* Let’s go back to that Mary Ann Ahern interview with Gov. Pritzker. We’ll start with a look at some of his answers about the new POTUS…

MAA: How will your budget be impacted? Because what I understand is some state agencies have already been told, ‘Hey, that federal money that you had last year, you’re not going to get it this year.’

Pritzker: Well, that’s not true yet. We haven’t been notified that things that we were getting last year won’t come. We expect it, however, that there are things that will be under attack. For example, Donald Trump, for many years, has been trying to get rid of the expansion of health care, right?… the Obamacare as you know it, the ACA. And it is truly a challenge for hundreds of 1000s of people that they might have their health care taken away by this new federal administration. So this is a problem, right? It’s not something that the state of Illinois cannot fill in the billions of dollars that come with Medicaid coverage, where 50% of it is covered by the federal government. We just can’t we don’t have those dollars. So if that is something that he does that takes away health care from people in the state of Illinois, it is Donald Trump that is ruining the opportunity for people to live healthy lives in our state.

Please pardon all transcription errors.

* You’ll recall that the Biden administration just recently finalized a $2 billion grant for an extension of the CTU’s Red Line…

MAA: Might the Red Line Extension be impacted?

Pritzker: We’ll, see. You know that that money was awarded. [President Trump] has announced that he’s freezing the awards that were made. Having said that, those were done under the prior administration. Everything that was necessary to make that happen has been done, and so it’s just a question of whether Donald Trump is going to stand in the way. There will be lawsuits if he does. We certainly know that the federal government owes us that money. Now, and again, Donald Trump may break the law because he’s known to do that, and we’re going to have to take him to court if he does.

* After he again criticized Elon Musk, Pritzker was asked about the CTU and issues of antisemitism…

MAA: Have you been as outspoken when members of the CTU have also expressed anti semitic remarks?

Pritzker: Oh, I have spoken out. I mean, they know, and I have spoken directly with members of the CTU whenever there has been something said that was antisemitic. Look, I call out racism, any kind of attack on people, at people’s ethnicity, their background, et cetera. It’s uncalled for, it’s inappropriate. It shouldn’t happen. And as you know, I’m somebody who helped and led the building of a Holocaust museum, so this is something that matters deeply to me, protecting our people from that kind of discrimination. So yes, I’ve called it out, and I always will.

Again, go watch the whole thing.