“That same audit also revealed what most council watchers already knew: Committee staff members are frequently assigned to work on noncommittee tasks, including constituent services in the chair’s ward…Aldermen should take a page from other legislatures, including those of most other major American cities: Eliminate the practice of individual committees hiring their own staff and instead budget for aides, legal counsel, financial analysts and other professional support staff assigned to a centralized legislative support office.”

“The new mayor is supposed to manage Chicago for all the citizens, not to benefit public employees. Chicago is not in good shape. In 37 of its schools, not one student is proficient in reading or math. Its transit system is stuck with schedules that

“Here’s the stark reality, and it’s high time we tackle this head-on: According to the most recent Illinois State Board of Education (“ISBE”) annual Report Card, only 61% of LFHS students are proficient in reading….Perhaps the least convincing and most intellectually dishonest claim offered by the administration is that our District has been awarded an “Exemplary” ISBE designation, the highest possible in the four-tier rating system. But “Exemplary” compared with what? There are 30 schools in Illinois where not a single student can read at grade level…”

Board Vice President Joe Nowik praised the “student centered” elements of the plan, but in a statement said he couldn’t support the plan as presented. As a district parent of a student with an individualized education plan, Nowik said he “cherished every 15 minutes of speech and physical therapy we were able to add to the schedule. I believe every parent would want more teacher-student time, not less.” The proposal would subtract 45 hours a year of instruction from the school year, he said.

Theo van den Hout, interim director, says there are two main reasons for the change – to prevent confusion and avoid causing offense. “Most people who visit the Institute, when they hear Oriental Institute, they think of the Far East, China, Japan. And then when they enter the building and see the museum collection, what they see is exclusively ancient Middle Eastern art and artifacts and culture,” he said. “The other element is that the term ‘Oriental’ over time has taken on a pejorative and negative meaning.”

The risk of self harm among CPD officers is also documented in a 2017 U.S. Department of Justice report that found the rate of suicides among officers (22.7 per 100,000 department members) were 60% higher than the national average (18.1 law enforcement suicides per 100,000).

In Las Vegas,authorities are installing “rumble strips” in the middle of intersections that will tear up the tires on any car that tries to do a donut. And in Nashville, officials charged a 21-year-old man with five counts of inciting a riot for “promoting unsanctioned car meets.” Here at home, Chicago police generally keep their distance when sideshows pop up.

David Axelrod: “The outcome could have meaning well beyond the shores of Lake Michigan, offering an indication of where voters—Democrats in particular—are leaning on the issues of crime, policing, and race. For Chicagoans, though, this election is about more than augurings for the nation. Crime and public safety are, far and away, the issues of greatest voter concern here. Although shootings and homicides are down from a year ago, Chicago’s homicide rate remains five times higher than New York City’s and 2.5 times higher than Los Angeles’s…Those numbers and the pervasive sense of unease about public safety had a lot

“My community is on the bottom of everything in America — education, single parent households, violence, and on. It is not fair that they were born into such a deprived area but that is their fate…. They may face racism just as a Jew may encounter anti-Semitism, but by aiming high they will land higher and when they pass along these good faith lessons to their children, that generation will land even higher.”

The average Chicago bill went up 8% but in Pilsen bills went up an average of 46%. After rallying and even holding two forums with the Cook County Tax Assessor, Fritz Kaegi not much has changed. And those appeals, the assessor urged everyone to file, have been submitted and in some cases denied.

Despite rising taxes and operating expenses that have impacted most downtown Chicago office buildings, overall downtown average gross asking rent fell 1.3% in 2023’s first quarter below Q4 of 2022, to $42.63 per square foot, Savills reported Class A asking rents similarly declined 1.3%, to $48.98 per square foot.

Within the NBC 5 viewing area, at least four communities are faced with home rule questions in the April 4 election, including the village of Lyons in suburban Cook County. Lakemoor, located in Lake and McHenry counties, is also voting on home rule status, as are Wauconda and Bull Valley.