* ICYMI: How to regulate data centers in Illinois at the center of latest proposal. Tribune…

- Marc Poulos, a Springfield labor quarterback, is circulating a proposal that would require data centers to use closed-loop cooling to preserve water, speed up grid connections for data centers that use renewable power, roll back some biometric privacy protections and restore data center tax incentives that Gov. JB Pritzker suspended in July.
- Jen Walling, executive director of the Illinois Environmental Council, said her group is likely to support or not oppose several provisions in the Poulos document.
- No formal bill-writing negotiations have occurred, although Pritzker representatives and top legislative officials are scheduled to hold a second meeting of their data center task force this month.

* Gov. JB Pritzker has three public events today. Click here to watch.

- 10:30 am - The Governor will sign a Memorandum of Understanding with Indonesia.
- 12:00 pm - The Governor will attend the ribbon-cutting on the Austin Green Line Station.
- 2:00 pm - The Governor will sign SB3325 and SB3020.

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* AP | Illinois Advocate Sounds the Alarm as Trump Administration Proposes Eliminating Head Start Regulations: Illinois Head Start Association Executive Director Lauri Morrison-Frichtl argued the proposed changes, announced Thursday, undercut the model of Head Start and would lower the quality of its programs. “Standards are a floor — they’re not the ceiling — so removing that floor puts every program at risk,” Morrison-Frichtl said. “Head Start works because of our high standards.”

* Tribune | Illinois House committee opens investigation into indicted Rep. Carol Ammons, adding woes for Democrats: Thursday’s hearing lasted about 20 minutes, was sparsely attended and revealed few new details about the case. Neither Ammons, who has pleaded not guilty to the federal charges, nor her attorneys appeared. […] The six-member panel, chaired by Democratic state Rep. Curtis Tarver of Chicago, has subpoena power. Members voted without opposition to consult U.S. Attorney Gregory M. Gilmore, whose office is prosecuting Ammons, on whether the House proceedings could interfere with the criminal case. No further hearing was scheduled pending those talks.

*** Statehouse News ***

* ABC Chicago | IL House speaker says he never promised $150 million for CPS as CTU remains hopeful on state funding: A day before the vote, Welch spoke to Chicago Teachers Union members who had received layoff notices. The union later circulated video of his remarks. CTU-backed school board members subsequently voted against the district’s balanced budget proposal and supported a budget that included the additional $150 million in anticipated state funding. In an interview with ABC7, Welch said he never specified an amount of funding or guaranteed that additional money would be provided to CPS. “$150 million. I don’t know where that number came from. I made a commitment to fight for funding for schools,” Welch said.

* Capitol News Illinois | Pritzker pens letter to Trump, seeks tariff refunds for Illinois families: In a letter sent to President Donald Trump on Thursday, Pritzker asked the president to send direct payments of $1,700 to Illinois families. He also encouraged Trump to stop seeking new ways to enforce tariffs and to support legislation that would require corporations to pass refund relief back to consumers. “There is no portal to request a refund for a mother in Rockford buying groceries for her children,” Pritzker wrote. “There is no trade attorney representing a retiree in Carbondale paying off their mortgage. There is no check coming in for the farmer in Champaign who had to pay more for his equipment.”

*** Chicago ***

* Block Club Chicago | Data Centers Should Be Required To Disclose Water And Energy Use, City Panel Recommends: But the report doesn’t offer any unique guidance for “hyperscale” data centers, dismissing the massive projects as “unlikely” within city limits — even though one has already been pitched for a South Side site that’s been zoned to allow it. The city’s Sustainable Data Centers Report, released last month, was drafted as officials aim to mitigate the environmental, public health and quality of life impacts of data centers.

* CBS Chicago | More than 50 decomposing bodies found at Far South Side Chicago funeral home, medical examiner says: A Chicago Police Department spokesperson referred questions to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office, which confirmed it was notified by city and state officials about bodies improperly stored at the funeral home. […] According to the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation records, the state suspended the license of funeral director Johanna Morgan due to a finding that the facility’s “continued practice is a danger to the public safety, interest and welfare.”

…Adding… Comptroller Susana Mendoza put out a release saying she previously shut down a Chicago Heights funeral home with the operator…

pic.twitter.com/1AzkBzZw5z

— Illinois Comptroller (@ILComptroller) August 7, 2026

* Block Club Chicago | Listen To Phoebe Bridgers’ New Album ‘Field Trip Style’ At The Adler Planetarium: Tafreshi has spent the last two decades collecting nocturnal scenes from over 20 countries, so Bridgers’ audiovisual journey will include scenes from the Northern Lights in Iceland to the stars over Madagascar, according to the Adler Planetarium website.

* Tribune | Production assistants on ‘Chicago Fire’ and ‘Chicago Med’ claim hours cut after unionizing: They ratified their first contract last month and, according to union representative Alex Aguilar, members were looking forward to going back to work on “Chicago Fire’s” 15th season and “Chicago Med’s” 12th season. But PAs on both shows say they have seen their hours cut. The union is “calling on NBCUniversal to immediately restore the longstanding 12-hour and 14-hour daily guarantees,” the elimination of which have resulted, for some, in a “43% reduction in their typical weekly take-home pay. At an hourly wage of $19.93, many of these workers now face serious financial hardship.” (Minimum wage in Chicago is $17.05.)

* NYT | A Pope From Chicago Was Elected. The White Sox Were Resurrected: Then, just as suddenly, came a rebuttal from the pope’s brother: No, actually, Pope Leo XIV, formerly Robert Prevost, was a White Sox fan. Mr. Downey — who had the forlorn job of enticing Chicagoans to spend money to see the lowly White Sox — immediately recognized the opportunity before him.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Herald | Kane County Board OKs $402 million 2027 budget, without use of cash from dwindling reserve fund: The board voted 13-9 in favor of the budget, as some members took issue with things like the reallocation of some sales tax money away from county transportation spending and the county’s planned vote before the year’s end on raising its property tax levy. The new fiscal year begins on Dec. 1. However, while a near-term draining of the county’s emergency funds appears to have been averted for the time being, some uncertainty remains about possible amendments to the budget, the county’s fund balance and how its reserves can be rebuilt in the future.

* Daily Herald | Cinematic sprawl: Suburbs putting guardrails around filmmaking activities: Long Grove has been one community reaping the benefits. Its rural charm has provided an attractive background for Christmas-themed romance. Now the village is discussing amending the village’s code to insert guidelines on commercial filming/photography. The proposed ordinance would establish fees of $250 per day for small productions with 10 people or fewer, $500 per day for medium productions with between 11 and 30 people, and $1,000 per day for large productions with greater than 30 people.

* Daily Southtown | Dolton designates old Village Hall as landmark as part of bid for pope tourism: McCain said the building reopened as Dolton’s Village Hall in 1915 and operated as such for about a century, when structural issues led officials to move into the former bank building on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. House said the village continued to use the Park Avenue building for municipal court proceedings until a few years ago, when it was deemed no longer safe to do so.

*** Downstate ***

* WGLT | Bloomington-Normal Community Land Trust makes ‘milestone’ purchase with its 1st home: Since opening applications on July 22, the nonprofit has had 28 applicants interested in the home at 1309 Eastholme Drive, just north of Illinois Route 9 between Illinois Wesleyan University and Bloomington High School. It’s the first of what the organization believes will be many homes it will acquire to help address a shortage of affordable housing in the community.

* WCIA | Proposed skilled nursing facility seeking $1 million from Champaign Co.: “We have the greatest deficit of any of Illinois’ 102 counties. We only have enough beds to really serve about 60% of our population,” she said. Emanuel added that they’re working with a developer out of Arkansas to bring a new era of nursing homes to the community. “They have to be private rooms and private baths. This is the model that we’re envisioning… 10 cottages — each with 12 people,” she said.

* WAND | Illinois State Fair brings big changes and new theme for 2026:
Fair Director Jerry Costello said visitors will notice major improvements across the grounds this year. “You’ll notice roads have been repaired, roofs have been replaced — you’ll see fresh paint, new lighting, new HVAC systems and additional fans placed throughout the grounds,” Costello said.

*** National ***

* Financial Times | Biggest US law firms explore selling stakes to private equity: US ethics rules prevent law firms from being owned by non-lawyers, which has left them as one of the few areas of the economy untouched by buyout groups. But some investors are stepping up their attempts to break into the legal industry using a structure known as a “management services organisation”, which separates a firm’s legal work from its administrative functions to get around the rules.

* AP | ICE will release body camera video only when seen in the agency’s ‘best interests,’ policy says: The policy says ICE will promptly release video of shootings and other encounters in which its agents cause death or serious injury only after determining “it is in the best interests of the agency” to do so. That gives its director discretion to release recordings that reflect well on the agency’s image while working to keep others secret, experts on body camera policies said. Such selective releases are routine in some law enforcement agencies but usually not so clearly contemplated in policy, according to professor Christopher Schneider of Brandon University in Canada, a co-author of the new book “Police Body-Worn Cameras: Media and the New Discourse of Police Reform.”