IL Legal Weed 'Cartel' / Fatburger Making Comeback / More Free Gas

Like gasoline, the price of weed in Illinois is too dang high.

A group of marijuana activists filed a federal lawsuit that claims the "Chicago Cartel" — a group of cannabis companies with ties to the Pritzker family, indicted former House Speaker Michael Madigan and the owners of Wrigley Co. and makers of Jim Beam — is the reason a pound of legal marijuana in 2022 sells for more than $4,000 in Illinois, compared to $300 in California.

"The 'Chicago Cartel' can control prices in these markets because supply and demand can be reasonably predicted and forecast by the 'Chicago Cartel' members, who share price information and collude to charge monopolist prices," according to the lawsuit.

Jonah Meadows Reports:'Chicago Cartel' Cannabis Monopoly Violates Antitrust Act, Suit Says

Afternoon With Sprinkles. High: 51 Low: 50.

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• Patch poll results: Readers say the feds should prosecute former alderman turned FBI mole, Danny Solis, even though he wore a wire to help a massive political corruption probe. (Patch)
• Willie Wilson is giving away $1 million in free gasoline again. This time on Saturday. Anybody who thinks he's trying to buy votes in his third campaign for Chicago mayor, must have mental problems, he said. (Patch)
• Speaking of election-adjacent cash giveaways, Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a campaign season budget passed by the Democratic supermajority in Springfield that is set to send Illinois tax payers 50 bucks each in direct payments before election day in November. The budget also calls for suspending a 2-cents-a gallon state gas tax, eliminating grocerly sales tax for a year and giving property owners a $300 refund. (Patch)
• Fatburger is making a Chicago comeback. The Los Angeles-based burger chain that some call ‘The Last Great Hamburger Stand,’ plans to open in the Chatham neighborhood at 825 E. 87th St. (WhatNowChicago)
• Gov. Pritzker eliminated statewide mask mandates on public transportation and airports Tuesday. Pace, Metra and the CTA have all lifted mask mandates. Mayor Lori Lightfoot said mask-wearing will no longer be mandated at Chicago airports. (Patch)

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About me: Mark Konkol, recipient of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for local reporting, wrote and produced the Peabody Award-winning series "Time: The Kalief Browder Story." He was a producer, writer and narrator for the "Chicagoland" docuseries on CNN and a consulting producer on the Showtime documentary "16 Shots."