* ICYMI: DOJ seeking Illinois voter data to purge suspected noncitizens, documents suggest. Capitol News Illinois…

- The Trump administration’s lawsuits seeking access to sensitive voter registration data in Illinois and dozens of other states is one part of a broader effort to purge state voter rolls of suspected noncitizens, according to documents filed recently in federal court in Springfield.
- Illinois has refused to hand over an unredacted voter registration list to the DOJ. Instead, it has provided DOJ with electronic copies of partially redacted files that do not include sensitive information.
- Similar suits have already been dismissed in six other states. No court has yet ruled in favor of DOJ’s request for access to the unredacted voter files.

* Related stories…

• KGIN: S.C. Election Commission agrees to share voter data with Department of Justice
• The Hill: DOJ lawsuit seeking Arizona voter data dismissed
• State Democracy Research Initiative: Tracker: DOJ Lawsuits Seeking States’ Sensitive Voter Data

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

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

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Fox Chicago | Marijuana reclassification’s impact on Illinois cannabis businesses: While the biggest changes impact medical marijuana rather than recreational marijuana, experts say increased research could also influence recreational use over time. Companies operating in Illinois say the shift is already making a difference. Verano, with Chicago-area dispensaries like Zen Leaf, say the change allows them to avoid a federal tax rule known as 280E, at least on the medical side of their business. That rule previously prevented cannabis companies from writing off normal business expenses.

* Tribune | Central and southern Illinois residents could face high electricity rates again this summer: In the wake of the MISO capacity auction, Ameren Illinois customers will pay 11 cents per kilowatt-hour for electricity supply and distribution costs for the summer months beginning June 1. This rate is lower than last year’s 12.2 cents, which was driven by record supply and distribution costs and a June heat wave. But it remains well above the 4.8 cents seen in 2021.

*** Statewide ***

* Shaw Local | Lawsuit filed in Illinois takes aim at cannabis companies for not warning of mental health risks: A 320-page lawsuit filed Monday takes aim at companies that sell legal marijuana in Illinois and many other states, claiming they have not told customers the possible mental health implications of cannabis use while claiming it has curative effects for other ailments. The suit was filed in federal court in the Northern District of Illinois by – among other law firms – those of Pat Kenneally, the Republican former McHenry County state’s attorney, and Jack Franks, a Democratic former Illinois lawmaker and one-term McHenry County Board chairman. Both are now in private practice.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Capitol News Illinois | No ‘April surprise’ in latest revenue report: State revenue growth is on track to meet expectations and there was no “April surprise” from income tax receipts. The Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability says it is not planning any significant changes to its March revenue projection for the year.

* Crain’s | Springfield gets some breathing room on state budget: Through the first 10 months of the fiscal year, overall general-fund revenue is up 3.8%. That should give lawmakers and Gov. JB Pritzker some breathing room. Last fall, Pritzker told state agencies to come up with plans to spend 4% less. He proposed a budget of $56 billion for the fiscal year that begins July 1, up about 1.6% from the previous year.

* Center Square | Illinois diversity commission says businesses aren’t cooperating: The problem has dogged the commission for nearly two years. The commission has tried, most often in vain, to acclimate more than 2,000 formerly certified businesses to the new system. But Tracy Sullivan, a consultant who assists businesses with the certification process, said the problem is a combination of difficulty and disillusionment. Getting certified has long been cumbersome, and the software issues have complicated that. “I don’t believe that businesses don’t care about being certified,” Sullivan told The Center Square. “You can only bang your head against the wall so many times before the headache becomes too much.”

* WGN | Political consultant running for governor as independent: Corbett already has a running-mate in Carolyn Schofield, who also ran for Lieutenant Governor in 2022. The duo is already out collecting signatures, “When we’re passing petitions, we get two words in- independent candidate- and they’re grabbing it, trying to sign it. People are desperate for some alternative,” said Corbett. “Republicans have problems, Democrats have problems, and I’ve come to realize there’s really good people in both parties. It’s the system that is broken.”

*** Chicago ***

* Sun-Times | Former Ald. George Cardenas forms exploratory committee to run for mayor, potentially dividing Latino vote: Although he barely gathered enough signatures to survive a petition challenge for the office he now holds, Cardenas said he believes he has the unique mix of experience necessary to tackle Chicago’s vexing problems. “I have business experience. I’m a management consultant. I’m an expert in procurement. I was in the Council for 20 years. I know the bodies. I know what worked… with Mayor [Rahm] Emanuel, what didn’t. I was floor leader for [then-Mayor Lori] Lightfoot. I’ve been there. I have the experience,” Cardenas, 61, told the Chicago Sun-Times.

* Cook County Record | Glock can’t appeal judge’s greenlighting of Chicago’s ‘switches’ suit: Judge:
In the new ruling, Walker also specifically refused to give Glock the same legal path to appeal opened by the Illinois Supreme Court to firearms maker Smith & Wesson, even though the cases center on the same key legal question. Both Glock and Smith & Wesson are facing potentially massive payout demands in lawsuits in which plaintiffs have said they are trying to hold the gun makers liable for the illegal use of their weapons by violent criminals to commit murder and other crimes.

* CBS Chicago | Renters seeking relief as rent spikes across Chicago adds to rising costs: With gas nearing $7 a gallon in some spots and grocery bills steadily increasing, people are closely watching how they spend every dollar. “The rent keeps increasing year to year. It just keeps going up and up and up, and it’s not like you’re getting anything more from it,” said Dustin C. Renters are feeling the pinch and looking for relief. “There’s annual increases of $200 to $300, different spots, you just have to move and find something affordable,” he said.

* Sun-Times | University of Chicago Press workers form union: Out of more than 270 employees at the press, 139 workers are eligible to join the union, which is part of the Chicago News Guild. If all join, it would be the News Guild’s largest unit, according to the Guild. “The university’s financial crisis has tightened spending in several of the press’s departments, slowed hiring and created a sense of uncertainty about the future for many UCP workers,” Adrienne Meyers, senior promotions manager at the press and UCP Workers Guild member, said in an emailed statement. “As of right now, the press has not experienced any layoffs due to the budget, and we hope our union will help protect and secure the stability of our workers.”

* Tribune | Chicago White Sox 1B Munetaka Murakami hits his 14th home run, tied for the MLB lead, in 6-0 win: It was the third time this year the Sox have hit back-to-back home runs, and Murakami has been involved in all three. Murakami, Vargas and Colson Montgomery hit three home runs in a row on April 21 at Arizona. Murakami and Montgomery went back-to-back on April 27 against the Angels at Rate Field. Monday was more of the same from Murakami, who added his first career double in the sixth and a single in the eighth.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Sun-Times | Remaining ‘Broadview Six’ defendants move to disclose grand jury transcripts, drop conspiracy charges: Defense attorneys laid out three possibilities for what the unredacted transcripts could include: The assistant U.S. attorney either “mis-instructed” the grand jury on the law; failed to instruct the grand jury on the law at all; or there were other interactions between the assistant U.S. attorney and the grand jury that are “otherwise improper or prejudicial.”

* Daily Herald | Siren fatigue? Elgin changes weather alert protocol after fielding complaints during storms: Instead of activating sirens multiple times for each NWS warning box, the city is limiting it to single alert as storms move across its 38 square miles. “We’re looking at this manual activation as a temporary situation,” said Fire Chief Robb Cagann. “I don’t think we need to set the alarms off three times when a storm moves across the city.” The most severe thunderstorms, he added, can have greater impact than an EF 0 tornado, which is why sirens are activated in those conditions.

* Tribune | Evanston’s prolific horror novelist Daniel Kraus wins Pulitzer for fiction: The Pulitzer committee described Kraus’s novel as “a breathless novel of World War I, a stylistic tour-de-force that blends such genres as allegory, magical realism and science fiction into a cohesive whole, told in a single sentence,” but it is much more likely to be categorized as horror. Kraus has written and co-written a remarkable 31 books since 2009, including graphic novels and young-adult stories, two “Night of the Living Dead” books, and a pair of novels with del Toro (including “The Shape of Water,” the film version of which won the 2018 Academy Award for best picture). In general, though, Kraus’s books have been mainstays on horror shelves for years.

*** Downstate ***

* WMBD | Tentative agreement reached between ISU and striking workers: Anders Lindall, a spokesperson for AFSCME Council 31, the statewide group that covers all the locals within Illinois, said that after meeting with a federal mediator for several hours on Monday, the agreement was hammered late Monday. Terms of the deal have not yet been disclosed. Local 1110 which represents more than 300 buildings, dining and food service workers will meet later to review and possibly vote on the tentative agreement at ratification meetings.

* STLPR | Southern Illinois clinics ‘back to status quo’ for now as court halts abortion pill ban: “Luckily, we did not have to immediately change or cease operations since we did not have telehealth medication abortion visits scheduled on Saturday,” said Caitlin Lloyd, CHOICES communications and outreach lead, in an email. She said officials at the organization, which also operates a clinic in Memphis, are keeping their eyes peeled for new developments from the Supreme Court.

* Illinois Times | Developer pledges $65 million annually to Logan County: About 100 people, almost all of them opposed to Hut 8’s proposed 500-megawatt, $5 billion Logan Prairie Data Center to be built on about 250 acres of farm ground near Latham, attended the meeting in the rotunda of the county courthouse in Lincoln. The board called the meeting to discuss requests from the public to extend a 60-day moratorium on accepting data center applications after the moratorium expired in late April. Many attendees indicated they were upset when the board voted unanimously to postpone consideration of a moratorium extension until the board’s Zoning and Economic Development Committee discusses the matter. The committee will meet on the issue at 6 p.m. May 13 at the Oasis Senior Center, 2810 Woodlawn Road, Lincoln.

* WCIA | Danville Alderwoman expected to announce mayoral campaign: Tricia Teague, an Alderwoman for Ward 4, is expected to make the announcement at Soar Space Business Center, located inside Towne Centre/Riverfront Plaza, at 6 p.m. […] Previously, WCIA reported that Frank McCullough announced plans to run for mayor. McCullough runs Three Kings of Peace with Alderman Ed Butler.

* WGLT | Bloomington-Normal sees gas prices surge 60 cents in one week: The fuel cost tracker Gas Buddy said the average cost of regular unleaded in McLean County is $4.82 per gallon, up from $4.20 last week. Gas Buddy lead analyst Patrick De Haan said the spike in the Great Lakes region is driven by refinery outages in combination with the ongoing war in Iran.

* 25News Now | Sen. Dick Durbin highlights Amtrak successes during visit to Normal: Normal’s Uptown Station is the second busiest Amtrak station in Illinois. with Chicago’s Union Station the busiest. Durbin, who is retiring at the end of his term, also said expanded rail service is critical for the community, especially for students traveling to colleges and universities across central and downstate Illinois.