WBEZ’s Weekly News Recap: July 10, 2026

B. Gaps have emerged due to the regressive revenue options that members of the City Council that were more aligned with corporate interests put forward. The City Council majority behind the budget said in response that the mayor is slow walking the implementation of their fiscal policies. 13th Ward Alderman Marty Quinn announced he will not be running for re-election. Chicago-born cardiologist wants to bring her experience to City Hall. I'm tired of seeing the system fail the people. Hey Chicago, I'm Sasha Ann Simons, and this is in the loop. We're breaking down the biggest stories of the week in our weekly news recap. Arrests by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement are on the rise again. A federal appeals court in Chicago upholds the statewide ban on assault weapons. Plus, a disgraced legislator from Southwest Suburban Plainfield steps down from his position. Days after Democratic State Rep. Harry Benton resigned from office, submit an ethics inquiry. Questions still linger. I had requested that resignation on July 1st, an hour after I received the report. Look, this is not about punishing businesses or stifling the potential of this technology. The governor just signed a new AI protection bill into law. Community leaders coming together just yesterday to address ICE activity across multiple neighborhoods. Despite claims that Operation Midway Blitz has ended, it is not over. Let's get to the recap on the panel this week, David Greising, President of the Better Government Association. Mitchell Armantrout, Chicago Sun-Times political reporter, and Olivia O'Brad Lander, Chicago Tribune State Government Reporter. Now, we started our conversation with the dozens of people arrested by federal immigration enforcement. The Sun Times reports at least 20 people were arrested in Chicago last week, and another 17 people have been arrested so far this week. And according to the New York Times, there were more than 10,000 arrests across the country in the last week of June. The Trump administration's tactics have been far less publicized than we saw with Operation Midway Blitz last fall. So. I started by asking the panelists their thoughts on the administration's shift in strategy. Mitch went first. Yeah, I mean, this was a literal reality TV show when it started, like Dr. Phil coming in with a film crew, all kinds of right-wing YouTubers visiting Chicago and other cities that were being targeted by the Trump administration. And, you know, it's now the strategy is keep it quiet, move into neighborhoods of Chicago, the suburbs. Essentially, like... the same amount of manpower, just in terms of ICE agents being deployed, not that we have any clear idea of exactly what they're targeting or where they'll be next, but...

You know, the strategy is the same. Round up as many people as possible, but being a little bit more strategic about it, it seems like, under. A little bit quieter. A lot more quiet. You know, before it was with Gregory Bovino in town, it was, you know, he really wanted to draw those TV crews out, the people's cell phones out. He wanted his face on the cover of the newspaper and all over television. And it worked. And it created, you know, a lot of tension in the city, a lot of fear. And now, you know, there's still that fear. went away. You know, these rest have been happening, and they've certainly ticked up in the last few weeks. But, yeah, just sort of a quieter campaign. Yeah. It's disappointing to see that, you know, this was still happening. You know, there are a lot of people who thought it was over, but, you know, here we are with it being rammed up and just sort of back in the spotlight. Any thoughts, Olivia? Yeah. I mean, I think with the sort of very... out there actions that happened in the fall, these big sort of takeovers of neighborhoods. It almost seemed like from federal enforcement that were really like in the face of a lot of Chicagoans who, I mean, none of us normally see that sort of thing, but a lot of Chicagoans who don't maybe normally see immigration enforcement don't normally see it happen in their own backyard. With that came a lot of organized resistance. Yes. There's still, you know, ice out signs on a lot of people's windows, but that all came from seeing it. in such a huge way in the fall. And it's interesting. And I wonder if it will sort of, I don't think it will have the same resistance now because it's just not as big and not as visual. In your face. Yeah. In your face is a great way. You still have community groups who are out there who are, you know, just paying attention, capturing video. But yeah, to your point, it's not as, I mean, it got really heated at one point. People died. Right? I would add that. Let's not forget that there have been a court aspect to this, too. And the federal government has sustained some serious blows, the highest profile one probably here in Chicago with regard to the Broadway 6. Broadview. Broadview 6. Sorry, Broadway. I don't know where that came from. But in any event, it's been embarrassing some of the setbacks they've had in federal court. And they've also alienated not just local communities, but local law enforcement. and that has not served them well either. So maybe this lower key approach might make them more effective in what they're trying to do. Mayor Brandon Johnson issued a statement yesterday that reads in part. Quote, now is the time to stand united, support our neighbors, and ensure no one faces fear or uncertainty alone. Our office will continue to monitor and respond to any actions that put our residents in danger and destabilize communities. Now, I'm going to sit down with the mayor next Thursday on In the Loop, and we're going to talk much more about this. And we'll also, folks, will take your calls. Let's pivot now to a recurring topic here on the recap, disgraced politicians. First, Harry Benton, the state representative for Southwest Suburban Plainfield, or should I say former state representative, Mitch? He resigned last week, actually. A couple days after Illinois House Speaker Emmanuel Chris Welch demanded he stepped down or else face expulsion proceedings in the House. And this all goes back to some unspecified misconduct allegations that started bubbling up back in February.

When the speaker basically took Harry Benton out of the caucus, banished him from their meetings, stripped him of committee assignments. And we found out last week that the legislative inspector general, basically the watchdog who looks into allegations of misconduct or any sort of wrongdoing in the Capitol, turned in his report. We don't really know what's exactly in that report. We have a vague idea that these are sexual harassment allegations, but none of the alleged victims, the speaker has said that there are multiple victims have stepped up publicly. So we don't have a full picture of why he stepped down, but... Mr. Benton did step down. He did not step down, interestingly, from his post as the highway commissioner in a far southwest suburban Wheatland township. Interesting. Actually, there was a board meeting last night where he was there. Some of his colleagues asked him, they told him to step down, and he's refused to step down from that $72,000 a year post. So, yeah, you know, just sort of another name on the wall of a hall of shame. Right. And another one here, state representative, this one is facing criminal charges. Tell us what is going on with Representative Carol Ammons of Urbana. Yeah. State Representative Carol Ammons was indicted this week on charges of wire fraud, multiple charges of wire fraud, also a conspiracy to obstruct justice, making a false statement. connection with the wire fraud allegations essentially. Of course, you know, both the speaker and the governor have noted that innocent until proven guilty, definitely. right for due process there, but basically she's accused of using her position both politically with her campaign committee and then also with different state grants that she was able to sort of direct getting some kickbacks allegedly from those state grants, different community organizations that she had worked with, and then also getting her daughter. jobs, it seems, at some of these organizations and then her and her daughter financially benefiting from some of this alleged. Behavior. Yeah. Your thoughts, David, on what's happened with these two state lawmakers? Well, innocent until proven guilty. Nevertheless, Speaker Welch has similarly stripped her of basically all interaction with her colleagues in the state legislature. She's still allowed to show up for work, but she's not allowed to do much work. She can't go to committees. She's off committees, off the speakers.

access to the speaker, et cetera, et cetera. And this does seem appropriate in the sense that we've had other instances under the prior speaker, Mike Madigan, where people who are accused of crimes still served without really much disruption. And when somebody's been charged like that, you know, that repercussions ought to happen. I would just going back to the other case, though, the legislative ethics commission really must release this. investigative findings. You're talking about the Harry Benton case? Exactly. It's just amazing to think that somebody would be kicked out of the house, and we have no idea the underlying facts of the case. And just as an oversight body, which is represented by both parties and both bodies of the legislature, they're not legally obligated to do so, but it just seems like we as the people who pay for this work should have the right to know what went on. I want to stick with Springfield and turn now to legislation that's making headlines. Now, a bill that the governor just signed will impact something that everybody's talking about. AI. Artificial intelligence, Sasha. How will this bill work? This is a regulation sort of framework for the state that kind of follows what has been done in California and New York. basically requires big companies, OpenAI, and meta and these other giant corporations that are being valued at like nearly a trillion dollars due to this burgeoning technology. They have to basically envision the worst case scenarios for what their technology can be used for. and develop safety plans, publish those safety plans, and basically let the public know, hey, here's what we're working with. We don't really know where it's going, but it could go here. Could get bad, potentially. We're going to try to not make it so bad. So some more transparency, it sounds like. Right. And what Illinois is doing, it takes one step further than the other states that have done this is every year these companies have to bring in an outside auditor, take a look at their plans. and basically make sure that they're actually doing what they're saying they're doing. So if they don't comply with these new regulations, what's the penalty? They face fines ranging 1 million for a first time violation, up to 3 million after that. But again, that's really kind of chump change for these companies we're talking about, like billions and billions of dollars that they're turning in every month. And these will be the strongest regulations on AI in the nation. I mean, do we know how AI developers have responded to this legislation? Opening, I was actually supportive of this. Openly, they lobbied for it in Springfield at the end of session. And, you know, I think, you know, it behooves them to sort of, you know, put out this public facing sort of stance that, hey, you know, we recognize that we have a responsibility here. We're trying to do our best. I think there's also probably that might be one reason that the penalties in this law are. pretty low at this time. And, you know, all the legislators involved say that this is basically the first step. Yeah, and that was a business decision on Anthropics part because they're trying to position themselves as kind of the white hat AI company to the one that's worried about the same things, the rest of us worry about, et cetera. And I tell you, if you're ever wondering what to worry about with regard to AI, just the list of like...

findable acts on their part or the disastrous scenarios. We're talking about like nuclear, nuclear bombs, all kinds of things that the state is worrying about. It just codifies some of that kind of latent fear a lot of people have that we don't know how badly this could go. And their kind of laundry list of how badly things could go is not, don't read it right before bedtime. Well, Olivia, speaking of local laws getting national attention, one week after the Supreme Court agreed to consider a challenge to Cook County's assault weapons ban, the federal appeals court in Chicago has upheld the statewide ban. So help us make sense of what's happening here. I mean, these are different courts that are looking at this in different ways, of course. But this is a victory for J.B. Pritzker, at least for now, being able to say that this ban is legal and still stands as it could potentially be addressed directly or indirectly by the Supreme Court in the fall and going into next year. And this is something that comes, I mean, it's sort of just how it aligns with the Supreme Court's calendar, but always comes close to the anniversary of the Highland Park mass shooting that happened on July 4th a few years ago. So I think it is interesting that it just will, a ruling on this could come at a very emotional time for a lot of moments. And the governor's, you know, he's gearing up for a major fight over the Supreme Court's decision last week. What is J.B. Pritzker saying about how he's going to defend? the assault weapons ban at the state level in Cook County? Yeah, it's interesting. I asked him about this, I think, a few days ago. He said that he is making sure, along with the attorney general, that the state has any sort of outside counsel that it needs, basically that has all the experts that it needs on its side. Getting everybody lined up. Exactly. Even though this is still potentially months away, obviously it's ongoing in other courts and they want to be as prepared as possible when the Cook County one is potentially considered in the Supreme Court. Could you see, David, this ruling impacting gun laws throughout the nation? I doubt it. And that's because it's viewed, I think, in legal circles as a dead end case that when it gets to the Supreme Court, it's almost certain the court will overturn this ruling. Justice Clarence Thomas really has invited this particular case to come to the court because he can't wait to knock it down. Yeah, he's the main one questioning its constitutionality. Right. And so if politicians want to kind of make a stance for political effect and pass a law, they would do so fully knowing it's unlikely that any of them would survive. Nobody has figured out how to thread the needle with this court with regard to. this kind of legislation. Yeah. Olivia, let's get to another bill awaiting the governor's signature. Now, this one...

would add regulations to private equity firms that buy disability group homes. So I think this is something that a lot of folks are probably not very familiar with. So I'm curious why the issue came to lawmakers' attention. Yeah, so it actually came to lawmakers' attention. I think you're right. This is not something that a lot of people are familiar with. I was today years old preparing to ask you this question. Exactly. And I think even these SILA, they're called Community Integrated Living Arrangements, it's an acronym, but these group homes. And some other similar sort of facilities across the state are not something that a lot of people know about, but they are places where people with developmental and intellectual disabilities can live independently or semi-independently with caretakers also being there. And some of those caretakers who are members of a union were the ones who actually brought this bill to lawmakers' attention. They had basically said that... They saw a bunch of issues pop up when a private equity firm Bain purchased or rolled their... of homes basically into their portfolio a few years back. Staffing issues, maintenance issues, not being able to reach management, that sort of thing. Okay. So what are the new regulations that they would be facing? So it would be regulations on basically reporting when these types of facilities are sold to asset management firms and also when they are owned by asset management firms having some requirements to report like if you're saddling them with debt and that sort of thing, which is supposed to mitigate some of those issues potentially. I should say, Bain has pointed out that they were not the sort of controlling owner when these homes in question eventually had their license revoked. But this was still a really big issue for the union this session to be able to get this past. Let's turn to one last bill that went into effect on July 1st, classifying prediction markets as unlicensed sports wagering. So, David, for folks not familiar, remind us what prediction markets are. Well, if you watch any sporting event on TV, that's what all the advertising is these days from prediction markets. This has become the place to go and bet on not just sports, but just about anything that is happening. There's some about like, you know, will Trump say what McDonald's any number of times per week? So you can bet on anything. When was Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey going to get married? We now know it's July 3rd. So in any event. These are unregulated markets. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission technically is responsible for overseeing them. And states are now trying to step in and say, wait a minute, these companies are making lots and lots of money. And just like we regulate other forms of gambling, we should be able to regulate this. And that's the big fight right now. So that's what the reclassifying.

prediction markets. What does that mean exactly? It means treat them like you treat online sports betting, make them pay licensing fees, make them pay taxes, etc. And there are billions of dollars at stake. Just looking at the advertising, you know there's a lot of money going on here. And the states want a part of that, not surprisingly. Well, they've exploded in popularity, as David just brought up there, Mitch. So do you think that this could have an impact? It could absolutely have an impact. I mean, they're going to fight those tooth and nail because, yeah, no one is getting, government-wise, is getting any cut of this at this point. And this is sort of a proxy battle between J.B. Pritzker and Trump's CFTC. And yeah, I mean, it really comes down to this sort of elemental question of, is this sports betting or gambling? Any normal, like any reasonable person looking at these apps would say like this is sports betting. There's very technical reasons for why it's not, or you could argue it's not betting because you're not betting against the house. You're technically betting against other people. But yeah, I mean, this is a massive sort of industry and hard to tell. That licensing few were talking about is 15 million. Right? Platform providers like Kalshi must obtain a four-year sports betting license, which costs $15 million. Yeah, but back to Mitch's point about that being chump change for a company the size of Kalshi. The real fight here is whether they can be taxed because that's where the money really gets paid. Well, not surprisingly, Illinois is being sued by Kalshi. I mean, do you think the state's new regulations will stand, David? It's hard to say. The law is really unproven on this one because this is such a new phenomenon. It would seem when you look at the type of activity it is, and yes, Mitch is right. Technically, it is not gambling in the same sense when you're betting against House. Nevertheless, it is a game of chance that is being played by both participants and just the value there. I would think that over time, it just can't continue to operate without more oversight and without the state getting a share.

Now, Mayor Johnson gave his mid-year budget report, and the news isn't good, David. The city's facing $130 million budget shortfall for the fiscal year. The mayor is placing the blame on the alternate budget, the one that city council approved without his signature. Is that fair? That is a political statement in an ongoing power struggle between the mayor and the city council, the 31-person majority who forced the mayor to adopt their budget and not his budget, which was unprecedented. And Mayor Johnson has been licking his wounds ever since. And with regard to this shortfall, his critics will point out that there are... things in the budget that he has just not moved forward on there. It's $90 million available through a debt sale that he has not pursued. There's advertising revenue worth about $30 million that he has not procured. The Bally's lawsuit could cost another $7 million in revenue. Augmented reality licenses haven't been sold. That was supposed to be another $6 million. So people are saying, well, maybe mayor, maybe some of these things. that weren't realistic, whatever, but you're supposed to do the things that are in your budget. Yeah, they haven't paned out. And so it is, this is all sort of kabuki theater, though, with regard to the upcoming budget as much as anything, because Mayor Johnson lost last time, and he's trying to build support, political support. with the community as well as within city council. Right. So that next time his budget gets serious consideration instead of a highly likely alternative budget from the same group of older people who forced him to suck up and adopt this, this budget, move forward with this particular budget. Well, speaking of older people, 39th Ward Alder Samantha Nugent said in a statement, the quote, Mayor Johnson has spent six months slow walking implementation of new revenues and efficiencies designed to close our budget deficit. Olivia and Mitch, what do you think? Might she have a point? Is the mayor still fighting that budget battle that he lost? Well, it's kind of funny, like looking back in the middle of that budget battle when, you know, he was about to be... the city council was about to basically totally go against him. You know, his whole line was that, you know, we agree on 97% of the budget that they've basically adopted 90% of what I proposed. That's right. And now, you know, eight months later, when we fall a little bit short, suddenly it's, well, that two and a half percent, that's really making a big difference here. So, yeah, it's kind of a funny little political tug-a-war. Interesting reminder there, Olivia? I mean, to hear the mayor. Tell it. It's an issue of farms not being interested. Basically, a lot of this is, as David said, needing to purchase advertising, that sort of thing. I think, yeah, augmented reality, like projections within the city. And I haven't seen any of those, but it sounds like. Folks are not interested in that from the mayor's perspective. Sometimes I feel like I'm in an augmented reality, but I've not seen those. Right. Mitch, Mayor Johnson's also still fighting Alder's decision to lift the ban on video gambling terminals.

Wasn't that supposed to bring in $6.8 million? It was. And there are actually a few dozen bars and restaurants across the city that have got their license from the state. They need to get another, basically, approval from the city council to start taking bets on these machines. But, yeah, the mayor is fighting this tooth and nail because... Bally's the Chicago casino operator obviously doesn't want to see this because they say that's going to eat into their potential business just when they're finally about to start opening. So, yeah, this is kind of a real main sticking point of the budget battle last fall. And we've seen those machines produce billions of dollars over the last decade and a half in the suburbs. Some of them literally across the street from the city of Chicago. You know, there's obviously you can, there's personal views on how you feel about, you know, these little roadside mini casinos popping up like gaming cafes and things, but. The state sure has squeezed a lot of money out of them and so have a lot of suburbs. Does it seem, David, like lawmakers both at the state and the local level are increasingly betting on gambling to pay the state's bills? Oh, there's no doubt. I mean, it's really, if you go back 10 years, five years even, the way things have changed, you know, even the sports, the prediction market stuff, gambling is just becoming part of our culture. And it's understandable that public officials are saying. We went to capitalize off that too. Absolutely. Right, right. The mayor is citing with Bally's on the issue, of course, of VGTs, as the kids call them, in bars and restaurants. But so is Chicago's former mayor, Lori Lightfoot, David. Why don't you tell us how she's involved here? This is just an amazing. That's a name I haven't said in a while. Right. This is amazing. Lori Lightfoot, when Ballet's got the casino license while Lori Lightfoot was mayor, there was. complaining in city council that she had a thumb on the scale. There were two other serious bidders. And the Bally's deal in some respects was not considered the best deal, except there was one thing that was quite appealing, which they offered to pay a $40 million upfront fee, which none of the other bidders had offered to do. And of course, the redevelopment of the former Tribune site on the river was quite appealing. But in any event, now the mayor is back serving as a lawyer for Bally's in its plan to sue the city over the... the video gaming terminals because that is competition that is being introduced that they say they didn't foresee and were protected against when they negotiated this contract with the administration of then mayor, Lori Lightfoot. And there is an ordinance, an ethics ordinance in the city that protects this kind of conflict of interest. The mayor is not supposed to represent somebody who had... in a contract over which she had substantial management responsibility. Cali is, I mean, Bally's is claiming that they cleared the ethics considerations, that there's nothing wrong here. But that language seems pretty plain. It's hard for a mayor to claim that she had no managerial responsibility for a huge...

deal like that was under her watch that she took many bows for by the way and so it's just kind of a head scratcher in terms of why lightfoot would step into this it seems like a clear conflict of interest to go in representing a company that negotiated against the city knowing what all the city's pressure points were on that deal right we she would have really um knowledge that an outsider would not have nor be entitled to. And it is really a conflicted position, even if it's not entirely illegal. Just sounds like a bunch of legalese. Yeah, I mean, she was the person who, like, picked him. Like, this was not. Right. I'm just like, what are we talking about here? They had to get city council approval, which was a whole other morass. But, yeah, to suggest that she had no outsized role, and this is pretty wild. Okay. All right, one of the alders who signed that alternate budget has announced that he's not seeking re-election. So do you think Mayor Johnson will be throwing 13th Ward Alderman Marty Quinn a retirement party, Mitch? I don't think so. He might get like a tersely worded like postcard in the mail maybe in his mail box at City Hall. But no, this is one of Mayor Johnson's kind of fiercest critics over the first half of his tenure. You know, we saw them fighting over the CBD issue when it came to hemp derived intoxicating hemp products across the city. Marty Quinn, he pushed through a ban in his ward. There are a few other. He kind of started this movement that, you know, got some wards to basically outlaw those products within their boundaries while the mayor has, you know, wanted to keep that industry afloat for the time being. And, yeah, I mean, this is one of the last remnants of Mike Madigan's political organization. Marty Quinn was basically his right-hand man. He was kind of an heir apparent in a lot of ways. Did he say why he's leaving, exactly? He basically said he's 51, and being an alderman is a full-time job, a 24-7 job, and that he just kind of wants to step back a little bit. He said he left it all on the field. 51 is really just aged, isn't it? I know. He must be completely worn out. How's your response starts? with he's 51. My then response was, and? I think, reading between the lines, maybe he's got a better job off or lined up. Who knows? I can't speculate, but yeah, I think he wants to enjoy clearing a little bit more. Tell us more, David, about that relationship there with ex-house speaker, Michael Madigan, who's now serving a seven-and-a-half-year prison sentence. Exactly. And that's in part due to some allegations against Marty's brother, Kevin, who worked for Mike Madigan, was accused of some sexual harassment. And Madigan's effort to kind of keep that out of the public eye was part of what led to the investigation that ultimately brought him down. And so this sort of thing, I guess, goes full circle in the... in the familial politics of Chicago and Illinois. Let's turn to other City Hall news, Olivia. We've got another new candidate this week in the race for mayor. Tell us who is Dr. Lisa Ney?

Yeah, Lisa Ney is a cardiologist. She is also a whistleblower. She worked at Heinz Hospital and ended up basically reporting things that she saw there, led all the way to her testifying before Congress about it. But she's really running a campaign saying, you know, I'm a political outsider. I'm not bogged down by all this baggage that from a lot of things that we're talking about here that you see in Chicago politics. She's not a part of that, she says. Not a part of the political machine. Exactly. She's saying that she's... outside of it. And she wants to be able to run a campaign. So far, haven't seen exactly like what her policy platform would be. But she's sort of said that, you know, she wants to just prove that she can, you know, start with the support of her family and family friends, colleagues and move into potentially a very competitive mayor's race. She's leaning heavily on the, I'm not like them. Right? Yeah. It reminds me actually. The spring, I covered the ninth congressional district race to replace Janjkowski. And there's a candidate who ran there. This is the seat that Daniel Biss got the nomination for. Right. There's a candidate who ran there named Phil Andrew. And he was also someone who had sort of a compelling life story. He was a gun violence survivor. I then worked on gun violence prevention. And he came in and said, I have local support, but not maybe machine support. He ultimately was not successful. Didn't work out for him. Didn't work out for him. So I think Lisa. is hopefully that maybe she can have a different outcome, get the momentum that that kind of candidate needs. All right, Lisa Ney. I want to get the latest on a former, another former Chicago mayor, because it seems like that's the running theme here. Rahm Emanuel this time. He's making headlines. He's in Israel. Get us caught up on that, David. Well, Rahm Emanuel, as he methodically seems to be positioning himself to run for president, has picked out various. topics on which he thinks he can make a stance that is maybe different than some parts of his party and would put him more as a centrist running for for president. He reversed his long history of being a champion of gay and lesbian rights by making comments that really insulted many people about people who are born men and women, stay men and women, that his overall political... point of we should be talking more about the lunch, the kitchen table, not so much about the bathroom, is an interesting political point. But again, he's kind of gone to some extremes that have been, I think, in that case, regrettable. But in this instance, he's decided that he is going to go hard on Israel. He is, of course, Jewish, proudly so, you know, fought in the Israel Defense Force as served, I should say, in the Israel Defense Force as a young person. And he went to Israel to basically call for the U.S. to more of a step away from the special relationship with Israel to reconsider its sale of military equipment to Israel. He calls for basically the Arab League to become the main negotiating counterparty as regards trying to settle the Palestinian.

problem, and he's been very critical of Benjamin Netanyahu's handling of events following October 7th. And so he's carving out an interesting position there, and he's a very astute political tactician, and so there's no doubt purpose to the positions that he's political purpose to the positions he is taking. So another tough week for Andrew Boutros, Chicago's U.S. attorney. On Tuesday, the City Council's Ethics Committee approved a resolution calling on him to resign that on Thursday he was ordered to appear before a judge for violating court orders. How is the future looking, David, for Andrew Boutros? I think he's in a pretty secure seat, even though politically he's very damaged. Let's not forget in the last week or so, he's also been appointed to two leadership roles, one in counter espionage, another in AI and crypto by the Justice Department, which is his employer. But he keeps getting admonished by federal judges. And of course, now this basic censure from the city council adds to... the kind of gloom surrounding him in the public front. But his position, there's little doubt, I think, that his position within the Justice Department is secure. He just has to deal with the fact that he keeps stepping on it. He was admonished by a judge this past week for... talking about a case that was still under seal. And he previously, a month or so ago, in the Broadview Six case, was admonished by the judge for some, what can only be called misconduct on the part of his office with regard to its handling of grand jury proceedings, including his own appearance before that grand jury, more of us admonishing them for not a, not. moving forward with an indictment that his office was seeking. So he's under a lot of pressure and stress, but his job and standing within the Trump administration seems to be secure. So the city council is scheduled to take up a full vote on this resolution next week. I want to remind listeners, this is what would be a non-binding resolution, which means what, Mitch? Basically, that this is just sort of we're making a statement. This doesn't really have any bearing on any city operations or anything. It's like a recommendation, right? Yeah, just kind of a statement of where you are and what you think should happen. Not to mention they're in a completely, I mean, it's a city government compared to a federal employee. It really has no legal standing, obviously. But nevertheless, it's unprecedented that this has happened. And it does say that the public, I think they're speaking on behalf of a public that is pretty confused, let's say, at the very least.

Now, we've got an Illinois connection to the political chaos with Graham Platner. Dr. Narav Shah, who was Governor Bruce Rauner's public health director, has entered the Senate race in Maine. Now, if he is nominated and he wins, he's going to serve alongside Senator Tammy Duckworth, who called for his resignation in 2018 over the Rauner administration's response to a Legionnaire's disease outbreak at the Illinois Veterans Home in Quincy. Now, he moved to Maine in 2019 to become the director of the state center for disease control and prevention. Could anyone actually see him winning this race? You know, it's interesting. I saw that he actually did quite well in the governor's race in Maine before. He did. Okay. He was, I think, runner up. close to it. And he also was kind of the public face of public health and during the COVID pandemic. So I have heard at least that in Maine, he is relatively well known. But of course, this is a short campaign. And there's a lot of folks who I think are expected to jump in. So certainly will be some facial recognition, especially if he was plastered all over TV screens there, right, during the. Public health crisis. Exactly. I think we all kind of remember what that was like here with some of those public health officials. Oh, yeah. Yeah, we've seen some chaos in like Illinois politics, but like a Senate race being condensed down to three months. I mean, that's just crazy. That is a lot. Olivia, Illinois's retiring Senator Dick Durbin was in Turkey this week. What's going on? Yeah, that's right. He was there. He actually met with Volodymyr Zelensky, I believe. And he also, that's Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky. He also was just sort of there as part of a bipartisan delegate. to reassure NATO allies of the support of folks in Congress, including himself. You know, it's interesting part of the news this week was that Trump is lifting some sanctions on Turkey, and I believe that he reacted to that as well. But Trump has said, been very critical of how NATO allies have behaved. And Dick Durbin has actually said, I think, during his time in Turkey, that Trump was, to an extent wise to be critical of how much NATO allies have been spending to defend themselves, which is interesting. But yeah, overall, just showing bipartisan support for... NATO. I think it would have been really nice for President Trump to offer Dick Durbin a ride back on Air Force One. I guess that didn't happen, but it would have been very nice. Yeah, he missed that opportunity. Let's turn the conversation over to public transit. Crime on trains and buses seems to be dropping. Now, the Chicago Transit Authority officials say that there's been a 30% decline in reported transit crime over the last year. The drop was most dramatic on the red line. It saw a 47% decline in all crime and a 76% drop in violent crime compared to last year. Chicago police and the Cook County Sheriff have increased patrols since the Trump administration threatened to cut funding. And CTA also received a major overhaul on June 1st. This is when the Northern Illinois Transit Authority Act went into effect. Any thoughts? David on how CTA is running right now. Any...

noticeable changes maybe that you're sensing? Well, the biggest one is probably the presence of the sheriff's police, because that's a new entry and insignificant numbers, some 50 officers per day, and they are concentrating on the lines where there have been crime problems. They've been making, they've made about 200 arrests. Wow. Yeah, anecdotally, I hear from my kids, too, who ride the CTA more often than I do, that they're seeing a lot more. police presence, patrolling. Which was not the case, and that was a complaint of passengers, et cetera. Let's not forget that this is also part of that act. Sheriff Tom Dart is heading up an effort to kind of reconceive what police protection on the mass transit system ought to look like. And he has called for a dedicated CTA police force. Wouldn't be surprised to see that happen sometime soon. Now, Mitch, as we know, Not only do you cover politics, but you also cover the White Sox. I do. Every now and then, yeah. What a fun beat. Now, it's been more than two months since I've had you here on the recap panel. And in those two months, I feel like some really remarkable things have been going on with our Southside baseball team. So why don't you catch us up? They've been good. I think that's really what it comes down to, which is, yeah, news flash. I mean, that's not something that anyone really expected. They've been good. They're tied for first place. which, you know, we're approached, it's the all-star break next week. This is kind of the unofficial halfway point. We're a little bit past the halfway point of the season. Did they win yesterday against the Red Sox? They did not. They just got swept by the Red Sox. They scored just a couple of runs. Okay. It's a tough week. The bats have gone silent, but great news, Munitaka Murakami. They're... international superstar first baseman who has been on the shelf with a hamstring injury. He'll be back tonight. He's coming back. Right when the socks honestly need him most because they've just looked pretty miserable offensively the last few days. But overall, the socks are getting impressive starting pitching, all-star caliber performances from Davis Martin. Sean Burke is a third-year player who's really kind of taken a turn. But yeah, I mean, it's really that offense. highlighted by Mune, who's back tonight. This is not really something that the Sox expected to do for another year or two. Like I think even if you talk to the general manager, the manager, you know, they've been rebuilding for a few years, three of the worst seasons in baseball history. So they thought the ramp up was going to take a little bit longer to get here. It's ahead of schedule and folks are loving it. Yeah. And I mean, is it Murakami? With him out for those weeks. generally, it feels like they were still able to keep the momentum going. Yeah, they actually played a couple of games over 500, which again, like he was coming to this year, like he was expected to be one of the very few bright spots on this team. But they've had just a number of new rookies turning up. Even in Mune's absence, they called up Jacob Gonzalez. who was another former first-round draft pick, who's a natural shortstop. They moved him to first base, and he looked great, honestly, like he's kind of been a natural. So it just kind of been one man after the other. We'll see how long they can keep it up. The Guardians are sort of their main competition.

Or as Patrick Smith would tell you, the tigers are also still lurking. So it's going to be a fun couple months of baseball for the socks, which is a pleasant surprise. A huge Tigers fan. That's right. All right, let's turn to soccer while we're here. The men's U.S. soccer team had a good run, but they got knocked out of the World Cup this week. However, Chicago fans, they still have reason to celebrate because the Chicago Fire signed Polish striker Robert Lewandowski. The fire will now have one of the world's biggest soccer stars, which is pretty darn cool, right? You know, this is not a name that was household to me before this week, but I'm from Burbank in the southwest suburbs, which is a largely Polish American and Polish immigrant community. And let me tell you, just based on my Facebook feed, like people are... Very excited to have Robert coming to town. Nice. Yeah, he's, you know, he's definitely like sort of in the, not, I won't say the twilight of his career. He's 38, which, you know, in soccer terms, is up there. But a wildly successful career. And it's going to be exciting to have him playing, I believe, I guess, in a soldier field there, the fire. That's right, yeah. Very cool. Maybe at the new fire stadium, if you're still with me. We'll see, yeah. If you're from Chicago, you are probably familiar with the Jesse White Tumblers, and now the rest of the country is two. For the second year in a row, a group of Chicago kids have impressed the audience and the judges in that TV competition show, America's Got Talent. Last year, we'll remember it was the choir from Leo High School this year. It's the beloved acrobatts who've been impressing people at local parades and festivals, as we know, for what, 67 years?

Thank you so much. Now. You just went, bang, bang, bang, hop, flop, dot, it was constant, constant. It was brilliant, absolutely brilliant. Thank you guys. Howie, she's right, you kept getting higher and further and longer and more extreme than I could ever imagine. How old are you, Jesse? I'm about 92 years old. 92 years old. Eight years old. You're the epitome of what AGT is all about. Thank you for being here. I thought it was sensational. Oh, big compliment there from Simon Cowell. The show is still in the audition rounds. Eventually, he's going to switch from auditions to the quarterfinals where acts compete against each other to advance. Good luck to our hometown acrobats. It's fun to see the world picking up on the Jesse White numbers. I feel like we're kind of taken for granted in Chicago sometimes. Almost out of time here, Mitch, but I think, you know, we got to shout out our own Chicago public media. We have big news that we shared this week. You want to do the honors? Sure. Launchingchicago.com, which is sort of this new platform that Chicago Public Media is envisioning, sort of a platform, sort of an online community for neighborhood. I think Reddit meets Facebook meets next door. Yeah. But except it's Chicago.com. Yeah. And it's us. A good place to find, like, fun stuff to do in the city. Excited to see where it goes. All right, we'll leave it there. That's it for the weekly news recap. My thanks to Mitchell Armentrout with the Sun-Times, Olivia O'Brad Lander of the Chicago Tribune, and David Grising of the Better Government Association. Have a great weekend, folks. Thank you. Thank you.

This episode of the In the Loop podcast was produced by me, Andrea Guthman, and edited by Ethan Schwab. Sasha Ann Simons is our host. For more in-depth coverage of news and culture in Chicago, be sure to subscribe to this podcast. For a full archive of the show, head over to wbiz.org slash in the loop. Thanks for listening.