* ICYMI: Lawmakers advance Pritzker’s cell phone ban, social media regulations. Capitol News Illinois…

- House committees advanced portions of Gov. JB Pritzker’s legislative agenda on Wednesday, though in many cases lawmakers conceded they’d need to amend their bills to gain broader support.
- A House education committee unanimously approved the latest version of a bill that would require school boards to prohibit public school students from using their cellphones in the classroom.
- The House Executive Committee unanimously OK’d an amended version of legislation authorizing Illinois community colleges to offer four-year bachelor’s degree programs in high-demand fields — another Pritzker initiative.

* BlueRoomStream.com’s coverage of today’s press conferences and committee hearings can be found here.

* Sun-Times | Foundation’s role a mystery as Lincoln artifacts are poised to be auctioned off: These items were once owned by wealthy West Coast historian and Lincoln collector Louise Taper, who sold her collection in 2007 to what now is the Lincoln Presidential Foundation for $23 million with hopes her artifacts would become state property and forever displayed at the state-run presidential museum in Lincoln’s hometown. Instead, many of her iconic pieces of Lincolniana have landed in the hands of unknown buyers after an auction last May raised nearly $8 million, and more may be going that way imminently. Taper was sharply critical of that last auction, which included the sale of blood-stained gloves from Lincoln’s coat pocket the night he was assassinated. She said she was “appalled” at the foundation’s willingness to sell off pieces of her prized collection.

* Tribune | Reginald ‘Reg’ Weaver, first Black president of the state’s largest teachers union, dies at 86: “Reg was a pioneer in many ways. He led the way for people of color to see themselves in leadership at the state and national level. He was a mentor to so many state and national leaders. He created pathways to leadership and made room for folks when they arrived,” Karl Goeke, the current president of the state teachers union, said in a statement. “He was kind, generous, and humorous. He always had a story to tell with a light in his eyes. He made people feel welcome, supported and valued.”

* Sun-Times | More César Chavez murals, memorials taken down as Illinois Senate honors Dolores Huerta: The Illinois Senate adopted a resolution Wednesday honoring Huerta and declaring April 10 as “Dolores Huerta Day” in Illinois. “In recent months, Dolores Huerta has shown profound resilience and courage in sharing her own experience of harm, doing so in order to uplift the stories of countless women whose voices were overlooked or silenced,” the resolution states. One of the resolution’s sponsors, State Sen. Celina Villanueva, D-Chicago, said she is also working on a plan to rescind César Chavez Day, which is next week on March 31st.

* Patrick Hanley | Ranked choice voting is a better way to make votes count: I’m the Democratic nominee for the Illinois state Senate’s 9th District. My own race, thankfully, offered voters a straightforward choice between two qualified candidates. The 9th Congressional District election did not. […] In a crowded field, our current system rewards whoever can lock down a narrow slice of the electorate, not whoever can build a majority coalition. It pressures voters into defensive choices: Not who do you want, but who can win? Strategic voting was a defining feature of the 9th Congressional District race. Some progressives pushed hard for voters to fall in behind Abughazaleh. Others made impassioned arguments for Biss to block her. Compelling candidates such as Simmons or Andrew or Amiwala competed for attention in a system that prizes viability, which is another way to say funding.

* WMBD | Pritzker hosts Bloomington roundtable to tackle high housing costs: Gov. JB Pritzker came to Bloomington on Wednesday to discuss with advocates and leaders his proposals to bring down the cost of housing. “People cannot afford to pay rent, and they cannot afford to build or own a home,” Pritzker said. Bloomington is at the forefront of high prices in Central Illinois. According to Realtor.com, the median listing of a home in Bloomington is up $150,000 from 2016-2025.

* Tribune | Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson vetoes tipped wage freeze, setting up City Council showdown: With Johnson’s veto — the third he has made in less than two years, after the city went nearly two decades with none — the mayor and backers of the “One Fair Wage” ordinance are slated for a showdown against a City Council majority fiercely backed by the Illinois Restaurant Association. But to overturn the veto, the mayor’s opponents will need at least 34 aldermanic votes, four more than last week’s count and a larger-than-it-looks challenge in a council increasingly defined by hard-set sides.

* Block Club | Alderperson Closes Office After ‘Threats Of Violence’ Following Loyola Student’s Killing: “My comments were never intended to blame the victim or imply that Sheridan should not have been out enjoying the park or that it was her fault that she was shot,” the alderwoman wrote. “In the interview, I tried my best to share what limited information I had with our community as fast as possible while helping to address the fears people had about the shooting. I sincerely apologize for any additional pain that my comments may have caused. The fact that some media outlets are intentionally creating sound bites to misconstrue my words during this tragedy is also unfortunate,” Hadden said.

* ABC Chicago | Chicago’s Jewish community concerned about fallout after human relations commissioner resigns: Andrade declined ABC7’s request for an interview Wednesday. The only hint she gave of any frustrations was in a written statement where she said her resignation relates to the oath she took as an attorney and as commission to uphold the values of the office as well as a strict code of ethics.

* Sun-Times | DePaul and Loyola accused of pushing low-income families toward hefty loans while favoring wealthier students: Loyola University Chicago and DePaul University were named in a report released Thursday by the progressive think tank New America, alleging they are among 41 colleges nationwide that push a large share of lower-income families to take out hefty loans to cover college costs while offering attractive scholarships to wealthier families with high-achieving students. The schools in the report have a high percentage of lower-income families taking out loans they often can’t afford to pay back, according to the report’s author Steven Burd, a senior writer and editor with the education policy program at New America. The amount parents take out in loans is sometimes more than their annual earnings, the report found.

* Tribune | Wildfires, dust storms and traffic made Chicago the 3rd-most polluted major US city in 2025, report finds: The average concentration of small particulate matter in the city last year was 9.7 micrograms per cubic meter of air — almost double the World Health Organization’s recommended limit of 5 micrograms per cubic meter, and a more than 15% increase from 2024, when Chicago dropped to seventh place among the most polluted major cities in the country. It was second in 2023. Smaller communities in the Joliet area — Ingalls Park, Lockport and Crest Hill — recorded the highest concentrations in the state, and all averaged above 10 micrograms per cubic meter.

* Sun-Times | Opening Day starts clock on White Sox GM Chris Getz to move from rebuild to results: So after an astounding 223 losses — 243, if you don’t want to give him a pass on those last few miserable weeks of ’23 — plus bursts and starts of incremental progress that have frustrated a beleaguered fan base, the clock on Getz’s front-office tenure starts in earnest Thursday in Milwaukee. “What we’re doing is headed in the right direction,” Getz said Wednesday during the Sox’ final workout before the season begins. “As the season progresses, much like the second half last year, there’s going to be stretches where, wow, we’re really starting to be competitive on a regular basis and win series against clubs that are at the top of the division or top of the league.

* Tribune | Visit Norwood Park! Or Englewood! Chicago artist creates and sells tourism posters for city’s neighborhoods: “Just based on doing the logos, it became obvious that people have so much pride in their neighborhoods,” he says. “And it’s a nice way to feature neighborhoods that don’t ever get featured. There’s a lot of Chicago art out there, but so much of it is based on downtown or the lakefront or any of the hip neighborhoods. But somebody in North Lawndale? They’re probably happy they live there and would appreciate seeing it represented on a poster. I’ve been selling these since 2012, so I know if a certain neighborhood poster is not going to sell. But I’ll still do it because one, it’s creatively fulfilling, and two, it’s really important for people to be seen. Every neighborhood is important, even if it gets dumped on by the media. And I want to create art that celebrates the city.”

* Tribune | Aurora adopts strict new regulations on data centers: The regulations were approved by the Aurora City Council after roughly four hours of public comment and discussion at a meeting on Tuesday, ending a months-long pause on data center and warehouse developments in the city. Previously, Aurora categorized data centers as warehouses so had few restrictions around them, but an influx of data center proposals along with residents’ concerns about existing facilities prompted the city to stop accepting new applications until new rules could be developed. Under the city’s newly-passed rules, future data centers will be held to strict energy efficiency, water efficiency and noise emission standards, plus will be required to produce a number of studies and reports around these issues. Unlike before, City Council now has the ability to approve or deny proposed data center developments.

* Oak Park Journal | Oak Parker Kaegi proud of work as assessor even in defeat : “We tried to make this campaign about how corporate tax breaks get shifted in to homeowners, but it’s hard to be the most visible person in the tax system and trying to explain how tax is spiked because another governing body that most people have never heard of,” Kaegi said. “It’s complicated and what could get lost is that I’ve been the guy who, more than anyone else, has been fighting for average homeowners against the interests that would like to shift more burden on to them. So you know they say in politics that if you’re explaining you’re losing and the system’s complicated.”

* Sun-Times | Cold front will bring storms Thursday, potential for more tornadoes: Storms may reach father south, near Kankakee, in the late afternoon. That’s where there is potential for supercells to develop again with a tornado, hail and wind threat. “The setup for tomorrow is somewhat similar to what we had March 10, but not quite as conducive to track prolific tornadoes,” Ratzer said. “Though there certainly is a tornado threat.”

* Muddy River News | QPS will introduce its new superintendent at a special noon meeting on Friday, April 17: School Board President Shelley Arns announced Wednesday night that the district will introduce the new superintendent at a special noon meeting on April 17 at district headquarters, 1416 Maine Street, where the official vote will take place. Arns said it was a relief after they had to extend the search when the intitial candidates took issue with the salary. “We had a very successful second round of interviewing,” Arns said. “We’re very happy with our candidate. In fact, we had a very hard time deciding. We felt we had two really great choices in the end.”

* AP | Illinois State takes down Dayton 61-55 in the tournament quarterfinals:
Kinziger put up 11 points in the first half for Illinois State, which led 33-23 at the break. Illinois State used a 9-0 run in the second half to build a 19-point lead at 49-30 with 12:31 left. Illinois State advances to the semifinals, where they face the winner of Wednesday’s game between Nevada and Auburn. The semifinal games will be held on April 2 at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

* IPM News | Thursday: Possible record heat followed by strong to severe storms in central Illinois: Much of the day today will be warm and breezy but otherwise quiet. Look for scattered storms to develop to our north late this afternoon and evening as a cold front approaches the area. A few strong to severe storms are possible across the area this evening into the first half of the overnight, or between roughly 6:00 p.m. and midnight. Large hail is the primary expected hazard with severe storms locally, but isolated instances of damaging winds and a tornado or two can’t be ruled out. Behind the cold front we turn much colder tomorrow and Saturday, but mild and stormy spring weather returns next week.

* EFF | EFF Sues for Answers About Medicare’s AI Experiment: The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) today filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) seeking records about a multi-state program that is using AI to evaluate requests for medical care. “Tasking an algorithm with making determinations about treatment can create unwarranted—and even discriminatory—delays or denials of necessary medical care,” said Kit Walsh, EFF’s Director of AI and Access-to-Knowledge Legal Projects. “Given these serious risks, the public requires transparency that it hasn’t gotten. We’re suing to get badly needed answers about how Medicare’s AI experiment works.”

* WaPo | Conservative activist convicted in voter-fraud case: Wait asked for the ballots to be sent to his home and then announced he had done so, saying he was highlighting a flaw in the state’s voting processes that bad actors could exploit to cast ballots for other people. The state Justice Department launched an investigation and charged Wait. One of the municipal clerks who received a request from Wait sent him a ballot; the other did not. Election officials have said that actions like Wait’s are extremely rare and that they would have quickly caught on to them even if he hadn’t disclosed what he did. The state tracks where ballots are sent and investigates when voters question whether someone tried to vote in their name, election officials said.

* The Marshall Project | The Troubling Personal Side of Public Surveillance: On Wednesday, former Milwaukee police officer Josue Ayala pleaded not guilty to a misconduct charge accusing him of using the department’s Flock-branded Automated License Plate Reader system (ALPR) for personal reasons. He resigned from the department hours before his initial court appearance, according to local reporting. Ayala, 33, is charged with attempted misconduct in public office, a misdemeanor. Prosecutors say he used Flock’s plate-tracking platform to look up the location of a woman he was dating, as well as that of her ex-boyfriend, more than 170 times in total over a roughly two-month period. Ayala and his lawyer did not speak with reporters at his court appearance.