* The full Crain’s interview is here. Here’s Greg Hinz…

Illinois is back, attracting new employers and jobs — and it’s in the best position in many years to further boost its economy. […]

The state’s attractiveness to business “is the best it’s been in a long time,” Pritzker said during questioning by Crain’s Group Publisher and Executive Editor Jim Kirk. “We never had a story to tell. Nobody had put that story together. People didn’t know what was great before about this state. Now they do.”

“We’re now in discussions with 25 companies, big companies with billions to invest and up to 4,000 jobs,” he added. “Companies are coming to us. They want to do business in Illinois.” […]

Illinois in recent years has attracted 20% more people with college degrees than it’s graduated from Illinois colleges and universities, but Florida is 10% short, the governor said. That means Illinois has the young, educated talent that businesses want, and that’s what’s driving the state’s turnaround, despite chatter about Florida’s lower tax rates. Illinois has tried to accentuate those trends by expanding scholarship aid to Illinois residents who stay home for higher education from $400 million a year when he took office to $700 million a year now. Where students had to wait and hope for help before, “Everyone that applies now that is eligible gets a scholarship.”

More from the interview…

Nine states in the country have more college graduates in their state today than they graduated. So you’ve got in-migration in nine states of college graduates. Those are the highest value workers, the ones who produce the most income, etc. We’re one of those nine. We have 20 percent more college graduates in Illinois than we produce. Florida has 11 percent fewer college graduates than they produce. So we’re fifth in the country in terms of the in-migration of college graduates … So we’ve got to say, people who are down on Illinois are not looking at the right indicators of our future.

Please pardon all transcription errors.

* Marni Pyke…

The state and other stakeholders will resolve a looming $730 million annual shortfall facing Metra, Pace and the CTA in 2026, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Monday.

The funding gap emerged after COVID-19 decimated ridership. It’s an issue transit agencies across the U.S. are facing, Pritzker said at a Crain’s event.

“We need subways and trains and buses and it’s vital to our economy. We’re going to do whatever is necessary,” said Pritzker, who also mentioned fares but without specifics.

“The General Assembly and I and the federal government, we all have to address it,” he noted.

* Fox 32…

During the conversation, Governor Pritzker and Crain’s delved into topics surrounding economic development in Illinois, with a significant focus on electric vehicles (EVs). The discussion kicked off with an exploration of how the recent Stellantis strike was resolved.

Governor Pritzker revealed that his office, in collaboration with the White House, played a role in resolving the strike. The outcome saw the reopening of the Stellantis plant in Belvidere, where the production focus has shifted to electric vehicles and batteries.

Addressing the Ford Chicago Assembly Plant on the city’s Southeast Side, Governor Pritzker mentioned spatial constraints for battery production. However, he expressed optimism about the potential conversion of the plant to build EVs in the future.

“You can convert almost anything, but if you’re gonna have a battery plant nearby, which is typically what’s happened, you’re gonna do it on a larger footprint. I am hopeful that we will get at least the assembly plant continued and growing. Again, battery, not sure,” said Pritzker.

He didn’t express optimism about converting the Ford factory to an EV plant. He said “they haven’t said no” to an EV plant, but there are real space problems at that site. And, in fact, he revealed that he feels only “somewhat confident that we’re going to maintain the plant that is there now.”

Not a good sign.

* Center Square…

“Violent crime has been coming down, actually for three years, but in particular over the last year,” Pritzker said. “Shootings and murders have come down significantly. Again, it doesn’t make anyone feel safer to just hear a statistic; it will take some time, but that is something people should know.”

While Chicago has seen murders drop by 10% in 2023, other major crimes have significantly increased, as car thefts are up 52% and robberies by 25%.

“[Chicago Police Department] publishes statistics where you can see where the problem areas are with car thefts and robberies and so on, but shootings and murders have come down significantly,” Pritzker said. […]

Pritzker also discussed the state of business in Illinois. In the past few years, the state has seen significant companies like Boeing, McDonald’s and Citadel leave. Some are leaving the state because of high taxes and crime.

“Everyone wants to go back and focus on Citadel leaving, but the truth is we have attracted, seriously, like a half of dozen pretty significant expansions and or headquarters,” Pritzker said.

Pritzker said they have gained more jobs through these expansions than they lost due to Citadel and others leaving.

“We have many more jobs created as a result of those expansions and the new headquarters than were lost by virtue of the companies you guys like to cite,” Pritzker said. “I know everybody was down in Illinois for so many years, and it was easy to be.”

…Adding… McDonald’s actually didn’t even leave. Last I checked, most of Citadel’s employees are still in Chicago. Boeing still has a large presence.

That article is a mess. I probably shouldn’t have even posted it.