A federal jury Thursday returned a $1.5 million verdict in favor of a Muslim man who was the target of discrimination and retaliation when he worked on the state’s highways.The jury found in favor of Demarco Nichols on most counts in his lawsuit against the Illinois Department of Transportation and the Central Management System.Nichols had worked as a highway maintainer for IDOT for 10 years when he was fired in 2008.Starting in 2006, Nichols alleges, he was denied the opportunity to pray on his own time during the …