* Politico…

A new poll shows Illinois voters aren’t on board with mobile gambling, which could pose a challenge for legislation being considered in Springfield.

A subject matter hearing on the issue will be held today. Details here.

About the poll: The Tulchin Research survey of 800 registered voters found that 71 percent believe gambling on phones is more addictive than gambling at brick-and-mortar locations like casinos, restaurants, bars or veterans halls. The poll was conducted Feb. 11-17 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.46 percentage points. The polling memo is here.

Click here to view the poll—but we don’t know who commissioned it.

* Brianne Doura-Schawohl, Problem and responsible gambling expert and advocate, Campaign for Fairer Gambling…

“Illinoisans must recognize the truth about iGambling: legalization will lead to higher rates of problem gambling, especially in young people. States that legalize online gaming will see dramatic spikes in gambling addiction. With increased accessibility comes increased participation and subsequent harm. I have spent my career working to address problem gambling, doing all that I can to prevent and reduce it. I’ve seen firsthand the damage this has on individuals and their families. Research is clear, an individual suffering from gambling related harm is 15x more likely to die by suicide and an individual struggling can negatively impact six other individuals. Legalization of iGambling is talking about legalizing products that don’t just cause catastrophic harm for one individual but entire communities. We need to ask, is this the type of outcome Illinois desires and strives for.”

* National Education Association…

NEA President Becky Pringle and Gov. JB Pritzker to attend largest gathering of educators in Illinois

WHO: National Education Association (NEA) President Becky Pringle, Gov. JB Pritzker and Illinois Education Association (IEA) President Al Llorens

WHAT: President Pringle and Gov. Pritzker will be welcomed by President Llorens to the IEA Representative Assembly (RA). The RA is the legislative body of the IEA, Illinois’ largest union, and helps the union set its agenda for the year. There are 1,200 IEA delegates, who are educators from all across the state, in attendance. Both Pringle and Pritzker will address the crowd.

WHEN: Thurs., March 13, 9:00 a.m.

WHERE: Hyatt Regency O’Hare (9300 W Bryn Mawr Ave., Rosemont)

* Illinois Department of Employment Security…

The Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) announced today that nonfarm payrolls were almost unchanged, down -1,100 (0.0%), while the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.9 percent in January, based on preliminary data provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), and released by IDES. The December monthly change in payrolls was revised from the preliminary report, from +8,800 to +12,200 while the revised unemployment rate was 4.9 percent, -0.3 percentage point lower than the preliminary December unemployment rate of 5.2 percent. The January payroll jobs estimate and unemployment rate reflect activity for the week including the 12th.

Compared to a year ago, total nonfarm payroll jobs increased by +36,000 jobs. The industry groups with the largest jobs increases included: Private Education and Health Services (+27,500), Government (+25,300), and Leisure and Hospitality (+5,800). The industry groups with the largest jobs decreases included: Professional and Business Services (-17,800), Manufacturing (-5,900), and Construction (-3,400). In January, total nonfarm payrolls were up +0.6 percent over-the-year in Illinois and up +1.3 percent in the nation.

In January, the industry sectors with the largest over-the-month job increases included: Government (+7,900), Financial Activities (+1,800), and Private Education and Health Services (+1,600). The industry sectors with the largest monthly payroll job decreases included: Leisure and Hospitality (-8,700), Trade, Transportation and Utilities (-2,400) and Manufacturing (-1,800).

“Despite significant uncertainty and disruption at the federal level, Illinois’ labor market and unemployment remained steady in January, and we’re encouraged to see 36,000 jobs created in Illinois compared to one year ago,” said Deputy Governor Andy Manar. “Looking ahead, IDES and its state and local workforce partners continue to serve jobseekers and provide resources to bolster Illinois’ unmatched workforce.” […]

The state’s unemployment rate was +0.9 percentage point higher than the national unemployment rate reported for January. The national unemployment rate was 4.0 percent in January, down -0.1 percentage point from the previous month. The Illinois unemployment rate was unchanged from a year ago when it was 4.9 percent.

The number of unemployed workers was 324,100, down -1.3% from the prior month, and up +1.2 percent over the same month one year ago. The labor force was almost unchanged (0.0%) over-the-month and up +1.2 percent over-the-year. The unemployment rate identifies those individuals who are out of work and seeking employment. An individual who exhausts or is ineligible for benefits is still reflected in the unemployment rate if they actively seek work.

*** Statewide ***

* WTTW | ‘A Tsunami Coming From Washington’: Chicago, Illinois Leaders Respond to Education Department Layoffs: “There is a tsunami coming from Washington to every child and state in this country,” Illinois Federation of Teachers President Dan Montgomery said Wednesday morning in Chicago. “It’s not efficiency, it’s not reform, it’s (the) destruction of a Department of Education because this administration in Washington wants to give huge tax breaks to billionaires.”

*** Chicago ***

* Sun-Times | Despite tourist shooting, Johnson nixes 8 p.m. curfew for minors downtown: Mayor Brandon Johnson on Tuesday left no doubt he remains opposed to a downtown curfew of 8 p.m. for unaccompanied minors — even after a tourist was shot while walking with her son outside a Streeterville movie theater. Instead of using the stick to prevent young people summoned by social media from congregating and sometimes creating havoc downtown, Johnson favors offering them the carrot of paid employment.

* Block Club | Alderman Will Try Again To Pass 8 PM Downtown Curfew For Minors After Streeterville Shooting: The city currently enforces a 10 p.m. curfew daily for people 17 and younger. […] Hopkins’ ordinance was sent to the Rules Committee, where legislation often stalls indefinitely. To revive the ordinance, Hopkins will need a majority of committee members to approve moving it out of the Rules Committee and into another. The measure must then receive majority support in that committee before going to a final vote at City Council.

* Tribune | Some CPS teachers claim REACH evaluation system disproportionately targets Black educators: Simpson spent 15 years as a culinary teacher in Chicago Public Schools until 2017, when she was forced into retirement, she said, after receiving a poor teaching evaluation. Simpson’s career came to an abrupt end due to what she called “principal manipulation.” “They used the REACH system to manipulate my rating, which lowered my rating (and) took away my seniority and allowed them to dismiss me over the other person,” Simpson said of the school, which she declined to name.

* Crain’s | As dealmaking stalls amid Trump uncertainty, one industry forges ahead: Chicago-area insurance brokerages looking to make deals have kept their foot on the gas in early 2025, with the number of acquisitions in the space rising even as uncertainty surrounding President Donald Trump’s actions has stalled plans in other industries. Expectations for robust profits and the advantages of size are seen as driving the uptick in activity from brokerages.

* Tribune | Chicago ranked 7th-most polluted major US city in 2024, down from 2nd the previous year, global report shows: On average last year, Chicago’s atmosphere had 8.4 micrograms of particulate matter per cubic meter of air, considerably lower than its 2023 average of 13 micrograms. But “that’s still a far cry” from the World Health Organization’s recommended guideline of 5 micrograms per cubic meter, Schroeder said. Wildfires in the Canadian province of Quebec during the summer of 2023 contributed to higher levels of PM2.5 that year. Schroeder said other contributors to lower pollution levels could be that the winter of 2023-2024 was the warmest on record for the country and the fifth-warmest in Chicago — which meant people didn’t produce as much smoke from using wood-burning fireplaces to heat their homes.

* Sun-Times | White Sox prospect Colson Montgomery surprised but ‘not stressing’ over cut: Like almost everyone else — besides the White Sox front office — Colson Montgomery didn’t expect to be cut two and a half weeks before Opening Day. So it hit the 23-year-old shortstop prospect in the gut Tuesday.

* WGN | Lost mail discovered in North Side alley: On a cold Saturday morning in late January, Mason discovered hundreds of pieces of mail in the alley outside his building near Leland Avenue and Sheridan Road. “There was a significant number of W-2s, checks…a lot of financial stuff,” Mason said. “I walked up and down the alley and the backyard and picked up about 250 pieces of mail.”

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Southtown | Trustees walk out of Thornton Township meeting following conflict with Supervisor Tiffany Henyard: Because only three board members were physically present, Trustees Chris Gonzalez and Carmen Carlisle needed Supervisor Tiffany Henyard’s approval to bring Trustee Stephanie Wiedeman into the meeting via Zoom. Wiedeman was absent due to a “child care conflict,” Carlisle said. “You cannot go via Zoom if you do not have an illness or anything like that,” Henyard said before voting against Wiedeman’s participation. “Our meetings are in person and everybody should be here to take care of the business.”

* Daily Southtown | OSHA fines contractor overseeing clean-up at former mental health center: As part of the ongoing saga regarding the former Tinley Park Mental Health Center, Village Manager Pat Carr held a news conference regarding an Occupational Safety and Health Administration fine of nearly $40,000 against the Omega company for safety violations during demolition of a building at the site in October. The village and the Tinley Park-Park District have been at odds over the land, now owned by the Park District. The village is using the OSHA fines to argue the Park District is not up to the task for this project.

* Daily Southtown | Summit Hill District 161 candidates denounce anonymous flyers with anti-Muslim sentiment: The anonymous flyer, left in some Mokena mailboxes this week, expressed anger over the board’s decision to sell two of its elementary schools due to declining enrollment. The school board entered into an agreement with the Frankfort Square Park District to use the former Frankfort Square Elementary School, and the board sold the former Arbury Hills Elementary School to the Prayer Center of Orland Park, an Islamic mosque.

* Daily Southtown | Mokena Mayor Frank Fleischer faces a challenge from longtime Trustee George Metanias: Mokena Mayor Frank Fleischer, seeking a fourth term, faces a challenge from longtime Trustee George Metanias in the April election, with both aiming to revitalize the village’s downtown and attract more businesses. Fleischer, elected in 2013 — 10 years after his previous tenure as trustee from 1987 to 2003 — said he aims to continue bringing businesses to Mokena and redevelop the village’s downtown area. “There’s things to be done that I just would like to finish before I walk out the door,” Fleischer said. “I know I’m not going to finish them. I just want to get started so the next mayor can finish them.”

* Daily Herald | Lisle mayor candidates debate Family Square mall development downtown: For years, there was hope that a developer would demolish the shuttered Family Square Plaza to make way for a large-scale apartment building with ground-floor commercial space, but that project did not move forward. “A multiuse development like this is still feasible,” said Lisle Trustee Mary Jo Mullen, who’s challenging incumbent Mayor Chris Pecak, during a recent joint interview with the Daily Herald Editorial Board. Pecak has suggested the empty shopping center at Ogden Avenue and Main Street — a gateway into the downtown — could be revived.

* WBEZ | Matteson farm that lost flock to bird flu loses $200K in federal grants after funding freeze: In October, Kakadoodle Farm was informed it would receive a $220,000 grant. But Tuesday, it was suspended due to the Trump administration’s freeze on federal funding. The news came weeks after owners MariKate and Marty Thomas lost their flock of 3,000 chickens to the avian flu in January. “First the bird flu, and then this. Like, what’s next?” Marty Thomas told the Sun-Times Friday.

* Bloomberg | Northwestern looks to build cash reserves in face of market turbulence: Northwestern University’s investment chief wants to increase cash reserves while scaling back private equity in the school’s $14.3 billion endowment as colleges across the country brace for market turbulence. The cash allocation is set to rise to as much as 7% from no more than 5%, said Chief Investment Officer Amy Falls. Private equity holdings would be trimmed “at the margin,” she said, without quantifying the potential reduction.

*** Downstate ***

* WMBD | Peoria approves $39K to help keep the unhoused off the street: The non-profit was given a $39,000 grant that reimburses funds the organization has spent to house more than 90 people who previously were living in tents in Peoria. This is the second time the council has given money to LULA Peoria, previously giving the organization $80,000 back in January. LULA has been using its own money to house the homeless since money from the city ran out in February.

* BND | 100 years ago: Tornado wiped out southern Illinois towns, left thousands without homes: 100 years ago, March 19, 1925 A tornado, which swept over southern Illinois yesterday afternoon at 3 o’clock, wiped out several towns, left thousands homeless and caused great property damage over a wide area in the southern part of the state. Reports over the radio give the dead and injured at 3,251, in one of the worst storms in the history of the state. Incomplete reports give the dead at 957 with 2,294 hurt.

* Fox 2 Now | Solar project in southern Illinois sparks concern for residents: The sun is the next renewable energy source set to power southern Illinois. So much so, that the Illinois Municipal Electric Agency has entered into a 20-year agreement with National Grid Renewables to purchase all electrical output from the future Bee Hollow facility. […] Some residents sold their properties while others are leasing to the different power companies. During the approval process for the Bee Hollow solar project in St. Clair County, Illinois, concerns were raised about the environmental impact of tree removal.

* WCIA | Tolono hopes to improve, but area leaders have different perspectives: The goal for the community is to create a more appealing area by improving roads, updating homes, and bringing in more businesses. But, the current Village of Trustees and election candidates aren’t seeing eye to eye. The Board of Trustees said they’ve been having a hard time bringing in new businesses and finding available property for businesses to come in — so they needed to put a pause on the project to take care of other issues and make sure they were going down the right path.