“I don’t celebrate this. I realize there is creativity and ingenuity, entrepreneurship and drive to make it. While I understand that folks are trying to hold onto some dignity in the work — and I celebrate the dignity — this is not an achievement. This is a sign of a failure, and that’s where the public policy story comes into play,” author Nik Theodore said.

Giving officers a staging area in a house where nearby residents could get to know them and conveniently voice complaints would allow police to respond more quickly to problems and improve the strained relationship between them and the community, Ald. Anthony Beale has argued.

“CPS has put together a reopening plan in alignment with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Illinois Department of Public Health guidelines. It includes key elements to prevent COVID-19 transmission, including wearing masks, social distancing, health screening and contact tracing. None of these layers are perfect alone but together these elements strengthen our defense in the spread of COVID-19.”

The city must do more to build housing that low- and moderate-income Black and Latino Chicagoans can actually afford, according to a report from a task force formed by Lightfoot.

Region 8, which includes west suburban DuPage and Kane counties, and Region 9, home to north suburban Lake and McHenry counties, will both enter Tier 1 effective Tuesday, health officials said.

CTU spokesperson, Chris Geovanis, confirms the set-up to a potential teachers’ strike. “It’s on the Mayor. The only way a strike can be provoked is if the Mayor locks out our teachers.”

Michael Roper, whose Andersonville beer bar remains closed, explains his reasoning in a detailed Facebook post: “To turn everything back on, restart our insurance payments, restock, and rehire when we are so uncertain of safety, success and the chance of another spike, it may also be a financial mistake to reopen now at a time when we can’t afford one.”

The move comes as the clock is winding down on two extra days of negotiations between the school district and union, with few signs of an agreement in sight. “Our efforts at the bargaining table will be reinforced by the unity you’re showing through actions,” the email said.

“The end goal is to make system-wide changes that stop the criminalization of students,” said Verneé Green, executive director of Mikva Challenge Illinois. “Students deserve safe spaces in which to learn and grow, and it is crucial to engage and listen to student and community voices to improve student safety in schools.”

“We’re seeing the same types of activities over and over without proper evaluation and changing techniques that … lead to these huge settlements. Why do these things keep occurring? What do we need to do as a Council to put adequate policies in place to ensure that we don’t keep making the same mistakes?” Black Caucus Chairman Jason Ervin said.

Detectives will also begin meeting with carjackings victims on the scene, similar to how they investigate homicides.

During that first weekend with limited indoor dining, the city’s Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection conducted 69 investigations regarding COVID-19 regulations, and issued only one citation.

Nearly 200 events have been canceled there in the past 10 months due to the coronavirus pandemic. The next big expo on the tentative calendar is the National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant Hotel-Motel Show in May.

The complaints aired during Monday’s Finance Committee meeting were so universal, local Ald. Walter Burnett had to plead with his colleagues to salvage the $850,000 worth of engineering work (paid with TIF funds) at seven dangerous grade crossings that he hopes will be a prelude to a new Fulton Market Station on the Milwaukee District Rail Line.

“We see in Deerfield and Skokie where the schools district has worked hand in hand with the health department to offer their educators the first crack at it… That’s not what we see here in Chicago,” Stacy Davis Gates said. “Our mayor’s in control of the health department as she is also in control of the school system. There should be a greater relationship between the two agencies to ensure a safe return to school buildings.”

Mr. Biden wants Congress to appropriate another $130 billion to help schools re-open with no requirement that they do. As the CTU has again shown, the real obstacle to getting kids back into classrooms is self-serving unions.

Among other things, the ordinance would prevent landlords from charging high fees for late rent or locking out tenants without going through the legally defined eviction process.

Comment: This is a good place to add our occasional reminder that we publish all perspectives including those we strongly disagree with.

Some blamed the mayhem on the pandemic, but persistent cop-bashing emboldened criminals.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch expresses the conventional wisdom: because of the “economic, civic and interpersonal stress” from the coronavirus pandemic. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot blamed pandemic-related “frustration, anger . . . trauma and mental health

Chicago remains in second-to-last place. The current pandemic will only further deteriorate the city’s financial condition. The main cause of Chicago’s financial problems stems from the city’s unfunded retirement benefits. The city has only set aside 23 cents for every dollar of promised pension benefits. Furthermore, the city has not set aside any money to fund $829 million in other post-employment benefits for municipal employees.

The mayor said while frustration over supply and distribution continue, she doesn’t believe the rollout in Chicago has been too slow. “I feel very confident and comfortable with the pace at which we are going.”

Lawyers for Southeast Side community groups petitioned for federal intervention, accusing city agencies and the Illinois EPA of colluding with developers to concentrate polluting industries in a corner of the city where residential yards already are contaminated by heavy metals and toxic chemicals.

“I miss my friends. It’s hard to make relationships with teachers and friends behind a screen,” said seventh grader Elizabeth Preston. “Mayor Lightfoot, please – I promise I will wear my mask – please let me go back to school.”