* ICYMI: Arlington Heights residents cautiously optimistic as Bears stadium bill passes Illinois House. WGN…

- Many Arlington Heights residents are hoping to see construction begin soon on a new Chicago Bears stadium after the Illinois House passed House Bill 910 (HB910) on Wednesday night — the so-called megaprojects bill that the Bears have requested to deliver them property tax certainties in order to build a new stadium.
- “Arlington Heights is ready for shovels in the ground. I think we’ve had a lot of talk over the last few years. This puts us really close on the precipice of getting some work done around here,” Ernie Rose with Touchdown Arlington said. “It’s clear what Indiana did, put up some momentum behind the plan to bring the Bears to Arlington Heights. Without that, I don’t know that we’re here today…it’s unfortunate it took that long, but got us in the right place.”
- Meanwhile, the Bears are set to meet with the NFL next week for an update on stadium plans.

* Related stories…

• WGN: House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch on future of megaproject bill, millionaire’s tax
• ChicagoLIVE: Bears stadium bill clears House as Kam Buckner details next steps
• Crain’s: Bears score House win on stadium — but Springfield rewrite raises new risks

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* At 9 am, Gov. JB Pritzker will deliver remarks at Northwestern’s Inaugural Quantum Innovation Symposium. Click here to watch.

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* WGLT | ISU’s president requests more state funding as hundreds of employees remain on strike: Tarhule was responding to a comment from state Rep. Sharon Chung, a Democrat from Bloomington, who expressed support for the striking employees. “I would like you to try to see what you can do to end the strike in good faith,” Chung said, while wearing a button that said “Fair Contract Now.” Tarhule said the university is facing an increasing deficit and maintenance backlogs because of the lack of funding and if the university does not get more money this year, it might have to increase tuition.

* Tribune | ‘Millionaire tax’ amendment won’t be on November ballot as Illinois Democrats can’t come to agreement:
State Rep. Will Davis, a Democrat from Homewood and a sponsor of that funding formula, said it would have been difficult for him to support the millionaire’s tax proposal. “Those of us that kind of understand EBF a little bit have raised that concern about whether or not it ultimately walks back EBF,” he said.

* Sun-Times | Obamacare premiums in Illinois rose sharply but not as much as expected: Premiums haven’t skyrocketed since federal tax subsidies expired in December. But experts say it’s still early. And providers worry increased health care costs also could drive up insurance rates.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Sun-Times | Illinois House punts millionaires’ tax to 2028, advances voting rights amendment: “What we heard from listening to a lot of people over the last few days is that more work needs to be done,” said Welch, who emphasized a need to bring more business-focused representatives on board with the measure. Because the Illinois Constitution enshrines a flat tax system into law, the millionaires’ tax would have needed approval from voters. The deadline for the Legislature to put amendments on the 2026 November midterm ballot is May 3, and while the Senate is back in session next week, the House won’t reconvene until May 4.

* Daily Herald | Intentionally causing someone emotional distress by phone or electronic harassment? Proposed law takes aim at that: Kane County State’s Attorney Jamie Mosser and former Naperville police detective Rich Wistocki, president of BeSure Consulting, teamed up to add “causing significant emotional distress” as a crime in Illinois Senate Bill 2741. State Sen. Linda Holmes, a Democrat from Aurora, agreed to sponsor the bill. The bill would also eliminate the requirement that harassing content must be of a sexual nature.

* Center Square | Autism care providers, parents urge change in ownership mandate: Dr. Rebecca Thompson, president of the Illinois Providers for Applied Behavior Analysis Access and Quality, said an amendment to Senate Bill 712 forces every ABA provider in Illinois to restructure so only licensed behavior analysts hold ownership. “This forces out non-licensed owners, including parents, business partners and multidisciplinary collaborators who have helped build and sustain access to autism care across the state,” Thompson said.

*** Chicago ***

* Tribune | Outgoing watchdog notes Chicago’s ‘deficit of legitimacy,’ Mayor Brandon Johnson considers successor: Chicago, she told the Tribune during an interview as part of a media tour before she leaves office, “operates at a deficit of legitimacy.” The leader of this famously corrupt city’s most visible watchdog agency has long described her work as “paying down” that gap in trust. In four years at the helm of the Office of Inspector General, she has certainly presented an invoice. Her departure gives Johnson a new challenge: Tasked with selecting her successor, the mayor must convince aldermen the person he nominates to follow Witzburg will be a strong independent investigator who will hold him and his administration to account.

* Crain’s | Second City is serious about using improv to train police leaders: The law enforcement folks are part of the latest cohort working their way through the Policing Leadership Academy, a program for police officers who are transitioning into senior management roles. The academy, or PLA, is based out of the University of Chicago Crime Lab and born out of what Crime Lab Executive Director Roseanna Ander calls the “scandalous” insight that police officers generally aren’t well prepared to become executives.

* Sun-Times | ‘This was built for you.’ West Garfield Park celebrates nearly $50 million wellness center: Like many in the crowd, Pitts was there to celebrate the opening of Sankofa — and heal. At 60,000 square feet, around the size of a football field, Sankofa beams along Madison Street, a once-bustling corridor devastated by white flight and the 1968 riots that has not seen big investment in decades. At the new center, residents can see a doctor or a dentist, play in the indoor gym, stroll on a walking track, or get help finding a job. It was years in the making and created with community input to improve health disparities in West Garfield Park. In 2023, residents in this mostly Black neighborhood were expected to live until 67 years old — the lowest life expectancy in Chicago — compared to 87 in the Loop, where the majority of residents are white.

* WBEZ | Lunchroom workers block Downtown street in protest as contract talks with CPS stall: But Penson, who has worked for Chicago Public Schools for 21 years and makes an annual salary of about $34,000, said she feels deeply disrespected by the school district’s leadership. She and her colleagues, who are represented by the union Unite Here Local 1, have been negotiating a contract for more than 11 months. To “sound the alarm” on what they see as unfair and unequal wages, about 250 workers and their supporters held a protest Thursday afternoon at which two dozen of them — including Penson — sat down on Madison Street outside the school district’s downtown headquarters as an act of civil disobedience. Chicago police officers quickly detained the workers and escorted them away to cheers from their fellow union members, who later chanted “we will be back.” The union said they were quickly released and ticketed for pedestrian traffic violations.

* Sun-Times | No injuries in Yellow Line derailment: No one was injured after a Yellow Line train derailed Thursday, cutting off service to the Yellow and Purple Lines while diminishing the far north portions of Red Line service, according to the CTA. The trains derailed near the Howard station shortly before 5:40 p.m., suspending two lines as well as the Red Line between Howard and Thorndale, a CTA representative said in a statement. No injuries were reported.

* Tribune | Rickea Jackson is embracing a clean slate with the Chicago Sky: ‘They get who I am’: “I wanted to be somewhere where I’m prioritized from the beginning,” Jackson told the Tribune. “It’s no secret that I basically had a different coach almost every year of my career, so I know how to adjust. But I just wanted to be somewhere that, from the jump, they got it right. From the jump, I felt prioritized. They know my game. They get who I am.” […] Jackson brought some familiarity to her new home — she’s a Detroit native and her mother, Caryn, grew up in Chicago — but she hadn’t visited the city outside of games in more than a decade, when she drove down to watch her godsister Betnijah Laney debut with the Sky in 2015.

* Tribune | UIC researchers use mural art to raise awareness of invasive plant species: In spring 2024, the lab received a $300,000 Biota Award from the Walder Foundation, a Skokie family foundation that funds Chicagoland area environmental research and other initiatives. Nunez-Mir said the grant was used mostly to develop a database of over 1,000 invasive plant species. Researchers evaluated and recorded the same 28 characteristics for each species based on preexisting data from universities and government agencies, Nunez-Mir said.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Crain’s | Executive in $15M Loretto Hospital embezzlement case pleads not guilty, released on bond: Former medical supplier Sameer Suhail, facing federal fraud indictments in an alleged $15 million scheme tied to Loretto Hospital, pleaded not guilty to several felony charges yesterday and was ordered released on a $5 million bond and home confinement, the U.S. Department of Justice said. Suhail had fled the U.S. to Dubai after being indicted in 2024 alongside former Loretto CEO George Miller, former CFO Anosh Ahmed and former executive Heather Bergdahl.

* Daily Southtown | University Park residents can seek claims as part of Aqua Illinois $12.5 million water contamination settlement: Those affected by water contamination issues in University Park between August 2018 and May 2019 will soon be entitled to compensation, after a federal judge on Wednesday approved a $12.5 million settlement agreement negotiated between the village and Aqua Illinois. Current and former residents and business owners will soon be given the opportunity to submit claims to determine the amount they are owed from Aqua Illinois, which owns and operates the village’s existing water infrastructure. Tom Zimmerman, whose office represented the class action lawsuit’s hundreds of plaintiffs, said the inconvenience of water pollution alone could result in $3,000 for those who submit a claim.

* NBC Chicago | How Illinois affordable housing bills could change suburban neighborhoods: “We were developed intentionally over the last 114 years to keep open space. And giving up the idea of giving up our zoning rights and how we do things, it could be detrimental in many ways to Palos Park,” Milovich-Walters said. Housing advocates voiced their support during a committee hearing Thursday. “Everyone is struggling with a lack of affordable quality supply for people to buy homes, whether it’s a single family home or a condominium,” said Bob Palmer from Housing Action Illinois.

* Elgin Courier-News | Elgin returns to manual siren system after residents complain about recent storm alerts: The Office of Emergency Management will return to manually triggering the warning sirens after they went off four times during one recent storm despite there being no tornadoes in the area. They were activated automatically by National Weather Service warnings for severe conditions in the area, Fire Chief Robb Cagann told the Elgin City Council Wednesday night. Elgin’s warning system was upgraded in 2024 to include the automatic activation when a NWS warning for a tornado, thunderstorm or other severe weather situation is released, said Cagann, who oversees the city’s Office of Emergency Management. It does not get activated during severe weather watches.

* Crain’s | Claire’s moving HQ to distressed Rosemont office building: Yet the deal also stands out as an example of a company moving to a building recently seized by a lender. New York-based Rialto Capital took control of the 249,433-square-foot Rosemont property in September to resolve a $29 million loan default by the building’s previous owner, Canadian real estate firm Adventus Realty Trust. While some lenders reinvest in seized properties to lure new tenants and boost revenue, companies typically avoid such distressed buildings over concerns about who their landlord will be in the future.

*** Downstate ***

* WTVO | Republican nominee Darren Bailey visits Rockford, criticizes state policies: Bailey stated that businesses like these across the state are under attack from Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s policies. “I come from a working family myself i’m a farmer I owned a small trucking business I have an excavating business, and it’s businesses like this all over the state that are under attack from JB Pritzker’s policies they’re looking for relief they’re wanting to stay they’re wanting to grow, but JB Pritzker is hindering that,” Bailey said.

* WGLT | Bloomington city manager says expanded police oversight power is not possible for the PSCRB: Bloomington City Manager Jeff Jurgens spoke to the city’s Public Safety and Community Relations Board [PSCRB] during its monthly meeting Wednesday. […] “At first, there was discussion about, well, could a citizen review board actually investigate and be the one to review citizen complaints, and to follow up on discipline and things like that,” he said. “And the answer to that was no.” Jurgens said state law and collective bargaining agreements prevent the PSCRB from any direct oversight or disciplinary power.

* BND | Metro-east post office closed with no home delivery. It’s not the first time: The small community of Brooklyn’s post office recently closed its doors with no warning and no timeline for reopening. With no home delivery service in the village of 650 people, residents are forced to travel to an East St. Louis post office to pick up their mail, according to Village Mayor Trenton Atkins.

* WCIA | Mahomet-Seymour schools looking to set rules on AI usage with guidebook: The district said security systems would be put in place to flag AI-generated content and anything that could indicate bullying or deep-fake creations. Teachers will provide guidelines for when students can use AI, while the guidebook lays out what the punishment would be if kids break the rules. “The big focus, or a big section of the guidebook, is on the teacher usage and the student usage. And there’s some different examples for acceptable use and unacceptable use throughout the guidebook,” said Assistant Superintendent Meghan Bagby. “One of the main reasons why is, we still want the focus to be on student learning and human learning, and teachers to be the facilitator of that learning.”

* WCIA | Months-long Central Illinois drought recovers in weeks: Thursday’s drought monitor shows no counties across Central Illinois are experiencing drought conditions for the first time since last July. The drought peaked in early March, leaving farmers like Dennis Riggs of 1874 Maple Lawn Farm anxious about soil conditions leading into planting season. “It has been dry and we’ve been worried about it, because you do have to have moisture in the ground to sprout the seeds,” Riggs said. “We select hybrids of corn and beans that can handle the drought better, we were looking at that.”

*** National ***

* AP | Meta slashes 8,000 jobs, or 10% of its workforce, as Microsoft offers buyouts: Meta is laying off about 8,000 workers, or about 10% of its workforce, the company said Thursday as it continues to ramp up spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure and highly paid AI-expert hires. The company said it was making the cuts for the sake of efficiency and to allow new investments in parts of its business, as first reported by Bloomberg, which also said the company will leave about 6,000 jobs unfilled. Also Thursday, Microsoft said it was offering voluntary buyouts to thousands of its U.S. employees.

* Bloomberg: Amazon.com Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc. have struck a multibillion-dollar deal for the social-media giant to rent hundreds of thousands of Amazon’s general-purpose chips for its AI efforts. The multiyear deal gives Meta access to the Graviton line of processors, Nafea Bshara, an Amazon vice president and co-founder of the company’s Annapurna Labs chips unit, said in an interview.

* NYT | Youth Suicides Declined After Creation of National Hotline: Over the two and a half years following the 2022 rollout of the 988 national suicide prevention hotline, the rate of suicides among young people in the United States dropped 11 percent below projections, decreasing most sharply in states with a higher volume of answered 988 calls, a new study has found. The findings, published today as a research letter in JAMA, compared suicide deaths from July 2022 to December 2024 with sophisticated mathematical projections that were based on historical trends. This yielded good news, with 4,372 fewer suicides of adolescents and young adults, ages 15 to 34, than had been projected.