* ICYMI: Trump administration ends reimbursements for Illinois food programs. Capitol News Illinois…

The Illinois Department of Agriculture announced Tuesday that changes to federal funding mean Illinois is missing reimbursements for costs for the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program, or LFPA, and can no longer run the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program, or RFSI.

The state agency said the federal U.S. Department of Agriculture has told states it will not reimburse them for any costs for the programs dating back to when Trump took office on Jan. 20.

LFPA, which funds the Illinois-EATS program, uses federal funding to buy fresh products from farmers at a fair market value, then distributes the food to communities via food pantries and other similar programs designed to help people in need for no additional cost. All the food produced as part of Illinois’ program comes from socially disadvantaged farmers, including those the federal government defines as “new farmers.”

More than 170 farmers have supplied food to 883 locations in Illinois through Illinois-EATS.

* BlueRoomStream.com’s coverage of today’s press conferences and committee hearings can be found here.

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* WBEZ | Venezuelans in Chicago face Trump’s decision to end protected status: With or without Temporary Protected Status, many Venezuelans intend to stay in Chicago. But the uncertainty from losing those protections is reverberating through the Venezuelan community and beyond. It’s putting pressure on business owners, straining relationships and forcing families to consider going into hiding. “It’s a little bit scary,” Rincón said, “but we’re not here to be scared. We’re always hoping for the best and always with the best attitude.”

* Law & Crime | ‘Right not to cooperate in the President’s schemes’: States can’t be forced to help Donald Trump’s plans for mass deportations, Illinois argues in court filing: Illinois‘ attorney general is urging a federal judge to toss out a lawsuit filed by the Trump administration over the state’s sanctuary protections for undocumented immigrants, arguing that the federal government cannot “coerce” states to enforce federal immigration policy. The Justice Department earlier this month sued Illinois, the City of Chicago, and Cook County, seeking a court order prohibiting the enforcement of local laws — namely the Way Forward Act, TRUST Act, and the Welcoming City Act — alleging that they were “are designed to and in fact interfere with and discriminate against the Federal Government’s enforcement of federal immigration law.”

Click here to read the motion.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Tribune | Chicago landlord ordered to pay $80,000 for threatening to call ICE on tenant, a first under 2019 state law: A judge ordered a Chicago landlord last month to pay $80,000 to former tenants after the landlord threatened to call ICE on them during a verbal dispute in June 2020, according to court documents. The case is the first to reach a judgment under the state’s 2019 Immigrant Tenant Protection Act, according to the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which filed the case on behalf of the tenants.

* The Trace | Illinois Law Acknowledges Gun Possession Doesn’t Mean Pulling the Trigger: In January, a new Illinois law changed the names of six weapon possession charges in an effort to better clarify when someone is charged with illegally possessing a weapon as opposed to using one in a crime. While the new law simply changes the names of the charges, advocates say it could help those convicted face less discrimination. “What we were learning through our criminal defense attorneys is that even in the courtroom, they were encountering judges who were misinterpreting what the defendant in front of them had done because of this inaccurate title,” said Emma Ruth, the policy manager at Cabrini Green Legal Aid in Chicago, a nonprofit that provides free legal support to people involved with the criminal legal system.

* Michael Frerichs | Tariffs are Trump tax attack on American workers: Farmers and rural voters across Illinois backed Trump by lopsided margins. If tariffs spark a trade war, they will be among the first victims. Canadian buyers will simply shift to competitors like Brazil. The Trump tax will mean lower prices for our farmers across downstate and will hurt agriculture-dependent industries from ADM in Decatur to Libby’s canned pumpkins in Morton. ADM already announced layoffs amid “regulatory policy uncertainty and (global) market challenges.”

*** Statewide ***

* WAND | Chinese tariffs on corn, soy ‘causing a lot of stress’ to local farmers: According to Doug Gucker, Illinois Extension Agriculture and Natural Resources Educator, this escalation could have significant implications for Illinois farmers, as the state exports more than 50% of its agricultural production. “This is a big deal. If we don’t have exports, then it becomes an issue,” Gucker told WAND News.

* Muddy River News | Fall archery season in Illinois yields record harvest of 1,045 wild turkeys: Hunters in Illinois harvested a preliminary record statewide total of 1,045 wild turkeys during the 2024-25 fall archery turkey season, according to information from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. The total compares last year’s harvest of 803 and the five-year average of 763 birds harvested. The previous record total for fall archery season was in 2015 when 851 turkeys were taken.

* WIFR | ‘Makers Madness’ contest opens voting to name The Coolest Thing Made in Illinois: More than 250 Illinois-made products were nominated for the contest, including energy storage equipment, life-saving medical products, electric vehicles, components for space exploration and sweet treats. […] Voting takes place online, allowing the public to vote up to five times a day for the top 16 products. Voting ends March 16, and results will be announced March 18.

*** Chicago ***

* Block Club | Mayor Brandon Johnson Ready To ‘Stand Up’ For Chicago At Congressional Hearing Wednesday: Johnson, along with the mayors of Boston, New York City and Denver, accepted an invitation to testify on Capitol Hill sent by U.S. Rep. James Comer, a Kentucky Republican and chairman of the GOP-led House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Comer’s committee is investigating sanctuary jurisdictions “and their impact on public safety and the effectiveness of federal efforts to enforce the immigration laws of the United States,” according to a public letter addressing Johnson and his fellow mayors.

* The Triibe | Mayor Johnson is taking his message straight to Black Chicagoans: According to Johnson, some $20 billion in investments have been allocated for Black Chicagoans. Johnson’s team also says those investments include $426 million for disaster relief from the 2023 and 2024 floods; the Psi Quantum Campus on the South Side, which is expected to generate a $20 billion economic impact over the next 10 years and more than 175,000 jobs; and the new Advocate Health Care hospital with its accompanying 10 new outpatient facilities.

* Chalkbeat Chicago | Chicago is kicking off the search for its next schools chief: The board is enlisting Alma Advisory Group to run a national search for a replacement for Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez. The previous school board fired Martinez without cause in December, which, under his contract, allowed him to remain at the district’s helm until late June. Martinez makes about $360,000 a year and will receive $130,000 in severance pay.

* City Bureau | Long Covid and the Fight for Clean Air: Amid the election season’s heated debates, stump speeches and political analysis, politicians and pundits repeatedly referenced one constant and deadly issue in the past tense: COVID-19, specifically Long COVID. COVID-19 was the 10th leading underlying cause of death in the United States in 2024, with hundreds or thousands dying each week, and its effects are persistently felt across racial and economic lines. And experts and advocates say people aren’t taking it seriously enough.

* Sun-Times | Chicago moves toward going fur-free: The ordinance advanced Tuesday would make it a crime to “sell, offer for sale, trade or otherwise distribute for monetary or non-monetary consideration a fur product in the city.” Specifically exempted are used fur products and fur products used for religious or “traditional tribal, cultural or spiritual purposed by a member of a federally- or state-recognized Native American tribe.”

* Sun-Times | Lead Madigan prosecutor leaving U.S. attorney’s office after more than two decades: Assistant U.S. Attorney Amarjeet Bhachu is expected to leave the office March 14, according to office spokesman Joseph Fitzpatrick. Bhachu has also taken on mobsters and other criminals at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse, and he’ll end his tenure as chief of the U.S. Attorney’s Public Corruption and Organized Crime Section.

* ABC Chicago | Lollapalooza 2025 dates released, sneak peek at merch: This year, the event will take place from July 31 to August 3rd in Grant Park. Although the official lineup has yet to be released, organizers teased merch. […] Last year, Megan Thee Stallion and Hozier kicked off the festival and Chappell Roan may have had the biggest Lollapalooza set of all time.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Herald | Proponents pushing for passage of Palatine Township mental health referendum: If the binding referendum passes, the township supervisor would appoint a seven-member volunteer board, including a liaison from the township board. The proposed tax is 0.04% of equalized assessed value and estimated to raise $1.7 million annually. It would be used to help meet the needs of people in Palatine Township living with mental illness, substance use disorder and developmental disabilities.

* Daily Herald | Arlington Heights trustee candidate cleared in campaign finance probe: The board voted 8-1 Monday night to accept and place on file Village Attorney Hart Passman’s findings and take no further action on a formal written complaint brought by resident Keith Moens. Trustee Wendy Dunnington, who proposed an amended motion that would have compelled Hunter to make an additional update to Illinois State Board of Elections records, was the lone “no” vote.

* Daily Herald | Two write-in candidates create contested race for District 211 school board election: Violetta Flis of Hanover Park and Natasha Mucci of Palatine met the filing deadline to be considered valid write-in candidates, the Cook County Clerk’s office confirmed Tuesday. Flis’ name appears as Wioletta Myskal-Flis on the write-in candidacy paperwork filed with the clerk. They join balloted candidates Anne Lopez of Hanover Park, former candidate Jane Russell of Rolling Meadows and former Schaumburg Township Elementary District 54 board member Kenneth Van Dyke of Roselle in the race for three available four-year terms on the board.

* Tribune | Exonerated after 24 years in prison, man sues Evanston police, saying they coerced murder confession: Attorneys for Frank Drew, who was 16 at the time a fellow Evanston teen was murdered and is now 45 years old, have brought a federal civil rights lawsuit against the defendants, including eight then-members of the police department, Cook County and a former prosecutor in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office. The suit asks a jury to award damages in recompense for Drew’s wrongful arrest and prosecution, and the near quarter century he spent in prison for a murder, according to his attorneys.

* Sun-Times | Pace considers express buses on I-290, I-88: The suburban bus agency has been running express buses on the shoulder of I-55 since 2011 — and more recently along the Jane Addams Tollway. Now, Pace is seeking public feedback to determine if it should add new “express” routes in the west suburbs.

* Crain’s | Why this dive bar has been boarded up for months — and the guilty plea that will finally fix it: Nisei Lounge is inherently old-school, but its exterior has appeared particularly tattered of late, even by the standards of an old Wrigleyville dive bar. A piece of graffitied plywood has covered some of the storefront window for the last 18 months. The plywood was a necessity at first. A burglar broke into the bar in September 2023. He entered through the window and bent its frame. The bar reopened later that day, but the owners waited to replace the window because they wanted to get restitution from the burglar to help pay for it.

*** Downstate ***

* TSPR | Pritchard: ‘At this point I have nothing to add’: A Galesburg mayoral candidate who was unable to participate in a forum last week due to illness says he’ll let his campaign materials “reverberate” for the time being and has not accepted a challenge from his opponent for a debate. […] “Given the significance of this race, I think it is important that the voters get to see the deep differences between our political histories and platforms,” Schwartzman said in the release. “Therefore, I hereby invite Mr. Pritchard to a one-on-one debate to be held within the next few weeks. I hope to hear a prompt response and look forward to discussing our different visions for Galesburg’s future.”

* Herald-Whig | Roundtable targets modern approach to labor shortage: But a report commissioned by the Upjohn Institute found small- to medium-sized manufacturers lag behind compared to larger manufacturers and often face larger financial, skill set and cultural hurdles in adopting automation technology. Quincy area businesses and human resources professionals came together Tuesday for the Western Illinois Regional Roundtable focused on modern approaches to address the local labor shortage.

* WCIA | Seven Point Dispensary to expand in Danville after approval of consumption lounge: The ordinance came to the council after Seven Point, a dispensary in Danville, hoped to expand its business. But, some City Council members weren’t at the meeting in February so there weren’t enough votes. During the Tuesday night meeting, supporters and opponents of the change spoke up during public comment. Before the council could vote to approve the ordinances, however, they first had to vote to “reconsider” the votes since it failed last meeting.

*** National ***

* WIRED | Elon Musk’s $1 Spending Limit Is Paralyzing Federal Agencies: At the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, scientists aren’t able to order equipment used to repair ships and radars. At the Food and Drug Administration, laboratories are experiencing delays in ordering basic supplies. At the National Park Service, employees are canceling trips to oversee crucial maintenance work. And at the Department of Agriculture and the Federal Aviation Administration, employees worry that mission-critical projects could be stalled. In many cases, employees are already unable to carry out the basic functions of their job.

* The Wrap | LA Times Pulls AI Tool One Day After Launch for Downplaying KKK: “Local historical accounts occasionally frame the 1920s Klan as a product of ‘white Protestant culture’ responding to societal changes rather than an explicitly hate-driven movement, minimizing its ideological threat,” the AI-generated note read. The note was added by “Insights,” the name of the Times’ new AI tool, to a Feb. 25 article on the 100th anniversary of Anaheim removing KKK members from its city council. Writer Gustavo Arellano said the historical decision was an example of “how to combat tyranny and white supremacy — and also that the work is never really done.”