“Johnson, a former CPS teacher and paid organizer for the CTU, just continued setting the stage for Chicagoans to be ever more skeptical that he won’t put his former colleagues first by rubber-stamping whatever the union wants. Chicago will be among the few school districts in the country that offer three months paid parental leave when the benefit kicks in during the 2023-24 school year. “

Overall, the school system’s spending will remain steady at $9.4 billion in the 2023-2024 school year, but more money will go directly to schools. Buoyed in part once again by federal COVID-19 relief funding, CPS is also issuing its highest-allowed property tax increase of 5%, or about $131 million, to help support its budget.

Migrants staying at the closed down YMCA in West Ridge were transferred to Daley College to make way for those staying at police stations. However, not all of the migrants are OK with this move. They have been housed at the YMCA since last fall, and the children have been able to attend school in the neighborhood.

While the city is tracking the number of migrants arriving and staying in temporary shelters and police stations, a spokesperson said at this time the city is not tracking the number of new arrivals staying in private residences.

Chicago’s amusement tax is one of the highest in the country, and the second-highest among the few big cities that charge a similar tax in the Midwest. Plus, Chicago’s amusement tax is not the only tax on tickets. There’s an additional 3% racing fans will pay toward Cook County’s own amusement tax. There’s also the 10.25% combined state and local sales tax levied on the final ticket price.

“One particular shelter, with signs on doors keeping the public out, is the Inn of Chicago. Reporters at the Chicago Tribune said they were told they could not view the inside of the

Cook County Health is spending millions of dollars creating its own medical research department while it continues a yearlong investigation into the nonprofit managing its clinical trials. Critics of the county’s move call it nothing more than a smokescreen for a county money grab of the millions in grants the nonprofit manages.

According to its description, the Menschel Senior Leadership Fellows Program is “for those who have recently served in top-level positions in government, multilateral institutions, nonprofit organizations, and journalism to spend time at the School mentoring and teaching students who aspire to similar roles.” Lori Lightfoot will have regular office hours on campus to meet with students, faculty and staff.

“The City of Waukegan, located along Lake Michigan, has multiple large parcels, including lakefront property within 20 minutes of the PNC Center at Halas Hall, that could be developed into both the state-of-the-art stadium and entertainment district the team has publicly expressed interest in building,” according to a copy of the letter provided by the City of Waukegan.

Since 2010, nearly two-thirds of the people killed or wounded by gunfire in Chicago have been victimized in the census tracts that have suffered the heaviest losses of Black population over the past two decades. Collectively, the rates of homicide and nonfatal shooting victims in those areas are more than five times higher than they are for the remainder of Chicago.

Home prices in Chicago, but not in the suburbs, have been declining all year, a warning sign that working from home and a seemingly intractable crime problem are hurting the city’s real estate market. Chicago is not alone. In five big cities with distinct city-suburban markets and declining prices, city home values are down more than those in the metro area by at least 2 percentage points.

The new mayor could have a difficult time denying the police union’s request, considering how emphatic he was on the subject last week. “The teachers were granted parental leave — without bargaining. We certainly expect the same considerations for our membership,” FOP President John Catanzara told his members.

Interim Chicago police Supt. Fred Waller said patrols on the lakefront and on the beaches were “stretched thin,” and he singled the 11th police district on the West Side, where at least 8 people were shot on the weekend.

A confrontation between Troy LaRaviere, president of the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association, and Chicago Board of Education President Miguel Del Valle at the May Board of Ed meeting exploded because the fiery principal activist is hitting back hard against the whistleblowers who testified against former principal Abdul Mohammad. Muhammad was removed from Lindblom High School due to a Chicago Public Schools “investigation that substantiated findings.”