(The Center Square) – President Donald Trump has repeated his call for Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker or Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson to call him for help after 41 people were shot and three were killed in the city last weekend.
The president said in a social media post that Chicago violence is at record levels, although the city’s homicide rate dropped dramatically in recent years.
Chicago police data showed 288 murders from Jan. 1 through Aug. 30, up from 283 during the same period in 2025. The city had 462 murders from Jan. 1, 2022 to Aug. 30, 2002 and 432 during the same period in 2023.
Following Trump’s post, Pritzker said the state needs to keep reducing violence, but the president does not make it easier.
“When Trump last sent agents to Illinois, they murdered a father and shot an innocent woman in broad daylight – then attempted to cover it up,” Pritzker posted.
HARMON, LILLY REJECT “BAIT AND SWITCH” HOSPITAL TOWN HALL
Illinois Senate President Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, and state Rep. Camille Lilly, D-Chicago, said they did not participate in a proposed meeting about West Suburban Medical Center after organizers staged the event outside the community, changed the program and were not forthcoming about the involvement of outside interests.
The Coalition to Save Safety-Net Hospitals said about 150 residents held the forum after Weiss Memorial Hospital in Chicago and West Suburban in Oak Park both closed in the last year.
The coalition said the two hospitals owe the state nearly $100 million in loans and unpaid taxes and penalties.
Harmon and Lilly’s statement said Insight Hospital is reportedly seeking to take over West Suburban, but the lawmakers were not informed that Insight executives would be added to the event.
CHICAGO REPORTS WEST NILE DEATH
The Chicago Department of Public Health has reported the city’s first two human cases and first death in 2026 from West Nile virus.
Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Sameer Vohra said the year’s first death in Illinois related to West Nile is a sobering reminder to take mosquito-borne illness seriously.
Chicago health officials said they have sprayed insecticide in 15 different community areas over the last several weeks.
CHICAGO FED: DISTRICT FARMLAND VALUES REMAIN FLAT
The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago says farmland values in its Midwestern district were essentially unchanged in the second quarter of 2026 from a year earlier.
The Chicago Fed’s survey of agricultural lenders said the flat results marked the slowest year-over-year growth since the fourth quarter of 2024.
The Seventh Federal Reserve District includes parts of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan and Wisconsin.
