Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson was convicted Monday night on federal tax charges.

• According to state law, he must immediately resign.

Why it matters: Mayor Lori Lightfoot gets to appoint Thompson's replacement in the 11th Ward. The mayor presides over the city council and can appoint allies to help curry favor in a contentious council, setting up possible conflict of interests.

• Chicago is the only major city in the country that handles appointments this way and not through special elections.

What they're saying: "While the characters are always changing, this process is just one example of how the old Chicago way persists in the structure of our city government," Austin Berg, co-author of "The New Chicago Way," tells Axios.

• "Chicagoans deserve much better."

Context: Mayor Richard M. Daley appointed 28 aldermen during his 22-year tenure.

• "Long-serving mayors like Richard M. Daley eventually appointed a large number of aldermen, which made them dependent upon him and helped create rubber-stamp city councils," UIC political science professor and former alderman Dick Simpson tells Axios.
• "There probably needs to be limits on the appointment power."

Yes, but: The mayoral appointment process is baked into the Illinois Municipal Code and can only be changed if the state legislature and the governor vote to do so.

What's next: Mayor Lightfoot has 60 days to appoint a new alderperson.

• "Alderman Patrick Thompson has been judged by a jury of his peers and found guilty," Lightfoot said in a statement. "This week, we will be outlining an open and transparent process to fill the vacancy."

The Biden administration has kicked off a $5 billion program to expand electric vehicle (EV) charging networks nationwide, which could finally address a huge barrier to EV purchases: charging anxiety.

Why it matters: Illinois launched an ambitious plan last year — overseen by the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) — to put 1 million EVs on the state's roads by 2030. That's more than a fifth of all cars.

• Jumping from the current 33,300 to a million EVs will require more than a few new charging stations.

Zoom in: Chicago's city limits hold about 220 public charging stations, half of which are free.

• The greater metro area boasts about 600 public charging stations. Approximately 550 are level 2 stations that can charge a car in three to eight hours, while 83 are level 3 stations that can charge a car in as little as 15 minutes.

The intrigue: The entire state of Illinois hosts 874 public charging stations, but the U.S. Department of Energy estimates the state will need 17 times that number — about 15,000 stations — to support the 1 million EV goal.

What they're saying: "(We) remain deeply committed to advancing the EV infrastructure statewide, and increasing access for all residents in the near future," ICC spokesperson Britney Bouie tells Axios, though she didn't offer specifics on a timetable for expansion or how funds would be used.

Of note: This July, thousands of dollars in rebates and incentives kick in for Illinoisans who buy EVs, including an 80% reimbursement for home charging stations.

Explore the interactive map.

🛎 Hotels are still struggling to recover from the pandemic. We are way behind other big cities. (Crain's Chicago Business)

An Indiana steel mill is paying millions in fines for spilling toxins into Lake Michigan. (Chicago Tribune)

😷 Five Republican state representatives showed up on the House floor without masks as a protest against … the pandemic? (Capitol Fax)

⚾ This would have been the week pitchers and catchers report to spring training. Instead, MLB is currently locking out players until a new labor agreement is reached. (ESPN)

🏀 Congrats to DePaul women's basketball coach Doug Bruno for being selected to the 2022 class of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame. (Chicago Sun-Times)

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Chicago will not be the first city to have live sportsbooks in our stadiums — Phoenix and Washington, D.C., beat us to it — but we will see the first one this fall after the city council in December greenlit stadium sports betting.

• The DraftKings Sportsbook is being built across the street from Wrigley Field.
• No word yet on plans for Soldier Field, Guaranteed Rate Field or Wintrust Arena.

Holy hotel spotters: More than 200 Chicagophiles correctly guessed that Monica was at the Palmer House Hilton.

Quick facts: The Gilded Age hotel was originally built in 1871 by business magnate Potter Palmer as a gift to his bride, Bertha Honoré Palmer.

• Just 13 days after opening, the hotel was destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire.
• Palmer rebuilt a new version a block away that welcomed its first guests in 1873.
• Later guests would include U.S. presidents, Oscar Wilde and Charles Dickens.
• Legend has it that the brownie was born at the Palmer House after Bertha commissioned hotel cooks to whip up a portable dessert for visitors to the 1893 Columbian Exposition.

Pandemic pressure: The hotel closed for a year in mid-2021 but reopened last June after a multi-million-dollar renovation.

👏 Congrats to readers Michele K. and Alex H., whose names were chosen from a virtual brownie pan to win Axios swag when we resume live events.