The CTA will pay a private security company $30.9 million over the next 18 months for “up to 100” unarmed security guards and 50 canines a day. Teams fwill be “deployed near station turnstiles to deter fare evasion and increase the overall security presence at stations,” according to CTA. That’s in addition to the $71 million contract that Chicago’s transit agency gave to a different security firm in April.

The plan promises to improve services for students with disabilities, strengthen career and technical education, make grading and school admissions fairer, and expand after-school and summer programs, among 10 academic initiatives the district will tackle in the coming years. The first order of business, though: a push to revitalize the district’s neighborhood schools.

The study found at least 300 times in one month, kids were kept in isolation for at least 16 hours in a day for non-punitive reasons. The committee appointed by Cook County Chief Judge Tim Evans concluded that the facility violates the Illinois Juvenile Court Act by not focusing on rehabilitation and offering programming, beyond schooling, to help those in custody.

Police said at 2:47 p.m., four teenage boys were on the patio of the ice cream shop across the street from the school at Milwaukee Avenue and Addison Street when a black sport-utility vehicle went by and someone inside shot them all.

After $6 billion in COVID money, after over $800 million in city and school property tax increases, this is what we have to show for it,” mayoral challenger Paul Vallas said Wednesday. “…(A) budget deficit of anywhere between half-a-billion and a billion dollars, 2,000 fewer cops on the street, a steady exodus of people from a school system where half the schools are fewer than 50% enrolled, and the same kind of tax-and-waste budgetary

A national republication of our Wirepoints column.

The Obama Foundation released its annual workforce report citing the organization is on track to meet its workforce and diversity goals for construction with 52% of contracts already awarded to diverse vendors, with 32% of the workforce coming from the South and West Sides of the city. The City of Chicago requires developers to award 32% of contracts to minority and women-owned businesses, while ensuring 50% of the workforce resides in the City of Chicago.

As August 15, the Loop recorded 18 hijackings this year compared to 15 at the same point last year. Comparable periods in other recent years saw 11 in 2020; 3 in 2019; and 4 in 2018, according to CPD data. Citywide hijacking reports stood at 1,051 as of August 15, up from 990 on the same date last year. Comparable periods: 707 in 2020; 323 in 2019; and 448 in 2018.

City Council members have until Sept. 2 to decide whether to accept the raise, which will boost pay to $142,772 for the 30 alderpersons who have accepted all annual pay raises. Last year, only five alderpersons rejected a 5.5% cost-of-living raise.

Even though her daughter had an hour-long bus ride to school last year, Clarissa Edwards thought the length was reasonable, given the school’s distance from home and the number of kids on the route. This year, though, the girl’s ride to the same school has been almost two hours each way. “It’s super hard as a parent to justify putting your kid through four hours on the bus to get to school,” she said. “It’s just really hard.”

The ward maps, approved by the City Council in May, will take effect following next year’s municipal elections.

The U.S. Attorney’s Offices in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin also announced that they are seeking pre-trial detentions for defendants who pose threats to their communities.