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Isabel’s morning briefing
Tuesday, Sep 22, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller * ICYMI: Pritzker’s net worth jumps by $1 billion since becoming Illinois governor in 2019. Sun-Times…
- Despite the increase in his wealth, Pritzker saw a slight drop in Forbes’ ranking. Last year, Pritzker ranked 979th richest in the world. - The state’s richest resident is Lukas Walton, the grandson of Walmart founder Sam Walton, who is worth an estimated $44.4 billion. * At 9:15 am, Gov. JB Pritzker will join Gina McCarthy for an America Is All In fireside chat in New York City. Click here to watch. * Sun-Times | Settlement talks underway to revoke license of director at South Side funeral home where 56 bodies were found: During a brief teleconference hearing Monday that marked the first step in adjudicating the grisly disciplinary case, attorneys for the state agency and for Johanna Morgan said they’ve discussed terms to potentially settle before advancing to a formal hearing scheduled later this fall. Most state disciplinary cases are settled before reaching such a quasi judicial hearing with witnesses and evidence — including past cases involving the Morgans, who had repeated run-ins with regulators in the decade leading up to the shocking discovery that has raised questions about Illinois’ disjointed oversight of the funeral industry. * KWQC | Study: ‘Doubled-up’ homelessness impacts nearly 100,000 in Illinois: “Living temporarily with family and friends — it is culturally appropriate for many households to have multigenerational households, more than one household sharing rent,” said Christine Haley, Illinois Chief Homelessness Officer. “But when it is temporary, when it is unstable, when it’s overcrowded, that’s when we see what we call doubled-up homelessness.” The report highlights critical demographic patterns that state leaders say have previously gone unexamined. Of the nearly 100,000 people experiencing homelessness identified in the study, nearly one-third are Latino — a finding consistent with what Haley observed in the field. * Capitol News Illinois | Republican-turned-independent Collin Corbett hopes to provide voters an alternative for governor: Corbett has reported just four contributions over $1,000 since July, while Pritzker has dumped more than $90 million into his campaign. Corbett acknowledged that shortcoming and said he hears from many people who would support him, but not in this year’s election. He said some donors also don’t want to be the first to contribute and that’s holding up others. […] “I know on election night the number is going to be higher than frankly anybody expects it to be,” Corbett said. “Does that mean it’s going to be enough to win the race? We’ll find out.” * Capitol News Illinois | Bailey, Del Mar say ‘I-Formation’ plan can keep Bears in Illinois: “The Bears, not the taxpayers, will be responsible for state and construction cost overruns, operating losses, and routine maintenance. There’ll be no state guarantee of the Bears stadium debt. There’ll be no raid on education. There’ll be no raid on pensions or public safety. There’ll be no statewide tax increase to build the stadium,” Del Mar said. * The Chicago Crusader | Christian Mitchell steps from behind scenes into spotlight: Mitchell said he would not attempt to answer for the entire Democratic Party. Instead, he pointed to his experience in the Pritzker administration and to Black officials holding positions with authority over areas of government controlling substantial resources. “I was deputy governor,” Mitchell said, noting that his responsibilities were not limited to human services agencies often associated with Black political leadership. * Crain’s | Quintin Primo in talks to join stalled Michael Reese redevelopment team: Primo’s potential involvement comes as the city gives the developers more time to come up with a new infrastructure plan. City Hall last week granted a fourth extension of the deadline, warning that the current agreement could be terminated if the team fails to show how it intends to move forward. It’s unclear what the revamped ownership group will look like if a deal is reached, but Primo’s involvement as a significant partner could lessen the interest of Loop Capital founder Jim Reynolds, who has unsuccessfully sought to bring One Central’s Bob Dunn into the picture, according to a source familiar with the discussions. Primo has joined meetings about the future of the development with city officials this summer amid tension with Reynolds over Dunn’s involvement, according to the source. * Block Club | Amazon, Delivery Companies Could See New Regulations Under Proposed City Ordinance: The proposal, referred to as the Chicago Delivery Protection Act, includes new licensing, training, safety and worker protection rules for Amazon’s delivery service providers and last-mile warehouses, city officials said. The rules would also apply to other e-commerce delivery companies. City officials discussed the ordinance at a Sept. 15 joint meeting of the city’s workforce development and license and consumer protection committees. * WBEZ | Key education endorsements for CPS School Board candidates: All organizations that do education-related work who made endorsements in the 2026 Chicago School Board election. We also list education-focused political action committees that don’t endorse but are providing financial support to specific candidates. Election Day is Nov. 3. * Sun-Times | School Board candidate defends disciplining his kids, says school staff ‘should never use corporal punishment’: Henderson acknowledges that he disciplined his children, but denies that he ever abused them. He told WBEZ and Chalkbeat in a statement that “the court never suspended my parenting time, it never ordered supervised visits, and it did not restrict my relationship with my children.” Immediately after the ex-wife’s allegations, the court ordered the children to stay with their mother. But court records reviewed by WBEZ show that Henderson resumed having overnight, unsupervised parenting time with his children. * Sun-Times | Cleanup begins in Douglass Park after rain-soaked Riot Fest left it a mud pit: One Little Village community group, Únete La Villita, posted on Instagram Monday that the park is “completely destroyed,” adding concerns about the “long-term effects of the fest that’s ‘just three days’” and adding they will document the restoration over the next year. Riot Fest founder Mike Petryshyn said in a statement Monday afternoon that his team’s “responsibility does not end when the festival does. We are committed to restoring the park, working alongside the Park District and the community, and seeing that work through.” * Daily Herald | Northwest suburbs teaming up for homeless outreach: As many as 10 towns in the upstart Northwest Consortium on Homelessness would contract with Evanston-based social services organization Connections for the Homeless, which would provide a full-time case manager to spend time in each community and connect people with services. Social workers employed by local governments in Arlington Heights, Buffalo Grove, Des Plaines, Elk Grove Village, Hoffman Estates, Mount Prospect, Palatine, Rolling Meadows, Schaumburg and Wheeling have been meeting monthly over the past year to devise a more coordinated homeless outreach response than what they have now. * Aurora Beacon-News | Batavia residents can test out text-based telehealth service city is considering: Last month, the program — called Tap, or “Text a Physician” — was discussed at a meeting of the Batavia City Council’s Committee of the Whole, at which council members expressed support for the aims of the program but raised some questions about how it would work, namely the way residents are charged for it. The service allows individuals to virtually contact a licensed physician, physician assistant or nurse practitioner with routine, nonemergency health issues, rather than going in-person to a doctor’s office or hospital. Depending on the condition, a provider could also prescribe certain medications. * Daily Herald | ‘Committed to seeing it through’: How Vernon Hills, developer plan to make sure Hawthorn redevelopment gets done: Estimated costs have nearly doubled and the timeline has been extended, but Vernon Hills officials and owners of the Hawthorn mall property say they are committed to seeing the massive redevelopment project through. To that end, the parties have been working the past six months on a third amendment to the 2021 agreement to redevelop the mall. The revised pact, approved last week by the village board, incorporates the latest plans, schedules and a reworked incentive package. * WGLT | Bloomington looking at e-bike regulations ahead of new state law: “Having that language specified as to who can ride these devices goes a long way for us,” Bloomington Police Department patrol officer Chance Hilliard told the council. All low-speed e-bikes can be used on streets, bike lanes and on paths and trails, but cannot be ridden on sidewalks. They also can be used on roads with speed limits of 35 mph or less, or on streets with a bike lane. * WIFR | City of Sterling to deactivate all Flock cameras: Less than two years after entering a contract with Flock Safety, Inc., the City of Sterling announces the decision to remove all Flock cameras. On Monday, Sept. 21, the city shared that its contract with Flock Safety, Inc., will end immediately, and all the automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras in Sterling will be deactivated. The physical cameras will be removed on a later date. The city says regular, extensive audits showed that misuses of Flock technology that has been seen throughout the country was not an issue in the Sterling Police Department. * KWQC | Redeploy program aims to keep at-risk youth out of Illinois juvenile justice system: Rock Island County’s Redeploy program has been operational for roughly two months. Much of the program’s referrals are considered high-risk youth in the Quad Cities area, something the program works on curbing in efforts to reduce inefficient and ineffective juvenile justice. Harry Cribbs, Redeploy program coordinator, said, “What we want to do is redirect them in another direction to do some things that are going to be more profitable and prominent within society. They’re young now, but we want to make sure when they grow they’re going to grow to become productive citizens in the community.” * Rockford News First | Dan Lewandowski joins Rockford mayoral race: Lewandowski, a Democrat, becomes the sixth candidate in the race to lead the city, joining a crowded field that includes Maurice West, Bob Blosser, Derrick Kunz, Gabrielle Torina and Mary McNamara Bernsten. A lifelong Rockford resident and family attorney, Lewandowski says his background in law, business and public administration separates him from the field. He also previously served as chairman of the Winnebago County Democratic Party. * WCIA | Two USGS river monitors lose funding, set to shut down next month: He said he announced the sanitary district was pulling its funding for the gauge at the most recent Champaign County watershed meeting, noting it did not make sense for them to keep funding a gauge outside of its rate-paying zone. The discontinuation of streamgages is a trend across the state, said Chris Hanstad, a hydraulic engineer with the Illinois State Water Survey. “Federal financial support is declining, putting more of the financial burden on the local gauge sponsors to support the continued operation of gauges,” said Hanstad. “So, it is an unfortunate trend that we’re seeing that funding is tight. I unfortunately expect that we’ll be seeing more streamgauges go offline in the coming years.” * WSJ | Ken Griffin’s New Miami Headquarters on Pause After Construction Accident: Ken Griffin moved his Citadel headquarters to Florida after embracing the state’s friendly pro-business policies. But building a skyscraper on Miami’s porous and water-soaked shoreline is proving to be more treacherous. A drill rig that was solidifying the foundation of Citadel’s future Miami headquarters toppled onto traffic early Monday morning, crushing three vehicles, including one that burst into flames moments after the driver escaped.
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- Steve - Tuesday, Sep 22, 26 @ 8:10 am:
JB Pritzker and Lukas Walton fightening for working people against billionaire Republicans. The fighters.
- Benniefly2 - Tuesday, Sep 22, 26 @ 8:11 am:
Chicago is having trouble finding anybody to actually develop the Michael Reese site and the city clearly needs some sort of permanent festival ground to keep all but Lollapalooza out of the parks. Seems to me that they could kill two birds with one stone here.
- RNUG - Tuesday, Sep 22, 26 @ 8:34 am:
Corbett … had a short conversation with him at the State Fair. He seemed pretty realistic about his chances.
- RNUG - Tuesday, Sep 22, 26 @ 8:36 am:
== Gov. JB Pritzker will join Gina McCarthy … ==
Hell burn through a lot of that increase if he runs for President. He’s definitely making moves on the national stage.
- DuPage Saint - Tuesday, Sep 22, 26 @ 8:44 am:
Must be nice to be able to spend all the money Priitzker has done on politics, charities and just living and be a billion dollars richer
I don’t begrudge him but I am a tad jealous
- JS Mill - Tuesday, Sep 22, 26 @ 8:52 am:
= The fighters.=
I know nothing about Walton. But, love him or hate him Pritzker has a pretty solid record for workers and organized labor in Illinois. Pritzker didn’t need the hassle but ran and serves anyway. Maybe his ego needed it, I don’t know. But if our last 4 governors he easily has the best labor record.
- T Bradley - Tuesday, Sep 22, 26 @ 9:34 am:
“Jumps” that’s 8 years and only an increase of a third. The market itself is up 12% this year alone. Headlines headlines headlines
- @misterjayem - Tuesday, Sep 22, 26 @ 9:39 am:
And down in Florida, Ken Griffin’s reign of careless destruction continues unabated.
– MrJM
- Steve - Tuesday, Sep 22, 26 @ 9:41 am:
-Pritzker has a pretty solid record-
That’s a fair assessment for what Illinois voters want. He is popular. I will admit it. This isn’t a tax revolt state.
- Boone Logan Square - Tuesday, Sep 22, 26 @ 9:49 am:
Nice of Ken Griffin to help Carl Hiaasen write his new book.
- JoanP - Tuesday, Sep 22, 26 @ 10:00 am:
= keep all but Lollapalooza out of the parks
Have you seen Grant Park after Lolla? It needs to be kept out of the parks, too.
- Garfield Ridge Guy - Tuesday, Sep 22, 26 @ 10:02 am:
==Have you seen Grant Park after Lolla? It needs to be kept out of the parks, too.==
I was under the impression that, while the post-Lolla cleanup can take several days, the cleanup is entirely paid for by the company that puts on Lolla, and not the city. Is that not the case?
- JoanP - Tuesday, Sep 22, 26 @ 10:28 am:
It’s not a matter of who pays for it (though it is my understanding that the promoters do). It is the fact that the park is a mess, and, as always with these events, access to the park is cut off to Chicagoans for a significant period of time.
There are too many events that prevent residents from using public parks (before, during, and after the events), and it needs to stop. Having a dedicated festival space would be a good thing.
- JS Mill - Tuesday, Sep 22, 26 @ 10:34 am:
= This isn’t a tax revolt state.=
For now. Rural Illinois certainly has that feel, yet they get more from the state than the city or the suburbs when you consider tax dollars paid versus returned.
- GoneFishing - Tuesday, Sep 22, 26 @ 10:45 am:
Not a bad idea for a festival site at that location. It would be like where Milwaukee has summer fest.
- ArchPundit - Tuesday, Sep 22, 26 @ 10:56 am:
==Nice of Ken Griffin to help Carl Hiaasen write his new book.
Excellent work. Wonder what that does to his property insurance? I guess safety is more than just a bad night in front of his HQ in Chicago.
- Mason County - Tuesday, Sep 22, 26 @ 10:57 am:
Just don’t see JB as even a VP nominee in the present Democratic Party. But he can spend a couple of $billion and not even miss it. and not even miss it.
- Bagger Vance - Tuesday, Sep 22, 26 @ 12:58 pm:
Bears: I think the obvious question here is for someone to ask The Bears what they think of Darren Bailey’s “I-Formation” proposal and if they think there is a framework for a deal there.
Mitchell: I can’t help remembering that in the early months of the Pritzker administration - as reported on CapitolFax I believe - Christian Mitchell was given the nickname “Trey” because he was telling everyone he would be the third-most-powerful person in the Pritzker administration, behind Governor Pritzker and his chief-of-staff, Anna Caprara, and notably ahead of every member of the governor’s cabinet and the Lt. Governor, Juliana Stratton.
I think Mitchell himself has remarked about how he’s grown personally since 2018, worked on his humility and his interpersonal skills, and I appreciate that admission. There’s a big difference between 32 and 40.
Still, I really wish someone would ask him about the nickname and whether 32 y.o. Christian Mitchell would see Lt. Gov. as a demotion.
- Pot calling kettle - Tuesday, Sep 22, 26 @ 1:29 pm:
==But building a skyscraper on Miami’s porous and water-soaked shoreline is proving to be more treacherous.==
A fool and his money…
Unfortunately, those fools seem to be running the show and people keep throwing more money to them.
- Name Withheld - Tuesday, Sep 22, 26 @ 1:52 pm:
===when you consider tax dollars paid versus returned.===
It’s been established that central Illinois gets back from the state what it pays to the state. And Southern Illinois gets a lot more from the state than they pay in.
If was anyplace with room to complain about tax dollar paid vs. returns, it would be Chicagoland.
- Lurker - Tuesday, Sep 22, 26 @ 1:54 pm:
The State of Illinois needs a regulation that anyone under 18 on a motorized transport, must wear a helmet. Passengers too.
And this should include bikes, scooters, motorcycles, etc etc
I just saw a young man on our trail go past me doing a good 20+. I caught up on my run about 20 minutes later with a heap of people around him and an ambulance on the way. It seems he hit a stick, went flying, head and face a mess.
- homer - Tuesday, Sep 22, 26 @ 3:49 pm:
Griffin is no fool, and at least he created his wealth, unlike JB.
- Dotnonymous x - Tuesday, Sep 22, 26 @ 4:22 pm:
Earned or inherited, the rich keep getting richer and the poor?…they’re watching.
- JS Mill - Tuesday, Sep 22, 26 @ 4:27 pm:
=Griffin is no fool, and at least he created his wealth, unlike JB.=
To be accurate, JB has created at least 25% of his wealth.
Intelligence and money do not necessarily go hand in hand.
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Sep 22, 26 @ 4:48 pm:
===Griffin is no fool===
Fact not in evidence.
- Leslie K - Tuesday, Sep 22, 26 @ 5:08 pm:
JS Mill @4:27 +1
- Dotnonymous x - Tuesday, Sep 22, 26 @ 5:15 pm:
Rich Miller for the win!