* ICYMI: Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton wins Democratic nomination for US Senate. Tribune…

- With 90% of the estimated vote tallied, Juliana Stratton had 40% of the vote to 33.2% for Raja Krishnamoorthi and 18.2% for Robin Kelly, with the remaining votes divided among seven other candidates.
- Stratton’s victory also marked a major win for Gov. JB Pritzker, who in 2018 chose the then-freshman state representative to be his running mate.
- Stratton underscored her campaign pledge to push to abolish U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and alluded to community resistance to President Donald Trump’s Operation Midway Blitz immigration enforcement crackdown and other aspects of the president’s agenda.

* Related stories…

• The 19th: Juliana Stratton wins Democratic primary, set to become Illinois’ second Black woman senator
• NYT: Pritzker’s Gamble to Become a Kingmaker in Illinois Pays Off
• CNI: Stratton defeats Krishnamoorthi with help from Chicago, downstate voters
• AP: Former Illinois Republican Party chairman Don Tracy wins GOP primary for US Senate seat

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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.

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*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Capitol News Illinois | Illinois governor’s race will be a rematch in 2026: Bailey, a farmer from southern Illinois and the party’s 2022 nominee, claimed victory Tuesday night in a four-way primary for the GOP nomination, defeating Ted Dabrowski, former head of the conservative policy website Wirepoints. According to unofficial returns compiled by the Associated Press, Bailey had carried about 50% of the vote as about 8:35 p.m. when the race was called. Dabrowski garnered about 32%.

* Tribune | Downstate and Chicago North Side challengers declare victory in state House primary races: In what appears to be an indictment of Illinois’ Republican establishment, Deputy Republican leader Norine Hammond, who shares the second-highest ranking position in the Illinois House GOP, trailed her challenger, Joshua Higgins, in her downstate race by 25 percentage points with 91% of the estimated votes counted, according to The Associated Press. AP has not called the race for Higgins, a candidate who is aligned with the far-right Illinois Freedom Caucus, a group of downstate Republicans considered the most conservative in the legislature. But he declared victory over Hammond, who has been in the Illinois House since 2010.

* Sun-Times | Community organizer Miguel Alvelo Rivera defeats State Rep. Jaime Andrade Jr. in Northwest Side district: Rivera ran as a progressive outsider while Andrade counted on his track record with voters in the 40th District, which includes a stretch of the Northwest Side from Bucktown to Albany Park. Andrade’s fundraising surged since January with big support from Illinois Democrats in Springfield and the Illinois Democratic party. His campaign brought in nearly $1 million in donations over $1,000 since January.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Tribune | Feds back off threats to withhold funds from the CTA, but begin pressing the Illinois transportation department: The Federal Transit Administration is backing off previous threats to withhold up to $50 million in federal funds from the Chicago Transit Authority over safety issues. At the same time, the feds are putting the screws on the Illinois Department of Transportation, which has some oversight authority over the CTA’s rail system. On Tuesday, President Donald Trump’s FTA said it believed IDOT “has not properly leveraged its oversight authority and resources to protect Chicago passengers and transit workers,” citing the results of what it described as a routine audit.

* Capitol News Illinois | Croke leads Democratic comptroller race as downstate voters dominate GOP primaries: State Rep. Margaret Croke, D-Chicago, held a 24,000-vote lead with 83 percent of votes reporting as of 10 p.m. — a roughly 2.4% advantage over state Sen. Karina Villa, D-West Chicago. The Associated Press had not called the race as of 10 p.m. […] Trailing her was Villa, who has served in the General Assembly since 2019 and is regarded as the most progressive of the candidates. She was the only candidate without a background in finance. Instead, she’s said her social work career gives her the insight to understand what it means to balance budgets with services people rely on.

* Daily Herald | Peterson appears headed toward rematch with McLaughlin in November: If unofficial results stand, Peterson will get another chance to prove the district can change from red to blue. With ballots still left uncounted, Peterson received 4,926 votes, while her opponent in the Democratic primary, Erin Chan Ding, tallied 2,657 votes. The two waged a bitter campaign featuring insults, negative literature and questions about campaign ethics.

* Daily Herald | Harris beats Adamczyk in GOP primary race for secretary of state: Diane Harris has defeated fellow Republican Walter Adamczyk to become the GOP nominee for Illinois secretary of state. With 89% of votes counted on Tuesday night, Harris, a longtime Joliet Township precinct committeeman, received 265,447 votes or 53%. Adamczyk, a GOP precinct committeeman from Chicago who works as a Cook County Forest Preserve District laborer, received 235,592 votes or 47%.

*** Chicago ***

* Block Club | CHA Board Defies The Mayor And Picks Its Own CEO After Surprise Vote: The resolution was not shared publicly before the vote, and several CHA residents murmured in surprise when operating chairman Matthew Brewer announced Pettigrew’s name. “Who?” one of them blurted out. Pettigrew is currently the leader of the housing authority in Washington, D.C. A search committee put together by Johnson first picked him as a CHA finalist last year. He was not at the meeting Tuesday.

* Sun-Times | Council Black Caucus chair wants to rename city college to honor Rev. Jesse Jackson: Ald. Stephanie Coleman, whose South Side ward includes Kennedy-King College, said adding the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s name to the Englewood school would create a “historic civil rights trinity.”

* Block Club | Thompson Center Will Keep Its Name, With Google Planning A 2027 Move-In: Previous renderings show plans for a multi-terrace atrium with greenery as well as a multitude of seating along what is planned to be retail and restaurant space. The atrium will remain publicly accessible. Another rendering showed what the renovated building is slated to look like from the corner of Randolph and Clark streets. It features a second-floor outdoor space and updated landscaping.

* WGN | FAA proposes deeper cuts to O’Hare flights to ease congestion: The FAA said without major reductions, even more major disruptions could hit O’Hare after hub giants United and American added waves of new flights, vying for dominance over one of America’s busiest airports. “It’s bad news for an airport recovering pretty fast from the pandemic,” said Joe Schwieterman, a DePaul University professor and aviation expert who spoke to WGN-TV on Monday. “O’Hare is the hottest airport in the country in terms of traffic growth. Just watching American and United grow so fast, and now, the FAA hit a wall saying they can’t handle it all.”

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Herald | Preckwinkle poised for record-tying fifth term after primary win: With 89% of precincts reporting, the four-term leader of the nation’s second-largest county bested Democratic primary challenger Brendan Reilly 430,123 votes to 197,506 votes, according to unofficial results Tuesday night. That gave Preckwinkle about 68% of the total. […] Preckwinkle, who turned 79 on primary Election Day, would match George Dunne as the county’s longest-serving leader if she’s elected in November and completes a fifth four-year term.

* Crain’s | Pat Hynes unseats Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi: Hynes defeated Kaegi in the Democratic primary contest for Cook County assessor, winning 56% of votes cast in the county with 99% of precincts reporting and 49% of votes cast with 91% of precincts reporting in the city as of about 9:30 p.m., according to election officials’ unofficial count. That lines him up to be the county’s next assessor pending the results of a November general election; there’s no Republican candidate in the race. A spokesman for Kaegi’s campaign confirmed he had conceded.

* Naperville Sun | DuPage Clerk Kaczmarek loses reelection bid by large margin: Incumbent DuPage County Clerk Jean Kaczmarek appears to have lost her reelection bid in a primary loss Tuesday to fellow Democrat Paula Deacon Garcia. With 100% of the unofficial vote count tallied, the results as of 10:45 p.m. Tuesday were: Garcia: 54,761; Kaczmarek: 42,670

* Aurora Beacon-News | Voters appear to shoot down Geneva’s ask to issue $59.4 million in bonds for a new police station: With all precincts in Kane County reporting, unofficial results showed 34.38% of voters in favor of and 65.62% of voters against the city’s pitch as of around 10 p.m. Tuesday, according to data from the Kane County Clerk’s Office. […] Tuesday’s bond measure asked local residents whether they supported the city issuing $59.4 million in bonds to help pay for the construction of a new police station on a city-owned property adjacent to the city’s Public Works site on South Street.

* Naperville Sun | Naperville D203 board nixes plan to cut 38 teachers after outcry from students, parents: District administrators presented a proposal to honorably dismiss the educators as one way to close a projected $12.4 million budget deficit. The board unanimously rejected the plan to thunderous applause from a packed house who remained at the meeting for about five hours waiting for the vote. Dan Iverson, second vice president of the Naperville Unit Education Association, said the vote to reject the job cuts, known as a reduction in force, was the right thing to do and he was grateful the board heard the passion from the community. While there is still a deficit, he said, “this was not the right way” to close it.

* Daily Herald | GOP voters back Noonan over Moore in DuPage sheriff’s primary: Former DuPage County Board member Sean Noonan won the Republican nomination for sheriff Tuesday. Noonan garnered 30,157 votes, while current Undersheriff Eddie Moore had 15,232 votes, according to unofficial tallies as of about 10:30 p.m. Noonan said he would come in as a “reformer” and wants to take the sheriff’s office “to the next level.” He spent most of his law enforcement career with the Bloomingdale Police Department, rising through the ranks to become a sergeant. He now is an officer in Oakbrook Terrace.

* Daily Herald | Newcomers win Democratic nod for DuPage County Board seats: Bloomingdale attorney Eric Poplonski secured the GOP nomination for a seat representing the northeastern corner of the county. Unofficial tallies showed Poplonski with 6,569 votes compared to 330 votes for candidate Onkar Singh Sangha. Poplonski will challenge Democratic incumbent Michael Childress in the general election. Democratic voters selected Melissa Villanueva as their nominee for a two-year seat.

*** Downstate ***

* Community News Brief | Macomb Poll Worker Relieved of Duties on Election Day:
Sutton requested a Democratic ballot, and the poll worker assisting with Macomb Precinct 2 responded: “You should be shot.” “I wasn’t sure if I heard correctly, so I asked her ‘You think I should be shot?’ and she confirmed what she had said,” Sutton said Tuesday afternoon following the incident […] “None of the other election judges said anything about what she just said,” Sutton shared. After casting his ballot, he immediately drove three blocks to the McDonough County Clerk’s Office, and spoke to County Clerk Jeremy Benson, who assured him the situation would be handled accordingly. The Community News Brief reached out to Benson after the incident was brought to the newspaper’s attention.

* WGLT | Voters approve new fire station for Randolph Township Fire Protection District: The referendum passed by a 64%-36% margin [572-315] on Tuesday with all five precincts reporting, according to the McLean County Clerk’s office. […] Some of those buildings in use currently are nearly 70 years old and are not build for modern fire trucks, according to fire protection district trustee president Frank Friend. The bonds will be paid off through a property tax increase that will add $192 per year to the tax bill of a $200,000 home.

* BND | $17.2 million career and technical education expansion comes to East St. Louis HS: The project, which is expected to be completed around June 2027, is primarily financed through a $17 million grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. The remaining $197,627 will come from the district’s fiscal year 2026-27 capital projects budget, East St. Louis School District Executive Director of Communications Sydney Stigge-Kaufman said.

* WGLT | Hail to the new state champion!: It’s official. Last Tuesday’s severe storms produced the largest hail ever recorded in Illinois. Representatives from the South Carolina-based Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety traveled to Northern Illinois University to confirm the record. They measured and created 3-D models of several hailstones collected by Kankakee-area residents during the March 10th storm.

*** National ***

* Chalkbeat | A viral case against screens in schools is winning converts. Does the evidence hold up?: I wanted to figure out how strong the case against ed-tech really is, so I took a careful look at Horvath’s evidence. My takeaway: There’s no smoking-gun data showing that ed-tech is at the root of, or even contributing to, recent learning declines. But Horvath’s case should still give schools and educators some pause. Could the tech tools they’ve adopted be doing more harm than good?

* CNN | US airports scramble with TSA staffing shortages amid partial government shutdown: More than a third of the security screeners at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport didn’t show up to work Tuesday, the airport’s general manager said, causing passengers to have to wait in line for up to two hours. Long lines have stretched through different airports this week as Transportation Security Administration officers worked without pay during the busy spring break travel season.

* WCIA | Illinois Dept. of Revenue: USPS changes could impact tax returns, payments: In a news release posted on Monday, the IDOR said that while USPS postmarks will still show the date of the first processing operation, it might not reflect the date the mail was dropped off at your local post office. The deadline to file an Illinois individual tax return is Wednesday, April 15. But due to the postmark change, the IDOR is asking taxpayers who mail their returns and tax payments to do it earlier than they typically would.