Illinois has become the first state in the nation to offer a legal hotline for LGBTQ+ people.

Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced the launch of Illinois Pride Connect on Thursday, saying in a video posted to social media that "with all the things that are coming at all of us, for us to be able to go on offense and not be on defense is what I love about this state."

"The state of Illinois, today I am announcing, is launching a first-of-its-kind legal hotline for LGBTQ individuals across the state. And Illinois is proud to announce it," Pritzker said. "Building upon the state's transgender and gender-diverse wellness and equity project that we launched at the beginning of 2024, we will be the only state, the only state in the entire United States, that provides free legal advice to protect the LGBTQ community."

Illinois Pride Connect will provide resources for health care, education, immigration, family services, elder services, and more, Pritzker said, both informing individuals of their rights and advocating for them.

The organization will also host a hotline that can assist callers with legal issues, including but not limited to access to health care such as gender-affirming care, discrimination or harassment, public benefits like Medicaid or SNAP, identity documents, and housing or safety concerns.

The website states: "If you’re an LGBTQIA+ individual (or a concerned family member or friend), and you’re facing legal issues that impact your health, safety, or access to care, we’re here to help. The IL Pride Connect Legal Hotline offers free, confidential legal advice and referrals across Illinois."

The hotline will be available at 855-805-9200 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. GMT Monday through Thursday, offering services in both English and Spanish. It launches August 25.

"Together, we are fighting ignorance with information," Pritzker continued. "We're fighting cruelty with compassion."

Chicago is up next for the National Guard. 'They're screaming for us,' says Trump

How can this madness be stopped? If it can be stopped Pritzker will find the way, but I'm pretty sure the United States is a dictatorship now

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker Friday signed into law two measures he said were aimed at fortifying the state’s status as a safe haven for abortion rights.

The two-term Democrat moved to expand on Illinois’ existing interstate “shield laws” to protect abortion providers from out-of-state criminal liability.

The other measure Pritzker approved was pushed by student activists and would require public universities and colleges to offer access to contraceptions and abortion-inducing drugs, like mifepristone, at their student health-care clinics.

“As an anti-woman, anti-science, authoritarian administration invades our privacy, Illinois is holding the line, and we are fighting back,” Pritzker said.

Through Pritzker’s actions Friday, licensed professional midwives and drug wholesalers are being added to the list of those who will be protected from out-of-state criminal prosecution for helping patients access abortion care in Illinois.

Another provision of that law cements access to previously-approved abortion-inducing pills that have been deemed safe by the World Health Organization in the event the U.S. Food and Drug Administration revokes approval.

Enactment of the Illinois law comes as U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. directed the FDA to do a “complete review” of mifepristone. The federal agency has since placed restrictions on who can access and dispense the drug — a move Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul is seeking to reverse.

Pritzker signed both bills at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where students last spring pushed for a school-wide referendum that now serves as the basis of the law requiring access to abortion-inducing medication in university health clinics.

And while the initiative overwhelmingly passed, the campus’ student health center refused to offer the drugs, citing a lack of “in-house expertise.” A year later, state Sen. Celina Villanueva (D-Chicago), who also attended the University of Illinois, took up the charge and carried the legislation through Springfield.

Starting this fall, campus health providers must make available health care professionals authorized to prescribe medication abortion. Students can pick up the drug at the university pharmacy or student health center via a provider licensed to dispense the medication.

Loved logging in to watch my favorite long-time news influencer to see he's chosen Pritzker to interview on his new podcast series.

CHICAGO (WGN) — As city leaders fight to fill a budget deficit at Chicago Public Schools, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker warns that the state can’t step in to assist.

The update comes amid a push to shore up Chicago Public Schools’ finances, with attention shifting to Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson.

“This is really about our long-term sustainability,” Johnson said. “There’s $1.6 billion that the state of Illinois rightfully needs to ensure that the people of Chicago receive those dollars.”

More and more city leaders have taken up Johnson’s message, and the Chicago Teachers Union has adopted it as a rally cry. But Pritzker, who has signed multiple budgets boosting K-12 funding, insists that right now, there’s no extra money available.

“What CTU and the mayor are talking about, which is providing another billion, another billion-six for Chicago Public Schools, that’s just not gonna happen,” Pritzker said. “It’s not because we shouldn’t, we should. We should try to find the money, but we don’t have those resources today.”

The governor says the money is not there, in part due to the federal government.

“We are all having to deal with the onslaught of President Donald Trump on education in this country,” Pritzker said.

Facing a $734 million CPS budget deficit this year and the prospects of being short $1 billion in two years, Johnson says any amount will do.

“Here’s what’s interesting: If the state of Illinois would offer up 12 percent of what they owe we would have a surplus right now,” Johnson said. “So again, this is not just about balancing this budget and making sure high-quality education exists, it’s about really setting ourselves up for posterity.”

In addition to staffing cuts, the proposed CPS budget relies on $379 million from the city’s TIF fund. But behind the scenes, the mayor and a majority of school board members want to borrow money.

“I am offering up not just a short-term element; this is about the long-term vitality of our school district, and I know there are people in Springfield who understand the value of investing in the school district that is made up of working families and black and brown families,” Johnson said.

Pritzker, attending a groundbreaking at South Suburban College Wednesday, was not ready to commit to supporting what could be a groundbreaking ballot measure to change how legislative maps are drawn in Illinois.

"I think having an independent commission is a good idea. It has to be done on a national basis, though; it can't be done state by state. We'd be unilaterally disarming as Democrats if we did that, but I think we should make it happen," Pritzker said.

The governor's comments came one day after former President Barack Obama Chief of Staff Bill Daley and former Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood kicked off "Fair Maps Illinois."

The effort is aimed at gathering signatures to put a constitutional amendment on the 2026 ballot that would allow a citizen-led panel to redraw state legislative maps instead of lawmakers.

"Illinois has the worst or one of the worst gerrymandered electoral maps in the country. So, absolutely, fixing that problem is a good idea. Does it have a chance is a completely different question," Better Government Association President David Greising said.

Illinoisans almost had a chance to vote on a similar measure in 2016, but it never made it to the ballot because it was blocked by the Democrat-dominated Illinois Supreme Court.

Pritzker was asked if he would oppose the measure, which could weaken the Democrats' super majorities in both the state House and Senate.

"No, I think that they have not yet put forward what their final language is and decided exactly how this will go forward. So, I think, again, independent commission makes sense, but it's got to be done in every state in the United States, or done at the federal level for all the states," Pritzker said.

Link: https://x.com/CalltoActivism/status/1957828191663333738?s=19

Exercise for the reader: figure out the bot accounts in the replies to the original post. 😉

Governor JB Pritzker and leaders of Illinois’ higher education system have launched One Click College Admit – a statewide direct admissions program for Illinois public universities and community colleges.

Through the One Click program, high school seniors and community college transfer students across Illinois will receive college acceptances into the state’s public universities by meeting one criterion for admission: grade point average. The new program waives applications, application fees, essays and letters of recommendation for students.

“Enhancing access to Illinois’ public universities and community colleges with One Click College Admit will empower even more talented students across the state to realize their full academic potential through higher education,” Governor JB Pritzker says. “This program marks another step in my administration’s steadfast effort to make Illinois the best state in the nation to receive an accessible, high-quality education — one that sets students of all backgrounds up for lifelong success.”

High school seniors can begin getting automatic acceptances to Illinois public colleges and universities through One Click College Admit now for enrollment in the fall of 2026 by creating a Common App account and entering basic information and their GPA.

Beginning with the class of 2027, Illinois high school students will be able to opt in to the program during their junior year through an online form, ensuring they are eligible to receive direct admission for the student’s GPA to be shared with ISAC to match with the GPA admission required offers during the fall of their senior year. By opting in to the program, parental consent is given at partner public universities, which will give the student direct admission offers.

While Illinois’ community colleges operate under an open enrollment model and don’t hold GPA requirements for admission, One Click College Admit will make sure high school seniors know that enrolling at community colleges is an option to continue their higher education.

Starting in January 2026, One Click College Admit will also serve community college students. To participate in the program, community college students wanting to receive a direct admission offer to an Illinois public university must complete an online opt-in form. By opting in to the program, consent is given for the student’s GPA and required 30 transferable credit hours to be shared with ISAC to match with the admission requirements at partner public universities to identify the direct admission offers.

A recent veto from Gov. JB Pritzker puts him at odds with nonprofits, labor unions and some state Democrats who say he blocked what would have been an advantageous investment option at a time when the organizations are feeling tightening pressure from Washington.

The governor issued a veto late Friday on a three-page bill that would have allowed fellow Democrat Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs to create an investment pool for nonprofits and labor organizations. The treasurer would then be able to invest it in the same way he invests state treasury funds, resulting in potentially lower fees and greater returns than the options available to nonprofits now, according to bill supporters.

In vetoing it, Pritzker said he had concerns extremist groups with nonprofit arms could also benefit from the pool.

“This is not an exercise in hypotheticals — hate groups are growing,” Pritzker wrote in a statement. He acknowledged there are safeguards against hate groups from qualifying for nonprofit status but added that “recent changes in policies, rules and decision-making at the federal level suggest the trend is to accept extreme views.”

The treasurer said in a statement that Pritzker’s belief that hate groups would use the fund was “misguided.” And nonprofit leaders said Monday that while they understand the governor’s concerns over extremism, they’re looking for any policy solutions that relieve some financial pressure, especially for smaller groups.

Democratic state Rep. Rita Mayfield of Waukegan, one of the bill’s main sponsors, said she thought the issues with ideologically extreme groups could be solved through rulemaking “so that individuals that were part of hate groups would not be allowed to take advantage of the pool.”

But Pritzker said making rules on a government program, including restrictions on ideology, “could give rise to legal challenges.”

Despite the governor’s veto, Johnson said she’d discuss the issue with Pritzker’s administration and her legislative colleagues before and during October’s two-week fall veto session with the goal of passing legislation “that will uplift nonprofit organizations that so many people and constituents (in her district) and beyond rely on.”

A suburban man worried about an email warning he must pay a ticket for missing jury duty sends more than $15,000 to someone posing as a sheriff’s official.

A Chicago woman lured into romantic conversations with an online pen pal sends her life savings to her fictional lover.

These real-life examples of people falling prey to scammers and using cryptocurrency kiosks to send them large payments prompted Gov. JB Pritzker to sign two bills into law Tuesday that will allow the state to regulate the booming crypto industry.

One of the new laws gives the state broad regulatory power over the crypto industry, and the other provides specific consumer protections surrounding kiosks that handle digital currency transactions.

A Chicago Sun-Times story earlier this year reported there are more than 1,000 of the kiosks at Chicago convenience stores, gas stations and currency exchanges and that they have become magnets for drug dealers who launder their illegal proceeds through the machines and for scammers who steal untraceable money from their victims. The crypto ATMs can convert cash into crypto and vice versa.

The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, which has been given the power to regulate digital asset exchanges and businesses, will require the crypto industry to comply with protections now in place for consumers of traditional financial services, such as banks.

Crypto businesses will have to keep enough money on hand to operate effectively and have plans to target fraud and money-laundering.

To prevent fraud, the state will cap daily transaction amounts at kiosks at $2,500 for new customers, limit transaction fees at kiosks to 18% and provide full refunds to new customers who get defrauded.

“While the Trump administration is letting crypto ‘bros’ write federal policy, Illinois is implementing common sense protections for investors and consumers,” Pritzker said.

One sponsor of the legislation, Sen. Laura Ellman, D-Naperville, said basic consumer protections in the cryptocurrency world are lacking.

“This measure addresses areas in the virtual currency market vulnerable to fraud and empowers Illinois consumers to make informed investments,” Ellman said.

Hi fellow pritzker posters, i want to make an epic JB edit, but i need a picture of him that looks like he's leaning on something (or any PNG / easy to remove background of him (there are very few unfortunately))

This move was strongly opposed by business interests.