Appeals panel won’t vacate ruling allowing Chicago to impose Covid vaccine mandate on police officers, despite union contract – Cook County Record

Judge Mary Mikva said the arbitrator determined “implementation of the city’s vaccination policy was an exercise of the city’s contractually recognized management rights provided for in” the unions’ collective bargaining agreements. But the unions insisted that finding violates their right to bargain before implementation, to not be subject to unilateral changes and to take impasses to arbitration. They also said such rights can’t be waived through a union contract absent “clear, unmistakable and unequivocal language providing for the waiver.”

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Commentary: Lightfoot’s 2023 budget is her last chance to fulfill campaign promises – Chicago Sun-Times

City Council members Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, Rossana Rodriguez, Byron Sigcho-Lopez, Daniel La Spata and Jeanette Taylor: “The few campaign promises Lightfoot has kept — like passing civilian oversight of the police or removing the carveouts from the city’s sanctuary ordinance — happened only after significant pressure from grassroots activists and community organizations.”

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CPS faces $600M financial cliff as costs shift to schools with no long-term funding plan in place – Chicago Sun-Times

The mayor and her allies view the changes as a necessary byproduct of the looming move to an elected school board in which CPS will be independent from City Hall and no longer the mayor’s responsibility. Lightfoot’s administration also has said the changes are about “ensuring that each sister agency pays its fair share and is self-sustaining.”

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Entanglement report shows Lightfoot using CPS as piggy bank while students go without – Chicago Teachers Union

CTU President Stacy Davis Gates issued the statement issued a statement that reads, in part, “This mayor runs a city and a school district that over the last three years have received more direct support from the federal government than at any time in history. Yet she’s spent little on real needs, from affordable housing to trauma supports for our students – and is instead moving to force $6 billion in pension liabilities that Chicago mayors have failed to pay over the decades onto CPS, while the school district also confronts a backlog of at least $2 billion in urgent

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Divorcing Chicago Public Schools from city control adds to district’s looming fiscal risks – The Bond Buyer

The looming severance of governance ties between Chicago Public Schools and the city adds to strains on the district’s “fragile” fiscal health as federal COVID-19 pandemic relief is being exhausted and structural costs are mounting. That’s the assessment of a review that delves into CPS finances and how Chicago and other city-related entities prop up CPS’ budget. “CPS’s financial condition is fragile,” reads the report ? compiled by CPS with the help of independent advisory and accounting firms on the district that carries three junk ratings, despite a series of upgrades. “Even without a transition to an independent unit of

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Amendment 1: Expanding Public-Sector Collective Bargaining In Illinois Would Restrict Worker Freedom And Increase The Cost Of Government – Forbes

In Illinois, residents will vote on Amendment 1 to decide what matters will fall under the scope of public-sector collective bargaining. Expanding the scope of collective bargaining would undermine worker freedom by eroding workers’ ability to set their own terms with employers, while also significantly increasing the cost of government in Illinois.

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Candidates for governor discuss Illinois’ unfunded pension debt – Granite City News

State Sen. Darren Bailey, who’s running against incumbent Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker, said he’ll use reduced state spending to pay down pensions. Pritzker touts on his campaign website “fully funding pension contributions” as a way to reduce state pension liabilities, “going above and beyond with payments and expanding the employee pension buyout program.”

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Illinois National Guard taking steps to assist in election security – Just The News

Major General Richard Neely, the adjutant general of Illinois and commander of the Illinois National Guard, joined other National Guard leaders Friday to discuss cyber support for the election. Neely said recent history in Illinois makes this an important issue. Neely was referring to a Russian hack into the Illinois election database. The personal information of about 500,000 Illinois voters, including names, addresses and driver’s license numbers, were exposed in the hack.

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As Election Day nears, officials across Illinois boost security amid fear of violence – Chicago Tribune*

The panic buttons and new security locks were precautionary in case one, several or even a mob of people barged into Boone County Clerk Julie Bliss’ offices in Belvidere where ballots are counted on Election Day. But the “overall anger and tenseness” of the national political environment means the security safeguards are there to stay, said Bliss, a Republican who has been clerk since 2017 and is an official with the Illinois Association of County Clerks and Recorders.

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