* Capitol City Now…

If Gov. JB Pritzker’s daughter were a victim of sexual harassment, as former State Rep. Harry Benton has been accused of, “I would want to wring this person’s neck.” Pritzker Wednesday responded to a reporter’s question of what the governor would do if he were the victim’s father. The governor held a news conference following an economic development announcement in Chicago.

Pritzker said Speaker Emanual “Chris” Welch (D-Hillside) must be “utterly and completely transparent” about the investigation into Benton, as well as “to the extent that (Welch) made mistakes, to own up to those mistakes.”

Welch reportedly knew of the Benton allegations three years ago, but it was only this year that Benton suffered any sanctions, such as being expelled from the House Democratic caucus and being stripped of his committee assignments. What’s more, the former employee accusing Benton was an intern in the speaker’s office. Welch reportedly reacted to the woman’s social media post with smiling, starry-eyed emojis and also offered to discuss her future by inviting her to a bar.

Pritzker said he is “outraged” at the allegations against Benton, as well as the indictment of State Rep. Carol Ammons (D-Urbana), who is accused of using the state grant process to enrich herself and her family.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Capitol News Illinois | Pritzker says he doesn’t know details of deadly Jan. 4 shooting by Illinois State Police: “So, I have to admit that the details of the decision about that, I do not know. So, it’s very hard for me to have a reaction,” Pritzker said at an unrelated event in Chicago, though he later referred to the woman who was shot as a “victim.” He was specifically asked about the St. Clair County state’s attorney’s decision not to file charges against trooper Gary Blake Novack for shooting and killing Rachel Tarrence, a mother of three, during a traffic stop in East. St. Louis on Jan. 4.

* Press release | Gov. Pritzker Announces Zero Point Cryogenics Will Establish First U.S. Location at Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park: Governor JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) announced today that Zero Point Cryogenics (ZPC), a leading North American manufacturer of ultra-low-temperature cryogenic systems to support quantum technologies, will establish its first U.S. location at the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park (IQMP) on Chicago’s South Side. “Illinois is building the world’s leading quantum ecosystem by bringing together the companies, researchers, manufacturers, and suppliers needed to turn breakthrough discoveries into real-world technologies,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “Zero Point Cryogenics’ decision to establish its first U.S. location at the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park is another example of that strategy delivering results. Their investment strengthens the supply chain that supports quantum innovation, creates high-quality jobs, and reinforces Illinois’ position as the global capital of quantum technology.”

*** Chicago ***

* Tribune | Chicago school board race tops $1.9 million in fundraising: Candidates in Chicago’s historic school board races have collectively raised nearly $2 million, with fundraising surging in recent months — even before many political players have entered the fray. The top spenders in the 2024 race, including the Chicago Teachers Union and pro-school-choice groups such as the Illinois Network of Charter Schools and the Urban Center, have yet to make major contributions. Some board hopefuls are still fending off ballot challenges, meaning the final list of candidates is not yet finalized.

* Tribune | Chicago watchdog finds no big issues with $630 million City Hall spent on migrant crisis: An audit of Chicago’s migrant response found no major issues with how City Hall spent more than $630 million to house and feed the asylum seekers, according to a report released Wednesday by the Office of Inspector General. Spanning August 2022 to the end of 2024, the review saw the city’s top watchdog analyze receipts on public spending for the at least 46,282 migrants, mostly from Venezuela, who were bussed to Chicago by Republican-led states. That crisis ultimately cost $639,654,965, though most of the money did not come from the city budget.

* Block Club | Emmett Till’s 85th Birthday To Bring ‘Radical Joy’ At Closing Of Bronzeville Art Exhibition: The free celebration, which allows attendees to take in music, spoken word pieces and dancing as they view the exhibition for a final time, takes place 6-9 p.m. Saturday at the gallery, 4445 S. King Drive. “From Memory to Movement” has aimed throughout its run to “humanize Emmett beyond martyrdom and show him as a boy — a kid from Chicago with hopes and dreams that were tragically taken away,” said Thomas, who curated and created artworks for the exhibition.

* Crain’s | First Financial expands Chicago push with $208M deal for Peoples Bank: First Financial Bancorp is buying Munster-based Peoples Bank — founded more than a century ago in East Chicago by the current CEO’s great grandfather — in a $208 million stock deal as part of its aggressive expansion in the area. The deal is Cincinnati-based First Financial’s third foray into the Chicago area in the past two years. The transaction feeds into the overall consolidation trend sweeping the industry as banks seek to capitalize on advantages provided by scale such as investments in their technology and the ability to offer a full suite of financial products.

* Crain’s | MHub is planning a massive West Side campus bigger than The 78: If the deals are completed, they would secure early pieces of a campus mHub has dubbed “M+” in the heart of the Kinzie Industrial Corridor and a few blocks north of the United Center, whose owners recently kicked off the $7 billion 1901 Project on the arena’s surrounding parking lots. The creation of the M+ district — which would have a larger footprint than The 78 megaproject emerging in the South Loop — would mark a new chapter in the Near West Side’s long history as a hub of light industrial businesses and bolster an advanced manufacturing sector Gov. J.B. Pritzker has prioritized as a centerpiece of economic growth for the region.

* WGN | What’s Chicago’s next big idea? Check out the 6 finalists: As city leaders drew up the ambitious “Chicago 2050” plan for economic growth, Clement realized Chicago craved more than budgets and business projections. It also needed to look out on the horizon and see its dreams rising with the sun. “The idea that you control your dreams and aspirations, are part of the mix,” he said. “That’s what makes a great city.” “Horizon Lines” — an open competition to develop Chicago’s next big idea — was born. The competition attracted more than 200 entries. It is now down to six finalists.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Naperville Sun | DuPage board followed law when approving salary increases, state’s attorney says: DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin says county board members didn’t violate the state’s Open Meetings Act in April when they approved salary increases for several countywide elected positions. Jean Kaczmarek, the DuPage County clerk, has filed a request for the Illinois attorney general’s office to review the board’s April 28 vote, which set what the pay will be for the county clerk, treasurer, county board chair, sheriff after the November election.

*** Downstate ***

* BND | State approves new $231 million hospital to replace Touchette in Cahokia Heights: The new, 108-bed Touchette hospital is planned on 35 acres of farmland at 1928 Sandy Ridge Road, near Interstate 255 and Camp Jackson Road. Construction is expected to begin in March 2027. Earlier this year, Touchette President Brad Goacher said the move would improve hospital access to help fill a gap in the region’s mental health system. Roads to the current hospital can be blocked at times by water from persistent flooding or by trains from three railroad tracks that surround the existing hospital at 5900 Bond Ave. The building is also more than 65 years old and in need of upgrades, according to Goacher.

* Press release | Illinois-Led Team Selected for DOE Genesis Mission Award: A multidisciplinary team led by U. of I. chemical and biomolecular engineering professor Huimin Zhao has received a Phase I award through the U.S. Department of Energy’s Genesis Mission to develop the world’s first foundation models specifically designed for metabolic engineering. Metabolic engineering enables microorganisms to produce value-added products such as renewable chemicals, fuels and materials. However, identifying optimal biological designs requires navigating a vast number of possible genetic and metabolic combinations. Existing machine learning approaches are often developed for narrowly defined tasks and depend on limited datasets, making it difficult to apply them broadly.

* WGLT | Bloomington will launch emergency notification system CodeRED: The free, voluntary program is called CodeRED. It launches Monday. Residents can sign up now. Residents will be notified of events including, but not limited to, severe weather, water main breaks, public safety issues and more through timely communications. Notifications can be chosen between a phone call, text message or email.

*** National ***

* AP | OpenAI blamed a hacking event on its AI models going rogue. Here are some things to know: University of Amsterdam social scientist Hannes Cools said the framing of the cyberattack as an AI agent acting on its own is an unnecessary anthropomorphization that takes some of the heat off the company. “It is a human decision to switch off specific safeguards,” said Cools. “It’s not an AI that goes rogue in that sense. It followed specific instructions based on the prompt that was given to that AI system.”

* Sun-Times | Women suffer more severe neurologic symptoms from long COVID than men, researchers find: The research is based on evaluations of 2,329 patients who sought care at Northwestern’s COVID clinic from May 2020 through August 2025. Women reported experiencing more neurologic symptoms than men — about 16 months, on average, from when the symptoms first started, according to the journal article. Some of the most common neurologic symptoms include brain fog, numbness, dizziness, tinnitus (ringing or buzzing in the ear), blurred vision and muscle pain.

* WIRED | States Want ICE Agents to Show Their Faces. The Trump Administration Is Blocking Them: The Trump administration has sued at least five states and the city of Philadelphia over laws that supporters say would hold law enforcement—including Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers—accountable for misconduct on the job. The specifics of the laws vary, but the Trump administration takes particular issue with the fact that the laws would prohibit ICE officers from wearing masks during immigration raids, and require them to wear some sort of individual identifier.