* ICYMI: Illinois regulators say prediction markets are illegal gambling, but bettors — and the Trump family — love them. Capitol News Illinois…

- The Trump administration has not only promoted prediction markets but vowed to fight state efforts to regulate them as they do online sportsbooks.
- On-line sportsbooks businesses must pay millions of dollars in taxes to the state for each bet placed, forgo bets on in-state college teams, limit customers to those 21 and older, advertise help for gambling addiction and help pay for addicts’ treatment. Prediction markets do none of that.
- Right now, no one knows how much Illinois and other states are losing in untaxed prediction market bets — the markets don’t have to report betting data to the states. Illinois has netted nearly $1.1 billion in tax revenue since Illinois’ first legal sports wagers were placed six years ago. States have sued to gain the power to tax and regulate prediction markets, but the markets argue their platforms are not gambling, but financial tools to allow users to hedge risk.

* Related stories…

• Bloomberg: CME, Cboe chiefs urge crackdown on fast-growing prediction markets
• ESPN: Future is unpredictable for prediction markets as courts add to confusion

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Daily Herald | Play clock ticking: Bears won’t wait past March for stadium deal, Arlington Heights mayor says: “Waiting until the end of May I think is a no go for the Bears,” Tinaglia said during a state of the village address, his first since his election nearly a year ago. “They’ve already been through the (wringer) too many times.” Arlington Heights officials, the Bears and their lobbyists have circled next Wednesday on their calendars when the House returns after a nearly three-week break.

* Sun-Times | Why was Tuesday’s record-breaking hail so huge?: “It didn’t just break the record, but it shattered the record,” Gensini said. “We’ve never seen anything like this since we’ve been recording hail, which started in the mid-1950s.” […] “Regardless of the impact of climate change, I can guarantee you that we’re going to see more hailstorm disasters in the future,” he said. “It has really nothing to do with climate change. It has everything to do with the fact that … our cities are growing larger and the bullseyes on the dartboard, so to speak, are growing larger as sprawl continues.”

* Sun-Times | Older Chicagoans at high risk of losing SNAP food assistance as new work rules kick in: Older adults in the Chicago area are at risk of losing their SNAP benefits after work requirements were expanded to include 55- to 64-year-olds as part of President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax overhaul law passed last year. In Chicago, only about 35% of households that included adults in this age group were working at least 20 hours per week, according to a Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ analysis of data from the U.S. Census 2024 American Community Survey. The new requirements call for people to work or volunteer 80 hours a month, which translates to about four hours a day. The rules also were expanded to include veterans and parents whose youngest child is 14 years or older. If SNAP recipients don’t meet the rules or get an exemption by May, they will begin losing their benefits.

*** Statewide ***

* WILL | Heavy rain reaches Illinois, but drought is far from over: This week, Illinois has finally experienced rainfall, but it’s not enough to alleviate the ongoing drought. Since August of last year, Central Illinois has experienced a severe drought with precipitation deficits of 15–20 inches. This has led to mandatory water restrictions in places like Bloomington and Decatur. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign graduate student Maddie Stover and Illinois State Climatologist with the Prairie Research Institute, Trent Ford talk about what it means for Illinois to still be in a drought, the agriculture and impacts in poultry and what kinds of conditions it would take to get out of it.

*** Chicago ***

* Click here to watch last night’s episode of Chicago Tonight.

* CBS Chicago | CTA vows to move forward with Red Line Extension Project despite federal funding uncertainty: The CTA said early work on the extension will begin this spring. The project has a price tag of $5.7 billion, but in October, the Trump administration said it was freezing $2.1 billion federal funding earmarked for the project, citing what it said were concerns of race-based contracting. That’s on top of $50 million the administration is threatening to pull if the CTA doesn’t sufficiently adjust safety and security on the mass transit system.

* Tribune | First round of Neighborhood Capital Fund gives almost $8M to projects in underinvested communities: Seniors in Bronzeville will soon have a permanent home to kick up their heels and socialize with their set, thanks to an $820,000 grant from the Neighborhood Capital Fund, which supports real estate development in underinvested Chicago communities. The Silver Fox Cafe, an endeavor conceived by the seniors in the South Side community, will be a mixed-use space where, during the day, folks can eat breakfast and lunch in the on-site restaurant, and seniors can partake in exercise classes, art therapy and other enrichment activities in the rear of the building.

* ABC Chicago | Report on UIC lab falls short in addressing allegedly flawed results in DUI cases: commission: The commission issued strong statements and recommendations on Tuesday around an attorney-authored report issued last May by the university. The commission said, in part, that the UIC report is insufficient to address the allegations of faulty testing used in criminal prosecutions. […] A Criminal defense attorneys, who represents clients charged with cannabis DUI, told the I-Team that the UIC report is just a corporate whitewash.

* WGN | Evidence from DHS contradicts woman’s story of 43-hour detention after landing at O’Hare: “The fact that this could happen to any U.S. citizen should terrify us all,” Cook County Comm’r. Kevin Morrison, who is running for Congress, said on behalf of the family. […] WGN-TV has reached out to Morrison for comment. A spokesperson said they are continuing to follow the developments, but are withholding comment at this time.

* WTTW | Key City Panel Rejects Bid to Ban Video Gambling in 6 Chicago Wards, Defying Local Alderpeople: The ordinances rejected by the committee would ban video slots and poker machines in Ald. Jessie Fuentes’ 26th Ward, Ald. Walter Burnett’s 27th Ward, Ald. Jason Ervin’s 28th Ward, Ald. Rossana Rodriquez’s 33rd Ward, Ald. Anthony Quezada’s 35th Ward and Ald. Maria Hadden’s 49th Ward. Both Burnett and Ervin asked Ald. Debra Silverstein (50th Ward), the chair of the City Council’s License and Consumer Protection Committee, not to hold a vote on the two measures during Thursday’s meeting. Similar requests are routinely honored by committee chairs, particularly when the impact of the proposal is limited to specific wards, rather than citywide.

* Chalkbeat Chicago | A new Chicago program aims to keep teens facing serious charges out of detention — and out of trouble: To participate, teens have to go to school five days a week and take part in cognitive behavioral therapy, mentoring, and other services provided by two community nonprofits. The pilot program is a nod to the key role that school can play in reengaging youth facing criminal charges — and, on the flip side, the havoc that stints in detention can wreak on their odds of graduating.

* Sun-Times | CTU plans to join May 1 ‘no school, no work’ day of action, wants classes canceled: That day, the union wants members and students to take part in “age-appropriate” civic education, labor history programming, voter registration and know-your-rights training, as well as rallies and marches. “Teaching our students what civic action looks like requires more than textbooks when the President sends federal agents to occupy our cities and the Governor chooses to continue giving tax breaks to billionaires instead of giving our students the school day they deserve,” CTU Vice President Jackson Potter said in a statement.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* CBS Chicago | Domestic violence homicides up 15% in Chicago; Cook County creates specialized unit to prosecute: A new specialized unit is being created to prosecute domestic violence homicides in Cook County, as these killings surged 15% last year, even as overall violent crime declined across Chicago. Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke announced the launch of the Domestic Violence Homicide Unit, staffed with prosecutors focused solely on these cases. Since Burke took office in December 2024, her office has charged 32 homicides involving domestic violence, with the majority of victims being women killed by intimate partners.

* Tribune | Cook County assessor candidates grapple over the reasons for skyrocketing property taxes: Hynes has seized on anger over spikes to South and West Side assessments and bills last year, the hundreds of new or renovated properties Kaegi’s office failed to catch during the pandemic, and other assessment or exemption errors Hynes personally worked to correct as a suburban assessor since 2021. […] Kaegi, meanwhile, says his challenger would take the office’s ethics backwards, citing Hynes’ roster of campaign donors, which includes several property tax appeals attorneys and appraisers. The donations are not only an ethical problem, he said, but a signal that Hynes’ practices would be more favorable toward big businesses.

* Pat Hynes…

Well, here is our response. pic.twitter.com/7R0lWzxbwJ

— Hynes for Assessor (@Hynes4Assessor) March 12, 2026

* South Side Weekly | Demystifying the Cook County Board: “Commissioners don’t intervene in how court cases are handled, and they don’t intervene in who gets care at Cook County Hospital in the same way an alderman might intervene over getting a pothole fixed,” Simpson told the Weekly. Instead, he said, commissioners might reach out directly to department heads or to the Board president, to accomplish an aim more informally.

* Tribune | Feds drop charges against 2 of the ‘Broadview Six’ immigration protesters : In a one-paragraph filing, the U.S. attorney’s office moved to dismiss the indictment against Catherine Sharp, a onetime candidate for Cook County Board, and Joselyn Walsh, a part-time garden store worker and singer, “in the interests of justice.” “As the United States Attorney’s Office does in every case, the government has continued to evaluate new facts, evidence and information to ensure that the interests of justice are served,” wrote Assistant U.S. Attorneys William Hogan and Matthew Skiba.

* Aurora Beacon-News | Aurora Mayor John Laesch’s ethics reform package faces further delays: The proposed regulations would prevent those who are doing business with the city, or looking to, from donating more than $1,500 per year to candidates running for city office. It would also expand economic interest disclosures required of candidates, elected officials and certain city employees. In a 9-3 vote, the proposal was sent back to one of the City Council’s committees for further review. The ethics reform package, which was a key part of Laesch’s mayoral campaign, has seen delay after delay and various changes since it was first formally proposed in early October.

* Daily Southtown | Homer Glen eyes its own police needs analysis in wake of Will County sheriff service study: Since the village incorporated in 2001, it has worked out an agreement with the Will County sheriff’s department to provide police services within its borders at a cost of about $5.2 million a year. Last month, the Will County Board agreed to pay an outside consultant up to $75,000 to provide a financial analysis of the sheriff’s department’s services provided to Homer Glen, noting it would be the first time an outside firm would be engaged to create a formal study.

* Tribune | Lurie reveals exact location of new Downers Grove children’s hospital, offers more details: Lurie Children’s Hospital is planning to build its new pediatric hospital on now-vacant land in Downers Grove near the intersection of I-88 and I-355, hospital leaders revealed at a community meeting Thursday evening. The new facility, which Lurie announced in January, would be Lurie’s first hospital with inpatient beds outside of its main location in Streeterville. Lurie is in the process of buying the land, a Lurie spokesperson said. Lurie must still get approval from the state Health Facilities and Services Review Board and zoning approval from Downers Grove before moving forward with construction.

* Shaw Local | City says no more Old Joliet Haunted Prison, but entertainment company wants to return: A representative for Thirteenth Floor said Tuesday the company was surprised to learn that it would not be welcomed back in 2026. […] Sylvester, who also is the director of cultural affairs and special events for the city, said the removal of the haunted house is related to a new lease that Joliet negotiated with the state last year. She said in an email that “under that agreement, all activities at the Old Joliet Prison now require state approval. At this time, Thirteenth Floor Entertainment Group is not an approved use under the terms of that agreement.”

*** Downstate ***

* Center Square | Pritzker: ‘God was looking out for people’ in storm-damaged Kankakee County: “But one thing, and God was looking out for people here, is that there were really very few injuries. They were relatively minor. There were no deaths,” Pritzker said. Pritzker said almost 500 structures were affected and at least 30 homes were totally destroyed. “Many of the people who have been displaced have family that live in the area, and they’ve gone to stay with their family while their homes are being repaired or maybe for longer,” Pritzker said.

* Tribune | Nearly 500 structures damaged by Kankakee County tornado, Gov. JB Pritzker reports: Pritzker, a Democrat who has routinely tussled with Trump on federal immigration enforcement efforts and an array of other issues, said he expects the state will receive federal funds for Tuesday’s disaster because the damage is so visible. He said that isn’t always the case for areas requesting federal funding. But the Trump administration has punished states that didn’t vote for him in 2024, repeatedly targeting blue states with funding cuts in health care and transportation.

* Tribune | EV manufacturer Rivian announces pricing for midsize R2 SUV, set to roll off Normal line in spring: Two years after Rivian announced the midsize R2 SUV would be built at its Normal plant, the first versions of the potentially game-changing EV are packaged, priced and getting ready to roll off the line this spring, the company announced Thursday. Starting prices range from $45,000 to $58,000 – substantially lower than its full-size SUV – which could position Rivian as a mass market EV automaker, substantially ramping up production in the downstate college town.

* BND | State police investigate video of metro-east cop allegedly punching woman: In one video, a male police officer apparently throws a punch at a woman who is wearing a red dress, who then fell backwards onto the street. The audio recorded the use of profanity and racial slurs, apparently from the person operating the camera. Also, a woman can be heard saying “Get my phone” at least three times. Shortly after she says this, a police officer picks up an item off the street and throws it. […] The second video is taken from farther away and shows a woman apparently being handcuffed near a tow truck and then later swinging a leg at an officer. After this swing, she ends up on the street.

* WCBU | Tazewell County clerk’s office adds AI search enhancement to analyze handwritten details in historic documents: A recently added AI search engine enhancement on the county clerk’s website can analyze handwritten details in digitized copies of archived county board minutes and military discharge records. Tazewell County Clerk John Ackerman says the new technology will save time when they’re trying to find names and other details contained in the records. “This will unlock for us a treasure trove of historical information and make it easier for staff to locate information that they’re looking to obtain from these records,” Ackerman said during a news conference Wednesday afternoon.

* IPM News | Emmy-nominated talk show host and University of Illinois alumnus Sean Evans selected as 2026 commencement speaker: “Sean Evans defined his own path and reimagined the role of a journalist and a talk show host in the modern media landscape,” U of I Chancellor Charles L. Isbell, Jr. said in a statement. “We encourage Illinois students and alumni to be innovative, and Sean created something no one else had. His work inspires us to continue to push boundaries, to challenge convention and to develop new ideas instead of just adopting old ones.”

The announcement…

*** National ***
* CNBC | Black women were disproportionately impacted by DOGE cuts. A year later, they’re rebuilding careers for themselves and each other: Among those disproportionately impacted were Black women, who make up 12% of the federal workforce (almost double their 7% share in the overall U.S. workforce) and experienced the largest federal employment losses between 2024 and 2025, says Valerie Wilson, a labor economist and director of the Economic Policy Institute’s program on race, ethnicity and the economy. The DOGE cuts, which continued for several months, contributed to a disturbing trend: Black women’s unemployment rate skyrocketed to a high of 7.5% in September 2025, compared to 4.4% unemployment among all U.S. workers at that time.

* Legal Newsline | Allstate can’t delete class action over alleged secret app tracking: In an opinion filed March 3, U.S. District Judge Jeremy Daniel said a group of Allstate auto insurance customers accused the carrier of cooperating with AllCorp, which owns three Arity subsidiaries, in using a software development kit that tracked customers’ movements and phone usage. Among the applications in question is Allstate’s Drivewise, which like the other technology would only function properly on phones with location information enabled. The lawsuit was first filed in Chicago federal court, but was quickly followed by other complaints, all of which were consolidated before Judge Daniel in Chicago.