* Click here for some background. The Teamsters Union put out a press release today with the headline: “Billionaire Governor’s Anti-Worker Measure Further Harms Amazon Workers”…

The Teamsters Union is condemning Gov. JB Pritzker for vetoing House Bill 2547, the Illinois Warehouse Worker Protection Act (WWPA). The bipartisan legislation, which passed through the statehouse with overwhelming support, would have prevented companies like Amazon from abusing the workforce by regulating the use and disclosure of warehouse quotas.

“We are deeply disappointed that the governor has vetoed the Warehouse Worker Protection Act. In doing so, he has abandoned the very people who give their all every day, working under inhumane production quotas that are not only unacceptable but also dangerous,” said Thomas W. Stiede, President of Teamsters Joint Council 25. “Having been a warehouse worker, I’m deeply familiar with the harsh and inhumane conditions in this industry, and I know firsthand why this bill is necessary. It’s unfortunate that our Governor doesn’t have those same experiences or sympathies. Warehouse workers, including those at Amazon, are simply trying to provide for their families honestly and safely, and the Illinois governor has turned his back on them.”

California, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, and Washington have already passed their own versions of the WWPA, and a similar measure at the federal level has bipartisan support.

“The Warehouse Worker Protection Act is the most commonsense, effective solution to the rampant abuse of warehouse workers by greedy and dangerous companies like Amazon,” said Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien. “The Teamsters will never stop fighting for it, both federally and in state houses across the country. In light of the governor’s reckless act, Illinois clearly needs stronger leadership that has the backbone and compassion to put hardworking families first.”

Teamsters Joint Council 25 represents more than 125,000 hardworking men and women throughout Illinois and northwest Indiana.

* The Governor’s Press Secretary Alex Gough…

“Governor Pritzker will not make decisions based on statements from people who spoke in favor of Donald Trump’s anti-worker agenda last summer and aided Bruce Rauner’s attacks on working families. We were clear from the beginning with our concerns with the Teamsters that this would not be enforceable, and presented legal issues. As he said in his veto message, the Governor shares the goal to protect warehouse workers from dangerous and unfair conditions and invites all union leaders to engage in good-faith conversations that will deliver a real solution and actually protects workers.”

* The secret is out!…

Happy birthday, Rich!

*** Statehouse News ***

* Chicago Reader | Illinois’s public defense crisis: Illinois is facing a public defense crisis. That was the message from lawyers, lawmakers, policy advocates, and organizers who converged at the Northwestern Pritzker Law’s downtown campus on March 24 for a daylong summit on the future of public defense. The event, hosted by Northwestern’s Children and Family Justice Center and the Illinois Justice Project, was organized ostensibly to support a bill moving through the General Assembly that would create a statewide public defender agency. Numerous speakers highlighted the need for substantive structural change to address funding disparities, conflicts of interest, and an overall dearth of data about public defense in Illinois.

*** Statewide ***

* Block Club | Sanctuary Policies ‘Protect Public Safety,’ Groups Argue In Response To Justice Department Lawsuit: As the federal government continues to pursue its lawsuit against Chicago, Cook County and Illinois over their “sanctuary” policies, local legal groups this week filed a brief arguing that sanctuary laws actually promote public safety — and encourage economic growth. An amicus brief in the case was filed Tuesday by the ACLU of Illinois and the National Immigrant Justice Center on behalf of several local immigrant advocacy organizations.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Tribune | Accused Skokie candidate won’t get ethics hearing before election: Skokie Trustee James Johnson, who is running for village clerk and in the midst of an ethics violation investigation, won’t receive a conclusive hearing before the April 1 election on whether or not Johnson used the village’s resources for political gain. An amendment to an ethics complaint targeting Johnson was submitted to the village’s ethics commission on Monday, according to one of the eight Skokie residents who submitted the complaint in February. The amended complaint caused the investigation to start over, and caused an evidentiary hearing scheduled for last week to be canceled.

* Tribune | Wealthy white homeowners vote more on property tax hike proposals in Cook County, study finds: Referendums for $45 million in infrastructure spending in Western Springs, $94.9 million in school upgrades in Northbrook, and for permission to go above state tax caps in the Northfield Park District, Prospect Heights and Roselle are on the ballot this spring. And Pappas’ office found a small number of voters — largely rich, white homeowners — tend to have the strongest turnout for these types of property tax votes.

* Daily Southtown | Dolton 148 Board defends salary increase for superintendent making $450,000: Dolton Elementary School District 148 Board members say they were excluded from discussions leading to a salary increase for Superintendent Kevin Nohelty, boosting his $450,000 salary $30,000 each of the next two years. During a packed meeting Tuesday, board President Larry Lawrence explained the decision to increase the salary, approved at a special meeting March 18, was because Nohely stayed on past his contract’s end date in June 2022 as the board searches for his replacement.

* Daily Herald | District 200 school board race pits incumbents against challengers questioning middle school projects: Unlike the election battles in the pandemic’s shadow, the candidate roster this time is largely divided along more familiar lines, with some challenging the status quo and raising questions about a voter-approved plan for major projects in the district’s oldest middle schools. […] It’s the first school board contest since 68% of voters in November backed the district’s request to take out $151.5 million in bonds for work at Edison, Franklin and Monroe middle schools.

*** Chicago ***

* Chicago Mag | Karen Lewis’s posthumous new memoir recounts the transformation of the Chicago Teachers Union into a disrupter of the status quo: ”Initially I thought Renaissance 2010 was a terrible joke; I didn’t believe it would really happen until I started to see it in action. I wasn’t worried for myself, because I taught at a selective enrollment school that would never close. Yet I knew my sisters and brothers throughout the city were being devastated. Renaissance 2010 led to the closure of more than 100 public schools; it maligned veteran Black teachers, paraprofessionals, and administrators; and it launched many charter, contract, and alternative schools without unionized workforces.”

* Sun-Times | Amtrak busing travelers to St. Paul, Milwaukee after canceling trains from Chicago: Amtrak began busing passengers Wednesday between Chicago and St. Paul, Minnesota, and Milwaukee after discovering corrosion issues on several of its passenger cars, raising the prospect of long-term service disruptions. The passenger rail service said it is running buses in place of trains on its Borealis route, which runs one train a day to and from Chicago and St. Paul, Minnesota. Half of Amtrak’s six daily Hiawatha service trains to and from Milwaukee are also running on buses.

* Crain’s | Chicago food banks stung by Trump cuts while costs climb: In the west side of Chicago, Wendy Daniels has seen an increase of about 25% in the number of new people coming through her food bank since January. That’s a worrying trend, she says, as tariffs, inflation and funding cuts are set to squeeze grocery budgets while making it more expensive for food banks to cover their operating costs.

* Sun-Times | CPD cracking down on sloppy appearance of some cops or face reprimand, according to scathing internal memo: Officers have to wear “clean and serviceable” uniforms with no holes or tears and are forbidden from wearing hoodies underneath or tactical pants, according to the memo, sent out earlier this week by Area 5 District Cmdr. William Betancourt and which was obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times. “We have spoken about this for the past 18 months and we are still not addressing the officers in the districts in regards to this!” Betancourt said in the email.

* Tribune | Julie Woestehoff, Chicago education activist who urged local control of schools, dies: Julie Woestehoff was the longtime executive director of Chicago-based Parents United for Responsible Education (PURE), a reform-minded schools advocacy group that pushed for citizen involvement in the city’s schools and equitable use of standardized tests. Woestehoff encouraged “many parents to get involved with their children’s education because she believed that parents were the key to advocating for their own children. They knew what the children needed,” said Wanda Hopkins, a former PURE assistant director. “And we believed that every child had the right to have the best education possible.”

* Tribune | Lady Gaga announces ‘Mayhem’ tour with Chicago concerts in September: Lady Gaga has announced a tour behind her new album “Mayhem” with Chicago dates in September. The tour, dubbed “Mayhem Ball,” will play the United Center (1901 W. Madison St.) on Sept. 15 and 17. An artist ticket presale begins at noon April 2. Access that presale at signup.ticketmaster.com/ladygaga; the signup closes at 8 a.m. March 30. The public pre-sale begins noon April 3; more at www.livenation.com. There will also be a presale for Citi card holders beginning at noon March 31 and a Verizon pre-sale at noon April 1.

*** Downstate ***

* WMBD | Peoria County prosecutor arrested for allegedly possessing stolen firearm: Kali Pray, 28, and her passenger, Drake Tharp, 23, of Creve Coeur, were both charged in Woodford County Circuit Court with possession of a stolen firearm and for not having a valid FOID card. Those charges carry a maximum sentence of up to seven years behind bars. Anna Perales, a spokeswoman for the Peoria County State’s Attorney‘s office, said Pray had been on “administrative unpaid leave when this incident happened. We are reviewing the matter.”

* WCIA | University of Illinois employees rally for fair wages: Their previous agreement expired in September, and negotiations for a new contract have been going on for a year. Now, the union members say the increased .25% wage offer, bringing the total offer to around 2.5% for the first year, is not enough for some of the lower-paid union members to earn a living wage.

* WCIA | Reynolds Towing addresses employee’s Nazi salute after video circulates online: An offensive video circulating online has led to a man getting fired from his tow-truck job. Reynolds Towing in Champaign is apologizing for the antisemitic clip. The video shows an employee standing on the back of a tow truck in a Reynolds towing uniform giving a Nazi salute. He then said an expletive referring to Jewish people.

* WCBU | Peoria County extends low-income broadband access program: Allen says 36 people enrolled in the pilot program, funded by a $125,000 grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. The county received an extension to the grant, allowing for funds to rollover to July 2026 and for the inclusion of a second cohort of households.

*** National ***

* Bloomberg | Rivian spins out startup focused on ‘micromobility’ EVs: The new “micromobility” company, known as Also, is launching with $105 million in funding from Rivian and venture capital firm Eclipse. Rivian, which makes consumer EV trucks and SUVs, will have a minority stake in Also. Chris Yu, a Rivian executive who will lead the new company as president, said in an interview that current options are limited for customers looking for plug-in vehicles smaller than a standard car. “There is a lack of personalized experience you get, like with a Rivian, for small EVs.”