Good afternoon! It’s almost May, and that means WBEZ’s monthly concert list is out with great picks from mostly midsize and neighborhood venues. Here’s what else you need to know today.

1. Weight-loss drug coverage for Illinois state workers could cost hundreds of millions of dollars

Beginning July 1, highly sought-after injectable medications like Wegovy, Mounjaro and Ozempic will be available to more eligible enrollees in the state’s group health insurance program, including state workers, legislators, judges and their dependents.

Gov. JB Pritzker’s administration estimates the cost to taxpayers in the first full year will be $210 million, but one economist who studied the cost impact of this new class of drugs told WBEZ’s Dave McKinney the state’s yearly outlay could cost as much as three times that estimate.

Pritzker’s office told WBEZ the administration’s aim was to achieve “equity” among all nine different health insurance plans offered by the state to its employees, two of which didn’t cover the drugs.

Multiple state legislators said they only heard about the initiative — buried in an 899-page budget bill approved on the final day of the spring legislative session — when contacted by WBEZ.

“This is a flat-out indictment of a process where bills are voted on with thousands of pages dropped as they’re being voted on, within an hour of being voted on, within a couple hours of being voted on, and nobody voting for them even knows what’s in them,” state Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, ranking Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said. [WBEZ]

2. Chicago will relaunch a guaranteed basic income program

A popular guaranteed income pilot that provides $500 monthly payments to low-income residents will return as the city works to spend federal COVID-19 relief funding to avoid having to return it to the feds, Mariah Woelfel and Tessa Weinberg report for WBEZ.

Officials told WBEZ they are doubling down on funding successful programs launched by former Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration while pulling back on programs that have been difficult to implement.

Thousands of families participated in the guaranteed, no-strings-attached income program last year. Several participants told WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times the program helped them cover unforeseen emergencies, or pulled them above water financially. But several noted they wished it had lasted longer than one year.

City officials said they hope to have the funds allocated by November, ahead of the end-of-year deadline. [WBEZ]

3. CTA, Metra and Pace could be merged into one transit agency under a bill proposed in Springfield

New state legislation would create an agency to oversee public transportation across northeastern Illinois, Violet Miller reports for the Chicago Sun-Times. It would also allocate an additional $1.5 billion in funding for public transit.

The goal of the Metropolitan Mobility Authority Act would be to avoid overlap and competition for money between the RTA, Chicago Transit Authority, Pace and Metra, state Sen. Ram Villivalam, D-Chicago, and state Rep. Eva-Dina Delgado, D-Chicago, said.

The new office would consist of 18 voting directors. The governor would choose three, the mayor of Chicago and president of the Cook County Board would select five each and the chief executives of DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will counties would each get one. A chair would then be chosen by the 18 directors but not be someone from that body.

RTA and Pace leaders told the Sun-Times reforms must come with the necessary funding. [Chicago Sun-Times]

4. A task force investigating the killing of Chicago Police Officer Luis Huesca arrested a suspect’s relative on a gun charge

A relative of a man charged in the killing of Chicago Police Officer Luis Huesca has been arrested after authorities alleged he discarded a gun as officers investigating the murder arrived at his home, my colleague Rosemary Sobol writes for the Chicago Sun-Times.

Officers with the Great Lakes Regional Task Force went to the home Friday in the 10800 block of South Hale Street to talk to a woman about Huesca’s death. Caschaus Tate, 20, then went into the bedroom and out a back door, where officers saw him toss a Glock 9 mm pistol over a fence, according to a police report. He was arrested and charged with unlawful use of a weapon.

Tate’s relative, Xavier Tate, 22, has been charged in an arrest warrant with first-degree murder. Xavier Tate has not yet been arrested. [Chicago Sun-Times]

5. Laufey, the Icelandic-Chinese singer, discusses reviving jazz for the TikTok generation

After winning a Grammy in February for her 2023 album Bewitched, Laufey has been busy with her Bewitched: The Goddess Tour that kicked off this month.

Laufey (pronounced “lay-vay”) made her debut with 2020’s Typical of Me, and her popularity skyrocketed two years later with the album Everything I Know About Love. Trained on the cello, she combines classical with jazz, and the traditional with the new, to create tender songs about young romance, heartbreak and insecurity. Her music has resonated with fans of all ages, making her a viral sensation on TikTok, where the artist lovingly connects with her fanbase.

In town for a sold-out stop on her tour, Laufey dropped by WBEZ’s Reset this week for an interview and a quick live performance of her new single, “Bored.” If you missed her this time, she’ll be back in Chicago for Lollapalooza in August for a performance with The Chicago Philharmonic. [WBEZ]

Here’s what else is happening

• A judge ordered former President Donald Trump to pay $9,000 for violating a gag order in his criminal hush money trial. [NPR]

• New guidelines recommend mammograms start at age 40. [NPR]

• The EPA banned the consumer use of a toxic chemical widely used as a paint stripper but known to cause cancer. [AP]

• Here are this year’s Tony Award nominees. [NPR]

Oh, and one more thing …

Northalsted is often treated as the epicenter of queer nightlife in Chicago. The area, which used to be called Boystown, was actually one of the first neighborhoods to be formally labeled a gay village in the United States.

But the North Side isn’t the only place for queer communities to socialize, said Jake Wittich, the reporter behind Chicago Social Butterflies, a new biweekly newsletter that serves as a social calendar of LGBTQ+ events across Chicago.

“It’s important that we celebrate the history of Northalsted, [but it] wasn’t always the gay Mecca. It started a little further south of that and gradually moved up to what is now Northalsted,” Wittich said. “There’s queer people everywhere. There’s queer bars on the South and West sides, there’s Andersonville, which also has a pretty big LGBTQ population, so it’s not just the North Side.” [WBEZ]

Tell me something good …

What Chicago-area festivals or events are you looking forward to this summer?

Bizzy writes:

“I can’t wait for Lakeview Porchfest on June 2! It’s such a unique idea to have neighbors loan their porches to small local bands and artists. I am looking forward to seeing what talent lies in our neighborhood!”

Feel free to email us, and your response may be included in the newsletter this week.