* Here’s the roundup…

* WAND | Pritzker administration optimistic about budget plan targeting homelessness: The Pritzker administration hopes this multi-year plan will help everyone get access to housing. More than $155 million could assist unhoused people looking for shelter and support services while $40 million is set aside for permanent supportive housing. The administration told the House Housing Committee Wednesday that this funding could help develop over 90 new permanent supportive housing units that provide families with long-term rental assistance, case management, and other critical services.

* Sun-Times | Chicago groups scramble to find housing for newly arrived immigrants 6 months after busing began: Community groups and volunteers are stepping up to assist — and sometimes take into their homes — new immigrants seeking refuge around the Chicago area as shelters fill up and temporary housing spaces, including shuttered schools, spark controversy.

* Tribune | Madigan confidant was interviewed twice by FBI in years leading up to bombshell indictments: The first interview of Michael McClain, the speaker’s friend and ComEd lobbyist, came in August 2014, the same month that Madigan was secretly recorded by an FBI informant at his law firm discussing a desire to secure property tax business with a Chinatown developer, the filing shows.

* Daily Herald | ‘All-gender multiple-occupancy’ restrooms bill advances in state House: The text of the bill states its purpose is “to promote the privacy, safety, and gender inclusivity of all Illinois residents and visitors,” and that the measure should be “liberally construed” to carry out its purpose.

* WTTW | Chicago Teachers Union Under Fire From Within for Campaign Spending: A Chicago Teachers Union political action committee has donated more than $1 million to Johnson’s mayoral campaign, and union leadership is all in on Johnson, who is a paid CTU officer and Cook County commissioner.

* Daily Herald | Three school districts select lobbyist to fight Bears legislation: All three school districts whose boundaries include the Chicago Bears’ 326-acre Arlington Park property are now all on board in hiring a joint lobbyist to oppose, or at least amend, legislation that would give the franchise a massive tax break there.

* Baltimore Sun | Standardized exams keep Black social workers out, activists say. These Marylanders want to change that.: Starting in May, Wilkerson, 24, took the exam three times in four months. He spent his summer studying. He sank at least $1,300 into test preparation and fees. He failed each time ― by 10 points, by six points, and then by a single point.

* ABC Chicago | Illinois marijuana industry still falling short on social equity: According to the state’s report, in 2022, Black people made up only 1% of majority dispensary owners, as did Hispanic majority owners. Eighty-eight percent of the state’s dispensaries are white majority owned, and the remaining businesses are majority owned by people of two or more, or other races.

* TSPR | Prison classrooms in Illinois open doors to graduate degrees: Following its initial classes in 2015 blending traditional and incarcerated students for a certificate level program, the school launched the four-year master’s degree in 2018. Offering a master’s degree to men with decades or a lifetime left on their sentences was a key component to the program, said Vickie Reddy, a graduate of the first North Park cohort who now serves as North Park’s director of operations.

* Daily Herald | Charlie Kirk event could draw protests, organizers say schools topic ‘isn’t partisan’: Supporters said they see it as an opportunity to educate and offer solutions to problems in the state’s schooling system. Opponents say they view it as a dog whistle to attack certain groups and raise money.

* Sun-Times | ‘It’s a joke!’ City Council members grill Chicago police officials about extremists in their ranks: Chicago City Council members repeatedly expressed frustration Wednesday as police officials gave conflicting, sometimes puzzling reasons why they have not moved more aggressively against officers tied to far-right groups implicated in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

* Sun-Times | Candidates in neighboring South Side wards aim to build business to reduce crime: Seven candidates in the 21st Ward are pushing alternatives to conventional policing, while in the nearby 18th Ward, only one candidate is challenging incumbent Ald. Derrick Curtis.

* WTTW | How Byproduct From Local Breweries is Helping Clean Our Wastewater: Using the carbon-rich spent yeast to reduce the amount of phosphorus in the water MWRD treats. If there’s too much phosphorus in the water, that can feed microorganisms that can harm waterways.

* News-Gazette | Schnucks VP who worked her way up returning to Champaign for United Way award: Now in her 26th year with Schnucks and vice president of store operations at the company’s headquarters in St. Louis, Brandt will be returning to her hometown of Champaign on Friday to accept an award from the United Way of Champaign County on behalf of Schnucks’ stores in Champaign, Urbana, Savoy and Mahomet.

* SJ-R | Springfield Police, Moving Pillsbury Foward, Public Works, win in city’s 2024 fiscal budget : City council members notably approved an amendment that put $2.3 million into a budget line to boost the salaries of Springfield Police officers.

* Crain’s | Northwestern professor on Biden’s shortlist for Fed vice chair: In the hunt for Lael Brainard’s successor, the White House is “focusing in” on Harvard University professor Karen Dynan, Northwestern University finance professor Janice Eberly and Morgan Stanley Chief Global Economist Seth Carpenter, according to a research note Tuesday from Tobin Marcus, an Evercore analyst who advised Biden on economic policy when he was vice president.

* Daily Beast | Google Just Got a Lot Closer to Unleashing the Power of Quantum Computing: “To our delight, our team was able for the first time to demonstrate in practice that qubits protected by surface code error correction can indeed be scaled to reach lower error rates,” he said. The team published a paper of their findings in the journal Nature on Feb. 22.

* WTVO | Pritzker, lieutenant governor grab funnel cakes in Rockford: Stratton posted pictures to her Facebook page, posing for pictures with Pritzker before they enjoyed some sweet treats. She pointed out the banana pudding and strawberry cheesecake funnel cakes as her favorite.