* Click here for some background if you need it. The Illinois GOP is trying to use the already-debunked Epstein claims to raise money money…

IL Republicans trying to raise money off the thoroughly debunked Epstein stuff pic.twitter.com/9sxxIxFzvO

— Capitol Fax (@capitolfax) March 9, 2026

* WGN…

A federal lawsuit filed by life insurance company Nippon claims OpenAI’s chatbot acted as a lawyer and convinced a woman to fire her human attorney.

Nippon says it settled a long-term disability lawsuit with an Illinois woman two years ago. Graciela Dela Torre signed a full release, and the case was dismissed with prejudice, meaning it can’t be refiled. However, last year, Dela Torre sought to reopen the case.

When her attorney told her the settlement was final, Nippon says she turned to ChatGPT. The company claims the chatbot helped Dela Torre draft filings to try to undo her settlement, which she filed pro se, meaning without a lawyer. A judge denied the effort.

Following the judge’s decision, Dela Torre filed a new case, flooding the docket with dozens of filings generated with ChatGPT’s help. Responding to the mishap cost Nippon nearly $300,000, according to the lawsuit.

* Illinois Manufactures’ Association…

Voting is now open in the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association’s (IMA) 2026 “Makers Madness” contest, a bracket-style tournament that lets the public decide what product will be crowned The Coolest Thing Made in Illinois

Presented by Comcast Business, the annual competition celebrates the incredible work of manufacturers across Illinois, which have long served as the backbone of our state’s economy. Manufacturing is the largest contributor of any industry to the state’s Gross Domestic Product, supporting nearly a third of all jobs in Illinois and contributing more than $580 billion to the state’s economy each year.

More than 100 unique products from every corner of the state were nominated for this year’s contest, with candidates ranging from farming, construction, aeronautics and energy storage equipment to iconic pantry staples, beverages, sweet treats and a variety of vehicles. Voting throughout the contest will take place at www.makersmadnessil.com, where voters can now choose which products will advance to the Top 16. Voting for this round runs through 11:59 p.m. on March 22, and participants can vote up to five times per day. Consecutive rounds of voting in head-to-head matchups will take place each week thereafter to further narrow the field, culminating with an awards ceremony at the Governor’s mansion on April 15 when The Coolest Thing Made in Illinois will be named.

*** Chicago ***

* Crain’s | As Bears eye Arlington Heights, a Soldier Field-area megaproject resurfaces: First proposed by Dunn’s Landmark Development in 2019 as a $20 billion, mixed-use project built over 34 acres of existing Metra tracks west of Soldier Field, the plan fell apart because of its reliance on a $6.5 billion state subsidy for a new transit hub meant to better connect the South Side to the Loop. Dunn later “reduced the cost and complexity of the project,” according to a state feasibility study, lowering the subsidy ask to $2.75 billion, but was still rebuffed by Gov. JB Pritzker. While approval is far from certain, the legislation would authorize Chicago to create a special taxing district that would capture incremental gains in state and local sales taxes, the city’s hotel tax and a new amusement tax surcharge to back up the $1.6 billion in bonds for infrastructure projects helping large developments.

* Tribune | Another Operation Midway Blitz defendant gets a deferred prosecution deal: Oscar Jesus Rosales Vergara was charged with a misdemeanor count of assaulting a federal agent in the course of official duties. Prosecutors on Tuesday agreed to drop the case after six months if Vergara stays out of trouble. […] When the occupants refused to get out of the vehicle, one of the agents broke out the rear passenger window and tried to pull out the driver, prompting Vergara to reach through the window and make contact with the deputy, according to the agreement

* Crain’s | Motorola rival ordered to pay $50M fine for stealing trade secrets: A Chinese company that pleaded guilty to conspiring to steal technology from Motorola Solutions has been ordered to pay a $50 million fine and serve five years probation. Hytera Communications pleaded guilty last year in connection with a scheme to recruit Motorola engineers to steal the Chicago-based company’s technology for emergency radios. The criminal conviction follows a civil suit in 2020 in which Motorola received a $765 million judgment against Hytera for trade secret theft and copyright infringement, which was reduced to $471 million on appeal.

* NBC Chicago | ‘Tennis ball-size:’ Severe weather threat in Chicago area includes large, damaging hail: According to the National Weather Service, the hail associated with Tuesday’s severe weather chances ranks as a level three of five, with hail up to two inches in diameter. “Think golf, or even tennis ball-size hail in some areas,” NBC 5 Storm Team Meteorologist Alicia Roman said. “And even some tornadoes.”

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* WGN | Tiffany Henyard ordered to pay $10K as she eyes Georgia elected office: Ousted Dolton mayor Tiffany Henyard has apparently not lost her appetite for elected office despite a long list of grievances, bills and legal judgements left in her wake. The democrat has qualified as a republican candidate for a seat on the Fulton County, Georgia, board of commissioners. It comes as WGN Investigates has learned Henyard’s troubled time in Chicago’s south suburbs now also includes a new $10,000 judgement from a case filed by her former landlord.

* Daily Herald | Geneva tallies voter interest in $59.4M public safety referendum question: Officials determined the city needed a new police facility because the existing one was not designed for police operations. They’ve also said the space is inadequate for modern policing needs. […] Residents can hear directly from city officials before the primary election. First Ward alderpersons Anaïs Bowring and William Malecki are hosting an information session from 9 to 11 a.m. Sunday, March 15, at Five & Hoek Coffee, 416 W. State St.

* Daily Southtown | Harvey residents push for more financial transparency under acting mayor: rewenski was elected unanimously last month by the City Council to fill the seat of the late Mayor Christopher Clark, who died Jan. 31. Prior to his death, Clark was criticized by residents regarding financial transparency, with some demanding he step down. Many of those complaints were renewed Monday. “Look at your city, and look at the halfway jobs that are being done, and then think to yourself, OK, did we earn the paycheck for this?” asked resident Michael Cronin. “I don’t think so. I think a lot of us deserve better than what we get.”

*** Downstate ***

* WCIA | Champaign Co. taking big steps toward ending homelessness for good: In a four year time span, Champaign County had a more than 130% increase of people experiencing homelessness from 2021 to 2025. […] Homebase has worked with Heartland Housing in Springfield and saw a 50% decrease in unsheltered homeless people from 2024 to 2025. “We are a community that, since the pandemic, we have been scrambling to find a way to house folks, given the increase in housing precarity and housing prices. This plan is really to help us all pull together around a single vision for what we’re going to do to end homelessness. We’re a very collaborative community, we’re a very capable community and I think we’re just missing that plan,” Danielle Chynoweth, the CSPH chair, said.

* BND | Threat of violence cancels Cahokia school board meeting amid tense union talks: According to the statement Cahokia Federation of Teachers Local 1272 posted on Facebook, the superintendent’s secretary notified union President Wendy Lochmann roughly an hour before the meeting’s start time that it was canceled “due to a reported threat of violence.” The school board’s finance committee meeting was scheduled to start at 6 p.m., with the regular board meeting to follow. At approximately 5:30 p.m., the district’s website showed the meetings were canceled, but did not state why. Superintendent Curtis McCall Jr. did not respond to the Belleville News-Democrat’s inquiries.

* WAND | Shelby County Sheriff’s deputies to answer calls in Moweaqua: Every officer for the Moweaqua Police Department has resigned, leaving empty squad cars and an unstaffed office. […] WAND News reached out to the mayor of Moweaqua to determine what comes next for the future of the department and if they plan to hire more officers. The mayor did not respond. “If they staff their police department, it will assist us with not having to respond to as many calls there, and they would be able to provide assistance to my deputies at times, too,” McReynolds said. “But in the meantime, we will continue to respond to any of the calls for emergency services that are needed.

* WREX | Local restaurants receive $427,000 as last part of COVID relief grant: Local restaurants are getting funding from the final round of a grant from GoRockford. On Tuesday, the organization announced it was distributing $427,631.17 in state funding to local restaurants as part of its Restaurant Relief Grant Program, but that this would be the fifth and final round of funds. The program was said to have been created to help businesses recover from higher unemployment insurance taxes as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

* WAND | District 186 weighs $10 million in budget cuts, approves school calendar: The proposal includes staff displacements and position eliminations, but the goal is to keep the cuts as far from the classroom as possible. “The district’s proposed plan first was to look at trying to get $11 million. And I can tell you, we can’t get there. We’ve tried. It’s very, very hard to cut the things that we know really provide services for students,” Gill said.

* WICS | District 186 votes to start school after Illinois State Fair: Board President Erica Austin also voted against starting school during the state fair, stating it would cause students to miss out on fundraising opportunities during the fair. “Some students do fundraisers not because they want to, it’s because they have to,” she said. “They have to buy school supplies, they have to buy their school clothes. They have to support their families. I don’t think it’s fair to those students.”

* WQAD | Moline man close to running his 50th marathon in all 50 states: What started on a whim has become something that will put Fleener in an exclusive club. According to the Fifty States Marathon Club, approximately 2,400 people have completed the challenge. “It felt difficult but attainable. Just because it was hard doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it,” Fleener said. “It’s probably one of my greatest accomplishments.”.

*** National ***

* NYT | The Scale of Billionaires’ Campaign Donations is Overwhelming U.S. Politics: The top-spending candidate usually wins the election, the Times analysis of campaign spending showed. But the big political investments by billionaires don’t always pan out, and they have at times found themselves in a spending race with other billionaires. That was the case for Mr. Griffin, who spent $50 million to back a Republican candidate, Richard Irvin, for governor in Illinois in 2022. But Mr. Irvin did not make it out of the primary, defeated by another Republican candidate, Darren Bailey. Mr. Bailey was backed by Richard Uihlein, the billionaire founder of the shipping supplies company Uline, who gave $12 million to Mr. Bailey and another $42 million to a PAC aligned with him. But Mr. Bailey also went on to falter against the Democratic candidate, JB Pritzker — himself a billionaire who spent $152 million of his own money on the race.

* NYT | Voting Machine Company Calls Federal Case Vindictive Prosecution: The voting technology company Smartmatic asked a federal judge on Tuesday to dismiss the federal criminal charges against it because they were part of President Trump’s “campaign of retribution against his perceived enemies.” The request is the latest in an intensifying battle over election security heading into the midterm elections, as the Trump administration ramps up its investigations into baseless claims that the 2020 contest was stolen.

* AP | FDA finds little evidence that a drug touted by Trump can help people with autism: The agency said it approved leucovorin for children and adults with a genetic condition that limits delivery of folate, a form of vitamin B, to the brain. FDA officials estimate the ultrarare condition impacts fewer than 1 in a million people in the U.S. It’s a major step back from comments made at a White House news conference in September, when Trump and FDA commissioner Marty Makary announced the drug was under review to benefit patients with autism, some of whom have a form of the vitamin brain deficiency.