* Governor JB Pritzker gets a prime time spot at the DNC…

Gov. Pritzker is expected to address the Convention in the 8pm CT hour

Tonight, Governor JB Pritzker will deliver a primetime speech to the 2024 Democratic National Convention. The governor, who was instrumental in bringing the Convention to Chicago, is a top surrogate for the Harris-Walz campaign. On the stump and in the press, Gov. Pritzker has not been shy about calling out Donald Trump for his unAmerican values and actions while lifting up the priorities of the Democratic Party.

Gov. Pritzker is expected to speak about the economy and what the Harris-Walz administration will deliver for the American people.

* Tribune…

In an interview ahead of his Democratic National Convention speech Tuesday, Gov. JB Pritzker elaborated on an earlier remark that he had some “concern” over President Joe Biden’s electoral chances before he quit the race.

“It was really just a concern that if we don’t win, we’re going to end up with Donald Trump, and if Joe Biden isn’t able to perform in the debate, where you have the best chance of showing the contrast, then it would be challenging in the general election,” Pritzker said early Tuesday. “Having said that, I supported Joe Biden through and through, to the very end.”

Pritzker told Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” in an otherwise light-hearted video segment filmed last week and posted Monday that he had some concerns about Biden’s reelection prospects following the president’s shaky debate performance in June.

“I love Joe Biden, so watching the debate performance felt like, you know, he’s going to get harmed in the election by what happened in the debate, even though he’s somebody who’s fought his whole life for the things Democrats care about,” Pritzker said on Tuesday.

*** DNC ***

* Daily Herald | ‘Elections are now fought in the suburbs’: Illinois delegates hopeful for another historic win in November: DuPage County Board Chairman Deborah Conroy had one bit of advice for fellow delegates at the Democratic National Convention Tuesday morning. “Make sure you have good shoes on Nov. 5 because there will be glass everywhere,” Conroy said, referencing the glass ceiling she and other Democrats are hopeful will shatter with the election of the country’s first female president of color.

* Sun-Times | CPD bracing for anti-war protest tonight: Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling said his officers are ready for a protest tonight that claims it will be “like ’68” — referring to the rioting in Chicago during the Democratic National Convention that year. The protest set for 7 p.m. outside the Consulate General of Israel to the Midwest at 500 W. Madison is not sanctioned by the city, but protesters say on social media that they plan to be there anyway.

The protest zone Chicago set up for the DNC is totally dead today.

A few dozen cops, several journalists, but zero protesters were there around 1:15 pm today. The city gave protesters a make-shift stage & big speakers. Twenty-nine groups signed up for spots this week. pic.twitter.com/1V5Kt6nlcM

— Jake Sheridan (@JakeSheridan_) August 20, 2024

* Block Club | Secret Service Looking Into Downtown Bomb Threats: The U.S. Secret service confirmed local law enforcement were investigating and were on-hand at the sites of the bomb threats. “The U.S. Secret Service is aware of threats made to various locations in the Downtown area. Law enforcement personnel are screening the affected areas and examining the credibility of the threat,” said a statement from the DNC 2024 Joint Information Center.

* Crain’s | Throughout DNC, Dems play one of the strongest cards in their hand — abortion: Even ahead of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, which effectively overturned Roe v. Wade, Gov. J.B. Pritzker moved to enhance access and provide additional resources to abortion providers in the state, and he’s continued to do so since. Illinois Medicaid first began covering abortions in 2018. A year later, Pritzker signed the Illinois Reproductive Health Act, which made abortions a fundamental right in the state and required most private health insurance plans in Illinois to cover abortion as they do for any other pregnancy care.

* Crain’s | Malort shots, sliders and skyline views: Inside the DNC party circuit: United Airlines opened the top floors of Willis Tower last night for an after-hours party for reporters and other guests in town for the Democratic National Convention. Among those who were spotted taking in 360-degree views of the city on a picture-perfect night — complete with a rare “super blue moon” — were Maureen Dowd and David Sanger of The New York Times, Jeff Zeleny and Kaitlan Collins of CNN, Philip Rucker of the Washington Post, NBC anchors Lester Holt and his son, Stefan Holt, and Jonathan Martin of Politico.

* Sun-Times | Convention canines? Volunteer therapy dogs deployed to help ‘de-stress’ law enforcement during DNC duty: The therapy canines are not police dogs. They are trained to soothe people in crisis, specifically police officers and federal agents waiting to be deployed if any emergency occurs during the Democratic National Convention. “Preparing for the DNC in the advent of thousands of protesters has been a huge undertaking by a multitude of public safety agencies,” said retired police Sgt. Cindy Gross, a 30-year Chicago Police Department veteran who retired in 2001 after years of undercover work dealing with drugs, vice and prostitution.

* NYT | A Look Back at Chicago Conventions of Yore: The city’s convention tradition dates back to the mid-1800s, and political parties visited regularly over the century that followed. But it has been an infrequent host since 1968, when clashes outside the convention hall marred the Democrats’ gathering that year.

*** Chicago ***

* Tribune | CPS touts progress as Chicago Teachers Union criticism mounts over bilingual education amid bargaining: With CTU members continuing to sharpen their criticism of CPS Chief Executive Officer Pedro Martinez, the news conference marks the latest salvo in a debate on whether a structural deficit exceeding $400 million in each of the next five school years should limit the district’s ability to fully staff and fund its programs. At Cooper Dual Language Academy, which received 130 migrant students last school year, union members came together to call on Martinez to “step up to the challenge of meeting our students’ needs, or to step aside,” said Walt Disney Magnet School music teacher Kathryn Zamarron.

* Chicago Mag | Pay Now, Save Later: Budget whiz Ralph Martire has a plan to close Chicago’s $34 billion pension gap: It’s really not a pension crisis. It has nothing to do with the design of the pension systems themselves or the benefits offered. It is a debt service crisis. For generations, by statute, Chicago was allowed to underfund the pensions. That has created a huge amount of debt owed to the pension systems that compounds interest annually. The big jump in unfunded liability occurred between 2007 and 2020: $22.6 billion. Almost 60 percent of that growth was the statutory allowance for Chicago to underfund its pension. And the reason that legislative rubric was put in place was that the Daley administration wanted to provide services without necessarily paying for them with tax revenue. One way to do that is to defer your long-term obligations. That’s great for taxpayers in the years when you’re underfunding the pension. Not so great later, when you’ve got to make up the difference.

* Sun-Times | Pace, CPS paratransit drivers end fourth day of strike without progress in contract negotiations: Nearly 800 drivers employed by SCR Medical Transportation walked out on strike Friday amid efforts to reach a labor contract with the company, said Teamsters Local 727, the union representing the drivers. SCR filed an injunction against Teamsters Local 727 on Monday morning. Union officials said the injunction was “meritless” and was an “attempt to infringe on the union members’ legal right to engage in lawful, peaceful picketing and hand-billing.”

* Block Club | The Wild Mile Is Expanding Along Chicago River’s North Branch: Over the past few months, Urban Rivers — a nonprofit that works to transform city rivers into urban sanctuaries — and a team of volunteers have installed floating walkways and garden beds and hauled in over 30,000 pounds of rock aggregate to bring to life the second phase of the Wild Mile. […] The Wild Mile was created as part of a larger effort to redefine and rehabilitate the channelized section of the Chicago River.

* Crain’s | Remembering Phil Donahue, a pioneer who elevated daytime TV: “The Phil Donahue Show” built its phenomenal nationally syndicated success as one of those rare places, one particularly appealing for housebound women paternal TV long underestimated as interested only in pap. Phil Donahue, who died Sunday at age 88, presided over what amounted to the People’s Press Conference five days a week from 1967 to 1996, its pre-eminence coinciding with the 11-year, 1974-85 stint in which his signature show was produced in Chicago.

* Tribune | Chicago White Sox fail to take advantage of opportunities in 5-3 loss to fall 66 games under .500: At 30-96, the Sox are 66 games under .500 for the first time in franchise history. “We had good at-bats all night, put pressure on, getting guys on,” Sizemore said. “Just got to keep working, keep executing. Even though we got down, we kept fighting, kept clawing back. Getting some big hits late, pinch-hit hits.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Southtown | Park Forest Mayor Joe Woods says he was attacked, seeks outside investigation: In a statement Saturday, Woods wrote he was the victim of a violent crime in which one of the assailants had a large knife in his hands, and Woods said at one point he was “knocked to the ground.” The altercation took place near a restaurant at which a garbage bin fire had just been extinguished.

* WTTW | This New Lake County Conservation Preserve is for the Birds, and Only the Birds: The “conservation preserve” designation indicates the Forest Preserves will own and manage the site not for public access or even passive recreational use — which would damage the ecosystem and disrupt the rookery — but solely to ensure these “essential natural resources remain untouched and protected,” according to a statement from the Forest Preserves.

* Crain’s | What the activist investor targeting Portillo’s wants management to fix: Engaged Capital wants Portillo’s to aggressively shrink the square footage of its new restaurants as it continues to expand. The brand’s longstanding Chicago-area spaces tend to be vast, some spanning two floors and up to 11,000 square feet, which is uncharacteristically large for a fast-casual chain. Portillo’s here can justify those large spaces because the margins in Chicago remain so strong. Nationally, though, Engaged thinks less is more.

*** Downstate ***

* Rockford Register Star | Microsoft proposes Cherry Valley data center on 300 acres: Microsoft unveiled the proposal on 309-acres of what is now agricultural land during an open house Monday at the Tebala Event Center, 7910 Newburg Road. The prospect of new high-paying jobs coming to the region attracted the attention of Dino Pandya, a Rockford resident who has one child who studying for a doctorate in physics at Princeton University and another who will soon graduate from Northwestern University with a master’s degree in computer science.

* WCIA | U of I professors help usher in Illinois’ quantum age: University of Illinois Professor Brian DeMarco started studying the theoretical field of quantum computing back in the ’90s. Now, he helps make that theory a reality at the University of Illinois. “I just feel so fortunate to be at the have been in the lab at the beginning of it.” DeMarco said. “And now at this point where the state has made this investment to try to build the big one and do it first.”

* The Southern | Historical society to host talk on Illinois’ role in the Civil War: The Jefferson County Historical Society will present ‘Illinois in the Inevitable: the Role of Illinois in the Civil War’ 2 p.m. Aug. 24 in the Schweinfurth Museum at the Historical Village. […] Illinois was a microcosm of the United States during its Antebellum Era, according to a JCHS news release. Northern Illinois and Chicago had ties to the Northeast and industry, while the southern portion remained firmly agricultural with the Underground Railroad in southwestern Illinois and salt mines and slave catchers in southeastern Illinois.

*** National ***

* AP | Tens of thousands remain without power in Puerto Rico, a week after tropical storm swiped the island: The National Weather Service issued yet another excessive heat advisory, warning of “dangerously hot and humid conditions.” More than 40,000 out of nearly 1.5 million customers remained without power in the afternoon. All schools should have electricity by late Tuesday, officials said, and noted that some 80% of emergency medical clinics, which exclude hospitals, have power.