded with clothes and a blanket. They were planning to sleep outside. The 17-year-old was pacing. “They were scared,” Conde says. Conde’s home, a Little Village apartment, had just two bedrooms. She decided it was big enough for all of them.

* WBEZ | Anne Frank exhibit at the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry opens the door to her secret annex: The full-scale recreation of the Frank family’s hideout during World War II in Amsterdam is the extraordinary centerpiece to the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry’s “Anne Frank The Exhibition,” opening Friday and running through early 2027. “It is meticulously recreated. It is what it was when they were in hiding,” explained Ronald Leopold, executive director of the actual hideout in Amsterdam, which has been preserved as a museum.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Herald | St. Charles asks lawmakers to cut them slack on lead pipe replacement mandate: With the city’s utility rates poised to spike dramatically in the coming years, St. Charles is turning to state and federal lawmakers to try to ease the burden on residents. The increased bills are to cover $417 million in sewer and water infrastructure upgrades, including $84 million to replace lead pipes over the next decade. However, city officials are frustrated with the unfunded state mandate. Taking aim at the unfunded lead pipe mandate, Mayor Clint Hull sought and received approval from the city council to send a formal letter to state and federal legislators.

* Daily Southtown | Tinley Park residents fear speeding cars on Ridgeland, protest Cook County speed limit plan: Several of those neighbors took their concerns to Tinley Park officials and Cook County government, which maintains the road. The county proposed lowering the speed limit by 5 mph, to 35 mph, and is set to approve the change on June 11, if it passes through a May 14 county committee. Neighbors argue the speed change is not enough and should be lowered more or paired with traffic calming measures. The county argues the road is a major collector roadway. A major collector means the road carries more traffic than a local street and is intended to funnel traffic from multiple streets to higher capacity roads such as state highways, according to Meaghan Johnson, Cook County public relations specialist.

* Daily Southtown | Technology allows Orland Park residents to receive mental health, housing resources: Care Solace looks to connect people with providers of housing and food as well as substance use and mental health resources, based on their specific needs, according to the organization. People can either find an array of mental health providers at caresolace.com/site/il-orlandpark or work with a staff member over the phone for more individualized support. The Orland Park Village Board first discussed the initiative in October and agreed to the village paying about $1 per resident per year for three years, or about $58,000 per year, for full access to Care Solace’s resources.

* Aurora Beacon News | Outreach events planned to explain new look of Kane County’s property tax bill: The new format is designed to increase transparency and accountability, according to a press release from the Treasurer’s Office, and there is an option to go paperless. A staff member from the office will be on site at each of the outreach events to make sure citizens are receiving their qualified property tax exemptions, the release said.

*** Downstate ***

* WMBD | ISU and union to return to bargaining table on Monday after nearly a month long strike: Union officials say the meeting is not yet confirmed and that they are willing to go back as long as the college is willing to negiotate. ISU spokesman Chris Coplan said the university contacted the mediator who had been working with the school and AFSCME Local 1110, reiterating its desire to come back to the table.

* WGLT | Central Illinois groups have a goal to make Bloomington-Normal a dementia-friendly community: The East Central Illinois Area Agency on Aging [ECIAAA] and the University of Illinois Extension are seeking feedback through a survey open to the entire community through June 15. Responses will be used to build a dementia-friendly community, one of ECIAAA’s top priorities. Dementia is a syndrome characterized by symptoms affecting memory, thinking and social abilities severely enough to interfere with daily functioning. “Once someone is diagnosed with dementia, people with dementia can live active, normal lives, especially in the early stages of dementia,” said Kathryn Johnson, community liaison at ECIAAA. “We also want to bring attention to family caregivers and bring support to them.”

* WCIA | United Airlines services from Willard to Chicago postponed to October: In a Facebook post, Fly Champaign-Urbana said there would be a date change for United Airlines flights heading from University of Illinois — Williard to Chicago O’Hare due to the Federal Aviation Administration’s order capping flights at the airport. As a result, the previously scheduled start date — June 1 — is now anticipated for Oct. 25 for this service.

* IPM News | ‘Engaging the community in learning has always been our mission’: Parkland College celebrates 60 years: The community college was established in 1966 and, in its first year, enrolled more than 1,300 students who attended classes in leased buildings across downtown Champaign. Today, the college serves about 9,600 students and offers more than 130 degree and certificate programs. Amy Penne, an English professor at Parkland College, said one of the defining features of community colleges, and Parkland in particular, is their ability to adapt.

*** National ***

* The Atlantic | Thanks to the rise of Claude Code and other AI agents, revenues are finally catching up to the hype: Today, however, we’re in a very different world. Software developers are adopting AI tools en masse and reporting astronomical productivity benefits. The worry that the country is building too many data centers now coexists with the fear that we won’t have enough of them to satisfy the public’s growing appetite for these products. And the company previously known as OpenAI’s junior competitor has become possibly the fastest-growing business in the history of capitalism. Anthropic’s revenue is increasing faster—much faster—than Zoom’s during the pandemic, Google’s during the early 2000s, and even Standard Oil’s during the Gilded Age. If the company’s current growth rate were to continue, then by early next year it would be taking in more money than any other company in the world.

* NYT | ‘The Most Bipartisan Issue Since Beer’: Opposition to Data Centers: That matches what is happening in Michigan, where citizens of all political stripes are filling once empty town meetings to voice their opposition. Republicans are strategizing with Democrats on Signal chats and Facebook pages. People are becoming experts at extracting government documents, gathering signatures and fund-raising to pay for lawyers. They are even writing songs for the cause.

* AP | Trump says he’ll place 25% tariff on autos from the EU, accusing it of not complying with trade deal: Trump said in a social media post that the EU “is not complying with our fully agreed to Trade Deal,” though he did not flesh out his objections in the post. Asked by reporters on Friday about the increase in import taxes as he departed the White House for Florida, Trump said the EU was not “as usual” adhering to last year’s trade framework, without detailing the source of the tension. He added that he believed the shift to higher tariffs “forces them to move their factory production much faster” to the U.S.