* ICYMI: State moves to revoke license of Chicago Heights crematory accused of improperly storing bodies. Sun-Times…

- The Illinois comptroller’s office has suspended and is moving to revoke the license of a Chicago Heights crematory at the center of a state investigation into the mishandling of bodies, comptroller’s officials said.

- Heights Crematory has been closed since the state’s investigation began Feb. 19, when investigators told the facility’s owners that it couldn’t accept any new cases until existing ones are completed. But operators allegedly continued to take in additional remains.

- In the ensuing investigation, officials have also found many of the remains lacked one or more of the documents necessary for cremation, such as a signed death certificate, a signed cremation authorization from next of kin or a cremation permit.

* Related stories…

∙ CBS Chicago: Illinois Comptroller seeks to shut down crematory accused of improperly handling bodies
∙ NBC Chicago: Suburban crematory accused of improperly storing 100 bodies in trailer under investigation

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

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Capitol News Illinois | Prisoner Review Board sued for negligence a year after released prisoner killed Chicago boy: Jayden Perkins, an accomplished young dancer, was stabbed to death last March while his mother, Laterria Smith, sustained “multiple life-threatening stab wounds to her neck, back, and chest while desperately trying to protect her children,” according to one of the lawsuits she filed last week. Smith was pregnant at the time, while her then-5-year-old son witnessed the stabbing. Ahead of the one-year anniversary of the attack last week, Smith filed a pair of complaints — one against the PRB in the Illinois Court of Claims and another in Cook County Circuit Court. The latter lawsuit names not only the PRB, but also its former chair and another member who resigned after the murder, plus an executive director appointed in the aftermath.

* Capitol News Illinois | Illinois’ community colleges see nearly 9% spike in spring enrollment: In a report released Tuesday, the ICCB said 40 of the state’s 45 community colleges reported enrollment growth this spring. There was significant growth in several enrollment categories, including a nearly 20% increase in students enrolled in dual credit programs, which allow high school students to earn college credits. But there was an even greater increase, 23.4%, in students seeking general associate’s degree programs.

* Harvey World Herald | As state cracks down on delinquent audits, Mayor Chris Clark addresses financial reporting concerns: According to state records, Harvey has not completed its state-mandated audits for its three recent fiscal years. Last fall, the city submitted a remediation plan to the state, which rejected it. Now, Harvey’s undergoing forced audits. According to state law, the city has to pay for it.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Center Square | Gambling insider says Illinois’ internet gambling legislation likely doomed: The Illinois Gaming Machine Operators Association is opposed to the idea, and Christopher Altruda, a writer and contributor to CasinoReports.com, said he is not surprised the Illinois Gaming Board is not on board as well. “Taking on an expanded vertical like this as you’re still settling the expansion of what you had for brick-and-mortar casinos and online sports betting, it’s a very tall ask of this state agency,” said Altruda.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Tribune | Cook County’s Democratic incumbents plant flags for 2026 re-election bids: Preckwinkle, who turned 78 Monday, announced her re-election bid to once again lead the board in an interview with Politico. Dart is hosting a re-election campaign kickoff and fundraiser next week. Kaegi sunk $500,000 into his campaign coffers earlier this month — filing a “self-funding” notice for next year’s primary — a reminder to any potential challengers of his deep pockets. Pappas didn’t release a re-election announcement but simply told the Tribune, “I’m in.”

* Sun-Times | Suburban Chicago family pleads for ICE to release father, local business owner: “All that I ask is for my husband’s release,” Orozco said in Spanish. “Is it a crime to work? Because he doesn’t drink, he doesn’t have vices, he doesn’t do drugs. All he does is go to work. Is that what it means to be a criminal — to wake up early and go to work and look after your family?” Her husband was one of 22 people — including a U.S. citizen — detained in the Chicago area in recent weeks by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement since President Donald Trump started his second term. Attorneys from the National Immigrant Justice Center and ACLU of Illinois say the arrests are in violation of a 2022 federal court settlement that required ICE to adopt a nationwide policy on the arrests of people without warrants.

* AP | ICE violated rights of a US citizen and 21 others during arrests, Chicago activists allege: The arrests allegedly violate a 2022 agreement between Chicago groups and the federal government detailing how U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement officers can make “ collateral arrests,” where agents detain others besides those being targeted. The agreement, following a lawsuit over 2018 immigration sweeps, covers Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky and Wisconsin, which are under the ICE office in Chicago. “Every time you hear from this administration about how they’re rounding up gang members, terrorists, the worst of the worst, you need to take a dose of reality,” said Mark Fleming, an attorney with the National Immigrant Justice Center, said at a news conference. “You need to dig deeper to understand who exactly they are arresting.”

* Harvey World Herald | County commissioner paid over $30,000 as consultant at Harvey library where husband serves as board president: Still, Kisha McCaskill, appointed to the county board’s 5th district seat representing the south suburbs and several neighborhoods on Chicago’s South Side in January, performs and receives payments for work for the library district, which has included providing recommendations for full-time hires, liaising for accounts payable, and reviewing proposals for security-related contracts. She’s requested to be paid $30,450 for administrative work and reimbursed $5,164.57 for expenses she incurred between November 2023 and February 2025, according to invoices and bills lists reviewed by the HWH.

* Daily Herald | Don’t look over your shoulder, but are more Pace express buses coming on I-290?: After success establishing express buses that defy traffic by switching to shoulder lanes on Interstate 55 and the Jane Addams Tollway, Pace is considering a three-peat along a route that would include parts of I-290 and I-88. The suburban agency recently launched a I-290/I-88 Express Bus Study and survey. Planners will review the feasibility of putting buses on the corridors connecting the CTA Forest Park Blue Line station with destinations such as Oakbrook Center in Oak Brook and the Woodfield Mall area in Schaumburg.

* Daily Herald | ‘End of an era’: Oak Brook Polo Club to close after more than 100 years: “After years of proudly hosting world-class polo matches and fostering a vibrant community of polo enthusiasts, the Oak Brook Polo Club announces that it will be closing its doors under its current leadership,” the statement reads. “This decision marks the end of an era for one of the most storied polo clubs in the United States.”

*** Downstate ***

* WGLT | Five years later, the losses from COVID-19 still loom large for some in McLean County: Heidi Lovell and Sandy Colbs, both of McLean County, lost their mothers at the height of the pandemic. The death of a parent changes a person forever in normal circumstances. The death of a parent during a viral pandemic — who could be prepared for that? “Unless you know somebody that specifically died of COVID … you just kind of forget that people were dying, people were in the hospital, sick, people were having a hard time with other problems too,” Lovell said in an interview. “I don’t need people to be like, ‘Oh, I’m so sorry your mom died during COVID,’ but like, life still happened, is what I’m saying.”

* BND | Metro-east high school’s backpack policy causes stir. Are students safer or inconvenienced?: On a recent Wednesday, senior Shaylee Messersmith grabbed a bucket, loaded it with her belongings and set off for Dupo High School. One student hauled their supplies in a traffic cone, another in a shopping cart. Messersmith and her friends donned these unorthodox accessories in protest of the school’s backpack policy, which Messersmith said became stricter this week with little warning. Roughly a dozen more teenagers also participated in this student-led “anything but a backpack” demonstration, Messersmith said, and were told to put their makeshift backpacks in their cars or leave them in the office.

* WGLT | After inaction on housing, Normal mayoral candidates outline a shift in strategy: Instead of waiting for the market to organically redevelop its downtown district, Normal leaders poured in millions of dollars of public money to create Uptown Normal. Instead of waiting for a company to buy and demolish the former Mitsubishi plant, the town dangled incentives in front of Rivian to get them to come here and revitalize it. Yet with the housing shortage, the Normal Town Council has done little to address it, essentially waiting for a daunting list of macroeconomic forces to ease. Rents and home prices have spiked.

*** Chicago ***

* Tribune | Stricter truck pollution rule would prevent 500 deaths a year in Chicago region, study shows: The Northwestern study, accepted for publication in the journal Frontiers of Earth Science, looked at the health impact of California’s Advanced Clean Trucks rule, which is currently under consideration by the Illinois Pollution Control Board. The Clean Trucks rule would require that manufacturers of medium and heavy-duty trucks slowly ramp up the number of zero-emissions vehicles sold to 40% to 75% (depending on the category) in 2035.

* Crain’s | WBEZ being investigated by federal regulators over on-air sponsorships: Public broadcasting stations are prohibited from running commercials. Instead, they air what are considered corporate underwriting spots, which are supposed to be non-promotional announcements acknowledging financial support. WBEZ, an NPR affiliate, received a letter from the federal agency asking for its underwriting announcements and is cooperating with the request, the station confirmed today.

* CBS Chicago | Possible federal cuts to bike lane expansion could have big impact in Chicago: The federal money for bike lanes already under construction is allocated, but U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is ready to put a stop to any future dollars and keep bike lanes in cities, including Chicago, from expanding. […] CBS News Chicago reached out to the Chicago Department of Transportation to see how many future projects would be impacted. The department had not returned the request for comment late Thursday.

* Sun-Times | CTA announces schedule changes ahead of anticipated spring ridership rush: Starting April 20, the Blue Line O’Hare Branch will have two extra trips added each weekday, six extra trips added on Saturdays and five extra trips on Sundays, while the Blue Line Forest Park Branch will see even more: 30 additional trips each weekday, 17 additional trips on Saturdays and two additional trips on Sundays. Red and Yellow Line trains are having their early morning schedules shifted to better align with each other, the agency said, as the first northbound Yellow Line train will depart Howard at 4:40 a.m., with southbound service from Dempster-Skokie starting at 4:55 a.m.

* Crain’s | Blackstone facing $346 million foreclosure at River North office building: A venture controlled by the private-equity giant has been in default on its $310 million mortgage backed by the office portion of the building at 350 N. Orleans St. since it matured in 2023, according to a foreclosure lawsuit filed late last month in Cook County Circuit Court. In a long-delayed action, a trustee representing bondholders in the loan filed the complaint in a bid to take control of the 1.3 million-square-foot property.

* Tribune | Decades before Irish were Chicago political royalty, they lived in a ramshackle slum called Kilgubbin: In the 1850s and 1860s, Kilgubbin was often mentioned in the pages of the Tribune and other Chicago newspapers. The name became symbolic of slums where poor Irish immigrants lived in ramshackle shanties, squatting on property they didn’t own. In an era when the Irish faced widespread prejudice, “Kilgubbin” was used as an insult. Of course, Kilgubbin wasn’t the only place where Irish people lived in Chicago during the city’s early decades. In the 1830s, Irish laborers dug the Illinois & Michigan Canal, settling in a spot once called Hardscrabble, which became the South Side’s Bridgeport neighborhood. And when the Great Famine devastated Ireland in the 1840s, Chicago was a destination for thousands of Irish people fleeing starvation. By 1850, 1 out of every 5 Chicagoans was an Irish immigrant.

* WGN | Why was everyone carrying milk jugs around Chicago during St. Patrick’s Day Weekend?: After scouring the internet (which included a few trips down the Reddit rabbit hole), those drinks people were carrying were most likely “Borgs” or Blackout Rage Gallons. […] The drinks are usually made in a plastic jug and generally contain water, vodka, flavored drink mix (such as Kool-Aid or MiO) and sometimes electrolyte mix like Pedialyte.

*** National ***

* Bloomberg | Darker Than a Dark Pool? Welcome to Wall Street’s ‘Private Rooms’: A decade after being engulfed by a controversy that culminated in multiple enforcement actions and a regulator clampdown, these off-exchange trading platforms are touting a way to buy and sell stocks that’s even more opaque. They’re offering what are dubbed private rooms, gated venues that take the core benefit of a dark pool — the ability to hide big equity deals so they won’t impact prices — and add exclusivity, specifying exactly who can partake in any trade.

* WaPo | Amid ‘DEI’ purge, Pentagon removes webpage on Iwo Jima flag-raiser: Multiple articles about the Navajo code talkers, who were critical to America’s victory at Iwo Jima and the wider Pacific theater of the Second World War, were also removed, along with a profile of a Tonawanda Seneca officer who drafted the terms of the Confederacy’s surrender at Appomattox toward the end of the Civil War.