* Subscribers know more. ICYMI: Illinois Senate halts redistricting constitutional amendment question after Supreme Court’s voting rights ruling. Tribune…

- Senate President Don Harmon announced Wednesday that a state constitutional amendment to enshrine protections for majority-minority districts will not appear on Illinois’ November ballot.
- Harmon said in a statement that he wanted legal experts to review the Supreme Court’s ruling they moved forward with the proposal. He added that he expects the amendment to be revisited in a future legislative session.
- The Supreme Court’s conservative majority voted 6-3 that Louisiana’s second Black-majority district was too heavily reliant on race. The ruling gives an opening to other Republican states to eliminate Black- and Latino-majority districts that typically vote more Democratic.

* Related stories…

• WAND: IL Senate won’t vote on redistricting constitutional amendment question following SCOTUS ruling
• CNI: Illinois lawmakers punt remap amendment after SCOTUS Voting Rights Act ruling
• AP: Supreme Court ruling will reshape American politics. The only question is when

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* At 10:30, Gov. JB Pritzker will host a Press Conference following his meeting with the Illinois Accountability Commission where they will deliver their report and recommendations to the Governor. Click here to watch.

* BlueRoomStream.com’s coverage of today’s press conferences and committee hearings can be found here.

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Politico | Dems split on Israel boycott law: n effort to repeal an Illinois law targeting companies that pull investments from Israel is seeing some movement — though it’s also highlighting divisions among Democrats who dominate state government. The proposal would roll back a 2015 law requiring the state to divest from companies that boycott Israel. State Rep. Abdelnasser Rashid, who’s carrying the bill, called the current policy punitive and economically short-sighted, arguing it forces Illinois to blacklist companies like Ben & Jerry’s and Airbnb for what he views as human rights positions. […] Now, more than 20 House members have signed onto legislation in the House to repeal the anti-boycott law, and leadership has scheduled a subject matter hearing on the issue for Thursday.

* Sun-Times | Illinois advocacy groups say DOJ ‘quietly gutting’ legal aid services for low-income immigrants: For more than 60 years, the Department of Justice has operated the Recognition and Accreditation Program — a program that lets non-attorneys provide legal services and has made affordable representation available to families who cannot afford a private attorney. […] The group said there were no advance warnings to the more than 900 nonprofit organizations and 2,600 accredited representatives nationwide who participate in the program. Siegel said there is already a massive need for representation while there is also a lack of due process for immigrants who are applying for benefits while also fighting deportation.

* Sun-Times | SNAP food assistance cutoffs begin Friday in Illinois: As of Tuesday, the Illinois Department of Human Services, the state agency that administers the program, estimated that 120,000 individuals were at risk of losing their benefits starting Friday and rolling out over the next several months. That’s down about 280,000 from what the state originally anticipated would be pushed out of the program as people received exemptions from the work rules.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Cook County Record | Ex-Dem Rep. Stoneback can’t sue gun control group, current Rep. Olickal over NRA smears:
However, in their ruling, the justices still likely dealt a mortal blow to Stoneback’s lawsuit, finding her claims to be “meritless.” Stoneback sued Olickal and Gun Violence Prevention PAC in 2023 in Cook County Circuit Court. The lawsuit accused the current state lawmaker and the activist group of partnering on a smear campaign against Stoneback, which was centered on allegedly lying to voters and the public about her positions on gun control amid the 2022 Democratic primary election in Illinois’ 16th State Representative District.

* Daily Herald | NFL focuses on fate of Bears stadium as the legislative clock ticks: She added sources told her the “committee also acknowledged the Illinois legislature needs to continue to work to move the process forward.” Meanwhile, Senate Democrats have signaled they need to thoroughly vet the controversial megaproject bill, which includes property tax breaks for the Bears.

*** Chicago ***

* Tribune | Graduate student workers at UIC go on strike: ‘We want to be paid a living wage’: Most work 20 hours per week, for nine months of the year, on a $24,000 salary. But Ph.D. student Macy Miller said their workload often stretches well past those hours. Many graduate students teach their own classes. “Especially if you have to create your own course from the ground up, you’re responsible for all the materials, the syllabus, the grading,” said Miller, who also serves as the union’s treasurer and outreach chair. “That’s way more than 20 hours.” The union’s latest wage proposal is $38,000. That figure is still below the wage floor for graduate workers at other local universities — doctorate students at Northwestern University and the University of Chicago earn a base pay of about $45,000.

* WGN | Former Chicago Board of Education VP running for board president: Sendhil Revuluri, the former Vice President of the Chicago Board of Education, is running for the top spot this year. Revuluri was appointed to the Board by former Mayor Lori Lightfoot in 2019 and served for three years. He tells WGN-TV Political Editor Tahman Bradley the Board has become too political and should focus more on the needs of students.

* Crain’s | Blue Cross Illinois parent posts nearly $2 billion loss for 2025: Health Care Service Corp., the Chicago-based parent of Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Illinois, posted a $1.9 billion loss in 2025 despite record membership and revenue growth. Much of that red ink stems from underwriting losses of $3.5 billion, up nearly $3 billion from 2024 and from higher benefit expenses, up from nearly $57 billion in 2024 to $63.1 billion, according to its 2025 Annual Report.

* Sun-Times | Gov. Pritzker strengthens quantum computing partnership with IBM to benefit City Colleges students:
Pritzker announced the new partnership at Olive Harvey College, one of the seven City Colleges whose current and future students stand to benefit from the apprenticeship program and the pipeline to permanent jobs it will create. Pritzker called it a quantum leap in his drive to ensure the economic opportunities created by the new campus will benefit everyone in the state.

* Sun-Times | These CPS students care for horses and pigs at school. They’re adding shelter puppies to their resume: The students volunteered to care for the puppies to get them out of the shelter for a few days and raise awareness about the event, but also to get more experience working with animals. Both students are learning how to raise livestock and other animals as part of the school’s animal science program, and hope to go into animal care after they graduate.

* Tribune | ‘I loved being a lawyer’: Longtime Chicago attorney Joseph Duffy retires after five decades: It’s an art that Duffy mastered over his decades as a trial lawyer, both as a federal prosecutor and later in white-collar defense. He once used bar receipts to show that an undercover agent had been lying about how many drinks he bought an allegedly corrupt yen trader during an investigation at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in the 1980s. “He said maybe one or two. I pulled out this receipt that said it was 12 beers,” Duffy said.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Southtown | La Grange establishes task force to explore issues with affordable housing: Village President Mark Kuchler said the new task force “would be created to review, specifically, to maintain and potentially increase affordable housing to stay in compliance with Illinois state mandates, and which will also, of course, help with a healthy community.” The state Affordable Housing Planning and Appeal Act of 2003 requires non-exempt local governments that have less than 10% affordable housing have an Affordable Housing Plan to address the issue, and submit it to the state for review.

* Shaw Local | DeKalb OKs $3.5M water main project for south-side development, including incoming 560-acre data center:
Economic development on DeKalb’s south side has grown significantly over the years with the addition of major industrial users, including Meta, Amazon and Ferrara Candy Company. Once it comes online, the transmission water main will also serve the new Edged data center. The city received six bids on the water main project, city documents show. The lowest bidder was Elliott and Wood, which submitted a $5 million project bid. The total project cost of $5.3 million includes a city contingency of $253,750, documents show.

* Pioneer Press | Israel boycott question won’t appear on Oak Park Township ballots after packed meeting, passionate comments: The meeting had originally been slated for April 14 but was rescheduled after the expected crowds became too large for the Oak Park Public Library’s Dole Branch, which holds around 60 people. On Tuesday, the cafeteria’s seats all were filled and standing people lined the walls, though the cafeteria was said to hold more than 200 people, according to Evan Michel, Oak Park Township manager. Part of a larger initiative to place the question in several townships around the state, the measure had already passed in several Illinois townships including Champaign, Cunningham, Peoria, Kickapoo, Medina, DuPage and Normal. It failed in Capital and Wheatland townships, according to advocates.

* Daily Herald | DuPage County OKs raises for board members, other elected officials: A dozen DuPage County Board members and several countywide officials will get salary increases after the fall election, including a 35% pay hike for the board chairman. The raises were approved Tuesday when the county board set the pay for the next four years for the sheriff, treasurer, county clerk, county board chairman and 12 county board members. All the positions are up for election in November. The new salaries will take effect on Dec. 1, when the county’s 2027 fiscal year begins.

*** Downstate ***

* WGLT | Judge denies attempt to kick temporary workers at ISU off the job as AFSCME strike continues: McLean County Judge Rebecca Foley on Wednesday denied AFSCME Local 1110’s request for a temporary restraining order that would have kicked temporary service employees off the job. Representing the union, attorney Stephen Yokich argued Wednesday in McLean County court that Illinois State is violating the Illinois Employment of Strikebreakers Act that prevents employers from contracting day laborers to ease the impact of a strike.

* Illinois Times | Chief addresses use-of-force policy: The Springfield Police Department’s chief sees calls for changes in the department’s use-of-force policy as opportunities to educate the public on how officers make split-second decisions that may result in viral posts on social media and accusations of police brutality. […] When speaking with Illinois Times about the 15-page use-of-force policy and training program, Behl said police must weigh the “totality of the circumstances” when deciding whether to use everything from their mere presence and simple verbal direction all the way to a punch, a Taser strike or deadly force.

* WICS | No new moratorium, but no data center either for Logan County: No data center is heading to Logan County… yet. While their moratorium was not extended, the county board says there’s still more to be done. The board kicked the moratorium back to their zoning board, while they wait for an ordinance to be passed regarding regulations for data centers.

* WCIA | HOLY COW: Cow spotted roaming UI campus Wednesday afternoon: The cow that was roaming the University of Illinois’ campus on Wednesday has been safely recovered and is now being checked over by a veterinarian. Patrick Wade, the director of executive communications and issues management for the university, said the cow got loose around 3:30 p.m., while being unloaded from a trailer at the College of Veterinary Medicine’s Large Animal Clinic.

* Illinois Times | ABC loses State Fair contract: Since the first term of Dwight D. Eisenhower’s presidency, one organization – the American Business Club of Springfield – has volunteered to serve beer and other concessions at the Illinois State Fair, with their share of money earned funding grants to dozens of local charities. For the first time since 1954, ABC will no longer occupy that role. Another group of local veterans, the Combined Veterans Association, lost their contract to operate a beer and beverage tent as well, after more than 50 years of service. Like ABC, the group is a volunteer organization, and the sales from the State Fair provide the sole operating income for many veterans’ organizations.

* PJ Star | Smokey Bones shutters last Illinois location amid nationwide closures: Illinois is set to lose its last Smokey Bones, a once popular barbecue restaurant, as the chain shutters locations across the country. Known for its authentic fire-grilled and house-smoked meats, the chain closed various locations April 28, including a restaurant in Springfield.

*** National ***

* AP | Union Pacific argues for its $85B acquisition of Norfolk Southern in new railroad merger application: The U.S. Surface Transportation Board rejected Union Pacific’s initial application because regulators wanted more details about how the deal would affect the competitive balance between the five remaining major freight railroads and the impact on customers. Union Pacific CEO Jim Vena said the new application makes an even stronger case for the benefits of the merger that he believes would shave a day or two off the delivery time for many shipments because they would no longer have to be handed off between two railroads in the middle of the country. The Omaha, Nebraska-based railroad projects that the merger could lead to shifting 2.1 million truckloads off the highway onto trains.

* NYT | Oil Hits Wartime High Above $120 a Barrel as Standoff Shows No End in Sight: The average price of regular gasoline in the United States has followed oil higher, hitting $4.30 a gallon on Thursday, up 27 cents in a week, according to data from the AAA motor club. After the Federal Reserve held interest rates steady on Wednesday, Jerome H. Powell, the central bank’s chair, said that policymakers needed to be “very cautious” about their next steps, given the significant uncertainty about the economic outlook.

* IPM News | U.S. House still hasn’t voted on a farm bill: According to Jonathan Coppess, Director of the Gardner Agriculture Policy Program at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, there have been three major sticking points that have been especially contentious: year round sale of E15 fuel; a provision blocking some lawsuits from pesticide companies; and an effort to overturn a California law that sets minimum space requirements for farm animals. “Those three together have added very specific complications on top of what they did last summer and the SNAP [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program] provisions,” he said.