* ICYMI: In Chicago and elsewhere, ICE increases enforcement in immigration court. NBC Chicago…

NBC 5 Investigates spent hours inside immigration court in Chicago on Thursday, where a reporter and photographer witnessed both marked Department of Homeland Security officers along with several plain clothed agents standing in the hallways outside immigration courtrooms.

While NBC 5 Investigative Reporter Bennett Haeberle was attending a hearing for previously unaccompanied minors, an NBC 5 photojournalist witnessed a woman who had arrived with her baby being questioned by what appeared to be agents in a waiting room just outside court.

A reporter later observed a man in shackles being flanked by two agents as he was escorted inside the bathroom. It is not clear what happened to either person.

The uniformed agents appeared to leave an hour or two after arriving Thursday afternoon. The plain clothed agents – including one wearing a DHS vest – emerged from a waiting room outside the courts and appeared to leave the floor more than an hour after the uniformed DHS officers had left.

* Related stories…

∙ WaPo: Several people detained in Chicago after immigration check-ins, witnesses say
∙ WBEZ: South Loop immigration arrests spark outrage, calls for changes to city’s sanctuary law
∙ CBS Chicago: Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker responds to Chicago ICE operation in South Loop
∙NBC Chicago: What happened with ICE in Chicago? What to know after video shows chaotic scene

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*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Capitol News Illinois | Legislative leaders discuss next steps for failed transit reform push: Meanwhile, Senate President Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, acknowledged he had reservations about the proposal’s revenue-generating measures, which include the delivery fee as well as a statewide tax on electric vehicle charging and the expansion of a Chicago tax on real estate transfers to the suburbs. “Frankly, I don’t like them all that much,” Harmon said of the revenue measures in an interview with Capitol News Illinois. “I wish there were better alternatives. But if you don’t like them, come and tell us how you’d pay for it, because this is going to be expensive and most of the stakeholders seem to be worried about protecting or expanding their own power and having somebody else pay for it.”

* WBEZ | Why is Chicago violence plummeting? Some credit street outreach workers: The community areas where violence numbers have fallen fastest include West Garfield Park. Through Tuesday, the area has had three homicides and 24 nonfatal shootings this year. Those numbers are significantly down from the same span of 2021, when there were 15 homicides and 56 nonfatal shootings. There is no shortage of agencies and people — from police to youth mentors — who have been credited with having a hand in Chicago’s public safety improvement, which also mirrors national trends.

* Crain’s | Savings from Medicaid cuts would be a mirage, Chicago clinic CEO says: “It’s a misappropriation, under the guise of saving money, which, in the long run, won’t work,” said Dr. Lee Francis, longtime president and CEO of Erie Family Health Centers, a network of 13 federally qualified health centers in the Chicago area. Medicaid providers in Illinois have criticized the cuts and new proof-of-work requirements, saying the so-called “Big, Beautiful Bill” sounds good for curbing “waste, fraud and abuse” but in reality just shifts the cost burden to other parts of the health care system and the economy.

*** Statewide ***

* WGLT | Federal cuts gut regional centers working to reduce farm injuries and deaths: The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, or NIOSH, is one of the federal agencies that had hundreds of workers cut by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in April. Some NIOSH programs, including those focused on miner safety and firefighter health risks, have had staff reinstated in order to keep operating. But federal officials have not brought back staff working with NIOSH’s Centers for Agricultural Safety and Health, leaving multi-year studies and longstanding outreach programs without a clear path forward.

* WCIA | From the Farm: IL Corn Growers program marks 10 years: 2025 is the 10th anniversary year for Precision Conservation Management, or PCM. It’s a novel program designed to show farmers how conservation practices can be justified with a positive financial result. When PCM was announced in February of 2016, Dr. Laura Gentry of the Illinois Corn Growers’ Association said it began with the challenge of getting farmers to implement conservation practices they are not currently doing.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Axios | Illinois legislators skip on several environmental bills: A bill to add more wind, solar and battery-stored power to the grid died in the final days of the session after business interests decried it as too expensive and burdensome. The package also pushed for more transparency about data centers’ energy usage and required new centers to “bring your own clean energy”(or B.Y.O.N.C.E.).

* WGLT | State Sen. Dave Koehler reflects on spring session and helping pass Illinois’ $55 billion budget: “We had to look at budget cuts, which is always a tough thing to do,” Koehler said. “With the uncertainty in the federal government, that made it particularly hard, because the federal government is a partner, whether it’s education funding, whether it’s a health care funding, whether it’s highways and roads. The federal government is a partner in just about everything that the state government does.”

* WAND | Plan heading to Pritzker’s desk could provide compensation for land owners if carbon capture damages crops, property: “This bill further clarifies just compensation for land owners and gives further protection for surface owners in case their land is hurt or destroyed in the process of laying down a pipeline,” said Sen. Laura Fine (D-Glenview).

* WAND | Illinois Freedom Caucus files lawsuit against Democratic legislative leaders over budget process: A spokesperson for Welch said they would not have a statement on the lawsuit Thursday. Harmon’s spokesperson told WAND News that they would not provide a statement until they had a chance to review the document.

*** Chicago ***

* Tribune | CPS narrows interim CEO search as negligence allegations surface in top candidate’s record: The Chicago Board of Education has narrowed its list for the interim schools’ chief down to three candidates in recent days, one of whom faced negligence allegations as a principal, according to documents obtained by the Tribune through the Freedom of Information Act. The people in consideration are: Macquline King, the city’s senior director of educational policy; Alfonso Carmona, CPS chief portfolio officer; and Nicole Milberg, the school district’s chief of teaching and learning.

* Sun-Times | Crosetti Brand found guilty of killing 11-year-old Jayden Perkins: After a weeks-long, often disorderly trial, jurors deliberated for just an hour and 20 minutes before finding Brand guilty of attacking his ex-partner and killing her son. The 2024 slaying exposed flaws in the legal system meant to protect domestic violence victims.

* Sun-Times | Chicago police officer shot in chest in Chatham has died: ‘She was a hero.’: The officer, who was 36 and a mother of a “very young daughter,” was a four-year veteran assigned to the Gresham District tactical team, Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling told reporters early Friday. The officer, Krystal Rivera was pronounced dead at 10:19 p.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

* Bloomberg | McDonald’s keeps ‘core’ inclusion programs despite DEI backlash: “We changed some of the language that we’ve used it around it, but at the core none of our programming has changed,” said Jordann Nunn, who as chief field people officer for McDonald’s leads human resources for the company’s US restaurants. “We have no intention of doing that,” Nunn said Thursday at a human resources conference by From Day One in Chicago.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* CBS Chicago | Harvey, Illinois, Ald. Colby Chapman arrested again a day after charges are dropped: The latest arrest of Ald. Colby Chapman (2nd) comes just a day after the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office dropped charges stemming from a previous arrest at a Harvey City Council meeting. Chapman claimed this was all political retaliation from Harvey Mayor Christopher Clark, of whom Chapman is a vocal critic. Chapman has been arrested before at the mayor’s direction, and each time, the charges have been dropped by the state’s attorney.

* WGN | Suburban farm brings back chickens after bird flu quarantine: A farm in Matteson is bringing chickens back to their property now that a 120-day quarantine caused by the bird flu has been lifted. The move comes as egg prices continue to decrease. “It feels good, honestly. I think I have some PTSD. I really hope it goes okay,” Marty Thomas, founder of Kakadoodle chicken farm, said.

* Daily Herald | Schaumburg Township road commissioner questions predecessor’s contract for new website from political ally: Timothy Buelow, a Democrat, said former Highway Commissioner Scott Kegarise approved a $27,500 contract for the creation of a new website from USynergetics, Inc. of Hoffman Estates April 25. The business is led by the wife of Daniel Lee. Lee ran unsuccessfully for township clerk April 1 on the same Republican slate as Kegarise. Kegarise said plans for the website were in the works well before the election based on resident requests to track road construction progress and snow plowing. Kegarise defended his decision to go with Lee, which he based on Lee’s campaign work.

* WGN | Illinois woman loses $62K to scammer impersonating Kevin Costner: An Illinois woman thought she was sending gift cards to actor Kevin Costner in hopes of elevating her financial portfolio. It turns out that she was the latest victim of a scam that federal authorities say has been circulating since at least 2018. According to police in Evanston, the victim says she sent gift cards totaling $62,000 over a six-month period to someone claiming to be Costner via Telegram, an instant messaging service. The “actor” promised to multiply the victim’s investment.

*** Downstate ***

* WGLT | Champaign-based Health Alliance plans to end all coverage, eliminating more than 600 jobs: More than 600 workers will lose their jobs as the largest health insurer in central and southern Illinois ceases operations. The news comes after Carle Health recently announced that Health Alliance will stop providing all types of coverage at the end of the year. According to the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity [DCEO], which requires employers to submit prior notification for mass layoffs, Champaign-based Health Alliance will eliminate all 612 jobs.

* WIFR | Rockford organizations fight stigmas surrounding men’s mental health: Rosecrance Medical Director Dr. John Cummins also talks about the mindsets being passed down from generation to generation. “Using substances to numb oneself, lashing out in anger instead of dealing with frustration and pain in more healthy or productive more constructive ways. This is kind of part of what is constructed to be a man in American and western society,” said Cummins. “With those kind of huge expectations in place and with the consequences that come from not following those expectations we end up with these really, really deeply set patterns.”

* WAND | Juneteenth events planned across central Illinois: The Mattoon Public Library will also be hosting a story time event on Friday, June 20 at 2 p.m. The event will include a Juneteenth storybook reading, crafts, food and giveaway for all children present.

* WGLT | Canadian wildfire smoke causes unhealthy air quality in Bloomington-Normal: Sensitive groups will feel health effects right away, and healthy groups will feel difficulty breathing and throat irritation, said the EAC. The air quality index reading of 156 came from a monitor on the southwest side of Bloomington. Anything above 150 is considered unhealthy. The air quality index is expected to return to healthy levels at midnight.

* WTVO | Small Illinois town becomes the set of a John Goodman movie overnight: Monticello, a small town near Champaign, became the set of a film called “Chili Finger” overnight. John Goodman and Bryan Cranston, among many more celebrities, filmed inside a former Hardee’s. The movie, based on a true story, follows the efforts of a woman who found a finger in her bowl of chili to leverage the situation for a payout.

*** National ***

* The Atlantic | ‘I’m Treating Guys Who Would Never Be Caught Dead in a Casino’: As betting has overrun American sports, other forms of gambling are also on the rise. According to industry data, American casinos are more popular now than at any point on record. The age of their average patron had been crawling upward for years, but since sports betting was legalized at the federal level, it has plummeted by nearly a decade, to approximately 42. Some signs point to gambling problems increasing, too. No centralized entity tracks gambling addiction, but if its scale comes even close to matching the new scale of sports betting, the United States is unequipped to deal with it.

* NYT | Kennedy Says ‘Charlatans’ Are No Reason to Block Unproven Stem Cell Treatments: The U.S. health secretary said people should have access to experimental therapies including unregulated uses of stem cells. But some methods have resulted in blindness, tumors and other injuries.

* ABC | Trump-Musk feud explodes with claim president is in Epstein files: Trump, speaking on television from the Oval Office, had said he was “disappointed” in Musk following his criticism Wednesday of his “big, beautiful” megabill to fund his agenda, and then engaged in a mutual barrage of social media posts, at one point saying Musk had gone “CRAZY.” As the exchanges grew progressively personal, Musk posted, without providing evidence, about Trump and alleged sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, “Time to drop the really big bomb: @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!”