Conversations in Springfield about a new Chicago Bears stadium in Arlington Heights are heating up, and the village’s mayor said a decision on a stadium deal could come by the end of the month.

Arlington Heights Mayor Jim Tinaglia said the Bears won’t wait around much longer.

The Illinois House was back in session this week, and the next couple weeks could be crucial to making a Bears stadium deal a reality.

Tinaglia said the Bears won’t wait until the end of the state’s legislative session in May to get a deal done; a deal that, for the Bears, must include certainty on their property taxes.

“The pressure is on to try and wrap it up with capital ASAP,” Tinaglia said

Tinaglia has been watching Springfield closely as talks between the Pritzker administration, state lawmakers, and the Bears continue regularly.

“I can promise you that no one at Halas Hall wants to wait till the end of May for this to be solved,” TInaglia said.

Lawmakers are debating a major tax incentive package aimed at keeping the bears in Illinois. The bill would allow the Bears — or any developer investing more than $500 million dollars in a project – to negotiate property taxes directly with local governments for up to 40 years.

The measure advanced out of an Illinois House committee last month, but has yet to receive a full floor vote.

Now, with the primary elections over in Illinois, Tinaglia said it’s time to act. The legislation still needs 60 votes in the Illinois House and 30 in the Illinois Senate to pass.

Tinaglia said he’s confident a deal can get done.

Lawmakers from Chicago initially pushed back on any deal to help the Bears build a stadium in Arlington Heights, hoping to keep the team in Chicago.

But after talks stalled, the Bears expanded their stadium search to Indiana, a move that raised the stakes as Indiana lawmakers quickly approved their own legislation to lure the Bears across the state line.

Meantime, the Kansas City Chiefs struck a deal to move across state lines from Missouri to Kansas, a warning sign that NFL teams are willing to leave if the right deal isn’t on the table.

“That really opened up everybody’s eyes that, ‘Hey, maybe they would really leave. Somebody else is doing it, right?’” Tinaglia said.

That also helped push Illinois leaders to move faster and have a more united front to keep the Bears from leaving the state.

“It wasn’t about Arlington Heights versus Chicago any longer. This is now about keeping one of the most fabulous franchises in the whole NFL here in Illinois,” Tinaglia said.

The mayor said Gov. JB Pritzker and Illinois state Rep. Kam Buckner (D-Chicago) have been the key negotiators to make a deal to keep the Bears in Illinois happen-

The Illinois legislative session ends May 31, but Tinaglia said a stadium deal needs to move forward in the next two weeks to bring the Bears to Arlington Heights and avoid losing them to Indiana.

“If we can get that done sometime before the end of the month, the hope is that we actually have a vote and kind of rest the concerns of the team,” he said.

Absentee ballots will continue to be mailed out in an Indiana Senate district where President Donald Trump has endorsed one candidate and allies have challenged the candidacy of another candidate by the same last name.

A special judge assigned to the case vacated an order by the previous judge that halted the mailing of absentee ballots in Vigo, Clay and Sullivan counties. Originally, a Clay County judge wanted these ballots halted until the court could make a decision on the underlying case, which would determine whether one of the Republican primary challengers should be on the ballot in the May election.

The state Senate GOP primary was already the subject of intrigue when Trump endorsed Brenda Wilson, a Vigo County councilor challenging incumbent Sen. Greg Goode of Terre Haute, who was a vocal opponent of redistricting. Then another Wilson, named Alexandra Wilson, joined the race.

More: Judge to pause absentee ballot mailing in Trump-endorsed state Senate race

Prominent attorney and Gov. Mike Braun ally Jim Bopp is representing a voter who challenged Alexandra Wilson’s candidacy ostensibly on technical grounds but also because they believe Wilson was recruited specifically to confuse voters and dilute votes away from the Trump-endorsed candidate by the same last name. Wilson’s attorney and the Vigo County GOP chair, where she is from, vehemently deny this.

The state election commission deadlocked 2-2, allowing Wilson to remain on the primary ballot, and Bopp took the issue to court.

It’s official: No. 7 Kentucky Basketball will face No. 2 Iowa State in the Round of 32 on Sunday after surviving an overtime thriller against Santa Clara, while the Cyclones cruised past Tennessee State 104-78 in the first round.

While the win was a big one for Iowa State, they did receive some bad news with All-American forward Joshua Jefferson. During the game, Jefferson, a 6-foot-9 senior from Las Vegas, injured his left ankle in the opening minutes. The 240-pound forward had to be helped off the court and later returned on crutches, wearing a boot on his left ankle.

Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger said X-rays on Jefferson were negative, confirming he has a sprained ankle, but his status for Sunday’s game against Kentucky is still unknown.

Jefferson has averaged 16.9 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 4.9 assists per game. He earned Second-Team AP All-American honors and was a standout in the Big 12 Tournament, helping Iowa State defeat Arizona State and Texas Tech before falling to eventual champion Arizona on a buzzer-beater.

Despite the injury, Iowa State remains a team you don’t want to face. The Cyclones are known for their defense but can also score in bunches. While Jefferson’s availability is uncertain, Kentucky knows it will be facing a talented and deep roster regardless.

The early odds suggest as much, as Iowa State opened as a 5.5-point favorite, according to FanDuel Sportsbook. The line would very likely be even bigger if Jefferson were playing for sure, so this line could indicate that oddsmakers don’t think the star forward will play.

The line has since moved down to 4.5 points. The over/under is 145.5 points, as oddsmakers see this as a low-scoring defensive game.

Jefferson’s status could be the story of the game, but Kentucky will still need an A+ effort to take down a great Cyclones team.