WBEZ’s Weekly News Recap: June 5, 2026

**SPEAKER_1** (0:02)
It's about creating neighborhood where families can afford to stay and grow and access good-paying jobs and support.

**Quinn Myers** (0:08)
The long anticipated 1901 project officially kicking off.

**Sasha Ann Simons** (0:11)
The museum traces President Barack Obama's journey to the White House.

**SPEAKER_4** (0:15)
It sits on a 19.3-acre campus that is otherwise free and accessible to the public.

**SPEAKER_5** (0:20)
There's something powerful about a young person being able to place their hand on the hand of a young Barack Obama.

**Sasha Ann Simons** (0:27)
Hey Chicago, I'm Sasha Ann Simons and this is In the Loop.
It's our Weekly News Recap. ICE agents sparked chaos in the city's Albany Park neighborhood as they chased and detained a man. We got our first glance at the Obama Presidential Center campus, and a new candidate entered the race for mayor this week, ahead of Chicago's mayoral election happening next February.

**Susanna Mendoza** (0:56)
I'm Susanna Mendoza, and I'm running for mayor of Chicago.

**Mawa Iqbal** (0:59)
This will be Mendoza's second-at-time running for mayor.

**Andrea Guthman** (1:02)
Election day is February 27th. Seven months, it's not that far away.

**Quinn Myers** (1:05)
Illinois lawmakers wrapped up their spring legislative session.

**Susanna Mendoza** (1:08)
Nearly $56 billion state budget passed overnight.

**Andrea Guthman** (1:12)
We're looking at a one-time payment of $400 for SNAP recipients.

**Susanna Mendoza** (1:16)
The largest and most powerful AI systems will have safeguards in place.

**Quinn Myers** (1:20)
Governor Pritzker's bill plan did not get a vote.

**SPEAKER_1** (1:23)
The megaproject's bill was shelved due to legitimate concerns.

**Sasha Ann Simons** (1:28)
Before we get into the conversation, WBEZ Senior State House reporter Mawa Iqbal, who's one of our panelists today, joins me now to discuss the late-night drama that we saw in Springfield this week. Hey, Mawa.

**Mawa Iqbal** (1:39)
Hey, good to see you.

**Sasha Ann Simons** (1:41)
So it's been a busy month, right? You've been down in Springfield where lawmakers wrapped up that spring legislative session. But what really stood out, I think, for a lot of people, Mawa, is what didn't get passed.

**Mawa Iqbal** (1:52)
Totally.

**Sasha Ann Simons** (1:52)
Yeah, so that includes that stadium funding bill. But there were plenty of other things that didn't get passed, like that AI legislation, right?

**Mawa Iqbal** (1:59)
Yeah, it was a package of bills, and it was modeled after what we saw in New York and in California. Those legislatures were basically, it's like requiring these big companies that run these like ChatGPT, Claude, open AI models to come up with a risk mitigation strategy, and then to be transparent about what they're doing to mitigate people who use AI, who may end up searching up crazy stuff like how to build a nuclear weapon or how to commit heinous crimes.

**Sasha Ann Simons** (2:31)
Yikes.

**Mawa Iqbal** (2:32)
I know, I know. And then there were a lot of other bills that were aimed at protecting children using AI, so like teens who maybe were suffering from mental health issues using AI, and then also barring schools from using AI to grade students, which seems so like dystopian to me too. It's like these are kids' educations.

**Sasha Ann Simons** (2:50)
A lot of teachers are on the AI track right now. They're using it as a tool, right? It is a tool. That is the word that they keep repeating.

**SPEAKER_5** (2:57)
To embrace the future.

**Sasha Ann Simons** (3:00)
So I'm curious, did you ever get a sense as to why it actually didn't pass?

**Mawa Iqbal** (3:03)
It actually has to do with infighting between the two chambers.
Yeah, I know. So the House has this AI working group. They did not propose their own AI bills, but the Senate, who had these, like this package, was like, hey, here's our package. The House working group said, well, you didn't talk to us about it. So, yeah, it's kind of a frustrating reason, I would say.

**Sasha Ann Simons** (3:25)
It's complicated. I get it. I get it. There was also a push by some Democrats for what's called progressive revenue. And I'm using air quotes for the people who can't see me. Tell us more about that.

**Mawa Iqbal** (3:35)
Yeah, there was also a package of progressive revenue streams, and I also use air quotes around progressive, which basically is a way of making sure that the state can get some revenue in what has been a pretty difficult budget season. So one of them was closing corporate loopholes, making sure that corporations end up paying more in taxes. Another was decoupling from federal taxes, right? So in case the federal government decides to withhold funding, Illinois wouldn't be on the hook for that. There's also a billionaires wealth tax amendment that was floating around that did not get passed, neither did the millionaires tax amendment.