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  "path": "/wbez-newsletter/2026/03/04/the-rundown-gov-pritzker-urges-help-for-americans-in-middle-east",
  "publishedAt": "2026-03-04T21:45:00.000Z",
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  "textContent": "<p><i>Good afternoon! It’s Wednesday, and I’m excited about the Field Museum’s </i><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://chicago.suntimes.com/museums-zoos/2026/03/04/pokemon-fans-swamp-the-field-museums-website-on-day-1-of-tickets-sales-for-exhibit-in-may\" target=\"_blank\" ><i><u>upcoming Pokémon exhibit</u></i></a><i> because my wallet and heart disagree on a trip to Japan this year. Here’s what you need to know today.</i></p><p><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/springfield/2026/03/04/jb-pritzker-secretary-of-state-marco-rubio-stranded-americans-middle-east-iran-war\" target=\"_blank\" ><b><u>1. Gov. Pritzker urged U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to help stranded Americans in the Middle East</u></b></a></p><p>Gov. JB Pritzker is pressing Rubio to announce a federal plan to help stranded Americans in the Middle East, including a commitment to use charter flights or military aircraft to help them safely leave the region.</p><p>The letter detailing the governor’s concerns came after Pritzker participated in a staff-level briefing with the U.S. Department of State yesterday, along with other governors and congressional offices.</p><p>Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said today the U.S. military campaign against Iran was intensifying, with both Washington, D.C., and Israel working to destroy Iran’s security forces. President Donald Trump on Sunday said Operation Epic Fury could last “four weeks or less.” Six Americans have been killed during the ongoing war.</p><p>The State Department said yesterday it has helped more than 9,000 American citizens safely return from the Middle East, including more than 300 people from Israel. The department is helping with charter flights from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Jordan for American citizens. They’re also helping Americans with commercial flights from Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman and Egypt. For those in countries lacking commercial flights, the department is helping them travel to other countries “as conditions allow,” including ground transportation for those trying to leave Israel. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/springfield/2026/03/04/jb-pritzker-secretary-of-state-marco-rubio-stranded-americans-middle-east-iran-war\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>Chicago Sun-Times</u></a>]</p><p><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/politics/2026/03/03/jb-pritzker-bill-clinton-erroneous-testimony-jeffrey-epstein-aircraft\" target=\"_blank\" ><b><u>2. Gov. Pritzker says Bill Clinton was ‘clearly mistaken’ about the governor being on Jeffrey Epstein’s aircraft</u></b></a></p><p>Pritzker emphatically denied any ties to convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein yesterday after former President Bill Clinton told a congressional panel he flew on Epstein’s plane with Pritzker and his wife, MK Pritzker.</p><p>As my colleague Mawa Iqbal writes for WBEZ, Clinton’s testimony before the U.S. House Oversight Committee delivered an unexpected broadside to Pritzker and unleashed a partisan backlash that ricocheted throughout Republican-favoring corners of social media.</p><p>Clinton has since retracted this part of his testimony. In a statement posted on X, spokesperson Angel Urena said the former president was “simply giving an example of the many people he traveled with to see the Clinton Foundation’s work,” saying the governor joined the group on a 2008 trip.</p><p>Pritzker, currently running for a historic third term, had managed to steer clear of any public linkages to Epstein and Maxwell, though a cache of documents released last fall revealed deeper ties between the governor’s cousin, Thomas Pritzker, and the disgraced financier. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/politics/2026/03/03/jb-pritzker-bill-clinton-erroneous-testimony-jeffrey-epstein-aircraft\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>WBEZ</u></a>]</p><p>A Chicago-area lawmaker filed legislation this week that would create a state commission to investigate potential Illinois connections to Epstein. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/springfield/2026/03/04/epstein-commission-illinois-bill-abdelnasser-rashid-kwame-raoul\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>Chicago Sun-Times</u></a>]</p><p><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/2026/03/03/peoples-gas-hike-city-hall\" target=\"_blank\" ><b><u>3. People’s Gas is holding firm on a proposed $202M price hike</u></b></a></p><p>Although City Hall has no say in the matter, advocates still blasted the utility company during its first appearance before the City Council’s Committee on Environmental Protection and Energy, my colleague Violet Miller writes.</p><p>It will be up to the Illinois Commerce Commission to rule later this year on the request to raise gas rates by an average of about $11 a month per customer, or around $130 per year.</p><p>The potential hike comes two years after the Illinois Commerce Commission granted the utility company a record $306 million rate increase. Last year, regulators ordered the utility to overhaul its controversial pipeline replacement program that was years over budget and behind schedule.</p><p>Maria Bocanegra, president of Peoples Gas and North Shore Gas, told the committee the increase is needed to complete a state mandate to replace aging pipes by 2025 and to offset higher operating costs from inflation. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/2026/03/03/peoples-gas-hike-city-hall\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>Chicago Sun-Times</u></a>]</p><p><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/theater-stages/2026/03/04/steppenwolf-2026-2027-chicago-theater-branden-jacobs-jenkins-adam-rapp-glenn-davis-audrey-francis\" target=\"_blank\" ><b><u>4. Steppenwolf’s next season will feature a new play by Adam Rapp and the Chicago premiere of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ ‘The Comeuppance’</u></b></a></p><p>Rapp’s haunting “Night Fawn” will star ensemble member Cliff Chamberlain as a man who has lost his job, ended his marriage and is now heading home to rural Illinois to settle the affairs of his late mother, WBEZ theater reporter Mike Davis writes.</p><p>Meanwhile, the second world premiere, “Adirondack Chair Circle,” will star Steppenwolf artistic director Audrey Francis. The comedy was written by Chicago playwright Stephanie Alison Walker and directed by Tony Award winner Pam MacKinnon.</p><p>Today’s announcement comes on the heels of the theater’s landmark 50th season, which featured the world premiere of “Purpose.” The play, by Branden Jacobs Jenkins, ultimately transferred to Broadway and won two Tonys, including the coveted award for Best Play. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/theater-stages/2026/03/04/steppenwolf-2026-2027-chicago-theater-branden-jacobs-jenkins-adam-rapp-glenn-davis-audrey-francis\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>WBEZ</u></a>]</p><p><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/architecture/2026/03/04/art-institute-expansion-louis-sullivan-chicago-stock-exchange\" target=\"_blank\" ><b><u>5. The Art Institute’s expansion could leave Louis Sullivan’s Chicago Stock Exchange room in the cold</u></b></a></p><p>The old Chicago Stock Exchange Building trading room could be uprooted from its longtime Art Institute of Chicago home under the museum’s preliminary expansion plans, Chicago Sun-Times architecture columnist Lee Bey reports.</p><p>“As we have assessed which part of our campus has the most potential for expansion, the east side of the building — where the Trading Room is located — represents the area where gallery space could increase the most,” the Art Institute said in a statement. “If our campus evolution did impact the Trading Room, our first priority would be to work with partners to find a new location for the space. No decisions have been made at this time.”</p><p>The trading floor is listed on Preservation Chicago’s 2026 list of the city’s seven most endangered places, announced today.</p><p>Located near the Columbus Drive entrance, the ornate two-level 5,700-square-foot trading room was the centerpiece of the Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan-designed Chicago Stock Exchange at 30 N. LaSalle St., wrecked in 1972. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/architecture/2026/03/04/art-institute-expansion-louis-sullivan-chicago-stock-exchange\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>Chicago Sun-Times</u></a>]</p><p><b>Here’s what else is happening</b></p><ul class=\"rte2-style-ul\" style=\"margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;padding-inline-start:48px;\" id=\"rte-98469f91-180e-11f1-ae88-630628453da5\"><li>Here are five takeaways from the first primaries of the 2026 midterms, in Texas and North Carolina. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/03/04/nx-s1-5734357/texas-north-carolina-primaries-talarico-crockett-cornyn-cooper\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>NPR</u></a>]</li><li>U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has spun a massive surveillance web. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/03/04/nx-s1-5717031/ice-dhs-immigrants-surveillance-confrontation-deportation-mobile-fortify\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>NPR</u></a>]</li><li>Proposed reforms could provide some help to alternative energy supplier customers who routinely overpay. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://chicago.suntimes.com/springfield/2026/03/04/alternative-energy-suppliers-electricity-bills-reform-legislation\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>Chicago Sun-Times</u></a>]</li><li>Review: The Goodman Theatre’s “Oscar Wao,” based on the Junot Díaz novel, hits with gale force winds. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://chicago.suntimes.com/theater/2026/03/04/brief-wondrous-life-of-oscar-wao-review-goodman-theater\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>Chicago Sun-Times</u></a>]</li></ul><p><b>Oh, and one more thing …</b></p><p>Chicago dancer and choreographer Nejla Yatkin’s “The Other Witch” feels part sacred ritual, part scary movie, Courtney Kueppers reports for WBEZ.</p><p>As my colleague writes: “In the hourlong solo show, Yatkin seems to crack open a portal to the past and offer a hearty ode to the enduring strength of womankind. Attacks on women’s autonomy and freedom — from witch hunts hundreds of years ago to the victims of Jeffrey Epstein — are all on Yatkin’s mind.”</p><p>The work arrives at the Epiphany Center for the Arts on Sunday. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/dance/2026/03/04/chicago-dance-nejla-yatkin-witch-mary-wigman-choreography-international-women-day\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>WBEZ</u></a>]</p><p><b>Tell me something good …</b></p><p>What was your favorite acting performance from the past year?</p><p>Deborah writes:</p><p>“My favorite performance of this awards season for 2025 films was Joel Edgerton in ‘Train Dreams.’ A visually and emotionally beautiful film. His quiet performance was heartbreaking and powerful.”</p><p>Feel free to email me, and your response may be included in the newsletter this week.</p>",
  "title": "Gov. Pritzker urges help for Americans in Middle East: The Rundown",
  "updatedAt": "2026-03-04T21:45:01.000Z"
}