* ICYMI: Mayor Brandon Johnson to appoint Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa to lead Park District. Tribune…

- The mayor will recommend Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, 35th, to be Parks superintendent, Ramirez-Rosa told the Tribune.
- The Park District Board of Commissioners on Friday will approve Ramirez-Rosa’s appointment, effective April 1.
- It would also open up a midterm vacancy in City Council that provides Johnson his first chance to exercise his mayoral powers to appoint an alderman

* Related stories…

∙ Crain’s: At emergency meeting, Johnson’s pick for Park District chief will be unveiled
∙ Block Club: Park District CEO Rosa Escareño Stepping Down

* Governor Pritzker will be At UI Mile Square Health Center at 10:30 am to advocate against potential cuts to Medicaid. Click here to watch.

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Sun-Times | Workers at big employers like Northwestern get protections from Evanston City Council: When big companies or institutions change contractors, workers can suddenly lose their jobs. But Evanston now is the first municipality in Illinois to give them some protections. The Evanston City Council passed the Workers’ Retention Ordinance Monday, requiring hotels, restaurants, cafeterias and educational institutions with at least 200 contracted positions to take steps to retain existing workforce. Currently, only Northwestern University meets the threshold.

* Tribune | Chicago faith and civic leaders encourage people to participate in nationwide ‘Blackout Friday’: Faith-based and community leaders from across Chicago urged the public to not buy from major retailers and companies on Friday as part of nationwide ‘Blackout Friday’ protest. The movement is a 24-hour economic blackout in which consumers are not supposed to buy from corporations, avoid all nonessential purchases and if necessary, only shop at local businesses.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Center Square | Craft distillers call for updated spirit distribution laws in Illinois: Craft distillers in Illinois are trying to level the playing field when it comes to distributing their products. According to the Illinois Craft Distillers Association, while 47 states allow for the direct shipment of wine directly from winemakers to consumers, only 11 states currently allow distillers to ship their products directly to consumers and Illinois is not one of them.

*** Statewide ***

* WCIA | Illinois DNR encourages residents to buy fishing license, invest in conservation: When buyers purchase an Illinois fishing license, they’re paying for fishing privileges for the year. But, they’re also investing in conservation, education and economic activity throughout Illinois. Illinois fishing licenses go on sale March 1 and cost $15.

*** Chicago ***

* WBEZ | Chicago’s top film post vacant as production season kicks into high gear: Kicking off production season, Apple TV’s Dark Matter is opening up portals in Wicker Park, The Bear is cooking up drama downtown and the seemingly omnipresent One Chicago (Fire/Med/P.D.) is staging emergencies across the city. But who’s here to roll out the red carpet as those teams arrive? The city’s top film post has been vacant since December.

* Tribune | As distraught parents plead, school board votes to keep Acero charter schools open, despite financial warning: The Chicago Board of Education approved an amended resolution Thursday requiring Chicago Public Schools to keep open several charter schools slated for closure despite financial warnings that doing so would be unwise. After a protracted and often confusing debate on the feasibility and fine print of the amendment, the school board voted 16 to 3 with one abstention to keep five of the seven schools slated for closure in Acero Charter Network open through the end of the 2025-26 school year and incorporate them as district schools the next year. The board did not provide a concrete determination for the other two schools.

* WGN | Chicago drivers will face an additional 50 speed cameras this year: While locations for the additional cameras have largely not yet been determined, CDOT officials said they’ll consider crash data and requests from alders over the last three years. By state law, cameras can only be within 660 feet of a school or a park.

* Crain’s | CTA unveils plans for space beneath new Red and Purple Line el tracks: The design plans, developed in conjunction with Chicago-based Site Design Group, were presented to residents of Edgewater and Uptown at public meetings this week. The concept for the space includes a pedestrian trail, dog parks, playground, fitness area, benches and a plaza space for community events.

* Tribune | In Midway near-collision, NTSB chair cites business jet crew’s apparent ‘failure to listen’: “We don’t believe that this was an air traffic control issue,” Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, said in an appearance Wednesday morning on “Fox & Friends.” “It appears this was a failure of the flight crew from Flexjet to listen and abide by the instructions of air traffic control.” The NTSB is continuing to investigate, as is the Federal Aviation Administration. But Homendy said the crew of the smaller plane, operated by private jet company Flexjet, was supposed to line up and wait short of the runway on which the Southwest plane was to land. The smaller plane failed to do so.

* WTTW | Have You Seen Little ‘Blue Lobsters’ Washed Up on Chicago Beaches? Congrats, You’ve Met One of the Great Lakes Most Successful Invaders: For an invasive species specialist like Reuben Keller, Lake Michigan is teeming with research opportunities. “Almost everything that we see in the lake that is alive is invasive,” said Keller, a professor at Loyola University Chicago’s School of Environmental Sustainability. “Any rocks are covered in zebra or quagga mussels, both of which are invasive. Most of the time that we dive, the only fish that we see are round gobies, which are an invasive fish.”

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Herald | Mundelein mayoral candidates spurn Trump on mass deportations, say police shouldn’t assist U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement: The stance shared by Robin Meier and Tim Wilson aligns with current village policy and defies attempts by President Donald Trump to quickly purge the nation of immigrants living here illegally. The issue particularly is pertinent in Mundelein, where more than 36% of residents are Hispanic and more than 45% of residents age 5 or older live in homes where languages other than English are spoken, according to the latest U.S. census data.

* Daily Herald | ‘We want our state back’: Why DuPage sheriff says he’s running for governor in 2026: Mendrick, a Republican from Woodridge, announced Thursday he will run for Illinois governor in the 2026 election. He’s the first candidate to formally declare for the race. In a phone interview Thursday, Mendrick said he’s been thinking about running for governor for about two years, as he’s watched legislation like the state’s SAFE-T Act — which eliminated cash bail in Illinois — have what he sees as negative impacts on law and order.

* Daily Southtown | Homewood OKs new TIF district with eye toward redevelopment on Halsted: Homewood officials have approved a new tax increment financing district that takes in property along the Halsted Street commercial corridor and includes the vacant Walmart property, empty for nearly two years. Using increases in property tax revenue, the village hopes to spur redevelopment in that area of the community, which includes commercial businesses as well as empty office space at the northwest corner of Halsted and Ridge Road.

* Daily Herald | Honoring history: Elk Grove Village’s plan to revive a revolutionary relic: Elk Grove Village plans to annex the historic final resting place of a number of notable locals — including the only two known Revolutionary War veterans interred in Cook County — while launching a fundraising campaign to fix faded and sunken graves and make other upgrades. Elk Grove Cemetery — a 38,000-square-foot graveyard tucked in between Arlington Heights Road, the Jane Addams Tollway and a Nicor gas pipeline — is a relic of pre-suburban sprawl, when pioneers arrived from the east and found expansive land to till.

*** Downstate ***

* PJ Star | ‘Full of gratitude’: Peoria mayor comfortably wins primary: Peoria Mayor Rita Ali and at-large City Councilmember John Kelly have secured their spots as Peoria’s mayoral candidates in April’s general election after emerging as the top two vote getters in Tuesday night’s primary election based on unofficial election results. With 100% of precincts reporting, mayoral candidate Chuck Grayeb, a city councilmember representing the 2nd District, does not have enough votes to advance in the race.

* Rockford Register Star | Rockford elects 21 year old to City Council: Tamir Bell, 21, easily defeated a field of three opponents to win the Democratic primary election Tuesday. He is expected to appear on the April 1 consolidated election ballot unopposed. Bell said he entered the race to provide better leadership for the city’s westside and give its residents a louder voice in city government.

* BND | Former bookkeeper sentenced in theft of $135K from metro-east school district: A former bookkeeper for Dupo School District 196 has been sentenced to 15 months’ incarceration for embezzling from the district. Linda J. Johnson, 58, of Waterloo, was employed by the district from 1993 to 2022. She was accused of pocketing $135,566.80 in cash that she was supposed to deposit in a school district bank account to support student athletics, clubs and other extracurricular activities.

* WCIA | Danville resident reminisces about Gene Hackman after his death: But — many people in Danville still wanted to save the Fischer Theatre, a downtown staple since 1884. So, Norris and two other men started the Vermillion Heritage Foundation. […] Norris said they needed about $4 million for the project. So, in 1988 they hosted a fundraiser at the home of Julius Hegeler — and invited Hackman, Dick and Jerry Van Dyke, Bobby Short and Donald O’Connor.

* WCIA | World’s oldest brewery is coming to Central Illinois: The world’s oldest brewery is coming to Central Illinois. Yuengling will be hitting shelves in hundreds of stores next week. An Effingham based company called Koerner Distributors will be handling the distribution in Central Illinois. The president of Koerner Distributors said they’ve been planning this launch for about a year now.

*** National ***

* LA Times | Mass firings across National Weather Service, NOAA ignite fury among scientists worldwide: The full extent of the layoffs across NOAA were not immediately clear, but Democratic legislators said hundreds of scientists and experts had been notified of terminated employment. NOAA — which includes the National Hurricane Center and the Tsunami Warning Center — is the latest in a string of federal agencies targeted for cuts by billionaire Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency.