Mitchell Armentrout

The Democratic governor also peppered his seventh budget blueprint — which Republicans derided as the largest in state history — with key policy proposals for the upcoming fiscal year.

The funding freeze could affect trillions of dollars and cause widespread disruption in health care research, education programs and other initiatives. Grants that have been awarded but not spent are also halted.

Ahead of the DNC, the state’s top Democrats leaned heavily into the jokes that have circulated in Democratic circles online in support of Harris and Walz. “I have all kinds of hashtags working up in my head about Tim Walz. How about #DadJokes?” JB Pritzker said to laughs.

The security perimeter around Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum, where the RNC’s marquee events will take place, has turned the downtown area into a maze of checkpoints and barricaded dead-ends for many pedestrians.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker's proposed investments would support the creation of a child tax credit, overhaul of the state's pension system, and fund programs for asylum-seekers arriving in Chicago.

Each of the state’s 28 prisons will receive $15,000 for books, magazines and other supplies — the first time they’ve received public funding of any kind in six years.

The grant money comes as part of President Joe Biden’s signature $1.2 trillion infrastructure package signed into law almost two years ago, and aims to promote gender equity and inclusion in the male-dominated field.