* Attorney General Kwame Raoul is keeping busy…

Attorney General Kwame Raoul led a coalition of 22 attorneys general in seeking a court order to force the Trump administration to unfreeze essential funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Despite multiple court orders, including a preliminary injunction issued on March 6 blocking the Trump administration from unlawfully freezing federal funds, the administration continues to withhold hundreds of millions of dollars in grants to states from FEMA.

This funding freeze threatens lifesaving emergency preparedness and recovery programs addressing terrorist attacks, mass shootings, wildfires, floods, cybersecurity threats and more. Raoul and the coalition filed a motion to enforce the March 6 preliminary injunction, seeking a court order requiring the administration to immediately stop the freezing of FEMA funds.

“Funding through FEMA is critical in Illinois and states around the country because it supports state efforts to help communities recover following natural disasters, but states rely on FEMA funds for so much more. States also count on FEMA grants to protect public spaces, such as houses of worship, hospitals and other nonprofits from cybersecurity threats, mass shootings and acts of terrorism,” Raoul said. “I will continue to stand with my fellow attorneys general to stop the funding freeze that would cause harm and uncertainty across the nation.”

The administration’s funding freeze policy, issued through an array of actions, including a Jan. 27 memorandum from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), illegally withheld trillions of dollars in federal funds for states and other entities like nonprofit organizations and community health centers. In the days after the policy was first issued, states could not access Medicaid dollars. Most recently, withheld FEMA funds have jeopardized public safety, disaster response and emergency preparedness throughout the country. As Raoul and the attorneys general assert in the motion to enforce, further freezing of FEMA funds would end disaster relief efforts and support for more than 4,000 survivors of the 2023 Maui wildfires.

* Ope. Naperville Sun…

Last week, Naperville City Council candidate Nag Jaiswal took to Facebook to proudly announce the endorsements he said he received from U.S. Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi, of Schaumburg, and Danny Davis, of Chicago. […]

Except, neither Davis nor Krishnamoorthi has endorsed Jaiswal.

“The answer, of course, is no,” Davis said in a call when asked if he authorized an endorsement for Jaiswal. “I have great, great respect for the people of Naperville. … But I don’t know enough about the local politics of Naperville to be making any kind of endorsement for the city council. Further, no one has ever asked me for an endorsement.”

Krishnamoorthi has not issued a formal endorsement in the Naperville City Council race, a source confirmed to the Naperville Sun.

Jaiswal, who spoke briefly by phone Monday, did not answer direct questions about his claims of endorsements from Krishnamoorthi and Davis. After a four-minute conversation, he hung up.

*** Chicago ***

* Tribune | Reformers push Mayor Brandon Johnson to adopt Law Department changes: Inspector General Deborah Witzburg first proposed the changes last month in an effort to bolster her office’s investigative independence. The mayor-controlled Law Department has long hindered investigations that “may result in embarrassment or political consequences to City leaders,” she told aldermen. A Johnson ally quickly stalled the reform package when it was introduced at the City Council. The mayor’s corporation counsel, Mary Richardson-Lowry, also blasted it as a “fundamental misunderstanding of the law.” But a legal opinion the Better Government Association announced Tuesday determined Richardson-Lowry is wrong to argue such changes would be prohibited by state and city law.

* Block Club | Unions Representing Chicago Teachers, Firefighters Rally Together For New Contracts: The CTU and Chicago Fire Department Union Local 2 joined together for a rally Monday on the Near West Side near Fire Department Engine 103 and Whitney Young High School, highlighting the urgency of new contracts and the similarities between the two groups seeking them. “Public safety, teachers — we all work hand in hand,” said Pat Cleary, Fire Union Local 2 president.

* Sun-Times | What’s at stake with city, suburban schools’ accommodations for trans students under probe: “Illinois law is the controlling law for these schools, and there is no federal law that speaks to this issue,” said Ed Yohnka, policy director for ACLU Illinois. “If they try to punish an Illinois school for following Illinois law, you’ll see challenges pretty quickly.”

* Crain’s | Trump shrinks list of federal buildings for sale — but one Chicago property remains: The federal government has narrowed its strategy for reducing its real estate footprint, naming eight properties it wants to sell in the near future, including one in Chicago that’s been on the market since 2023. The latest list of federal real estate assets posted by the General Services Administration is much shorter than the 443-property portfolio the organization said it was potentially selling in early March, as part of the Trump administration’s broad push to shrink the size of the federal government. The original list was taken down less than a day later.

* Tribune | ‘They’ve got everlasting money, bro’: Chicago archdiocese alleges conspiracy to file false sex abuse claims against defrocked priest: A West Side man was talking to his imprisoned cousin in 2013 when he allegedly floated the idea of adding him to a string of bogus sexual abuse allegations filed against defrocked Chicago Catholic priest Daniel McCormack, court records show. […] That conversation recorded on a prison line 12 years ago was included in an unusual new lawsuit filed by the Archdiocese of Chicago on Monday alleging a group of mostly West Side residents, including a convicted murderer and others associated with violent street gangs, conspired for years to bring false allegations of sexual abuse by McCormack — often ranked among the most notorious child sexual abusers ever employed by the church — in order to win millions of dollars in legal settlements.

* Block Club | ‘Are We Waiting For Someone To Die?’: NW Siders Beg City To Address Dangerous Intersection: Cardona requested a traffic study be conducted at the intersection last year. The Chicago Department of Transportation found that an additional stop sign would not make sense because the traffic volume on Karlov is far lower than the volume on Belmont. CDOT spokesperson Erica Schroeder said federal guidelines do not recommend creating a four-way stop at intersections where traffic volume varies greatly. Schroeder also said CDOT determined that adding a stop sign on Belmont could cause traffic backups that extend into the Pulaski intersection.

*** Downstate ***

* WCIA | Village of Tilton creates own grocery tax after statewide repeal: It passed last Thursday at the village board meeting. Tilton joins Danville as communities in Vermilion County to pass a replacement tax. The current state tax on groceries sits at about 1%, meaning every $100 of groceries results in one dollar given to the municipality. Mayor of Tilton William Wear said the tax will continue to fund critical services in town.

* PJ Star | From explosives to safety, how the demolition of the old McClugage Bridge span will work: Illinois Department of Transportation spokesperson Paul Wappel told the Journal Star that using explosives to demolish portions of the bridge has been in the works for at least a year. In the early planning stages of demolition in 2018, Wappel said that IDOT and contractors had discussions about explosions, saying that the dismantling of a truss bridge would require the need to shore up other parts of the bridge during that period of time.

* BND | Belleville 118 board considering $12M in upgrades at 11 schools. Here’s what’s included: From improved security to new playgrounds, Belleville’s largest elementary and middle school district has an expansive summer bucket list. Members of the District 118 School Board will decide at next month’s meeting if they want to issue and sell up to $12 million in working cash fund bonds to finance the project. If they choose to do so, the district could receive the money by May and work could commence at the start of summer’s break, Superintendent Ryan Boike said. If all goes according to plan, the projects will be wrapped up in time for the new school year.

* BND | O’Fallon had abandoned property on its hands. Habitat for Humanity found use for it: City Attorney Todd Fleming determined by law that the city could sell it to the nonprofit organization for $1,000. The city has previously sold lots to the group before. In 2017, they sold one on Elm Street. In 2021, they sold three properties on Booster Road at 112, 126 and 132.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Herald | Wheeling School District 21 places three administrators on leave: In response to Daily Herald questions, District 21 officials Monday evening identified the three employees as Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations Micheal DeBartolo, Assistant Superintendent of Support Services Kim Cline and Student Services Coordinator Melissa Maricona. A district spokeswoman wouldn’t discuss details of the administrative leave that took effect Friday afternoon, including whether the employees are being paid and how long they will be out of the office.

* Daily Herald | Naperville could make it tougher for banks to open in first-floor spaces downtown: The council at that time directed city staff to draft an ordinance that would prohibit banks from locating on the first floor in the downtown core unless they were granted a zoning variance. “Staff is supportive of the proposed amendment as written, finding that it further promotes the retail and commercial tenancy intended for the first floor of downtown businesses,” Kopinski said.

* Daily Southtown | 10 candidates for Orland School District 135 Board discuss test scores, taxes: Browner said candidates Ray Morandi, Chad Capps, Vince Oluwaleke and Kelly Chmielewski were handpicked by Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau, following contention between the district and the Orland Park Village Board over tax increment financing districts and other issues. Other newcomers running are Deborah L. Scumaci, Aisha Zayyad, Jennifer Durkin-Fekete and Daniel Finlayson. “I feel like this election especially, we’re seeing a lot of people who are potentially running for the wrong reasons and just really don’t understand what they’re getting into or the role of a school board member,” Browner said Monday.

* Tribune | La Grange schools referendum addresses infrastructure projects: La Grange School District 102 is asking voters to approve $82 million in general obligation bonds in the April 1 consolidated general election in an effort to fund upgrades to aging facilities and infrastructure in the district. “I believe that this is a generational investment,” District 102 Superintendent Chris Covino said, adding that the district has developed “an incredibly comprehensive plan …every building, every classroom.” “We’re going to take care of the most pressing structural issues right off the bat, with roofs and plumbing and tuck pointing. I will predict that we will not have an additional infusion of taxpayer investment for at least the life of this bond,” he said.

*** National ***

* Inside Higher Ed | Education Department Reeling After Layoffs: Inside Higher Ed spoke to more than a dozen former and current department staffers over the past week about the RIF and what followed. All of them describe a chaotic process that was “disorganized and unstrategic,” as one source put it, and say the cuts have led to technical mishaps, gaps in oversight and a large-scale loss of institutional knowledge. Most asked to remain anonymous to speak freely about their experience. Multiple former and current staff say the department is struggling to fulfill its statutorily mandated responsibilities, from administering federal student aid to enforcing antidiscrimination laws.

* WaPo | Law firms refuse to represent Trump opponents in the wake of his attacks: President Donald Trump’s crackdown on lawyers is having a chilling effect on his opponents’ ability to defend themselves or challenge his actions in court, according to people who say they are struggling to find legal representation as a result of his challenges. Biden-era officials said they’re having trouble finding lawyers willing to defend them. The volunteers and small nonprofits forming the ground troops of the legal resistance to Trump administration actions say that the well-resourced law firms that once would have backed them are now steering clear.

* WaPo | Long waits, waves of calls, website crashes: Social Security is breaking down: The Social Security Administration website crashed four times in 10 days this month because the servers were overloaded, blocking millions of retirees and disabled Americans from logging in to their online accounts. In the field, office managers have resorted to answering phones in place of receptionists because so many employees have been pushed out. Amid all this, the agency no longer has a system to monitor customer experience because that office was eliminated as part of the cost-cutting efforts led by Elon Musk.