Kick off Tuesday with the latest headlines from WTTW News.
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Mayor Brandon Johnson addresses the news media on Monday, June 1, 2026. (Heather Cherone / WTTW News)
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Mayor Brandon Johnson took a victory lap Monday, hours after the General Assembly passed a $56 billion budget that authorizes the Chicago City Council to impose a tax on digital advertisements seen by Chicagoans — finally heeding the mayor’s call for help filling the $1.16 billion projected gap in the city’s 2027 budget with new revenue.
“I have long fought for this kind of progressive revenue, and I am heartened to see it move forward at the state level,” Johnson said at a City Hall news conference. “As the economy continues to shift, and the digital medium becomes more dominant, it is essential that the big tech corporations earning untold billions through targeted advertising are part of the solution as we work to respond to the challenges our residents face on a daily basis.”
During his first three years in office Johnson found little success in Springfield, with state lawmakers and governor frequently criticizing his office’s lobbying operation as ineffective and poorly orchestrated.
It is not clear how much revenue a new digital ad tax could raise, or whether it would withstand an all-but certain legal challenge. Johnson told WTTW News that he would work with the City Council and “community partners” to come up with “what is fair.”
What else happened:
Johnson praised state lawmakers for heeding his call, along with the members of the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus, to reject Gov. JB Pritzker’s proposal to cut the share of income tax revenue the state sends to local governments.
Johnson also praised state lawmakers for following the path blazed by Chicago in the city’s 2026 spending plan, which imposed a tax on social media companies of 50 cents per month for every active user after the first 100,000 users, under the city’s amusement tax authority, officials said.
Johnson also celebrated the failure of the so-called megaprojects bill to make it out of the General Assembly, which was designed to encourage the Chicago Bears to build a domed stadium in Arlington Heights. He said again that the best place for the Chicago Bears remains Soldier Field, and did not directly answer repeated questions from reporters about whether he was concerned the Bears would quickly announce a move to Indiana.
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A woman holds a GLP-1 shot. (CNN)
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GLP-1 weight loss medications are soaring in popularity.
A KFF poll from November 2025 found nearly one in eight Americans are taking some form of GLP-1 medication.
Medications like Ozempic and Wegovy have been prescribed for patients to manage diabetes, obesity and other conditions. However, the soaring popularity of the drugs has some healthcare workers concerned over their accessibility to vulnerable populations.
Dr. Laura Farrington, an oncologist with the City of Hope Cancer Center Chicago, and Theresa Gentile, a registered dietician and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, spoke with “Chicago Tonight” about the weight loss medications and their increasing usage.
Impact on Patients:
Gentile works as part of a team to treat her patients holistically, alongside primary care doctors, psychiatrists and other specialists.
She finds that GLP-1s help patients treat obesity and diabetes in a way that combats the stigma often associated with those conditions.
“I think there sometimes has been the stigma of lack of willpower, patients not following prescriptions, patients not following advice, but I think you know we can, you can see now that it’s not necessarily the case,” Gentile said. “These drugs are really miracle drugs for some people.”
The growing popularity of these drugs is an important way to break the stigma and treat obesity as a disease rather than just a matter of individual willpower, Gentile said.
Potential Risks:
However, that popularity is not one-sided. As interest in GLP-1s increases, so too has accessibility to these medications, which for vulnerable populations, could be harmful.
A recent Washington Post report detailed how individuals with eating disorders have been able to attain GLP-1 medications online.
The story referenced a prospective article in the New England Journal of Medicine that estimated more than 420,000 people could develop an eating disorder with long-term use of GLP-1s.
While more research is required to fully understand the broader impact of GLP-1s on people’s mental health, the Post story follows several individuals struggling with various eating disorders who were able to attain weight loss medication with minimal screening.
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A queen black-and-gold bumble bee collects pollen from a thistle. (Anson Main / USGS Missouri Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit)
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Note to grown-ups looking to get legislation passed in Illinois: It helps to have the backing of school kids.
While a number of high-profile bills failed to garner enough support during the spring session of the Illinois General Assembly, the designation of an official state bee — promoted by students from Naperville’s Lincoln Junior High School — sailed through both the House and Senate.
The black-and-gold bumble bee (Bombus auricomus) now joins other recent additions to the roll call of state emblems that were originally proposed by students, including the giant puffball as state fungi and dolostone as state rock.
The black-and-golden bumble bee is one of the more than 400 species of native bees in Illinois, which run the gamut from bumble and carpenter bees to mason and mining bees. Some are specialists, some are generalists, and it's this variety that ensures native flowers of all shapes and sizes are pollinated.
Bombus auricomus, which nests underground, is found in various grassland and prairie habitats including sand, gravel, shrub, dolomite and black-soil. It's an important pollinators of flowers such as bee balm, clovers and members of the boneset family, according to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.
Yet, like most native bees, the black-and-gold bumble bee has nowhere near the name recognition as the non-native honey bee, which competes for resources.
“These students are bringing awareness to a key environmental issue — raising awareness of and ultimately protecting our pollinators, like the black-and-gold bumblebee," said state Representative Janet Yang Rohr (D-Naperville), who shepherded the legislation in the House. "When we protect our pollinators, we’re protecting our entire environment.”
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More From WTTW News:
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Back in the Day: June 2, 2016 - Tribune Publishing Becomes tronc, Inc.
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On this day 10 years ago, Tribune Publishing Co., the newspaper company that at the time owned the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, The Baltimore Sun, Orlando Sentinel and several other print dailies, announced that it would be changing its name to tronc, Inc. As part of the rebrand, the company was to pivot to becoming “a content curation and monetization company focused on creating and distributing premium, verified content across all channels.” According to the press release, tronc, or “tribune online content,” “pools the Company’s leading media brands and leverages innovative technology to deliver personalized and interactive experiences to its 60 million
monthly users.” Comedian John Oliver joked that the new name evoked “the sound of a stack of newspapers hitting a dumpster,” while the Verge said it “sounds like a millennial falling down the stairs.” By 2018, the company had reverted to calling itself Tribune Publishing, and owner Michael Ferro, the main force behind the “tronc” idea, had resigned from the company following sexual harassment allegations.
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This Week’s Staff Recommendations
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RUSH, Tinley Park, 6/28/2013 (Jay Smith / WTTW)
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Every Tuesday, WTTW News staffers highlight their favorite things in Chicago. This week, it’s Jay Smith, news director for WTTW News and executive producer for “Chicago Tonight,” on his favorite local concerts during the ‘80s.
Jay Smith: On Sunday, the Canadian power trio Rush will perform in concert for the first time in nearly 11 years in Los Angeles. I’ll be there, seeing Rush for the 24th time. They’re playing Chicago at United Center on July 16, 18, 20 and 22, too.
When I was asked to produce a list of my top concerts of the 80s, I had a dilemma. Would you want to read a list that only included one band? I didn’t think so. So here is my list of the five most memorable concerts I saw in the 80s that weren’t Rush.
5. Bob Dylan with Tom Petty, June 29, 1986, Poplar Creek Music Theater ($12.50)
The two alternated playing their own songs and did a few together. Tom Petty, rest in peace. Bob Dylan, rest at Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island on July 8.
4. Johnny & The Leisure Suits, June 25, 1988, Poplar Creek Music Theater ($15.50)
Remember, I said memorable, not necessarily good. Nothing was more late-80s Chicago than Johnny B. In the early 90s, Brandmeier was tapped to host a syndicated TV show, recorded here at WTTW. Sadly for him (but not for audiences), it lasted only a couple weeks.
3. Stevie Nicks with opener Joe Walsh, July 18, 1983, Rosemont Horizon ($13.50)
As a teenage boy, I went to see Joe Walsh. He was awesome. Stevie Nicks ended up being pretty good, too.
2. George Thorogood & The Delaware Destroyers, August 11, 1986, Genesee Theater ($13.50)
I remember a personality on The Loop introducing a song on the radio with, “He’s Thorough. He’s Good. He’s Thorogood.” The show rocked this mid-sized venue to the bone.
1. Duran Duran, February 24, 1984, Rosemont Horizon (ticket stub lost!)
I wasn’t all that excited about going. My girlfriend (now wife) wanted to go, and her mom didn't want her to go with just a group of girls. So, my 115-pound self went as a chaperone and bodyguard. As it turned out, I felt like we were seeing The Beatles. Women and girls screamed for what seemed like the entire show. Forty years later, I have a better appreciation of Duran Duran and wish I had paid more attention.
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Who is your favorite actor or actress from Chicago? Tell us
why
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Email DailyChicagoan@wttw.com with your responses and your answers might be published.
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