A bill to make solar power more accessible to renters and others who face barriers to the alternative energy source stalled in the Illinois Senate, but it’s likely to return in the fall veto session because lawmakers like the idea of helping residents with their electric bills. […]
The safety question boils down to two main areas: safety for people who work on the electric lines and safety for residents.
[Sen. Rachel Ventura] said a big concern for utilities and labor unions was making sure the energy generated by small plug-in solar systems can’t travel back to the grid during a power outage — a phenomenon called backfeeding. The danger would come from a lineworker touching a line they believe is depowered.
In the original bill language, there was a carveout for low-wattage plug-in solar systems, between 400-1,200W, that would have allowed people to connect certified systems with little oversight.
Advocates for the bill argued that low-wattage systems didn’t need to meet national code requirements or have special permissions because they generate less energy than many home appliances use.
“The smaller systems are able to just immediately be plugged in by people without needing landlord permission or any changes to wiring, because these are so small,” Chintam said. “They would still need to be certified and would still need to have safety precautions like preventing backfeeding and having an automatic shut off.”
Without the carveout, Chintam said, residents would likely have to wait for national rules to change and they wouldn’t be able to benefit from their safety-certified solar systems until 2029 at the earliest.
The carveout was a sticking point for lawmakers, labor and utilities. More than 30 other states have considered plug-in solar bills, and the carveout language was treated differently in each one.
“So we decided to hold our bill to see how those other states’ come about,” Ventura said. “We are now researching what language moved, what language didn’t move, and trying to create model legislation that we will file or amend in veto session.”
*** Data Center News ***
* State Week | A data center discussion: On this episode, we talk about the controversy surrounding data center development and efforts to enact guardrails at the state level. Lawmakers left Springfield pledging to work on legislation that could address concerns over power usage, utility costs and more. The governor said he would like to see a package considered this fall. Meanwhile, data center demand shows no sign of slowing.
* WCIA | Macon County residents pushing for moratorium on data centers: Thursday night, the county’s environmental education health and welfare board met in Decatur. During public comment, people who live in the area made sure the board knew they want a pause put on all data centers, saying the local government should take time to consider how to handle these projects and the negative effects it could bring.
* Oregon Live | Data centers will receive $450 million in Oregon tax breaks this year: Oregon’s data center industry is already among the largest in the country, occupying about 2,900 acres from Hillsboro to Hermiston. State records show another 9,100 acres are in the planning stages. […] It costs $1 billion or more to equip a large data center with rows and rows of powerful computers. Because Oregon has no sales tax, companies can save tens of millions of dollars when they build a data center, and millions more every few years, when they replace obsolete computers with the latest models.
*** Statehouse News ***
* Press Release | Stomping Ground Strategies Wins Eight 2026 Bulldog PR Awards, Including Two Grand Prize Honors: The team at Stomping Ground Strategies has been named the winner of eight 2026 Bulldog PR Awards, including two Grand Prize designations — the program’s highest honor. The awards recognize outstanding communication work submitted by agencies, brands and nonprofits across the country, as judged by journalists. Jaclyn Driscoll, director of media relations at Stomping Ground Strategies, received two individual honors: the Grand Prize for PR Star of 2025 and Gold for PR Star Under 40. The designations recognize a practitioner whose results consistently maximize client resources and whose approach to PR is rooted in old-school rigor and a deep understanding and respect for the press.
* Fox Chicago | Braun insists ‘handshake’ will seal Bears stadium deal: ”When we ink it, that will mean that we are there,” said Braun. “It has been just a constant discussion since they came to us six months ago. I made it clear that this has to be more than just a bargaining position to do something in Illinois. ”I told them, ‘You’re going to make a strong statement on that day before it comes through our legislature,’ which occurred. That was the first kind of seal on that handshake agreement.” […] Braun said Indiana would be open to discussions should the Bears seek to sweeten their Hammond deal or ask for revenue enhancements to help the team buy out of its Soldier Field lease at a potential cost of $90 million.
* Windy City Times | Pritzker reflects on LGBTQ+ rights, gay Republicans and ‘character’ in the age of Trump: There’s a congresswoman from southern Illinois named Mary Miller, who now wants to eliminate Pride Month. She’s literally introduced a bill to eliminate that [and rename June as “Family Month”]. One question that I would pose to my opponent [Republican gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey] is if he agrees with Mary Miller. It’s an important question for him to answer because he is still against marriage equality.
* Press release | Illinois Department of Natural Resources Director to depart at the end of the month, interim Director to begin on July 1: Renee Snow will serve as IDNR’s Interim Director beginning on July 1. She has worked at the Department since 2014, most recently serving as General Counsel. In that capacity, she has led several major initiatives, including Brandon Road, the Shabbona land transfer with the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, and the innovative Pullman P3 project.
*** Chicago ***
* Illinois Answers | City Leaders Tout Tree-Planting Bonanza, But Neighborhood Disparities Persist: That’s a stark improvement over years past. For instance, from 2018 to 2021, nearly half of new trees — about 10,000 in total — were planted in North and Northwest side wards. Still, a deeper dive into the data reveals the city’s most recent tree plantings have been uneven within the wards themselves, with some neighborhoods thick with trees still getting even more, while others with few trees are still shortchanged as city leaders struggle to plant trees where they are most needed. Between 2021 and 2025, the Streets and Sanitation department also removed more than 28,000 trees all across Chicago, mostly due to damage and disease.
* Block Club | Edgewater Synagogue Redevelopment Reduces Building Count In Latest Proposal: The new proposal includes a 25-story building and an adjacent 12-story building on the east side of Sheridan Road and a five-story building on the west side of Sheridan Road. After incorporating feedback from neighbors, the developers eliminated plans for a north tower — the building closest to the neighboring Malibu East Condominium — and shifted those units to other parts of the site.
* Block Club | City’s ‘Keep Chicago Clean’ Campaign Encourages Neighbors To Pick Up Litter This Summer: Neighbors who participate in community cleanup events can call 311 and borrow tools and cleaning supplies from the Department of Streets and Sanitation, according to the city. The campaign will last through a “peak time” for tourists and outdoor events, including popular music festivals such as Lollapalloza and Riot Fest. “We take great pride in our work to keep Chicago clean and safe,” said Cole Stallard, Department of Streets and Sanitation commissioner. “We can’t do it alone, though, and we thank everyone for pitching in to help.”
* Shaw Local | Plainfield District 202 lays out budget cuts to close $8 million deficit; staffing reductions planned: The deficit stems from a shift in Illinois funding models and a “technical adjustment” to the state’s Comparable Wage Index, a measure which recalculates regional labor costs. Due to the adjustments, the district’s eligibility status was downgraded from Tier 1 to Tier 2. Illinois uses a four-tier system to prioritize funding. Tier 1 districts, which have the lowest local funding adequacy, receive the largest increases in state funding.
* Tribune | World’s first Dairy Queen becomes a Route 66 landmark in Joliet: “You have the meeting of two very iconic things,” said Greg Peerbolte, the museum’s CEO. “You’re talking about one of America’s most recognizable companies, and it is sitting on Route 66.” Peerbolte noted that Joliet is within the first 100 miles of Route 66, which starts in Chicago and spans 2,448 miles through three time zones to end in Santa Monica, California. This year marks the Mother Road’s 100th anniversary.
* Daily Herald | Sugar Grove wins second place in North American tap water taste competition: “We value providing Sugar Grove with the best possible water, protecting our water resources, and we are all celebrating their win for the community as the stewards of the best-tasting water in the United States,” Village President Sue Stillwell said in a news release. Sugar Grove first won the Kane County Water Association’s regional taste test. Then in April, the village won the state title at the Illinois Section AWWA WATERCON convention in Peoria.
*** Downstate ***
* STLPR | Metro East cyclists get new bridge, longer trail to explore in St. Clair, Madison counties: The $6.3 million bridge will allow users of MCT’s Schoolhouse Trail to avoid crossing the state highway on the northeast corner of Horseshoe Lake. Madison County Transit Managing Director SJ Morrison said the new bridge means MCT now has 51 bridges and 22 tunnels to keep trail users from crossing busy roadways. “This represents the 73rd structure on the MCT trails that safely carries trail goers over creeks and roads and streets and other obstacles that would either slow or stop the seamless accessibility of the trails for trail users of all ages and all abilities,” Morrison said.
* Illinois Times | New Mental Health Board meets: Sangamon County’s recently convened Mental Health Board agreed on a job listing for an executive director position and started discussions about how to organize the Board’s grant structure during its June 24 meeting. Former Massey Commission staff and members also implored the board to avoid filling governmental budget gaps with the nearly $15 million it’s expected to disburse for community mental health support. Instead, multiple speakers told the board to consider finding ways to bolster methods of intervention so fewer people require state services in the first place.
* WAND | Effingham church provides disaster relief supplies to community reeling from tornado: The Churches of Christ have a Nashville, Tennessee, distribution center to assist communities impacted by weather and other disasters. “They help communities when they have disasters. Whether it’s a flood, a tornado, or anything like that,” Leighann Slater of the Effingham Church of Christ told WAND News on Tuesday. Supplies include food, some clothing, cleaning products, shovels, tarps, brooms and more.
*** National ***
* NYT | FEMA Official Who Claimed He Once Teleported to a Waffle House Is Leaving: A top official at the Federal Emergency Management Agency who had come under scrutiny for a series of unexpected claims — including that he had once teleported to a Waffle House in Georgia — has gone on leave, according to an agency spokeswoman. The official, Gregg Phillips, was appointed by the White House in December to lead FEMA’s Office of Response and Recovery, the agency’s largest division. The office, with more than 1,000 employees and a budget of nearly $300 million, is central to FEMA’s mission of responding to disasters like hurricanes, floods and wildfires.
The Trump administration’s 16-day-long Great American State Fair has begun, offering visitors to the National Mall in Washington, DC, the chance to visit pavilions showcasing every US state and territory. […]
The 16-day-long festival has been organized by Freedom250, a Trump-aligned nonprofit that has organized a plethora of 250th-anniversary events backed by the president, such as the Rededicate 250 prayer event on the National Mall in May.
With Illinois among several states declining to send official representatives to an event in Washington backed by President Donald Trump to commemorate America’s 250th anniversary, a central Illinois museum says it volunteered to participate because “Illinois is as much a part of American history as any state.”
Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker’s administration said it was not sending any representatives to the “Great American State Fair” event, which starts June 25 and is sponsored by the group Freedom 250, but declined to give a reason. It’s no secret Pritzker and Trump have been ardent political enemies going back to their respective first terms in office.
But state officials said the Peoria Riverfront Museum plans to send a showcase to the 16-day event on the National Mall to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence consisting of, among other things, a pavilion that will highlight Illinois’ contributions to sports, architecture and agriculture, along with a hologram of prerecorded greetings from a number of Illinoisans from all over the state.
“We have a wall that a top graphic designer put together, a beautiful mural wall, sort of from the prairie to the cornfield, from Peoria to Chicago to various aspects of our great state,” said John D. Morris, president and CEO of the museum, which sits along the Illinois River about 130 miles southwest of Chicago. “We have corn stools that the kids will be able to sit on. We have handouts of Abraham Lincoln’s famous ambrotype image taken in Peoria. We were prideful to be able to put that forward and invited people from throughout the state to represent.”
* From the fair…
Some of the things you can see at the Great American State Fair include a NASCAR car (NC), Mardi Gras decorations and beads (LA), Big Tex (TX) and a big box full of corn (IL). pic.twitter.com/3cpzEOQ68q
A pandemic-era allowance is now law six-and-a-half years later. Senate Bill 618 makes cocktails-to-go permanent.
Illinois lawmakers passed legislation during the pandemic that allowed restaurants and bars to sell cocktails and mixed drinks for pickup or delivery as businesses were closed to in-person customers. That will be allowed to continue permanently under the new law. […]
The new Department of Early Childhood will officially launch on July 1, completing one of Gov. JB Pritzker’s top priorities of his second term.
Senate Bill 1 to create the new agency passed the General Assembly with bipartisan support in 2024 and calls for consolidating a variety of early childhood services that are spread across multiple state agencies under one roof. Those include oversight and funding of preschools, childcare centers, home visiting and early intervention programs.
Pritzker tapped Teresa Ramos to direct the agency. She worked in childcare advocacy before joining the governor’s office’s education policy team.
Companies that violate the Illinois Oil and Gas Act could face stiffer fines under a new bill aimed at reducing the thousands of abandoned oil and gas wells scattered throughout downstate Illinois.
Passed by the legislature late last month, the bill comes in response to a Chicago Tribune investigative series that exposed the myriad problems surrounding those wells, and a similarly focused study jointly created by the California-based environmental nonprofit ClientEarth USA and the Environmental Advocacy Center at Northwestern University’s Pritzker School of Law. […]
At its core, the bill increases the maximum possible daily penalty for most violations of the act from $1,000 to $4,000. Operators who fail to comply with Illinois Department of Natural Resources’ rules, regulations, orders or permits could also face steeper penalties under the bill: up to $2,000 a day for a violation that lasts more than 90 days but less than 180 days, and up to $4,000 a day for violations lasting 180 days or longer.
Penalties in excess of $1,000 a day will be deposited in the department’s fund designated for the plugging and restoration of orphaned and abandoned wells, which as of this month, totaled nearly 3,900 wells. IDNR calculates the cost to plug them is around $155 million.
Under Senate Bill 1504, the the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) would be required to prepare youth, aged 15 years old and older, for their transition out of care and into independence.
The youth transition plan should address areas like post-high school goals, drivers education, employment, mental and physical health and well-being, physical documentation needed for adulthood and more. The law also places court oversight over DCFS’ efforts to ensure the youth are getting “age and developmentally appropriate life skills.”
State Senator Lakesia Collins said that by creating legislation which gives young people a “game plan” to figure out their options, the state is helping children in care plan for their futures. The bill was signed in August 2025 and takes effect on July 1, 2026.
A bill on Gov. JB Pritzker’s desk could create an intelligent speed assistance program within the Secretary of State’s office as an alternative to license suspension for dangerous drivers.
The plan requires drivers who commit two offenses within a year to install the speed limiting device in their vehicle.
This comes as 75% of people with suspended licenses continue to drive.
“Our current methods are not working,” said Rudy Faust from Families for Safe Streets. “The intelligent speed assistance program is a practical and equitable step towards saving lives of both drivers and vulnerable road users without limiting mobility.”
Illinois is expanding its definition of cyberbullying to include AI-generated content in schools under House Bill 3851.
Beginning with the 2026-27 school year, cyberbullying will include posting or distributing an unauthorized AI-generated digital replica of another person if it meets the state’s definition of bullying. The law also expands the definition of bullying to include the posting or distribution of sexually explicit images and adds legal definitions for artificial intelligence, digital replicas and generative artificial intelligence. […]
Illinois is making several changes to state liquor laws under Senate Bill 618.
Beginning July 1, the law creates a new Class 3 craft distiller license, allowing eligible distilleries to produce up to 100,000 gallons of spirits annually and self-distribute limited quantities. The law also updates provisions governing the delivery and carryout of mixed drinks, allows retailers to use third-party delivery platforms for alcohol sales and deliveries, and makes other changes to state liquor laws.
* The Senate’s Bears stadium negotiator Sen. Bill Cunningham on NBC5 this week…
No one’s coming through the door of my district office right now saying ‘You have to give the Bears something, do something for the Bears, give them property tax certainty, do whatever they want to keep them here.’ I don’t hear that from my constituents.
Well, here is the bottom line: Indiana does appear to be the leverage to get a deal in Illinois. Why else would the Bears still be talking to Illinois lawmakers? However, what is unknown: How long will the Bears wait?
* ICYMI: Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker signs ban on junk fees, other consumer protections into law. CBS Chicago…
- The Junk Fee Ban Act requires businesses to tell consumers the final price of a ticket or hotel room upfront. Companies may not advertise prices that fail to disclose service, processing, or convenience fees, surcharges, and mandatory gratuities upfront.
- Another bill bans automated ticket scalping, when bots buy up tickets so they can drive up demand and resell them at a higher price.
- Bills that forbid ticket resellers from offering tickets they don’t really have, and regulating buy-now-pay-later lenders, were also signed into law.
* Gov. JB Pritzker has no public events scheduled today.
*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***
* Tribune | Supreme Court ruling in Roundup case is a major blow for agricultural states like Illinois, advocates say: The ruling carries significance for agricultural states like Illinois, one of the nation’s largest producers of corn and soybeans and among the heaviest users of glyphosate-based herbicides such as Roundup. Some rural Illinoisans have faced long-term exposure to the weedkiller. In a previous interview with the Tribune, organic farmer Harold Wilken talked about how he believes years of Roundup use contributed to his tonsil and lymph node cancer. For farm advocacy groups that filed briefs in the case, the decision raises concerns that federal regulatory approval may now make it harder to bring state consumer protection claims.
* MJBizDaily | Major labor strike threatens Illinois cannabis supply chain, union says: Hundreds of unionized employees at a marijuana multistate operator-owned Illinois cultivation facility walked off the job Thursday in what could be one of the biggest labor stoppages the legal cannabis industry has seen to date, according to union officials. In an action that could disrupt the supply chain in Illinois, more than 300 workers organized with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 916 are on strike at Ascend Wellness Holdings’ licensed cultivation operation in Barry, Illinois, Teamsters officials said in a press release.
* WGLT | New report indicates Illinois’ creative economy has ‘major’ impact statewide: The creative economy — which ranges from arts education to festivals, fairs and conventions to music recording and publishing — supports 734,269 jobs in the state of Illinois, the report indicated. That figure represents 12.2% of all employment across Illinois and generates $148.1 billion in total output and $20.6 billion in tax revenue. The report evaluates economic impact for the state, as well as within the city of Chicago.
*** Statehouse News ***
* WIFR | Illinois Lt. Gov. candidates focus on affordability in pitch to Rockford voters: The Democratic and Republican candidates for governor picked new running mates for their rematch. With Lieutenant Governor Julianna Stratton running for U.S. Senate, Pritzker picked Christian Mitchell to join his ticket. On the Republican side, Aaron Del Mar joins Bailey, who previously ran with Stephanie Trussell in 2022. Mitchell and Del Mar spoke Thursday with WIFR on what inspires them to run, their campaign priorities and ideas to improve the Rockford region.
* Capitol News Illinois | Cocktails-to-go, new state agency among laws taking effect July 1: A pandemic-era allowance is now law six-and-a-half years later. Senate Bill 618 makes cocktails-to-go permanent. Illinois lawmakers passed legislation during the pandemic that allowed restaurants and bars to sell cocktails and mixed drinks for pickup or delivery as businesses were closed to in-person customers. That will be allowed to continue permanently under the new law.
* Chalkbeat Chicago | Chicago school board adopts legislative agenda calling for more funding — after state lawmakers adjourn: “This would have been fantastic for us to have in January or even February,” said Anusha Thotakura, an appointed board member who has previously pressed CPS for a legislative plan. “There is absolutely no opportunity for this legislative agenda to result in increased state funds for the upcoming school year — zero.” Several board members called for the agenda to be a “living document” that CPS could add ideas to. And others wanted more demands of local officials. Elected board member Che “Rhymefest” Smith said he was disappointed the agenda didn’t include anything about pressing the city to send more special taxing district dollars to the district – an amount that can vary year to year.
* Gov Tech | Illinois’ First Chief AI Officer Is From the Private Sector: Illinois has chosen Kader Sakkaria as its first-ever chief AI officer, a newly created leadership post filled as the state formalizes its approach to AI governance, strategy and adoption across the enterprise. […] Sakkaria’s background aligns closely with those priorities, spanning AI, data strategy, cloud modernization and digital transformation. This is likely his inaugural public-sector position. According to his LinkedIn profile, he was most recently global head of data technology and center of excellence at Gallagher, where he helped oversee large-scale data and analytics operations, including AI governance initiatives.
*** Chicago ***
* Block Club | Mayor’s $3 Billion Parking Meter Offer Was $800 Million More Than The Next Highest Bid, Investor Says: Wyper and his colleagues said Stonepeak bid about $2.5 billion — which proved to be the winner after the city walked away. Stonepeak is now seeking City Council approval for its proposed takeover of the meter system. And the mayor is trying to avoid talking about it. City officials have previously said the city’s bid was about $3 billion, but refused to offer specifics or share their calculations for arriving at that figure. The $800 million difference with Stonepeak’s bid left alderpeople asking more questions. Some railed against the mayor and the city’s law department for failing to disclose the information sooner.
* ABC Chicago | Chicago Public School teachers warn of cuts as CPS faces $700 million budget deficit Chicago Public School teachers warn of cuts as CPS faces $700 million budget deficit : The Chicago Teachers Union says the district is at risk of cutting thousands of teacher and staff positions. The union also points to aging school buildings and a growing population of students with special needs as additional pressures on the system. “Our students deserve more not less. Our school communities have had enough of cuts year after year,” said Pavlyn Jankov, Director of Research at the Chicago Teachers Union. The Chicago Public School Board met Wednesday to discuss the budget. District leaders said they are considering all options to preserve as many student resources as possible. CTU is urging state lawmakers to call a special session to address school funding.
* Sun-Times | Mayor’s financial task force proposes Downtown congestion fee, service tax, restructuring electricity taxes: To chip away at Chicago’s $36 billion pension crisis and erase the city’s structural deficit, the 23-member group of civic leaders is also suggesting offering retirees lump-sum payouts in lieu of monthly pension checks, consolidating actuaries and administrators of the four city employee pension funds, and restoring the automatic escalator locking in annual property tax increases at the rate of inflation.
* Chalkbeat Chicago | Delays in ramping up work on Chicago’s Black Student Success Plan frustrate some advocates: Over the past year, district officials have worked to reassure parents and advocates that they are forging ahead with the initiative — while appearing to move slowly and cautiously to ward off further federal scrutiny and fallout. On Thursday, Jitu Brown, the board member slated to lead the Black Student Achievement Committee, announced yet another delay in naming its members. And when the district this past spring challenged in court the U.S. Department of Education’s move to withhold grant dollars over the plan, one of CPS’ arguments was that it hadn’t even started implementing the program.
* Block Club | Is Chicago Ever Getting Video Gambling Machines? Bars Wait For Answers As City Council Spars: On Wednesday, Christopher Jewett, Bally’s vice president for Corporate Development, said legalized video gambling terminals “will hurt the city’s finances for years to come.” “Had we known that within just a few years, this body would reverse course and allow an alternative form of gaming that breaches the agreement, we would never have agreed to the numerous commitments, all of which we’ve held up,” Jewett said. “I can assure you that other corporations around the country and world are watching the treatment of our relationship and will take note when determining to bring businesses and jobs here.”
* Crain’s | Chicago tourism grew in 2025, but city still chasing pre-pandemic high: Nearly 57 million people visited Chicago last year, marking both a step forward for the local tourism sector and a sign that it is still trying to find its post-pandemic footing. Tourism agency Choose Chicago today announced visitation to the city grew by 2.6% last year to 56.8 million people. The total still trails the record-high 61.6 million tourists the city welcomed in 2019.
*** Cook County and Suburbs ***
* Daily Herald | ‘The sirens go off because you’re under threat’: Elgin officials clarify emergency warning system: The city has 25 sirens across its 38 square miles. They had been automatically activated whenever the National Weather Service issued a warning for the area, including tornado warnings and severe thunderstorm warnings with damaging winds or large hail. Residents had complained about confusion, expecting the sirens to specifically indicate tornadoes. Cagann said city officials “agonized” over how best to keep the community safe, but ultimately decided to return to full automation because, he added, the ‘why’ of the sirens sounding isn’t important.
* Aurora Beacon-News | Kane County’s draft fiscal year 2027 budget may be on display as early as July: Like last year, the county board’s recent budget-making efforts have largely centered around addressing a looming budget shortfall in the county’s general fund, which the board has been solving since 2023 by dipping into the county’s cash reserves. But using reserves to balance the county’s annual budget won’t be an option forever, county staff members have cautioned, warning that the county must make significant cuts or find new revenue before 2027 to avoid going into its required 90-day reserves.
* Daily Southtown | Flossmoor considers transforming commuter lot into public park, gathering space: “This would be a great spot to do events,” Homewood-Flossmoor Park District executive director Doug Boehm said at a Wednesday open house. “We can host concerts, whatever, you name it. Things that we do in the park— celebrations and movies in the park, all sorts of things.” The property belongs to the village, but would potentially be transferred to the Park District if the project goes forward, Boehm said. Homewood has more than 20 parks, while Flossmoor has just seven, he said.
* WTTW | Cook County Has Been Called the Wrongful Conviction Capital of the US. New Book Explores Why: In her new book, “Crime Fictions: How Racist Lies Built a System of Mass Wrongful Conviction,” author Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve tries to answer that. She identifies cases of Black youth, some as young as 7, who are wrongfully accused and coerced into confessions. “We often talk about wrongful conviction as though it’s an accident or a series of accidents, and what I’m trying to do in this book … is to think about wrongful conviction as a set of patterns, a systemic way of doing business by police,” Gonzalez Van Cleve said. She set out by trying to answer how a person becomes guilty in the eyes of the police. After years of interviews, archival research and the excavation of hidden documents, she said she found that police have techniques for creating wrongful convictions.
*** Downstate ***
* WGLT | B-N residents voice concerns about Flock cameras in policing to the man who leads Bloomington’s program: A group called Shut the Flock Off requested all emails within the Bloomington Police Department with the word “Flock” in them. It was 79,000 emails. A narrowing resulted in the group still receiving thousands of documents, one of which was posted on social media last week. McQueen added that email to one of his slides. “Highlighted in there is my statement that they posted online,” he said. “It says ‘these issues are putting our system and data at risk,’ which was alarming to a lot of people. We got a lot of phone calls, and they said ‘Uh oh, that’s that data from the LPRs.”
* WCIA | ‘No evidence’ of bomb found after threat made at Champaign elementary school: The Champaign Police Department said a bomb threat that was called in to an elementary school earlier this week is now being investigated as a false report. Officers with the Champaign Police Department and a specialized K9 from the University of Illinois Police Department responded to South Side Elementary School — which is located in the 700 block of S. New Street — at 11:22 a.m. on June 22.
* WAND | Auburn’s iconic Route 66 brick road offers a drive through history: Long before Interstate 55 carried travelers through central Illinois, Route 66 connected communities, businesses and families along what would become America’s most famous highway. On Thursday, one of the best-preserved reminders of that history sits just north of Auburn, where a nearly four-minute stretch of brick pavement continues to draw visitors from around the world. The brick road, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, offers a rare glimpse into what travelers experienced nearly a century ago when Route 66 first stretched from Chicago to Los Angeles.
*** National ***
* Talking Points Memo | What’s This Database DHS Is Trying to Use to Purge Voter Rolls?: The changes to SAVE came in response to Trump’s March 25, 2025 executive order that directed DHS and SSA to ignore privacy laws and create a database for state and local election officials to verify citizenship status for people registering to vote. There are several issues with the way the Trump administration is trying to use the SAVE database, specifically on the privacy front. But one glaring election-related issue: there is evidence that the tool is incorrectly flagging eligible voters as ineligible. Also, as we know by now, non-citizen voting is extremely rare and it is not happening en masse as Trump and his allies claim.
* WaPo | Meet the megadonors pouring more than $1.3 billion into the 2026 election: The donors lean Republican and cash could prove critical for the GOP to maintain control of Congress in November. In the first half of 2026, Republican-leaning donors gave $880 million, compared to $290 million from Democratic-leaning givers and $200 million from bipartisan and special interest groups. But most of the money, regardless of affiliation, was given to super PACs that can legally accept unlimited sums.
* Recent events have prompted me to think about my own eventual demise (which, hopefully, isn’t for a long while). This is one of the songs I’d like played at whatever event is held. In case it happens sooner than I expect, bonus points if this band (which I have tickets to see Saturday in Chicago) plays it live…
River gonna take me, sing me sweet and sleepy
Sing me sweet and sleepy all the way back home
It’s a far gone lullaby sung many years ago
Mama, Mama, many worlds I’ve come since I first left home
