* ICYMI: Illinois lawmakers have mixed results in efforts to rein in AI. Tribune…

- AI-related bills introduced during the spring legislative session covered areas including education, health care, insurance and elections. Supporters say the measures are intended to address potential threats to public safety or personal privacy and to counter any deceitful actions facilitated by AI, while not hindering innovation.
- Although several of those measures failed to come to a vote, the Democratic-controlled General Assembly is only six months into its two-year term and all of the legislation remains in play.
- Last week, the states got a reprieve from the federal government after a provision aimed at preventing states from regulating AI was removed from the massive, Trump-backed tax breaks bill that he signed into law.

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Tribune | Supreme Court ruling means ‘harder work’ for Illinois and others fighting Trump administration actions: At this point, no one knows the full implications of last week’s decision, said Carolyn Shapiro, former Illinois solicitor general. In the decision, the Supreme Court said lower courts generally can’t issue an injunction to prevent the federal government — or any defendant — “from doing an illegal thing to people who aren’t in front of the court,” Shapiro said.

* WAND | IL EATS program ends, cuts access to local produce and meats: For more than a year, the Illinois Equitable Access Towards Sustainable Systems (IL EATS) connected local farmers with their neighbors in need. Farmers would sell their products to food banks and be reimbursed by the federal government. When the funding ran out earlier this year, the Illinois government stepped in to fill the gap. However, that funding ended July 1, 2025, so now the IL EATS program is done.

*** Statewide ***

* Tribune | President Donald Trump promises clean water. His proposed budget guts needed protections: Clean water grants to states would be cut to $303.5 million, down from $2.76 billion set aside in President Joe Biden’s last budget. Illinois’ share would dip to $11 million, compared with $105.5 million this year. States loan the money to cities and towns at low interest rates, enabling communities to spread out the cost of critical government services people take for granted, such as replacing leaky street mains, maintaining treatment plants and rehabbing water towers.

* Tribune | Illinois nursing homes ranked among the worst in the nation; residents call for action: And a Tribune search of records kept by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services showed Illinois has some 250 homes with a quality rating of just one star out of five. To be sure, more than six dozen of the roughly 1,200 long-term care facilities in the state have earned all five stars. But advocates like Payne say that at too many nursing homes, profits are prioritized over care. “They all operate on the same business model,” Payne said. “That’s getting as much money out of each facility as possible.”

* IPM News | Students in Illinois will be automatically admitted to colleges under a new law. Eastern Illinois University is already trying the strategy out: Direct admission has been successful at Eastern, according to Tierney. “It’s still early this year, but we’re projecting our third year of enrollment growth within the areas that we are completing direct admission.” Like half of the state’s universities, Eastern experienced overall decline in freshmen enrollment last year. Tierney said direct admission is one way to stabilize that.

* WGLT | Midwest states east of ‘tornado alley’ are bearing the brunt of severe storm season: “We have had quite an active season altogether, when we’re looking at the United States as a whole,” said Jana Houser, an associate professor in the atmospheric sciences program at The Ohio State University. The national tornado count is just above where it was at this time last year, which was a particularly high tornado year overall. Since 2010, 2025 is the second-most active year up to this time, with 1,297 tornadoes reported as of the end of June.

*** Statehouse News ***

* WGLT | State Rep. Dennis Tipsword seeks reelection: “Democrats in Illinois continue to raise taxes, increase the cost of living, empower criminals, and protect their own power — all of which drive our families and businesses out of state,” Tipsword said in a news release. “I’m running for re-election because we need someone who fights back.”, the chief deputy of the Woodford County Sheriff’s Office and a small business owner, was lead sponsor on 10 bills in the last legislative session, many of them law enforcement-related, including one that calls for members of the Illinois General Assembly to participate in an annual law enforcement education program. None was called for a vote.

* WCIS | Sangamon County Sheriff anticipates Pritzker to enact Sonya Massey Bill: As Sonya Massey’s death anniversary is just days away, that bill is still sitting on Governor Pritzker’s desk. As community members wait for Governor Pritzker’s decision, the Sangamon County Sheriff, Paula Crouch, said she is in full support of the bill. Crouch said a lot of the changes Senator Turner is asking for, have already been implemented into their background check processes.

* Quad-City Times | Rock Island state senator explains vote against budget: Sen. Mike Halpin, D-Rock Island, broke with his party and voted against the state’s fiscal year 2026 budget. In a sit-down interview with the Dispatch-Argus/Quad-City Times, Halpin discussed the 2025 spring session, saying he voted no on the budget due to it failing to address the needs for the Quad-Cities region and higher education. Specifically, he said, for Western Illinois University-Quad Cities. However, he said the budget had many good aspects that he supported.

*** Chicago ***

* Sun-Times | CPS struggling to cobble together retroactive teacher raises promised in contract: Chicago Public Schools is so cash-strapped that its new interim CEO and board president are scrambling to find a way to send out back pay owed to teachers and staff that was negotiated in the Chicago Teachers Union contract, which was settled in March. The CTU won 4% raises plus additional salary increases for experience and advanced degrees. Because the old contract expired last June, the raises cover a whole school year and will cost the district more than $100 million. Teachers and staff are expecting CPS to deliver that retroactive pay this summer. “The district has every intention of satisfying the obligation and will continue to work feverishly to do so,” said Chicago Board of Education President Sean Harden. “Any delay should not be taken as we are not going to pay. We have an absolute commitment.”

* Sun-Times | Fatal lifeguard shooting at Douglass Park was ‘years in the making’: Ald. Monique Scott (24th) and her brother, ex-Ald. Michael Scott, both of whom served as Douglass Park supervisors, feared a tragedy like the June 26 shooting death of a teen, allegedly by a lifeguard, would happen because they say the park district has too few lifeguards, too little staff training and inadequate park security.

* Tribune | Supreme Court ruling casts doubt on birthright citizenship for immigrant families in Chicago: The 6-3 high court decision doesn’t directly address whether birthright citizenship, which is spelled out in the 14th Amendment, applies to the children of immigrants. But the ruling has opened the possibility that President Donald Trump can fulfill the executive order he signed on his first day in office of his second term and block U.S.-born children of immigrants from obtaining citizenship in most of the country — although not, for now, Illinois — until courts decide whether Trump’s efforts are constitutional. The ruling has spurred a scramble among immigrants, activists and legal experts who worry that well-established rules for citizenship could suddenly change. While immigration law is notoriously complex and can change rapidly, one bright line has remained constant for more than a century: People born in the United States are considered citizens.

* Sun-Times | Chicago doc was called out of retirement to fight COVID-19, now state pension fund demands he repay $80,000: But the lead UIC researcher who enlisted him lamented that Ghassemi could be paid only a part-time salary so his state pension would remain intact. “I said, ‘Don’t worry. The people are dying right and left. We should not talk about the compensation,’ ” Ghassemi says. Eventually, Ghassemi was bumped to full-time pay but only after getting assurances from UIC and the State Universities Retirement System that his grant-funded work wouldn’t threaten his pension, according to Ghassemi. But now the state pension system has accused Ghassemi of double-dipping — and it’s demanding that he pay back more than $80,000.

* Crain’s | Hospital air conditioning failures put pressure on for-profit owner: With temperatures poised to soar into the 90s this long holiday weekend, Weiss Memorial Hospital in Uptown remains without air conditioning for inpatient services, while its sister hospital in Oak Park is experiencing its own issues. And the company that bought the struggling Medicaid-dependent hospitals in 2022 has given few updates on when Weiss may return to normal operation or the status of conditions at West Suburban Medical Center.

* WTTW | ‘I Need to Know the Truth’: Krystal Rivera’s Family Calls for Additional Investigation After Officer Fatally Shot by Partner: The family’s attorney, Antonio Romanucci, on Wednesday criticized the Chicago Police Department’s narrative of the incident thus far, saying something “isn’t right” about Rivera’s death. […] Rivera’s family called for a separate investigation into the shooting led by the Illinois State Police and sought to pressure Chicago police officials to publish the not-yet-available body and dash camera footage from the fatal shooting. […] Prosecutors said Rivera’s partner then “accidentally discharged” his firearm, striking and killing Rivera. No other shots were fired during the encounter. Romanucci on Wednesday argued that Baker shouldn’t have even been with the police department at all, as the Chicago Sun-Times and the Illinois Answers Project reported he racked up three suspensions and two reprimands since becoming an officer in 2021.

* Sun-Times | Mayor mum on NASCAR’s future in Chicago: Mayor Brandon Johnson dodged direct questions along pit row Sunday afternoon about whether the NASCAR Chicago Street Race returns for another lap next year, while Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) said Chicago needs a deal that benefits both parties. When asked if he or his administration would be meeting with NASCAR to discuss a future extension, Johnson deflected to talk about the weather, a topic of concern for many race attendees this weekend. “Right now, we’re just going to talk with God and make sure we keep the clouds back. That’s the most important conversation right now,” Johnson said. “When I get done praying, and the weather holds up, then we’ll have a conversation afterward.”

* Tribune | Rains hold off until after NASCAR race but outcome is the same as Shane van Gisbergen wins again: Shane van Gisbergen of New Zealand swept the Chicago Street Race weekend, winning his fourth of six eligible races. “I’m a lucky guy, I got to drive for two great teams in JR Motorsports and Trackhouse,” Van Gisbergen said. “Cool to win here again, I’ve had a great run with this place and I’ve really enjoyed it. “(Chicago) has changed my life. I hope it stays next year,” he said.

* Tribune | As the WNBA expands, Chicago Sky players are looking ahead to new CBA after rejecting the league’s 1st offer: Expansion has been a primary goal of the WNBA for years. But initial responses to the three new teams around the league were mixed. Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham drew particular ire after saying she didn’t “know how excited people are to be going to Detroit or (Cleveland)” for games. Sky forward Angel Reese and Williams voiced more enthusiasm for the incoming teams, noting the rich history of women’s basketball in Detroit and Cleveland and the passionate sports fandom of Philadelphia. But their excitement for the league’s growth was tempered by the reality of the ongoing CBA negotiations.

* Block Club | Damen Silos To Be Demolished After City Approves Permits, Ending Preservation Battle: The city’s Department of Buildings on Thursday issued the demolition permits for the Damen Silos, 2900 S. Damen Ave., records show. Demolition is set to begin after the Fourth of July weekend, Ald. Julia Ramirez (12th) said on Facebook. The five demolition permits — one for each building on the site — were approved less than a week after city officials outlined a safety and environmental plan for the silos’ removal. That plan was criticized by some Southwest Side neighbors at a community meeting, with neighbors highlighting environmental concerns and calling for the site to be preserved and redeveloped into a public amenity, possibly as a festival grounds.

* WBEZ| Why most Chicagoans once moved on a single Moving Day: “Why everyone would want to move on one day in the calendar year is baffling,” said Paul Durica, the Chicago History Museum’s director of exhibitions. “And almost every [contemporaneous account] acknowledges that. It’s, like, ‘Why have we adopted this system? It’s not at all efficient. It’s overwhelming. It’s chaotic.’ ” Yet, from at least 1840 to the late 1940s, that’s what Chicagoans did, usually on May 1 but also on Oct. 1. The late Chicago historian Perry Duis estimated that, at one point, a third of the population changed residences annually.

* Sun-Times | Bobby Jenks, legendary White Sox closer and 2005 World Series hero, dies at 44: Bobby Jenks, the closer adored by White Sox fans for his everyman attitude and a blazing fastball that helped seal the team’s only World Series title in the last century, has died at 44, the team announced Saturday. Jenks died Friday in Portugal, where he had been undergoing treatment for adenocarcinoma, a form of stomach cancer.

* Jay Mariotti | Bobby Jenks had no money and died - where were the Chicago White Sox: Jenks? I contacted White Sox Charities via e-mail and asked: Did Jerry Reinsdorf visit Jenks in Portugal? Did he offer money? I haven’t heard back and won’t hear back. There is no use in calling team communications staffers, who bleed what Reinsdorf says, true or not. The Athletic — unlike the Tribune, unlike the Sun-Times, unlike traditionalists in a sad media town — was the only Chicago site to cover the Jenks story in detail. The franchise fathers, after initially posting a message on Instagram — “thinking of Bobby as he is being treated” — indicated they were “standing with you, Bobby.” But in April, reporter Sam Blum wrote: “(S)pecifics on his condition, even for the White Sox organization, haven’t been easy to come by.” Not easy to come by? Then Blum wrote the Sox asked concerned humans to buy Jenks shirts via an event, with the Ronald McDonald House in the Chicago area. The team said Jenks would choose a charity for “proceeds.” That happened in April.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Catching up with the congressionals…

First IL9 finance report to come in is Kat Abughazaleh - with some pretty impressive fundraising in Q2

Campaign says about 700 donors are from the district , 3,000 from the state and the rest out of state - 22,000 total donors

Her total fundraising nears $1 as we await others pic.twitter.com/GcNkATyrht

— Matthew Eadie (@mattheweadie22) July 2, 2025

* Press Release | Biss For Congress Announces Quarterly Fundraising Total of More Than $700,000: The Daniel Biss for Congress campaign announced it raised more than $700,000 in the second quarter of 2025, the highest quarterly fundraising total to date for any candidate running in the Illinois 9th Congressional District primary. The campaign ended the quarter with more than $640,000 in cash on hand, putting Biss in a strong financial position as the race unfolds.

* Daily Southtown | More than $1 million spent in Orland Park, Tinley Park mayoral campaigns: When he ran for a full term as Orland Park’s village clerk in 1991, James Dodge figures he spent about $3,000. Flash forward to this past spring’s mayoral election. In the months leading up to the April 1 election, Dodge and his political committees shelled out nearly $190,000, according to state campaign finance reports. He defeated Keith Pekau, who was seeking a third term and running with his own slate of candidates. Pekau, through two election committees, spent almost twice as much as Dodge, campaign filings for the first quarter show.

* Rep. Bob Morgan | What patriotism means to me three years after the Highland Park mass shooting: Last year, I co-founded Legislators for Safer Communities (SAFER), a coalition of state lawmakers from all 50 states who are committed to advancing commonsense gun laws. We come from red states, blue states and everything in between, but we are united by a simple idea: No American should have to fear getting shot while shopping for groceries, going to school, sitting in a house of worship or attending a Fourth of July parade. State by state, we are advancing policies proven to reduce gun violence: universal background checks, safe storage laws, domestic violence firearm restrictions, and, yes, limits on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. We are also pushing for stronger protections for public officials and election workers because a democracy in which people are afraid to serve is not a democracy at all.

* Daily Herald | ‘We’re not seeing much of a letup:’ REAL ID stampede cuts into access to other services: A suburban reader told us it took days to secure an in-person DMV appointment at a convenient location for vision and written tests to renew his license. He finally found one shortly before his license expired by jumping on the SOS website at 6:30 a.m. One important takeaway is to start the scheduling process soon after you receive your renewal notice so there’s no last-minute panic. Asked if the demand for REAL ID has cut into regular driver services, secretary of state spokesman Scott Burnham said, “yes.”

* Daily Herald | ‘It’s just getting out of control’: More towns restricting kids from electric bikes and scooters: After neighboring Elk Grove Village and Schaumburg approved sets of new rules last month, residents in Arlington Heights complained to village leaders this week about children riding up and down darkened streets, paths around Lake Arlington and even the downtown Arlington Alfresco pedestrian area. “It’s just getting out of control,” said Mindy Bowes, who lives a block north of the 50-acre man-made Lake Arlington. “These kids don’t wear helmets. They don’t stop at stop signs. They don’t stop at the lights either. It’s just getting very dangerous.”

* Daily Herald | ‘A rare gem’? This Chain O’ Lakes island is no paradise, but it can be yours for $200,000: While the rectangular piece of land is only about 100 yards from Blarney Island, a legendary hot spot and self-proclaimed “Greatest Boating Bar in the World,” it may as well be light-years away. What structures remain are dilapidated. Its seawall needs repairs. Aside from two fires, there reportedly has been no regular activity on the island in at least 25 years.

*** Downstate ***

* WAND | CWLP opens enrollment in ‘Helping Homes’ program for low-income homeowners: The Springfield City Water, Light and Power’s Energy Services Office will open enrollment in its “Helping Homes” program beginning July 15. The program helps low-income homeowners reduce their energy costs by installing new energy-saving retrofits in their homes. The retrofits can include insulation, central air conditioner or heat pump replacement, caulking and weather-stripping, lighting upgrades and other energy-saving measures

* Illinois Times | Chelsey Farley tells her story: Chelsey Farley burst into tears while speaking with a reporter almost 10 months after a motorcycle she was riding on collided with a car driven by a recently retired Springfield police officer. […] She blamed her recent injury on former police sergeant Michael Egan because of the lasting impact the crash has had on her ability to be steady on her feet. “This is still him,” she said, looking down at her leg.

* WCIA | U of I researchers aim to help farmers by improving production, irrigation: Mohamad Alipour, an assistant civil engineering professor at the University of Illinois, joined WCIA’s Amanda Brennan in the studio to talk about a research project which is using drones to help farmers. Alipour said the team is developing ways to monitor soil and crop moisture with drones; the drones use a sensor that allow them to see through the plant and into the soil.

* ESPN | Brian Campbell wins John Deere Classic for 2nd playoff victory: Brian Campbell won for the second time this year on the PGA Tour, both in a playoff, when he closed with a 4-under 67 and beat Emiliano Grillo with a par on the first extra hole Sunday in the John Deere Classic. It extended the win-or-bust season for Campbell, who won the Mexico Open in a playoff in late February. He has finished out of the top 30 every tournament except for his two victories.

* WGLT | B-N tourism group gets state grant for Route 66 renovations at Sprague’s in Normal: The Bloomington-Normal Area Convention and Visitors Bureau [CVB] has received a $150,000 state tourism grant to further restore Sprague’s Super Service in Normal ahead of Route 66’s 100th anniversary next year. It’s among a total of $6.3 million from three grant programs announced this week by Gov. JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity [DCEO].

* Illinois Times | Innovate Springfield moving to Horace Mann building: A rental contract, finalized between UIS and Horace Mann in recent days, will allow Innovate Springfield to relocate from rented space it has occupied for the past decade at 15 S. Old State Capitol Plaza to more spacious digs at Horace Mann in September. The 2.5-year lease for 9,800 square feet inside the six-floor Horace Mann building also will allow UIS to formally launch the innovation center, of which the Innovate Springfield business incubator will be a part, according to Robert Kerr, UIS executive director of innovation and opportunity.

* WGEM | Over 100 pool players from across the country take a shot at championship titles this week in Quincy: The competition started on Sunday morning. This is the third year the Billiard Congress of America and Greater Midwest Pool Players Association have hosted a tournament at the Oakley-Lindsay Center. Players from across the nation will compete for a place in the world championships in September. Organizers said this year, over 100 juniors are competing this week.

*** National ***

* Bolts | How the GOP Megabill Would Turbocharge Local Immigration Enforcement: The bill would massively scale up immigration detention facilities to the tune of $45 billion over five years, help recruit thousands of new Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, and devote $47 billion to building a border wall, more than three times what the first Trump administration spent on the wall, plus billions more for conducting operations at the border—all on top of funds that Congress has already appropriated to ICE and other federal agencies. And it would rain money—at least $14 billion—on local law enforcement departments to incentivize them to partner with federal authorities and serve as a force multiplier for ICE.

* Novogradac | Senate Finance Committee Releases FY 2025 Budget Reconciliation Bill that Includes Permanent LIHTC Expansion, Novogradac Estimates 1.22 Million Additional Affordable Rental Homes over 2026-2035: The SFC portion of the reconciliation bill includes two permanent LIHTC provisions effective starting in 2026: A reduction in the 50% financed-by test for housing financed by private activity bonds (PABs) to 25%, and a permanent 12% increase (not 12.5% as in the four-year provision of the House-passed reconciliation bill) in 9% low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) allocations. The congressional Joint Committee on Taxation scored these LIHTC provisions as costing $15.7 billion over 2026-2035, only $1.6 billion more than the four-year House LIHTC provisions.

* Brennan Center | Online Ad Spending in 2024 Election Totaled at Least $1.9 Billion: There were partisan differences, too: While both sides of the aisle spent on efforts to persuade voters, spending in favor of Democrats was more likely to have fundraising as a goal, and spending in favor of Republicans was more likely to include get-out-the-vote efforts. Additionally, pro-Democratic spenders put a somewhat greater portion of ad money toward contrasting their party’s candidates with their opponents compared with pro-Republican spenders, who spent more on simply promoting their own candidates.

* WIRED | Meteorologists Say the National Weather Service Did Its Job in Texas: Some local and state officials have said that insufficient forecasts from the National Weather Service caught the region off guard. That claim has been amplified by pundits across social media, who say that cuts to the NWS and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, its parent organization, inevitably led to the failure in Texas. But meteorologists who spoke to WIRED say that the NWS accurately predicted the risk of flooding in Texas and could not have foreseen the extreme severity of the storm. What’s more, they say that what the NWS did forecast this week underscores the need to sustain funding to the crucial agency.

* AP | Texas officials face scrutiny over response to catastrophic and deadly flooding: The National Weather Service sent out a series of flash flood warnings in the early hours Friday before issuing flash flood emergencies — a rare alert notifying of imminent danger. Local officials have insisted that no one saw the flood potential coming and have defended their actions. “There’s going to be a lot of finger-pointing, a lot of second-guessing and Monday morning quarterbacking,” said Republican U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, whose district includes Kerr County. “There’s a lot of people saying ‘why’ and ‘how,’ and I understand that.”