* ICYMI: Illinois joins lawsuit seeking to halt ‘illegal’ mass firings of federal workers. WTTW…

- AG Kwame Raoul on Friday joined a coalition of 20 attorneys general who are seeking a temporary restraining order against numerous federal agencies to stop what he’s called the “illegal mass layoffs.”
- According to Raoul’s office, nearly 446 terminated federal employees in Illinois have applied for state unemployment benefits in the two months since Trump’s inauguration.
- “These unannounced mass layoffs have created growing chaos and confusion,” the lawsuit states. “Thousands of affected individuals have been fired and must now make pressing decisions about healthcare, unemployment benefits, and reemployment.”

* Related stories…

∙ WaPo: Multistate lawsuit seeks to reverse Trump administration purge of federal workers
∙ Press Release: AG Raoul asks court to stop mass firings and seeks reinstatement of federal probationary employees
∙ Crusader: Attorney General Raoul asks court to stop mass firings and seeks reinstatement of federal probationary employees

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Tribune | Illinois patients, hospitals fear potential Medicaid cuts: ‘I hope people have some kind of compassion’: Outlaw is one of more than 3.4 million people in Illinois on Medicaid — more than one-quarter of the state’s population — who are anxiously watching discussions in Washington, D.C., over the future of the program. In late February, House Republicans passed a budget resolution instructing the committee that oversees Medicaid to cut $880 billion in costs over the next 10 years to help pay for new and existing tax cuts and enhanced border and national security, according to House Republicans.

* Sun-Times | As Medicaid cuts loom, patients, officials defend care for chronic pain, behavioral health and addiction: Current Illinois law would automatically end Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansions in the state if federal funding is cut, significantly reducing who qualifies for the coverage. State Rep. La Shawn K. Ford, D-Chicago, has sponsored legislation to repeal the law, though the issue of funding the care would remain.

*** Statehouse News ***

* WGN | The Homeschool Act aims to implement regulations to protect kids in Illinois: An investigation by ProPublica and Capitol News Illinois discovered that children were being mistreated and neglected while being homeschooled. State Representative and Chair of the Adoption and Child Welfare Committee in the Illinois House, Terra Costa Howard, joins Dane Neal, filling in for Jon Hansen for Let’s Gel Legal. The two discuss homeschooling and the new bill that hopes to protect children’s education when they are learning at home.

* Tribune | Gov. JB Pritzker’s $300M proposal seeks to attract developers to abandoned sites that now draw only vandals: In a budget proposal that included no new taxes and cuts to key programs like health care for noncitizen immigrants, Pritzker is proposing the state invest $300 million to prepare the sites for private development. Funding would come from the state’s capital budget. The Pritzker administration said the program would create jobs and support community revitalization, and the project would attract new businesses, potentially leading to billions of dollars in private investment. The five sites in the proposal were identified as “high priority,” though others might be considered in the future.

* WTTW | Illinois Pitches Two New Prisons as a Way to Modernize and Address Aging Facilities. Some Advocates Aren’t Sold: Illinois’ prison population continues to shrink, with facilities now having a 26% vacancy rate, leading some of those inside and their advocates to question the state’s plan to build two new prisons. Some opposed to new prisons say if they are to be built, they should be small and close to Cook County for services and loved ones’ visits. Others look toward decarceration and consolidation of other decrepit facilities. The state, meanwhile, is pitching the rebuilding plan as necessary due to the high amount of deferred maintenance on existing buildings and the need for a modern, rehabilitative design.

*** Chicago ***

* Sun-Times | New data breach exposes thousands of CPS students’ info: The data breach affected roughly 700,000 students dating back to the 2017-18 school year, CPS said. Students’ names, dates of birth, gender and their CPS student ID numbers were accessed. Students enrolled in Medicaid also had their Medicaid ID number and dates of eligibility exposed. Social Security numbers, financial and health information were not exposed in the breach, CPS said.

* Sun-Times | Amid Loop vacancies, Chicago’s property tax burden shifts to neighborhoods: The property taxes paid by the once-bustling but now-struggling Water Tower Place, for instance, have plunged from $16 million annually to $6.8 million last year. With Water Tower Place paying less, that means other homeowners and businesses have needed to make up the shortfall to cover the taxes that pay for police, firefighters, schools and other services.

* Crain’s | Chicago makes its move to get in on the data center boom: Microsoft last year acquired more than 500 acres for a data center in southwest suburban Plano. Compass Datacenters is building a five-building campus on 200 acres at the former Sears headquarters in Hoffman Estates. CyrusOne is also developing a 230-acre complex near Yorkville. With the explosion of cloud computing and artificial intelligence, technology companies are racing to build data centers, a collection of servers and networking equipment that stores, processes and distributes electronic data, from personal email and entertainment programs to business payroll and sales functions.

* Tribune | Illinois clinic one of first places in the country to offer new device to spinal cord injury patients: The device, called the ARC-EX, delivers electrical pulses to his spine during his sessions at Next Steps Chicago, a neurological rehabilitation clinic in Willow Springs. The device was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in December, with some experts hailing it as a milestone in therapy for people with spinal cord injuries. Next Steps is one of the first two clinics in the country offering it.

* Crain’s | WFMT workers plan to unionize: Content creators at Chicago’s classical radio station 98.7 WFMT-FM intend to organize with SAG-AFTRA, a large union representing professionals in entertainment and media. In a press release earlier this week, SAG-AFTRA said the workers have faced “ongoing challenges” at the station for years and the only option to address them is through collective bargaining.

* Tribune | ‘A fun experiment’: Chicago White Sox get a close look at Automated Ball-Strike System testing at Camelback Ranch: According to Major League Baseball, ABS uses a set of cameras around the field to track pitch locations. Each team starts with two challenges, which can be used by the batter, pitcher or catcher. The challenge must be immediate and made without the assistance from the dugout or other players. A team retains a successful challenge, but loses it if the umpire’s call is confirmed. MLB is using the testing this spring to see whether ABS is suitable for use in the majors down the line. It has been tested in the minors since 2021. According to MLB, more than 60% of the 2025 spring training games will be played with ABS, including eight Grapefruit League parks in Florida.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* WBEZ | Even after guilty plea, Highland Park residents still trying to make sense of mass shooting: Some Highland Park residents still avoid Port Clinton Square, right across the street from the building where, nearly three years ago, a young man sprayed bullets into a crowd gathered for the town’s annual 4th of July parade. “This is the first time I’ve had enough courage to walk over there without breaking down,” Vincent N. Carani said on Thursday morning.

* Daily Herald | Metra asks feds for relief in feud with Union Pacific over ‘unreasonable’ costs to run trains on tracks: Metra filed separate actions with the U.S. Surface Transportation Board and in federal court seeking relief from what they called “windfall” rates proposed by UP to use its tracks. The issue dates back to 2019 when the freight railroad decided it was no longer feasible to operate trains on Metra’s three commuter lines, the UP North, Northwest and West.

* Tribune | DuPage County, sheriff agree to $11 million payout for jail death: Approved by a judge last month, the settlement caps a federal lawsuit brought by Aguilar-Hurtado’s daughter, Cristal Moreno Aguilar, accusing the county, Mendrick and 11 jail medical staff members or corrections officers of repeatedly failing to act as her mother’s health rapidly deteriorated. A county pathologist determined her death was due, in part, to “medical neglect.”

* Shaw Local | Should DeKalb enact a local grocery tax? Mayoral candidates weigh in: In an email to Shaw Local News Network, DeKalb City Manager Bill Nicklas said the loss of the tax from grocery stores including Jewel-Osco, DeKalb Fresh Market, Aldi and Schnucks would cost the city about $800,000 in estimated grocery tax revenue for 2024. Typically, the city allocates revenue generated from the state grocery tax toward departmental operations. “Any drop in such proceeds would have to be offset by an equal increase in some other general revenue to maintain the current level of operations,” Nicklas said.

* Shaw Local | La Salle County YANA to host gubernatorial candidate James Mendrick on March 13: The grassroots political group YANA (You Are Not Alone) is celebrating its four-year anniversary with an event at 6 p.m. Thursday, March 13, at Jamie’s Outpost, 602 Clark St., Utica. The keynote speaker will be DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick, the first Republican to announce his candidacy for Illinois governor in the 2026 election. Mendrick’s visit provides attendees with an opportunity to hear directly from a gubernatorial candidate and discuss the future of Illinois.

*** Downstate ***

* WCIA | Pritzker stops by Urbana restaurant with Democratic primary winner: “We’ve been doing this a long time and [to] have somebody of that high-profile come in and eat your food and that you share with the community that you grew up with and grew up in,” Baldarotta said. “It’s amazing what he ordered at the Guido. It was recommended by DeShawn because that’s where he gets a lot when he gets in here. But I couldn’t let him leave without trying our porketta.”

* Tom Kacich | Calling it a career: Now it’s time to give this precious space to the young journalists with their energy, enthusiasm, passion and dreams. They are practicing a noble profession (another term for underpaid) with the great responsibility to inform the public, shed light on government, institutions and culture, and call it as they see it. There are many reasons the task is much more difficult today than it was in 1975, not the least of which is misinformation on social media, including much from the government.

* BND | Tax incentive, new infrastructure part of proposed ‘transformative’ development in O’Fallon: Park Place is a joint effort by Bruce Holland of Holland Construction, Rich Gorazd of State Construction and Michael Hamburg of Pier Property Group that city leaders have said could be the biggest development of its type. As proposed, it would feature recreation, entertainment, retail, restaurants and a variety of housing options that could include 50 villas and 429 multi-family units. The cost is estimated cost of the project is $275 to 300 million.

* WCIA | Alcohol compliance checks will happen more often in Pana after 50% of businesses fail: 14 establishments in Pana were checked. Half of them sold alcohol to a person who was under 21 years old. The establishments inside City limits found to be non-compliant were given a City Ordinance Violation for Prohibited Sales of Alcohol with a $500.00 fine. The sellers outside City limits were cited for Illegal Gift/Sale of Alcohol to Minors. All seven establishments were served notice by the Illinois Liquor Control Commission Office and will be given additional fines for the violation.

* ESPN | Illini investigating allegations of ‘inappropriate comments’: The University of Illinois said Saturday that it is investigating allegations of “inappropriate comments” that were made toward Purdue supporters after Boilermakers star Trey Kaufman-Renn said his 13-year-old brother was subjected to racist language and his family was “cussed out” by opposing fans during his team’s 88-80 loss to the Fighting Illini in Champaign, Illinois, on Friday night.

* The Telegraph | Governor JB Pritzker congratulates SIUE basketball on historic NCAA Tournament berth: Illinois Governor JB Pritzker sent congratulations to the SIU-Edwardsville men’s basketball team and SIUE head coach Brian Barone for reaching the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history. “Huge congrats to Coach Barone and the entire SIUE team,” Pritzker said Sunday on social media. “Best of luck to you all in your first ever NCAA Tournament!”

*** National ***

* NYT | 30 Charts That Show How Everything Changed in March 2020: Decades from now, the pandemic will be visible in the historical data of nearly anything measurable today: an unmistakable spike, dip or jolt that officially began for Americans five years ago this week. […] Three million Americans filed for unemployment benefits in the first week, then six million the next, one of the earliest shockwaves to ripple through the economy.

* Santa Fe New Mexican | Assault weapons ban modeled after Illinois law now on the table: The Senate Judiciary Committee decided late Monday to take time to study a proposed assault weapons ban for the state modeled after an Illinois law that is currently tied up in the courts. “We’ll have you ready to go at our very next meeting on Wednesday,” Sen. Joe Cervantes, a Las Cruces Democrat who chairs the committee, told the sponsors.

* AP | Kennedy and influencers bash seed oils, baffling nutrition scientists: It’s the catchy description coined by internet influencers, wellness gurus and some politicians to refer to common cooking oils — think canola, soybean and corn oil — that have long been staples in many home kitchens. […] “I don’t know where it came from that seed oils are bad,” said Martha Belury, an Ohio State University food science professor. In a Senate hearing Thursday, Dr. Marty Makary, nominated to lead the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, called for a closer review of the products.

* Above the Law | Trump Signs Executive Order Calling Out Top 50 Biglaw Firm, With Intent To Wage War Against Other ‘Leading Law Firms’ Over Their DEI Policies: In a move that could seriously disrupt the very ecosystem within which Biglaw firms exist, Trump has directed the chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to “review the practices of representative large, influential, or industry leading law firms for consistency with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.”

* MSN | The FAA’s Troubles Are More Serious Than You Know: Many FAA employees were prepared to follow that advice, agreeing to leave their government jobs and get paid through September, according to internal government records I obtained as well as interviews with current and former U.S. officials who spoke with me on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal. More than 1,300 FAA employees replied to the email, out of a workforce of about 45,000. Most of those who responded selected “Yes, I confirm that I am resigning/retiring.”