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More broadly, (Mayor Brandon) Johnson turning tail and ditching reporters following his remarks in Englewood and allowing his press office to spread obvious fabrications provides a remarkable glimpse into how Johnson will manage City Hall as Chicago enters what is expected to be one of the most turbulent periods in recent history.
The plan is for each school in CPS to send one Chicago Teachers Union member on the lobbying trip to Springfield.
“The unlawful pro-terror encampment, dubbed the ‘Northwestern Liberated Zone,’ disrupted campus life and became a hotspot for pervasive antisemitic harassment and hostility,” writes North Carolina Rep. Virginia Foxx, chairwoman of the House Education and Workforce Committee. “Rather than enforcing University rules and disciplining those who violated them, Northwestern’s leaders surrendered to the violators in a shameful agreement.”
“These students, many of whom come from low-income households and foster care, have shown exceptional talent and dedication to the game of chess. … The decision to withhold this opportunity from them is not only unfair but also goes against the spirit of inclusivity and equity that we strive to uphold in our educational system.”
“When asked whether his proposals would ‘jump the line’ ahead of other school districts, (Mayor Brandon) Johnson said, ‘This is not a zero-sum game. There’s more than enough for everyone.’ Except there’s not, which is what the mayor’s top allies at the Chicago Teachers Union will be told when they visit Springfield en masse for their own lobby day to demand that billion dollars the mayor didn’t bring up.”
Under Illinois law, which is nearly 90 years old, the maximum amount of wine wineries can produce is 25,000 gallons, and they can only distribute 5,000 gallons.
The Illinois AFL-CIO labor organization brought the measure to lawmakers in an effort to ban what the unions refer to as employer-sponsored “captive audience meetings” pertaining to religion and politics. Labor advocates say the meetings give employers an opportunity to coerce employees to listen to anti-union rhetoric.
Local elected officials have joined organized labor in pushing back against the plan for Logan CC, citing economic impact on the rural area north of Springfield. But Gov. JB Pritzker said state and local officials should focus more on attracting great new private sector jobs. “And I think that really is the future for most places across the state, to not rely upon a state-run facility that’s a prison,” he said. “That can’t be a great economic growth strategy for the area.”
The suit alleges that that the now defunct “Quiet Time” transcendental meditation program, organized by the David Lynch Foundation for World Peace in partnership with CPS and the University of Chicago, violated the constitutional rights of minor students by incorporating Hindu religious rituals into public schools.
The Parents Matter Coalition said its ballot question was intended to allow voters to send a message to Springfield about the years of legislation and bureaucratic rule changes implemented by state lawmakers and officials that the Coalition said have been anti-family and which trespass on parents’ rights to raise their children.
“It has been determined that there is no evidence of bias, but rather a lack of inclusion,” IMSA’s DEI Officer Adrienne Coleman wrote to the teacher in September 2023. “In this instance, while you were proactive in collecting students names and pronouns, IMSA students still felt uncomfortable and unsafe due to incorrect pronoun usage.”
There are more than 40 tents set up in the quad and security is tight. On Wednesday afternoon, things were peaceful and quiet on campus. Students were reading and studying in the grass.
The legislation, fast-tracked last week by both the state House and state Senate and quickly signed into law by Gov. JB Pritzker, bars political parties from appointing a candidate to a legislative general election race if no candidate from that party ran for the seat in the primary election. Most of the General Assembly candidates who don’t have opponents in November are Democrats.
“Politics is different than it was in the ‘60s. You also have the Chicago Police Department, while certainly not perfect, the Chicago Police Department is not the Chicago Police Department of 1968,” said convention executive director Alex Hornbrook. “We have great confidence and a great partnership in the superintendent and the mayor.”
State election law permits political committees to obtain information about voters but stipulates that it “be used only for bona fide political purposes” and not for “commercial solicitation or other business purposes.” Violation of that provision is a felony.
A statement from the teachers who did not report to work Friday reads, in part, ” The current system is ineffective in meeting the social and emotional needs of our students. The top priority of our school board should be to provide a safe environment for every student to learn and teachers to educate. Therefore, we are coming together to ask for mental health crisis support and more restorative behavioral measures for students.”
Students for Justice and Faculty for Justice in Palestine explained in a joint statement that the encampment, which they referred to as “Popular University for Gaza,” was taken down voluntarily as the school year comes to a close.
“We’ve seen other programs that this governor has recommended just absolutely explode in costs,” state Sen. Jason Plummer said.
The Environmental Protection Agency granted Chicago Public Schools more than $20 million to purchase 50 clean buses as part of its 2023 Clean School Bus Program Grants Competition. But another $500 million would be needed to buy another 1,250 electric buses to fulfill CTU’s demand.
Insurers are currently only required to cover the procedure if it’s part of a follow-up exam recommended by a primary care physician.
State Rep. Maurice West, Rep. Yolanda Morris, state Sen. Ram Villivalam and Sen. Rachel Ventura joined advocates to ask the state to allocate an additional $120 million to paying direct-support professionals (DSP) contract reimbursements. Gov. JB Pritzker did not include funding for the wage increases in his proposed fiscal year 2025 budget.
The decision to consolidate the processing and distribution center on Mattis Avenue— which is expected to result in a loss of about 100 local jobs — includes transferring outgoing-mail processing to facilities in the Chicago suburbs of Bedford Park and Forest Park.
The number of journalism jobs at Illinois newspapers has dropped 86 percent since 2005, but press advocates see signs of hope in proposed college scholarships, state tax credits, scholarships and other subsidies to benefit local news outlets.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker recently promised electric car maker Rivian $827 million in taxpayer subsidies when he shouldn’t have given the company a penny. The question is, was it negligence or something more?
Why so far from the main convention locations of the Loop, where the delegates are booked in eight hotels; the McCormick Place complex, the site of daytime meetings and press briefings; and the United Center, where President Joe Biden will be nominated for a second term? Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said, “You want to be far enough away from the event so that if something were to occur it doesn’t affect your ability to command and control your response.”
Chicago Public Schools leaders are giving more than 600 teachers and staff members a paid day-off so they can go to Springfield to lobby lawmakers for more money.
“What we’re doing right now is making the best with the number of officers that we have,” Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling said. “We’re down close to 2,000 officers.”
“There are frustrating moments that I do have where you … just wish you could address everything at the same time,” Johnson said. “That’s just unfortunately not where we are — just because the damage has been so severe and it has been so widespread,” especially in “historically marginalized” communities.
David Greising, of the Better Government Association: “A cardinal rule in any negotiation is to avoid getting to ‘no.’ Once that word slips out, getting to yes gets much harder. (Gov. JB) Pritzker hasn’t entirely written off the possibility of a stadium deal, perhaps somewhere down the road, so the question now is what it might take to resuscitate an idea that nearly died on arrival.”
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