Rep. Darin LaHood called out Chicago’s Democrat leadership after teenagers caused chaos in the city over the weekend: “This is an embarrassment to the city of Chicago. It’s an embarrassment to the state of Illinois. This type of violence from youth running through Chicago, unfortunately, this is becoming more and more routine…We are losing families. We are losing businesses out of Chicago. When you have police that are demoralized because of the policies of the current mayor and the state’s attorney there, it’s ridiculous. “

The bottom line is that, while Evanston has helped a number of its residents and created a model that could be politically viable elsewhere, it has still found it hard to achieve far-reaching effects without running into practical and legal obstacles. “This isn’t change that can be a beacon for the nation,” complained former alderman Cicely Fleming. “It is a dim, weak light.”

In fact, the Macy’s store on State Street had about as many arrests (179) as the entire Jewel-Osco chain, police records show. The city’s Nordstrom and Nordstrom Rack outlets combined for the third-most arrests among companies. This suggests that some stores are taking a hands-on approach to shoplifters, fighting above their weight – like Nordstrom, a company with relatively few locations but high arrest totals.

The officers who responded late Saturday focused on containing the crowd of hundreds instead of moving into the fray, Hopkins said. A Walgreens was looted, a break-in was attempted at the Art Institute, two Chicago Transit Authority buses were attacked, the windows and windshields of a number of motorists were broken, a couple was beaten and robbed, a police officer suffered a broken bone, another officer was mobbed and had his radio stolen and two teens were shot, Hopkins said. “It was one thing after another. And the police response just was inadequate.”

Attorney Kara Crutcher of Good Kids, Mad City said the city could prevent so many young people from convening downtown by greatly expanding its youth jobs program. “These are young people that are on the brink of the rest of their lives. They have energy and they need to put that energy someplace.”

Between 2019 and 2022, CPS lost nearly 37,000 students — 10% of its total enrollment, a trend that is expected to continue. CEO Pedro Martinez said the 2024 CPS budget will reduce schools’ reliance on funding tied to enrollment, because it “shortchanges small schools.” The proposed budget would “continue to move away” from student-based budgeting, he added.

Ald. Brian Hopkins notes that tens of thousands of jobs are at stake in hotels, restaurants and entertainment venues, many of whose patrons are already reluctant to come downtown. He wants police and State’s Attorney Kim Foxx to use every tool they have. “And those tools have to include a willingness to arrest and prosecute dangerous violent offenders when they engage in mob activity that causes harm to other people,” said Hopkins.

“In the face of all this, the rhetoric of Chicago’s incoming mayor — and of its new ultra-progressive city council, its media outlets, and its activists — bespeaks an entire ruling class that has simply given up on the city and on the idea of its being anything but a broken sandbox to test academic ideas in. If you cannot call crime by its name, identify antisocial behavior for what it is, and hold those who engage in it properly accountable, then that’s the ball game for urban cohesion.”

Chicago’s homicide rate has skyrocketed nearly 40 percent since current mayor Lori Lightfoot took office in 2019, watchdog Wirepoints reported. A George Soros-backed prosecutor is also refusing to bring charges against violent criminals, resulting in a 27 percent decrease in convictions and a 54 percent jump in dismissed cases.

A nationally-ranked Chicago children’s hospital is drawing backlash for a video in which an adoptive mother appeared to coach her child into discussing her adherence to radical gender ideology.

A decade after former Mayor Rahm Emanuel closed 50 schools despite community and CTU outcry, Johnson has said he aims to turn around the district’s yearslong enrollment decline. But Jason Dougal, president of the National Center on Education and the Economy, said there’s only so much any district can do in the short term to affect enrollment, which is often shaped by larger forces such as businesses entering or exiting a community and, as is the case in Chicago, declining birthrates and population loss.

As she prepares to leave office in 27 days, Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s announcement amounts to a brush-back pitch to Brandon Johnson. While new mayors often blame their predecessors for whatever financial mess they find after taking office, Lightfoot’s decision to pull the curtain back on the city’s financial forecast months earlier than usual will make that more difficult for Johnson.

“Chicago survived the demise of the steel mills because it was well-prepared for the day when trading things and thinking about things became more profitable than making things. Professional services became Chicago’s new ‘product.’ In the global economy of the 1990s, which gutted so many Midwestern cities, Chicago was a winner, sucking business and talent out of its regional satellites — especially Detroit. “

Former Cook County Clerk David Orr: “…(T)he property tax system seems to be constantly in the news in Chicago and Cook County. In part that’s because property taxes are simply far too high, mainly a result of over-reliance on this revenue source to fund our schools. In part, it’s the legacy of a corrupt assessment system and ongoing efforts to reform that system.”

State Sen. Robert Peters, who represents parts of Chicago, responded to the chaotic scene that saw hundreds of local youth smashing car windows, jumping on surrounding vehicles, and firing guns in the streets on Twitter: “…I would look at the behavior of young people as a political act and statement. It’s a mass protest against poverty and segregation. Rest in peace to my mentions.”

Fraud by employees at other Cook County agencies has also been found, including the Cook County Assessor’s Office, the Cook County Board of Review and the Cook County Public Defender’s office. Three supervisors in the office of Cook County Chief Judge Tim Evans have also been forced to quit because of allegations of fraud.

State Sen. Ann Gillespie, a Democrat from Arlington Heights, is sponsoring a bill that would limit the amount of time

“I don’t justify this behavior, but think about this: would they be downtown if they have things in their own community?” said Ald. Jeanette Taylor. She believes the solution to this is the Peace Book Ordinance — city legislation that was introduced in June that calls for diverting 2 percent of the Chicago police budget to youth job training and violence prevention programs.