* ICYMI: Senate Republicans push for a Illinois Prisoner Review Board overhaul. Sun-Times…

-The governor’s office said much of what Republicans are proposing is already “standard practice,” noting that anyone can sign up to receive victim notifications, the board is already made up of members with significant experience in the criminal justice system, and the prisoner review board’s decisions are accessible via a Freedom of Information Act request.

- Illinois Senate Republican Leader John Curran is pushing for immediate notifications to victims when inmates have been released — and also requiring all board members to complete yearly training on domestic violence and sexual assault.

- “Governor Pritzker has already instructed the PRB and Illinois Department of Corrections to conduct a review of current procedures and make any necessary changes in the reporting process for domestic violence cases,” Pritzker spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh said.

* Related stories…

∙ WCIA: Illinois Senate Republicans call for reforms to Prisoner Review Board after fatal stabbing of 11-year-old boy
∙ WGEM: IL Senate Republicans unveil legislation to reform state’s Prison Review Board

* Isabel’s top picks…

* Tribune | House speaker’s top lawyer leaves post after being behind ban on lawmakers answering Tribune questions: Instead, in an email delivered to Driscoll in the evening of March 21 with the subject line, “Not what you were hoping for,” Hartmann wrote, “The more I think about it, the more I don’t want to justify or even discuss my ethical guidance publicly.” In that same email, Hartmann wrote, “In retrospect I probably shouldn’t have said anything to Jeremy (Gorner, the Tribune reporter) in the first place, but further explaining isn’t going to help given their response.”

* Rockford Register Star | Rockford state rep: $165 million available to communities willing to help asylum seekers: “Illinois believes in the morality of all human lives. That’s what it means for us to be a welcoming state,” said state Rep. Maurice West, D-Rockford. In the first round of Supporting Municipalities for Asylum Seeker Services Grants, Chicago received $30.25 million; Elgin, $1.27 million; Lake County, $1 million; Urbana, $250,000; and the Village of Oak Park, $400,000.

* BND | Lawmakers asked CDC to assess IL city’s health after sewage exposure. What’s the holdup?: U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski said Monday during a visit to Cahokia Heights they haven’t gotten a commitment from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that it will conduct the assessment. The lawmakers said they continue to follow up to make sure it happens. […] The full process for it to conduct a public health assessment typically takes five years on average, but the lawmakers are pushing for a faster timeline for Cahokia Heights, according to Congresswoman Budzinski’s office.

* Here’s the rest…

* Press Release | Illinois Launches New “Pause to Heal” Firearm Restraining Order Education Campaign: The Illinois effort is the first phase of a planned multi-state campaign called “Pause to Heal.” It is designed to prevent firearm suicides and other shootings by educating the public about the state’s FRO law, and the power that family and household members have to ask a court to temporarily restrict access to guns and ammunition when a person poses a threat to themselves or others.

* Tribune | A woman who says she shot and killed abuser seeks early release after unfavorable Illinois Supreme Court decision: But a recent Illinois Supreme Court decision has created a new obstacle in the quest for a new sentence for Redmond and other women like her, ruling that the law doesn’t apply if a defendant pleaded guilty, rather than was convicted by a judge or jury. The change has drawn notice by Illinois lawmakers who last month proposed a bill that would close the loophole.

* Daily Southtown | Dolton trustees walk out of meeting as Mayor Tiffany Henyard accuses them of a ‘theater stunt’: Monday’s meeting started nearly an hour after the scheduled time, and Deputy police Chief Lewis Lacey said it was due to threats police received about potential safety issues. “We do have credible threats in reference to this meeting tonight,” Lacey said, admonishing those in the audience any clapping or outbursts would not be tolerated or the “meeting will be closed.”

* Fox Chicago | ‘She doesn’t care’: Dolton residents locked out of Village Hall amid Mayor Tiffany Henyard controversy: It used to be that Dolton residents who needed to take care of a bill or a license perhaps would walk into the entrance through the front door into a common area where service desks are located. But now, that door is locked, forcing residents to talk to a security guard behind a window in the vestibule, and conduct their business in that small cramped area.

* WTVO | President Biden to visit Madison and Chicago on Monday: According to the White House, President Joe Biden is scheduled to travel to Madison, Wisconsin, and then Chicago, Illinois on Monday, April 8th. According to a release, the president’s stop in Madison will be to deliver a speech centered on “lowering costs for Americans.”

* Crain’s | Durbin signals he’s pushing for the whole O’Hare revamp: “We want some realistic cost estimates, not just some pie-in-the-sky, back-of-the-envelope,” Durbin told the audience, an apparent reference to the Johnson administration’s recent efforts to lay out $1 billion in cuts to the modernization budget — figures the carriers have said “lack credibility.”

* Crain’s | Aviation Department adds well-known name to roster: Marty Joyce was chief of staff for Ald. Matt O’Shea before joining Commissioner Jamie Rhee’s team last month. O’Shea is chairman of the City Council’s aviation committee and represents the 19th Ward on the South Side. Joyce is the cousin of Jerry Joyce, who was a Chicago mayoral candidate in 2019, and is the nephew of Jeremiah Joyce, a former 19th Ward alderman and state senator who was a confidant of former Mayor Richard M. Daley.

* Tribune | Pat Fitzgerald’s lawsuit vs. Northwestern over the former football coach’s firing can continue, a judge rules: “As we set forth in announcing our complaint in October 2023, defendants’ actions have exacted terrible, immeasurable costs to coach Fitzgerald, his family and his career,” attorneys Dan Webb and Matthew Carter said in a statement. “As a result of that conduct, we had no choice but to file our complaint for breach of oral contract, breach of his employment contract, intentional infliction of emotional distress, defamation, false light and tortious interference with a business expectancy.”

* Center Square | Legislators question funds for Cook County through state’s appellate prosecutor: ILSAAP is seeking more than $46 million in fiscal year 2025, which is not an increase from 2024. In fiscal year 2023, the office received over $31 million. State Rep. Rita Mayfield, D-Waukegan, questioned the accuracy of the office’s need for the funds.[…] Mayfield questioned the office’s funding needs because “we have so many other pressures as a state and that money could be better used as opposed to just sitting there and not being used.”

* Center Square | Sports betting in Illinois begins the year with a lull: Even though numbers were slightly down, Illinois sports betting totaled nearly $1.3 billion and trailed only New York and New Jersey. Illinois filled its coffers with nearly $20.3 million in tax revenue while Cook County received $1.36 million.

* NYT | Klaus Mäkelä, 28-Year-Old Finnish Conductor, to Lead Chicago Symphony: When he begins a five-year contract in 2027 at 31, Mäkelä will be the youngest maestro in the ensemble’s 133-year history, and one of the youngest ever to lead a top orchestra in the United States. Mäkelä, who will become music director designate immediately, said in an interview that he did not think his age was relevant, noting that he had been conducting for more than half his life, beginning when he was 12.

* Sun-Times | Chicago area man who joined mom, aunt at Jan. 6 Capitol riot gets probation: A Chicago area man who briefly entered the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021 attack and then allegedly watched the rest unfold from a lawn chair near a courtyard was sentenced Tuesday to two years of probation.

* Vintage Chicago Tribune | Solar eclipses and how Chicagoans viewed them: When was the last time Chicago experienced a total solar eclipse? Before the city existed! On June 16, 1806 — more than three decades before Chicago became a city — this area came within a whisker (99.9%) of a total solar eclipse with totality observed southward into central Illinois.

* Sun-Times | Open-water swim in Chicago River to be held in September, the first in more than 100 years: Five hundred swimmers are expected to take part in the Chicago River Swim, which starts between the Clark and Dearborn Street bridges and will navigate a looped course between State Street on the east and Wolf Point on the west. They can opt for a one-mile or two-mile swim. […] Proceeds from the Chicago River Swim will also support local learn-to-swim programs for at-risk youth. The event also raises funds for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis research at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.

* Tribune | Why were the Chicago White Sox briefly missing a first-base coach Monday? Manager Pedro Grifol explains: “(Bourgeois) is a great coach, really technical, detailed,” Grifol said. “He checks a lot of boxes every single day before he gets out on the field. We had our rain delay (that started with two outs in the top of the eighth), he had his headphones on, he was knee-deep into (outfield) positioning. The game started and he got caught.