* Here you go…

* Capitol News | High prices, gaps in availability across Illinois highlight patchwork child care system: Part of the problem in Illinois is that there are more children than “slots” for them in child care settings. Day care centers, in-home day cares and preschools all have a capacities based on staffing levels and facility size.

* Fox Chicago | Bolingbrook manufacturing plant accused of using child labor: ‘Unacceptable’: The Chicago Workers Collaborative found workers to corroborate the troubling claims. They said the child laborers are as young as 13, 14, 15, often unaccompanied minors who are easy to isolate.

* Tribune | State witness protection program finally gets millions in funding, but has yet to get off the ground: For the second year in a row, Gov. J.B. Pritzker is proposing the state spend tens of millions of dollars on a witness protection program that went unfunded for the first nine years of its existence. Eight months since the long-neglected initiative secured its initial funding, however, no witnesses have been relocated, and only about $67,500 of the $30 million approved by the General Assembly last spring has been spent, primarily on employee-related expenses.

* Daily Herald | Resident calls Bears tax break a ’stinker,’ but Arlington Heights officials don’t weigh in yet: Donald Meersman, a resident who brought the topic up during the village board meeting Monday night, called the legislation “a stinker.” “I just received the biannual love note that I’ve been getting from the taxman for 42 years,” said Meersman, holding up a copy of his recent tax bill. “I respectfully request your leadership on this policy for the next 40 years, although I probably won’t be around for that long.”

* Sun-Times | Under pressure from city’s watchdog, CPD reopens probe of cop who wore extremist symbol during racial justice protest: This marks at least the third time Chicago’s inspector general has pressed the police department to take a closer look at an officer’s far-right links.

* Herald & Review | Decatur’s 40-year legacy of license plate manufacturing gets Giannoulias blessing: “This is one of the most inspirational things I’ve ever seen in my time in politics,” Giannoulias said. “I wish everyone who lives in Illinois could come here and see the amazing work that MRI does. I think it’s a testament to others helping others, but also providing jobs and opportunity and hope.”

* Farm Week | Get to Know Senate Republican Leader John Curran: Senate Republicans have a bold, but doable agenda to help Illinois families and job creators rebuild and renew opportunities in our state with a specific emphasis on supporting small and medium-sized businesses. We kicked off this effort with Senate Resolution 27 that calls on the Illinois Senate to protect the will of Illinois voters and reject any progressive income tax measure that is introduced in the 103rd General Assembly.

* Sun-Times | ‘A mail-biter’? Ald. La Spata ‘encouraged’ by slim margin in 1st Ward — but casts wary eye to ballots trickling in by mail: Ald. Daniel La Spata (1st) had 50.1% of the vote after the latest batch of mail-in ballots were tallied, putting him just 12 votes over the minimum needed to avoid a runoff against challenger Sam Royko.

* Tribune | After leaked report on smokestack demolition, Little Village residents feel invisible, many skip voting: Little Village residents say they feel invisible, and that translated to the polls where the 22nd Ward recorded a 23% voter turnout as of March 1, one of the lowest in the city.

* WBEZ | Construction to resume on Rockford airport expansion, despite endangered bee: But a conservation group is moving quickly to block the bulldozers. Activists want to put off a project they say threatens prized prairie habitat and is a home of the Rusty Patched Bumble Bee.

* WTTW | Questions Loom as Lake County Considers Forest Preserve Land Sale to Waukegan Airport: “This is not for public use,” said Doug Ower, an area resident and chairman of the local Sierra Club chapter. “The only reason, in my opinion, that runway needs to be extended is to bring in larger jets. They’re promoting this as a safety issue, I think it’s more of a larger jet issue.”

* WBEZ | Illinois craft cannabis growers get much needed extension: Now, the deadline for the first round of license winners is Feb. 1, 2024, and Dec. 1, 2024, for the second round. But problems remain with financing.

* Tribune | Nearly 1.3 million Illinois Facebook users are getting a second check from last year’s $650 million biometric privacy settlement: A second payment of $30.61 was issued beginning Feb. 28 to everyone who cashed their initial $397 settlement check last year in the class action lawsuit. The supplemental distribution represents more than $43 million left over in the settlement fund after nearly 110,000 Illinois class members filed a claim but did not cash the first check.

* Tribune | Folk schools want to be more inclusive. Here’s how the 1st one in Illinois plans to make it happen.: A folk school is budding in the prairie west of Champaign. It’s a first for Illinois, and it comes at a time when folk schools are seeing an uptick in popularity — classes on watercolor and bread baking aligning with pandemic-launched hobbies — while also seeking to become more inclusive of craftwork from marginalized communities.

* Eater | The Founder of Mr. Beef, the Legendary Chicago Italian Beef Stand, Has Died: “My dad was gregarious, he was rough around the edges,” his daughter says. “He had a very big heart and he loved being around the restaurant.”