* ICYMI: As President Donald Trump appears to waffle on National Guard in Chicago, Gov. JB Pritzker says, ‘do not come.’ Tribune…

-“Earlier today, in the Oval Office, Donald Trump looked at the assembled cameras and asked for me personally to say, ‘Mr. President, can you do us the honor of protecting our city?’” Governor JB Pritzker said during a news conference overlooking the Chicago River downtown yesterday. “Instead, I say: ‘Mr. President, do not come to Chicago.’”
-Emphasizing that there is no ongoing emergency that would justify deploying the Guard, the governor said such an action would infringe on Illinois’ sovereignty.
- “We don’t know exactly the exact circumstances in which the deployment would take place, so a preemptive lawsuit … couldn’t be targeted to a specific targeting of the military, so we don’t anticipate that,” Attorney General Kwame Raoul said.

* Related stories…

• Sun-Times: Gov. Pritzker, Mayor Johnson tell President Trump to keep National Guard off the streets of Chicago
• Daily Herald: ‘Do not come to Chicago’: Pritzker tells Trump the National Guard not needed in Chicago
• Capitol News Illinois: In response to military deployment, Pritzker tells Trump: ‘Do not come to Chicago’

* Governor JB Pritzker will announce new investments in Illinois agriculture at the 2025 Farm Progress Show at 11 am. Click here to watch.

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Sun-Times | Trump signs order targeting no-cash bail, but advocates say he can’t force Illinois to reverse its policy: “The President of the United States cannot commandeer state and local policy by threatening to cut off funds and abandon the federal government’s responsibility to fund state and local government,” Ed Yohnka of ACLU Illinois said Monday. “That is not the way the system works.”

* Aurora Beacon-News | State Sen. Karina Villa joins race for Illinois comptroller: ‘Budgets are a moral document’: On Monday, Villa said her financial background included addressing student needs while still passing a balanced budget each year when she served as a West Chicago School District board member. Likewise, she said, her time in the state legislature involved passing budgets, even when programs that she “really stood for” were cut, like a health care program for immigrant adults that was sunsetted in July, according to the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services. “There is a give-and-take with budgets, and it’s not always pretty,” Villa said.

*** Statewide ***

* Sun-Times | Business investments in Illinois expected to create 19,000 jobs, report says: More than 700 businesses committed to expand in or relocate to the state, said the Illinois Economic Development Corp., which also announced its rebranding from Intersect Illinois. From July 2024 through June 2025, business projects announced $25.8 billion in investments — a 107% jump compared to the previous fiscal year.

* Capitol News Illinois | DOJ demands Illinois voter personal information by Sept. 1: In addition to the database, DOJ also asked the state in its July 28 letter to identify the number of people purged from the rolls due to being noncitizens, adjudicated as incompetent or having felony convictions. And the agency asked for a list of all state and local election officials who have been responsible for carrying out list maintenance functions since the November 2022 elections.

*** Statehouse News ***

* WLS | Illinois SOS Giannoulias holding town hall on Driving Change campaign: Tuesday, Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias is hosting a virtual town hall as part of his Driving Change campaign. The campaign aims to prevent car insurance companies from using socio economic data to charge customers higher rates.

* WAND | People could face criminal charges for threatening teachers, school staff under new Illinois bill: Rep. Marcus Evans (D-Chicago) told WAND News that people should face criminal charges if they threaten teachers, principals, or other school leaders. Teachers across the state have confronted school boards over recent years to address the rise in student violence. Yet, parents and guardians are also leaving many educators and administrators terrified to go to work. “I don’t live this life. I don’t really know what they’re dealing with day to day, but they’re telling me that they don’t want to be attacked by parents,” Evans said. “They don’t want to be sometimes attacked by students. You know, they just want to do their job.”

* Sen. Sara Feigenholtz | Screening kids for mental health struggles connects intervention to prevention: A recent Tribune editorial acknowledged the progress made in removing the stigmas associated with mental health but called into question a state bill I sponsored that Gov. JB Pritzker signed into law last month. It requires public schools to offer universal mental health screenings to students in grades three through 12. […] While the editorial cites statistics around false positives in screenings, the benefits of identifying mental health issues on the front end far outweigh any reason to delay. Divorce, family dysfunction, substance abuse, changes in friendships, romantic breakups, social isolation and bullying are examples of what could be seen as “false positives” that are also among the leading causes of child and teenage suicide.

*** Chicago ***

* Tribune | How Trump’s directive to submit race-based admissions data impacts Chicago-area universities: “From the administration’s perspective, any effort to preserve diversity is unconstitutional, essentially affirmative action in disguise,” Starr said. “That legal vision, I think, is misguided.” The Tribune contacted five of the largest universities in the Chicago area for comment: the University of Illinois Chicago, DePaul University, University of Chicago, Northwestern University and Loyola University Chicago. All either declined to comment or did not respond.

* Sun-Times | A decade ago, the city committed to eliminating traffic deaths by 2026. It’s not even close: Almost a decade after the city set out to eliminate all traffic deaths by 2026, nearly as many people are dying on Chicago streets as they were when the ambitious goal was announced. What’s more, the number of yearly injuries and crashes on the roads has actually increased in that time, despite the city’s efforts to upgrade dangerous intersections and install miles of bike lanes, among other safety measures.

* Tribune | As girls flag football continues to grow, Chicago Bears look to middle schoolers: White was one of more than a dozen players from Butler in Lake Forest on Aug. 14 to partake in the festivities that surround Chicago Bears training camp. The event was among a handful this summer that brought five high schools with girls flag football teams to camp, including Simeon, Harvard, Homewood-Flossmoor and Carver Military Academy. The athletes met players, coaches and Bears President/CEO Kevin Warren, who donated cleats to each team.

* WBEZ | Graffiti artists face off in Battle 4 the City competition: ‘This is pure passion’: And between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday, they were all in the running for a $10,000 prize for the winning crew. IKS Crew from Mexico were named the winners. “I’m just excited to be out here with everyone,” Statik said. “This is hip-hop. … It’s like a game of basketball — we play till the clock is out.”

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Herald | Arlington Heights residents, officials divided on criminalizing homeless behavior — but proposal moves forward: Arresting people for loitering when they have nowhere else to go is “inhumane” and a waste of municipal resources, the Rev. Martha Ross-Mockaitis said. But not everyone in the packed boardroom agreed. Resident Steve Blye fears more people who are homeless will flock to Arlington Heights if word gets out that the village isn’t doing anything about people loitering or camping in town. He also challenged audience members to invite people who are unhoused to temporarily live in their homes or on their lawns.

* Daily Herald | DuPage judge sides with county board in ongoing dispute with clerk: Monday’s decision marks the latest in a yearslong battle that at times has pitted the Democratic-led county board against the clerk’s office, also led by a Democrat. At issue has been how bills get paid and the internal control Kaczmarek has over her office. Last September, the DuPage County state’s attorney’s office filed a lawsuit, called a writ of mandamus, claiming the clerk was breaking state law by refusing to indicate from where in her budget a bill should be paid when the line item does not have enough money to cover payment.

* Aurora Beacon-News | Aurora facing nearly $30 million budget deficit, city officials say: That preliminary number, shared at a meeting with reporters on Monday, is based on early work city officials are doing to build next year’s budget. Not included in that nearly $30 million figure is the additional $10.3 million requested by departments as a part of the budget process, which officials say they still need to go through. “We’re going to have, basically, some tough choices,” Aurora Chief Financial Officer Stacey Peterson said of the 2026 budgeting process.

* WGN | Round Lake District 116 faces budget shortfall due to forecasting error: According to the school district, the 2024-2025 budget, which was approved by the school board, significantly underestimated some of their expenses, including staff salaries and special education programs. […] The school district says a former business manager made the error. The district has hired a new Chief Financial Officer. The district says to fix the error, they’ll be reducing eight administrative positions, leaving select vacant positions unfilled, limiting overtime expenses, and more.

* CBS Chicago | Graduates get second chance at Restorative Justice Community Court in Chicago’s south suburbs: “When I first got arrested, I thought that it was over with,” Robinson said, “because the way that the officers came about it, they made it seem like it was a very hard charge.” Robinson felt deflated. But now, he feels uplifted — thanks to Sauk Village’s Restorative Justice Community Court. The program invites young men and women with nonviolent offenses on their records to make a change in their lives with peace circles, community service, and other activities — with the promise that their crimes will get wiped off their records.

* The Real Deal | Glencoe weighs incentives for historic homes as teardowns increase : The Preservation Commission pitched a package of new incentives, from tax rebates to permit fee discounts, aimed at encouraging owners to landmark their properties, the Record North Shore reported. But trustees balked at the potential price tag, questioning whether the village should shoulder the cost of keeping older homes intact.

*** Downstate ***

* Muddy River News | Quincy City Council votes in favor of continuing grocery tax, 13-1: By approving the measure by October 10, 2025, the tax will continue to be collected in Quincy with no gap in money collection. It’s estimated, the city could have lost $1.2 million in annual revenue without the tax. Just weeks ago, during her weekly Minutes with the Mayor Podcast here at Muddy River News, Mayor Linda Moore said she changed her mind in support of a local grocery tax after the revelation that so many people from outside the city limits were shopping here. “If you’re using infrastructure to come shopping, why shouldn’t you have to pay?”

* WGLT | Group urges Bloomington leaders to sign pledge against intolerance, bigotry: “From the from the beginning of Not In Our Town, the City of Bloomington has always been a partner,” said Mike Matejka, the group’s co-chair. “So I don’t know if every individual council member 30 years later is still involved and affirming, but we want to give them that opportunity and that invitation.” Mayor Dan Brady joined council members in filling out pledge cards and returning to the Not In Our Town representatives, viewing it an expression of unity in regard to public safety.

* WSIL | Arrowleaf secures grant to fight hunger in Vienna and Cairo, IL: Arrowleaf has received a $7,500 grant from the Alpha Gamma Delta Foundation to boost its food pantries in Vienna and Cairo, Illinois. This grant aims to provide families across Southern Illinois with access to fresh and nutritious food while allowing them the dignity of choice. “Food insecurity is happening all around us, and we’re honored to partner with organizations dedicated to fighting hunger,” said Julie Waitman, CEO of the Alpha Gamma Delta Foundation.

*** National ***

* AP | Green spaces are key to combating record heat in marginalized communities: Environmentalists say one solution to beating the heat in sprawling cities is planting more trees, creating green spaces like parks and meadows and covering rooftops with plants. […] Last fall, the New York City Council passed laws adding trees to the city charter’s sustainability plans and requiring the city to develop an urban forest plan to increase tree cover from 22 to 30 percent by 2035. Still many predominantly Black and Latino neighborhoods do not have green spaces within a five mile radius.

* NYT | Judge Allows Blocking of Funds to Maine Abortion Providers: In a blunt, 19-page opinion, Judge Lance E. Walker of the Federal District Court in Maine wrote that particularly after the Supreme Court’s decision in 2022 that overturned Roe v. Wade, he could neither consider abortion services a constitutional right nor stop Congress from advancing laws to defund organizations that provide them.