At Frazier Elementary in North Lawndale, the school librarian has become a substitute teacher and the principal has taken over an algebra class amid a substitute shortage. Tolu Solola, a science teacher, said the school has had five IB coordinators in six years, and educator turnover overall is high. “We have a crisis that has been ignored for far too long…. I’m tired of telling my students it’s not their fault their teachers leave.”

“Our job as a prosecutor is pretty simple. We have to be fair first and foremost, we have to be tough when it’s appropriate, and we need to be merciful when it’s warranted. But, we have to be fair all the time. And part of that is making sure that we’re holding people accountable because the community depends upon us to do that,” said Lausch.

“We sincerely hope that we continue to keep our schools open,” union president Jesse Sharkey said. “It’s been, you know, by and large a difficult but positive experience. Kids need to be in school but … we would like to publicly hear the recognition that if conditions worsen, we’re going to respond in a way that gives us reassurance about how we’re going to keep the schools and the district safe.”

Ald. Brendan Reilly said he’s heard from bar owners who’ve been ticketed because they allow dogs on the same premises as cocktail garnishes like lemons and limes, which can be defined as “foodstuffs” under city code.

Juggling three jobs, Joyce Henderson entered a rent-to-own agreement earlier this year for the house where she lives in Harvey. She pays the mortgage and taxes with the goal of someday buying the newly-remodeled house. Cook County records show the tax bill the past few years was about $2,500. But the 2020 bill – the first bill since Henderson moved in – more than doubled to $6,500.

“Going into the 2020-2021 school year, I saw the lack of humility, class and focus from union leadership. They were no longer advocating for teachers’ essential labor rights but advocating more for a political agenda. And they most certainly were not concerned with the well-being of the students,” teacher Olivia Waldron said.

“She’s a Daley administration person,” Ferguson said. “She’s been connected up to power her whole career. We missed that as a point of emphasis because we were doing a beat down of Toni Preckwinkle, because it was an anti-corruption moment.”

The West Town community area has reported 105 carjackings so far this year, up from 58 incidents for the same period in 2020, and 27 in 2019.

City Council voted Wednesday to devote $5.3 million from two West Side tax increment financing (TIF) districts that will reimburse Lawndale Christian Development Corporation for the environmental remediation work that must happen on vacant lots before construction of 250 houses can begin.

They say some students are going to dirty schools with overflowing garbage cans as well as mice and roaches. “This is the reason why we cannot accept the continued underfunding,” union president Jesse Sharkey said.

It was reported earlier than more than 1,400 possible ghost businesses in Markham received federal tax dollars from the federal Paycheck Protection Program that was intended to keep small businesses afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic closures.

Mayor Lou Presta was accused of accepting a $5,000 bribe from an executive with Safe Speed; Presta previously denied wrongdoing and claimed the envelope with the bribe was empty.

“In simple terms, Jones is an elitist, and King was not. Real change in American society seldom comes from an ivory tower. Progress is a function of mass action, something Jones is incapable of inspiring. Nikole Hannah-Jones is in no way comparable to Martin Luther King Jr. To have her headline an event in his honor is nonsensical.”

A referendum is the “nuclear option,” Ald. Jason Ervin said.