* ABC Chicago…

Democrats from around the state rallied in Springfield Wednesday morning in the unofficial kickoff to the political season.

It’s Governor’s Day at the Illinois State Fair, and the festivities started with a breakfast gathering that included a host of tributes to U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, who is retiring.

The breakfast brought together more than 2,000 Democrats from every county around the state to energize the party faithful as they look ahead to the November election.

The rallying cry was elect more Democrats, with speaker after speaker offering tributes to Durbin.

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* A can’t miss…

Pork patio! pic.twitter.com/FqsjUVquk6

— Capitol Fax (@capitolfax) August 19, 2026

*** Statehouse News ***

* CNI | Pritzker Signs Disaster Proclamation to Aid Area Communities After Recent Severe Storms : The proclamation, which took immediate effect, is intended to mobilize resources for debris removal and repairs to public infrastructure and will give small, rural communities the opportunity to apply for disaster relief funding of up to $250,000. “I know these storms have impacted countless Illinois families and requires we band together to help them recover,” Pritzker said in a statement announcing the proclamation. “As this relentless and unprecedented weather continues to wreak havoc across our region, I remain committed to ensuring those impacted get the resources and help they need.”

* Press release | ICC sets second public forum for Illinois American Water rate case:
Comments will be capped at three minutes per person to accommodate everyone wishing to speak. Illinois American Water representatives will offer a brief presentation on their proposed rate increase, and time permitting, ICC staff will hold a Q&A after public comments conclude. ICC staff are responsible for managing public forums, and as such, the Administrative Law Judge assigned to the case will preside over the forum. ICC commissioners will not accompany staff to the forum, as they are responsible for reviewing the docket, in its entirety, at the close of evidence.

*** Chicago ***

* Daily Herald | ‘Making American history unavailable’: Genealogists lament plan to move National Archives from Chicago: Among those national treasure troves is the nondescript building on Chicago’s southwest side that houses the National Archives at Chicago. It contains 140,000 cubic feet of national records from Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Minnesota and Wisconsin, ranging from naturalization papers and tribal documents to court transcripts and Great Lakes maritime records. But the materials housed there will likely become less accessible to historians, genealogists and ordinary folks curious about whence they came since NARA announced that it will close the archives in Chicago and San Bruno, California.

* Crain’s | Chicago Quantum Exchange CEO stepping down: Kate Waimey Timmerman, who helped launch the Chicago Quantum Exchange eight years ago, plans to step down as CEO in October. The consortium of nearly 70 academic research institutions, national labs and commercial partners has been a key piece of the city and state’s effort to create a leading global hub for quantum computing. It predates the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park.

* Sun-Times | Ford City Mall developer modifies project plans ahead of first city hearing: Chicago-based Kurv Industrial, formerly Bridge Industrial, plans to demolish Ford City Mall and build a four-building industrial campus. The project will be considered by the Chicago Plan Commission on Thursday. Kurv’s plans submitted to the Plan Commission show a new Ford City heritage plaza celebrating “over 80 years of Chicago history,” with landscaping and seating. It also shows a new CTA bus station along Kostner Avenue, east of the mall.

* Sun-Times | CTA adding 4 bus routes to Frequent Network: When complete, the expansion will bring 24 total bus routes to the Frequent Network, which provides service every 10 minutes or better on weekdays from 6 a.m. and 9 p.m., and on weekends from 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. Unrelated to the Frequent Network, the CTA also is adding more buses to seven other routes by the end of the year: The extra scheduled buses — many of them during midday, evening and weekend hours — are supported by new funding from the landmark Northern Illinois Transit Authority Act, according to the CTA.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Herald | Promising development proposal for property overlooking Lake Zurich ends with termination of sale: In September, the village board was all-in on the concept for The Waterfront Lake Zurich, a two-story commercial building planned for a restaurant and 19 townhouses to be arranged in five, three-story buildings. […] On Monday, the board unanimously agreed to terminate the proposed sale of 173 W. Main St. to THG Holdings. Known as “Block A,” the village-owned property is comprised of 10 consolidated parcels totaling 1.7 acres directly across the street from the promenade fronting Lake Zurich.

*** Downstate ***

* Press release | AG Raoul enters consent order in lawsuit against Pacific Ethanol Pekin LLC: The consent order requires Pacific Ethanol to pay $75,000 in civil penalties and fund the $125,000 replacement of a water control structure at the Emiquon National Wildlife Refuge, which will allow water management on the approximately 320 acres of protected wetlands at the site located in Fulton County, Illinois.

* WGN | Spirit of America Celebrate 250: Pontiac, a small town in the heart of Illinois, captures the essence of Route 66: The construction of I-55, which skirts by the edge of town, signaled a new era. But thanks to Route 66, Pontiac — with a population of about 11,000 these days — is still a place that attracts visitors paying homage to the Mother Road, from curious Americans to visitors vacationing from overseas. Like brother and sister Pawel and Veronica Stepnowski from Gdańsk, Poland, who along with their parents traveled 3,000 miles to see Route 66 up close and personal, starting in Chicago.

* First Alert 4 | Illinois Schools Implement New Cellphone Ban as Students Return to Class: In Edwardsville, a cellphone policy has already been in place for several years. Students use a cubby system in each classroom to store their phones during class. On the first day of school, students are assigned a number for each class and must place their cellphone in the corresponding cubby each day.

* WMBD | Peoria lawyer seeks withdrawal from Riverview Plaza case amid building battle: In a statement, Patrick Hayes, the city’s attorney, said, “The City has not directly spoken with Attorney Leiter about his request to be removed from the MJ Illinois cases, but it does appear from recent filings and requests that either he or his client no longer wish for Attorney Leiter to represent MJ Illinois. “As long as this does not delay any litigation and new representation remains active on the cases, the City will not be objecting to Attorney Leiter’s withdraw,” the statement said.

* STLPR | How a teacher used Lego to bring the most magical place on Earth to the Metro East: “The kids had a lot of Lego stored back in the basement area,” Schieppe recalled. “We ended up purchasing [Cinderella’s] castle to build and then all of a sudden we’re like, ‘Well, let’s make Main Street.’ Things kind of took off from there and then just spiraled out of control.” What started as a small build that fit on his kitchen table has now all but taken over his O’Fallon, Illinois, basement. Schieppe’s 31-by-16 foot Magic Kingdom is so big now he has to strategically crawl underneath a maze of large tables to a single person-size hole he made in the Adventureland section of his replica to access hard-to-reach parts of the park.

*** National ***

* Illinois Times | USA Today papers to use tech giant favored by ICE, militaries: The nation’s largest newspaper chain turned heads Aug. 6 – in what would otherwise be a traditional, jargon-filled earnings call that garners few headlines – when USA Today executives announced its papers would be using Palantir to “collect, connect and activate audience data to drive more effective and faster monetization.” Executives said the move is necessary as website traffic from Google and other intermediaries continues to sink. Mike Reed, CEO of USA Today Company, said the parent business will be using “Palantir’s AI-powered platform” to convert “the sheer scale of our audience into known, orchestrated, first-party relationships.

* AP | Former Meta engineer says Instagram took a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ approach on kids under 13: A former engineering director at Meta who has testified before Congress about child safety on Instagram told jurors Wednesday at a landmark trial that the company took a “don’t ask, don’t tell” approach on kids under 13 on its platforms. During his second day of testimony, Arturo Béjar said Meta consistently prioritized profits over safety in designing its products, focusing on how often and for how long people used them, even if it was detrimental to their mental well-being.