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* WCIA…
The Supreme Court issued its decision on President Donald Trump’s executive order trying to ban birthright citizenship, and some Illinois officials are criticizing that ruling.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 along ideological lines the judiciary does not have the power to issue injunctions that affect everyone in the nation. […]
Ed Yohnka, the communications director of ACLU-IL, said the decision’s impact will create inefficiencies in federal courts.
“The court is suggesting that when people are challenging these unconstitutional orders by a president like the current president, that we have to do so in multiple jurisdictions across the country and consume lots of resources and lots of energy,” Yohnka said.
* WGLT…
The electric automaker Rivian says it’s cutting over 100 manufacturing jobs to “improve operational efficiency” as it prepares to launch production of a new vehicle in Normal.
Rivian did not say exactly how many workers were laid off or what their duties were. They were salaried, not hourly, positions. The company said only that it represents about 1% of the total number of employees, which was 14,861 people as of Dec. 31. 1% of that would be around 148 workers.
“We have made the difficult decision to reduce a small number of our salaried manufacturing employees as part of an ongoing effort to improve operational efficiency for R2,” a Rivian spokesperson told WGLT. […]
Rivian has around 8,000 employees in Normal, where it makes electric trucks, vans and SUVs in a large manufacturing plant on the community’s west side. It’s McLean County’s second-largest employer, behind only State Farm.
* Politico…
— In IL-08: Cook County Commissioner Kevin Morrison has been endorsed by the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund in his bid for Congress in the 8th District. The national organization works to elect LGBTQ+ people to public office.
— In IL-02: Adal Regis has been endorsed by David Axelrod, the political consultant and former adviser to President Barack Obama, according to a statement from Regis, who’s a policy expert.
— Ted Mason has been endorsed by Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi in his campaign for Cook County Commissioner in the 15th District. “Ted Mason is a hardworking, committed, and experienced public servant. From the time he was a staffer in my office through his tenure with Cook County, his dedication to serving the community has only strengthened,” Krishnamoorthi said in a statement.
* Press Release | IDFPR Launches Another 18 License Types on New Licensing System: The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) announced today that 18 more professions are now available for licensure via the Department’s new online licensing system, CORE (Comprehensive Online Regulatory Environment). Today’s announcement marks the successful completion of CORE’s Phase 2.2, with all of Phase 2 set for completion in the coming weeks. The Department will announce when each part of Phase 2 is completed, including which professions are added to CORE.
* Illinois Leaks | 62 Counties, Clerks, and Treasures Named In Lawsuit Filed In Federal Court – Alleged Property Tax Sale Violations: We noted in a prior Shelby County article that Shelby County is one of 62 counties now being sued in federal court, thanks to the State of Illinois’ failing to address the illegal property tax sale laws in the state. Illinois is the only state in the United States that failed to correct the law after the Supreme Court’s ruling on property tax sales and seizures of property 2 years ago. It is our understanding from multiple county officials that the Attorney General is not going to assist individual counties in this lawsuit, so each is on their own. In some cases, this is going to put a real pinch on funds as not all State’s Attorneys are able to practice law in the Federal courts without certain prior authorizations. Hiring outside counsel to handle federal cases can get really expensive. While most county insurance covers these types of suits, there comes a point where insurance companies are going to raise rates or drop clients.
* WCIA | 46 deaths involving trains recorded in Illinois so far this year: The most recent two took place in Normal and Casey this past Tuesday. According to Operation Lifesaver, they’ve calculated 59 total deaths in the state involving trains last year. This year, there have already been 46. Champaign County Sheriff Dustin Heuerman said it’s not uncommon, but the problem needs to be addressed. He said most of the time, these deaths and incidents occur because people are in a rush, and one organization whose mission is to spread rail safety awareness agrees that’s part of the issue.
* WAND | Illinois bill requiring paid break time for nursing mothers awaits Pritzker’s signature: Illinois employers are currently required to provide reasonable time to nursing mothers during the work day, but that time is not required to be paid. This plan clarifies that employee time pumping breastmilk has to be paid and that employees should not be required to use paid leave during breaks. “Some people want us to dictate a number of minutes or something,” said Rep. Katie Stuart (D-Edwardsville). “But when you have a very young baby, you nurse them more frequently during the day. You may need more time. It lessens possibly as the year goes by. So, the idea of getting to a definition of the specific number of minutes is probably impossible.”
* WAND | Safe gun storage bill arrives on governor’s desk despite Republican concerns: This legislation could require all guns to be put in a locked container if there are minors, at-risk people, or anyone ineligible to hold a FOID card nearby. Gun owners would be fined up to $1,000 if a minor or prohibited person gains access to a gun that is not safely stored. The fine could increase to $10,000 if the person kills someone with that firearm.
* Capitol News Illinois | National speculation helps ‘get more for the people of Illinois,’ Pritzker says: Pritzker was asked whether he would have run had Trump not been elected last year. “I think I would, but I have to say that in this moment, it feels like walking away is the wrong thing to do given who is in the White House and given how this administration is attacking people all across this country,” Pritzker said.
* Sun-Times | Molotov cocktails allegedly sparked fire in Austin that killed child, newspaper editor, alderperson says: West Side Ald. Emma Mitts (37th), whose ward includes the fire scene, flatly declared the fire an “arson.” Mitts told the Sun-Times it was triggered by “domestic violence” between a “young man and his girlfriend or ex-girlfriend.” “They had been arguing earlier and, the next thing you know, he was there at the building throwing a Molotov cocktail in the front, then one at the back door,” Mitts said.
* Crain’s | Nerds meet suits at Chicago quantum conference: Chicago is hosting a two-day coming-out party for quantum computing next month, featuring a high-profile roster of executives from industry and the Chicago corporate community. Those taking the stage include leaders from quantum companies that already have a presence in Chicago, such as PsiQuantum and IBM, as well as global technology heavyweights Google, Nvidia, Applied Materials and SK Group.
* Crain’s | Stockyards Cold brings modern refrigeration, and a dose of artistry, to Chicago’s former meatpacking district: The insulated warehouse will feature a 12-panel mural by Bolivian-born artist David Banegas on the building’s Ashland Avenue-facing wall depicting Chicago’s most iconic landmarks. The 100,000-square-foot cold storage space will be completed by late August, and if you walk past the site on 3815 S. Ashland Ave., you might catch Banegas painting the mural. The facility is designed to store food and other perishables in temperatures from -10 degree to 55 degrees and will be built on speculation, or spec, meaning it does not have a tenant or user lined up. Developer Karis Cold is actively marketing the building.
* Sun-Times | Chicago Sports Network removes episode of Bulls podcast — and won’t say why: An episode of “By The Horns” appeared in subscribers’ podcast libraries before it disappeared. CHSN confirmed pulling the show, which covered executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas’ contract extension. Both the network and team told the Sun-Times the Bulls had nothing to do with the episode’s removal. The Bulls did inquire with the network about the show’s format, such as whether it was going to be driven by opinion. The team was seeking information about the show, not questioning the show’s content. The Bulls monitor how they’re covered, and they were surprised to learn the episode had been removed because it wasn’t controversial.
* Block Club | Get Inked For A Good Cause At Chicago’s First-Ever ‘Tattoo Lady Fest’: Campione has now been inking Chicagoans and visitors for 11 years — seven of which have been as the shop owner of Good Omen Tattoo, 2009 W. Belmont Ave. To celebrate her many milestones in the business — and to uplift other talented women who tattoo — she’s hosting a first-of-its-kind convention called Tattoo Lady Fest this September. “Tattoo Lady Fest emerged from years of making connections with other women in tattooing,” Campione told Block Club. “I found power in the shared experience of navigating a male-dominated field.”
* Block Club | Black Yacht Weekend Attendees Call For Stricter Safety Measures After Chaotic And Dangerous Event: Last Saturday’s high winds and waves led a few companies to cancel their charters or remain docked. Some customers vented their frustration on social media while others, including high-profile influencers, expressed outrage over what they described as a lack of safety and organization. Hundreds of visitors were in town for Black Yacht Weekend, which followed the Juneteenth holiday. Now in its fifth year, the annual event draws young Black professionals and creatives from all over the country for a weekend of “unparalleled luxury” with ticketed events on land and water, from VIP yacht parties to rooftop extravaganzas. Those who don’t own boats typically rent one from private owners or charter companies, with groups paying in advance.
* Evanston Now | Friendly face-off builds in state senate race: Rachel Ruttenberg and Patrick Hanley worked side-by-side as political organizers in their respective communities long before they were opponents, but next March will face off against each other to fill State Sen. Laura Fine’s seat in Springfield, as Fine looks to secure the Democratic nomination for a seat in the U.S. House. Both candidates recently sat down with Evanston Now to talk about their campaigns, policy positions and visions for their party, and while neither had anything bad to say about the other, they both do see daylight between them as they craft their pitch to voters.
* Aurora Beacon-News | Water rates to increase in Aurora starting in July: Aurora residents will likely see a slightly higher number on their water bill starting in July, after the City Council voted on Tuesday night to raise water rates by 6% for each of the next two years to account for operating and capital needs for the Aurora water and sewer system. For a household paying an average bi-monthly bill of $100.25, the rate increase would amount to about $6.60 more per bill in each of the next two years, according to the item voted on Tuesday. For seniors who qualify for the senior exemption, that increase would be an average of $1.64 per bill in each of the next two years, assuming, based on the city’s figures, that qualifying seniors use on average half the water that the average household uses.
* Naperville Sun | DuPage officials hoping user will emerge to renovate Oak Cottage in Naperville’s Greene Valley Forest Preserve: It was listed as one of the most endangered historic places in Illinois by preservationist organization Landmarks Illinois in 2023. That same year, the DuPage forest preserve district approved the Greene Valley Master Plan, which called for a study to document the house’s history and condition and create a timeline for partnering with a third party to propose a use and long-term maintenance strategy for the structure.
* Daily Herald | Aiming for success: Schaumburg teen becomes national champion in women’s shooting contest: Saanvi is no stranger to the shooting community. She began competing when she was 12, quickly making a name for herself as she claimed the Illinois state championships for 2022, 2023 and 2024. Saavni competes with Arlington International Airgun Club of Arlington Heights, where she is coached by Don Webber.
* WCIA | ‘Heartbreaking’: U of I Extension weighs in on potential SNAP cuts under ‘Big Beautiful Bill’: If the bill passes, U of I Extension said it would effectively mean the end for their SNAP-educational programs. For 30 years, these programs have been helping low-income communities in Illinois across 102 counties make better and healthier food choices. McCaffrey said the millions of dollars per year that come to Illinois would be going to zero, and that zero would mean no more SNAP education programs out of the University of Illinois Extension Office. These programs work with 1,800 community partners statewide, equipping more than a million people with food-related skills like stretching food money, reading nutrition labels and making healthy meals.
* IPM | How northern Illinois teachers are bringing indigenous stories into their classrooms for the first time: Donahoe is the history center’s executive director. That 180-year-old map shows the DeKalb County land stolen from Chief Shab-eh-nay which was returned to the Prairie Band Potawatomi just last year. This past school year, for the first time, Illinois schools were required to teach a unit on the experience and history of Native people in the state. So, when the news coincided with the launch of the state’s new indigenous curriculum requirements, Donahoe knew they had an opportunity to help teachers bring local history to their classroom. So, last summer, they hosted a multi-day training with teachers from every district in the county to show them how to teach with primary sources like the 1843 map. She says they also have old biographies about Shab-eh-nay and court records where the chief sues settlers for stealing his timber.
* WGLT | City of Bloomington will work to assuage massage therapist concerns over new ordinance: Bloomington’s city manager says the newly-passed massage business ordinance will do more than help shut down illicit businesses. “We’re also going to be helping the people within that establishment and there are groups out there that are willing to do that and want to do that, and so that’s going to be a great thing for the community,” Jeff Jurgens said on WGLT’s Sound Ideas. Jurgens said it is heartwarming to see the community focus on helping people who are being exploited.
* WCIA | Decatur man who brought gun to daughter’s school, made threats gets 2 years probation: Evans was charged with intimidation by threatening physical harm, disorderly conduct and unlawful use of a weapon — all felony counts — as well as a misdemeanor charge of violating the Firearm Concealed Carry Act. In May, Evans reached a plea deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to unlawful use of a weapon as well as the misdemeanor charge.
* WCIA | $180M Champaign Co. rape liability lawsuit settled out of court: That minor was 13 years old when she was sexually assaulted at the Champaign facility of The Pavilion Behavioral Health System in 2020. The victim’s mother, represented by St. Louis-based Simon Law, sued the following year and originally won $535 million in damages. The award was later reduced to $180 million on appeal and was settled out of court. Judge Bohm said in a prior court ruling that that the evidence was overwhelmingly against The Pavilion that their staff’s negligence allowed for the victim to be raped by another teenage patient.
* BND | Popular East St. Louis coach still doesn’t know if he’s been fired or not: “I just have no clue what’s going on,” Barry Malloyd said after leaving Wednesday’s East St. Louis School District 189 board meeting. He said he was told that the board would have a decision Wednesday if he would be fired from his job as the juvenile transition coordinator and athletic director at Mason Clark Middle School. As of Friday morning, nearly two days since that meeting adjourned — which was the second in as many days that involved discussion of his employment — Malloyd said he still hasn’t heard what the school board members decided.
* WSIL | Firework vendor shares concerns following Marion’s new ordinance on firework use: But new this year for Marion, consumer fireworks are no longer allowed. Now local firework vendors are worried about how that impacts their bottom line. Sky Thunder Fireworks says in order to follow the new ordinance, they had to set up shop outside of city limits. Kelly Whitecotton is a sales clerk for the store. “So we’re out in the countryside,” Whitecotton said.
* New Yorker | Did Lead Poisoning Create a Generation of Serial Killers?: Fraser thinks the master key is to be found in the fact that these serial killers disproportionately originated in the counties and milieu of her childhood. The area south and southwest of Seattle was home to massive ore-processing facilities, and she, her classmates, and her subjects were reared in their murky, particulate shadows. “Spare some string for the smelters and smoke plumes,” she writes of her crazy wall, “those insidious killers, shades of Hades.” The smelters caused a profusion of heavy metals in the region’s air and water, and toxins such as lead and arsenic were found in staggering concentrations in the blood of Tacoma’s postwar children. Some were merely dulled, or delinquent; a few became tabloid monsters. Bundy was the most famous figure in “a long line of outlandishly wanton necrophiliac killers who’ve lived, at one time or another, within the Tacoma smelter plume.” Fraser waxes in a self-consciously Lynchian register, with stygian and hallucinatory descriptions of the Pacific Northwest. In Tacoma, she writes, it was “as if someone had scratched through to the underworld and released a savage wave of sulfur.”
* San Francisco Chronicle | Disposable vapes may be more toxic than cigarettes, study finds: Using a lab device to simulate 500 to1,500 puffs per product, the UC Davis researchers found that metal concentrations increased with use. Leaded bronze components and degrading heating coils were identified as major sources of contamination. “When I first saw the lead concentrations, they were so high I thought our instrument was broken,” lead author Mark Salazar said in a statement.
* AP | Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s made promises about vaccines. Here’s what he’s done as health secretary: “I’m not going to substitute my judgment for science,” he said. Yet the Department of Health and Human Services under Kennedy has taken unprecedented steps to change how vaccines are evaluated, approved and recommended — sometimes in ways that run counter to established scientific consensus.
posted by Isabel Miller
Friday, Jun 27, 25 @ 2:39 pm
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- “Did Lead Poisoning Create a Generation of Serial Killers?” -
Never forget that the plumber’s union is the reason Chicago has so many lead pipes. Their guy Jim McCarthy publicly admitted that they didn’t see any problems with them, but privately we know they were securing themselves more business since non-lead pipes didn’t need plumber labor for installation.
The city should sue the union to pay for the lead replacements, and hire non-union employees for the job so they learn their lesson.
Comment by Leaded Chicagoan Friday, Jun 27, 25 @ 3:05 pm
I really hope the R2 and R3 do well for Rivian. I’m getting the R3
Comment by Lurker Friday, Jun 27, 25 @ 3:06 pm
I do not understand why the state has not changed law on tax sale. The law was declared unconstitutional a while back. I would think you would sue the state not the counties following state law. It will be a mess
Comment by DuPage Saint Friday, Jun 27, 25 @ 3:31 pm