Chicago Public Schools opposes the bill. Matt Lyons, the district’s chief talent officer, testified, “Making principals part of labor while retaining their management responsibilities raises a lot of questions. How will [the reconstructed] board expect school administrators to faithfully carry out the educational policies that it enacts, with all the discretion [principals are] given, if the principal’s union is in opposition to that same policy?”

“The problem with the proposal endorsed by most Black Caucus members is that it leaves the mayor with zero say over pivotal police oversight functions. Not just zero say, but zero accountability for public safety in the nation’s third largest city.”

Chicago Mayor Lightfoot says she believes she’s done well in her leadership role, all things considered. While she acknowledges that there’s more work to be done, Lightfoot’s opposition feels that she hasn’t accomplished enough in the time she’s had. Several citywide organizations and the Chicago Teachers Union marched in Logan Square to express their sentiments.

“This is about economic inclusion of African American-owned businesses in the U.S. economy,” said Allen, Founder/Chairman/CEO of Allen Media Group. “McDonald’s takes billions from African American consumers and gives almost nothing back. The biggest trade deficit in America is the trade deficit between White corporate America and Black America, and McDonald’s is guilty of perpetuating this disparity. The economic exclusion must stop immediately.”

The practice of retiring from a public job and then getting a new one has its share of critics. Among them are Ted Dabrowski, president of Wirepoints. “It’s just wrong that in a state troubled by a pension crisis, with the state not making ends meet, that our legislators continue to allow this kind of double-dipping. It should have been stopped a long time ago.”

Mark Konkol: “For decades, it was a City Hall tradition to whisper scoops about mayoral trial balloons and the annual budget proposal to a favored reporter. Lightfoot’s mayoral predecessor, Rahm Emanuel, regularly had his spin machine tap hand-picked reporters for sit-down chats on pre-approved topics. Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s communication staff doesn’t return emails to certain reporters, including me.”

“Too many of our officers have worked extended hours, not voluntarily, but forced,” Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7 President John Catanzara said, adding that city officials have been “playing games from day one” in contract negotiations with the FOP.

The named COVID captain at each event must sign a form attesting they will recommend vaccinations for attendees; communicate that unvaccinated people, including kids, must wear masks and social distance; and must ensure there’s access to hand sanitizer throughout the party.

Squatters are technically protected under the governor’s eviction moratorium. The order covers tenants and lessees, but also residents; which one attorney said could apply to anyone who merely spends the night and claims the residence is theirs.

Lightfoot says the pandemic and protests over police violence upended many of those plans though she is “unbelievably proud” of what her administration has done.

“The city’s finances are in the toilet. Their unfunded pension liability contribution is one of the largest growing items on their budget. You’ve got violent crime up year to year, homicides up year to year… The school system is horrific. 39% of Chicago public school teachers with school-age kids put their own kids in private school…So the mayor has a lot of problems to deal with and I think that yelling and in demanding that a reporter be a certain kind of race is one of the least of her concerns, all designed to divert attention from the disaster that

Explained boutique owner Kamara Reeves, “It’s more people up north that are getting vaccinated a lot of people in [our] community are not.” In zip codes like South Shore, about 23% of the area is fully vaccinated. Compare that to almost 50% in the Loop. Or 48% in Lincoln Park.

Some of the reasons for Wednesday’s vote include officer exhaustion and Chicago Police Department officials’ decision on several occasions to cancel days off for cops, moving them from 8 ½-hour shifts to 12-hour shifts, and taking robbery detectives away from their cases and moving them to patrol duties, according to the FOP.

Michael Flynn, principal of an Oak Brook Terrace-based real estate firm, said companies will continue to find a variety of adaptations moving forward. “I don’t think there’s going to be a ‘post-pandemic'” for the office market, he said.

“You can see how this makes life easier for Lori Lightfoot. She knows who to hate, just by looking at them. If someday the Chicago police rounded up the entire population of the city, Lori Lightfoot would have no trouble pulling the right ones out of line for punishment…yes, that was a Nazi reference. It was deserved. Lori Lightfoot is a monster. Any society that allows politicians to talk like this has a very ugly future ahead. Very ugly. “

Political analyst Charles Thomas knows the City Hall beat well, as a former television political reporter. He says although newsroom diversity is an important topic, he questions the mayor’s timing. “This is a distraction,” he said. “Instead of talking about crime, talking about disarray in her administration, talking about education, talking about city finances, we’re talking about this.”

Said 20th Ward Alderman Jeanette Taylor, “I played double Dutch. I did jacks. I blew bubbles. I could sit on my porch in peace and that’s not what we have now. We have a city in chaos.”

As Mayor Lightfoot calls for diversity in Chicago media, the CTU is planning a protest in her Logan Square neighborhood Thursday to demand that she “fulfill her broken promises,” and Chicago’s Fraternal Order of Police announced a unanimous vote of “no confidence” in the mayor, CPD Superintendent David Brown and First Deputy Superintendent Eric Carter.

By Jan. 24, 2020, when Lightfoot’s office was apparently informed of the contract, the startup was already facing a lawsuit filed in federal court in Chicago alleging its software violates Illinois’ stringent biometric protection law.