* ICYMI: Democratic candidates for state’s attorney split on juvenile crimes, retail theft. Tribune…

- It was the first televised debate between former Illinois Appellate Justice Eileen O’Neill Burke and ex-prosecutor and corporate lobbyist Clayton Harris III.
-Harris and O’Neill Burke diverged on where to place thresholds for prosecuting retail thefts as a felony and the treatment of minors arrested for carjackings and coordinated retail thefts.
- O’Neill Burke said she would work to make sure juvenile offenders were supervised after school.

* Related stories…

∙ Daily Herald: Cook County state’s attorney candidates discuss juvenile crime in Democratic primary debate
∙ ABC Chicago: Cook County State’s Attorney Democratic candidates discuss public safety in primary debate
∙ Fox Chicago: Democratic candidates clash in heated debate for Cook County State’s Attorney seat

* Isabel’s top picks…

* Tribune | No migrants camped out at O’Hare International Airport for first time since summer, questions loom over dwindling city funds: Johnson’s deputy chief of staff Cristina Pacione-Zayas noted to reporters the progress coincided with accelerated efforts to resettle migrants in permanent housing or in other cities. But she acknowledged hard choices lie ahead for the city as the $150 million Johnson budgeted for the migrant response this year is slated to be spent by April.

* Center Square | Former Madigan chief of staff set for sentencing after judge rejects call for delay: Tim Mapes, 68, served for decades under Madigan as the clerk of the Illinois House and as Madigan’s chief of staff. In August, a federal jury found Mapes guilty of perjury and obstruction of justice for lying to a grand jury investigating Madigan and others. He is set to be sentenced at 10 a.m. Monday in the courtroom of Judge John Kness.

* Sun-Times | Top lawmaker says Sox must say how they hope to finance South Loop ballpark: Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, briefed on the Related Midwest plan, told the Sun-Times “pretty pictures” building public interest are not enough. “If they’re trying to do something in this legislative session, they need to start educating and informing people relatively soon.”

Governor Pritzker is kicking off a state-wide tour to highlight smart start investments. Easterseals DuPage and Fox Valley in Villa Park will be the first stop at 10 am then First United Methodist Child Care Center in Champaign at 1:15 pm. Click here to watch.

* Here’s the rest of your morning roundup…

* Tribune | White Sox likely would have to change state law to get taxpayer funding for new stadium: The Chicago White Sox met with a state funding agency to present plans for a new stadium, but officials say lawmakers would have to increase the borrowing limit if the team wants taxpayer financing. The Illinois Sports Facilities Authority would be a major potential source of financing, because it funded construction of the current Sox home at Guaranteed Rate Field. But without a change in state law, the agency has only about $100 million in available funding, CEO Frank Bilecki said — not nearly enough for a development that could cost more than $1 billion.

* Crain’s | Democratic Party of Illinois launches new fundraising push: Chicago insurance executive Charles Smith will helm the Democratic Party of Illinois’ newest fundraising initiative, InvestBlue, the party announced. Smith will work closely with Democratic Party of Illinois Chair Elizabeth “Lisa” Hernandez, to recruit and maintain a base of party funders through the new membership program.

* WCIA | IDOT workers authorize strike with 95% in favor: Matt McQuaid, a Teamsters spokesperson, said the primary roadblock to getting a new contract is that the state wants to switch workers to a different healthcare plan. The workers want to keep using the plan they currently have.

* WAND | Changes coming to early voting in Sangamon County: Sangamon County Clerk Don Gray says voters may see some differences this year. The primary change will be with the technology at the voting location. “We’re into a new modernized age of tabulation equipment that is much more hardened and secure,” said Gray. “You’re getting the very best in updated equipment to ensure the accuracy and the integrity of your election.”

* BND | St. Clair County adds 1K new voters ahead of IL primary election. Are you registered? With the primaries still more than a month away, Holbrook expects those numbers to increase and said registrations are trending at the expected rate for a primary election in a presidential election year. The 2020 primary election saw 2,304 St. Clair County residents register to vote.

* Herald-Whig | Fraternal Order of Police voice support for Moore for House seat: On the first day of early voting in the Illinois, representatives from the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police were in town to show their support for former Quincy Mayor Kyle Moore, who is running to replace Randy Frese, R-Paloma, in the state’s 99th legislative district.

* Tribune | Joliet massacre suspect’s girlfriend to plead not guilty to hampering investigation: Cleveland-Singleton faces obstruction of justice charges for allegedly making false statements to Joliet police shortly after the shooting spree. A grand jury indictment alleges that Cleveland-Singleton claimed to not know Nance’s phone number, said falsely that she last spoke to Nance at a gym and kept her cellphone from investigators.

* WHBF | Thomson prison workers push for federal protections; inmate charged under new state law: Employees say a recent guilty plea from an inmate is a start, but they’re looking for more. Inmate Fred Smith pleaded guilty to exposing himself to a woman who works at the prison. Prosecutors charged Smith under a new Illinois law that makes that activity in a prison illegal. However, there’s no federal law that does the same thing, and union leaders at the prison want that to change.

* Crain’s | Lion Electric to get nearly $50 million in EV incentives — much more than expected: When the Canadian bus and truck maker announced its plans to build a factory in Illinois, the tax credits were estimated at $8 million with an employment target of about 750 jobs. That was before Illinois created incentives tailored to help electric-vehicle and battery manufacturers as part of a broader clean-energy effort by Gov. J.B. Pritzker. The law was updated in late 2022.

* Sun-Times | Attorney who fought the good fight for city retirees dies at 74: Clint Krislov crusaded against the widely-despised Chicago parking meter deal, fought forretired city workers whose benefits had been stripped away by a cost-cutting mayor and championed consumer causes.

* Tribune | Off display: As new rules about Native American artifacts go into effect, the Field Museum and others in Illinois must comply: The revised regulations are sweeping: They demand museums speed up the process of repatriating Native American “human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects or objects of cultural patrimony,” establishing ownership and lineage between museum collections and Native American descendants, returning anything requested. Museums must update their inventories of Native American remains and funerary objects within five years. Also, curators can no longer categorize such items as “culturally unidentifiable,” thereby holding them indefinitely. Tribal knowledge and traditions must be deferred to.

* Sun-Times | Lurie Children’s Hospital blames ‘known criminal actor,’ but sheds little light on nine-day communication breakdown: “FBI Chicago is aware of the recent cybersecurity incident affecting Lurie Children’s Hospital and is utilizing all available investigative tools and resources to provide assistance,” the FBI said in a statement Wednesday.

* Sun-Times | Top prosecutor says ShotSpotter has little impact on gun violence cases as mayor faces pressure to renew contract: “ShotSpotter is not making a significant impact on shooting incidents,” the state’s attorney’s office review states, noting that the technology led to arrests in just 1% of more than 12,000 incidents over a roughly five-year span.

* Crain’s | Questions swirl around Trump’s Chicago tower as a judge weighs his company’s fate: And even if Trump chose to liquidate assets, there’s not much to sell in the case of the Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago. The luxury hotel is not generating a lot of cash, documents show. More than 200 of the 339 hotel rooms are owned by investors. And the 485 residential condo units are individually owned. There is, of course, the value of Trump’s brand equity, open to a wide interpretation.

* Sun-Times | City approves new hotel design for Bally’s Chicago casino site — but location of additional 400-room tower still up in the air: The hotel was originally supposed to go on the north end of the plot near the Chicago River, with a massive 400-room hotel tower slated to be added on top in a second phase of construction. But that plan went bust when planners determined massive caissons needed to support such a tower would damage water pipes at that location, Bally’s announced last month. The Rhode Island-based company blamed “unforeseen infrastructure issues,” though the site had been under consideration for well over a year.

* News Channel 20 | Multiple ashes mistakenly buried at Camp Butler National Cemetery: This is related back to Heinz Funeral Home, who is being investigated for providing the wrong set of ashes to around 80 families in Sangamon County. More cases exist in other states and neighboring counties.

* WSIL | SIU Carbondale sees increase in enrollment for spring semester: Southern Illinois University in Carbondale saw a growth in overall student population for its Spring 2024 semester. The college enrolled 401 new students, a 4% growth from Fall 2023. The Fall semester was the first time since 2014 the university saw an overall growth in enrollment numbers.

* reason | Surging Immigration Will Reduce Deficits by $1 Trillion: That reduction is due in part to higher-than-expected economic growth, which the CBO attributes to “more people working.” The labor force has grown by 5.2 million people in the past year, “mostly because of higher net immigration.”

* Sun-Times | Bears’ Devin Hester, G.O.A.T return man, finally makes Hall of Fame; Julius Peppers in, too: The NFL had never seen a player like Devin Hester. He was an unprecedented weapon on special teams for the Bears and remains unequaled to this day. That makes him the perfect player to be the first inducted into the Hall of Fame as a return man.

* News-Gazette | Clash of the bots: Illini robotics team to host college, high school competitions: This is only the second year for the Cornfield Clash Tournament hosted on the University of Illinois campus, but the team is already pushing to make it bigger. Last year, they hosted ten college teams. This year, there will also be 30 high school teams entering a second day of competition

* Semafor | How Condé Nast bought and destroyed America’s iconic music publication: Last month, Semafor broke the news that Condé Nast will fold the publication into GQ, laying off Pitchfork’s top editors and at least 10 other longtime staff writers, some of whom had joined the music media outlet when it was a Chicago-based blog in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

* SJ-R | Former state representative Sandy Hamilton returning as SHG volleyball coach: If she wanted to, Hamilton could’ve simply applied by handing in her resume, but even SHG administration knew what they had in the candidate. After three seasons away, Hamilton is back. Hamilton, who coached the Cyclones for eight seasons from 2013-21, went 196-56 and won Class 3A regional championships in 2014-15 and 2017.