“The Chicago Teachers Union released a statement condemning the charter network’s decision to close seven schools. But it is a hollow statement, considering CTU has worked hard to force cumbersome regulations on charter schools, quash their innovations and limit their growth for years.”

“Last week, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson repeatedly slammed Statehouse legislators. ‘Some of the same individuals who claim to support an elected representative school board only got the gospel once I became mayor of Chicago,’ Johnson told reporters during one of the most combative and counterproductive news conferences I have ever seen.”

In the letter delivered to CPS leadership Friday, Davis Gates cited a resolution barring the closure of any district-managed schools through the 2026-27 school year, and said CPS must apply that rationale with charter schools by transitioning the closing schools to being district-run “with seats guaranteed for all current students and jobs guaranteed for all current staff members.”

But if the mayor was nervous about the state of relations with aldermen or state lawmakers, he has not shown it. Asked by reporters Monday about the latter group, he mused, “The power doesn’t have to be flexed. The power just is.”

Several people were seen running from trains carrying boxes, fleeing from Metra police and leaving piles of debris strewn across the tracks. (with video)

Companies in the Chicago suburbs just generated the second-best quarter of office demand since 2019. But it didn’t move the needle for landlords desperate for the end of their post-COVID slide. The share of available office space across the suburbs inched up over the last three months to an all-time high of 31.4%, according to data from real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle. The new vacancy rate is up from 29.7% one year ago and 22.1% at the beginning of the public health crisis, having now hit new record highs for 15 consecutive quarters.

Paul Vallas, who was a Public Schools CEO here, said Gov. JB Pritzker should revive the old School Finance Authority to oversee needed financial actions for the school district. Vallas also suggests cutting some central office non-teacher staff positions.

Martinez said he couldn’t, as an “ethical leader,” put the district further in debt.

The 2025 budget marks an increase of 8.1 percent, or nearly $161 million, over planned spending for 2024, CTA officials said, after a similarly substantial budget increase of 9.2 percent the prior year. The CTA will not be raising fares in 2025. The agency is relying on federal COVID-19 relief aid to balance its budget.

In both Cook County and statewide, judges grant initial detention petitions roughly two times out of three. However, in Chicago, Judge David Kelly is far less likely to put a defendant behind bars. In fact, he grants less than half of the petitions prosecutors present in his court.

The Cook County Assessor’s Office said it has not conducted an in-person field inspection on the home in question since 2018; There has not been a full, in-person field evaluation for all of Cook County’s nearly 2 million properties since 1997. The assessor’s office said it conducts inspections and uses other software to evaluate property values.

Mayor Brandon Johnson said the $2.5 million council members raised from private donations would be better invested in Black communities more holistically. He also referenced how some council members spoke against the Bring Chicago Home referendum, which was rejected by voters. “[The alderpeople are] going to raise $2.5 million for a single item that has proven its ineffectiveness, but work against $100 million that could have addressed housing and homelessness in this city,” Johnson said. “Do you understand how disingenuous and how unthoughtful that is? Particularly when it comes to the very neighborhoods that they say they’re advocating for?”

Ald. Gilbert Villegas accused the mayor of “wanting to take care of his former employer” by forcing the resignations of the board amid contract negotiations with the union. “The mayor was elected to serve the whole city, not serve the CTU,” he said. “We agree we want to make sure CPS teachers have a fair contract, but we also want to make sure taxpayers have fair contract. Right now, the mayor has the thumb on the scale and it’s not right.”

The deal, which includes a planned tender offer, drew opposition from some aldermen and Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza and triggered a credit recommendation from Municipal Market Analytics, which said on Tuesday that “this sale could be another signal that the city’s decade-long uptrend in credit quality has come to an end.”

And there’s a big goal: essentially having contracts in place by Dec. 31 to spend all of the $1 billion in federal pandemic relief dollars the county has received. So far, the county has committed 84% of the money. Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and her finance team vow to hit the deadline.

A CPD source says a police chief assigned to this case was not happy with Foxx’s decision. “If they want to say that it was a complete accident and it wasn’t reckless then minimally charge him with the weapon that he admitted to illegally purchasing,” the CPD source said. “No one thinks it’s legal to purchase a gun off a guy on the street. Plus, he shouldn’t even have a weapon.”