* ICYMI: Pritzker Says Illinois Democrats Discussing How to ‘Shore Up’ Protections Ahead of a Second Trump Presidency. WTTW…

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker in a news conference on Thursday signaled that Democratic leaders are discussing what, if any, actions the state may take to gird itself against the future Trump administration.

“We’re gathering, you know, I would call it, a list of things that we may need to address,” Pritzker said.

The governor said it may not happen when the General Assembly meets in November, and could wait until the legislature reconvenes in 2025.

“There is time to do that,” he said. “We have a lot of work that we’re looking at doing.”

* Related stories…

∙ Tribune: Illinois’ Democratic leaders vow vigorous defense of personal rights and public policies under a second-term Trump
∙ Sun-Times: Pritzker vows to be ‘happy warrior’ defending Illinois from harmful Trump policies: ‘You come for my people. You come through me.’

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Sun-Times | JB Pritzker studies Project 2025 and Trump, ponders his own political future: Gov. JB Pritzker is combing through thousands of pages of Project 2025, shoring up legal resources and finding ways to further expand reproductive rights and environmental protections — all while he explores his own political future. It’s not the election night Pritzker wanted or expected. And while it has opened up a political path for the Democratic governor, a second administration under former President Donald Trump has the potential to unravel many of the policies that Pritzker has championed since taking office in 2018.

* Capitol News Illinois | Consumer groups rail against Chicago gas utility as state investigation nears end: Activists went to the ICC on Thursday, hoping to sway the commissioners into reining in the program, with several citing the report’s findings. Aria Brown, a student at the University of Illinois Chicago, said she wants the commission to require that pipeline replacement be done through a “targeted program that focuses on their most dangerous pipes.”

*** Statehouse News ***

* Center Square | Illinois legislators hear challenges facing substance use treatment providers: Other hearings dealt with issues such as high workforce turnover, Medicaid reimbursement rates and budget limitations. It is estimated that over $770 million of opioid settlement money will go to the Remediation Fund, which will be used for substance abuse programs.

*** Chicago ***

* Sun-Times | 29 City Council members call special meeting to reject Johnson’s $300 million property tax increase: If 26 members show up, they’ll have the quorum they need to proceed with a special meeting. However, they will need 34 votes to suspend the rules and immediately consider and then vote on the increase, which has not yet been approved by committee. Ald. Ray Lopez (15th) and Anthony Beale (9th), Johnson’s leading Council critics, are certain there will be enough votes to both suspend the rules, and then kill the tax hike. In fact, Lopez predicted all 50 members would show up, fearing it will send the wrong message to tax-weary constituents if they don’t.

* Tribune | Aldermen to try defeating Johnson’s $300 million property tax hike: Although 29 aldermen signed the letter and even more are opposed to the tax hike, it remains to be seen whether the coalition holds and votes to defeat it. Johnson has nearly a week to threaten or cajole a few of the malcontents into backing down, or could also use a procedural maneuver to try to block the vote. And Chicago budget history is full of examples of council members talking about opposing some unpopular mayoral proposal only to have a change of heart when it came time to say aye or nay.

* WBEZ | Bracing for a shrinking budget, Chicago’s health department scales back: There are currently no plans in 2025 to reopen more mental health clinics that were closed years ago. Instead, the city plans to continue to bring services to where people are or lean on connections with other organizations. For example, nurses already visiting families with newborns can also screen for everything from depression and traumatic exposure to domestic violence and access to guns in the home.

* WBEZ | Mayor Brandon Johnson’s appointed CPS board members could stay on past January: When the entire Board of Education resigned in October and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson announced their replacements, he said he hoped they could stay on the 21-seat board that will take office in January. The way the law is written, that wasn’t a given. But, as it turns out, all six can stay on. The mayor’s office said it hopes most will agree to continue.

* Sun-Times | Three city-run shelters for newly arrived immigrants to merge into unified system: Three city-run and two state-run migrant shelters will remain open past the new year and become part of the One System Initiative intended for all residents experiencing homelessness starting in January, according to a spokesperson for the mayor’s office. The city shelters that will be merged are the former site of the Young Women’s Leadership Academy in the Douglas community on the South Side, a facility that was used by the Marine Corps in North Park and the American Islamic College in Uptown. The two state-run shelters are the Holiday Inn in West Lawn and a former hotel in Hyde Park.

* WTTW | Judge Upholds Decision to Fire CPD Sergeant Who Led Botched Raid at Home of Anjanette Young:
The Police Board voted 5-3 in June 2023 to terminate Sgt. Alex Wolinski, finding that he committed multiple rule violations and a “failure of leadership … so serious as to be incompatible with continued service.” Wolinski sued the city to overturn that decision, but Cook County Judge David Atkins found that his termination was “neither arbitrary nor unreasonable.”

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Herald | ‘This is such a great partnership’: District 211 program giving students experience in home construction: A new educational partnership in Schaumburg is being celebrated for giving area high school students a hands-on experience in the construction trades. The partnership includes Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211, Nitti Development and the BuilderEDU curriculum, which is the brainchild of attorney and Conant High School graduate Jim McKenzie.

* WBEZ | Collar county voters back funding for forest preserves: If you voted in Kane, McHenry, Lake or DuPage county, you had the opportunity to decide whether you’d like to pay a little extra to fund forest preserves. Use of the preserves is up 83% since 2006, and even more since the pandemic, when many people “discovered” their counties’ green spaces.

* Sun-Times | With south suburban casino set to open, is Chicago area’s gaming market getting oversaturated?: Leaders of the Wind Creek Chicago Southland gave reporters a first look Thursday at the East Hazel Crest casino that’s awaiting state regulatory approval to start welcoming gamblers as soon as this week. The $529 million, 1,400-slot emporium will mark the sixth and final new casino added to the state’s glut of gambling options, part of a 2019 expansion that also introduced sports betting and thousands more slot machines in bars and restaurants.

*** Downstate ***

* WSIL | Jackson County State’s Attorney candidates comment on tied election results: With 99% of the ballots in from Tuesday’s election, there’s a deadlock tie between Republican incumbent Joseph Cervantez and Democratic challenger Marsha Cascio-Hale. They each have exactly 10,805 votes. The Jackson County clerk says it will come down to mail-in ballots and provisional ballots to decide a winner.

* WIFR | Illinois Department of Transportation offers update on Rockford passenger rail service: The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) says Rockford is the largest city in the state without a train service, but people could soon be able to hop on a train there and get to Chicago in roughly two hours. The ticketing process and prices for these trips are also being worked out. “This is a high priority for IDOT and we’re working as hard as we can to get this delivered,” says Scott Speegle, IDOT passenger rail marketing manager.

*** National ***

* AP | Who will buy Infowars? Both supporters and opponents of Alex Jones interested in bankruptcy auction: Both opponents and supporters of the bombastic internet show and radio host have expressed interest in bidding on the Infowars properties he has built over the past 25 years. They include Roger Stone, an ally of Jones and Donald Trump, and anti-Jones progressive media groups. If Jones supporters buy the assets, he could end up staying on Infowars. Up for sale are everything from Jones’ studio desk to Infowars’ name, video archive, social media accounts and product trademarks. Buyers can even purchase an armored truck and video cameras. For now, Jones’ personal social media, including his account on X, formerly known as Twitter, with 3 million followers, are not up for sale, but court proceedings on whether they should be auctioned are pending.

* ArtNet | The National Archives Museum Is Under Fire for Allegedly Scrubbing Difficult Historical Events: The museum on the National Mall that is devoted to preserving and presenting the nation’s archives is under fire for allegedly declining to display documents relating to dark episodes in U.S. history, apparently to avoid inflaming opinions among those on the political right. The National Archives Museum, under the leadership of U.S. Archivist Colleen Shogan and her top advisers at the National Archives and Records Administration, has allegedly modified planned and existing exhibits involving subjects like the government’s treatment of Native Americans and the history of birth control medication in favor of more anodyne subjects, according to numerous anonymous staffers speaking to the Wall Street Journal, which broke the story.