* ICYMI: Illinois governor’s race: JB Pritzker, Darren Bailey spar over Trump tariffs, farm economy at ag forum. Tribune…

- The Illinois Agricultural Legislative Roundtable hosted Pritzker, Bailey and Republican U.S. Senate candidate Don Tracy at the forum. Democratic Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, running for U.S. Senate, skipped the event for another engagement in Martha’s Vineyard, drawing criticism from Tracy for what he called a “misplaced priority.”
- Pritzker blamed the war in Iran and ongoing trade disputes for driving up the cost of fertilizer, diesel and other farming expenses — but he broke from his usual criticism of Trump to agree with the president’s call for oil companies to return some war-driven profits to consumers.
- Historically a strong supporter of Trump, who endorsed his unsuccessful bid for governor against Pritzker in 2022, Bailey told the audience of more than 50 people at the event that he’d speak out “on behalf of agriculture” while defending Trump’s tariffs on imported goods, and said he’d be a governor who works with any president regardless of their party affiliation.

* Related stories…

• Center Square: Pritzker, Bailey, Tracy address agricultural issues

* At 10 am, Gov. JB Pritzker will host a ceremony to rename the Illinois State Armory in honor of Illinois’ 38th Governor, Jim Edgar. Click here to watch.

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Crain’s | Realtors’ group launches effort to help towns speed up homebuilding: “The housing shortage gets worse every day,” said Jeff Baker, CEO of the 50,000-member Illinois Realtors, which today launches the Illinois Housing Supply Accelerator. It’s an effort to help local leaders determine what’s holding back construction in their town — such as strict zoning, costly school impact fees or obsolete building codes — and look for solutions.

* Sun-Times | Horrific discovery at South Chicago Chapel raises questions about Illinois funeral home oversight: But before Springfield takes another swing at the issue, officials were still trying to pin down who could have prevented the nightmare scene uncovered Thursday — other than the Evergreen Park couple accused of mishandling the remains of more than 100 people at South Chicago Chapel, 2939 E. 95th St. “We’ve got to figure out a way to stay in front of bad actors,” said state Rep. Marcus Evans, the South Side Democrat whose district includes the parlor. “We don’t want to make excuses. Whatever was done was not enough.”

*** Statehouse News ***

* Capitol News Illinois | Second House Democrat declines to participate in Welch’s harassment working group: Rep. Gregg Johnson, D-East Moline, confirmed to Capitol News Illinois that he is not a member of the working group that Welch announced last week without releasing the names of the members serving on it to the public. […] But Johnson said he feels “uncomfortable” participating in the working group due to its inclusion of members who’ve publicly staked out positions. Reps. Lisa Davis, D-Chicago, and Norma Hernandez, D-Melrose Park, for example, were recently part of a panel on WGN-TV in Chicago that defended Welch’s handling of complaints.

* NBC Chicago | Suburban state lawmaker aims to require water industry reporting of cyberattacks: “I think my immediate thought was we need to make sure that we do something to keep our water safe,” said State Rep. Dagmara Alevar, a Democrat who represents southwest suburban Romeoville. Right now, if your Illinois water system was hacked by cyberterrorists, there is no regulation in place requiring them to report it anybody, either state officials or the feds.

* Canary Media | Why Illinois has struggled to turn old coal sites into solar farms:
The state created its Coal to Solar and Energy Storage Initiative five years ago, hoping it would speed clean energy deployment by making use of the grid infrastructure and land left behind when coal plants close — as well as replace some of the lost local tax revenue and jobs. The program was supposed to lead to at least six significant solar and battery storage arrays and five larger stand-alone battery banks. But in the end, only three relatively small solar farms with storage were built, and no stand-alone storage, finds a new report by the University of Illinois’ Climate Jobs Institute and the nonprofit Prairie Rivers Network.

* Tribune | Illinois law is the first in the Great Lakes region to designate industrial plastic pellets as pollution: The new law, signed late last week by Gov. JB Pritzker, comes as an ongoing Tribune series, “Great Waste in the Great Lakes,” delves into threats posed by nurdles and other man-made particles known collectively as microplastics. Nurdles, synthesized by petrochemical plants as building blocks of new plastics, have been found in every Great Lake and in rivers throughout Illinois. Light enough to travel long distances through the air, nurdles routinely spill from chemical plants that make them, trains and trucks that transport them and factories that turn them into consumer products, the Tribune has found.

*** Chicago ***

* Bloomberg | Chicago taps Fitch senior director as new CFO amid rash of exits: Chicago is hiring Ashlee Gabrysch, a senior director at Fitch Ratings, as its next chief financial officer, according to a person familiar with the matter. Gabrysch is expected to start Aug. 26, according to the person who asked not to be named because the matter is still private. She will be the third person serving as the city’s chief financial officer in less than a year.

* Sun-Times | City treasurer proposes abolishing $57M Catalyst Fund to avert midyear layoffs:
Then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s 2017 budget included a $100 million “Catalyst Fund” to bridge the funding gap between Chicago’s thriving Downtown and other neighborhoods. Then-City Treasurer Kurt Summers assured a skeptical City Council that the $100 million in seed money would be matched by “three times” that much in outside capital. […] One year later, the Catalyst Fund still had not launched, and board members had not been appointed. Summers proposed that $57 million in excess “portfolio earnings” generated by his office be used to stop violence on Chicago streets — via investing in long-neglected inner-city neighborhoods.

* Sun-Times | Willie Wilson announces 4th run for Chicago mayor: “Some politicians are running for this office at the same time they are standing for reelection for their current office in November. … It may be legal, but it is morally wrong,” Wilson said. In 2019, Wilson fell short of the runoff, finishing fourth overall with 10.6% of the votes in the first round of balloting. Much of his support came from predominately Black wards on the South and West sides. He missed the runoff again in 2023 with a lower share of the vote — 9.13%.

* Crain’s | Why Bally’s is slowing casino construction in its fight with City Hall: The move is the latest escalation in Bally’s protracted fight with a majority of the City Council over its decision to legalize video gambling machines as part of the 2026 budget, which Bally’s views as upending the legal monopoly on most gambling they won through competitive bidding in 2022. […] Despite the break, the statement said the opening of “the permanent casino remains unchanged for early 2027 and Bally’s Chicago intends to fully honor its commitments under the Host Community Agreement.”

* WTTW | Chicago Park District Will Keep 20 Pools Open Through Labor Day: On Monday, the Park District announced that 20 neighborhood pools would remain open through Labor Day, along with all 23 swimming beaches. More than 200 water spray features will continue operating through Sept. 30. In choosing which pools to keep open, the Park District took into account Chicago’s updated Heat Vulnerability Index, which identifies neighborhoods where residents face the greatest health risks during extreme heat.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* The Marshall Project | Why Did an Illinois Prison Fail to Stop 70 Fires?: During routine annual inspections, prison officials could not provide a fire evacuation plan to the Office of the State Fire Marshal. The marshal’s reports also noted that alarms were turned off. According to a government document after one deadly fire, an electrician who worked at the facility said cellblocks lacked sprinklers, and fire safety issues had come up at staff meetings, but were not addressed. […] The Illinois Department of Corrections declined to answer questions about the fires at the Joliet Treatment Center, citing pending litigation. In a written statement, a spokesperson said that the department takes its responsibility to uphold requirements related to facility safety seriously.

* Daily Herald | After backlash, Rosemont mall reverses pay-to-park policy: Starting Wednesday, parking will be free for the first three hours, a spokesman for mall owner Macerich confirmed. “We listened to feedback from the community and our retailers,” the Macerich spokesman wrote in an email to the Daily Herald. “Beginning Wednesday, the first three hours of parking are free for all guests, no purchase required, keeping us on track with our original goal of making it easier for shoppers and diners to visit our stores and restaurants while still discouraging long-term parking from non-shoppers.

*** Downstate ***

* WGLT | Audit suggests Mental Health and Public Safety Fund has a deficit, not a surplus: Brian Mateas of CliftonLarsenAllen LLP said the audit was not a comprehensive review of the fund’s balances and activities, but rather focused specifically on the intergovernmental agreement and how the funds are used. According to Mateas, the $20 million fund balance is not a surplus, but rather money that is earmarked for use down the line.

* WCBU | Apartment complex for homeless people on Peoria’s South Side advances; community voices objections: A proposed 48-unit apartment complex at the site of the former Harrison School on Peoria’s South Side would assist families transitioning out of homelessness, but residents who live in the vicinity feel the location is not the right place for such a development. First District Peoria City Council representative Denise Jackson has been the most vocal critic of the project presented by Phoenix Community Development Services. “In my opinion, this whole proposal of putting a housing complex for homeless people in a severely economically depressed neighborhood that has gotten national distinction of being poverty stricken is a recipe for disaster,” Jackson said during Thursday’s two-hour meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission.

* Muddy River News | Split vote by Quincy City Council moves solar developments forward: The facilities would cover about 13 and 20 acres, respectively, and be fenced with a treeline to obscure the view of the panels. Planners say there will be pollinator-friendly vegetation to promote soil quality, water management and on-site biodiversity. They are expected to produce enough power for about 1,600 homes.

* WCBU | Jamonica Rolle looks to build on foundation, community ties as new Illinois Central College president: While admitting she’s still in the early days of her tenure, Rolle says she has set some overarching goals. Among them is making sure ICC is accessible to students and their needs. “It’s important that we are reaching out and getting more people engaged in higher education,” she said. “Illinois has recently put out a statistic that states that by 2031, 70% of all jobs in the state will require a post-secondary credential.

*** National ***

* Sun-Times | Insurance industry makes millions each day claims go unpaid, analysis shows: For each day of delays on home insurance claims, the industry takes in an extra $8.8 million in interest and investment income, according to an analysis by the independent financial institution rating firm Weiss Ratings for the nonprofit Consumer Federation of America, which looked at the money that home insurers take in as premiums as well as their investment income. In Illinois, about 21.7% of home insurance claims in 2024 took 60 or more days to settle, according to data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners cited by the consumer group.