* Here you go…

* Crain’s | Pritzker’s not endorsing anyone for mayor. For now.: Gov. J.B. Pritzker is keeping his options open — wide open — about whether he’ll endorse someone for mayor of Chicago and, if so, whom. Asked at a press conference today if he’s finally ready to tip his hand now that voters have made former Chicago Public Schools chief Paul Vallas and Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson the mayoral finalists, Pritzker, who enjoys high popularity in the city, said it’s too early to make up his mind. But he didn’t close the door on anything.

* Sun-Times | Chicago police officer dies after exchanging gunfire ‘at close range’ with suspect in Gage Park: Officer Andres Vasquez-Lasso, 32, was hit several times but was able to return fire, hitting the suspect in the head, Police Supt. David Brown told reporters outside Mount Sinai Hospital, where the officer was taken. 

* WBEZ | Illinoisans applied in droves for student debt forgiveness. Now, they’re waiting on SCOTUS.: The Supreme Court on Tuesday heard arguments in a case that could derail hopes of canceled student debt for 1.5 million Illinois residents.

* Center Square | Lawmakers criticize DCFS hirings: State Rep. Mary Flowers, D-Chicago, said DCFS is losing good people because of the complicated hiring process. “Rethink whatever it is that you’re doing here, because this reminds me of a clogged sink, and when the stuff backs up, it stinks,” Flowers said.

* WGLT | Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulius says ‘modernization’ is key: Well, I think more broadly, we have to modernize the Secretary of State’s office. That’s why I’ve been traveling across the state visiting our facilities. We have to bring new technology and modernization into every element of the Secretary of State’s office. We want to eliminate the time tax that people are paying just to access government services. So one of the components of that, eventually will be digital IDs, digital driver’s license.

* Tribune | Political operative sentenced to more than 5 years in prison for array of corruption, including red-light camera scheme: Longtime Democratic operative Patrick Doherty was sentenced Wednesday to more than five years in federal prison for a wide range of corruption schemes stemming from a sprawling federal bribery investigation involving red-light cameras.

* Sun-Times | Former Cook County official Patrick Doherty sentenced to more than five years for bribery, tax evasion: Doherty considered bribes a cost of doing business, Ardam said, quoting from a wiretapped conversation where he Doherty counseled an unnamed confederate about paying off a public official to get work from the village of McCook, where Tobolski also served as mayor.

* WTTW | New Era of Police Oversight Dawns with Election of District Council Members: Starting in May, each of Chicago’s 22 police districts will be overseen by a three-person council as part of an effort to rebuild trust in the Police Department, which is governed by a court order requiring city leaders to change the way it trains, supervises and disciplines officers.

* Tribune | US Attorney John Lausch formally announces resignation, plans to step down March 11: Lausch’s last day in office will be March 11. His departure, which was first revealed by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland during an unrelated news conference in Washington in January, will officially kick off a search for a replacement that will be led by Illinois’ two Democratic senators, Dick Dubin and Tammy Duckworth.

* Patrick Joyce | We are better when we work together: There are many quotes from Mr. Lincoln that have resonated throughout history. But I think this one rings true in Springfield: “If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend.” As we begin the earnest work of the 103rd General Assembly in 2023, I am co-chairing one of two Senate committees where my fellow co-chair is a Republican.

* Vox | The Chicago mayor’s race shows Democrats still have a crime problem: The city has also seen high-profile shootings, increasing crime in downtown, constant media coverage about the violence, and heated rhetoric about how bad crime has become by the police union and Lightfoot herself. Those conditions have meant Chicago’s mayoral race has echoed local races in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC over the last two years.

* NBC Chicago | ‘He’s Got a Lot of Things to Answer’: Paul Vallas Questions Johnson For His Previous Remarks: What started out as a hotly contested race between nine candidates to unseat Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is now down to two, as former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas and Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson will battle it out in a head-to-head race on April 4.

* Sun-Times | Rejected before, Vallas aims to win over a city ‘in crisis’ — promising to get it ‘back on track’: After three unsuccessful previous runs for public office, the former Chicago Public Schools chief takes his tough-on-crime message to the city’s mayoral runoff.

* Sun-Times | 14 runoffs — maybe more — likely in City Council races: Things were only marginally better for the four City Council members Lightfoot appointed over the last year. Three apparently were unable to tally more than 50% of the vote and are likely headed for two-person runoff elections in April.

* Tribune | 34th Ward race: Billionaire’s son emerges as winner, set on addressing crime and development: Bill Conway — a former Cook County assistant state’s attorney, Navy veteran and son of the billionaire co-founder of the private equity firm The Carlyle Group — rebounded from his unsuccessful run for state’s attorney in 2020. According to unofficial returns, he won a commanding 67% over his opponent, Ascot Realty CEO James Ascot.

* Crain’s | What will happen to Invest South/West, LaSalle Street revival without Lightfoot?: Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s impending exit from City Hall raises big questions about the future of economic development and real estate-focused initiatives she championed over the past four years. Lightfoot’s wide-ranging Invest South/West program, her recent push to incentivize a LaSalle Street revival with affordable housing, the planned Bally’s riverfront casino she has pushed forward and even future city support for an annual NASCAR race around Grant Park that Lightfoot has touted are among the high-profile efforts that hang in the balance for the next mayor, with little clarity about what will continue, what won’t and who will be making those decisions.

* Illinois Times | City council to reconsider TIF funding to Horace Mann to demolish historic buildings: The Springfield City Council may reconsider its Feb. 21 vote granting Horace Mann Educators Corp. $600,000 in tax-increment financing revenues to demolish two downtown buildings and create a parking lot and green space in the 600 block of East Washington Street.

* Daily Southtown | Oak Lawn officer pleads not guilty in violent arrest captured on video, allegedly struck teen more than 10 times: Officer Patrick O’Donnell was released on an individual recognizance bond, according to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office. He has been with the department since December 2014. He was indicted by a grand jury Feb. 14.

* WBEZ | United Center food and beverage workers on brink of strike: Workers in the Unite Here Local 1 chapter authorized a strike in a 98% “yes” vote last month. Last Friday members signed up for the $300-per-week strike benefit from the union just before a Bulls game that night.

* AP | Legal fight over student debt a prelude to political battle: “The president still has the responsibility to ensure that we see this become a reality,” said Wisdom Cole, national director of the NAACP Youth and College Division. “There are folks that are still suffering, and we want to ensure that they have the opportunity to see relief.”

* Tribune | What’s the book on Justin Fields around the NFL? The Chicago Bears QB has to ‘figure out the simple’ to get to the next level.: “No one wants to play against that kid. I can tell you that much,” one league executive said. “And if you have him, I can only imagine how much it would stimulate your own imagination for what’s possible. He’s pretty damn talented.”

* Sun-Times | Oscar Lawton Wilkerson Jr., last known surviving member of the Tuskegee Airmen in Chicago area, dead at 96: As a kid growing up in Chicago Heights, Mr. Wilkerson dreamed of flying as he tossed toy airplanes. He later became a bomber pilot with the Tuskegee Airmen, whose competence and bravery helped pave the way for desegregation in the military.