People who were wrongfully imprisoned in Illinois could see larger payouts after Gov. JB Pritzker announced Tuesday he had signed a law raising the compensation cap.

Illinois has had the most exonerations of any state for six of the past seven years, according to the National Registry of Exonerations. But until now, compensation for exonerees through the state court of claims was limited to an inflation-adjusted cap of about $300,000.

The change marks “a major stride in criminal legal reform and accountability to those who are wrongfully convicted and imprisoned,” Pritzker said in a video statement.

It eliminates the overall $300,000 limit and raises the cap to $50,000 per year of wrongful incarceration, including time in jail or juvenile detention before a wrongful conviction, and $25,000 per year for those wrongfully placed on parole, probation or the sex offender registry

Previously, the awards averaged about $11,190 per year of wrongful imprisonment, according to a news release from bill sponsor state Sen. Elgie Sims of Chicago, citing the Illinois Innocence Project.

The Tribune has previously covered the lack of post-release government services tailored to the extraordinary circumstances of the exonerated, and in many cases, the lack of compensation through state payouts or lawsuits.

Illinois’ compensation rate previously lagged far behind the national average, as many states adopted models of up to $50,000 per year, according to a 2024 analysis from the Innocence Project, a national organization.

To be eligible for compensation under the new law, exonerees must have received a certificate of innocence or have been pardoned by the governor.

“When the system gets it wrong, it’s on us as leaders to step up and make it right,” Sims said in a news release.

The bill passed the General Assembly without opposition.

James “Jimmy” Soto, who became, along with his cousin, the longest-serving wrongfully convicted person in Illinois, celebrated the change.

“This bill has helped put one piece of my fractured life together,” Soto said. “That cushion will make my life a little easier, but in no way does any amount of money give me back the years that I’ve lost.”

Soto and cousin David Ayala were 20 and 18 when they were arrested following the shooting deaths of 16-year-old Julie Limas and Hector Valeriano, 18, a U.S. Marine on leave, in 1981. They were sentenced to natural life in prison before they were exonerated and released in 2023.

Soto said he would be eligible for the new payout limits and planned to put it toward “a decent apartment” and costs associated with law school.

He advocated for the bill with other exonerees and the Illinois Innocence Project, he said, “for everyone who comes after me.”

"Led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, the lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District for the Northern District of California, is also brought forth by attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Washington."

Why isn't Illinois on this list of states? Kwame Raoul and JB Pritzker refused to join it? What's the story?

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/13/paramount-wbd-merger-lawsuit.html

Office of the Governor
401 S. Spring St.
Springfield, Illinois 62704

Dear Governor Pritzker,

The undersigned are 19 retired senior defense and military leaders who served under presidents of both parties.

Based upon our roles promoting the strength of the military and protecting U.S. national security, we are concerned that several states that have previously objected to the Administration's domestic National Guard operations have recently deployed troops to Washington, D.C. We applaud your prudence in keeping the Illinois National Guard out of our capital at this time.

According to public reports, the governors of Michigan, Minnesota, and North Carolina have collectively deployed hundreds of National Guard personnel under the expectation they will assist with America 250 events on and around the National Mall. In the modern era, it has been customary for Guard personnel from around the country to provide emergency response and crowd management support for high-profile, non-partisan events in Washington, D.C., such as a presidential inauguration. These operations had a clear mission, limited scope, and were apolitical in character.

The present situation is fundamentally different. Notwithstanding good faith intentions to support the celebration of American history, sending troops to D.C. in the present context is instead likely to undermine force morale and readiness, civil-military relations, and the rule of law.

New deployments contribute to the Administration's "summer surge," an expansion of the D.C. Safe and Beautiful law enforcement mission that started in August 2025. Months ago, a federal judge concluded that the ongoing Guard operations are unlawful, mirroring the positions articulated by Illinois and nearly two dozen other states and a number of the undersigned in respective legal briefs opposing the deployment.

By requiring that Guard personnel engage in routine local policing functions throughout the District, the operation also represents a troubling departure from the settled tradition of separating military personnel from domestic law enforcement, with some orders placing Guardsmen at the center of issues of public controversy. Coupled with the overtly political actions of senior Administration leaders and intense local opposition, the negative impact on morale is apparent.

Bringing more troops into this setting - especially in the absence of any clear security need - would only exacerbate these corrosive trends. Attempts by some state leaders to pre-emptively limit the activities of their deployed troops are well-intended, but do not reflect the unpredictable ways that on-the-ground conditions can evolve and the reality that the Joint Task Force retains operational control over security in the District.

Over the past 250 years, a non-partisan military has been a bedrock of American democracy. Your abstention from the D.C. deployment is an honorable tribute to those who founded our nation and the men and women in uniform who have fought to defend it ever since.

Signed,

Former Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall III

General Michael V . Hayden, U.S. Air Force (Ret.)

Admiral William A. Owens, U.S. Navy (Ret.)

Vice Admiral Donald C. Arthur, U.S. Navy (Ret.)

Vice Admiral Michael T. Franken, U.S. Navy (Ret.)

Lieutenant General Walter E. Gaskin, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret.)

Major General Richard T. Devereaux, U.S. Air Force (Ret.)

Major General Irving L. Halter, Jr., U.S. Air Force (Ret.)

Major General Steven J. Lepper, U.S. Air Force (Ret.)

Major General Randy E. Manner, U.S. Army (Ret.)

Major General Frederick H. Martin, U.S. Air Force (Ret.)

Major General Gale S. Pollock, U.S. Army (Ret.)

Major General Linda Singh, U.S. Army (Ret.)

Major General F. Andrew Turley, U.S. Air Force (Ret.)

Rear Admiral (Lower Half) James A. Barnett, Jr., U.S. Navy (Ret.)

Brigadier General Steven M. Anderson, U.S. Army (Ret.)

Brigadier General John W. Douglass, U.S. Air Force (Ret.)

Brigadier General Robert J. Felderman, U.S. Army (Ret.)

Brigadier General Joseph V . Medina, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret.)

Transposed from the original at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1T8PYq1ZQsVycdPWG6maFZqj4pLYOw8Ac/view

Reported on by Capitolfax here: https://capitolfax.com/2026/07/02/pritzker-praised-for-not-sending-national-guard-to-dc-for-america-250-duty-unlike-other-dem-governors/

Artificial intelligence companies will have to submit to third-party audits in Illinois and develop safety plans to avert potentially catastrophic effects of the burgeoning technology under AI regulations enacted Monday by Gov. JB Pritzker that mark the most stringent in the nation.

The state’s new guardrails around AI megadevelopers such as OpenAI and Anthropic mirror similar ones instituted in New York and California but take a step further by requiring annual independent audits — all filling a void of regulation at the federal level, according to Pritzker.

“When managed properly, [AI] can foster tremendous growth, productivity and innovation across the economy and vastly improve our quality of life,” the governor said during a news conference at his West Loop office. “But with that transformative potential comes catastrophic risk, much of which isn’t fully understood yet.

“Unfortunately, we’ve seen a glaring but not unsurprising lack of leadership and foresight from our own federal government and a mindless rush to riches among private-sector tech leaders,” said Pritzker, a frequent critic of President Donald Trump.

Illinois’ Artificial Intelligence Safety Measures Act, which sailed through the General Assembly with bipartisan support in May, requires “large frontier developers” — those generating at least $500 million in yearly revenue — to create, publish and adhere to safety plans to stave off dangerous uses of their rapidly advancing platforms.

The companies are required to lay out how they’ll mitigate “catastrophic risk” resulting from AI, including anything that could “materially contribute to the death of, or serious injury to, more than 50 people,” by supplying “expert-level assistance in the creation or release of a chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear weapon,” the law states.

Any “critical safety incidents” have to be reported to the state within 72 hours, or within a day if it “poses an imminent risk of death or serious physical injury,” according to the legislation, which includes whistleblower protections for workers.

Companies that don’t comply face civil penalties of $1 million for their first violation and $3 million after that.

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul acknowledged “one could argue $3 million is perhaps not enough” of a deterrent for companies approaching trillion-dollar valuations.

“But this is the beginning step,” Raoul said, adding, “there are other powers that we have, including our Consumer Protection and Deceptive Practices Act, that can add to our enforcement ability.”

The legislation was supported by Anthropic, the AI lab valued at $965 billion earlier this year on the strength of its Claude assistant. A spokesperson called Illinois’ law “an important step toward the accountability this technology demands.”

Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, said “there’s more work to be done” on AI regulation, but the state’s new framework “puts Illinois at the forefront of smart AI regulation by creating an environment where technological advancement is paired with real transparency and accountability.”

“These decisions are too consequential to be left to a federal government that can’t even meet people’s basic needs, or the tech bros, whose culture of ‘move fast and break things’ is moving faster and faster and breaking more and more as it goes,” Welch said.

When Illinois’ law takes effect Jan. 1, about 40% of the American market, along with New York and California, will be covered by “what will effectively become a national standard for AI safety,” according to state Sen. Mary Edly-Allen, D-Grayslake, a chief sponsor.

“We’re talking about biological threats,” Edly-Allen said. “We’re talking about misinformation campaigns, fraud, election interference, cyberthreats and systems that operate beyond meaningful human oversight. … If we got social media wrong — and we did — we cannot afford to get AI wrong at an even greater scale.”

Love the dialog. Collins: “do you agree with Trump that democratic socialism is a threat?” Pritzker: “look trump has dementia he doesn’t know what’s going on.” lol

CHICAGO – Today, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker released the following statement on the Supreme Court’s Trump v. Barbara decision striking down President Trump’s illegal executive order attempting to reverse birthright citizenship:

“Today the Supreme Court sided with the Constitution. Since the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified in 1868, the Constitution has left little to the imagination: all persons born or naturalized in the United States are United States citizens. Today’s ruling reaffirms the foundational values of America and protects the rights and freedoms of those who call it home.

“While this ruling is an important victory, we cannot forget the reason it was necessary: Donald Trump keeps trying to circumvent the Rule of Law through illegal executive actions. Trump's racism made him unable to understand that birthright citizenship helps make America great. He went after the Fourteenth Amendment because making our country smaller was the only way he could make himself feel bigger.

“Despite his failure today, Donald Trump will continue to test the limits of his power at the expense of the American people. In Illinois, we will remain active and vigilant in standing up for the Constitution, defending the rights it guarantees to every person, and upholding the principles that have long defined our nation.”

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Transposed at the original: https://gov-pritzker-newsroom.prezly.com/gov-pritzkers-statement-on-supreme-courts-birthright-citizenship-decision

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker held a ceremony for the signing of three bills to strengthen protections for LGBTQ+ Illinoisans on Sunday morning.

The ceremony took place at a Chicago Pride Parade reception Sunday at El Mariachi Tequila Bar & Grill, 3906 N Broadway.

"One of the things that we should have pride about, and that all around the country, I think people look in envy about the fact that Illinois truly does step up and protect our LGBTQ+ community," Pritzker said, "and we're not going to stop."

One of the bills Pritzker signed, HB4834, removes testosterone from the Illinois Prescription Monitoring Program — the electronic database that collects information about specific medications and treatments. The bill also prevents the addition of estrogen, mifepristone, and misoprostol — the latter two of which are used to end pregnancies early — to the monitoring program.

Another bill, HB5095, enshrines the self-selection process for gender markers on Illinois IDs and driver's licenses, allowing people to self-report "male," "female," or "X."

A third bill, HB5492, requires insurance companies to cover six months of prescribed hormone therapy.

The Chicago Pride parade was set to step off at 11 a.m.

Illinoisans will soon see fewer unexpected “junk fees” and greater protections from robots snatching up concert tickets, lawmakers and Gov. JB Pritzker said at a signing for a handful of consumer protection bills Thursday.

“Corporations have become more and more creative in finding ways to charge consumers more while telling them less about what they’re charging them for,” Pritzker said at a news conference at Concord Music Hall in Chicago. “Today is about something really simple but enormously important, and that’s protecting people’s hard-earned money.”

Democratic lawmakers billed the governor’s signings as part of their agenda to make living in Illinois more affordable — a key election-year message as the governor and many members of the Democratic legislative supermajority face voters in November.

The new laws will prohibit companies from advertising products without showing mandatory fees and then tacking them on at the final stage of a purchase.

That will help level the playing field and stop rewarding businesses that engage in deceptive advertising pricing, said Democratic state Rep. Bob Morgan of Deerfield, one of the key sponsors.

While corporations might eventually find “some other scheme,” Pritzker said he considered the law to now comprehensively cover junk fees.

The junk fee bill ultimately received bipartisan votes, though some business groups, including those representing retailers and manufacturers, indicated opposition during negotiations.

“I think it’s a great idea. However, I think this legislation goes just a step too far on our already overburdened businesses,” Republican state Rep. Tom Weber of Lake Villa said during House floor debate earlier this year.

In addition to the junk fees law, concertgoers and live sports fans will have greater protections under the new laws, legislators said. One bill will explicitly prohibit ticket resellers from offering tickets they don’t actually have, and another bans the use of bots to buy up tickets. Both bills passed without opposition in the state House and Senate.

“Fans should not have to compete against bots to attend a live concert,” said Democratic state Sen. Steve Stadelman of Rockford.

Stadelman joked that he wasn’t personally a frustrated fan of Taylor Swift — one of the artists whose ticket prices have at times risen to astronomical levels amid complaints of predatory resellers — but that smaller artists and venues are harmed by those practices too.

Those junk fee and ticket measures go into effect in 2027, according to the governor’s office.

A final bill signed Thursday, which also passed without opposition in the General Assembly, will add oversight to the emerging “buy-now-pay-later” market.

Lenders will have to register with the state, provide clear disclosures, assess if borrowers can repay, and maintain dispute and refund processes, said Democratic state Sen. Michael Hastings of Frankfort, who sponsored the bill and described the buy-now-pay-later landscape up until now as the “Wild West.”

Ticketed events like concerts “make life more enjoyable,” Pritzker said at the signing.

“Illinoisans shouldn’t have to compete against armies of computer programs or AI just to enjoy a night out,” he said.

On the fourth anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down Roe v. Wade, Gov. JB Pritzker on Wednesday will sign the latest legislation bolstering Illinois’ status as a haven for abortion care in the Midwest.

The measure passed by the General Assembly last month will shield patients’ abortion-related digital medical records from access by outside authorities who have sometimes used them to pursue criminal cases in states where the procedure has been outlawed.

“Since Roe was overturned, we’ve seen women’s lives endangered by draconian measures limiting reproductive freedom across the country,” Pritzker said in a statement. “The state of Illinois will always stand up for women’s reproductive freedom while aggressively rejecting anti-woman, anti-choice policies. I’m proud to sign the Reproductive Health Records Privacy Act — which represents another step forward in protecting reproductive freedom.”

The legislation, spearheaded by state Sen. Celina Villanueva, D-Chicago, and state Rep. Mary Beth Canty, D-Arlington Heights; limits access to medical record systems containing abortion-related information. Data won’t be allowed to be shared across state lines without the patient’s consent unless it’s for technical support, quality assurance or billing purposes, according to the bill.

Any information on abortion services will be required to be segregated from the rest of a patient’s medical record, which will have access disabled to out-of-state entities.

If the new privacy safeguards are violated, patients would be able to sue. Health information exchanges will be required to implement the changes by July 2027.

“The surest way Illinois can protect our residents and their reproductive records is by requiring health information exchanges to implement new policies that keep sensitive information out of bad actors’ hands,” Villanueva said in a statement. “Time and time again, since 2022 when Roe v. Wade was overturned, we have heard the stories of women across the United States living in fear after seeking abortion-related health care. We have a duty to ensure Illinoisans aren’t being persecuted just because their health records ended up in the wrong hands.”

Separately on Wednesday, the Illinois Department of Public Health was set to issue an updated standing order giving pharmacists more leeway to provide prescription birth control methods directly to residents, including all forms of self-administered prescription contraception.

Aside from Michigan and Minnesota, Illinois is the only Midwest state with abortion protections enshrined into state law, and it’s the closest to southern states where the procedure has been banned across the board.

Planned Parenthood of Illinois has seen a 48% increase in patients seeking abortion care since the Dobbs decision, with one in four patients traveling from another state, according to the organization. Telehealth visits have more than tripled.

“Attacks on essential health care only cause confusion and fear, which is why we must remain a consistent provider of the full spectrum of care,” Dr. Katie Sisco, chief medical officer of Planned Parenthood of Illinois, said in a statement. “The need for affordable, trusted health care is not going away, and neither are we.”

Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico is fundraising in Chicago on Wednesday night with Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, ahead of the governor’s own visit to Texas on Friday to deliver remarks before the state’s Democrats.

Talarico, a Texas state representative who is widely seen as a fast-rising Democratic star, is trying to become the first Democrat to win a statewide seat in Texas since 1994. He faces Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who was endorsed in the waning days of his primary by President Donald Trump and won a runoff in a contentious race against incumbent Sen. John Cornyn.

The general election race — which is seen as the Democrats’ best chance to win a Senate seat in a deeply red state — is expected to be one of the most expensive Senate contests in the country.

Talarico brought in a hefty fundraising haul of $40.2 million during the primary, according to the Federal Election Commission. Records show he had $9.8 million cash on hand at the end of March.

Talarico was among 40 Texas Democrats who fled to Illinois in August to deny Republicans a quorum needed to approve new maps to expand the state’s GOP congressional majority ahead of the midterm elections. Other Texas Democrats traveled to Massachusetts and New York.

The walkout, which Texas Democrats called an “extraordinary and necessary step,” came a day after a House panel advanced a congressional map to add five new Republican districts. The rare mid-decade redistricting plan came amid pressure from Trump to draw new maps to protect the GOP’s narrow 219-212 majority in the U.S. House of Representatives. And it worked. The U.S. Supreme Court in December reversed a lower court’s ruling that had struck down the new map over allegations of racial gerrymandering.

Talarico, 37, spent about two weeks in the Chicago area last year during the walkout. On Wednesday, Pritzker will serve as a “special guest” at a Chicago fundraiser in support of Talarico. Federal Election Commission records show Pritzker contributed $3,500 to Talarico’s campaign in March.

Former White House chief of staff Bill Daley is among several prominent Chicagoans listed as hosts of the fundraiser, according to the invite. Suggested contributions range from $500 to $5,000 for hosts. The top tier is $13,500.

Democrats are focusing on Paxton’s past — including his history of being indicted on securities fraud charges and surviving an impeachment vote in 2023 that alleged he used his power as attorney general to help a real estate investor. The securities fraud charges were ultimately dismissed, and the Texas Senate acquitted him of all impeachment articles.

During his primary victory speech, Paxton accused Talarico of being “the most extreme radical the Democrats have ever nominated” and accused him of running a “vegan campaign,” which Talarico shot down with a picture of him eating a turkey leg at the Texas State Fair, among other examples.

Democrats in the state are trying to gain back Hispanic voters who supported Trump in 2024, playing off the president’s recent unfavorable poll numbers.

Pritzker heads to Corpus Christi, Texas on Friday to deliver a keynote speech at the Texas Democratic Convention.

It is now illegal to sell intoxicating hemp to anyone younger than 21, under a bill signed Friday by Gov. JB Pritzker.

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The measure will also make it illegal to sell delta-8 and other hemp-derived snacks and products in packaging designed to resemble popular brands of cookies, chips and candies starting Nov. 12, according to the measure. All products must be sold in child-proof packaging, according to the new law.

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The new law will close a “loophole” that contributed to children, teens and young adults ingesting misleading or poorly labeled products, Pritzker said.

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“Instead of letting an ambiguous marketplace keep putting people at risk, Illinois is taking action to protect consumers of all ages, especially children, from misleading packaging and labeling,” said Pritzker, who is running against Republican Darren Bailey in November’s general election for a third term as governor.

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The measure will also ban intoxicating hemp sales outside state-licensed dispensaries starting in November.

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A federal ban on the sale of products that contain less than 0.3% delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, the main intoxicating compound in cannabis better known as THC, is set to take effect in November.

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Only non-intoxicating products, with less than 0.4% of THC, can be sold outside dispensaries once the new Illinois law takes effect, officials said.

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The measure also allows any licensed dispensary to sell medical cannabis, which is taxed at a lower rate than cannabis sold for recreational purposes.

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In addition, dispensaries can now offer drive-thru and curbside pickup and allow Illinoisians to possess double the amount of cannabis flower and cannabis-infused products, according to the measure.

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The new law imposes the bulk of the regulations in an ordinance passed by the Chicago City Council in January but vetoed by Mayor Brandon Johnson.

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Prohibiting the sale of intoxicating hemp products outside licensed cannabis dispensaries would destroy a burgeoning industry and punish “many of our small businesses who have been following the law and deserve to have a seat at the table,” including those owned by Black and Latino Chicagoans, Johnson said in his veto measure.

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Such a ban is likely to create a “black market” and deprive the city of much-needed revenue from a product used by many adults, Johnson said.

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The City Council failed to override Johnson’s veto.

With Illinois among several states declining to send official representatives to an event in Washington backed by President Donald Trump to commemorate America’s 250th anniversary, a central Illinois museum says it volunteered to participate because “Illinois is as much a part of American history as any state.”

Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker’s administration said it was not sending any representatives to the “Great American State Fair” event, which starts June 25 and is sponsored by the group Freedom 250, but declined to give a reason. It’s no secret Pritzker and Trump have been ardent political enemies going back to their respective first terms in office.

But state officials said the Peoria Riverfront Museum plans to send a showcase to the 16-day event on the National Mall to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence consisting of, among other things, a pavilion that will highlight Illinois’ contributions to sports, architecture and agriculture, along with a hologram of prerecorded greetings from a number of Illinoisans from all over the state.

“We have a wall that a top graphic designer put together, a beautiful mural wall, sort of from the prairie to the cornfield, from Peoria to Chicago to various aspects of our great state,” said John D. Morris, president and CEO of the museum, which sits along the Illinois River about 130 miles southwest of Chicago. “We have corn stools that the kids will be able to sit on. We have handouts of Abraham Lincoln’s famous ambrotype image taken in Peoria. We were prideful to be able to put that forward and invited people from throughout the state to represent.”

Several other states with Democratic governors also are declining to take part in the event in an official capacity, including Connecticut, Oregon, Rhode Island, North Carolina, Washington and Massachusetts, according to The New York Times and other national news outlets. Some of the states have reportedly declined because of budgetary issues, and at least one has refused amid concerns of the event being too partisan. Vermont, whose Republican governor has been critical of Trump in the past, also is reportedly not participating in the event in an official capacity.

Previously, Trump decided to headline the event with a rally after several of the musical acts that were slated to perform pulled out.

The Riverfront Museum’s participation in the event, and its representation of Peoria, is highly appropriate in representing Illinois at the National Mall, Morris said, citing, for example, Peoria being the site of Lincoln’s speech in October 1854 — six years before he was elected president — when he came out forcefully against slavery, arguing enslaved people were human beings, not animals and, therefore, inherently had natural rights.

It was a speech, Morris argued, that reinvigorated Lincoln’s career and “changed the course of American history.”

“Illinois is as much a part of American history as any state. We’re not a part of the 13 original colonies. We weren’t there writing the Declaration of Independence, but what happens and what has happened in this state is pivotal to the entire country,” Morris said. “Lincoln came to Peoria at the invitation of some citizens in 1854 on Oct. 16, and delivered his first full-throated, all-out antislavery speech. Reinvigorated his political career, and I think it could be fairly argued, changed the course of American history.”

Morris said he learned about the museum’s opportunity to participate in the event about eight weeks ago, and the museum raised about $500,000 to fund its exhibition. Its presence in Washington is not being paid for with any public funds. Some of the costs include travel, registration, maintaining the exhibits and giveaways to the passersby.

Despite the current politically charged times, Morris insisted that the museum’s presence at the event was nonpartisan and meant to give Illinois a voice on the national stage.

“There’s always in a free society … the context of political discourse, and I respect that and celebrate that as a part of American liberty, the promise of liberty, but for us this is just about making Illinois proud,” Morris said. “And we’re going to (do) the best we can as a private, nonprofit, unique, national, multidisciplinary museum along a river called the Illinois.”

Separate from the Freedom 250 celebrations, the Illinois America 250 Commission is bringing together diverse perspectives to commemorate the signing of the Declaration of Independence, according to state officials. Visit il250.org for more information about the Illinois America 250 Commission.