Illinois
Bears bill to keep team in Illinois faces major obstacles, including Mayor Johnson peeling support
Mayor Brandon Johnson’s last-minute effort to keep the Chicago Bears from leaving the city has pulled support for an essential mega-projects proposal that would help keep the team in Illinois, the bill’s top Senate sponsor said Thursday.
But there are other problems too, including concerns over traffic near an Arlington Heights stadium, as well as the impact a payment in lieu of taxes system would have on local property taxpayers. The friction between Gov. JB Pritzker and Johnson over where the stadium should be built is also posing a major obstacle.
There are just 10 days left before state legislators are scheduled to adjourn for the spring session, with May 31 marking a crucial deadline for a bill the Bears say they absolutely need to consider keeping the franchise from crossing state lines to Hammond, Indiana.
The Sun-Times last week reported that top Johnson aide Jason Lee said “there’s a lot more shoes left to drop” when it comes to whether Chicago is still in play for the Bears. Lee said the team has had “sensitive conversations” with the mayor’s office, but declined to offer details.
The Bears quickly shot down that chatter, reiterating that there are only “two viable stadium locations under consideration — Arlington Heights and Hammond.” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell also this week declared that the team is leaving Chicago. And Pritzker is exclusively focused on the Arlington Heights bid.
The Bears on Thursday again said Chicago “is not a viable site.”
“The Chicago Bears have exhausted every opportunity to stay in Chicago, which was our initial goal. There is not a viable site in the city,” the team said in a statement. “As a result, the only sites under consideration are in Arlington Heights and Hammond.”
A source close to the negotiations also poked holes in conversations the Bears had with Johnson’s office, saying the team went to city attorneys to discuss lease parameters of Soldier Field, not to reengage around a lakefront proposal. A source in the mayor’s office contested that notion — saying there have been multiple meetings with the Bears since April. The lease was discussed during one meeting but it has “since evolved to a new lakefront stadium.” They did not disclose when the lakefront stadium was last discussed.
The mayor’s office said in a statement that the “several recent meetings” included talk about “terms” for a new lakefront stadium.
Nevertheless, Johnson’s last-minute lobbying efforts are having an impact in Springfield.
“I think it’s breathed life into the mayor’s claim that Chicago still has a chance,” State Sen. Bill Cunningham, the bill’s lead sponsor, said of Johnson’s pitch. “The Bears, of course, say that isn’t true, and I believe the Bears when they say that. But you know they’ve given the mayor a prime card to play here, and he’s obviously playing it.”
Cunningham said opposition from Chicago legislators has “intensified,” with what they see as hope for the team to stay in Chicago. He said outreach by the Bears about a month ago is helping the mayor convince Chicago members not to vote for the Arlington Heights proposal.
A second obstacle is the Bears’ request for taxpayer help for infrastructure, with the team pursuing a sizable commitment from the state for infrastructure upgrades in and around Arlington Heights, with no traffic study in place for communities that would be affected by a new stadium.
“We can’t appropriate state funds without some idea of how exactly they’re going to be spent for those purposes without a traffic study,” Cunningham said. “You just don’t do that with large developments like that, and the fact that there isn’t a traffic study has caused turbulence in the northwestern suburbs. … They have not been given the seat at the table.”
Other legislators are objecting to a “general lack of comfort with the payment in lieu of taxes mechanism,” Cunningham said.
“There’s a lot of uncertainty that is embedded in the mechanics in that we don’t know what the payment in lieu of taxes would be to the taxing districts, and there are some concerns about whether or not that will have an effect on property taxpayers in the area where the mega-project is placed.”
Cunningham said the Bears were making headway in the state when the locations were down to Arlington Heights and Hammond. But with rumblings of Chicago in the mix, which they deny, the support is splintering. He is taking their threat to move to Hammond seriously — and doesn’t see it as a bluff.
But he wouldn’t go so far as to blame Johnson if legislators fail to pass the bill by adjournment, and ultimately prompt the Bears to leave the state. He says the impetus is on the Bears.
“The Bears need to step up their game. It’s ultimately up to them to get 60 votes in the House and 30 in the Senate that are required to pass this bill, and they’re going to need to do that in the next 10 days,” Cunningham said.
The state senator pointed out that the governor and mayor were in lockstep when two major stadium deals were passed in Springfield: in 1988 for the Chicago White Sox and in 2000 for the Soldier Field renovation.
“The governor and the mayor were working together, pulling from the same side of the rope. That is not the case right now,” Cunningham said, adding, “Absent that, it’s very difficult to pass a bill.”
Contributing: Pat Finley
Illinois
1 dead, 3 injured after interstate crash in Morton, State Police say
MORTON (25News Now) – One person is dead and three others are injured after a two-vehicle crash on Interstate 74 in Morton Thursday.
Illinois State Police said the crash happened around 5:40 a.m. at mile marker 102 the eastbound lanes of I-74 in Morton.
One westbound lane is closed. All eastbound lanes are being directed off and back on the interstate at North Morton Avenue.
No further information is available.
You can watch 25News – any newscast, anywhere – streaming LIVE on 25NewsNow.com, our 25News mobile app, and on our WEEK 25News SmartTV streaming app. Learn more about how you can get connected to 25News streaming live news here.
Copyright 2026 WEEK. All rights reserved.
Illinois
UChicago Medicine performs first-known quadruple transplant surgery in Illinois
CHICAGO (WLS) — Jasmine Jones says cystic fibrosis was slowly destroying her body.
Months after she had both lungs, her kidney and her liver replaced, she’s thankful for her donor and doctors for giving her a second chance at life.
ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch
Jones, 28, has spent her entire life battling the genetic disease that attacks the lungs and digestive system with thick, sticky mucus.
Over time, the disease ravaged multiple organs.
First, her liver began to fail.
“I was retaining a lot of fluid. I was in pain, very fatigued, no energy,” Jones said.
And last year, she slipped into a coma for two days.
SEE ALSO: Long Island teen’s parents issue plea for kidney donor, a surprise neighbor responds
Doctors at University of Chicago Medicine suggested replacing the liver with a donor organ, but one of Jones’ kidneys was shutting down. And her lungs were severely compromised.
“We as a team decided that it was the best option for her long-term survival was to replace all her organs in one surgery,” said Dr. Pablo Sanchez, with UChicago Medicine.
So in January, surgeons performed the first-known quadruple transplant in Illinois, replacing both of Jones’ lungs, her liver and a kidney with organs from one donor.
The procedure took place over two days.
“My donor’s organs fit perfectly. They thought they would have to shave something down or alter certain things, but everything just fit into place,” Jones said.
Jones goes to rehab three times a week, and her ultimate goal is to learn how to roller skate.
In the meantime, she says she’s grateful to the donor who made her recovery possible.
“Thank you for another chance at life and for giving me a new outlook on life,” Jones said.
Jones faces months of rehabilitation and lifelong anti-rejection medications. But she says she hopes her story will inspire others to register as organ donors.
Copyright © 2026 WLS-TV. All Rights Reserved.
Illinois
2 ways to improve Illinois spending decisions
Lawmakers make costly decisions without understanding the economic impact.
Illinois lawmakers should get economic impact studies before enacting major taxes and regulations and review costly policies they’ve already enacted.
The state faces nearly $21 billion in projected budget deficits in the next five years, with expenditures projected to grow nearly 20% and revenues only 11%.
Lawmakers can revisit policies that were enacted with limited analysis of their long-term cost. Illinois vastly underestimated spending on migrant health care. In 2023 alone, the state expected to spend $220 million, but the total came in nearly three times higher, at $644 million. Lawmakers eventually reversed part of this policy, but only after lengthy audits after the policy was enacted. A quicker reviewing of the policy that didn’t require audits could have helped.
State lawmakers also passed economically damaging business taxes for fiscal 2026 with little discussion or debate, prioritizing short-term increases in revenue while risking long-term economic growth in a state whose economy is already falling behind.
The bipartisan Illinois Joint Committee on Administrative Rules is required to consider the financial impact of proposed rules on small businesses and local governments, but its authority is limited. Either expanding its role or creating a similar mechanism to include comprehensive economic impact reviews of major tax and policy changes and their long-term consequences would provide lawmakers more information before making decisions. Too often, policy changes are adopted with little scrutiny, often in the final hours of the legislative session.
Regulations are another issue. As the fourth-most regulated state in the U.S., with over 282,000 restrictions, many of them unnecessary and costly, Illinois should more closely review economically significant regulations before they take effect.
The state should look to the federal Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act. That bill would mandate that the U.S. Congress explicitly approve any “major rules,” or those that would have a significant impact on the economy or business.
Illinois could adopt a similar approach, requiring legislative approval for regulations with at least $10 million in economic impact. This could ensure that major regulatory decisions receive both thorough analysis and democratic accountability.
A threshold of $10 million in annual economic impact would ensure that:
- Economic impacts are evaluated early in the rulemaking process.
- Lawmakers have ample time to review proposed rules.
- Costly or ideologically driven rules are prevented from taking effect by default.
- There is legislative responsibility for economically significant policy decisions.
Illinois finances will only deteriorate further if lawmakers focus on short-term policymaking rather than the future health of Illinois. For a more thorough roadmap on fiscal reforms, see our report Illinois Forward 2027.
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