How do you see AI playing in specifically to the job market and this distribution of wealth?

Well, clearly AI is going to speed up and provide an efficiency in certain kinds of functions that it can handle better than people.

Uh, I started off this column with a, with an anecdote about a, uh, [chuckles] a young friend who's a financial analyst for a, uh, software company.

He says his job's gonna disappear along with every other financial analyst job in the next five years or so because the machine can process numbers and come up with conclusions from them faster and quicker and certainly cheaper, uh, than, than, than people can.

The real question is- What kind of replacement jobs will, will we, will we spin off? The, uh, world trade thing that I talked about b- a few minutes ago that destroyed pretty much the blue collar workforce in this country also created a lot of new wealth and new jobs for white collar people.

Uh, the problem was we didn't manage to transition from the one to the other very well.

Uh, when there's huge disruption, you need to do something to take care of people so that they don't get hurt, to help them transfer into something new, the new kinds of jobs that, uh, these revolutionary technology would create.

What are some upsides you see to this? Uh, 'cause I always like to end on a hopeful note if I possibly can.

There are 29 in mine.

If they run for the Senate, they have to give their House seats.

Now, whether they're all going to do it or not, I don't know, but that creates openings for three seats that have been held by these folks for a number of years.

It opens the gates to some new blood kind of coming in, and it potentially sets up quite a fight.

But that's only the first chapter of what's going on.

The next chapter of what's going on is whether J.B. Pritzker, our governor, decides to go for a third term.

The word most of the year has been that he's leaning in that direction, but I'm hearing...

And so what else will you be watching most closely just in the weeks ahead?

Crane's political columnist Greg Hinz has more.

Now, let me unpack that.

That's a lot in one bit.

But first you have the Senate seat.

The Democrats are likely to retain it.

It's a blue seat, although I hear today that Ray LaHood, the downstate Republican congressman from Peoria, is seriously eyeing getting in.

But you have, among other people, Illinois' Lieutenant Governor, Julianna Stratton, and three other House members, congressmen, congresswomen, who are interested in running, in Lauren Underwood and Robin Kelly, and...

Talk to me about that, particularly around Richard Porter.

How would you, I mean, it's hard to characterize it as one thing, but tell me about some highlights to you, like moments that stick out in your mind in this whole Madigan story.

You're right.

There's a lot here and it's difficult to get your arms around it.

Probably the most significant thing is the fall of somebody who, even now, it's hard to understand how much power Mike Madigan had.

He ran the L&I House forever.

He was the longest served, I believe, head of a state legislative chamber in American history.

He was chairman of the Democratic Party, ran it like a personal fiefdom.

And so what might this change? What might be altered by this Madigan verdict?

I'm joined by Crane's political columnist, Greg Hinz, here to talk about what else Michael Madigan.

The jury really seemed to do its job here.

There was this trial went on for months.

There was all kinds of data.

I mean, just reams and reams, a whole courtroom full of documents or whatever.

And it looks like they went through it in a reasonable fashion and took their time and figured it out.

And what they mostly seem to have concluded, based on what I know so far, is that the charges involving Commonwealth Edison and why Brunson's associates of Madigan got all kind of favors from them at the same time that he was... pushing that legislation in Springfield, those charges stuck.

And so what might this change? What might be altered by this Madigan verdict?