* ICYMI: Chicago’s Jenner & Block wins Round One. CNN…

Two federal judges in separate rulings late Friday froze parts of President Donald Trump’s executive orders targeting the law firms Jenner & Block and WilmerHale, both firms linked to the Robert Mueller investigation Trump has sought to punish. […]

The temporary restraining order in the Jenner & Block case, announced by Judge John Bates at the end of a hastily scheduled Friday hearing, pauses parts of the order instructing agencies to terminate contracts with the firm and its clients, as well as the order’s directives seeking to limit the firm’s access to federal officials and buildings.

Bates said those directives, as well as another he paused aiming to crack down on former Jenner employees being hired for government jobs, were likely unconstitutional because they retaliated against protected speech and were a form of view point discrimination. Language in Trump order’s expressing his desire to sanction the firm for pro bono work for causes the president disagrees with was “disturbing” and “troubling,” Bates said.

* Related stories…

∙ Reuters: Judges block Trump orders targeting two law firms as Skadden cuts deal
∙ NYT: As Firms Sue to Stop Trump’s Executive Orders, a Split Emerges in Big Law
∙ ABC: Judges temporarily block Trump orders targeting Jenner and Block, WilmerHale law firms

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Sun-Times | With Chicago’s mass transit system on the fiscal precipice, what solutions are on the table?: Lawmakers remain laser-focused on reforming the agencies as they discuss two bills to either merge the agencies or empower the RTA. But legislators have all but refused to talk about immediate funding solutions. “There will be no funding without reform,” state Sen. Ram Villivalam, D-Chicago, has repeatedly said when asked about potential funding solutions. He reiterated the point in a call with the Sun-Times this week.

* Sun-Times | Illinois elections board says Trump executive order won’t impact April 1 elections: Illinois State Board of Elections spokesman Matt Dietrich said the agency was aware of the order but that it would have no bearing on the April 1 elections. He said the agency was waiting on changes to state or federal law — which executive orders cannot make — to update guidance for local election officials.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Center Square | Illinois GOP chair calls Governor’s trade mission ‘irresponsible’: Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Jaime di Paulo is part of the delegation. He said his goal is to bring business to Illinois. “Being the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, I think we have a lot to offer so they can come and do business in Illinois,” di Paulo told The Center Square. According to di Paulo, the big delegation is split into sectors. “We’re meeting with agriculture folks, with automotive people, technology folks, and then we have a bunch of workshops,” di Paulo. “Hopefully each one of us can get our job done and bring some wealth to Illinois.”

* LGBTQ Nation | Governor stands with trans kids & won’t take ‘soul-sucking path’ of sacrificing their rights: At a recent Human Rights Campaign dinner in Los Angeles, Pritzker reaffirmed his commitment to supporting queer folks and resisting Trump. “The Trump administration and his Republican lackeys in Congress are looking to reverse every single victory this community has won over the last 50 years,” Pritzker said. “And right now it’s drag queens reading books and transgender people serving in the military. Tomorrow, it’s your marriage license and your job they want to take.”

*** Statewide ***

* Greg Hinz: Yes, Illinois’ economy is lagging. So what do we do about it?: After talking to other economists and civic leaders, business chiefs and government officials, there is some reason to think the picture, while not good, isn’t quite as bad as Moody’s depicted. But it’s still not rosy. There’s much to debate on this critical issue of public policy as Gov. JB Pritzker prepares to announce whether he’ll seek a third term as Illinois’ chief executive. […] Much of the problem appears to stem from metro Chicago, home to loads of well-paying financial and high-end service jobs that have not yet recovered from COVID, Moody’s indicates. That’s consistent with other research from the Brookings Institution. Chicago ranks 48th of the nation’s 54th largest metros on economic performance measured between 2013 and 2023, with the lag concentrated in the post-COVID period.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Denise Crosby | Aurora mayoral election goes negative unlike any other, say those on both sides: From police calls involving harassment complaints or yard signs to attack ads filling up residents’ mailboxes and social media feeds, the election between incumbent Mayor Richard Irvin and Ald. John Laesch has gotten so nasty that multiple city leaders expressed fear it was dividing the city in ways that could be felt for years to come. Count Linda Cole among those who were “very concerned” about what this election says about the future of Aurora. “It makes me sad that both sides are displaying such poor behavior,” said the former longtime Fox Valley Park District board member whose name is on the FVPD Cole Center.

* Daily Herald | ‘Unnecessary angst’: Partisan politics creeping into local races: The McHenry County Democratic Party is promoting candidates in more than 90 local races this cycle. Democratic township organizations in the Wheeling, Elk Grove and Mundelein areas are among those pushing their preferred candidates, too. In Naperville, Democratic U.S. Reps. Lauren Underwood and Bill Foster are actively campaigning for city council candidates Benny White, Mary Gibson, Ian Holzhauer and Ashfaq Syed and park district hopefuls Rhonda Ansier, Leslie Ruffing, Alison Thompson and Aishwarya Balakrihna.

* Daily Southtown | Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau and former Trustee Jim Dodge discuss public works, taxes and morale: Keith Pekau, seeking a third term as Orland Park’s mayor, touts accomplishments under his watch including improving village streets and parks. He is challenged in the April 1 election by Jim Dodge, a former longtime village trustee who has assembled a slate of candidates for trustee seats and village clerk. Dodge said voters are concerned about issues in the Police Department, which he says suffers from low morale. He said the overall tax burden on residents also needs to be addressed.

* Daily Herald | The hottest mayor’s races to watch in DuPage, Kane counties: West Chicago Mayor Ruben Pineda faces his toughest reelection bid in years with two challengers trying to deny him a fourth term. The future of the city’s downtown has been one hot topic in the race, with Pineda and his opponents, Daniel Bovey and Joseph Sheehan, offering sharply different visions. “There is an alternative to what we’ve been doing for the last 25 years, and that’s to build small, to invest in small developers, to invest in small businesses,” Bovey said at a League of Women Voters forum. “Let’s play to our strength.”

* Daily Herald | Mayoral offices at stake in North, Northwest suburbs: Three-term Arlington Heights Mayor Tom Hayes’ decision not to seek another term has led to a crowded field seeking to replace him — all say they want a seat at the table in talks with the Chicago Bears over redevelopment of the sprawling Arlington Park property. Running are Jim Tinaglia, a 12-year village trustee; Tom Schwingbeck, a six-year trustee; and Jon Ridler, executive director of the Arlington Heights Chamber of Commerce for the past 20 years. Hayes endorsed Tinaglia.

* Lake & McHenry County Scanner | ‘A major win’: State orders power plant to remove toxic coal ash ponds along Waukegan lakefront: The Illinois Pollution Control Board issued an order last week denying an adjusted standard petition by Midwest Generation, a subsidiary of NRG Energy. Midwest Generation owns power-generating stations in Illinois, including one at 401 East Greenwood Avenue in Waukegan along Lake Michigan. […] The moment marks a win for local and state officials, along with residents and not-for-profit organizations, who have been involved in a nearly four-year administrative process and a decade of advocacy on the issue.

* Lake County News-Sun | Mundelein residential development a ‘capstone’ on Plaza Circle, Mayor says: During Monday’s Village Board meeting, the board approved an amendment to the redevelopment to address a 45% increase in the project’s budget, rising from $61 million to $89 million. Trustee Jenny Ross attributed the increases to inflation. Village documents indicate three main areas of cost increases; hard costs, such as for materials and landscaping, soft costs, such as fees and insurance rates, and financing costs, with interest rates higher than in 2022, when the project was initially proposed.

* Daily Herald | ‘You can’t roll the dice all the time’: First responders preparing for more freight trains: The Itasca Fire Protection District is building a second station. Bensenville is rethinking how it dispatches police cars and ambulances. Wood Dale firefighters are learning new train detection software. It’s been two years since U.S. Surface Transportation Board members approved Canadian Pacific’s acquisition of the Kansas City Southern, creating a railway that spans North America. As freight traffic inches up in the suburbs, first responders are focused on troubleshooting the inevitable increase in blocked crossings to prevent delays in getting to 911 calls.

*** Chicago ***

* Crain’s | Chicago Teachers Union ready to take CPS contract offer to full bargaining team: Negotiations between CPS and the teachers union resulted in a contract proposal the union is ready to present to its full bargaining team. The CTU’s “big bargaining team” will meet Monday at 1 p.m. to consider the contract. The movement is a step forward in talks on a new four-year deal that has appeared imminent all week. If the CTU’s bargaining team approves the deal, the tentative agreement would still need to be approved by the full union and the Chicago Board of Education.

* Crain’s | Trump names interim top prosecutor for Chicago:
The Trump administration has named former federal prosecutor Andrew Boutros the interim U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of Illinois, according to media reports. The posting fills a U.S. attorney seat in Chicago that has been without a permanent replacement since former U.S. Attorney John Lausch stepped down in March 2023. April Perry, a former federal prosecutor, was nominated by former President Joe Biden to succeed Lausch as the first woman to hold the office. Perry was confirmed by the Senate Judiciary Committee in September 2023, but her final confirmation was held up by then-U.S. Sen. JD Vance.

* Tribune | Nearly 1,000 people pour into Federal Plaza to show support for transgender people amid attacks: At Sunday’s protest, attendees displayed a range of emotions, from anger due to the Trump administration’s attacks, to joy because of the sheer number of people who showed up to publicly support transgender people. “We are a resilient people. Don’t you dare tell them we don’t belong,” Precious Brady-Davis, a commissioner for the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago and the first Black transgender woman to be an elected official in Cook County, said to the crowd. “We belong in every (sector) of society, from the boardroom to the bathroom. Quit playing with us. Our lives matter and we deserve to be treated with respect and decency.”

* Block Club | Chicago VA Nurses Protest Proposed Workforce Reductions That Could Cut 80,000 Jobs:
About 50 protestors — mostly made up of nurses and union members — marched in a line across from the medical center at 820 S. Damen Ave., while holding up signs calling on nurses and federal employees to come together in times of adversity. “This has been like working in a trauma zone on a daily basis,” said Aimee Potter, a VA social worker and organizer. “We’re waiting for the pin to drop, waiting for another Musk email or demand. Our phones are constantly ringing every day. People are so stressed that it’s hard for them to even do their jobs at this point.”

* Crain’s | Sterling Bay surrendering part of Lincoln Yards to lender: In a letter sent today to the developer’s investors and reviewed by Crain’s, Sterling Bay CEO Andy Gloor said the company has reached a deal with Bank OZK to transfer the northern portion of the proposed 53-acre development to the Little Rock, Ark.-based lender. Sterling Bay is expected to hand over the property through a so-called deed in lieu of foreclosure, sources familiar with the matter said, a transaction that allows landlords and lenders to resolve distressed loans without going through a lengthy court process.

* Tribune | Contentious overhaul of electronic-monitoring program in Cook County arriving after brewing for years: After months of planning and discussion, the Cook County sheriff’s office starting Tuesday will no longer accept new electronic monitoring participants, marking the beginning of a shift in one way pretrial justice is handled in Cook County. The county will now run all electronic monitoring through the court system, merging parallel programs that have previously operated separately under the authority of Sheriff Tom Dart and Chief Judge Tim Evans. Often used as something of a middle ground between being released or jailed pretrial, both programs use GPS technology to oversee defendants that judges determine need additional supervision, even though they aren’t ordered to remain in jail.

* The Triibe | Anjanette Young’s new exhibit at the DuSable Museum showcases the trauma of Black women victimized by police: Chicagoan Anjanette Young is debuting a new art exhibit entitled “I Am Her” at the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center. The exhibit, which Young curated, is a collection of artwork representing not only her experience as the victim of a wrongful police raid in 2019 but also that of other Black women and girls who’ve also been traumatized by police. […] “This work is a part of my healing journey,” Young said Thursday ahead of the debut. “This is me fighting back, bringing awareness to what happened to me and to the corrupt systems that we have within the police department, not only in the city of Chicago, but across the state and across the country.”

* Ope…

Explain #whitesox baseball without explaining #whitesox baseball! https://t.co/sZq95cfCxW

— Tina L Willis 👊🏼🧨💥 (@willis3TNT) March 30, 2025

* AP | Fast-moving storm causes headache for White Sox grounds crew: The crew used a patchwork of smaller tarps to cover as much of the area as it could. When the rain stopped, the crew began to work on the infield with bags of drying material. “I’ve had some trying times in my career. Eight inches of snow before opening day, stuff like that,” head groundskeeper Roger Bossard said during an interview on Chicago Sports Network. “This one takes the cake. I don’t ever remember hail while I’m pulling the tarp, and I used close to 4 tons of drying compound.”

*** Downstate ***

* The Pantagraph | Election Day is Tuesday. Here’s what to look for on the ballot: Three candidates also have their hat in the ring for mayor of Normal: incumbent Chris Koos and council members Chemberly Harris and Kathleen Lorenz. The Normal Town Council race is uncontested, with newcomer Rory Roberge, a member of the McLean County Regional Planning Commission, seeking Harris’ seat.

* WICS | Sanagamon County Sheriff’s staff completes ICAT training, director explains importance: I spoke to the Executive Director of the ICAT de-escalation training program, Chuck Wexler, and he told me the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Department’s training was fully funded by former Macon County Sheriff, Howard Buffett. […] Recognizing the need for her staff to be highly skilled on dealing with crisis calls to prevent future tragedies, Wexler told me Crouch searched for answers. “Buffet heard about this, invited her to lunch and asked, how can we help you?” Wexler said. “She said ‘I need to figure out how I can train my entire department’.”

* The Daily Egyptian | SIU administration addresses international students after a student’s visa was revoked: The email, signed by Tina Sickinger, Director of International Student and Scholar Services at SIU, was sent at 8:30 p.m. on Friday, March 28, hours after the university confirmed earlier that day that one of its international students had their visa revoked. The reason for the visa revocation is still unknown, and as of the evening on Sunday, March 30, SIU has yet to provide any further information on the matter.

* WCIA | Macon Co. election judge prep honing in on double voters: Election judge training in Macon County is cracking down on double voters. It comes after 70-year-old Brenda Wilcott got a second ballot in the November primary. County Clerk Josh Tanner said annual training targets issues from previous elections. This time around, he’s hoping people know they will be caught if they try to test the system.

* AP | Young Abraham Lincoln’s tiny Illinois town is due for a makeover: The tiny central Illinois village, where Lincoln accidentally spent half-a-dozen years in the 1830s, perhaps did as much to prepare him to be the Union-saving 16th president as any other aspect of his humble yet remarkable life. Volunteers in period clothing provide historical demonstrations for hundreds of thousands of visitors each year at the site, now part of a state park over 200 miles (330 kilometers) southwest of Chicago. But long-neglected maintenance has taken a toll on the setting, which was re-created by a federal public works program in the 1930s during the Great Depression.

*** National ***

* MLB | Yankees’ new ‘Torpedo’ bats create a stir amid 15-homer weekend barrage: Major League Baseball confirmed Sunday that the bats do not violate Major League rules or bat supplier regulations. Rule 3.02 states that bats cannot be more than 2.61 inches in diameter and 42 inches in length. […] The Yankees made home run history during their season-opening homestand, tying an AL/NL record with 15 home runs in their first three games of a season and tying a club mark with 13 home runs in two games. They belted four in Sunday’s 12-3 win after clubbing nine on Saturday.

* AP | President Trump’s election order creates much confusion before the next federal election in 2026:
Election officials were already dealing with the loss of some cybersecurity assistance from the federal government and now face the potential for major changes that include a new voter registration requirement, decertification of certain voting systems and stricter ballot deadlines for many states. In Connecticut, Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas is hopeful that ballot scanners the state just bought for $20 million will be acceptable under the executive order, but she worries about other states.

* SCOTUS Blog | States call on justices to leave restored teacher training funds in place: Eight states, led by California, on Friday urged the Supreme Court to leave in place an order by a federal judge in Massachusetts that requires the Department of Education to restore more than $65 million in grants, intended to address teacher shortages, that it ended in February because the funded programs included diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. In a 40-page filing, the states told the justices that there was no reason for them to intervene. “Because the district court acted responsibly — entering a narrow and time-limited restraining order to preserve the status quo while moving rapidly to adjudicate” the state’s request for a preliminary injunction, the government cannot appeal the district court’s order, the states argue, and the government’s appeal will in any event be moot (that is, no longer a live controversy) by early April.

* AP | Transgender People Are About 1% of the US Population. Why Have They Become a Political Lightning Rod?: Zein Murib, an associate professor of political science and women’s, gender and sexuality studies at Fordham University, said there has been a decades-old effort “to reinstate Christian nationalist principles as the law of the land” that increased its focus on transgender people after a 2015 U.S. Supreme Court ruling recognizing same-sex marriage nationwide. It took a few years, but some of the positions gained traction. One factor: Proponents of the restrictions lean into broader questions of fairness and safety, which draw more public attention.

* ProPublica | The CDC Buried a Measles Forecast That Stressed the Need for Vaccinations: In an aborted plan to roll out the news, the agency would have emphasized the importance of vaccinating people against the highly contagious and potentially deadly disease that has spread to 19 states, the records show. A CDC spokesperson told ProPublica in a written statement that the agency decided against releasing the assessment “because it does not say anything that the public doesn’t already know.” She added that the CDC continues to recommend vaccines as “the best way to protect against measles.”