* ICYMI: Speaker Welch told lawmakers he backed Harry Benton’s reelection to prevent loss of union support. Tribune…

- Speaker Chris Welch, his leadership embattled over his handling of former state Rep. Benton’s conduct, told members of the House Democratic Women’s Caucus in a virtual meeting last month of his concerns that the former Plainfield lawmaker, a union ironworker, had been bashing the speaker to labor, a powerful and wealthy Democratic ally, sources who attended the meeting told the Tribune.
- But some Democrats close to labor privately scoffed at Welch’s explanation, saying Benton had little power to influence organized labor or its massive fundraising apparatus.
- The Tribune has contacted Welch’s office repeatedly in the weeks since the investigation was published, seeking an interview or information about when the speaker would be publicly available to take questions. […] But that didn’t stop him from taping interviews on Wednesday with various Chicago television newscasts from his downtown Chicago state office while ignoring follow-up requests from the Tribune.

I’ll have a full roundup of Speaker Welch’s media tour later this morning.

* At 3 pm, Gov. JB Pritzker will announce the second round of Regional Site Readiness awards. Click here to watch.

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* WTTW | State Lawmakers Talk Political Will for CPS Funding, Evidence-Based Funding Formula: [Rep. Will Davis ] said the political will to direct funding only toward CPS isn’t there. “I don’t know specifically if there’s the political will to address just the CPS problem,” Davis said. “My position has been that we need to look at using the education funding formula that we have to not only address funding needs for CPS but also funding needs for school districts throughout the state.”

* Tribune | Disability advocates march on Gov. JB Pritzker’s office demanding more alternatives to nursing homes: Members of the Humanize Long Term Care campaign say they’ve been trying to secure a meeting with Pritzker since April, even hand-delivering letters to both his Chicago and Springfield offices. Representatives from Pritzker’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment Wednesday afternoon. The campaign is demanding a statewide “Freedom Fund,” which would designate $40 million for housing assistance for individuals transitioning into community housing from long-term care facilities. The program would be funded by an increase in the state real estate transfer tax.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Center Square | Calls increasing for heavier IDOC oversight: State Sen. Rachel Ventura, D-Joliet, is one of many state lawmakers calling for an audit and stronger oversight of the prison’s conditions and IDOC. Pritzker wouldn’t address the incidents directly Tuesday – instead deferring to IDOC and ongoing investigations. He defended his administration and associated state agencies’ oversight. “We audit that, I mean, literally every day or, you know, at least once a year and, of course, where we have internal auditors who are auditing the way that the correction system operates,” Pritzker said.

* Sun-Times | Pritzker asks oil CEOs to return Iran war windfall profits to Illinois consumers: ‘You owe it to the people’: “Under the guise of supply disruptions from war in the Middle East, your companies are collecting windfall profits from the hardworking families and businesses in Illinois,” Pritzker writes in the letter to the CEOs of Shell, Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp., Continental Resources Inc., bp America, ConocoPhillips and Occidental Petroleum Corp. “That’s the very definition of profiteering, and you owe it to the people of my state and the nation to disgorge those excess profits and provide meaningful price relief to consumers.”

* WICS | Fundraiser Continues Amid Federal Charges: We asked the Ammons how the indictments could affect support for this year’s fundraiser and what they would say to people who may be hesitant to donate or attend. “To those considering whether to attend or support the event, we would simply say that our record of public service speaks for itself,” the couple said in a statement. “We believe our work and our commitment to the community are what should ultimately guide voters’ decisions.”

* Tribune | State police report: Man who jumped fence into JB Pritzker’s backyard didn’t know it was governor’s home: State police late last week released 102 pages of heavily redacted records in response to an open-records request from the Tribune. The records largely back up what Pritzker has said publicly about the incident, which the main opponent in his bid for a third term this November, former Republican state lawmaker Darren Bailey, has used to criticize the governor’s record on criminal justice and to solicit campaign contributions. […] “Milton reiterated multiple times that he did not know anything about the residence or who lived there,” the report says, adding that Milton said he had jumped the fence to evade police and never tried to enter Pritzker’s home.

*** Chicago ***

* ABC Chicago | CPD leaders to testify about traffic stops-turned-searches strategy, origins outside of Chicago: A decade later, CPD’s traffic stop strategy has been challenged in court as unconstitutional, and hundreds of thousands of city records behind the strategy, including that June 2016 email, are at the crux of an expanding lawsuit challenging the legality of the police tactic. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has asked a federal judge to ban the practice altogether, and in a major ruling recently handed down, all minority drivers stopped and searched by CPD will be part of the lawsuit.

* Block Club | Operator Of COVID-19 Testing Labs Pleads Guilty For Role In $900 Million Fraud Scheme: Mohamed “Siraj” Sirajudeen operated O’Hare Clinical Lab Services — a COVID-19 testing company with locations across the country during the height of the pandemic — and owned its management company, Chicago Polyclinic. O’Hare Clinical Lab Services was inundated with complaints during the pandemic, as customers told Block Club at the time they never got their test results or saw reporting of their results delayed by weeks. […] In his plea deal, Sirajudeen admitted to paying Anosh Ahmed, a former CFO and COO at the Loretto Hospital, more than $147 million to various Ahmed-owned companies from June 2021 through September 2021 as a means of securing more COVID-19 specimens to test and make billing claims to the federal government.

* Hyde Park Herald | $30 million, 42-unit affordable housing project proposed for Washington Park: A South Side developer wants to build a $30 million affordable apartment building in Washington Park, a project that would rely on nearly $15 million in tax increment financing (TIF), renewing debate over how the neighborhood’s TIF dollars should be spent. Torrey Barrett, a local pastor, developer and founder of KLEO Community Family Life Center, presented plans for Cleo’s Corner Apartments during a community meeting last Tuesday at the KLEO Center, 119 E. Garfield Blvd., the same address where the new building would go.

* Chicago Reader | Chicago’s alleys are a little world: Chicago alley exchanges have a unique set of rules, whether the past owner tossed out a message in a Buy Nothing Facebook group or left it up to fate. Don’t put your items out in the rain, be wary of certain fabrics, and, most importantly, “you’ve got to give to the alley, too,” says Stacy Gerard, an Albany Park resident. “It’s almost like karma, like I feel about parking,” says Gerard. “You’re not gonna find a good parking spot unless you move your car every once in a while and offer yours up.”

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* NYT | ICE Threatens Sheriffs With Prosecution Over Access to Inmates: The warnings have been conveyed in a series of letters that federal agents began hand-delivering in early July to Sheriff Dawanna Witt of Hennepin County, Minn., which includes Minneapolis, and Sheriff Tom Dart of Cook County, Ill., which includes Chicago. Both are Democrats. The letters assert that failing to hand over inmates being sought by immigration agents could lead each elected official to be charged in federal court with witness tampering, a felony. The New York Times reviewed the letters. Legal experts say it would be difficult if not impossible for federal prosecutors to charge the sheriffs with witness tampering, let alone prove the elements of that offense. But the threats are part of the Trump administration’s effort to portray so-called sanctuary jurisdictions as obstacles to the president’s mass deportation campaign. The Justice Department has sued several local governments over their unwillingness to cooperate on immigration enforcement.

* Shaw Local | Joliet police back conduct of officers at scene of Homeland Security incident: In response, Interim Police Chief Robert Brown said it was not ICE but Homeland Security Investigations who had an “active federal arrest warrant.” […] Joliet Police Sgt. Dwayne English, the department’s spokesman, told Shaw Local the body camera video was reviewed. “Based on that review, there were no apparent concerns regarding the officers’ actions that warranted further administrative review,” English said.

* Naperville Sun | District 203 board member denied committee assignments for second year: Kelley Black has repeatedly criticized the district’s process in which board members take turns reviewing the monthly bills with finance staff before they are presented and voted on during a public meeting. On Monday, the district released its annual rotation for the upcoming school year in which the seven board members are assigned a month for the bill review process. The annual committee and adopt-a-school assignments were also released — lists from which Kelley Black was excluded.

*** Downstate ***

* 25News Now | Facing opposition from city council member, Peoria affordable housing plan set for public hearing: The proposal involves redevelopment of the vacant parcel into 48 affordable, deed-restricted apartments and a medical office. […] In a public meeting on Monday, Jackson said the current location is not the best site, and instead she would like to see it return to the first proposed location elsewhere in South Peoria. Developers said demolishing and reworking the previous site is not feasible.

* WTVO | Stellantis to evaluate Belvidere facility ahead of planned plant restart: Stellantis plans to resume vehicle production at its Belvidere assembly plant next year. However, local union leadership reports they have not received official updates regarding the transition. Matt Franzen addressed the situation on a Facebook post. Franzen stated that management intends to visit the facility to evaluate what work has been completed and what tasks remain for the reopening.

* WTVO | Rockford officials warn nearly $500M pension shortfall could squeeze future city budgets: According to the presentation, the city’s fire pension fund carries an unfunded liability of approximately $254 million, while the police pension fund has an unfunded liability of about $236 million, for a combined total just under $500 million. The discussion came as the city received generally positive news regarding investment performance. Pension assets earned returns of more than 17% last year, well above the expected 7.1% rate used by actuaries. Funded ratios also improved, with the fire pension system reaching nearly 44% funded and the police pension system reaching about 51% funded.

* Rockford Register Star | Democrats back Torina for acting mayor of Rockford: Members of Rockford City Council’s Democratic caucus voted 3-1-1 and one abstention July 31 to back Ald. Gabrielle Torina’s candidacy for acting mayor, but it remained unclear if they had reached the consensus they sought. Nine members were present at some point at a rescheduled caucus meeting that stretched nearly three hours on a Friday night.

* WCIA | Farmland in Iroquois Co. could transform into solar farm, battery storage facility: The Louis Creek Solar Project is looking to call Buckley home. Allium Renewable Energy of Chicago is wanting to bring a 380-acre solar power and battery storage project to the area. It’s a $100 million project that is expected to produce enough energy to power 8,000 homes a year, and at least $8 million of local and property tax revenues. […] She went on to say that the project was met with pushback at the public hearing. The pushback ranges from concerns about the new view on the north side of Buckley, to potential fire hazards with the battery storage facility.

* Press release | Champaign Mayor Deborah Frank Feinen receives 2026 Simon-Edgar Award: Deborah Frank Feinen, the mayor of Champaign, Illinois, was selected as the recipient of the 2026 Paul Simon-Jim Edgar Statesmanship Award for her years of hands-on, forward-looking leadership. Now in her third term as mayor, Feinen’s journey in Champaign city government started in 2006 when she joined the city council as an at-large member. Feinen served three terms before winning the mayor’s seat in 2015. Feinen previously spent 14 years on the Champaign County Board, where she became known for consensus building and innovative thinking.

* Illinois Times | Identifying brownfield sites for redevelopment: The Springfield-Sangamon County Regional Planning Commission is seeking public input as it begins assessing contaminated brownfields in areas that are difficult to redevelop after being awarded a $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The grant is scheduled to run from October through September 2030 and will be used initially to look at the Browning Road and Veterans Parkway corridor in unincorporated Sangamon County, the 10th Street Rail corridor in Springfield and the North Grand Avenue East corridor in Grandview.

*** National ***

* Nieman Lab | Is Americans’ declining trust in media driven by political messaging?: Beavers advances two major data-driven claims. First, the American system of journalism has historically relied more on rhetorical appeals than structural forces to proclaim and defend its legitimacy. The First Amendment lets anyone be a journalist, which is great — but its lack of professional gatekeeping has also left the field uniquely vulnerable to attack from those who seek to weaken it. And second, the decline in public trust in the media was both preceded by and driven by attacks on the press by political elites, especially at two key pivot points — white southern Democrats defending Jim Crow in the 1960s and 1970s and the Lee Atwater/Newt Gingrich generation of Republicans in the early 1990s. As a result, criticism of the press — which used to be relatively equal on both ends of the political spectrum — has become a decidedly conservative behavior.

* AP | 15 states now linked to iceberg lettuce cyclospora outbreak, CDC says: It can take weeks between when someone is exposed to the parasite and when they come down with symptoms; it’s harder to analyze the parasite in laboratories; and it’s a lot of work to interview everyone who is sick and clearly identify common exposures, said Marquez, an adjunct public health professor at the University of Michigan. Also, “there have been staffing cuts at all levels of public health — federal, local, state — so there are less resources and capacity generally available,” Marquez said in a statement.

* Bloomberg | CME venture with FanDuel falters as prediction startups race ahead: CME Group Inc. and FanDuel are scaling back a joint effort to take on prediction market startups after failing to gain traction in a booming industry that has quickly come to represent a threat to both Wall Street exchanges and traditional sportsbooks. FanDuel, the online gambling division of Flutter Entertainment Plc, said it will no longer use CME’s venue for event-betting contracts tied to sports games, and will instead route them to a new exchange partner, Crypto.com.