* ICYMI: House Dems’ transit point man says special session is possible. Crain’s…

- “I’d be open to [a special session],” said Rep. Kam Buckner, D-Chicago, one of the legislative leaders in the Illinois House of Representatives. “We’ve got to first come to an agreement. . . .There is nothing right now that we can pass in summer session because we haven’t worked out those hanging chads.”
- Voting structure is still a sticking point on the proposed 20-member board to which the governor, mayor of Chicago and Cook County board president would each make five appointments. The remaining five members would be selected by the county board presidents of DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will counties.
- Once governance issues are decided, the conversation will turn to revenue. Buckner says he wants legislators to consider a tollway surcharge that was shot down in the Senate bill, in part by organized labor and suburban legislators.

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Crain’s | Illinois faces $22.2B in health care spending cuts under GOP budget bill: Illinois would see a decrease in health care spending of $22.2 billion over 10 years under the budget reconciliation measure, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, passed by the U.S. House and now before the Senate, according to an analysis by the Urban Institute and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. In addition to the impact to people on Medicaid and Affordable Care Act policies, the blow to hospital and other provider revenue will be drastic, the analysis predicts.

* Daily Herald | Illinois lawmakers identified in notes kept by Minnesota assassination suspect: Two Illinois members of Congress, including U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Schaumburg, and a state senator were among those named in records kept by the man accused of gunning down the Minnesota House speaker. “I have been informed that my name was included in the notes of the Minnesota suspect accused of assassinating an elected official, murdering her husband, and targeting others,” Krishnamoorthi said Tuesday. “This brutal attack was devastating and terrifying on many levels.”

*** Statewide ***

* Shaw Local | IHSA approves new state tournament schedule for basketball: The IHSA on Tuesday announced that the boys and girls basketball state tournaments will change their format, reverting to a similar schedule used when the single-weekend format was introduced in 2022 until 2024.

* NBC Chicago | Are fireflies going extinct? What to know about ‘lightning bugs’ in Illinois: Species reported several North American firefly species could be at risk of extinction, though data remains challenging as research is relatively new. “There is an urgent need to study firefly populations more closely to fully understand their plight and ensure conservation efforts are effective,” the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, a nonprofit organization working on conservation efforts, wrote on its website. In Illinois, researchers warned of indications populations are declining.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Center Square | IL taxpayers provide millions for upcoming NASCAR, golf events: The $55.2 billion Illinois budget signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Monday includes $5 million to Chicago for costs associated with operating expenses for NASCAR races July 5 and 6. […] [Sen. Don DeWitte] noted that lawmakers also appropriated $1 million for 2026 Presidents Cup golf at Medinah Country Club and suggested that there were much more significant priorities for the state.

* Capitol News Illinois | Inside Illinois’ efforts to court the emerging quantum technology industry: The Japan External Trade Organization — an economic development organization affiliated with the government of Japan — sponsored a two-day “delegation” of business representatives to Chicago. At an early meeting of the delegation, representatives of the state and economic development agencies pitched the region — and Illinois’ state backing — as unique in the world. “This is not a state government that is following trends but really setting the trends,” Intersect Illinois Chief Quantum Officer Preeti Chalsani told the delegation. “When I go to conferences, I hear about other states and countries who are thinking of doing something like Illinois. That really makes me proud.”

* Capitol City Now | How did a new state budget help SkillsUSA Illinois?: Eric Hill with SkillsUSA Illinois talks with Joey McLaughlin on the WTAX Morning NewsWatch about the organization and the Illinois State budget the Governor signed and what it means for SkillsUSA.

*** Chicago ***

* Sun-Times | Mayor Brandon Johnson warns Trump that Chicago has ‘to go as far necessary’ to protect the Constitution: Mayor Brandon Johnson declared Tuesday that Chicagoans “have to go as far as necessary” to “protect our Constitution” as the Trump administration sets its sight on the city as a target for militarized immigration enforcement.

* Tribune | ICE field director defends agents after ramped-up enforcement, arrests of US citizens at Chicago immigration court protest: On Monday, three U.S. citizens were detained by ICE after allegedly assaulting an officer in Chicago, according to a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson. In an interview Tuesday with the Tribune, Samuel Olson, ICE’s Chicago field office director, explained that “the last thing (the agents) want to do is to have to arrest somebody who’s assaulting them or impeding them from doing their jobs.” ICE released all three protesters Monday afternoon. Asked whether the protesters were charged, Olson said the arrests of the protesters are under investigation by the U.S. attorney’s office for the Northern District of Illinois.

* Block Club | Ex-Loretto Hospital Exec Stole $300 Million Through COVID Testing Scams: Prosecutors: Former Loretto COO and CFO Anosh Ahmed is among a group of four who now face charges related to the scheme, prosecutors said. Block Club has reported extensively on Ahmed’s troubling conduct at Loretto Hospital, from letting well-connected people access COVID-19 vaccines early — and even bragging he vaccinated Eric Trump — to contracting with companies owned by his business partner, best friend and neighbor, Sameer Suhail.

* NBC Chicago | Chicago hospital suffers ‘catastrophic loss’ of air conditioning before heat wave: Officials at Weiss Memorial Hospital, located in the 4600 block of North Marine Drive, say that the loss has led to a massive transfer of patients to other hospitals and caused ambulances to be bypassed from its emergency department. According to officials, mechanics are working to fix the system. Repairs could take days, and then even beyond that it will take even longer for the air conditioning system to properly cool the facility.

* Chalkbeat Chicago | ‘No regrets, and I’d do it again’: Pedro Martinez reflects on more than 3 years leading Chicago schools: Martinez is an alum of CPS’s Benito Juarez High School and served as the district’s chief financial officer from 2003 to 2009. He served as a deputy superintendent and superintendent in two districts in Nevada, including Clark County, which includes Las Vegas. Martinez was superintendent of the San Antonio Independent School District for six years before being hired by former Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration in 2021. He starts as the education commissioner of Massachusetts later this summer.

* Press Release | Mayor Johnson Announces $4.11M Investment into Community Wealth-Building: The Department of Planning and Development is allocating grants of up to $500,000 for Community Investment Vehicles and Worker Cooperatives in an effort to increase wealth in low and moderate-income neighborhoods.

* CBS Chicago | Chicago police officer arrested in Florida for shoving security guard, using racial slur at resort: Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said Dwayne Ocasio was with a group of people seen standing around a golf cart in the middle of the road at the Westgate River Ranch Resort, when a security guard asked them to move the golf cart. “You know what this guy did? He cussed the security guard, used a racial slur – that’s right - and then pushed the security guard,” Judd said in a video posted on the sheriff’s Facebook page.

* Sun-Times | Chicago area prepares for Juneteenth celebrations: ‘We do matter, our stories matter’: Juneteenth is a day to celebrate freedom, but it also serves as a reminder of the ongoing fight for justice and equality. Juneteenth is a federal holiday commemorating June 19, 1865, — the day when the last enslaved African Americans, living in Galveston, Texas, learned they had been freed — two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued. Juneteenth was declared a federal holiday in 2021.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Tribune | Cook County preparing for $211M budget deficit for 2026: County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who has been able to boast budgets free of taxes, fees or layoffs for the last several years, told reporters at a Tuesday briefing that the 2026 projection is the most “problematic,” and cautioned that “this is our best guess.” The county is expecting a general fund shortfall of $102.6 million, thanks mostly to higher wages and fringe benefits when its current contracts with union employees expire. Its health fund, meanwhile, is projecting a $108.8 million deficit thanks to a significant drop in patient revenues.

* Daily Herald | Arlington Heights shuts off access to license-plate camera data: Recklaus confirmed there were instances where — as part of an overall state of Illinois search — Arlington Heights’ data was included and may have been reviewed, according to the state audit. But he said there’s no indication that the information led to arrests or further inquiries. Recklaus’ report during a village board meeting Monday night came after Trustee Carina Santa Maria inquired if Arlington Heights’ data may have been accessed or exposed. She called upon the board and staff to review, and if necessary strengthen, village policies and ordinances to safeguard against unauthorized use.

* Daily Southtown | State kicks in another $18 million for Tinley Park-Park District land cleanup, district says that will be enough: The state has provided another $18 million to the Tinley Park-Park District to clean hazardous materials and demolish buildings on former state-owned land the district wants to use for recreational purposes. Park officials announced the additional funding Tuesday, which comes on top of $15 million previously earmarked by the state, and said they expect no additional funds will be needed to finish the job.

* Daily Herald | Gurnee hiking local sales tax to replace lost grocery tax revenue — and then some: The expiring 1% state grocery tax will not be reinstated with a local version in Gurnee, but village officials instead will increase their local sales tax to spread the cost to visitors. In fact, because Gurnee’s non-grocery retail base is so expansive, the decision is expected to generate more than double the revenue of the grocery tax and save the average local household $85 per year. “This shifts the burden to visitors in our community,” Village Administrator Patrick Muetz told village trustees Monday, before a vote to impose an additional 0.5% home rule sales tax.

* AP | Suburban toy company challenges Trump’s tariffs before Supreme Court in long shot bid for quick decision: Vernon Hills-based Learning Resources Inc. filed an appeal asking the Supreme Court to take up the case soon rather than let it continue to play out in lower courts. The company argues the Republican president illegally imposed tariffs under an emergency powers law rather than getting approval from Congress. While the company won an early victory in a lower court, the order is on hold as an appeals court considers a similar ruling putting a broader block on Trump’s tariffs. The appeals court has allowed Trump to continue collecting tariffs under the emergency powers law ahead of arguments set for late July.

* Shaw Local | Kane County judge’s $100K+ libel lawsuit against Geneva blogger stalls for lack of service: Where is Geneva blogger Jeffrey Ward? Apparently, he has not been home when a process server tried and failed six times in February and March to serve him a summons and notice of a $100,000-plus libel lawsuit filed by Kane County Judge Michael Noland, according to court records.

* Evanston Round Table | Evanston’s Bethany Johnson joins crowded race for Illinois’ 9th District seat: Johnson is a progressive Democrat and longtime south Evanston resident, and she said on her website that she’ll advocate to stop using Illinois to “fund red states,” promote LGBTQ+ rights and redirect money from the military to schools and hospitals. She enters a crowded Democratic primary field for the seat held by Jan Schakowsky (D-Evanston), which includes Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, state Sen. Laura Fine (9th District), content creator Kat Abughazaleh, Skokie’s Bushra Amiwala and Chicago’s Miracle Jenkins, among others.

* Daily Herald | New options: Developer presents revised plans for former Haeger Potteries site in East Dundee: Brinshore Development LLC returned to trustees on Monday with three options offering a mix of apartment and townhouse mixed-income rentals. The Evanston-based developer initially proposed 136 units for the 7 Maiden Lane redevelopment project. On Tuesday, the company presented three more options. One plan offered 119 units, another 104 units, and a third would add 89 units.

* Urban Milwaukee | Gov. Evers says expansion in Wisconsin will create more than 700 jobs: An industrial robotics manufacturer is moving its North American headquarters from Illinois to Wisconsin as part of a consolidation that’s expected to create more than 700 new jobs. Gov. Tony Evers announced Friday that Yaskawa America Inc. plans to invest $180 million to consolidate its Illinois and Wisconsin facilities into one campus in Franklin. The plan includes moving the company’s headquarters from Waukegan, Illinois, to Franklin.

*** Downstate ***

* WCIA | Group sues to remove Ten Commandments monument from southern Illinois courthouse lawn: The lawsuit, filed Monday in Illinois’ 2nd Judicial Circuit Court, targets Jefferson County, the Jefferson County Board of Commissioners and several Jefferson County board members. It also references county sheriff Jeff Bullard, not explicitly as a defendant, but as an individual who allegedly had a role in moving the monument from its original location inside the courthouse to the lawn outside.

* WGLT | Normal council bans new short-term rentals in single-family neighborhoods: Owners of already-existing rentals will transition into long-term rentals. Over the course of a five-year grace period, property owners can earn a return on investment while converting these properties into ones more suitable for single-family neighborhoods. An extension to this debt repayment plan would be offered if the property owner proves a specific hardship, according to the ordinance.

* BND | As Nippon deal closes, Granite City steelworkers union anticipates answers soon: The neighboring company to Granite City’s steel mill that floated purchasing both blast furnaces back in 2022 still plans to forge ahead with its plans that union officials say would leave only a few hundred permanent jobs. With President Donald Trump approving the deal between U.S. Steel and the Japanese firm Nippon late last week, a representative for SunCoke Energy Inc. confirmed the Chicago-area company wants to repurpose the metro-east blast furnaces into granulators that would melt iron to fuel other electric furnaces — and shut down steelmaking.

* WCIA | From the Farm: Catching up with the National FFA President: WCIA’s Stu Ellis caught up with Thad Bergschneider, a Morgan County native and University of Illinois student, at the FFA convention. He’s now six months into his tenure as National FFA President.

*** National ***

* The Atlantic | How Ivermectin Became Right-Wing Aspirin: Remember ivermectin? The animal-deworming medication was used so avidly as an off-label COVID treatment during the pandemic that some feed stores ended up going out of stock. (must show a pic of you and your horse, a sign at one demanded of would-be customers in 2021.) If you haven’t heard about it since, then you’ve existed blissfully outside the gyre of misinformation and conspiracies that have come to define the MAGA world’s outlook on medicine. In the past few years, ivermectin’s popularity has only grown, and the drug has become a go-to treatment for almost any ailment whatsoever. Once a suspect COVID cure, now a right-wing aspirin.

* AP | U.S. judge says government can’t limit passport sex markers for many transgender, nonbinary people: Tuesday’s ruling from U.S. District Judge Julia Kobick means that transgender or nonbinary people who are without a passport or need to apply for a new one can request a male, female or “X” identification marker rather than being limited to the marker that matches the gender assigned at birth.

* Reason | Indiana becomes first state to approve interstate tolling to rebuild highways: After years of underfunding its highways, Indiana Gov. Mike Braun recently signed House Bill 1461, which authorizes the state to toll its existing Interstates. This law makes Indiana the first state in the nation to authorize tolling for its existing Interstate system. Widespread use of tolling to rebuild and expand highways can reshape transportation funding in a way that adjusts for changes in vehicle technology.