From early Nirvana to Phish, a Chicago fan’s secret recordings of 10,000 shows are now online. blockclubchi.co/4t6zW7R

A woman who worked for nearly two years for Rep. Eric Swalwell, a leading candidate for California governor, said she had sexual encounters with him while he was her boss and alleged he twice sexually assaulted her when she was too intoxicated to consent. sfchronicle.com/politics/artic…

Bloomington-Normal Water Reclamation District is advancing its $7.5 million Northwest Interceptor Sewer after receiving $5 million from IL’s Regional Site Readiness Program. It’ll about 2 miles of sewer along I-55/74 and open the door for development on 5,000 acres The Pantagraph

What good is education for people in prison? Find out by listening from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday to “Prisoncast!” on WBEZ-91.5 FM or online at wbez.org. chicago.suntimes.com/education/2026…

McLean County Unit 5 parents are celebrating updated enrollment plans that will keep both Carlock and Glenn elementary schools open, but are continuing calls for communication moving forward. pantagraph.com/news/local/edu…

Aadam Jacobs snuck a tape recorder into roughly 10,000 chicago shows since 1989. the internet archive started digitizing them. i made a lil site to play them

NEW: I wrote about Gov. JB Pritzker’s ambitious, abundance-coded housing plan. 4 units on basically any standard size Chicago residential lot? ADUs? Looser parking minimums? potentially yes, in our backyard >> chicagotribune.com/2026/04/12/jb-…

Hello from River North where Gov. JB Pritzker is set to participate in a discussion and make remarks pitching his BUILD housing plan

Lots of tidbits in Q1 campaign finance reports. Here's one: Secretary of State (and future Chicago mayoral candidate?) Alexi Giannoulias raised an eye-popping $12 million and has $18.3 million in his war chest. GOP SOS nominee Dianne Harris' COH? $13.62. capitolnewsillinois.com/news/pritzker-…

Collapsed homes and significant damage in the town of Lena, Illinois this evening after a strong rainwrapped tornado went through the town #stormchaser #illinois #disaster

Downtown Bloomington right now #ilwx #BloomingtonIL #McLean

For years, julie k. brown tried to land a job as a reporter at her hometown The Philadelphia Inquirer. Instead, she reported for papers in Bethlehem & Bucks County & the Philly Daily News. Today, the Inqy profiled her as “The woman who took down Jeffrey Epstein.” inquirer.com/news/nation-wo…

Despite damage to infrastructure, public and private, no fatalities or injuries were reported in McLean County, and recovery efforts are underway. pantagraph.com/news/local/wea…

The emergency declaration comes as recovery efforts continue from severe storms on Friday that saw one tornado touch down. pantagraph.com/news/local/art…

Day 1 of storm surveying is complete, and concentrated on McLean County. Two tornadoes have been identified in Bloomington and 1 in Normal, which tracked to Towanda. The longest tornado track was 33 miles, from northeast of McLean to southeast of Anchor. #ILwx

As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, the milestone is not only a celebration for the nation’s capital in Washington D.C., but for small towns across Central Illinois. pantagraph.com/news/local/his…

Kash Patel’s colleagues are alarmed by what they say is erratic behavior and excessive drinking, Sarah Fitzpatrick reports. More than two dozen people she spoke with described his management failures and conduct that could harm national security. theatlantic.com/politics/2026/…

Painted Tree Boutiques in Bloomington closed last week, forcing vendors to fetch their inventory and face financial uncertainty. Sellers cited poor communication and payment issues while searching for alternative markets. pantagraph.com/news/local/bus…

The latest Bears megaprojects amendment just dropped. It will be heard in the House Revenue Committee at 1:15. Read it here: ilga.gov/documents/legi…

This means that 1:15 pm House Revenue Committee hearing on the megaprojects bill won't be starting on time. For those who don't follow every turn of the Illinois General Assembly, this happens a lot. Committee times, especially in the afternoon, are more a suggestion than a rule.