* ICYMI: Illinois lawmakers plan to rescind Cesar Chavez Day. WGN…

- In Illinois, Latino lawmakers plan to rescind a statewide resolution that marks March 31 as Cesar Chavez Day.
- They plan to instead honor Dolores Huerta on her birthday which is April 10.
- The New York Times investigation includes sexual abuse claims by Dolores Huerta, a civil rights icon herself. She says she kept silent about the abuse for decades out of fear that it would damage the farmworker movement.

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Tribune | ICC approves ComEd proposal requiring multimillion dollar deposits for new data center projects: The new tariff provisions are “an important first step” to addressing the impacts of large demand project applicants and customers (LDPAC) on the grid, ICC Chairman Doug Scott said during the ruling Thursday. The modifications include requiring scaled-up application deposits starting at $1 million per data center project, as well as larger deposit requirements – often in the tens of millions of dollars – for infrastructure buildout such as new substations and transmission connections.

* SJ-R | Postmaster General says Illinois is USPS’ ‘biggest problem’ area: He said the district is “right, dead in the center of the heart of where our biggest problem is. Right down the center of America, from Chicago to St. Louis to Memphis.” Steiner added he believes problems in central and southern Illinois to be more of a staffing problem than a network problem. “My understanding is it’s a staffing problem. That it is hard to get employees to work in the plants where we need them to work, and we don’t have a lot of flexibility to give retention bonuses … because of the way our union contracts work. But that area, I can promise you, is looked at by us – not just every week – every single day, and the numbers are getting better. They absolutely are not there yet,” Steiner told Budzinski.

* Block Club | Chicago Women Outvoted Men By 23% In Tuesday’s Primary Election, Data Shows: Unofficial results from the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners showed women cast 223,376 ballots and men cast 171,385 — a difference of about 23 percent. Those numbers will change somewhat as final votes are tallied, but they fall in line with historical turnout: Women in Chicago outvoted men by about 23 percent in June 2022’s primary and 19 percent percent in March 2018’s primary, according to data from elections board spokesperson Max Bever. “Election after election in Chicago, female voters outpace men every single election,” Bever said. “There’s generally more female registered voters in Chicago, and they also turn out at better rates election after election.”

*** Statewide ***

* Crain’s | Illinois high court finds employers could be on the hook for time worked outside normal hours: Although federal regulations exclude that requirement, the court found Illinois’ wage law does not include any similar provisions. That means employers could be required to compensate employees for required activities outside of the normal work day. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit asked the state’s high court to decide if state law includes the federal regulation found in the Fair Labor Standards Act. The question originates from a civil suit brought against Amazon by two former employees, although the court’s ruling is not an official ruling in that case.

* Tribune | Planned Parenthood of Illinois agrees to pay $500K over allegations of discrimination against white employees: Staff were required to regularly attend the DEI training sessions or “affinity caucuses” that were racially segregated, according to the EEOC. Planned Parenthood of Illinois also gave Black employees greater access to time off than white workers, the EEOC alleged. Planned Parenthood of Illinois “took action to remove the manager responsible for the misconduct uncovered by the investigation,” according to the EEOC.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Oak Park Journal | Franklin dominates field in State House 8th District primary: While her 20% winning margin may have been a surprise to some, it wasn’t to Franklin, who said her victory was the result of old school political leg work in the precincts, and networking with people.  “It was important to me, as a new face, to not be outworked by anyone,” she said on the day following the election.  “Building trust with voters really started when I gathered petitions (in August),” she said. “My strategy was ‘get your (butt) on those doors.’ I knocked on over 25,000 doors. 

* CNI | Christian Mitchell sizes up the Pritzker vs. Bailey rematch: “I absolutely view Darren Bailey and Aaron Del Mar as real opponents for a couple of reasons,” Mitchell said. “One is they’re on the ballot, and they’re going to be running hard, and there’s going to be a lot of money probably coming in from the outside in opposition. And I think that at the end of the day, they have a very extreme agenda that would take Illinois backward.”

* NBC Chicago | Illinois’ film industry sets new record for production spending:
Illinois’ film industry set a new record last year, with production companies spending $703 million: the highest total in state history, Gov. JB Pritzker announced. “Fourteen years ago today, actually, we were filming the pilot of Chicago Fire in these very streets,” said actor Joe Minoso at a news conference Thursday at Cinespace Studios Chicago.

* CNI | Margaret Croke wins Democratic primary for Illinois comptroller: “Thank you to the voters across Illinois for putting their trust in me to serve as the Democratic nominee for state comptroller,” Croke said in a statement Thursday. “I am running for this office to be a fiscal watchdog who will protect taxpayer dollars, ensure transparency in how our state spends money, and pay bills on time. I am incredibly grateful that my message is resonating with so many people across our state.” Results of the closely contested race as of Thursday afternoon show Croke receiving 34.6% of the vote with 92% of precincts across the state reporting. The race was too close to call on Tuesday night as Sen. Karina Villa, D-West Chicago, trailed by a few points.

* CNI | ‘Illinois farmers can feed Illinois’: State grant program offers assistance: Illinois food producers and businesses can apply for a share of $3.6 million in state grant funding through March 27 as part of a program to reduce Illinoisians’ reliance on food from out of state. The Local Food Infrastructure Grant program, through the Illinois Department of Agriculture, supports small agricultural operations and food producers working with cold storage, processing equipment, refrigerated transportation and distribution systems. The grant program is currently open for applications, and applicants must complete a pre-registration before applying. Funds will be distributed in June.

*** Chicago ***

* Tribune | Mayor Brandon Johnson fires community safety chief: Gatewood said he received little explanation from other top administration leaders when he was fired, but was told in a meeting by Johnson’s senior advisor Jason Lee that the administration hoped to focus more on policy in place of his on-the-ground approach. Gatewood served as a key liaison between Johnson’s City Hall team and the Chicago Police Department. Leading the office created by Johnson, he became a regular at neighborhood safety meetings, heated protests and crime scenes.

Fox Chicago’s Paris Schutz interviewed Gatewood last night. Click here to watch.

* Chalkbeat Chicago | Meisha Ross Porter, former NYC schools chief, drops out of the running for Chicago Public Schools CEO: That leaves two finalists: interim CEO Macquline King and Sito Narcisse, former superintendent of East Baton Rouge Parish schools. The Chicago Tribune first reported that Porter had withdrawn. Porter had not yet met with Mayor Brandon Johnson or a community panel, meetings expected to happen this week with all the finalists.

* Sun-Times | Brandon Johnson’s budget director got illegal property tax breaks for five years: Guzman and Kaegi say that, until asked by a Chicago Sun-Times reporter about the tax breaks, they were unaware she was violating state law by collecting the homeowner exemption on her investment property and also her Bronzeville home. Illinois law allows homeowners one such exemption every year and requires them to live in the home. Now, Kaegi’s staff has canceled the homeowner exemption on the investment property and ordered Guzman to repay $2,071.89 in tax breaks she got — not what she wrongfully failed to pay for the past five years but just for the past three years. Kaegi also waived any interest payments.

* Sun-Times | CPS revokes Aspira’s ability to operate charter schools in Chicago in rare move: Aspira’s two high schools started the school year with about 600 students, but the campuses are being emptied out. Aspira’s leaders said the organization didn’t have enough money to continue operating through the end of the school year, while the district said state law forbade it from continuing to float Aspira as much cash as it needed. Board members did not comment before they canceled Aspira’s contract, but in the past, several said Aspira’s poor financial management necessitated the closure. They also said they felt terrible about the students having to transition midyear.

* ABC Chicago | Some question if Chicago school should be renamed after César Chavez sex abuse allegations: At the Haymarket Memorial that commemorates labor struggles through the years, a plaque that honored Chavez is now covered over with black tape. And in the Southport Corridor, a mural outside Cafe Tola honoring Chavez will be repainted with a picture of Dolores Huerta, according to the restaurant’s head of operations.

* Tribune | Chicago schools, parks consider renaming César Chavez monuments after bombshell sexual abuse allegations: The reaction to Wednesday’s story was swift and immediate as activists, elected officials and other leaders across the country began talking about changing institutions named in Chavez’s honor. On Thursday, Chicago Public Schools said in a statement that it has begun the process to consider a name change for César E. Chavez Multicultural Academic Center in the Back of the Yards neighborhood. The district said it will begin to solicit feedback from the school community and bring recommendations to the school’s Local School Council for review.

* WBEZ | Obama Presidential Center is taking a big swing at contemporary art: When you think about presidential libraries, you probably don’t picture fine art. Among the 13 institutions in the United States dedicated to a more recent slate of presidents, only one features a notable commission: an expansive mural created in 1960-61 by regionalist Thomas Hart Benton for the lobby of the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum in Independence, Missouri. Chicago will be the exception, keeping with President Barack Obama’s vision for a presidential center that veers far from the conventional approach to presidential libraries. Obama and his wife, Michelle, envisioned art as being a fundamental part of the $800 million Obama Presidential Center when it opens on Juneteenth after 10 years of planning and construction.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* WGN | Joliet City Council passes 795-acre AI data center development project: JCC passed the A.I. data center development project on an 8-1 vote Thursday evening, moving forward with a project to construct the largest data center in the State of Illinois — roughly the size of New York City’s Central Park. The project is set to construct 24 two-story buildings on the 795-acre campus of the “Joliet Technology Center” near South Rowell and West Bernhard roads, just south of the Chicagoland Speedway. Developers said the project will unfold in four phases across 5-7 years, with each phase including the construction of six two-story buildings and a power substation to tap into high-power electricity resources on the local grid.

* Pioneer Press | Glencoe Library $17.5 million referendum passes; will add 4,000 square feet: Glencoe residents easily approved the $17.5 million advisory bond referendum for the library at 320 Park Ave., which has not undergone a major renovation since opening in 1941. The measure received 1,168 votes in support and 590 opposed, according to results posted on the Cook County Clerk’s website. “We were so happy the community came and supported the renovation plan,” Library Director Andrew Kim said.

*** Downstate ***

* WCIA | UIS union employees authorize strike amid contract dispute: Union leaders said negotiations have stalled for months, with little progress since talks began last summer. Faculty and staff said they are particularly frustrated with a salary proposal from UIS Chancellor Janet Gooch and school administration. According to union officials, they were offered a one percent raise, amounting to 16 cents more per hour for some employees. Thomas Gebhardt, support staff president for University of Professionals Illinois, said offers like these undermine the value of workers to the university.

* Fox Chicago | Takeaways as Illinois basketball dominates Penn to open the NCAA Tournament: The No. 3-seeded Illini pulled away from the Ivy League champ and No. 14-seeded Penn with an epic presence in the post and beyond the arc. Learn More The Illini pasted Penn 105-70. It was the kind of win that gets Illinois over a collapse in the Big Ten Tournament.

*** National ***

* NPR | The Postal Service may be out of cash in 2027 without Congress’ help, postmaster says: The warning is the latest development in longstanding money troubles at USPS — a unique federal government agency that relies on stamps and service fees, not tax dollars, to deliver mail and packages six days a week to every address in the country. “I am not sure that the American public is aware that the Postal Service is at a critical juncture. I know that I wasn’t aware of the extent of it before I took on this role, but at our current run rate and if we continue to pay our required obligations in the same manner as we have done in recent years, then we will be out of cash in less than 12 months,” Steiner, who joined USPS last July, said in a written statement released ahead of a House Oversight subcommittee hearing on Tuesday.

* Crain’s | Billionaires Uihlein and Thiel pump millions into Republican PAC: The Restoration of America PAC, largely funded by Lake Forest billionaire Richard Uihlein, also gave an additional $2.5 million last month to the super PAC arm of the Club for Growth, which advocates against high taxes and government regulation. Uihlein and his wife Elizabeth contributed $72 million to federal candidates and political groups during the 2024 election cycle, making them the biggest Illinois givers on a ranking compiled by Open Secrets, a nonprofit that tracks money in U.S. politics. The Uihlein family run Uline, a privately held distributor of office supplies and packaging materials based in Pleasant Prairie, Wis.