Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

Wednesday, Apr 29, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller

IBM plans to dramatically increase its presence in Chicago with a commitment to hire 750 technical workers at the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park on the South Side.

The company will create jobs in AI, cybersecurity, data science, quantum and other technologies, in part through an apprenticeship program with City Colleges of Chicago. […]

IBM, which already planned to be part of the R&D park as an anchor of the National Quantum Algorithm Center along with the University of Illinois, also will house its FutureNow Chicago delivery center at the park.

“IBM’s investment in Illinois is a powerful vote of confidence in our state’s growing technology and quantum ecosystem and the world-class workforce that powers it,” Pritzker said in a written statement announcing the partnership.

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Sponsored by Phrma

Illinois is paying the price for 340B medicine markups.

Through the federal 340B program, nonprofit hospitals can buy medicines for pennies, then charge huge markups – even on life-saving medicines. Those markups have become big business for large hospital systems, driving higher costs for Illinois patients, employers and taxpayers.

And the problem is getting worse. The program’s lack of oversight has allowed 340B to become a revenue stream for hospitals, PBMs, private equity firms and big chain pharmacies — with no requirement that the money be used to help patients afford medicines. It’s time for Washington to hold hospitals accountable and fix 340B. Read more.

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…Adding… From Rich: The sports talkers convinced themselves that today would be the day that Indiana finally beat Illinois. Nope…

* Gas prices just keep going up…

The national average price of gasoline is on a trajectory to reach $4.50/gal in the next week as oil screams higher today as risk of an extended blockade grow. Diesel also poised to return to surging in the days ahead. Great Lakes states (MI, IN, OH, IL, WI) see refinery snags.

— Patrick De Haan (@GasBuddyGuy) April 29, 2026

*** Statewide ***

* Capitol News Illinois | Illinois retailers celebrate early successes of state-funded apprenticeship program: Tribin is one of 11 apprentices in the early stages of the program, which comes during a time of significant workforce investment in Illinois. A little over a year into the program, which was formally announced in February but began recruiting last year, organizers and participants already claimed individual success stories, touting a 100% apprentice retention rate as they focus on sharpening the skills of current retail employees.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Daily Herald | Bears megaproject bill takes baby steps in Senate, but ‘lots of work to be done’: “There’s lots of work to be done,” said Murphy, a member of the Assignments Committee. “We’re going to take our time and analyze everything that’s in the bill. We have one chance to get this right.” […] “We’re going to review what the House passed, gather input from senators and stakeholders and assess the path forward,” said John Patterson, spokesman for the Senate Democrats.

*** Chicago ***

* WTTW | Overtime Cost Chicago Taxpayers $544.4M in 2025, Including $285.8M for Police, Down 6.3% From Last Year: The $544.4 million includes approximately $77.3 million in holiday and compensatory time and more than $467 million paid directly to employees who worked more than eight hours a day or 40 hours per week, according to data published by the city’s Office of Budget and Management. By comparison, the city spent $581 million on overtime in 2024, according to the data.

* Tribune | Chicago progressive leaders remember organizer Amisha Patel: Leaders of the city’s political left credited Patel with uniting community groups and labor unions by fostering deep personal relationships. Her work helped create the working-class movement that made Mayor Brandon Johnson’s election possible, they argued. Johnson, who is expected to eulogize Patel at her funeral Saturday, praised her work as a senior adviser to his mayoral transition committee, calling Patel a “dear friend” and her death “a profound loss.”

* Block Club | Pete Kastanes, Vanished Chicagoland Founder Who Uplifted City History, Dies At 62: For a decade and a half, Pete Kastanes highlighted Chicago’s history online through his website, Vanished Chicagoland, and associated social media accounts. He died from prostate cancer on Saturday at 62. Kastanes’s passion for Chicago’s history spanned from the North Side to the South Side, as the historian would share photos and stories of the city’s yesteryears. He launched his first of 30 Facebook pages for various closed businesses in the early 2010s. “A Tribute to Kroozin’ Music II on W 79th St Ashburn Chicago” celebrated a record store across from Bogan High School, where Kastanes attended.

* Sun-Times | Davis Martin’s hot start to a potential breakout season is built on trust with White Sox: Manager Will Venable might’ve called it a night for other arms on a young pitching staff that has produced uneven results early in the year — but not from Martin, who got two more outs en route to his fourth win of the season. It’s a sign of trust the second-year skipper has in the veteran righty, who has put himself on the map over the first month of the season with a 1.95 ERA that was tied for eighth in MLB entering play Wednesday

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* NBC Chicago | ‘Does not work’: Cook County State’s Attorney decries electronic monitoring system as broken: Burke on Tuesday lashed out at the system that she said made it possible for Alphanso Talley to disregard his monitor and allegedly continue a crime spree that ended in the shooting death of Chicago Police Officer John Barthelomew and the severe wounding of his partner. “Electronic monitoring is not an alternative to detention. It does not keep people safe,” Burke said during a late afternoon news conference in the lobby of the Leighton Criminal Courthouse.

* Daily Southtown | Blue Island residents speak out against possible data center, mayor says comments are premature: Mindeman and nine other Blue Island residents told the City Council Tuesday they still feel connected to the former hospital, even seven years after its closure, and they oppose the property owners intentions to build a data center. Although Mayor Fred Bilotto assured residents the city has not received a formal proposal for a data center, residents said it’s not too early to worry that a place that once healed them could bring harm into the heart of the city.

* Daily Herald | Schaumburg extends TIF district to Loeber Farm for controversial residential development: Three months after approving the controversial 33-acre Loeber Farm development, Schaumburg trustees approved a tax incentive extension to fund public improvements. The expansion of the tax increment financing district along Meacham Road aims to cover utilities, a bridge over Salt Creek and flooding solutions. The Loeber Farm has seen various residential proposals in the 21st century. This January, the Elmhurst-based Nitti Group’s plan for 43 single-family homes, 37 row houses, and 42 townhouses was approved. It replaced a withdrawn plan for 357 rental units, which faced strong opposition from Rolling Meadows residents.

* Pioneer Press | Chicago Stars’ Bannockburn site is only for training. So is Evanston’s Ryan Field still in play for games?: Evanston and Wilmette residents who opposed the Chicago Stars playing games at Ryan Field might not yet want to breathe a sigh of relief — even though the Stars recently announced they plan to build a new performance center in Bannockburn. A spokesperson for the club clarified that the planned Bannockburn facility will function solely as a training center and not a stadium where games will be played. The National Women’s Soccer League team has not yet announced where it will seek to play games in 2027 and beyond, and it’s not known whether they might request to use Ryan Field.

*** Downstate ***

* WCIA | Macon Co. farmers no longer worried about drought — too much rain is now the concern: Here’s why: When rain comes down as hard and as fast as it did Monday night, it can pack the soil down, hardening it and making it difficult for the corn to poke through and grow. Eads said that they have to be careful what they wish for, because over the last several months, they were concerned about the drought conditions.

* WSIL | Jackson County clerk weighs new Carbondale ballot drop box: Frank L. Byrd, Clerk and Recorder of Jackson County, Illinois, announced Tuesday that his office is evaluating the potential placement of an additional ballot drop box in Carbondale, Illinois. The move is part of ongoing efforts to ensure voting remains secure, accessible, and efficient for residents. As the county’s Election Authority, Byrd is responsible for determining ballot drop box locations. Carbondale, the county’s largest municipality, serves a diverse and significant population, making accessibility and geographic coverage key considerations in the decision-making process.

*** National ***

* Inside Radio | Ex-FCC Officials Push Court To Break Agency Silence On News Distortion Policy.: A bipartisan coalition of former Federal Communications Commission chairs, commissioners, and senior staff filed a petition last November calling on the FCC to formally rescind its news distortion policy. It has been met with silence in the months that have followed, and now the group is asking a federal appeals court to order the Commission to act on their request. The former FCC officials, along with the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA), filed a petition for a writ of mandamus Tuesday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The rarely-used maneuver asks the court to order the Commission to issue a final decision within 90 days. If the court agrees to intervene, it would not only compel the FCC to take a position on the future of the news distortion policy, which the bipartisan coalition believes current Chair Brendan Carr has abused to chill press freedoms.

* AP | Push for raw milk intensifies across the US, despite illness outbreaks and scientists’ warnings: More than three dozen bills supporting raw milk have been introduced in statehouses across the nation, The Associated Press found. A growing number of states are making it legal to sell. Dairy farmers say they can barely keep it in stock, even though prices can exceed $10 or $20 a gallon. Top government officials and internet influencers are helping drive this momentum. U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. downed shots of raw milk at the White House last May and previously promised to halt “aggressive suppression” of the product. On social media, posts about raw milk have surged in recent months, often touting unproven claims about its health benefits.

* Tribune | Gregory Bovino finds a new mission in retirement: Trolling DHS: In a April 15 post, the Department of Homeland Security posted the disputed claim that “each illegal immigrant costs the American taxpayer nearly $8,776 every single year” and vowed to put “the American worker FIRST.” Bovino responded: “Then restart mass deportations and quit messing around with it.”

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Pritzker claims today’s US Supreme Court ruling ‘validates’ the current Illinois district maps

Wednesday, Apr 29, 2026 - Posted by Rich Miller

* The ruling is here if you need it. SCOTUSblog…

The Supreme Court on Wednesday, in the case of Louisiana v. Callais, struck down a Louisiana congressional map that a group of voters who describe themselves as “non-African American” had challenged as the product of unconstitutional racial gerrymandering. By a vote of 6-3, the justices left in place a ruling by a federal court that barred the state from using the map, which had created a second majority-Black district, in future elections. Although Wednesday’s ruling did not strike down a key provision of the federal Voting Rights Act, as Louisiana and the challengers had asked the court to do, Justice Elena Kagan suggested in her dissent (which was joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson) that the majority opinion by Justice Samuel Alito had rendered the provision “all but a dead letter.”

The decision was the latest, and presumably final, chapter in a long-running dispute arising from Louisiana’s efforts to adopt a new congressional map in the wake of the 2020 census. The first map that the state adopted, in 2022, had one majority-Black district out of the six allotted to the state. A group of Black voters – who comprise roughly one-third of the state’s population – went to federal court, where they alleged that the map violated Section 2 of the VRA, which prohibits discrimination in voting. […]

In this case, Alito said, Louisiana’s goal in adopting the 2024 map “was racial”: the state enacted it in the wake of the lower court’s finding that the 2022 map likely violated Section 2, and sought to avoid having the court impose a different map that would have created a second majority-Black district but which would also “have imperiled one of the influential incumbents the legislature sought to protect.” […]

In a somber tone, Kagan read a summary of her 48-page dissent from the bench – a signal of her strong disagreement with the majority’s ruling. “The Voting Rights Act,” she wrote “is—or, now more accurately, was—‘one of the most consequential, efficacious, and amply justified exercises of federal legislative power in our Nation’s history.’” But the requirements that the court imposes on Wednesday, she contended, “will effectively insulate any practice, including any districting scheme, said by a State to have any race-neutral justification. That justification can sound in traditional districting criteria, or else can sound in politics and partisanship. As to the latter, the State need do nothing more than announce a partisan gerrymander,” she said. “Assuming the State has left behind no smoking-gun evidence of a race-based motive (an almost fanciful prospect), Section 2 will play no role.”

* Gov. JB Pritzker was asked today about the ruling’s impact on Illinois…

I talked to lawyers this morning, people who are experts in this, who’ve said that everything that we have in Illinois now is constitutional, even under the new ruling. So I’m sure there will be people who try to attack it. But the reality is that if you read through the Supreme Court decision, I’m told that it validates the maps that are already in place.

* I also consulted with an election law attorney who has been involved in redistricting here…

When drawing a legislative map, the General Assembly must adhere to the U.S. Constitution and federal law, in addition to the Illinois Constitution and state law. For at least a decade it has been clear that the 14th and 15th Amendments prohibit using race as a predominant factor in drawing a map. In 2011, Illinois adopted the Illinois Voting Rights Act which urges the creation of crossover districts, coalition districts, or influence districts “in addition and subordinate to any requirements or obligations imposed by the United States Constitution, any federal law regarding redistricting Legislative Districts or Representative Districts, including but not limited to the federal Voting Rights Act, and the Illinois Constitution.” For the last 2 cycles, the General Assembly produced a document publicly explaining how and why districts were drawn, and it was clear that race was not the predominant or only critieria used to draw the maps.

The most recent explanation for how districts are drawn can be read here or here.

* The East St. Louis NAACP tried to overturn the latest remap because map-makers diluted Black voting strength in the 114th House District. A federal court rebuffed the claim…

In the end, East St. Louis NAACP Plaintiffs’ evidence amounts to a claim that “the district’s shape, its splitting of towns and counties, and its high [White] voting population” together with various public statements that legislators were aware of race shows that race predominated the 2021 legislative redistricting cycle. See Cromartie II, 532 U.S. at 243. The Supreme Court’s decisions since Cromartie II tell us that this direct and circumstantial evidence is not enough to support a finding that race predominated over politics where, as here, the record is replete with political and other traditional justifications for the districts that the legislature drew. Accordingly, we reject East St. Louis NAACP Plaintiffs’ racial gerrymandering challenge to HD 114.

Interestingly enough, the incumbent Black House Democratic member went on to lose to a White Republican in 2022. The House Democrats have not yet been able to flip that seat back.

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RETAIL: Strengthening Communities Across Illinois

Wednesday, Apr 29, 2026 - Posted by Advertising Department

[The following is a paid advertisement.]

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Feds drop felony conspiracy count against remaining ‘Broadview 6′ defendants

Wednesday, Apr 29, 2026 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Sun-Times…

Federal prosecutors in Chicago say they will dismiss the controversial conspiracy charge against the remaining four members of the so-called “Broadview Six,” with plans to revise the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney William Hogan shared the news with U.S. District Judge April Perry during a status hearing in the case Wednesday. Hogan said prosecutors plan to file a new charging document, focused on the remaining misdemeanor counts against the defendants who demonstrated last fall against Operation Midway Blitz.

The revelation came during a hearing scheduled by Perry late last week. At the time, she told prosecutors to bring with them unredacted copies of transcripts showing how prosecutors had explained the law in the case to grand jurors.

By dropping the conspiracy count, the feds avoided having to share those transcripts with the judge.

Charged in the case are former congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh, Oak Park village trustee Brian Straw, 45th Ward Democratic committeeperson Michael Rabbitt and Andre Martin, a former member of Abughazaleh’s campaign staff. All four are involved in local Democratic politics. […]

U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros has denied that politics played any role in his office’s charging decisions.

Sure, sure.

* More…

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Never let the facts get in the way of a made-for-TV news attack line

Wednesday, Apr 29, 2026 - Posted by Rich Miller

* From an Illinois House Republican press release earlier this week…

According to the Chicago Police Department, Alphanso Talley has now been charged in the heinous murder of a Chicago police officer and the attempted murder of another officer, along with a long list of additional felony charges.

At the time of this horrific attack, Talley was wanted on three warrants, was on parole in two separate cases, and had a lengthy criminal history dating back to 2017.

Yet earlier this year, Governor JB Pritzker and Speaker Chris Welch praised the SAFE-T Act as sound and effective policy. Now Illinois families are left asking how a repeat violent offender with this record was free to take a police officer’s life and leave another in critical condition.

I asked the HGOP which provision of the SAFE-T Act did he use to get out of jail.

* The Illinois House Republican response is italicized, and a rebuttal from the Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice is in bold…

HGOP: The SAFE-T Act begins with the presumption that a person will be released

INPJ: This was true before the law took effect. It’s in the Illinois Constitution and case law. “As our constitution expressly protects the right of a defendant to bail unless certain circumstances exist, the prosecution must have the burden of showing sufficient evidence that a defendant should be denied that constitutional right.” People v. Purcell (201 Ill. 2d 542, 550)

Put simply, the Illinois Supreme Court has said there is a presumption of release in the Illinois constitution, which is why it struck down a previous statute shifting the burden to the accused.

HGOP: A petition for detention requires showing the defendant committed the offense and the dangerousness standard must be proven by clear and convincing evidence

• Clear and convincing evidence is one of the highest legal burdens
• This is a new requirement implemented by the SAFE-T Act.

INPJ: There are three burdens of proof. “Clear and convincing” is the middle. This was the standard under the old system. See (c)(2) on page 2 of the attached document with the old statute. “The facts relied upon by the court to support a finding that the defendant poses a real and present threat to the physical safety of any person or persons shall be supported by clear and convincing evidence presented by the State.”

HGOP: While EM is not newly implemented in the SAFE-T Act, it is listed in the SAFE-T Act as a condition of pre-trial release if no less restrictive condition of release or combination of less restrictive condition of release would reasonably ensure the appearance of the defendant for later hearings or protect an identifiable person or persons from imminent threat of serious physical harm

INPJ: The SAFE-T Act does not require judges to release anyone on electronic monitoring.

Long before the SAFE-T Act, electronic monitoring has been available as an alternative form of incarceration for defendants who judges believe can safely return to the community while awaiting trial with supervision. Electronic monitoring has been found to replicate many of the harms of pretrial jailing in a brick and mortar jail including the loss of employment, housing and community connections. The parameters of electronic monitoring are so serious that even prior to the SAFE-T Act, the legislature permitted the courts to give credit for time in custody for people subjected to electronic monitoring.

HGOP: Even if an offense is eligible for detention, the presumption of release and burden of proof in the hearing work in the defendant’s favor to tip the scales toward release with limited or no conditions. Arguably, based on Talley’s extensive criminal history – releasing him on pretrial release does nothing to protect the community.

INPJ: Again, the presumption of release is in the Illinois Constitution and was well established prior to the passage of the Pretrial Fairness Act.

The reality is that this is one case and one decision, which reporters have already revealed to be based on a variety of unique factors specific to this individual case. The attempts to make this one decision and case representative of the entire law is simply dishonest.

Cook County judges are not struggling to detain people they believe to be a danger to others.

• The number of people incarcerated in Cook County Jail has increased by nearly 500 people since the Pretrial Fairness Act went into effect.
• In the spring of 2025, the Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice organized community members to observe more than 400 detention hearings in Cook County. Of the 30.5% of the people with low risk assessment scores that signal a judge should release the person with limited conditions, 80.4% of these people were either jailed or placed on electronic monitoring.
• All of this has occurred even while the city of Chicago has seen a dramatic decrease in robberies, shootings, and murders and numbers are similarly low across the state.

o According to police data East Saint Louis experienced a significant decline in homicides over recent years. In 2019, the city recorded 36 murders. By 2025, that number dropped to 15 – the fewest homicides in 45 years. Nonfatal shootings likewise precipitously declined, from 127 in 2020 to 50 in 2025.
o In 2025, Peoria experienced a 61% decrease in homicides.
o In Elgin, crime decreased by 8% and a 63% decrease in gunfire incidents.

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Roundup: Illinois Accountability Commission to urge charges over federal agent misconduct

Wednesday, Apr 29, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* The Illinois Accountability Commission…

The Illinois Accountability Commission, housed in the Illinois Department of Human Rights (IDHR), today held its fifth public hearing to reveal further findings from the investigations on the misconduct of federal agents during Operation Midway Blitz, including the names of various rogue Border Patrol agents the administration protected by offering preemptive immunity.

“In my 25 years as a federal judge, I have never seen the type of brutality shown by the agents involved in Midway Blitz. It has been unprecedented,” said Chair Ruben Castillo. “The brutal conduct examined in these hearings does not reflect isolated incidents. It reflects a pattern that, across locations and operational contexts, is consistent in structure and effect. But the record documented today goes further. It addresses how that pattern was enabled by directives issued from the top.”

“Today, we turn to what made Operation Midway Blitz possible—immunity,” said Vice-Chair Patricia Brown Holmes. “Federal officials did not just tolerate lawlessness. They encouraged it. They shielded it. And they made a grand bargain with the agents: deliver arrests, occupy the city through fear, and we will protect you.”

During the hearing, lead investigators presented evidence and testimony that illustrated how the Trump Administration encouraged lawlessness. They outlined how the federal government deployed hundreds of masked and heavily armed agents from Border Patrol units known for their aggressive behavior. These agents violated federal court orders by making warrantless arrests without justification, fired off chemical weapons against entire neighborhoods, and covered up their misconduct by lying in reports. Agents identified for lawless behavior include:

• East Side Investigation – Border Patrol Agents Benito Nuñez, Carlos Chavira, and Jesus Guillen chased two men in a rental car without sirens in a residential area. A section chief ordered them to stop, and a field supervisor relayed that order multiple times. The agents said “no” and kept driving and turned on their body cameras after the pursuit was underway. The Chicago Police Department (CPD) also asked the agents not to deploy tear gas. The agents had already planned the gassing, and they followed through by gassing residents, journalists, and the very CPD officers who asked them to stop.

• Brighton Park Investigation: Border Patrol Agent Charles Exum, crashed into Marimar Martinez’s vehicle, and shot her five times without justification. The commission featured an anonymous eyewitness account from a person who saw Agent Exum shoot Ms. Martinez and corroborated Ms. Martinez’s account. The anonymous witness was invited to speak today, but through her attorney, she declined. Her attorney explained that she is afraid of reprisals and retaliation for speaking out. Through their investigation, the Commission also found that:

o Evidence was deliberately tampered with and destroyed
o Federal agents produced materially inaccurate official reports
o Chemical agents were deployed indiscriminately against a residential neighborhood without warning
o DHS leadership failed to ensure accountability at every level

• Repeat Offender: Yesterday, Evanston witness Jennifer Moriarty shared how Border Patrol Agent Timothy Donahue pulled his gun on civilians, dangerously brake checked vehicles, and denied medical care to a man with serious injuries. The body-worn camera footage the Commission reviewed also showed Agent Donahue at the scene of the most violent and chaotic episodes of Operation Midway Blitz, including in Brighton Park, Broadview, Albany Park, Little Village, and other neighborhoods. […]

A comprehensive report will be issued to the Governor and the People of Illinois on Thursday, April 30, 2026. This report will contain specific findings, referrals, and recommendations.

* Sun-Times…

Judge Rubén Castillo, chair of the Illinois Accountability Commission, made the call to action during his closing remarks at the commission’s final hearing Tuesday. The commission was tasked with scrutinizing the tactics used last fall during President Donald Trump’s deportation campaign.

A final report from the panel is scheduled to publish Thursday and will include specific recommendations for local and state officials, Castillo said.

“Our report is going to make very specific and detailed recommendations aimed at strengthening accountability and preventing the reoccurrence of the community devastation that has occurred in Illinois and in other communities such as Minneapolis,” Castillo said. “This report needs to be evaluated by other states and by public officials in this state who can take appropriate action, starting with the Cook County State’s Attorney, who will be referred cases for criminal prosecution.”

Castillo, a former U.S. district chief judge, is among the coalition calling for a special prosecutor to investigate federal agents.

* Tribune…

[Marimar Martinez, the 31-year-old who was shot five times by a U.S. Border Patrol agent in October,] testified at the final hearing of the Illinois Accountability Commission, which examined the Trump administration’s sweeping immigration enforcement operation this past fall. Tuesday’s session focused on what commissioners and attorneys described as a lack of consequences for federal immigration agents’ misconduct.

“Federal officials did not just tolerate lawlessness. They encouraged it. They shielded it. And they made a grand bargain with the agents: deliver arrests, occupy the city through fear, and we will protect you, even if you violate the Constitution,” said commission Vice Chair Patricia Brown Holmes.

Martinez, a U.S. citizen and teaching aide at a Montessori school, was shot by Border Patrol Agent Charles Exum on Oct. 4 after a traffic crash on the 3900 block of South Kedzie Avenue.

Federal prosecutors initially charged Martinez but later dropped the accusations. Investigative material made public after the shooting revealed that Exum joked and bragged about the shooting in a text chat with colleagues, was called a “legend” by a fellow agent and received praise directly from his supervisor, Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino.

* WTTW…

Included in the evidence presented Tuesday was never-before-heard testimony from an anonymous eyewitness to Martinez’s shooting who backed up her accounting of the incident.

That witness, a woman whose testimony was heard only through snippets presented by the commission, said Exum fired at Martinez without provocation and that the federal agents on scene never appeared to be under any sort of attack. […]

After the shooting, the anonymous witness said Chicago police officers warned her and others to “be careful” because they had no idea what the agents were capable of.

“You could see the frustration … that there was this group of military personnel that came and just disrupted our Saturday,” the witness said. “It was insane.”

* Capitol News Illinois…

The commission also heard testimony about the importance of free and fair elections, featuring testimony from former Illinois House Minority Leader Jim Durkin, R-Western Springs.

Durkin, a longtime Republican who described himself as pro-law enforcement, told the commission that Operation Midway Blitz was “the furthest thing” from our nation’s finest hour.

Now, he says, the Trump administration is threatening the sanctity of free and fair elections by floating the possibility that federal immigration agents could be at polling sites this November.

“This form of voter suppression isn’t new in Illinois,” Durkin said. “This trick is what has been used in Chicago for many years in elections: place menacing people in front of precincts, cause a disturbance, scare voters away. That’s a form of voter suppression.”

* More…

ABC Chicago | Woman shot by federal agents in Chicago testifies on 2nd day of Illinois Accountability Commission:

* Borderless | Illinois Accountability Commission Holds Final Hearings on Misconduct During Operation Midway Blitz: Ahead of the final hearings, the commission requested the testimonies of eight White House officials to examine their roles and responsibilities in Operation Midway Blitz. They declined to answer.

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Healthcare Workforce Shortages And Rising Costs Strain Hospitals – Pass HB 2371 SA 2

Wednesday, Apr 29, 2026 - Posted by Advertising Department

[The following is a paid advertisement.]

As demand for healthcare rises with an aging population, a strong workforce and financially viable hospitals are essential to meeting today’s patient needs—and their expectations well into the future. Hospitals confronting financial pressures that strain operating budgets are also challenged by significant workforce shortages among nurses and physicians.

Over half of Illinois’ nurses are over age 55 and over a quarter of those nurses plan to retire within five years. Our state currently needs 15,000 more nurses working in healthcare, a shortage the American Nursing Association in Illinois has called a crisis. With one-third of Illinois physicians within retirement age, a shortage of 6,200 physicians is expected in the state by 2030. Just over 1,000 of those physicians are needed in primary care.

Unprecedented federal funding cuts to the Medicaid program will strip Illinois hospitals of $57 billion over 10 years. Over that same decade, hospitals must put more resources towards training and hiring needed clinicians and keeping up with the rising cost of supplies and drugs. Illinois hospitals caring for low-income and uninsured patients can’t afford to keep losing out on federal 340B drug discounts.

Support your local hospital by restoring the 340B program in Illinois. Pass House Bill 2371 SA 2 this spring. Learn more.

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It’s just a bill

Wednesday, Apr 29, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Crain’s…

Business groups are worried that legislation to allow striking workers to collect unemployment benefits could prolong labor disputes.

The bill now under consideration in the Illinois House of Representatives would allow workers to begin receiving unemployment benefits after two weeks on the picket line. Currently, striking workers are ineligible to receive unemployment benefits. […]

“This is top of mind at the executive level at companies,” says Mark Denzler, CEO of the Illinois Manufacturers Association. “This will incentivize further strikes and lengthen the time workers are on strike. If the law passes, companies with large unionized workforces will factor it into whether they expand here or not.”

The National Federation of Independent Business told legislators that nine out of 10 of its Illinois members said in a recent survey they opposed giving unemployment to striking workers.

The House bill passed out of committee 18-7 but has not been called for a floor vote, nor has it been taken up in the Illinois Senate.

* WAND…

The Illinois Senate Criminal Law Committee unanimously passed a bill Tuesday to ensure people in the Department of Corrections are not charged unreasonable fees for sending mail. […]

“Basically, we’re just codifying into law the current practice of IDOC, which is just to charge the market rate of a stamp,” said Rep. Rita Mayfield (D-Waukegan). “So if a stamp is 25 cents on the outside, it’s 25 cents on the inside.” […]

The Department of Corrections would be banned from generating revenue from communication between families and loved ones. This plan could also require annual reporting on rates paid for mail and how the department spends the money.

House Bill 4235 now heads to the Senate floor for further consideration. The measure passed unanimously out of the House earlier this month.

* Press release…

Senate Deputy Minority Leader Sue Rezin (R-Morris) and State Senator Erica Harriss (R-Glen Carbon) recently unveiled a legislative package aimed at strengthening protections for children online by addressing social media harms, sexual exploitation, and minors’ access to adult content.

The legislative package is designed to put stronger safeguards in place for children in the digital space by restricting harmful online access, increasing accountability for tech companies, and improving social media algorithms. […]

Among the proposals included in the package is Senate Bill 4046, sponsored by Sen. Rezin, to restrict social media access for children under the age of 16 by requiring platforms to implement age assurance measures. The proposal is intended to address growing concerns about the harmful effects social media can have on children’s mental health, development, and overall well-being.

Sen. Rezin is also sponsoring legislation focused on improving how social media platforms operate. Senate Bill 3454, the Better Social Media Feeds Act, would require companies to disclose how their algorithms recommend content, including the data inputs used to shape what users see. The bill also directs platforms to prioritize long-term user well-being over engagement-driven design and gives users more control over their content preferences. The measure is intended to increase transparency and reduce exposure to harmful content.

The legislative package also includes the Age-Appropriate Design Code Act, Senate Bill 3241, which is sponsored by Sen. Rezin, requiring companies that collect children’s personal data in Illinois to prioritize the best interests of minors over commercial gain. The bill would establish stronger privacy protections by default, limit data collection, and restrict profiling and targeted advertising aimed at children. It would also require businesses to conduct data protection impact assessments and provide them to the Attorney General upon request. Violations could result in civil penalties of up to $7,500 per affected child. […]

As part of the package, Harriss is sponsoring the Adult Content Age Verification Act, Senate Bill 3945, to require websites containing adult content to verify that users are at least 18 years old through government-issued identification or other approved methods. Companies that fail to comply could face fines of up to $5,000 per day, with penalties directed to support child cybercrime investigations.

* SB3161, which would ban the use and sale of the pesticide paraquat dichloride, has a subject matter hearing scheduled for tomorrow. The Michael J. Fox Foundation…

We’re seeking a statewide ban on paraquat (SB 3161), a herbicide that multiple peer-reviewed studies link to increased Parkinson’s disease risk, particularly with repeated occupational exposure in agricultural settings (here and here). One study showed that paraquat users were 2.5 times more likely to develop Parkinson’s disease, with the association still holding after adjustment for other pesticides (here). The scientific evidence is so compelling that paraquat is routinely used to induce Parkinson’s-like pathology in laboratory animals for the express purpose of studying new drugs and therapies for this devastating disease (here).

Paraquat is already banned in 70+ countries, including the EU, China, Brazil, and Canada. It’s also a troubling dynamic that China prohibits paraquat domestically due to health concerns, yet a Chinese-owned company (Syngenta) manufactured and sold it to American farmers for years. Syngenta halted production in early 2026 amid growing lawsuits from Parkinson’s patients (here), but paraquat manufacturing continues in China for other distributors

Addressing Common Objections: Opposition to banning paraquat typically centers on four arguments: cost, effectiveness, lack of research, and claims that personal protective equipment (PPE) provides adequate safety. Each argument fails under scrutiny.

1. Cost Concerns Are Overstated. Burndown herbicide costs represent a small fraction of total production expenses. Total soybean production costs in Illinois averaged $863-$931 per acre in 2024, with herbicides comprising only a portion of total chemical expenditure (here). A comprehensive weed control program runs at least $50 per acre in product costs alone, making a few dollars difference in burndown applications unlikely to materially impact farm economics, especially when weighed against potential market access risks (see below).
Personally, I’ll also just add: if they think using alternatives will hurt their financial position, they should try having Parkinson’s. It’s no picnic physically or financially.

2. Agricultural Productivity Remains Unaffected A rigorous 2023 peer-reviewed study analyzed mean annual yields for paraquat-dependent crops across five countries, examining the six to seven years before and after their respective bans (here). The research found no negative impact on agricultural productivity for any crops studied. Brazil, which banned paraquat, actually outproduces the United States in soybeans—the very crop for which American farmers claim paraquat is essential.

3. The Research Isn’t There: This claim is so thoroughly disproven, it’s almost not worth addressing, but here we are! When opponents say ‘the research isn’t there,’ they are essentially asking for studies that show direct causation. To prove direct causation we would have to intentionally expose human beings to paraquat via randomized controlled studies. This would be wildly unethical, not to mention that research already shows a strong correlation (see above, but there are many, many more). In fact, one of the nation’s top scientists called it “overwhelming” (see ABC video above).

4. PPE Provides False Security The notion that protective equipment adequately safeguards against paraquat exposure is thoroughly debunked by scientific evidence. The UCLA-led Parkinson Environment Gene (PEG) study found that agricultural workers who reported using PPE, particularly gloves, actually faced higher rates of Parkinson’s disease (here). This suggests that standard protective equipment fails to prevent exposure to this uniquely toxic chemical. Moreover, paraquat’s propensity for drift makes PPE irrelevant for broadering communities. Multiple studies demonstrate that people living within 500 meters of paraquat application sites face significantly elevated Parkinson’s disease risk (here).

The University of Illinois Farm Policy News reported that the EU is exploring tighter restrictions on imports produced with pesticides banned in the EU, specifically citing paraquat as an example (see here). If the EU follows through, market access could matter more than modest per-acre cost differences. For background, the EU is one of the top U.S. soybean export markets (often among the top three), and Illinois is one of the country’s biggest soybean producers (see here). Further, 60 percent of the soybeans grown in Illinois are exported to international markets (see here). And, this is just soybeans! Corn is another major export to the EU, where Illinois plays an important role.

* Chalkbeat Chicago…

A bill limiting cell phone use floundered last year despite winning unanimous approval in the state Senate. But an amended version this spring passed the House and appears headed for Senate backing.

The bill would ban cell phone use in elementary and middle schools throughout the school day but give districts the option of restricting high school use only during instruction time. It also aims to address concerns about overly punitive or uneven discipline for students and about the access some students — such as those with certain disabilities or medical conditions — need to their phones throughout the day. […]

The Illinois Senate will likely take up the bill later in May — and Michelle Mussman, its sponsor in the House, feels good about its odds of passage. So does the Senate sponsor, Cristina Castro, who notes that similar proposals have drawn bipartisan backing across the country.

“I feel we are in a good place to finally send this bill to the governor,” she said. […]

The Illinois Federation of Teachers has said the cell phone bill imposes another “unfunded mandate,” noting that the Peoria school district spent almost $250,000 on pouches to store cell phones during the school day. The union says that only adds to other obligations the state places on districts without providing full funding for them, such as providing transportation for students with disabilities. Leaving cell phones at home is not an option for some students, including those from immigrant families terrified of stepped-up immigration enforcement near schools, a union spokesman said.

* WAND…

The Illinois Senate could pass a bill in the final month of session to help homeless students find housing.

This plan would allow school districts to provide an extended an extended motel stay for students and their parent, guardian or person who enrolled them in school. […]

“Right now, our schools can help with rent, mortgage payments and help cover some utility bills,” said Sen. Karina Villa (D-West Chicago). “But they can’t step in with short-term help like paying for motel rooms when the family is in crisis and they need a safe place to stay.”

House Bill 4137 passed out of the Senate Education Committee Tuesday on an 11-2 vote. The proposal now moves to the Senate floor for further consideration.

* Sen. Paul Faraci…

A measure backed by State Senator Paul Faraci that aims to provide ongoing, accessible railroad safety education to students in Illinois’ public schools passed the Senate Education Committee. […]

House Bill 3743 would require all K-12 public schools to include railroad safety information in their student handbooks. A school would be able to opt out of this requirement if the school board determines that railroad safety is covered in the school’s curriculum.

According to the Illinois Commerce Commission, highway-rail crash statistics for 2025 indicate that Illinois had 134 collisions between trains and motor vehicles or pedestrians at highway-rail crossings. Thirty-four people were killed and 27 seriously injured. Illinois has 7,300 miles of track with 7,482 public highway-rail crossings and 3,280 private highway-rail crossings. Nationally this puts Illinois second in both categories, with only Texas having more rail crossings than Illinois.

House Bill 3743 passed the Senate Education Committee on Tuesday.

* More…

WCIA | Illinois bill aims to protect homeowners from ‘storm chaser’ contractors:

* Press release | Glowiak Hilton prioritizes railroad safety for students: “Student safety has to be at the forefront of our priorities,” said Glowiak Hilton (D-Western Springs). “Our residents have expressed concern about schools near railroads and ensuring students understand the protocols in place to keep them safe.” House Bill 3743 would require all K-12 public schools to include railroad safety information in its student handbook. A school may opt out of this requirement if the school board determines that railroad safety is covered in the school’s curriculum.

* WGLT | Statewide housing legislation could have a big effect in Bloomington-Normal: It’s worse than that in Bloomington-Normal, close to 80%, according to realtors. There’s a cost to that too. Brandon Shaffer, deputy managing director of Berkshire Hathaway Home Services in Bloomington, said he understands the concerns of people who do not want multifamily housing in their backyard but noted they do want income for the community. “Economically, the community has lost as a whole concerning this. …Bloomington, in the last five years, has lost $66 million in real estate development with the inability to do it,” said Shaffer.

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Built For Illinois. Built With Transparency.

Wednesday, Apr 29, 2026 - Posted by Advertising Department

[The following is a paid advertisement.]

Public safety technology only works when communities trust it. That’s why Flock Safety built privacy and transparency into every layer of our system from the beginning of the design cycle — not as an afterthought. In Illinois, that means:

See how we’re building trust in Illinois.

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Isabel’s morning briefing

Wednesday, Apr 29, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Subscribers know more. ICYMI: Illinois Senate slows down rush to pass Bears stadium bill. WGN…

* Related stories…

• Sun-Times: Chicago Bears or ‘Hammond Hams’? Amid escalating rhetoric, Hoosiers hold out hope for new stadium
• ABC Chicago: Governor JB Pritzker says he wants Bears stadium deal done ‘as fast as possible’
• Tribune: Gov. JB Pritzker says Chicago Bears stadium bill ‘within the framework’ of deal the team would accept

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For decades, Illinois has underfunded safety-net hospitals, the lifelines for Black and Brown communities. Now, the “Safety-Net Moonshot” and the Medicaid-defunding legislation it has spawned, threatens deeper cuts to these critical health providers. Any reduction inspired by the “Moonshot” would be a killshot to the care our most vulnerable residents rely on.

Weakening safety-net hospitals won’t improve care. It will slash essential services, eliminate jobs, and push entire communities into healthcare deserts and economic instability.

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* At 10:30 am, Gov. JB Pritzker will announce a new business deal and innovative workforce development initiative during National Apprenticeship week. Click here to watch.

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

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Tribune | Gov. JB Pritzker pushes Illinois watchdog to speed up investigation into Rep. Harry Benton: At an unrelated event on Tuesday, Pritzker said he “would like the LIG to work faster” in the Benton case. “This thing has been going on for months now. We should already have had some kind of report to the leadership, and there should already have been some action,” the governor said. “That should happen truly soon … so that we know how, I think the voters want to know how to proceed. I think that the legislature wants to know how to proceed. And obviously, you know, someone who’s been accused, you know, deserves due process, but I think this is taking longer than anybody expected.”

* Sun-Times | Cuts to SNAP food assistance starting this week worry grocers, local vendors: “When we talk about what has happened because of the decrease in SNAP benefits, we also understand that there’s a ripple effect that will happen, not just to the big [stores] but to the little guy,” Winston said on Monday. “The little guy is the one who’s fighting for community. The little guy is the one who stays here no matter what the margins are.” Illinois officials have estimated that about 150,000 individuals will lose benefits starting in May, unless they successfully apply for an exemption or show proof of volunteering or working 80 hours per month. The expanded work rules, which now include 55- to 64-year-olds along with parents whose youngest child is 14 years or older, went into effect in February and stem from President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax bill that passed last year.

* Tribune | Illinois farmers hope Supreme Court protects state safeguards in Roundup cancer case: In Illinois — the nation’s leading soybean producer and a top corn producer — glyphosate is heavily used to boost crop yields. But critics say widespread reliance comes with health and environmental risks, as long-term exposure has been linked to cancer and other chronic diseases. “All of the stuff I sprayed, a lot of it’s carcinogenic, and I probably breathed some of that in,” Wilken said. “It was a risk I took. But as an organic farmer now, I wish that I would have gotten wise to this earlier.” […] Illinois joined 18 states defending consumers’ ability to file lawsuits in state courts against pesticide manufacturers for not including warning labels on products. Fifteen other states, including Iowa and Missouri, filed a brief emphasizing the importance of preserving access to affordable glyphosate.

*** Statehouse News ***

* NBC | Video: Comey indictment shows Trump is ‘weaponizing’ DOJ against his ‘political enemies’: Gov. Pritzker: Governor JB Pritzker (D-Ill.) joins Meet the Press NOW to react to the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey. Pritzker also discusses the recently formed commission in Illinois to investigate last year’s federal immigration crackdown in Chicago.

* WTTW | Illinois Lawmakers Discuss Budget, Policy Before End of Spring Session: State Reps. Tony McCombie (R-Savanna) and Kam Buckner (D-Chicago) joined “Chicago Tonight” to discuss ongoing budget and policy negotiations. […] McCombie: “To be a ‘maintenance budget’ it would be a flat budget, and this had $728 million in proposed increases. … You can’t keep doing this every year as you’re the governor and not expect increased spending.” Buckner: “I’ve heard many of my colleagues say this is a ballooning budget, but the truth is a balloon floats away when it has no anchor. … (This budget is) anchored in schools, anchored in healthcare, anchored in pensions, public safety, human services.”

* TIME | JB Pritzker May Be Running for More Than Governor: As she prepared to march in the St. Patrick’s Day parade, MK Pritzker, the governor’s wife, considered what she thought of her husband’s running for a third term. Her shoulders sank. “‘Oh jeez.’ That was my response,” she says. “If the national landscape was a little bit different, maybe he wouldn’t have run, but he’s in a strong position to continue the fight.” Those close to Pritzker say his decision on whether to run for President will hinge on conversations with his wife and two college-age children. The governor insists he is undecided. There’s “not some plan of what’s going to happen in the future,” he says.

*** Chicago ***

* ABC Chicago | Chicago Mayor Johnson answers wide range of questions as part of ABC7 town hall: The mayor expressed disappointment that the Illinois House declined to take up the so-called millionaires tax that Johnson had supported. “I’m going to continue to work with the speaker of the House. I’m glad that I have his support and many members of the General Assembly to ensure that whether it’s a millionaires tax, whether it’s, you know, a digital ad tax, whether it’s a progressive income tax, we cannot continue to balance budgets off the backs of working people,” Johnson said.

* WGN | What court transcript shows about hearing that released alleged cop killer in previous case: The judge noted prosecutors’ objections to releasing Talley on electronic monitoring and their concern that the community’s safety couldn’t be guaranteed if he was released. A prosecutor told the judge the charges Talley was facing in that case were detainable under the Pre-Trial Fairness Act. “The mere fact that he has four pending cases is egregious in and of itself, and it may in certain instances shock the conscious,” Lyke said during the hearing, while also noting Talley has been in trouble with the law since he was roughly 12 years old.

* Sun-Times | White Sox loving Munetaka Murakami’s home-run bonanza, but they’re striving for balance on offense: But to stay close in the bunched-up American League Central, the Sox likely will need to diversify an offense that has generated more than half its runs via the long ball early in the season, according to Baseball Prospectus. The Sox have 38 homers (tied for seventh in the majors) and 126 runs scored (19th). Manager Will Venable said the Sox are proving that when they’re executing, they can score however they need to. In modern baseball, that includes a healthy dose of dingers.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Southtown | BEDS Plus withdraws proposal for apartments for chronically homeless people in Alsip: Opposition for the proposal expressed during a public hearing last month at the Alsip-Merrionette Park Library led the southwest suburban nonprofit focused on housing and supporting chronically homeless people to reconsider its plans to purchase and construct two 3-story apartment buildings at 12147 S. Cicero Ave, BEDS Plus Executive Director Tina Rounds said. “What’s the point of a public process if you don’t listen to people?” Rounds said Tuesday. While Rounds said she thinks the organization adequately addressed concerns raised about how the supportive housing facility would operate, she said she wanted to incorporate residents’ feedback on parking and housing density. She said zoning plans included fewer than two parking spaces per unit, as chronically homeless people often don’t own their own vehicles.

* Sun-Times | Ex-Park City police officer charged with assaulting woman during traffic stops: The department was notified of the allegations in late January that he “had acted unprofessionally and possibly engaged in criminal conduct while on duty on more than one occasion” over several weeks with a woman during traffic stops, according to the statement. The Illinois Law Enforcement Training Standards Board waived him from training to be reactivated as an officer in September.

* Daily Herald | Judson University faces backlash over ‘Democracy Award’ to sanctioned Bosnian leader: On Thursday, the private Baptist university in Elgin plans to give Milorad Dodik its first “Leadership and Standing Up for Democracy Award” during a World Leaders Forum event. But Jedna BiH Coalition, a Washington, D.C.-based organization of expatriates dedicated to preserving the unity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is asking Judson to rescind the award and cancel the event. The group says Dodik was charged with violating a law that prohibits denying the July 1995 Srebrenica genocide, in which about 8,000 Bosniak Muslim men and boys were killed when a United Nations-designated safe zone was overtaken by Bosnian Serbs during a civil war.

* Daily Herald | ‘Still loyal to you, Elgin High:’ Chicago mayor named to school’s Hall of Fame: “The last time a principal talked so long about me, I was about to get suspended,” he joked after EHS Principal Avelira Rodriguez-Gonzalez introduced him. Rodriguez-Gonzalez said it was important for today’s students, especially those of color, to know that one of them grew up to become a significant leader. It will inspire them, she said. “His journey from student to public servant and leader of one of the nation’s great cities is a testament to perseverance, purpose, and the power of public education. It shows that the path from Elgin High School can lead anywhere, even to the highest levels of leadership,” she said.

* Daily Herald | Story of resilience continues with annual return of piping plover to Waukegan: Last year, Pepper and his mate, Blaze, who winters about 750 miles away near Wilmington, North Carolina, arrived separately May 6 within a few feet of their 2025 nesting spot. Semel, Carolyn Lueck, president of the Lake County Audubon Society, and volunteers with Sharing Our Shore — Waukegan are on alert with fingers crossed waiting for Blaze. They’re also on the lookout for two male and two female piping plovers nurtured in captivity and released last summer.

* Naperville Sun | Naperville robotics teams compete this week at FIRST World Championship: “The last three to four years have been a real turning point for the team,” said Brian Bellot, coach for the Roaring Robotics, noting that the team has worked on developing a “can-do attitude.” Twenty-seven students from 14 different school districts make up the team. Founded in 1989, FIRST is an international organization that aims to inspire students to develop an interest in technology and engineering and prepare them for a career in those fields. FIRST runs a number of engineering competition leagues, including the FIRST Robotics Competition, which is the program in which both the Huskie Robotics and the Roaring Robotics compete. The FIRST Robotics Competition is one of the largest youth contests of its kind, with the championship bringing together about 600 teams from around the world.

*** Downstate ***

* Capitol News Illinois | Striking Illinois State University staff frustrated over lack of negotiations: A group of striking workers traveled to the Capitol in Springfield Tuesday to call attention to their strike, which has become an issue in the governor’s race. “Without us, I know they’re not getting the quality of cleaning they deserve,” building service worker Sue Perry told reporters at a news conference in Springfield. Little progress has been made in negotiations since January, according to Renee Nestler, AFSCME’s staff representative. That’s when the university put forward its latest offer, which it also says is its final offer.

* WICS | Douglas County to lose only behavioral health provider: “For lots of years we’ve navigated raising operational costs, workforce shortage, its been really difficult to fund our services, fund our staff and hire staff who want to work in rural communities. Reimbursement rates haven’t kept up with the true cost of care,” said Lauren Christina, RISE Behavioral Health Executive Director. […] RISE serves about 350 clients, seeing roughly 35 people a day, ranging from young children to seniors. As the closure approaches, staff are working one-on-one with each client to ensure continuity of care and prevent anyone from falling through the cracks.

* IPM | Springfield FBI starts sweep in Danville, says it is not immigration-related: The arrival of federal agents in Champaign this weekend fueled fears of a major immigration crackdown. The Springfield FBI clarified Monday that there are agents in town, along with federal drug and law enforcement agencies, and that they are not doing immigration enforcement.

* NPR Illinois | Ribbon cutting for SCHEELS Sports Park in Springfield: Spanning over 70 acres with eight outdoor fields and the largest air-supported sports dome in the world, the facility on Springfield’s south side, at Legacy Pointe near Interstate 72, can play host to both local teams and travel clubs. “Over the past six months, we’ve had over 55 different events, hosting over 40,000 athletes from 38 states and two separate countries,” said Brandon Doherty, the general manager of the site. Local colleges, Special Olympics, local recreational clubs and others have also played at the park. Participants have competed in baseball, softball, soccer, gymnastics, archery and more.

* KHQA | Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois’ Quincy office closes it’s doors, moving all of their employees fully remote: The company tells us they’re quote “consolidating their physical footprint” after continuously evaluating their workforce and business operations, and ensuring they’re effective and productive as they meet the challenges of an evolving health care industry.

* WGLT | Illinois State Athletics discontinues men’s tennis, effective immediately: The announcement came after the team’s season ended April 24 at the Summit League Championships. The team finished the 2026 season with a 9-14 record and exited in the semifinals for the third consecutive year. Because the program will end in the spring semester, current student-athletes will have an opportunity to consider the transfer portal, which opens May 4. Five of the eight roster members are seniors.

*** National ***

* Crain’s | Rivian is challenging franchise laws. Here’s what it means for EV direct sales: Electric vehicle makers are escalating their fight to sell directly to U.S. consumers, using ballot threats and new legal strategies to challenge dealer franchise laws. Rivian, saying it believes the public is on its side, won a dealer license in Washington state in March after its threat to fund a ballot initiative sparked a legislative compromise with dealers. It’s also pursuing direct sales in other states’ courts.

* NPR | Supreme Court weighs Trump’s effort to end temporary protected status for Haitians, Syrians: President Trump could move forward with mass deportations of people who have been living legally in the U.S., many of them for more than a decade, if he prevails in two cases before the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday. At issue is the temporary protected status program, which permits eligible individuals to live and work in the United States if they cannot return to their home countries because of natural disasters, armed conflicts and other “extraordinary or temporary conditions.” Congress enacted the TPS program in 1990 to establish criteria for selecting, processing and registering people fleeing such turmoil.

19 Comments

Good morning!

Wednesday, Apr 29, 2026 - Posted by Rich Miller

* I am in dire need of a warm-weather music festival…