In an apparent effort to turn things around, Johnson scheduled a meeting with the Chicago Sun-Times editorial board this week that would have been his first. But Monday’s meeting ended abruptly — after Johnson and board members had introduced themselves — when press secretary Ronnie Reese insisted the entire session be off the record. Said David Greising, of the Better Government Association “The lack of serious engagement is undermining not only the ability of the press to work with this administration but the public’s confidence that he is doing the work.”

The shelters were located in the Loop, North Lawndale, Lake View and North Park and at their busiest held around 400 people in total. The biggest was the North Park Village Nature Center shelter center, which the city closed to be used as a polling place, according to a city statement.

The Oak Park Migrant Ministry plans to open an overnight shelter for about 100 people in the old St. Edmund’s Catholic School, and during the day, the site will open its door to organizations that provide legal aid, job training, and other services to prepare migrants for the next stage after the transitional shelter. “We will be an abject failure if a hundred people who join us around March 1st are still here on June 1st,” said volunteer Jack Crowe.

Agents are asking questions about Henyard’s alleged use of taxpayer dollars and resources, including massive spending on out-of-town trips. They’ve also inquired about hundreds of thousands of dollars in police overtime for Henyard’s personal security detail, her alleged use of public employees and tax dollars for personal benefit, and the holding up of licenses to certain businesses.

“According to analysis by the Illinois Policy Institute, taxpayers save over $12,000 per scholarship issued through Invest In Kids. This is a massive boon to public schools that instantly turns into a fiscal liability with the program’s closure. Ending the program also means more kids in the classroom and more work for teachers.”

“With the city and state facing so many pressing issues, that $400 million would surely be better spent serving taxpayers’ needs than helping pick up the check for (White Sox owner Jerry) Reinsdorf and Related Midwest, the deep-pocketed developer that owns The 78. The U.K. synth group Depeche Mode said it best in ‘Everything Counts,’ their 1983 hit: ‘Grabbing hands grab all they can.'”

Since 2022, Dexter Williams has been charged with misdemeanors six times, and Cook County prosecutors dropped all but one of those cases. He’s now being detained in DuPage County after officials there accused him of having—this may sound familiar—four catalytic converters, a jack, a Sawzall, and Sawzall blades in his car after he slammed into a light pole while trying to get away from cops in Lombard.

“After decades of whole language approaches which morphed into balanced literacy, both approaches have been debunked. So, now Illinois’ focus on high-quality literacy instruction is a return to phonics. But be aware that no district is mandated to use the Illinois Comprehensive Literacy Plan…A plan to be used as a guide is a waste of time and tax dollars. Yet, the reason curriculum changes are not mandated comes down to money. School districts ready to make the change are already asking for more state funding to buy new materials.”

“From the beginning of the day to the end of our office hours, there was screaming,” pediatrician John Kahler said, comparing the devastated landscape to pictures he’d seen of Europe after World War II. The team saw crowded tents and rubble where bakeries used to be. “I know the world is violent … [but] this is the first I’ve ever really experienced

Two cars belonging to tenants of former Village of Dolton Trustee Valeria Stubbs, a retired member of the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, were riddled with at least nine shots in a raid, she believes, stemmed from her public attacks on Mayor Tiffany Henyard. Critics assert that Henyard is running a fiefdom of fear, pulling licenses from businesses who refuse to contribute to her coffers and using local law enforcement as a personal intimidation force.

From September 2022 when workers say the rash of crimes started, through Feb. 10 of this year, there have been 30 police reports associated with the Ford Plant’s address. This includes 12 auto thefts or attempted thefts. “People are getting their windows smashed in – everything taken out,” said Jason Wachowski, vice president of UAW Local 551. “Other people come out and their car is completely gone.”

The tenants living at CHA’s Washington Park Homes say they’ve had to live with mysterious rashes, lack of heat, mold, lack of repairs, and sewage water leaking into their kitchens.

“Thanks to a law first proposed by Illinois’ black lawmakers after the George Floyd protests of 2020, thousands of dangerous inmates are being released onto the streets of Chicago and other cities, while those subject to civil complaints are jailed like criminals. Such is the case of Illinois native Steve Fanady, 59, who has been rotting in a Cook County jail cell in solitary confinement for 18 months over an unresolved, 14-year-old divorce settlement.”

“People are very proud of our selective enrollment schools in the city,” Ald. Samantha Nugent said in the first briefing. “It is something that people talk about all over the country, I mean, Michelle Obama writes about it in her book, how life changing it was for her.” Ald. Felix Cardona said at a later briefing, “Do you understand parents don’t have the confidence in the Chicago Public Schools in their neighborhoods? And they leave.”

Developers last year completed 70 big-box warehouses, adding up to nearly 33 million square feet, up from 25 million in 2022 and 20 million in 2021, according to Colliers. But the historic pace of industrial development did finally slow. The vacancy rate for Chicago-area big-box properties more than doubled to nearly 9% over the past year, a signal that developers caught up with demand.