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Isabel’s morning briefing
Wednesday, Mar 4, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller * ICYMI: Former DOJ attorneys intervene in lawsuit seeking sensitive Illinois voter registration data. Capitol News Illinois…
- Eighteen former Department of Justice attorneys signed onto an amicus brief arguing the Trump administration has no legal authority to demand voter registration data from Illinois. - Illinois is among 29 states and Washington, D.C., that are being sued for access to their unredacted voter registration rolls. Those databases include not just the names and addresses of every registered voter in those jurisdictions but also their dates of birth, driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers. * KSDK | Flight records, court records contradict claims that Illinois Gov. Pritzker flew on Jeffrey Epstein’s plane: In August 2008, Clinton led a large Clinton Foundation delegation to sub-Saharan Africa to highlight the foundation’s work on HIV/AIDS, malaria and economic development. Contemporary reporting by the Chronicle of Philanthropy documented the trip in real time. The aircraft used for that trip was a Boeing 767, tail number N2767. Pritzker’s campaign says Google provided the aircraft as an in-kind contribution for the Clinton Foundation’s work. Epstein pleaded guilty on June 30, 2008, and began serving an 18-month sentence in the Palm Beach County jail shortly thereafter. By the time the Clinton Foundation delegation departed for the sub-Saharan nations on July 28, Epstein had already entered custody. * Tribune | Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson keep up Bears stadium pitches: “They’re making a decision between the property that they own already in Arlington Heights, and property that they have looked at in Hammond,” Pritzker told reporters. “It is up to the state to consider whether there is infrastructure that we would provide them, and we clearly have said we would.” The mayor has brushed aside Pritzker’s assertion that Chicago is off the table for a new stadium and told reporters that the Chicago Park District, which owns Soldier Field, needs a partner in Springfield. * Crain’s | Pritzker wants House to take up Bears legislation after primary: The bill wasn’t called for a vote by the full House, but Pritzker is optimistic. “March 18th, they’ll be back,” he said this morning after an unrelated press conference. “You know, I think you’re going to see progress. “So that doesn’t really bother me (that it wasn’t called for a vote),” Pritzker added. “Obviously as fast as we can get this done through the Legislature — and that’s going to be up to the legislators to do it. You know, we want to get it done for the Bears, but I don’t see it as a problem.” * Windy City Times | Comptroller candidate Margaret Croke highlights fiscal oversight, LGBTQ+ allyship: “I want people to be able to go on the website for the comptroller’s office and see the life cycle of taxpayer dollars,” Croke said. “Find the appropriation, see which department received it, which contractor or nonprofit got the funding and when the bill was paid.” Croke also plans to revive and expand a vendor payment program used during Illinois’ 2016 budget crisis, which allowed the state to work with financial institutions to ensure smaller organizations were paid more quickly. * Tribune | Illinois comptroller race 2026: Democratic primary field angles for votes as Susana Mendoza steps down: Kim, who on Monday was endorsed by Mendoza to be her successor, has served as Lake County treasurer since 2018 and sits on a banking commission overseen by the comptroller’s office. She refers to Mendoza as her “mentor.” If elected, Kim says she would press forward with technology upgrades and make cybersecurity a signature priority, noting that protecting citizens’ financial data is especially critical given the volume of checks the comptroller’s office issues. * Sun-Times | City Council committee gets tough on cruelty to animals: Ald. Jesse Fuentes (26th) and Chris Taliafferro (29th) also raised concerns about getting too tough on dog and cat owners who are unhoused. Fuentes also questioned whether a Commission on Animal Care and Control that has historically been underfunded and understaffed would have the employees to enforce the new ordinance. “I have a neighbor who leaves two dogs outside year-round. I’ve reported it half a dozen times. Those pets live outside. Nothing’s been done,” Fuentes said. * Crain’s | American blames United’s ‘reckless scheduling’ for O’Hare woes: American Airlines Group Inc. is blaming its competitor, United Airlines Holdings Inc., for overscheduling at Chicago O’Hare International Airport that has resulted in US regulators moving to reduce summer flights at the busy hub. “Without intervention, United’s reckless scheduling will lead to challenging conditions at ORD this summer: long taxi times, extensive tarmac delays, missed customer connections, disrupted crew sequences and cascading disruptions across the system,” American Airlines executives said in a letter sent to Chicago employees on Tuesday. A United representative didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. * Sun-Times | Former CPD officer gets 4 years in federal prison for bilking $14M from nutrition program: Prosecutors say Hassan “Eric” Abdellatif, 37, illegally billed $14 million to the federal Women, Infants and Children program, or WIC, as owner of the El Milagro Mini Market and Harding Grocery in Chicago. Abdellatif, who lost his Chicago Police Department job after his 2021 arrest, asked for mercy before U.S. District Judge Jorge L. Alonso handed down his sentence at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse. Alonso also ordered Abdellatif pay $8 million in restitution. * Tribune | DHS Secretary Kristi Noem declines to address Marimar Martinez, tells Senate panel she’s ‘not familiar’ with her shooting: With Marimar Martinez standing a few rows behind her, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington on Tuesday that she was not “familiar with the details” of Martinez’s shooting by an immigration agent in Chicago last fall and unaware whether the agent who shot her was still on duty. Noem’s claimed lack of knowledge about a shooting case that garnered national headlines during Operation Midway Blitz came under testy questioning by Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal, of Connecticut, who had Martinez and two other U.S. citizens allegedly abused by immigration officers stand up in the gallery as he asked Noem a series of questions. * Sun-Times | Chicago Fire breaks ground on $750 million stadium at The 78: The first phase of development at The 78 will include more than 1,400 feet of publicly-accessible riverfront space, a new water taxi stop, 1 1/2 miles of bike trails, Divvy bike stations, two temporary surface parking lots, public parking and 3 acres of sports fields, according to Related Midwest. Once the 62-acre project is complete, it’s estimated to generate $8 billion in economic impact. The development will also include homes, trails and a connection to Ping Tom Memorial Park. * Tribune | More details emerge about proposed Joliet data center as final approval nears: Joliet wants to build the largest data center in Illinois right on top of an underground aquifer that’s running dry after 150 years of pumping. While this has alarmed people in Joliet, rapid advances in data center technology and water from Lake Michigan could make this project viable. In an interview with the Tribune last week, Donald Schoenheider, executive vice president of Hillwood Investment Properties, gave the clearest picture yet of his water and electricity plans at the $20 billion data center. Two years ago, Hillwood predicted the data center would need 5 million to 6 million gallons of water a day for cooling its computer servers and for routine water uses like employee restrooms. * Tribune | Wilmette asking Evanston to nix 17 Chicago Stars games at Northwestern’s Ryan Field: Because the stadium at 1501 Central Street sits along the Evanston-Wilmette border, Wilmette officials say the additional events could negatively affect village residents. Village President Senta Plunkett read a letter she sent to Evanston officials at Wilmette’s Feb. 24 village board meeting protesting what she described as 17 additional 10,000-person events annually at the athletic campus. “This increase to the already controversial and impactful use requires the village be steadfast in its opposition to the increasing number of permitted events at the athletic campus, particularly before the new stadium is even operating,” Plunkett wrote. * Daily Southtown | Trial begins for Will County Board member Jacquie Traynere, charged with computer tampering: Special prosecutor William Elward argued Tuesday that Will County Board member Jacqueline Traynere intentionally accessed a rival board member’s email to gain a political advantage. Traynere’s attorneys Colin “CJ” Haney and Jeff Tomczak countered that Traynere was sounding the alarm to expose an internal security problem because every County Board member was issued the same generic email password. * Daily Southtown | Tinley Park Village Board approves police contract after disagreement: The union agreed to withdraw unfair labor practice charges in exchange for the village issuing retroactive payments, according to the meeting agenda. Village and union officials reached an agreement in January, and changes were made and reviewed by village officials, union attorneys and union members, according to the agenda. * Daily Herald | Wheaton officials voice support for downtown apartments for veterans, their families: City council members have directed the city’s attorney to prepare an ordinance allowing the construction and use of the 20-unit apartment building on a vacant corner by the Wheaton Meat Co. butcher shop. “It’s been a vacant lot for quite some time, so we want to be able to put something on there that the city could be very proud of, and that will really let our veterans integrate into the community,” said Mohammad, who served in the Marines. * Daily Herald | Arlington Heights bans short-term rentals, but could change if Bears come to town: Arlington Heights officials will impose a ban on short-term rentals beginning this summer, but say they plan to revisit the issue if the Bears come to town and there’s an increase in demand for places to stay. “I’m not looking forward to some permanent long-term ban. There’s room for this to grow and be worked on. But something needs to be done now,” said Mayor Jim Tinaglia, who suggests a task force might be needed to examine the issue should a Bears stadium be developed at the former Arlington Park site. * Naperville Sun | Naperville D203 hopes to close budget gap by cutting 97 jobs through attrition: Under the plan for the 2026-27 school year, the district would reduce administrative positions by seven — going from 104 administrators to 97. It also would cut the number of certified educators by 90, decreasing the count from 1,567 to 1,477 full-time equivalent positions. Superintendent Dan Bridges said it’s hoped most of the reduction can be achieved by not filling positions created through resignations and retirements. * SJ-R | Sangamon County sheriff candidates debate office’s future: Sangamon County Sheriff Paula Crouch thinks the office has “turned the corner” and is in a good place less than two years after a former sheriff’s deputy fatally shot a 36-year-old Black woman and mother of two and was convicted of her murder. Retired sheriff’s deputy David Timm, Crouch’s Republican primary opponent on March 17, said “the good old boy system” is still alive and well but he would shake things up by having members of the public partake in interviews for deputy candidates. * WCIA | Quidditch comes to Rantoul for a tournament, boosting economic impact: Quadball, the real-life sport inspired by Harry Potter’s Quidditch, is bringing the national qualifier to Rantoul. This is a full contact sport with 600 teams, 450 players and spanning more than 40 countries. […] “It generates about $300,000 in economic impact. And that all goes into things like hotel stays and food, at restaurants, gas, that sort of thing,” said Experience CU Director Mark Brown. “But more than the money, it is a really cool sport. It’s something that is very unique. Not many places, that many destinations have the opportunity to host an event like this.” * WGLT | When planes joined trains and automobiles in Bloomington-Normal: Four airlines now fly in and out of the Central Illinois Regional Airport [CIRA]. They carried about 325,000 passengers last year. It wasn’t always like this. There was a time when the airport that served the Twin Cities had sod and gravel runways. That changed during the Great Depression, a time where federal infrastructure and job creation dollars allowed the airport to start taxiing down the runway and eventually soar to become what it is today. * WCIA | Central IL village regulating ‘dockless bike-sharing’: Quarnstrom said they’ve been in Savoy and all across Champaign County for years, and he’s seen how Champaign, Urbana and the University of Illinois have regulated the Veo bikes. The ordinance and policies Quarnstrom is proposing to the village board mirror theirs. He said that putting rules in place would help them know what to do if any issues, like where people leave the bikes and how long they’ve been sitting in one place, come up. […] He added that the bike companies will also have to provide data, which will help the village recognize and understand how people are using them. * WCIA | Popular U of I bar’s liquor license suspended just days before ‘Unofficial’: Joe’s Brewery’s state liquor license has been suspended. WCIA reached out to the Illinois Liquor Control Commission to find out why it was suspended and for how long, but did not immediately receive a response back. […] “Joe’s has been a big part of campus culture. Everyone goes there. Seeing ‘Unofficial’ coming up, I feel like most people are pretty excited to go there. So, it is shocking and sad news to see. We just wish Joe’s comes back and they work on whatever issues they’re dealing with,” Vaibhav Reddivari, a U of I student, said. * NYT | Antitrust Trial to Challenge Live Nation’s Grip on the Music Industry: Since then, the combined company has come to dominate nearly every aspect of the multibillion-dollar concert business. The government contends that Live Nation has used its power to stifle competition and drive up ticket prices for millions of fans. Last year, the company put on 55,000 events and sold 646 million tickets around the world. It also owns or controls 460 venues and manages more than 300 artists, according to its annual report.
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