They made it. Up against a weekend deadline—and with, as usual, little time for public review—Illinois lawmakers sent Gov. Pritzker a budget that he praises as balanced, even though “Donald Trump’s incomprehensible tariff policies have put a tax on our working families and dampened the nation’s economic outlook.”
■ It’s balanced in part by new taxes on sports bets and nicotine crap.
■ Also on its way to the governor: A bill requiring three-point seat belts on new school buses in Illinois …
■ … but Chicago-area mass transit came up empty-handed …
■ … as did the Bears …
■ … and lawmakers left on life support a bill that would let the terminally ill end their own lives.
‘War on poor kids.’ Meanwhile, Popular Information’s Judd Legum says the Trump administration’s 2026 budget request “would have severe consequences for the most vulnerable Americans” …
■ … but Politico notes that Illinois’ new budget includes “a $175 million increase for the Child Care Assistance Program to support 150,000 children.”
‘Protect our judges.’ Columnist and former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich recommends things you can do to stem the tide of threats against the nation’s judiciary.
■ Law prof Joyce Vance has assembled a scorecard of some of the most important still-undecided cases up before the Supreme Court as it enters the traditional last month of its term.
‘Elderly golfer believes Joe Biden is a robot.’ Columnist Jeff Tiedrich goes to town on Trump’s reposting of social media nonsense asserting that Joe Biden died in 2020 and has been replaced since then by “clones doubles & robotic engineered soulless mindless entities.”
■ USA Today’s Rex Huppke: “Trump’s callousness and casual cruelty will never escape the shadow of … Biden’s decency.”
‘Protest works.’ Public Notice columnist Noah Berlatsky credits the fall of billionaire and onetime unofficial co-president Elon Musk to “the grassroots protest that has damaged Musk’s businesses.”
■ Last Week Tonight host John Oliver closed out an exposé of the Musk- and Trump-ravaged air traffic control system with “a truly honest recruitment video.”
Flames in Boulder. Eight people were hurt Sunday in Colorado when a guy with a flamethrower, yelling “Free Palestine,” assaulted a group demonstrating on behalf of Israeli hostages in Gaza.
■ The AP is updating what we know about the suspect and the victims.
■ Elsewhere in the world: Politico sees Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin humiliated by Ukraine’s “astonishing” attack—“a game-changing moment in modern warfare, with repercussions for every serious military on the planet, including here in America.”
‘One important aspect of the quality of life is not being dead.’ By that measure—among many others—economist Paul Krugman says New York trumps Florida.
■ The AP: “At-home health tests are here. But they aren’t always the best option.”
‘School boards ride in limousines and students lack the basics.’ A Tribune editorial calls out a suburban district spending bigly on board-member perks as students struggle.
■ Flashback, 40 years this month: The gone-but-not-forgotten WXRT News team wins an award for reporting that exposed undocumented expenses by Chicago’s school board members.
‘Scheme to … intimidate journalists.’ CNN’s Brian Stelter reports an arrest in threats against New Hampshire Public Radio reporter—and WBEZ Chicago alumna—Lauren Chooljian.
■ Influential TV and radio columnist Gary Deeb—a star at the Tribune and the Sun-Times—is dead at 79.
■ Robert Feder took on the beat after serving as Deeb’s “legman.”
■ Here’s a memorable Deeb column from July 18, 1979.
‘The danger is not that AI will fail us, but that people will accept the mediocrity of its outputs as the norm.’ The Conversation compares the rise of artificial intelligence with the onset of the Industrial Revolution: “Shoes, cars and crops could be produced efficiently and uniformly. But products also became more bland.”
■ The American Prospect: The U.S. House is sending the Senate a bill that would eliminate all state regulation of AI (including limits on driverless cars) for a decade—and the last line of defense may be legislation from … wait for it … Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley.
■ PayPal works, too.