Illinois Gov Pritzker pressed on billionaire status by NBC’s Kristen Welker

Gov. JB Pritzker, D-Ill., was pressed by NBC’s Kristen Welker on his billionaire status as other members of the Democratic Party, including New York City mayor candidate Zohran Mamdani, continue to rail against billionaires.

“Some in your party are openly questioning whether billionaires such as yourself should exist at all, governor,” Welker said before she played a clip of Mamdani saying the United States shouldn’t have billionaires.

Welker asked the Democratic governor if the party should be embracing an anti-billionaire message.

“Look, how much money you have doesn’t determine what your values are, and I’m a Democrat because I believe that everyone deserves health care. I’m a Democrat because I believe we’ve got to fund education and have a free public education available to every kid in this country. I’m a Democrat because I believe that we’ve got to stand up for our democracy and against the MAGA Republicans who are literally trying to take away people’s rights around this country. It does not matter what your income level is, what matters is what your values are and that’s what makes me a Democrat,” Pritzker responded.

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Other liberals, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., have also been vocal in criticizing billionaires. Sanders has been touring the country on a “Fighting Oligarchy” tour since President Donald Trump took office. 

Sanders started the tour to “take on the Oligarchs and corporate interests who have so much power and influence in this country.” 

Other Democrats, like Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., have spoken out in favor of increasing taxes on billionaires. 

Warren fiercely defended Mamdani’s plan to increase taxes on billionaires should he be elected mayor during an interview on CNBC earlier this week.

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Welker also pressed Pritzker on the Republican redistricting efforts in Texas and whether Democrats were being hypocritical.

“I do want to look at the map of Illinois. Let’s take a look at this. Despite President Trump winning 44% of the statewide vote in 2024, Republicans hold only three of Illinois’s 17 districts. These districts seem to be to maximize Democratic advantage. What do you say to those who argue it’s hypocritical for you to criticize Texas for partisanship when your state also drew maps to boost your party’s standing?” Welker asked. 

“Well, remember that what Texas is trying to do is, again, violate the Voting Rights Act. We didn’t. We held public hearings, legislative hearings. People attended them. They spoke out. There was a map that was put out. There were actually changes made to the map and a map was passed, and it was done at the end of the census, the decennial census, so that’s how it’s done in this country,” Pritzker responded.

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Welker said that groups who grade the fairness of congressional maps have given Illinois an F. She pointed to one government watchdog who said Illinois’ map “represents a nearly perfect model for everything that can go wrong with redistricting.”

“You talk about preserving democracy, how do you preserve democracy, if you’re using the same tactics that you’ve criticized Texas Republicans for?” Welker asked.

Pritzker said again that the Texas Republicans were attempting to violate the Voting Rights Act. 

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“Democracy is at stake and these Texas Democrats are standing up to what the GOP is attempting to do which is to, to steal seats because they know what they’ve done is wrong. They know that they’ve made an enormous mistake,” he said.

Actor with colorectal cancer shares simple sign that he ignored: ‘I had no idea’

James van der Beek has revealed the first warning sign of his colon cancer — and it’s one that did not seem alarming at the time.

The “Dawson’s Creek” actor, 48, who announced his colorectal cancer diagnosis in November 2024, recently told Healthline that “there wasn’t any red flag or something glaring.”

“I was healthy. I was doing the cold plunge,” he said. “I was in amazing cardiovascular shape, and I had stage 3 cancer, and I had no idea.”

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The one symptom that he did experience was a change in bowel movements, which the actor chalked up to an effect of his coffee consumption.

“Before my diagnosis, I didn’t know much about colorectal cancer,” van der Beek said. “I didn’t even realize the screening age [had] dropped to 45; I thought it was still 50.”

He ultimately underwent a colonoscopy, which revealed that the actor had stage 3 colon cancer.

Professor Eitan Friedman, M.D., Ph.D., an oncologist and founder of The Suzanne Levy-Gertner Oncogenetics Unit at the Sheba Medical Center in Israel, confirmed that changes in bowel habits is the primary red flag that should raise the suspicion of colorectal cancer.

Others include fatigue as a result of anemia, blood in stool, weight loss, loss of appetite and abdominal discomfort, Friedman, who has not treated van der Beek, told Fox News Digital.

“I was in amazing cardiovascular shape, and I had stage 3 cancer, and I had no idea.”

Dr. Erica Barnell, M.D., Ph.D., a physician-scientist at Washington University School of Medicine — and co-founder and chief medical officer at Geneoscopy — noted that van der Beek’s experience of having no “glaring” signs is common.

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“Many colorectal cancers develop silently, without obvious symptoms,” Barnell, who also did not treat the actor, told Fox News Digital. “By the time symptoms appear, the disease may already be advanced.”

Symptoms are “especially worrisome” for those 45 and older who have at least one first-degree relative with colon cancer or other GI malignancies, and those with active inflammatory bowel disease, such as ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease, added Friedman, who is also an advisory board member at SpotitEarly, a startup that offers an at-home breath test to detect early-stage cancer signals.

Early detection is key

The overall chance of an average-risk person getting colorectal cancer over a lifetime is 4% to 5%, according to Friedman.

“Colonoscopy at age 45 onwards, at five- to 10-year intervals, has been shown to lead to early detection of polyps that have the potential to become malignant, and to allow for their removal as an effective means of minimizing the risk of malignant transformation,” he said. 

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Unfortunately, Barnell noted, “screening compliance in the U.S. remains below national targets, and gaps are widest in rural, low-income and minority communities.”

To help close those gaps, she called for greater access to “accurate, noninvasive screening technologies,” along with efforts to increase public awareness.

“Most people don’t like talking about bowel habits, but paying attention to changes can save your life,” Barnell said. “Screening gives us the chance to find problems early — often before you feel sick — and that can make all the difference.”

Fox News Digital reached out to van der Beek’s representative for comment.

Loyal fans revolt as Cracker Barrel’s new look draws millions of angry views

As Cracker Barrel Old Country Store restaurants continue to undergo a physical transformation, more customers are noticing – and they’re not embracing the changes.

Cracker Barrel chief marketing officer Sarah Moore told Fox News Digital earlier this year that the Tennessee restaurant chain has been testing “various levels of remodels.” 

“We’ve been very transparent about our goal of making our stores feel brighter and even more welcoming than they already are, while maintaining that country hospitality and charm that we’re known for,” Moore said. (See the video at the top of this article.) 

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But some Cracker Barrel lovers on social media have expressed their displeasure with the changes. 

A recent Instagram video shared by Cracker Barrel includes a caption that reads, “Nothin’ a little Cracker Barrel can’t fix.”

It elicited several negative responses to the alterations.

“The remodel is 🤮,” one person wrote.

“Now this place looks like every other chain restaurant. Bland and boring,” wrote another person.

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“WHAT are you thinking with that interior?!” someone else said.

Moore told Fox News Digital that the “physical guest experience” is “rooted in our brand DNA” and that the changes being made are based on “guest feedback.”

She continued, “Items like our rocking chairs, our biscuits, our peg games, antiquities on the wall, none of that is going away. We’re just looking at ways to freshen up the experience so that we can open our door a bit wider for more guests.”

Rachel Love, a content creator living in Tennessee, caught the restaurant chain’s attention with her social media video showing off the new interior. 

The video has been viewed over 2 million times and has fetched nearly 4,000 comments since May.

Another eight-second video posted by @thecoachduggs earlier this month shows the interior of a remodeled Cracker Barrel. The caption reads, “At a remodeled Cracker Barrel. I hate it.”

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The viral video has been viewed more than 6 million times since Aug. 2.

It led to a follow-up post directed at Cracker Barrel.

“The people have spoken. Stop it,” @thecoachduggs wrote.

“HATE IT,” one person commented in the post.

“What a disaster!!” another person commented.

Moore reiterated that Cracker Barrel welcomes the feedback.

“We love feedback,” she said. “We take feedback from all channels very seriously. So, throughout this past year, when we talk about testing and all the development we’ve been doing, we have constantly pulsed various guest segments along the way.”

She said that includes loyal customers, lapsed guests and prospective diners.

“We truly want to understand how they feel about all the elements, whether it’s about the remodels or the menu or the full brand transformation framework,” she said. 

“This includes understanding … the social media narrative and really digging deep into what our fan base is saying about us.”

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But, she added, “The things you love about us will stay.”

“The things that make us truly who we are — that’s not changing.”

Massive space object could be alien probe on ‘reconnaissance mission,’ expert warns

Astronomers recently discovered a rare interstellar object passing through our solar system, and a Harvard physicist is sounding the alarm that its strange characteristics might indicate it’s more than just a typical comet.

“Maybe the trajectory was designed,” Dr. Avi Loeb, science professor at Harvard University, told Fox News Digital. “If it had an objective to sort of to be on a reconnaissance mission, to either send mini probes to those planets or monitor them… It seems quite anomalous.”

The object — dubbed 3I/ATLAS — was first detected in early July by an Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System, or ATLAS, telescope located in Chile. The discovery marked only the third time an interstellar object has been observed entering our solar system, according to NASA.

Although NASA has classified the object as a comet, Loeb noted that an image of the cosmic visitor indicated an unexpected glow appearing in front of the object, rather than trailing behind it — something he described as “quite surprising.”

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“Usually with comets you have a tail, a cometary tail, where dust and gas are shining, reflecting sunlight, and that’s the signature of a comet,” Loeb told Fox News Digital. “Here, you see a glow in front of it, not behind it.”

Measuring about 20 kilometers across, making it larger than Manhattan, 3I/ATLAS is also unusually bright for its distance. However, according to Loeb, its most unusual characteristic is its trajectory.

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“If you imagine objects entering the solar system from random directions, just one in 500 of them would be aligned so well with the orbits of the planets,” he said.

The interstellar object, which comes fromthe center of the Milky Way galaxy, is also expected to pass near to Mars, Venus and Jupiter — something that is also highly improbable to happen at random, according to Loeb.

“It also comes close to each of them, with a probability of one in 20,000,” he said. 

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The 3I/ATLAS object will reach its closest point to our sun — about 130 million miles away — on October 30, according to NASA.

“If it turns out to be technological, it would obviously have a big impact on the future of humanity,” Loeb said. “We have to decide how to respond to that.”

In January, seven years after SpaceX CEO Elon Musk launched a Tesla Roadster into orbit, astronomers from the Minor Planet Center at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Massachusetts confused it with an asteroid.

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A spokesperson for NASA did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

‘Titanic efforts’ to sabotage Trump-Putin summit, Russian envoy warns

A senior member of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle warned that multiple countries are mounting “titanic efforts” to undermine the upcoming summit between the Russian leader and U.S. President Donald Trump.

The two leaders are scheduled to meet in Alaska on Aug. 15, though Trump’s announcement, made via a Truth Social post on Friday, offered few additional details about the summit. It is also unclear if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will be invited to join the talks as the Kremlin’s unprovoked war stretches into its fourth year. 

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“Undoubtedly, a number of countries interested in continuing the conflict will make titanic efforts to disrupt the planned meeting between President Putin and President Trump,” wrote Russia’s investment envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, in a Telegram post on Saturday, referencing the Kremlin’s ongoing war in Ukraine.

While Dmitriev did not name specific countries, he warned that critics of the upcoming talks could seek to sabotage the summit through diplomatic maneuvers or media-driven provocations. Several NATO countries in Europe have been openly skeptical of any deal that rewards Russian aggression in the three-year-old war.

Dmitriev, who met with Trump administration officials in Washington in April, has been dubbed Putin’s “shadow foreign minister” for his behind-the-scenes role in shaping Russia’s global diplomacy.

 As head of the Kremlin’s sovereign wealth fund and a recently appointed special envoy, he has often acted as an informal bridge between Moscow and Washington.

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Meanwhile, the Kremlin said in a statement on Saturday that Trump and Putin are expected to “focus on discussing options for achieving a long-term peaceful resolution to the Ukrainian crisis.”

“This will evidently be a challenging process, but we will engage in it actively and energetically,” the statement added.

Trump has previously said that Putin and Zelenskyy were close to a ceasefire deal but suggested that Kyiv would have to concede significant territory, an outcome that Ukrainians and many European allies oppose. 

Celebrity mom admits she didn’t think about dangers after fans slam boat photo

Kourtney Kardashian is catching some heat. 

On Friday, the reality star and mom of four, 46, took to social media to share snapshots of her family vacation in Idaho. One photo, in particular, features her 21-month- old son, Rocky — who she shares with husband, Travis Barker — aboard a boat without a lifejacket. 

“Food for the soul,” Kardashian captioned the post. 

Social media users were quick to share their reactions to Kardashian’s parenting decision. 

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“No life jacket??? And the Mother of the year award goes to……” one user commented. 

“Not having a life jacket on your baby while in a boat is reckless and ILLEGAL,” another wrote.

One day later, Kardashian responded to the backlash. 

“Update: bought a life vest that fits!” she wrote on her Instagram story, over a screenshot of an infant life vest.

“Good looking out. Honestly didn’t think about some of the dangers,” she continued. “Thank you for making me aware and hopefully this helps make other mommies aware of the dangers of certain types of boating without a life vest.”

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Followers quickly praised the Lemme founder for her response. 

“I love that instead of getting angry she took the advice and wants to protect her child. She’s a great mom,” one user commented. “no need to chastise her anymore guys.”

“What a great response from Kourtney. There are many times in life when we just simply don’t think of something until someone points it out. Great Mom response,” another wrote. 

A representative for Kardashian did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

This isn’t the first time Kardashian has been a victim of the parenting police. 

The eldest of the Kardashian/Jenner brood shared a carousel of images welcoming in the new month of October, with a questionable lawn display prominently featured outside of her Southern California abode.

Two massive inflatable skeletons were blown up and perched on the grass beneath a tree, with one giant skeleton sitting on top of the other plastic skeleton in a suggestive manner, leaving little to the imagination of her followers.  

“The inflatables are cringe,” one Instagram user wrote, while another commented, “Your kids can SEE those skeletons.”

“As a mother of four kids I find it disgusting you would do that to those inflatables,” one follower wrote. 

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Barker and Kardashian have never shied away from public displays of affection since revealing their relationship in 2021. 

The couple welcomed baby Rocky in November, more than one year after officially tying the knot during a fairytale wedding in Italy.

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She has three children with her former partner, Scott Disick, while Barker also has three kids with his ex-wife, Shanna Moakler.

Boxing world mourns as pair of fighters die following matches on same card

Tragedy struck the Japanese boxing world as two boxers died from injuries suffered in their fights that were on the same exact card.

Shigetoshi Kotari and Hiromasa Urakawa, both 28, each suffered brain injuries that resulted in their untimely deaths.

Kotari collapsed shortly after completing a 12-round draw against Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation junior lightweight champion Yamato Hata on Aug. 2.

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He underwent emergency brain surgery for a subdural hematoma – a condition where blood collects between the brain and skull – but died on Friday.

Urakawa suffered a knockout loss to Yoji Saito, and he, too, had to undergo a brain operation, a craniotomy, in an attempt to save his life.

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“We extend our deepest condolences to the families, friends, and the Japanese boxing community during this incredibly difficult time,” the World Boxing Organization said on social media.

In response, the Japanese Boxing Commission has announced all OPBF title bouts will now be reduced from 12 rounds to 10.

Earlier this year, Irish boxer John Cooney died a week after being taken into intensive care following his Celtic super-featherweight title defeat to Nathan Howells in Belfast.

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A boxer from Nigeria also died after collapsing in the ring during a fight in April.

Comedian stands ‘proudly with walker’ after surgery as stars rush to support her

Amy Schumer is on the mend following surgery.

Schumer, 44, stood proudly with a walker while at home Saturday in a snap shared with her millions of Instagram followers.  

The “Trainwreck” actress confessed on social media that she underwent back surgery and was expecting a “short recovery” process.

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Schumer sported a pair of pink sweats with a red Catskill mountains sweatshirt and a pair of sturdy tennis shoes as she posed for a photo by a staircase.

“Since my surfing injury back in the day my L5 has been killing me,” Schumer captioned the post. 

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“Today I got a laminectomy! It’s a short recovery and when I’m feeling better I will buy a bra!”

Hundreds of friends and fans cheered Schumer on, and sent well-wishes for speedy healing.

“Feel better soon my love,” Kathy Hilton wrote, while country singer Elle King commented, “Surgery chic le freak.”

Debra Messing wrote, “Oh s–t ….. heal fast,” and Bethanny Frankel exclaimed, “OH NO.”

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Supermodel Helena Christensen sent a positive affirmation and told Schumer, “The Catskills has never looked better! Heal well and fast.”

Schumer’s back surgery comes months after the “Kinda Pregnant” star began using a new weight loss medication. 

Earlier this year, Schumer praised the effects of Mounjaro (also known as tirzepatide) after experiencing the negative effects of Ozempic.

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“I wanted to share and keep it 100 with you, that years ago – and yes, this is completely unsafe to be driving and making a video – years ago, three years ago, I tried WeGovy and I was like puking,” Schumer said in the clip captured while she was behind the wheel. 

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“I couldn’t handle it. I don’t know if they’ve changed the formula or whatever… but anyway, I went on this telehealth meeting with MidiHealth, and it was cheap. I wanted to try it myself, cause I wanted to recommend it to my friends who are like nurses and teachers.”

In addition to the injectable medication, which is primarily used to treat type 2 diabetes, the “Snatched” star has a new routine which includes hormones.

“They put me on estrogen and progesterone because I realized I was in perimenopause and my symptoms of being in perimenopause have disappeared,” Schumer said. 

“My hair is fuller, my skin is better, I have more energy, I want to get down more if you know what I mean – I’m talking about sex.”

She added, “So that’s been great, Mounajro’s been great… I’m having a really good experience with it and I wanted to keep it real with you about that.”

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Schumer told Howard Stern earlier this year that she was forced to quit Ozempic due to terrible side effects.

“I have this gene – GDF15 – which makes you extremely prone to nausea which is why I was so sick during my pregnancy. So, I tried Ozempic almost three years ago and I was like bedridden, I was vomiting and then you have no energy but other people take it and they’re all good,” she said on “The Howard Stern Show.”

Trump weighs major marijuana policy move that would reclassify the plant

President Donald Trump is weighing whether to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, according to a report.

Trump told attendees at a $1 million-a-plate fundraiser at his New Jersey golf club earlier this month he was interested in making a change to the plant’s classification, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.

This comes after cannabis companies have committed millions of dollars to the president’s political groups, according to the report.

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The guests at Trump’s fundraiser included Kim Rivers, chief executive of Trulieve, one of the largest marijuana companies. Rivers urged the president to make the change and expand medical marijuana research, the newspaper noted.

The potential move to remove marijuana from the list of Schedule I controlled substances and make it a Schedule III drug would make it significantly easier to buy and sell cannabis and make the industry more profitable.

The Biden administration had begun pursuing the reclassification of marijuana but did not enact the change before leaving office.

There have also been several bills introduced in Congress by Democrats and Republicans to either lower the classification of marijuana to a Schedule III drug or remove it from the list of controlled substances altogether. Federal lawmakers have also sought to decriminalize the plant.

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But these measures have not been signed into law.

At least 40 states have legalized medical marijuana, while 24 states and Washington, D.C., have also legalized recreational marijuana.