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The political fundraising arms of the Illinois Network of Charter Schools, which has $3 million on hand, and the Chicago Teachers Union, which has around $175,000, are holding their fire for now, putting off making major donations to candidates.
“At bottom, Smollett’s appeal to this Court is a last-ditch attempt to overturn the jury’s unanimous verdicts through novel legal arguments based on contrived and completely unsupported assertions with no evidentiary support,” the special prosecutors wrote. “Smollett’s convictions and sentence are well-supported by Illinois law, and accordingly, this Court should affirm the appellate court’s judgment.”
There will be no application process for the Flood Assistance Repair Program. The Department of Housing will be working with the community to reach those in need.
A domestic violence survivor, a recovering alcoholic and others with anxiety or chronic medical conditions were among those kicked out of a shelter in a former hotel off the Magnificent Mile as city officials begin to clear a highly visible tent city abutting the Dan Ryan Expressway. “What?” 48-year-old Amy Barney said. “Democrats have never seen a homeless person?”
Expanding the rules citywide has long been a goal of local housing advocates who argue it’s an easy way to add more affordable units and increase neighborhood density. An expansion of the system is one recommendation in Mayor Brandon Johnson’s recent Cut The Tape initiative.
Illinois Policy Institute policy analyst Hannah Schmid said Douglass Academy is an example of the inefficiency in how CPS money is being used. The West Side high school has about 22 full-time staff members for 35 students.
In Chicago, the city ranked last among the country’s 10 most populous metropolitan areas for new units approved. Its land use restrictions also cut into supplies: 25 percent of the city restricts residential housing development without special approval, and only 21 percent is currently zoned for multi-family housing.
Retire Riverside Police Chief Thomas Weitzel: “The fact that in Chicago and broader Illinois, gun violence and mass shootings are not treated as a public health crisis is shameful. Our elected officials put forth no emergency.”
“The school system is one of the pillars of a thriving city, and as citizens, we all benefit when our schools are successful. Despite these facts, the trend nationally is that school board elections have notoriously low turnout, typically under 10 percent. And yet, board members wield a lot of influence. They approve the district’s budget and purchasing decisions.”
The Supreme Court ruled that a key statute at play in Michael Madigan’s case criminalizes bribery among state and local officials, but not after-the-fact rewards known as “gratuities.” Citing the ruling, Madigan’s lawyers argued that 14 of the indictment’s 23 counts must be dismissed.
Pastor Corey Brooks: “The Republicans are far from perfect. They lack a significant presence in communities like mine. But what I love about the Republican Party is that I have the freedom to influence change through leading by example.”
Monday, the CPD issued two warnings about the crime pattern. The thieves typically use the victims’ debit and credit cards to immediately make fraudulent purchases.
Seven people were arrested May 3 following a meeting with ISU president Aondover Tarhule at Hovey Hall over the war in Gaza in which the defendants would not leave the premises after the building closed. The defendants were charged with misdemeanor trespassing.
For those now saying there’s no place in democracy for political violence, the hypocrisy is shameless.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, will take residency on the state’s quantum campus to establish a program where quantum computing prototypes will be tested. DARPA’s central mission is to invest in breakthrough technologies to enhance national security. Both the U.S. Steel South Works site in the South Chicago neighborhood and a former Texaco refinery in Lockport are being floated as potential sites for the
“Vance is absolutely brilliant,” said Richard Porter, a committeeman. “He has a really remarkable kind of worldview generally. But he also, I think he wrote a fabulous book in which he explains this phenomena of populism in America.”
“Brandon Johnson wants Chicago Public Schools to take out the equivalent of a payday loan to address its budget challenges. That’s what passes these days for making the tough decisions on the fifth floor.”
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