* Tribune…

Criminal justice reform has long been one of the most divisive issues between Democrats who control the Illinois General Assembly and the Republican minority.

But it’s also created a split between progressive Democrats and party moderates, who walk a fine line as they seek to avoid being labeled as weak on crime during the next election cycle. The intra-party differences have been on display in the final weeks of the spring legislative session as lawmakers have considered bills aimed at giving a chance at freedom to people serving lengthy prison sentences for crimes committed when they were youths and dropping a requirement that inmates serve a significant percentage of their original sentence.

Last month, the divide left House Democrats unable to pass legislation that would have provided additional resentencing options for people convicted of committing crimes when they were under 21. It was a rare instance of a Democratic bill failing after being called to a floor vote.

Democratic State Rep. Justin Slaughter of Chicago, a progressive on criminal justice issues who sponsored the sweeping 2021 criminal justice reforms known as the SAFE-T Act, acknowledged that for the party to be uniformly on board, proposals need to have “the right mix of fairness in the justice system without disturbing the goals of enhancing public safety and ensuring accountability.” […]

Criminal justice is an area where politicians have to tread carefully, said Chicago state Rep. Eva-Dina Delgado, a Democrat from the party’s moderate wing.

“I think we have to be thoughtful about how we change the system and make sure that those that are charged with keeping us safe have the tools that they need and at the same time, we are dealing with the root causes and creating opportunities particularly for young people to live their best lives,” she said.

* Click here for some background. WREX…

City of Rockford leaders met with officials from Carbondale to highlight their efforts in curbing domestic violence across Rockford last week.

Last fall, Mayor Tom McNamara and Jennifer Cacciapaglia, Executive Director of the Mayor’s Office of Domestic and Community Violence Prevention, presented at the Illinois Municipal League’s Annual Conference in Chicago.

Their session focused on Rockford’s innovative and comprehensive approach to reducing domestic and community violence.

Carbondale representatives met with City of Rockford staff and partners involved in the Mayor’s Office of Domestic and Community Violence Prevention sharing strategies in reducing domestic and community violence. […]

[Carbondale Mayor Carolin Harvey] is interested in the adapting overall program collaboration in Rockford, especially with the Family Peace Center, in hopes of addressing gun and youth violence in Carbondale.

* WTTW | Lockdowns, Staffing Shortages at Illinois Prisons Leads to Visit Cancellations: Cut visits are one impact of the “staffing crisis” IDOC is facing, as the prison watchdog group, John Howard Association, reported in the fall. That understaffing has led to an increase in lockdowns, which typically result in facility-wide restrictions consistent with solitary confinement or restrictive housing. Lockdowns have risen 285% from the financial year 2019 to 2024, according to that John Howard report. When a facility is on lockdown, visits can be limited or eliminated altogether, the report states.

* WCIA | ‘People say enough is enough’ — Citizens Utility Board fighting record-breaking gas rate hike: Nicor Gas submitted a major price hike request back in January — $309 million — and the ICC still has seven more months before it makes an official ruling. However, the Citizens Utility Board has remained consistent in its messaging against the request. “Consumer advocates argue that Nicor Gas’s bid for a record-breaking rate hike is rife with excess and fat and is more than double what the company can possibly justify,” said Jim Chilsen, the CUB’s Communications Director.

* Tribune | Illinois weather enthusiasts alarmed at how federal cuts may endanger lives and diminish pursuit: A back-and-forth on staffing has put the agency, like many others, in a state of limbo. Thousands of probationary employees were fired in mid-February, ordered by a federal judge to be rehired a month later and then put on administrative leave, only to see the U.S. Supreme Court block that rehire order last month. Staff shortages have also temporarily suspended and reduced weather balloon releases that track temperature, pressure and wind speed in the Great Plains and Midwest.

* NYT | In Illinois Senate Race, Old Grudges and a Test of Pritzker’s Power: In 2021, [Congresswoman Robin Kelly] defeated Mr. Pritzker’s candidate to become chair of the Democratic Party of Illinois. In another election a year later, Mr. Pritzker pushed Ms. Kelly out and installed his chosen candidate. Ms. Kelly was also Mr. Krishnamoorthi’s boss when they worked together in the office of the Illinois State Treasurer in the 2000s, a period that ended with the two on bad terms. Mr. Krishnamoorthi declined to speak about his work with Ms. Kelly. She said, “We’re fine now.”

* Canary Media | Illinois’ grid needs batteries. Can the legislature deliver?: Illinois’s ambitious clean energy transition, which mandates a phaseout of fossil-fuel power by 2045, depends on adding large amounts of energy storage to the grid. This is especially true now with the proliferation of data centers. Utility-scale battery installations will be key to ensuring that renewables — along with the state’s existing nuclear fleet — can meet electricity demand. That’s why energy companies and advocates are racing to get legislation passed that incentivizes the addition of battery storage on the grid, before the state legislative session ends May 31.

* South Side Weekly | Lawsuit Accuses Sheriff of Retaliation Over Fraud Investigation: senior Cook County Sheriff’s Office investigator has filed a lawsuit claiming she was illegally retaliated against after refusing to share certain information with superiors about a sweeping federal investigation into ghost payrolling, fraud, nepotism, and forgery at the agency. Sgt. Nicole Pagani’s sixty-page lawsuit against Sheriff Tom Dart and his office includes multiple alleged violations of Illinois’ human rights and whistleblower protection acts, as well as federal sex discrimination and harassment claims.

* WBEZ | Contesting Cook County property taxes can feel like a part-time job: Unlike Korth, many suburban homeowners don’t have to navigate the appeals process on their own. Suburban township assessors provide guidance for homeowners challenging their property assessments. Niles Township Assessor Scott Bagnall said he filed about 1,500 appeals on behalf of his residents for tax year 2024, and he predicts he will file about 1,000 more this year.

* Sun-Times | Inside a clout-heavy company’s yearslong bid to open a cannabis dispensary in Bolingbrook: Days before people swarmed marijuana dispensaries across Illinois to get their first taste of legal weed on Jan. 1, 2020, a clout-heavy Chicago businessman named Carmen A. Rossi established a company aiming to cash in on the expected “green rush.” On the company’s incorporation papers, he listed Alex Acevedo, a son of former state Rep. Edward “Eddie” Acevedo, who had recently lost a Chicago City Council race, as a manager.

* Daily Herald | Affordable housing apartments proposed for former quarry site in Batavia: The Residences at River Point is estimated to cost $24.2 million. The developer is asking for $1.2 million in aid from the city. The Batavia City Council will discuss the matter at its committee-of-the-whole meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday. According to a memo, The Residences at River Point would set aside one-quarter of the apartments for households making 30% or less of the area median income. Roughly half would be earmarked for households making 60% or less of the AMI, and the rest would be for those making 80% or less of the AMI.

* Intersect Illinois | Chicago’s Moving Up: City is Top Ten Moving Destination: People are increasingly moving to Illinois, according to an annual survey by moving company Penske Truck Rental that lists Chicago as the eighth most popular moving destination in the U.S.
Chicago last cracked the top ten list in 2021. Penske, which published its findings Friday, based the rankings on one-way consumer truck rentals last year. “Those of us who know and love Illinois aren’t surprised that Chicago’s a popular destination. The city’s an axis for innovation, offers a rich culture and deep talent pool, and a wealth of opportunity,” said Intersect Illinois President and CEO Christy George. “Intersect Illinois is primed to bring even more jobs and businesses to our state.”

* Crain’s | Chicago-area new home sales see one of the strongest first quarters in a decade: Builders sold 1,568 newly built houses, condos and townhouses in the first three months of the year, according to a new report from Tracy Cross & Associates, a Schaumburg-based consultant to the homebuilding industry. Since 2015, there’s been no higher sales volume in the first part of the year other than 2022, when all homes, new and existing, were riding the COVID-era housing boom. In the first quarter of that year, builders sold 1,620 new units.

* Tribune | ‘Jayden Perkins is a hero’: Prosecutors open case against 11-year-old’s alleged killer: It was an automated message from the Illinois Department of Corrections informing her that the man who had terrorized her since high school would be released from prison shortly after threatening her life, Cook County prosecutors said Monday at the Leighton Criminal Court Building. One day later, they said, he barged into her Edgewater apartment, stabbed her 11 times and more tragically still, fatally stabbed her 11-year-old son, Jayden Perkins. The prosecutors opened their case in the trial of the alleged attacker, Crosetti Brand, 39, who is facing felony charges of murder, attempted murder, home invasion and aggravated domestic battery in slaying on March 13 of last year.

* Daily Herald | American, United rivalry boils over in lawsuit on O’Hare gates: American Airlines is suing the city claiming it breached a 2018 agreement by initiating a gate redistribution that would benefit United and to its detriment. “American is committed to keeping O’Hare competitive, as our presence yields more extensive flight schedules and lower fares for our Chicagoland customers and travelers from across the world,” the airline said in a statement. “That’s why we’re taking action against the Chicago Department of Aviation’s premature trigger of the reallocation of gates at O’Hare — the timing is not only a violation of the agreement signed in 2018, but it unfairly upsets the competitive balance at O’Hare by making it more difficult for us to grow.”

* Crain’s | Quantum park planned for South Works site signs an Australian startup: Diraq, which is a Fermilab partner and one of the startups being incubated in a federal government quantum program, says it will join the quantum park that is being built on the former U.S. Steel South Works site on the Far South Side. Like PsiQuantum, the anchor tenant for the quantum park, Diraq hopes to develop a utility-scale quantum computer that will be powerful enough to perform tasks that traditional computers cannot.

* WTTW | Step Into Chicago’s Swamps, Where a Shedd Researcher Has Found Surprising Biodiversity: Today, hundreds of acres of what were once slag heaps — a byproduct of steel manufacturing — have been reclaimed as natural and recreational areas managed by the Chicago Park District. Partners including Friends of the Chicago River, The Wetlands Initiative and Audubon Great Lakes have poured resources, both in terms of funding and manpower, into wetland restoration projects, including knocking back invasive species like phragmites, a tall grass.

* IPM News | Champaign’s police review board aims to improve policing, but some fear it lacks power to make change: One major flaw, in her view, is that police officers investigating their own colleagues appear to not be swayed when CRS members call for reforms, policy changes and more accountability for police officers who exhibit inappropriate behavior. Additionally, certain cases are not reviewed by the CRS at all, and police aren’t required to implement or even respond to CRS recommendations. “We can sit here, and we can make all these recommendations, and we can have all these concerns about the investigation,” Harmon-Threatt said. “But the only people we’re complaining to are the people who did the investigation.”

* Illinois Times | Economic gaps persist for Blacks: Black residents are concentrated in neighborhoods on the city of Springfield’s east and north sides, where they make up between one-third and three-fourths of residents in some Census tracts. Those neighborhoods have some of Sangamon County’s highest poverty rates – between 30% and 50%. The Springfield area’s status among the top third most segregated U.S. metropolitan areas between Blacks and whites helps to fuel economic gaps that have persisted for decades here and across the nation, experts say.

* University of Illinois Champaign | Illinois leads most rigorous agricultural greenhouse gas emissions study to date: Before they can recommend practices to reduce nitrous oxide and other greenhouse gases from agricultural soils, scientists first have to understand where and when they are released. Sampling soil emissions is labor intensive and expensive, so most studies haven’t done extensive sampling over space and time. A new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign sought to change that, rigorously sampling nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide emissions from commercial corn and soybean fields under practical management scenarios over multiple years. Not only can this dataset lead to mitigation recommendations, it can refine the climate models that predict our global future.

* WGLT | Illinois Wesleyan University puts rules on paper about demonstrations: “What we’ve done since that complaint was filed, and much of this was done before I ever got here, was update policies with regard to everything from peaceful rallies to university posters to external speakers, things that weren’t in writing,” said Zenger. He said IWU probably did not have those before out of “naivete,” not knowing a world crisis would create such intense dialogue and crisis.

* The Southern | Night’s Shield receives state grant for homeless youth program: One local organization is among the 10 non-profits receiving a $20,000 grant from the state of Illinois to strengthen its community impact. The Night’s Shield is a West Frankfort-based organization serving the lower 17 counties. Its homeless youth program, established in late 2020, serves youth aged 11 to 23 years who are unhoused or housing insecure.

* WSIL | Fight the bite: Protect against ticks in Southern Illinois this May: “Lyme disease is a serious bacterial infection transmitted through the bite of infected ticks,” said IDPH Director Dr. Sameer Vohra. “Lyme Disease is the most common vector-borne illness in the United States affecting more than 500,000 people nationally each year.” Dr. Vohra emphasized the importance of checking for ticks. “As the summer approaches, I encourage our residents to learn to ‘Fight the Bite’ and protect yourself and your loved ones from tickborne illnesses. If you have been in wooded or high grassy areas and are experiencing symptoms – fever, fatigue, headache and a circular rash – see your health care provider immediately,” said Vohra.

* The Southern | SIU students create marketing plans for real clients, including an iconic theater: As the iconic Varsity Theater prepares to celebrate its 85th birthday next month, a Southern Illinois University Carbondale senior hospitality marketing management class presented proposed marketing plans for the Varsity Center’s second life as an arts and entertainment venue. It’s all part of the experiential learning that’s intrinsic to the classes taught by Niki Davis, director of the hospitality, tourism and event management (HTEM) program and professor of practice.

* WaPo | The hidden ways Trump, DOGE are shutting down parts of the U.S. government: The effects are especially pronounced at the EPA, where staffers at 11 labs have struggled to continue researching an array of environmental threats, including air and water pollution as well as toxic “forever chemicals.” The labs are run by the Office of Research and Development, or ORD, which may be eliminated as part of a broader reorganization of the agency. On paper, the division still exists. But in practice, the office’s research has been crippled by a new requirement that Trump officials approve all new lab purchases, according to three ORD employees.

* NYT | Trump Declares High-Speed Internet Program ‘Racist’ and ‘Unconstitutional’: The act was written to help many different groups, including veterans, older people and disabled and rural communities. But Mr. Trump, using the incendiary language that has been a trademark of his political career, denounced the law on Thursday for also seeking to improve internet access for ethnic and racial minorities, raging in a social media post that it amounted to providing “woke handouts based on race.”

* Politico | Judges warn Trump’s mass deportations could lay groundwork to ensnare Americans: Trump’s close adviser Stephen Miller has railed daily against what he’s called a “judicial coup” that has largely centered around rulings upholding due process rights of immigrants. Miller has scoffed at the notion that people Trump claims are terrorists — even if they deny it — must be allowed to contest their deportations, saying they only have the right to be deported. Miller suggested Friday that the White House was “actively looking at” suspending habeas corpus, the right of due process to challenge a person’s detention by the government.

* WaPo | Fake pizza orders sent to judges seen as threat to judicial safety: Many of the deliveries have gone to judges presiding over lawsuits challenging the Trump administration’s policies. The U.S. Marshals Service has been tracking the deliveries, and judges have been sharing details about their experiences in hopes of finding out more about what they call an ongoing attempt at intimidating the judiciary. Some of the pizza deliveries have gone to judges’ relatives. In recent weeks, orders have been placed in the name of U.S. District Judge Esther Salas’s son, Daniel Anderl, who was fatally shot at the family home in New Jersey in 2020 by an attorney who posed as a delivery person.

* Columbia Journalism Review | How We’re Using AI: To see this new power for yourself, work through the free, open-source textbook I recently developed with Derek Willis, a data journalism teacher at the University of Maryland. We show how journalists can harness large language models to find needles of corruption in the haystacks of data produced by political campaigns. Techniques like these are already changing how Reuters journalists gather news by making a superior form of machine learning accessible to a much wider circle. I can’t say where this all leads, but it’s clear to me that these tools are finally fit for our purpose.

* The Telegraph | Weight-loss jabs ‘halve the risk of cancer’: Researchers analysed the health records of more than 6,000 obese patients with Type 2 diabetes, half of whom were given bariatric surgery while the others were prescribed GLP-1 weight-loss jabs. The Israeli team found that while weight-loss surgery cut the risk of obesity-related cancer by up to 42 per cent, the impact of the injections might be even better.