* Subscribers know more. ICYMI: Mayor Brandon Johnson’s Springfield wish list: Digital ad tax and other levies — but not the Bears’ bill. Tribune…

- Yesterday, the mayor said he plans to advocate for three main approaches to shore up more revenue for Chicago: reversing cuts to the Local Government Distributive Fund, creating a new digital advertising tax and granting the city home rule authority to pass levies.
- Johnson called on the Chicago delegation in Springfield to demand more, framing the fight as one of corporate interests versus progressive goals.
- “I don’t know why any Chicago legislator would vote for anything that doesn’t benefit the people that they represent and vote for right now,” Johnson said. “At a time in which property values are increasing and affordability is becoming that much more of a challenge, to do anything in favor of entities with means without supporting families who have needs, I would find that short-sighted.”

* Related stories…

• Politico: Johnson jabs lawmakers over Bears subsidies
• WGN: Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson visiting Springfield to lobby for city funding
• Center Square: Chicago mayor to push for local funding, keeping Bears

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Improving early childhood investments: It’s good for kids, good for working families, good for business.

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* Gov. JB Pritzker has no public events scheduled today.

* Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson will be at the capitol at 2:30 pm for a press conference.

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

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Sun-Times | Illinois State Police launches investigation into deadly ICE shooting of Silverio Villegas González: The ISP probe is the most high-profile independent inquiry that’s been announced in response to the monthslong immigration enforcement operation, during which federal agents also shot Marimar Martinez in Brighton Park and routinely used pummeling force and chemical irritants. […] On Tuesday, O’Neill Burke’s office said prosecutors were contacted by ISP and will play a “supportive role” in the investigation, following the office’s guidance for handling cases involving federal agents.

* Capitol News Illinois | Buckner pushes back on Chicago mayor’s characterization of Bears bill: “This is not like what we’ve seen either in 1989 or 2001 or, frankly, the proposal that we saw two years ago that the mayor supported that asked for Springfield to give $2.5 billion to the Bears,” Buckner added. “This is not that. So I agree with him that we can’t give a blank check to billionaires. That’s exactly why we don’t do it.”

* Tribune | Appeals court issues mixed opinion in consent decree case as more immigration arrestees released: The National Immigrant Justice Center, which represents the plaintiffs, said in a statement Tuesday that the ruling “essentially keeps us on the path we have been on since the appeals court allowed key parts of the district court’s ruling to stand last November.”

*** Statehouse News ***

* Chicago Defender | Illinois House Speaker Emanuel ‘Chris’ Welch named executive vice-chair of Cook County Democratic Party: Speaker Welch, who also serves as Committeeman for Proviso Township, has been a leading voice in advancing policies that promote equity, economic opportunity, and strong communities across Illinois. His appointment as Executive Vice-Chair (suburbs) reflects his longstanding commitment to Democratic values and his ability to unite leaders across Cook County. “I am honored to serve as Executive Vice-Chair of the Cook County Democratic Party,” said Speaker Welch. “Together, we will continue building a stronger, more inclusive party that fights for working families, protects our democratic institutions, and ensures that every voice is heard. I look forward to working alongside Chair Preckwinkle and our Democratic leaders to deliver real results for the people of Cook County.”

* GOP gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey claims he wouldn’t touch abortion protections in Illinois if elected…

Let’s settle this right now: I am not banning abortion. And I am not restricting it.

I’ve got two jobs as your next governor: put more money in your pocket and make sure you can walk down your street safely.

JB has failed at both. https://t.co/81AHw17oOm

— Darren Bailey (@DarrenBaileyIL) May 5, 2026

*** Chicago ***

* Tribune | Sweepstakes gambling machine ban approved by City Council committee: Though Beale, 9th, has previously called for the city to allow and regulate sweepstakes machines, prohibiting them outright could also benefit his move to more broadly legalize the video gambling industry in Chicago. He added Tuesday he believes the state, which does not recognize sweepstakes machines, would crack down on the city if it were to permit them. “We’re turning a blind eye on an industry that has taken advantage of the South and West Side under the guidelines that these are Black and brown businesses,” Beale said before the vote. “The city of Chicago hasn’t gotten one benefit from sweepstakes machines. Not one.”

* Sun-Times | Little Village sees ‘really slow’ Cinco de Mayo after parade is canceled for second straight year: Small business owners said the parade has always been vital to their sales, but along 26th Street there was hardly any foot traffic early Tuesday afternoon, after fewer customers than usual were seen in the days leading up to the holiday. For Francisca Alfaro Rodriguez, owner of Fran Arte y Estilo de Mexico, the parade used to draw customers into her store looking for traditional Mexican clothing. Instead, she said she barely sold anything during the holiday weekend.

* WTTW | Chicago Police Sergeant Charged in Federal Court With PPP Loan Fraud: A Chicago police sergeant is accused of obtaining more than $40,000 in COVID-19 relief loans for a fake bakery she claimed to own. Federal prosecutors in Chicago on Tuesday announced Brandi Wright, 44, now faces a charge of wire fraud after she allegedly engaged in Paycheck Protection Program fraud in 2021. Wright, whose online social media profile shows she has been with the CPD for two decades, faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted. Her arraignment has not yet been scheduled.

* Tribune | Pentagon watchdog to review cost and effectiveness of National Guard deployments to Chicago, other cities: In late January, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that deploying 375 Illinois National Guard troops cost $21 million to protect federal property and federal immigration enforcement personnel, a figure that didn’t include many other costs or the roughly 200 Texas National Guard members who were sent to Illinois for 41 days. The Illinois troops sat idle on a state-owned military base some 75 miles southwest of Chicago and never went on any missions, while a contingent of Texas troops was deployed into the Chicago suburbs for only one day. In early January, the Chicago Tribune estimated the overall cost of Operation Midway Blitz at $59 million, which included National Guard costs.

* Crain’s | Medinah Temple owner mulls landmark’s post-casino future: The marketing effort for one of the city’s most distinctive buildings is a test of demand for a downtown still getting its post-pandemic bearings. Amid uneven foot traffic in the urban core, the property’s next tenant will signal what types of users are betting on its future and the state of area’s post-COVID rebound. “People who are looking to make a statement — this is an ideal building to do that,” Friedman CEO and Chairman Albert Friedman, whose namesake firm owns roughly 5 million square feet of buildings across eight city blocks in River North. “It’s not a box that most retail looks like. It’s completely different.”

* Tribune | Chicago is a city made of its own brick: A new book says that was a stroke of luck: In his new non-fiction book “Fire and Clay: How Bricks Reveal the Hidden History of Chicago,” Will Quam writes that brick in Chicago is “such a ubiquitous material that it is quite easily forgotten or ignored, simple background noise to everything else.” And yet, ever since the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, brick has been a key driver in shaping the city’s look. “The new Chicago is being built mostly of itself,” is how the Tribune put it in the years immediately after the fire. “The skyline that rises above Michigan Avenue is simply a pleasingly modified form of clay like that deposited in the land a few hundred feet to the east.”

* Block Club | Piping Plover Couple Reunite At Montrose Beach With The Return Of Sea Rocket: Sea Rocket, a female bird who was released into the wild at Montrose Beach in 2023, was spotted by bird watchers along the North Side lakefront Tuesday, according to volunteer group Chicago Piping Plovers. Sea Rocket is the first female bird seen at the beach this season. Males Pippin and Imani returned to Montrose Beach last month, Block Club previously reported. Her return to Montrose Beach may signal the rekindling of the romantic pairing between Imani and Sea Rocket.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Oak Park Journal | West Suburban legal battle continues as Prasad disputes $10 million claim: The legal fallout from the abrupt March closure of West Suburban Medical Center continues this week, with the first Cook County court hearing on the matter set for Friday. Dueling lawsuits between the co-owners of Resilience Healthcare progressed this week as Resilience Healthcare CEO Manoj Prasad’s attorneys filed a motion disputing Resilience co-owner and hospital landlord Rathnaker Reddy Patlola’s recent claim that Prasad is to blame for $10 million in missing state funding and even more in unpaid rent and fees associated with the embattled Oak Park hospital. A hearing on the matter is set for the morning of Friday, May 8 in Downtown Chicago’s chancery court, with another hearing in the case already set for June 15.

* ABC Chicago | Cook County Public Health now offering home check-ins for new parents, their babies: These home visits are part of the Healthy Beginnings Maternal and Child Health Program from the Cook County Public Health Department. It started this year, in an effort to reduce maternal and infant mortality and promote healthier kids and families by supporting where moms where they feel most comfortable: at home.

* Crain’s | Evanston gets first $369K mini-homes built to counter high housing costs: “I’m done with the responsibility of having a big house,” said Barbara Bird, a longtime Evanston resident. In April, Bird sold her 1,900-square-foot house as a step toward moving into a 600-square-footer in Urban Eco on Grant, a higher-density development that developer David Wallach began pitching three years ago. Living for the meantime in an accessory dwelling unit behind her daughter’s house, Bird said ADUs and Wallach’s cluster of small homes show “Evanston is on the right path with housing, trying to make more options for people like me to stay.”

* Fox Chicago | Oak Forest Fire Department first in Illinois to use new heart monitoring technology: The Oak Forest Fire Department has become the first in the state to adopt new technology — the EXG wearable 12-lead system from C-Booth Innovations — which combines electrodes into a single device with one cord instead of 10. It is designed to reduce the margin of error while increasing efficiency and reliability in emergency responses. “All it takes is a difference in two centimeters and we can completely miss a heart attack, and time is tissue,” explained Lt. Matt Tinberg of the Oak Forest Fire Department. “It’s important for us to really be able to serve our citizens with the best technology.”

* Naperville Sun | Proposed Naperville D203 budget deficit down to $4M; 59 jobs won’t be filled: School board members were given an overview of the plan Monday night by Chief Financial Officer Michael Frances, who told them the district would not be filling the equivalent of seven administrative positions, 43 certified educator positions and nine educational support personnel left open through retirements and resignations. Other reductions include a 15% reduction in individual school site budgets, 25% reduction in district department spending, cuts to professional learning, conferences, travel, catering, staff appreciation gifts and employee events, and elimination of duplicative software platforms, Frances said.

* Daily Herald | Person of interest detained, but police officer’s gun lost at Arlington Heights school still missing: The subject — among a small group of individuals to whom police have narrowed their investigation — is cooperating with detectives, authorities said Tuesday evening. Classes will resume Wednesday at the Northwest Suburban High School District 214 alternative school, after school was canceled Tuesday “out of an abundance of caution” and so police could continue investigating, wrote Caiti Druger, the district’s director of specialized schools, in a letter to families.

*** Downstate ***

* WAND | Springfield mayor vetoes plan to create STAR bond district: Buscher said it overlaps with a proposed STAR bond district to expand the BOS Center and build a new hotel downtown. She added that the financing option needs to be used for this project. “The downtown does need something. It’s suffering, as the alderwoman pointed out, businesses keep closing. The city doesn’t have enough dollars in its coffers to bring downtown alive. This is a community project with the state, county, the SMIA board and the city. It is not creating any new taxing authority; the citizens of this community are not going to have a new tax for it,” Buscher said.

* WGLT | Central Illinois food pantries prepare for higher need due to new SNAP requirements: Adelman said there was an increase in people coming to the pantry during the November government shutdown, but has since dropped back to pre-shutdown levels. She said it remains to be seen how the expanded work requirements will impact need. “For anyone else who is younger and able-bodied, they expect that people are going to put in, I think it’s 20 hours of [weekly] community service or work, and I don’t know how. We don’t know exactly what to expect,” Adelman said.

* WSIL | Jackson County approves new ‘agrivoltaics’ solar project combining energy and agriculture: A key part of the project is its use of agrivoltaics, a method that combines solar energy production with agricultural practices on the same land. Instead of mowing around solar panels, sheep will graze the land to manage vegetation throughout the life of the project. “What the sheep will do is help us maintain the site and the vegetation underneath the panels for the life of the system… so instead of traditional mowing, we’re actually going to be having sheep on the site for our vegetation maintenance program,” she said.

* WCIA | Reproductive justice groups in Champaign Co. now working together under one roof: “Our work at The Collective embodies the beauty and power of the Reproductive Justice Framework, where the fight for justice in all its forms is inherently interwoven. Together, we are finding new ways to strengthen the network of care and make reproductive justice available to all in our community,” UCRJ Director Julie Laut said in a news release.

* WICS | After 71 years, Springfield club loses Illinois State Fair contract: Earning the contract all boils down to bidding the highest number. Illinois Director of Agriculture Jerry Costello told me the minimum bidding number is 15%. The state fair had three bidders this year, including ABC of Springfield and Nelson’s Catering. Costello said the contract was ultimately awarded to Nelson’s Catering. “ABC bid 15.0001%, and Nelson’s Catering bid 21%, so they outbid them by 40%,” Costello said. “Legally, under procurement code in the state of Illinois, we are required to go with the highest bidder.”

* WCIA | Rantoul to reimburse residents after property tax error: The Village of Rantoul took to social media Tuesday, saying the property tax rate posted on residents’ bills is higher than it should be by about 70 cents. Village Administrator Scott Eisenhauer said the difference amounts to about a $315 difference for the owner of a $150,000 home.