* ICYMI: Chicago Teachers Union members vote down effort to raise union dues to pay for political campaigns. ABC Chicago…

- Chicago Teachers Union members have voted down an effort to raise dues. The union’s goal was to raise teacher dues to help pay for political campaigns.
- Among the campaigns is likely one for the CTU-backed candidate for Chicago Board of Education president, CTU political director Hilario Dominguez.
- In a letter to members Saturday, the Union said 60 percent of members voted against moving forward with he proposal.

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* At 11 am, Gov. JB Pritzker will deliver remarks at the Champaign-Urbana Special Recreation Dedication. Click here to watch.

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

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Sun-Times | Chicago U.S. attorney says he’s reviewing other cases that might have been tainted like the ‘Broadview Six’: Finally, Oak Park village trustee Brian Straw — among those charged in the “Broadview Six” case — asked U.S. District Judge April Perry for an order preserving any emails, text messages or other communications relating to the grand jury proceedings in that prosecution. Straw’s attorneys, Christopher Parente and Damon Cheronis, wrote in a court filing that they’d “lost complete faith and confidence in [Chicago’s] U.S. Attorney’s Office to do the right thing on its own.” Parente also called on Durbin and U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth to investigate Boutros’ office.

* CBS Chicago | Illinois data centers are using millions of gallons of residential water; experts say there are better alternatives: With the Chicago area situated next to the massive Lake Michigan, which contains over 1 quadrillion gallons of water, we can forget there isn’t an endless supply of water. And experts dealing with the impact of data centers used to train and power AI say we have to shift that thinking, because Chicago can’t keep up with the water needs we’re now seeing. “When it comes down to it, the water available for human uses from the lake are not limitless,” said Rachel Havrelock of The Freshwater Lab at University of Illinois Chicago.

*** Statewide ***

* Fox 2 Now | Illinois unemployment rate holds at 5.1% in April as jobless numbers rise: The Illinois Department of Employment Security reported the state’s unemployment rate held steady at 5.1% in April, the same as in March, based on figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That compares to a national unemployment rate of 4.3% for the same period, underscoring a gap between Illinois and the broader U.S. labor market.

* Capitol News Illinois | Illinois grows millions of bushels of soybeans. Why aren’t we eating them?: But almost none of those millions of bushels end up as food on Illinois plates. According to the Illinois Soybean Association, 60% of soybeans grown in the state are exported; most of the remaining 40% are processed as animal feed, leaving the state reliant on imports for its soy food. “Ninety-five percent of food consumed in the state of Illinois is imported,” said Rep. Sonya Harper, D-Chicago, chair of the House Agriculture and Conservation Committee, speaking of Illinois food crops. “If there were any type of natural disaster, Illinois only has enough food that will last us for three days.”

* NBC Chicago | Some tick bites can trigger a red meat allergy, cases reported in Illinois: The Illinois Department of Public Health recently highlighted AGS, also known as red meat allergy or tick bite meat allergy. The condition occurs after some tick bites, when the body becomes allergic to a molecule called alpha-gal - a sugar produced in the bodies of most mammals - but not in people. It can be transmitted through the saliva of some ticks. […] According to IDPH, AGS has been increasingly recognized across the country, and cases have been reported in Illinois, although a number hasn’t been provided. The condition is typically associated with the bite of lone star ticks, which are most often found in the South, East and Central parts of the country.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Crain’s | Pritzker leans into economic development. Here’s how it’s going: From the start of Pritzker’s tenure through last year, including the pandemic decline and recovery, the number of jobs in Illinois rose 0.9% to an average of 6.16 million, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Among 10 neighboring and peer states, only Iowa had lower job growth at 0.4%. Kentucky led the way at 5.3%. Things improved during Pritzker’s second term, with jobs growing 2%. Although Illinois still has the second-lowest score, the gap narrowed. Last year, as growth decelerated nationwide, Illinois was firmly in the middle of the pack with 1.6% growth.

* Sun-Times | Benefits of Bears’ megaproject bill ‘murky’ at best for Illinois taxpayers: Cook County treasurer analysis: Pappas’ report evaluates the bill that passed the Illinois House last month but will need major changes to have any hope of passing the Illinois Senate before the spring legislative session concludes. Lawmakers have until midnight Sunday to get a bill to the end zone. Researchers from the treasurer’s office looked broadly at the megaprojects concept that Gov. JB Pritzker has long championed outside the context of the Bears’ stadium saga. Dozens of other states have such laws in place that allow companies to negotiate discounted payments in lieu of taxes (PILOT) instead of their full property tax bills to local taxing bodies, as long as they’re investing in massive developments.

* Capitol News Illinois | Report shows how much Bears could pay in Arlington Heights property taxes: Under the proposal in Springfield, if the assessed value of the land is frozen, the team would be on the hook for a $4 million tax bill. If they negotiate a $10 million payment in lieu of taxes, or PILOT, the team would pay $14 million annually. That would equal a $39 million annual property tax break, or $1.5 billion over the 40-year lifespan of the megaproject.

* NBC Chicago | Arlington Heights mayor: Bears stadium deal could be decided in the final hours: Sunday is the last day of the spring legislative session in Springfield, so they have under a week to pass the bill that could keep the Bears in Illinois. “I’m very optimistic. I believe that it’s going to happen. I think that our governor and legislators in Springfield are working really hard to make it happen,” said Mayor Jim Tinaglia. “I’d like to make sure we get it done. And so, if it takes till 11:59 p.m., that’s what it takes. I’m good with that.”

* The White Sox Caucus will be meeting tonight at DH Brown’s…

*** Chicago ***

* Sun-Times | Dr. Olusimbo Ige out as Chicago health chief: A source familiar with the matter confirmed Friday that Johnson had asked for Ige’s resignation, which is effective immediately. […] Ige is a public health expert — trained in medicine in Nigeria, where she grew up, and not licensed to practice in the U.S. Before taking the Chicago job, she worked for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Before that, she served as an assistant commissioner at New York City’s health department.

* Crain’s | Chicago delays tipped wage phaseout after restaurant pushback: Chicago’s plan to phase out the sub-minimum wage for tipped workers will be delayed by two years under a compromise approved today by the City Council, handing restaurants a longer runway to adjust to higher labor costs and dealing a setback to one of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s signature labor victories. The agreement extends the city’s original five-year timeline for eliminating the tipped wage credit to seven years, while giving smaller restaurants employing fewer than 21 workers even more time to comply.

* Tribune | Mayor Brandon Johnson to tout opposition to wars during Vatican trip, says Pope wants to keep Bears in Chicago: Johnson is heading to Rome this week with a delegation from World Business Chicago, or WBC, the first time in a decade that the pope has hosted a Chicago mayor. During his lunch at the popular South Side soul food restaurant on Sunday, Johnson said he will use his meeting, scheduled for Thursday, to discuss their shared condemnation of “endless illegal wars” as well as the mayor’s executive orders during President Donald Trump’s second term.

* Tribune | Chicago bike lane construction sparks pushback, fuels political fights: And the small, relentless Southwest Side fight is over more than just that construction project. It’s the latest front in a citywide political divide over the future of transportation and safety. To the pro-bike lane faction, the concrete bump outs and bus-boarding islands added to the busy street mean safety for cyclists, kids heading to school and even drivers. “People don’t bike on Archer because it was so dangerous,” said Alfredo Valladares Jr., who founded the group Gage Park Cyclists. “Everybody needs to have a fair opportunity to be safe.”

* Crain’s | Judge restores Chicago-area listings to Zillow — for now: Two days ago, Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED) cut its data feed to Zillow because of a dispute over private and pre-market listings. Zillow prohibits listings going on its site if they’ve been shown in limited-exposure settings like private listings, but MRED and nationwide brokerage Compass have been advocating for keeping some listings private. Unable to bring Zillow around, MRED stopped putting new listings on Zillow and said Zillow couldn’t keep MRED existing listings on its site or Trulia, which Zillow owns.

* Sun-Times | City program to rehab more than 30 properties on the South and West sides is back: More rehabbed homes will soon follow as part of Rebuild Chicago 2.0, an expansion of the city’s Rebuild program that targets abandoned homes to give them a second life. The program identifies homes that can be acquired, rehabbed and sold to create homeownership opportunities on the South and West sides, which have experienced disinvestment. The program is focused on Roseland and Englewood, and it will support the rehab of 33 homes. Another home is being rehabbed about four blocks away from the Yale Avenue property.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* WGN | Calumet City lays off 46 workers due to ‘profound fiscal challenges’: According to [ Calumet City Mayor Thaddeus Jones], Calumet City is struggling to meet the demands of high health insurance costs, late Cook County property tax revenues and an “unsustainable” backlog of city bills to vendors. This all ads up to a multimillion-dollar budget shortfall for the rest of the year. “Our revenues are flat and there was zero growth in revenue last year. Our plan is to decrease costs of city operations and look at options to generate revenue potential revenue enhancements,” the mayor said in the release. “We have a structural problem that we will solve. City government needed to be downsized with more services going online and cuts to agencies through consolidation. We will be steadfast in our quest to overcome this challenge and achieve our fiscal goals all while continuing to perform our government operations in a spirit of excellence.”

* Sun-Times | Closing of Oak Park’s West Suburban Medical Center has triggered a legal battle among its owners: Lawyers for Prasad and Patlola have been arguing before Stanton about the financial details of Resilience Healthcare. Both sides have agreed to have recently retired Judge Patrick Sherlock review years of bank records for several accounts tied to Resilience Healthcare and the hospitals. Once Sherlock has turned over what he finds to Stanton, closing arguments are expected May 29.

* Daily Herald | West suburbs could see five more freight trains a day if rail merger passes: Seven municipalities crossed by freight and UP West Metra trains have retained legal experts specializing in railway law for “the collective safeguarding of our communities’ interests,” Winfield Village Manager Evan Summers said. The coalition comprises Berkeley, Elmhurst, Lombard, Glen Ellyn, Wheaton, Winfield and Geneva. “It doesn’t mean we’re fighting it; it just means we want to share costs and concerns and monitor (events) to make sure that concerns are addressed,” Elmhurst Mayor Scott Levin said. “It’s a good intergovernmental setup that keeps the costs fairly minimal for each of the participants.”

* Aurora Beacon-News | Indian Prairie D204 predicting $4.9 million budget deficit for 2027, but a balanced budget in future years: The district’s Chief School Business Official Matt Shipley gave a presentation May 18 to the board, during which he shared that the district is looking at a one-time, nearly $5 million budget deficit next year that’s expected to balance out over the years to follow. At the meeting, Shipley emphasized the importance of the district having “a sustainable budget over a significant period of time,” meaning it is looking three to five years in the future and “not looking to play games or to try and balance one year of a budget over another.”

* Aurora Beacon-News | One month before opening day, work is finishing up at new Hollywood Casino Aurora: The $360 million project — located along Farnsworth Avenue and Bilter Road, across the street from Chicago Premium Outlets mall and near the Interstate 88 interchange — has been under construction since 2023. The new casino, hotel and related restaurants are planned to open on June 24, replacing the longtime riverboat Hollywood Casino in downtown Aurora.

*** Downstate ***

* Capitol City Now | Despite one problem being solved, more issues persist for owner of Springfield downtown Wyndham: “The ownership group filed for bankruptcy,” said Michelle Ownbey, Springfield Business Journal Executive Editor, on the WTAX Morning Newswatch. “Tower Capital, which is one of the business entities Al Rajabi owns, reported business revenue of just over $6 million in 2024, and then only $1.6 million a year later after the Wyndham closed in March at the very beginning of 2025, and no business revenue so far for this year.” Ownbey reports Al Rajabi’s business efforts have worked before, but not in Springfield, apparently. “His specialty was sort of buying these distressed hotels, flipping hotels, and he had done that in some other communities,” said Ownbey. “Perhaps, for a variety of reasons, the one here did not pan out the way he had expected.”

* WTVO | Aquin Catholic Academy in Freeport to close May 29 after enrollment decline: The decision follows months of review by a special task force and comes after years of declining enrollment and financial challenges at the school. Bishop David Malloy accepted the recommendation to close the school after receiving input from Freeport-area pastors, families, and community members. […] Aquin has faced shrinking enrollment for years, mirroring broader demographic shifts in the Freeport area. According to the Diocese, just 39 students were enrolled in kindergarten through eighth grade during the 2025–2026 school year, with fewer than half identifying as Catholic.

* BND | Historic Belleville farm being transformed into mental health treatment center: The nonprofit will take a giant step this summer, when it moves from an O’Fallon office building to a historic 7.65-acre farm, across from Belleville West High School. “We were born in Belleville, and we’re returning to Belleville,” said Kevin Smith’s wife, Emily, who serves as executive director. “So we’ve come full circle, and this will be our forever home.” This project is separate from a planned $30 million business and sports complex with flexible tenant spaces and an indoor soccer field that’s planned for 30 acres of farmland to the east.

* Springfield Business Journal | New life for former Sangamo Club?: Local developer Corky Joyner of Joyner Construction has the 29,000-square-foot building at 227 E. Adams St. under contract with tentative plans to redevelop it into apartments. However, Joyner is awaiting bids for remediating hazardous materials in the building and wants to have a cost estimate for the remediation before closing on the property. He said he is hoping to be able to make a final decision within the coming weeks. While Joyner remains open to different options for the building, he said residential development is at the top of the list. “Everything is still on the table at this point, but our initial desire is to do residential there,” he said. He estimates the building could house between 20 and 40 residential units.

* WGLT | Pesticide drift near Morton school prompts calls for prior notification from farmers: Vandenberg said parents later got an email telling them to have their kids take a shower because of the risk for pesticide drift. She added that is when she found an Illinois bill seeks to address her situation.Illinois lawmakers want to address this problem by requiring farmers to notify schools and parks 72 hours before applying pesticides to allow parents decide how to best keep their kid safe.

* WCIA | Danville pharmacy increases delivery prices due to gas prices: Polyclinic said it’s the only pharmacy with a delivery service in Vermilion County, bringing medications to eight different communities. Sometimes, workers deliver to up to 50 patients a day. Now, their patients will pay a little extra for their prescriptions. […] The pharmacy recently took to social media to tell patients that the pharmacy is increasing delivery prices by $2 as a result of rising gas prices.

*** National ***

* ProPublica | Trump’s Justice Department Dropped 23,000 Criminal Investigations in Shift to Immigration: The cases included an investigation into a Virginia nursing home with a recent record of patient abuse; probes of fraud involving several New Jersey labor unions, including one opened after a top official of a national union was accused of embezzlement; and an investigation into a cryptocurrency company suspected of cheating investors. In total, the DOJ quietly closed more than 23,000 criminal cases in the first six months of President Donald Trump’s administration, abandoning hundreds of investigations into terrorism, white-collar crime, drugs and other offenses as it shifted resources to pursue immigration cases, according to an analysis by ProPublica.

* NBC | Fake ICE agents terrorize immigrants amid Trump’s crackdown: Although neither the federal government nor local authorities publish specific records of people impersonating immigration agents, an analysis by Noticias Telemundo, based on court records, police reports and news articles, suggests that the number of such crimes has increased over the past year. Our investigation documented at least 31 cases in 2025 alone — a sharp increase compared to an average of 5.3 incidents per year in the previous decade. Overall, we identified 84 instances of impostors posing as immigration agents between 2014 and 2025.

* Religion News Service | Inside the unlikely Vatican-Anthropic relationship that’s reshaping the AI ethics debate: Ties between the Vatican and AI companies can be traced back to roughly 2016. According to a 2022 interview Green conducted with Bishop Paul Tighe, who serves as secretary of the Pontifical Council for Culture, it was around a decade ago when the first series of conversations were held in Rome between church officials and tech leaders. Known as the “Minerva Dialogues,” the conversations included several powerful Silicon Valley figures, such as former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, while other tech executives, such as Sam Altman of OpenAI and Demis Hassabis, who directs Google’s DeepMind AI project, held private audiences with Francis.