Trump admin freezes $240 million in grants for Illinois K-12 schools
Tuesday, Jul 1, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller * NPR…
* According to Education Week, Illinois will lose over $240 million in funding. The first list explains what the funding is for…
* More from Chalkbeat…
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Isabel’s afternoon roundup
Tuesday, Jul 1, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller * Institute of Government and Public Affairs…
* Crain’s | The cost of entry is crushing Illinois’ cannabis entrepreneurs: As of June 2025, the state of Illinois had issued 694 business permits to various companies looking to run marijuana dispensaries, grow facilities, THC-infusing manufacturing operations and transportation businesses. But of those, only 382 have managed to open for business thus far, according to information from the Illinois Department of Federal and Professional Regulation and the Department of Agriculture, which share industry oversight duties. * WSIL | Grants bring $20M to Illinois libraries for community growth; here’s the list: This announcement comes as libraries nationwide face federal budget cuts. Giannoulias said in March, the Trump administration signed an executive order to eliminate and defund the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which provides $180 million annually to libraries. Illinois receives nearly $6 million of this funding annually. “We’re doing things differently in Illinois,” Giannoulias added. “Instead of cutting funding that would limit learning and prove harmful to Illinois communities, we’re fighting for Illinoisans to ensure they have the funding and resources to learn, grow and explore today and in the future.” * WCIA | Corn crops way past ‘knee high at the Fourth of July’ in Central Illinois: “I’ve heard that all my life, and a lot of farmers talk about it, but, oh my gosh, it hasn’t been that way for many years,” Champaign County farmer Dennis Riggs said. Recent extreme heat in the area hasn’t been good for all plants, but it is causing the corn crops to thrive. “It’s really speeding the crop up,” Dr. Fred Below, a crop science professor at the University of Illinois, said. “Corn grows by accumulating heat units. It’s 90 plus, you’re maxing the crop out at 80 units so, as long as they’re getting enough moisture it’s growing as fast as it can.” * Press Release | IDPH Adds More ZIP Codes to Lead Testing List: The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) has announced an expansion of its list of ZIP codes where lead exposure testing is required for children who live within those areas. 180 new zip codes, representing parts of 47 Illinois counties, have been added to the list this year, bringing the total of high-risk ZIP codes to more than 1,350. By this time next year, all remaining ZIP codes in the state will be included, implementing universal childhood lead testing statewide. * Press Release | New Division of Behavioral Health and Recovery Launches: - Today, Governor JB Pritzker announced that the newly formed Division of Behavioral Health and Recovery (DBHR) has officially begun operations. Housed in the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS), the new division integrates the former IDHS Division of Substance Use Prevention and Recovery (SUPR) and Division of Mental Health (DMH). Governor Pritzker signed an Executive Order February 2025 instituting the change to improve outcomes and access to behavioral health care and to streamline and reduce administrative burdens for providers. The executive action went through the legislative process and became law. * WGLT | State Rep. Regan Deering announces re-election bid: “If you’re fed up with high prices, woke nonsense, broken schools, and politicians who care more about power than results, I’m your candidate,” Deering said in a statement. During her first term in the state legislature, Deering proposed 11 bills; one passed. It would require the Illinois State Board of Education to post submitted career opportunities for high school students on its website. * WVIK | Halpin: Vote Against Budget Reflects Underfunding Higher Ed: State Senator Mike Halpin (D-Rock Island) discusses the recently concluded Illinois legislative session, his vote against the budget, education, economic issues, district accomplishments, mental health, the budget process, tariffs and what the national Democratic party needs to do to improve its image. * WAND | Proposal helping farmers with deer control arrives on Pritzker’s desk: Farmers across the state have told Democrats and Republicans that nuisance deer have caused expensive and costly damage to their crops and farmland. This plan would allow the state to issue antlerless-only deer removal permits based on the percentage of permits redeemed in the previous season. It could also expand youth hunting tags from one to two. * Chalkbeat | Chicago Public Schools laid off 161 employees. More cuts could be on the way: The layoffs included 87 people represented by SEIU Local 73 — nearly all of whom were crossing guards — plus 67 employees in the district’s central and network offices, and seven people represented by the Chicago Teachers Union, CPS confirmed to Chalkbeat. The district also said it will not fill more than 200 vacant positions, including 166 at the central office and 19 CTU-represented positions. The district originally said it would not fill 24 open crossing guard jobs as part of freezing those open positions, but late Monday revised that figure to 19. * Sun-Times | Chicago Police say an ICE worker’s 911 call prompted them to patrol an immigration raid protest: “There were federal agents that needed assistance” with “crowd control,” Chenetra Washington, a police communications operator, said at a hearing on allegations that CPD assisted ICE in enforcement actions last month. Still, Glen Brooks, the director of CPD’s Community Policing office, contended officers weren’t aware that a civil immigration raid was taking place when they arrived at the scene and entered the federal immigration office. * ABC Chicago | Chicago leaders host hearing over South Loop ICE operation, CPD’s involvement: On Tuesday, the committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights will vote on a measure for Chicago Police, the Office of Emergency Management Chicago, and the mayor’s office to provide all data and communication related to that day. Chicago police were called to the scene, but the department says they were not aware of any ICE activity when they arrived and did not help with any arrests. * Bloomberg | Trump Hotel Pays $4.8 Million to Resolve Complaint Over Killing Fish in Chicago: Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago will pay $4.8 million to resolve a complaint that it was killing fish in the Chicago River. A system used to cool the building by drawing in river water was sucking in thousands of fish and other organisms, the plaintiffs in the case said Tuesday in announcing the settlement. The complaint was brought in 2018 by the Illinois attorney general and state environmental agency, as well as the Sierra Club and a group called Friends of the Chicago River. * Crain’s | Fulton Market landlord defies office market struggle with big refi: A joint venture of Chicago-based Shapack Partners, Focus Development and Walton Street Capital is set to close this month on a new $247 million loan backed by the 17-story office building at 167 N. Green St., according to a presale report on the debt offering from ratings agency KBRA. The new mortgage will be used to pay off a $232 million balance on a loan the trio took out from Deutsche Bank in 2021 to refinance the property, which was completed in late 2020. * Sun-Times | Veteran police dispatcher who was a calming voice for Chicagoans at their worst moments goes off the radio: Debra White’s OEMC dispatch colleagues describe her as the “mama” of the unit, making everyone feel welcome and treating emergency callers with empathy. They held her up when tragedy struck her own family and sent her off to retirement with cake, tears and a procession of police and firefighters. * Illinois Answers Project | Cook County Tried to Erase Medical Debt. For Many, Help Came Too Late: But data shows the majority of debt was relieved for people who likely should have qualified for free care — a sign that hospitals are failing to screen for some of the region’s poorest patients. * Lake County News-Sun | EPA weighing how to address Lake County asbestos contamination; ‘It’s a pretty isolated location’: Currently inaccessible to the public both by physical means — there is a fence — and an EPA ruling, Dave Nadel, the EPA’s community involvement coordinator for Region 5, which includes the Chicago area, said he is in the process of finalizing the decision-making. Adjacent to the Johns Manville EPA Superfund site, Nadel said the contamination occurred years ago — likely in the 1940s or 1950s — before it became part of the nature preserve in 1964. Not part of Manville’s property, dumping occurred in the past. The discovery of asbestos was more recent. * Daily Southtown | South, southwest suburban high school districts prepare to implement new AI programs: Several high school districts, including Orland High District 230, Bremen District 228 and Oak Lawn District 229, have expanded technology committees and implemented guidelines on AI in discipline codes, giving teachers autonomy to use AI but prohibiting certain uses, such as generating content. “Because it’s been embedded in so many programs now, we had to come up with a clause in our policy that actually covers that. I mean, AI is just everywhere,” said Marcus Wargin, assistant principal at Oak Lawn Community High School. “We knew we didn’t want to say no to AI, so we just wanted to put some guardrails in place.” * Daily Herald | What’s next for Spring Brook restoration in Blackwell Forest Preserve?: The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority funded the first two phases of the project — within St. James and Blackwell, respectively — to help mitigate construction impacts associated with road widening. In Blackwell specifically, the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County rerouted a section of the creek so that it’s more sinuous or natural. The district also removed a dam structure — a barrier to fish movement. The intergovernmental agreement with the tollway provides funding for the third and final phase of the Spring Brook project, according to district documents. On Tuesday, the forest preserve board is set to vote on a contract with RES Environmental Operating Co., with substantial completion of the work expected by December 2025. * Daily Herald | ‘A trusted colleague’: veteran Des Plaines Public Works Director Tim Oakley retires: Throughout his lengthy municipal career, Des Plaines Public Works and Engineering Director Tim Oakley kept the city running — above and below ground. But now the state of the city’s streets, sewers and overhead utilities are someone else’s responsibility. After nearly 40 years of public service, Oakley retired June 27. * Sun-Times | This year’s fireworks could cost you more and cost some suburbs extra, too: All of the fireworks on sale at Uncle Sam’s Fireworks Store in Hammond, Indiana, come from China, said co-owner Dan “Dynamite” Mota. Though the shop bought most of its stock before the president’s tariff policies were first imposed in April, some items required replenishing — Roman candles, for example — and were bought more recently. Last year, the candles at Uncle Sam’s went for $6.95 per package. This year, the same pack is $13.95, according to Mota. * Daily Southtown | South Holland woman sentenced in theft scheme, pocketed rent payments: A South Holland woman was sentenced to two years in prison for taking more than $18,000 in rent payments while she was working for a property management company, according to Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s office. Delvya Harris also admitted to fraudulently obtaining more than $41,000 in federal Paycheck Protection Program loans by falsely claiming she owned a business, Raoul’s office said in a news release. * Crain’s | Chicago’s pro golf drought continues — except in Bolingbrook: When LIV Golf, the controversial Saudi-funded tour challenging golf’s establishment, lost its residency more than a year ago at the exclusive Rich Harvest Farms club in far west suburban Sugar Grove, local golf fans figured organizers would seek out a new welcome mat at another of the storied private clubs — maybe Medinah or Olympia Fields or Butler National — in the professional golf-starved Chicago marketplace. Not hardly. More than a year ago, on a tight deadline, LIV announced a deal to move its 2024 event to the municipal Bolingbrook Golf Club, a nondescript public course unlikely to appear on the radar of elite touring pros. It’s flat, largely treeless and mostly defenseless in the face of low-handicappers except for the man-made ponds that its designer, Arthur Hills, carved into cornfields three decades ago. * WGLT | Illinois Wesleyan adds nutrition, physical education and quantum science for 2025-26 school year: A new concentration in Quantum Science and Technology [QST] will be delivered by the Physics department, becoming one of few Midwestern schools offering quantum science at the undergraduate level. Physics chair Narendra Jaggi said QST courses were initially offered on a trial basis to assess student interest and available resources, with introductory courses quickly filling to capacity. “We see this program as a prime example of the deep and broad learning that defines a liberal arts education,” Jaggi said. “It offers interdisciplinary training and encourages strong student-faculty collaboration — an approach that has already propelled our physics majors, and students in our Optics & Photonics concentration, into leadership roles in both academia and industry.” * WGLT | Connect Go rural transit service launches July 1: The service called Connect Go provides door-to-door transportation for McLean County residents living outside Bloomington-Normal and Towanda. Reservations for Connect Go’s wheelchair accessible vans must be made before noon, one to three weekdays before a scheduled ride. The service is currently available weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at no cost to customers. * WCIA | Coles Co. Board to vote on wind project during Tuesday’s meeting: WCIA previously reported that the Coles Wind project would include 51 turbines, is estimated to create nearly 300 constructions jobs and is projected to add $2.7 million in tax revenue to the area each year. But, not everyone in the community is on board. In previous meetings, residents attended in droves, hoping to prevent the project from happening. * Reuters | Despite last-minute changes, US Senate bill deals big blow to renewable energy: The U.S. Senate’s massive budget bill that passed on Tuesday will make it harder to develop wind and solar energy projects, despite the removal of some contentious provisions, industry advocates and lawmakers said. The Senate dropped a proposed excise tax on solar and wind energy projects that don’t meet strict standards after last-minute negotiations with key Republican senators seeking better terms for renewables. * The Atlantic | That dropped call with customer service? It was on purpose: “Yes, sludge is often intentional,” he said. “Of course. The goal is to put as much friction between you and whatever the expensive thing is. So the frontline person is given as limited information and authority as possible. And it’s punitive if they connect you to someone who could actually help.” Helpfulness aside, I mentioned that I frequently felt like I was talking with someone alarmingly indifferent to my plight. “That’s called good training,” Tenumah said. “What you’re hearing is a human successfully smoothed into a corporate algorithm, conditioned to prioritize policy over people. If you leave humans in their natural state, they start to care about people and listen to nuance, and are less likely to follow the policy.”
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SB 328: Separating Lies From Truth
Tuesday, Jul 1, 2025 - Posted by Advertising Department
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Comptroller Mendoza: All GRF bills released, $1.9 billion in the bank, pension payments will be made early
Tuesday, Jul 1, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Press release…
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Question of the day
Tuesday, Jul 1, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller * Press release…
* The Question: Do you support a national constitutional convention to enact term limits for Congress? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
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Catching up with the federal candidates
Tuesday, Jul 1, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller * Crain’s…
* US Rep. Robin Kelly…
* Politico…
* More…
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More proof that the Tribune editorial board doesn’t read or trust its own newspaper
Tuesday, Jul 1, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller * Background is here if you need it. Chicago Tribune…
I loved Gale Street Inn, and I was last there the Friday before it closed. The legendary Hannah Meisel was our guest and our table had a great time. The food was superb, the service was excellent and the music elevated us all. George is such a cool dude. Very into live music and a longtime Dead Head. The bearded man has some stories, lemme tell you. I’ll miss his restaurant and I’ll miss him. * That brings us to the Chicago Tribune editorial board…
Um, Mr. Karzas didn’t say the problem was high labor costs. Just the opposite. George said his problem was “Hiring and retaining quality staff” and that he hated “overworking our existing crew.” That crew was fabulous, by the way. I never had a bad time at the Gale Street Inn. Also, Karzas spent a bunch of cash during the past year or so turning that restaurant into a shining palace. If money was a problem, it sure didn’t show. * Frankly, I’m not a fan of the One Fair Wage group and its agenda. They’ve so far failed at the Statehouse to expand the Chicago experiment statewide for good reason. But my absolute biggest pet peeve is people who will super-impose their own pet peeves on whatever is in today’s news regardless of the reported facts, as the Trib’s edit board has done here. Respect your own reporters, for crying out loud.
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Today’s graphs: Mixed success for Pritzker
Tuesday, Jul 1, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller * Crain’s has a story entitled “As Pritzker seeks a third term, the numbers tell a mixed story of his record so far.” From that piece… ![]()
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Pritzker announces Christian Mitchell as LG pick (Updated)
Tuesday, Jul 1, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller * Press release…
* Launch video… …Adding… Governor Pritzker was asked about his LG pick this afternoon at an unrelated news conference…
Please pardon any transcription errors. Discuss.
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Open thread
Tuesday, Jul 1, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller * Finding this video online is like digging up a super-cringe time capsule. Check out the hair and the outfits. Whew, boy. It’s one of those phases some of us would prefer not to remember, including the awkward Wolfman Jack cameo… I said, “You got my number?” What up by you?
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Isabel’s morning briefing
Tuesday, Jul 1, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller * ICYMI: Feds want more than 4 1/2 years for ex-ComEd lobbyist convicted in Madigan conspiracy. Sun-Times…
- The recommendation for John Hooker, 76, comes more than two years after he and three others were convicted for their roles in the lengthy scheme, for which Madigan faces his own 7 ½-year prison sentence. - Now Hooker and three others face sentencing in the weeks to come. Hooker is set to go first, on July 14. Monday’s recommendation is the first indication of how the feds want U.S. District Judge Manish Shah to rule in the case. * Related stories…
∙ ABC Chicago: ComEd Four case: Prosecutors seek more than 4-year prison sentence for ex-lobbyist John Hooker ∙ Tribune: Feds want nearly 5 years in prison for ex-ComEd exec John Hooker in Madigan bribery case; defense asks for probation * The will be in Peoria at 2:30 pm to sign into law healthcare bills that lower prescription drug costs and expand healthcare access. Click here to watch. * Tribune | Advocates look at next steps after Illinois law requiring halal, kosher options at state-run facilities left out of budget: But hurdles remain as the legislation requires state funding before lawmakers can enact a 12-month implementation period. “We’re just waiting for the appropriation to be made to really implement the program,” said state Rep. Kevin John Olickal, the primary sponsor for the bill in the Illinois House. “This is what we have to work on over the summer.” Olickal, a Chicago Democrat, said he and others who supported the bill understood it was a hard ask to make in an already difficult budget year. But because the bill exists in statute, it’s just a matter of pushing its priority through to the legislature, he added. * Crain’s | Stratton raises $1M in U.S. Senate bid: Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton says she’s raised just over $1 million in her campaign for the U.S. Senate. The campaign didn’t release an exact amount or details on donors, which should be available in filings later this month. The race to succeed U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin in 2026 is already crowded. Stratton faces off against fellow Democrats U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, a prodigious fundraiser who has amassed a war chest of more than $19 million, and U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly, who had about $2 million on hand at the end of the first quarter, according to Federal Election Commission reports. * WNIJ | Illinois State Climatologist wonders how cuts to weather services could play into climate change.: Today, WNIJ Host Jason Cregier and Illinois State Climatologist Dr. Trent Ford discuss what federal funding cuts to weather services could mean for dealing with climate change. Ford says it’s a question worth posing and adds “there’s been a lot of back and forth and what federal policies are proposing.” The challenge he says is figuring out where the federal government is going on the matter. Proposed cuts have included zeroing out a lot of the climate research the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration does. * Tribune | In July 1: Tax hikes for gas, Zyn and betting. Out: Hotel mini shampoos: While Gov. JB Pritzker earlier this year ruled out across-the-board sales tax increases or another attempt to tax higher earners to cope with a tough financial year, several more tightly focused revenue hikes were included in the $55 billion budget passed by legislators in May and set to take effect July 1. As part of an annual increase tied to inflation, Illinois’ gas tax will increase by about 1 cent to just more than 48 cents per gallon. The tax on diesel fuel will also go up about 1 cent to just under 56 cents per gallon. * Chicago Mag | Making Some “Illinoise”: Sufjan Stevens’s 2005 concept album about Illinois is indie folk, sure, but so much more: wonky time signatures, epic orchestral suites, vivid lyricism describing oft-forgotten figures in our state’s history, and iconically hokey cover art inviting listeners to “come on feel the Illinoise.” It’s a critical darling and fun for the whole family, especially if your family includes an Illinois history teacher. And if you’ve never driven down DuSable Lake Shore Drive at night blasting the anthemic earworm “Chicago,” I implore you to drop everything and do so now. I’ll wait. * Aurora Beacon-News | Eddie Perez announces run for Illinois State Senate 42nd District seat: Edgardo “Eddie” Perez, a U.S. Air Force veteran who currently works at the Kane County Sheriff’s Office, announced Monday that in the 2026 general election he will be running as a Republican for Illinois State Senate in the 42nd District. State Senate District 42 covers a large chuck of Aurora as well as parts of other towns along the Fox River from St. Charles to Yorkville. Currently serving as the state senator for the district is Linda Holmes, a Democrat who has held the seat since she was first elected in 2006. * Capitol News Illinois | Illinois to roll out direct admissions program for most state universities: Illinois students won’t need to fill out applications for most state universities to be admitted — if they have high enough grades. With his signature, Gov. JB Pritzker on Monday approved a bill creating the direct admissions program. Along with it, he approved bills that implement new state standards for programs offering college credits to high school students, and new requirements for financial aid application assistance. * WGN | New laws aim to make higher education easier for Illinois students: “Today, we’re making it cheaper and easier to go to college,” Pritzker said. “Preventing headaches for parents and students and tearing down the hurdles for people to reach their full potential.” Peggy Heinrich, President of Elgin Community College, praised the second of four bills passed, which applies new standards to dual credit programs for high school students. * KSDK | New law invites Illinois counties to join Indiana, but chances are ‘almost nonexistent,’ expert says: A new law takes effect in Indiana on Tuesday that invites counties in Illinois to join the Hoosier State. The counties include Madison, Calhoun and Clinton. While it’s an interesting discussion, many experts said the likelihood of this happening is slim to none. Christopher Duncan, Saint Louis University political science professor, said it would be pretty difficult because even though the Indiana governor signed the bill into law, it would still require approval from both state legislatures and Congress. * Tribune | Chicago ended 2024 with a $161M deficit: Mayor Brandon Johnson’s already gaping budget hole will be even tougher to fill heading into next year as City Hall officials on Monday closed the book on the 2024 fiscal year, showing the city’s general fund was $161 million underwater. Major sources of revenues in the city’s general fund came in far lower than anticipated, most notably a $175 million pension payment that City Hall wanted Chicago Public Schools to pay back but didn’t, and a $165 million drop in personal property replacement taxes from the state. In all, general fund revenues in the $16.77 billion budget were $378 million lower than the city expected. * Sun-Times | City Hall wrapped up 2024 with a zero balance in its operating checkbook: Chicago closed the books on 2024 with an unassigned balance of zero for the first time in recent memory, in part because the Chicago Public Schools failed to reimburse the city for a $175 million pension payment for non-teaching school employees. At the end of 2023, the unassigned balance not yet dedicated for a specific purpose was $226.6 million, even after Johnson followed his predecessor Lori Lightfoot’s lead by devoting $306.6 million to a “pension advance” that exceeded Chicago’s statutory requirement. * Crain’s | Audit reveals Chicago blew through a key budget reserve in 2024: To cover that loss, the city’s so-called unassigned fund balance, which has been dipped into to cover emergency costs and help close budget gaps over the years, was completely wiped out and finished 2024 without a dollar in the account, city officials told reporters today. Johnson’s financial team sought to downplay the consequences of the move in a briefing with reporters ahead of the audit’s release. * If you need it click here for background. Jeremy Gorner…
* Tribune | Chicago Housing Authority gives another big payout to terminated executive: Another recently departed Chicago Housing Authority executive has received a hefty payout from the agency, marking the 10th exited senior leader to obtain a settlement in the last five years and topping off the agency’s payout expenditures at more than $868,000. Ann McKenzie, CHA’s former chief development officer, was terminated from her role Feb. 14, the agency disclosed in June through public records, and received roughly four and a half months of severance pay, according to her separation agreement. The Tribune first reported her departure in February. CHA did not provide an explanation for her termination, nor do public records show any history of disciplinary action. * Block Club | ‘Loose Cannon’ Lifeguard Who Shot 2 Teens At Pool Previously Shot Dogs In Lakeview, Sources Say: Michaels told Block Club she was talking to two neighbors after taking out the trash when a man approached with a “weird” demeanor. Michaels said the dogs never approached the man and she doesn’t believe they were acting aggressive. “He was being really weird, so they just barked,” Michaels said of the shooter. “I was like ‘come on guys, let’s go inside,’ and he turns and he grabs his gun and starts shooting.” * WTTW | What’s the Story Behind Chicago’s Piping Plovers?: There used to be a few thousand of them, spread across the entire Great Lakes, but then people took away a lot of the beaches where they lived — building houses, hotels, marinas and resorts. By 1986, there were only about a dozen piping plover pairs left in the Great Lakes, all of them nesting in Michigan. The future looked so bleak for our feathered friends that they were officially added to the Endangered Species list. * Tribune | Northwestern University president to appear again before Congress in August: Northwestern University President Michael Schill is slated to appear for a second time before a congressional committee over alleged antisemitism on campus. Schill will participate in an interview with the House Committee on Education & Workforce on Aug. 5, according to a Northwestern spokesperson. Committee Chairman Tim Walberg, R-Mich., first sent a letter to Schill to testify in April, accusing Northwestern of failing to fulfill its commitment to protect Jewish students. * State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke: Cook County has new tools in the fight for reproductive freedom: The Cook County state’s attorney’s office is responding to this threat head-on by creating the Choice Protection Unit (CPU). The CPU brings together seasoned attorneys, investigators and victim/witness specialists from every division of our office. In addition to their current caseloads, these public servants have volunteered to participate in trainings, collaborate with experts, and stay abreast of current legal issues and legislative initiatives so that when these crimes are committed in Cook County, we will be prepared to successfully prosecute them with the full force of our office. The CPU will also monitor and analyze the evolving legal landscape so that we can respond swiftly and effectively as new threats and tactics emerge. * Daily Southtown | Blue Island distributes water sampling kits in effort to eliminate lead lines: Blue Island resident Sarah Haskell said she avoids letting her 1-year-old son drink tap water, as she is worried about contamination of lead in water lines. Instead, she keeps a Brita water filter on hand in her refrigerator. When Blue Island expanded its water sampling procedures mid-June, distributing lead and copper test kits to 60 randomly selected households as part of a project aiming to replace all water lead lines, Haskell said she was relieved. * Daily Herald | Kelvin Roston Jr. pays tribute to soul great Donny Hathaway at Northlight Theatre: Kelvin Roston Jr. channels singer/songwriter, Chicago native and soul legend Donny Hathaway (“A Song for You,” “This Christmas”) in “Twisted Melodies,” a solo show that Roston created. It unfolds over one day in 1979, the year Hathaway — who was also known for his collaborations with Roberta Flack (“Where is the Love?” “The Closer I Get to You”) — died. Ron OJ Parson directs Northlight Theatre’s production. Note: This production includes themes some audiences may find challenging. * WCIA | Westville library awarded grant to improve technology, internet accessibility: The Westville Public Library District was awarded a tech grant from the Illinois Secretary of State. It’s getting around $30,000 to help improve the library experience. State officials said the grant’s purpose is to buy things like new software and technology and increasing internet accessibility. The library’s director said he’s not sure what they’ll be spending their money on but the goal is to get the community involved. * WCIA | ‘Sometimes we would cry’: Danville says goodbye to Bresee Tower: Now that the tower is gone, many are wondering: what’s next? Several people in Danville voiced their opinions, but Mayor Rickey Williams Jr. said to be patient — because he’s hoping for something special. Breese Tower has been topping the city’s skyline for more than 100 years. Nearly two months ago construction crews started demolishing the building, which Williams said was a long time coming. * WGLT | As energy prices rise, Ecology Action Center brings back a residential group buy solar program: EAC Energy Coordinator Michael Bay said they did partner with the state in recent years for the Illinois Shines program, but they were not able to partner with any other organization during that time. “But our partnership with Illinois Shines ended, I believe, at the end of last year, which gave us the opportunities to partner with MREA again and restart the program,” Bay said. “And we want to do it with them because it’s been a successful program … so we wanted to get started again.” * BND | Madison County explosion leaves family of five injured and without a home: Samantha Romero, who lives directly across the street from the home and said she was awakened by the explosion, said her aunt and uncle had complained to Ameren Illinois about the smell of gas in the house. “This could have been prevented,” Romero said. “They had trouble smelling gas in the house. They kept complaining to the gas company. They came out and kept saying everything was OK.” * NBC | Supreme Court turns away online censorship claim by RFK Jr.’s anti-vaccine group against Meta: The justices left in place lower court rulings that tossed out the lawsuit, which claimed that Facebook, starting in 2019, colluded with the federal government to restrict access to its content. The issue came to a head during the Covid-19 pandemic, with Facebook removing the group’s page in 2022. […] Lower courts, including the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, ruled in favor of Meta, saying there was no evidence of coordination with the government, meaning it was not a “state actor” bound by the First Amendment. * The Hill | Focus turns to Murkowski as vote-a-rama stretches to 21 hours: In recent hours, the focus has turned to Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), whose vote one senator described as a “coin flip.” Late Monday, a group of conservatives huddled with Thune as it became clear an amendment they were pushing to further reduce Medicaid spending did not have the votes to pass. * Politico | Lisa Murkowski slams the brakes on the GOP megabill: The Alaska senator has been the subject of an intense whip effort by GOP leaders over the past couple of hours as they try to offer her reassurances on Medicaid and food assistance. Thune, Finance Chair Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso talked to Murkowski on the floor for roughly an hour overnight. Thune and Murkowski huddled briefly in his office, and they were mum on details when they emerged shortly before 4 a.m.
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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Supplement to today’s edition
Tuesday, Jul 1, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller
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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today’s edition of Capitol Fax (use all CAPS in password)
Tuesday, Jul 1, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller
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Selected press releases (Live updates)
Tuesday, Jul 1, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller
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Live coverage
Tuesday, Jul 1, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller * Click here and/or here to follow breaking news. Hopefully, enough reporters and news outlets migrate to BlueSky so we can hopefully resume live-posting.
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Isabel’s afternoon roundup
Monday, Jun 30, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller * Sun-Times…
* Click here for the full list. KSDK’s Mark Maxwell…
* Illinois Federation of Teachers…
* WGN | Law banning little shampoo bottles in Illinois hotels goes into effect Tuesday: This doesn’t mean an Illinois hotel guest will be totally unable to get a small plastic shampoo bottle, for example. The law says a hotel may provide personal care products in small, single-use plastic bottles to a person at no cost, upon request, at a location other than a guest room. In other words, according to the law, if you go to the front desk and ask for a little shampoo bottle, you can still get one. * Politico | The politics of Dobbs persists: The political action committee that for decades supported candidates who back abortion rights in Illinois — making the state a haven for reproductive choice — is taking its political playbook to red states, including Indiana and Arkansas, which virtually ban the procedure. “Since Roe fell, there are many PACs bubbling up in different states. I’ve been talking to new organizations, sharing our playbook, our questionnaires and ideas about where to start,” Personal PAC CEO Sarah Garza Resnick tells Women Rule. * Press Guard | Gov. Pritzker Signs College Access and Affordability Bills into Law: Today, Governor JB Pritzker joined the Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE), the Illinois Community College Board (ICCB), the Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC), community college presidents, and legislators to sign bills into law that will support Illinois high school students pursuing higher education. Governor Pritzker signed four bills into law that help improve college access and affordability: HB 2967, HB 3096, HB 3097, and HB 3522. During his February State of the State Address, Governor Pritzker emphasized that support for college admissions would be a priority initiative during this year’s session. * Tribune | Future of NASCAR’s downtown Chicago weekend is unclear going into the third year of contract: The future of NASCAR in Chicago is murky going into its third edition on the first weekend in July. The three-year contract between the motorsports organization and the city that was announced in 2022 has two mutual options, and their fate is unclear. Giese said there have been “good conversations” between NASCAR and the city, and there is time to work on the possibilities beyond the event. “So really right now the focus is on let’s execute a really great 2025,” Giese said. “We’ll continue to have the conversations with the city. But right now, honestly, the more consistent conversations are the planning conversations.” * Sun-Times | A once-resplendent bandstand in Garfield Park is getting the $2 million restoration it deserves: The work includes restoring the marble cladding on the bandstand’s 1,600-square-foot cloverleaf-shaped base and also fixing up the mosaic panels along the structure’s parapet. And the bandstand’s most visible feature — an ornately-detailed copper dome that’s a showstopper, even in its long-dulled state — will be restored as well. * Sun-Times | Park District lifeguard accused of shooting two teens is a ‘terrifying threat to the community,’ judge says: A Chicago Park District lifeguard displayed a “terrifying lack of judgment” when he shot two teenagers outside the Douglass Park pool Thursday night, a Cook County judge said Sunday. The lifeguard, 55-year-old Charles Leto of Lake View, was charged with murder and attempted murder for allegedly killing 15-year-old Marjay Dotson and critically wounding 14-year-old Jeremy Herred. Leto also shot at a third teenager but did not hit him, authorities say. […] Leto then called police and said he was attacked by the boys and shot them in self-defense. But prosecutors said witnesses and surveillance footage do not indicate he was in any immediate danger. * Tribune | Florida man with ties to Loretto Hospital indicted in massive $233 million COVID fraud scheme : Jamil Elkoussa, 35, who currently resides in Orlando, is the latest to be charged in a fraud scheme involving the small West Side safety-net hospital that became a lighting rod of controversy during the coronavirus pandemic for administering vaccinations to connected insiders and paying millions in contracts to companies with close ties to facility administrators. The indictment made public Monday charges Elkoussa with five counts of wire fraud and seeks forfeiture of a $4.9 million home in Miami, as well as properties in Alsip, Burr Ridge, Homer Glen and South Holland. A lawyer for Elkoussa could not immediately be reached. * Crain’s | Hospital staffer slams cuts at former Ascension hospitals as Illinois senators step up oversight: Complaints continue that cutbacks by Prime Healthcare, the company that took over several Ascension hospitals in Illinois in February, are moving too rapidly — and with limited input from clinicians — at some of these hospitals. Changes to services at Prime hospitals in Joliet, Aurora and Kankakee have been criticized by U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, with the Illinois democrats’ seeking explanations for cutbacks and closures, and urging Prime to maintain current levels of care at all eight of its Illinois hospitals. * Daily Herald | Republican state lawmaker won’t run for Congress in 14th District after all: Democratic U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood of Naperville has one fewer potential Republican challenger to worry about in 2026. State Rep. Jed Davis of Newark on Monday announced he’ll seek reelection to the state House rather than run for Congress. “Illinois is worth the fight,” Davis said in a Facebook post. “I’m officially running for reelection as your State Representative because the job’s not finished. From helping local families to proposing real solutions — and standing firm against broken policies and politicians — our voices matter now more than ever.” * Fox Chicago | Cook County Down Payment Assistance Program is back open — how to apply: The Cook County Down Payment Assistance Program has opened again. This program helps not only with down payments, but also closing costs and mortgage buydowns. The program provides subsidies of up to $25,000 or 5% of the home’s sale price, whichever is less. The assistance is provided as a forgivable second loan over a five-year term. Households with an annual income at or below 120% of the area’s median income are eligible. * Aurora Beacon-News | Oswego trustees look at criteria for downtown grant program: The program has undergone revisions from involving facade improvement grants to include various other upgrades over the years. The grant program was last updated in 2018 to permit additional types of improvements. So far this year, $100,000 in grants have been awarded. “The overall intent is to enhance downtown real estate,” Oswego Economic Development Director Kevin Leighty said in a report to trustees. * Daily Herald | ‘To see this in my lifetime is huge’: Regional 911 facility set to debut in Libertyville: With construction of the $53.8 million Regional Operations and Communication Facility essentially complete, county officials opened the doors for a behind-the-scenes look Friday with nearly 300 in attendance. The facility was built for a new consolidated 911 agency called LakeComm and goes fully operational later this summer. Created in June 2024 to provide faster, more coordinated emergency responses, LakeComm now comprises 25 members representing 30 police and fire agencies in Lake County. * Daily Herald | Mother-daughter duo unleashes dog-friendly market in Arlington Heights: They offer pet-related products from local vendors and commercial dog food alongside homemade smoked pet treats. Shchekin, a chef by trade, brings culinary expertise to her smoked creations. The event Sunday featured organizations devoted to pet rescue and dog training, as well as services such nail clipping and pet embroideries. Food for hungry pet owners included barbecue, lemonade and baked goods. * Capitol News Illinois | ‘Hidden gem’: Growing number of visitors discovering southern Illinois as travel destination: Carol Hoffman, executive director of the Southernmost Illinois Tourism Bureau, said the primary draws to southern Illinois are the outdoor recreation activities in Shawnee National Forest, including hiking, cycling, rock climbing and ziplining, as well as another Illinois surprise linked to the unusual terrain: vineyards and five wine trails. The bureau has appealed to riders of the Chicago Transit Authority with a recent signage campaign that invited potential travelers to “go where the bus won’t take you” and to “come see our skyscrapers.” * IPM | Immigration advocates in Central Illinois face uncertainty, chaos following birthright citizenship ruling: Madelyn Cox-Guerra is a staff attorney with the Normal-based Immigration Project. She represents about 35 immigrant families across Central and Southern Illinois from her office in Champaign. Cox-Guerra said the court’s non-answer on the legality of birthright citizenship, which was enshrined in the 14th Amendment shortly after the Civil War, leaves a great deal of uncertainty. “[The Trump administration has] the option to start enforcing the executive order in whatever way that they can, which will at the very least cause confusion,” Cox-Guerra said in an interview on WGLT’s Sound Ideas. * WSIL | Marion Ministerial Alliance receives large food donation: The Marion Ministerial Alliance received a large donation of food over the weekend, thanks to a church organization based out of Utah. JR Russell, Executive Director with the Marion Ministerial Alliance, stated they received 9 pallets of food on June 28, part of a large donation which benefitted multiple area food pantries thanks to a distribution grant through the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints out of Salt Lake City. * WCIA | Gao Grotto holds Thunder on Vermilion boat race: Gao Grotto held its annual Thunder on the Vermilion boat race this weekend, bringing in boaters from all over the Midwest and as far as Long Island, New York. The money raised from the event helps to fund the organization’s two-week summer camp with AMBUCS — an organization dedicated to helping people with mobility and learning disabilities. * WIRED | ICE Rolls Facial Recognition Tools Out to Officers’ Phones : Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is now using a mobile app called Mobile Fortify that allegedly allows agents to identify individuals by pointing a smartphone at their face or capturing contactless fingerprints, 404 Media reports. The app reportedly taps into government databases, including Customs and Border Protection’s Traveler Verification Service and a DHS biometric intelligence system, in an attempt to match facial images taken in the field against prior government-collected records. ICE says the tool is intended to help officers identify “unknown subjects,” but civil liberties advocates tell 404 Media that it may open the door to surveillance-driven profiling and wrongful arrests. * AP | NOAA delays the cutoff of key satellite data for hurricane forecasting: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Monday it is delaying by one month the planned cutoff of satellite data that helps forecasters track hurricanes. Meteorologists and scientists warned of severe consequences last week when NOAA said, in the midst of this year’s hurricane season, that it would almost immediately discontinue key data collected by three weather satellites that the agency jointly runs with the Defense Department. * Stereogum | AI-Generated Psych-Rock Band The Velvet Sundown Rack Up Hundreds Of Thousands Of Spotify Streams: A few weeks ago Timbaland unveiled the not-human artist TaTa, who was the first signee of his AI record label Stage Zero. Now there’s a new AI-generated act on the scene called the Velvet Sundown, and they have over 400,000 monthly listeners on Spotify after less than a month of existing. […] Neither the Velvet Sundown nor its four members (“vocalist and mellotron sorcerer Gabe Farrow, guitarist Lennie West, bassist-synth alchemist Milo Rains, and free-spirited percussionist Orion ‘Rio’ Del Mar”) had social media until yesterday (June 27) when they created an Instagram. The pictures of the “band” are very obviously and disturbingly AI-generated.
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C’mon, man
Monday, Jun 30, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller * Not good…
* From the statute…
Always err on the side of caution. If someone might remotely be considered a lobbyist, then register that person. Just fill out the freaking paperwork, for crying out loud. * Scroll down through the Tribune story…
Um, the city’s top Statehouse lobbyist John Arena was paid almost $11,000 to run Josef Michael Carr’s 2022 Democratic primary race against Rep. Tarver. Some hard feelings might perhaps remain, but Tarver is far from alone in his opinion.
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Pritzker on community colleges, property taxes and the grocery tax
Monday, Jun 30, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller * The governor was asked today about his failed push to let community colleges offer four-year degrees…
Please pardon any transcription errors. * Pritzker talked about property taxes on the campaign trail last week. From the Peoria Journal Star…
* Grocery tax…
Discuss.
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A look at the Republican gubernatorial candidates
Monday, Jun 30, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller * On the day JB Pritzker announced his first reelection bid in July of 2021, three already announced Republican opponents issued responses: Darren Bailey, Paul Schimpf and Gary Rabine. The declared Republican field so far this year…
More from those folks…
* More from Sheriff Mendrick…
Nice to see the sheriff is buying into deliberately false Facebook posts. * Rep. Dan Ugaste has said he’s considering a bid…
HB9 would take the difference between 25 percent of all state general funds appropriations and what’s spent on pensions and then use that money for the property tax relief fund. By my calculation, that would be $3.3 billion in the coming fiscal year. The bill does not specify how that new payment would be funded. But that’s a lot of cuts and/or tax hikes. * Freedom Caucus…
Those spending growth claims are debunked here and here. * Related…
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RETAIL: Strengthening Communities Across Illinois
Monday, Jun 30, 2025 - Posted by Advertising Department [The following is a paid advertisement.] Retail generates $7.3 billion in income and sales tax revenue each year in Illinois. These funds support public safety, infrastructure, education, and other important programs we all rely on every day. In fact, retail is the second largest revenue generator for the State of Illinois and the largest revenue generator for local governments. Retailers like Steve in Metro East enrich our economy and strengthen our communities. We Are Retail and IRMA showcase the retailers who make Illinois work.
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What Pritzker says he’s looking for in a running mate (Updated x2)
Monday, Jun 30, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller * The governor was asked about potential running mates today during an unrelated press conference…
…Adding… On if the Governor will serve a full term if re-elected…
…Adding… The Illinois Latino Agenda…
* Related… * Tribune | Gov. JB Pritzker is running for reelection. Who will he pick as his No. 2?: “They’ve got to be somebody who can do the job — if something happens and they had to take over,” Pritzker said, describing his ideal running mate to reporters Thursday in Chicago. “And I think just as importantly, somebody who really has a heart for the people of the state of Illinois. That’s not in everybody, right? But you got to have somebody who actually cares about all parts of the state.”
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Do better, be better
Monday, Jun 30, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller * My weekly syndicated newspaper column…
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Why Are Tax-Exempt Hospitals Getting Rich?
Monday, Jun 30, 2025 - Posted by Advertising Department [The following is a paid advertisement.] Across Illinois, big hospital systems and PBMs are abusing the 340B drug discount program – making massive profits while patients drown in medical bills. One whistleblower called it “laundering money.” Here’s how the scam works: big hospitals buy discounted 340B drugs, bill patients full price, then split the difference with for-profit pharmacies and PBMs. 340B was meant to help Illinois communities in need. But there are no rules requiring hospitals and PBMs to pass savings on to patients. No transparency. No oversight. Just higher costs for working families, small businesses, and taxpayers. Meanwhile, tax-exempt hospitals cash in – and PBMs get a cut too.
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Open thread
Monday, Jun 30, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller * The heads, they talk… Hug me, squeeze me, love me, tease me Keep it Illinois-centric please. Thanks.
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Isabel’s morning briefing
Monday, Jun 30, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller * ICYMI: ‘Having Medicaid keeps me alive’: Illinois residents anxiously watch as Congress considers Medicaid cuts. Tribune…
- But Democrats, health care leaders and patients say it would devastate those who rely on the program, and the hospitals that serve all patients. Across Illinois, 3.4 million people are on Medicaid — about one-fourth of the state’s population. - Though the bill was still in flux as of Friday afternoon, multiple proposals in recent weeks have included work requirements for some people who receive Medicaid, changes to rules surrounding so-called provider taxes, and have threatened coverage for more than 770,000 Illinois residents who receive Medicaid as part of the Affordable Care Act’s expansion of the program. * Related stories…
∙ The Hill: Senate GOP looks to pass marathon final test on Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ ∙ Press release: Duckworth Hosts Telephone Town Hall, Highlighting Negative Impacts of Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ on Illinois ∙ WTVO: SNAP-Ed programs could cease to exist in Illinois due to the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ * Governor Pritzker will sign college access and affordability bills into law at 9:30 am. Click here to watch. * Tribune | Route 66: The last (or first) 300 miles in Illinois: About 50 miles north, Pontiac also appears to have capitalized on its position along the route. Among its attractions is the Route 66 Association Hall of Fame & Museum. There, visitors can find a school bus-turned-land yacht and a Volkswagen van belonging to Bob Waldmire, whose family opened the Springfield, Illinois, institution Cozy Dog on Route 66 and claims to have invented the corn dog. * Daily Herald | ‘Why risk it?’: Despite state ban, fireworks injure on average 150 each year in Illinois: While most fireworks are prohibited in Illinois, hospital emergency rooms statewide still treat on average 150 fireworks-related injuries each year. That’s according to Illinois State Fire Marshal’s office figures that also show on average 12 of those injuries each year result in amputation or dismemberment. And the majority will happen over the course of the next week. * Tribune | Gov. JB Pritzker is running for reelection. Who will he pick as his No. 2? : Among those who likely top the list are Andy Manar, the former downstate state senator and Pritzker’s current deputy governor on budget issues; Christian Mitchell, a former state representative from Chicago and ex-deputy governor for Pritzker; state Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth of Peoria, who was previously a lead budget negotiator in the House; and state Rep. Elizabeth “Lisa” Hernandez of Cicero, chair of the Illinois Democratic Party. * Evanston Now | Is Philly transit crisis a preview for us?: The funding crunch for mass transit in Philadelphia is the canary in the train tunnel, and what is happening right now is a sign of what could happen in across the Chicago region, including Evanston. Last Thursday, the board of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority approved a budget which starts chopping commuter rail, bus, subway and trolley service effective Aug. 24, with elimination of 32 bus routes and reduction of rail trips. * Press Release | AG Raoul reaches $1 million settlement with temporary staffing agency for use of no-poach agreements, wage fixing: Attorney General Kwame Raoul today announced a settlement with Midway Staffing Inc. (Midway) that resolves allegations the temporary staffing agency entered into no-poach agreements and engaged in wage fixing with other staffing agencies. This settlement requires Midway to pay $1 million to compensate temporary workers impacted by the unlawful activity. Midway was the last remaining defendant in a lawsuit Raoul’s office filed against three staffing agencies and their client. The settlement with Midway means the litigation is now fully resolved, with the office recovering a total of $5.5 million from all four defendants. * Tribune | Mayor Brandon Johnson faces tough task with Chicago Housing Authority CEO search: Mayor Brandon Johnson, who has made housing a cornerstone of his policy agenda, must make an important decision in the coming weeks on a new leader for the embattled agency. Some residents and housing advocates, including CHA board member Francine Washington, did not like the way former CEO Tracey Scott conducted business and have told the Tribune they are eager to see someone who is more engaged with residents. The new CEO will be tasked with rebuilding residents’ trust, boosting staff morale and addressing safety and environmental concerns at its properties while shepherding more housing developments in a city where housing has become increasingly less affordable. * Tribune | Mayor Brandon Johnson’s ‘pending’ Springfield lobbyist team draws ethics questions: Email records and Springfield sources indicate that three lobbyists — Lakeisha Purchase, Frank Bass and Vincent Williams — coordinated with top Johnson officials during the most recent session. But they did not update their state registration to show the city among their lobbying clients before the Illinois General Assembly adjourned June 1. In an interview on Friday, the mayor’s new lead Springfield IGA director, John Arena, argued those lobbyists did not need to register because their contracts with the city were still “pending.” In the meantime, Purchase was only “helping facilitate” lobbying, while Bass was coordinating with the city’s team in his capacity as a lobbyist for the Chicago Teachers Union and Williams as one for the Chicago Transit Authority, Arena said. * Tribune | Last weekend’s heat wave shows gaps in Chicago’s network of cooling centers: According to the city, besides the splash pads, 152 cooling locations were open last weekend. But a Tribune analysis found all 79 public libraries were only open for four hours on Sunday. Five community colleges and 27 Park District field houses were closed at least one day during the heat wave. Five of the six community centers and all 21 senior centers were closed for the whole weekend. On Monday, all of the city cooling centers were open for regular business hours. When asked by the Tribune how many cooling centers do not have air conditioning, city officials from the mayor’s office, the Office for Emergency Management and Communications, the Department of Family and Support Services and the Department of Public Health said in a joint statement: “All facilities on the map have air conditioning.” But they did not specify which sites only had one air-conditioned room. * Crain’s | Chicago investor buys Tribune Tower retail space: NARE has scooped up several properties in Chicago’s North Michigan Avenue and State Street retail corridors at steep markdowns. The strategy of buying those properties at a low basis has paid off, and the firm has been getting lots of interest from retailers who want a presence on the Magnificent Mile as downtown foot traffic recovers to pre-pandemic levels, Er said. * Tribune | Amid celebration, Pride Parade calls for resistance to federal incursions on LGBTQ+ rights: This year’s theme was “United in Pride,” as the Pride Chicago organization emphasizes community solidarity in an uncertain political time for the LGBTQ+ population in America and celebrates 10 years of legalized same-sex marriage. Pride Month wraps up as the federal government has moved to restrict services and rights for many in the LGBTQ+ community. Earlier in June, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors and allowed parents to opt their kids out of curriculum involving LGBTQ+ themes. The Trump administration will also end the 988 suicide hotline’s specialized services for LGBTQ+ youths in mid-July. * Sun-Times | Undaunted, Chicagoans put on a colorful display at 54th annual Pride Parade: Janae said they weren’t there just to party, but to show her daughter what love and acceptance can look like. “I want her to know that everything that’s going on here is normal and that hate is not an option,” Janae said. The mother-daughter pair were also at the parade in support of LGBTQ+ family members, including an uncle who died of AIDS in the ‘90s. * Tribune | The struggle that produced Pride: Before Pride was about celebration, it was about protest. It was, and still is, about human dignity refusing to cower in the face of hateful opposition. It has taken on weightier relevance today, with the institutional silencing of LGBTQ history and the concerted targeting of transgender people and drag performers. Like that of many big cities, the history of Chicago features major mile markers in the movement for acceptance and enfranchisement. It was here where the first gay rights organization in the United States was founded, by Chicagoan Henry Gerber in 1924. But the most potent decades in the LGBTQ community’s fight in Chicago came in the 1970s and ’80s, with the early years of the AIDS crisis and the Stonewall riots in New York serving as major catalysts for the urgency of queer Americans to be seen as human. Advocacy, including from Mayor Harold Washington, and pressure from activists led the Chicago City Council to pass the Human Rights Ordinance in 1988 and include sexual orientation in prohibiting discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodation. * Popular Mechanics | The Rodents of Chicago Are Evolving in Real Time, Scientists Say: While both chipmunks and voles have experienced changes to their skulls in response to urban navigation and hearing needs, chipmunks have also grown larger because of the availability of human food scraps (especially high-calorie processed foods). * Sun-Times | City outlines safety protocols for Damen Silos demolition: City officials and contractors presented the proposed demolition plan during a community meeting Friday evening at Arturo Velasquez Westside Technical Institute. Residents are concerned about risks to air quality and health from demolition work. A permit for a teardown has not been issued. * Tribune | Cook County tax board commissioner, staff face multiple fines from ethics board: Cook County’s Board of Ethics fined Board of Review Commissioner Samantha Steele and aides for a series of breaches this week, finding that she provided confidential information to the press about the Chicago Bears’ Arlington Heights property and wrongly allowed a staffer to attend a conference on county time. A top Steele aide was separately fined for attending Cubs games and traveling for personal trips on county time. Reached Friday, Steele said she “absolutely disagreed” with the findings but declined to comment further. * Daily Herald | ‘Stand up for our hometowns’: Suburban mayors slam transit proposal: A coalition of 25 suburban mayors is beseeching lawmakers to think twice before approving a transit rescue plan they say is seriously flawed. “We are asking you … to stand up for our hometowns and your constituents in northeastern Illinois,” reads a letter spearheaded by Hanover Park Mayor Rod Craig and signed by leaders across Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will counties. The Suburban Mayors Coalition for Fair Transit criticizes new taxes proposed in a bill approved by the state Senate to avert a $771 million shortfall facing Metra, Pace and the CTA in 2026. * Daily Herald | Vape vending machines facing pushback from some suburbs: A fledgling Elmhurst-based company that distributes vending machines offering electronic cigarettes and vaping products is facing pushback from some suburbs. Among them are Hoffman Estates, which last week banned the machines from the village. “The sale of tobacco and tobacco-related products … is fairly regulated in terms of where it’s sold and point-of-sale locations,” Village Manager Eric Palm said. “(Village) staff just doesn’t feel that having these in establishments that could be more easily reached by minors and other people who shouldn’t be buying them is appropriate.” * Tribune | Sharp drop in arrests, other long-term crime trends shown in new Cook County data dashboard: Throughout 2019, Chicago police officers made nearly 80,000 arrests before scaling them back significantly during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic the following spring. Now five years later, that drop appears not to be just a COVID-era blip: In recent years, arrests have rebounded slightly, but annually police still are recording tens of thousands of fewer arrests than they did in 2019. The trend is among a number of long-term shifts in how the criminal justice system operates in Cook County, according to Loyola University researchers who in partnership with local officials produced a data project that seeks to shed light on how “shocks to the system” like the pandemic have reshaped how crime and violence are handled in Chicago. * Daily Herald | Mount Prospect factory’s neighbors win round in court: Cook County Judge Clare Quish ruled Thursday that the neighbors’ experts can tour the Prestige Feed Products facility at 431 Lakeview Court while it is operating. Quish also ruled the neighbors’ attorneys can take depositions of two witnesses who previously conducted testing and odor analysis at the site. Prestige had refused entry into the facility and the depositions, the plaintiffs’ attorneys said. * Daily Southtown | Trial concludes in Calumet City document destruction lawsuit against Clerk Nyota Figgs: Cook County Judge Joel Chupack said he will present an update Aug. 4 on his deliberation on whether Figgs improperly destroyed two truck loads of documents shortly after Mayor Thaddeus Jones took office in 2021. Figgs and those supporting her have claimed the records lawsuit represents a targeted political attack from Jones, with whom she was previously involved in a romantic relationship. “The reason (the lawsuit) was brought has nothing to do with records were being destroyed,” James Kelly, attorney for Figgs, said Friday. However, the city contested that Figgs destroyed the documents “surreptitiously and without approval” during an audit, and requested Chupack hold her accountable by filing an injunction against unlawfully destroying records in the future. * Daily Herald | ‘The life of an angel’: Plainfield monument dedicated to slain 6-year-old Palestinian-American boy: The monument at Van Horn Woods East Playground in Plainfield preserves the memory of Wadee, who was stabbed to death Oct. 14, 2023, in an anti-Palestinian, anti-Muslim hate crime in Plainfield. […] Trisha Mathias, Wadee’s teacher at Bonnie McBeth Early Learning Center in Plainfield, shared aspects of Wadee’s personality: He always wore his snow boots to school, always chose the red ball on the playground, loved graham crackers and goldfish crackers, and “was obsessed” with the planets. * Daily Herald | Elburn rejects proposal to allow golf carts on streets: The possibility of allowing golf carts on the streets of Elburn has been a topic of board discussion since November. Resident Melissa Bollivar brought to the village a petition with 582 signatures in favor of a village ordinance permitting it. Village Trustee Luis Santoyo said he didn’t think the village could determine that public safety would not be jeopardized without additional due diligence, such as traffic studies. That would cost money that is not in the village’s budget, officials said. * Daily Herald | High bacteria levels close beaches in Lake, McHenry counties: The closings, some of which have been in place since Thursday, come as high temperatures are expected to remain in the upper 80s and low 90s throughout the Fourth of July holiday week ahead. Among the sites closed, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health, are Lake in the Hills’ Indian Trail and Butch Hagele beaches; Crystal Lake’s Main Beach; Veterans Park Beach in Island Lake; Waukegan North and South beaches; North Pointe Marina Beach in Winthrop Harbor; and Moraine Park Dog Beach in Highland Park. * Daily Herald | ‘People don’t know this’: Why MLK came to DuPage County in 1967: Almost four years after his “I Have a Dream” speech, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. arrived at a tent-in demonstration in DuPage County. King sat in front of a gaggle of microphones. Behind the civil rights leader, green tents were pitched on the grounds of a retreat house run by the Cenacle Sisters. Huge “trees shade the area along Batavia Road near Warrenville,” reported the Roselle Register newspaper. .[…] Around the Martin Luther King Jr. federal holiday and wanting to learn more about the history of the forest preserves, Gieser saw a photo online of King with a caption referring to the Cenacle property. He checked newspaper databases and read various accounts from the time to “definitely verify” the date of King’s visit: June 23, 1967. * WAND | Illinois Innocence Project pushes for DNA samples to enter state’s database in Slover case: The Illinois Attorney General’s Office has entered the courtroom in the Illinois Innocence Project’s effort to overturn the Slover family’s murder convictions. In early June, the Illinois Innocence Project (IIP) filed a motion asking the Illinois State Police (ISP) to submit DNA profiles into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) in hopes of identifying the true killer(s) of Karyn Hearn Slover. The IIP said newly discovered DNA evidence could exonerate Michael Slover Sr., Jeanette Slover, and Michael Slover Jr. * WGLT | ‘Love and rainbows’: LGBTQIA+ community and allies push for equality at Bloomington protest: The “Stop the Assault on LGBTQ+ and Trans Rights” peaceful protest was sponsored by Bloomington-Normal 50501 and the Prairie Pride Coalition. Threats to gender-affirming healthcare, proposed budget cuts to HIV and AIDS research and treatment, the banning of transgender military servicemembers and cutbacks to DEI programs are a few examples of motivations for Saturday’s gathering, according to demonstrators. * WCIA | Vermilion Co. poultry show takes place amid uncertainty: It wasn’t because they were too chicken to hold it: People didn’t know whether or not the fair’s poultry show would take place until a few weeks ago because of the widespread bird flu. When they found out that there would be one, the contestants were overjoyed. * WGLT | Home Sweet Home launches $750,000 fundraising campaign for The Bridge shelter village: On June 24, HSHM closed on the purchase of a former Connect Transit lot at 104 E. Oakland Ave. near downtown Bloomington. The non-congregate shelter will have 48 private sleeping cabins, a central community building with on-site support and other accommodations. It is on track to open this winter. The first donation The Bridge has is a $100,000 commitment from Eastview Christian Church. Lead Pastor Brandon Grant expressed his excitement with the project. * Crain’s | Vaccine experts reject new RFK Jr.-backed federal panel, urge use of past guidance: The Infectious Disease Society of America is telling its members they should use the vaccination schedule recommended by the previous iteration of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention’s vaccine advisory council because the new federal advisory group’s recommendations “can’t be trusted,” according to the group’s president, an immunization expert at Northwestern Medicine and Lurie Children’s. IDSA President Dr. Tina Tan said this afternoon she expects a coalition of health care groups, including her organization, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association, will soon provide further guidance, likely later this summer, on what vaccines should be administered and at what doses. * Post-Tribune Environmental activists explain concerns with U.S. Steel deal: About one week after a partnership between U.S. Steel and a Japanese company was finalized, environmental activists called on the companies to address the health, climate and economic impacts of the deal. “It’s our conclusion that, whether in Japan or the United States, emissions from blast furnaces cannot be significantly mitigated,” said Roger Smith, Asia lead at SteelWatch. “The company should transition to a renewable energy-based approach that would achieve its net-zero target and fulfill its obligations as a leading global steelmaker.” Speakers at a press conference organized by the Sierra Club highlighted their concerns with blast furnaces, which Nippon Steel has previously said is a technology it plans to invest in through the deal. * WaPo | This punctuation mark is semi-dead. People have thoughts: No piece of punctuation, though, stirs people up more than the humble semicolon. Too demure to be a colon but more assertive than a comma, the semicolon was introduced in 1494 by Venetian printer and publisher Aldus Manutius. What a useful little tool it has been in its primary role of inserting a graceful pause between two related independent clauses, as in: “RFK Jr. came to my house; he tore out the medicine cabinet with a crowbar.” * Politico | Blackburn, Cruz find potential truce on state AI moratorium, child online safety: Commerce Chair Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) are planning to pitch significant changes to a state AI moratorium in the Republican megabill that has split the conference and alarmed GOP governors. The pair, who have publicly championed opposing views on the potential ban, have reached a deal that would cut the proposed 10-year moratorium in half and make accommodations for internet protections, according to a draft amendment obtained by POLITICO. * ARS Technica | SCOTUS upholds part of ACA that makes preventive care fully covered: The ruling means that tens of millions of Americans can continue getting a variety of preventive services for free under their plans. Those cost-free services include an array of screenings, such as cancer screenings like mammograms and colonoscopies, as well as screens for obesity, lead exposure in children, high blood pressure, diabetes, and some sexually transmitted diseases, to name a few. The free services also include recommended vaccines for children and adults, well-baby and well-child doctor visits, birth control, statins, PrEP HIV prevention drugs, and fluoride supplements and varnishes for children’s teeth. * NPR | The Trump administration is building a national citizenship data system: The tool, which is being rolled out in phases, is designed to be used by state and local election officials to give them an easier way to ensure only citizens are voting. But it was developed rapidly without a public process, and some of those officials are already worrying about what else it could be used for. NPR is the first news organization to report the details of the new system. For decades, voting officials have noted that there was no national citizenship list to compare their state lists to, so to verify citizenship for their voters, they either needed to ask people to provide a birth certificate or a passport — something that could disenfranchise millions — or use a complex patchwork of disparate data sources.
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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Supplement to today’s edition
Monday, Jun 30, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller
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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today’s edition of Capitol Fax (use all CAPS in password)
Monday, Jun 30, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller
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Selected press releases (Live updates)
Monday, Jun 30, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller
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Live coverage
Monday, Jun 30, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller * Click here and/or here to follow breaking news. Hopefully, enough reporters and news outlets migrate to BlueSky so we can hopefully resume live-posting.
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Reader comments closed for the weekend
Friday, Jun 27, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller * Turn it up… Writ in fire across the heaven, plain as black and white
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Isabel’s afternoon roundup
Friday, Jun 27, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller * WCIA…
* WGLT…
* Politico…
* Press Release | IDFPR Launches Another 18 License Types on New Licensing System: The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) announced today that 18 more professions are now available for licensure via the Department’s new online licensing system, CORE (Comprehensive Online Regulatory Environment). Today’s announcement marks the successful completion of CORE’s Phase 2.2, with all of Phase 2 set for completion in the coming weeks. The Department will announce when each part of Phase 2 is completed, including which professions are added to CORE. * Illinois Leaks | 62 Counties, Clerks, and Treasures Named In Lawsuit Filed In Federal Court – Alleged Property Tax Sale Violations: We noted in a prior Shelby County article that Shelby County is one of 62 counties now being sued in federal court, thanks to the State of Illinois’ failing to address the illegal property tax sale laws in the state. Illinois is the only state in the United States that failed to correct the law after the Supreme Court’s ruling on property tax sales and seizures of property 2 years ago. It is our understanding from multiple county officials that the Attorney General is not going to assist individual counties in this lawsuit, so each is on their own. In some cases, this is going to put a real pinch on funds as not all State’s Attorneys are able to practice law in the Federal courts without certain prior authorizations. Hiring outside counsel to handle federal cases can get really expensive. While most county insurance covers these types of suits, there comes a point where insurance companies are going to raise rates or drop clients. * WCIA | 46 deaths involving trains recorded in Illinois so far this year: The most recent two took place in Normal and Casey this past Tuesday. According to Operation Lifesaver, they’ve calculated 59 total deaths in the state involving trains last year. This year, there have already been 46. Champaign County Sheriff Dustin Heuerman said it’s not uncommon, but the problem needs to be addressed. He said most of the time, these deaths and incidents occur because people are in a rush, and one organization whose mission is to spread rail safety awareness agrees that’s part of the issue. * WAND | Illinois bill requiring paid break time for nursing mothers awaits Pritzker’s signature: Illinois employers are currently required to provide reasonable time to nursing mothers during the work day, but that time is not required to be paid. This plan clarifies that employee time pumping breastmilk has to be paid and that employees should not be required to use paid leave during breaks. “Some people want us to dictate a number of minutes or something,” said Rep. Katie Stuart (D-Edwardsville). “But when you have a very young baby, you nurse them more frequently during the day. You may need more time. It lessens possibly as the year goes by. So, the idea of getting to a definition of the specific number of minutes is probably impossible.” * WAND | Safe gun storage bill arrives on governor’s desk despite Republican concerns: This legislation could require all guns to be put in a locked container if there are minors, at-risk people, or anyone ineligible to hold a FOID card nearby. Gun owners would be fined up to $1,000 if a minor or prohibited person gains access to a gun that is not safely stored. The fine could increase to $10,000 if the person kills someone with that firearm. * Capitol News Illinois | National speculation helps ‘get more for the people of Illinois,’ Pritzker says: Pritzker was asked whether he would have run had Trump not been elected last year. “I think I would, but I have to say that in this moment, it feels like walking away is the wrong thing to do given who is in the White House and given how this administration is attacking people all across this country,” Pritzker said. * Sun-Times | Molotov cocktails allegedly sparked fire in Austin that killed child, newspaper editor, alderperson says: West Side Ald. Emma Mitts (37th), whose ward includes the fire scene, flatly declared the fire an “arson.” Mitts told the Sun-Times it was triggered by “domestic violence” between a “young man and his girlfriend or ex-girlfriend.” “They had been arguing earlier and, the next thing you know, he was there at the building throwing a Molotov cocktail in the front, then one at the back door,” Mitts said. * Crain’s | Nerds meet suits at Chicago quantum conference: Chicago is hosting a two-day coming-out party for quantum computing next month, featuring a high-profile roster of executives from industry and the Chicago corporate community. Those taking the stage include leaders from quantum companies that already have a presence in Chicago, such as PsiQuantum and IBM, as well as global technology heavyweights Google, Nvidia, Applied Materials and SK Group. * Crain’s | Stockyards Cold brings modern refrigeration, and a dose of artistry, to Chicago’s former meatpacking district: The insulated warehouse will feature a 12-panel mural by Bolivian-born artist David Banegas on the building’s Ashland Avenue-facing wall depicting Chicago’s most iconic landmarks. The 100,000-square-foot cold storage space will be completed by late August, and if you walk past the site on 3815 S. Ashland Ave., you might catch Banegas painting the mural. The facility is designed to store food and other perishables in temperatures from -10 degree to 55 degrees and will be built on speculation, or spec, meaning it does not have a tenant or user lined up. Developer Karis Cold is actively marketing the building. * Sun-Times | Chicago Sports Network removes episode of Bulls podcast — and won’t say why: An episode of “By The Horns” appeared in subscribers’ podcast libraries before it disappeared. CHSN confirmed pulling the show, which covered executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas’ contract extension. Both the network and team told the Sun-Times the Bulls had nothing to do with the episode’s removal. The Bulls did inquire with the network about the show’s format, such as whether it was going to be driven by opinion. The team was seeking information about the show, not questioning the show’s content. The Bulls monitor how they’re covered, and they were surprised to learn the episode had been removed because it wasn’t controversial. * Block Club | Get Inked For A Good Cause At Chicago’s First-Ever ‘Tattoo Lady Fest’: Campione has now been inking Chicagoans and visitors for 11 years — seven of which have been as the shop owner of Good Omen Tattoo, 2009 W. Belmont Ave. To celebrate her many milestones in the business — and to uplift other talented women who tattoo — she’s hosting a first-of-its-kind convention called Tattoo Lady Fest this September. “Tattoo Lady Fest emerged from years of making connections with other women in tattooing,” Campione told Block Club. “I found power in the shared experience of navigating a male-dominated field.” * Block Club | Black Yacht Weekend Attendees Call For Stricter Safety Measures After Chaotic And Dangerous Event: Last Saturday’s high winds and waves led a few companies to cancel their charters or remain docked. Some customers vented their frustration on social media while others, including high-profile influencers, expressed outrage over what they described as a lack of safety and organization. Hundreds of visitors were in town for Black Yacht Weekend, which followed the Juneteenth holiday. Now in its fifth year, the annual event draws young Black professionals and creatives from all over the country for a weekend of “unparalleled luxury” with ticketed events on land and water, from VIP yacht parties to rooftop extravaganzas. Those who don’t own boats typically rent one from private owners or charter companies, with groups paying in advance. * Evanston Now | Friendly face-off builds in state senate race: Rachel Ruttenberg and Patrick Hanley worked side-by-side as political organizers in their respective communities long before they were opponents, but next March will face off against each other to fill State Sen. Laura Fine’s seat in Springfield, as Fine looks to secure the Democratic nomination for a seat in the U.S. House. Both candidates recently sat down with Evanston Now to talk about their campaigns, policy positions and visions for their party, and while neither had anything bad to say about the other, they both do see daylight between them as they craft their pitch to voters. * Aurora Beacon-News | Water rates to increase in Aurora starting in July: Aurora residents will likely see a slightly higher number on their water bill starting in July, after the City Council voted on Tuesday night to raise water rates by 6% for each of the next two years to account for operating and capital needs for the Aurora water and sewer system. For a household paying an average bi-monthly bill of $100.25, the rate increase would amount to about $6.60 more per bill in each of the next two years, according to the item voted on Tuesday. For seniors who qualify for the senior exemption, that increase would be an average of $1.64 per bill in each of the next two years, assuming, based on the city’s figures, that qualifying seniors use on average half the water that the average household uses. * Naperville Sun | DuPage officials hoping user will emerge to renovate Oak Cottage in Naperville’s Greene Valley Forest Preserve: It was listed as one of the most endangered historic places in Illinois by preservationist organization Landmarks Illinois in 2023. That same year, the DuPage forest preserve district approved the Greene Valley Master Plan, which called for a study to document the house’s history and condition and create a timeline for partnering with a third party to propose a use and long-term maintenance strategy for the structure. * Daily Herald | Aiming for success: Schaumburg teen becomes national champion in women’s shooting contest: Saanvi is no stranger to the shooting community. She began competing when she was 12, quickly making a name for herself as she claimed the Illinois state championships for 2022, 2023 and 2024. Saavni competes with Arlington International Airgun Club of Arlington Heights, where she is coached by Don Webber. * WCIA | ‘Heartbreaking’: U of I Extension weighs in on potential SNAP cuts under ‘Big Beautiful Bill’: If the bill passes, U of I Extension said it would effectively mean the end for their SNAP-educational programs. For 30 years, these programs have been helping low-income communities in Illinois across 102 counties make better and healthier food choices. McCaffrey said the millions of dollars per year that come to Illinois would be going to zero, and that zero would mean no more SNAP education programs out of the University of Illinois Extension Office. These programs work with 1,800 community partners statewide, equipping more than a million people with food-related skills like stretching food money, reading nutrition labels and making healthy meals. * IPM | How northern Illinois teachers are bringing indigenous stories into their classrooms for the first time: Donahoe is the history center’s executive director. That 180-year-old map shows the DeKalb County land stolen from Chief Shab-eh-nay which was returned to the Prairie Band Potawatomi just last year. This past school year, for the first time, Illinois schools were required to teach a unit on the experience and history of Native people in the state. So, when the news coincided with the launch of the state’s new indigenous curriculum requirements, Donahoe knew they had an opportunity to help teachers bring local history to their classroom. So, last summer, they hosted a multi-day training with teachers from every district in the county to show them how to teach with primary sources like the 1843 map. She says they also have old biographies about Shab-eh-nay and court records where the chief sues settlers for stealing his timber. * WGLT | City of Bloomington will work to assuage massage therapist concerns over new ordinance: Bloomington’s city manager says the newly-passed massage business ordinance will do more than help shut down illicit businesses. “We’re also going to be helping the people within that establishment and there are groups out there that are willing to do that and want to do that, and so that’s going to be a great thing for the community,” Jeff Jurgens said on WGLT’s Sound Ideas. Jurgens said it is heartwarming to see the community focus on helping people who are being exploited. * WCIA | Decatur man who brought gun to daughter’s school, made threats gets 2 years probation: Evans was charged with intimidation by threatening physical harm, disorderly conduct and unlawful use of a weapon — all felony counts — as well as a misdemeanor charge of violating the Firearm Concealed Carry Act. In May, Evans reached a plea deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to unlawful use of a weapon as well as the misdemeanor charge. * WCIA | $180M Champaign Co. rape liability lawsuit settled out of court: That minor was 13 years old when she was sexually assaulted at the Champaign facility of The Pavilion Behavioral Health System in 2020. The victim’s mother, represented by St. Louis-based Simon Law, sued the following year and originally won $535 million in damages. The award was later reduced to $180 million on appeal and was settled out of court. Judge Bohm said in a prior court ruling that that the evidence was overwhelmingly against The Pavilion that their staff’s negligence allowed for the victim to be raped by another teenage patient. * BND | Popular East St. Louis coach still doesn’t know if he’s been fired or not: “I just have no clue what’s going on,” Barry Malloyd said after leaving Wednesday’s East St. Louis School District 189 board meeting. He said he was told that the board would have a decision Wednesday if he would be fired from his job as the juvenile transition coordinator and athletic director at Mason Clark Middle School. As of Friday morning, nearly two days since that meeting adjourned — which was the second in as many days that involved discussion of his employment — Malloyd said he still hasn’t heard what the school board members decided. * WSIL | Firework vendor shares concerns following Marion’s new ordinance on firework use: But new this year for Marion, consumer fireworks are no longer allowed. Now local firework vendors are worried about how that impacts their bottom line. Sky Thunder Fireworks says in order to follow the new ordinance, they had to set up shop outside of city limits. Kelly Whitecotton is a sales clerk for the store. “So we’re out in the countryside,” Whitecotton said. * New Yorker | Did Lead Poisoning Create a Generation of Serial Killers?: Fraser thinks the master key is to be found in the fact that these serial killers disproportionately originated in the counties and milieu of her childhood. The area south and southwest of Seattle was home to massive ore-processing facilities, and she, her classmates, and her subjects were reared in their murky, particulate shadows. “Spare some string for the smelters and smoke plumes,” she writes of her crazy wall, “those insidious killers, shades of Hades.” The smelters caused a profusion of heavy metals in the region’s air and water, and toxins such as lead and arsenic were found in staggering concentrations in the blood of Tacoma’s postwar children. Some were merely dulled, or delinquent; a few became tabloid monsters. Bundy was the most famous figure in “a long line of outlandishly wanton necrophiliac killers who’ve lived, at one time or another, within the Tacoma smelter plume.” Fraser waxes in a self-consciously Lynchian register, with stygian and hallucinatory descriptions of the Pacific Northwest. In Tacoma, she writes, it was “as if someone had scratched through to the underworld and released a savage wave of sulfur.” * San Francisco Chronicle | Disposable vapes may be more toxic than cigarettes, study finds: Using a lab device to simulate 500 to1,500 puffs per product, the UC Davis researchers found that metal concentrations increased with use. Leaded bronze components and degrading heating coils were identified as major sources of contamination. “When I first saw the lead concentrations, they were so high I thought our instrument was broken,” lead author Mark Salazar said in a statement. * AP | Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s made promises about vaccines. Here’s what he’s done as health secretary: “I’m not going to substitute my judgment for science,” he said. Yet the Department of Health and Human Services under Kennedy has taken unprecedented steps to change how vaccines are evaluated, approved and recommended — sometimes in ways that run counter to established scientific consensus.
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Question of the day
Friday, Jun 27, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller * It’s been kind of a grim day for some folks, so let’s try to lighten it up. From the Senate Democratic fundraiser last night at Navy Pier… ![]() * The Question: Your own state political cocktail suggestions?
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Today’s must-read
Friday, Jun 27, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller * Peter Nickeas, Casey Toner and Tom Schuba at the Chicago Sun-Times…
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Last year’s Administrative Procedure Act opinion appears to remain intact after today’s Supreme Court ruling (Updated x2)
Friday, Jun 27, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller * Click here for the ruling. Some background…
* From the ruling…
And the 6-3 majority did, indeed, rule that no such authority exists. * However, this is also in the majority ruling…
* Justice Kavanaugh’s concurrence…
* Why is this important? Because, as I explained to subscribers in April, the Administrative Procedure Act is at the core of most of the lawsuits filed by attorneys general against the Trump administration. Some context from last year…
From that landmark 2024 opinion…
* NBC News picked up on the use of the APA against President Trump back in February…
* Isabel and I went through Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s press releases and court filings at the time to see which legal actions invoked the Administrative Procedure Act. There was a lot…
* Jan 28: AG Raoul co-leads lawsuit to stop Trump administration from withholding essential federal funding * Feb 10: AG Raoul leads coalition defending funding for medical and public health research * March 5: AG Raoul leads coalition defending the integrity of the National Labor Relations Board * March 6: AG Raoul challenges federal termination of K-12 teacher preparation pipeline grants * March 6: AG Raoul secures preliminary injunctions in two lawsuits challenging Trump administration policies * March 7: AG Raoul asks court to stop mass firings and seeks reinstatement of federal probationary employees * March 13: AG Raoul issues statement on lawsuit to stop Trump administration from dismantling Department of Education * March 20: AG Raoul files lawsuit to preserve Illinois clean-energy grants * March 24: AG Raoul continues the fight to stop Trump from shutting down the Department of Education * March 25: AG Raoul takes action to stop Trump administration from withholding critical emergency funding * April 4: AG Raoul files lawsuit to protect libraries and museums * But, as Justice Sotomayor’s dissent explains, the majority failed to see that the Administrative Procedure Act is at the core of the universal injunctions beginning in the third quarter of the 20th Century…
Calvinball is essentially being alleged in this dissent. …Adding… Governor JB Pritzker…
…Adding… Attorney General Kwame Raoul…
…Adding… Click here for the amended complaint…
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Why Are Tax-Exempt Hospitals Getting Rich?
Friday, Jun 27, 2025 - Posted by Advertising Department [The following is a paid advertisement.] Across Illinois, big hospital systems and PBMs are abusing the 340B drug discount program – making massive profits while patients drown in medical bills. One whistleblower called it “laundering money.” Here’s how the scam works: big hospitals buy discounted 340B drugs, bill patients full price, then split the difference with for-profit pharmacies and PBMs. 340B was meant to help Illinois communities in need. But there are no rules requiring hospitals and PBMs to pass savings on to patients. No transparency. No oversight. Just higher costs for working families, small businesses, and taxpayers. Meanwhile, tax-exempt hospitals cash in – and PBMs get a cut too.
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It’s just a bill
Friday, Jun 27, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller * During spring session, the House failed to pass one of Governor Pritzker’s priorities that would restricted the use of cellphones in classrooms. IPM Newsroom…
* Earlier this month, the Tribune took a closer look at why the bill didn’t pass…
* Even so, Chalkbeat Chicago’s Samantha Smylie reported this week that sponsors say the bill isn’t completely dead…
Thoughts?
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Open thread
Friday, Jun 27, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller * No song today because I want you to watch the absolute best sheep dog ever…
Nelson looks like Oscar when he was a little puppy. * Please keep your comments Illinois-centric. Thanks.
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Isabel’s morning briefing
Friday, Jun 27, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller * ICYMI: Pritzker hints at possible running mate in reelection bid during East Peoria stop. WGLT…
- “There are some qualified people across the state. There’s one right behind me,” Pritzker said, a nod to state Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth, a Peoria Democrat who serves as Assistant Majority Leader in the Illinois House and who introduced the governor at the rally. - “When you win, you gotta represent everybody and I know Jehan Gordon-Booth has done that in her job as state representative,” Pritzker said. “Who would not want Jehan Gordon-Booth as a leader in this state?” * Related stories…
∙ Tribune: JB Pritzker: From political neophyte to 43rd governor of Illinois — and potential US presidential candidate ∙ PJ Star: Gov. Pritzker visits Illinois Central College on reelection tour ∙ Daily Herald: It’s Pritzker 3.0: Governor launches reelection campaign amid White House speculation * The governor is wrapping up his statewide tour today with a 10:30 am stop at SWIC’s Manufacturing Training Academy in Belleville, followed by a 2 pm visit to IBEW Local 702 in West Frankfort. * A City That Works | It’s time to start enforcing the rules on the CTA: Unsurprisingly, the CTA and City of Chicago’s approach to-date on this issue has been woeful. The CTA has spent more than $100M on unarmed security guards, who appear to be instructed not to confront bad behavior, and generally seem to stand around on their phones. And while the CTA is also paying for CPD overtime, sworn CPD officers on the Public Transportation Section are down by almost a third from 188 in May 2020 to 132 in May 2025. Communications are also woefully inadequate. There is still not a way to discreetly alert CTA or CPD personnel about an issue. In a fraught situation on a train, riders are expected to put themselves at risk by either calling 911 or pressing an emergency button and speaking to an operator via loudspeaker. Neither is a particularly appealing prospect while being trapped in a small metal can with someone who appears to be a threat to others. * WBUR | Reverse Course: Life after the levee breach in Dogtooth Bend, Illinois: In 2016, the Mississippi River punched a hole in the Len Small levee, built to protect farmland along an S-shaped curve in the river known as Dogtooth Bend. That hole was never repaired. Here & Now’s Chris Bentley reports on how some farmers in the area have had to give up their land. And, John Ruskey calls the Mississippi River “a creative force” that sculpts the landscape and rejuvenates the people who experience it up close. But climate change is making that force stronger and more destructive. Bentley took a canoe ride with Ruskey and reports on the future of the river. * NPR Illinois | Nursing home lobbying group director says possible cut to Medicaid is “deeply troubling”: Ron Nunziato is the senior director of policy for the Healthcare Council of Illinois. It’s a lobbying group whose members represent about 70 percent of the Medicaid occupied beds in the state. He said the uncertainty of how much federal funding the state will receive for Medicaid puts nursing home operators in a bind. “We don’t know what DC will do, and we don’t know how that will impact the state,” Nunziato said. “If they (Congress makes) cuts to Medicaid, the state could look at all Medicaid providers and make a cut to them,” he said. “They could take more from one pot than they do another. And so, it’s deeply troubling to us in this industry.” * CBS Chicago | AIDS Garden Chicago honors trailblazer and former Illinois Rep. Greg Harris: With just days left in Pride Month, AIDS Garden Chicago took the time Thursday to honor former Illinois state representative and longtime LGBTQ+ advocate Greg Harris. On Thursday afternoon, a plaque dedicated to Harris was unveiled at the entrance to the garden, located near the south end of Belmont Harbor. The space memorializes the early days of Chicago’s HIV/AIDS epidemic. * Tribune | Apparently fake clemency letter for Gangster Disciples founder Larry Hoover sent to Gov. JB Pritzker: At first glance, the petition, which was stamped as received by the governor’s office on June 16, might seem to be a legitimate plea from Hoover himself, using similar language about atonement and redemption that the imprisoned gang leader has used in numerous previous requests for parole and clemency from the courts. But a closer inspection revealed some telltale signs that the document, first obtained by the Tribune through a public records request, is likely a fake. For one, it was purportedly sent June 5 from the “supermax” prison in Florence, Colorado, where Hoover, 74, had been housed for the past three decades. But Hoover had in fact been released from that facility days prior due to Trump’s clearing of his federal sentence on May 29. * WEBQ | Windhorst Announces Re-election Run for 117th House District Seat: Windhorst has risen through the ranks of House Republican leadership to be selected House Republican Floor Leader, leading debate and holding liberal Democrats accountable for radical leftist legislation. “I have voted against legislation that restricts 2nd Amendment Rights, dangerous legislation that ends cash bail and punishes police officers, all measures that expand taxpayer-funded abortion services, and I’ve fought to end Illinois’ Sanctuary State law that has cost taxpayers billions,” Windhorst said. “Liberal Democrats have gone too far in pushing our state and country’s politics to the left, and I’m fighting back.” * The Triibe | Who’s behind those texts slamming Mayor Johnson and some progressive alders for their ‘snap curfew’ vote?: The texts are being sent out by the Urban Center PAC, a political action committee launched in 2024 by former Chicago Public Schools CEO and failed mayoral candidate Paul Vallas. Juan Rangel, a former Latiné charter school operator, leads the Urban Center PAC. He’s also the CEO of The Urban Center nonprofit. * Tribune | Interim CPS chief Macquline King addresses first school board meeting, cites $730 million deficit as top priority: “Families, principals and teachers are counting on us to open schools in August with confidence and clarity,” King said. “I am committed to maintaining momentum and ensuring a smooth start to the school year.” King — who stepped into the position earlier this month — inherits a district long-underfunded by the state and plagued by years of financial woes. She previously served as the city’s senior director of educational policy. * Sun-Times | Chicago cop who inadvertently shot and killed his partner has a lengthy disciplinary record in a short career: Since joining the Chicago Police Department in December 2021, Officer Carlos A. Baker has faced three suspensions and two reprimands, records show, one stemming from a complaint that he failed to arrest a home invader on his first shift working the street. […] During his probationary period, Baker also was accused of flashing a gun at a woman he’d met online while she was on a date with another man at a North Side bar. The woman later refused to cooperate with investigators, and Baker faced no discipline, records show. * WTTW | Trump Administration Restores $1M in Frozen Anti-Terrorism Funds to Chicago, City Officials Announce: * Inside Climate News |How Do You Escape a Heat Wave When You Have Nowhere to Go?: Trivedi was one of a dozen Chicagoans seeking refuge at the Garfield Community Service Center, a resource hub doubling as one of the city’s designated cooling areas as the atmospheric heat dome encasing much of the country this week drove temperatures dangerously high. But the center would close at 5 that afternoon. Staffers there try to coordinate shelter beds for those who need them, but demand has been high. “You need to wait all the day and you’re not sure the beds are available or not available,” Trivedi said. Often, he ends up sleeping outside. He hoped he’d have more luck that night. * Block Club | South Side Alderman’s Push To Rename West Chatham Park Backfires: ‘Mistakes Happen’: The process of renaming a South Side Park after Chicago Bulls star Derrick Rose — a suggestion that’s rankled some neighbors — appears to have unraveled before it even began. Ald. William Hall (6th), who initiated the renaming process, said he made a “clerical error” and has withdrawn his request to the Chicago Park District. […] “There was an error, and guess what? We’re human. And guess what? Mistakes happen,” Hall said at the meeting. “So in my interpretation of what I needed to do, I pushed the wrong button, and clearly it made little waves that it should not have made. But it’s good to know that we’re engaged.” * Crain’s | New York firm buys distressed Wacker Drive tower at massive discount: A venture of Great Neck, N.Y.-based Kohan Retail Investment Group paid close to $45 million last week for the 65-story office tower at 311 S. Wacker Drive, according to sources familiar with the deal. The sale price for the 1.3 million-square-foot building is a staggering discount from the $302 million it traded for in 2014 to an affiliate of Chicago-based Zeller Realty Group and Chinese investor Cindat Capital Management. * Crain’s | Indicted ex-Loretto exec pushes his health ventures — while facing a federal arrest warrant: Today, a press release purporting to be from Ahmed commented on “President Donald J. Trump’s recent remarks about conditions in Chicago,” saying Ahmed agreed there are “increasing concerns around public safety, homelessness, and the effectiveness of city-level policies.”The release also had Ahmed weighing in on sanctuary city policies and a call for “long-term, data-driven solutions and increased transparency in local decision-making.” It touts Ahmed’s involvement with reopening medical facilities and supporting job training and housing. * Tribune | At Albizu High School, migrant grads confront a future shaped by US policy: Federal immigration crackdowns have cast an even longer shadow over their plans. Despite the staff at their high school encouraging them to carry themselves with dignity, their path after graduation remains unclear. Amid it all, Juan and his friends from Albizu — George Pérez Pedraza, also from Mexico, and Jhonnalber “Jupiter” Mejías-Monteverde, from Venezuela — have found comfort in each other. Over the past few months, they’ve shared calls over heartbreak, celebrated birthdays at the beach on Lake Michigan and dreamt of forming a band. * Tribune | Chicago closes streets early to fix buckling pavement ahead of NASCAR race: On Wednesday evening, the city shut down Balbo Drive from Columbus Drive to Michigan Avenue, which was originally scheduled to close Friday. It also closed Columbus from Jackson Drive to Roosevelt Road — five days ahead of schedule — to allow work crews to repair the pavement buckle. The rest of the course is “holding up fine” and the street closings ahead of the July Fourth weekend race event will remain on schedule, a NASCAR spokesperson said Thursday. * WGN | No fireworks in Chicago for Fourth of July holiday: Madeline Long, director of communication for the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events, told WGN News last year that “as has been the case for several years, the City does not host fireworks for the July 4th holiday.” WGN News recently compiled a list of Fourth of July fireworks displays and festivities spanning the Chicagoland area. Readers may view the entire list by clicking here. * Injustice Watch | Family sues Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart over ‘brutal’ jail death: The 73-page suit filed last week in the Northern District of Illinois by the stepfather of Cory Ulmer, who was 41 when he died, accuses Dart of having a “pattern and practice of covering up or turning a blind eye to the use of excessive force.” An additional 30 county employees are named defendants in the lawsuit. * Aurora Beacon-News | Kaneland School District files lawsuit against Sugar Grove over Crown development’s TIF district: According to an original proposal, 10% of the TIF funds were to go to the village for any improvements it needs to make in the area, but, in August, then-Sugar Grove Village President Jennifer Konen said Crown had agreed to give another 10% of the funds to be distributed among the other taxing bodies, of which Kaneland is expected to get $26 million. The original TIF agreement also included payments from TIF district funds to offset the cost of schooling for students living in the new housing at the development. * ABC Chicago | South suburban property owner finally gets house back, says squatters lived in his home for months: “They left it an absolute mess,” Goodman said. “They’ve destroyed the house. It needs at least $25,000.” Goodman is glad that the family who moved into his property is gone, but he is not celebrating. “Why? Because now I need money to fix the house, and it’s going to take several months for me to put it on the market,” Goodman said. * Shaw Local | Despite delays, Morrison hospital’s $14M expansion stays on budget and on track: Work on a $14 million two-story addition to Morrison Community Hospital continues despite slight delays. The project was expected to finish in January 2026, but Morrison Community Hospital CEO Pam Pfister said this week that utility work delays have pushed the completion date to May 2026. * Crain’s | NU sued over suicide of scientist targeted in federal China probe: The estate of a Northwestern University professor who died last year is suing the school, blaming it in part for her decision to take her life after she was evicted from her lab and hospitalized following a government investigation of her and other Chinese American scientists. Jane Wu was a tenured faculty member at NU’s Feinberg School of Medicine in neurology, molecular biology and genetics. She and other scientists of Chinese descent were targeted by a Justice Department investigation known as the China Initiative during the first Trump administration that looked into undisclosed ties to Beijing. * Daily Southtown | Art becomes part of the nature mission at Will County forest preserves: Throughout the year, the district’s visitors centers host exhibits of work by artists local and national, connecting people to nature in ways they may not have expected. “It’s another way of introducing our preserves and nature centers,” said Heather Van Zyl, facility supervisor for Plum Creek Nature Center in Crete Township. “There are visitors and community members who sometimes find their way to us for the first time because of an artist or an exhibition,” she explained. “They say, ‘Now that I know you’re here, I see all these trails and all these exhibits. I’m going to bring my family.’ … It can be a really great introduction.” * WGLT | ‘Outpouring of support’ for Humane Society in Normal after A/C breaks during heat wave: The organization said they now have enough fans and other supplies after donations poured in from Veterans Maintenance Solutions, R.P. Lumber Company, Home Depot, Meijer and individual community members. They urged those still wanting to help to make a monetary donation in the event that their air conditioning unit needs to be replaced. * 25News Now | Peoria Mayor Rita Ali delivers 2025 State of the City Address: She said Peoria is in a strong financial position, where of its almost $275 million budget, the city has $136 million in reserves and more than $49 million in the general fund. “We continue to pay down our general obligation debt,” Ali said. “Fortunately, we don’t have the excessive financial shortfalls that many cities are currently experiencing.” * WVIK | Illinois Housing Development Authority awards Aledo ten years of tax credits to fund housing project: Economic Growth Corporation President and CEO Brian Hollenback discusses the tax credits and what the century-old school redevelopment into housing will bring to the city of Aledo. * Illinois Times | City Council has a tiff over TIFs: The Springfield City Council engaged in a heated debate Tuesday over grants for Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts. Frustration mounted as supporters of the ordinances questioned why their fellow council members sought further discussion on this initiative but not others, suggesting that it came down to the demographics of those who would benefit from the money. TIF districts can be established by cities in areas that have been identified as economically stagnant or unlikely to attract private investment. TIFs are generally intended to revitalize those areas by funding public and private redevelopment projects and attracting private investment. * 25News Now | Residents can text their city government through service coming to Pekin: The service, called “TextMyGov,” allows residents to send text messages to their local government and receive automated assistance 24/7. This will allow citizens to engage more with their city’s government and will help residents find information and report issues via text message. Residents will be able to access information using keywords such as “AGENDA” or “GARBAGE” and to report issues using keywords like “TREE DOWN” or “POTHOLE.” * Illinois Times | Route 66: Monetizing the mother road: An exhibit of famed Route 66 nomad hippie artist Bob Waldmire’s work will open June 28 at the Pharmacy Gallery and Art Space and remain on display through December 2026. Then a quarter-mile stretch of original Route 66 concrete road at Carpenter Park will be uncovered and transformed into a trail with wayside exhibits, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony set for July 11. On the 100th birthday itself, a big bash will happen at Route 66 Motorheads Bar and Grill, with visits from what Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau director Scott Dahl promises as “high-end” entertainment acts and other, yet-to-be-named dignitaries. * 25News Now | Peoria Blues & Heritage Music Festival announces second round of artists: Taj Farrant, Buckwheat Zydeco Jr., Maurice John Vaughn with Freddie Dixon & John Watkins, FrankBang and Brandon Santini join the lineup, including Ruthie Foster. Rock legend Gov’t Mule, blues rocker ZZ Ward, and Tommy Castro & the Painkillers. The music festival is Aug. 29-30 along the Peoria Riverfront. The festival will feature late-night events at Kenny’s Westside Pub, local food, craft beer and art vendors. * WaPo | Trump administration is preparing to challenge budget law, U.S. officials say: In both internal communications and interviews, more than two dozen current and former employees across multiple agencies said the administration appears to be readying to push the boundaries of the law meant to prevent the president from unilaterally overturning spending decisions made by Congress. Key White House aides have long argued that the law is an unconstitutional limit on presidential power and suggested that they will seek court rulings to overturn it, which could allow the White House to determine which spending to carry out. * Wired | ‘They’re Not Breathing’: Inside the Chaos of ICE Detention Center 911 Calls: A WIRED investigation into 911 calls from 10 of the nation’s largest immigration detention centers found that serious medical incidents are rising at many of the sites. The data, obtained through public records requests, show that at least 60 percent of the centers analyzed had reported serious pregnancy complications, suicide attempts, or sexual assault allegations. Since January, these 10 facilities have collectively placed nearly 400 emergency calls. Nearly 50 of those have involved potential cardiac episodes, 26 referenced seizures, and 17 reported head injuries. Seven calls described suicide attempts or self-harm, including overdoses and hangings. Six others involved allegations of sexual abuse—including at least one case logged as “staff on detainee.”
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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Supplement to today’s edition
Friday, Jun 27, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller
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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today’s edition of Capitol Fax (use all CAPS in password)
Friday, Jun 27, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller
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Selected press releases (Live updates)
Friday, Jun 27, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller
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Live coverage
Friday, Jun 27, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller * Click here and/or here to follow breaking news. Hopefully, enough reporters and news outlets migrate to BlueSky so we can hopefully resume live-posting.
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Isabel’s afternoon roundup
Thursday, Jun 26, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller * WCIA…
* Shaw Local…
* Illinois Department of Employment Security…
* ABC Chicago | Gov. Pritzker announces re-election campaign for 3rd term: ‘Keep Illinois moving forward’: He is the first Illinois governor since the late former Republican Gov. Jim Thompson to seek a third consecutive term. The governor spoke at Chicago’s Grand Crossing Park Field House on the South Side. It’s the same location where he announces his first run for governor in April 2017. * Sun-Times | Gov. JB Pritzker announces run for 3rd term to protect Illinois from ‘chaos and craziness’ of Trump: Pritzker isn’t expected to announce a running mate during his initial campaign tour, which includes more rallies later Thursday in Rockford, Peoria and Springfield, plus two additional downstate appearances on Friday. * Capitol News Illinois | Pritzker announces reelection campaign: The state GOP issued a statement saying Pritzker should be “fired not re-hired.” “He’s prioritized illegal immigrants over Illinois families, hiked taxes, and rammed through the largest, most bloated budget in state history,” ILGOP Chairman Kathy Salvi said in a statement. The governor’s political future has been the topic of significant speculation, especially since he was shortlisted for former Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate search last summer in her campaign for the White House. That and his vocal and frequent condemnations of President Donald Trump have fueled speculation of a presidential run in 2028. * Tribune | Gov. JB Pritzker makes it official at South Side rally: He’s running for a third term to be Illinois’ chief executive: In the campaign video, Pritzker appears in the small town of Chestnut, which is the geographic center of the state, to make his case that Illinois is the middle of the national battle over politics and government. “These days, Illinois is standing at the center of the fight: The fight to make life more affordable, the fight to protect our freedoms, the fight for common sense,” Pritzker said, focusing on Trump before pivoting to what Pritzker describes as his successes as governor since he first took office in 2019, including balanced budgets, state credit upgrades and hiking the minimum wage. * NBC Chicago | ‘Ready for the fight’: Pritzker announces run for third term as Illinois governor: NBC News found Pritzker walking along Chicago’s lakefront just hours before the video was released Thursday. When asked about his upcoming announcement, the governor responded by jokingly asking, “What’s going on?” He said he was walking to “clear his head.” * WAND | Proposal calling for annual report on prison hospice, palliative care awaits Pritzker’s signature: Over 1,000 Illinois prisoners are 65 or older and a growing number of those people are in need of end-of-life care and support services. The Illinois Department of Corrections does not have a formal hospice program, as end-of-life care is provided on a prison by prison basis. Sponsors and advocates said this has led to inconsistent care for prisoners diagnosed with terminal illnesses or who are expected to reach the end of their life. * Chalkbeat Chicago | Illinois lawmakers failed to pass a school cellphone ban – for now: State Sen. Cristina Castro, the chief sponsor of the bill, said in an interview with Chalkbeat that she did not hear strong opposition to the bill, but believes the language of the bill needed some “fine-tuning.” Teachers unions, administrator groups, and state lawmakers had expressed concerns about schools’ ability to enforce cellphone restrictions and what schools would do about cell phone access in emergency situations such as an active shooter scenario. * NBC Chicago | Universal is bringing a new year-round horror experience to Chicago, city announces: The new venue will mark the second location for the popular Universal Horror Unleashed brand, following one other location in Las Vegas, and a first for Universal in the Midwest. Universal Horror Unleashed: Chicago will transform a vacant commercial building, located across from the new Bally’s Casino at 700 W. Chicago Ave., “into a world-class horror attraction and entertainment destination.” * Crain’s | With old plan dead, city reopens Loop site to developers: Chicago planning officials are back on the hunt for a developer to breathe new life into a city-owned site in the southeast corner of the Loop after plans for a $102 million, 20-story apartment building fell through. […] The solicitation comes roughly four years after the city selected a 207-unit, all-affordable high-rise residential plan from nonprofit developer Community Builders as the winner of a green-building competition to redevelop the site. Dubbed Assemble Chicago, the project included a Rush University health clinic and a YMCA location as anchor retail tenants. But it didn’t land the necessary financing to kick it off as interest rates spiked and banks tightened up lending for new ground-up development. * Sun-Times | Water Tower Place owner pitches mall consolidation, lists upper floors for sale: MetLife engaged JLL about a year ago in an advisory role, Kirschbraun said, as the owner explored the option of consolidating mall space. If such a move were to happen, its retail space would shrink to the mall’s first three floors, according to a property brochure from JLL. “We’re open to anything that supports the rest of the complex,” Kirschbraun said. * WBEZ | Andersonville’s iconic pizzeria Great Lake has quietly returned, with more than pie: It’s understandable. The husband-and-wife duo learned what viral meant before viral was a thing, in 2009, after GQ writer Alan Richman told everyone the mortadella-topped pizza with earthy, bready crust at their tiny Andersonville shop with uncompromising standards was the best in the country. Then came the rest of the national media, the lines snaking down Balmoral Avenue, celebrities like Beyonce and Jay-Z, and frustrating three-hour waits for pizza (for everyone else). * Sun-Times | Damen Silos should be a concert venue, groups say: So far, property owner Michael Tadin Jr. hasn’t budged on plans to tear down the historic structures near South Damen Avenue along the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. Nor has he been swayed to sell the property. Preservationists and a community organization say the buildings should be saved and restored. They could be a backdrop for public park space that would be used as permanent music festival grounds, they argue. * Chicago Mag | How to Coexist With Coyotes: The odds are that some of these pups won’t survive for long. “Our research indicates that coyotes of all ages in the Chicago area generally have roughly a 60 percent chance of surviving each year, even juveniles in their first year,” wildlife ecology professor Stanley D. Gehrt reports in the 2024 book Coyotes Among Us: Secrets of the City’s Top Predator (written with journalist Kerry Luft). “Still, the survival rates of juvenile coyotes in Cook County are approximately five times higher than the 13 percent survival rate reported for rural juvenile coyotes.” * Sun-Times | Chicago Pride Parade 2025: Route map, street closings, how to get there, reader tips: The parade begins at 11 a.m. at West Sheridan Road and North Broadway — viewing begins at West Grace Street and North Broadway. It continues south along North Broadway, then to North Halsted Street and east along West Belmont Avenue to North Broadway. Finally south to West Diversey Parkway, ending at the corner of North Sheridan Road and West Diversey Parkway. * Daily Southtown | Air conditioning restored to some units at Park Forest apartment complex: Park Forest spokesperson Joshua Vinson said Autumn Ridge apartment management reported fixing the air conditioning at two of the complex’s four buildings and that they were on track to restore air in the rest of the building by Friday. “They give us an update, so this is what they’re saying,” Vinson said, noting the village is still working to determine who owns the 119 E. Sycamore St. apartments. * Daily Herald | Rolling Meadows buys strip mall space to expand social services: The city council this week inked a contract to purchase more than 5,300 square feet of long-vacant office space on the second and third floors of the shopping center at 2214 Algonquin Road, plus the first floor entry area, staircase and elevator used to access the upper floors. The location — in the center of a building that’s home to a number of shops — is highly visible and will be more accessible to residents in need of social services, city officials say. * Daily Herald | Trump store owner agrees to leave Huntley location after effort to evict her: Just before the store’s eviction trial was set to begin on Wednesday, the store owner, her landlord and their lawyers agreed to a settlement. Among the terms of the agreement are that store owner Lisa Fleischmann vacates the premises by 6 p.m. July 17 and that she pays the landlord’s attorney fees and court costs, which she has done, court records show. Fleischmann said she picked the move-out date and hopes to be in a new location by late September or October. She also would like to start selling merchandise online. * Press Release | Medill becomes the new home for the Illinois Journalism Education Association: The Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications has become the new institutional home for the Illinois Journalism Education Association (IJEA), after a unanimous vote of support by IJEA’s board. IJEA is a nonprofit organization that works with teachers and advisers across Illinois to promote high standards in scholastic media. “We’re excited to take on this role and to work closely with the dedicated board, students and advisers who are members of this storied organization,” said Medill’s Dean Charles Whitaker. “We look forward to continuing to strengthen and grow scholastic journalism and publishing here in Illinois.” * KFVS | “Y’all Rock Carbondale” to welcome public to camper showcase: The showcase will feature performances from bands that will be created during the 2025 Rock Camp. The camp will take place at the Eurma C. Hayes Center from July 7-11. 55 campers ranging from ages 3-12 will attend Rock Camp. During the camps, they will learn an instrument and participate in workshops. * WSIL | SIU helps aspiring pilots with disabilities take flight: Southern Illinois University is making strides in aviation accessibility for aspiring pilots with disabilities. The university is hosting the 2025 class of Able Flight, marking its second year in partnership with the nonprofit program. Since May, students have been engaged in intensive flight training, thanks to scholarships from Able Flight. They are working towards earning Sport Pilot certificates, which allow them to operate aircraft without physical disability barriers. * BND | AC goes out at metro-east animal shelter, so adoptions fees are being waived: “We have more than 80 animals in the facility, so identifying the ones that need immediate help is a little difficult with our staff,” Henke said. Both cat and dog rooms have been affected by the broken air conditioning. More than 12 rooms need new air conditioners, and with each costing more than $5,000, retrofitting the facility is too expensive. * AP | Key Medicaid provision in President Donald Trump’s bill is found to violate Senate rules. The GOP is scrambling: Guidance from the parliamentarian is rarely ignored and Republican leaders are now forced to consider difficult options. Republicans were counting on big cuts to Medicaid and other programs to offset trillions of dollars in Trump tax breaks, their top priority. Additionally, the Senate’s chief arbiter of its often complicated rules had advised against various GOP provisions barring certain immigrants from health care programs. Republicans scrambled Thursday to respond, with some calling for challenging, or firing, the nonpartisan parliamentarian, who has been on the job since 2012. Democrats said the decisions would devastate GOP plans. “We have contingency plans,” said Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota. * AP | States can cut off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood, the Supreme Court rules: “This is yet another shameful ruling that inserts the government directly between a patient and their doctor—just like Dobbs three years ago and Skrmetti last week. Intimate, personal decisions about health care shouldn’t require sign off from extremist politicians,” U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said in a statement in response to the high court’s decision. “Each and every action taken by anti-choice extremists threatens the life of someone you know. Eventually, the tides must turn—and we must protect health care for all.” * ProPublica | Fossil Fuel Interests Are Working to Kill Solar in One Ohio County. The Hometown Newspaper Is Helping.: Someone sent text messages to residents urging them to “stop the solar invasion” and elect two county commission candidates who opposed the solar farm. And one day this past March, residents received an unfamiliar newspaper that contained only articles attacking Frasier Solar, a large project that would replace hundreds of acres of corn and soybeans with the equivalent of 630 football fields of solar panels. * The Atlantic | The End of Publishing as We Know It: According to one comprehensive study, Google’s AI Overviews—a feature that summarizes web pages above the site’s usual search results—has already reduced traffic to outside websites by more than 34 percent. The CEO of DotDash Meredith, which publishes People, Better Homes & Gardens, and Food & Wine, recently said the company is preparing for a possible “Google Zero” scenario. Some have speculated that traffic drops resulting from chatbots were part of the reason outlets such as Business Insider and the Daily Dot have recently had layoffs. “Business Insider was built for an internet that doesn’t exist anymore,” one former staffer recently told the media reporter Oliver Darcy.
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Speech focused around building on past accomplishments rather than bold new plans
Thursday, Jun 26, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller * From today’s press conference following Gov. Pritzker’s announcement…
* He also talked about the country at large a lot. From his speech…
* Isabel asked what his big new ideas are…
Discuss.
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RETAIL: Strengthening Communities Across Illinois
Thursday, Jun 26, 2025 - Posted by Advertising Department [The following is a paid advertisement.] Retail generates $7.3 billion in income and sales tax revenue each year in Illinois. These funds support public safety, infrastructure, education, and other important programs we all rely on every day. In fact, retail is the second largest revenue generator for the State of Illinois and the largest revenue generator for local governments. Retailers like Eva in Galesburg enrich our economy and strengthen our communities. We Are Retail and IRMA showcase the retailers who make Illinois work.
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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Update to today’s edition
Thursday, Jun 26, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller
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Pritzker reelection announcement react
Thursday, Jun 26, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller * Again, click here to read the governor’s remarks as prepared for delivery and click here to watch the video. From Leader McCombie…
That came from her state account, by the way. Checking on why. This post will be updated. …Adding… RGA…
* DGA…
* ILGOP…
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Rate Pritzker’s re-election launch video (Updated with Pritzker’s prepared remarks)
Thursday, Jun 26, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller * Here you go… * Press release…
…Adding… Click here to read the governor’s prepared remarks. Click here to watch it live. [Fixed link.]
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Why Are Tax-Exempt Hospitals Getting Rich?
Thursday, Jun 26, 2025 - Posted by Advertising Department [The following is a paid advertisement.] Across Illinois, big hospital systems and PBMs are abusing the 340B drug discount program – making massive profits while patients drown in medical bills. One whistleblower called it “laundering money.” Here’s how the scam works: big hospitals buy discounted 340B drugs, bill patients full price, then split the difference with for-profit pharmacies and PBMs. 340B was meant to help Illinois communities in need. But there are no rules requiring hospitals and PBMs to pass savings on to patients. No transparency. No oversight. Just higher costs for working families, small businesses, and taxpayers. Meanwhile, tax-exempt hospitals cash in – and PBMs get a cut too.
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Open thread
Thursday, Jun 26, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller * Smile Politely…
* “Normalcy”… * Please keep your chat Illinois-centric. Thanks.
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Isabel’s morning briefing
Thursday, Jun 26, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller * ICYMI: Illinois Democratic lawmakers ask RFK Jr. to stop sharing Medicaid data with Trump deportation officials. Sun-Times…
- But the Democrats claim CMS “inappropriately and potentially unlawfully” used the audit to obtain personal data and shared it with Homeland Security. - Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s office is “closely monitoring this matter and evaluating our options,” according to spokesperson Jamey Dunn-Thomason. * Subscribers know much more. WQRL | Vercellino to challenge incumbent Windhorst for 117th House District: Vercellino, of West Frankfort, became the first Republican elected as County Treasurer since the 1950s and beat a sitting Democrat for the office in 2018. Since then, Vercellino has worked with Democrat and Republican boards alike to get county finances back on track to better position Franklin County for decades to come. Vercellino says he’s a proven leader who’s ready to bring his leadership abilities to a bigger stage. Vercellino says since 2017 he has seen an exponentially growing grassroots base of people willing to step up to help make Illinois a better place to live, work, and grow. * Illinois Times | The college crisis: When University of Illinois Springfield recently was designated Illinois’ top regional state university, it was a dose of good news on a campus that has seen its enrollment drop by more than 800 students during the last decade. UIS is reviewing programs and pondering whether they continue to serve student needs, Chancellor Janet Gooch told Illinois Times. It’s a situation almost all of the state’s regional institutions find themselves in. * STL Post Dispatch | Pope Leo XIV among 1 in 4 Illinoisans with unclaimed property: The amount the pope is in line to receive should he make a claim? $8.65, which equals about 7.45 euros. “I am happy to send $8.65 to the world’s most famous White Sox fan,” Frerichs said in a statement. “My office is truly committed to returning everyone’s missing money, no matter how long it takes or what elevated title they have taken.” * ABC Chicago | Illinois seeking to counter information from RFK Jr’s new vaccine panel doctors call untrustworthy: The head of the Illinois Department of Public Health told the ABC7 I-Team among the conversations underway are how to potentially stand up interstate vaccination programs. Those plans revealed as physicians and others were protesting Wednesday as the new advisory committee on immunization practices at the CDC met for the first time after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. fired all 17 members and seated an entirely new board, with some vaccine skeptics like himself, to determine national vaccine policy. * Capitol News Illinois | Illinois’ soil conservation funding stagnates amid recent high-profile dust storms: On May 16, Chicago saw its first major dust storm since the Dust Bowl, which stretched from Texas to New York in the early 1930s and deposited 300 million tons of soil across the nation – 12 million tons of which settled in the Chicago region, according to the Bill of Rights Institute. The storm in May dropped visibility in the city to near zero as wind gusts blew over 60 mph at times, according to the National Weather Service. Taylor said the atmospheric environment that day was more characteristic of the dry environments in the High Plains or Southwest U.S., not the Midwest. As rain began to fall near Bloomington, it quickly evaporated and cooled the atmosphere, creating strong pockets of wind that began to move North. And as winds sped up, the storm began to pick up and move dry and loose soil from fields it passed over, which created the dust storm. * Capitol News Illinois | Attorney General Raoul joins lawsuit challenging Trump’s termination of federal grants: Attorney General Kwame Raoul announced this week he has joined another multistate lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s decision to withhold billions of dollars in federal funds that had previously been approved for states and other grantees. The complaint, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, challenges several actions the administration has taken since Trump returned to office Jan. 20 that involved terminating federal grants that had previously been approved by various agencies. * Tribune | Recent political violence in the United States has local elected officials concerned about the causes: State Rep. Bob Morgan (D-58) said he was “shocked and shaken” when he heard about the shootings, noting he was familiar with Hortman, but had not met her. Morgan mentioned he quickly contacted local law enforcement to see if there were any threats against anyone locally. “Unfortunately, this is not the first time we have had to go down this path and consider our own safety and safety of our colleagues,” Morgan said. * McHenry County Blog | Pastor Corey Brooks Declines $200,000 in Legislative Pork for Project H.O.O.D.: In his speech endorsing Jim Oberweis to replace Florida Congressman Bryon Donalds Chicago Pastor Corey Brooks stated that his Project H.O.O.D. would not accept government money. […] asked him about the $200,000 that was included in the pork-filled state budget. He remained true to his Florida statement; he said he had turned it down. * Chalkbeat Chicago | Chicago Public Schools budget for 2025-26 school year delayed: Chicago Public Schools’ budget for the 2025-26 school year, normally released in June, is delayed until at least late July, prompting uncertainty and anxiety for principals and schools — and potentially setting them up for cuts right before the fall. The district’s new fiscal year starts on July 1 and schools received their budgets for the coming school year in May, based on the assumption that the district would have just a $229 million deficit to close. Those school-level budgets were mostly flat, district officials said, though some schools already experienced some cuts. * Sun-Times | CPS school board to consider green schools pilot program: The proposal would use the cash-strapped district’s limited resources to invest in energy-efficient projects that proponents say could save money in the long run. If approved, the resolution would establish a healthy green schools pilot program at Chicago Public Schools with the goal of investing in at least 12 clean energy projects at neighborhood schools by the end of the 2025-26 school year. Those projects could include rooftop solar, heat pumps or geothermal systems that use stable underground temperatures for heating and cooling buildings. * Sun-Times | Funeral home gets Chicago’s lucrative $4.4M body removal contract: Current and former Chicago police officers question whether a single funeral home has the capacity to handle the citywide business. Ald. Anthony Napolitano (41st), who has served the city as both a police officer and a firefighter, said he doesn’t “know if it’s possible.” […] The new contract includes a penalty for delayed transport of bodies. If the contractor fails to arrive at the scene within 75 minutes of the initial call-out by 911 dispatchers, the fee of $172 per body will be cut in half. * Block Club | Mosaic House, A New Coworking And Childcare Center, Wants To Help NW Side Moms Build Community: The coworking center is opening July 14 on the border of the Dunning and Montclare neighborhoods. The space, 7129 W. Belmont Ave., will feature structured child care in the back with a spacious work area in the front. Mosaic House plans to host events like resume-building sessions, peer support groups, wellness workshops, panels on motherhood and yoga classes. * WBEZ | Many Chicagoans likely to wait decades for dangerous lead pipes to be replaced: Now a senior policy advocate for the environmental group Natural Resources Defense Council,Perry is part of a coalition that fought for stricter rules to force cities like Chicago to remove their toxic lead pipes faster. Last year, advocates celebrated a big win: The Biden-era U.S. Environmental Protection Agency mandated that all water systems across the country begin replacing their lead service lines by 2027. Under the new rule, Chicago would have about 20 years to replace its estimated 412,000 lead service lines, giving the city its most accelerated timeline yet for dealing with the public health crisis. Lead is especially harmful to children with developing brains and can cause a number of serious health conditions in adults. But Chicago is set to fall 30 years behind that timeline, according to the city’s replacement plan, submitted to the Illinois EPA in April and obtained through a public records request. It aims to complete 8,300 replacements annually for 50 years, wrapping up in 2076. * Sun-Times | Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus mourns loss of member in fatal hit-and-run in Lake View: Siddall joined the chorus in 2018 and “quickly became a vibrant and vital part of our community,” said Kevin Corbett, Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus managing director. “A gifted performer, Brendan lit up the stage in several performances, sharing their talent and energy with joy and authenticity,” Corbett said in a statement. Siddall served as the president of the chorus’ membership council. * WBEZ | How Chicago drag designers are pushing the boundaries of fashion: “If you want something more eccentric, you might go to Eda Birthing or Mats,” said Chicago drag queen Miss Toto. “If you want pageantry, you’re going to Utica or Joshuan Aponte. It’s like you have the whole spectrum of what you could possibly get in Chicago. In a lot of other cities, you might not be able to even find someone to sew you one thing, but in Chicago you can find someone to sew anything.” * Shaw Local | Grocery tax here to stay in DeKalb: – When the state grocery tax lifts on Illinoisans in January, DeKalb purchases will continue to be taxed locally, the DeKalb City Council voted this week. The grocery tax, as passed in a pair of 5-2-1 votes, will take effect locally Jan. 1, the day the state grocery tax expires. * Sun-Times | Northwestern University undertaking a variety of cost-cutting measures amid financial pressure: On June 10, Northwestern University sent an email to staff and faculty announcing it would implement cost-cutting measures, including a hiring freeze and “decreases in the total number of staff positions.” It also said staff would not get bonuses next year, that the university was switching health insurance companies and there would be changes to the tuition benefits program, which provides employees with financial assistance toward the cost of courses. * Daily Herald | Skokie attorney joins race for Schakowsky’s congressional seat: Democrat Howard Rosenblum has joined the race in Illinois’ 9th Congressional District, which includes parts of Cook, Lake and McHenry counties. “This is a campaign to restore the foundations of our democracy,” Rosenblum said in a news release. “I know how important equality under the law and full opportunity through civil rights is. My legal experience fighting back is exactly what we need in Washington right now.” * Daily Southtown | Oak Lawn $13 million Polaris flood control project to begin this fall: Oak Lawn is moving forward with plans to build a detention basin for stormwater storage in the fields near Polaris Intermediate School after over a year-long delay. Village Board voted Tuesday to approve an agreement with the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago to split the cost of the estimated $13 million plan to alleviate flooding during major storms. More than 6,600 feet of storm sewers also will be replaced with larger pipes, ranging from 30 inches to 5 feet in diameter. * Shaw Local | ‘Reeks of a power grab’: Crystal Lake park board’s spate of controversial moves sparks public outcry: Recent actions by the Crystal Lake Park District board, with three newly elected members, have caused tension in the community, with many residents speaking out against a series of swift changes. Dozens of residents attended a park board meeting last week, with the crowd overflowing into two other rooms to view the meeting on TV screens. Some spoke in favor of the recent board actions, but many more criticized how the board speedily passed agenda items such as the removal of the diversity, equity and inclusion policy, claiming the board violated the Illinois Open Meetings Act. Other issues prompting criticism include the hiring of a previous board member as the new park district attorney for a substantially higher price than the previous attorney and replacing the members of a volunteer lake advisory committee with a lakeside homeowners association. * Daily Herald | ‘People rely on us’: Don’t fret, household hazardous waste collection to resume in July: “The program is continuing,” said Pete Adrian, recycling coordinator. “There’s no crisis here by any means.” The agency is permitted to hold a certain amount of materials, such as pesticides, motor oil, household cleaners and gasoline but relies on state funding to have them removed for recycling. “There’s a volume of material we have to move out of the facility to make space for the next batch coming in,” Adrian said. * The Telegraph | Manure trucks block anti-Trump protest at Macoupin County Courthouse: A weekly anti-Donald Trump protest held outside the Macoupin County Courthouse in Carlinville was undeterred Tuesday when protesters showed up to find trucks and trailers containing manure parked where they normally protest. “They have trucks of manure in line of where we usually protest,” protestor Toni Leahy said. “It definitely stinks on the sensory level, not just on the idea of it.” […] Instead, they proceeded to “flip the script” by making impromptu signs, one of which said, “Trump’s policies stink.” * WCIA | Evidence of former Iroquois Co. Health Admin’s gambling will be allowed in court: Schippert, the former Administrator of the Iroquois County Public Health District, is facing 33 felony counts, including theft of government property, forgery and official misconduct. She previously pleaded not guilty to the charges. The Illinois Attorney General’s Office alleges that between May 31, 2020, and July 15, 2022, Schippert filed fraudulent timesheets, all while time-stamped video footage showed Schippert at various gaming parlors for at least 759 hours — 260 of which were during regular business hours. * WAND | Parents could owe hundreds in fines for kids who commit crimes under new Tolono ordinance: First-time penalties include a $250 fine. A second offense within 12 months of the first doubles to $500. A third offense within 12 months of the first offense is $750 with each incident following an additional $750. * WGLT | Deriva Energy proposes 300-megawatt solar farm in eastern McLean County: Deriva said the project represents about $563 million in direct and indirect investments in McLean County in jobs, construction output, tax benefits and earnings. The company estimates the project would generate $65.6 million in property tax revenue over the solar farm’s 40-year lifetime. The bulk of that money would to the Tri-Valley school district in Downs [$45.3 million]. The project is on track to begin construction in mid-2027 and start operation in late 2028. * WQAD | Karen Kinney retiring as Rock Island County clerk: Rock Island County Clerk Karen Kinney announced she will not seek another term in office after 26 years of service. She said in a statement that she believes that the time has come to allow new leadership to guide her office. “I am deeply grateful for the trust and support of my colleagues, the County Board, and the residents of Rock Island County. Together, we have navigated challenges, celebrated milestones, and worked diligently to serve the public with integrity and dedication,” Kinney said in a press release announcing her decision. * WCIA | New affordable student housing could be coming to Urbana: A new housing option could be coming to Urbana. It’s designed for students to spend their time on campus while staying somewhere affordable. Holton Bagley, the business owner who is trying to bring it to campus, said it’ll be the first one in Urbana. It’s in an old fraternity house with more than 20 rooms. But before it can open, the city has to give it the green light. * WCIA | Carle Illinois College of Medicine students, professor helping breast cancer patients with new prostheses: 3D printing and scanning can be used for a variety of reasons. At the University of Illinois, and the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, a team of researchers is using it to help breast cancer patients. Dr. Victor Stams, a Carle Health plastic surgeon and professor at the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, is working alongside his team of medical students to create custom-fit breast prostheses. * WCIA | Central Illinois HVAC repair companies swamped with demand: “I would say right now the most important thing we’re seeing is a lack of maintenance from a home ownership perspective,” said general manager Jeff Kenyon. “Maintenance is very important, it’s kind of like changing oil in your car. A lot of dirty filters, a lot of capacitors, just simple breakdowns.” Changing your filters and rinsing your unit’s coils helps maintain airflow in your unit and avoids exhaustion of the unit. * The Atlantic | Why Do Billionaires Go Crazy?: David Frum is joined by the author and editor Tina Brown for a conversation about the disorienting effects of extreme wealth. They discuss how billionaires often become detached from reality, how philanthropy is used to consolidate image and influence, and how Brown’s personal experience with Donald Trump shaped her understanding of his ego and evolution. * Philadelphia Inquirer | Two more patients say they faced questions around citizenship at hospitals in Philly and Abington: Both said they wondered why that information was being sought. Both are U.S. citizens, but feared the potential impact on those already wary of seeking treatment because they may be undocumented or have uncertain immigration status. At least five other people in the region responded to earlier Inquirer reporting on the issue by posting on social media that they too had been asked about their citizenship while seeking attention at area hospitals. * NPR | Former DOGE engineer says federal waste and fraud were ‘relatively nonexistent’: A former employee of the Department of Government Efficiency says that he found that the federal waste, fraud and abuse that his agency was supposed to uncover were “relatively nonexistent” during his short time embedded within the Department of Veterans Affairs. “I personally was pretty surprised, actually, at how efficient the government was,” Sahil Lavingia told NPR’s Juana Summers.
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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today’s edition of Capitol Fax (use all CAPS in password)
Thursday, Jun 26, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller
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Selected press releases (Live updates)
Thursday, Jun 26, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller
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Live coverage
Thursday, Jun 26, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller * Click here and/or here to follow breaking news. Hopefully, enough reporters and news outlets migrate to BlueSky so we can hopefully resume live-posting.
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