* ICYMI: Bailey vs. Bost congressional race is a GOP primary to watch. Capitol News Illinois…

- Congressman Mike Bost has a funding advantage raising and spending more than $2 million through the end of February, compared to only $400,000 in spending by the Darren Bailey campaign.
- Bost has endorsements from National Right to Life, the NRA, iFB, and, perhaps most importantly, former President Trump, who previously backed Bailey in the 2022 gubernatorial race.
- Two Democrats have filed for the seat as well – Preston Nelson and Brian Roberts – but neither has reported raising or spending any money on their campaigns.

* Related stories…

∙ AP: Bost, Bailey Race to Win the Hearts and Minds of Trump Conservatives in Southern Illinois Congressional Primary
∙ Slate: The GOP Primary That Has Matt Gaetz Going After Trump’s Favored Candidate

* Isabel’s top picks…

* Illinois Times | Limited capacity in juvenile detention centers statewide: In addition to the Sangamon County facility not currently holding youth, a detention center in Franklin County recently closed. That facility was closed by a judge who said staffing shortages made it difficult to meet new state standards governing the treatment of youth in custody, according to a Jan. 4 story by ProPublica and Capitol News Illinois. There are 14 other remaining facilities statewide to request assistance, Sangamon County Administrator Brian McFadden said.

* Tribune | From parades to pulpits, candidates make one final push before primary: Without contested presidential primary contests to help drive voter turnout at the top of the ticket, expectations are for a low voter turnout, so “institutional support is very important,” said Mariyana Spyropoulos, who is challenging incumbent Democratic Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Iris Martinez. Spyropoulos got the backing of the Cook County Democratic Party over Martinez, who has bucked several of the organization’s slated candidates and has been feuding with Toni Preckwinkle, the county party chair and County Board president. Spyropoulos said that support “is going to help us, because the party is really strong.”

* ABC Chicago | Chicago voter turnout significantly low ahead of Illinois primary election, political experts say: The latest numbers Sunday night from the Chicago Board of Elections show so far more than 131,000 ballots have been cast. The number is significantly down from the same time period in 2020, when more than 190,000 ballots had been cast.

Governor Pritzker will be in Chicago at La Radida Children’s Hospital signing an executive order at 11 a.m. promoting equity in sickle cell disease treatment. Click here to watch.

* Here’s the rest…

* Center for Illinois Politics | Has Illinois gotten bluer? Really, not so much – A look back at what Primary Election data shows: In truth, despite regular headlines about voter apathy, Illinois primary voter turnout has not budged all that much over a 40-year stretch, though the numbers of Democrats and Republicans heading to the spring polls has fluctuated by more than 20 points depending on the given election year, data shows.

* WaPo | U.S. courts clarify policy limiting ‘judge shopping’: In the Friday memo, the committee said it was providing instructions on how to deter judge-shopping, not issuing a direct mandate, which would conflict with chief judges’ case assignment authority. The policies and the accompanying guidance “should not be viewed as impairing a court’s authority or discretion,” Jackie Koszczuk, spokeswoman for the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, said. “Rather, they set out various ways for courts to align their case assignment practices with the long-standing Judicial Conference policy of random case assignment.”

* Sun-Times | Facebook threatens to take away news posts in Illinois. Really? Hasn’t it messed with our democracy enough?: As many outlets have seen, including this one, traffic to news articles from platforms like Facebook, owned by Meta, has slowed to a trickle. We have more than 412,000 followers, who are surely following us because they want local news. Yet we are days away from the Illinois primary, and our election-related posts have reached a fraction of our followers, compared with past years.

* Eye On Illinois | House GOP targeting licensing delays with commonsense proposals: State Rep. Bill Hauter, R-Morton, filed the bill Jan. 30. As of Tuesday, it was assigned to the Health Care License Committee, concurrent with a House Republican press conference at which Hauter explained the intent. “Illinois is losing highly compensated, highly trained individuals like physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, nurse anesthetists, physical therapists, veterinarians and many more to other states,” Hauter said. “Why? Because we can’t get our licensing act together.”

* Crain’s | How one agency is scouting the globe for Illinois connections: Intersect Illinois was founded in 2016 with the backing of Illinois’ Republican governor at the time, Bruce Rauner, in an effort to privatize the process of luring new business to the state. When he took office Gov. J.B. Pritzker continued his support for the organization, which currently gets more of its money to operate — it employs a staff of 18 and has offices in the Loop — from public sources than private.

* Tribune | Plan to rebuild Stateville prison provokes varied reactions from unions, local politicians: “Closing facilities even temporarily would disrupt and potentially destabilize the prison system, while bringing upheaval to the lives of affected employees and individuals in custody,” American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31 Executive Director Roberta Lynch said in a statement. An outside review reported a year ago that Stateville and Logan were both nearly “inoperable” in their current condition. The governor’s office called AFSCME’s concerns about the project “unusual” given the union’s “continued demands to increase the safety and security of the work environment” of its members.

* BND | Under budget crunch, metro-east city plans EMS layoffs, service cuts to neighboring towns: The service is funded in a combination of property taxes and fee services. But the city is limited by state statute in how much property tax they can levy, and calls covered by Medicaid and Medicare only pay 55 percent of the estimated costs of the service. Approximately 60-70 percent of the calls are Medicaid or Medicare, according to city leaders. That means the service has been losing money.

* Tribune | What you need to know about Bring Chicago Home: The measure, centered on raising the city’s real estate transfer tax for property sales above $1 million, has taken a bumpy and winding road to get there, including an eleventh-hour court fight from the real estate lobby. Should it prevail, the referendum would be the first win from Brandon Johnson’s “tax the rich” agenda that he campaigned on during the 2023 mayoral race.

* Center Square | Teacher unions backing downstate Republicans ‘very rare,’ says researcher: According to Open Secrets data, the total given to Democrats in the 2021-2022 election cycle from teachers unions’ political action committees is over $4 million. Only $24,000 was given to Republicans nationwide. Sarah Bryner, the Open Secrets director of research and strategy, said it’s very rare you’ll see large sums of money going to Republican primary races.

* PJ Star | ‘I had no say’: Why new Illinois law requires child social media influencers to be paid: “As a former content kid myself, I know what it’s like to grow up with a digital footprint I never asked for,” influencer turned activist Cam Barrett told Maryland lawmakers. “As my mom posted to the world my first-ever menstrual cycle, as she posted to the world the intimate details about me being adopted, her platform grew and I had no say in what was posted.”

* BND | Madison County chairman ‘reconsidered’ campaign donors, accepts funds from vendors: Prenzler, 68, of Edwardsville, is the incumbent facing current county treasurer Chris Slusser, 46, of Wood River on the March 19 ballot. Slusser has alleged that Prenzler has accepted more than $80,000 in donations from county vendors, after he pledged in 2016 that he would not accept donations from anyone who does business with Madison County.

* Tribune | Solutions for gun violence, support for Palestine top Chicago students’ priorities at early voting event: The Student Power Forum and Parade to the Polls, hosted by Chicago Votes, La Casa Norte and the Chicago Teachers Union, took students of voting age at participating district high schools out of the classroom for the morning on a district-approved field trip to the CTU headquarters to make posters, learn about candidates and march to the polls together.

* SJ-R | ‘Ready to put in our two cents.’ First-time Springfield voters make their way to the polls: Elliott Woehrmann, a senior at Sacred Heart-Griffin High School, said he viewed voting as a crucial part of the democratic process. “We’re speaking our opinion by voting for the candidate that we want to govern us and vote on policies we agree with,” he said.

* WBEZ | Who’s giving the big money in Illinois to Biden and Trump?: The major super PAC bolstering the Biden bid is the FF PAC, established by Future Forward USA Action, with four contributors from Chicago, including Fred Eychaner the top executive of Newsweb Corp. and the chairman and president of the Alphawood Foundation.

* Sun-Times | Muslim community leaders urge Illinois voters to protest Biden by writing in ‘Gaza’ on primary ballot: “Uncommitted” isn’t a ballot option in Illinois, so groups are instead calling voters to either leave the presidential ticket blank or write in “Gaza.” The Chicago area is home to the largest Palestinian population in the U.S. “Our goal is to turn out 200,000 Muslim, Arab, and ally voters in Illinois — the state with the largest per capita Muslim population in the nation,” read a flyer from the Muslim Civic Coalition, a Chicago-based advocacy group that is encouraging Muslim citizens to register to vote and participate in elections.

* WGN | Rep. Jesus ‘Chuy García and Ald. Raymond Lopez face off in race for seat in Illinois’s 4th congressional district: “Ray Lopez is the most conservative alderman in City Council, he’s out front on issues including immigration and public safety. You have Chuy García who was kind of the darling of what was the left and then continued to be the far-left movement. He’s also been out front in public safety, but more in the comprehensive criminal justice reform space, ” political strategist Lisa Duarte said.

* IEANEA | Illinois Education Association honors Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch and former co- director of Citizen Action/Illinois: Today the Illinois Education Association (IEA) honored Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch and William McNary for their commitment to public education. Welch was honored with the IEA “Friend of Education.” McNary was awarded the IEA “President’s” award.

* Block Club | Confusion, Lack Of Information At Migrant Shelters As Evictions Begin Sunday: Fellow Venezuelan migrant Jorge Luis Rangel said he also had a Sunday exit date, but he was asked to leave the shelter 10 days before with a group of about 15 migrants. He has slept in a car outside the Elston shelter since then, and he stays around the area in the day, he said.

* Sun-Times | Chicago slowly starts evicting migrants from shelters: Of the nearly three dozen migrants expected to be evicted from shelters Sunday as the city began enforcing Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration’s 60-day shelter stay rule, just three were removed. The city confirmed Sunday afternoon that the remaining 31 migrants were given extensions; 27 because they are still in the process of applying for public benefits and four due to pregnancy or disability.

* Tribune | Behind the wheel without a license: Migrants buying cars to make a life in Chicago: The Tribune focused on arrestees born in Venezuela because census figures show few native Venezuelans lived in Chicago before Texas Gov. Greg Abbott began busing migrants north 18 months ago, and city officials say that Venezuelans make up the majority of the over 37,000 migrants who’ve arrived since. The Tribune analysis found a stark rise in arrests since last summer, increasingly tied to driving or vehicle infractions. In February, for example, of all arrests of native Venezuelans, 6 in 10 listed the primary offense as driving- or vehicle-related. For other arrestees, the rate was closer to one in seven.

* CBS | Boeing 737 Max engine issue will take up to a year to fix, company tells lawmakers: In written responses to questions from Sen. Tammy Duckworth, chair of the Senate Subcommittee on Aviation Safety, obtained exclusively by CBS News, Boeing says it has assembled a team of technical experts to “quickly drive forward a safe and compliant solution” to an issue that could cause the 737 Max engine anti-ice system to overheat and damage the engine.

* WGN | Viewing the total solar eclipse? Experts say it’s all or nothing: “Eclipse chasing is a thing, kind of like storm chasing, but less dangerous and more expensive,” said Dr. Angela Speck, a co-chairperson for the American Astronomical Society’s Solar Eclipse Task Force.

* Crain’s | An Irish name isn’t the instant clout-getter that it used to be for Chicago pols: Once the St. Patrick’s Day event of the season where mayors and gubernatorial candidates endured cheers and jeers, there’s a conspicuous absence of political activity at this year’s parade. Mayor Brandon Johnson won’t march, nor will Cook County state’s attorney candidate and retired justice Eileen O’Neill Burke. U.S. Rep. Sean Casten, the incumbent for Illinois’ 6th Congressional District, is scheduled, though he already leads his opponents in fundraising.

* Tribune | Edward Dunne, an early 20th century Chicago mayor and Illinois governor, pushed for an independent Ireland: Dunne, the American-born son of an Irish nationalist and the only person to serve as both Chicago’s mayor and Illinois’ governor, had taken up the cause championed by his father. He was a founder of the Irish Fellowship Club along with several regular lunch mates at Vogelsang’s Restaurant in Chicago.