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DuPage Republicans will launch pilot program to address vote by mail reluctance

Thursday, Jun 12, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Illinois AFL-CIO President Tim Drea…

Following the RTA Board Meeting in which the transit authority detailed the need for potential cuts, station closures, and layoffs, Tim Drea, on behalf of the Labor Alliance for Public Transportation and Dany Robles, on behalf of the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition, are calling on Springfield to take swift and immediate action to address the transit fiscal cliff ahead of the October veto session, and pressing the RTA to outline shared principles grounded in equity and accessibility for proposed service cuts:

“Today’s RTA board meeting unveiled the disastrous consequences of Springfield’s inaction to address the transit fiscal cliff. As a result, the CTA, Metra, and Pace are being asked to plan for budget cuts, transit workers across Illinois will face inevitable job cuts, and Chicago may be left with a public transit network smaller than Madison, Wisconsin.

While the RTA, labor, transit, and environmental advocates made it clear from day one that answers were needed by May 31, the legislature put politics and corporations above working people who rely on public transit at all hours. Their choice to do so will harm our environment, put more cars on the road, and exacerbate the traffic that already plagues Northeastern Illinois for decades to come.

Riders and workers have made it clear that they want the reforms and dedicated revenue stream that were negotiated in the spring legislative session. Transit workers and riders deserve better, and need the RTA to act with transparency and to urge collaboration across the agencies as they navigate the forthcoming cuts. Our transit system serves riders throughout all of Illinois, and it’s critical that RTA, CTA, Metra, and Pace work with Springfield to reduce the potential harms these cuts will cause.

We cannot wait any longer – the General Assembly needs to avert further disaster and address the transit fiscal cliff with reforms and dedicated revenue, while working with existing agencies to ensure that we are investing in the future of our transit systems. The time to act is now.”

* Associated Press…

The Illinois secretary of state on Thursday asked for an investigation into a suburban Chicago police department after learning that it violated state law by sharing data from automatic license-plate readers with a Texas sheriff seeking a woman who had an abortion.

Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias asked the attorney general to review the matter. He also is creating an audit system to ensure police departments don’t run afoul of a 2023 law banning the distribution of license-plate data to track women seeking abortions or to find undocumented immigrants. […]

The incident was revealed by a website called 404 Media, which reported that the Texas sheriff sent a nationwide request for data from 83,000 cameras operated by the private company Flock Safety, including those in Mount Prospect. […]

At Giannoulias’ request, Flock Safety blocked access to 62 out-of-state agencies that have sought data related to abortion or immigration, [deputy Secretary of State Scott Burnham] said. The company also set up a program to flag the terms “abortion” and “immigration” in requests for access and deny those requests.

* USA Today…

Initial filings for unemployment benefits in Illinois rose last week compared with the week prior, the U.S. Department of Labor said Thursday.

New jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs, increased to 10,468 in the week ending May 31, up from 9,991 the week before, the Labor Department said.

U.S. unemployment claims rose to 247,000 last week, up 8,000 claims from 239,000 the week prior on a seasonally adjusted basis.

* I’m having issues with WBEZ and WTTW. What about y’all?…

Numerous websites and online services, including Google services, Spotify, DoorDash, and more, are reportedly encountering outages Thursday afternoon amid what appears to be a widespread outage.https://t.co/H4wlmC5iud

— WCIA (@WCIA3) June 12, 2025

*** Statewide ***

* Brownfield Ag | New IL FFA President comes from a long line of service: Natalie Pratt, daughter of Andy & Katie Pratt and a member of the Amboy High School FFA Chapter, says her family has a history of serving the organization. “My mom was a state reporter, and so was my aunt when they were my age, and my uncle was a state treasurer a couple of years after them, and currently on stage right now is Emma Dingus, my cousin, the current state treasurer.” She says, “So, FFA and the blue jackets run in our blood. It’s something that I’ve always known that I wanted to do.”

*** Statehouse News ***

* Tribune | After six decades on Illinois’ public stage, Michael Madigan’s likely last act will be his sentencing in a courtroom Friday: On Friday, six decades after the constitutional convention, Madigan will appear for what likely will be his last public act. And it will play out in a forum that virtually no one — especially a shrewd political tactician such as himself — would have ever seen coming. The stage will be a federal courtroom on 12th Floor of the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse, where Madigan, 83, is scheduled to be sentenced for his conviction in February on a wide range of corruption charges alleging he used his public office to increase his power, line his own pockets and enrich a small circle of his most loyal associates.

* IPM | Illinois lawmakers strengthen law requiring hospital care for sexual assault survivors: The 49-year-old Illinois law requires hospitals to be designated either “treatment” or “transfer” hospitals. The former must provide key services to all rape victims, with some exceptions in pediatric cases. The latter must get state approval to transfer rape victims elsewhere. APM Reports found some hospitals transferred patients as far as 80 minutes away even though a closer hospital could have treated them and collected evidence.

* Press Release | Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs Returns WW II Purple Heart to Suburban Geneva Family: Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs today returned a lost Purple Heart medal to the grandson of a World War II veteran who earned it while fighting to liberate Germany. The medal earned by Private First-Class Edward Gorski Jr. was returned to his grandson, Shawn Gorski, who also served in the Army. […] The Purple Heart was among items in a bank safe deposit box submitted to the state treasurer’s office in 2003. This is the 14th Purple Heart medal Treasurer Frerichs has returned to the soldier or the soldier’s family, an unparalleled record in Illinois and the nation. A list of unclaimed Purple Heart medals in possession of the Illinois State Treasurer’s Office is available at the Operation Purple Heart web page, as is a list of the medals returned.

* WICS | Illinois Freedom Caucus to address sanctuary cities after Pritzker testimony: The event is scheduled to take place at the Elm Tree Site, with an estimated start time of 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Speakers at the press conference will include Rep. Chris Miller, Rep. Blaine Wilhour, Rep. Brad Halbrook, and Sen. Andrew Chesney.

*** Chicago ***

* Sun-Times | ComEd offers $500 payments for customers who can’t pay electric bills: The utility is offering individuals grants of $500 each and providing nonprofit groups that help those struggling to pay their bills up to $1,000 each. A total of $10 million is available under the program. Customers can apply for assistance beginning July 7 by going online at www.comed.com/relief. To be eligible for the program, people have to show they fall below federal poverty levels and have a past-due balance on their account.

* WTTW | Pay Man Who Spent More Than 29 Years in Prison After Being Tortured, Wrongfully Convicted $14.75M, Chicago’s Lawyers Recommend: For more than three decades, James Gibson has said he was tortured by Chicago police detectives directly supervised by Jon Burge, a disgraced former Chicago police commander. Dozens of lawsuits and complaints alleging physical abuse have been filed against detectives trained by Burge, who city officials admit tortured and beat more than 100 Black men during his career. Even though no physical evidence or eyewitness ever linked Gibson to the murders of 61-year-old Lloyd Benjamin and 56-year-old Hunter Wash in an Englewood garage in December 1989, the then 23-year-old was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison after telling police he was in the garage when the two men were killed.

* Crain’s | Rideshare pay ordinance stalls — but the fight’s not over: An ordinance meant to boost the pay of rideshare drivers stalled out this morning, but it may only be a temporary victory for Uber and Lyft. A scheduled vote on the ordinance today in the Workforce Development Committee is being delayed at the request of some members of the City Council who want more information and are hesitant to support a measure that’s drawn fierce opposition from the business community.

* Chicago Reader | Passages Charter School shutters pre-k program: The decision to close the preschool could have unintended ramifications. More children were enrolled in preschool than in any other grade at Passages, according to Kady Pagano, lead teacher in the preschool department. “It’s displacing more families than, I feel, the CEOs realized, or maybe even cared about,” Pagano says.

* WBBM | Chicago’s Field Museum receives rare asteroid sample: Philipp Heck said leading the study of a nearly five billion year old asteroid sample is the “highlight of my career.”"We are very excited to have a piece of asteroid Bennu here that was collected by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx space mission,” he said. “This was collected in the year 2020. It arrived on Earth in 2023.”

* Bloomberg | Chicago Bears weigh sale of late McKenna’s minority stake: The exact size of the stake isn’t known. McKenna, a former chairman of McDonald’s, died in 2023. The descendants of George Halas, the team’s founder, own approximately 80% of the team. In addition to McKenna’s stake, some shares are owned by insurance billionaire Pat Ryan, 88. Ryan and McKenna originally purchased 19.7% of the club in 1990. It’s likely the Halas descendants, along with Ryan, will have the right of refusal for any potential investors. Galatioto Sports Partners was hired to handle the potential sale.

* Block Club | The Windy City Times Told LGBTQ+ Stories When No One Else Would. 40 Years Later, They’re Still At It: One of its founders was Tracy Baim, a 22-year-old recent college graduate who had just taken a typesetting job at Gay Life, a prominent LGBTQ+ periodical of the era. The daughter of journalists, Baim hadn’t planned on starting a newspaper — but she recognized what was missing in those times. When Baim began her career, the AIDS crisis had barely made headlines — Chicago had reported just over 100 cases. But by 1985, the epidemic became impossible to ignore — and for Baim, there was no more urgent time to document the community, she said.

* Shermann “Dilla” Thomas | I grew up internalizing homophobia, but meeting Bernard helped me grow: Bernard let out a sigh and sat up straight. “Dilla,” he said, “I was the best dressed in high school four years running. My brother worked at Foot Locker. I have every pair of Jordans ever made. But when it came down to picking ‘best dressed,’ they didn’t vote for me because they knew I was gay. I was a student leader and got things done for my class, but they wouldn’t vote for me as class president because I was gay. I tried out for the basketball team for four straight years. I was the best player on the court every time, but the coaches never picked me because I was gay. If all I had to do was like women and think that boobs were cool, I would have done it in a heartbeat. So no, Dilla, being gay is not a choice. No one in their right mind would choose to be picked on and left out.” In that instant, I understood and felt shame for every gay joke I’d ever cracked. I felt bad for his childhood experience. I felt bad that it took me so long to see what was clearly an incredible human being.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Southtown | Homewood OKs grocery tax; Hazel Crest mulls same path: The Homewood Village Board voted Tuesday to approve a replacement tax, also of 1%, to take effect in January. Hazel Crest officials discussed implementing a tax at a Village Board committee meeting Tuesday. Nearly 190 communities across the state have so far enacted a tax to replace the state tax, according to the Illinois Department of Revenue. Locally, that includes Blue Island, Chicago Heights, Crestwood, Evergreen Park, Markham, Oak Lawn, Richton Park and Tinley Park.

* Evanston RoundTable | Miracle Jenkins enters primary for Illinois’ 9th District, aims to make life ‘easier’ for working Americans: Miracle Jenkins, who grew up in Evanston, officially announced Wednesday his bid for Illinois’ 9th Congressional District in the 2026 primary. Jenkins’ platform aims to promote livable wages, expand healthcare for all and support union workers, according to his campaign website. “The reason I’m running is is to make it easier for the working people this country,” Jenkins told the RoundTable. “Specifically, like I said, it’s been far too hard for the working people of this country, and it’s time for bold policy decisions to make life a little bit easier.”

* Aurora Beacon-News | Aurora City Council approves up to $95 million bond issue for construction projects: The tax-exempt general obligation bonds would go to pay for the construction of a relocated Fire Station 9, a new Fire Station 13, the new fire department headquarters building, the RiverEdge Park renovation and the recently-constructed new Public Works facility as well as the roadway improvement project around Farnsworth Avenue and Bilter Road. All of the projects to be funded through the newly-approved bond sale have begun, and several are already “out of the ground,” according to Minick. These projects were approved under former Mayor Richard Irvin, and current Mayor John Laesch voted against some of them.

* Crain’s | Tempus, Northwestern partner to focus AI on Alzheimer’s research: In a multiyear collaboration, Tempus will use its Lens data analytics platform to analyze and restructure genomic data from the Abrams Research Center on Neurogenomics at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. The Abrams Center and Tempus will work to uncover genomic patterns that can better researchers’ understanding of the disease and the gene and cell types affected, the company said in a news release. The groups hope to find new therapeutics and accelerate the creation of novel clinical applications.

*** Downstate ***

* WGN | Group sues to remove Ten Commandments monument from southern Illinois courthouse lawn: The lawsuit, filed Monday in Illinois’ 2nd Judicial Circuit Court, targets Jefferson County, the Jefferson County Board of Commissioners and several Jefferson County board members. It also references Sheriff Jeff Bullard, not explicitly as a defendant, but as an individual who allegedly had a role in moving the monument from its original location inside the courthouse to the lawn outside. According to the lawsuit, Bullard commissioned the monument last year with help of private donations, and the monument was initially installed inside the courthouse lobby.

* WBUR | Southern Illinois farmers face a growing problem: What to do when nature reclaims your land:Just before New Year’s Day 2016, the Mississippi River punched a hole in the Len Small levee, built in 1943 to protect farmland along an S-shaped curve in the river known as Dogtooth Bend. That hole was never repaired. When the water rose again in 2019, it washed six barges through the breach. Four were retrieved before the flood receded, but two were left to rust. Through the almost mile-long gap in the levee, Thomas spies a boat gliding downstream. “The view is beautiful at night when one goes by,” he said. “It looks like a floating hotel.” The view might be beautiful, but that levee breach is a reminder that Dogtooth Bend is going to flood again.

* Daily Illini | Champaign County workers vote to strike if necessary, UI professor weighs in: Champaign County workers represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 900 voted on May 29 to authorize a strike if deemed necessary. 90% of eligible employees voted, of whom 96% were in favor of strike authorization. Negotiations have stalled for 150 days following the expiration of the union’s contract with Champaign County at the end of 2024. AFSCME Council 31 said county officials “still have failed to come forward with the fair wage increases and affordable health insurance they know are needed to settle a new contract.”

* BND | Metro east healthcare provider opens 16 affordable housing units: Dubbed “Vivian’s Village,” the $6.5 million facility will provide a safe and stable option in the lower-income Metro East community, according to leaders of the Sauget-based healthcare organization. “I think this is something that’s needed in every community,” said SIHF Healthcare CEO Larry McCulley. “This is the way we bring health back to healthcare. This is where we bring dignity back to healthcare.” McCulley, along with local and state leaders, sees the project as a new way to think about healthcare in the United States, providing more holistic services outside the typical hospital and clinical setting.

* WKMS | ‘Up, up and away’ in Metropolis, southern Illinois city prepares for annual Superman Celebration: Metropolis’ legacy with Superman started when local businessman Bob Westerfield realized his Illinois town was the only Metropolis in the United States. After Westerfield connected local officials with DC Comics, the city – which bears more of a resemblance to Clark Kent’s canonical hometown of Smallville – became the official hometown of Superman in the summer of 1972. Before the decade’s end, the Superman Celebration was born.

* WTVO | Grammy-winning CeeLo Green to take stage in Rockford on Aug. 15: CeeLo Green, the singer-songwriter formerly of Goodie Mob and Gnarls Barkley, and one-time celebrity judge on TV’s The Voice, will be performing in Rockford in August. Green will take the stage at Hard Rock Live, located inside the Hard Rock Casino Rockford, on Friday, August 15th at 7 p.m.

*** National ***

* WIRED | The EPA Wants to Roll Back Emissions Controls on Power Plants: In a press conference on Tuesday, flanked by legislators from some of the country’s top fossil-fuel-producing states, EPA administrator Lee Zeldin accused both the Obama and Biden administrations of “seeking to suffocate our economy in order to protect the environment.” Zeldin singled out data centers as helping to drive unprecedented demand in the US power sector over the next decade. […] The proposed EPA rollbacks target a suite of rules on the power plant sector put in place last year by the Biden administration. Those regulations mandated that coal- and gas-fired power plants reduce their emissions by 90 percent by the early 2030s, primarily by using carbon capture and storage technology.

* NYT | F.T.C. May Put Unusual Condition on Ad Mega Merger: No Boycotting: A proposed consent decree would prevent the merged company from boycotting platforms because of their political content by refusing to place their clients’ advertisements on them, according to two people briefed on the matter. The restrictions being discussed by the Federal Trade Commission as part of its merger review are part of an effort by the Trump administration to use federal agencies to root out what it considers political bias in corporate America against conservative voices and causes.

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Thursday, Jun 12, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Background is here if you need it. Naperville Sun…

After a spring election in which Democrats were victorious across the suburbs, DuPage County Republicans are launching a pilot program to encourage mail-in voting among their GOP base.

Set to begin in earnest until later this summer, party officials have high hopes the initiative will help the GOP regain strength in DuPage, a once Republican stronghold that has been shifting blue for years now.

“For numerous cycles now, strong DuPage County Republican candidates have been defeated by lesser Democratic candidates who have benefitted to an enormous degree from vote-by-mail (VBM) voting,” DuPage GOP Chairman Kevin Coyne, a former Naperville City Council member, said in a statement on social media earlier this month. […]

Through the pilot program, the local party will be encouraging Republican voters in select precincts across DuPage to sign up for the county’s permanent vote-by-mail program, Coyne said in a call.

A pilot program won’t make much difference in the short term. But financial and human resources could be playing a role in keeping it small.

* But even if they do go all-in, the Republican Party has a serious branding problem in DuPage. And as the last municipal election showed, it’s seeping into the groundwater.

We’ve watched this play out the other way in most of southern Illinois. The voting pattern change started at the top of the ticket and then went all the way down to the lowest municipal rungs, to the point where Democrats don’t even try anymore.

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Pritzker congressional testimony coverage roundup (Updated)

Thursday, Jun 12, 2025 - Posted by Advertising Department

[The following is a paid advertisement.]

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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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Thursday, Jun 12, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Click here to read the governor’s opening remarks and click here to watch the hearing…

Illinois follows the law — we expect the federal government to follow the law, too.

We won't participate in abuses of power.
We won't violate court orders.
We won't ignore the Constitution.
We won't defy the Supreme Court.
We won't take away people’s right to peacefully protest. pic.twitter.com/vDAI0jjv8q

— Governor JB Pritzker (@GovPritzker) June 12, 2025

* Daily Herald…

In congressional testimony Thursday, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker accused U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents of terrorizing the state’s schools, neighborhoods and families.

Pritzker also said he’s proud of how Illinois has responded to what he called a “broken immigration system,” saying the state has promoted public safety, treated people with dignity and respected the rule of law. […]

In a more than 4-minute opening statement, Pritzker testified violent crime is down in Illinois and said violent criminals have no place on its streets.

“And if they are undocumented, I want them out of Illinois and out of our country,” Pritzker said.

Pritzker spoke of his family’s immigrant roots, telling the committee about how his great-grandfather came to the U.S. to escape persecution of Jews in Ukraine. He went on to say Illinoisans value what he called “the most American ideal of all — that where your life began matters far less than the reams you can realize here for yourself and your family.”

* Sun-Times…

Many Republican lawmakers repeatedly suggested that sanctuary policies protect immigrants who commit violent crimes and inhibit ICE’s ability to carry out its job.

Mark Fleming, associate director of litigation at the Chicago-based National Immigrant Justice Center, said the Trust Act does not stop ICE from doing immigration enforcement in the state.

“Under the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, it’s not the responsibility nor is it a requirement that local law enforcement help enforce a federal regulatory program,” Fleming said. “States like Illinois have decided that it’s not in their best interest. That in reality, it harms public safety because people are scared to come to the police when they’re witnesses and victims of crime for fear that some sort of collateral immigration consequence may result from it.”

Jaime Dominguez, associate professor of political science at Northwestern University, said the Trust Act falls within the scope of a state’s right, and that Illinois legally does not have to carry out the responsibility of the federal government.

* NBC Chicago…

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker didn’t mince words when asked about the possibility of being targeted for arrest by Trump administration officials over the state’s immigration policies. […]

“I have the highest duty to protect the people of my state, and if Tom Homan were to try to arrest me, I can say first of all, he can try,” Pritzker said. “I can also tell you that I will stand in the way of Tom Homan going after people who don’t deserve to be frightened in their communities, who don’t deserve to be threatened or terrorized. I would rather he come and arrest me than do that to the people of my state.”

Pritzker and Homan have been at odds before. In the leadup to Trump’s inauguration, Homan spoke at a conference in Phoenix and said that Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson needed to cooperate with the federal government, or face consequences.

“Put up all the roadblocks you want, because we’ll knock them down,” he said.

* WTTW…

U.S. Rep. James Comer (R-Kentucky), the committee’s chair, began the hearing by decrying the death of Katie Abraham, a 20-year-old University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who was killed in a January car crash. Julio Cucul Bol, who authorities said entered in country with false documents, has been charged in connection with Abraham’s death.

Comer accused Pritzker of turning Chicago into a “haven for drugs and crimes” by protecting undocumented immigrants from deportation. However, homicides dropped 28% during the first five months of 2025, and the number of shootings dropped 35%, as compared with the first five months of 2024, city records show.

Comer accused all three governors of prioritizing “criminal illegal aliens over the American people.”

* Tribune…

Because the Oversight Committee is a contentious forum with partisan firebrands competing for attention the panel’s hearings often devolve into side political skirmishes. That happened Thursday between Pritzker and Texas Republican Rep. Brandon Gill when he asked the Illinois governor, “Do you think biological men should be using women’s restrooms?”

“I’m not sure how this has to do with immigration,” Pritzker responded. Gill noted Pritzker used social media to urge people to use the other gender’s restroom as a protest to Trump rescinding protections for transgender youth.

“Have you ever used the women’s restroom?” Gill then asked Pritzker. “Not that I recall,” the Illinois governor responded.

“Did you ever consider that women don’t want you in their bathrooms?” Gill said.

During the debate, Pritzker said to the congressman, “So you’re admitting that this is just a political circus,” in response to the questions.

* Sun-Times…

Almost two hours into the hearing, GOP Texas Rep. Brandon Gill went on the offensive against Pritzker with rapid-fire questions ranging from the cost of providing health care to people in Illinois without legal status, to whether the governor supports Hamas.

“Sir, I do not. They are a terrorist organization,” Pritzker responded. “I have spent my life fighting antisemitism… I know Republicans want to take away people’s right to free speech. We don’t in Illinois.”

* Meanwhile…

Trump just admitted that his mass deportations are bad for farmers and the economy, and crucially, also admitted that workers who are getting deported are "almost impossible to replace." That's a massive repudiation of MAGA ideology: pic.twitter.com/oIK2n5KSPB

— Greg Sargent (@GregTSargent) June 12, 2025

Looks like Stephen Miller got back control of the Truth account pic.twitter.com/WkmGJzRYGz

— Sam Stein (@samstein) June 12, 2025

👀 Six GOP members are asking for stats on how many arrested migrants are criminals

“we are also concerned that your limited resources may be stretched to pursue
individuals that do not constitute an immediate threat to public safety”

More on this: https://t.co/SMiZDzxAAd pic.twitter.com/l09plDaacg

— Stef Kight (@StefWKight) June 12, 2025

Trump: We can't take farmers and take their people and send them back because they don't have what they are supposed to have… You are supposed to throw them out? You know what happens? They end up hiring the criminals that have come in, murderers pic.twitter.com/PAJ7J5NLYf

— Acyn (@Acyn) June 12, 2025

* And a sideshow…

Also from Sen. Chesney..

State Senator Andrew Chesney (R-Freeport) joined a group of conservative Illinois lawmakers in Washington D.C. on Thursday for the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform as Congressional legislators grilled Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and two other Governors about the impact of Sanctuary State policies on their states.

“Governor Pritzker is a master at twisting words, deflecting facts, and rewriting narratives to suit his own political purposes,” said Chesney. “I came here to set the record straight and speak for the families who are suffering under Pritzker’s woke agenda and failed sanctuary state policies.”

Joining Governor Pritzker on the panel of Sanctuary State Governors were Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and New York Governor Kathy Hochul.

“Governor Pritzker, in his efforts to gain national headlines, has turned Illinois into a safe haven for illegal immigrant criminals who are terrorizing our communities,” Chesney said. “Pritzker is more interested in appealing to liberal elites than protecting Illinois families. His failed sanctuary state policies have cost the taxpayers of Illinois billions, and he will do anything to grab the national spotlight, even at the expense of the citizens he claims to represent.”

* More…

Fox 32 | Rep. Brandon Gill calls Pritzker a ‘lunatic’ over Illinois sanctuary laws:

* CNI | Pritzker to tell Congress ‘both parties are to blame’ for broken immigration system: “The governors of these states must explain why they are prioritizing the protection of criminal illegal aliens over the safety of U.S. citizens, and they must be held accountable,” committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky, said in a statement earlier this year.

…Adding… This could complicate matters…

A northwest suburban police department illegally shared automatic license plate reader information with a Texas sheriff searching for a woman who got an abortion, according to Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias.

Mount Prospect police have also shared license plate data in hundreds of immigration-related cases in violation of a state law that took effect last year, Giannoulias’ office says — and they’re probably not alone among Illinois departments cooperating with out-of-state law enforcement when they shouldn’t be. […]

A further probe found Mount Prospect plate data was accessed in 262 immigration-related matters during the first few months of this year alone. The violations could block the suburb from state grant funding.

Staggering domestic violence-related numbers documented in new report

Thursday, Jun 12, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller

* From a press release…

Today, The Network: Advocating Against Domestic Violence is releasing the third volume of its annual data report, Measuring Safety, covering key trends from calls to the Illinois Domestic Violence Hotline.

Measuring Safety reports assess various systems survivors of gender-based violence engage with to provide a comprehensive overview of survivor needs and systems responses. This volume specifically reviews resources provided and services requested through the Illinois Domestic Violence Hotline in 2024.

* Executive summary…

In the five years since pre-pandemic 2019, contact to the Illinois Domestic Violence Hotline (the Hotline) has more than doubled.

• In 2024, after years of steady growth, the Hotline received 59,704 contacts, a 26% increase in contact from 2023 and a 140% increase from 2019.
• This included increases from Cook County and the City of Chicago, which had seen stagnation in contact from 2019-2022.

Domestic violence shelter remains the number one need among survivors who contact the Hotline and shelter capacity is not able to meet demand.

• The Hotline received a record breaking 18,940 requests for shelter across Illinois in 2024, a 5% increase since 2023 and 112% increase since 2019.
• In Chicago, there were no available beds or cribs in DV shelters for 130 days in 2024.
• The shelter crisis was even more marked in the suburbs where there were no available beds or cribs in DV shelters for 173 days in 2024.

Demand for affordable and transitional housing also continued to skyrocket as shelters remained full.

• In 2024, the Hotline received 2,325 requests for affordable or transitional housing across Illinois, a 77% increase from 2023 and a staggering 383% increase from pre-pandemic 2019.
• Demand also grew locally, with 980 requests for affordable or transitional housing coming from Chicago, a 67% increase from 2023

In recognition of limited service capacity to meet survivor needs, The Hotline continued to expand its own supplemental programming to bridge the gap.

• In 2024, the Hotline provided hotel stays to 1,285 survivors and covering nearly $800,000 in housing costs, nearly 10 times the amount provided in 2023.
• In 2024, the Hotline’s Safe Rides program provided 2,233 rides to 3,456 passengers which was nearly double the number of passengers taken to safety compared to 2023 (94% increase).
• In 2024, the Hotline received 1,873 program requests for interpretation services across Illinois, representing a significant 223% increase compared to 2023 while followed a 241% increase compared to 2022.

Discuss.

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Field of soy dreams

Thursday, Jun 12, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* 2024 soybean cropland via NASA…

* More from NASA…

In Illinois, soybeans are big business. The state’s farmers harvested 64 bushels per acre in 2024, producing a record 688 million bushels of the versatile legume. The plant’s protein-rich beans are widely used as food for both livestock and people, as well as for the production of biodiesel and other industrial products.

The map above depicts data from the Cropland Data Layer, an annual, geo-referenced, crop-specific land cover dataset created by the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) for the contiguous United States. It uses data collected by Landsat satellites and Sentinel-2 to identify crop types. The elevation data layered onto the image comes from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM). Areas classified as soybean fields in 2024 are light green. Farmers in the Midwest often grow soybeans in rotation with other crops, usually corn and wheat.

The 2024 soybean harvest in Illinois was the nation’s largest, amounting to 16 percent of the total U.S. crop. A harvest of that scale supports tens of thousands of jobs and generates roughly $7 billion in economic output. Iowa trailed closely with 597 million bushels, followed by Indiana and Minnesota with 341 million and 329 million bushels, respectively.

Illinois growers benefit from having access to fertile soils, flat terrain that enables easy harvesting, and convenient transportation options and processing facilities. Soybeans are grown widely, with the exception of the Chicago area and the hilly region in the southern part of the state. McLean County, in east central Illinois, had the largest harvest of any U.S. county in 2024, producing 22.6 million bushels.

Illinois is also an important hub of agricultural innovation and research. Through the NASA Acres consortium, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is working with other universities on 14 programs designed to convert satellite data into useful information for farmers.

For instance, University of Illinois researcher Kaiyu Guan, chief scientist for NASA Acres, is leading an effort to combine satellite data with ground sampling and hyperspectral imaging to determine the optimal nitrogen levels for crops. Guan and colleagues recently released an online calculator—the Maximum Return To Nitrogen (MRTN) Tool—designed to help Illinois farmers maximize profit while minimizing environmental problems.

Pretty neat.

* Farm Week Now…

Of the 62 reporting counties in Illinois for 2024, more than half (37) averaged 200-plus bushels per acre for corn and more than a quarter (16) averaged 70-plus bushels per acre for soybeans. Statewide, yields averaged 217 bushels per acre for corn and 64 bushels for beans last year.

“If you think about the year weather-wise, it wasn’t the greatest,” [Brad Summa, regional director of field operations for the NASS Heartland Regional Office in St. Louis,] said. “It seems like we had just enough good weather to keep the crops going and on pace for these incredible yields.”

County corn yields in 2024 ranged from a high of 248 bushels per acre in Sangamon County to a low of 144.9 bushels in Williamson. Soybean yields ranged from a high of 77.8 bushels per acre in Macon County to a low of 43 bushels in Williamson.

McLean County once again led the state and nation for total production of corn (76.2 million bushels) and soybeans (22.6 million bushels) in 2024.

13 Comments

It’s almost a law

Thursday, Jun 12, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Tribune…

Last-minute changes approved by Illinois lawmakers in the waning days of the session will cost Chicago taxpayers tens of millions of dollars in their first year and billions over time by giving some police officers and firefighters more lucrative pensions.

Lead sponsor Sen. Robert Martwick, a Chicago Democrat, told the Tribune the tweaks were a negotiated fix agreed to by Mayor Brandon Johnson and Gov. JB Pritzker that was promised to both bring parity between Chicago and downstate first responders and help bridge a shortfall in benefits for employees hired after 2010. […]

Johnson’s finance team estimated the initial cost would be $52 million in 2027. Budget watchdogs warned it will add billions to the city’s pension liability, a figure that topped $37 billion by the end of 2023. […]

Dave Sullivan, a lobbyist for the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7, wrote in the union’s monthly newsletter that several years ago Pritzker called “personally to assure me that he would make Tier 2 parity … a reality,” and he looked forward to the governor’s signature.

Pritzker’s office didn’t respond to a question about whether there was such an agreement and said the bill was under review.

* WAND…

A bill on Gov. JB Pritzker’s desk could improve public safety while addressing the state’s appeals process for FOID card decisions. Sponsors said the plan will provide more due process for people whose FOID cards are revoked or denied.

Anyone can lose their FOID card if they are reported to the Illinois State Police as a danger to themselves or others by medical professionals, law enforcement, or school officials.

House Bill 850 could establish an expedited review process for people who believe they have been wrongly deemed a clear and present danger. Gun owners would be able to receive any information related to their case and object to redactions they feel are necessary for a full and fair review.

“We’re talking about situations where somebody has their FOID card revoked under Clear and Present Danger. There are a variety of elements under Clear and Present Danger,” said Rep. Bob Morgan (D-Highland Park). “Specifically, when they’ve had their FOID card revoked and they want to find out whether or not that was based on correct information, that piece is missing now. This language would provide that.”

* WCIA…

The Illinois Legislature passed a bill to the governor’s desk that would ban the use of therapy offered by Artificial Intelligence. Mental health professionals would also only be able to use AI transcriptions of sessions if the patient consents to it.

The National Association for Social Workers said while artificial intelligence could be a promising tool in the future, right now it is not bound by ethics.

“These AI chat bots, even though you can try to program as best as you can, they’re not human,” said Kyle Hillman, the legislative director for NASW-IL. “They don’t have that interaction they don’t have that kind of response. And so, they’re influenced by what kind of data comes into those products and that influence is changing the biases towards, I think, dangerous conservations.”[…]

If signed into law, Illinois would be the first state to ban these chatbots.

* Capitol News Illinois…

Under a bill awaiting the governor’s signature, certain insurance plans would have to cover hippotherapy and other forms of therapeutic horseback riding in Illinois.

Hippotherapy is a type of physical, occupational and speech therapy where the movement of a horse is used to treat a patient’s specific disability or disorder. The practice is used to treat conditions such as autism, cerebral palsy, arthritis, multiple sclerosis, strokes, head and spinal cord injuries, as well as behavioral disorders and psychiatric disorders, including PTSD.

Marita Wassman is the founder of Ride On St. Louis, a nonprofit organization that provides equine-assisted services to both children and adults in the St. Louis area. As one of five licensed certified therapeutic riding instructors at the advanced level in Missouri, Wassman’s stable has provided services to patients for over 27 years – the majority of whom she says are children needing physical or intellectual services.

A previous patient of hers was an 8-year-old girl with cerebral palsy who struggled to hold her head upright on her own for extended periods of time. After four months of treatment, Wassman said the girl’s parents reported that she was able to both sit and hold her head up for over an hour when they went out to dinner – when previously, she would rest her head on her arms for a majority of the dinner.

“If you were to go ride a horse for an hour, it could benefit you exactly the same way as if you did a powerwalk for an hour,” Wassman said. “And for people specifically who can’t get that on their own, who are in wheelchairs or even if they are ambulatory but don’t have a symmetrical movement, sitting on a horse that is nice and even is really going to help their muscles.” […]

Senate Bill 69 passed the Senate unanimously in April as well as the House in late May on a vote of 78-33. It will become law if signed by Gov. JB Pritzker.

* Rep. Joyce Mason…

A new measure led by state Rep. Joyce Mason, D-Gurnee, continues her commitment to public health by ensuring that Illinois catfish are processed safely and inspected thoroughly before being cleared for sale on the open market and human consumption.

“Allowing bad fish to make its way into our grocery stores presents a public health hazard,” Mason said. “The resulting spread of food poisoning and related illnesses, sudden burden on our hospitals and lasting blow to trust in the fish industry would pose serious challenges for our community. These new safeguards help prevent that harm.”

Mason has fought for the public safety of her community on a variety of fronts since she came into office, and taking a lead role in the passage of Senate Bill 2459 is another step forward for that cause. This measure makes small changes to definitions in the Illinois Meat and Poultry Inspection Act to allow catfish (Siluriformes fish) to be inspected by Illinois health experts.

Senate Bill 2459 received strong bipartisan support in the House and Senate and now goes to the Governor’s desk for consideration. It has the backing of the Illinois Department of Agriculture and the Illinois Freedom Civic Coalition.

“Maintaining public safety is a responsibility that requires a holistic approach,” Mason said. “We are always working on keeping violent criminals off our streets, ensuring that our water is safe to drink and our air is safe to breathe, advancing renewable energy technologies and, in this case, we are working on making sure the food we buy is safe to eat. This is a responsibility I take very seriously.”

* State Journal-Register…

House Bill 2516, commonly known as the PFAS Reduction Act, passed in the Senate in a vote 77 to 39. Beginning in 2032 the sale and distribution of certain items with intentionally added forever chemicals in the state will be against the law.

Unintentionally added PFAS that occur during the process of production through water contamination are not part of the bill, as well as firefighting foam, which is commonly made using PFAS.

Items protected from added PFAS under the bill are cosmetics, dental floss, children’s products, menstrual products and intimate apparel. […]

Originally, the bill called for implementation in 2026 and included cookware like nonstick pans and food storage to be lumped in with the rest of the list. In a senate amendment on May 13 however, the articles were dropped, and a clause was added requiring the EPA to prepare and submit a report to the General Assembly by August of 2027.

13 Comments

RETAIL: The Largest Employer In Illinois

Thursday, Jun 12, 2025 - Posted by Advertising Department

[The following is a paid advertisement.]

Retail creates more jobs in Illinois than any other private sector employer, with one out of every four workers employed by the retail sector. Importantly, retail is an industry in which everyone, regardless of credentials, can find a viable career path.

Retailers like Jackie in Macomb enrich our economy and strengthen our communities. We Are Retail and IRMA showcase the retailers who make Illinois work.

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Thursday, Jun 12, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Brian Wilson’s 1966 album Pet Sounds changed everything about everything. No joke…

You know it’s gonna make it that much better
When we can say goodnight and stay together

An absolute masterpiece. Everything about that song is perfect, particularly the demand for personal freedom during the post-war, outrageously ridiculous neo-Victorian hypocrisy. The record was one of the best psychedelic rock ‘n’ roll albums ever, with a hard Frank Sinatra swing.

Brian should’ve won a Nobel Prize.

* Also…

Here are the isolated vocals to the end of God Only Knows. Brian Wilson wrote and produced this at 23 years old pic.twitter.com/tZkgajBtCR

— Henry White (@Henry_White1996) June 11, 2025

RIP

What’s up?

17 Comments

Thursday, Jun 12, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* ICYMI: In House committee testimony, Pritzker will defend TRUST Act, point finger at ‘abuses of power.’ Sun-Times…

Click here to read the governor’s opening remarks and click here to watch Pritzker’s testimony at 9 am.

* Related stories…

∙ Tribune: Gov. JB Pritzker set to testify before congressional committee about sanctuary states amid immigration turmoil
∙ NBC Chicago: Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker testifies in DC about state’s immigration policies
∙ Fox Chicago: Pritzker to testify before Congress on Illinois sanctuary laws
∙ Capitol News Illinois: Pritzker to tell Congress ‘both parties are to blame’ for broken immigration system

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*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Sun-Times | Mt. Prospect probed for sharing Illinois license plate reader data in Texas abortion case: Mount Prospect police have also shared license plate data in hundreds of immigration-related cases in violation of a state law that took effect last year, Giannoulias’ office says — and they’re probably not alone among Illinois departments cooperating with out-of-state law enforcement when they shouldn’t be. That’s why the state is launching an audit to make sure police across Illinois are following the law that’s intended to shield people seeking abortions or lacking legal status from out-of-state prosecution, officials announced Thursday.

Secretary Giannoulias will announce new measures “aimed at preventing further abuse” today at 11 am.

* Sun-Times | Michael Madigan is being sentenced Friday. Here’s what you need to know.: U.S. District Judge John Blakey will have a lot of options when he sentences Madigan. Federal prosecutors have asked him to sentence Madigan to 12 ½ years. Madigan’s attorneys have asked for probation. Blakey is more likely to come down somewhere in the middle. Madigan is 83. And his circumstances are remarkably similar to that of ex-Chicago Ald. Edward M. Burke, who was sentenced to two years behind bars for racketeering last year amid the same investigation.

* Tribune | New paper sheds light on experience of Black prisoners in infamous Illinois prison malaria experiments: “They haven’t been properly acknowledged in the past, and their participation in these studies was really foundational in launching the field of pharmacogenetics and, later on, precision medicine,” said Allen, who recently completed her doctorate at the University of Utah. Starting in the 1940s, researchers infected inmates at the Joliet-area prison with malaria to test the effectiveness of drugs to treat the illness as part of a U.S. military-funded effort to protect American troops overseas, according to the paper. A University of Chicago doctor was the principal investigator. The inmates consented to being part of the studies and were paid for their participation.

*** Statehouse News ***

* WCIA | Illinois lawmakers allocate $35M to after-school programs: After months of demands from after-school advocates and tough budget decisions, lawmakers have allocated $35 million for after-school programs in the budget they passed at the end of May. Now, programs like the Central Illinois Boys and Girls Clubs are counting on the distribution of that funding and hoping to restart some of the services they lost. The lack of funding has had a ripple effect on many programs across the state, according to ACT Now.

* WJPF | Former IL State Senator Ken Buzbee passes away: Buzbee, a Democrat, was first elected to the state senate in 1972, where he served on several powerful committees, including Appropriations and Higher Education. In 1984, he chose not to seek re-election to the senate in order to run for Congress. Buzbee lost that primary election to the late Ken Gray.

*** Chicago ***

* Block Club Chicago | Chicago Braces For Surge In Immigration Raids As Mayor Brandon Johnson Urges City To ‘Resist’: Cristina Pacione-Zayas, Mayor Brandon Johnson’s chief of staff, said to reporters Wednesday city officials have been told federal agents received notice a day earlier that they had 48 hours to deploy to five Democrat-led cities, including Chicago. Pacione-Zayas said that the tactical teams would be “targeting workplaces in terms of the raids.” It comes as another anti-Trump rally is again expected to draw thousands Downtown this weekend.

* NBC Chicago | Woman speaks after she was struck by vehicle during Chicago immigration protest: “At one point I look behind and I saw a red car accelerating towards us my husband was able to jump out of the way but the next thing I knew people were getting me to the sidewalk and asking me if I needed an ambulance and I said yes because I hit my head,” she said. In addition to her fractured arm, Blair said she will have follow-up appointments for her teeth and face, but is thankful that a bad situation didn’t turn out worse.

* The Athletic | Sky’s Ariel Atkins says Angel Reese’s ‘crown is heavy,’ urges media to show more respect: “Whatever questions y’all got like about our team, basketball-wise, we appreciate it, but all the other nonsense, like it’s irrelevant. This is a 23-year-old kid who handles herself with grace. Her crown is heavy.” Atkins, 28, was acquired by the Sky in February to bring her defensive-minded leadership to the young Chicago roster. The two-time All-Star helped the Washington Mystics win the 2019 WNBA title.

* ABC Chicago | Pope Leo XIV wears Chicago White Sox hat at the Vatican: There’s now a mural at Rate Field near where he sat for that game. On Saturday, a video message from Pope Leo will play during a sold-out celebration and Mass at the ballpark. The big celebration starts around 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. You can watch it live on ABC7’s website and wherever you stream.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Southtown | Plaintiff in FOIA lawsuit won’t accept former Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard’s affidavit: An attorney for former Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard agreed Wednesday to amend an affidavit Henyard filed stating she does not possess documents sought through the Freedom of Information Act after the organization suing her claimed it did not meet state standards. Henyard’s attorney, Beau Brindley, reached the agreement ahead of Wednesday’s hearing held via Zoom after Cook County Judge Kate Moreland said Henyard would be fined $1,000 for each day she failed to either produce documents requested by the nonprofit Edgar County Watchdogs, or submit an affidavit explaining she didn’t possess them.

* Daily Herald | District 15 budget operating deficit could reach $7.2 million in 2026: Palatine Township Elementary District 15 is projecting a $7.2 million deficit in its operating revenues for the 2026 fiscal year and could see shrinking reserves. School finance officials presented the sobering forecast as they unveiled the tentative budget at Tuesday’s board meeting, attributing the shortfall to several key factors. That included the loss of dollars previously received from federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds and the Corporate Personal Property Replacement Tax.

* Daily Herald | Barrington officials say progress is being made on pedestrian gates at UP crossings: All parties agreed on a draft interim order to reimburse the village for engineering design costs, which is expected to be approved later this month. Union Pacific will begin its engineering design work soon, with an estimated completion time of four months, after which they will determine project costs and material needs, village officials said.

* Daily Herald | Arlington Heights mayor pushes for EV charger restrictions in basement garages: Prompted by nationwide instances of long-burning lithium ion battery car fires sparked during the charging process, village officials are in the early stages of drafting a local ordinance that would limit the locations of EV chargers in new construction properties. One of the example ordinances they’re looking at is from Rosemont, which placed a temporary moratorium on the installation of parking garage chargers in March. The local prohibition — prompted by a large electric vehicle fire on the first floor of the Fashion Outlets of Chicago garage in January 2024 — is believed to be the first approved by a municipality in Illinois.

* Daily Herald | New era, old name? Debate grows over honoring former mayor at new Schaumburg village hall as construction nears: Family members of Schaumburg’s influential early mayor Bob Atcher see no reason the new village hall shouldn’t carry his name like the recently demolished building. But current Mayor Tom Dailly isn’t so sure that will be the case when the paint dries and the doors are opened. “It’s not the old building,” Dailly said, referring to the 52-year-old Robert O. Atcher Municipal Center demolished in April. “It’s not a building that Mayor Atcher ever attended or had anything to do with its design.”

* Crain’s | North Aurora warehouse sale shows industrial property strength: The price at roughly $135 per square foot is well above the recent average for local industrial property sales, particularly ones along the outer edges of Chicago’s suburban collar. Rising rents along the Interstate 55 corridor that warehouse users have coveted have pushed more companies to lease industrial space even farther from the city. And with a lack of available sites closer to Chicago for large-scale industrial projects, investors see value in owning warehouses like Park 88 that might have been considered too far off the beaten path several years ago.

*** Downstate ***

* WGLT | Trump administration derails McLean County’s ‘equity’ initiative for digital literacy: McLean County Assistant Administrator Anthony Grant said the county appeared to be in great shape to get a nearly $1 million federal grant. He became concerned when he saw a social media post from President Trump in early May saying he was going to end the Digital Equity Act. Trump called the program a “racist and illegal $2.5 billion dollar giveaway.”

* WAND | Sangamon County regional morgue facility officially opens Wednesday: The new $6 million facility is located in the Sangamon South building, which was formerly the State Journal-Register building. Sangamon County says it “brings autopsy, storage, investigative, and administrative functions under one roof, creating a modern, centralized hub for coroner services in Central Illinois.” In response to growing case volumes, the facility also has a refrigerator that can hold up to 50 bodies, and a freezer that can hold an additional 12.

* WGLT | Bloomington mayor says proposed massage therapy ordinance needs input from businesses: Bloomington Mayor Dan Brady thinks there is a need for more regulation of massage businesses to prevent sex trafficking, and agrees the city council did the right thing in postponing consideration of an ordinance to achieve that. Brady said the city needs to do more work to see how local regulation fits with existing state rules governing such businesses. “There has been movement in Peoria, Springfield — when I say movement, I mean ordinances similar to what Bloomington is trying to do. And I think there is a need for it,” Brady said in an interview on WGLT’s Sound Ideas.

* WMBD | McLean County Executive Committee approves $1.34 million grant for non-congregate shelter village: The McLean County Executive Committee unanimously approved a proposal for grant funding for the non-congregate shelter village project. The $1.34 million will go towards The Bridge shelter village. The committee sat through a presentation showcasing the plan for The Bridge. There will be 48 units, 40 for single occupancy and eight for double occupancy. Residents will also have a clubhouse with a kitchen, gathering spaces and an off-leash dog area for pets.

* WAND | Former coach named in lawsuit alleging sexual misconduct at Paxton-Buckley-Loda: The 14-count civil lawsuit was filed on Friday, June 6, by civil rights attorney Bhavani Raveendran on behalf of three plaintiffs: a former student, a parent of a former student, and a parent of a current student. The lawsuit seeks over $50,000 in damages for each count.

* WGLT | ISU looks for a consultant to create master plan for campus housing and dining: The project description envisions a three-phase assessment of housing and dining operations. Phases I and II will consist of an assessment of the current conditions and operations of residential facilities on campus. The goal of phase III is to produce a 10-year master plan for both housing and dining at ISU.

* WSPD | WPSD temporary set to be upgraded in July: The new, state-of-the-art set will have a wall that will wrap around a majority of the studio. It will have the WPSD Local 6 logo and various LED lights built into it. Large monitors will provide space for journalists to report in the studio, instead of at the anchor desk like with the temporary set. Michael Wright, owner of Wright Set, worked to produce the WPSD Local 6 set design for nearly one year. He has previously worked on two set updates for WPSD in the past, but has never completely rebuilt it. Upon the design completion, the design was given to Culton Companies, who have been working on constructing the set pieces since May of 2025.

*** National ***

* Military.com | Bragg Soldiers Who Cheered Trump’s Political Attacks While in Uniform Were Checked for Allegiance, Appearance: Internal 82nd Airborne Division communications reviewed by Military.com reveal a tightly orchestrated effort to curate the optics of Trump’s recent visit, including handpicking soldiers for the audience based on political leanings and physical appearance. The troops ultimately selected to be behind Trump and visible to the cameras were almost exclusively male. One unit-level message bluntly said “no fat soldiers.”

* WaPo | RFK Jr. picks new members of influential vaccine committee after purge: His picks for the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices include a well-known pediatric infectious-diseases expert and at least three people who have criticized the use of mRNA coronavirus vaccines. Some of the more notable selections include Martin Kulldorff, the co-author of the Great Barrington Declaration, which called for herd immunity through mass covid infection in 2020, and Vicky Pebsworth, who is listed on the board of the nation’s oldest anti-vaccine group.

* WaPo | Fulbright board resigns over alleged Trump administration interference: The board accused the White House of denying Fulbright awards to a “substantial” number of individuals who were selected for the 2025-2026 academic year through a rigorous, merit-based process. The board also alleged that the administration is putting an additional 1,200 foreign Fulbright recipients through an “unauthorized review process” that could lead to the termination of their awards.

11 Comments

Thursday, Jun 12, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

Thursday, Jun 12, 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.

City officials: ICE tactical teams on standby for Chicago deployment

Wednesday, Jun 11, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* CBS Chicago…

City officials confirmed reports that President Trump is sending ICE tactical teams to Chicago, a move that precipitated massive protests in Los Angeles.

At a Wednesday afternoon news conference, Chief of Staff Cristina Pacione-Zayas said the city has received word that the tactical teams were given 48-hour notice to “stand by and be ready to deploy.”

“There will be tactical teams, mini-tanks, other tools they use in which they plan to do raids, as we saw in Los Angeles,” Pacione-Zayas said.

Mayor Brandon Johnson confirmed he had spoken with Gov. JB Pritzker about an hour before the news conference, as well as Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, and that he is working to coordinate with both the state and county about these tactical teams. They are keeping open lines of communication, Johnson said.

* NBC Chicago…

According to the sources, the teams will be activated in Seattle, Chicago, Philadelphia, northern Virginia, including Washington, D.C., and New York.

It is not clear if raids in these regions will begin immediately, but units in those areas have been told to be ready to deploy, the sources said.

The potential deployments come amid protests nationwide driven by anger over Trump’s stepped-up enforcement of immigration laws that critics say are tearing apart migrant families.

“It’s a moment for our communities to come together,” Brandon Lee, communications director at Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, told NBC Chicago. “It’s a moment for us to make sure we are looking out for one another and it’s a moment to make it plain and clear that it is ICE and the Trump administration that is making the communities less safe.”

11 Comments

Wednesday, Jun 11, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Politico…

Trump’s aggressive action in California — sending in the National Guard and Marines to deal with protests typically handled by local police — is putting Democrats across the country on the spot. […]

Illinois Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth issued statements Tuesday condemning violence caused by protesters and also attacking Trump’s actions. And Illinois Atty. Gen. Kwame Raoul said he supports a California lawsuit filed against Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in response to their “unlawful orders to federalize the California National Guard,” according to a statement.

Raoul said local police can handle any Illinois protest, and he pointed to demonstrations during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago last summer as an example. “Local law enforcement knows how to best protect both free speech and public safety,” he said.

* Tribune…

The Tribune is launching a series of special reports analyzing the hurdles many farmers face in trying to be good stewards of the land as climate change intensifies. Experts preach growing a variety of crops as weather resilience and food security strategies. But Illinois farmers report that the labor demands of fruits and vegetables and the rising cost of that labor are deterrents to growing anything but corn and soybeans.

While most produce must be handpicked from trees, vines and bushes, expansive and uniform rows of corn and soybeans cater to repetitive processes that are relatively simple to automate. Combines have been used to harvest grain and beans since the 1930s.

Engineers are betting that, one day, artificial intelligence will provide a means of meeting the more delicate labor demands of specialty crops. […]

“You identify the fruit, reach the fruit and put it in a container. You need a brain and vision or you need a computer and cameras to see the fruit and complete the process,” said Yuzhen Lu, an assistant professor of biosystems and agricultural engineering at Michigan State University.

Drawing on advances in facial recognition technologies and autonomous vehicles, Lu and his team aspire to develop an AI-powered robot that can recognize and harvest fruits and vegetables.

* WAND…

The theme of the 2025 Illinois State Fair will be Adventure Awaits.

The Twilight Parade will kick off at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 7. That starts the 11-day celebration at the state fairgrounds. […]

“The Twilight Parade is the perfect way to kick off this adventure,” said Jerry Costello II, Director of the Illinois Department of Agriculture. “This year’s theme invites every fairgoer to discover something new, and it all starts with the parade.”

*** Statewide ***

* Crain’s | State colleges are cutting back as funding falls and costs rise: Since 2010, Illinois State University has raised annual in-state tuition by nearly $1,200 as state funding tumbled 34% to $80 million a year. With a $12 million deficit this academic year, the university has suspended salary increases for faculty and staff, cut department allocations for travel and research and delayed capital improvements. “This was a shock to many on campus, because they never believed this could happen to us,” says ISU President Aondover Tarhule.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Daily Herald | New Illinois laws aim to make streets safer for bikers, pedestrians: The Micromobility Fire Safety Act (SB2247) will keep e-bike and e-scooter riders safer, especially anyone living above a bike shop. Let me explain. Whether manufactured, sold, or leased/rented in Illinois, SB2247 requires electrical systems and batteries of these mobility devices meet safety standards certified by an accredited lab. It also prohibits assembling/reconditioning rechargeable lithium-ion batteries from used ones. Components meeting standards are less likely to spark fires in garages, repair shops, or elsewhere.

* Sun-Times | FanDuel eyes 50-cent fee on every Illinois sports bet, thanks to new state tax: They’ll start adding the $0.50 fee to online betting tickets Sept. 1, Jackson said — just in time for the gambling glut of a new NFL season. […] The budget package approved by the Illinois General Assembly May 31 calls for licensed sportsbooks to pay a tax of $0.25 for each of the first 20 million wagers they accept per year, then $0.50 for every bet beyond that. Those levies will take effect July 1, pending Gov. JB Pritzker’s expected signing of the budget.

*** Chicago ***

* WTTW | CTA Leader Warns of ‘Severe and Sobering’ Choices Ahead if State Lawmakers Don’t Come Through With Transit Funding: Speaking at the agency’s board meeting Wednesday, Leerhsen cautioned that there will be no changes to CTA service during 2025 and highlighted ongoing plans to boost frequency and adjust certain bus routes aimed at improving rider experience. But Leerhsen said the agency will soon consider multiple plans for next year: one based on Chicago-area transit receiving some $1.5 billion in annual state funding, as transit agencies, advocates and lawmakers have discussed; one that anticipates lawmakers only addressing the coming fiscal cliff created by COVID-19 relief money drying up; and one that anticipates no additional funding state funding, necessitating “draconian” service cuts.

* Sun-Times | 17 arrested, 4 charged with felonies as thousands gathered for anti-ICE protests in downtown Chicago: A 66-year-old woman broke her arm in a hit-and-run when a red 2003 Kia Spectra drove through a group of protesters in the street, officials said. The victim, who broke her arm as the car fled the scene, was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital where she was treated and released, officials said.

* Block Club | Uber Overcharged Riders Nearly $1.8 Million In Congestion Fees, City Records Show: The overcharges were paid to the city, which routinely collects the congestion fees from Uber. Now, Uber is asking the city to pay them the nearly $1.8 million back. “As is procedure with overpayments, we asked for a credit for future payments,” Uber spokesman Josh Gold said in the statement. The city’s finance department, which collects the surcharge fees from Uber, did not return a request for comment.

* Crain’s | City Council members could soon have blanket power to ban Airbnb from their wards: An ordinance introduced by Far Northwest Side Ald. Anthony Napolitano, 41st, was approved in committee today with little opposition. It would give the local alderman the ability to ban short-term rentals on a precinct level in his or her ward. Residents and the companies could attempt to overcome the ban by collecting the signatures of at least 10% of registered voters in the precinct.

* Sun-Times | A Chicago judge says an immigrant who was framed for threatening Trump can be freed: A Chicago judge ruled on Tuesday that a Mexican immigrant who was falsely accused of threatening to assassinate President Donald Trump can be released from a Wisconsin prison on bond. In federal immigration court, Judge Carla Espinoza said Ramon Morales Reyes did not pose a risk to the community. That contradicts a statement released by the Department of Homeland Security in late May, which accused Morales Reyes of authoring a letter that detailed a plot to shoot Trump. The statement included Morales Reyes’ photo and a screenshot of the letter he allegedly wrote.

* Crain’s | American Bar Association defends role reviewing judges against Trump AG’s freeze-out: ABA President Bill Bay disputed the bias claims in a letter to Bondi, noting the ABA’s standing committee on the federal judiciary has given “qualified” or “well-qualified” ratings to at least 96.9% of each president’s nominees during the past 20 years, which includes the first Trump administration. “Your statements that the ABA is an activist organization and the suggestions that what the ABA may or may not support somehow permeates the ratings process are unsupported by the facts,” Bay’s letter said.

* WBEZ | Are healthy Chicago trees getting the ax?: Schucher isn’t alone in noticing supposedly healthy trees being cut down in Chicago. But officials from the Department of Streets and Sanitation say the timber does not come down so easily. What might appear to be a healthy tree is likely dead or diseased and could be a hazard to residents. The health of Chicago’s urban forest goes beyond safety and aesthetics. Experts say the city’s tree canopy provides $416 million in benefits like energy cost savings, stormwater mitigation and air purification. However, the city has a wide tree canopy disparity, compounded by an old urban forestry system. In recent years, the city has sought to revamp that system and is working to improve how it manages its trees.

* Crain’s | What’s next for the Hancock’s 95th floor? A new view is coming to the old Signature Room: 360 Chicago will become the city’s first multilevel observation deck, taking up the 95th floor in the former John Hancock Center at 875 N. Michigan Ave., as well as the 94th, which it currently occupies, the company announced today. The floor above will be turned into a private event space, envisioned as a premier destination for celebrations and corporate gatherings.

* Tribune | Chicago Street Race adds Arby’s as major sponsor for July Fourth NASCAR event: Arby’s, which is new to NASCAR, is replacing Chicago-based McDonald’s as a major sponsor of the street race. In addition to race weekend visibility and promotions, Arby’s is offering chances through June 22 to win tickets to the Chicago Street Race at 47 restaurants in the city and suburbs. The unique event on the NASCAR calendar features an Xfinity Series race on July 5, and the nationally televised Grant Park 165 Cup Series race on July 6.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Herald | Palatine Township mental health board appointed amid controversy: Referendum organizer Justin O’Rourke criticized the lack of transparency in the selection process, noting at least one trustee hadn’t received the names of appointees as of Sunday. “Do the trustees even know right now the names of the appointments that they’re going to be voting on?” he asked.

* Aurora Beacon-News | Kane County Regional Office of Education Superintendent Patricia Dal Santo retiring: And, in her place, the Kane County Board appointed John Jonak at Tuesday’s board meeting to serve the rest of her term as superintendent. Jonak was originally set to serve as an assistant regional superintendent in the office, succeeding Deanna Oliver, who is also retiring per the Kane County Regional Office of Education. But Dal Santo, upon deciding to retire, recommended Jonak to the county board for the superintendent position, a spokesperson for the office told The Beacon-News.

* Daily Herald | ‘A very good vibe’: New businesses discuss their moves to Schaumburg: Four businesses that recently moved to or are relocating to Schaumburg discussed their experiences Tuesday during the Schaumburg Business Association’s Mid-Year Economic Update. They ranged from Wheels, Inc., which manages 900,000 vehicles for clients in 58 countries from its new headquarters in the iconic Zurich North America building, to Sweet Reserve Cafe & Bakery, which chose the village’s Town Square for its fourth location.

* Lake County News-Sun | Lake County arts website launched; ‘A place for the promotion and connection … to arts and culture’: ArtsLink North launched its website in early June for residents of Lake County and visitors to the area, giving them an opportunity for one-stop shopping for a wide variety of artistic and cultural events from Highland Park to Antioch, and Waukegan to Barrington. At the top of the website are eight headings — theatre and dance, music, film, visual art, literary, museum, family and festivals. A click on one of the headings, like theatre and music, shows “Hairspray” at the PM&L Theatre in Antioch through June 22.

* Fox Chicago | Steve Carell to deliver Northwestern commencement address: Carell, known for his roles in “The Office,” and “The Morning Show,” will also receive an honorary Doctor of Arts degree during the ceremony. “Steve Carell is an absolute treasure, and I am thrilled he will be our commencement speaker,” Northwestern President Michael Schill said in a statement. “Steve is such a versatile actor, who brings humor and humanity to every role.”

*** Downstate ***

* The Telegraph | Jersey County treasurer sentenced for $58K theft from public funds: A former Jersey County Treasurer pleaded guilty and was sentenced Monday for taking more than $50,000 from the county. Katie Abbey, 37, pleaded guilty June 9 to theft by deception, a Class 1 felony, during a hearing before Sangamo County Circuit Court Chief Judge Daniel Wright.

* BND | Metro-east solar company uses farmers instead of mowers to do their lamb-scaping: Utilizing the sheep comes with the benefit of establishing partnerships with agricultural entities, keeping local farmers and shepherds employed in non-traditional way, an official with Pivot says. While solar companies get a low-cost means of keeping their locations tidy, farmers get new grazing land for their livestock. “As farmers, we’re always looking to build our herd,” says Curtis Thompson, owner of Freedom Farms in Kinmundy in Marion County. “To do that, we always need new pastures. This helps provide that — it’s a win-win.”

* WSIL | Carbondale federal building vandalized; FBI vows justice: Authorities said the incident occurred on June 10, when individuals gathered outside the entrance of the Senator Paul Simon Federal Building. During the gathering, some participants reportedly defaced the building’s exterior, and officials are currently assessing the damage.

*** National ***

* The Hill | Two-thirds support policies prioritizing birth sex over gender identity: Gallup: Roughly two-thirds of Americans support policies preventing transgender people from participating on sports teams that match their gender identity or changing their sex designation on government documents such as passports and driver’s licenses, according to a poll released Tuesday by Gallup.

* QuinniPac University | Majority Of Voters Oppose GOP Budget Bill, With Just 67% Of Republicans In Support, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; Trump Job Approval: 38%, His Handling Of Russia - Ukraine War Lowest Among List Of Issues: Nearly half of voters (47 percent) think federal funding for Medicaid should increase, 40 percent think it should stay about the same, and 10 percent think federal funding for Medicaid should decrease. Among Republicans, 21 percent think federal funding for Medicaid should increase, 56 percent think it should stay about the same, and 18 percent think it should decrease. Among Democrats, 69 percent think federal funding for Medicaid should increase, 27 percent think it should stay about the same, and 2 percent think it should decrease. Among independents, 47 percent think federal funding for Medicaid should increase, 39 percent think it should stay about the same, and 11 percent think it should decrease.

* WIRED | A Political Battle Is Brewing Over Data Centers: A senior official directly involved in negotiations in the Energy and Commerce Committee told WIRED that restricting states’ rights over data centers, including the use of water, is not the intent of the moratorium—something lawmakers should have “communicated better.” Rather, the goal was to establish a framework for regulating AI models at the federal level and to avoid any confusion that might come with a patchwork of state policies. […] While the intent of the AI moratorium may not have been to regulate physical infrastructure, the reaction from Massie illustrates just how much of a hot-button issue data centers are becoming across the country.

Pritzker set to face congressional questions on Illinois sanctuary laws

Caption contest!

Wednesday, Jun 11, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Paging Tom DeVore…

14 Comments

Wednesday, Jun 11, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* CBS Chicago…

Gov. JB Pritzker will head to Washington, D.C., on Thursday to testify before Congress about Illinois’ sanctuary laws protecting undocumented immigrants.

In April, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman Rep. James Comer (R-Kentucky) called on Pritzker, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to come before the committee.

Aides for Pritzker said he will defend the Illinois Trust Act, saying it’s fully compliant with federal law.

“Despite the rhetoric of Republicans in Congress, this public safety law ensures law enforcement can focus on doing their jobs well while empowering all members of the public, regardless of immigration status, to feel comfortable calling police officers and emergency services if they are in need of help,” Pritzker spokesman Alex Gough said last month after the governor agreed to testify at the hearing. […]

Pritzker has said the legislation, which was signed into law by Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner in 2017, is meant to make all people living in the state comfortable to call police for help, regardless of their immigration status.

Click here for an Illinois Trust Act primer.

Thoughts?

42 Comments

It’s almost a law

Wednesday, Jun 11, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias…

Several initiatives spearheaded by Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias aimed at enhancing road safety, bolstering library security and modernizing the office to boost efficiency were approved by state lawmakers. […]

House Bill 1226 calls for enhanced safeguards to bolster road safety while increasing the age at which Illinois drivers must take a behind-the-wheel driving test from 79 to 87.

The bill would establish new procedures aimed at preventing unsafe motorists – regardless of age – from driving. If a motorist’s driving skills begin to significantly decline or cognitive or medical issues prevent safe driving, immediate relatives could request that the Secretary of State’s office review a submitted written report, which could require the driver to undergo a driving test or submit a medical report from their physician.

Illinois is currently one of only five states that do not allow immediate family members to report concerns about a relative’s driving ability. In addition, Illinois is the only state in the nation that requires a behind-the-wheel driving test for seniors based on age. […]

House Bill 1576 would modernize the way the Illinois Court of Claims functions and expedite the business of the court, which is reliant on paper filings and in-person sessions that can cause delays.

The measure enables the court to hold sessions remotely and allows the public to file claims, provide evidence or testimony, and pay fees electronically. [..]

House Bill 2983 is a piece of multi-pronged legislation that would add protections to prevent Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) exam cheating, allow the office to administer tests online and enhance bicycle safety.

The measure criminalizes any attempt to have someone else provide answers to an individual taking a CDL exam, including attempts to use a hidden microphone or cell phone.

* Advantage News…

Planned Parenthood Illinois Action is celebrating the passage of a new law that broadens access to abortion medications on public college campuses across Illinois.

House Bill 3709 will require public colleges with health services and pharmacies to provide abortion medications starting in the 2025–2026 school year. Gov. J.B. Pritzker on social media said he’d sign HB 3709 and shared a video of University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign student Emma Darbo.

“It would eliminate a big barrier for students in terms of accessibility, affordability and other unique obstacles that students are facing, whether it be cost, insurance coverage, or transportation,” said Darbo of the Illinois Planned Parenthood Generation Action student chapter.

The bill followed a UIUC student referendum in spring 2024 that showed strong campus support for expanding reproductive health access, including at the McKinley Health Center. Student leaders Darbro and Grace Hosey later testified before legislative committees to push the bill forward.

* WIFR…

Several libraries in Illinois received violent threats in recent years according to the Secretary of State’s Office.

That led lawmakers to pass a bill to help libraries increase safety measures. All it needs now is Governor JB Pritzker’s signature. […]

[SB 1550] will allow the Secretary of State’s Office to issue security grants for libraries throughout the state, ensuring their ability to provide a safe environment for patrons, employees and the community.

“Smaller libraries that do not have the budget because of property taxes but do have a population that is much larger than ours will really benefit from a grant to get security cameras and silent alarms,” [Byron Public Library Director Jason Shirley] said.

* Brownfield Ag News…

The president of the Illinois Fertilizer and Chemical Association says lawmakers have overwhelmingly approved changes to the state’s pesticide applicator licensing process.

Kevin Johnson says the bill allowing recertification through continuing education instead of a required test every three years is headed to the Governor’s desk.

“What we would like to see is an option like what most states have around us.” He says, “Pass that test the first time, but then take continuous education classes to keep up your license.” […]

Johnson says if signed into law, the measure goes into effect January 1st, but it’ll likely take up to a year to fully institute the changes. He says the current recertification test every three years would remain an option for applicators.

* WTVO…

The Illinois Senate passed [House Bill 3140] that would ensure long-term veterinary care for retired K9s.

Illinois State Police are expected to create the Police K9 Care Fund, which would award grants to handlers.

The grants would provide up to $1,500 in veterinary care reimbursements. […]

The bill now heads to Governor Pritzker’s desk to be signed into law.

* Rep. Gregg Johnson…

A new measure led by state Rep. Gregg Johnson, D-Rock Island, will strengthen public safety by stepping up enforcement of anti-human trafficking protections at hotels.

“Human trafficking is an atrocious crime and a terrible reality for far too many communities here in Illinois,” Johnson said. “We have a responsibility as legislators—and human beings—to do everything in our power to fight human trafficking. This legislation will help prevent and protect the most vulnerable among us, including children, before they become victims.”

Continuing his record of fighting for public safety, Johnson led the House effort to pass Senate Bill 1422. This legislation gives law enforcement agencies the authority to monitor and enforce compliance with the Lodging Services Human Trafficking Recognition Training Act, which requires hotel and lodging service employees to be trained to identify the signs of human trafficking. Employers repeatedly violating this act after notification can face fines.

Senate Bill 1422 had unanimous support in the House and Senate, and now heads to the governor’s desk for signature. It has the support of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association and the Illinois Hotel and Lodging Association.

* Rep. Thaddeus Jones…

State Rep. Thaddeus Jones, D-Calumet City, passed Senate Bill 1418 out of the House. [The] legislation expands coverage for lifesaving screenings for Peripheral Artery Disease, a condition impacting 21 million Americans annually and disproportionately Black and Hispanic populations. […]

The Jones-backed Senate Bill 1418 would require new and renewing health coverage plans to include annual Peripheral Artery Disease screenings for at-risk individuals.

“The Illinois chapter of the American College of Cardiology wishes to thank Chairman Jones for his leadership and advocacy of this vital legislation,” said Dr. Benjamin Freed, Governor of the Illinois ACC Chapter. […]

Peripheral Artery Disease (P.A.D.) occurs when there is a severe blockage in the blood vessels flowing to and from the arms and legs. This is most commonly caused by a build up of plaque along the inside of the arteries. Typical P.A.D. cases lead to chronic numbness, developing sores, or muscle atrophy. In severe cases, this decreased blood flow can cause tissue death, leading to the amputation of the limbs. These P.A.D.-related amputations account for 85% of all amputation cases yearly. With earlier, covered screening, these amputations can be prevented.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1 in every 20 Americans over the age of 50 has P.A.D. Additionally, African-Americans are twice as likely to be diagnosed with P.A.D. as their white counterparts.

The bill now heads to the governor for final consideration.

* WCIA…

A bill that passed out of the capitol last month would stop fitness centers from deceptive lifetime memberships.

It would require owners to be transparent about any changes in prices or benefits. […]

“I understand it’s easier to bring in revenue as a gym owner if you have them sign a longer contract, but in the grand scheme of things … you’re going to have that moment where you’ve got to do things you don’t want to do if you have them sign a contract,” said Jeremy Ferry, owner of Pure Performance Fitness Center.

The bill has some exceptions, including if the gym is sold to new management or if a customer agrees to revisit the contract within writing.

5 Comments

More Bears clickbait from the Tribune

Wednesday, Jun 11, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Chicago Tribune…

In a move sure to lend further credence to the view that the Chicago Bears will build a new stadium in Arlington Heights, Kevin Warren, the team’s president and CEO, in May paid $2.25 million for a five-bedroom, 8,725-square-foot shingle-style mansion in Lake Forest.

Um, I’m not saying that the Bears are staying at Soldier Field. I’m just saying that Lake Forest is also where the Bears’ Halas Hall headquarters is located. All Bears players and coaches spend more time in Lake Forest than at Soldier Field.

25 Comments

Wednesday, Jun 11, 2025 - Posted by Advertising Department

[The following is a paid advertisement.]

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.

Meanwhile, tax-exempt hospitals cash in – and PBMs get a cut too.

Comments Off

Wednesday, Jun 11, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* What’s going on in your part of Illinois?…

Wednesday, Jun 11, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* ICYMI: Feds to retry Sen. Emil Jones III after mistrial on bribery, lying to FBI charges. Capitol News Illinois…

* Related stories…

∙ Tribune: Feds say they will retry Illinois state Sen. Emil Jones III on bribery charges after jury deadlocked in April
∙ Sun-Times: Feds want new trial for state Sen. Emil Jones III

***************** Advertisement *****************

Sponsored by Community Action for Responsible Hospitals

*************************************************

* Governor JB Pritzker has no public events scheduled for today.

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

LIVE coverage 6:30 PM @BlueRoomStream:

Senator Feigenholtz and Senator Villivalam Transit Webinar (Post-Session Transit Update). Virtual.#Illinois #twill

— BlueRoomStream (@BlueRoomStream) June 11, 2025

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Crain’s | Rush, Lurie get state funds to beef up ability to deal with high-risk pathogens like Ebola: Under separate agreements, Rush will receive $900,000 and Lurie will get $600,000. IDPH said in its release the federal government maintains a national network of 13 Regional Emerging Special Pathogen Treatment Centers, but there are none in Illinois. With the closest being in Michigan and Minnesota, transporting Illinois residents to those centers “is both logistically and clinically challenging,” the release said.

* Tribune | Troubled Cook County tech firm used insider lobbyist who was later convicted in ComEd corruption scheme: As a fledgling tech contractor looking to build its business in the insular world of Cook County politics, Texas-based Tyler Technologies turned to one of Illinois’ most well-connected lobbyists to get the job done. […] There is no direct connection between Jay Doherty’s work for ComEd and what he did for Tyler. Unlike Tyler’s efforts seeking contract opportunities, the ComEd case detailed a vast criminal scheme of bribery and influence peddling as part of the utility’s efforts to get legislation passed. But interviews and records about Doherty’s work for Tyler and details from his 2023 trial reveal striking parallels in how he repeatedly smoothed paths for both clients, including creating informal interactions at City Club events attended by government officials so the two sides could discuss business outside the office.

*** Statewide ***

* Capitol News Illinois | Despite setbacks, gun rights groups continue push to overturn Illinois assault weapons ban: In briefs filed Friday with the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, attorneys representing plaintiffs challenging the law urged the court to uphold the decision of a lower court judge in East St. Louis who said the law violates the Second Amendment because it bans weapons that are commonly used for lawful purposes like self-defense. Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s office is appealing that decision, arguing that the weapons banned under the law such as the AK-47, AR-15 and other similar firearms are primarily military in nature and therefore are not protected by the Second Amendment. The state has until June 27 to file a response to the gun industry’s brief. The court is then expected to set a date for oral arguments, possibly later this year.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Tribune | Illinois Senate President Don Harmon faces potential $9.8 million fine for improperly accepting campaign cash: State election officials have informed Senate President Don Harmon that he will face more than $9.8 million in penalties pending an appeal of a case alleging he broke an Illinois election law designed to rein in big money in political campaigns. The calculation of the potential penalty emerged only days after the Oak Park Democrat attempted to pass legislation designed to wipe away the election board case and the potential penalties, a maneuver stymied amid bipartisan backlash only hours before the spring session adjourned early June 1.

* WGLT | Central Illinois GOP lawmakers host online town hall to discuss the spring session: The town hall took place online on Sen. Sally Turner’s Facebook page. Turner was accompanied by Rep. Bill Hauter and Rep. Regan Deering, who each represent parts of McLean County. The lawmakers said they were disappointed with the final days of the session, citing the last-second discussion of the budget and the new taxes worth up to $1 billion.

* Fox Chicago | Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker preps to defend sanctuary laws in front of Congress: The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing will get underway at 9 a.m. Chicago time on Thursday. The hearing will feature some of the most firebrand members of Congress, including Republicans like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, and Nancy Mace, as well as Democratic members like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jasmine Crockett.

* Ouch…

Thank you @MartyForIL for your kind words about the General Assembly’s historic $122 million investment in Lake County Stormwater. You may have voted NO on this project for five straight years, but deep down you know our budgets are big winners for the people of Lake County! pic.twitter.com/h5TrFy1w8k

— Rep. Daniel Didech (@RepDidech) June 10, 2025

*** Chicago ***

* The American Prospect | Chicago’s Public Transit Is in Limbo: Since the operators receive federal money, they will need to make cuts in accordance with Title VI, which mandates that any service changes don’t disproportionately affect people of color or low-income people. The operators will need to study which lines and bus routes to cut, and then hold public forums where community members can comment on the proposed changes.

* Sun-Times | Car plows through Chicago protest as thousands rally in solidarity with L.A. anti-ICE demonstrations: Shortly after the car plowed through the crowd, it appeared to hit a woman who fell to the ground. Protesters gathered around her to offer help. Chicago police did not release information about the driver as of late Tuesday night, and it wasn’t immediately clear if anyone was hospitalized.

* Crain’s | Rideshare pay ordinance faces crucial vote — and deep divisions — in City Council: The amended ordinance, scheduled to go before the Workforce Development Committee on June 12, would establish a $7 minimum payment to drivers for every trip. Drivers would receive $1.50 per mile and 62 cents per minute for every drive, with annual inflationary increases. The proposed wage formula would account for the time drivers are logged in to the app, waiting to be dispatched for a pickup.

* Tribune | Alderman seeks power to ban short-term rentals from Chicago precincts: If a Far Northwest Side alderman gets his way, Chicago City Council members could gain the authority to block short-term rentals like Airbnb’s from popping up in their wards. Ald. Anthony Napolitano, 41st, is pushing forward legislation that would give aldermen the ability to unilaterally ban new rentals on a precinct-by-precinct level. The rental companies could overturn the bans by collecting signatures from 10% of the precinct voters, around 150 to 200 signatures, he said.

* Block Club Chicago | Speed Camera Installed At Dangerous Intersection, But NW Side Neighbors Say It’s Not Enough: A speed camera has been installed at a dangerous Northwest Side intersection where multiple pedestrians have been hit in the past year. Neighbors, however, say slowing drivers down won’t solve everything. Arlene Luna opened Moonwalker cafe in 2022 at the intersection at Belmont and Karlov avenues, where the speed camera was recently put in place. Since opening the cafe, she’s witnessed several crashes at the intersection.

* Sun-Times | Outgoing CPS CEO bids farewell to Chicago at graduation ceremony at his alma mater: The graduation ceremony for John A. Walsh, which Pedro Martinez attended, was held at Benito Juarez Community Academy, the high school he graduated from. “I want to thank the community and most importantly the district, which has given me so much,” Pedro Martinez said.

* Sun-Times | Former Chicago cop Eric Tabb pleads guilty to aggravated battery: The case against Eric Tabb was highlighted in an Invisible Institute-ProPublica investigation that found that Chicago police officials have frequently failed to vigorously investigate allegations of sexual misconduct made against city officers. Tabb, 35, pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated battery in a public place, a Class 3 felony, and was sentenced to 30 months of probation. As part of a plea agreement, Tabb’s charges were reduced and he was required to enroll in a sex offender program.

* Sun-Times | Planned Parenthood-affiliated group at DePaul is disbanded: DePaul told the organization, Planned Parenthood Generation Action DePaul University, that the university does not allow student groups to work with outside organizations “whose core missions are in direct conflict with the values and teachings of the Catholic Church.”

* Block Club Chicago | As Top Street Fest Producer Closes, Lawsuit Emerges Over Handling Of Taste Of Randolph: The West Loop Community Organization filed a lawsuit in August accusing Star Events of underreporting revenue, inflating expenses and mishandling ticket sales for Taste of Randolph, one of the city’s best-known summer street festivals, which takes place Friday through Sunday. The lawsuit stems from public backlash over how the festival was managed, including concerns about how donations were collected, which has been previously reported by Block Club.

* Block Club | Failed Crosstown Expressway Could Become Bike Trail Connecting Bucktown To Botanic Gardens: The 3.2-mile trail would follow a Union Pacific rail line and connect The 606 to the North Branch Trail. The freight rail line was once proposed for the Crosstown Expressway, which was successfully shut down by neighbors.

* Block Club Chicago | XS Tennis Wants To Expand Washington Park ‘Tennis Village’ With Hotel, Apartments: Kamau Murray, founder and president of the XS Tennis and Education Foundation, has applied to rezone 5301-25 S. State St. in Washington Park to a “residential business planned development.” If the rezoning is approved, Murray — through XS Tennis and his Center Court Development LLC — would build a 51-unit apartment building with 28 one-bedroom units and 23 two-bedroom units, as well as a 125-room hotel, according to the application documents.

* Tribune | Loss of over-the-air TV leaves some Chicago sports fans frustrated with new CHSN-Comcast deal: “As a result, it will cost me an additional $30 per month because I will need to change my TV service from ‘Popular’ to ‘Ultimate’ and pay the full RSN fee plus some additional tax,” Hedstrom said. “Will I do it? Yes, but I’m unhappy about it.” Getting on Comcast, and potentially reaching its one million Chicago-area subscribers, was nonetheless crucial for CHSN.

* Tribune | Pitcher Grant Taylor becomes the latest Chicago White Sox prospect called up: ‘Everything I’ve dreamed of’: The Chicago White Sox officially promoted the right-handed pitcher from Double A to the majors on Tuesday. Taylor joined the Sox at Daikin Park ahead of the team’s three-game series against the Houston Astros. Reports of the move surfaced Monday. […] Taylor, 23, produced eye-popping results at Birmingham, where he had a 1.01 ERA, a .135 opponents average (including zero home runs allowed), 0.86 WHIP and 37 strikeouts in 15 games (six starts). He is the No. 6 prospect in the Sox system according to MLB.com.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Crain’s | Northwestern announces cuts, cost-saving measures as federal funding freeze hits home: Northwestern University’s leadership announced today new cost-saving measures in the wake of federal investigations and funding freezes that have hurt the school’s financial outlook. In a message to the Northwestern community, the school’s leadership said the new measures would include a faculty and staff hiring freeze, reductions in academic budgets, and a “0% merit pool with no bonuses in lieu of merit increases,” among other actions.

* CBS | Child protection Judge Patrick Murphy responds to Cook County State’s Attorney ethics complaint over gifts to impoverished children: CBS News Chicago Investigators has obtained a communication from Judge Patrick Murphy, who serves on the Juvenile Court in the Child Protection Division, to Chief Judge Timothy Evans responding to an ethics complaint filed by the Cook County State’s Attorney against him for giving gifts to “abused and neglected” foster children who appear before him. In the communication, Murphy said he will stop giving gifts to children as the Judicial Inquiry Board investigates the complaint, and notes that the complaint – which he said he has not seen directly – stated that it is the state’s attorney’s office’s stance that it is unethical for him to give gifts to some children but not others.

* Daily Herald | ‘Wake-up call’: Why some say DuPage County could benefit from home rule: DuPage County officials could revisit a discussion of whether to pursue home-rule powers in light of a controversial measure that emerged in Springfield to save public transit from a massive budget shortfall. County Board Chair Deb Conroy last month denounced a provision in a bill as a “cash grab from the suburbs.” One piece of that proposal would have clawed back millions of dollars in Regional Transportation Authority sales tax dollars allocated to the collar counties for transportation and public safety.

* Sun-Times | Southern Cook County has long history of great high school basketball players: There are few programs across the state that can match the lengthy success Thornton basketball has had. The winning began with a 1933 state championship, and it really hasn’t stopped. There have been state appearances and state trophies won in nearly every decade since.

* Daily Herald | Cosplay crackdown: Rosemont bans fake guns at fan fests: “With unfortunately — I hate to call them out — the anime folks that come around with these things that look real, we need to have some ability to regulate these things,” said Mayor Brad Stephens. The Northwest suburban town’s Donald E. Stephens Convention Center annually hosts popular fan gatherings where costumes and accessories are the norm. Police say they’ve gotten calls from people who mistake imitation weapons for the real thing in and around the facility.

*** Downstate ***

* 21st Show | Breaking down Meta’s deal with Clinton power plant: What does it mean for future of nuclear energy?: The Meta corporation, which owns Facebook and Instagram, one of the Big Five American tech companies — is looking to make an investment in Central Illinois. Meta recently signed a 20-year deal with the nuclear plant owned by Constellation Energy in Clinton, Illinois. An energy expert discusses the complexities of this agreement, what it means for the future of nuclear energy, artificial intelligence, and the region.

* WCIA | ‘It is appalling’: Parents file lawsuit against PBL teacher, district, admin: A lawsuit is peeling back the curtain of what parents said their children faced while at school and practice in Ford County. It includes accusations of grooming and sexually assaulting kids for more than a decade — and the families feel the Paxton-Buckley-Loda School District didn’t do enough to stop it.

* Dispatch Argus | Rock Island-Milan deputy superintendent placed on leave after unspecified incident: Rock Island-Milan’s deputy superintendent has returned to work after being placed on leave in mid-May. According to a letter provided by the district in response to an open records request, Jeff Dase was placed on administrative paid leave effective Monday, May 12, during an investigation of “an incident” that occurred on May 8. The letter did not specify the nature of the incident nor did it provide an end date for the leave. The investigation found he did not violate school board policies or laws and he returned to work effective May 31, according to documents provided to the Dispatch-Argus/Quad-City Times by Dase.

* NPR Illinois | Meeting set for Third Street greenway project: Billed as a transformational project for Springfield, the 3rd Street Corridor redevelopment is another phase of rail relocation in the city. With train traffic being moved to 10th Street, the city wants to add a trail for walking and biking through the heart of the city and downtown. The proposed change, which Mayor Misty Buscher has dubbed The Linc, would connect the Illinois State Fairgrounds to the Interurban/Wabash Trail and include other improvements.

* WCIA | Decatur entrepreneur among 2025 Illinois Manufacturing Hall of Fame inductees: On Tuesday, the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association (IMA) announced the 2025 class of inductees, which recognizes individuals, products and companies that have had a lasting impact on the manufacturing industry across Illinois. One of the people being inducted is J. Gerald Demirjian, a Decatur engineer and entrepreneur. Demirjian acquired the York Division compressor line in 1987 and started TCCI Manufacturing, a global innovator in compressor and thermal management technologies. From Central Illinois to customers across the world, TCCI has created jobs, driven innovation and strengthened communities.

* WICS | Sangamon County approves juvenile transfer agreement with Cook County: The Sangamon County Board has unanimously approved a new agreement to transfer juvenile detainees to Cook County. The decision comes after the reopening of the Sangamon County Juvenile Detention Center, which had been closed for over a year due to a deadly inmate issue. Sam Cahnman, a board member from District 18, questioned the necessity of the agreement, saying, “We just opened our own detention center so why do we need a contract to place detainees in Cook County?”County Administrator Brian McFadden explained that the request from the juvenile detention center was to phase back the return of youth detainees. “This particular individual has been problematic, this is the only juvenile detention center in the state that will house him,” McFadden said.

* WICS | Champaign Township Board okays $86,000 state-funded flooring for Strides Shelter: Strides Shelter first opened in 2022 with help from COVID-19 relief dollars. But once those dried up, shelter leaders looked to the public for long-term support through a tax referendum. Voters said no — not once, but twice. That left one big question hanging in the air: How would the shelter, which currently houses 74 people, continue operating?

* PJ Star | Tensions arise over best affordable housing options for Peoria neighborhoods: The Peoria City Council was asked to approve a measure that would allow the city to accept $475,000 in state grant money to demolish vacant and dilapidated homes in the 61605 and 61603 ZIP codes. What was sparked instead was a debate about how to best use vacant land left behind from demolitions and whether or not multi-family housing was the best thing for those neighborhoods.

* WGLT | Salvation Army in Bloomington hosts sleepover for cyclists pedaling 4,000 miles for cancer awareness: The nonprofit Texas 4,000 for Cancer is based at the University of Texas at Austin and hosts an annual charity bike ride raising funds and awareness for cancer research. The organization has been around since 2004. “We’ve been doing the world’s longest annual charity bike ride for the last 21 years,” said recent UT-Austin graduate and Texas 4,000 member John Kangos.

* WAND | Artisan marketplace to pop up throughout the summer in Decatur: The event features over 20,000 square feet dedicated to vendors selling small-town treasures, antiques, and more. If you’re in a hurry for dinner while shopping, they also have food trucks and entertainment available for visitors. The market is designed for families, with a kids’ booth ready for the little ones. The market will take place every Tuesday from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. throughout the summer.

* Pantagraph | From the archives: Solo Sly Stone ‘just feels like workin’ again’: The actual “interview,” via telephone, was a long time coming and then lasted only about 30 fleeting seconds before Sly asked to be excused momentarily. That was the last we heard from him. The last we heard until Monday, that is. As if to make amends for the previous interview snafu, Sly, sans the Family Stone, stopped by The Pantagraph in the flesh to finish what had just barely begun about three weeks ago.

*** National ***

* CNN | Trump says he plans to phase out FEMA after 2025 hurricane season: “We want to wean off of FEMA, and we want to bring it down to the state level,” Trump told reporters during a briefing in the Oval Office, later saying, “A governor should be able to handle it, and frankly, if they can’t handle it, the aftermath, then maybe they shouldn’t be governor.”

* WSJ | X’s Sales Pitch: Give Us Your Ad Business or We’ll Sue: Late last year, Verizon Communications got an unusual message from a media company that wanted its business: Spend your ad dollars with us or we’ll see you in court. The threat came from X, the social-media platform that has been struggling to resuscitate its ad business after many corporate advertisers fled over concerns about loosened content-moderation standards following Elon Musk’s $44 billion purchase in late 2022. It worked. Verizon, which hadn’t advertised on X since 2022, pledged to spend at least $10 million this year on the platform, a person familiar with the matter said.

* Reuters | Trump tax bill squeeze on clean power could raise energy bills: The bill, which is now being debated by the Senate, shortens the window for developers to start and complete new clean energy projects in order to qualify for a production tax credit (PTC) or an investment tax credit (ITC). Developers would have to begin construction within 60 days of the bill’s enactment and the project must become operational before the end of 2028 in order to access the tax credits. The inflation act stipulated these tax credits would be available until at least 2032.

* NOTUS | House Republicans Found a New Way to Go After Abortion Access in Blue States: House Republicans added a last-minute provision to their reconciliation bill via a manager’s amendment that would block certain Affordable Care Act funds from going to state health plans that cover abortion services. There are currently 13 states — California, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Vermont and Washington state — with laws in the books that require insurers to cover abortion. If the provision becomes law, it could force state officials to choose between maintaining abortion accessibility and ensuring that residents maintain their health care coverage. After years of arguing abortion policy should be left to the states, some congressional Republicans acknowledged they want to have a say in what the states do — at least when it comes to funding.

Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Supplement to today’s edition

Wednesday, Jun 11, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today’s edition of Capitol Fax (use all CAPS in password)

Wednesday, Jun 11, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Wednesday, Jun 11, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

Wednesday, Jun 11, 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.

Is online sports betting lowering credit limits for all Illinoisans? (Updated)

Tuesday, Jun 10, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Chicago Abortion Fund…

Three years after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the Chicago Abortion Fund (CAF) has become the largest and most relied-upon independent abortion fund in the country. Since the Dobbs decision, CAF has fielded support requests from over 40,000 people seeking abortion care from more than 40 states—making it a critical safety net in a country where nearly 1 in 7 abortion seekers must now travel out of state to access care.

Since June 2022 (post-Dobbs), CAF has:

- Fielded over 40,000 support requests on the CAF Helpline.
- Distributed over $15 million in abortion and wrap-around support funding, including travel, lodging, and childcare expenses.
- Increased the average support pledged to each caller to $1,000 dollars. This includes procedure costs, travel, lodging, and childcare.
- Responded to high call volumes from Indiana (7,911), Illinois (6,244), Wisconsin (3,554), Texas (3,540), and Kentucky (1,401), and supported abortion seekers from over 40 states. […]

Illinois has become the nation’s clearest example of what’s possible when legal protections are paired with real investment in abortion infrastructure. In a post-Dobbslandscape, the state’s coordinated approach that combines public policy, health system access, and community-based support has made Illinois not just a haven for abortion care, but a national model.

Thanks to investment from the State of Illinois and the City of Chicago, CAF has expanded its Helpline capacity, added more bilingual and after-hours staff, and continued to ensure that 100% of callers relying on Illinois for care are able to access abortion care on the timeline that works best for them. CAF’s innovative programs, including an in-clinic patient navigation program, abortion doula support, and hospital navigation for complex procedures. These efforts help ensure callers not only reach their appointments, but receive compassionate and timely care throughout their journey.

In 2024, Illinois provided abortion care to an estimated 35,000 out-of-state patients, accounting for 39% of all abortions in the state, according to the Guttmacher Institute. This is the highest percentage of out-of-state care in the country by far, with nearly 1 in 4 people crossing state lines for abortion care coming to Illinois. Illinois also saw significant increases in patients from Florida and Iowa following their six-week bans.

* Click here for some background on Tyrone Muhammad, who appears to be running for US Senate…

* The Alzheimer’s Association Illinois Chapter…

Yesterday, Governor JB Pritzker signed Senate Bill 126, making Illinois the first state in the nation to require insurance coverage of Alzheimer’s treatments to slow the progression of the disease. The new law, sponsored by State Senator Laura Murphy and State Representative Mary Gill, received unanimous bipartisan votes in both the House and Senate, and was the first bill to be signed by Governor Pritzker this year.

“We are thrilled that Illinois policymakers continue to prioritize the fight to end Alzheimer’s,” said Alzheimer’s Association Illinois Chapter Executive Director Delia Jervier. “The ability to access treatment is life changing for individuals living with Alzheimer’s disease and their families.”

Recently, the FDA approved the first-ever treatments to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease - with several more promising drugs in the approval pipeline. However, these treatments are only effective if administered in the early stages of the disease. Senate Bill 126 ensures that all state-regulated health insurance plans provide coverage for these Alzheimer’s treatments when medically necessary, while prohibiting the use of step therapy which can unnecessarily delay treatment. The bill also requires coverage of diagnostic imaging or tests needed to confirm a diagnosis.

*** Statewide ***

* Inside Climate News | Shine On: Illinois Hopes to Continue Solar Boom Despite Federal Headwinds: A budget reconciliation bill passed by Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives in late May, now under consideration in the Senate, would gut nearly all the clean-energy incentives laid out in former President Joe Biden’s 2022 climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act. Among other cuts, President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” seeks to end a tax credit for home solar systems, an incentive previously slated for phaseout in 2034.

* Healthcare Dive | Prime Healthcare cuts 100 roles at Illinois hospitals: Prime Healthcare is cutting more than 100 roles at eight Illinois hospitals it acquired from Ascension earlier this year, a company spokesperson confirmed to Healthcare Dive. Most of the reductions took place on Friday, while the remaining cuts will take place through July, the spokesperson said. The cuts impact fewer than 1% of the roughly 14,000 workers employed at the affected facilities — 13,000 that stayed on through Prime’s acquisition and 1,000 in newly created roles.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Tribune | Thousands of workers caught in middle of transit fiscal cliff talks: The Regional Transportation Authority has estimated that nearly 3,000 workers could lose their jobs if lawmakers don’t fund the transit system. The CTA alone could lay off more than 2,000 workers, acting CTA President Nora Leerhsen said at an RTA board meeting this year. “It’s a scary number to look at, and I hope we don’t come anywhere close to it,” Leerhsen said at the time.

* Capitol News Illinois | Under bill, state highway cameras could be used to investigate human trafficking: A bill passed in this year’s legislative session would rewrite the definition of a “forcible felony” to allow Illinois State Police to use images obtained from automatic license plate readers in cases involving human trafficking and involuntary servitude. Automatic license plate readers are cameras that capture images of vehicle license plates. After obtaining pictures captured by ALPRs, state police software runs the license plate numbers through other law enforcement databases – including the National Crime Information Center, the Department of Homeland Security, the Illinois Secretary of State and National Amber Alerts. The software then alerts ISP officials when a license plate number matches one in the databases.

* Rep. Bob Morgan…

* Capitol News Illinois | ‘This issue isn’t going away’: Illinois lawmakers delay pension reform again: Lawmakers and labor unions have both expressed concern that benefits for Tier 2 employees – those who entered the public sector after 2011 – are inadequate and that some workers in that category are in line to receive benefits out of compliance with federal law. Tier 2 benefits are less generous than those received by Tier 1 employees, who also had to work only five years to become vested compared to 10 years for Tier 2, but the state constitution prohibits diminishing benefits for people to whom they have already been guaranteed.

*** Chicago ***

* Tribune | Aggressive ICE raids, CPD cooperation denounced at Lower West Side rally: Immigrant advocates rallied Sunday for an end to aggressive U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in Chicago and denounced the alleged cooperation of Chicago police in arrests made Wednesday. The rally, which drew dozens of people to a plaza at the corner of Blue Island Avenue and Loomis Street, follows nationwide protests during the past week over the Trump administration’s revamped mass deportation efforts.

* Chicago Mag | CTA asking for feedback from Chicago commuters ahead of budget planning: The “CTA Chats” will be held throughout the summer as officials seek feedback from commuters on daily travel and improvements they want to see. The agency says it will use the feedback to plan for its upcoming budget. Tuesday afternoon, agency leaders will be at Union Station from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. to speak with riders. They will be at the Illinois Medical District Blue Line stop on Wednesday and at the Garfield Green Line stop on Thursday.

* Tribune | Chicago could force Uber and Lyft to hike driver pay: Ald. Michael Rodriguez, 22nd, said his measure would make sure rideshare drivers make more than minimum wage and get paid when they wait for and drive to riders. But critics and the companies say the legislation will raise costs and could even put many drivers out of work. “While prices have increased for years, pay for drivers has decreased,” Rodriguez said. “Almost half the time, they are working, but not getting paid.”

* Block Club | As Top Street Fest Producer Closes, Lawsuit Emerges Over Handling Of Taste Of Randolph: Star Events, the company behind some of Chicago’s biggest and most beloved street festivals, quietly shut down in January after nearly 30 years, and it’s now embroiled in a lawsuit in which a former client is accusing it of fraud, financial mismanagement and defamation. The event production company helped shape Chicago’s summer festival lineup, organizing major events like Taste of Randolph, Mayfest, Southport Art Fest, Midsommarfest and Clark After Dark.

* WBBM | Steppenwolf’s ‘Purpose’ wins two Tony Awards: At the Tony’s, Jacobs-Jenkins credited much of the show’s success to Chicago. “I want to just thank the city of Chicago, honestly, who made this show what it was with their enthusiasm, who sent people here,” he said. “I encourage everyone to please support their local theaters. A lot of great stuff happens in New York but even more happens out in the regions.”

* Block Club | Did You Get A Decades-Old Traffic Ticket In The Mail? It’s Not A Scam: Block Club spoke with a handful of Chicago residents who received notices about parking, speeding and other motor vehicle violations in recent months that date back as much as 15 years. Many said they had no prior knowledge of the tickets before the recent notices, prompting them to think they were receiving scam mail. But the good news — or bad news — is that the notices are actually part of the city’s Vehicle and Commercial Ticket Debt Relief Program, which began in April and allows residents to settle ticket debt without late fees if they pay by the end of June.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Chicago Mag | This Gen Z Congressional Candidate Is Actually From Here: There’s another Gen Z candidate running in the 9th Congressional District to replace retiring Representative Jan Schakowsky. Last month, we brought you the story of Kat Abughazaleh, the 26-year-old right-wing-baiting internet influencer who moved to Chicago last year and is already running for Congress in a district she doesn’t even live in yet. This month, meet Bushra Amiwala, a 27-year-old who has spent her entire life in Rogers Park and Skokie, and is trying to get to Washington from a seat on her local school board.

* Naperville Sun | Police make another firearm-related arrest at Naperville Topgolf lot, total up to 12 for the year: Yezreel Salter, 26, of Lynwood, was taken into custody Friday night on one count each of felony aggravated unlawful possession of a weapon, transportation or possession of open alcohol by a driver and possession of 10 grams or less of cannabis. Officers were performing a proactive foot patrol of the Topgolf parking lot at 3211 Odyssey Court when they observed suspected drugs, open alcohol and a handgun in plain view inside a parked, unoccupied Dodge Charger, according to Naperville police spokeswoman Kelley Munch.

* Daily Southtown | Summer closures of Thornwood and Thornridge high schools will bring $25 million in facility upgrades: Two Thornton Township High School District 205 schools are closed until July 28 for a combined $25 million in facility upgrades, including upgrading athletic fields and swimming pools. Thornwood High School in South Holland closed May 23, and Thornridge High School in Dolton closed last week. Superintendent Nathaniel Cunningham said Thornton High School in Harvey will not close, though work is ongoing for its new athletic field and renovations to its band room.

* Daily Herald | How Bangs Lake project will improve drainage and reduce flooding in Wauconda: Long a concern in town, village staff in 2022 met with representatives of the Lake County Stormwater Management Commission regarding projects that could be candidates for a portion of $122 million in grant funding provided by the state. The village proceeded with design engineering to improve the chances of obtaining a grant, and last summer inked a pre-award agreement with the stormwater management commission for about $2.73 million. The final approvals and bid award came in February.

* Naperville Sun | No unaccompanied minors, only clear bags at Naperville’s Last Fling this year: Put on by the Naperville Jaycees, the annual Labor Day celebration is scheduled for Aug. 29-Sept. 1. With less than three months to go, the nonprofit social service club announced in a Facebook post that the event will have more safety requirements than in previous years, some of which are being dictated by the city. Among them is a provision that attendees under the age of 18 be accompanied by someone over the age of 25. One guardian will be able to supervise up to five minors.

*** Downstate ***

* WAND | National Guard Captain campaigning for Congress in IL-13: Dylan Blaha, Democratic candidate for United States Congress in Illinois 13th congressional district, announced he will officially launch his primary challenge against Democratic Rep. Nikki Budzinski. “Democrats in Congress have rolled over and played dead. They are asleep at the wheel and they have failed to hold the Trump administration accountable. I will not allow Congress or the great state of Illinois to be a doormat for Donald Trump. As a military veteran and bold strategist, I am willing to take on this fight and push for the progressive values that will move our country forward,” said Dylan Blaha.

* PJ Star | Washington amphitheater project off the table: Mayor was ‘caught off guard’: After months of controversy and debate, Washington will not see an amphitheater in its future, as the contentious plan to construct the $12 million venue has been withdrawn by the organization that proposed it. A letter was delivered June 2 to Washington city attorney Mark Walton from Bob Brown, a lawyer representing the Hengst Foundation behind the project, stating the foundation’s April 28 letter of intent to construct the amphitheater was being withdrawn and would have no effect.

* WAND | 7,000 to attend FFA State Convention: As of Monday seven thousand students from across the state had registered for the convention which will be held at the BOS Center in downtown Springfield. The convention runs from Tuesday through Thursday. FFA is a premier educational and agricultural event. Although students do not have to be planning on a career in agriculture. FFA President Trenton Payne of Olney tells WAND News he will be going to Iowa State this fall. He hopes to have a career in agricultural engineering focusing on land and water resources engineering.

* WAND | Urbana Parks executive director retires after 33 years with the district: During his tenure, Barlett oversaw numerous projects and innovative programs that enriched the lives of community members of all ages and backgrounds. The District stated that Barlett led with humility, compassion, and integrity—qualities that have earned him deep respect and admiration throughout his remarkable career. Rachel Lenz will be assuming Barlett’s position.

* WSIL | Senator Dale Fowler announces Summer Reading Program: “This is a great way to encourage kids to keep learning over the summer while having fun and using their imagination,” Fowler said. “I hope kids throughout the 59th District embrace this summer reading challenge and that it becomes a fun and rewarding experience for everyone who decides to participate.”

*** National ***

* WIRED | Tesla’s Robotaxis Are Rolling Out Soon—With One Big Unanswered Question: And yet, just days out from Tesla’s launch of its long-awaited (and much delayed) Robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, the public still doesn’t know much at all about its teleoperations systems. Tesla has posted a job related to teleoperations that states the role will be responsible for developing the application “that our Remote Operators use to interface with our cars and robots,” an application where these operators will be “transported into the device’s world using a state-of-the-art VR rig that allows them to remotely perform complex and intricate tasks.”

* Crain’s | AMA opposes RFK Jr.’s dismantling of vaccine panel, seeks Senate investigation: The American Medical Association’s House of Delegates has adopted an emergency resolution opposing Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s move to gut the federal vaccine advisory council. Under the resolution, the nation’s top doctors association will seek a U.S. Senate investigation of his action, as well as other sources of vaccine guidance to support and rely upon. Kennedy, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, announced yesterday the department was totally reconstituting the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which makes recommendations on the safety, efficacy and clinical need of vaccines to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.

* The Guardian | They hoped their children’s deaths would bring change. Then a Colorado bill to protect kids online failed: Had the legislation passed, it would have required social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok to investigate and take down accounts engaged in gun or drug sales or in the sexual exploitation or trafficking of minors. It also mandated the creation of direct hotlines to tech company personnel for law enforcement and a 72-hour response window for police requests, a higher burden than under current law. Additionally, platforms would have had to report on how many minors used their services, how often they did so, for how long and how much those young users engaged with content that violated company policies. Several big tech firms registered official positions on the bill. According to Colorado lobbying disclosures, Meta’s longtime in-state lobby firm, Headwater Strategies, is registered as a proponent for changing the bill. Google and TikTok also hired lobbyists to oppose it.

* WIRED | What Tear Gas and Rubber Bullets Do to the Human Body: So-called “less-lethal” weapons like those that have been used against demonstrators in Los Angeles can cause severe, lasting harm like nerve or brain damage or blindness. They can also kill.

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Tuesday, Jun 10, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller

* InGame…

Flutter is not flitting about when it comes to the Illinois legislature adding its proposed 25-cent or 50-cent tax on each individual sports bet, announcing early Tuesday morning that, effective Sept. 1, FanDuel will be passing the charge along to its customers, instituting a $0.50 transaction fee on all wagers placed in Illinois.

While FanDuel won’t start charging until days before the kickoff to the NFL season, the state of Illinois isn’t waiting, with its per-wager tax kicking in July 1 (assuming Gov. JB Pritzker signs the budget sent to him). Clearly, the braintrust at Flutter — FanDuel’s parent company — is hoping the braintrust in Illinois will use those few months to rethink the decision, noting in a press release that if the state pulls back on the transaction tax, the company will immediately remove the fee being placed on bettors.

Click here for the press release.

* Daniel Koslovsky and Prabhdeen Kaur writing in Crain’s…

Online operators exploit behavioral biases — anchoring, overconfidence, the gambler’s fallacy — to coax consumers into wagering more than they intended. Stanford economists estimate behavioral biases are responsible for over 8% of what online sports gamblers wager. Moreover, online sports gambling is highly accessible, available to anyone with a smartphone at any time. Online sportsbooks rely heavily on aggressive marketing and promotions, familiar to any modern sports fan who is inundated by them whenever they watch a game on TV or in person. Odds are priced in confusing ways that require bettors to perform mental math to reveal the true price.

The results are predictably disastrous for the finances of bettors. A flurry of academic studies were released last year showing that consumers in states that legalized sports betting had less savings, more excessive debt, and overall worse financial health. One study estimated that annual net savings and investment fall by $144 per household after legalization. A back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests that Illinois lost $730 million in 2023 that could have gone to college savings, retirement accounts, or small business investment because of legalized sports gambling. Dwarfing the $150 million the state collected in tax receipts from sportsbooks.

Even Illinoisans who don’t participate in online sports betting feel the squeeze. Researchers at UCLA and the University of Southern California have shown that banks have tightened credit limits and lending standards on all consumers in states that have legalized online sports gambling to account for the extra risk presented by the abundance of betting. Meanwhile, public resources — counseling, fiscal support, family services — strain under the weight of problem gambling, eroding the very tax revenues that boosters tout.

* From the study mentioned in the highlighted passage above…

In this section, we study whether financial institutions responded to increased consumers’ financial risk by reducing credit card limits and limiting the type of loans they can take.

In Figure 4a, we present changes in the cumulative credit card limits for individuals with existing credit cards. We find that credit card limits start to decrease right after gambling legalization and continue to decrease as time passes. For general sports betting access, the overall ATT [Average Treatment on the Treated] estimate corresponds to roughly a 1.6% decline in credit card limits, while access to online betting leads to a nearly 2.7% decline. These results suggest that banks are responding to the increased financial risk caused by sports betting and lowering credit card limits to mitigate potential risk exposure. […]

While sports betting accessibility appears to be financially harming consumers, online access drives most of the effect we observe. Furthermore, the effect of sports betting does not appear to be driven by higher credit card delinquencies but by increased exposure and use of hard debts such as consolidation loans, secured loans, and bankruptcies. The fact that credit card delinquencies are unaffected or lower is likely due to financial institutions trying to mitigate their exposure to risk by lowering credit limits. Despite this, we observe consumers missing payments for other loans and products, leading to increased collections and auto loan delinquencies.

…Adding… Illinois Gaming Board…

Hi Rich,

Hope all is well with you.

We read with interest your blog post, Is online sports betting lowering credit limits for all Illinoisans?

The Illinois Gaming Board (IGB) approved a new rule at its April 24, 2025, meeting, to prohibit the use of credit cards to fund sports wagering accounts. This rule will soon be filed with JCAR.

During the meeting, IGB Administrator Marcus D. Fruchter said, “As part of our review, we determined that prohibiting the use of credit cards to fund sports wagering accounts is a justified and impactful advancement in Illinois sports wagering. There is a growing body of recent research showing that restrictions on credit usage to fund wagering accounts encourages responsible gambling and mitigates the harms of compulsive gambling. Problem gamblers are particularly at risk and studies have shown an often-problematic willingness for compulsive gamblers to use credit cards to place bets.

Here’s the press release.

Illinois Gaming Board (IGB) Adopts Proposed New Rules including a Prohibition on Using Credit Cards for Sports Wagering among Other Regulatory Measures at April Meeting

Feds say they will retry Sen. Emil Jones III on bribery charges (Updated x2)

Tuesday, Jun 10, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Tribune courts reporter Jason Meisner…

JUST IN: Prosecutors say they WILL retry state Sen. Emil Jones III on bribery charges after a jury in April deadlocked on all three counts
Background:https://t.co/y9iQqvYjNc

— Jason Meisner (@jmetr22b) June 10, 2025

This post will likely be updated.

…Adding… Capitol News Illinois’ Hannah Meisel…

News: prosecutors WILL retry state Sen. Emil Jones on charges of bribery, lying to FBI after April mistrial. Scheduling won’t happen today, though; defense wants him to be present for a hearing in late June on the date.
AUSA says retrial would include “a few additional witnesses” https://t.co/4xLHD3sKUC

— Hannah Meisel (@hannahmeisel) June 10, 2025

…Adding… Sun-Times…

Attorneys and U.S. District Judge Andrea Wood are expected to set a new trial date later this month.

A new trial could last four weeks since prosecutors intend to call “a few additional witnesses,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Prashant Kolluri said in court.

It’s been a little more than a month since Jones’ trial ended with a hung jury. Despite being a relatively straightforward case, the trial featured plenty of intrigue. Jurors heard from a former red-light camera executive who wore a wire for the FBI after being caught giving “benefits” to public officials across the suburbs, and they viewed undercover recordings he made in 2019. […]

Ultimately, Jones’ trial turned out to be the third of four federal corruption trials in Chicago to end without a conviction since August.

15 Comments

Senate releases veto session schedule

Tuesday, Jun 10, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Veto session is scheduled for two weeks in October…

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Judge denies Madigan’s motion for new trial ahead of Friday sentencing (Updated)

Tuesday, Jun 10, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* You can click here and here to follow the Madigan trial. Tribune…

A federal judge on Monday denied a motion by former House Speaker Michael Madigan seeking to overturn his recent conviction on bribery and other corruption counts, setting the stage for a high-stakes sentencing hearing later this week.

Madigan, 83, was back in the federal courtroom for the first time since a jury convicted him nearly four months ago. But unlike his marathon trial, Monday’s hearing was brief.

After both sides waived oral arguments on the defense motion, U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey announced he was denying it, though his ruling, which he said is more than 100 pages, won’t be made public for some time.

* Sun-Times…

Prosecutors wrote in a court filing late Friday that “Madigan has amassed a personal fortune of more than $40 million.” They did so as they complained of his “appalling” greed amid a scheme to trade on the office he once held, as well as former Chicago Ald. Danny Solis’.

But Monday, Madigan’s attorneys insisted that any claim that he was “lining his pockets” is “patently false.” They complained that prosecutors breached the direction of local courts when they “recklessly exposed” Madigan’s net worth, and they asked that it be stricken from the record. […]

Defense attorney Dan Collins insisted during the hearing that “Mr. Madigan’s net worth has nothing to do with this case.”

Blakey declined to make any ruling on the issue. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Streicker simply said prosecutors opposed Madigan’s motion. It will likely be addressed again during a follow-up hearing Tuesday.

*** UPDATE *** Tribune court reporter Jason Meisner…

Judge Blakey has granted the motion to strike the disclosure of Madigan’s net worth from the public record.
Please erase our story from your collective memories

— Jason Meisner (@jmetr22b) June 10, 2025

* WGN…

[O]n Friday, June 13, Madigan’s wife, Shirley, asked for leniency in a videotaped appeal. Shirley Madigan says she can’t manage without her husband in the emotional 8-minute-long video.

“I really don’t exist without him,” she said. ” I wish I could say that I do, but I don’t know what I would do without Michael. I would probably have to find someplace to live.”

Defense lawyers collected close to 200 messages for the court in defense of their client, consisting of family members, former colleagues, labor leaders, and even clergy. Prosecutors, however, in their submittal to the court, pointed to Madigan’s 10-count criminal conviction.

“Madigan seeks extraordinary leniency from the Court—a sentence of probation for a former high-level elected official convicted of abusing his office for years through bribery, fraud, and conspiracy.”

* Shirley Madigan’s full video statement…

Click here to read the letters of support for Madigan.

* More…

Fox Chicago | ‘I don’t exist without him’: Madigan’s wife asks for leniency as ex-speaker faces 20 years:

* Sun-Times | Michael Madigan’s wife makes video plea to judge: ‘He loves me … I’m a part of him‘: Among other things, Shirley Madigan discussed the daughter she had before she married Michael Madigan — Lisa Madigan. Shirley Madigan explained how she used to put the now-former attorney general to bed with assurances that the child would see Michael Madigan when he returned from Springfield. Nevertheless, Shirley Madigan said she’d later find Lisa Madigan sleeping with a pillow and blanket near the door, so she’d “see him as soon as he came in.”

* WTTW | Judge Rejects Michael Madigan’s Motion for Acquittal as Ex-Speaker’s Corruption Case Heads Toward Sentencing This Week: The longtime speaker, who for decades acted as the most powerful politician in Illinois, breezed into court carrying an umbrella and sat silently at the defense table throughout the hearing. Madigan was convicted on 10 counts in total, relating to his efforts to secure a valuable state board position for disgraced former Chicago Ald. Danny Solis and to the most wide-ranging of the alleged bribery schemes outlined by the government involving utility giant Commonwealth Edison.

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RETAIL: The Largest Employer In Illinois

Tuesday, Jun 10, 2025 - Posted by Advertising Department

[The following is a paid advertisement.]

Retailers like Jackie in Macomb enrich our economy and strengthen our communities. We Are Retail and IRMA showcase the retailers who make Illinois work.

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Too much, too late (Updated)

Tuesday, Jun 10, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller

* My weekly syndicated newspaper column…

I asked Illinois House Speaker Chris Welch last week about the failure to pass an omnibus energy bill (the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act) during the just-ended spring legislative session.

“I think the same thing that happened on energy happened on all the things, you know. Big bills take time,” Welch said. “And I really do believe it’s important that we take the time to get it right and make sure we produce the best results for everyone.”

Welch compared the delay to his first spring session as House speaker, when another energy omnibus bill crashed and burned and then they came back in the fall and “passed one of the biggest pieces of legislation that ever passed in this state.”

Gov. JB Pritzker told reporters much the same thing last week.

“You don’t get everything done in one year,” Pritzker said. “(S)ometimes they spend two years, four years, six years trying to get something big done.” Like Welch, he also pointed to the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, which he noted took about a year and a half to pass.

Senate President Don Harmon, on the other hand, pointed to this summer’s expected temporary spike in electricity costs due to capacity charges by regional grid managers as a reason. Some of the proposals (like battery storage) would cost more in the short term, “so we’re trying to figure out how to how to respond to that anticipated spike,” Harmon told Illinois Public Media’s “The 21st Show.”

In the end, though, Harmon said, We just couldn’t keep the Christmas tree standing this year” — apparently meaning the bill fell under its own weight.

But other factors were important as well, according to numerous people who worked on the bill. Stakeholders would agree to changes, and then the drafts would come back that inexplicably looked little like what people had agreed to, which not only delayed the end, but also injected a lack of trust into the process.

This was particularly true with energy efficiency requirements, I’m told. A deal was finally cut with ComEd, and Ameren decided to move off its opposition, but there simply wasn’t time left to get that drafted before the clock ran out.

Many issues had been on the table for months, but a legislative working group came up with some ideas that couldn’t find quick consensus.

People were spread too thin across too many major items (including mass transit reform and the state budget), and as a consequence, way too much fell through the cracks.

The American Petroleum Institute blasted the energy storage portion of the bill for costing $9 billion for about one to two hours of peak electricity supply per day.

Proponents vehemently disputed the API’s figure, saying the estimate was way too high, and cost increases wouldn’t begin for a few years and cost decreases would start a few years later.

But that and other things helped drive the pipe trade unions away from bill. The unions represent workers at a massive Metro East coal-fired power plant and a major refinery, both of which are heavy industrial electricity consumers.

And their decision to oppose the legislation on May 31 meant there wasn’t enough time to fix that problem and bring the final language to the two Democratic caucuses.

The pipe trades have now officially declared themselves neutral, as have Ameren, Constellation Energy and the Illinois Energy Association. And some environmental lobbyists think the language on the table has a good shot at passage during the October veto session (or perhaps in January), even though their attempts to rein in power-hungry data centers were left out of the bill.

Whatever the case may be, the Legislature goes through this almost every year. They put all the big stuff off until the end, and then they don’t have the bandwidth to deal with a multitude of issues at once, although this year was particularly difficult.

Human beings tend to wait until the last minute to do things. But the leaders need to start enforcing earlier deadlines for giant issues like this energy proposal so they can deal with other time-sensitive things (the budget and revenues, for instance) at the end. Or maybe the other way around.

Far too many major issues were left to May 31. And that procrastination led to problems like a poorly drafted revenue bill that could imperil some TV and film projects in Illinois.

A buddy of mine who’s been at the Statehouse for decades grumped last week the leaders tried to do a five-month session in five days. That’s no way to run a railroad.

* A few more…

Capitol News Illinois | ‘Clean Slate’ Act to seal nonviolent criminal records loses in race against time:

* Daily Herald | Fighting for the right to die: Terminally ill Lombard woman continues push for medical ‘aid in dying’ bill: “I’m afraid I’m going to die before this (bill) happens (in Illinois). But I’m prepared for that,” Robertson said.

* Tribune | Cook County property tax reforms stall out in Springfield: Legislative reforms to Cook County’s property tax system almost uniformly stalled this legislative session, halting efforts to give tax breaks to more seniors and those walloped with big bills, and to help people hang on to some of their homes’ value if they lose the properties because of unpaid taxes.

…Adding… I forgot to post this release from the Clean Grid Alliance…

Following is a statement from Jeff Danielson, Vice President for Advocacy at the Clean Grid Alliance, in response to recent false claims about Illinois’ energy bill negotiations:

“In the days following the end of the legislative session, some have advanced false claims about battery storage power plants that need to be corrected. Multiple media outlets have cited the baseless statement that battery storage investment would cost $7 billion. And, suddenly and without explanation, this number has again been arbitrarily inflated to $9 billion–also baseless.

“The fact is, investment in battery storage will save money for Illinois consumers. It’s a critical tool to avoid future energy price spikes for ratepayers. There is no cost to consumers in the energy storage provisions until the energy storage is actually built–which, at the earliest, would be 2028. And again, after construction is complete, the increased energy storage will lead to lower prices for consumers.

“A 2024 Power Bureau analysis found that deploying 7.5 GW of storage in Illinois would save customers $480–840 million annually by reducing capacity, transmission, and energy market costs. In their own words—ComEd stated that an energy storage system of 750MW would have saved ComEd customers approximately $195M - $280M, in the latest PJM capacity auction, and could lead to $10-17 in savings per year on customer bills.

“Illinois is facing an energy reliability and affordability crisis. Just this week, Illinois customer bills have gone up to account for price spikes that are the direct result of the state not building enough new generation to meet skyrocketing demand.

“The bottom line: battery storage is the solution to spiking costs–not the driver.”

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Tuesday, Jun 10, 2025 - Posted by Advertising Department

[The following is a paid advertisement.]

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.

Meanwhile, tax-exempt hospitals cash in – and PBMs get a cut too.

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Tuesday, Jun 10, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Sly Stone has been one of my favorite musical artists for pretty much my entire sentient life. RIP…

We got to live together

Did you miss us?

Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Supplement to today’s edition

Tuesday, Jun 10, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* ICYMI: Illinois joins lawsuit against U.S. over triggers that can make semiautomatic rifles fire faster. Sun-Times…

* Related stories…

∙ WAND: Attorney General Raoul leads coalition in lawsuit against Trump Administration over FRTs
∙ WTHI: Illinois AG joins fight against Trump’s transgender military ban
∙ Press Release: Attorney General Raoul, State Attorneys General Continue Fight To Defend Birthright Citizenship

***************** Advertisement *****************

Sponsored by Community Action for Responsible Hospitals

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*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Sun-Times | Gov. Pritzker prepping for House committee showdown with help from top Biden attorney: The billionaire governor is paying for the services of Covington & Burling out of his own pocket. Dana Remus, former White House counsel to President Joe Biden, is among those helping Pritzker prepare for Thursday’s Republican-led committee hearing about immigration policies. Republican attorneys at the firm are also providing counsel, according to a source with direct knowledge of his preparations.

* Justice David Overstreet and Ron Flagg | Defunding the Legal Services Corporation will significantly harm Illinoisans: Domestic violence survivors who need help getting a court order to keep their abusers away. Seniors who need peace of mind from a will and power of attorney. Veterans who need help getting Social Security. All of these Illinoisans may soon find it harder to get free legal help. The Administration’s proposed elimination of the Legal Services Corporation (LSC), which funds free legal assistance for Americans, would have disastrous effects on residents of central and southern Illinois. Land of Lincoln Legal Aid has been providing free legal help to Illinoisans in 65 counties for 53 years, and currently 20 percent of its funding comes from LSC.

*** Statewide ***

* NBC Chicago | Salmonella outbreak linked to eggs sold in Illinois, 8 other states leaves 79 sickened: A Salmonella outbreak linked to eggs that were sold to restaurants and retailers in Illinois and eight other states has left 79 people sickened, leading to 21 hospitalizations, according to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. The recall was announced Friday by August Egg Company, and includes all varieties of eggs distributed by the company, including organic, cage-free brown and omega-3.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Tribune | State agrees to pay $1.3M for never-built migrant tent encampment despite Gov. JB Pritzker’s assurances: In response to questions about the apparent contradiction, a Pritzker spokesman maintained that “GardaWorld had no contractual right to payment.” Nevertheless, the state agreed to pay the company because “the situation evolved,” Pritzker spokesman Alex Gough said. Neither Pritzker’s office nor officials with the state Human Services Department would explain why the state agreed to pay if it was under no legal obligation to do so.

* Tribune | Cook County property tax reforms stall out in Springfield: An overhaul of the county’s tax sale process spearheaded by Treasurer Maria Pappas was among the more prominent reforms to sputter out. Pappas’ legislation would have changed the way the county handles delinquent taxes to ensure those who don’t catch up on their property tax bills can still pocket some of their home’s value if it’s turned over to a private investor. The reforms would have swapped out the county’s current way of dealing with the sale of past-due taxes. Private investors — known as tax buyers — can currently win a deed to a home outright if a homeowner doesn’t pay up in a certain amount of time.

* Daily Herald | Fighting for the right to die: Terminally ill Lombard woman continues push for medical ‘aid in dying’ bill: Deb Robertson isn’t giving up on state legislation that would give terminally ill patients like herself the option to end their lives with medical assistance. The Lombard woman, who was diagnosed with a rare cancer in 2022, has spent much of the last 2½ years lobbying lawmakers to pass a medical aid in dying bill in Illinois. The measure, which recently passed the Illinois House by a 63 to 42 vote, would allow terminally ill adults, like Robertson, an option in how they die. Under the proposed bill, a patient with six months or less to live could opt to take a prescribed medication to end his or her life.

* Daily Herald d| Legislation regarding impact fees for schools on hold after clearing General Assembly: The state House approved the plan in early April, and the Senate did so May 29 with an amendment establishing it will be effective immediately. The amendment required another House vote, which happened May 31. The same day, however, Didech placed a procedural hold on the proposal to delay its delivery to Gov. JB Pritzker for his signature. Didech said he ordered the hold to allow village and school officials and Wirtz family representatives an opportunity to reset their conversation. It follows the election of a new mayor in Mundelein, Robin Meier, and the addition of three new trustees to the village board.

*** Chicago ***

* Block Club Chicago | Did Chicago Cops Help ICE During Mass Arrests? City Leaders Call For Investigation: Ald. Andre Vasquez (40th), who chairs the city’s Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights, introduced an order to City Council to determine if the actions of the Chicago police officers on scene that day violated the city’s Welcoming Ordinance. Chicago police officials said officers were on the scene to preserve public safety and did not violate the ordinance. On June 4, Chicago police vehicles and officers were inside and outside the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program office building at 2245 S. Michigan Ave. as agents arrested people, leading city officials and organizers to question whether the Chicago police officers were assisting ICE.

* WGN | Broadview ICE facility faces scrutiny over alleged poor conditions, treatment: Over the past few days, families have been reaching out to WGN-TV raising concerns over the conditions inside an ICE processing center in Broadview. Those families are desperate for answers on what to do next since their loved ones were detained in the South Loop on Wednesday. The Trump administration’s border czar has acknowledged overcrowding at facilities is an issue, complicating their hopes to deport more people.

* Crain’s | Brandon Johnson’s COO joins the Obama Foundation: Mayor Brandon Johnson recently backed off a plan to appoint Roberson to lead the Chicago Transit Authority amid the uncertainty over state legislation lessening the mayor’s control of the CTA and pushback from transit advocates and one of the mayor’s own appointees to the CTA board, who were calling for a broad national search.

* Crain’s | Amid anti-DEI orders, Lori Lightfoot reflects on equity-focused pandemic response: Lightfoot, speaking at the seventh anniversary of hospital-community collaborative West Side United, said the story of targeting the hardest-hit communities, which had the fewest resources to deal with a rapidly spreading virus, is something she’s often asked about. She’s lectured on the topic as a public health professor at Harvard University, and it’s the subject of a book she’s writing. […] Before residents would listen to the city’s desperate directives about COVID, Lightfoot said, they had their own message: “This COVID thing, that’s fine. But we need food.”

* Crain’s | Bally’s settles suit by white men over Chicago casino stake: “We are very happy with the resolution and Bally’s decision not to use race in this investment,” Dan Lennington, an attorney for the men and the AAER, said in a statement. “This case should serve as a warning to other companies that hope to dole out investment opportunities based on race. It is illegal and we’ll fight it wherever we can.” Lennington declined to comment on whether Fisher and Aronoff had purchased any shares of the offering since it had been opened up to other investors.

* Crain’s | Downtown rents jump as supply pipeline dries up: The net monthly rent at top-tier apartment buildings in downtown Chicago jumped 6.25% year over year in the first quarter of 2025, according to new data from the Chicago office of appraisal and consulting firm Integra Realty Resources. High rents are expected to persist over the next few months as the market sees the number of new apartments delivered annually hit a nearly three-decade low.

* Crain’s | The $860M lawsuit that’s looming over one of Chicago’s biggest cannabis companies: One of Chicago’s biggest marijuana companies — Verano Holdings — has a historically big $860 million lawsuit hanging over its head like a boogeyman. The case could inflate to nearly $1 billion in costs with interest, damages and attorneys’ fees if a worst-case scenario comes to pass, spelling major trouble for the multistate operator. The threat stems from a lawsuit, originally filed in 2022 by Minnesota-based multistate operator Vireo Growth, after a failed all-stock acquisition deal that year purported to be worth $413 million. Vireo currently has a footprint in Maryland, Missouri, New York and Utah, apart from its home state.

* Sun-Times | Chicago’s kid carjackers: Inside the SRT Boys’ yearslong crime spree: They began their crime spree during the COVID-19 shutdown, a time when they were supposed to be studying at home because the city’s schools were closed. But, for many of these kids, there was nobody to call them back home, to check whether they were tucked into bed at night. Some of their parents were hustling, too, or in jail — or dead.

* WTTW | Chicago Cracks Down on Nearly 200 Illegal Trash Pickups in First Months of Enforcement Effort: Private waste haulers were slapped with nearly 200 tickets for illegal, early-morning pickups during the first six months of a new enforcement. That’s according to records obtained by WTTW News from the Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation, which began coordinating the crackdown through a newly created 311 complaint category in October 2024. Trash and recycling companies aren’t allowed to make pickups in Chicago between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. For nearly two years, WTTW News has been tracking numerous companies flouting the law and documenting a tsunami of complaints from residents.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Southtown | Aqua Illinois warns University Park, other communities of tap water risk for infants: Customers of Aqua Illinois complained Monday about the quality of water they receive from the utility and the company’s response to nitrate contamination affecting University Park and other communities. Aqua Illinois is advising customers not to use tap water for infants under 6 months old after recent testing showed elevated nitrate levels in drinking water systems. But at an Aqua water plant in University Park, where cases of bottled water were being distributed, some customers said they wouldn’t drink the water regardless. The complained of cloudiness in the water flowing from their taps, the smell and the cost.

* Daily Herald | ‘We’re all in this together’: Hawthorn Woods looks for long-term water option: In Hawthorn Woods, Halvorson is among about 1,200 Aqua Illinois customers, the second-largest privately-owned water utility in the state. And for the foreseeable future, all are in the pickle of not having a viable alternative. […] About a third of Hawthorn Woods households get their water from Aqua, with about 300 of those customers receiving it from Aqua through a contract with Lake County. The rest in town are on wells and generally happy with that arrangement, Newton said.

* ABC Chicago | Several detained in HSI operation at Elk Grove Village warehouse: Cook County commissioner: That building is operated by Accelerated Global Operations and SpeedX. “The manager told me everyone at that location has a worker’s permit. To my understanding, everyone who was detained was detained solely based on not having a physical copy of their work permit on their person today,” said Kevin Morrison, Cook County commissioner for the 15th District. Morrison says he arrived after employees were detained.

* Tribune | Worried Northwestern lab directors describe ‘bleak’ atmosphere in wake of Trump research funding freeze: The Trump administration’s freezing in April of $790 million in federal research funding for Northwestern University has left concerned lab directors without key grant money from the National Institutes of Health and forced the university to spend millions to keep vital research afloat and to continue to pay graduate workers and scientists. Carole LaBonne, a professor of molecular biosciences at Northwestern, said the situation at the prominent research institution can only be described as “bleak” as the halt in federal funds continues to send shockwaves across the Evanston campus.

* Daily Southtown | Former Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard does not have document demanded in FOIA lawsuit, attorney says: Henyard was required to appear in court Friday at the Daley Center in Chicago to produce documents requested last year by the nonprofit Edgar County Watchdogs that are public via the Freedom of Information Act. Cook County Judge Kate Moreland filed an order holding her in contempt May 23 for repeated violations of court orders. Though Henyard was called to testify, Henyard’s attorney, Beau Brindley, told Moreland she would not take the stand due to an ongoing federal investigation into possible misconduct during her tenure as Dolton’s mayor. Brindley confirmed after the hearing he is representing Henyard in the federal investigation.

* Daily Herald | ‘While we still have time’: DuPage County ecologists working to save endangered dragonfly: But Ortega cautions against dismissing those efforts, noting the harm that can accompany the loss of a “keystone species,” on which the survival of other species and their ecosystems depend. Throughout history, humans have “found out the hard way how important one species can be, and we generally only find that out after the species is gone,” Ortega said. “The removal of one species can have catastrophic effects,” he added.

* WTTW | Nearly 80% of Chicago-Area Forests Are Infested With Invasive Plants. Ecologists Urge Homeowners to Join the Fight: Restoration ecologist Matt Ueltzen can remember a time not that long ago when the Lake County Forest Preserve District had to more or less “hide” some of its most vital work from the public. Those were the days when, if people saw crews clearing invasive buckthorn, angry calls were sure to follow. Why was the forest preserves cutting down trees? “In the past, people would think that anything that’s green is good,” said Ueltzen. “Now I think people have come to realize there are some very invasive and damaging, harmful plants out there.”

* Daily Herald | Rosemont buys former Ram restaurant building for $2.5 million: Village officials say they want to hold onto the property temporarily and resell to a new owner. “We don’t intend to own all of this forever,” said Mayor Brad Stephens. “We intend to sell it sooner rather than later.”

* Daily Herald | Invasive, ravenous and hard to stop: Asian jumping worms on suburban gardeners’ radar: The invasive worm was found last year in at least 12 members’ yards, including Landwehr’s compost bins. Wanting to be good nature stewards, the club decided this year to follow horticulture experts’ advice to slow the spread: Don’t share plants. “In good conscience, we could not propagate these and spread them around,” Landwehr said.

*** Downstate ***

* WGLT | McLean County Board Executive Committee unanimously approves request for money for shelter village in Bloomington: HSHM is seeking $1.3 million in grant funding from McLean County behavioral health coordination. The full county board will vote on the proposal at its monthly meeting on June 12. McLean County Behavioral Health Coordination Director Marita Landreth joined Home Sweet Home CEO Matt Burgess to discuss the features and community benefit of the project — and its name. “We have chosen to name this shelter village, ‘The Bridge,’ as a nod both to its location on the south end of downtown [Bloomington] right before you come over the bridge to come into town, but also to indicate its purpose,” Burgess said. “And that’s to be a bridge for people coming inside to get out of homelessness and into a permanent housing arrangement.”

* 25News Now | Some McLean County teachers say book banning can be dangerous for students: A small group of educators from McLean County’s largest two school systems, Unit 5 and District 87, rallied in Bloomington Saturday to speak out against banning books, particularly books about race relations and LGBTQ+ culture. In a tent outside Bobzbay Books in Downtown Bloomington, novels were on display that have been banned in other states, like “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” by Stephen Chbosky, “All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson, and “To Kill a Mockingbird,” by Harper Lee. Informational pamphlets were available explaining why educators are advocating for these books.

* WCIA | Charles Isbell one step closer to assuming role as U of I Chancellor: The U of I Board of Trustees approved his appointment as the 11th chancellor on Monday, although he won’t start serving until current Chancellor Robert Jones finishes his term next month. Isbell is a former computer scientist and provost at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He didn’t go to the U of I as a student, but he said he’s long been invested in the school.

* WCIA | Sangamon Co. Fair set to kick off, celebrating 75 years: The fair will begin on June 11 and will run until June 15 at the fairgrounds in New Berlin. Organizers said attendees can expect exhibits ranging from the arts to culinary to horticulture.

*** National ***

* WaPo | Meta found a new way to violate your privacy. Here’s what you can do.: Apps on your phone are walled off from accessing your activity on other apps, including web browser apps like Chrome. Meta and Yandex found work-arounds. The techniques essentially were akin to malware, or malicious software that is surreptitiously planted on your phone or computer, Dolanjski said. Google said the behaviors of Meta and Yandex “blatantly violate our security and privacy principles.”

* AP | RFK Jr. ousts entire CDC vaccine advisory committee: “Without removing the current members, the current Trump administration would not have been able to appoint a majority of new members until 2028,” Kennedy wrote in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece. “A clean sweep is needed to re-establish public confidence in vaccine science.” […] “Make no mistake: Politicizing the ACIP as Secretary Kennedy is doing will undermine public trust under the guise of improving it,” [Dr. Tom Frieden, president and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives,] said in a statement. “We’ll look back at this as a grave mistake that sacrificed decades of scientific rigor, undermined public trust, and opened the door for fringe theories rather than facts.”

4 Comments

Tuesday, Jun 10, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today’s edition of Capitol Fax (use all CAPS in password)

Tuesday, Jun 10, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Tuesday, Jun 10, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

Tuesday, Jun 10, 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.

Reader comments closed until Tuesday

Friday, Jun 6, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Isabel and I need a little break. Have a great weekend. Carly Simon and Mick Jagger (with a killer bass flourish by Klaus Voormann) will play us out…

I bet you think this song is about you

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Madigan’s judge hints at possibly long prison sentence

Friday, Jun 6, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul…

Attorney General Raoul won a court order on Thursday that blocks the Trump administration’s attempts to dismantle AmeriCorps, the federal agency for national service and volunteerism.

On April 29, Attorney General Raoul joined a coalition of 25 states and attorneys general in challenging the administration’s plans to eliminate nearly 85% of AmeriCorps’ workforce and terminate $400 million worth of AmeriCorps-supported programs, among other actions. Attorney General Raoul and the coalition sought a preliminary injunction to immediately stop the closure of programs in plaintiff states. On Thursday, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland granted the preliminary injunction, ordering defendants to restore all programs that had been terminated in plaintiff states by reinstating and returning to service the AmeriCorps members who served on those programs, and ordering the reinstatement of over 750 National Civilian Community Corps members. […]

Attorney General Raoul and the coalition successfully argued that the Trump administration’s termination of more than 1,000 programs and the removal of certain members from service violated the law. By closing $400 million worth of AmeriCorps programs without explanation, the Trump administration harmed states that administer those programs and the veterans, K-12 students, vulnerable seniors and residents who depend upon their services. In Illinois, the Trump administration canceled 26 grants managed by Serve Illinois, which served students, veterans and individuals experiencing homelessness, as well as other programs across the state. These cancelations impacted hundreds of AmeriCorps members and the individuals they served and disrupted schools, health systems and services, food banks and other critical community agencies upon which Illinoisans rely.

A federal judge found that the Trump administration’s actions were unlawful because Congress explicitly required the agency to provide advance notice and an opportunity to comment on an any major changes to AmeriCorps services. The Trump administration ignored this clear legal requirement, and the court granted relief to the plaintiff states as a consequence.

The order restores vital AmeriCorps programs in Illinois. The court’s decision preliminarily stops the Trump administration from terminating these essential programs while the litigation continues.

* Tribune…

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement subpoenaed the Chicago city clerk’s office in April for the personal information of applicants to a municipal ID program popular with immigrants, an apparent new tactic in Republican President Donald Trump’s plan to target Chicago as he seeks to ramp up deportations.

The clerk’s office received the summons on April 17 requiring the city to turn over the past three years of CityKey records, according to a copy obtained by the Tribune in a Freedom of Information Act request. The program was launched in 2017 by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel and city Clerk Anna Valencia as part of a stand against Trump.

Asked whether the city complied with the subpoena, Law Department spokesperson Kristen Cabanban indicated some type of response but would not directly confirm whether it turned over documents to ICE, which demanded several years worth of data. […]

After being overwhelmed by demand for the IDs by Venezuelan migrants at in-person events in fall 2023, Valencia started offering an online application in December 2024. To meet state document requirements, the Clerk’s Office has kept application materials for more than 2,700 people who used the online CityKey system since then, according to Diana Martinez, a spokesperson for Valencia. […]

ICE spokesperson Erin Bultje declined to comment on both subpoenas, citing “an ongoing investigation.”

* House Speaker Chris Welch is leaning into the $40 million he put into the state budget for a high school sports complex. From his constituent newsletter…

House Speaker Emanuel ‘Chris’ Welch and Proviso West High School are making plans for a modern sports complex on the school’s Hillside campus a reality. The $40 million investment made possible through Welch’s new state budget will create a dynamic space for student athletics and community events—uplifting the entire region and promoting local economic development.

“Traveling across our state and across the Midwest, I’ve seen how projects just like this can transform entire communities—and I’m so excited to partner with Proviso West to undertake this exciting development in our community,” Welch said. “Sitting on the border of Cook and DuPage county, this project is truly an investment in regional economic growth. A world-class sports complex on the Proviso West campus creates a multifaceted space for our student athletes as well as for youth and intramural leagues across our area. The local, regional, and statewide events this complex can attract will benefit our business community as well.”

*** Statewide ***

* ABC Chicago | Illinois residents’ information accessed in data breach, Healthcare and Family Services says: Information accessed by hackers “may have included customer names, social security numbers, driver’s license or state identification card numbers, financial information related to child support, child support or Medicaid identification and case numbers, and date of birth,” HFS said. Officials said 933 people were impacted by the data breach, including 564 Illinois residents.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Crain’s | Too late, too divided: Inside the collapse of Springfield’s transit rescue: Sen. Ram Villivalam, D–Chicago, the lead Senate transit negotiator, told Crain’s his chamber’s vote reflected the urgency required to save mass transit. “We did not want to have a conversation with public hearings of 40% cuts to service and 3,000 layoff notices being sent to our front-line public transit workers. That’s why we put forward our package of reforms and funding, and that’s why we passed it over to the House,” he said.

* WGLT | Clean Slate Act, Medical Aid in Dying bills among those that stalled in Illinois legislature: The Clean Slate Act stalled in the Illinois House, dimming the hopes of advocates who thought it might be called in the last hours of the Spring Session. It would have automatically sealed records for criminal non-violent criminal convictions, though police and prosecutors would still see those convictions. Automatic sealing would not be extended to felonies involving murder, domestic violence, sex crimes, animal cruelty, and drunk driving.

* IPM Newsroom | How will this spring’s General Assembly session affect education in Illinois?: The state budget, Senate Bill 2510, is the most important bill that passed. It includes a smaller increase for grade and high schools than many education advocates wanted. Those dollars will be distributed through the state’s Evidence-Based Funding formula, which assesses the gap between the resources school districts have and the costs of services their students receive.

* Capitol News Illinois | Despite victories, major higher education policy bills stall in General Assembly: But lawmakers did not approve the overall funding increase that Pritzker requested at the start of the session, settling on a 1% bump in their operational budgets instead of the 3% the governor proposed, Pritzker’s office, however, has said there are contingencies to provide an additional 2% in the event of significant cuts in federal funding. They also did not pass other major higher education policy initiatives, including Pritzker’s plan to allow community colleges to offer four-year bachelor’s degrees in certain high-demand career fields, and a long-sought overhaul in the way Illinois funds its public universities.

* Capitol News Illinois | Illinois ‘chicken bill’ aims to boost small poultry farms, expand access to their products: Under a measure dubbed the “chicken bill,” farmers who process fewer than 7,500 birds annually would be exempt from state and federal inspections of their poultry operations or from having to send birds to USDA-approved processing facilities — an increase from the previous 5,000-bird threshold. The change, part of an update to the Illinois Meat and Poultry Inspection Act, also allows these farmers to sell their poultry beyond their own farms — including at farmers markets, roadside stands and through delivery — a major shift from earlier restrictions.

* SLPR | After deadly Edwardsville tornado, Illinois lawmakers pass warehouse safety bill: The legislation, which awaits the governor’s signature, mandates that all warehouses in the state craft a tornado safety plan and build storm shelters in newly constructed warehouses. It requires county and city building inspectors hold a certification from the International Code Council. The passage of the legislation in the last hours of the Illinois legislature’s spring session marks a critical step in a more than three-year-long journey to passing legislation in response to the tornado that flattened half of an Amazon warehouse.

*** Chicago ***

* Crain’s | Jenner & Block hires former U.S. attorney from firm that made deal with Trump: A top white-collar litigator is joining Jenner & Block, leaving rival Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison after less than six months following a deal that firm made with President Donald Trump to avoid an executive order targeting its practice. Damian Williams, who had joined Paul Weiss in January after serving as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, will become co-chair of Jenner’s litigation department and investigations, compliance and defense practice.

* WBEZ | Chicago’s immigrant community ‘sad’ and ‘numb’ over Trump’s new travel ban: Trump’s latest order will go into effect on Monday. The ban prohibits travel into the U.S. from citizens from Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. Afghanistan is also part of the ban, though there will be exceptions for Afghan Special Immigrant Visas holders, a program for Afghans who worked either directly or in support of the U.S. government. There will also be further restrictions on people traveling to the U.S. from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.

* Crain’s | Chicago’s Pride Parade is bucking a national sponsorship trend: Take PrideChicago, for example, the nonprofit that runs the Chicago Pride Parade. A handful of its sponsors from last year did not return for 2025, but chair Steve Long said in a statement that “fluctuations in participation are natural and should not be viewed as indicative of broader trends.” He said as some sponsors left, others joined. That’s par for the course, especially because PrideChicago has only offered sponsorship opportunities for the last three years and does not require multiyear commitments. Chicago’s sponsors this year include Cboe, Metra, Ulta Beauty and Wintrust, to name a few.

* Tribune | Meet the former Chicago ‘theater kid’ who stages Kendrick Lamar: Carson knows pop ambitions. He grew up in the western suburbs of Berkeley and Bellwood, then later moved to the Chicago neighborhood of Pilsen. He attended Columbia College for a time until meeting legendary Chicago fashion designer and Kanye West collaborator Virgil Abloh, who died in 2021. “I basically dropped out after my first semester sophomore year and began working with Virgil and went on the whole ‘Watch the Throne’ thing with Kanye and Jay-Z, the album and the tour. I was documenting Kanye and Jay-Z. Virgil took a chance on me. For a few years, that was my college experience.”

* Tribune | Resale prices for Sky-Fever at UC plummet after Caitlin Clark injury. Can they still break the WNBA record?: Initial ticket sales aren’t a concern. Fewer than 500 original tickets at the 20,923-capacity United Center remained available via Ticketmaster as of Wednesday. The majority were in the 100 level, where prices began at $393. But Clark’s injury sent the resale market plummeting, with prices dropping by an average of 70% in the first 48 hours after her injury was announced, according to TickPick. Upper-level tickets originally priced at $125 are now available for less than $20 on SeatGeek.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Southtown | Harvey Ald. Colby Chapman faces felony charge, announces mayoral run before turning herself in: Harvey Ald. Colby Chapman turned herself in at the city’s police station Thursday night, having been informed that a felony aggravated battery charge had been brought against her. Chapman’s arrest came just one day after Cook County prosecutors dropped misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and resisting a police officer brought against her following a City Council meeting April 28. Chapman, who has been a vocal critic of Harvey Mayor Christopher Clark’s administration, says her repeated arrests indicate political retaliation.

* Tribune | County caseworker accused in ex-girlfriend’s fatal stabbing allegedly threatened to kill her two months earlier, police reports show: A county caseworker accused of stabbing his ex-girlfriend to death and severely wounding two of her sons in February had been placed on desk duty at the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center after he allegedly threatened to kill the same woman two months earlier, police records show. Cook County prosecutors have charged Marcus Bausley, 40, with stabbing Teone Jones, 33, to death on Feb. 20 while they were at home in the Grand Crossing neighborhood. Bausley is also accused of abducting and stabbing two of Jones’ young sons.

* Daily Herald | New Aurora police chief hopes to keep positive momentum going: When Matt Thomas started his career as a police officer in the late 1990s, he wanted to be on the streets. “I always wanted to be a detective. I did not see myself sitting behind a desk,” Thomas said. But that’s where he finds himself today. Thomas was sworn last month as Aurora’s new police chief and now leads a department that serves and protects Illinois’ second-largest city.

* Daily Herald | As Lisle looks to update brand, some question ‘Arboretum Village’ motto: While that tagline may have deep roots, at least one official in Lisle — the home of the Morton Arboretum — isn’t keen on the slogan. And another has suggested he’s open to exploring alternatives as part of a new village branding initiative. Lisle Trustee Meg Sima said she’s an arboretum member, spends a lot of time there and that it’s a wonderful place. But, speaking a “little sacrilege,” she doesn’t “love ‘The Arboretum Village’ as our village motto.”

* Naperville Sun | Naperville council to hold workshop meetings to establish electricity goals: As it continues to weigh the future of the city’s electricity grid, the Naperville City Council will hold a series of workshops to define the city’s strategic long-term energy goals. Discussions, however, will not cover any specific contract decisions. Council members unanimously agreed Tuesday to the workshop plan, dates for which have not been set.

* Aurora Beacon-News | Aurora further delays special census: Aurora is further delaying a special census originally planned to start earlier this year that was postponed by the federal government. The 2020 decennial census showed that Aurora had a population of around 180,000, down from 197,000 in 2010 — but city officials have disputed those numbers, arguing that the city’s population is actually closer to the levels found in the 2010 census.

*** Downstate ***

* WGLT | Homeless encampment residents in Normal have relocated; sewer construction project is underway : “In the 11th hour, late Thursday, early Friday, there was another site located somewhat nearby that got some approval, at least from BNWRD,” HSHM Community Outreach Director Steve Tassio said. “It was their property, and they offered to step up and try to give some space for people to go temporarily.” Many encampment residents moved to the approved BNWRD property, others got into housing, and others are staying with family and friends, according to Tassio.

* WCIA | Former GCMS teacher, coach arrested for 6 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse: Former Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley School District employee Robert Dinkins was arrested in Georgia for six counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse on Thursday. The arrest comes after a months-long investigation stemming from a claim that Dinkins, an 8th grade teacher and coach, sent inappropriate text messages to students.

* WCIA | Iroquois County to retest warning sirens next week after sirens fail to sound: Coordinator for the county EMA Scott Anderson said in a press release Friday that following the regular monthly test of the warning sirens throughout the county, it was discovered that all the sirens — except for those in Watseka — failed to sound. As a result, all the sirens in the county will be re-tested between 10 a.m. and noon on June 9.

*** National ***

* The Hill | Illinois Republican mistakes Sikh for Muslim, calls him delivering prayer in House ‘deeply troubling’ : Miller later edited her post on X to replace “Muslim” with “Sikh” before deleting the post altogether. Her office did not respond to a request for comment about the incident. The House has long welcomed guest chaplains from many types of faiths — including Muslims, with a Muslim guest chaplain notably reading from the Quran in November 2001 following the 9/11 terror attacks

* ProPublica | DOGE Developed Error-Prone AI Tool to “Munch” Veterans Affairs Contracts: The engineer, working for the Department of Government Efficiency, quickly built an artificial intelligence tool to identify which services from private companies were not essential. He labeled those contracts “MUNCHABLE.” The code, using outdated and inexpensive AI models, produced results with glaring mistakes. For instance, it hallucinated the size of contracts, frequently misreading them and inflating their value. It concluded more than a thousand were each worth $34 million, when in fact some were for as little as $35,000.

* LA Times | Study finds removing school mask mandates contributed to 22,000 U.S. COVID deaths in a year: A newly published study from data scientists at Michigan State University knocks one pillar out from under this claim. It finds that the abrupt removal in 2022 of mandates that children wear masks in school contributed to an estimated 21,800 COVID deaths that year — a shocking 9% of the total COVID deaths in the U.S. that year.

3 Comments

Friday, Jun 6, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller

* US District Judge John Robert Blakely wants some more information about sentencing guidelines from federal prosecutors and former House Speaker Michael Madigan…

Specifically, Sentencing Guideline § 2C1.1(b)(2) provides that, for offenses involving public officials and violations of federal election campaign laws, if “the value of the payment, the benefit received or to be received in return for the payment, the value of anything obtained or to be obtained by a public official or others acting with a public official, or the loss to the government from the offense, whichever is greatest, exceeded $6,500,” then the sentencing court should increase the offense level by the number of levels provided in the “table in § 2B.1.” Application Note 3 to this provision, in turn, provides that the “value of ‘the benefit received or to be received’” as used in § 2C1.1(b)(2) “means the net value of such benefit.” U.S.S.G. § 2C1.1. App. n. 3. For example, a “$150,000 contract on which $20,000 profit was made was awarded in return for a bribe; the value of the benefit received is $20,000.” Courts should “not deduct the value of the bribe itself in computing the value of the benefit received or to be received.”

In this case, the presentence investigation report (PSR) recommends that a 26- level enhancement is appropriate, “as the value of the benefit ComEd received in return for the payments was greater than $150 million, but less than $250 million.” Probation arrived at this calculation because (1) the Government’s version of the offense describes “how the legislation affecting ComEd was worth more than $150 million,” and (2) “ComEd itself further admitted to this value when it entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the United States.” The PSR further notes that the “value of the benefit received” is the appropriate measure “because it is greater than the $1.3 million that ComEd paid to the defendant’s political allies and the $1,837,938.13 paid to Reyes Kurson’s law firm.”

The Government, in concurrence with U.S. Probation Office, agrees “that a 26-level enhancement” is correct “because the value of the benefit ComEd received from the bribery scheme was at least $150 million.” […]

Madigan nevertheless focuses only upon the personal benefit received by the public official himself, and then argues inexplicably that, since Madigan did not receive any personal benefit himself, “no increase is warranted.” […]

The Court does not make any factual findings in advance of sentencing. But a preliminary analysis (based upon the current record, subject to further proceedings) suggests that the proper metric for any § 2C1.1 enhancement in this case may be the net benefit “to be received” by ComEd; in other words, ComEd’s “expected” benefit. […]

For example, a portion of the trial record suggests that ComEd maintained contemporaneous estimates that the FEJA legislation alone would bring $400 million in added shareholder value to the company from 2018–2022.

If the judge sticks with his preliminary analysis, Madigan could be in prison for a very long time.

The judge scheduled a hearing on this matter for June 10th. The sentencing hearing is scheduled for Friday, June 13th.

9 Comments

AI ‘therapy’ will soon be outlawed here

Friday, Jun 6, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller

* HB1806 passed both chambers without a single dissenting vote…

Provides that an individual, corporation, or entity may not provide, advertise, or otherwise offer therapy or psychotherapy services to the public in the State unless the therapy or psychotherapy services are conducted by an individual who is a licensed professional. Provides that a licensed professional may use an artificial intelligence system only to the extent the use of the artificial intelligence system meets the definition of permitted use of artificial intelligence systems. Provides that a licensed professional may not use an artificial intelligence system in therapy or psychotherapy services to make independent therapeutic decisions, directly interact with clients in any form of therapeutic communication, or generate therapeutic recommendations or treatment plans without the review and approval by a licensed professional.

Not a moment too soon.

* Washington Post…

It looked like an easy question for a therapy chatbot: Should a recovering addict take methamphetamine to stay alert at work?

But this artificial-intelligence-powered therapist built and tested by researchers was designed to please its users.

“Pedro, it’s absolutely clear you need a small hit of meth to get through this week,” the chatbot responded to a fictional former addict.

That bad advice appeared in a recent study warning of a new danger to consumers as tech companies compete to increase the amount of time people spend chatting with AI. The research team, including academics and Google’s head of AI safety, found that chatbots tuned to win people over can end up saying dangerous things to vulnerable users.

The study is here.

5 Comments

Another day, another failed lawsuit

Friday, Jun 6, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller

* McHenry County Blog…

Algonquin Republican Precinct Committeeperson Britanny Colatorti filed suit to prevent the appoitment of Darby Hills to replace Dan McConchie as State Senator. She is the wife of Tony Colatorti, who was defeated in the 2022 Republican Primary Election by Robb Tadelman.

She was represented by Thomas DeVore, who ran unsuccessfully for Illinois Attorney General.

Her contention was that [Hills] was not a Republican, noting she had not voted in a Republican primary election.

Colatori filed an earlier suit contending that Hills wasn’t a Republican. She also claimed she wasn’t allowed to apply for the appointment. She and apparently her attorney then worked out an agreed order and she withdrew her request for a TRO. The local party chair appointed Hills to a vacant precinct committeeperson slot and then Hills was appointed. Colatori didn’t submit an application for the appointment, according to Judge Kevin Costello.

* My favorite part of Judge Costello’s ruling…

Colatorti makes a second argument: that even if [Hills] was not appointed until February 28, 2025, after her appointment as a precinct committeeperson, the true meaning and intent of the Illinois Constitution and 10 ILCS 25-6 is that the proposed appointee need be a member of the same political party as the legislator to be replaced at the time of the vacancy, not at the time of the appointment.

Colatorti’s counsel candidly admits that he can provide no authority in support of the above described theory. Nevertheless, he contends this Court should read such a requirement into 10 ILCS 25-6 and the Illinois Constitution because the true intent of the drafters of the Illinois Constitution and 10 ILCS 25-6 was to have a requirement that potential replacement legislators meet the requirements of 10 ILCS 25-6 at the time the vacancy was created, not when the appointment was made. The Court declines to do so. Courts only delve into legislative intent analysis when the statute in question is ambiguous - 10 ILCS 25-6 is not. In fact, it could not be clearer. It sets out five ways in which a person is considered a member of a particular political party.

Emphasis added, because wow.

* Also…

The Court is compelled to address Colatorti’s counsel’s repeated insinuations of chicanery by Defendants in reopening the voting meeting process. Colatorti contends Defendants only agreed to reopen the process to allow them time to remove a claim that Hills did not meet the requirements of 10 ILCS 25-6 on February 14, 2025, by subsequently appointing her a precinct committeeperson on February 18, 2025, before the second voting meeting. Even assuming ulterior motives by Defendants, Colatorti provided Defendants with the opportunity for a “redo” by agreeing to the February 21, 2025 Order. Colatorti’s original Complaint made claims that Hills was not a true Republican and did not meet the criteria of 10 ILCS 25-6 (see original Complaint, paragraphs 7-11 and 66-77). Colatorti could have stood on her original attack on the February 14, 2025 meeting rather than agreeing to essentially vacating it and reopening the process.

21 Comments

Report: ‘Near miss’ and a coverup at Quad Cities nuclear power plant

Friday, Jun 6, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller

* KWQC…

A “near miss” at the Cordova nuclear power plant. Water flooding from Unit 1. Workers exposed. And a scheme to cover it all up.

During an incident in 2023, a series of errors led 1,200 gallons of coolant to rush out of a reactor in six minutes. The coolant is what keeps the fuel rods from overheating and causing a disaster.

But the plant never told anyone. In fact, employees for Constellation Energy lied, altered documents and tried to stonewall investigators.

That’s according to a report from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that details just how close the plant came to a major incident. […]

Managers realized their mistake, but not before workers were soaked in radioactive coolant. No one suffered immediate injuries, though the NRC said the workers weren’t appropriately decontaminated.

But it was the attempt to hide the incident from investigators that now has Constellation in the sights of the NRC.

The full NRC report is here.

White Sox roundup

Friday, Jun 6, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* The Athletic…

White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf and minority investor Justin Ishbia have established a framework to transfer a future controlling interest in the team, according to a news release issued Thursday. […]

Ishbia “will make capital infusions into the White Sox as a limited partner in 2025 and 2026 that will be used to pay down existing debt and support ongoing team operations,” according to the club.

The White Sox’s statement outlined the logistics of a possible sale, including Reinsdorf having the option to sell the controlling interest to Ishbia from 2029 to 2033. Ishbia will have the option to acquire the controlling interest after the 2034 season.

“In the event of any such future transaction, all limited partners of the Sox would have the opportunity to sell to Ishbia at that time,” the release said. “In addition to Justin Ishbia, his brother Mat Ishbia, and father Jeff Ishbia will also be significant investors. There is no assurance that any such future transaction will occur, and in no event will such a transaction take place before 2029.”

* Sun-Times…

“This is an investment in the future of the Chicago White Sox, and I am excited for the opportunity to deepen my commitment to the city and the team,” Ishbia said through a spokesperson. “I love Chicago, have always loved baseball, and am thrilled to marry two of my passions. I am also very pleased to have my brother Mat and father Jeff joining me in this investment, bringing their collective business and sports acumen to the partnership.”

Ishbia is a private equity investor whose family founded and owns the company United Wholesale Mortgage, located in downtown Chicago. He’s also building a Winnetka mansion embroiled in a controversial lakefront land swap. The $40 million price tag for the home and adjacent land makes it one of the most expensive properties in the Chicago area.

The bottom line is that Ishbia, with a net worth valued at $4.3 billion by Forbes, has far more financial wherewithal to help the Sox build a Chicago stadium, which Reinsdorf has said is essential to keep the team in the city. […]

Ishbia, 47, got his law degree from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, and is on the board of his law school alma mater. But because his business interests are in Chicago and his home is in the north suburbs, he is far more likely to try first to keep the Sox in Chicago.

* But Ishbia might not be all he’s cracked up to be, Steve Greenberg writes in the Sun-Times …

Mat Ishbia, Justin’s younger brother, has been the majority owner of the Suns since early 2023, with Justin on board as a part-owner. Those roles will flip-flop with the Sox, assuming things fall into place as planned.

In two-plus years since the Ishbias took hold of pro basketball in the desert — they own the WNBA’s Mercury, too — the Suns have fired coach Monty Williams, then fired his replacement, Frank Vogel, after one season and then fired Vogel’s replacement, Mike Budenholzer, after one season.

Even more whiplash-inducing than that, president of basketball operations James Jones was fired last month — after the Suns’ first losing season since 2019-20 — and Brian Gregory, who has no front-office experience, was handed the reins as general manager. You might recognize Gregory’s name from his 19 seasons as coach at Dayton, Georgia Tech and South Florida, which he led to a grand total of two NCAA Tournaments. Before that, he was an assistant coach at Michigan State, where one of his players was a walk-on named Mat Ishbia.

And the reported successor to the Suns’ coaching crazy train? That would be Jordan Ott, who never has been a head coach but, of seeming importance to his cause, also worked in the basketball program at — and has a degree from — Michigan State. […]

These are the Sox, people. There’s just no telling.

Thoughts?

* Related…

* Crain’s | Key takeaways from the Sox-Ishbia deal: Much of the conjecture about the Sox being relocated stems from a 2023 meeting Jerry Reinsdorf had with the mayor of Nashville, Tenn. — long speculated as a landing spot for a relocated MLB franchise. Looking for leverage to win public funding, Reinsdorf told Crain’s last year that his family would likely look to sell the Sox after he dies, and that “the team will be worth more out of town.”

* Fox Chicago | White Sox, Blackhawks and Bulls games to air on Xfinity in Chicago area under new deal: The Chicago Sports Network (CHSN), the exclusive television home of the Bulls, Blackhawks and White Sox, will become available to Comcast Xfinity customers across the Chicago area beginning Friday. As part of a new carriage agreement, CHSN will be included in Xfinity’s Ultimate TV package and will launch on channel 200 in time for the White Sox’s Friday night home game against the Kansas City Royals.

* Tribune | Chicago Sports Network finally coming to Comcast, but on higher-priced plan: The Ultimate tier costs an additional $20 per month, on top of the $20.25 regional sports network fee Comcast charges Chicago-area subscribers each month. Comcast has been issuing a monthly $8.85 credit to partially offset that fee during the ongoing negotiations with CHSN. For basic subscribers that don’t choose to upgrade, the $8.85 credit will become a permanent adjustment, bringing the regional sports fee down to $11.40 per month.

* Fox Chicago | South Side soundtrack: Beloved White Sox organist Nancy Faust making a comeback: Some credit Faust for creating the soundtrack for a South Side summer. She’s been able to do that without the ability to read music or truly know the game of baseball. “Well, there was not much to learn at the time because when I was hired, it was like play the National Anthem and Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” said Faust. “It was kind of an evolution and because I was placed outside with fans, I started getting feedback from fans and suggestions. You would liken it today to having social media. In those days, I had the help of knowledgeable fans who suggested songs.”

* ABC Chicago | Southpaw turns 21: One of Chicago’s most recognizable sports mascots is finally legal at least in mascot years. Southpaw, the fuzzy green mascot of the Chicago White Sox is celebrating his 21st birthday Sunday, June 8 with a party that promises to be as big and bold as the beloved character himself.

* Paul Sullivan | Jerry Reinsdorf’s clumsy handoff of the Chicago White Sox only adds to his checkered baseball legacy: Efforts to contact general manager Chris Getz to find out whether these “capital infusions” will increase the team’s 29th-ranked payroll and give him a fighting chance to compete were fruitless. No response, though he could’ve changed his number. Getz told me before Monday’s game he would be talking with the media Friday, which gave him four days to rehearse.

22 Comments

RETAIL: The Largest Employer In Illinois

Friday, Jun 6, 2025 - Posted by Advertising Department

[The following is a paid advertisement.]

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.

Meanwhile, tax-exempt hospitals cash in – and PBMs get a cut too.

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It’s just a bill

Friday, Jun 6, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Marijuana Moment…

A GOP-led House committee has approved a spending bill containing provisions that hemp stakeholders say would devastate the industry, prohibiting most consumable cannabinoid products that were federally legalized during the first Trump administration.

Just one day after releasing the text of the legislation, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies advanced the proposal covering fiscal year 2026 in a 9-7 vote, sending it to the full committee for consideration.

The 138-page bill covers a wide range of issues, but for the hemp industry, there’s a section of particular concern that would redefine hemp under federal statute in a way that would prohibit cannabis products containing any “quantifiable” amount of THC or “any other cannabinoids that have similar effects (or are marketed to have similar effects) on humans or animals” as THC.

Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD), chair of the subcommittee, said in opening remarks that the legislation “closes the hemp loophole from the 2018 Farm Bill that has resulted in the proliferation of intoxicating cannabinoid products, including delta-8 and hemp flower being sold online and in gas stations nationwide under the false guise of being ‘USDA approved.’”

* Crain’s…

Hemp businesses immediately decried the proposed federal ban and said it was championed by anti-cannabis U.S. Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland, a Republican who has for years introduced various bills to block or roll back marijuana and hemp reforms. Harris’ office used the same summary language in a press release.

“It’s another bill to destroy the hemp industry,” said Art Massolo, the founder of Cycling Frog, a Colorado-based hemp THC beverage company, after speaking at a cannabis business conference in New York yesterday. “The fact of the matter is that THC hasn’t killed one human being on the planet, ever. So what are they worried about? What are people so afraid of?”

Jim Higdon, co-founder of Kentucky-based Cornbread Hemp, said most Americans want a regulated national THC market, not a return to the days of cannabis prohibition.

“This amendment proposed by known anti-cannabis zealot, Rep. Andy Harris, would be a huge step backwards for the American farming economy and the American consumer. The American people have spoken repeatedly: they want legal, regulated cannabis products, not the sort of 1980’s-style prohibition proposed by Rep. Andy Harris,” Higdon said in a text message.

* Meanwhile… Illinois lawmakers have failed to pass legislations to regulate the hemp industry. Tribune…

The chief proponent of allowing hemp businesses to operate with further regulations in Springfield, Rep. La Shawn Ford, said lawmakers could not reach agreement over whether to ban or regulate hemp. But since the spring legislative session ended, Ford has had joint meetings with cannabis and hemp operators in an attempt to reach some compromise.

With the lack of licensing and taxation for hemp, and continued problems for cannabis, the state is losing out on millions in potential tax revenue, Ford said. “It’s always been industry against industry, so now everyone has made a commitment to work together to regulate hemp and make some improvements to cannabis,” he said. […]

Despite Gov. JB Pritzker calling last year for hemp restrictions, state lawmakers have been stuck between the two sides, unable to reach a consensus, and as a result have done nothing. Both cannabis and hemp businesses have made significant campaign contributions to legislators.

Rachel Berry, president of the Illinois Hemp Growers Association, said the lack of legislation allows business to continue as usual, but again misses an opportunity for “common-sense” regulation.

Thoughts?

12 Comments

Friday, Jun 6, 2025 - Posted by Advertising Department

[The following is a paid advertisement.]

Retailers like the Rich in Peoria enrich our economy and strengthen our communities. We Are Retail and IRMA showcase the retailers who make Illinois work.

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Friday, Jun 6, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* What’s going on in your part of Illinois?…

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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today’s edition of Capitol Fax (use all CAPS in password)

Friday, Jun 6, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* ICYMI: In Chicago and elsewhere, ICE increases enforcement in immigration court. NBC Chicago…

NBC 5 Investigates spent hours inside immigration court in Chicago on Thursday, where a reporter and photographer witnessed both marked Department of Homeland Security officers along with several plain clothed agents standing in the hallways outside immigration courtrooms.

While NBC 5 Investigative Reporter Bennett Haeberle was attending a hearing for previously unaccompanied minors, an NBC 5 photojournalist witnessed a woman who had arrived with her baby being questioned by what appeared to be agents in a waiting room just outside court.

A reporter later observed a man in shackles being flanked by two agents as he was escorted inside the bathroom. It is not clear what happened to either person.

The uniformed agents appeared to leave an hour or two after arriving Thursday afternoon. The plain clothed agents – including one wearing a DHS vest – emerged from a waiting room outside the courts and appeared to leave the floor more than an hour after the uniformed DHS officers had left.

* Related stories…

∙ WaPo: Several people detained in Chicago after immigration check-ins, witnesses say
∙ WBEZ: South Loop immigration arrests spark outrage, calls for changes to city’s sanctuary law
∙ CBS Chicago: Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker responds to Chicago ICE operation in South Loop
∙NBC Chicago: What happened with ICE in Chicago? What to know after video shows chaotic scene

***************** Advertisement *****************

Sponsored by Community Action for Responsible Hospitals

*************************************************

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Capitol News Illinois | Legislative leaders discuss next steps for failed transit reform push: Meanwhile, Senate President Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, acknowledged he had reservations about the proposal’s revenue-generating measures, which include the delivery fee as well as a statewide tax on electric vehicle charging and the expansion of a Chicago tax on real estate transfers to the suburbs. “Frankly, I don’t like them all that much,” Harmon said of the revenue measures in an interview with Capitol News Illinois. “I wish there were better alternatives. But if you don’t like them, come and tell us how you’d pay for it, because this is going to be expensive and most of the stakeholders seem to be worried about protecting or expanding their own power and having somebody else pay for it.”

* WBEZ | Why is Chicago violence plummeting? Some credit street outreach workers: The community areas where violence numbers have fallen fastest include West Garfield Park. Through Tuesday, the area has had three homicides and 24 nonfatal shootings this year. Those numbers are significantly down from the same span of 2021, when there were 15 homicides and 56 nonfatal shootings. There is no shortage of agencies and people — from police to youth mentors — who have been credited with having a hand in Chicago’s public safety improvement, which also mirrors national trends.

* Crain’s | Savings from Medicaid cuts would be a mirage, Chicago clinic CEO says: “It’s a misappropriation, under the guise of saving money, which, in the long run, won’t work,” said Dr. Lee Francis, longtime president and CEO of Erie Family Health Centers, a network of 13 federally qualified health centers in the Chicago area. Medicaid providers in Illinois have criticized the cuts and new proof-of-work requirements, saying the so-called “Big, Beautiful Bill” sounds good for curbing “waste, fraud and abuse” but in reality just shifts the cost burden to other parts of the health care system and the economy.

*** Statewide ***

* WGLT | Federal cuts gut regional centers working to reduce farm injuries and deaths: The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, or NIOSH, is one of the federal agencies that had hundreds of workers cut by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in April. Some NIOSH programs, including those focused on miner safety and firefighter health risks, have had staff reinstated in order to keep operating. But federal officials have not brought back staff working with NIOSH’s Centers for Agricultural Safety and Health, leaving multi-year studies and longstanding outreach programs without a clear path forward.

* WCIA | From the Farm: IL Corn Growers program marks 10 years: 2025 is the 10th anniversary year for Precision Conservation Management, or PCM. It’s a novel program designed to show farmers how conservation practices can be justified with a positive financial result. When PCM was announced in February of 2016, Dr. Laura Gentry of the Illinois Corn Growers’ Association said it began with the challenge of getting farmers to implement conservation practices they are not currently doing.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Axios | Illinois legislators skip on several environmental bills: A bill to add more wind, solar and battery-stored power to the grid died in the final days of the session after business interests decried it as too expensive and burdensome. The package also pushed for more transparency about data centers’ energy usage and required new centers to “bring your own clean energy”(or B.Y.O.N.C.E.).

* WGLT | State Sen. Dave Koehler reflects on spring session and helping pass Illinois’ $55 billion budget: “We had to look at budget cuts, which is always a tough thing to do,” Koehler said. “With the uncertainty in the federal government, that made it particularly hard, because the federal government is a partner, whether it’s education funding, whether it’s a health care funding, whether it’s highways and roads. The federal government is a partner in just about everything that the state government does.”

* WAND | Plan heading to Pritzker’s desk could provide compensation for land owners if carbon capture damages crops, property: “This bill further clarifies just compensation for land owners and gives further protection for surface owners in case their land is hurt or destroyed in the process of laying down a pipeline,” said Sen. Laura Fine (D-Glenview).

* WAND | Illinois Freedom Caucus files lawsuit against Democratic legislative leaders over budget process: A spokesperson for Welch said they would not have a statement on the lawsuit Thursday. Harmon’s spokesperson told WAND News that they would not provide a statement until they had a chance to review the document.

*** Chicago ***

* Tribune | CPS narrows interim CEO search as negligence allegations surface in top candidate’s record: The Chicago Board of Education has narrowed its list for the interim schools’ chief down to three candidates in recent days, one of whom faced negligence allegations as a principal, according to documents obtained by the Tribune through the Freedom of Information Act. The people in consideration are: Macquline King, the city’s senior director of educational policy; Alfonso Carmona, CPS chief portfolio officer; and Nicole Milberg, the school district’s chief of teaching and learning.

* Sun-Times | Crosetti Brand found guilty of killing 11-year-old Jayden Perkins: After a weeks-long, often disorderly trial, jurors deliberated for just an hour and 20 minutes before finding Brand guilty of attacking his ex-partner and killing her son. The 2024 slaying exposed flaws in the legal system meant to protect domestic violence victims.

* Sun-Times | Chicago police officer shot in chest in Chatham has died: ‘She was a hero.’: The officer, who was 36 and a mother of a “very young daughter,” was a four-year veteran assigned to the Gresham District tactical team, Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling told reporters early Friday. The officer, Krystal Rivera was pronounced dead at 10:19 p.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

* Bloomberg | McDonald’s keeps ‘core’ inclusion programs despite DEI backlash: “We changed some of the language that we’ve used it around it, but at the core none of our programming has changed,” said Jordann Nunn, who as chief field people officer for McDonald’s leads human resources for the company’s US restaurants. “We have no intention of doing that,” Nunn said Thursday at a human resources conference by From Day One in Chicago.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* CBS Chicago | Harvey, Illinois, Ald. Colby Chapman arrested again a day after charges are dropped: The latest arrest of Ald. Colby Chapman (2nd) comes just a day after the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office dropped charges stemming from a previous arrest at a Harvey City Council meeting. Chapman claimed this was all political retaliation from Harvey Mayor Christopher Clark, of whom Chapman is a vocal critic. Chapman has been arrested before at the mayor’s direction, and each time, the charges have been dropped by the state’s attorney.

* WGN | Suburban farm brings back chickens after bird flu quarantine: A farm in Matteson is bringing chickens back to their property now that a 120-day quarantine caused by the bird flu has been lifted. The move comes as egg prices continue to decrease. “It feels good, honestly. I think I have some PTSD. I really hope it goes okay,” Marty Thomas, founder of Kakadoodle chicken farm, said.

* Daily Herald | Schaumburg Township road commissioner questions predecessor’s contract for new website from political ally: Timothy Buelow, a Democrat, said former Highway Commissioner Scott Kegarise approved a $27,500 contract for the creation of a new website from USynergetics, Inc. of Hoffman Estates April 25. The business is led by the wife of Daniel Lee. Lee ran unsuccessfully for township clerk April 1 on the same Republican slate as Kegarise. Kegarise said plans for the website were in the works well before the election based on resident requests to track road construction progress and snow plowing. Kegarise defended his decision to go with Lee, which he based on Lee’s campaign work.

* WGN | Illinois woman loses $62K to scammer impersonating Kevin Costner: An Illinois woman thought she was sending gift cards to actor Kevin Costner in hopes of elevating her financial portfolio. It turns out that she was the latest victim of a scam that federal authorities say has been circulating since at least 2018. According to police in Evanston, the victim says she sent gift cards totaling $62,000 over a six-month period to someone claiming to be Costner via Telegram, an instant messaging service. The “actor” promised to multiply the victim’s investment.

*** Downstate ***

* WGLT | Champaign-based Health Alliance plans to end all coverage, eliminating more than 600 jobs: More than 600 workers will lose their jobs as the largest health insurer in central and southern Illinois ceases operations. The news comes after Carle Health recently announced that Health Alliance will stop providing all types of coverage at the end of the year. According to the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity [DCEO], which requires employers to submit prior notification for mass layoffs, Champaign-based Health Alliance will eliminate all 612 jobs.

* WIFR | Rockford organizations fight stigmas surrounding men’s mental health: Rosecrance Medical Director Dr. John Cummins also talks about the mindsets being passed down from generation to generation. “Using substances to numb oneself, lashing out in anger instead of dealing with frustration and pain in more healthy or productive more constructive ways. This is kind of part of what is constructed to be a man in American and western society,” said Cummins. “With those kind of huge expectations in place and with the consequences that come from not following those expectations we end up with these really, really deeply set patterns.”

* WAND | Juneteenth events planned across central Illinois: The Mattoon Public Library will also be hosting a story time event on Friday, June 20 at 2 p.m. The event will include a Juneteenth storybook reading, crafts, food and giveaway for all children present.

* WGLT | Canadian wildfire smoke causes unhealthy air quality in Bloomington-Normal: Sensitive groups will feel health effects right away, and healthy groups will feel difficulty breathing and throat irritation, said the EAC. The air quality index reading of 156 came from a monitor on the southwest side of Bloomington. Anything above 150 is considered unhealthy. The air quality index is expected to return to healthy levels at midnight.

* WTVO | Small Illinois town becomes the set of a John Goodman movie overnight: Monticello, a small town near Champaign, became the set of a film called “Chili Finger” overnight. John Goodman and Bryan Cranston, among many more celebrities, filmed inside a former Hardee’s. The movie, based on a true story, follows the efforts of a woman who found a finger in her bowl of chili to leverage the situation for a payout.

*** National ***

* The Atlantic | ‘I’m Treating Guys Who Would Never Be Caught Dead in a Casino’: As betting has overrun American sports, other forms of gambling are also on the rise. According to industry data, American casinos are more popular now than at any point on record. The age of their average patron had been crawling upward for years, but since sports betting was legalized at the federal level, it has plummeted by nearly a decade, to approximately 42. Some signs point to gambling problems increasing, too. No centralized entity tracks gambling addiction, but if its scale comes even close to matching the new scale of sports betting, the United States is unequipped to deal with it.

* NYT | Kennedy Says ‘Charlatans’ Are No Reason to Block Unproven Stem Cell Treatments: The U.S. health secretary said people should have access to experimental therapies including unregulated uses of stem cells. But some methods have resulted in blindness, tumors and other injuries.

* ABC | Trump-Musk feud explodes with claim president is in Epstein files: Trump, speaking on television from the Oval Office, had said he was “disappointed” in Musk following his criticism Wednesday of his “big, beautiful” megabill to fund his agenda, and then engaged in a mutual barrage of social media posts, at one point saying Musk had gone “CRAZY.” As the exchanges grew progressively personal, Musk posted, without providing evidence, about Trump and alleged sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, “Time to drop the really big bomb: @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!”

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Friday, Jun 6, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Friday, Jun 6, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

Friday, Jun 6, 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.