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Cumulus Media content chief Brian Philips sent an email to managers Wednesday, the day of the U.S. Capitol riot, saying the company had to help induce calm. “There will be no dog whistles about ‘stolen elections,’ ‘civil wars’ or any other language that infers violent public disobedience is warranted, ever.”
Durbin said in a statement, “Our bill would establish offices to combat domestic terrorism with the Department of Justice, FBI and Homeland Security. It would require to regularly assess domestic terrorism threat.” The bill passed the US House last fall and stalled in the US Senate.
In addition to asking if members would support a strike if “remote teaching became impossible,” the CTU survey aimed to gauge whether members would back a “collective action” or a “signing a collective letter of refusal to return.”
The hearing lasted 7 1/2 hours. But because Lightfoot controls the Chicago Public Schools under state law, the City Council has no authority to stop her from reopening the schools.
Though the pace of vaccination hasn’t been as rapid as many would like, Pritzker said Illinois has made enough progress that he will shortly give the go-ahead for some local health departments to move beyond inoculating health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities (described as phase 1A in the state’s vaccine distribution plan).
Stacy Moore is a former Chicago teacher and the current Executive Director of Educators for Excellence-Chicago: “The narrow focus on finger-pointing, escalating rhetoric and obstruction tactics is a dangerous game of one-upmanship. Worst of all, it distracts everyone involved from keeping a laser focus on what matters: Ensuring all our children get the education they deserve.”
The governor said everyone in Illinois should have the vaccine by the end of the year, and he envisions large vaccine sites and perhaps the U.S. Army and National Guard could lead distribution efforts.
CPS said on Monday, 70.6 percent of teachers and 80.7 percent of paraprofessionals came to work. The AWOL figure does not include teachers and staff who were absent for what CPS has deemed valid reasons. This figure does not include teachers who took personal or sick days.
“Madigan is drenched in power because his members tolerate it. Finally, a crack has opened to allow for a change in leadership. This is the moment for rank-and-file, reform-minded Democrats to snatch it back for the betterment of the state.”
“The union has shown time after time it cares more about political point-scoring than the futures of the city’s children. But we hope rank-and-file teachers decouple from CTU’s self-serving agenda long enough to show their commitment to their students with a singular, vital act — showing up in person for work.”
The internal FBI bulletin warned, as of Sunday, that the nationwide protests may start later this week and extend through Biden’s Jan. 20 inauguration. Pritzker would not discuss specific safety measures, “but suffice to say, the (Illinois State Police) is quite well aware of the challenges that may crop up.”
“Those bills are quite extensive, I’m not going to go down every issue,” he said. “But, I have favored ending cash bail, I’ve worked with (Sen. Robert Peters, D-Chicago) on it. … I favor the work that (Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul) is doing on police reform, we’re all working together, I think, to get good results.”
The bill also calls for a three-year moratorium on any hospital closures or downsizing.
“Tax hikes are not working. It is not turning around the economy of Illinois, it is making it worse,” said Brian Costin, state director for Americans for Prosperity. “People are making huge sacrifices during the COVID-19 pandemic. They shouldn’t be asking for more money from the taxpayers during this very difficult time.”
Even with the vaccine going out, Pritzker still couldn’t say exactly when to consider it “widely available” as the state works through phases of distribution for certain populations over others. “You can do your own math to determine when we’ll get to a number that people can really be safe.”
See who your representative backed in a historic fight for the Illinois House speakership.
Illinois labor laws prevent the Chicago Teachers Union from going on strike to protest the reopening of school buildings. But the union is winning a push for legislation that places students’ return to school in jeopardy.
“My office is taking decisive action in response to unethical arrangements that have come to light regarding the red-light camera industry,” Comptroller Susana A. Mendoza said. Her announcement comes on the heels of Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announcing the city will ticket speeders caught on camera going 6 mph over the limit.
Chapa LaVia’s resignation came after the House Civil Judiciary Committee questioned her role in the outbreak at the LaSalle home, where 36 residents have died of COVID-19 since Nov. 1. Lawmakers said Chapa LaVia’s performance during the hearing reflected poor leadership which caused them to lose confidence in her ability to lead the agency.
“We need to turn the page from this horrible, hideous chapter in our history. … We need to start a new administration with a new set of valuables and principles that reconnect with each other as Americans, as residents of this great country,” Lightfoot told reporters.
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Illinois Senators voted 38 to 16 to repeal Section 4.5 of the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act, which would force city officials to have to bargain with the union over school conditions such as class sizes. Because it
A resolution signed by 35 aldermen and City Clerk Anna Valencia states the union’s bylaws bar “any person who is a member of, or subscribes to, or supports the principles of any organization having as its purpose the overthrow of the United States by force or violence.”
However, Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady noted that schools were exempt from the city’s stay-at-home advisory
The mayor explained, “We have been coming back down even through Thanksgiving and then Christmas and New Year’s so we are making steady progress overall so the advisory is really about making sure that we’re doing everything that we can to give people the best information.”
What comes next is likely to be a contentious battle for power in Madigan’s wake. Yet regardless of who is the next speaker, little is likely to change unless the House reforms the practices that concentrated so much power in Madigan’s hands.
At Belding Elementary in Irving Park and Suder Elementary on the Near West Side, some teachers were planning to set up outside the school so they could teach remotely while pre-kindergarten teachers had to return to work inside the building. Said Kim Payne, a fifth grade teacher, “We’re standing strong in solidarity with all our teachers and our little guys that the city is pushing to come back to school. They shouldn’t be coming back yet.”
“Eight cities stand out as the worst-run in the nation, when ranked on critical quality-of-life markers including cost of living, education, crime, and homelessness: New York, Los Angeles, Washington DC, Chicago, Philadelphia, Portland, San Francisco, and Oakland. Despite funneling billions into city government annually, each faces a multi-generational challenge brought on by long standing mismanagement.”
“These standards ignore what is most important for our students — that is, increasing the quality of education — and instead force onto teachers a singular view for some of our country’s most-heavily debated topics that they are then expected to carry forth into the classroom.”
If the current surge of authoritarian suppression persists, so too will violent opposition to it. That violence must end, and the best way to end it is by assuring robust, free expression of political opinion.
Ted was on with Mary Griffith of WTAD talking about the loss of population in the Quincy area and across Illinois as a whole. Illinois competes with its neighbors for people, jobs and businesses, and right now it’s losing. In all, the Quincy area has lost over 5 percent of its people since 2010.
The 334-page bill contains sections dealing with predatory lending, the use of criminal background checks in employment decisions and housing, diversity requirements in state contracting and purchasing, and the removal of lead water pipes in public water systems, something that advocates say disproportionately affects communities of color.
“With little cash coming in, many hotel owners are in default to creditors. Experts in the industry say bankers and other lenders to hotels are getting impatient as the pandemic stretches on. Beyond that, owners are faced with the prospect that meetings and conventions scheduled months from now will be canceled.”
By Sunday morning, the weekend was nearly as deadly as the entire previous weekend, when six died and 24 others were hurt.
“The gangs are using these vehicles because they feel they can’t be traced,” said South Chicago District Capt. Michael Murphy, whose patrol district saw carjackings jump in 2020 to 97 from 36 the year before. “They can do their crimes, whether it be shootings or whatever it is, and then dump the car,”
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