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* WTTW…
On Feb. 10, 2025, Governor JB Pritzer officially signed into law House Bill 4144 (now Public Act 103-1065), better known as Karina’s Law. […]
The law goes into effect this Sunday, on Mother’s Day. […]
The language of law specifies that law enforcement are required to remove firearms from an alleged abuser’s home within 96 hours of a court-granted order of protection.
“Up until we passed this bill, the option was always there, on both the criminal side and the civil side, for someone to choose the firearm remedy. So, people were checking that box, but there was no procedure for the courts, and for law enforcement, to follow to actually get those guns out of the hands of abusers,” said state Rep. Maura Hirschauer (D-Batavia).
President Donald Trump is expected to sign a memorandum Friday afternoon directing his administration to take steps to block invasive carp from reaching the Great Lakes and signaling support for a construction project in Illinois that would install barriers to prevent the carp from infiltrating Lake Michigan.
In a fact sheet provided first to The Detroit News, a White House official said the memorandum directs the administration to “expeditiously implement the most effective mechanisms, barriers, and other measures to prevent the migration and expansion of invasive carp in the Great Lakes Basin and the surrounding region.”
The memorandum explicitly expresses support for a $1.15 billion project at the Brandon Road Lock & Dam in Joliet, Illinois, that would install several methods to serve as a barrier to the carp, “provided that the State of Illinois does not stand in the way of its construction.”
The swipe at Illinois comes several months after the state postponed signing paperwork with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for land acquisition that’s needed to proceed with the project’s construction, after Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker cited the uncertainty of funding from the Trump administration.
* Capitol News Illinois | What Trump’s cuts to federal climate research could mean for Illinois: Illinois researchers have always played a role in the National Climate Assessment. University of Illinois emeritus professor Donald Wuebbles has contributed to all five previous reports, including serving as a lead author of the fourth assessment in 2017. He said his greatest concern is that the report could now move forward under a different team of scientists hand-picked by President Donald Trump, who has a history of denying climate change as a “hoax.”
* 25 News Now | New safe digging regulation in Illinois law takes effect: One of the biggest changes revolves around the required waiting period. The time and day of the call no longer counts toward that waiting period, meaning Illinoisans must call at least three business days in advance before starting any project that requires digging.
* Press Release | DCEO Invites Filmmakers to Enter Shortcuts Short Film Contest: “DCEO’s Illinois Film Office continues to serve as an integral partner for the 815HORTS festival,” said DCEO Director Kristin Richards. “I encourage eligible filmmakers throughout the state to submit their short films to the Shortcuts contest for their chance to be featured on the big screen as part of Illinois’ world-class film industry.” The Shortcuts winner will receive $250 and be screened at the 815HORTS festival, a short film festival based in Rockford scheduled November 14-15, 2025. All Shortcuts submissions received by August 31, 2025, will be automatically submitted for screening consideration at 815HORTS.
* Semafor | JB Pritzker: ‘I put my money where my mouth is’: “ I’ve also supported candidates financially wherever I could, and the Wisconsin race is a great example of that. Compared to Elon Musk, you might say that I got an awfully great return on investment. I think it’s $30-$40 million that he spent, not to mention offering, what, a million dollars a piece to a few people to get them to vote Republican? That seems illegal to me. But yes, I put my money where my mouth is. I happen to have the ability to support people financially.”
* Daily Southtown | Dolton picks new village administrator, chief of staff in flurry of appointments: He said he and trustees want to be thorough in filling jobs, including police chief, and said he is heartened by the number of potential applicants. “We have had the blighted image as a community,” House said Thursday morning. “It’s encouraging to see so many people willing to work with the community.” Keith Freeman will “transition” out of his job as Dolton’s village administrator, being replaced immediately by Charles Walls, House said. Walls will be paid $100,000 annually, the mayor said.
* Daily Herald | ‘Education and enforcement’: Why you can expect to see more police on Route 59 today: If you can’t drive 55, you probably want to stay off 59 today. Police departments across the suburbs — from Wauconda up north to Naperville down south and nearly everywhere in between — are teaming up for a regional traffic safety initiative all day Friday along the Route 59 corridor. That means more officers out on patrol looking for speeders, texters, seat belt skippers and other traffic scofflaws.
* Lake County News-Sun | Waukegan, New Trier students learn about segregation fight; ‘This shows what activism can do’: After Waukegan students journeyed to Winnetka in November, learning about redlining by banks to make it harder for Black people to get mortgages, New Trier students came to Waukegan in March for a class about the desegregation of Whittier Elementary School in the 1960s. “That was something I thought was only about the South,” New Trier senior Anna Hill said. “We learned how the people made a change in their community,” Alex Palmer, another New Trier senior, said.
* Aurora Beacon-News | Juan Sifuentes ousts longtime East Aurora school board president Annette Johnson from top role: In the latest leadership shake-up at East Aurora School District, board president Annette Johnson was ousted from her role as president by fellow board member Juan Sifuentes at a board meeting Monday. At the same meeting, the board swore in Johnson, who won reelection on April 1, along with two challengers – Mayra Reyes and Vannia Valencia – who defeated incumbent board members Bruce Schubert and Theodia Gillespie during the election.
* Tribune | Meet Jim Downey, the Joliet guy who had the secret sauce to transform 50 years of ‘SNL’: Downey, you see, contains words the way a flood contains water. He’s 72, and despite more than 50 years as a revered godhead of comedy writing, the riverbed has never run dry. The first time we talked, the interview went four hours. The second time, five. Mulaney said that when they both wrote at “Saturday Night Live,” Downey would often call him to craft the week’s cold opening: “Once Jim got on the phone, I knew it was my afternoon.”
* Sun-Times | Mayor Johnson’s bid to reshape Chicago Fire Department explains four-year wait for new contract: During a mid-term interview with the Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ, Johnson offered his most pointed explanation to date for why the acrimonious negotiations with Chicago Firefighters Union Local 2 are headed for arbitration that poses risks for both sides. With a $1.12 billion shortfall and $3 billion more in federal funds on the chopping block, the mayor is determined to confront a cost-cutting challenge his predecessors avoided.
* Sun-Times | CPS Board president rips into outgoing CEO and budget-cutting proposals: The president of the Chicago Board of Education is tearing into the school district’s embattled CEO, saying that the budget proposals he produced for next school year are “unsatisfactory and incomplete,” and that Pedro Martinez’s planned June exit from the school district should be accelerated. “The current CPS CEO’s recent focus has been on his professional future and not on the long-term stability and success of our school district,” Sean Harden said in a statement. “His actions have undermined our Board’s ability to make the best decisions on behalf of CPS students.”
* Nadig Newspapers | $503,000 owed in property taxes for Portage Theater; owner not at building court hearing: According to city attorney Glenn Angel, Manuel Glicksberg had been the lead person on the LLC which owns the theater but that he lost the theater in a divorce settlement. The new owner of the LLC was identified as Jamie Glicksberg, who reportedly is a partner in the law firm of Croke Fairchild Duarte and Beres. Angel said that she is believed to be residing outside the country.
* WGLT | Bloomington plans to formally endorse shelter village: The city council will vote on the resolution during its 6 p.m. Monday meeting at the Government Center. The move would jumpstart negotiations on a sale of the property to Home Sweet Home Ministries [HSHM] which would operate The Bridge, a shelter of 48 tiny sleeping cabins that would be located at Main Street and Oakland Avenue.
* WCIA | Going back in time at Bresee Tower: Danville is waiting to see when a more than 100-year history will come to an end. Bresee Tower has long been a pillar downtown, but crews are ready to get started with demolition. City officials said demolition could have started as early as 2 p.m. on Thursday, but that time has come and gone.
* CNBC | China’s exports surge as shipments to Southeast Asian countries offset plunge in U.S. trade: Imports slumped by just 0.2% in April from a year earlier, compared with economists’ expectations of a 5.9% drop. China’s shipments to the U.S. plunged over 21% in April year on year, while imports dropped nearly 14%, according to CNBC’s calculation of official customs data. Chinese U.S.-bound shipments had risen 9.1% in March, as exporters rushed to frontload orders ahead of tariff hikes.
* Business Insider | Trump’s deal with Paul Weiss is being turned against him in court: For the law firms choosing to fight Trump’s executive orders targeting them, rather than striking deals with the president, the Paul Weiss deal has turned into a potent weapon. They’ve cited Trump’s quick revocation of the order — just six days after it was initially issued — to argue that the orders never had any legitimacy in the first place. The order, had it been carried out, would have revoked the security clearances of Paul Weiss lawyers out of “the national interest” and barred them from entering government-owned buildings, potentially including even courthouses and post offices.
posted by Isabel Miller
Friday, May 9, 25 @ 2:12 pm
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Glad to see a new day in Dolton, Illinois. Break with the immediate past and now to clean-up the damage that had been done!
Comment by Levois Friday, May 9, 25 @ 3:21 pm
Aww my fave retiree, State Senator Pat McGuire, is quoted in the Downey piece.
Comment by It’s just me Friday, May 9, 25 @ 4:04 pm