Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar » Illinois
SUBSCRIBE to Capitol Fax      Advertise Here      About     Exclusive Subscriber Content     Updated Posts    Contact Rich Miller
CapitolFax.com
To subscribe to Capitol Fax, click here.
Roundup: Pritzker taps Christian Mitchell for LG

Wednesday, Jul 2, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Capitol News Illinois

Gov. JB Pritzker announced Tuesday that former Deputy Gov. Christian Mitchell will be his running mate for the 2026 campaign. […]

Mitchell, 38, will replace Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton on the ticket as she seeks the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate.

Mitchell comes in with hefty experience in state government and public policy. A resident of Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood, Mitchell served three terms in the Illinois House beginning in 2013 and was executive director of the Democratic Party of Illinois in 2018 before joining the governor’s office in 2019.

Mitchell left Pritzker’s administration in early 2023 to become vice president for civic engagement at the University of Chicago where he oversees government relations. Mitchell was appointed by Pritzker last year to an unpaid seat on the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority board, which oversees Navy Pier and McCormick Place. He is also a first lieutenant in the Illinois Air National Guard.

* Tribune

“I’m really most excited to keep moving Illinois forward. You’re seeing in Washington quite a bit of chaos,” Mitchell said in an interview Tuesday morning. “The progress we’ve made in Illinois is more important than ever, and is more important to protect now than ever.”

Politically, Mitchell brings to the Pritzker ticket a compelling personal story of being raised by a single mom, with his grandfather, a military veteran, serving to instill strong values of public service, friends and associates said.

At age 38, Mitchell represents a nod to a younger generation for the future of the state’s Democratic Party by the 60-year-old governor. And by selecting Mitchell, a Black man, Pritzker will maintain racial diversity at the top of the ticket even as Stratton, a Black woman, steps aside.

Aviva Bowen, a consultant at Chicago-based The Strategy Group, where Mitchell was a senior vice president from 2014 to 2017, said Mitchell “brings both a great personal story, but also some pretty significant executive experience, which makes the choice a good one, both politically and practically — and you don’t always get both of those things.”

* Sun-Times

Besides being first in the line of succession to the governor’s office, lieutenant governors don’t have specific responsibilities assigned by the Illinois constitution beyond those “that may be delegated to him by the Governor.”

But the role potentially takes on an added importance this time around if Pritzker ascends to the White House. The governor has sidestepped questions about committing to serving another full four-year term if he’s reelected.

“I think he’d make a terrific president, but I also think he’s running for reelection as governor,” Mitchell said. “I do think it is very exciting for the people of Illinois that we’re talking about an Illinois governor running for president, and not running from prison.”

* More…

    * NBC Chicago | Who is Christian Mitchell? What to know about Pritzker’s running mate: Mitchell is currently the vice president for civic engagement at the University of Chicago, but previously served as deputy governor during Pritzker’s administration, up until 2023. As deputy governor, Mitchell oversaw the Illinois Department of Military Affairs. He worked on efforts like the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, the Rebuild Illinois capital plan and cannabis legalization. He also oversaw the state’s medical supply chain during the COVID-19 pandemic.

    * Pantagraph | Pritzker names former state lawmaker as running mate: In this sense, it is the most low-profile statewide office in Illinois. One former lieutenant governor even resigned the office out of sheer boredom and lack of responsibility. However, some have been called upon to ascend to the top job, most recently Pat Quinn upon the impeachment and removal of Gov. Rod Blagojevich in 2009. […] In Mitchell, Pritzker tapped someone with both political and policy chops. As a state legislator, Mitchell fended off multiple Chicago Teachers Union-packed primary challenges. In 2018, he was named interim executive director of the Democratic Party of Illinois.

    * ABC Chicago | Gov. JB Pritzker to hit campaign trail with new running mate Christian Mitchell Wednesday: Christian Mitchell, Governor JB Pritzker’s pick to be the state’s next lieutenant governor, will be hitting the campaign trail Wednesday morning alongside the governor. The two will be stopping by a South Side staple, Peach’s Restaurant in Bronzeville Wednesday morning.

    * Daily Herald | Pritzker picks former deputy, state Rep. Christian Mitchell as running mate: If Pritzker plunges into an all-absorbing presidential campaign, Mitchell would be a loyal, competent second-in-command, political scientist Kent Redfield said. “If you wanted somebody that knows Pritzker, knows the legislative and executive (branches), and could manage the governor’s office if the governor was running for president, it certainly would make sense,” added Redfield, University of Illinois at Springfield professor emeritus.

    * Capitol City Now | A conversation with a candidate for Lieutenant Governor: He’s gone from the public sector, to the private sector, back to the public sector. Christian Mitchell is a candidate for Lieutenant Governor, running alongside incumbent Gov. JB Pritzker. WTAX’s Dave Dahl talked to Mitchell for the WTAX Morning Newswatch.

    * WGN | Gov. Pritzker announces Christian Mitchell as pick for Lieutenant Governor: To run for lieutenant governor, Mitchell said he’ll leave the University of Chicago where he oversees government relations. From 2013 to 2019, Mitchell represented parts of the South Side in the state legislature distinguishing himself as a policy wonk. He later served as deputy governor, playing a key role in the Pritzker administration’s response to COVID-19. “He tasked me and others in the office to be in charge of effectively our medical supply chain and to make sure that we had all of the PPE, the gloves, the masks, the ventilators we needed to make sure that our frontline health care heroes could keep doing their work,” Mitchell explained.

  Comment      


Open thread

Wednesday, Jul 2, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller

* A California-based Mexican music band featuring a black Sousaphone and a crazy-great slapping bass player with 19 million views in two weeks. The menacing vibe is thorough and real. You gotta love it

Paris, France is my sky
Let’s stop with the fairytales

I watched that video about 15 times last night. Don’t miss it.

Optional discussion topic: July 4th plans?

  2 Comments      


Isabel’s morning briefing

Wednesday, Jul 2, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* ICYMI: Pritzker signs health care legislation. Capitol News Illinois

    - Gov. JB Pritzker signed a pair of health care-related bills Tuesday that he said would put more controls on the pricing of pharmaceutical drugs sold through insurance plans while expanding insurance coverage for certain kinds of hospital costs.

    - House Bill 1697, known as the Prescription Drug Affordability Act, will impose new restrictions on practices of pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, a powerful but little-understood segment of the pharmaceutical industry.

    - Under the legislation, PBMs will be prohibited from steering consumers toward large pharmacies in which they have a financial interest. They will also be prohibited from engaging in “spread pricing” – the practice of charging health plans a higher price for a drug than the PBM pays a pharmacy for dispensing the drug.

* Related stories…

* The Governor is on the campaign trail today with a stop at Peach’s Restaurant in Bronzeville at 11:45 am.

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Subscribers were in the know yesterday. Sun-Times | State Rep. Hoan Huynh joins crowded race to replace Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky: Huynh joins an already crowded race. Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, State Sen. Laura Fine, D-Glenview, social media activist Kat Abughazaleh, Skokie school board member Bushra Amiwala, Evanston activist Miracle Jenkins, Skokie civil rights attorney Howard Rosenblum and Justin Ford, an environmental health and safety professional, round out the list of candidates.

* WNIJ | Illinois State Climatologist discusses the future of local weather forecasting: This week Illinois State Climatologist Dr. Trent Ford has been highlighting some possibilities of what federal funding cuts to weather services may look like. Today, Ford shares the effects those cuts could have for local weather forecasters. On top of government funding, local weather forecasters also face uncertainty from their local stations, such as the possibility of weather hubs, as opposed to the current model of forecasters and meteorologists delivering their predictions and information from their local affiliates.

* Press release | AG Raoul wins court order blocking Trump administration’s dismantling of HHS: Attorney General Kwame Raoul today secured a preliminary junction halting Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s attempt to dismantle the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), ensuring continued access to critical public health and social service programs. On May 5, Attorney General Raoul and a coalition of state attorneys general filed a lawsuit to stop the administration’s sweeping and unlawful restructuring directive, which left HHS unable to carry out many of its most vital functions. Today, Judge Melissa R. Dubose of the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island blocked the administration’s mass layoffs at several key HHS agencies while the case proceeds.

*** Statewide ***

* Shaw Local | Wisconsin pot purchases boosting market on our side of Cheddar Curtain: Marijuana Moment said Evers’ February budget request projected the Badger State could realize $58.1 million in pot revenue in fiscal 2027 through 15% wholesale and 10% retail taxes. That’s a far cry from a 2023 Wisconsin Department of Revenue study showing a legalization plan could generate almost $170 million per year. All those numbers make sense in light of a 2022 report wherein Wisconsin officials estimated their residents spent more than $121 million on marijuana here, pumping $36 million into our public coffers.

* IPM News | Illinois immigrant advocate responds to birthright citizenship ruling and increased immigration enforcement around the state: ”People whose rights are going to be violated by executive action are going to need to file their own lawsuits or join class action lawsuits that may get filed, and the ability of courts to issue emergency orders in those lawsuits is now very limited. Unfortunately, the executive order could now go into effect while that litigation is moving through the court system. That, unfortunately, is going to mean that countless children — countless families — are essentially going to be stateless.”

* Tribune | Go big and stay home! Why Illinois loves its roadside monsters: “Illinois is like a wonderland of large things,” said Rolando Pujol, whose dizzying new book, “The Great American Retro Road Trip: A Celebration of Roadside Americana,” is an obsessive taxonomy of the vintage fiberglass megafauna (and more) amongst us. “My Illinois to-see list numbers in the hundreds. But incongruous, anomalous, larger-than-life objects are American DNA, part of our collective self-identity. We develop attachment to large things. They become signposts in our lives.”

*** Statehouse News ***

* Sun-Times | AG Kwame Raoul joins suit against Trump administration over immigrant Medicaid data: The suit, announced Tuesday, seeks to stop federal immigration officials from securing more health documentation or using already obtained Medicaid records of millions nationwide to target enrollees for immigration enforcement. The attorneys general said the data transfer was not only illegal, but could have a chilling effect on noncitizens and their citizen loved ones enrolling into state healthcare programs they otherwise qualify for due to fear of deportation.

* WBEZ | A state lawmaker wants to bring an overdose prevention site pilot program to Illinois: A bill that could help bring pilot programs for overdose prevention sites to Illinois didn’t pass during the recent legislative session. WBEZ’s Isabela Nieto breaks down what happened and why it matters.

* WGLT | Illinois becomes first state to include music therapy in Medicaid as federal cuts loom in ‘Big Beautiful Bill’: Effective July 1, Illinois is the first state to allow music therapists to bill Medicaid for services—something Julie Englesdorfer said is a game-changer. Englesdorfer graduated from Illinois State University’s music therapy program and has remained in the area, founding Harmonium Music Therapy in Bloomington. But making ends meet in what she calls a “niche” field has been difficult. Englesdorfer’s inability to bill insurance has long created an accessibility barrier, with the average session costing around $120/hour.

*** Chicago ***

* WBEZ | CPS is reducing assistants assigned to some special ed classes, worrying educators and parents: Theresa Nuestro’s sons are among the thousands of Chicago Public School students who depend on special education classroom assistants to keep them safe and focused in classes. […] They worry CPS is trying to find savings on the backs of their children, as has happened in the past. “SECAs are the front-line responders when my son’s blood sugar levels drop to dangerously low levels,” said Nuestro, whose sons are both on the autism spectrum. One has a severe peanut allergy and the other is diabetic. “It is the SECA who communicates when my son is struggling to self-regulate. … These moments are daily life for many autistic students and without adequate SECA support, our children struggle to learn.”

* The Guardian | Six Chicago men exonerated in 1987 stabbing death of government official: A Chicago judge threw out the convictions on Tuesday of six men who served a combined 124 years in prison for the 1987 stabbing death of a local government official. Attorneys for the men successfully petitioned a Cook county court to overturn the convictions based on new DNA evidence as well as allegations of misconduct by a now retired Chicago police detective linked to at least 51 other wrongful convictions.

* Block Club | How Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ Will Impact Local Food Pantries: ‘People Are Going To Suffer’: In January, Martin was laid off from his job as a nonprofit case manager. He’s actively looking for work, but for now, he relies on the food pantry at 4256 N. Ridgeway Ave. and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for food. He could soon face additional hardship. Under significant cuts to SNAP being considered in Congress, as part of President Donald Trump’s “big beautiful bill,” people ages 55-64 would be subject to a work requirement to receive SNAP benefits — an expansion of existing work requirements that could affect more than 200,000 people living in Illinois.

* Crain’s | CommonSpirit commits $6M to mental health efforts in Chicago: Grants — totaling $6,369,123 — will be awarded to the Catholic Healthcare Foundation of Northern Illinois, which will receive $5,469,123, and Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago, which will receive $900,000, the system said in a press release. Catholic Healthcare Foundation will use the funds to expand behavioral health services available to youth and families on Chicago’s Southwest Side, it said.

* WTTW | CTA Launches Next Round of Rider Feedback Pop-Ups Following ‘Strong Turnout’: The events are designed for CTA leaders and staff to have open, informal conversations with riders about service, safety, improvements and rider priorities, according to the transit agency. The feedback will be used by the agency to help plan for the next CTA budget and prioritize future investments, according to the agency. The next round of events will be held at eight transit system locations and are scheduled to start in mid-July and run through the end of the month. Events will be held from 4-6 p.m.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Crain’s | Cook County opens first modular homes in $12 million affordable housing push: Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle will open the first two of 120 planned modular-built houses today, a little more than a year after the county board approved spending $12 million, or $100,000 per unit, to build the homes as new affordable housing options. […] The pair of houses is the start of an initial dozen in this neighborhood, each built in Inherent’s factory 3.5 miles away in North Lawndale and delivered by truck as two pieces—first floor and second floor—to the lot.

* Daily Herald | Ascension closure of delivery services sparks protest: Protesters gathered outside Ascension Alexian Brothers Hospital in Elk Grove Village Tuesday, opposing Ascension’s decision to discontinue baby deliveries at the hospital. It would involve closing the Women and Infant Services department, which offers labor, delivery and postpartum care, a special care nursery and lactation services. Ascension plans to consolidate these services at Ascension Saint Alexius Women and Children’s Hospital in Hoffman Estates.

* Daily Herald | New Arlington Heights streaming tax could cost residents $61 a year: Village officials are considering an extra charge on streaming services to help fund staffing for a fifth fire department ambulance that is hitting the streets this year, amid increased call volumes. Meanwhile, some village trustees this week pushed back on whether to retain a 1% grocery tax the state will stop collecting at the end of the year.

* Daily Herald | Fermilab leader during search for top quark dies: John Peoples was asked in the mid-1990s about the value of doing pure scientific research — that which has no predetermined benefit. […] Peoples was the director of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory at the time, charged with overseeing spending hundreds of millions of dollars researching particle physics. It was just after the Batavia-based laboratory was receiving worldwide acclaim for its role in discovering the top quark. He died June 25, at age 92, according to an announcement from Fermilab.

* Daily Southtown | South Holland to levy nonresident fee for Friday fireworks display: People who don’t live in South Holland will be charged a $10 fee if they want to see the village’s fireworks display Friday night. South Holland residents will be admitted for free after showing proof of residency, such as a driver’s license or utility bill.

*** Downstate ***

* WGLT | ‘We have to stay in the game’: Illinois State opts in to direct payments to student-athletes: July 1 marks the first day colleges and universities can make direct payments to athletes through Name, Image and Likeness [NIL] deals. The decision stems from a settlement with the NCAA involving student compensation, previously from NIL deals being permitted for student-athletes. ISU Athletics Director Jeri Beggs said ISU needs to move its NIL in-house to remain competitive. “Right now if you can’t offer a decent NIL package to a men’s basketball player or women’s basketball player, they won’t come here. In order to be competitive, we have to stay in the game,” Beggs said.

* BND | Shiloh sued tax collector for millions from its TIFs. Here’s how it was settled: For years, Shiloh argued in circuit and appellate courts that the county tax collector shorted the village a year’s worth of revenue from two of its tax increment financing districts. […] A TIF district is limited to 23 years. The village and county disagreed over when payments from the two TIF districts Shiloh created in 1998 should end. The county stopped sending Shiloh the TIF revenue in calendar year 2021. But Shiloh thought it should have continued into tax year 2021 — money the village levied in 2021 and the county collected from taxpayers in 2022.

* Rock River Current | West announces nearly $13M in state funding for local initiatives, including upgrades to Fairgrounds Park in Rockford: The money was all secured as part of the $55.1 billion budget that Gov. JB Pritzker signed on June 16. West’s announcement includes new initiatives, such as upgrades to Fairgrounds Park, and continuations of past funding, such as the restaurant relief grants that are designed to correct a spike in unemployment taxes caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

* WCIA | Coles Co. Board approves wind project: The Coles County Board voted to approve the Coles Wind Project Tuesday night. It narrowly passed with six members of the board voting to approve it and five voting against the project.

* BND | Fireworks and festivities: Where to celebrate Fourth of July around the metro-east: The Alton Fireworks Spectacular will be held from 5 to 10 p.m. Thursday, July 3 with the fireworks beginning at dusk, around 9 to 9:30 p.m. The celebration is held at the Alton Amphitheater, and will also include food trucks and live entertainment.

*** National ***

* NYT | Paramount to Pay Trump $16 Million to Settle ‘60 Minutes’ Lawsuit: Paramount said late Tuesday that it has agreed to pay President Trump $16 million to settle his lawsuit over the editing of an interview on the CBS News program “60 Minutes,” an extraordinary concession to a sitting president by a major media organization. Paramount said its payment includes Mr. Trump’s legal fees and costs and that the money, minus the legal fees, will be paid to Mr. Trump’s future presidential library. […] But Shari Redstone, the chair and controlling shareholder of Paramount, told her board that she favored exploring a settlement with Mr. Trump. Some executives at the company viewed the president’s lawsuit as a potential hurdle to completing a multibillion-dollar sale of the company to the Hollywood studio Skydance, which requires the Trump administration’s approval.

* WaPo | Trump to cut protections for home health aides, migrant farmworkers: The U.S. Labor Department announced plans this week to slash more than 60 regulations — including eliminating overtime and minimum wage protections for home health care workers and union organizing rights for migrant farmworkers. The effort to deregulate the federal agency that governs workers’ rights and protections in the United States aims to deliver on President Donald Trump’s promise to “restore American prosperity,” the agency said.

* WaPo | A Trans Pilot Was Falsely Blamed for a Plane Crash. Now She’s Fighting the Right-Wing Disinfo Machine: Within two days, the rumor spread like wildfire. The morning of January 31, Jo Ellis, a part-time pilot with the Virginia Army National Guard, woke up to messages from a friend warning that she was being named online as the pilot who killed innocent passengers in the deadly crash. At first, Ellis thought it was an isolated claim—someone erroneously connected her to the crash, because just days earlier she had written an essay on being a transgender pilot from Virginia. But once she logged in to Facebook, she realized she was wrong.

  Comment      


Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Supplement to today’s edition

Wednesday, Jul 2, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

  Comments Off      


Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today’s edition of Capitol Fax (use all CAPS in password)

Wednesday, Jul 2, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

  Comments Off      


Selected press releases (Live updates)

Wednesday, Jul 2, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

  Comment      


Live coverage

Wednesday, Jul 2, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Click here and/or here to follow breaking news. Hopefully, enough reporters and news outlets migrate to BlueSky so we can hopefully resume live-posting.

  Comment      


PREVIOUS POSTS »
* Roundup: Pritzker taps Christian Mitchell for LG
* Open thread
* Isabel’s morning briefing
* SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Supplement to today’s edition
* SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today's edition of Capitol Fax (use all CAPS in password)
* Selected press releases (Live updates)
* Live coverage
* Trump admin freezes $240 million in grants for Illinois K-12 schools
* Yesterday's stories

Support CapitolFax.com
Visit our advertisers...

...............

...............

...............

...............


Loading


Main Menu
Home
Illinois
YouTube
Pundit rankings
Obama
Subscriber Content
Durbin
Burris
Blagojevich Trial
Advertising
Updated Posts
Polls

Archives
July 2025
June 2025
May 2025
April 2025
March 2025
February 2025
January 2025
December 2024
November 2024
October 2024
September 2024
August 2024
July 2024
June 2024
May 2024
April 2024
March 2024
February 2024
January 2024
December 2023
November 2023
October 2023
September 2023
August 2023
July 2023
June 2023
May 2023
April 2023
March 2023
February 2023
January 2023
December 2022
November 2022
October 2022
September 2022
August 2022
July 2022
June 2022
May 2022
April 2022
March 2022
February 2022
January 2022
December 2021
November 2021
October 2021
September 2021
August 2021
July 2021
June 2021
May 2021
April 2021
March 2021
February 2021
January 2021
December 2020
November 2020
October 2020
September 2020
August 2020
July 2020
June 2020
May 2020
April 2020
March 2020
February 2020
January 2020
December 2019
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
June 2019
May 2019
April 2019
March 2019
February 2019
January 2019
December 2018
November 2018
October 2018
September 2018
August 2018
July 2018
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
January 2018
December 2017
November 2017
October 2017
September 2017
August 2017
July 2017
June 2017
May 2017
April 2017
March 2017
February 2017
January 2017
December 2016
November 2016
October 2016
September 2016
August 2016
July 2016
June 2016
May 2016
April 2016
March 2016
February 2016
January 2016
December 2015
November 2015
October 2015
September 2015
August 2015
July 2015
June 2015
May 2015
April 2015
March 2015
February 2015
January 2015
December 2014
November 2014
October 2014
September 2014
August 2014
July 2014
June 2014
May 2014
April 2014
March 2014
February 2014
January 2014
December 2013
November 2013
October 2013
September 2013
August 2013
July 2013
June 2013
May 2013
April 2013
March 2013
February 2013
January 2013
December 2012
November 2012
October 2012
September 2012
August 2012
July 2012
June 2012
May 2012
April 2012
March 2012
February 2012
January 2012
December 2011
November 2011
October 2011
September 2011
August 2011
July 2011
June 2011
May 2011
April 2011
March 2011
February 2011
January 2011
December 2010
November 2010
October 2010
September 2010
August 2010
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
December 2005
April 2005
March 2005
February 2005
January 2005
December 2004
November 2004
October 2004

Blog*Spot Archives
November 2005
October 2005
September 2005
August 2005
July 2005
June 2005
May 2005

Syndication

RSS Feed 2.0
Comments RSS 2.0




Hosted by MCS SUBSCRIBE to Capitol Fax Advertise Here Mobile Version Contact Rich Miller