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Isabel’s morning briefing
Tuesday, Mar 17, 2026 - Posted by Isabel Miller * ICYMI: Hyundai division to revive two Joliet factories with 2,500 jobs. Crain’s…
- The company plans to invest nearly a half-billion dollars at the former Caterpillar and Lion Electric factories along U.S. 6 near Interstates 55 and 80 to expand its manufacturing capacity beyond Mexico. - It’s the latest in a string of big manufacturing projects landed by Gov. JB Pritzker’s administration. Gotion, a battery manufacturer plans to invest $2 billion and create 2,600 jobs in Manteno; automaker Stellantis, plans to create 3,300 jobs and spend $613 million re-opening its idled factory in Belvidere; and Rivian, a startup EV maker is investing $1.5 billion and adding 550 jobs at its manufacturing operations in Normal. Sponsored by the Illinois Nurses Association: Bedside Nurses urge a “No” vote on HB4369. The Nurse Licensure Compact Act is being marketed as harmless “flexibility,” but Illinois nurses see the fine print. Championed by the right-wing Illinois Policy Institute, this proposal could subject Illinois nurses who provide reproductive and gender-affirming care to cross-state investigations or discipline for following Illinois law. It would also hand hospital corporations a powerful tool to import strikebreakers, undermining bedside caregivers fighting for safe staffing and fair contracts. Labor nurses across Illinois are united in opposition, and voters should ask why anyone who once stood with healthcare workers is now advancing a bill backed by corporate interests and right-wing think tanks. * Tribune | Federal judge halts Trump administration’s health care funding cuts to Illinois, for now: The judge had previously issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting the federal government from holding back the funds from Illinois, California, Colorado and Minnesota – but that order was good only for about a month. U.S. District Court Judge Manish Shah issued the preliminary injunction in the case late Friday afternoon. “The loss of capacity to fund and maintain public health infrastructure puts the health of plaintiffs’ residents in jeopardy,” Shah wrote in his order for the preliminary injunction. “… The states’ sovereign interests here outweigh the executive branch’s likely unlawful interest in using preauthorized funding to shape state-run governance.” * NBC | Jesse Jackson posthumously spurs ‘commotion’ in key Senate race: That was after another son, Rep. Jonathan Jackson, raised eyebrows when he doubted the endorsement in comments to Politico, saying: “He wouldn’t do that. … This smells of desperation.” Reached by NBC News on Monday evening, Rep. Jackson backed off those remarks, saying, “I may have overstated that,” and adding that he “wished her well.” * Sun-Times | Can anyone beat Darren Bailey in the Republican primary for Illinois governor?: “I don’t think that people realize the damage that Pritzker [has done] in the last three years, and he’s certainly done that, because affordability is front and center today,” Bailey told the Sun-Times. “Our approach will be actually doing something about it.” Conservative commentator Ted Dabrowski argues he’s the only candidate that can actually do something about Pritzker, who beat Bailey by nearly 13 percentage points and is unopposed in his party’s primary for a third term as Illinois’ chief executive. * Sun-Times | Four Illinois State Legislative races to watch on Election Day: In the Illinois House, incumbent Rep. Jaime Andrade Jr. and community organizer Miguel Alvelo Rivera face off in the 40th District, which includes a stretch of the Northwest Side from Bucktown to Albany Park. Rivera has won some endorsement from some local elected officials, including U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez, whose district includes part of Andrade’s district, and Alds. Rossana Rodríguez-Sánchez (33rd) and Anthony Quezada (35th). Rivera is running as a progressive outsider, while Andrade said he has a track record with voters. * Sun-Times | Pritzker taunts Bovino amid reports of Border Patrol chief’s retirement: ‘No one is above the law’: Gov. JB Pritzker on Monday celebrated the reported retirement of U.S. Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino, who led President Donald Trump’s aggressive — and at times deadly — deportation campaigns in Chicago and other cities. “Greg Bovino won’t just get to walk away — he will be held accountable and responsible for the damage he’s done to our nation,” Pritzker said on the social media platform X. “We won’t forget, and neither should you. No one is above the law.” * Capitol News Illinois | Pritzker calls for setting new higher education attainment goals: Gov. JB Pritzker is calling on agencies in his administration to set goals for increasing the number of adults in the state with college degrees or other postsecondary credentials. In an executive order issued Friday, Pritzker announced the formation of a working group that will review the state’s existing workforce development programs, consult with industry and labor groups as well as local economic development organizations, and recommend new higher education attainment goals. * Tribune | City Council poised to vote on restoring Chicago’s subminimum wage for tipped workers: Johnson opponents motioned last week to force a council floor vote on legislation to pause the One Fair Wage policy, passed in 2023 and now in its third year of moving toward full implementation. However, the coalition would need at least 34 votes to override a potential mayoral veto of their ordinance, which seeks to halt the policy that servers be paid the city’s full minimum wage on top of tips starting in July 2028. The impending clash would be the latest of many between Johnson and an antagonistic council bloc. He has issued two mayoral vetoes already in his first term, after City Hall had gone since 2006 without one. * Crain’s | FAA seeks deeper-than-expected flight cuts at O’Hare: The FAA, in a new notice issued Monday, proposes to cap total daily operations at 2,608 daily takeoffs and landings. That’s up slightly from 2,554 last summer. But it’s 15% lower than the peak of 3,080 that airlines had initially scheduled for the 2026 season before the FAA stepped in. The cap is lower than the current level of operations at about 2,800 daily flights, which the FAA initially had suggested. But it’s not as drastic as the 2,500 or 2,400 levels that were floated two weeks ago. * Sun-Times | Mayor Johnson signals support for letting CPS students take a day off to push for school funding: Ald. Jeanette Taylor (20th), Johnson’s handpicked chair of the City Council’s Education Committee, has two grandchildren who attend Chicago Public Schools. Taylor said she does not believe the mayor should sanction students to skip classes, unless they learn something from it. “Are they going down to Springfield? Are they coming down to City Hall? What work is gonna be done? There needs to be something else other than just taking a day off. I want young people to understand them taking the day off. Are we teaching them about May Day? Are we teaching them about workers rights? Are we teaching them to advocate in Springfield for themselves? What comes with it?” Taylor asked. * Sun-Times | After fires, officials prepare to remove another homeless encampment on Chicago’s Northwest Side: Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration says the encampment’s roughly 20 inhabitants will be offered long-term housing, but might have to wait weeks for the apartments to be ready. That means moving to a shelter, a “bridge” housing facility with social services, or staying outside, officials say. * WBEZ | Mayor Brandon Johnson meets with men in prison working toward Northwestern University degrees: Ian Valencia, a Northwestern senior incarcerated at Sheridan, has been locked up half his life, since he was 17. The visit of a sitting Chicago mayor to a state prison – perhaps the first of its kind, according to Northwestern students – is symbolically important, Valencia said. “It’s helping give me a more hopeful look on what’s possible, if more people get involved in trying to change what prison is supposed to be like,” he said. * Sun-Times | Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi faces suburban opponent for influential position over property taxes: Hynes called the pandemic reassessment an “unforced error,” and contended Kaegi’s proposed solution, so-called “circuit breaker” laws — versions of which have stalled in the statehouse — would be expensive and could have been avoided had the assessment stayed on track with market value in the first place. Kaegi warned Hynes’ ascent could be a return to form for an office still marred by past corruption. * Tribune | Attorneys in ‘Broadview Six’ case say conspiracy charges violates First Amendment, has ‘chilling’ effect: The four remaining defendants in the case are: Katherine “Kat” Abughazaleh, a candidate in Tuesday’s Democratic primary for the 9th Congressional District seat; Andre Martin, originally of Providence, Rhode Island, who is Abughazaleh’s deputy campaign manager; 45th Ward Democratic Committeeman Michael Rabbitt; and Oak Park Village Trustee Brian Straw. Last week, Perry granted a request from the U.S. attorney’s office to dismiss charges against Catherine Sharp, a onetime candidate for Cook County Board, and Joselyn Walsh, a part-time garden store worker and singer. * Daily Herald | After Naperville council nixes controversial data center, Pulte Homes development pitched for site: The property owner has since requested informal feedback from the city council on a potential residential development for the site. The owner has also tapped Pulte Homes as its development partner on the project. A preliminary site plan shows more than 260 units — both townhouses and rowhomes — to the south of the Nokia complex. * BND | Lawmakers call for expanded testing after E. coli found in Cahokia Heights water: The calls for action from U.S. Sens. Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin and U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski are in response to recent community-organized testing results first reported by the Belleville News-Democrat and its partners, St. Louis Public Radio and the Illinois Answers Project. The community testing detected E. coli in eight of the 118 samples collected from 23 homes over seven months, from June to December. Six of the community’s eight E. coli-positive samples came from the same home in the former city of Centreville. * Alton Telegraph | Alton says $1.6 million in unpaid trash bills went uncollected: Comptroller Paul Fritsch, who was appointed in late January 2026, confirmed the figure and said his office has been reviewing the accounts, starting with those more than 90 days overdue. However, he cautioned that the $1.6 million number is still being refined. “We’ve been crossing the different numbers,” Fritsch said during the March 11 meeting. “We’re calculating that based on some other factors.” Fritsch also noted that the city cannot easily distinguish which delinquent accounts belong to rental properties because the billing system does not categorize them by address type. And some of the debt, he said, is extremely old. * WCIA | Macon Co. aims to prevent homelessness, keep people in their homes: The Macon County Continuum of Care (CoC) has launched a 100-day homeless prevention challenge. […] On a regular day, CoC serves as a hub for resources meant for people facing homelessness in Macon County. But now, it’s the home of a new challenge: fighting to prevent homelessness before it can start. […] The program encourages landlords and community members to communicate when tenants are struggling early, so that those in need can access preventative care. That is when Dove Inc. can step in. * WCIA | Decatur Public Transit System launches contactless fare collection system: “So, we are trying to modernize the fare process. So, we’re going to go to cashless, we’re going to hopefully go to cashless by late into the year, maybe early fall, late summer, somewhere in there, try to go to completely cashless,” City Operations Manager of Transit and Facilities, Riley Fanning, said. “So, this will help them to get on the app, they will just buy a card, tap a card and ride our system that way.”
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