Illinois
Gov. JB Pritzker mulling bill passed by lawmakers to make Illinois a ‘right-to-die’ state
Gov. JB Pritzker on Monday wouldn’t commit to signing legislation narrowly approved by the Illinois General Assembly that would allow terminally ill people to end their own lives with a doctor’s prescription, but he said he’s “deeply” affected by the plight of residents seeking end-of-life options.
The Illinois Senate passed the polarizing bill with a bare-minimum 30-27 majority last week during the waning overnight hours of the Legislature’s fall veto session, leaving Pritzker’s signature as the final hurdle toward granting patients access to life-ending medicine if they have six months or less to live.
Like many other Springfield observers, the Democratic governor said he was surprised to see the bill taken up five months after it passed the Illinois House with just three votes to spare.
“It was something that I didn’t expect and didn’t know was going to be voted on, so we’re examining it even now,” Pritzker said after an unrelated press conference Monday in Glen Ellyn.
“I know how terrible it is that someone who’s in the last six months of their life could be experiencing terrible pain and anguish, and I know people who’ve gone through that. I know people whose family members have gone through that, and so it hits me deeply and makes me wonder about how we can alleviate the pain that they’re going through,” Pritzker said.
Lawmakers in 11 other states and Washington D.C. have passed so-called “right-to-die” legislation, which is opposed by religious leaders including Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich.
Illinois’ bill, championed by Democratic Aurora state Sen. Linda Holmes, would open the door for people 18 or older with a terminal diagnosis to be prescribed a fatal dose of medicine.
They would have to be assessed by a physician and a mental health professional as being “of sound mind,” and make a series of oral and written requests for the drug, with witnesses attesting.
Doctors would be required to explain other end-of-life care options such as hospice. If prescribed a life-ending drug, patients would administer it themselves. Health care providers wouldn’t be required to participate.
“This is a choice,” Holmes said during Senate floor debate. “If you are opposed to it, whether the reason is moral, religious, you just don’t like the idea — fine. I would never tell you you should choose this option. What I’m saying is, why? Why, if I am facing an illness where I am going to die in pain, do you think you should tell me I don’t have the option to alleviate that pain?”
Holmes, whose parents died of terminal cancer, urged colleagues to “let people make the decision on how their lives are going to end.”
State Sen. Chris Balkema, R-Channahon, denounced the effort “to introduce a culture of death into Illinois.”
“Assisted suicide forces doctors into a role that contradicts their professional ethics. Illinois’ values overall are at stake,” Balkema said. “Whether the Lord chooses to take somebody today or 50 years from now, it shouldn’t be our choice to walk down that slippery slope, only to come back later, to have a future general assembly, open the guardrails and allow more of this.”
Archdiocese leaders of the Catholic Conference of Illinois urged Pritzker “not only to veto this bill in totality, but also to address humanely the reasons why some view assisted suicide as their only option.”
“It defies common sense for our state to enact a 9-8-8 suicide hotline, increase funding for suicide prevention programs and then pass a law that, based on the experience of other jurisdictions, results in more suicide,” Catholic Conference leaders said in a statement.
Bill proponents from the ACLU of Illinois and the nonprofit Compassion & Choices hailed the legislation to ensure “everyone in Illinois has the ability to access all options at the end of life.”
“Our hearts are with the families and individuals who have courageously shared their stories in the effort to advance this legislation. Their honesty and openness will make life better for Illinoisans once the law is implemented,” supporters said in a statement.
Pritzker has two months to consider the bill.
IKEA announces new locations opening for 2026
IKEA revealed plans to open 10 new stores in various U.S. cities by 2026 as part of its expansion strategy.
The Chicago metro area is getting its first Dutch Bros cafe this week, with additional Illinois locations set to open later this year.
The West Coast coffee chain announced the openings in a press release Wednesday, May 13, adding details about available freebies.
Dutch Bros coming to Melrose Park
Dutch Bros will be making its Chicago suburbs debut in Melrose Park, with doors set to open Thursday, May 14, at 1931 N. Mannheim Road.
The cafe will operate from 5 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 5 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
Melrose Park customers will be able to snag a free keychain with any drink purchase on opening day, while supplies last, according to the chain.
“Opening in the Chicago area has always been a dream for us at Dutch Bros, and Melrose Park is just the beginning,” Dutch Bros Local Market Lead Allie Lahti said in the release.
Where else is Dutch Bros opening locations in Illinois?
The chain also announced plans to open cafes in Rockford, New Lenox and Buffalo Grove, with locations slated to open this summer. The chain lists the Rockford location as “coming soon” to 7103 E. State St. on its website.
Meanwhile, job listings for “Broistas” at 550 W. Maple St. in New Lenox and 80 McHenry Road in Buffalo Grove are available for applicants on the site.
But that’s not all.
A spokesperson for the Village of Oak Park told NBC News Chicago the chain “is also in the process of opening a location in Oak Park” at 316 Madison St.
The village approved plans for the new location in October 2025, and the chain told NBC the cafe is still “in the very early stages.”
Peoria City Councilman Alex Carmona told the Journal Star in April that a new Dutch Bros location will be built at the busy intersection of University Street and War Memorial Drive.
Construction is set to kick off in May at 3624 N. University St., with the location slated to open in the fall.
The Peoria Journal Star reached out to Dutch Bros about the upcoming Illinois locations and will update this story accordingly if a response is provided.
List of Dutch Bros locations in Illinois
The coffee chain has five existing locations in the following Illinois cities:
CONTRIBUTING: JJ Bullock, Peoria Journal Star
The amount of state and local taxes paid here also is near the nation’s highest.
Illinoisans continue to pay the highest combined state and local tax rate in the country, according to WalletHub.
Effective state and local tax rates totaled almost 17% for a median Illinois household last year, compared with the national average of just over 11.02% and higher than No. 2 New York, at 14.95%.
The median amount of state and local taxes for an Illinois household was $12,538 last year, fourth-highest in the country. The national median was around $8,949. (These amounts use a different household measurement.)
Illinois’ burden is driven by property, sales and excise taxes that exceed national averages and those in neighboring states.
Property taxes are especially high, with an effective rate of 1.92% of the value of a typical home, more than double the national median of 0.89%.
Sales taxes are also elevated in Illinois, with a 6.25% state rate and a nearly 9% combined state and local rate on average.
High taxes were a top-two issue for 58.1% of likely Illinois voters in a recent poll. State residents aren’t waiting for lawmakers to hear their concerns — almost all of the nearly 83,000 who left Illinois in 2024 went to states with lower taxes.
In Iowa, the neighboring state with the next-highest combined state and local tax rate, the annual tax total for median household is over $3,841 less than in Illinois. Indiana and Wisconsin also impose significantly lower combined burdens.
Illinois needs to reduce its tax burden to encourage more people and businesses to stay or move here. That cannot happen without improving fiscal responsibility. Lawmakers should consider reforms such as:
- Enacting a spending cap to ensure the state’s budget grows responsibly.
- Rightsizing agency spending by eliminating waste and returning costs to sustainable levels.
- Reforming pensions to prevent retirement obligations from crowding out necessary services and driving up taxes.
Illinois health officials are investigating a potential case of hantavirus that is unrelated to the cruise ship outbreak that made headlines in recent weeks.
The Winnebago County resident was likely exposed to the virus through rodent droppings while cleaning a home, the Illinois Department of Health announced Tuesday. The person has since recovered from mild symptoms that did not require hospitalization, the department said in a statement.
State health officials said the person has not traveled internationally or made contact with any of the patients from the cruise ship. The person’s case is a different strain of the virus.
“Unlike the Andes strain of Hantavirus responsible for the cruise outbreak, the North American strains are not known to spread from person-to-person,” the agency said in a statement. “The risk of contracting Hantavirus of any kind remains very low for Illinois residents.”
The agency is awaiting lab results from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to confirm it is hantavirus. The test can take up to 10 days.
Three people have died from a hantavirus outbreak on the cruise ship MV Hondius that set off April 1 from Argentina. Nine confirmed cases have been linked to that outbreak. Symptoms can include fever, chills and muscle aches, and usually show between one to eight weeks after exposure.
None of those cruise ship passengers were from Illinois, according to the Illinois and Chicago departments of public health.
The state has had seven cases of hantavirus since 1993, the most recent being in March 2025, according to the state agency.
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