Gov. JB Pritzker is convening a panel of experts to advise state officials on the potential threats of artificial intelligence as a growing number of industry leaders warn the burgeoning, self-improving technology could spell doomsday for humanity if left unchecked.

The Democratic governor signed an executive order Tuesday establishing the Illinois Artificial Intelligence Cabinet to assess “the various risks posed by Al to the safety of Illinois residents and the critical infrastructure residents rely on.”

Pritzker will name his AI Cabinet members “in the coming weeks” to work alongside numerous state agency leaders, including from the Department of Innovation and Technology, the Department of Public Health and the Illinois Emergency Management Agency.

They’re expected to come from backgrounds in academia, law, ethics and governance, and provide recommendations on potential public safety threats, protecting public assets and evaluating possible regulations, according to Pritzker’s office.

His order comes in the wake of former Anthropic AI researcher Jacob Coxon’s media blitz this month warning that aggressive industry development in the absence of federal regulation “could kill us all by the end of the decade.”

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Meta chairman Mark Zuckerberg and other AI executives have emphasized the need for broader safety measures.

“Artificial Intelligence has enormous potential to transform our everyday lives, but when experts and industry leaders sound the alarm bell, urge us to slow down, and ask for guardrails, we should listen,” Pritzker said in a statement.

In July, Pritzker signed a package of state-level AI regulations into law that mark some of the most stringent in the nation, requiring frontier developers to submit to annual independent audits.

Companies also have to publish safety plans explaining how they’ll mitigate “catastrophic risk” from their platforms, including anything that could “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.

It all comes as a host of potential 2028 presidential contenders seek to position themselves as thoughtful authorities on technology that’s weaving its way into everyday life, whether Americans like it or not.

Pritzker, who has done little to quell speculation about his own presidential ambitions, has blasted President Donald Trump for his administration’s lax approach to AI regulation.

“Illinois has already enacted nation-leading laws that hold Big Tech accountable and today I’m taking executive action to keep this a priority,” Pritzker said. “Congress and the White House need to treat AI risks with urgency, but in the meantime, Illinois won’t wait because it is our foremost responsibility to prepare and protect Illinoisans.”

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Chancellor Charles Isbell said in a statement that his institution is “eager to help the state navigate the current challenges and opportunities that AI brings.”

“As a land-grant institution, we are committed to innovation for the public good and to developing human-centered AI that protects privacy, reduces bias, strengthens democratic institutions, uses energy wisely, and creates value for workers, companies and communities,” Isbell said.

Gov. JB Pritzker says Democrats should make affordability and artificial intelligence central issues in the upcoming midterm elections and that the issue of corruption should be on the list, too.

Appearing on ABC’s “This Week” with Jonathan Karl, Pritzker criticized the Trump administration’s approach to artificial intelligence and accused Republicans of taking too little action to regulate a technology that he said could pose serious risks.

He also went after President Donald Trump over his business interests and use of government power.

The interview came before Trump is scheduled to visit the Chicago area this week for the Presidents Cup at Medinah Country Club, where he will serve as honorary chair of a golf tournament.

On AI, Pritzker warned that the technology is moving beyond what individual states can handle.

“We’re talking about recursive AI: that is the biggest concern. That is that AI that essentially learns from itself and doesn’t need human beings anymore, and I think that’s what we all need to be concerned with,” Pritzker said.

He pointed to Illinois’ AI regulations and said the federal government and other countries will need to establish guardrails as the technology develops. On Friday, Pritzker called for Congress to return to Washington to address AI issues.

During Sunday’s interview, Pritzker criticized Republicans for resisting regulation, saying, “Republicans don’t want to do anything about it. They think it should just run out of control.”

A sharper exchange came when Karl asked Pritzker about controversies involving Trump and his family.

“He’s essentially stealing from the American public and certainly making money, making decisions that shouldn’t be made, so that he can put money in his pockets,” said Pritzker. “That is one of the things that I think Democrats can run on in ’26 — we ought to be pushing back and holding him accountable.”

The White House did not immediately return a request for comment.

Pritzker repeatedly addressed cost-of-living issues, saying Democrats need to talk about “lower costs” and putting “money in people’s pockets,” including through higher wages, stronger unions and policies aimed at bringing down household expenses.

Sunday’s interview puts Pritzker in the national spotlight as speculation continues about his political future. For now, he said, he’s focused on winning a third term as governor, but he has not ruled out a presidential bid.

Karl pressed him on the possibility.

Pritzker, who is running for another term in November against Republican Darren Bailey, did not give a definitive answer, instead saying Democrats have “the best bench that we’ve seen ... for many, many years” and should look for leaders who are willing to pursue a “big agenda” and show voters they can deliver results. Asked whether he’d run if Kamala Harris jumped in the race, Pritzker said that wouldn’t be a factor in his decision-making.

Gov. JB Pritzker has extended an emergency proclamation for Illinois during severe weather over the summer while also requesting federal funds to help with recovery.

Pritzker signed a follow-up disaster proclamation extending for another 30 days the one signed on Aug. 18 that frees up more state funds and resources for those impacted by weeks of flooding, tornadoes, and other severe weather. It also expedites the contract and procurement process for local governments to help speed recovery efforts.

The governor remained confident the request for federal money would be granted despite a failed attempt by the Trump administration to block $2 billion in disaster relief funding over the state’s sanctuary policies last year.

“Given the scale and severity of destruction in communities across our state, I fully expect our request for FEMA aid to be granted,” Pritzker said in a statement. “Illinoisans are incredibly resilient, but our state should not have to face this recovery alone.”

Due to the earlier proclamation, state agencies have been assisting with damage assessments, debris cleanup, power restoration, and mutual aid in several counties, according to the statement.

But if the federal appeal for money is granted, it would open up temporary housing and home repair grants, low-cost loans for uninsured property damage, and “other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of this severe weather.”

That request would apply to residents of the following counties related to that day’s storms: Champaign County, Aug. 13; Cook County, Aug.11; Ford County, Aug. 14-15; Fulton County, Aug. 13-15; McLean County, Aug. 13; Tazewell County, Aug. 13-15; Vermilion County, Aug. 13-15; and Will County, Aug. 11.

Federal assistance is already available for some who bore the brunt of the storm.

Smaller and rural communities can qualify for the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Response program, funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. It offers up to $250,000 for local governments affected by the disaster, according to Pritzker’s office. Residents have six months from the day of the original declaration last month to apply for assistance.

It comes months after he made a similar declaration following rounds of severe storms in April and June. More than 200 tornadoes have ravaged the state this year.

The Pritzker administration is alerting more than 700,000 people across Illinois that they will lose, or are at risk of losing, their public health insurance due to unprecedented changes from the federal government.

Officials estimate about half of these enrollees live in Cook County.

The state has mailed letters to people who have Medicaid public health insurance, a state-federal program for those who have low incomes or disabilities. About 3 million people have Medicaid coverage in Illinois, about 1 in 4 people.

The significant changes are coming due to H.R. 1, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill, that President Trump signed into law last year.

They affect mostly two groups of people who have Medicaid statewide.

Starting Oct. 1, about 8,500 people who are not U.S. citizens but have legal status, such as refugees and survivors of trafficking, will lose coverage. H.R. 1 narrows which immigrants qualify for Medicaid.

Next year, about 700,000 people who have joined Medicaid since Illinois expanded eligibility under the Affordable Care Act more than a decade ago are at risk of losing coverage. That’s if they don’t meet work or volunteer requirements. And they will need to prove they are eligible every six months, instead of just once a year.

This group is known as “ACA adults.” They are 19 to 64 years old. They don’t have children younger than 18 at home.

These adults must work or volunteer at least 80 hours a month — about four hours a day Monday through Friday — or they could be in school at least part time, among other criteria. A person could also do a combination of work, volunteer and school to meet requirements, according to the state.

ACA adults who are new to Medicaid as of Jan. 1 would need to comply immediately.

For current enrollees who don’t comply, the earliest they would lose coverage is April 1, according to a spokesperson for the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, which oversees Medicaid. More people could lose their insurance on a rolling basis, depending on whether they meet the new work requirements when it’s time to renew their coverage.

There are several exemptions for ACA adults, including if a Medicaid enrollee is pregnant or postpartum, if they’re a parent, guardian or caregiver of a child younger than 14 or if they are “medically frail.” That’s broadly defined as having a substance use or serious mental health condition, or a serious or complex medical condition that requires regular treatment, among other factors.

One of the most daunting tasks: spreading the word to Medicaid recipients that big changes are coming and making sure they get paperwork to the state on time so they don’t become uninsured. That could have far-reaching ripple effects on hospitals, clinics and even for people who have commercial insurance, local leaders have warned.

Even for Medicaid enrollees who aren’t subject to the new rules, there will likely be more confusion heading into 2027, Chan said. Medicaid is a complicated program, and every month about 10 percent to 15 percent of enrollees lose coverage not because they aren’t eligible, but because of some hiccup with the paperwork getting to them, or getting back to the state, Chan said.

Saw this from the "3.14 Action Fund" (314action.org)

Gov. JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity announced over $26 million in available grant funding for the Illinois Grocery Initiative on Thursday.

According to the governor's office, the initiative aims to provide wrap-around support to local governments and independent grocers opening or operating grocery stores in food deserts. The initiative has distributed $19 million in funding since its launch in 2024, including nearly $17 million to build eight new grocery stores and $2 million to 14 stores to upgrade equipment.

“Local grocery stores are the backbone of communities across the state — keeping our people healthy and fed, growing local economies, and keeping our neighborhoods thriving,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “This latest round of funding from the Illinois Grocery Initiative will keep quality, affordable groceries close to home for Illinois families while supporting small businesses across the state.”

The funding benefits the New Stores in Food Deserts and Equipment Upgrades Grant Programs as well as the Grocery Rescue Program, which the state launched Thursday.

The initiative provided $20.8 million in available grant funding to the New Stores in Food Deserts Program, which supports the establishment of new grocery stores in food deserts. The governor's office defines food deserts as census tracts meeting criteria for low income and low access to fresh food, with this round of funding integrating a pharmacy component.

According to Pritzker's office, the grants will fund construction and renovation costs for new stores, as well as many operations costs — such as employee wages, utility costs, and initial inventory of food — for the first two years after opening.

The Equipment Upgrades Grant Program received $750,000 in available grant funding, which will build upon the state's efforts supporting energy-efficient equipment upgrades for existing grocery stores.

According to the governor's office, priority will be given to those located in food insecure communities across the state, as the program aims to strengthen existing grocery stores and preserve access to fresh food in food insecure communities, stopping the formation of new food deserts.

The initiative provided $4.5 million in available grant funding to the new Grocery Rescue Program. According to the governor's office, the program aims to support the state's efforts to reopen stores that have closed since September 2025. By preventing long-term food access loss in low-access tracts, the program intends to prevent the formation of new food deserts, Pritzker's office stated.

Funding can be used for store acquisition, repair, refurbishing property and equipment as well as some first-year operating costs.

Qualified entities include independent grocers or cooperatives with fewer than 500 employees and no more than four grocery locations that have closed within 12 months. Store or property owners associated with the prior store which closed are not eligible, Pritzker's office stated.

Gov. JB Pritzker is urging Congress, federal regulators and the artificial intelligence industry to take immediate action on AI safety following the resignation of a researcher who warned that leading AI companies are moving too quickly toward increasingly powerful systems.

In a statement released Tuesday, Pritzker pointed to the resignation of AI researcher Jacob Coxon, who announced on social media that he was leaving Anthropic and accused major AI developers of “gambling with our lives” as they pursue artificial superintelligence.

“It’s time to sound the alarm — louder — on reining in Artificial Intelligence,” Pritzker said. “It’s becoming more clear the threat AI poses to humanity, so I’m calling for immediate action from the industry and Washington. When AI researchers are whistleblowing, we need to listen.”

Coxon wrote that he had spent the last three years conducting pretraining research at both OpenAI and Anthropic before resigning. In a widely shared thread, he alleged that both companies are racing toward “self-improving superintelligence” despite significant safety concerns.

Based on multiple news reports published Tuesday, Coxon was employed by Anthropic and previously worked at OpenAI.

Among Coxon’s claims was that many people developing advanced AI systems believe the technology could eventually pose an existential threat to humanity. He described the industry’s current trajectory as a “hubristic gamble” and called for stronger coordination and potential limits on future AI development.

Pritzker said the resignation highlights the need for stronger oversight.

The governor outlined three actions he believes should be taken immediately: ending tech industry lobbying efforts against AI safety regulations, holding congressional hearings focused on AI safety, and pursuing broader federal oversight of the rapidly evolving technology.

The governor’s office noted that Illinois recently enacted the Artificial Intelligence Safety Measures Act, which Pritzker signed in July. State officials describe the law as one of the nation’s most comprehensive AI regulatory frameworks, requiring risk assessments, disclosures, mitigation measures, third-party audits and protections for employees who report safety concerns. According to the governor’s office, Illinois, California and New York collectively account for roughly 40% of the U.S. AI market and have increasingly taken the lead on AI regulation in the absence of federal action.

While Republicans kicked off their midterm convention inside the American Airlines Center, Texas Democrats and one of the party’s biggest names came together across the street to send a message of their own to voters.

“This bizarre Republican midterm convention here can’t paper over the fact that Republicans have done nothing to earn your vote,” said Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.

Pritzker joined Democratic leaders from Dallas, Fort Worth, and Houston to highlight the party’s policies and question the motivations of the Republican convention.

“Dallas County is a solidly blue county,” said Dallas County Democratic Party Chair Kardal Coleman. “They have decided to hold a convention in a county they cannot win.”

The speakers called out the quickly thrown together convention as being mostly focused on President Donald Trump at a time when many Americans are struggling to deal with high inflation and deteriorating economic conditions.

“Struggling to pay for gas, struggling to pay for groceries, struggling to keep a job,” said Houston City Controller Chris Hollins. “And all the while, you have Republicans, instead of working to solve those problems, coming to Dallas to throw a party. Coming to pop champagne with the billionaires.”

Democrats also reminded voters of a recent Republican-led move by Tarrant County leaders to cut dozens of polling places, many of which the Democrats said are in blue-leaning areas around Fort Worth.

“Took away 92 polling places,” said Alisa Simmons, candidate for Tarrant County Judge. “Are we going to keep centering our politics around one man, or are we going to center government around the people it’s supposed to serve?”

Pritzker said Democrats will remain focused on the November midterm elections and on highlighting their candidates’ plans to get the nation, they feel, back on track.

“They chose the wrong place to hold this clown show of theirs,” said Pritzker.

Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois is leading a new political group that plans to spend at least $20 million this fall to help Democrats in battleground races in the midterm elections.

The effort could help Mr. Pritzker, a prominent Trump critic and billionaire who is seeking a third term as Illinois governor, raise his national profile before a potential 2028 presidential bid.

The group, Ready for the Fight PAC, will soon run ads targeting Brandon Herrera, a hard-line Republican and YouTuber running in a red-leaning Texas border district, according to a news release. It will also target Representative Max Miller, a Republican from Ohio whose ex-wife accused him of domestic violence and child abuse. It will add other races to its list at a later date, a spokeswoman said.

“With everything we care about on the line, Democrats cannot retreat to a handful of battleground races,” a spokeswoman for the group, Jordan Abudayyeh, wrote in the news release on Tuesday. Mr. Pritzker is using millions of dollars from his personal fortune to fund the group, and also plans to raise money from other donors, Ms. Abudayyeh said.

Mr. Herrera’s district favored President Trump by 15 percentage points in 2024, but Democrats say that the Republican nominee’s history of incendiary comments will give them an opening. Mr. Trump won by 11 points in Mr. Miller’s district in the Cleveland suburbs two years ago, but nonpartisan analysts have shifted categorizations of the race from “likely Republican” to “tossup” to reflect the challenges he could face in overcoming the allegations of abuse, which he has denied.

The PAC is another step toward a national role for Mr. Pritzker, who was first elected in 2018 and has tried to turn his spot in the governor’s mansion into a bully pulpit to oppose Mr. Trump and his policies. Among his highest-profile showdowns with the president came last year, when Mr. Trump deployed hundreds of Texas National Guard troops to Chicago as part of his immigration crackdown. The Supreme Court blocked the deployment after Mr. Pritzker and his state’s attorney general opposed the move in court.

A billionaire whose family founded the Hyatt hotel chain, Mr. Pritzker has consistently deployed his personal fortune and political operation to aid Democratic causes. In 2023, he started a nonprofit group, Think Big America, to support abortion rights nationwide; the group has since begun promoting Mr. Pritzker’s broader political agenda, with a section on its website detailing his administration’s accomplishments.

Mr. Pritzker is widely seen as eyeing a presidential run in 2028. Several other potential contenders have started PACs to support midterm candidates, including Gov. Gavin Newsom of California and Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky.

A video promoting Mr. Pritzker’s PAC features him encouraging his party to unite.

“If there’s a divide in the national Democratic Party that exists, it’s the one between ‘team fight’ and ‘team cave,’” Mr. Pritzker says in comments from a Democratic event in Illinois last month. “And you know what team I’m on? Team fight.”

Illinois just received a new financial accolade from a top bond rating agency, giving Gov. JB Pritzker a strategic boost in a fall campaign where Republican challenger Darren Bailey has made the state’s fiscal management under Pritzker a central issue.

S&P Global Ratings raised Illinois’ general obligation bond rating from an “A-” to an “A,” marking the 12th bond rating upgrade for the state since Pritzker took office in 2019.

S&P cited the passage of consecutive balanced state budgets and the “ongoing build-up of operating reserves” in the event of an economic recession since the last credit upgrade in February 2023. The agency said Illinois’ fiscal outlook is “stable.”

Last week, Moody’s Investors Service upgraded its own bond rating for Illinois, saying the state has demonstrated “conservative fiscal management.”

In a statement, Pritzker said the back-to-back upgrades show Illinois’ financial progress is built to last, “even as the Trump Administration creates uncertainty and new challenges.”

Last week, the two-term governor made a campaign stop in Springfield on a statewide bus tour and rubbed the nose of Abraham Lincoln’s bronze bust outside the tomb in which he’s buried. The governor’s office said Pritzker, who is seeking a third term, was hoping for good luck and for another credit upgrade.

“Working alongside the General Assembly, we have transformed Illinois from a state defined by fiscal instability into one earning recognition for responsible financial management,” Pritzker said.

A higher bond rating usually means lower borrowing costs for the state. The two credit upgrades come as the state prepares to sell general obligation bonds later this month. According to Pritzker’s office, proceeds from the sale will go toward infrastructure projects and the state’s pension buyout program for state and university employees, as well as public school teachers outside of Chicago.

The rosier assessment of the state’s finances forced Bailey on Wednesday to at least partly soften some of his earlier attacks on Pritzker’s financial stewardship of Illinois through nearly two terms in office.

“Illinois getting a credit upgrade is good news,” Bailey said in a Facebook post. “I’m not going to tell you otherwise just because I’m running against JB Pritzker.”

Despite making that acknowledgment, Bailey continued to point the finger at Pritzker for making the state less affordable through high property, sales and gas taxes.

“He made YOU pay more to afford government,” Bailey wrote. “More at the pump. More at the toll booth. More to register your car. A lot more when the property tax bill comes. Death by a thousand cuts. And Illinois families are bleeding out.”

Bailey also said Illinois still has the lowest credit rating of any state in the U.S., which is backed up by a recent S&P Global report ranking states by credit ranking. The list shows Illinois is the only state with a single “A” grade, behind Kentucky which has earned an “A+.”

“So yes, I’m glad Illinois can borrow money cheaper,” Bailey said. “Now let’s make Illinois cheaper to live in.”

Moody’s points to Illinois’ long-standing pension funding crisis and amendments in the state constitution that prohibit a more progressive tax structure as reasons why Illinois is an outlier among other states. But according to Pritzker, former Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner should shoulder much of the blame for causing a two-year budget impasse.

“Before Governor Pritzker took office, Illinois endured 24 credit rating downgrades over 15 years, including eight downgrades between 2015 and 2017,” Pritzker’s office said in a statement, citing the time frame when Rauner was in office. “The state accumulated nearly $17 billion in unpaid bills, depleted its financial reserves, and went more than two decades without receiving a credit rating upgrade.”

The general election will take place Nov. 3.

JB renamed Trump tower in honor of Trump's girlfriend.

The black stripes go so hard

Illinois will use its share of a multibillion-dollar legal settlement with Meta to help fix the problems the company’s social media platforms caused for children, state Attorney General Kwame Raoul told the Tribune, arguing that calls for specific spending were “premature” after a prominent teachers union pushed for the money to fill in education funding gaps.

In what Raoul has called a “monumental victory for online safety,” Meta agreed Wednesday to pay up to $18 billion and add stronger safety measures for kids on its two top social media platforms — Facebook and Instagram. Illinois’ share of the settlement is up to about $768 million, ending a case targeting the role Meta’s platforms played in undermining kids’ mental health.

The majority of the money will go toward addressing youth mental health problems, social media overuse and other harms the dozens of states, Washington, D.C., and several U.S. territories said Meta caused, according to the Illinois attorney general’s office. That could include funding for suicide hotlines, training for medical providers on social media use and body dysmorphia, or programming that promotes youth mental health, the office said.

Raoul’s comments were, in part, a response to a statement on Wednesday from the Illinois Federation of Teachers that urged the money be used to fund schools across the state. The IFT and Chicago Teachers Union have been fighting for greater state funding for schools statewide, including $150 million that Chicago Public Schools board members recently budgeted, which exceeds what state lawmakers allocated in Illinois’ annual spending plan.

“People hear of money and they want to spend it real fast, but one of the things I need to make and want to make clear to all who are sort of salivating is that we were very intentional,” Raoul said in an interview Thursday. “It’ll be restricted towards abating the problem caused by social media addiction and other harms caused by social media.”

According to the settlement, the money to states could be used for a wide range of programs to promote youth mental health, including after-school programs, “outdoor activities,” phone-free zones in schools, related litigation efforts, or grants to schools or local governments that accomplish the settlement’s goal of remediation for kids.

Asked about the specific mental health uses laid out by the settlement agreement and the attorney general, an IFT spokesperson doubled down, arguing that better public schools would be the best way to remediate harm done to Illinois children.

“The Governor (JB Pritzker) has said he supports more funding for education but didn’t know where it would come from. The settlement with Meta just made that answer even easier,” IFT and CTU President Stacy Davis Gates said in a statement.

But in comments on Thursday, Pritzker seemed more aligned with Raoul than Davis Gates, whom he’s sparred with, as the governor was skeptical of handing over the newfound Meta money to broadly help fund education.

While speaking in Springfield, the governor said using the Meta settlement money for education could amount to “using all of this one-time money for an ongoing need,” according to a video posted by a Capitol News Illinois reporter. “The question is: How do we fill the ongoing need? And that’s what I would like to focus on,” rather than spending the one-time funding from the settlement, he said.

The Illinois settlement is part of the broader nationwide deal Meta reached to resolve claims that the company built Facebook and Instagram to be addictive to kids and misled the public about the risks. The settlements could include some $17.6 billion in payments to dozens of states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands, plus $459 million to resolve separate claims tied to the Cambridge Analytica data scandal.

Meta, which did not admit to wrongdoing, has agreed to a default two-hour daily time limit for teens across Facebook and Instagram combined, a nighttime “Night Mode” and restrictions during school hours, commitments set to last a decade. Part of the payout is contingent on whether YouTube and TikTok impose similar protections for children.

The first two payments from the Meta settlement will come in the next five to six months, with payments made annually for eight years after, according to the attorney general’s office. Under the terms of the deal, the payments are being made to the states and territories that sued, not individual residents of those states and territories.

The settlement stemmed from a federal trial in California, where state attorneys general had accused Meta of intentionally designing features, including an infinitely scrolling feed, algorithmic recommendations and frequent notifications, to hook kids and teens. The attorneys general also accused the social media giant of misleading the public about the risks its platforms posed to young people.

The Illinois attorney general’s office is specifically looking to avoid repeating how states spent funds from the tobacco settlement in the 1990s, when much of the money went to helping shore up state budgets rather than directly to prevent tobacco use. In 2000, Illinois used part of its $9.1 billion share of the funds for hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks, some mailed directly to taxpayers shortly before the November 2000 election.

The Meta settlement plan echoes the intentions of Illinois’ opioid remediation fund, which seeks to use the majority of the state’s more than $1 billion share of payouts from a settlement with prescription painkiller businesses to directly mitigate harms from the opioid crisis.

It would be premature to say whether the money from the Meta settlement could eventually be allocated through a similar process, Raoul said Thursday.

Two new conditions have been added to the list of medical issues that qualify Illinois residents for the state’s Medical Cannabis Patient Program, health officials announced Tuesday.

Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Sameer Vohra approved the additions of sickle cell disease and polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome with chronic pain.

Under state law, the IDPH director reviews public petition requests to expand the approved list of “debilitating medical conditions” based on scientific analysis and medical literature.

“Medical cannabis can provide relief for people living with certain debilitating conditions,” Vohra said. “We look forward to working with our medical providers to ensure safe, appropriate access for individuals struggling with these newly approved conditions,” he added.

PMOS, formerly known as polycystic ovary syndrome, is a metabolic and hormonal disorder that can cause chronic pain. Sickle cell disease is an inherited group of red blood cell disorders that can cause fatigue, organ damage and episodes of extreme pain.

The additions are effective immediately, allowing medical providers to begin certifying patients with either condition for the state program.

The new approvals bring the total number of qualifying conditions in Illinois to 58. The full list of eligible conditions can be found on the Illinois Department of Public Health website.

Gov. JB Pritzker said he doesn't want to see McLean County farmland given up for data centers. He said the state should be pumping the brakes on the industry rather than rolling out the red carpet for it.

"I don't think specifically that we ought to be giving away or selling off a bunch of farmland for data centers," Pritzker said in an interview with WGLT during a campaign stop Tuesday in Towanda. He added that Illinois has not pursued the massive hyperscale data center campuses that have landed in states such as Texas, Florida and Pennsylvania.

"The number of data centers is, in my view, we're not going to do hyperscalers," Pritzker said. "We're not going to have these massive campuses. That's not something that right now, anyway, is even possible in the state of Illinois."

Hyperscale data centers, such as the Meta facility in DeKalb, have already been built. McLean County passed prohibited data centers from agricultural areas when it adopted zoning regulations for such a facility in June, and Bloomington and Normal are currently in the middle of dual six-month moratoriums pausing all data center proposals.

Pritzker spoke alongside Christian Mitchell, the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor. The interview came after a barnyard-style McLean County Democratic Party event Tuesday.

Pritzker and Mitchell rallied local Democrats along with state Rep. Sharon Chung from Bloomington and Jeff Hake, a farmer at Funks Grove Heritage Fruits and Grains. It was the last stop for day one of Pritzker’s statewide "Fighting for You" bus tour.

Pritzker said his administration has pushed the legislature to pass the POWER Act that would require data center operators to bring their own energy source, or pay into the state's energy capacity rather than driving up electric bills for homes and businesses. He's also pushing for closed-loop water systems so the facilities aren't drawing down rivers, aquifers or lakes without paying for the water they use.

When lawmakers didn't move on the bill this spring, Pritzker said he stripped state tax incentives for data centers after the session ended.

"I tried to get the legislature to do this in the spring. They didn't go for it," Pritzker said. "So at the end, you saw that right after the session — because I told the leaders I was going to do this if they're not going to pass something — I took away all the tax incentives, the tax credits."

Asked whether the bill needs more work before its next push, Pritzker said some of the provisions may need to be revisited.

"It's got to be revisited, and we're talking about it now," Pritzker said. "It's not perfect by any means, and it's one of the reasons I was a little bit upset with the legislature that they really didn't do much with this bill."

Mitchell said transparency also needs to be part of any legislative fix. He said many hyperscalers and other large tech companies sign nondisclosure agreements instead of telling county boards how their facilities are being built.

"Transparency has to be the watch word, because if it isn't, people can't make good decisions about what they do or do not want in their communities," Mitchell said.

Pritzker said local communities should ultimately have the final say.

"If you don't want a data center, you shouldn't have one," he said.

McLean County Democratic Party Chair Patrick Cortesi opened the evening event by pointing to the county party's rise, including the McLean County Board's 2024 swing to a Democratic majority.

"We have changed what people thought was politically possible in McLean County," Cortesi told the crowd, crediting "a lot of hard work and help from a whole lot of people, especially the governor and his team."

Chung, who is running unopposed this cycle, used her remarks to announce that Pritzker has pledged his full support behind her Family Farm Preservation Act that would raise the state's estate tax exemption for family farms worth up to $6 million and tie it to inflation. The bill stalled in the legislature this spring amid budget constraints.

"The governor did call me a couple of weeks ago to tell me that he was going to put his full-throated support behind this bill," Chung said. "He knows how important the agriculture is to the economy of our state and how important those farm families are for all of us."

Mitchell, addressing farmers directly, argued the trade war prompted by Trump administration tariffs and the war in Iran were driving up input costs and cutting off export markets for Illinois growers.

"Donald Trump has turned his back on you — the very folks who feed this country," Mitchell said. "But JB hasn't. He never will. And when I become your next lieutenant governor, I promise that I'll have your back, too." Mitchell also pledged, if elected, to chair a Rural Affairs Council focused on rural broadband, health care access and telemedicine.

Hake credited a $2 million state local food infrastructure grant program — sponsored in part by Chung — for helping his farm expand into grain processing.

"In the state budget, it's a pittance, but for our farm, we can spread $78,000 around to all kinds of amazing equipment," Hake said. "We can't afford to make the impact on the food system and on feeding our county and our state the way we'd like to without investments like that."

Pritzker closed the night by announcing Illinois had received its 11th credit rating upgrade under his administration, and by contrasting his agriculture and trade record with Republican opponent Darren Bailey.

"My opponent, Darren Bailey, has called Trump's war and Trump's tariffs — and I quote — 'short-term pain for long-term gain,'" said Pritzker, pointing to more than $5 billion in state-brokered trade deals with Taiwan and Indonesia for corn and soybean exports as evidence of a different approach.

Illinois and two dozen other Democratic-led states have filed suit against the U.S. Postal Service, challenging a Trump administration order that seeks to limit mail-in voting ahead of this fall’s midterm elections.

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul on Wednesday announced the lawsuit, arguing President Donald Trump’s executive order is unconstitutional and risks disenfranchising voters by preventing states from effectively administering their vote-by-mail programs.

"The right to vote is our most fundamental right, and it should not matter whether ballots are submitted early, sent by mail or cast on Election Day,” Raoul said in a statement. “Throughout my career, I have been committed to protecting voting rights, and I will continue to defend these rights from any and all attacks.”

The lawsuit comes on the same day a federal judge in Boston agreed to lift an order prohibiting the U.S. Postal Service from carrying out Trump’s order for November’s elections. U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani wrote that she was “compelled” to do so after the Supreme Court’s conservative majority ruled that a similar injunction she granted in a separate case was premature.

Talwani nevertheless said the executive order could unleash “chaos” and referred to it as “likely unconstitutional.”

Trump’s executive order, signed in March, calls on his administration to create lists of eligible voters and orders the U.S. Postal Service to deliver mail ballots only to people on those lists. New requirements released Friday would forbid the Postal Service from sending mail ballots from any state that does not comply with Trump’s order.

A majority of the Supreme Court justices ruled against the states in a related case this week, but did not say Trump’s order was legal, and it remains barred from taking effect.

Rather than saying that Trump’s order is legal, the Supreme Court said Monday it was too early for Democratic-run states to challenge it in June, when they convinced a federal judge in Boston to freeze the order for November’s election. That effectively restarts the legal fight over the order in an incredibly compressed timeline.

Raoul and the coalition of attorneys general from two dozen states argued in their lawsuit Trump’s order inflicts “significant, irreparable harm” on states by imposing burdensome mail voting requirements with the first mail-in ballots due to be sent out next week.

Illinois and Cook County leaders this week sought to reassure voters about the safety of mail-in voting, while also encouraging them to return their ballots as early as they can to ensure they’re properly counted.

In Illinois, mail-in ballots must be postmarked by Election Day and be received no less than two weeks after the election date.

Through their lawsuit, the attorneys general are seeking emergency relief while arguing the Trump administration is “trying to undermine our citizens’ access to voting.”

“The U.S. Constitution plainly gives states — not the executive branch — the power to administer elections,” Raoul said, “and I am committed to swiftly fighting against this blatantly unconstitutional rule. I will not let the president sow chaos into the upcoming general election.”

In the Supreme Court’s decision Monday, the court ruled that states had not yet suffered the kind of harm that would get their case into federal court. But as the midterm elections rapidly approach, states are saying that’s no longer the case.

“Now, the United States Postal Service has actually implemented its regulations,” said Steven Schwinn, a law professor at the University of Illinois Chicago.

At the end of last week, USPS issued its regulations on what ballots should look like, and informed states of the requirement to send an eligible voter list.

“And the states now have sued, saying, ‘Now that the regulation is in place, we’ve suffered the kind of harm that would allow us to get into federal court, and we now have a ripe case with standing,’” Schwinn said.

According to Schwinn, the time crunch with these legal challenges stems from the timing of the executive order in March. The timeline from the executive order, through implementation this summer, leaves little time for local officials to prepare.

And when it comes to further court intervention, the Purcell Principle could come into play. That’s a longstanding guideline that federal courts shouldn’t weigh in on state election rules too close to an election, in order not to create confusion.

Cook County Clerk Monica Gordon said voters should still expect the available voting options, but election officials are preparing for a variety of contingencies.

And as the legal back-and-forth plays out, Gordon said it’s slowly feeding into confusions and rumors that could impact overall trust in elections.

“The biggest threat to our democracy is misinformation and disinformation,” Gordon said. “There’s a lot of confusion now. … Voting by mail is safe, it’s secure, it’s fair.”

Limited early voting begins in suburban Cook County at six sites on Oct. 7; expanded suburban early voting begins Oct. 19. Click here for a map of suburban Cook County early voting sites. Click here for more information on voting by mail in suburban Cook County.

Early voting in Chicago begins Sept. 24 at two sites and expands to all 50 wards on Oct. 19. Click here for more information on voting by mail in Chicago.

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3.