* ICYMI: Charges dropped in ATF shooting case after video calls sworn complaint into question: ‘These are serious things’. Tribune…

- Federal prosecutors have abruptly dropped charges against three men accused of robbing undercover agents during a gun transaction in Country Club Hills — which ended with two suspects being shot — after videos surfaced that allegedly called the account of law enforcement into question.
- While the dismissal of the federal charges may be only temporary, it adds more fuel to the crisis surrounding the U.S. attorney’s office since the meltdown last month of the “Broadview Six” case that has led to calls for sanctions and for U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros to resign.
- In making the unusual move to dismiss the Country Club Hills complaint, prosecutors in a court filing Wednesday made repeated vague references to the “Front Office,” including how the front office became aware of new video of the incident and what actions were taken once they were disclosed.

* Related stories…

• Sun-Times: Video contradicts FBI agent’s account of shooting during undercover sting in Country Club Hills
• Tribune: What to know about US Attorney Andrew Boutros amid calls for his resignation
• WTTW: ‘Broadview Six’ Seek Special Prosecutor to Investigate U.S. Attorney’s Office Misconduct Allegations

* At 11 am, Gov. JB Pritzker will attend the Incobrasa ribbon-cutting ceremony in Gilman. At 2:15 pp, he will travel to Decatur for ADM’s facility modernization announcement. Click here to watch.

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Tribune | Illinois hospitals owe the state more than $700M, sparking questions and calls for change: Across Illinois, 19 hospitals — mostly safety net hospitals like West Suburban and Weiss — owed the state nearly $705 million in taxes, penalties and advance payments, as of earlier this year, according to information obtained from the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services through Freedom of Information Act requests. […] The money safety net hospitals owe Illinois falls mainly into two categories: unpaid hospital assessments, also known as provider taxes, and advance payments. […] Of the $705 million hospitals owed the state, about $478 million of that was from unpaid hospital assessments and related penalties, as of March.

* WAND | 2 dead, 5 hospitalized from severe weather in Jefferson County: The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said three homes were destroyed after a tornado reportedly touched down in the northeastern part of Jefferson County. Many others were damaged. News partner KFVS confirmed with Sheriff Jeff Bullard that two people died in the destroyed homes. One person died five miles southeast of Dix, Illinois. The second victim died near North July Road in Mount Vernon, Illinois.

* Daily Herald | ‘Not a record we want to break’: Illinois on track for most twisters ever in 2026: Recent twister activity in the suburbs contributed to the 140 confirmed tornadoes so far in 2026, Illinois State Climatologist Trent Ford said. […] “Illinois is absolutely outracing everybody,” AccuWeather meteorologist Peyton Simmers said, adding the next closest state is Mississippi with 82 preliminary tornado reports.

*** Statewide ***

* Tribune | Illinois drivers could face higher tolls next year: The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority on Thursday proposed its first passenger toll hike since 2012. The proposal, which would increase passenger vehicle tolls by roughly 45 cents for I-Pass users, comes on the heels of the state’s landmark public transit funding bill, which called for the same toll increases. Commercial vehicle tolls would increase by 30% for I-Pass users. The transit funding bill, which took effect June 1, diverts some funds that would typically be used for road projects to public transit, which the proposed toll hikes are intended to offset.

* Tribune | In Illinois, getting oil and gas operators to pay for abandoned wells can take decades: All total, the state’s most recent list has nearly 3,900 abandoned or “orphan” wells, so-named because their owners are dead or unidentified, their companies bankrupted by a notoriously volatile global industry punctuated with booms or busts. The agency calculates the cost to plug them is around $155 million. An ongoing Tribune investigation has revealed that years of mismanaged fees and inadequate recordkeeping have hobbled the state’s efforts to reduce that number, while companies have been able to evade their legal obligations to plug nonproducing wells, exposing downstate communities to a host of contaminants, above and below ground.

*** Statehouse News ***

* WGN | The Workers’ Mic talk about why the IL AFL-CIO chose not to endorse a candidate: On this week’s Father’s Day show on The Workers’ Mic, Powered by the NCL, Ed Maher is joined by special guest hosts Rob Paszta, Associate General Counsel for Operating Engineers Local 150 and Ed’s daughter Emma. To kick off the show, President of the Illinois AFL-CIO, Tim Drea joins the conversation to discuss why the Illinois AFL-CIO chose not to endorse a candidate for the fall election. Throughout the show, the guys discuss the latest union related news surrounding Uber for teens, the misinformation surrounding data centers, updates with the NLRB and more.

* Daily Herald | Relief for older drivers arrives July 1 as state raises age mandate for road tests: There are about 350,000 Illinois drivers aged between 79 and 86, and approximately 55,000 of them take an annual driving test, officials said. Another significant provision lets immediate relatives of unsafe drivers, regardless of age, report problems to the secretary of state’s office. Issues could be a decline in driving skills or cognitive or medical issues.

* KFVS | Republican Party’s 59th Legislative District Committee selects Paul Jacobs to fill Ill. State Senate vacancy: The Republican Party’s 59th Legislative District Committee has selected Paul Jacobs to fill the vacancy in the Illinois State Senate following the resignation of former State Sen. Dale Fowler. Committee members met Wednesday evening, June 17, at the Herrin Civic Center and voted to appoint State Representative Jacobs to serve the remainder of Fowler’s term in the 104th Illinois General Assembly.

* Muddy River News | Illinois Republican Darren Bailey sees path to secure Governor’s office in Springfield: Bailey says it means that voters have to show up at the polls. Adams County GOP Chair Jon McCoy has raised a similar concern. “The republican party is notorious for slacking off on voting,” McCoy said. “If they would turn out and vote, we would turn this state back red. Predominantly during non-presidential election years, so many republicans stay home.”

* Tribune | New protections on the way for patients against sexual abuse, misconduct by healthcare workers: The bill creates an obligation for healthcare businesses and individual healthcare workers to promptly report to the state if they witness or hear about allegations of sexual or intimate conduct involving healthcare professionals and patients. The state would be able to discipline licensed workers ranging from doctors and nurses to dentists and massage therapists for failing to report such incidents. The bill also expands on previous reporting requirements for hospitals and allows the state to fine them for failing to properly report incidents where healthcare workers engaged in sexual or intimate conduct with patients. That money would go into the Sexual Assault Services and Prevention Fund. “Reckless failure to report” such incidents would also put healthcare organizations’ certificate to operate in jeopardy.

* WHBF | Illinois bill expands school bullying to include AI content: House Bill 3851 updates and expands how bullying and cyberbullying are defined, particularly to include the use of artificial intelligence. Lawmakers say the update reflects growing incidents nationally of inappropriate AI-generated content. The move gives school districts clearer authority to step in when those situations interfere with a student’s well being or education.

* CBS Chicago | Video: State, local leaders remember trailblazing Illinois lawmaker Barbara Flynn Currie: Currie was first elected to the state house in 1978. She held her seat for 40 years, becoming the longest serving woman in state history and THE first woman to serve as house majority leader.

*** Chicago ***

* Block Club | Street Vendor Ticketed By Police, Then Detained By ICE: ‘We Don’t Know Who We Can Trust’: Perdomo made her first court appearance Tuesday. As she and her nephew, Fabian Cocha Toapanta, were leaving a courthouse on the West Side, federal immigration officials arrested them. Another vendor witnessed the arrest, Gama said. Perdomo is in a detention facility in Kentucky while Cocha Toapanta is in a facility in Indiana, records show. The two are from Ecuador, Gama said. Perdomo has been selling fruit in Millennium Park for about three years, he said.

* CBS Chicago | Lawsuit filed against Illinois DCFS over teen sex abuse at Aunt Martha’s foster care facility: On Thursday, the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services was added as a defendant in a lawsuit accusing the foster facility of failing to protect a 17-year-old foster child from sexual assault by an Aunt Martha’s employee. In March, a Cook County jury convicted former Aunt Martha’s youth center manager Trulon Henry of sexually assaulting that teen. There were also allegations involving five other girls, as young as 12. A lawsuit filed earlier this month claims those sexual assaults and other abuse allegations at the state-funded foster care center went unchecked by DCFS for years.

* WTTW | Chicago Has Spent at Least $225M to Resolve Police Misconduct Lawsuits, Just 6 Months Into the Year: The city’s 2026 budget set aside just $82.5 million for police misconduct settlements, and authorized officials to borrow an additional $283.3 million to cover the soaring cost of lawsuits alleging wrongdoing by police officers, records show. Mayor Brandon Johnson said Tuesday that the city had an obligation to compensate those who had suffered because police officers had committed a “violation of trust and abuse of power.”

* Crain’s | Midway Airport starts to claw its way back: Total passengers at the South Side airport increased nearly 1% through the first three months of 2026 from a year ago, according to the most recent data from the Chicago Department of Aviation. During the same period in 2025, passenger volume at Midway fell 12%. “The slump appears to be over at Midway,” says Joe Schwieterman, a DePaul University professor who studies the transportation industry.

* Tribune | Amid Chicago budget crunch, more schools lean on dollars they raise independently: In recent years, the principal has rented out the South Side high school’s campus to churches, nonprofits and sports leagues, and leaned on a new parent group to drum up donations. The effort to supplement what the school receives directly from Chicago Public Schools has paid off. Kenwood spent $418,983 in outside money in fiscal year 2025, compared with a low of about $90,000 in 2021, according to an analysis by Chalkbeat and the Tribune.

* Block Club | Crackdown On Airbag Resellers Passes Council As Thefts Surge: Introduced this spring by Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th), the ordinance is an attempt to deter thieves by stifling the black market around stolen airbags by raising fines on resellers caught with them. […] A recent analysis of Police Department data by the Sun-Times found there were about 1,200 airbag thefts reported from January through April, compared to about 70 total from 2023-2025, with police suspending many investigations due to lack of evidence.

* Sun-Times | Chicago’s Black cowboys celebrate Juneteenth with South Side horseback ride: “I made a commitment that I wanted to bring horseback riding back to the inner city of Chicago, and that’s what I feel like I’ve done,” said Murdock, founder of the Broken Arrow Horseback Riding Club.

* Sun-Times | Will Venable shares how he’s progressing as manager while White Sox develop into contender: “I’m happy about where this whole thing’s at,” Venable said Sunday in the visiting manager’s office at Comerica Park. “And I’m OK with whatever the result is, as long as we continue this process of coming to the ballpark with a good attitude, giving everything that we have, bringing a ton of energy, learning from our mistakes and the experiences in the game and doing the same thing the next day. That, for me, is what this is all about. I believe that has happened every day this year.”

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Tribune | Cook County deficit projected at $550 million: Her financial team blamed fallout from a costly lawsuit the county lost over its infrastructure spending, growing payroll and benefit costs awarded in previous years and federal cuts to healthcare coverage. “This is going to be a really tough budget year, but we begin it from a position of strength,” Preckwinkle told reporters Wednesday. “Over the last 15 years, we’ve balanced our budgets, strengthened reserves, improved our bond ratings … and we’ve made some real progress on our pension funding. But even strong internal fiscal management can’t shield us from external events — court decisions, federal policy changes and rising costs across the economy.”

* Aurora Beacon-News | Oswego board OKs issuing up to $27.2 million in bonds for work connected to bringing in Lake Michigan water: The planning process between the three municipalities began in 2014. The three communities have been on notice from the Illinois State Water Survey that the region’s aquifer is at “severe risk” of depletion, village officials have said, driving the push to find a new water supply. “General obligation bonds are a piece of the overall funding strategy for the village’s connection to Lake Michigan as a water source. Debt service payments will come from water and sewer fund revenues,” Oswego Finance Director Andrea Lamberg said in a report to Oswego Village Board members.

* Daily Herald | Group holds anti-ICE protest at Hoffman Estates police station: Protesters criticized police for not resisting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activities in the village since last fall. The demonstration focused on a video showing ICE agents arresting a young woman Oct. 10. Cristobal Cavazos, executive director of Immigrant Solidarity DuPage, mentioned concerns about the agents’ presence at the police station and the absence of signs against ICE using public property. “We’ve seen ICE in Hoffman Estates about 40 times,” he said. “We’re convinced there’s still a problem in Hoffman Estates. We just want to keep track of the humanity of that police department.”

* Aurora Beacon-News | Kane County will no longer get elm tree donation meant for celebration of America’s 250th, board chair says: Last week, at a Kane County Board committee meeting, board chair Corinne Pierog informed the board that the local Daughters of the American Revolution has rescinded its offer to donate an elm tree to Kane County, which the county was planning to make part of a “Declaration Square” behind the courthouse site in Geneva in honor of America’s 250th. […] Since then, however, the project has generated some concern among board members in relation to its planned location and potential cost.

* Daily Herald | After uncertain times, Tool Library of Lake County thrives at 5: The library offers about 2,300 tools to borrow at no charge, though it is supported in part by 705 dues-paying members. In May, 94 patrons checked out 494 tools from the facility. “And (June) will be a busier month,” said Van Miller, a Mundelein resident and retired physical education teacher who, after seeing a similar operation in Portland, Oregon, championed what became the first-of-its-kind tool library in Lake County.

*** Downstate ***

* WGEM | Denman teachers accused of spanking, taping kids’ mouths agree to teaching license suspension: The two teachers who were accused of giving Denman Elementary students birthday spankings and putting tape on their mouths have had their teaching licenses suspended. According to Shelley Arns, Quincy Public Schools were notified by the Illinois State Board of Education regarding the Agreements for Licensure Sanctions of Kim Kirby and Jennifer Oitker. In the agreements, Kirby and Oitker denied the ISBE allegation but agreed to have their teaching license suspended for 60 calendar days ‘in order to resolve the matter without further administrative action.’ The suspension began on Thursday, June 18.

* WGLT | Chiddix teacher agrees to delay detention hearing as he awaits trial on felony grooming, solicitation charges: Bloomington Police arrested Miller on Wednesday during a traffic stop. A McLean County grand jury returned indictments against Miller earlier in the day. Police began investigating in February after a victim reported Miller has exchanged with them photos that were sexual in nature and when the victim was still a minor.

* WGEM | Record-breaking storm season causing delays for local farmers: While the rain has proven to be a nuisance for Schmidt and other farmers, he is more more worried about the record-breaking increase in tornadic activity throughout Illinois. As of June 19, 143 tornadoes have touched down in the state, breaking the previous record of 142 set in 2024. “It’s definitely concerning. I mean… it’d be devastating to have a tornado here and take out all the sheds and, you know, everything you’ve built your entire life for,” Schmidt said.

* WGLT | Town of Normal expects residential BESS to grow along with industrial systems: There has been one permit pulled for the installation of a [Battery Energy Storage Systems], at Rivian. It encompasses less than an acre, according to the town planning and zoning department, and would not be visible from a public street. A couple other inquiries have come in. “We have been asked about one larger BESS within our extraterritorial jurisdiction, which would have served the grid [not a specific use], and we have been asked about a small BESS [0.25 acres] that would also support the grid. Neither are official,” said Mercy Davison, director of planning and zoning.

* PJ Star | Peoria Riverfront Museum explains participation in Freedom 250 events: Riverfront Museum CEO John Morris emphasized to the Journal Star that the museum’s representation of Illinois in the event, which Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and other Democratic governors backed out of, is in no way an endorsement of any political party over another. “We are a nonpartisan organization. We are not interested in any of the partisan activities or partisanship of what’s going on,” Morris said. “We are interested in proudly representing the greatest state in the Union — Illinois — and doing so in the same values and same multi-disciplinary mission that the museum as a nonpartisan enterprise has had since day one and will continue to have.”

* WAND | Visually impaired fans experience America’s pastime at Robin Roberts Stadium: Personal vision coach Ann Schonhoff, who has impairments herself, said audio description technology makes events like these possible. “Normally, when we come to a baseball game we’re just sitting as spectators, but here we can really get involved a little more because we have audio description that’s telling us what’s going on,” Schonhoff said.

*** National ***

* BBC | Young women now have ‘close to zero’ risk of cervical cancer death after HPV jab: The first study of its kind shows deaths have fallen sharply since school-age girls began being offered it in 2008, and around 200 lives have been saved in England so far thanks to the vaccine. Between 2020 and 2024, no cervical cancer deaths were recorded in women aged 20 to 24 - the first time that had happened over a five-year period. Without vaccination, around 23 deaths would have been expected.

* Tribune | Microplastics linger inside people and animals, multiple studies show. But regulation is still far off: Out of more than 300 patients who had their neck arteries scoured, Italian researchers reported, those with higher levels of plastics-laden plaque were more likely to suffer strokes, heart attacks or sudden death during the next three years. The 2024 study, published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine, is among a growing amount of human and animal research suggesting plastics pose health hazards that only now are coming into focus.

* Crain’s | Real estate data firm CoStar, major brokerages accused of rent-fixing: A proposed class action lawsuit alleges that real estate information company CoStar Group and five major brokerages are conspiring to fix commercial rent prices. The complaint, filed last week in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, argues that competing commercial real estate brokers and landlords are participating in a “hub-and-spoke” conspiracy facilitated by CoStar that allows them to exchange confidential data on lease terms, driving up rents. The brokerages named in the suit are CBRE, Jones Lang LaSalle, Cushman & Wakefield, Colliers and Newmark, all CoStar clients.