* Here’s your morning roundup…

* WICA | Freshman senators continue Bennett’s legacy with valentines programs: State Senators Tom Bennett (R-Gibson City) and Paul Faraci (D-Champaign) need help with their Valentine’s program, continuing the work formerly done by Tom’s nephew and Paul’s friend, the late Sen. Scott Bennett.

* Sun-Times | Illinois schools should teach media literacy as early as kindergarten: When large numbers of educated people believe without any basis that elections are stolen and vaccines are lethal, we have no choice but to move media literacy from the periphery to the center.

* Crain’s | Wealth tax plan pushed in Springfield: Under a proposal being introduced by Rep. Will Guzzardi, D-Chicago, anyone with a net worth of at least $1 billion would have to pay 4.95% of it off the top to the state each year regardless of whether investment markets are rising or falling and notwithstanding underlying economic conditions.

* WGLT | Rep. Caulkins plans lawsuit against the assault weapons ban after limited court order: Caulkins said attorney Tom DeVore who filed the suit in Effingham County will not be part of the litigation, but he said the court filing will “closely mirror” the arguments DeVore made when the judge ruled in his favor.

* Capitol News Illinois | State preparing further defense of assault weapons ban: Raoul’s office filed the petition in the 5th District Appellate Court in southern Illinois, arguing that Effingham County Judge Joshua Morrison had abused his discretion and the plaintiffs are unlikely to succeed in their lawsuit, thus the restraining order was granted incorrectly.

* Tribune | Lawmakers call on DuPage sheriff to enforce assault weapons ban: Lawmakers, including U.S. Reps. Sean Casten, D-Downers Grove; Delia Ramirez, D-Chicago; Bill Foster, D-Naperville; and Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Schaumburg, spoke at Monday’s news conference at Danada House in Wheaton, calling Mendrick’s statement irresponsible.

* 25 News Now | Pritzker rival Darren Bailey tops list of new plaintiffs in second assault weapon ban suit: This time the suit is based in White County, Illinois, which is near the southern Illinois border. The law offices of Tom DeVore, a Bailey ally and former Attorney General candidate, say around 1,500 residents have signed on to the second suit. The same three state leaders are listed as defendants: Gov. JB Pritzker, Speaker of the House Emanuel “Chris” Welch, and Senate President Don Harmon.

* WGN | Lightfoot takes aim at García over Madigan association, ComEd scheme: ‘Come clean’: Emerging from a session with the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board on Monday, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot unloaded on mayoral challenger Congressman Jesus “Chuy” García.“Congressman García has got to come clean with the voters of the city about what his connection is, not only to the now-disgraced, indicted, former [Michael Madigan] but also what his connection is to this evolving, deep ComEd scandal,” she said.

* Sun-Times | City Council urged to approve public financing of Chicago elections: Alisa Kaplan, executive director of Reform for Illinois, called public campaign financing “a very small investment … that can really have a very high return on investment in terms of how it transforms the political landscape.”

* WTTW | Chicago Police Face Renewed Questions About Extremist Cops as Lightfoot Dismisses Concerns: And twice in the past three months, Mayor Lori Lightfoot has declined to answer questions from WTTW News about whether the continued presence of an officer who admitted belonging to the Oath Keepers and another officer with ties to the Proud Boys will complicate efforts to reform the beleaguered Chicago Police Department and rebuild Chicagoans’ trust in the department.

* Sun-Times | Proposal seeks to increase protections, equity for temporary workers: The Temp Worker and Fairness Safety Act could make it easier for temporary workers to get hired permanently, while cracking down on coercive labor practices, supporters say

* Tribune | Skokie faces $80 million cost to replace pipes, keep lead out of drinking water in homes: Village staff warned officials that the task was enormous and on par with the village’s replacement of its stormwater management system, which Village Manager John Lockerby said took place from the 1970s through the 1990s.

* WTTW | Ethics Board Asks City, CPS Inspector Generals to Probe Lightfoot Campaign Emails Sent to Teachers, College Instructors: The call comes after the Lightfoot campaign sent emails to CPS teachers and City Colleges of Chicago faculty seeking student volunteers to help her win reelection in return for credit. The discussion that led to the vote by the members of the Chicago Board of Ethics took place in closed session and the board’s action did not name Lightfoot, in keeping with the board’s rules.

* The New Republic | Who Is Brandon Johnson? More on the Chicago Mayoral Challenger With a History in Organizing: Johnson, a teacher and organizer, has emerged among the top candidates in a race that requires the winner to cross a simple majority threshold. If no candidate reaches at least 50 percent in next month’s election, which is the likely case, the top two vote-getters will proceed to an April runoff. Johnson, whose candidacy garnered no opinion from more than 70 percent of voters as recently as last month, is already putting up a formidable fight.

* Sun-Times | Johnson unveils tax-the-rich plan to bankroll social services: Johnson wants to “make the suburbs, airlines and ultra-rich pay their fair share” to generate $800 million in new revenue. His plan includes a Metra “city surcharge” to raise $40 million from the suburbs.

* Block Club | South Side Aldermanic Candidate Knocked Off Ballot After Officials Say She Lives In Wrong Ward: City Council candidates generally are required to have lived in their ward for at least a year prior to the election. Because the ward boundaries were redrawn in 2022, candidates can run for office in any ward that includes a part of the ward they lived in before redistricting, the elections board announced in October. But 8th Ward residents are only eligible to run in the 6th, 7th and 8th wards under those rules. The 5th and 8th Ward boundaries never overlapped, so Irmer can’t be elected as 5th Ward alderperson, commissioners said.

* Block Club | West Side Ald. Jason Ervin Unopposed For 4th Term After All 3 Challengers Kicked Off Ballot: Candidates Beverly Miles and Shawn Walker lost their spots on the ballot this month after elections officials determined none had enough valid signatures to qualify for the race. A third challenger, Timothy Gladney, withdrew as he faced a challenge to his candidacy.

* WTTW | Trans Former Bus Driver Sues CTA, Union for Discrimination and Wrongful Termination: In 2019, WTTW News covered his successful push for the transit agency to add gender affirming care to its health insurance policy. That includes a range of health care designed to support transgender people, whose gender identity is different from the sex they were assigned at birth. Since that breakthrough, Brown has been fired from his job as a driver. He’s now suing the CTA and the union representing bus operators alleging discrimination, retaliation and wrongful termination.

* Tribune | Vintage Chicago Tribune: In 1977, Skokie was a refuge for thousands of Holocaust survivors. Then a group of self-styled Nazis planned a march.: Until World War II, Chicago’s North Shore was largely off limits to Jews. Property deeds provided that they were only to be sold to white Christians. But Skokie had undeveloped land that homebuilders hoped to capitalize on. So during the pent-up housing demand of the postwar years, those developers got the word out to residents of Chicago’s Jewish neighborhoods that Skokie was open to them.