* From Heather Wier Vaught’s excellent weekend newsletter…

LEGISLATIVE

Schedule: Both chambers met [last] week. Friday was the Third Reading deadline in the Senate, and they finished early in the day without any major incidents. In total, the Senate passed 265 bills over to the House, and the House passed 443 bills to the Senate. Members will be back in their district offices for the next two weeks, and both chambers reconvene April 18-20.

Senate Hearings on Chicago Elected School Board: The General Assembly is tasked with drawing districts for the soon-to-be elected Chicago Board of Education. The Senate’s Special Committee on the Chicago Elected Representative School Board will hold hearings throughout Chicago April 5 through 17 to gather public input. The public may provide in-person testimony, submit written testimony, or submit witness slips in advance of the hearings via email at ChicagoERSBCommittee@senatedem.ilga.gov.

House Appropriations-Higher Education Procurement Subcommittee: House Appropriations-Higher Education Committee Chair, LaShawn Ford, announced the creation of a new subcommittee aimed at examining equity and inclusion in university procurements. Chairman Ford stated in a press release, “There is disparity in the number of contracts awarded to Black, Brown, and women contractors,” “The subcommittee would be examining what policies, if any, lead these institutions to not award contracts equitably, or if they hold standards that could dissuade companies from pursuing project bids.” Illinois has some of the most robust procurement laws in the country, and contractors and vendors often find the process difficult to navigate. Last year the General Assembly created a new Task Force on Procurement to undertake a comprehensive review of procurement laws and policies, including those that apply to universities. Universities are subject to the provisions of the Procurement Code and oversight by the Chief Procurement Officer for Higher Education.

Mary Gill Appointed to the House: Mary Gill was appointed to fill the vacancy of State Representative Fran Hurley, who Governor Pritzker appointed to the State Labor Relations Board. Gill is the Executive Director of the Mt. Greenwood Community and Business Association (MGCBA).

JUDICIAL

Plaintiffs in Assault Weapon Case Move to Disqualify Justices: Plaintiffs in the assault weapon ban case before the Illinois Supreme Court moved to disqualify Justices Elizabeth Rochford and Mary Kay O’Brien based on campaign contributions from Governor Pritzker, Speaker Welch, and attorneys representing President Harmon. Candidates for the judiciary are prohibited from soliciting or accepting campaign funds themselves, rather contributions to judicial candidate committees must be solicited and accepted by others. The Act being challenged was passed after the 2022 election, and contributions to the committees supporting the new justices were publicly available. Plaintiffs chose to named the Governor, Speaker, and President as defendants in the case, and now seek to use the named defendants as justification for the recusal of the two recently-elected justices.

This is not the first time campaign contributions have been used to attempt to disqualify justices in high profile cases. In 2005, plaintiffs in Avery v State Farm moved to disqualify then recently-elected Justice Lloyd Karmeier citing campaign contributions the committee supporting Karmeier received from State Farm and its employees. Justice Karmeier stated he would not recuse himself and the court denied the motion as moot. In 2014, plaintiffs in Price v Philip Morris moved to disqualify Justice Karmeier for the same contributions. Justice Karmeier wrote a 16-page opinion explaining his reasoning for not recusing, relying heavily on the rule of necessity, which holds that absent a clear reason to recuse a justice should hear a case, and no member of the court sought his recusal. He ultimately participated in both cases, in which billions of dollars were at stake for all parties in the case. Unlike the plaintiffs in Avery or Price, none of the defendants in this case have any financial interest in the outcome of the pending lawsuit, merely policy and political interests. More here.

* More…

* ABC Chicago | ‘I couldn’t save him’: Son recounts final moments before father killed in Belvidere roof collapse : “I just remember seeing all these people lifting the roof off of the people. And just trying to pull people out and seeing somebody not moving being pulled out was terrifying,” said concert-goer Christina Johnson. Outside the venue, high winds tore down the theater’s marquee, with bricks littering the street.

* Nebraska Examiner | Former Illinois prison chief being named to head Nebraska Department of Corrections: Jeffreys will succeed Diane Sabatka-Rine, who had served as interim director of the Nebraska of Corrections since October, when Scott Frakes retired. Frakes had led the Nebraska department since 2015, shortly after then-Gov. Pete Ricketts was elected to his first term, and was paid $255,000 a year — one of the highest salaries for a corrections director in the

* Crain’s | Walmart heirs pour money into pro-charter school groups backing Paul Vallas: The Walton family, both through individual relatives of Sam and Helen Walton and the Walton Family Foundation, is influential in the charter school space, spending hundreds of millions on education efforts across the country. That includes Chicago, where they’ve funded the launch of charter schools and donated to school-choice advocacy groups.

* Beatriz Diaz-Pollack | The culture wars have infected school and library board elections in Illinois: On March 24, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a measure with the deceivingly innocuous introduction, “To ensure the rights of parents are honored and protected in the nation’s public schools.” Make no mistake: This bill is a proverbial wolf in sheep’s clothing and will have devastating effects, including right here in Illinois.

* WBEZ | Chicago State University faculty walk out on strike: In a written statement released over the weekend, university administrators said all support services and most, if not all, classes would continue during the strike. They said they have offered an additional bargaining session on Tuesday, but the union has yet to confirm it.

* Crain’s | Workers at 3 Navy Pier venues OK strike: Ahead of the strike vote yesterday, the National Labor Relations Board’s Region 13 filed a complaint Feb. 24 against Maverick Hotels & Restaurants, which employs the workers. The NLRB has alleged that the company has violated the National Labor Relations Act and “has been failing and refusing to bargain collectively and in good faith and failing to provide information necessary for the Union’s performance of its duties,” the agency said in a news release.

* Crain’s | Clayco unit taps Schnur as chief operating officer: The move comes less than a year after CRG raised $450 million to invest in industrial development projects, a commercial property sector that thrived during the COVID-19 pandemic as companies clamored for warehouse space to store and distribute goods bought online. Schnur also takes the operational reins at CRG after a series of regional office expansions over the past few years.

* Axios | Important elections to watch in Chicago’s suburbs: Pandemic precautions and culture wars over what’s taught in schools have thrust these previously sleepy, nonpartisan races into the center of political debate. Conservative groups have poured thousands of dollars into several suburban school board races and library board elections, only to be matched by Governor Pritzker and other Democrats.

* Sun-Times | Data centers keep coming, but not all deals will compute: Experts believe that as artificial intelligence gains acceptance, it will increase demand for data centers. Chicago is well positioned for this. A 2023 report by Cushman & Wakefield said among global markets, Chicago is tied for 5th place in its appeal for data centers. The ranking is based on factors such as land costs, reliable utilities and state-authorized tax incentives.

* PJ Star | Ask the candidates: What is your view on regulation of the cannabis industry in Peoria?: Here’s what we asked: What is your view on the regulation of the cannabis industry in Peoria? Should the city impose additional restrictions on the number and location of dispensaries? Should it allow on-site consumption of cannabis products at dispensaries?

* Media Matters | With conventional abortion pill regimens likely to be pulled, anti-choice activists are increasingly attacking a safe alternative: If mifepristone ceases to be widely available, clinics are expected to prescribe misoprostol-only protocols for medication abortions, a common regimen in other countries. Though misoprostol-only abortions do have a slightly higher failure rate and a higher incidence of side effects compared to mifepristone and misoprostol taken together, the World Health Organization and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists have identified abortions via misoprostol as a safe and effective alternative when mifepristone is unavailable. Misoprostol is currently approved by the FDA to treat ulcers, meaning that doctors who prescribe the medication for abortions do so “off-label,” which is allowed “as long as it is within the standard of care.”

* AP | Man gets new trial in Chicago honor student’s death:Micheail Ward was found guilty in connection with the death of 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton and sentenced to 84 years in prison in 2019.[2] The Chicago Sun-Times reported Friday that the 1st District Appellate Court ruled that detectives improperly extracted a confession from Ward after he invoked his right to remain silent at least three times during a 12-hour interrogation.[3] Ward was 18 years old at the time of the shooting.

* ProPublica | The True Dangers of Long Trains: Today, the rail administration says it lacks enough evidence that long trains pose a particular risk. But ProPublica discovered it is a quandary of the agency’s own making: It doesn’t require companies to provide certain basic information after accidents — notably, the length of the train — that would allow it to assess once and for all the extent of the danger.

* Fox Chicago | Illinois State Police trooper injured after driver strikes squad car on I-94: The trooper’s vehicle was blocking traffic from entering the flooded southbound lanes of Interstate 94 around 8:20 p.m. due to a major storm that had passed through the area, according to ISP.

* Pantagraph | Here are some takeaways from the first two weeks of Illinois spring practice: Illinois wrapped up its second week of spring practice with a scrimmage on Saturday. It got some windy and cold conditions as a preview to a third fall under coach Bret Bielema. That didn’t stop kickers Caleb Griffin and David Olano from hitting 57-yard field goals at the end of the afternoon, or new quarterbacks Luke Altmyer and John Paddock.