* ICYMI: Johnson, Pritzker, other local leaders ponder steps to counter potential Pentagon plans to deploy National Guard in Chicago. Tribune…

- The Washington Post reported the Pentagon has been preparing plans to deploy the National Guard to Chicago as soon as next month, following earlier deployments in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.
- Mayor Brandon Johnson blasted the reported plan as unconstitutional and vowed legal action if necessary, with Johnson saying Chicago “does not need a military occupation.”
- US Sen. Tammy Duckworth has sharply criticized what she said were Trump’s attempts to politicize the nation’s military and use them to “intimidate Americans in their own communities.”

* Related stories…

• ABC Chicago: Gov. Pritzker to speak Monday on Pres. Trump’s plans for possible Chicago National Guard deployment
• WGN: Mayor Johnson speaks out after report suggests National Guard could deploy to Chicago as soon as September
• AP: What to know: Four ways ICE is training new agents and scaling up

* Governor Pritzker will speak at the Illinois Holocaust Museum’s Satellite Campus opening at 10:30 am and hold a 3 pm press conference in downtown Chicago on Trump’s planned military deployments. Click here to watch.

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Crain’s | Intersect Illinois undertakes a rebranding as it markets the state’s economy: The organization, which has 56 corporate members, now calls itself the Illinois Economic Development Corp. What the name lacks in pizzazz, it makes up for with pragmatism. To outsiders, who are the group’s primary audience, Intersect Illinois doesn’t say much about what the entity does. “Illinois EDC embodies our sharper strategy and bold vision to make Illinois a premier destination for business and innovation,” Chairman John Atkinson said in a written statement.

* Tribune | Justice Department demands Illinois hand over voter data. Election officials are debating compliance: The Labor Day deadline, sent to Illinois State Board of Elections officials via email Thursday, marks an escalation of a conflict that’s been brewing between state and federal officials since the Civil Rights Division of Trump’s Justice Department in late July requested the voter data and a laundry list of other information on Illinois elections and voters. The push for disclosure of Illinois voters’ sensitive personal information is part of a broader effort from the Trump administration to exert federal authority over state-run elections, including shifting the Civil Rights Division’s focus from ensuring access to the polls to combating the specter of voter fraud. Several other states, including neighboring Wisconsin, have received similar data requests this summer, while the Justice Department in recent months has filed lawsuits against election officials in North Carolina and Orange County, California, over issues related to their voter rolls.

*** Statewide ***

* Inside Climate News | ‘Forever chemicals’ in drinking water pose challenge for Illinois communities: As part of the new groundwater quality regulations, the Illinois EPA is collecting PFAS data from every water system in the state. The agency provided guidance to local officials through seven PFAS health advisories issued between 2021 and 2024, EPA public information officer Kim Biggs said in an email. “We will continue our work with community water systems to ensure residents receive information on these important issues, as well as working with systems to determine any necessary actions to reduce exposure to PFAS,” Biggs said.

* Crain’s | How federal changes to SNAP will put pressure on Illinois’ food system: Farmers markets will also feel the pain, as many accept SNAP and a statewide program enables recipients to double their buying power and farmers to sell more fruits and vegetables. Less SNAP is likely to lead price-conscious shoppers to forgo fruit and vegetables in favor of less nutritious but calorie-dense food such as pizza and hot dogs, experts say. “Wherever SNAP is spent, whether it’s at a corner store, a farmers market, or a larger grocery store, those dollars do not evaporate. They circulate and they feed local economies,” says Connie Spreen, executive director of the nonprofit Experimental Station in Hyde Park, which runs the Link Match program. The program doubles the value of Link purchases at farmers markets by providing matching currency redeemable at the market for fruits and vegetables, according to the program’s website.

* CBS | Why utility bills are rapidly rising in some states: The increasing demand is a big reason why the U.S. Energy Information Administration expects residential electricity rates to increase steadily by as much as 18% in the next few years, far outstripping the annual inflation rate of about 2.7%. The fastest way to bring rates down would be to increase supply, but there are challenges.

* Daily Herald | How much additional revenue did your school district receive through state’s evidence-based funding formula?: Nearly $1.4 billion is headed to 102 suburban school districts in the Northwest and Western suburbs, ISBE records show. “The additional EBF funding will be used to support educational programming, including hiring the additional teaching staff needed to maintain the district’s current class size targets as well as additional support for our growing English Language Learner populations,” said Wheeling Township Elementary District 21 Superintendent Michael Connolly. “We will also utilize portions of the additional funding to defray the increasing costs of operations, including increased transportation, utility and costs for materials and services.”

*** Statehouse News ***

* WSIL | Giannoulias announces $1.5M in grants to Southern Illinois libraries: Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias announced nearly $1.5 million in grants for Southern Illinois libraries. He toured the Du Quoin Public Library and visited the State Fair on his recent visit. The Du Quoin library received $12,500 in technology grants and $8,594 in per capita grants. These grants aim to ensure access to quality resources and programming.

* Daily Herald | Here’s how new road test rules for seniors, reporting unsafe drivers will work: The rule goes into effect July 1, 2026. At that point, drivers ages 79 and 80 seeking to renew their licenses still will need to visit a DMV and take a vision test. Motorists between the ages of 81 and 86 still will be required to renew their licenses every two years in person at a DMV and take a vision test. Road exams are eliminated for ages 79 through 86. The legislation also allows immediate relatives of unsafe drivers, regardless of age, to report problems to the secretary of state’s office. Issues could be a decline in driving skills or cognitive or medical issues. If authorities find the concerns are credible, a driver would need to submit a medical evaluation and/or have written, vision and behind-the-wheel tests to keep their license.

* WCIA | New Illinois law will bring farmers more opportunities at farmers markets: The new law will let smaller producers like Anna process more of her own birds, saving her time and money that would have been spent at big meat lockers. “A lot of the processors are reserved for red meat and with rising cost, a lot of the processors now have minimums and so small producers that are raising less than 100 birds in a batch can’t get into the most popular processor in like a three hour radius,” Morrell said.

* STL PR | Warehouse safety bill that followed the deadly Edwardsville tornado is now law: The new requirements are the product of a task force state lawmakers created the following year to study possible legislative solutions after an EF3 tornado tore through half of an Amazon warehouse, killing six employees. The law now mandates all warehouse operators prepare a tornado safety plan, requires new warehouses contain a designated refuge area as a form of shelter and dictates that city and county building inspectors hold a certification from the International Code Council.

*** Chicago ***

* Sun-Times | Trump Medicaid cuts threaten ‘the little hospital that could’ on Chicago’s Far South Side: A “firing squad” is how Tim Egan, the hospital’s president, describes the expected cuts. A majority of Roseland patients are on Medicaid, according to the Illinois Hospital Report Card. […] As Khan walks around the 134-bed hospital, he says the expected funding cuts will mean the hospital will have to make do with fewer support staff, like certified nurse assistants and specialists who help treat wounds. They are also already thinking of how to save money by reducing medical equipment like ventilators that were in demand during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic.

* Tribune | Aldermen opting out of new tenant powers, but proponents defend anti-gentrification effort: While the Northwest Side Preservation Ordinance aims to slow gentrification by giving tenants a “right of first refusal” and discouraging development that decreases density, a pair of aldermen are opting out. They say the still-nascent law that affects neighborhoods including Avondale, Humboldt Park and Logan Square severely disrupts real estate deals and strips homeowners of the right to control their property.

* Sun-Times | In Chicago stop, Bernie Sanders says the ‘day has come and gone’ for America’s oligarchs: Sanders’ “Fighting Oligarchy” Chicago stop also helped to highlight State Sen. Robert Peters, who is running for the 2nd Congressional District, and U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez, who is running for reelection in the 3rd Congressional District.

* Tribune | Grain Belt Express pits Chicago businessman, politicians and farmers in power line battle: [Michael Polsky’s] Chicago-based company Invenergy is the country’s largest privately held generator of renewable power. And his investors include Blackstone, the world’s biggest private equity firm. But it’s been a seesaw battle, and the outcome is still in doubt. One of the main problems for Polsky’s power line is that it needs to cross lots of farmland in Kansas, Missouri and Illinois. And lots of farmers hate the idea of eminent domain, especially when it’s a private developer such as Polsky who wants their land.

* Sun-Times | Illinois Holocaust Museum’s satellite location brings survivor stories to life through virtual reality experiences, interactive holograms: It also features a gallery, “Stories of Survival: Object. Image. Memory.,” which comprises 61 carefully preserved objects and images from Holocaust and global genocide survivors. Museum CEO Bernard Cherkasov said the satellite location is opening during a time when “the world feels in crisis.” “There is dehumanization, there is suffering [and] polarization that’s happening in our own society and around the world,” Cherkasov said. “The Holocaust, as one of the darkest moments in our human history, has so much to teach people now.”

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Southtown | Suburban community college presidents among the highest paid in the state: Topping the list are Harper College President Avis Proctor, Oakton College President Joianne Smith, College of Lake County President Lori Suddick and McHenry County College President Clinton Gabbard, based on their latest contracts and salary data from the Illinois Community College Board. Statewide, the salaries for district executive officers range from $169,950 to $377,825. A community college president’s salary in Illinois is on average $246,642, according to ICCB’s 2024 annual salary report.

* Daily Herald | Feds appeal judge’s ruling denying intervention in Haymarket’s lawsuit against Itasca: The saga began in 2019 when Haymarket proposed a comprehensive substance use and mental health treatment center in Itasca for people from DuPage County and surrounding communities. Itasca trustees, however, unanimously turned down Haymarket’s zoning request to convert a former Holiday Inn into a 240-bed facility. In response, the nonprofit provider sued the village in January 2022, arguing that officials violated antidiscrimination laws. According to its original complaint, Haymarket is unique among substance use and mental health treatment facilities in the area because it accepts people for treatment regardless of their ability to pay and provides additional services, including career counseling.

* Shaw Local | Woodstock hires firm to communications about Route 47 widening: The City Council voted 4-1 Tuesday to approve a contract with Downers Grove-based Metro Strategies. Council member Gregg Hanson was the only one who voted no; Mayor Mike Turner and Council member Melissa McMahon were absent. Council members Bob Seegers, Tom Nierman, Natalie Ziemba and Darrin Flynn voted yes. Hanson said he wasn’t worried about who the contractor was or the dollar amount of the contract, but he said he wanted “some sort of restraint in spending.”

* Daily Herald | Lawmakers continuing public events despite disruptive pro-Palestinian protests: The most recent protests occurred last month during events featuring U.S. Reps. Sean Casten of Downers Grove and Bill Foster of Naperville. The legislators were berated over their support of Israel’s war against Hamas and its extremist allies at the expense of Palestinian civilians. Casten and Foster haven’t been the only suburban lawmakers targeted by pro-Palestinian activists. So have U.S. Reps. Brad Schneider of Highland Park and Jan Schakowsky of Evanston.

* Shaw Local | Special recreation program serves Will County kids and adults with disabilities: Family bingo, swimming lessons, bumper bowling, walking club, pickleball and Parents’ Day Out are among the fall programs offered by the Northern Will County Special Recreation Association for children and adults with disabilities from ages 3 to 99. Northern Will County Special Recreation Association provides year-round recreation programs and services for children, teens and adults with disabilities.

*** Downstate ***

* WGLT | Heartland Head Start wins $4.4 million federal grant renewal: Federally funded Head Start agencies across the country have been anxious in these first months of the second Trump administration. The Project 2025 conservative blueprint that’s guided many of Trump’s moves called for Head Start’s demise, and there already have been unsuccessful attempts to eliminate funding. It was tough timing for Heartland Head Start, whose five-year grant was up for renewal this summer. The agency has faced other challenges in recent years, including numerous leadership changes, workplace-culture complaints, and compliance issues.

* The Southern | Environmentalist groups take the fight to Forest Service over logging: Decades after initially fighting against logging operations at the Shawnee National Forest, Friends of Bell Smith Springs are once again taking the fight to the U.S. Forest Service. A lawsuit filed in federal court in July seeks to halt a Forest Service project that has marked 70 acres of trees to be cut in the watershed of Hunting Branch Creek, which flows into Bell Smith Springs. […] “Regardless of what the Forest Service and the timber industry try to sell the public on, never in the history of this planet has a forest been logged back to health,” Stearns said.

* Capitol News Illinois | United Methodist Church buys billboard space that hosted Proud Boys sign: In response to the uproar over a Proud Boys message displayed on a billboard near Central Community High School, the United Methodist Church has a simple message: “Hate Divides, Love Unites.” The church purchased billboard space in the same location as the Proud Boys sign, which was removed this week. It paid $2,100 for the next four months.

* Tribune | New database catalogs plant species in latest effort to restore prairies: Zinnen was part of a team that recently launched the RELIX database, alongside Jeffrey Matthews, associate professor in natural resources and environmental sciences at the U. of I. RELIX catalogues every plant species in 353 prairie remnants — parts of the native grasslands of the Midwest that were not converted to farmland during colonization. “A good way to think about prairie remnants is, they were spared by accident,” Zinnen said. “These were places that you really couldn’t farm or were not worth farming, and many of them had these kind of lucky conditions to keep them as a prairie community and not be turned into woodland or some type of non-native ecosystem.”

* Illinois Times | Securing mental health funding: Social workers and mental health providers informed Sangamon County Mental Health Commission earlier this month about the possible ways they could benefit from dedicated funding and planning from a community mental health board. The vast majority of counties in Illinois have these boards, which approve funding for local social service organizations through some form of tax revenue. The boards, which are also known as 708 Boards, provide a more consistent avenue for mental health providers to fund their work when compared to applying for fixed state or federal grants.

* WCIA | Girl Scouts of Central Illinois serving 10K girls in a new building: The new building is three times larger than their last one. They plan to use the space for programs and meetings. There is also a boutique inside. In total, the branch has 10,000 girls serving 38 counties in the area.

* WGLT | Town of Normal is working on growth in new strategic plan: The strategic plan focuses on several ever-present initiatives, including housing strategies, infrastructure, and finishing fire station number two. A new item appearing on the radar is planning for infrastructure in north Normal where there is an opportunity for growth, said city manager Pam Reece. “What we’re specifically looking at is the area along Business 51 and I-39, that northwest area of Normal. Growth is going to be driven by infrastructure. It’s going to require water, sewer, storm water services, additional roads. We’ve got our hands full in terms of looking at how to prime that area in the future for growth and take advantage of the highway adjacency,” said Reece.

* Illinois Times | Robert Moore reflects on his life: Born in 1943, Moore grew up in the Jim Crow era in a Mississippi farming community. He graduated from an all-Black high school after never experiencing an integrated school. He declined a scholarship to play basketball in junior college and enlisted in the U.S. Army, setting him on a life journey that he boldly designed. He describes all of this in his autobiography, Off My Neck, published Aug. 1. He says the title “doesn’t just reflect a moment. It reflects a lifetime. It bridges my journey as a Black man growing up in Mississippi who found his purpose in life in Illinois.”

*** National ***

* CNN | National Guard troops in Washington, DC, begin carrying weapons: US National Guard members deployed to Washington, DC, started carrying their sidearms on Sunday, a spokesperson for the Joint Task Force carrying out the mission told CNN. This follows a directive by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last week that authorized members of the National Guard, who were deployed as part of President Donald Trump’s anti-crime agenda in the nation’s capital, to begin carrying weapons.

* NYT | How Trump Used 10 Emergency Declarations to Justify Hundreds of Actions: Tracking the use of these emergency orders to justify tariff actions is extraordinarily complicated: Mr. Trump has changed rates; extended and further extended deadlines; and made specific adjustments to minimize disruption to particular American industries, among other actions. But the result, at least so far, has been a landscape of punishing rates — starting at 10 percent and going as high as 50 percent — that have taken effect for more than 90 trading partners. Attempts in Congress to block or forestall the tariffs have not been successful, but court challenges remain underway.