* ICYMI: Immigration arrests near county courthouses still persist, despite state law. Tribune…

- The Court Access, Safety and Participation Act, which is being challenged by the Trump administration, followed an order issued by Cook County’s chief judge at the time, Tim Evans, similarly barring civil immigration enforcement around county courthouses.
- Since the beginning of the year, immigration agents have been in or around county courthouses at least 50 times through June 9 — a rate of more than twice per week.
- Critics say federal immigration enforcement near Illinois courthouses is disrupting state court operations and discouraging people from seeking justice, while the Department of Homeland Security argues the practice is a “common sense” enforcement strategy.

* Related stories…

• Courthouse News: Federal judge rules ICE can’t make arrests at immigration courthouses
• Daily Herald: People criticize ICE arrest at Kane County courthouse

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

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Sun-Times | Illinois Dems trash former state public health chief who’s now seeking Senate bid: ‘Maine deserves better’: Before moving to Maine, Shah presided over a series of fatal Legionnaires disease outbreaks at the state of Illinois’ veterans’ home in Quincy that were linked to 14 resident deaths and the sickening of dozens of other staff and residents at the former facility. His oversight under Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration was condemned at the time for worsening the horrific and preventable public health crisis and causing a greater loss of life.

* Politico | Reading between the ad lines: Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias is launching an extensive television advertising campaign today as he seeks reelection — a move that also lands just two weeks before candidates can begin circulating petitions for Chicago’s February mayoral election. […] The new 30-second ad spots, titled “Accomplishments” and “Demand Better,” focus on Giannoulias’ record running the Secretary of State’s Office and what the campaign describes as government’s responsibility to deliver better service, protect people’s rights and earn the public’s trust.

*** Statehouse News ***

* NBC Chicago | State senator accused of holding up honorary street sign over ‘retaliation’: [Rep. Lisa Davis] and [political consultant Sabha Abour] said an IDOT official informed them that another lawmaker – State Sen. Willie Preston, D-Chicago – reached out to IDOT to block the renaming. “I was taken aback and surprised that Senator Preston would call them because IDOT only has those two responsibilities – make the sign and put it up,” Davis said.

* ABC Chicago | ‘Little Palestine Way’ sign installed on Bridgeview street after delay: IDOT had postponed the ceremony at the last minute. Some who helped organize the event blamed politics for the delay. So, community members decided to take matters into their own hands and went ahead with the renaming.

* Crain’s | Illinois sues to stop Trump from ending school mental health grants: Several states, including Illinois, are suing to stop the federal government from cutting mental health funding for schools, arguing a judge already ordered the Trump administration not to touch the congressionally approved programs. Illinois stands to lose millions of dollars in student mental health grant money if the education grants are discontinued at the end of July.

* Tribune | State-funded America 250 commemorations kept mellow as federal funding cuts still sting in Illinois: Gov. JB Pritzker’s office listed about $376,000 in costs for semiquincentennial-specific state programming, a relatively low price tag amid federal funding cuts and a striking contrast to the all-out, politically charged events in the nation’s capital. Illinois residents and visitors may see a lasting impression from the celebrations, however, as the bulk of those state dollars, about $300,000 from existing funding, went to grants for 22 public art projects throughout the state, including a mural of singer-songwriter and Maywood native John Prine going up on the exterior of Chicago’s Old Town School of Folk Music. The other biggest line item: the printing of Illinois “passports” encouraging visitors and residents to see historic and civic sites, for a cost of about $76,000 “from existing operating resources,” according to the governor’s office. The state’s overall spending plan for day-to-day operations during the budget year that began July 1 totals nearly $56 billion.

* Muddy River News | IL House Deputy Majority Leader Elizabeth “Lisa” Hernandez, bringing Democratic presence to the “red sea”: Now in her second term in her party’s leadership role, Hernandez said a community’s “redness” or Republican majority has never stopped a Democrat before. “I have really committed myself to making a Democratic presence across the state,” Hernandez told Muddy River News before making her formal remarks at the dinner. “I really try to provide the resources necessary to elect Democrats from the local to the federal level. And I think we’ve been doing pretty good.”

* WGN | Gov. JB Pritzker signs new Illinois energy laws: House Bill 4456 makes energy bills more affordable, expanding the discount program for low-income electricity and gas customers. Eligibility for the federally-funded Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) has increased to 300 percent at or below the poverty level.
that makes it tougher to qualify. It used to be 200 percent. House Bill 5524 ensures utility charge transparency. The bill helps residents understand added charges and fees on energy bills. It requires the state to publish a report detailing all the charges, which laws or agencies mandate them and the programs or services they support.

*** Data Center News ***

* CNN | Scientists have found an alarming environmental impact of vast data centers: They focused on more than 6,000 data centers located away from highly dense urban areas, as surface temperatures around these were less likely to have been affected by other factors, such as manufacturing or the heating of homes. The researchers also filtered out seasonal impacts, global warming trends and other influences. They found surface temperatures increased by an average of 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit after a data center started operations. In extreme cases, nearby temperatures increase by up to 16.4 degrees Fahrenheit.

* The Hill | Data centers become flash point in gubernatorial races : “Could you invent an easier political target if you tried?” said Sam Silverman, founder of the Silverman Strategy Group, which focuses on the intersection of technology and politics. “Absent gigantic changes in strategy, this only gets worse.” “I’m generally a techo-optimist, and I’d advise anyone actively campaigning as pro-data center in their community that it’s electoral malpractice,” Silverman, who most recently worked for Rep. Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.), told The Hill Friday.

* Wisconsin Public Radio | Groups sue Wisconsin DNR over environmental review of Port Washington data centers: Both Sierra Club and MEA had urged the DNR to conduct a full EIS for the project. The agency conducted an environmental analysis summary of the project instead. They say the DNR violated Wisconsin’s Environmental Policy Act by failing to prepare an EIS because the data center is a major development that would significantly affect the human environment. In April, Port Washington residents and environmental advocates had urged state environmental regulators to deny permits for the data center campus, which includes four data centers that span 672 acres. The first phase of the project would use 1.3 gigawatts of energy or enough to power 640,000 homes, but it could require up to 3.5 gigawatts of electricity in the future.

*** Chicago ***

* Sun-Times | Chicago school board bars candidates from taking CPS vendors’ campaign contributions: “As we enter into unprecedented waters for the board and campaigning, I thought it important that we inoculate the board from the optics of pay to play,” Board President Sean Harden said during discussion of the resolution at a June meeting. The board approved the measure Wednesday in a 16-1 vote. Each candidate would be responsible for confirming that campaign contributions aren’t coming from active CPS vendors or any organizations that have applied for district contracts, according to the resolution. The district relies on vendors for various goods and services, from landscaping to academic tools, whose contracts are approved by the board.

* WBEZ | ‘Where do they go?’ What West Side patients face after their hospital closes: Longtime orthopedic surgeon Dr. Victor Romano stopped taking his elective cases to West Suburban around the time Manoj Prasad took over in 2022. Romano worried if something happened to his patients in the middle of the night, there wouldn’t be doctors in the intensive care unit to take care of them. Federal inspectors were concerned about this, too, when they found patients at the hospital could be at risk of serious harm or death. A company repossessed a robot he used for knee replacements, Romano says. He opted to perform surgeries at other hospitals that kept their operating rooms cool. At West Suburban, temperatures in the ORs climbed into the 80s, he says.

* Crain’s | West Loop TIF funds to back infrastructure around Chicago Fire FC stadium: Chicago officials plan to redirect $287 million of West Loop property tax revenue for infrastructure surrounding Chicago Fire FC’s new stadium at the 78, a shift poised to help jumpstart the South Loop megaproject and reduce risk for developer Related Midwest. The proposal — set for consideration today by the City Council Finance Committee — would restructure a controversial tax-increment financing subsidy for the long-vacant 62-acre site along the Chicago River south of Roosevelt Road.

* Crain’s | FAA extends flight limits at O’Hare: “FAA finds that significant delay and operational disruption would occur at O’Hare if the order were to expire as originally scheduled.” The flight caps, which were scheduled to expire Oct. 24, will be extended to Oct. 30, 2027. The FAA imposed limits on flights this summer after the airport’s two largest carriers, United and American airlines, ramped up their schedules in a battle for market share and gates.

* CBS Chicago | Man charged with trespassing at Gov. JB Pritzker’s Chicago home on 4th of July, police report shows: According to the police report, 46-year-old Dwayne Milton was seen on camera allegedly jumping over a fence and walking in the backyard of Pritzker’s house. He was quickly arrested and he admitted to officers he had an outstanding warrant in Cook County for shoplifting. There is no indication he had a weapon or even knew it was the governor’s house.

* Tribune | 3 takeaways from Chicago White Sox’s MLB draft haul, including a ‘dream come true’ for Nazareth’s Landon Thome: “I was always able to keep it together as a player,” the Hall of Famer Jim Thome said. “This is tough. This is so special. What a day, just to watch your son go through that, his name be called, it’s a dream come true, right? “You watch them as kids. They grow up, they love the game. And then as they love the game, they go through this process of just wanting to play. And then when you are in that moment yesterday, you don’t really know if that will ever happen. When it does, it’s so special. It’s hard to explain, but what a great moment.”

* Tribune | Chicago’s second heat wave of the season to bring poor air quality Monday, more 90s starting Tuesday: As a heat dome builds in the Plains and “dangerous” record highs become a possibility for parts of the country, the Chicago area is forecast to experience at least three days of 90-degree weather this week, Tuesday through Thursday. The area will get little overnight relief as temperatures remain in the mid to upper 70s. No rain, mostly sunny skies and light winds will contribute to the uncomfortably warm weather.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Southtown | Judge denies appeal in La Grange pipeline standoff with McCook quarry operators: If the ruling stands, it will pave the way for the village to go ahead with the planned $37 million 50th Street stormwater project. “This clears another hurdle,” village manager Jack Knight said. “We have been pursuing the project through the appeal process, so with that out of the way, there’ll be one less obstacle for us.” The pipeline in question partly runs through property owned by Heidelberg Materials. The 54-inch pipeline had, for the better part of a century, taken excess stormwater from the village directly to the McCook Ditch. Quarry operators severed the pipeline in 1992 during mining operations, which left the rainwater draining into the quarry. The water then had to be pumped into McCook Ditch.

* Tribune | Aurora aldermen disagree on regulating PACs in Mayor John Laesch’s proposed ethics package: The Aurora City Council spent over two hours workshopping Mayor John Laesch’s long-discussed campaign finance ethics reform package last week, with some aldermen at odds with the mayor over regulating political action committees. Council members also debated the definition of doing business with the city and other requirements on disclosures that some aldermen said they felt treated them as “criminals” for running for office. Despite some disagreement, the council overall reached a consensus over several language changes in the ethics proposal, such as eliminating disclosure requirements for loans and services.

* Shaw Local | Cornerstone Services in Joliet to host grand opening on new behavioral health center: This new behavioral health center features an expansion of services still offered at the Black Road facility, according to Matthew Lanoue, director of development at Cornerstone Services. “The program has grown so much,” Lanoue said. “The staff is still there. It just had no space.” Cornerstone Services’ behavioral health program provides “high-quality mental health services available in Will and Kankakee counties,” according to the Cornerstone Services website. […] State Sen. Rachel Ventura, D-Joliet, who helped obtain funding for the building’s renovation, will be present for the celebration - and tours will follow the ribbon-cutting, Lanoue said.

*** Downstate ***

* WGLT | Town of Normal resident and officials question conduct of council member Kathleen Lorenz: A resident of the Town of Normal has accused council member Kathleen Lorenz of yelling and swearing at town workers about town leadership during an incident last month in Uptown. Documents acquired by WGLT under the Freedom of Information Act also indicate two later interactions with the engineering technicians. One was an apology session supervised by a town staff member. Another, following that mediation, was in a town parking deck during which Lorenz accosted the workers and renewed the conversation. Town administration has raised the issue of retaliation by Lorenz in response to the third interaction.

* BND | Judge warns East St. Louis leader of possible jail time for withholding records:
Shonte Mueller, a former housing authority board member, and her husband Nicholas Mueller, a former East St. Louis assistant police chief, filed the lawsuit in 2024 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois. The warning to City Manager Robert Betts comes after Judge David W. Dugan already entered a default judgment against him and the city of East St. Louis on all claims against them in April. It was a sanction for their “flagrant bad faith” in the discovery process, Dugan wrote.

* Illinois Times | Developers pitch solar farm to Divernon residents: A Dallas-based company hopes to build a 1,100-acre solar project between Divernon Township and Pawnee Township by 2029. Leeward Renewable Energy held an open house Wednesday at the Divernon American Legion, where community members and representatives of the company met to talk about the solar farm’s location, construction, environmental impact and employment potential. Henkle Branch Solar is the limited liability company created to oversee the project, which the company says will generate up to 100 megawatts of solar power. The site is anticipated to operate for 30 or more years, during which time it is expected to generate an average of $400,000 in property tax payments, according to Kristen Rosenberger, the public affairs regional manager at Leeward. Henkle Branch Solar is also offering $25,000 in “neighbor benefit grants” to homeowners and renters located within 1,000 feet of the project boundary.

* WTTW | Logan Prison Is Moving 140 Miles North. Here’s What Employees, Incarcerated Women Have to Say: Logan’s move elicits mixed emotions among both the women incarcerated inside of it and its employees. Correctional officers worry about job security, while some incarcerated women are concerned about moving away from their downstate families and others don’t want another prison built at all. Meanwhile, some residents in Lincoln think the prison’s move is a death knell for their town.

* WGLT | Housing experts react to what federal housing legislation means for Central Illinois: “Housing supply is one of the biggest issues, impacts that buyers, sellers, renters, employers and communities are actually having…” said Camill Tedrick, incoming president of the Mid-Illinois Realtors Association [MIRA], the multiple listing service agency in Central and Southern Illinois. “People still want to buy homes. First time homebuyers still want the opportunity to build wealth through home ownership, but many are really facing the challenges with affordability.” Tedrick said she was disappointed to learn President Trump canceled the signing of the bill. Although he reaffirmed Friday that he would not sign the bill, it is set to become law tonight after a 10-day waiting period expires.

* WAND | Where to find cooling centers in central Illinois: During regular business hours, public buildings such as libraries and municipal buildings are generally available for people to cool down in. The state of Illinois has an interactive map with cooling centers available in your area.

*** National ***

* WaPo | Conflicting court orders over citizenship data stir more midterm confusion: The recent decisions from a pair of judges — one appointed by Trump, one by President Joe Biden — injected more uncertainty into this fall’s elections. They centered on state access to an enhanced version of a federal database stocked with citizenship information. […]
On Wednesday, Sooknanan stood by her previous ruling, writing in a new opinion that Wetherell had “erred in significant ways.” The divide between the courts left DHS officials with two sets of orders pointing in opposite directions, at least for the states covered by the settlement — Florida, Indiana, Iowa and Ohio.

* NPR | Campaign text messages could soon get more effective — and annoying: AI-powered platforms are training bots to sound like political candidates in text messages, holding personalized conversations with thousands of potential voters simultaneously. The bots are also gathering data, learning what each voter wants from their representatives and using that information to shape future campaign messaging. Aaron Sheeks, the CEO of Akillion, an AI platform that lets people run their own Large Language Models or bots, said many of his current clients are running for political office.