* Attorney General Kwame Raoul in response to federal LIHEAP and SSBG employee firings…

“States including Illinois rely on federal funds to provide vital services to some of our most vulnerable populations, including children, people who have disabilities, older individuals and low-income residents. I am extremely alarmed by reports that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has abruptly fired employees working on Social Services Block Grants (SSBG) and the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). States are entitled to SSBG funds, which support programs that protect children from abuse and exploitation and allow adults with disabilities to live within their communities, instead of institutional settings. States utilize LIHEAP funds to help prevent low-income residents from being forced to choose between paying for heat and other household necessities like groceries.

“We now know that what the Trump administration calls ‘reducing government waste’ in reality means eliminating programs and services that allow our residents to live independently, safely and with dignity. Firing the federal workers who administer and allocate SSBG and LIHEAP funds is this administration’s latest demonstration of its contempt for federal civil servants and cruel disregard for vulnerable Americans. My office has thus far filed nine lawsuits to protect Illinoisans from unlawful overreach. We will evaluate options for responding to cuts in social service funding.”

* Illinois Times…

Imagine being owed $1 million and going years without collecting.

Emails are sent, with no response. Phone calls aren’t returned. Knocking on the door doesn’t do any good because no one seems to ever be in the office. As a last resort, a note demanding payment is slipped under the deadbeat’s door.

But still, no check has arrived.

That’s the predicament the Springfield Airport Authority finds itself in with the state of Illinois.

The Illinois Department of Transportation administers Federal Aviation Administration money. In September 2019, the SAA received a Federal Airport Improvement Grant for multiple projects, including improving the airport’s main runway and making other improvements such as drainage and wildlife control.

One of the projects was awarded in September 2022 in the amount of $1,050,306, and the work was completed by December of that year. The FAA made funding available in February 2023 to pay invoices, but IDOT never dispersed the funds.

* Click here for some background. CoinDesk…

Illinois will soon drop its staking lawsuit against Coinbase, joining three other U.S. states that have recently backed down from litigation against the exchange.

A spokesperson for Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias told CoinDesk on Thursday that the office “intends to drop the Coinbase lawsuit.” The spokesperson did not reply when asked when the case may be dropped.

Illinois was one of 10 U.S. states that brought charges against Coinbase in 2023 for allegedly violating state securities laws through its staking program. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also charged Coinbase with violating federal securities laws for its staking product, but dropped that suit in February. Since the SEC’s retreat, state securities regulators in Kentucky, Vermont and South Carolina have also abandoned their own cases against the exchange.

* Illinois Department of Central Management Services…

Over-the-year, the unemployment rate decreased in eleven metro areas and increased in one for the year ending February 2025, according to data released today by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the Illinois Department of Employment Security (DES). Over-the-year, total nonfarm jobs increased in seven metropolitan areas and decreased in five.

“Today’s data report continues to underscore the strength of Illinois’ labor market with unemployment dropping and increases in jobs across most metro areas over the year,” said Deputy Governor Andy Manar. “Illinois remains laser-focused on encouraging business development and expanding economic opportunities throughout the state.”

The metro areas which had the largest over-the-year percentage increases in total nonfarm jobs were the Elgin Metropolitan Division (+2.3%, +6,600), the Rockford MSA (+1.2%, +1,700), the Kankakee MSA (+0.9%, +400) and the Peoria MSA (+0.9%, +1,600). Total nonfarm jobs in the Chicago-Naperville- Schaumburg Metropolitan Division were up +18,600 (+0.5%). The metro areas which posted the largest over-the-year decreases in total nonfarm jobs were the Bloomington MSA (-2.2%, -2,100), the Decatur MSA (-1.7%, -800), the Champaign-Urbana MSA (-1.5%,-1,800), and the Illinois section of the Davenport-Moline-Rock Island IA-IL MSA (-1.5%, -1,300). Industries that saw job growth in the majority of the twelve metro areas included: Private Education and Health Services (eleven areas); Government (ten areas); Retail Trade (nine areas); and Mining and Construction, Transportation, Warehousing and Utilities, and Financial Activities (seven areas each).

The metro areas with the largest unemployment rate decreases were the Rockford MSA (-1.2 points to 5.6%), the Elgin Metro Division (-1.1 points to 5.0%), the Lake County Metro Division (-1.1 points to 5.3%), and the Kankakee MSA (-1.0 point to 5.9%). The Chicago Metro Division reported the only increase (+0.1 point to 5.3%).

*** Statehouse News ***

* Illinois Times | Springfield diocese files lawsuit to allow religious groups to determine hiring criteria: A new Illinois law prohibits discrimination against individuals based on their position on abortion, but Catholic Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield is challenging its constitutionality. “States can’t force religious groups to violate their faith by affirming and accepting employees who violate their religious beliefs,” said Paprocki, who has made a name for himself as one of the nation’s most conservative Catholic leaders.

* Center Square | DOJ asks judge to deny IL’s motion to dismiss migrant sanctuary lawsuit: The U.S. Department of Justice is urging a federal district court judge to deny a motion to dismiss its challenge to Illinois’ migrant sanctuary policies. Arguing Illinois’ migrant sanctuary policies “allow criminal illegal aliens to move freely throughout the United States, inflicting harm on victims that would have been averted had the alien been detained,” the DOJ moved Tuesday to deny the motion to dismiss from Chicago, Cook County and the state of Illinois.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Tribune | Lauren Rapisand readies to take over as Park Ridge 6th Ward leader, wants to ‘give back to the community’: Park Ridge Alderperson Richard “Rick” Biagi had decided not to seek reelection to be 6th Ward leader, creating a contest to replace him where, according to unofficial vote totals from the election Tuesday, Lauren Rapisand appears to have prevailed. “Having held elected office in Park Ridge for the past 16 years, I believe it is my time to step aside and make way for new faces and new voices,” Biagi told Pioneer Press via email ahead of the April 1 Consolidated Election.

* Aurora Beacon-News | Election results in Sugar Grove show continued concern over Crown development: Unofficial results from Tuesday night appear to show the ousting of current village president Jennifer Konen and an incumbent village trustee, and the passage of a non-binding referendum question asking the village to reverse its decision on the controversial Crown development project. The advisory referendum asking the village to reverse its decision to allow the project appears to have passed with 57.74% of votes as of Tuesday night, according to unofficial election results from the Kane County Clerk’s Office.

* Daily Herald | Grafton Township Board turns blue as voters also deliver change to Huntley District 158 school board: For the first time in recent memory, the Grafton Township board in McHenry County is slated to be run by Democrats. Voters in the township also appear to have helped boost Huntley Unit School District 158 candidates who were backed by the teachers union and a grass-roots group seeking a new direction for that board. In the District 158 school board race, incumbents Paul Troy and Sean Cratty appear headed for another four-year term. Challengers Melissa Maiorino and Rich Bobby also appear poised to win seats, though results remain unofficial.

* Daily Herald | Vetter’s $163 million expansion plan faces big vote in Des Plaines: A German pharmaceutical company’s $163 million plan to expand its Des Plaines facility could get a key go-ahead from the city council Monday. Vetter intends to construct a roughly 158,000-square-foot manufacturing and office building on its nearly 18-acre campus at 10 W. Algonquin Road. Three existing Vetter buildings on the property will remain.

* Daily Herald | Lakemoor trustees to vote on controversial solar farm on golf course land Tuesday: The Pistakee Country Club could soon be converted to a solar farm in Lakemoor, but neighbors living nearby have issues with it. Many neighbors spoke against the proposal in a packed zoning board hearing last month. Among their concerns is the potential impact of the solar farm on the nearby Chain O’ Lakes and property values, and how much noise it would generate.

* Crain’s | Feds explore building data centers at Argonne, Fermi labs: The Energy Department said it’s exploring using thousands of acres of federal land nationwide that are positioned to quickly develop data-centers, in part because the government can fast-track permitting for nuclear reactors and other power plants to run the facilities. “The global race for AI dominance is the next Manhattan project,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement. “The Department of Energy is taking important steps to leverage our domestic resources to power the AI revolution, while continuing to deliver affordable, reliable and secure energy to the American people.”

* ELgin Courier-News | EPA starts work removing radium-tainted soil, debris from former Silbert Watch Co. in Elgin: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency this week started removing radium-contaminated soil from the former Silbert Watch Co. site and adjacent property at the northeast corner of Dundee and Stewart avenues on Elgin’s northeast side. The EPA is paying for the cleanup, which is expected to cost about $500,000 and to be finished by early summer, EPA spokesman David Shark said.

*** Downstate ***

* WMBD | Dan Brady wants smooth transition into office: The former state representative is eager to have discussions and implement measures to ensure public safety. Brady wants to continue working on existing projects like the downtown streetscape. Overall, this transition includes talking to department heads and seeing which staff members stay and which ones leave. “You know, there’s some city staff that are employees under different union contracts. Other city staff, that’s administrative staff,” said the former county coroner. “We want to keep, obviously, good experienced workers there to help make sure the transition is smooth and they have a history with the city. And we definitely want people there as employees that remember that customers first are the citizens of Bloomington.”

* Illinois Times | Juvenile Detention Center reopens: The Sangamon County Board in 2024 spent more than $362,000 on security upgrades for the county’s Juvenile Detention Center, including $132,500 for an X-ray body scanner similar to what is used in airports. The improvements are hoped to make the center, in the 2200 block of South Dirksen Parkway in Springfield, safer for staff and detainees in the wake of a fatal shooting outside the center’s entrance on Sept. 30, 2023.

* KFVS | First Housing Security Summit held in southern Illinois: Boots SI, a forum for nonprofit organizations throughout Southern Illinois working to provide for those in poverty and crisis hosted the event. The summit focused on insights and successes from other regional professionals to inspire starting similar initiatives in communities across southern Illinois.

* WCIA | Danville City Council votes to oppose correctional center firing range in resolution: In 1988, a judge issued a permanent injunction to end firing any weapons at the firing range on the Danville Correctional Center’s property. Now City Council says the warden is working with the Illinois Attorney General’s office on vacating the injunction, but the council viewed it as unsafe.

* WGLT | New Bloomington-Normal tourism chief gets settled as her agency ramps up for Route 66 Centennial: Bloomington native Melissa Chrisman says there are tons of things to do in the Twin Cities. Now, getting people to find the fun in Bloomington-Normal is her job. Chrisman is settling into her new role as the CEO of the Bloomington-Normal Area Convention and Visitors Bureau [CVB], also known at Visit BN. She’s been on the job for about two months, choosing to move back home and leave a job in communications in Fort Worth, Texas.

*** Chicago ***

* South Side Weekly | Mayor Accused of Preventing Department Reps From Attending Hearing: Police district councilors’ efforts to explore alternatives to having police and 911 handle parking violation complaints hit a snag this week when a City Council hearing on the matter was abruptly canceled. Members of the 19th Police District Council (PDC) who have been pushing for the subject-matter hearing laid the blame squarely on the Fifth Floor of City Hall in an email to constituents. It said the meeting was canceled after the mayor prevented department heads from attending, a charge the Mayor’s Office denied.

* WTTW | Chicago Police Continued to Target Black, Latino Drivers with Traffic Stops in 2024, Advocacy Group Reports: Approximately 65% of the more than 293,000 traffic stops made by CPD officers and reported to state officials were prompted by improper or expired registration plates or stickers and headlight, taillight and license plate light offenses, according to a new report from Impact for Equity, a nonprofit advocacy and research organization that has helped lead the push to reform the Chicago Police Department.

* Tribune | Spiking natural gas prices to hit home for Peoples Gas customers: Peoples Gas is charging customers 52.79 cents per therm for gas in April, up about 30% from March and 104% year-over-year, according to the Citizens Utility Board, making it the second-highest gas price Peoples has charged during April in a decade. “Peoples Gas misled its customers,” CUB Executive Director Sarah Moskowitz said in a news release Wednesday. “It was absurd for the utility to claim that its rate hike wouldn’t lead to higher bills. The supply price spike took effect on April Fools’ Day, but this is no joke for so many Chicago families who are struggling to afford their heating bills. We hope it’s a warm spring.”

* Sun-Times | CTU president Stacy Davis Gates denies union power play caused rift with SEIU: The civil war between the Chicago Teachers Union and SEIU has fractured Mayor Brandon Johnson’s progressive union coalition continues — so much so that it endangers Johnson’s political future. It centers around Davis Gates’ failed attempt to have the CTU take over classroom assistant jobs held by SEIU Local 73.

* Sun-Times | Resisting mayoral pressure, Choose Chicago picks tourism vet Kristen Reynolds as CEO: Choose Chicago said Thursday it has named Kristen Reynolds to fill the key post, which has been the highest-paid public position in Chicago. Reynolds comes to Chicago after 27 years in tourism leadership, the last decade as CEO of New York’s Discover Long Island. She will take over an organization that, with public and private funding, is tasked with promoting Chicago against cities that have much larger budgets to market themselves. While Chicago has seen growth in business and leisure travel, it still hasn’t hit the record numbers it recorded just before the pandemic.

* Sun-Times | Venezuelan man arrested by ICE to be freed temporarily to donate kidney to brother: “This marks a victory for humanity and compassion,” said Erendira Rendón, Chief Programs Officer for The Resurrection Project, in a statement. “This decision recognizes that our fundamental human rights transcend immigration status and that our communities have the power to demand that our humanity be recognized. We are grateful to everyone who stood with the Gonzalez family and our broader immigrant community as we fought to correct this grave injustice.”

* Crain’s | Michael Reinsdorf blasts Comcast over Bulls, Sox, Blackhawks blackout: Bulls President Michael Reinsdorf called out Comcast today over its negotiations for a carriage deal with Chicago Sports Network, saying the cable provider has acted in “bad faith” toward the new network co-owned by the team. Reinsdorf, appearing with Blackhawks CEO Danny Wirtz at a Crain’s real estate event this morning, said CHSN believed it had a deal with Comcast in December, but the agreement fell through for an undisclosed reason.

* Block Club | Tom Skilling Gets Hero’s Welcome In Chicago — And Raises Alarm About National Weather Service Cuts: “I feel guilty every time I get on the darn plane to Hawaii,” legendary local weatherman Tom Skilling told a packed house of scientists, environmentalists and superfans who flocked to City Club on Wednesday to hear him speak for $95 a seat. Skilling — who has gone snorkeling in Hawaii and hiking in Alaska since retiring from WGN in February 2024 — received a hero’s welcome back home in Chicago, the city where he’s famous for his long spiels about the iconically crummy weather. This time, he took aim at President Donald Trump.

*** National ***

* WIRED | Trump and DOGE Defund Program That Boosted American Manufacturing for Decades: At the height of the US trade war with Japan in the 1980s, Congress established a nationwide network of organizations to advise small American manufacturers on how to survive and grow in what was then a particularly difficult environment. Decades later, there is now at least one Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) center in all 50 states, and they continue to provide taxpayer-subsidized consulting to thousands of businesses, including makers of ovens, printers, tortillas, and dog food. […] The Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which administers the program to help manufacturers, emailed lawmakers to say that it would not be paying out nearly $12.9 million that had been due overall this week to MEP centers in 10 states, according to Democratic staff of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology who spoke on on the condition of anonymity.

* NPR | U.S. stocks post deep losses on trade war fears over new tariffs: President Trump’s sweeping tariff announcement Wednesday triggered a sharp drop in U.S. stock markets, a flashing-red warning sign of the economic fallout that’s expected to result from the widening trade war. Around midday Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had tumbled over 1,200 points, or 3%. The broader S&P 500 index sank 4% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq index dropped nearly 5%.

* Crain’s | Now comes the hard part: Sifting through the Trump tariff wreckage: Companies will spend weeks and months figuring out exactly what President Donald Trump’s lengthy executive order means to them. […] “Instead of talking about tariffs on a handful of countries, we’re talking about at least a universal 10% additional tariff,” says Kristin Bohl, a partner in PricewaterhouseCoopers’ customs and international trade practice. “It doesn’t matter where you source from, you’re hit 10% more than you were yesterday, with limited exceptions.”