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Isabel’s afternoon roundup
Tuesday, May 26, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller * Fox 23 Now…
* Shaw Local | State Sen. Patrick Joyce launches annual book club for students on break: “It can be easy for young students to drift away from reading when the school year ends,” Joyce said. “Reading over the summer helps students stay in a routine that can last for the rest of their lives.” The Summer Book Club requires students to read eight books of their choice during summer break, record the book names on a form, and return the form to Joyce’s district office by Friday, Aug. 21. Participants who complete the reading will receive a certificate and an invite to a pizza party, according to a news release. * WBEZ | On Vatican trip, Mayor Johnson will laud Pope Leo for his pushback against Trump’s ‘godforsaken’ policies: The delegation headed to Rome includes business leaders, Johnson’s deputy mayor for economic development, his sustainability officer, advisor Jason Lee, top council ally Jason Ervin (28th), as well as non-Catholic faith leaders to represent Chicago’s religious diversity. That includes Rabbi Lizzi Heydemann of Mishkan Chicago in Ravenswood, who said she will give the pope a White Sox kippah, a traditional Jewish head covering that represents “the respect for the divine.” * Tribune | Chicago Teachers Union members vote down proposed dues increase: It’s unclear how the vote will affect the union’s financial picture. Dues account for nearly 90% of CTU’s revenue, which is expected to exceed $40 million this fiscal year. Without the change, the union is facing a $4.2 million deficit, according to the April documents. A union spokesperson declined to comment on the shortfall. Meanwhile, fundraising is heating up in the race for Chicago’s first fully elected school board. CTU was the top spender in the 2024 election, which largely pitted the union against pro-school choice groups. The union has yet to endorse or make contributions to candidates this election cycle. * Sun-Times | ‘I don’t feel like I’m a major-leaguer’: Rikuu Nishida humble despite successful debut with White Sox: The 25-year-old native of Osaka, Japan, had a lot to be happy about. The Sox had just promoted him from Triple-A Charlotte to make his major-league debut at Rate Field, batting ninth and playing right field in the same lineup with countryman Munetaka Murakami. Nishida, who understands and speaks English but still had an interpreter at his side, giggled his way through a pregame interview session with reporters in the dugout. “I’m really, really happy, excited, but really nervous at the same time,” Nishida said through the interpreter. “I still can’t believe it’s true right now, so [there are] a lot of butterflies inside me. * Block Club | Chicago Toasts To Schlitz As Bars Serve Up Their Last Kegs Of The Truly Midwestern Beer: Neighbors have flocked to at least two of those former tied houses — Schubas Tavern in Lakeview and Friends of Friends in West Town — to get one last draft of Schlitz before the kegs run dry. Friends of Friends, 2001 W. Grand Ave., even held a “Schlitz funeral” Monday, where patrons could snag 86-cent Schlitz drafts during happy hour. “We’re selling the Schlitz for 86 cents because 86 means ‘We’re out of it, it’s done,’ in restaurant lingo,” Friends of Friends co-owner Abe Vucekovich said. “So we wanted a way for Chicagoans to say goodbye to such an important beer, and when better to do that than on Memorial Day?” * WBEZ | Chicago’s Lyric Opera receives $20 million gift from Illinois-based Negaunee Foundation: Half of the gift to Lyric will be used to support the company’s education program, which will be renamed for Negaunee. Lyric says it will expand its in-school and family programming and work more closely with Merit School of Music. The funds will also support a recently announced collaboration with the Music Institute of Chicago. Mangum said in a statement that engaging with young people is key to developing future opera audiences. * Tribune | ‘Broadview Six’ case in rare waters as defense says US attorney had ‘personal contact’ with grand jury: Over the weekend, MacArthur said, the office requested a litigation hold on “all records, emails, text messages, voice messages, documents and notes” related to the Broadview Six prosecution, including decisions about the disclosure and redaction of grand jury transcripts. That evidence could be crucial to potential future hearings over alleged prosecutorial misconduct, including vindictive prosecution. Also Tuesday, MacArthur said prosecutors were not objecting to the public release of most of the grand jury transcripts in the case, with limited redactions to remove personal identification of any grand jurors and one limited section where a juror expressed personal opinions about the case. * Sun-Times | Grand jurors in tainted ‘Broadview 6′ case had contact with Chicago’s top federal prosecutor, defense says: Tuesday’s disclosure about Boutros’ potential contact with the grand jury came from Straw attorney Christopher Parente. He shared no additional details during the public portion of Tuesday’s hearing, though. A spokesman for Boutros’ office did not immediately comment. Boutros told Perry on Thursday he wasn’t aware of the alleged grand jury misconduct until late April. He later announced a review of grand jury presentations in other cases that could have been tainted similarly to the “Broadview Six” case. * Sun-Times | Attorney accusing ICE agent of suburban Chicago attack now pushing for felony charges: Robert Held, 68, told reporters he followed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Adam Saracco from the ICE facility in suburban Broadview on Dec. 27, then filmed as Saracco stopped for gas in Brookfield. Held said Saracco eventually started walking toward him and pushed him to the ground. Saracco appeared in court in Maywood earlier Tuesday for a status hearing in the misdemeanor battery case stemming from the incident. Held later told reporters that he now wants the Cook County state’s attorney’s office to upgrade the charge to a felony. * Greg Hinz | As mayoral field forms, Mendoza targets Johnson on TIFs: In a likely preview of a mayoral campaign soon to come, Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza is ripping Mayor Brandon Johnson’s use of a financial device that has been a hallmark of his fiscal management of the city. Mendoza’s target is Johnson’s increasing dependence on “surplus funds” in the city’s tax-increment financing accounts to balance the city’s budget. The practice began in a small way under former Mayor Rahm Emanuel and expanded some during the tenure of successor Lori Lightfoot, but has exploded under Johnson, with the city sweeping a record $1.01 billion from the TIF pot as part of the 2026 city budget. * Aurora Beacon-News | St. Charles City Council OKs $7.6 million bid for lead service line replacement work: In the wake of recently-approved utility rate hikes meant to pay for such improvements, the St. Charles City Council has given the green light for a $7.6 million lead service line replacement project in the city. The replacement of lead service lines is required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and must be completed within 10 years under a rule approved by former President Joe Biden’s administration meant to reduce lead in drinking water, a deadline that President Donald Trump’s administration recently indicated it is backing, according to the Associated Press. […] St. Charles’ lead service line replacements are expected to cost about $8.4 million annually, and must begin in 2026, officials have said. The city’s water utility has a little over 3,000 projected lead service lines connected to the community water supply distribution system, according to documents from the city. * Lake County News-Sun | Buffalo Grove ranked best place to live in Illinois: ‘Now everybody else in the country knows’: Buffalo Grove has been named the best place to live in Illinois, according to a U.S. News & World Report 2026-2027 ranking that also designated the village as the 15th best in the country. […] Village President Eric Smith said he “couldn’t be more excited” about the ranking, recalling a conversation he had with a journalist when he first became mayor. “What are your goals?” Smith recalled the reporter asking. “When people think of Buffalo Grove, I want them to want to come here. I want this to be the best place.” * Aurora Beacon-News | Aurora Farmers Market set to open for its 115th season: “We’ll have between 50 and 60 vendors each week,” Freitag said. “Some will come once a month, and others every other week. About a quarter will be rotating, while the rest will be there weekly.” Old favorites like Strawberries BBQ, Michigan’s Lopez Farms, Dick’s Mini-Donuts and Soulshine Farm will be back along with “at least 15 new vendors,” Freitag said. “Some of our new ones include some farms we’ve added based on surveys we’ve offered to patrons,” she said. “There’s been a request for more fresh local produce and we have a couple of farms including Microcosm Farm from Shabbona who have produce and sauerkrauts and kimchi which we’ve never had before.” * Muddy River News | No official word on suspended PE teachers, but QPS looking to fill positions in June: It’s been one year since Muddy River News reported that two Denman Elementary School physical education teachers who admitted to giving birthday spankings and taping students’ mouths shut were investigated by the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). Since then, the two teachers have been on paid administrative leave, the Quincy School District parted ways with Superintendent Todd Pettit and have had two interim superintendents. A new superintendent, Larry Gray, takes over July 1. The Quincy School Board had no updates last week on the status of the two teachers, Kim Kirby and Jen Oitker. They remain are under investigation by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) for their conduct. * WCIA | Forsyth officials share renovation plans for veterans memorial: Planned improvements include military branch monuments, enhanced walkways and gathering spaces, restored flagpoles, relocated engraved pavers, landscaping improvements, seating areas and more. “This project is about honoring service, preserving history, and creating a place where families, veterans, and visitors can gather in remembrance and gratitude,” Village Administrator Jill Applebee said in a news release. “We are excited to provide opportunities for individuals, families, organizations, and businesses to be part of this lasting tribute.” * WGLT | Midwest Punk Fest returns with a new home at Meltdown Creative Works: Plue said now was an ideal time to resuscitate Midwest Punk Fest, in large part, because he’s got a space of his own. “We moved the show every two years, just because of venue issues,” he said on WGLT’s Sound Ideas. “Either had to get bigger, or it just didn’t work out at a certain venue, or the venue was closed. We now have our own venue and can kind of control a little bit more of how it’s done.” * WCIA | Phoebe Bridgers announces surprise show in Champaign: Recently, Bridgers has been popping up in cities throughout the country for small, intimate concerts. Her shows are announced through posters shortly before tickets go on sale — on the day of the concert. Monday, posters showed that Bridgers would perform at The Orpheum in Champaign. * States Newsroom | Congressional Black Caucus calls for corporate leaders to speak out for voting rights: The CBC’s attempt to mobilize the business community comes as Black representation in Congress potentially faces its most severe threat since the end of Reconstruction following the Civil War. But some business leaders have taken a friendlier tone with President Donald Trump, who backs the gerrymandering. A U.S. Supreme Court decision in April, in a case called Louisiana v. Callais, sharply weakened the federal Voting Rights Act, which had blocked states from breaking apart majority-minority districts. It limited the use of race in redistricting, prompting several Southern states to advance new maps targeting these districts, which are mostly held by Black Democrats. * AP | South Carolina Senate rejects Trump’s call to redraw congressional map for midterm elections: As early in-person voting began Tuesday in South Carolina’s primaries, the state Senate rejected a Republican plan to cancel those congressional votes and instead schedule a new primary under revised districts designed to help the GOP oust a longtime Democrat. Some senators said it was simply too late to make a change. “South Carolina citizens are going to the polls today. And neither my conscience or common sense is going to let me stop an election that is already underway,” Republican state Sen. Richard Cash said. * Business Insider | Uber’s COO says it’s getting harder to justify the money spent on AI tokenmaxxing: He said that the trade-off costs from AI are harder to justify because he can’t draw a direct link. Earlier this month, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in an earnings call that Uber was slowing hiring to counter its investments in AI. Macdonald added that AI can seem free if you’re “just a user sitting there coming up with interesting use cases” without paying for it. But ultimately, the company foots the bill. […] Duolingo, for instance, walked back its decision to include AI usage in performance reviews after employees asked whether they had to use AI for the sake of using it.
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Question of the day
Tuesday, May 26, 2026 - Posted by Rich Miller Currently, judicial records in Illinois are not subject to the state’s Freedom of Information Act. Given the courts’ wide-reaching jurisdiction in Illinois, the exemption substantially restricts the public’s ability to understand a wide range of issues. * From the synopsis…
The bill is still in the Assignments Committee. No witness slips have been filed. * The Question: Should the Illinois court system be subject to FOIA, with the restrictions noted above? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
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Pritzker says ’some sort of pause’ in automatic gas tax hike could be coming
Tuesday, May 26, 2026 - Posted by Rich Miller * Gov. JB Pritzker was asked today about his thoughts on the gas tax during this spring’s huge price spike…
Please pardon any transcription errors.
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Stratton Building locked down after ’suspicious device’ seen in parking lot
Tuesday, May 26, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller * An alert was sent at 11 this morning….
* The Secretary of State’s office…
* The lockdown was lifted around noon…
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Stop Rx Drug Deserts. Say No To HB 1443!
Tuesday, May 26, 2026 - Posted by Advertising Department [The following is a paid advertisement.] HB 1443 would create a state-appointed Prescription Drug Affordability Board with the authority to review and set upper payment limits on selected prescription drugs. While well-intentioned, this misguided legislation risks harming patients’ community pharmacies without addressing the real drivers of health care costs. Allowing government appointees to intervene in decisions between patients and their physicians raises serious concerns. Moreover, despite being enacted in multiple states, these boards have failed to deliver meaningful savings. Instead, New Hampshire repealed their board late last year and Virginia’s governor recently vetoed PDAB bills, citing high costs and a lack of meaningful savings in other states. In Illinois, community pharmacies are essential to the communities they serve, providing access to critical medicines and treatments. If upper payment limits are set below pharmacies’ acquisition costs, pharmacists could be forced to dispense drugs at a loss or stop carrying certain drugs altogether. This puts patient access at risk, especially those who depend on nearby, trusted community-based pharmacies. Illinois’ health care system is already incredibly fragile. HB 1443 advances policy with no record of lowering costs for patients or supporting the sustainability of community pharmacies. Don’t force community pharmacies to choose between financial loss and patient access. We urge you to oppose HB 1443. Paid for by PharmaScript and the Greater Chicagoland Black Chamber of Commerce
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Catching up with the congressionals
Tuesday, May 26, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller * Sun-Times…
* Lindsay Church, a veteran who runs a nonprofit serving minority veterans, has dropped out of the race…
* Church has endorsed fellow Independent Mayra Macìas. Press release…
* Press release…
* More…
* Press release | Patty García Endorsed by Rep. Ro Khanna: “I’m proud to endorse Patty for IL-04 because she has stood with immigrant families facing detention and deportation, fought to keep housing affordable, and helped deliver resources to communities that have been overlooked for far too long,” said Rep. Ro Khanna. Rep. Khanna is a leading progressive voice on removing dark money from politics, holding Big Tech accountable, and reducing costs like housing and healthcare for working Americans. He has also worked across ideological lines with lawmakers like Thomas Massie on issues including congressional war powers and government transparency, including efforts to push for the release of records related to Jeffrey Epstein.
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It’s Time To Bring Safer Rides To Illinois
Tuesday, May 26, 2026 - Posted by Advertising Department [The following is a paid advertisement.] Waymo is ready to bring safe, reliable, autonomous rides to Illinois – but we need your help! Waymo is already mapping Chicago’s unique streets and traffic patterns to lay the groundwork for operations. Never tired or distracted, Waymo provides hundreds of thousands of fully autonomous rides every week across ten major U.S. cities, from Los Angeles to Atlanta — from multi-lane expressways to dense city streets, including the demands of winter weather. The data shows Waymo’s autonomous vehicles are involved in thirteen times fewer injury-causing collisions compared to humans (as of 3/20/26, see waymo.com/safety). Let’s bring safer rides to Illinois. 
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It’s just a bill (Updated)
Tuesday, May 26, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller * Press release…
…Adding… Chief Executive Officer of Illinois REALTORS Jeff Baker…
* Crain’s…
* CBS Chicago…
* Rep. Nicole Grasse…
* WAND…
* Sen. Sara Feigenholtz…
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Illinois Positioned To Become A National Leader On AI Safety
Tuesday, May 26, 2026 - Posted by Advertising Department [The following is a paid advertisement.] California and New York have already moved forward with frontier AI safety and transparency laws. Illinois legislators are building on these “blue-state” models by establishing some of the strongest protections in the country to safeguard residents from the risks posed by the most powerful AI systems. As artificial intelligence continues to evolve, the need for clear standards around safety, transparency, incident reporting, and accountability becomes increasingly important. While a comprehensive federal framework for frontier AI oversight would be preferable, states have a critical role to play. Illinois, alongside California and New York, is helping shape an emerging national model for responsible AI governance. When major states align on policy, companies often adopt those standards nationwide. Illinois residents deserve confidence that advanced AI technologies are being developed responsibly. Illinois legislators are helping ensure the companies developing these systems operate with transparency, accountability, and meaningful oversight. We appreciate the Senate’s partnership on these issues during the final weeks of session. Paid for by Build American AI
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Pritzker doesn’t think progressive revenue ideas have a chance, but his cuts are provoking a backlash
Tuesday, May 26, 2026 - Posted by Rich Miller * My weekly syndicated newspaper column…
And as subscribers were told this morning, this push is coming from more than just the usual progressive suspects.
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340B Helps The Most Vulnerable Patients – Pass HB 2371 SA 2 For Your Constituents
Tuesday, May 26, 2026 - Posted by Advertising Department [The following is a paid advertisement.] Thanks to 340B, last year nearly 1,000 uninsured patients at Sinai Chicago were able to access needed medications they wouldn’t have otherwise been able to afford. The health system serves Chicago’s west and southwest sides, where the rates of chronic disease are high and many patients receive charity care. “For safety net hospitals like ours, 340B is really about access,” said Mount Sinai Hospital President Sameer Shah, PharmD. “It helps keep clinics open, maintain pharmacy access and ensure patients stay on their medications.” At Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago—where 60% of the patients come from low-income families covered by Medicaid—infants with rare neuromuscular disorders can access gene therapies otherwise out of reach. Kristen Alianello, Lurie Children’s neuromuscular nurse coordinator, said: “The 340B program is so important, especially in our organization and with our patient population of spinal muscular atrophy,” 340B hospitals and Federally Qualified Health Centers across Illinois pass on drug discounts to patients and invest 340B savings into providing comprehensive healthcare services for low-income patients, including free health screenings, mobile clinics and new freestanding clinics, free transportation to medical appointments, expanded cancer care, diabetes self-management programs, and more. Stand with patients, hospitals and FQHCs: Pass House Bill 2371 SA 2 to protect 340B in Illinois. Learn more.
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Isabel’s morning briefing
Tuesday, May 26, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller * ICYMI: Chicago Teachers Union members vote down effort to raise union dues to pay for political campaigns. ABC Chicago…
- Among the campaigns is likely one for the CTU-backed candidate for Chicago Board of Education president, CTU political director Hilario Dominguez. - In a letter to members Saturday, the Union said 60 percent of members voted against moving forward with he proposal. Sponsored by PhRMA  * At 11 am, Gov. JB Pritzker will deliver remarks at the Champaign-Urbana Special Recreation Dedication. Click here to watch. * BlueRoomStream.com’s coverage of today’s press conferences and committee hearings can be found here. * Sun-Times | Chicago U.S. attorney says he’s reviewing other cases that might have been tainted like the ‘Broadview Six’: Finally, Oak Park village trustee Brian Straw — among those charged in the “Broadview Six” case — asked U.S. District Judge April Perry for an order preserving any emails, text messages or other communications relating to the grand jury proceedings in that prosecution. Straw’s attorneys, Christopher Parente and Damon Cheronis, wrote in a court filing that they’d “lost complete faith and confidence in [Chicago’s] U.S. Attorney’s Office to do the right thing on its own.” Parente also called on Durbin and U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth to investigate Boutros’ office. * CBS Chicago | Illinois data centers are using millions of gallons of residential water; experts say there are better alternatives: With the Chicago area situated next to the massive Lake Michigan, which contains over 1 quadrillion gallons of water, we can forget there isn’t an endless supply of water. And experts dealing with the impact of data centers used to train and power AI say we have to shift that thinking, because Chicago can’t keep up with the water needs we’re now seeing. “When it comes down to it, the water available for human uses from the lake are not limitless,” said Rachel Havrelock of The Freshwater Lab at University of Illinois Chicago. * Fox 2 Now | Illinois unemployment rate holds at 5.1% in April as jobless numbers rise: The Illinois Department of Employment Security reported the state’s unemployment rate held steady at 5.1% in April, the same as in March, based on figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That compares to a national unemployment rate of 4.3% for the same period, underscoring a gap between Illinois and the broader U.S. labor market. * Capitol News Illinois | Illinois grows millions of bushels of soybeans. Why aren’t we eating them?: But almost none of those millions of bushels end up as food on Illinois plates. According to the Illinois Soybean Association, 60% of soybeans grown in the state are exported; most of the remaining 40% are processed as animal feed, leaving the state reliant on imports for its soy food. “Ninety-five percent of food consumed in the state of Illinois is imported,” said Rep. Sonya Harper, D-Chicago, chair of the House Agriculture and Conservation Committee, speaking of Illinois food crops. “If there were any type of natural disaster, Illinois only has enough food that will last us for three days.” * NBC Chicago | Some tick bites can trigger a red meat allergy, cases reported in Illinois: The Illinois Department of Public Health recently highlighted AGS, also known as red meat allergy or tick bite meat allergy. The condition occurs after some tick bites, when the body becomes allergic to a molecule called alpha-gal - a sugar produced in the bodies of most mammals - but not in people. It can be transmitted through the saliva of some ticks. […] According to IDPH, AGS has been increasingly recognized across the country, and cases have been reported in Illinois, although a number hasn’t been provided. The condition is typically associated with the bite of lone star ticks, which are most often found in the South, East and Central parts of the country. * Crain’s | Pritzker leans into economic development. Here’s how it’s going: From the start of Pritzker’s tenure through last year, including the pandemic decline and recovery, the number of jobs in Illinois rose 0.9% to an average of 6.16 million, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Among 10 neighboring and peer states, only Iowa had lower job growth at 0.4%. Kentucky led the way at 5.3%. Things improved during Pritzker’s second term, with jobs growing 2%. Although Illinois still has the second-lowest score, the gap narrowed. Last year, as growth decelerated nationwide, Illinois was firmly in the middle of the pack with 1.6% growth. * Sun-Times | Benefits of Bears’ megaproject bill ‘murky’ at best for Illinois taxpayers: Cook County treasurer analysis: Pappas’ report evaluates the bill that passed the Illinois House last month but will need major changes to have any hope of passing the Illinois Senate before the spring legislative session concludes. Lawmakers have until midnight Sunday to get a bill to the end zone. Researchers from the treasurer’s office looked broadly at the megaprojects concept that Gov. JB Pritzker has long championed outside the context of the Bears’ stadium saga. Dozens of other states have such laws in place that allow companies to negotiate discounted payments in lieu of taxes (PILOT) instead of their full property tax bills to local taxing bodies, as long as they’re investing in massive developments. * Capitol News Illinois | Report shows how much Bears could pay in Arlington Heights property taxes: Under the proposal in Springfield, if the assessed value of the land is frozen, the team would be on the hook for a $4 million tax bill. If they negotiate a $10 million payment in lieu of taxes, or PILOT, the team would pay $14 million annually. That would equal a $39 million annual property tax break, or $1.5 billion over the 40-year lifespan of the megaproject. * NBC Chicago | Arlington Heights mayor: Bears stadium deal could be decided in the final hours: Sunday is the last day of the spring legislative session in Springfield, so they have under a week to pass the bill that could keep the Bears in Illinois. “I’m very optimistic. I believe that it’s going to happen. I think that our governor and legislators in Springfield are working really hard to make it happen,” said Mayor Jim Tinaglia. “I’d like to make sure we get it done. And so, if it takes till 11:59 p.m., that’s what it takes. I’m good with that.” * The White Sox Caucus will be meeting tonight at DH Brown’s…  * Sun-Times | Dr. Olusimbo Ige out as Chicago health chief: A source familiar with the matter confirmed Friday that Johnson had asked for Ige’s resignation, which is effective immediately. […] Ige is a public health expert — trained in medicine in Nigeria, where she grew up, and not licensed to practice in the U.S. Before taking the Chicago job, she worked for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Before that, she served as an assistant commissioner at New York City’s health department. * Crain’s | Chicago delays tipped wage phaseout after restaurant pushback: Chicago’s plan to phase out the sub-minimum wage for tipped workers will be delayed by two years under a compromise approved today by the City Council, handing restaurants a longer runway to adjust to higher labor costs and dealing a setback to one of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s signature labor victories. The agreement extends the city’s original five-year timeline for eliminating the tipped wage credit to seven years, while giving smaller restaurants employing fewer than 21 workers even more time to comply. * Tribune | Mayor Brandon Johnson to tout opposition to wars during Vatican trip, says Pope wants to keep Bears in Chicago: Johnson is heading to Rome this week with a delegation from World Business Chicago, or WBC, the first time in a decade that the pope has hosted a Chicago mayor. During his lunch at the popular South Side soul food restaurant on Sunday, Johnson said he will use his meeting, scheduled for Thursday, to discuss their shared condemnation of “endless illegal wars” as well as the mayor’s executive orders during President Donald Trump’s second term. * Tribune | Chicago bike lane construction sparks pushback, fuels political fights: And the small, relentless Southwest Side fight is over more than just that construction project. It’s the latest front in a citywide political divide over the future of transportation and safety. To the pro-bike lane faction, the concrete bump outs and bus-boarding islands added to the busy street mean safety for cyclists, kids heading to school and even drivers. “People don’t bike on Archer because it was so dangerous,” said Alfredo Valladares Jr., who founded the group Gage Park Cyclists. “Everybody needs to have a fair opportunity to be safe.” * Crain’s | Judge restores Chicago-area listings to Zillow — for now: Two days ago, Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED) cut its data feed to Zillow because of a dispute over private and pre-market listings. Zillow prohibits listings going on its site if they’ve been shown in limited-exposure settings like private listings, but MRED and nationwide brokerage Compass have been advocating for keeping some listings private. Unable to bring Zillow around, MRED stopped putting new listings on Zillow and said Zillow couldn’t keep MRED existing listings on its site or Trulia, which Zillow owns. * Sun-Times | City program to rehab more than 30 properties on the South and West sides is back: More rehabbed homes will soon follow as part of Rebuild Chicago 2.0, an expansion of the city’s Rebuild program that targets abandoned homes to give them a second life. The program identifies homes that can be acquired, rehabbed and sold to create homeownership opportunities on the South and West sides, which have experienced disinvestment. The program is focused on Roseland and Englewood, and it will support the rehab of 33 homes. Another home is being rehabbed about four blocks away from the Yale Avenue property. * WGN | Calumet City lays off 46 workers due to ‘profound fiscal challenges’: According to [ Calumet City Mayor Thaddeus Jones], Calumet City is struggling to meet the demands of high health insurance costs, late Cook County property tax revenues and an “unsustainable” backlog of city bills to vendors. This all ads up to a multimillion-dollar budget shortfall for the rest of the year. “Our revenues are flat and there was zero growth in revenue last year. Our plan is to decrease costs of city operations and look at options to generate revenue potential revenue enhancements,” the mayor said in the release. “We have a structural problem that we will solve. City government needed to be downsized with more services going online and cuts to agencies through consolidation. We will be steadfast in our quest to overcome this challenge and achieve our fiscal goals all while continuing to perform our government operations in a spirit of excellence.” * Sun-Times | Closing of Oak Park’s West Suburban Medical Center has triggered a legal battle among its owners: Lawyers for Prasad and Patlola have been arguing before Stanton about the financial details of Resilience Healthcare. Both sides have agreed to have recently retired Judge Patrick Sherlock review years of bank records for several accounts tied to Resilience Healthcare and the hospitals. Once Sherlock has turned over what he finds to Stanton, closing arguments are expected May 29. * Daily Herald | West suburbs could see five more freight trains a day if rail merger passes: Seven municipalities crossed by freight and UP West Metra trains have retained legal experts specializing in railway law for “the collective safeguarding of our communities’ interests,” Winfield Village Manager Evan Summers said. The coalition comprises Berkeley, Elmhurst, Lombard, Glen Ellyn, Wheaton, Winfield and Geneva. “It doesn’t mean we’re fighting it; it just means we want to share costs and concerns and monitor (events) to make sure that concerns are addressed,” Elmhurst Mayor Scott Levin said. “It’s a good intergovernmental setup that keeps the costs fairly minimal for each of the participants.” * Aurora Beacon-News | Indian Prairie D204 predicting $4.9 million budget deficit for 2027, but a balanced budget in future years: The district’s Chief School Business Official Matt Shipley gave a presentation May 18 to the board, during which he shared that the district is looking at a one-time, nearly $5 million budget deficit next year that’s expected to balance out over the years to follow. At the meeting, Shipley emphasized the importance of the district having “a sustainable budget over a significant period of time,” meaning it is looking three to five years in the future and “not looking to play games or to try and balance one year of a budget over another.” * Aurora Beacon-News | One month before opening day, work is finishing up at new Hollywood Casino Aurora: The $360 million project — located along Farnsworth Avenue and Bilter Road, across the street from Chicago Premium Outlets mall and near the Interstate 88 interchange — has been under construction since 2023. The new casino, hotel and related restaurants are planned to open on June 24, replacing the longtime riverboat Hollywood Casino in downtown Aurora. * Capitol City Now | Despite one problem being solved, more issues persist for owner of Springfield downtown Wyndham: “The ownership group filed for bankruptcy,” said Michelle Ownbey, Springfield Business Journal Executive Editor, on the WTAX Morning Newswatch. “Tower Capital, which is one of the business entities Al Rajabi owns, reported business revenue of just over $6 million in 2024, and then only $1.6 million a year later after the Wyndham closed in March at the very beginning of 2025, and no business revenue so far for this year.” Ownbey reports Al Rajabi’s business efforts have worked before, but not in Springfield, apparently. “His specialty was sort of buying these distressed hotels, flipping hotels, and he had done that in some other communities,” said Ownbey. “Perhaps, for a variety of reasons, the one here did not pan out the way he had expected.” * WTVO | Aquin Catholic Academy in Freeport to close May 29 after enrollment decline: The decision follows months of review by a special task force and comes after years of declining enrollment and financial challenges at the school. Bishop David Malloy accepted the recommendation to close the school after receiving input from Freeport-area pastors, families, and community members. […] Aquin has faced shrinking enrollment for years, mirroring broader demographic shifts in the Freeport area. According to the Diocese, just 39 students were enrolled in kindergarten through eighth grade during the 2025–2026 school year, with fewer than half identifying as Catholic. * BND | Historic Belleville farm being transformed into mental health treatment center: The nonprofit will take a giant step this summer, when it moves from an O’Fallon office building to a historic 7.65-acre farm, across from Belleville West High School. “We were born in Belleville, and we’re returning to Belleville,” said Kevin Smith’s wife, Emily, who serves as executive director. “So we’ve come full circle, and this will be our forever home.” This project is separate from a planned $30 million business and sports complex with flexible tenant spaces and an indoor soccer field that’s planned for 30 acres of farmland to the east. * Springfield Business Journal | New life for former Sangamo Club?: Local developer Corky Joyner of Joyner Construction has the 29,000-square-foot building at 227 E. Adams St. under contract with tentative plans to redevelop it into apartments. However, Joyner is awaiting bids for remediating hazardous materials in the building and wants to have a cost estimate for the remediation before closing on the property. He said he is hoping to be able to make a final decision within the coming weeks. While Joyner remains open to different options for the building, he said residential development is at the top of the list. “Everything is still on the table at this point, but our initial desire is to do residential there,” he said. He estimates the building could house between 20 and 40 residential units. * WGLT | Pesticide drift near Morton school prompts calls for prior notification from farmers: Vandenberg said parents later got an email telling them to have their kids take a shower because of the risk for pesticide drift. She added that is when she found an Illinois bill seeks to address her situation.Illinois lawmakers want to address this problem by requiring farmers to notify schools and parks 72 hours before applying pesticides to allow parents decide how to best keep their kid safe. * WCIA | Danville pharmacy increases delivery prices due to gas prices: Polyclinic said it’s the only pharmacy with a delivery service in Vermilion County, bringing medications to eight different communities. Sometimes, workers deliver to up to 50 patients a day. Now, their patients will pay a little extra for their prescriptions. […] The pharmacy recently took to social media to tell patients that the pharmacy is increasing delivery prices by $2 as a result of rising gas prices. * ProPublica | Trump’s Justice Department Dropped 23,000 Criminal Investigations in Shift to Immigration: The cases included an investigation into a Virginia nursing home with a recent record of patient abuse; probes of fraud involving several New Jersey labor unions, including one opened after a top official of a national union was accused of embezzlement; and an investigation into a cryptocurrency company suspected of cheating investors. In total, the DOJ quietly closed more than 23,000 criminal cases in the first six months of President Donald Trump’s administration, abandoning hundreds of investigations into terrorism, white-collar crime, drugs and other offenses as it shifted resources to pursue immigration cases, according to an analysis by ProPublica. * NBC | Fake ICE agents terrorize immigrants amid Trump’s crackdown: Although neither the federal government nor local authorities publish specific records of people impersonating immigration agents, an analysis by Noticias Telemundo, based on court records, police reports and news articles, suggests that the number of such crimes has increased over the past year. Our investigation documented at least 31 cases in 2025 alone — a sharp increase compared to an average of 5.3 incidents per year in the previous decade. Overall, we identified 84 instances of impostors posing as immigration agents between 2014 and 2025. * Religion News Service | Inside the unlikely Vatican-Anthropic relationship that’s reshaping the AI ethics debate: Ties between the Vatican and AI companies can be traced back to roughly 2016. According to a 2022 interview Green conducted with Bishop Paul Tighe, who serves as secretary of the Pontifical Council for Culture, it was around a decade ago when the first series of conversations were held in Rome between church officials and tech leaders. Known as the “Minerva Dialogues,” the conversations included several powerful Silicon Valley figures, such as former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, while other tech executives, such as Sam Altman of OpenAI and Demis Hassabis, who directs Google’s DeepMind AI project, held private audiences with Francis.
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Good morning!
Tuesday, May 26, 2026 - Posted by Rich Miller * Norah Jones… All I ask is please If you don’t like that, well, then I can’t help you. Nobody can. * What’s up this week?
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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Supplement to today’s edition
Tuesday, May 26, 2026 - Posted by Rich Miller
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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today’s edition of Capitol Fax (use all CAPS in password)
Tuesday, May 26, 2026 - Posted by Rich Miller
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Selected press releases (Live updates)
Tuesday, May 26, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller
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Reader comments closed for the holiday weekend
Friday, May 22, 2026 - Posted by Rich Miller * The House and Senate will return late Monday afternoon, so we will maybe do a little something that day. To be determined, but they won’t be doing much. I hope you have a relaxing weekend. Here’s Rhiannon Giddens and Justin Robinson…
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Isabel’s afternoon roundup
Friday, May 22, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller * WTTW…
* Capitol News Illinois | 10 provisions in the latest Illinois cannabis omnibus bill: Identical bills have been introduced in the House and Senate, though neither has been assigned to a substantive committee. It’s unclear if they will move before lawmakers adjourn May 31. […] “Rumors of the demise of House-Senate collaboration have been greatly exaggerated,” said Rep. Will Guzzardi, D-Chicago, in a statement. “I’m proud of the partnership that’s gone into drafting this bill, and I’m proud of the end product — legislation that will help keep our cannabis industry among the most vibrant and diverse in the nation.” * WCIA | Illinois farmers weigh in on bill updating farm wagon regulations: Wednesday night, WCIA reported on a new bill that would allow heavier farm wagons to still qualify for exemptions — allowing them to drive on the road. The previous regulations have been in place since the 1970s, and one farmer in Central Illinois said he’s glad they’re catching up with new technology. * Tribune | What’s behind the push to make the Italian beef Illinois’ official sandwich? Thank ‘The Bear.’: Despite its deep roots and existing legendary status, over the last few years, Mr. Beef has become the city’s most famous Italian beef purveyor thanks to its prominent feature in “The Bear,” an FX show that follows a fine dining chef who returns to his family’s Italian beef stand. So when House lawmakers downstate passed a bill to designate the sturdy yet soggy Italian beef the official state sandwich of Illinois, Zucchero’s brain had to be picked. “Did they ask the other counties in the state?” Zucchero asked the Tribune over the phone. He was 70 miles south of the Canadian border in Minnesota, where he lives when he’s not in Chicago. “I think it’s great that Italian beef is getting recognized, but does it just represent the city of Chicago, which has a tendency to overshadow the whole state of Illinois? There’s still 101 other counties,” he laughed. “I think I would feel better if I knew that every county got to vote.” * Illinois Answers Project | After Chicago Cop was Shot, Frantic Search for Car Keys Delayed Care, Newly Obtained Video Shows: In an interview with COPA months after the shooting, Baker said he carried Rivera down the first floor of the building, laying her against a wall and giving the keys to his squad car to another cop. […] One newly released video shows an officer crossed the street behind Baker’s SUV and walked down a fenced-in sidewalk that leads to the steel front door of the apartment building[…] During that window, officers spent just over a minute shouting for keys and for officers and others to move their cars. Baker later told investigators he had the keys. […] Once the SUV carrying Rivera got on the road, it caught fire on the way to the hospital. Radio traffic shows a dispatcher asked about the car fire and that an officer responded about a minute later that another squad car was needed to carry Rivera to the hospital. * Tribune | Hundreds attend funeral services for Chicago firefighter Steven Decker: Decker was a fire engineer with CFD, according to city human resources data. He had spent nearly 30 years on the job and was assigned to Engine 71 in the West Ridge neighborhood, fire officials said. “Steve gave everything in service to the people of Chicago and his courage and sacrifice will never be forgotten,” CFD Commissioner Annette Nance-Holt said in a statement. “Our deepest condolences go out to the Decker family, fellow firefighters and paramedics and all who cherished him.” * Sun-Times | Bears coaches have a simple message to QB Caleb Williams this offseason: ‘Do less’: The Bears aren’t trying to turn Williams into Goff. The clockwork precision and timing of Goff’s game, though, reflects Johnson and Barrett’s deeply rooted belief of what efficient, winning quarterback play should be. They want more of that in Williams’ game as he grows. That starts with completion percentage and Johnson’s insistence that Williams is at 70%. Not only did he fail to reach that number in any single game last season, but he finished last in the league at 58.1% overall. That sunk his yards per pass to 6.9 and his passer rating to 90.1, whereas Goff completed 68%, averaged 7.9 yards per pass and registered a 105.5 passer rating. * Block Club | Atelier, Lincoln Square’s Michelin-Starred Restaurant, Has Closed: Owner Tim Lacey, himself an acclaimed bartender and Lincoln Square resident for over 20 years, announced the closure in a note posted to the restaurant’s website and social media. It’s not clear when the last day of service was at Atelier, 4544 N. Western Ave. Lacey didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment Friday. “It pains me tremendously to say this but, we’ve had to close Atelier. This was not a decision made lightly, but due to financial issues closing was our only option,” reads the note signed “Tim.” * Crain’s | Neighbors say Northwestern University lets empty houses deteriorate: Six of the 14 houses are unoccupied: four on Colfax and one each on Noyes and Haven. The house on Haven has holes in the eaves and on the porch roof that are visible from the sidewalk. One house on Colfax has a work permit in the window whose date is 2016. The concrete steps on the house are crumbling, the cast-off bits of stone scattered around. “We don’t want this to become a demolition-by-neglect scenario,” said Clare Kelly, the Evanston City Council member whose ward the houses are in. She believes all six houses have been vacant for at least five years. Some appear from a sidewalk view to be in good order, though no details are available on their interiors. * Daily Herald | Judge rules South Barrington Park District’s land sale to religious group was improper: * Beacon-News | Indian Prairie D204 board OKs new support staff contract and raises for administrative, non-union employees: The Indian Prairie School District 204 board has OK’d raises for administrative and non-union employees for next school year, and formally approved a four-year contract for support staff, which includes pay hikes in the coming years. First, the school board approved, as part of the consent agenda at its meeting May 18, 3.9% pay hikes for some of its employees for the 2026-27 school year, according to district documents. The hikes are meant to be in line with the Consumer Price Index, or CPI, per the district. * Press release | Gov. Pritzker Announces Des Plaines River Bridges Replacement on I-80: The new $164 million Des Plaines River bridges are the centerpieces and most complex elements of the overall I-80 improvements, currently IDOT’s largest active project. Originally built in the 1960s, the existing bridges will be replaced with two wider, concrete structures 300 feet to the north. The new bridges are expected to be completed in 2028, with the old bridges demolished in 2029. * Pioneer Press | Oak Brook mayor lauds response to ‘anxious and rowdy’ crowd amid Swatch release at mall: But according to Oak Brook village President Larry Herman, it would have been impossible for Oakbrook Center management to plan for this. “This release was unannounced to the mall management and our police department,” he said. “I commend our police department for an immediate and orderly response to de-escalate the crowd that had gathered for a limited Swatch timepiece. The actions taken by the officers on duty, and officers from nearby departments that assisted, ensured there were no injuries from a crowd that was becoming increasingly anxious and rowdy.” * Aurora Beacon-News | Kane County Cougars’ bus set on fire in Canada, police say: Upon police arriving, two teenagers were taken into custody in connection with the incident, the Winnipeg police said. Investigators from its major crimes unit believe the fire was deliberately set, police said, and one of the teenagers — a 15-year-old girl — is facing charges of arson causing damage to property and possession of incendiary material. She has since been released and turned over to a responsible adult, the Winnipeg police said on Thursday. […] The team ultimately came back to defeat the Goldeyes 12-5 later in the day on Thursday. * Illinois Times | Sangamon County wrestles with land use issues: The Zoning and Land Use Committee also did not take any action on a recent proposal by District 7 board member Craig Hall, who represents the area where the Double Black Diamond Solar Farm opened last year and where the CyrusOne project is slated to be built. Hall’s proposal would attempt to circumvent the state’s latest laws that prevent local governments from having stricter authority on zoning for renewable energy projects. A 2023 law specifically “requires counties to allow commercial, utility-scale solar and wind energy conversion systems to be sited in areas zoned for agricultural or industrial use,” according to a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign fact page. “A county can have more lax requirements than called for in state law, but it cannot have more restrictive requirements,” though no mention of rezoning land so its not sited for agricultural or industrial use is outlined. * WCIA | Over 100 people at public hearing in Decatur for proposed power plant: If the construction permit is approved, the facility would contain piping to transport carbon dioxide from the carbon capture plant to ADM’s nearby existing sequestration wells. That’s what many people there on Thursday were focusing on. Illinois People’s Action Group was well represented at the hearing. One of their big fears is carbon escaping from the sequestration wells and carbon going into Lake Decatur. “If we are not heard by the EPA, and they don’t want to protect us, and accidents do happen, and they will eventually, it could totally destroy this community,” said Verlyn Rosenberger, an IL People’s Action Group leader. “There could be absolutely no Decatur and no outlying areas that also rely on their wells, their farm ponds, their farm animals, the wildlife. It’s all going to be affected. Nobody is going to escape.” * IPM Newsroom | Yankee Ridge students head to Sola Gratia Farm for the last time this spring – with the program’s future uncertain: “Best strawberries I’ve ever had,” said fourth grader Hanna Sanmartin Hernandez. “I usually don’t like strawberries, but these are too good. I can’t stop eating them. I’m trying to save some for my family and I can’t do it.” The students visit the non-profit, urban farm every Friday after school to learn about plants, get their hands dirty and breathe the outside air. […] But when the Trump administration restarted the program in the fall of 2025, the recipients of the cancelled grants applied alongside new applicants. There were over twice as many applicants for fewer grants that would each allocate more money – a change put in place by the U.S. Department of Agriculture with the relaunch of the program. * IPM News | Chancellor Charles Isbell reflects on his first year at U of I, looks ‘towards the future’: Isbell also noted that this academic year, the university admitted the highest number of freshmen in U of I’s history, a total of 9,207 new students. This brought total enrollment to the largest number in U of I’s history as well, reaching 60,848 students. U of I also had the highest number of students from Illinois more than any previous academic year. 6,587 freshmen students enrolled at the university are from Illinois, bringing the total of undergraduate Illinois residents to 27,978. * WCIA | Big Boy No. 4014 train coming to Springfield in July: The train is set to start its Eastern tour early next week, with a few stops in Illinois. The historic locomotive is set to stop and be available at the Amtrak Depot in Springfield on July 18 from 10:45-11:15 a.m. On this specific tour, Union Pacific’s Big Boy No. 4014 will be traversing parts of the country it hasn’t seen in more than 80 years. * CNBC | Consumer sentiment hits fresh record low in May as Iran war fuels inflation worries: “Consumer sentiment fell for the third straight month as supply disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz continue to boost gasoline prices. Sentiment is now just below the previous historical trough seen in June 2022,” Surveys of Consumers Director Joanne Hsu said in a statement. “Critically, consumers appear worried that inflation will increase and proliferate beyond fuel prices, even in the long run.” * NYT | Your Memorial Day Travel Forecast: Heavy Traffic and Pricey Gas: AAA predicts that a record 45 million people will travel from Thursday to Monday. Despite the continued pressures of rising gas prices, which are the highest they’ve been since the summer of 2022, most travelers — 87 percent — are likely to drive, AAA said. At the start of the week, the national average for regular unleaded gas was around $4.56 a gallon as of Thursday, according to AAA data. The price was $3.18 at the same time last year. * AP | Companies join a deep-sea mining rush after Trump executive order, as regulators fast-track permits: At least nine companies are in talks with the government for access to seabed minerals, according to an Associated Press review. Sections of the seafloor from American Samoa to Alaska could be auctioned for offshore mining this summer and through the fall. All the action suggests the U.S. may soon give the green light for companies to commercially mine the seabed — something that’s never been done in international waters.
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No Cuts. Increase Funding. Save Lives.
Friday, May 22, 2026 - Posted by Advertising Department [The following is a paid advertisement.] These hospitals are lifelines for Black and Brown communities, providing critical care, supporting local jobs, and stabilizing entire neighborhoods. After years of chronic underinvestment, many are already operating on the edge. Even small cuts could lead to closures, fewer services, and dangerous gaps in care. The message is urgent and clear: Illinois cannot balance its budget on the backs of vulnerable communities. Protecting these hospitals means more than preventing cuts, it means increasing investment so they can meet the growing needs of the people they serve. Fully fund and strengthen safety-net hospitals. Lives depend on it. Paid for by Association of Safety-Net Community Hospitals
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Today’s quotable
Friday, May 22, 2026 - Posted by Rich Miller * Tribune…
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Illinois GOP attacks Democrat ‘priority’ bill that hasn’t moved and is sponsored by a Republican
Friday, May 22, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller * The Illinois Republican Party last night…  * Except, it turns out that HB5769 was sponsored by Republican Rep. Dave Severin earlier this month and has never emerged from the House Rules Committee. So, according to the ILGOP, Springfield Democrats are now prioritizing bills filed by Republican lawmakers and then leaving them parked in Rules? Also, even it was a Democratic bill, this is the best attack they got with a week or so to go in the session? The ILGOP’s tweet was deleted around 11 o’clock this morning. I’ve reached out to the state party and I’ll let you know if they respond.
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It’s almost a law
Friday, May 22, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller * WAND…
* WGLT…
* Rep. Nicole La Ha…
* The Illinois Education Association…
* WCIA…
* Rep. Margaret DeLaRosa…
* Rep. Diane Blair-Sherlock…
* WCIA…
For more press releases on legislation and other matters, click here. * More… * Press release | Koehler measure to strengthen nursing home mental health reviews advances: House Bill 4509 would require the Illinois Department of Human Services or a designee to visit any individual admitted to a nursing home with a diagnosis of serious mental illness within 60 days of admission. It would also require a resident review within 72 hours when a resident with serious mental illness experiences a significant change in their physical or mental health. The legislation would also require IDHS to ensure there are no conflicts of interest among the employees administering pre-admission screenings. The goal is to give families the confidence that the residents are being evaluated fairly and appropriately. * Press release | Ellman bill aims to reduce food waste, expand student access to meals: Under current law, school districts participating in federal child nutrition programs must develop food-sharing plans as part of their local wellness policies. House Bill 4859 would clarify that share tables, already used in many schools, can fulfill this requirement, ensuring safe, equitable and efficient redistribution of unopened food items in accordance with guidance from the United States Department of Agriculture. Share tables are designated areas where students can place unopened, uneaten food items for others to take at no cost. * WAND | Bill requiring businesses to pay employees during jury duty sent to Pritzker’s desk: The bill would require businesses with more than 25 workers to pay their employees the regular pay rate during jury duty. Sponsors said this is an attempt to address the financial disincentives that exist for potential jurors to serve. Federal courts pay jurors $50 per day, but county courts provide a minimal rate for civic duty. * TSPR | A Naperville student is leading legislation to close CPR gender gaps: The bill was filed in February and assigned to the Education Policy committee. They quickly got feedback from the Illinois Principals Association that it needed amendments. “We pushed back the start date to a year later to give school some more time, and then we removed the ratio of male to female manikins, and we’re just saying you have to have at least one,” said Goldstein. It made the plan cheaper for school districts who’d have to buy additional manikins, or chest covers they can put on the male manikins they already have. * WAND | IL Senate passes bill increasing fine for drivers ignoring school bus safety arms: Although the school year is ending, safety around school buses is the focus of a proposal heading to Gov. JB Pritzker’s desk. The Illinois Senate unanimously passed a bill on Wednesday to increase fines for people driving around school buses using the extended stop arm. Drivers stopped by police for ignoring the safety arms are currently fined a minimum of $300 and have their driver’s license suspended for six months. Illinois school districts can also choose to install stop arm safety technology, but the fine for drivers is capped at $150. * Press release | Cervantes measure to change developmental disability centers’ administrator qualifications: In order to be an administrator, someone must have a license under the Nursing Home Administrators Licensing and Disciplinary Act, be qualified as an intellectual disabilities professional, completed four semesters of higher education with two years of management experience, or have two years of experience in a position with progressive health care responsibility. However, they would also need to be at least 21 years old. House Bill 4112 passed the Senate Thursday and now heads to the governor’s desk for further consideration.
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Dick Durbin has some explaining to do about why he hired Broadview 6 prosecutor (Updated)
Friday, May 22, 2026 - Posted by Rich Miller * Tribune…
From February 23rd…
Mecklenburg’s LinkedIn… The October indictment news release is here. * The case began to publicly wobble on February 5th…
* Back to yesterday’s Tribune story about the grand jury proceedings…
* From the judge’s comments during yesterday’s hearing…
Hat tip: Meredith Shiner, who pointed to Mecklenburg’s detail to Durbin’s committee staff with suspicion and disgust months ago. It’s doubtful that Durbin knew of the problems with this case when he brought Mecklenburg to his committee staff. But he had to have known that she was one of the lead prosecutors of the Broadview Six, all but one of whom were politically active Democrats. As Shiner wrote, “Dick Durbin is completely oblivious to current politics and thinks he’s operating in 1986 instead of 2026.” …Adding… The usual deflection…
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Isabel’s morning briefing
Friday, May 22, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller * Subscribers know more. ICYMI: Bears have ‘exhausted every opportunity to stay in Chicago’ despite mayor saying new meetings held. ABC Chicago…
- However, the NFL team put out a statement Thursday afternoon, saying “The Chicago Bears have exhausted every opportunity to stay in Chicago, which was our initial goal. There is not a viable site in the city. As a result, the only sites under consideration are in Arlington Heights and Hammond.” - The Bears issued another statement in response to the mayor’s office earlier Thursday, saying, “Any meetings between the City of Chicago and the Chicago Bears were limited to counsel-to-counsel engagement. There were no conversations with team management. Such exchanges are subject to heightened confidentiality and routinely encompass a wide range of matters related to the Chicago Bears’ tenancy at Soldier Field. * Related stories… Sponsored by American Innovators Network
* At 11 am, Gov. JB Pritzker will deliver remarks at the Des Plaines River Bridge event. Click here to watch. * BlueRoomStream.com’s coverage of today’s press conferences and committee hearings can be found here. * Capitol News Illinois | Lawmakers frustrated over delay in distribution of after-school program funds: The budget lawmakers passed last year included $35 million for ISBE to distribute for after-school programs, with $17 million of that earmarked for programs operated directly by schools and $18 million reserved for programs operated by outside organizations. […] ISBE said its delay in awarding funds this year was due to two factors: The last-minute increase in the amount of money lawmakers approved for the year, and an unexpectedly large number of appeals the agency received in response to its tentative award decisions. In an email, an ISBE spokesperson said the agency requested only $25 million for after-school programs and was prepared to issue a “Notice of Funding Opportunity,” or NOFO — an invitation for organizations to apply for grants — as soon as the budget was approved. * Aurora Beacon News | Phone scam caused Aurora to lose nearly $1.1 million from city bank accounts, officials say: Early findings of the investigation show that, on April 29, a city employee received a phone call from someone impersonating a bank representative, city officials said in the statement. “The caller used deceptive tactics to appear legitimate, establish trust, and create a false sense of urgency, ultimately prompting the employee to disclose sensitive account information,” the statement said. Aurora Mayor John Laesch called the incident a “very sophisticated cyber attack” when he spoke to The Beacon-News on Tuesday. When asked if disciplinary action had been brought against any employees because of what happened, he said that he couldn’t comment since the situation was still under investigation. * Capitol News Illinois | ‘We will be left out and left behind’: Senate GOP urges action on school choice bills: he demand follows a renewed wave of pressure for either Pritzker or the General Assembly to opt the state into the federal tax credit after New York recently became one of the latest states and the second Democratic-led state signaling its intent to do so. Senate Republican Leader John Curran, R-Downers Grove, said “time is of the essence” to opt into the program ahead of its Jan. 1, 2027 deadline. While any taxpayer throughout the country can take advantage of the tax credit, only students in states opted into the program can benefit from scholarships. According to Curran, delaying the decision means hindering the formation of scholarship granting organizations and losing willing taxpayers in Illinois, which would disadvantage the state in the competition for “free federal dollars. * Capitol City Now | All these years later, AIDS still a Black ‘epidemic’: The overrepresentation of Blacks in the AIDS community, said Simmons, “has nothing to do with us or our DNA or our health makeup. It’s all about health care systems that prioritize profit over people. It’s all about cultural incompatibility in terms of who’s offering health care and the folks like us who feel comfortable seeking out the health care, let alone whether we have Medicaid or health insurance to be able to get us in the door.” Simmons, the first openly LGBTQ senator in Illinois, is carrying a bill to try to resolve the funding disparities. * Center Square | House GOP pushes Pritzker for local control: Illinois House Republicans say Governor J.B. Pritzker’s housing proposals will give local control to state politicians, but the governor says decisions will still be made by local government units. The governor’s Building Up Illinois Developments plan consists of at least five bills aiming to address housing supply and affordability issues. State Rep. Jennifer Sanalitro, R-Hanover Park, said the plan would take zoning decisions away from local communities and move them to Springfield. * Tribune | Chicago Teachers Union political director running for school board president: In an interview with the Tribune, Domínguez said his focus as board president would be to insulate Chicago Public Schools from cuts and press state legislators for additional funding. Last week, the district unveiled school-level budgets with reduced teaching staff to close a $732 million deficit. “I’m not going to support balancing budgets through school closures or cuts to programs that students rely on,” Domínguez said. “My priority is simple: We protect our classrooms first, and we organize, organize, organize for the resources that our students are promised.” * Willie Wilson creates an exploratory for Chicago mayor…
* Sox Machine | Justin Ishbia’s path toward building a new White Sox ballpark: During a webinar presentation by the University of Illinois-Chicago Urban Transportation Center, Amtrak Director of Program Management Joe Shacter spoke out of school about plans Amtrak was preparing for the coming years. The thrust of the presentation was to highlight and draw excitement about the Chicago Hub Improvement Program (CHIP) progress in modernizing rail infrastructure. Instead, Shacter gave away Ishbia’s planned course in moving the Chicago White Sox to the South Loop. * ABC Chicago | Chicago beaches open Friday as Mayor Johnson, officials outline summer safety plan: “We will also have additional resources In our business areas, like the beaches, the lakefront, the downtown, our business corridors throughout the entire summer,” CPD Superintendent Larry Snelling said. This weekend, CPD cancelled days to ensure officers have a presence across the city. Community violence intervention groups are also planning to have expanded hours in neighborhoods. * Tribune | Chicago Tribune strikes 11th-hour deal to buy Daily Herald, outbidding suburban suitor: It took several full-page ads, an 11th-hour bid and ostensibly a premium price, but Tribune Publishing has swooped in and struck a deal to buy the employee-owned Daily Herald suburban newspaper. The board of Paddock Publications, which operates the Daily Herald, sent an email to employees Thursday afternoon announcing that an asset purchase agreement has been signed, with a scheduled June 22 closing date. Terms of the sale were not disclosed, but the board said it would send out an information packet to Daily Herald employees in the next few days detailing the offer. The employee stockholders of the 150-year-old, formerly family-owned newspaper will then vote on whether to approve the offer, according to the Paddock email, which was obtained by the Tribune. * Daily Herald | Why Arlington Heights Fire Department will start charging for repeated assist calls: The number of so-called lift assists — what fire department officials define as non-emergency service requests to move someone who hasn’t immediately suffered an injury or acute illness — has increased, and is directly affecting the department’s emergency operations, Fire Chief Lance Harris said. Call volume grew by 6% — from 483 lift assist requests in 2024 to 513 in 2025 — and numbers so far this year are on pace to be even higher, according to department statistics. One resident required lift assistance for 25 days in a row in February, and another called 30 times over several months, Harris said. * Tribune | Elk Grove Village mayor defends data centers at packed community hearing: “All you hear is negative, negative, negative; tonight you’re going to hear facts, facts, facts,” Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson said. “A lot of this negative stuff comes from Facebook.” The village now has 20 data centers, occupying about 4.5 million square feet and all located within the Elk Grove Village Business Park, a 66-million-square-foot industrial campus on the village’s eastern edge near O’Hare Airport, he said. Several more are under construction or in the planning stages. * Daily Herald | $175M cancer, neuroscience care facility proposed at Arlington Heights hospital: A $175 million expansion for cancer and neuroscience care has been proposed for Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights. The facility is planned for land between the existing hospital at 800 W. Central Road and Kirchoff Road, which is on the north side of the medical campus, according to documents filed with the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board by the hospital’s parent company, Endeavor Health. * ABC Chicago | Plans in works to turn horse farm in unincorp. Crete into campus for those on road to sobriety: Leu has been sober for two years. On the verge of a new beginning, his transformation is a success story the 2nd Story Ranch hopes to replicate. “Our goal is to help people reach long-term sobriety, and work is just the major dimension of your life that you have to get through to continually be successful,” said Jim O’Connor, managing director of the Second Story Foundation. […] “I’m a little older; I can’t work as physically, as fast and hard as everyone else. But I’m still valuable, and I’m still here. I’m still clean. I’m still sober; I’m still alive,” Williams said. * BND | Swansea votes to scrap crime-free housing program, citing unused provisions: “The village already has tools to hold rental property and all property to an acceptable standard, has code enforcement working at a rate that has been unseen for years prior and already maintains property maintenance and zoning standards, nuisance violations, and police interventions for criminal matters,” he said. “It sounds bad that crime-free housing is being repealed, but we already do it,” said Police Chief Matthew Blomberg. “We just don’t do it underneath all the red tape that is listed in the 10-page legislation that was passed in 2018. So everything that it’s asking to do, we can do.” * WGLT | Unit 5 parent sues over alleged harassment of a trans student at Chiddix Junior High: A Unit 5 parent is suing the school district for alleged discrimination of her child at Chiddix Junior High School in Normal. Angela Sutton claims her daughter was repeatedly harassed by other students because she is transgender. Court filings said Sutton raised concerns to administrators on multiple occasions about the harassment and was ignored. The suit alleges the district took no meaningful action after her child was physically attacked at school and that the harassment was preventable. * WCIA | ‘There are no words’: Central IL racing community reacts to loss of Kyle Busch: Racing fans across Central Illinois are reacting after NASCAR’s winningest driver, Kyle Bush, suddenly passed away after a “severe illness.” The 41-year-old shaped a generation of fans all around the country. “He didn’t leave anything on the table. He raced every single lap like it was the last one,” Brian Rieck, the Coles County Speedway owner, said. Rieck has always watched Busch race, and now has memories of Busch’s young son, Brexton, racing at the Mattoon track. He got second place in a recent junior sprint race. * NOTUS | How A Republican Amendment Destroyed Bipartisan Support for Women’s History Museum: The legislative push to establish a Smithsonian museum focused on women’s history had finally seemed to be gaining momentum — a rare bipartisan effort in a deeply polarized Congress. Then, Republican Rep. Mary Miller introduced an amendment in March that cost the bill all its Democratic support in Thursday’s House vote. Miller, from Illinois, added the amendment to the bill in the Committee on House Administration, denying the inclusion of transgender women in the museum and giving President Donald Trump the ability to choose an alternate location for the museum if he deems the chosen one unfit. The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino, which had moved in tandem with the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum since its authorization in 2020, was also left behind. * Giz Modo | Trump Admin Takes Equity Stake in IBM and Other Quantum Computing Companies: On Thursday, the Department of Commerce announced that it was investing more than $2 billion in nine quantum computing companies. In turn, it’ll receive “a minority, non-controlling equity stake” in each. […] Shortly after, Trump’s commerce chief Howard Lutnick announced a series of investments in companies that mine critical rare earth elements. One of those companies was a three-year-old startup called Vulcan Elements. Trump Jr.’s venture capital firm, 1789 Capital, also happens to be an investor in Vulcan Elements. Friends in high places, it seems.
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Good morning!
Friday, May 22, 2026 - Posted by Rich Miller The way that buck has shrunk Do you have the inflation blues?
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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Supplement to today’s edition
Friday, May 22, 2026 - Posted by Rich Miller
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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today’s edition of Capitol Fax (use all CAPS in password)
Friday, May 22, 2026 - Posted by Rich Miller
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Selected press releases (Live updates)
Friday, May 22, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller
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Live coverage
Friday, May 22, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller * Click here and/or here to follow breaking news on the website formally known as Twitter. Our Bluesky feed…
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Isabel’s afternoon roundup
Thursday, May 21, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller * The Senate has passed legislation to regulate AI companies…
* The Atlantic…
* IDES | Payroll Jobs Up, Unemployment Rate Stable in April: Total nonfarm payrolls increased over-the-month in April, up +11,400 (+0.2%) to 6,158,800. The March monthly change in payrolls was revised from the preliminary report, from +8,400 to +10,300. The April payroll jobs estimate and unemployment rate reflect activity for the week including the 12th. The industry sectors with the largest monthly payroll jobs increases included: Trade, Transportation and Utilities (+4,600), Leisure and Hospitality (+3,300), and Private Education and Health Services (+3,100). The sectors with over-the-month jobs decreases included: Professional and Business Services (-2,400), Financial Activities (-1,400), and Government (-200). * WSIL | Construction pauses on Illinois roads for holiday weekend: The Illinois Department of Transportation announced lanes closed for construction will reopen where possible for the Memorial Day weekend to minimize travel disruption. Non-emergency closures will be suspended from 3 p.m. Friday, May 22, to 11:59 p.m. Monday, May 25. Some lane closures will remain in place during the holiday weekend. Drivers can expect delays and should allow extra time for trips through these areas. * Injustice Watch | DHS placed a comedian on law enforcement’s radar. Illinois spread the word: The subject of the alert, known as a BOLO, was Ben Palmer, a Nashville-based stand-up comedian and prankster who created a parody anti-immigration tip website. His revealing videos of calls with members of the public who thought they were reporting immigrants to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have garnered millions of views on TikTok and YouTube. […] The BOLO, obtained by Injustice Watch through a public records request, was then shared by the Illinois State Police to a distribution list of state and local law enforcement agencies. It was not immediately clear how many other law enforcement departments around the US may also have shared the federal alert. * Capitol News Illinois | Mendoza wants lawmakers to restrict use of TIF funds: House Bill 4712 would prohibit distributing more than 5% of surplus funds from a TIF district to the local governments that levy property taxes in that area. The surplus funds would only be allowed to be distributed once every 10 years, rather than each year as current law allows. If a TIF district is extended beyond its 23-year expiration date, no surplus funds would be allowed to be distributed until it expires. * Press release | Guzmán pushes to disconnect adult education from federal rules: State Senator Graciela Guzmán’s bill to disconnect Illinois adult education funding from federal rules passed the Senate Thursday. “Adult education programs need to be seen as necessary, not optional,” said Guzmán (D-Chicago). “Education institutions continue to be pressured by the Trump administration and Illinois needs to stand up for its adult learners.” The measure comes as the Trump administration continues to threaten education funding and demand an unprecedented role in university admission, curriculum and operations. Without action from the state, federal threats to education programs under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act could limit Illinois residents’ access to higher education and key adult education programs. * WAND | ‘Whose side are you on?’: Rideshare drivers rally for change at IL State Capitol: Drivers called for the passage of the Illinois Transportation Network Driver Relations Act. The law would allow Uber and Lyft drivers to form a union and bargain with app-based companies for things like pay, insurance, paid leave and safety mandates. […] “Whose side are you on? Are you on the side of workers, or are you on the side of big tech and big corporations who are making millions of dollars off of those workers?” said Illinois Drivers Alliance Leader Genie Kastrup. * Capitol News Illinois | Illinois lawmakers considering ban on guns like Glocks: The House Gun Violence Prevention Committee voted 9-5 along party lines on Wednesday to pass House Bill 4471, which seeks to ban the sale of any semiautomatic pistol with a cruciform trigger bar in Illinois. Supporters say that design can be altered to install an already illegal switch, ultimately turning the pistol into a machine gun. John Weber, the Illinois director of the National Rifle Association, said banning that design would ban Glocks from being sold in Illinois. But like the state’s ban on assault weapons, it would not apply to people who currently own that type of gun. * Sun-Times | Amid power struggle with Brandon Johnson, CHA’s Matthew Brewer weighs running for mayor: Matthew Brewer, the Chicago Housing Authority’s operating chair who is embroiled in a power struggle with Mayor Brandon Johnson, is seriously considering entering the race for mayor. Three prominent business leaders who spoke on the condition of anonymity said Brewer has been meeting with influential members of Chicago’s business community for weeks in an attempt to sell himself as a difference-maker with a compelling personal story. That includes one-on-one meetings and appearances before the board of “One Future Illinois.” * Crain’s | Controversial Fulton Market high-rise project delayed after park plan hits snag: But sources close to the matter said the proposal was held in committee because Domus has not completed its purchase of a nearby parcel at 1240 W. Carroll Ave. for a park — a transaction its attorney told the committee had already occurred. The promise of privately funded, publicly accessible green space on that site is a key reason new 27th Ward Ald. Walter “Red” Burnett threw his support behind Domus’ project, which would break from the zoning rules that have governed Fulton Market development over the past decade. * Crain’s | Chicago quantum players share in $2B federal outlay: Two companies that plan to build quantum computers at the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park will receive $100 million each from the federal government. PsiQuantum, the anchor tenant of the research park being built on the former U.S. Steel South Works foundry along Lake Michigan, will receive funding to help build out several key technologies needed for its quantum computers, including higher-performance optical switches, high-temperature single-photon detectors and advanced-packaging approaches. * Block Club | Rogers Park Affordable Apartments, West Ridge Dispensary Approved By City Council: The City Council on Wednesday paved the way for a new affordable apartment complex in Rogers Park and a dispensary in West Ridge. The projects were approved during the council’s Wednesday meeting after getting greenlit earlier this month by the city’s Committee on Zoning, Landmarks and Building Standards. * Block Club | Good News For Gardeners: Native Plants On Parkways Can Grow To 36 Inches Under New City Rule: The City Council approved a rule change Wednesday that allows gardeners to grow native plants that are up to 36 inches tall on parkways. Previously, such plants could only be up to 10 inches high or gardeners risked being fined. The ordinance was introduced by Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd), who said he noticed that a change was needed while participating in the Sheffield Neighborhood Association’s annual garden walk. * Daily Herald | ‘I’ve been effectively silenced’: Two Batavia school board members abruptly resign: Raising concerns of being silenced and a lack of transparency, two Batavia Unit District 101 board members have abruptly resigned. Board members Danielle Sligar and Katy Swiecicki argued that district leaders have been unresponsive to parent and student concerns and have stifled their own attempts at facilitating meaningful change. Sligar and Swiecicki announced their resignations during Tuesday’s board meeting. * Daily Southtown | Will County Board votes 12-8 to approve sprawling Pride of the Prairie solar farm: Will County Board members closed the book Thursday on months of debate and approved Earthrise Energy’s plans for a 6,100-acre solar farm that will stretch across 45 miles in Green Garden, Wilton and Manhattan townships. The 12-8 vote approving the massive solar farm was split largely along party lines, with board member Mark Revis being the only Republican to vote for the project. Republican board member Raquel Mitchell was absent and board member David Oxley, also a Republican, excused himself from the vote, citing a conflict of interest. * Daily Herald | Drinks to go? Arlington Heights could allow patrons to sip and stroll this summer: Village officials could launch a pilot program in the coming months for a so-called “social district,” which would allow people to consume alcoholic beverages from participating and licensed establishments within the boundaries of the Arlington Alfresco outdoor dining zone. That would allow them to stroll up and down Vail Avenue and Campbell Street with a cocktail — so long as they don’t leave the designated Alfresco area with a roadie in hand. * Daily Southtown | Lemont competitive cheerleaders continue winning streak with world championship: Lemont High School has won a state-best eight first-place trophies in Illinois High School Association competition and brought home a state-record 16 top-3 trophies in all. Starting with the 2018 season, Old Quarry Middle School in Lemont won seven Illinois Elementary School Association state titles. Now add to that treasure trove of awards. Some of the athletes from those schools have participated for the USA Cheer National Youth All Girls Team and Youth Coed teams in the International Cheer Union’s World Championships in recent years. And they joined forces with athletes from all over the country to win at least one gold medal a year since 2019. * Daily Herald | Carvana expanding activity, jobs at ADESA wholesale auto auction site in Hoffman Estates: The company is already hiring for skilled, entry-level jobs that include comprehensive benefits and require no college degree. “Bringing IRC capabilities to ADESA Chicago strengthens the speed and efficiency of our national network while deepening our presence in the Midwest,” Brian Boyd, Carvana’s senior vice president of inventory said in a statement. “We’re proud to continue growing our local team while improving selection and delivery times for Chicago retail customers and expanding the capabilities we offer our wholesale partners across the region.” * KFVS | Community discusses potential data center coming to Grand Tower power plant site: We spoke with organizer Scott Allen, who shared why this discussion is so critical. “I wanna make sure that people understand that a lot of this is speculative at this point,” Allen said. “And there are things that we can do at the local level and at the state level to at least ensure that we get guardrails to make sure that all of us as utility consumers or community members are protected.” * NPR Illinois | UIS adds four electric vehicle charging ports in partnership with City Water, Light and Power: UIS’ first charging stations are in Lot I North near The Recreation and Athletic Center (TRAC) with four reserved parking spots. Each has a 240-volt Level 2 charger that delivers 25–35 miles of range per hour. Charging costs will be set by CWLP. “This partnership reflects UIS’ commitment to providing sustainable options that support our students, employees and visitors,” said UIS Chancellor Janet L. Gooch. “By working with CWLP and the City of Springfield, we are making it easier for our community to access cleaner transportation technology.” * IPM News | Contentious housing project in Urbana divides city council members, residents: City staff said the development’s proximity to the creek would present architectural challenges, but it could also support an expansion of a pedestrian pathway along the waterway. “This site is uniquely positioned to provide a catalyst for Boneyard Creek activation in downtown Urbana,” said Urbana Principal Planner Evan Alvarez. Residents filled the city council chambers as they came out to voice support or opposition to the project. Officials voted 3-to-2 for the proposal, with Mayor DeShawn Williams casting a tie-breaking vote for the plan to move forward. * WSIL | Zeigler firefighters find ‘pharaoh on fire’ while responding to illegal burn: The fire department was able to make light of the situation. They reminded residents that ancient Egyptian royalty cannot be burned in the city of Zeigler, backyard pyramids must meet city code and mummies are considered “extra dry, combustible materials.” Firefighters said “no citizens, camels or treasure chambers were harmed.” * NYT | Trump Administration Live Updates: Senate Republicans Balk at Trump’s Unusual $1.8 Billion Fund: Senate Republicans abruptly abandoned plans to take up a filibuster-proof bill on Thursday to fund President Trump’s immigration crackdown, a stunning turn demonstrating that members of his own party were not willing to risk politically toxic votes to advance the president’s personal agenda. Though senators had widely been expected to bring their legislation to the floor before a weeklong recess, as Mr. Trump had demanded, G.O.P. leaders were unable to overcome deep concerns within their own ranks around the president’s plan to use a federal fund to pay people who claim to have been politically persecuted. * AP | Trump calls off plan to sign artificial intelligence order due to concern it could hurt the industry: President Donald Trump called off plans to sign a new executive order on artificial intelligence hours before an expected White House ceremony Thursday because he said he was worried the measure could dull America’s edge on AI technology. Trump said he was postponing the Oval Office event with tech industry executives because he did not like what he saw in the order’s text. “We’re leading China, we’re leading everybody, and I don’t want to do anything that’s going to get in the way of that lead,” Trump told reporters.
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Judge: Sanctions against prosecutors possible after remaining Broadview Six charges dismissed (Updated)
Thursday, May 21, 2026 - Posted by Rich Miller * NBC 5…
* Tribune’s ace reporter…
* Sun-Times’ ace reporter…
* WTTW…
* Block Club Chicago…
Sure, Jan. *** UPDATE *** Holy moly…
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Trial judge’s ruling that FOID is unconstitutional struck down by state’s top court, but not on the merits
Thursday, May 21, 2026 - Posted by Rich Miller * Illinois Supreme Court opinion in Malik Cedrick Bright v. Jeffrey Yenchko in his official
* The trial judge overreached and the Supremes made that clear…
The “no opinion on the merits” and mootness issue should prevent this from being overturned by the US Supreme Court.
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Intoxicating hemp regulation emerges
Thursday, May 21, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller * Subscribers know more. Press release…
* Co-founder of Cubbington’s Cabinet Jeremy Dedic…
Thoughts?
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Illinois Positioned To Become A National Leader On AI Safety
Thursday, May 21, 2026 - Posted by Advertising Department [The following is a paid advertisement.] California and New York have already moved forward with frontier AI safety and transparency laws. Illinois legislators are building on these “blue-state” models by establishing some of the strongest protections in the country to safeguard residents from the risks posed by the most powerful AI systems. As artificial intelligence continues to evolve, the need for clear standards around safety, transparency, incident reporting, and accountability becomes increasingly important. While a comprehensive federal framework for frontier AI oversight would be preferable, states have a critical role to play. Illinois, alongside California and New York, is helping shape an emerging national model for responsible AI governance. When major states align on policy, companies often adopt those standards nationwide. Illinois residents deserve confidence that advanced AI technologies are being developed responsibly. Illinois legislators are helping ensure the companies developing these systems operate with transparency, accountability, and meaningful oversight. We appreciate the Senate’s partnership on these issues during the final weeks of session. Paid for by Build American AI
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It’s almost a law
Thursday, May 21, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller
In a statement, Gov. JB Pritzker said he will sign HB228…
Economic Security Illinois Action…
* Attorney General Kwame Raoul…
* Equality Illinois, Planned Parenthood Great Rivers Action and Planned Parenthood Illinois…
* Sen. Laura Ellman…
* The Illinois Coalition of Immigrant and Refugee Rights…
* Sen. Rachel Ventura…
* Sen. Dave Koehler…
* Sen. Linda Holmes…
* Rep. Margaret DeLaRosa…
For more press releases on legislation and other matters, click here. * More… * WAND | IL Senate passes bill expanding LIHEAP eligibility, sends plan to Pritzker: House Bill 4456 passed out of the Senate on a 42-17 vote. It previously received a 74-37 vote in the House. “Utility companies already go to ratepayers to recover their costs,” said Rep. Laura Faver Dias (D-Grayslake). “There is an argument to be made that if people are having their utilities shut off, the utility companies are already going to the ICC for those ratepayer increases to help cover those costs. This makes it a stable, predictable amount for everyday people on their bill.” * Press release | Villivalam advances measure expanding transparency on utility rates: To expand transparency, House Bill 4514 would require the ICC to hold a public hearing when any gas, electric, water or sewer utility requests that the commission increase their rates. Further, the ICC would be required to notify ratepayers when a public utility requests a rate increase within 14 days of the public hearing – ensuring residents have ample notification to attend a hearing. * Press release | Loughran Cappel measure to provide consistent pay for injured or sick first responders: In 2023, there were 10.1 firefighter injuries in Illinois per 1,000 fires, and there were 48,000 Illinois police officers injuries or illnesses in 2023. Aware that many of these workers depend on their salary and do not always have enough money saved to help them through their non-working time, Loughran Cappel is leading House Bill 4491 to ensure these local heroes receive the recognition they are due. The legislation would require public employers to maintain first responders’ base salary if they suffer an injury or illness while in the line of duty that renders them unable to do their jobs. This would include taxes, union dues, pension contributions and insurance premiums. However, the first responder would still have to pay taxes on the money if it is part of their adjusted gross income. * Press release | Castro advances measure to expand postpartum home visiting programs: Castro’s measure would build on current state support by authorizing the Illinois Department of Human Services to develop and oversee a statewide, voluntary, no-cost newborn home visiting program that would aid with existing and future short-term universal newborn home visiting services, from lactation support to health screenings. Through House Bill 4606, the department would be empowered to establish evidence-based service models, coordinate funding and data efforts, and collaborate with stakeholders to expand services for newborns and their families. * Press release | Ortíz-backed Bill Addressing Issues with Digital Coupons Passes Senate Vote: A bill, backed by state Rep. Aarón Ortíz, D-Chicago, requiring all grocery chains that offer e-coupons in Illinois to provide, and honor, a physical coupon alternative passed out of the Senate on Wednesday, and now heads to the governor for final approval. “Going to the grocery store is stressful already, with rising costs putting people’s hard-earned money at risk,” Ortíz said. “This measure will provide immediate relief and help people access lower costs out there, but is unavailable to them.” In order to reduce these barriers to savings, Ortíz supported House Bill 45, which requires retailers to honor all advertised savings, even if customers cannot access their app or operate their digital coupons. * Press release | Ellman bill to update CPR training, improve emergency response outcomes: House Bill 4788 would require secondary schools to provide CPR training using both breasted and non-breasted manikins, including through the use of chest covers, ensuring students have the opportunity to practice on both. The requirement would begin in the 2029–2030 school year. * Press release | Villivalam-backed measure would ensure mental health support for educational staff: To provide mental health support to education staff, House Bill 4862 would require each school board to develop a staff mental health support procedure. The procedure would be required to include a commitment to supporting employee mental health in the workplace, opportunities to provide feedback on employee mental health, annual communication with information on resources and support available to staff, and opportunities for the school board to receive information regarding employee mental health initiatives and programs. * Press release | Hernandez-backed Measure Expanding Barber and Cosmetology Licensure Opportunities Passes Senate Vote: The Hernandez-backed House Bill 3460 establishes an apprenticeship program for professionals in cosmetology, barbering, esthetics and nail technology and sets training hours and licensing requirements to make entering these fields easier. Currently, students pay between $15,000 and $20,000 on average to complete a cosmetology program, including the costs of tuition, tools, licensing costs and materials.
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Swipe Fee Law Shifts Costs To Consumers
Thursday, May 21, 2026 - Posted by Advertising Department [The following is a paid advertisement.] Illinois’ proposed swipe-fee law promises relief at the register - but delivers something else entirely. By cutting interchange fees, it redirects billions from consumers to large retailers, without any requirement that savings be passed on as lower prices. Interchange fees fund essential parts of today’s payments system, including fraud protection, rewards programs, and access to low-cost banking. Eliminating those resources doesn’t remove costs, it shifts them. Consumers are likely to see fewer benefits, weaker safeguards, and higher fees in other areas, while major retailers pocket the difference. Evidence from similar policies shows that price reductions rarely materialize. Instead, the biggest financial gains accrue to large national chains, not Illinois families. The law also risks creating a fragmented, state-by-state payments landscape that increases complexity, undermines security, and adds friction at checkout. Those challenges ultimately fall on consumers through higher costs, reduced choice, and a less reliable system. This proposal isn’t about lowering prices - it’s about redistributing value. And if enacted, consumers will bear the cost in lost protection and diminished benefits, while large retailers come out ahead. For more information, visit https://www.icul.com/advocacy/ifpa/. Paid for by Illinois Credit Union League.
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Bad news Bears
Thursday, May 21, 2026 - Posted by Rich Miller * NBC 5…
In other words, the city’s general counsel disclosed a confidential “hypothetical” conversation with the Bears’ GC. Not a smart move by the team to even hold that meeting, and now I doubt they’ll ever do that again. The GC reached out to the mayors office to solve a problem with the current lease, and the Johnson administration used that to their advantage. It was the Johnson administration, I’m told, which broached the subject of what would happen if the megaprojects bill didn’t pass. So, I seriously doubt there will be any more such meetings. * Tribune…
* Cunningham’s text to me…
I think the GC went places she shouldn’t have because, I’m also told, the Bears informed the governor and the two Democratic legislative leaders that this whole thing is concocted. * Either way, the spin is working. And some progressive legislators have taken a stand against any more corporate aid…
Another cluster.
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UChicago Medicine: ‘Weakening 340B Would Hurt The Communities That Need Care Most’
Thursday, May 21, 2026 - Posted by Advertising Department [The following is a paid advertisement.] The federal 340B program “is not a financial windfall for hospitals,” wrote UChicago Medicine leaders in a recent Crain’s op-ed, noting that discounted drug prices allow hospitals serving many low-income patients to “redirect resources that otherwise would be spent on expensive medications toward services and programs communities depend on every day.” The University of Chicago Medical Center is one of Illinois’ largest providers of care to Medicaid patients. 340B savings help UChicago Medicine sustain critical services, including Level 1 trauma care, neonatal intensive care, the South Side’s only burn center, and Chicago’s only hospital-based emergency helicopter transport program. “Many of these services are financially challenging to sustain, yet they are indispensable to the health and safety of our communities,” said UChicago Medicine President Thomas Jackiewicz and Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs Mark E. Anderson. Hospitals are facing rising costs, persistent workforce shortages and increasing challenges in in maintaining essential healthcare services. House Bill 2371 SA 2 restores the 340B program in Illinois after more than five years of drugmakers unlawfully limiting 340B discounts. As the op-ed pointed out, Health Resources and Services Administration data prove that 340B discounts are a small share of drugmaker revenue. Ensuring the 340B program operates the way Congress intended has a small impact on the bottom lines of drugmakers, but it makes a profound difference in preserving patient access to care. Pass HB 2371 SA 2 to support Illinois’ most vulnerable patients and the providers serving them. Learn more.
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Isabel’s morning briefing
Thursday, May 21, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller * ICYMI: ‘Junk fee’ ban heads to Pritzker as Senate OKs bill allowing minors to consent to birth control. Capitol News Illinois…
- A bill heading to the House would allow minors to consent to receiving birth control without parental consent. - The governor says he will sign a measure to ban “junk fees,” or unlisted charges tacked onto the total of cost of ticketed events, hotels, tech and other goods and services. Sponsored by American Innovators Network
* Gov. JB Pritzker has no public events scheduled today. * BlueRoomStream.com’s coverage of today’s press conferences and committee hearings can be found here. * Daily Herald | ComEd rates are going up again this summer, and rising demand is largely to blame: As demand for electricity from data centers and other customers continues rising, suburbanites should expect higher ComEd bills starting in June. The rate at which ComEd customers are charged for energy usage is increasing. Additionally, a temporary credit to Illinois customers is disappearing. When combined, those two changes likely will drive the average monthly residential bill from its current $107 to more than $120, ComEd spokesperson Tom Dominguez said. That’s an increase of about 12%. * Crain’s | City Council OKs $55 million tax break for United Center’s 1901 revamp: Mayor Brandon Johnson agreed and has pushed the City Council to approve the tax break so the development could begin construction. There has not been pushback on the City Council to grant the $55 million tax break, with aldermen instead focusing on negotiations with the union and holding the developers to commitments on hiring minority- and women-owned construction companies. * NPR Illinois | New report shows how questions about past school discipline affect Illinois college admissions process: There’s been a nationwide effort to get colleges and universities to stop asking about criminal records on applications. But many Illinois schools also ask if students have been found responsible for a school discipline violation like a suspension. A new report from the University of Illinois System’s Institute of Government and Public Affairs shows how that can have a chilling effect on some students. * Illinois Business Journal | MISO selects consortium to deliver major grid-bolstering projects in Illinois: The Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) has selected a consortium of Ameren Transmission Company of Illinois (ATXI), a subsidiary of Ameren Corporation (NYSE: AEE); GridLiance Heartland LLC, a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Transmission LLC; Dairyland Power Cooperative; and the Illinois Municipal Electric Agency (IMEA) to develop, build, operate and maintain two major transmission projects. ATXI and GridLiance will lead the development of these projects, while Dairyland and IMEA will own a portion of both projects when they are placed in service. * Center Square | Pritzker knocks state progressives’ ability to pass new tax measures: Pritzker told members of the press Wednesday he’s not sure what new tax measures the legislature will pass, and he sees the current priority as delegating how to best spend the revenue the state will have. “It’s just a matter of can the legislature get something on the ballot or move something forward and that’s apparently something they couldn’t do this last session or this session that we’re in,” Pritzker said. “[Progressives] have been working very hard on getting something done. It doesn’t appear that they’re able to get something done through the house or the Senate right now.” * WAND | Illinois advocates push for after-school funding as programs face closures: While federal dollars remain uncertain, Stanton said the state must step in to protect programs families rely on. “After-school programs are essential. Parents can’t work without them. Kids won’t be safe without them. And we know these programs save money in the long run. Illinois has a brighter future when families have access to these opportunities,” Stanton said. * WGN | Bailey surprises City Council, apologies to Chicago: When he was asked about the remarks, Bailey said, “Well, I want everybody to like me. I want to make sure that people understand that as governor of Illinois there will be no outside sources dictating anything. “ Bailey was also asked if he thinks Trump should stop denigrating Chicago. “The president does what the president does,” he said. * Capitol City Now | Official state sandwich? No beef about this one: hicago actor Corey Hendrix (pictured, center) – “Sweeps” on FX’s The Bear – said Wednesday it is an honor to be part of the campaign for the sandwich to join the roster of official state symbols. “I’m a Chicagoan,” he said. “I love Italian beef. It’s a really, really big deal.” “I grew up in Oak Lawn,” said State Rep. Rick Ryan (pictured, left) (D-Evergreen Park) of his interest. “My grandmother – I remember sitting in her kitchen every Saturday afternoon playing pinochle while she would make Italian beef and let it simmer all day and we’d smell it all day with the garlic and the herbs and everything and – my mouth is watering just picturing my grandmother making it right now as I’m speaking.” * Block Club | Tipped Minimum Wage Hike Paused 2 Years In Blow To Mayor Via Near-Unanimous City Council Vote: The City Council on Wednesday decisively moved to delay a planned phaseout of the subminimum base wage for tipped workers by two years, stymying one of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s most significant legislative wins during his first term in office. Alderpeople voted almost unanimously in support of a measure to pause the upcoming increase to the city’s tipped minimum wage until 2028 for larger businesses and 2030 for smaller ones. Only West Side Ald. Jason Ervin (28th) voted against the legislation, which freezes the wage at the current rate of $12.62 an hour. * Tribune | City Council measure bans Chicago police with ties to Proud Boys, other extremist groups: The City Council voted 28-21 to approve the ordinance that requires the Police Department to fire officers with ties to groups like the Three Percenters or Proud Boys. It also prohibits the department from hiring people with ties to such groups, and creates new investigative powers to vet police employees and applicants. Critics of the measure argued it unfairly targets police and should instead be applied to all city workers during a contentious debate, but chief proponent Ald. Matt Martin, 47th, urged aldermen to finally move ahead on the ban after aldermen mulled a response to reports of extremism within police ranks for years. * Sun-Times | Thousands of Zillow listings in Chicago have vanished. Here’s why: MRED announced in April that it was expanding its long-time private listing network nationwide, and New York-based brokerage Compass would feed its listings to MRED, including private listings. MRED said in a news release at the time that it would “protect and safeguard agents” using its private listing network from being banned or penalized by feed recipients like Zillow. The move pushed Zillow to sue MRED and Compass last week, accusing the two of violating federal antitrust law by conspiring to hide home listings from potential buyers. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, also said the deal creates a monopoly where buyers and sellers will only want to work with Compass agents. * ProPublica | This Gun Shop Stayed Open Despite Repeated Violations. Then a Cop Was Killed With One of Its Guns: Take the recent killing of Chicago police officer John Bartholomew, who was fatally shot on April 25. The suspect who used a 10-millimeter Glock 29 to shoot Bartholomew was not the original owner of the gun. It was first purchased in 2024, according to investigators, in an illegal transaction at a Range USA store in the northwest Indiana town of Merrillville, a short drive from Chicago. […] That gun was allegedly purchased two years prior at the Merrillville Range USA by Olivia Burgos, who now faces criminal charges for making false statements in order to facilitate the sale. According to federal investigators, Burgos told store employees that she was purchasing the gun for herself. In actuality, investigators allege, she bought the gun on behalf of her boyfriend, a felon prevented from legally purchasing one. * CBS Chicago | CPD Supt. Larry Snelling says parents should play bigger role in stopping “teen takeovers”: “You know, it’s not parent-shaming to say that you should know where your children are at 10, 11, 12 o’clock at night, when you have a 12-year-old or a 13-year-old,” he said. “They’re vulnerable, you know, when they go into these environments; they can be harmed, and they can be killed, and that has happened.” * BGA | David Glockner Confirmed as Chicago’s Next Inspector General: The BGA Policy team applauds the Chicago City Council’s approval of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s appointment of David Glockner as the next Inspector General for the City of Chicago. The Office of Inspector General plays a vital role in promoting accountability, transparency, and public trust across city government, and this appointment marks an important moment for the city. * Tribune | Prison sentences for retail theft doubled in 2025, according to report studying policies of State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke: * Tribune | With rare trial looming, Oak Park trustee shares story as 1 of 4 remaining ‘Broadview Six’ defendants: Nearly seven months after Straw was elected a village trustee, the migrant crisis hit Oak Park. For more than a year, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott had been sending busloads of migrants to Chicago and other immigration-friendly U.S. interior cities. It was Halloween 2023, Straw remembered, when the new arrivals streamed into his suburb. That night, the weather was cold and blustery as more than 100 migrants, who’d been living outside a police station in the nearby Austin neighborhood had come to Oak Park for warmth and shelter. “They came to the village seeking refuge,” Straw said. He paused for a long time. “Sorry,” he said, choking back a sob. * Daily Herald | How Rolling Meadows hopes to breathe new life into parts of Algonquin Road corridor: Rolling Meadows officials hope two new tax increment financing districts will help revive portions of the Algonquin Road commercial corridor that’s been subject to more and more retail and office vacancies. The larger of the two TIFs recently approved by the city council covers a 59-acre area near the prominent Interstate 90/Route 53 interchange, and includes a long-standing gold office building and shuttered 1960s-era Holiday Inn and attached 1970s-era Holidome. * Daily Herald | How Buffalo Grove police use their aerial fleet: The village is adding two drones to its fleet, using a $15,000 grant from the state’s Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. The police department currently operates one drone. Buffalo Grove Police Chief Brian Budds said the drone has been a tremendous asset to the village. It deploys its existing drone for special events — including the Buffalo Grove Pride parade and Buffalo Grove Days Parade — as well as critical incidents. The department’s 2025 annual report showed the drone accumulated 70 hours of flight time, broken down into 15 community events, 8 calls for service and 11 training sessions. * Daily Herald | St. Charles police look to keep social worker program going strong: Likens requested that the city approve a one-year, $85,000 contract to continue the partnership. Under the agreement, the police provide an office space for the social worker. Last year, the program was approved for $80,000. To help fund the costs, the police are requesting a grant from the city’s Mental Health 708 Board. Last year, the police requested an $80,000 grant and received $73,714 from the board. The current amount is pending. * ABC Chicago | Fired DuPage County jail officer charged with possessing images of child sex abuse, officials say: Steven Simmons of Lisle faces five felony counts of possessing child sex abuse images involving children ages 13 or younger. According to a detention petition, his arrest followed tips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The DuPage County Sheriff says Simmons has been fired from working at the jail. * Elgin Courier-News | Elgin native who voices Barney the Dinosaur returns for hometown visit: Dean Wendt, an Elgin native, has made a career as the voice of the lovable purple dinosaur, a role he landed in 2002 and has continued over the years as part of the TV show and videos, including four television episodes produced in 2025, according to online data base IMBd. He returned to his hometown as the surprise guest speaker at School District U-46’s Beacon Academy Awards, held at The Hemmens Cultural Center in Elgin. * NBC Chicago | Former Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard wins primary election in Georgia: Henyard, who was elected Dolton mayor and Thornton Township supervisor as a Democrat, ran unopposed in the Republican primary for [the heavily Democratic] Fulton County Commissioner in Georgia and netted just over 1,100 votes in Tuesday’s election. In a four-way race in the Democratic primary, Helen Zenobia Willis beat out Sojourner Grimmett by just over 3,000 votes. * BND | City officials disagree on whether to ‘give back’ state grant for Belleville market: Officials said they couldn’t find a suitable replacement for the original location, a city-owned building next to City Hall, which is no longer considered feasible because of parking problems and high renovation costs. […] The city asked the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity whether it could use the grant money for an outdoor farmers market in a proposed park at West Main and South Sixth Street, Schauster said. But the state agency deemed that plan too different from the primarily indoor concept outlined in the application. The response from the Belleville City Council to the idea of declining the grant was essentially “not so fast.” * WCIA | Boys and Girls Club of Decatur not offering summer camps due to ‘financial’ issues: In a statement provided to WCIA, Boys and Girls Club officials “regretfully confirm” that the organization will conclude afterschool programming effective Friday and will not be offering the 2026 Summer Camp Program. “Despite diligent community fundraising efforts, persistent financial challenges have led to the difficult decision,” officials said. Despite this, families were provided with a list of alternative organizations offering summer camp programs in the Decatur and Macon County area, which was to ensure continued support for local youth. * BND | Belleville alderman stepping down, union leader tapped to replace him: At the meeting, Mayor Jenny Gain Meyer recommended appointing union leader and community volunteer Jeff Collier to fill Dintelman’s unexpired term. The City Council approved the appointment 15-0, with Ward 3 Alderman Scott Ferguson absent. Collier, 43, said he looks forward to serving Belleville residents. * WIRED | SpaceX Is Spending $2.8 Billion to Buy Gas Turbines for Its AI Data Centers: In March, SpaceX agreed to buy $805 million worth of turbines from an unnamed company through 2029, according to the IPO filing. Then, in late April, Musk’s company struck a deal for $2 billion worth of mobile gas turbines and related items from an unnamed vendor. That deal is still pending. Last week, WIRED reported that 19 new portable turbines had been added to Colossus 2 over the past two months, for a total of 46 units. Portable turbines can be operated without a clean air permit for a year, a rule that SpaceX has used in its favor. Some of the turbines were added after the NAACP and other advocacy groups sued xAI, alleging that the company had been operating 27 gas turbines without appropriate permits, posing a risk to public health and the climate. * Reuters | ‘I’m not greedy’: January 6 rioters and Trump allies eye $1.8 billion ‘weaponization’ fund: Enrique Tarrio, the Proud Boys leader sentenced to 22 years for seditious conspiracy over the January 6, 2021 riot, said he planned to apply to the fund, assuming he could get between $2 and $5 million. […] Trump pardoned more than 1,500 January 6 defendants last year. Some have now begun to calculate the cost of their prosecution, jail time and businesses lost in the hope of compensation for what they regard as abuses by the Justice Department under former President Joe Biden. Peter Ticktin, an attorney representing more than 400 January 6 defendants, said the fund may not be enough. * The Atlantic | For-profit companies are buying up the rituals of American childhood and selling them back to parents.: But for the owners of the Atlantic Hockey Federation—the youth-hockey association that pulls together elite teams from Connecticut and many other states, as far west as Arizona—kids’ sports is a cutthroat business, a way to make a handful of people very rich. Black Bear Sports Group owns the AHF, several other youth hockey leagues, and many of the rinks where the teams practice and play. Methodically and quietly, Black Bear—backed by the private-equity firm Blackstreet Capital Holdings—is tightening its stranglehold over the youth-hockey infrastructure along the Eastern Seaboard. Whereas Rider sees hockey as character-building fun, Black Bear’s objective is far simpler: to make a grotesque amount of money.
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Good morning!
Thursday, May 21, 2026 - Posted by Rich Miller
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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Supplement to today’s edition (Updated)
Thursday, May 21, 2026 - Posted by Rich Miller
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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today’s edition of Capitol Fax (use all CAPS in password)
Thursday, May 21, 2026 - Posted by Rich Miller
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Selected press releases (Live updates)
Thursday, May 21, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller
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Live coverage
Thursday, May 21, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller * Click here and/or here to follow breaking news on the website formally known as Twitter. Our Bluesky feed…
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