“If the end game of Johnson and the CTU is to crash the system financially and force (Gov. JB) Pritzker to bail ‘em out, people better be careful what they wish for. It’s a huge risk,” said Gery Chico, Chicago Board of Education president under Mayor Richard M. Daley — the last time the system faced a fiscal crisis this dire. “CPS and its advocates already went to Springfield a few times and asked for help, and they got rebuffed.”

“I agree with our labor partners that we must identify more funding to support CPS. We face a structural budget deficit of at least $700 million next year while still carrying debt from past administrations. We need to find solutions, but, to be clear, I remain against exorbitant, short-term borrowing …”

Advocates for the new police district thought they were making progress when Gov. JB Pritzker signed a bill allowing the state to sell the former National Guard Armory at 5400 W. 63rd St. to the city for $1 — but only if it were used as a police station. State Rep. Angie Guerrero-Cuellar and Sen. Porfirio Diaz have asked the governor to pause transferring the property to the city, calling Mayor Brandon Johnson’s move “unacceptable” and outside the purpose of the state bill.

Martinez broke his silence after refusing the mayor’s resignation request, stating his refusal stems from concerns that stepping down would create “a leadership vacuum and instability that could disrupt the strategic progress we’ve made to date. … It’s especially disruptive and unprecedented for a district to lose its CEO in the middle of labor negotiations with its teachers union.”

Pastor Corey Brooks said he continues to work on the peaceful surrender of a fourth young person after a 12-year-old boy, a 13-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy believed to be involved in an armed robbery at a Chicago Transit Authority Green Line train station earlier this month turned themselves in to 2nd District police.

La Vonne Downey, professor of Public Administration at Roosevelt University, said Mayor Brandon Johnson was part of a wider effort to get work permits for Venezuelans in the U.S. and may have wanted to address the issue at the U.N. “He’s actually been part of pushing policy on migration, too, so he’s got his fingers in lots of different places,” Downey explained.

The Chicago Teachers Union, which has come out against the proposal, acknowledges it is “unfair and inequitable” that Chicago taxpayers have to pay into both teacher funds. However, the union said, “Instead of risky consolidations, CPS should fight for the state to properly fund the [Chicago Teacher Pension Fund] just as it does for downstate teachers.”

Rikita Mitchell, 39, waiting in line outside Above and Beyond Food Pantry in West Garfield Park Monday afternoon, wasn’t even sure why ShotSpotter was being discontinued. Authorities should have gotten rid of technology that monitors traffic violations before tossing out ShotSpotter, she added.

The Chicago protest, called “Hands off Lebanon,” was organized by the Chicago Coalition for Justice in Palestine. What began as an hour-long emergency rally eventually gained momentum as protesters marched through downtown streets to Federal Plaza.

The district has seen deficits of over $10 million in the last three school years due to increasing expenses and decreasing revenues, all as it prepares to build a school in Evanston’s Fifth Ward. A state takeover of the district would dissolve a locally elected Board of Education, with Board members being appointed by the Illinois State Board of Education.

“If the union really believes that those staff are needed to improve student outcomes, it should approve of closings and consolidations so the district can more easily provide the needed amount of support staff for every school,” Wirepoints said in their report. “Of course, the CTU doesn’t approve because that would reduce its membership and its power.”

CTU President Stacy Davis Gates said, “Never has there been a time of this level of alignment with the Chicago Teachers Union, the Chicago Board of Education and the mayor’s office.”

That $157 million projection was used to calculate the $222.9 million deficit Chicago officials must fill by the end of the year, officials said. That means the closure of the three shelters will likely reduce that gap by approximately 7 percent, which is not enough to materially change the city’s dire financial situation.