* ICYMI: Illinois’ new ACA marketplace moved 78,000 to cheaper plans, slashing average premium hike. Crain’s…

- Overall enrollment in 2026 Affordable Care Act plans fell 3% from 2025’s record high enrollment, the state program reported last month.
- The state predicted a 78% average premium increase for residents getting plans through its new state-run marketplace last October, in the face of ever-rising plan costs and congressional inaction on expiring enhanced premium tax credits, but by using tax credits of eligible customers, Get Covered Illinois said it was able to move enrollees into less-expensive plans and an average premium hike of 26%.
- The 2026 average monthly premium for Illinois households, after active plan selections, came out to $328, The 2025 average was $260.

***************** Advertisement *****************

Sponsored by The Association of Safety-Net Community Hospitals

No Cuts. No Closures. Fund Safety-Net Hospitals.

For decades, Illinois has underfunded safety-net hospitals, the lifelines for Black and Brown communities. Now, the “Safety-Net Moonshot” and the Medicaid-defunding legislation it has spawned, threatens deeper cuts to these critical health providers. Any reduction inspired by the “Moonshot” would be a killshot to the care our most vulnerable residents rely on.

Weakening safety-net hospitals won’t improve care. It will slash essential services, eliminate jobs, and push entire communities into healthcare deserts and economic instability.

The state cannot balance its budget on the backs of Black and Brown community hospitals. These institutions are not line items to cut, they are the foundation of care for families who have nowhere else to turn. Disinvestment will deepen inequities and worsen outcomes.

When safety-net hospitals are funded, communities are healthier, workforces are stronger, and economies are more resilient.

Illinois must fully fund safety-net hospitals. For the communities they serve, it is life or death.

*************************************************

* At 11:30 am, Gov. Pritzker will deliver remarks at the ribbon cutting for the Brighton Park Neighborhood Council Service Center. Click here to watch.

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* AP | Already under financial pressure, Midwest soybean farmers are squeezed further by tariffs, Iran war: “Facilities have been hit, like liquid natural gas plants,” Goldstein added. “You are also looking at a big supply crunch in commodity chemicals, which are the inputs for crop chemicals.” “We burn a lot of diesel fuel,” said Chris Gould, a corn and soybean farmer in Maple Park, Illinois. “It’s hard to say if I’m gonna come out ahead or behind on this whole deal. But I suspect I’m going to come out behind.”

* Tribune | More than 16,000 immigrants in Illinois may lose food assistance in the coming months: “I mean, fundamentally, this means that people are gonna go hungry,” said Nolan Downey, senior director of policy at the Greater Chicago Food Depository, calling the recent budget bill’s changes to SNAP eligibility for immigrants a “dramatic departure from long-standing policy in this country.” Immigrants who will remain eligible for SNAP are certain green-card holders, Cuban and Haitian entrants and those residing under the Compact of Free Association, among other categories of lawfully permanent residents. Immigrants without legal status have never received SNAP benefits.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Politico | Pritzker threads the needle on wages: It’s an argument he began rolling out last week and one he’s likely to keep emphasizing as he runs for reelection — while also continuing to build a national profile that could fuel a presidential bid. “The Democratic Party has failed on the subject of raising people’s wages. It should have been in 2024 and 2025 and now in 2026 that there should be a human cry from the Democratic Party, from every Democrat, about raising the minimum wage nationally,” Pritzker told your Playbook host when asked where Democrats have been out of step.

* Fox Chicago | Illinois millionaire tax could help curb property taxes, boost education funding, study says: The millionaire surtax could generate billions of dollars in new revenue each year, according to the study conducted by researchers at the Illinois Economic Policy Institute (ILEPI) and the Project for Middle Class Renewal at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, which was released this month. Such an idea appears to have popular support in the state. In a 2024 advisory referendum, 61% of voters said they would approve of a 3% tax on millionaires specifically to provide property tax relief.

* Center Square | Pritzker, GOP candidate say they support a free press, differ on tax credits: Pritzker spoke at the Illinois Local News Summit in Chicago on Friday and said Illinois was the first state in the nation to launch a tax-incentive program for local news. “And in 2025, over $4 million in state tax credits supported 58 Illinois local news entities, benefiting more than 600 journalists that work there,” Pritzker said. GOP candidate for lieutenant governor Aaron Del Mar said it’s important to support the Constitution and a free press, but taxpayer dollars should not support outlets like some in Chicago that only show one side of issues.

* Center Square | Committee’s ‘tone’ criticized for trying to price the poor out of gun ownership: Advocates for the bill, like Dr. Anthony Douglas, said there’d be minimal added cost. “I think poor people don’t benefit from owning firearms,” Douglas said during a House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force subject matter hearing of the bill Wednesday. “I think more people benefit from access to education, access to resources.” State Rep. Patrick Windhorst, R-Harrisburg, said that’s an elitist opinion and people of lesser means want to be able to protect themselves.

* Jim Dey | Sued for rights violation, Illinois justices say they answer to nobody: In the meantime, one of the most peculiar lawsuits filed in a while remains pending. It features a claim by former Cook County Circuit Judge James Brown that the state’s high court violated his right to freedom of speech as well as its own disciplinary rules by revoking his re-assignment to traffic court because of a commentary he wrote as a private citizen. How’s that for confusing, both in terms of facts and law in our sometimes-politicized state courts?

*** Chicago ***

* Crain’s | Housing advocates sue to undo CHA leadership pick: The lawsuit was filed 11 days before Pettigrew’s start date and further clouds the agency’s future. Brewer has maintained Johnson doesn’t have the power to remove him as operating chair and that he’ll continue in the role until April 20, when Pettigrew takes over. “The mayor and his allies are using the court to attempt to override a democratic vote so that he can install his chosen candidate as CEO,” Brewer said in a written statement to Crain’s. “This lawsuit is without merit, and we expect our process, which was fully compliant with all applicable laws, will be upheld.”

* Tribune | No passport. No flights. No easy way home for Venezuelans who want to leave Chicago.: Beth Brown, who launched the Faith Community Initiative in 2023 to help support Venezuelan immigrants, said she is seeing more families wanting to self-deport in the last year partly because their family members were getting detained and deported. But not everyone has been successful in using the app, she said. “The federal government is making it sound like it’s so easy to self-deport and anyone who wants to can, and it’s absolutely not the truth,” said Brown. “If they want them to leave, why can’t they figure out a way to allow people to leave?”

* Tribune | Archdiocese accuses CPS of ending disability support funding in Catholic schools: But a CPS spokesperson disputed the archdiocese’s account, calling its claims “patently false.” District officials said they had repeatedly warned Catholic school administrators that their spending was outpacing their allotted funds. […] According to CPS, it was the archdiocese’s decision to wind down academic intervention services due to funding constraints. Catholic school administrators “exercised (their) independent authority” and chose to stop using contracted instructional support services, the district said.

* AP | From Early Nirvana To Phish, A Chicago Fan’s Secret Recordings Of 10,000 Shows Are Now Online: The growing Aadam Jacobs Collection is an internet treasure trove for music lovers, especially for fans of indie and punk rock during the 1980s through the early 2000s, when the scene blossomed and became mainstream. The collection features early-in-their-career performances from alternative and experimental artists like R.E.M., The Cure, The Pixies, The Replacements, Depeche Mode, Stereolab, Sonic Youth and Björk.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Tribune | New Cook County forest preserve boss expands conservation efforts amid federal retreat: As budget cuts have hit local, state and federal agencies “all over the place” in recent years, Cook County residents have demonstrated support for the district’s work, he said. Volunteers logged more than 78,000 hours of donated time — worth $2.9 million in work — over 2025 while outside groups helped run the paid Conservation Corps programs that train youth and adults in restoration work. While he wasn’t a victim of so-called Department of Government Efficiency cuts, some employees and programs Bianchi oversaw were. “I’ll be the first to admit that there’s always opportunities and ways to get more efficient in anything that we do,” he told the Tribune during a tour of the preserves’ Sand Ridge Nature Center in South Holland. “Sometimes I just think that there was more of a hatchet approach versus a scalpel.”

* Aurora Beacon-News | Aurora alderman accuses mayor of not coordinating on major project: In mid-February, Laesch and Franco sent a joint letter to residents about the sound wall that did not mention using a special service area. Franco told The Beacon-News that, because of the letter, he believed the city was planning to move forward without one. “To now have elected officials and city staff going door-to-door suggesting otherwise is deeply misleading, unnecessarily confusing and completely inappropriate,” Franco said in his Facebook post. “Frankly, this raises serious concerns about the misuse of public resources and whether taxpayer-funded time and personnel are being used for political posturing rather than public service.”

* Daily Southtown | Licenses revoked for long-operating recovery home in East Hazel Crest: The Department of Human Services did not provide details as to why the licenses were revoked. The South Suburban Council did not respond to requests for comment, and a phone number listed on its website appeared to have been disconnected. […] The building’s water bill has gone unpaid for months, [East Hazel Crest Mayor Thomas Brown] said, and there are liens against the property. “They were doing some remodeling and rehab in there, and apparently didn’t pay the contractor its money, so that may be one of the reasons why they closed down,” Brown said. “No one’s ever explained it to us.”

* Daily Herald | Principal’s resignation is latest administrative shake-up at Hersey High School: McFaul’s resignation follows the demotion of three other administrators. Athletic Director Julia Barthel and two deans of students, Jennifer Korakakis and Matthew Norris, were reassigned from administrative to teaching positions, under personnel actions taken by the school board in February. In January, five wrestling coaches were dismissed after an internal investigation uncovered concerns over student residency, recruiting practices, and in-season training activities outside of school, district officials said.

* Sun-Times | Evanston pastor resigns amid accusations he used ‘substantial’ parish funds for personal finances: In a letter Friday to the St. John Henry Newman Parish parish community — which includes St. Athanasius Church and St. Joan of Arc Church — Cardinal Blase J. Cupich said an Archdiocese’s review found pastor Kenneth Anderson had “violated a number of core Archdiocesan policies” regarding his stewardship of the parish’s finances.

* Block Club | Skokie Woman’s Claim Of ICE Detention Was A Hoax, Wisconsin Sheriff Says In Defamation Lawsuit: Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt announced Friday he has filed a defamation lawsuit against Naqvi, with the sheriff sharing additional evidence of text messages, surveillance video, hotel documents and jail logs that he said proves a hoax on the part of Naqvi. “There is no record of booking, there is no record of detention, no record of release, no contact with the individual, no transfer from federal agency,” he said. “At no point was Sundas Naqvi in the custody of the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office.”

* Daily Herald | ‘This group made it happen’: Firefighting training center 25 years in the making opens at Harper College: “This has been a dream in this area for 25-plus years. I’ve been on the department 26 years, and this was talked about way back then. But this group made it happen,” said Mackeben, now Palatine’s chief, speaking to a cadre of fire department brass from across the Northwest suburbs last week at Harper’s new $9.3 million, 9,040-square-foot Emergency Services Training Center.

* Naperville Sun | Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestra set to celebrate its 50th Anniversary with a concert on April 18: Ollayos feels that the keys to the EYSO’s growth and continued success come from the support it gets from the community, having ECC’s arts facilities to call home, and the excellence of its teaching and organization. “With the EYSO, for its students, it’s not just about playing an instrument, but exploring what the music means,” Ollayos said. EYSO’s approach has led to about a third of its students going on to pursue music-related college degrees, Sheppard said. He’s also thrilled to hear from former students who have careers in other professions who tell him what they learned with the EYSO has helped them in their careers as lawyers, architects and in other fields.

*** Downstate ***

* WCIA | UIS strike: Faculty members say offers are ‘insulting’ as talks continue: “The offers that the administration is bringing to the table, when they do bring something, are frankly insulting,” Hedge said. University officials said their offers are facing a $19 million budget deficit this fiscal year, and said the offers have been created around the finical constraints. “The university’s position is guided by its responsibility as a public institution to maintain fiscal stability while supporting its academic mission,” UIS officials said in a statement. As of Friday, the university has proposed a 1% salary increase, along with a $4,308 boost to the minimum salary for entry-level professors.

* WCIA | Former PBL teacher charged with indecent solicitation of a child denied pretrial release: 72-year-old Paul Meuser of Buckley had a detention hearing on Thursday, April 9. Court records show that Judge Mary Koll of Livingston County granted the state’s request for Meuser to be detained. Koll was recently assigned to the case after the defense requested that Judge Matthew Fitton be removed. A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for April 22 at 9:45 a.m.

* WGLT | McLean County jail population shows signs of leveling off: Sheriff Matt Lane previously told WGLT those awaiting transfers to prison or a mental health facility were adding to elevated numbers in the jail. But in his most recent report to the County Board’s Justice Committee Wednesday, Lane said numbers in both populations have leveled off. The jail currently has seven people awaiting transfer to the Illinois Department of Corrections [DOC]. Lane said four of the seven are people who are returning to prison for parole violations. “We’ve really been able to keep up with unloading inmates to DOC lately,” he said. “So, that’s a good sign.”

* Smile Politely | Drones over C-U: Urbana should pass police surveillance ordinance: At a recent Friday Forum at the University YMCA, Urbana Mayor DeShawn Williams responded to a question from the audience about police surveillance by stating that an ordinance could be passed by the end of March. It is now April and there is still no clear timeline for passage of the surveillance ordinance. Urbana’s surveillance ordinance is one small step in requiring greater transparency from police who now have access to increasingly complex technology like license plate readers, phone hacking software, and drones, which are now being flown over Champaign-Urbana. It’s adding to the tool belt police have to enforce the widening racial and other disparities in our humble midwestern college town.

*** National ***

* WIRED | Your Push Notifications Aren’t Safe From the FBI: The FBI recently got its hands on copies of encrypted Signal messages being sent to a defendant’s iPhone because the contents of those messages were included in push notifications, 404 Media reports. Even though Signal had been removed from the phone prior to it being seized by the FBI, the notifications still lived on in the phone’s internal memory. The issue affects all apps that send push notifications, not just Signal, but users of that app can adjust their settings to not show the content of a message or the name of the sender in push notifications.

* Study Finds | Summer Is 30 Days Longer Than The 1960s, And Still Growing: Across the midlatitudes, a belt that includes most of North America, Europe, and large parts of Asia, summers have gained five to seven extra days per decade since 1990. That adds up to roughly 30 more days of summer-like conditions now than in the 1960s. More alarming is how fast the heat is accumulating: the total warmth building above summer temperature thresholds is growing more than three times faster than it was during the 1961–1990 baseline period.