3 projects with close ties to Gov. Pritzker’s allies land $141M in state funding

Downstate Cairo desperately needs an economic boost, with its historic downtown marked with several old buildings, including debris from one being demolished in March. But a proposed solution — a huge port project — has stalled. (Julia Rendleman/For Illinois Answers Project)

Forlorn and mostly forgotten, tiny Cairo, Illinois, the southernmost city in the state, has taken center stage in Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s campaign to rebuild Illinois infrastructure and revive the economy of the struggling town, once a crossroads for steamboats, ferries and rail. 

Never a large city, it has declined from 15,000 people in the 1920s to fewer than 2,000 today. It lacks basic businesses and services. It has no gas station, no hospital and no pharmacy.