* ICYMI: ‘Crock of sh*t’: Transcripts show grand jurors dismissed for disagreeing with government’s case against ‘Broadview Six’. Capitol News Illinois…

- A federal judge on Tuesday OK’d the release of highly anticipated and extremely rare transcripts from a trio of grand jury sessions in October, showing alleged prosecutorial misconduct by assistant U.S. attorneys seeking an indictment against a group of protesters who’d later become known as the “Broadview Six.”
- The transcripts detail how former Assistant U.S. Attorney Sheri Mecklenburg, who, at the time was the lead prosecutor on the case, dismissed grand jurors for disagreeing with the government’s case.
- Mecklenburg’s portions of the transcripts also reveal what the judge in the case had previously called “putting her personal credibility and trustworthiness on the line in support of the charges” — also known as improper prosecutorial vouching. The prosecutor also admitted to speaking to two grand jurors outside of the grand jury room, which she acknowledged she’s “not supposed to do.”

* Related stories…

• Block Club Chicago: Read The Full Transcripts From The Controversial ‘Broadview 6’ Grand Jury Proceedings
• CNN: Unsealed Grand Jury Transcripts Detail Alleged Prosecutorial Misconduct in ‘Broadview Six’ Case
• Sun-Times: Transcripts show tension, improprieties during ‘Broadview 6’ grand jury hearings: ‘This case … was a crock of sh–’
• WTTW: ‘Crock of S–t’: Unsealed Grand Jury Transcripts Detail Alleged Prosecutorial Misconduct in ‘Broadview Six’ Case
• Tribune: ‘I thought it was a crock of (expletive)’: ‘Broadview Six’ grand jury transcripts released showing alleged misconduct by prosecutors

* Gov. JB Pritzker has no public events scheduled today.

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Tribune | More than 92,000 Illinois consumers lost or dropped Obamacare health insurance in recent months: Initially, 448,568 Illinois residents enrolled in health insurance plans sold on the state’s exchange, Get Covered Illinois, during the state’s open enrollment window, which ran from Nov. 1 through Jan. 31. But in the months that followed — when many consumers started receiving their new, higher bills — 92,571 consumers disenrolled, according to data from Get Covered Illinois. Morgan Winters, director of Get Covered Illinois, said it’s the “largest drop we’ve seen in the state for almost a decade, so that is certainly alarming,” during a meeting Monday of the Illinois Health Benefits Exchange Advisory Committee.

* Capitol News Illinois | Early Intervention therapies help kids — but Illinois pays providers less than other states, stalling access: In recent years, the percentage of Illinois families waiting for Early Intervention has doubled. The Illinois Answers Project identified dozens of families who have waited long periods for services — some as many as six to 17 months. The U.S. Department of Education has found the state has failed to meet its targets for providing timely therapies.

*** Statewide ***

* WAND | ACT Now sues Department of Education over funding cuts affecting thousands of students: onprofit ACT Now Illinois received $94 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Education in 2024. But nearly two years into the grant agreement, the Department of Education cut the funding. “This is affecting 19,000 kids throughout the state. This is not just one small grant program,” ACT Now Executive Director Susan Stanton said. A lawsuit filed by ACT Now alleges the Department of Education did not follow proper procedures when it canceled the grants. Now, the fate of multiple after-school programs and jobs is in the hands of a judge.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Sun-Times | Gov. JB Pritzker ‘happy to call a special session’ if Illinois lawmakers reach Bears stadium deal: “They haven’t decided even on a location in Indiana,” the Democratic governor said at a South Side news conference. “And the one principal location they’ve been focused on is one that has a lot of toxic waste and other things that they’ve got to remediate, so none of that is going to happen quickly. “And I’m not suggesting that we want to wait. I’m just saying they’ve got to figure out how they can get the legislature, both sides, around the same bill, and I would be happy to call a special session,” Pritzker said. “By the way, so too can the leaders of the legislature call a special session.”

* The Southern | Committee to appoint Fowler Senate successor: The 59th Legislative District Committee announced Tuesday that it will meet June 17 to appoint a replacement to serve the remainder of Fowler’s term in the 104th General Assembly. Illinois law requires vacancies in the General Assembly to be filled within 30 days. The committee will convene at 7 p.m. at the Herrin Civic Center, 101 S. Civic St. The meeting is open to the public. Fowler, a Republican from Harrisburg, announced in May that he would leave the Senate after nearly a decade representing the 59th District. First elected in 2016, he took office in 2017.

* WGLT | State Sen. Koehler on the end-of-session crunch and push for data center, insurance industry regulation: He said there was a lot of compromise with the home insurance bill to make sure it protected consumers, while doing the least harm to insurance companies. “I don’t think the insurance companies are jumping up and down about [the home insurance bill], but it was a much better compromise. On the car insurance, everybody has gone through this, where their car insurance is up. I know they had a little bit more heartburn with that,” Koehler said.

* Chalkbeat | Illinois lawmakers define play-based learning as full-day kindergarten requirement rolls out statewide: Now, kindergarten teachers in Illinois have a clearer understanding of how to implement play-based learning in their classrooms after state lawmakers passed an official definition for the practice last month. School districts were already required to incorporate play-based learning — though originally left undefined — into classrooms as part of a state law passed in 2023 requiring all districts to offer full-day kindergarten by the 2027-28 school year.

* Center Square | Changes made to Illinois public transport plan sends money downstate: Of the changes presented in the trailer bill that passed near the end of the spring session was an update to what share of the transportation funds will be allocated to downstate transportation. The bill changes the percentage from 15% of the money to 10%. The change in the percentages, according to Assistant Majority House Leader Eva-Dina Delgado, is technical in nature. […] Delgado also noted the state budget includes $500 million directed to downstate transportation as a “down payment” to solve the issue of access in getting from “point A to point B.”

* WCIA | From the Farm: Soil, water advocates review recent push for funding: The Association of Illinois Soil and Water Conservation Districts was confident going into the budget session the last week of May, but Executive Director Eliot Clay said not enough lawmakers recognize conservation issues as being a priority. “It was a tough session,” Clay said. “We had two different initiatives really in there: one to raise appropriations to $10 million for operations for soil and water conservation districts, and the other to create a sustainable revenue source to keep that going through a fee on ag land conversion. We had a lot of interest, but unfortunately, in the waning hours, it just didn’t make it across the finish line.”

* Springfield Business Journal | New owner for historic office building: The Illinois Legislative Latino Caucus Foundation acquired the property at 625 S. Second St., known as the Dewitt Wickliffe Smith Mansion, as of June 1. It was purchased for $245,000, according to Sangamon County tax records. The historic house, built in 1865, had been used as offices for CHG since the company purchased the mansion and adjacent Vinegar Hill complex in October 2021. Both properties were put up for auction in mid-April but, according to owner Karen Conn, did not sell at that time.

*** Chicago ***

* WBEZ | What to know as CPS CEO prepares to testify before Congress under subpoena: The hearing is scheduled to begin at 9:15 a.m. Central time, and will be livestreamed. King is slated to appear alongside school leaders from San Francisco and Loudoun County, Virginia, a district in suburban Washington, D.C., A representative from the National Center for Youth Law, a nonprofit that has defended school districts with policies like CPS, is also listed as a witness.

* Crain’s | Foundry Park wins key panel’s OK for $202M TIF subsidy: The developers planning the Foundry Park megaproject on the city’s North Side are a step closer to winning $202 million in tax-increment financing help for new infrastructure and park space, a subsidy set to jumpstart the project despite lingering concerns about its impact on an area already grappling with traffic congestion. The Chicago Community Development Commission today approved a proposal to use future property tax gains created by the 6 million-square-foot-plus mixed-use district to boost open space at the project and build new roadways to support it.

* Sun-Times | Save A Lot operator’s death triggers default with Chicago — jeopardizing food access, city deal: The default, or breaking of the legal agreement, means city officials could force the beleaguered company to pay back the millions it received to open stores in neighborhoods traditional grocers had abandoned. And the succession plan required in case of a key death has yet to be submitted to the city by Yellow Banana.

* CBS Chicago | ICE agents crash into car, detain man in Dunning on Chicago’s Northwest Side, witnesses say: The crash happened in the 3800 block of N. Olcott Ave. around 11 a.m. A witness said he saw unmarked black Ford Explorers driven by ICE agents chasing a red car that looked like it already had damage to its bumper down Grace Street toward Olcott. The witness said one of the SUVs struck the back of the red car causing it to swerve and go up the block on Olcott. The car crashed into a tree a short time later.

* Sun-Times | City Council committee backs crackdown on selling weed near schools, parks: ne week after Mayor Brandon Johnson’s progressive allies used a parliamentary maneuver to recess the Committee on Public Safety, 36th Ward Ald. Gilbert Villegas pushed a watered-down version of his stalled crackdown through on a voice vote, setting the stage for final Council approval next week. Villegas cut the distance for his enhanced penalties in half — to within 1,000 feet of schools and parks — and offered a sliding scale of penalties to soften opposition from colleagues who feared a return to the days when African Americans were disproportionately harmed by marijuana laws.

* Chicago Reader | Celebrate Pride with these Reader-recommended events: Each Thursday through Sunday, from 9 to 9:30 PM all summer long, Art on the Mart projects a site-specific installation on the facade of the Merchandise Mart. For June, global design firm HDR has put together a rainbow-colored celebration, meant to “advance how we perceive and think about light, design, and the built environment.” The projection can be best enjoyed on the riverwalk between Wells and Franklin streets, where speakers have been installed to broadcast audio.

* Chicago Reader | Experience Juneteenth with these celebrations of Black life through space and time in Chicago: But, in 2026, Chicago artists and producers across genres still see Juneteenth for what it is—a celebration of Black life, fellowship, and tenacity through space and time. We’ve got a fighting chance to maintain its relevance in an era marked by fascism. I am so excited to shake ass with friends old and new, knowing my ancestors survived the wretched American experiment of the domestic slave trade and are (for better or worse) the culture makers and originators of where they landed.

* CBS Chicago | Desk from “The Late Show” arrives at Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago’s West Loop: “Unmarked truck coming from New York City. They have no idea what’s coming to the museum here,” said Dave Plier, president and CEO of the museum. […] “It’s part of history. It’s part of television history, but it’s part of American history,” Plier said. […] The museum hopes to have the Late Show set on display sometime this summer.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Herald | ‘Taking this issue extremely seriously’: Lake County pursues data center moratorium: As that review and approval process can take time, the action is coupled with an “administrative deferral” of up to 120 days on data center applications to bridge the gap and make the pause immediate. Given the complexity and potential long-term implications of data centers, county staff says it needs time to evaluate and develop definitions, zoning classifications, performance standards and review procedures before data center proposals move ahead.

* CBS Chicago | CARE team in Evanston, Illinois, sees growing success in crisis response: They’re not police officers, firefighters, or paramedics, but they’ve been dispatched to more than 3,500 calls across Evanston in less than two years. In fact, there are only four of them. They came to the job from the fields of social work, victims’ services, and one is even a former CPS teacher. The Crisis Alternative Response Evanston, or CARE, team responds to calls that, before July 2024, would have been lumped into police calls.

* Daily Southtown | Will County marks 1,000th graduate of ‘transformational’ problem-solving court: The program has grown substantially, expanding beyond a drug court to include a mental health and veterans court and the Redeploy Illinois program. Together, the units make up the problem-solving courts, designed to reduce incarceration rates, treat addiction and help residents integrate back into the community. “They treat you like a person,” said Fabiola Findlay, 48, of Joliet, a member of the 2026 class through the mental health court program. “They connect you with resources that you didn’t know were around in Joliet and the Will County area.”

* WTTW | Second Installment of 2025 Cook County Property Tax Bills Will Be 2 Months Late, Officials Say: “The long-term answer is a property tax system with clearer responsibility, fewer handoffs and greater accountability,” said Preckwinkle, who will face Libertarian Michael Murphy in November’s general election. “Structural reform is how we prevent this from becoming normal.” Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas is unopposed in her bid for reelection, and is weighing a bid for Chicago mayor in 2027.

*** Downstate ***

* WICS | CWLP requests change to large load rates amidst area data center speculation: Scott Rogers, the chief utility engineer with CWLP, says the rate was first put in to incentivize bitcoin miners and credit card transaction merchants but now wants the rate gone. Rogers says, “There’s no way we could provide power to a large center like that or to the 200 megawatts in excess today at that rate.” He continues, “If a data center is going to come in, we would have to have negotiations with them on how we’re going to serve them and what the costs are going to be.”

* WICS | Urbana approves lease for new community engagement center in Sunnycrest Plaza: The center will house two Urbana police officers, but city leaders say its primary focus will be community outreach. Plans include a community liaison who will work directly with residents and help connect young people and families with resources and opportunities. “The idea is to provide resources and opportunities to young folks, right? Young individuals, young men that we just seen. It’s very, very, very necessary for us to know and for them to see that they are being seen, that they are being supported,” Williams said.

* WTVO | Rockford motion does pass to fund a mobile grocery store to serve low-income neighborhoods: The Rockford City Planning and Development Committee did not pass a funding agreement for a proposed mobile grocery store, allocating nearly $830,000. This funding would help to launch the store, which will bring fresh foods to residents on the city’s West Side. The mobile grocery store project was a partnership between Farmers Rising and City Center Market. The initiative sought to provide a choice of fresh foods to neighborhoods that currently rely on convenience stores or must travel significant distances to purchase groceries.

* WCIA | Decatur homeless shelter over capacity: Arianna Fane, the shelter’s executive director, said she is surprised at the amount of people who need the help this time of year. “We would have expected like more in the winter versus summer. Like, this is kind of when we see a trend downwards. But, as far as next steps, housing indicator kind of is locked. A lot of our women are on waiting lists for apartments for subsidized housing, section eight… they’re on waiting list, senior living facilities. And we just kind of have to wait until they can get placed into permanent housing,” Fane said.

* WCBU | Peoria Mayor Ali thinks riverfront amphitheater will arrive sooner, cost a little more: While the project is primarily funded by an $11 million donation to the city from the Hengst Foundation, Ali said it’s looking like the cost may go slightly above that amount. “I think there’s going to have to be some local fundraising done with the foundation to get the job completely done,” said Ali. The initial contracts approved by the Peoria City Council at its May 26 meeting called for the city to pay for preliminary infrastructure that may be needed before construction starts. At the time, city attorney Patrick Hayes said the city would not “have any exposure” to any costs above the Hengst donation, but potentially could seek future council approval if the project expanded.

* Illinois Times | Springfield Memorial Hospital CEO to resign: ay Roszhart, 41, who was promoted to lead 500-bed Springfield Memorial Hospital on July 1, 2024, will leave on June 12, according to a statement June 9 from Drew Early, senior vice president and chief operating officer of parent organization Memorial Health. Early didn’t cite a reason for Roszhart’s resignation in a statement to Illinois Times, and Roszhart declined comment when contacted by phone.

*** National ***

* Portland Press Herald | Extremely close Maine Democratic governor primary headed to ranked-choice runoff: Maine’s Democratic primary for governor remained unsettled Tuesday night, but former health official Nirav Shah appeared to be the candidate to beat in the five-way race after about half of the votes were counted. Shah had about 27% of the vote as of 11:20 p.m.; former Maine House Speaker Hannah Pingree had 23%; former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson had 22%; and Secretary of State Shenna Bellows had 21%

* Cook County Record | Motorola targeted with class action over license plate reader cameras: Motorola has improperly shared data from its license plate reading cameras with federal immigration agents and other federal law enforcement offices, allegedly in violation of California state privacy law, according to a new class action lawsuit. On May 27, attorney and Democratic former Illinois state lawmaker Scott Drury filed the lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court against Chicago-based Motorola Solutions. Drury and his firm, Drury Legal, of HIghwood, was joined in the action by attorney Joshua D. Arisohn, of Litchfield, Connecticut.