* Sun-Times…

As of 6:15 a.m. Wednesday, with 83% of the estimated votes counted, O’Neill Burke was leading with 51% to Harris’s 49%, according to the Associated Press. O’Neill Burke led in the suburbs by about eight points with all precincts reporting, according to the Cook County Clerk’s Office. In the city, Harris was ahead by just over two points with 1,271 of 1,291 precincts reporting. […]

Harris spent most of [Tuesday] evening sequestered in a room next to the bar with his family and pastor and a handful of campaign staff. A few supporters could be heard parsing vote tallies and the number of mail-in votes outstanding.

Toni Preckwinkle showed up late and met briefly with Harris, whom she had backed, and expressed confidence that a win was possible with mail-in votes still uncounted.

“The party does pretty well with mail-in ballots,” said Preckwinkle

[From Rich: We’ll see. Harris’ 9,377 vote deficit is a very big hurdle to overcome.]

From the Chicago Board of Elections…

Board staff are completing the first round of scanning Vote By Mail ballots received on Election Day (and rejecting for signature, other etc.) in preparation for election judges to review, initial, and count tomorrow, 3/21/24. We expect that big drop of Vote By Mail ballot results to be added to the unofficial results, tomorrow, Thurs. 3/21/24 by 5pm.

New VBM results will be added to the unofficial results on a daily basis moving forward, nearer to 4pm to 5pm at the end of the day. Ultimately, the picture for contests will be much clearer by this weekend.

Also, 20 precincts were unable to report last night because election judges did not or could not properly transmit results and left the site before that could happen (it’s a long day for them). The ballot scanner SD cards are being retrieved to check against paper ballots and we hope to have 100% of precincts reporting by tonight, but possibly tomorrow morning.

There will be an updated By Ward Outstanding Vote By Mail ballot count today once we have the numbers for VBM ballots received yesterday and today. I will share this info as soon as I get it.

* Chicago Magazine last month…

Emma Tai
Activist and Organizer

Paul Vallas’s supporters may have written big checks, but United Working Families volunteers knocked on doors past dusk for its mayoral candidate, Brandon Johnson. His upset victory, which marked the transition of Chicago politics from a ward machine model to one based on community organizing, was a triumph for Tai, who served as UWF’s executive director. Her next mission? Passing March’s Bring Chicago Home ballot initiative, one of the most important items on Johnson’s agenda. Tai, 39, tells Chicago she was recruited as campaign director by “a number of folks close to that effort in labor, community, and on the mayor’s team. Several people told me I was ‘the only one who could do it.’ ”

* Senate Democrats press release…

E-cigarette use is rising dramatically among Illinois teens – with the newest culprit of the epidemic being vapes that look highlighters, markers and other school supplies.

During a press conference Thursday, State Senators Julie Morrison and Meg Loughran Cappel will outline their plan to curb the youth vaping epidemic.

WHO: State Senators Julie Morrison (D-Lake Forest) and Meg Loughran Cappel (D-Shorewood), Joliet Township High School District 204 Board President Michelle Stiff, ComWell Behavioral Health Services Executive Director Shea Haury, and ComWell Behavioral Health Services Youth Prevention Coordinator Dennis Trask

WHAT: Press conference on protecting youth from e-cigarettes

WHEN: Thursday, March 21 at 11 a.m.

WHERE: Blue Room, Illinois State Capitol and live on BlueRoomStream.com

* Illinois Stewardship Allliance…

Local food is getting an important shot in the arm with the distribution this spring of nearly $2 million in state funding. But it’s clear more support is needed to meet the state’s growing local needs.

At a Statehouse news conference, the Illinois Stewardship Alliance today joined with top state officials, a bi-partisan group of state legislators and some of the recipients of the inaugural Local Food Infrastructure grants to support the development of the state’s local food network.

The 19 recipients cover all parts of Illinois and a wide array of creative and essential projects that help local farmers and growers get more products to more markets, more easily and cost effectively. A full list of recipients and their stories is included below:

- Leaf Food Hub, helping a dozen southern Illinois farms reach local communities. The $82,871.09 granted will help purchase equipment needed to reduce waste, improve farmer revenue and feed more people
- Tulip Tree Gardens, which will use a $59,900 grant to increase distribution and aggregation access for farmers in Chicago’s north and south suburbs
- Funks Grove Heritage Fruits and Grains, whose $72,124.16 grant will help them dry, clean and store grain and provide grain and other cold storage to expand operations in the Bloomington area in central Illinois
- DeMange Family Farms, which will use $106,000 in LFIG funding to build an energy-efficient produce packing and storage building to increase production and improve what it can offer at farm stands in the Metro East near St. Louis […]

After a two-month grant application process in December and January, the response was overwhelming: 247 applicants submitted more than $23.5 million in funding requests – or more than 10 times the amount of money available to distribute this year.

The LFIG program was not proposed for funding in the state budget Gov. Pritzker presented to lawmakers for consideration last month. Advocates are now pushing for Senate Bill 3077 in the Illinois Senate, which would create an ongoing LFIG grant program of at least $2 million each year to support infrastructure needs.

* Tribune…

For over a year, two of Kelly’s four children have been caught in the middle of a bitter special education dispute between their parents and the Highland Park/Highwood school district. Hezekiah, 13, has autism and is nonverbal, and has been out of school since June 2023. And with few exceptions, his sister Ke’Asia, 8, also evaluated as having autism, has been without a school since October 2022.

North Shore leaders say the children’s behavioral needs require the relatively rare step of seeking specialized instruction outside of district schools. But, they say the siblings’ parents have repeatedly rejected the district’s exhaustive efforts to meet its legal requirement and place Hezekiah and Ke’Asia, at the district’s expense, in one of the few private therapeutic day schools with space or ability to accept them. […]

Kelly and the children’s father, Fredrick Bass, 51, say their kids are being tossed aside by a school district that is unwilling or unable to properly educate them. Instead, they say, District 112 is trying to force them to accept schools that are too far — some are at least an hour from the family’s Highland Park home, a concerning distance in an emergency for two parents who don’t drive — or that use restraint and isolation tactics they feel are unsafe.

Special education experts say the family’s quarrel with District 112 — while unusual in its duration and intensity — highlights the pitfalls of a special education system stressed by the COVID-19 pandemic, plagued by staff turnover and hampered by a lack of robust training needed to meet behavioral challenges in students.

* Here’s the rest…

* SJ-R | A ‘political outsider’ wins GOP primary in attempt to represent Springfield in Washington: “She has quite a head start,” Loyd said in a phone interview, Budzinski holding $1.4 million on hand compared to his $1,767 per federal campaign finance reports. “But money isn’t the answer… in order to (make) solutions, you actually have to go out yourself and actually fix the issues and actually be involved and be engaged.”

* Daily Herald | Stare beats Kenyon for GOP nod in Kane County Board District 16: Newcomer Eric Stare appears to have unseated 18-year Kane County Board veteran Michael Kenyon in Tuesday’s GOP primary election in District 16. Stare received 571 votes to Kenyon’s 385, a difference of 186 votes, according to unofficial results.

* RiverBender | Gov. Pritzker Addresses Tourism Professionals At Illinois Governor’s Conference On Travel & Tourism: Today, Governor JB Pritzker joined tourism professionals from across Illinois at the Illinois Governor’s Conference on Travel & Tourism, the state’s premier educational and networking conference for tourism industry professionals. The three-day conference began March 19 at the Peoria Civic Center with the 2024 Illinois Excellence in Tourism Awards ceremony, honoring Illinois tourism leaders’ contributions to the industry.

* Journal Courier | Order lets schools stock undesignated emergency inhalers: A statewide order from the Illinois Department of Public Health allows state schools to keep emergency inhalers on hand.[…] Before the order was signed, schools in the state had to seek out a standing order for undesignated medicine from an area physician. The new order is a part of the Rescue Illinois Schools initiative from the the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America’s MidStates chapter.

* WTTW | Johnson Taps Official Who Greenlighted Botched Little Village Smokestack Implosion to Lead Buildings Department: Mayor Brandon Johnson Wednesday tapped one of the city officials Chicago’s watchdog said could have prevented a plume of dust from enveloping Little Village in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic — but did not act — to lead the city’s Department of Buildings. Johnson nominated Marlene Hopkins to permanently replace former Buildings Commissioner Matthew Beaudet, whom Johnson fired last month. Hopkins’ nomination must be confirmed by the Chicago City Council.

* Sun-Times | Day 4 of Chicago migrant evictions: Alderpersons, advocates call on Mayor Johnson to end them: “You think taxes are high now. Wait till you get 2,000 more people out on the street, who all need the same things you need now,” said Vasquez, chair of the Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights. “The cost of this move— on health care services, homeless services and the human costs should be intolerable to all of us.”

* Sun-Times | Hemp products often mislabeled, posing potential danger to consumers, Chicago researcher finds: Testing at the University of Illinois Chicago by researcher Jennifer Bash showed that out of 15 edible products and 17 flower samples marketed as hemp, the vast majority were mislabeled.

* Crain’s | Cubs seek OK for big rooftop signage across from Wrigley Field: If the City Council greenlights the proposal, the signs would not only add prominent new visual elements beyond the bleachers at the Friendly Confines, they would also highlight the payoff the Cubs-owning Ricketts family is now able to seize after years of gradually buying up property around the historic venue.

* WCIA | Springfield council approves settlement in discrimination complaint against former transgender employee: The city of Springfield has approved a settlement for a discrimination complaint against a former transgender employee. Kate Holt, a former employee at a Springfield library, is getting $95,000 to cover the harm she suffered and legal fees for a complaint she issued.

* Tribune | Skokie village board proposes limits on Airbnb-type short-term rentals: The village defines short-term rentals as properties occupied for less than 30 days. According to Community Development Department Johanna Nyden, Skokie has about 80 short-term rentals, 45 of which are active. Most members of the Village Board agreed that they would want to see some limits on the rentals but had mixed opinions on what those should be.

* WCIA | Old Decatur school may become senior living facility: The city’s intention is to turn it into a senior living facility. A developer has been identified, but all plans are on hold until the city can secure funding. $20 million is needed to put towards the project. The city is looking to get the money from the Illinois Housing Development Authority.

* Sun-Times | Seventh-grader Nidhi Kulkarni takes top spot at citywide spelling bee: Nidhi Kulkarni, 12, correctly spelled “myocarditis” to win the top prize in the Chicago Public Schools Spelling Bee Championship on Tuesday. She will advance to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., in May.

* NPR | Syphilis cases are rising in babies. Illinois has a potential solution: Laurie Ayala works out of an office deep in Northwestern Medicine’s Prentice Women’s Hospital in Chicago, IL. Whenever the small, black landline phone on her desk rings, she answers. This phone is home base for Illinois’ Perinatal Syphilis Warmline. Launched in November 2023, the phone line is designed to answer questions about perinatal syphilis from medical professionals across the state.

* Journal Courier | ‘Coolest thing in Illinois’ 16 finalists named: The fourth edition of Makers Madness, the contest to determine the coolest thing made in Illinois, is down to the final 16. West-central Illinois products were largely eliminated in paring the field to 16 in the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association’s bracket-style tournament to determine the coolest thing made in Illinois.

* Daily Herald | ‘Schaumburg has lost a legend’: Eight-term mayor Al Larson dies at 85: His 32 years as mayor and prior 12 years as a village trustee was characterized by an unwavering drive to improve the community wherever and whenever opportunity existed, but also a recognition of when it was preferable to protect the status quo.