* Sun-Times…

A controversial Justice Department official who’s caught the attention of the “Broadview Six” had contact with Chicago U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros’ office and was involved in Operation Midway Blitz, sources told the Chicago Sun-Times.

It’s unclear what role Associate Deputy Attorney General Aakash Singh played in the Trump administration’s deportation campaign in the Chicago area last fall.

But defense attorneys for the “Broadview Six” are now seeking records that could tie Singh to that tainted case — if they exist. Charges were dropped last month against the Midway Blitz protesters following revelations of apparent prosecutorial misconduct.

The question about Singh’s involvement in the case comes after his name appeared prominently in a federal judge’s extremely rare decision in Tennessee last month to toss an indictment on selective or vindictive prosecution grounds. It came in the human smuggling case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was charged criminally after successfully challenging his removal from the United States to El Salvador. […]

A source said Singh is friendly but known for pushing an extreme hard line — an approach reflected in other media reports. He once urged federal prosecutors to “go big and go loud” to generate headlines while charging protesters, according to The New York Times.

* Crain’s…

The U.S. Department of Transportation in October ruled that small businesses can no longer use race or gender to show why they are disadvantaged under the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program, enacted by Congress in 1983. The Trump administration contends such preferences are discriminatory and violate the U.S. Constitution. […]

But less than half of the 2,530 business owners previously certified by the Illinois agencies that receive federal funds have sought to recertify under a new process that requires them to submit a personal narrative explaining their disadvantage without attributing the difficulty to race or gender. […]

Illinois is an outlier in pushing to maintain its DBE program, even in its scaled-down version, says attorney Holt. In the wake of Trump’s January 2025 order to wipe out diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, many government agencies shut their programs out of fear of being called out.

“They just folded without so much as a shot being fired,” Holt says.

Illinois agencies, on the other hand, encouraged contractors to recertify and even assisted them in the process. IDOT held three town hall events and a dozen workshops statewide. All firms in its directory were contacted by phone and mail, an IDOT spokesman says via email.

*** Statewide ***

* Daily Herald | The 400 Club: Meet Illinois’ most dedicated rare bird chasers: The Illinois official bird list totals 460 species. Of these, about 325 are “regular” in the state — generally found every year. Another 30 or so are rated “casual,” detected far less often. That leaves about 100 species on the all-time list that are either extinct or “accidental.” Often the accidentals are first-time records, like the Great Kiskadee in Channahon in 2020 and the Broad-tailed Hummingbird in Champaign in 2023.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Tribune | Despite multiple fatalities and a $56M jury verdict, state allows Dr. Ayoub Sayeg to keep operating: It also “will seek future legislative changes in order to eliminate barriers that contribute to extended timelines,” such as to allow certain civil judgments to serve as grounds for discipline without requiring full administrative proceedings, it said. In Illinois, confidentiality laws prohibit the department from disclosing complaints against physicians to the public until it files formal administrative charges or takes disciplinary action. Any prior action is public information, and consumers may look on the department’s website to see whether prior discipline and restrictions were imposed on a physician’s license.

* Tribune | Proposed Illinois law would shut down unlicensed intoxicating hemp shops: The bill marks a win for licensed cannabis businesses who say unregulated hemp shops are undercutting their sales while facing none of the same security restrictions, such as testing and labeling the content of their products. Cannabis operators lobbied for the sweeping legislation as a long overdue correction, and the most significant improvement to the industry since recreational cannabis sales were allowed in Illinois beginning in 2020. The state ban on intoxicating hemp would be similar to, but much broader than, a federal law that would ban hemp sales of more than 0.4 milligrams of total tetrahydrocannabinols, the chemical component that gets users high. Both measures are scheduled to take effect in November.

*** Chicago ***

* Sun-Times | Over 100 ex-federal prosecutors call out ‘failure of leadership’ by Chicago’s embattled U.S. attorney: “For decades, our former office earned a reputation for winning significant cases while playing by the rules,” the former prosecutors wrote Monday. “We hope that the next few months will provide an opportunity to begin an effort to restore this reputation. That, however, will require candor from U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros; the courage to stand above and apart from political fealty; and a willingness to address the failures that have occurred. “It will require action, not mere words.”

* Block Club | More Than A Year After Mayor Promised ShotSpotter Replacement, Alders Demand: ‘What’s Taking So Long?’: The Public Safety Committee held a hearing May 12 to discuss the ShotSpotter replacement process. Committee members asked Sharla Roberts, the city’s chief procurement officer, why the process was taking so long and who is involved in the request for proposals’ evaluation committee. Roberts provided very few answers, saying she couldn’t give out details because the procurement process is still active.

* Tribune | CPS engineer invents a device to lower lead levels in drinking fountains. But can it scale for a citywide crisis?: Auto-flushing devices are effective in turning water over in areas with water quality concerns, according to Kim Biggs, a public information officer with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. In 2016, Ramos installed his first Noah device at Von Steuben. Ramos said lead levels that had previously exceeded 20 parts per billion dropped to nondetectable levels after installation — and have remained that way for nearly a decade. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency limit is 15 parts per billion. […] Since then, Ramos has installed the system at Orr Academy High School and Belding Elementary School, suburban school districts in Elgin, Justice, Crete and Monee, and single-family residences.

* Chicago Mag | The Lost Years in Chicago Bar History: The saloon even had a bit of a reputation for itself prior to Heim’s takeover of the property: A week before Heim officially purchased 554 Sedgwick, the Chicago Tribune reported that the bar had violated a new Sunday closing law. Temperance-minded Chicagoans had tried to close saloons on Sundays before, but such flirtations had never gone well. An attempt in 1855 even sparked the city’s first riot — the Lager Beer Riot — and the 1872 effort was no more successful. The saloon at 554 Sedgwick was one of hundreds that disregarded the law. Naturally, Chicago election officials selected the saloon as a polling place the following year.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* ABC Chicago | Cyber attack closes Evanston Township High School: Typically, there would be hundreds of students on campus for what would’ve been the start of the second week of summer school, sports camp and other on campus activities, that parents rely so heavily on during summer break. Instead, it was all quiet Monday morning. “Our IT team discovered the disruption yesterday and immediately implemented our emergency response procedures, which include engaging external forensic cyber security experts, legal experts, and other experts to help us navigate the situation,” Reine Hanna, ETHS District 202 director of communications, said. Evanston police squad cars were seen on campus, but no sign of any other activity. The district is also working with the FBI as part of the investigation.

* Aurora Beacon-News | Several Pride Month events are coming to Aurora this weekend: This year’s Pride at the Plaza is going to be bigger than past years, according to Lopez. The event is set to feature drag performances and live music, vendors and a new arts and crafts activity area for children and their families, Lopez said. Later that night, Vibez on the River, 29 W. New York St. in downtown Aurora, is holding “Pride Vibez,” according to a post by the city’s advisory board on Facebook. From 10 p.m. to 1 a.m., those 21 years old and older can see live performances as part of a “larger-than-life celebration of excellence, identity and raw creative power in Aurora,” the post said.

*** Downstate ***

* BND | Lawsuits piling up against metro-east contractor that vanished from market: Customers and creditors have filed at least 22 lawsuits in Madison and St. Clair counties seeking more than $4.5 million in damages from a company that used to be the metro-east’s largest homebuilder. Lawsuits against C.A. Jones, Inc., formerly of Fairview Heights, also have been filed in other Illinois counties. Plaintiffs include banks foreclosing on construction and renovation mortgages, stores demanding payment for overdue supply bills and homeowners alleging shoddy or unfinished work.

* STLPR | Cahokia school district and teachers union reach tentative agreement: According to Roskos and Cahokia Federation of Teachers Local 1272 President Wendy Lochmann, the agreement increases the baseline salary on the union pay scale by 5%, which doesn’t mean everyone will receive a full 5% raise. It includes an additional $1,000 for employees’ medical insurance plans. It also includes clauses requiring teachers to produce lesson plans. The deal does not include language preventing administrators from raising salaries at greater rates than what is offered to union members or language dictating how teachers change positions internally.

* BND | Property-rights group cites Illinois ‘Garden Act’ in Millstadt garden dispute: “When the government threatens to take action to destroy, remove or confiscate someone’s private property, they have to have the opportunity to sort of present their side,” Marsh said. “She still is owed, as a matter of state constitutional and federal constitutional law, that process of being able to have a hearing before you come in and just destroy her property.” The letter also said the enforcement warning violated the Illinois Vegetable Garden Protection Act, also known as “the Garden Act,” which protects the right to cultivate vegetable gardens on private property.

* Daily Egyptian | FiddleRick and Cash Johnson: A ballad of two Carbondale lovebirds: “I convinced him to move up to Chicago,” Cash said. “So I picked him up and moved him in at the end of ‘95.” (Rick remembers him being the one convincing her to move to Chicago together, but that isn’t a hill he wanted to die on.) Finally, in 1999, Rick and Cash said “I do,” and have been married now for 27 years. But by 1999, they had grown tired of Chicago and decided to use their honeymoon as an opportunity to find a place to settle down. “I didn’t really know it, but we were always looking for a place like Carbondale,” Cash said. “Good university, a lot of culture and a lot of music.”

* WCIA | Emus are on the loose again in Vermilion County: According to officials with the sheriff’s department, the emus escaped from a farm on Winter Avenue after a gate was damaged by the floods. […] This isn’t the first time emus have been on the run in Vermilion County. In 2022, 11 emus escaped from their enclosure. While some of the birds were captured quickly, one emu was on the run for about two years. During her time on the run, the escaped emu made her way from I-74, Gifford, Homer and many places in between. “Lady emu” was eventually captured in 2024.

* WAND | Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Hulu series host to speak at Juneteenth event in Springfield: Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and Hulu series host Nikole Hannah-Jones is set to speak at a Juneteenth event in Springfield. The University of Illinois Springfield Center for Lincoln Studies, in partnership with Juneteenth Inc., the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum and the UIS Institute for Race, Gender, Sexuality and Social Justice, will host a conversation with Nikole Hannah-Jones, host and executive producer of the Hulu docuseries “The 1619 Project,” as part of its Juneteenth Lecture Series.

*** National ***

* Politico | Aaron Schock’s pursuit of a second chance — and a gold mine: “He’s going to fight to the death to get this oil deal, this gold deal,” said Papermaster, who served as an aide-de-camp during Schock’s year-long quest to redefine Venezuela policy. “And he’s gonna let everything else around him collapse.” […] Accusations of sloppy — or, in some cases, entirely absent — congressional and campaign accounting piled up. There was an $800 duty-free expenditure on “event supplies” at a Galeão International Airport shop during a 2014 trip to Rio de Janeiro, which his campaign described at the time as “gift shop items for fundraising and donors.” There was $1,600 that his congressional office paid to campaign consultants, and a dinner in New Delhi classified as a fundraising expense. The Associated Press linked him to dozens of flights on donors’ planes, unreported in-kind gifts totaling $40,000. Amid the scrutiny, Schock agreed to conduct a review of his office’s spending practices and eventually paid back some money he acknowledged having been unfairly reimbursed.

* 404 Media | This Company Will Add Phone, AirPod, and Smartwatch Trackers to License Plate Readers: SignalTrace “bridges license plate recognition data with sensor-captured device identifiers—such as those from mobile phones, Bluetooth wearables, and vehicle systems—to create a unique, trackable ‘electronic fingerprint’ for investigative use,” according to a product sheet describing the tool, written by surveillance company Leonardo, which advertises SignalTrace. The sort of data Leonardo says SignalTrace can sweep up includes the RFID tags in key cards and pet microchips; devices with Bluetooth such as wireless headphones, fitness trackers, and mobile phones; components of a car like tire pressure sensors and infotainment systems; and Wi-Fi sources such as vehicle hotspots and laptops, according to the product sheet.

* AP | What to know about the New World screwworm fly and its reappearance in the US: As of June 3, the parasite had sickened more than 171,700 animals and 2,070 people across Central America and Mexico, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There have been 10 human deaths, the CDC says. Starting in May 2025, Rollins closed border entries to livestock and on Thursday she credited that move with delaying the fly’s arrival in Texas by a year. […] The USDA has been dropping sterile flies in south Texas since February, when it opened a center for dispersing them in south Texas. It is now dropping them twice a week, for a total of 4 million flies, and it’s also putting 4 million more a week in the ground as pupae, flies in the stage between larvae and adult, said Rear Admiral Michael Schmoyer, a member of the USDA’s response team.