“Downtown office vacancy rates already reached another record high at the end of 2023 at 23.8% – nearly double the pre-pandemic rate – and a hefty tax on property sales will only make Chicago’s commercial real estate less attractive. Without new businesses coming into the city, more and more Chicagoans will wonder why they’re still putting up with high state and local taxes. Fewer jobs and services will give them less reason to stay.”

One bill would prevent the closure of selective-enrollment schools and any changes to admissions policies at those schools for the next three years. The other would let local school councils retain the power to decide whether they want on-campus police — a right they would lose by next school year under a new safety plan. The legislation is an example of lawmakers seeking to use state power to override Chicago’s authority over its schools.

The glorification of a man whom Hamas praised as “immortal” offers a glimpse at the simmering anti-Israel hatred and antisemitism that has taken root on campus in the wake of the October 7 massacre of Israelis, Jewish students tell National Review.

In one case, former village empoloyee Samysha Williams claims she was fired by Henyard in retaliation for refusing to force those applying for new building permits in the village to donate to Henyard’s campaign.

“The situation and circumstances have gotten worse over the last year,” said Chicago Transit Authority union leader Keith Hill. “The crimes that we’re seeing on the system, we didn’t see before COVID. We didn’t see this many weapons being brought on the system. We didn’t see people being robbed.”

“Fewer officers is a major factor in the 50 percent drop in annual arrests since 2019 and in the rise of violent crime incidents overall. Arrest rates for violent crimes in 2023 were 11 percent. Unfortunately for Chicagoans, it is highly unlikely a perpetrator of a crime will ever be caught, even in murder cases. … Meanwhile the SAFE-T Act’s elimination of cash bail will put even more violent criminals back on the street.”

“Will (Mayor Brandon) Johnson’s Bring Chicago Home proposal include a workforce development strategy? Data shows a job is the most effective way to help people get out of poverty. Will Johnson’s plans include an education component? We know higher levels of education are associated with lower levels of poverty.”

Teacher salaries have historically been one of the largest cost drivers of spending in the CPS budget. The increase in spending has not translated into better outcomes for students. Since 2012, spending has increased by 97 percent, but student proficiency in reading has declined by 63 percent and by 78 percent in math for grades 3-8.

Activists in Chicago are pushing their own specific version of tax-break reparations. Reconstruction Era Reparations Act Now, or RERAN, says property taxes should be waived for black residents as payback for the legacy of slavery. The group aims to put the issue to voters in a referendum in the election in November.

“I spent too many of my younger years being afraid of failure. And when I got over that, it just opened up lots of other possibilities for me. Everybody gets insecure. But you can’t let it come to a point where it’s debilitating.”

With a roster of people who used to work for her or alongside her in county government that includes Mayor Brandon Johnson, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx and Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, Preckwinkle, who turns 77 on St. Patrick’s Day, has put her stamp on the next generation of Black and Latino leaders in Illinois politics. Her former chief of staff Kurt Summers went on to become city treasurer, and former staffer Christian Mitchell became an Illinois deputy governor.

However, the administration said they will evict 35 migrants Sunday, and the pace of evictions after that is unclear. The population in the city shelters has declined from a late-December high of 14,900 to 11,200 Friday. The pace of new arrivals has also slowed in recent months — a reprieve that many receive with wariness, given the Texas governor’s threat to escalate the buses before the Democratic National Convention arrives in Chicago this summer.

Organizers said they decided to move after “thorough market analysis, exhibitor demand, and boater feedback.”

Before Early Voting expanded to Chicago’s 50 wards, election data show the two Supersites in the Loop struggled to draw residents from Black wards to downtown to vote. Some Black wards didn’t have a single resident cast their ballot at either Supersite, election data show.

While no official investigation into the school has yet been launched, a spokesman for the committee told Crain’s it is “very concerned” about reports of antisemitic incidents on Northwestern’s campus and will continue to review possible next steps. “Institutions allowing or embracing hostility against Jewish students demands scrutiny,” the spokesman said in an email to Crain’s.

The union plans to organize high school students and march them to the polls in support of a tax increase.

Campaign finance records show upward of $4.2 million has poured into the Democratic primary race between Clayton Harris III and Eileen O’Neill Burke, with contributions coming from about 960 individual donors in 27 states plus the District of Columbia.

Officials have not said where inmates will be relocated during construction. Pritzker’s administration said it expects that once they’re completed the nearly $1 billion project, the rebuilt prisons will save the state an average of $34 million annually by lowering overtime, maintenance and utility costs.