Good morning, Chicago. ✶
🔎 Below: The Illinois House ended its spring session early Monday without passing a bill to entice the Bears to stay in Illinois. Lawmakers did OK a nearly $56 billion state budget, property tax help for homeowners and a ban on cellphones in schools. Our journalists pulled an all-nighter to bring you the news.
🗞️ Plus: Remembering Spencer Leak Jr. of Leak and Sons Funeral Homes, three “Broadview Six” defendants sit down for an interview with the Sun-Times, and more news you need to know.
📝 Keeping score: The Cubs fell to the Cardinals, 5-1; the White Sox beat the Tigers, 2-1; the Stars lost to the Wave, 2-0.
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⏱️: An 8-minute read
TODAY’S WEATHER ⛅
Mostly cloudy with a chance of showers and a high near 73.
TODAY’S TOP STORY 🔎
Bears blocked in Illinois: House spikes late-session play for new stadium bill
By Mitchell Armentrout and Matt Trunfio
No deal: Members of the Illinois House ran out the clock on their legislative session before sunrise Monday without passing a bill to entice the Bears to build a new dome in their home state rather than cross the border to the east, denying the property tax certainty that the team’s owners have insisted will decide the destination of the Bears’ new dome.
Desperation heave: Illinois senators passed a bill that would authorize Cook County municipalities with populations of at least 70,000 to create their own financing authorities for publicly owned stadiums, which would eliminate the Bears’ potential property tax bills. But their House colleagues didn’t take up the measure for a vote, leaving the stadium saga in limbo.
What’s next: After the House adjourned, Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch ruled out calling a special legislative session to deal with the unfinished Bears business. The measure could be taken up later this year by the Illinois House — if the team waits that long to decide their next home.
MORE SPRINGFIELD ACTION 🏛️
- State budget: Illinois lawmakers passed a nearly $56 billion state budget to increase food assistance in the wake of federal funding cuts. The plan rolls in new taxes on the burgeoning industries of prediction markets, fantasy sports and cryptocurrency, while also dinging digital advertising revenue.
- Property tax relief: In an effort to help homeowners catch up with property taxes, legislators passed a measure that will create a payment plan option, expand the redemption period and establish a surplus equity fund for those at risk of losing their homes.
- Raises for state legislators: State lawmakers are in line for 3% cost-of-living raises tied to inflation, as outlined by state law, raising their base salaries to $101,450.
- Cellphone ban in schools: A statewide ban on cellphones in schools will head to Gov. JB Pritzker’s desk for his signature, adding Illinois to a growing list of states trying to take mobiles out of the classroom.
SPENCER LEAK JR. 1969-2026 ✶
Spencer Leak Jr. of Leak and Sons Funeral Homes dies at 56
By Violet Miller and Mariah Rush
Community staple mourned: Spencer Leak Jr., a leader of the Chicago funeral titan Leak and Sons, has died at 56, his family confirmed Sunday. Mr. Leak Jr. — one of three sons of Spencer Leak Sr. — helped run the family funeral homes for more than 45 years as they grew and remained a staple of the South Side’s Black community. The family has been in the funeral business since 1933.
‘Family man’ remembered: Mr. Leak Jr.’s family described his passing as “sudden,” but didn’t immediately share the cause of his death. They praised him as a “family man, champion of Chicago’s businesses, and a generous mentor to entrepreneurs across our city.”
COURTS ⚖️
‘Broadview 6′ defendants reflect on case doomed by feds’ apparent misconduct
By Jon Seidel
Some of the ‘Six’: They include the “boring suburban dad,” whose children told him to stand up for what’s right. The son of an immigrant whose family already knew the sting of a federal prosecution. A rising political disrupter who says her progressive campaign was weighed down by bogus criminal charges — and the campaign worker she calls her friend and a “literal hero.”
Key context: Former congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh, Oak Park village trustee Brian Straw, 45th Ward Democratic committeeperson Michael Rabbitt and onetime Abughazaleh aide Andre Martin are the four members of the “Broadview Six” who nearly faced trial this spring — until the case against them collapsed amid claims of prosecutorial misconduct. The revelations created a credibility crisis for Chicago U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros and sent shockwaves across the country.
In their words: Finally free of the charges they faced for seven months, three agreed to speak with the Sun-Times after the case fell apart. They discussed the allegations against them, legal theories and the price they paid for another troubled prosecution of protesters in Chicago.
MORE NEWS YOU NEED 🗞️
- Teens protest school groups’ nix: Hyde Park Academy students protested the removal of two community groups established to check in with them and hold peace circles. One teen said she often retreated to what was called the Peace Room after a classmate was fatally shot.
- Man charged in LaBagh Woods assault: John G. Lang was arrested and charged with sexually assaulting and strangling a woman in the Northwest Side forest preserve last week.
- Illinois Tollway worker killed: A maintenance worker was killed and two others were hurt when they were hit by a driver while filling potholes on I-294 early Saturday, according to Illinois State Police.
- Infant sleep deaths: Infants are dying about once a week on average in Cook County, most frequently on the South and West sides, according to a new study identifying 208 infant deaths between 2019 and 2023.
- Orland Park aquatic center closes: After two people developed E. coli infections linked to the facility, the Centennial Park Aquatic Center temporarily closed over the weekend and will remain shut Monday.
- City’s new $55K chairs: The Park District on Saturday unveiled 100 chairs for Buckingham Fountain, manufactured by the brand Fermob in Paris. For the seats’ $54,438 price tag, Lollapalooza chipped in $30,000 and the city paid the rest.
- Best restaurant in America?: Smyth, Chicago’s only restaurant with three Michelin stars, was named No. 1 in North America by 50 Best.
ON WBEZ 91.5 FM 📻
In the Loop with Sasha-Ann Simons, 9 a.m.
- Homeownership in Chicago: What will it take to make housing more affordable and homeownership more attainable in Chicago? Chicago Department of Housing Commissioner Lissette Castañeda joins the discussion.
- What’s that building?: Learn the history of the Calumet Park Beach house with guests Dennis Rodkin of Crain’s Chicago Business and Stephanie Hatch of UCG Associates.
Say More with Mary Dixon and Patrick Smith, 10 a.m.
- Bears bill: WBEZ’s Mawa Iqbal and Cheryl Raye Stout, with State Rep. Kam Buckner (D-Chicago), discuss the latest on the Bears’ quest to build a new dome. Callers weigh in.
FROM THE PRESS BOX 🏒
Blackhawks’ 100 years of drama and dramatics
By Ben Pope
Century of hockey: Compared to other NHL organizations, the highs and lows of the Blackhawks’ 100-year history uniquely correlate with the passage of their ownership through different hands.
Hawks spotlight: Although hockey fans take pride in the intensity of the spotlight on players and the relative lack of a spotlight on owners — the Stanley Cup is the only one of the Big Four trophies handed first to the team captain — it has been a bit different in Chicago. There was chaos under Frederic McLaughlin, success under Arthur Wirtz, ineptitude under Bill Wirtz and glory under Rocky Wirtz.
Looking back: Huntington Hardwick received initial ownership of the NHL’s Chicago franchise 100 years ago, on May 15, 1926. As the franchise enters its second century, we look back at its first.
CHICAGO MINI CROSSWORD 🌭
Today’s clue: 6D: Coveted rush hour train spot
BRIGHT ONE 🔆
Lake View couple comes to aid of porchless neighbor
By Neil Steinberg
This is the story of how Laurel Parks ended up sitting on the front porch of Stephanie and Matt Vasconcellos.
“I’ve honestly been thinking about it for a couple of years,” Parks said. “My plan last year was to put handwritten notes in the mailboxes of people whose porches I like. In West Lake View there are a lot of nice porches.”
But there’s not one on the “great apartment” where she has lived for 13 years.
Parks an office manager at an investment firm and an executive assistant who moved to Chicago from California in 2009, decided to try something novel. She asked neighbors in a “What’s Happening in Lakeview” Facebook group if she could use their porch “for low stakes activities such as: reading fairy smut, staring at my phone, people watching.”
And it worked. Seventy people responded, most positively. She got 15-20 offers and chose a porch nearest to her belonging to Stephanie Vasconcellos and her husband, Matt. They have a brand new front porch overlooking North Clifton Avenue.
“When I saw Laurel’s post, I thought, ‘Why wouldn’t you share it?’ This is something we can’t use all the time, so why not let someone get joy out of it?” Stephanie Vasconcellos said.
Parks has been back about 10 times or so, telling the Sun-Times that it turned out to be a good thing to allow strangers on your porch. “It’s so wholesome and it’s so Chicago,” she said.
“Not strangers,” Vasconcellos corrected. “Friends.”
YOUR DAILY QUESTION ☕️
What does Pride Month mean to you?
Respond here with your answer (please include your first and last name). We may run your answer in a future newsletter or story.
PICTURE CHICAGO 📸
Third-time Windy City Hot Dog Fest champion Frank “the Tank” Wach, 72, takes the top prize at the Portage Park festival Saturday after eating 8 1/2 hot dogs. “I do it for the fun of it and just to show that I’m not that old,” he said.
Giacomo Cain/Sun-Times
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Written and curated by: Matt Moore
Editor: Eydie Cubarrubia
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