* Gov. Pritzker was asked today if he intends to call up the National Guard to help with storm cleanup in the suburbs…
Reporter: Governor Mike Braun in Indiana called out the National Guard to help with some cleanup. Are you in any conversations about that, and will you call the National Guard to help with some of these cleanup?
Pritzker: So, once again, we have a variety of agencies that are responding to these storms. It kind of depends on where it is and what other resources exist in a local community.
So, an example is in a rural community, they would have a greater need for help from the state government and perhaps from National Guard. Only because they don’t have, for example, a local, robust emergency management agency. Many counties, like Cook County, do have a robust emergency management response. Many don’t. And so whether we call out the National Guard is sort of dependent on do we have resources on the ground that are being helpful. It isn’t like the National Guard fixes everything because we sent new people in wearing uniforms. It’s really a question of, are there enough either police, emergency management, cleanup crews, etc. at the local level, and if not, then we would send the National Guard in. But it doesn’t mitigate the damage, it’s really where they can’t do the cleanup fast enough.
Where there are…there is a disaster that has led to a lot of injuries that local officials can’t manage through. That’s when we call in kind of state police and everybody else at state government level. So we try to to do it on a an appropriate basis. But National Guard isn’t just the be-all and end-all answer to problems. I know people often say that about crime and other things, ‘If we just send the National Guard in, that solves the’ — No.
* Indiana was hit hard and it’s struggling to recover. CBS Chicago…
Residents in Northwest Indiana may have to wait more than a week to get power back after a devastating outbreak of severe weather Tuesday.
More than 204,000 NIPSCO customers were still in the dark Thursday night, after a derecho that was part of a storm complex that also spawned tornadoes hit the area earlier in the week.
The utility said in a statement on Thursday afternoon that they expect to have 90% of all impacted customers restored by next Tuesday, Aug. 18, and full service restored by Friday, Aug. 21.
* Meanwhile, WGN…
When severe storms hit the region this week, the governors of both Illinois and Indiana said they’re working to help residents who suffered significant losses.
While that could mean asking for federal help, there’s evidence to suggest the Trump administration is more likely to help red states than blue states. […]
WGN-TV asked Braun whether he thinks his red state had a leg-up in securing federal disaster assistance over deep blue Illinois.
“I think that’s going to make a difference,” Braun said.
In May, the New York Times crunched the numbers and found states that voted for Kamala Harris in 2024 were more than twice as likely to have their requests for disaster rejected by FEMA.
* Back to the governor…
Reporter: We’ve had a record number of tornadoes, multiple hitting the same area twice in a week. What can be done for the people today?
Pritzker: Let me start by reminding everybody that the federal government, the Congress and the and President Trump have defunded the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and it has affected people all across the entire nation. And this is when people are in their very worst moments and they need help, and historically have gotten help from the federal government, that’s precisely when the federal government does step in because it can happen anywhere. It can happen in a red state, it can happen in a blue state, it can happen to friends of the president, it can happen to people the president doesn’t like. Important to remember that in that context, if we don’t receive, and we have received in some cases, support from the SBA, for example, for loans, for families, for businesses, we’ve also, in some cases, received disaster assistance.
So to be clear, it hasn’t happened always that we’re not getting support. But more often, it is that that FEMA is just deciding not to support. So in that context, we try to step up and do whatever we can. I, but again, the state government doesn’t have the resources to fill in all the holes that the federal government has now made, for states across the country. We can’t, for example, deal with the massive Medicaid hole that’s been created for so many people who are going to lose their healthcare or their food assistance, SNAP benefits. Too much. The state government can’t take those things on. These are typically federal government roles. So in answer to your question, with regard to the damage that’s more recently been done, we are still in process of trying to receive the aid from the federal government. Indeed, we have sued the federal government. Our great Attorney General Kwame Raoul has taken the federal government to court over a number of these circumstances. So we’re going to continue to fight. That’s why I mentioned that in my remarks, to get those dollars. In the meantime, people often can’t wait. And so we’re doing what we can in the moments that we can, hoping that we can restore sanity, frankly, from federal government emergency management.
- Larry Bowa Jr. - Friday, Aug 14, 26 @ 12:27 pm:
Indiana needs to make it look like their inability to get the power back on is due to the severity of the storm rather than their dilapidated infrastructure and lack of skilled labor, so they’re always going to call in the National Guard when these things happen.
Anyway this is perfect timing, the Bears get a look at how great everything could be for them across the border in the Business Utopia of Northwest Indiana. I’m sure all their front office people are dying to relocate there from the northern suburbs.
- Excitable Boy - Friday, Aug 14, 26 @ 12:39 pm:
I agree with him, but Pritzker should have offered to send the Guard to Indiana if they aren’t necessary here.
- Rich Miller - Friday, Aug 14, 26 @ 12:43 pm:
=== but Pritzker should have offered to send the Guard to Indiana===
Why should Illinois yank people away from their communities, jobs and families to go to a state that has its own guard?
Way too many folks (particularly in the news media and the people who uncritically consume their ‘product’) fail to recognize NG members as actual, real people.
They’re not full-time soldiers, and they’re also not just sitting around waiting to be deployed at the drop of a hat. They have lives.
- Excitable Boy - Friday, Aug 14, 26 @ 1:01 pm:
That was meant to be a little tongue in cheek, as a gesture showing Braun who the bigger person is.
- Amalia - Friday, Aug 14, 26 @ 1:03 pm:
storm response is one thing. storm preparation is another and that is where we are. trees are one issue. while we can’t predict, prepare for knocking over of large trees, we can push Com Ed to trim more in anticipation. and local governments can trim more. also, no time like the present to look at flooding issues. advice to local governments on standards for cleaning sewers, planting native plants and permeable pavers for governments and encouraging residents we have to get at it.
- Techie - Friday, Aug 14, 26 @ 1:08 pm:
“storm preparation is another and that is where we are.”
This is a good point. I have seen a lot of school districts in the south suburbs losing power after many storms.
One area of preparation going forward should be to bury power lines where possible so communities don’t lose power every time there is a storm.
- Norseman - Friday, Aug 14, 26 @ 1:16 pm:
=== Way too many folks (particularly in the news media and the people who uncritically consume their ‘product’) fail to recognize NG members as actual, real people. ===
Bravo. Responsible people think about this fact before asking for their sacrifice. Then there’s Trump.
- Yellow Dog Democrat - Friday, Aug 14, 26 @ 1:26 pm:
One important point that the governor missed is that Trump’s cuts devastated the National Weather Service, which is charged with modeling and monitoring storms, issuing watches and alerts.
The National Weather Service is our first line of defense.
We no longer have 24/7 coverage in the U.S., and I have noticed recent watches and warnings in Illinois seem to be issued very late compared to years past, or not at all.
- Irreverent - Friday, Aug 14, 26 @ 1:36 pm:
All I’m saying is that if I smash myself in the face with a hammer every day while calling you a communist, eventually, you’re going to stop dropping everything to get me to the hospital because you’ve got to work to keep a roof over your own head.
- dan l - Friday, Aug 14, 26 @ 1:40 pm:
Why no coverage of Darren Bailey’s on scene in a undisclosed Chicago burb press conference where he talked about all the calls his office has received looking for help with the storm damage?
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1617443616655899/
)
(it’s a hoot, if you haven’t seen it
- Amalia - Friday, Aug 14, 26 @ 2:12 pm:
Yellow Dog Democrat is correct. I’m heartened to hear that there have been a teeny bit of call backs to workers for NOAA which plays a key role in distributing weather balloons…yes…that monitor storms. they pulled back a bunch in the south which seemed wrong at the time but maybe they are headed to our new tornado alley.
- Rudy’s teeth - Friday, Aug 14, 26 @ 2:33 pm:
Have many friends and family in the NWI area devastated by the storm. Munster, Hammond, and Chesterton are suffering from the extent of damage,
Many folks are angry that the local electric provider for delaying upgrades to service, lines, and equipment over the years.
Perhaps a better use of these funds could go towards upgrading service and power lines in the community.
If Indiana has the money to build a football stadium for the Bears, they should upgrade the services…electrical and power in NWI first. W
- Sbfisher - Friday, Aug 14, 26 @ 2:38 pm:
A few of these comments are rather misinformed. This is coming from over 20 years of local government public works and public safety experience in northern Illinois. First off the 4 national weather service offices covering Illinois have been outstanding with their forecasting and warnings this summer, and definitely provide 24/7 coverage, to say anything less is just not even remotely accurate. While Illinois has likely the most robust mutual aid systems in the country for police,fire, and public works agencies everyone in northeast Illinois right now is getting stretched thin, especially the public works guys. We have had at least 6 notable storm events since June 10th in my area, every one of these events come with tree damage and debris to clean up. Many of the local agencies have limited resources to deal with the debris, where I work our yard is completely out of room to handle any more debris. The biggest thing the state and Cook County specifically could do to help is actually support the local agencies and mutual aid groups like IPWMAN. Open up some of the unused areas of state property to stage debris, cut through some of the b.s. work rules IDOT has to get them to integrate with the locals to help remove debris. The state could support some of the lesser equipped south cook and will county suburbs that are not IPWMAN members with a state supported mutual aid deployment.The national guard would be really useful for helping with debris removal as an option. Hands down the state could do much more and is really practically useless with the storms the last couple months.I could go on but The main point is the local governments currently could use any help they can get, and the state and biggest county in the state aren’t putting much action behind their words at this point.