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Open thread
Monday, Jul 14, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller
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Isabel’s morning briefing
Monday, Jul 14, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller * ICYMI: Illinois Head Start leader tells providers to hold off on Trump edict. Sun-Times…
- The Trump administration on Thursday announced that it’s reinterpreting a 1996 law to shut off access to a series of federal programs to anyone who can’t prove they’re legal immigrants — including the Head Start early childcare and education programs for babies and toddlers — kids too little for kindergarten. - “We have never asked for [the] status of our children that we’re serving, and to do so creates fear and anxiety among our community,” said Lauri Morrison-Frichtl, head of the Illinois Head Start Association, which supports about 600 centers statewide serving the 28,000 students in Head Start in the state. * Related stories…
∙ LA Times: New Trump rule immediately bans undocumented immigrants from Head Start child care ∙ Fortune: RFK Jr. says HHS will cut off Head Start preschool program for immigrants without legal status * Proviso Democrats…
* Capitol News Illinois | Trump’s ‘big bill’ takes center stage in Illinois’ U.S. Senate race: “In polling and different things that we’ve done, half of the population doesn’t even realize what’s going on,” Kelly said. Kelly played up her relationship with U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, saying she has been part of a coalition of House Democrats that have been traveling the country holding town hall meetings about federal spending cuts. * WGLT | State Farm says Pritzker’s rate hike claims are ‘factually incorrect’ political rhetoric: The Bloomington-based company has responded forcefully to Pritzker’s claims, which became public Thursday in a statement to the media. Pritzker claims an Illinois Department of Insurance analysis suggests “State Farm is shifting out-of-state costs onto the homeowners in our state.” He called the rate increase “unfair and arbitrary.” In a statement Friday, State Farm said that “Illinois families deserve an honest conversation about insurance economics rather than political rhetoric.” “Governor Pritzker’s statements are factually incorrect. State Farm does not shift costs between states, and we have provided information to the Illinois Department of Insurance to demonstrate this fact. Our Illinois rates reflect Illinois-specific claims and risks,” the company said. * Gallup | Surge in U.S. Concern About Immigration Has Abated: Americans have grown markedly more positive toward immigration over the past year, with the share wanting immigration reduced dropping from 55% in 2024 to 30% today. At the same time, a record-high 79% of U.S. adults say immigration is a good thing for the country. These shifts reverse a four-year trend of rising concern about immigration that began in 2021 and reflect changes among all major party groups. * QC Times | Illinois State Senator Neil Anderson announces reelection bid: Illinois State Senator Neil Anderson, R-Andalusia, has announced he is running for reelection for the Illinois 47th District. Anderson, who is the Senate Republican Caucus Chair, said he remains focused on providing constituent service to the 15 counties he serves across Western Illinois and focused, effective leadership in the General Assembly. * Daily Herald | Legislation prompted by Mundelein impact fee fight awaits Gov. Pritzker’s signature: The bill’s primary champion, Democratic state Rep. Daniel Didech of Buffalo Grove, confirmed this week that he’s lifted a procedural hold that had been in place since it cleared the General Assembly in May. Pritzker has until Aug. 23 to sign the bill into law. A spokesperson this week said it’s under review. “I trust the governor and his team to give this matter thoughtful consideration,” Didech said. “Regardless, we will continue to evaluate any necessary next steps to protect taxpayers and support our local schools.” * Naperville Sun | Will County Board member from Naperville announces bid for Senate seat: Will County Board member Julie Berkowicz, a Naperville Republican, has announced plans to run in the 2026 primary for the state senate seat representing District 21, which covers portions of Will and DuPage counties. The position is currently held by Sen. Laura Ellman, a Naperville Democrat elected to the post in November 2018. Berkowicz said at the county level, she advocates for lower taxes and smaller government and has been frustrated in recent years with the increased tax levies that have been approved. Financial votes tend to break along party lines, she said. * WICS | Unknown powder found in Stratton Building deemed non-hazardous by officials: An unknown powder substance discovered in the U.S. Mail on the 7th floor of the Stratton Building on Friday afternoon prompted an immediate response from authorities. […] After conducting tests, the Springfield Fire Department Hazardous Materials Unit determined that the powder was non-hazardous. * Tribune | Upcoming Chicago budget ‘grimmest picture of all’ for Mayor Brandon Johnson, aldermen: Two days after that roundtable, Johnson’s finance team would disclose the city ended 2024 with a $161 million deficit, emptying one of its key emergency funds. Adding to the bad tidings last week was a final $7 billion estimate for the cost of a state bill boosting benefits for police and fire pensioners through 2055. That zeroed out “unallocated” reserve balance is even lower than the depths of the 2008 recession, when it held just $226,000, according to the city’s annual financial reports. It represents a serious financial alarm for the cash-strapped city, according to Justin Marlowe, the director of the Center for Municipal Finance at the University of Chicago “I don’t think we can overstate how important that is,” Marlowe said. “It is the single most closely watched number in all of municipal finance.” * ABC Chicago | Mayor Johnson discusses crime, budget deficit, sanctuary city lawsuit after church chat: The Chicago Teachers Union said it wants Governor JB Pritzker to allocate more than $1 billion to CPS. Mayor Johnson supported that move on Sunday during his church discussion. “The city of Chicago and districts across the state are not fully funded by the state of Illinois,” Johnson said. “It’s one of those areas where I’m gonna need more people to get active, to challenge not just city government, but the state government as well to fully fund our schools, because the crisis that we are experiencing is a crisis of the result of failures of the past.” * Tribune | Chicago’s safety net hospitals face potential service cuts, layoffs after signing of ‘big, beautiful’ tax bill: Humboldt Park Health will likely see an additional $5 million to $7 million in losses annually once the changes go into effect, said CEO Jose Sanchez. The hospital typically has an operating margin of about $1 million annually. “I came in this morning and met with senior leaders and said, ‘We’ve got to begin to think about how do we position ourselves to face the potential cuts we’ll have,’” Sanchez said earlier this week. * Block Club | Activists Call On State To Fill Nearly $1 Billion Transit Funding Gap: ‘I Don’t Know How I’m Going To Get Around’: At Saturday’s rally, transit advocates and local leaders demanded Pritzker call legislators back to Springfield to solve the transit budget deficit, with some protesters questioning the Democratic Party’s allegiance to their constituency. “What do we need?” demonstrators chanted. “A special session! When do we need it? Now!” * CBS Chicago | Record turnout at Barrio Arts Festival in Chicago after fears of potential ICE raids: “I think people wanted to send a strong message to the administration that we’re going to stand together,” said Billy Ocasio, executive director of the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture and a former Chicago alderman. “I think that’s the reason we have so many people here.” * CBS | Children Harmed: The children left behind and the hidden toll of domestic violence in Chicago : According to an analysis by the CBS News Data Team, the number of children present during domestic violence crimes in Chicago jumped 35% the first year of the pandemic, from about 8,200 kids in 2020 to about 11,000 kids in 2021. Most of the crimes children were present for were domestic batteries, but they were also exposed to nonviolent domestic crimes such as phone threats, stalking, property damage to homes and cars, and violating orders of protection. * New Yorker | What We Get Wrong About Violent Crime: The Chicago Police Department estimates that arguments lie behind seventy to eighty per cent of homicides. The numbers for Philadelphia and Milwaukee are similar. And that proportion has held remarkably steady over time. Drawing on data from Houston in 1969, the sociologist Donald Black concluded that barely more than a tenth of homicides occurred during predatory crimes like burglary or robbery. The rest, he found, arose from emotionally charged disputes—over infidelity, household finances, drinking, child custody. Not calculated acts of gain, in other words, but eruptions rooted in contested ideas of right and wrong. * Shaw Local | Chicago Bears reportedly extend general manager Ryan Poles: Bears general manager Ryan Poles is set to stay in Chicago. The Bears reportedly signed Poles to an extension that will keep him in town through the 2029 season. ESPN’s Adam Schefter was the first to report the extension. According to Schefter, Poles had two years remaining on his contract before the Bears added three more with the extension. * Streets Blog Chicago | Why the Suburban Mayors Coalition’s claims about proposed development policies in state transit reform/funding legislation are bogus: Local planning goals are documented in a municipality’s comprehensive plan, which guides future development by shaping zoning ordinances. Again, the area around transit that NITA would be able to build on is limited, hardly the “broad swaths” that the signees mention. In this limited area, a suburb would have almost total control over what NITA could build, just like the municipality has for any other (also unelected) private developer. * Daily Herald | Police chief ‘not going anywhere,’ despite vote of no-confidence: There’s a big rift in small-town Gilberts’ police department. At least that’s according to a letter sent to the Kane County community’s village board last month outlining why the rank-and-file passed a vote of no confidence against Chief Todd Block. Submitted by Metropolitan Alliance of Police Lodge 423, the 18-page memo is a scathing critique of Block, portraying him as rude, mean and sexist. * Daily Herald | Slowed by obsolete toll plaza infrastructure? Tollway is removing gates and barriers: The initiative will “convert our system to a barrier-free system to improve traffic operations at these plazas, as well as remove the aging infrastructure that we no longer need because we’re not collecting cash,” Chief Engineer Manar Nashif said Wednesday. It should save time for drivers and money for the tollway by slashing maintenance costs. “At the end of the day, it will be a much more open field. Ultimately, with no barriers, there’s fewer obstacles as traffic passes through it,” Nashif noted. * Daily Southtown | New Governors State University president sees opportunity in her return to region: Since her July 1 start date as president of Governors State University, Joyce Ester says she has been busy meeting with campus community members and embracing change in the south suburbs. Ester, originally from Phoenix and a graduate of Thornridge High School in Dolton, recently moved back to the region after ending her tenure as president of Normandale Community College in Bloomington, Minnesota. “This area is very different physically than when I left almost 20 years ago,” Ester said. “When I was a young girl in this community, there wasn’t a lot out here. Seeing new stores and new developments and new businesses that weren’t here when I was a child — it’s really nice to be able to see that and see the pride that people have in this institution.” * Daily Herald | Prospect to remove first principal’s name from theater over ties to controversial teachings: The last name of Prospect High School’s first principal will be removed from the entrance to the school’s theater, Northwest Suburban High School District 214 school board members have decided. The unanimous decision late last week to rescind the honorary naming follows publication of a student journalist’s investigation into former Principal Alvin Kulieke’s ties to a fringe religious group and its early embrace of eugenics principles. Superintendent Scott Rowe said sophomore Sage Gilliland’s reporting, published in the May 16 edition of The Prospector school newspaper, shined a light on historical information about the theater’s namesake that is “not in line with the beliefs of Prospect High School or District 214 today.” * Daily Southtown | Animal Welfare League defends annual six-figure payments for legal services: The nonprofit, led by President Chris Higens, reported on its most recent tax form from 2023 that bills to Nixon Peabody law firm made up about 15% all its expenses that year. Animal Welfare League paid Nixon Peabody about $212,000 in 2020, $348,000 in 2021 and $489,000 in 2022. It is unclear whether Animal Welfare League contracted exclusively with Nixon Peabody before 2020, as tax forms did not require the organization to write in the name of their contractor. Higens on Friday defended the nonprofit’s spending on legal services, saying in an emailed statement to the Daily Southtown that “every cent received is being spent wisely.” * WCIA | ‘We can survive this’: Mattoon community reflects following days without tap water: Mattoon has lifted the “do not drink order” after test results came back on Sunday and showed that the city’s water is safe. But over the last four days — without water from the taps — people realized the value of modern convenience and of community. […] Beyond Mattoon, surrounding cities have also stepped up — offering showers and the chance to do laundry for those in need. “When somebody’s in crisis, people will jump in in a heartbeat,” Love said. * 25News Now | Millions of dollars in sales taxes to fund McLean County mental health and public safety programs called into question: A pair of resolutions presented to the county board’s executive committee also calls for an auditor to determine how the sales tax dollars are being spent. Bloomington and Normal have been collecting a 1% sales tax since 2016 and sending that money to the county. However, the resolutions indicate the county’s “Special Mental Health and Public Safety Fund” currently has a balance of about $20 million, which Normal Town Councilwoman Kathleen Lorenz said is excessive. * 25News Now | Millions of dollars in sales taxes to fund McLean County mental health and public safety programs called into question: The council in May rejected the only bid it received of $18.6 million from Stark Excavating of Bloomington, which was significantly higher than expected. Since then, city staffers have been negotiating with Stark and engineering consultant Crawford, Murphy & Tilly to cut costs. Staffers said they’ve reduced the construction contract’s price to almost $13.2 million after finding several cost savings. * Press Release | Carbondale Police Department adds new technology to investigate gun crimes: The new technology will reduce the time required for shell casings found at the scenes of shooting incidents to be analyzed. In the past, fired shell casings found at shooting scenes were sent to the Illinois State Police Crime Lab to be analyzed. Due to large caseloads statewide, this process could take weeks or months. Now, Carbondale officers and investigators can quickly determine that a particular firearm fired the cartridge casing in question within hours or days of the incident. * WGEM | Teachers and students reconnect at historic school tour of Adams County: “It was wonderful to teach out here, and the thing is that the students, their parents, their grandparents were all a part of an educational family, and it was so joyful, it was so rewarding when I started in 1972,” said Bob Winkeljohn, Former Payson-Seymour Elementary 3rd Grade Teacher. Winkeljohn said being able to see his former students on Saturday was a full-circle moment for him, and it makes him feel like he’s made a difference. * Herald-Whig | Feature-length movie set to film in Quincy: Set in the late 19th century, the independent feature-length film “Death of a Brewer” is based on a true story from Iowa and explores the complexities of the brewing industry in the lead-up to Prohibition. “As much as it’s an Iowa City story, it’s an Americana Midwest story. The more I hear about towns that did have breweries, I start to hear stories that are so similar,” said Mokotsi Rukundo, the film’s Los Angeles-based director and writer * WTVO | Rockford organization revitalizes Civil War veterans’ graves: Sunday wasn’t the first time the group of volunteers has cleaned the graves. Jenkin said they frequent Cedar Bluff Cemetary, and she said outsiders have noticed their work. “I’ve had a family in California reach out to me saying ‘Hey I saw that you cleaned the gravestone, thank you so much for doing that,’” Jenkin said. The organization also works to replace or repair damaged graves. Jenkin said they have built stones headstones for fallen veterans that didn’t previously have one. * The Pantagraph | Lincoln’s Bloomington speech ‘lost,’ but legacy lives on: Greg Koos, executive director emeritus of the museum, delivered a presentation on the “Lost Speech” in 2008 titled, “Lost or Not.” Referencing the “Lost Speech” memorial on the corner of East and Front streets in Bloomington, he said, “When we made an effort to publicly commemorate the most important event ever to take place locally — we lost the fact that it was about African American people.” The original 1946 plaques included no reference to enslaved or African American people. In 2009, the Looking for Lincoln Heritage Coalition established a series of new outdoor wayside exhibits that addressed this issue. * Fox Chicago | USPS raises stamp prices again — What to know: The new rates include a 5-cent increase in the price of a First-Class Mail Forever stamp from 73 cents to 78 cents. The changes would also increase domestic shipping rates by about 6.3% for Priority Mail, 7.1% for USPS Ground Advantage, and 7.6% for Parcel Select, while rates for Priority Mail Express would remain unchanged. * NPR | When The U.S. Government Tried To Replace Migrant Farmworkers With High Schoolers: Problems arose immediately for the A-TEAM nationwide. In California’s Salinas Valley, 200 teenagers from New Mexico, Kansas and Wyoming quit after just two weeks on the job. “We worked three days and all of us are broke,” the Associated Press quoted one teen as saying. Students elsewhere staged strikes. At the end, the A-TEAM was considered a giant failure and was never tried again. This experiment quickly disappeared into the proverbial dustbin of history. In fact, when Stony Brook University history professor Lori A. Flores did research for what became her award-winning 2016 book, Grounds for Dreaming: Mexican Americans, Mexican Immigrants, and the California Farmworker Movement, she discovered the controversy for the first time. Until then, the only time she had heard of any A-TEAM, she now says with a laugh, “was the TV show.” * Bloomberg | Invenergy urges Trump not to kill $11 billion power line: The Grain Belt line would carry electricity generated by wind farms and other energy sources in Kansas across Missouri and Illinois to Indiana. The project is capable of delivering four nuclear power plants’ worth of electricity and would be the highest capacity and second longest line in US history, according to the company. […] The request comes a day after Republican Missouri Senator Josh Hawley said in a statement that he had gotten a commitment from Wright to stop the project and end a $4.9 billion conditional federal loan guarantee offered in the final months of the Biden administration. The Energy Department and Senator Hawley’s office didn’t immediately return requests for comment. * AP | Judge orders Trump administration to halt indiscriminate immigration stops, arrests in California: Judge Maame E. Frimpong also issued a separate order barring the federal government from restricting attorney access at a Los Angeles immigration detention facility in response to a request from nonprofit law firm Public Counsel. Frimpong issued the emergency orders, which are a temporary measure while the lawsuit proceeds, the day after a hearing during which advocacy groups argued that the government was violating the Fourth and Fifth amendments of the Constitution. * CBS | 18-year-old U.S. citizen detained by border officials said conditions were so bad he lost 26 pounds, almost self-deported: The teen said he lost 26 pounds during his time in the immigrant detention center, and said officers didn’t provide him with enough food. He was crammed into an overcrowded holding area with 60 other men. They slept on the floor with aluminum-foil blankets — some even had to sleep in the bathroom area, he said. Some of the men were very sick and were bitten by ticks, but were afraid to ask for a doctor because CBP officers told them their stay would start over if they did, Galicia said. * Democracy Docket | Election Officials Have Been Under Attack For Years. Now The DOJ Wants to Criminally Charge Them: In recent months, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) sent letters to states including Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Arizona, and Colorado, pressing for information about voter roll management, demanding to see state voter rolls, and threatening to sue over alleged voting law violations. But the department’s campaign has gone much further. Criminal prosecutors at DOJ sent separate broad requests for information to election officials in at least two states, people who have seen the requests told Democracy Docket.
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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Supplement to today’s edition
Monday, Jul 14, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller
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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today’s edition of Capitol Fax (use all CAPS in password)
Monday, Jul 14, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller
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Selected press releases (Live updates)
Monday, Jul 14, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller
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Live coverage
Monday, Jul 14, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller * Click here and/or here to follow breaking news. Hopefully, enough reporters and news outlets migrate to BlueSky so we can hopefully resume live-posting.
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