* ICYMI: Latest federal list of ‘sanctuary’ jurisdictions includes Chicago, Cook County and Illinois. Tribune…

- The Department of Justice placed Chicago, Cook County, and the state of Illinois on its latest “sanctuary jurisdiction list,” with Attorney General Pam Bondi promising to “continue bringing litigation” against places the department says stand in the way of federal immigration enforcement.
- Illinois is among a dozen states, Cook is one of four counties, and Chicago is one of 18 cities on the list.
- The mayor’s office and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s office both said they had not received any additional communication from the DOJ about the city’s and county’s placement on the list.

* Related stories…

∙ DOJ: Justice Department Publishes List of Sanctuary Jurisdictions
∙ AP: Justice Department releases new list of so-called sanctuary jurisdictions
∙ CBS: Justice Department publishes list of 35 “sanctuary” jurisdictions, vowing to bring more immigration lawsuits

* Governor JB Pritzker will kick off the Illinois State Fair with a ribbon cutting at 10 am at the Main Gate, followed by several appearances throughout the fairgrounds. He’ll be at Conservation World at 11:15 am, present the “County Fair Person of the Year” award at 11:30 am, and take photos with County Fair Queens at noon. At 1 pm, he’ll speak at the Illinois Community College Board’s 60th anniversary event. Click here to watch.

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Capitol News Illinois | First look: 2025 Illinois State Fair butter cow unveiled: The sculpture is made of 800 pounds of unsalted butter spread across a wire frame. This year’s iteration depicts a cow accompanied by an “adventurer seeking hidden treasure across the fairgrounds.” The theme for this year’s fair is “Adventure Awaits.” “Indeed, this year will be chock full of adventures and treasures for the entire family. Music and entertainment, food and drinks, rides and contests, exhibits and displays, concerts. There will be an opportunity for everyone to experience, to learn, to grow, and we’re again proud to be able to present that not just to Illinoisans who come here to Springfield to enjoy themselves, but also to people who come from around the country, to see what Illinois has to offer,” Gov. JB Pritzker said.

* NCSL | Illinois State Rep. Marcus C. Evans Jr. to Lead NCSL: “As NCSL celebrates its 50th anniversary, I’m incredibly grateful to lead the National Conference of State Legislatures as its 54th president,” said Rep. Evans. “More than ever, legislatures are a vital space for bipartisanship, collaboration and advancing proven solutions tailored to state and local needs. I’m eager to work with my fellow state lawmakers to promote thoughtful ideas that drive unity, close division and energize the work we do for our communities.”

* Tribune | HUD drops housing discrimination complaint related to aldermanic prerogative and Chicago zoning: In a letter HUD sent Wednesday to the complaining parties, which was obtained by the Tribune, the agency said it was closing the case to instead focus on “real concerns regarding fair housing.” “It is the Department’s policy to focus on the original understanding and enforcement of the law and therefore rightfully return such decisions on zoning, home building, and more, to local leaders who are directly responsible for those matters,” the letter says. “HUD enforcement will continue to prioritize investigations of specific allegations of actual discrimination, rather than dictate or influence land use policy.”

*** Statewide ***

* WGN | Illinois Senate candidates ramp up campaigns, as one earns key endorsements: One week remains until the start of a significant Illinois political tradition — the State Fair, which offers an opportunity to check on how candidates are building their campaigns heading into the fall and winter. The biggest prize coming up in the March primary, however, is the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate. On Wednesday, two towering figures in Illinois politics announced their pick in the competitive primary: current Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton.

* WTTW | Illinois Launches New Endowment Fund for State Parks as Feds Disinvest in Natural Areas: The Illinois State Park Fund will be housed under the Illinois Conservation Foundation, which is the official charitable partner of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR). […] All contributions to the endowment fund will be considered restricted and used exclusively to benefit Illinois state parks in the form of park infrastructure, accessibility projects, conservation and programming, according to the Illinois Conservation Foundation.

* KFVS | Limited edition poster series celebrates 100 years of Ill. state parks: To celebrate 100 years of conservation in Illinois, the Illinois Conservation Foundation (ICF) has released a series of posters and sticker packs celebrating 12 parks and historic sites in the state.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Streetsblog Chicago | Should we bet on Welch? House Speaker Chris Welch: My team will present a transit funding plan by fall veto session and “get it done right”: Senate President Don Harmon recently said to Streetsblog, “If stakeholders don’t like the revenue plan the Senate adopted… we need people to come back with counter-proposals that allow us to build that transit system that residents deserve.”This morning, I asked House Speaker Welch, who lives in west-suburban Hillside, for his perspective on the effort to get a transit bill on the governor’s desk.

*** Chicago ***

* Sun-Times | New Indiana immigrant detention center could triple ICE beds in Chicago region: In Illinois, state and local laws prohibit local entities from entering into contracts with the federal government to detain immigrants. ICE’s immigration processing center in west suburban Broadview, immigration advocates say, has become a makeshift detention center with no beds or blankets and very little food, the Chicago Sun-Times previously reported.

* Sun-Times | Weiss Memorial Hospital in Uptown on the brink of closure: Weiss Memorial Hospital on Chicago’s North Side is set to lose major federal health insurance payments starting this weekend, raising questions about whether the hospital might close as soon as Friday. Weiss will be cut from Medicare and Medicaid after a monthslong pattern of being in and out of compliance with federal regulators for everything from not having enough nurses per shift to failing to prevent “inappropriate” delays in treatment.

* WBEZ | Chicago alderperson calls on mayor to make a deal with ComEd that includes relief as bills skyrocket: Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th) wants the city to finally renew the long-expired power-service agreement that ComEd is operating under, and for Mayor Brandon Johnson to negotiate more relief money for people struggling to pay their electric bills as part of the deal. “We have a franchise agreement with ComEd, from the city of Chicago, that is yet to be finalized… everything’s on the table,” Villegas said at a news conference Wednesday. “There has to be a real, candid discussion as to: What are we going to do to make sure that people are not having to choose between eggs, milk and keeping the lights on?”

* Tribune | Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office denied pushing to weaken CPS board voting rules — but email confirms it was a ‘goal’: “There is no reform that the Mayor’s Office is currently working on that would undermine the authority of the board in any way,” Johnson’s press secretary, Cassio Mendoza, said in a May 30 statement. Arena did not respond to a request for comment this week. However, Mendoza said Arena’s email was not an attempt to “lead an effort to overturn the two-thirds requirement,” as the Tribune asked in May, but rather part of “preliminary research.”

* Crain’s | Adler Planetarium taps Smithsonian exec as CEO: The Adler Planetarium announced Elizabeth Babcock as its next CEO following a six-month search. Babcock comes to Chicago after serving most recently as director of the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum in Washington, D.C., a newly established part of the Smithsonian Institution still in the making. She will take the reins on Oct. 6, replacing longtime Adler chief Michelle Larson, who stepped down in February after more than a decade in the post.

* Crain’s | Chicago State hopes to make a college town out of 95th Street: The state-funded institution in Roseland, almost 160 years old, in late July issued a request for proposals to build the first phase of what it calls University Village 95, which would have up to 528 student beds — all rental — and 25,000 square feet of retail space.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* WGN | PACE Riders with disabilities face increased costs and drastic cuts to paratransit rides from RTA: According to the proposal in the RTA’s action plan, ride costs for PACE users who rely on the TAP and RAP programs would increase from $2 to $3.25 a ride, but that’s not the biggest concern. The number of rides allowed per month would also see a drastic decrease from 240, all the way down to 30—a reduction from four round trips per day, all the way down to one, singular ride.

* Daily Herald | ‘We’re all a little heartbroken’: Aurora’s Copley Theatre will go dark: The hiatus comes after the Aurora Civic Center Authority — which operates the Paramount, Copley and Stolp Island theaters and RiverEdge Park — said “previously communicated municipal support” from the city of Aurora could be reduced by up to 65% in response to “widespread budgetary constraints,” according to the letter.

* Daily Southtown | Online donations help Robbins Eagles youth football tackle $12,000 in stolen equipment: Coaching staff found football training equipment, shoulder pads and 60 helmets missing from the storage container outside of the Park District community center at 13800 South Trumbull Ave. As their Aug. 23 season start date approaches, the Eagles knew they needed to seek community support to buy back the equipment they needed. “Everyone in the community came together right when it happened that day,” Harris said. “It was like, what can we we do to get these kids whatever they need to be able to play in the upcoming season?”

* Aurora Beacon-News | Historic St. Charles home to remain for now, after City Council denies request to demolish it: Because it’s located within the city’s Historic District, exterior changes to the building must be reviewed by the city and its owners must receive a certificate of appropriateness before it can be demolished. The church brought a request about the property to the city in 2017, according to past reporting, but its application was withdrawn before the City Council could vote on the house’s fate.

*** Downstate ***

* WGLT | Central Illinois homeowners, renters and businesses grapple with spiking electric bills: There’s never a good time for your electric bill to suddenly go up nearly $1,000. But this was an especially bad time for Steven Marifjeren and his two Windy City Wieners locations. Business slows down in the summer, Marifjeren said. The Illinois State University crowd thins out at his Uptown Normal location. And many people go on vacation — even judges and lawyers, which means less foot traffic at Marifjeren’s downtown Bloomington eatery. Then last month, Marifjeren’s electric bill shot up 35%, without much change in energy use.

* WAND | 2 Decatur restaurants receive packages containing KKK material: The pictures, which WAND is not posting, contain hateful and racist language, references to the KKK, symbols of Nazis and other imagery. It’s not clear why certain businesses received the mail or where it came from. It’s also unknown how many businesses received the packages and if the material is all the same. […] WAND reached out to the Decatur Police Department who told us they have not received any reports.

* BND | Metro-east apartment owner accused of ignoring tenants, defaulting mortgage: Polk and other Greystone tenants say their complaints about leaks, mold, crime and multiple summers without adequate air conditioning have gone largely unanswered — even as the property went into receivership this year during a foreclosure proceeding. Owner Moshe “Mark” Silber, a real estate investor from New York, is accused of defaulting on the mortgage and is currently serving a federal prison sentence for his part in a loan fraud scheme. He couldn’t be reached for comment through his attorneys.

* WGLT | After DOJ inquiry, McLean County election authorities explain how voter rolls are updated: The DOJ included a list of 32 counties it said reported they did not send out confirmation notices in the most recent Election Assistance Commission’s Election Administration and Voting Survey [EAVS]. Confirmation notices are part of maintaining voter registration lists. McLean County was on that list, though county clerk Kathy Michael said that is incorrect, and she hopes her office can be removed from the list next week. “We are awaiting their phone call so that we can indicate to them that we indeed do our purge, as it’s called, every two years, mandated to clean and maintain the voter rolls. So we want to clear that up right away,” said Michael.

* WSIL | SIU begins residence hall demolition on the former greek row: A lot of alumni celebrated the bittersweet moment. Sandra Beebe, a longtime resident of Carbondale, recalls many of the enjoyable times she had at SIU. She says she is excited for what’s to come. “I think the changes will be great. We need to get this back into a productive area because it’s a beautiful part of our campus,” Beebe said. Chancellor Austin Lane says once the area is cleared, a new proposed housing development called the Saluki Village is expected to fill that space for future Salukis.

* Illinois TImes | Adventure awaits at the Illinois State Fair: “Adventure Awaits” is the theme of the 2025 Illinois State Fair, and that adventure this year includes a few new wrinkles such as a pickleball tournament, craft beer contest and the return of the Budweiser Clydesdales. But it all starts on Thursday, Aug. 7, with the Twilight Parade, and this year’s grand marshal is the American Business Club of Springfield, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.

* WICS | Fair officials complete final ride inspections ahead of Illinois State Fair opening day: This work includes safety inspections for all the fair rides and attractions. Officials told me they check every single bolt and screw attached to each ride. The Illinois State Fair has more than 50 rides and attractions and inspectors started their inspections last week.

* Journal Courier | Illinois, Du Quoin state fairs offering free camping night at state parks with coupon: Those who stop by Conservation World and visit the “Illinois State Parks: A Century of Fun” tent at the Illinois State Fair and at the Illinois Department of Natural Resources exhibit in the Expo Building at the Du Quoin State Fair, will get a coupon for a free night’s camping stay at any IDNR site with the purchase of at least one night of camping.

*** National ***

* WaPo | These nuclear reactors fit on a flatbed truck. How safe are they?: At least a half dozen companies are racing to develop tiny reactors, which bear no resemblance to the hulking power projects dotting riverbanks and coastlines across the United States, with their cooling towers and massive concrete containment structures. The flatbed-size reactors are designed to generate as little as a single megawatt of power — roughly one-thousandth the amount of a large legacy unit. It’s enough to power 1,000 homes, a single manufacturing plant or even a remote island owned by a billionaire (one company claims it has received such an inquiry).