Mayor Brandon Johnson, a former CTU organizer, has traditionally been against charter school expansion. However, in 2017 the teachers union merged with the Chicago Alliance of Charter Teachers and Staff, meaning Acero teachers are represented by CTU. In a Tuesday news conference, Johnson said “yes and yes” when asked whether he is against the Acero closures and is concerned with CPS leadership’s response.

Mayor Brandon Johnson invoked a long time position of his — that as privately-run entities, charter schools should get more accountability. “Part of what my task is to challenge CPS and its leadership to respond to charter operators who have these structural elements within their budgetary framework that are not sustainable long term, and that will require audits,” Johnson said. “It will require CPS digging in a little bit deeper to look at the trends that are happening.”

Officials have said Darion McMillian killed Chicago Police Officer Enrique Martinez and the driver of a vehicle McMillian was riding in by spraying automatic gunfire during a traffic stop Nov. 4. He was on electronic monitoring for matters pending in Will County and cut off his ankle bracelet while trying to run away from cops, prosecutors said.

Johnson said he was prepared to fight any effort to stop federal funds from flowing to Chicago because it will not cooperate with mass deportation efforts, and would work to stop the arrival of immigration agents.

According to CPS, it would cost $14.4 billion to tackle immediate critical needs, accessibility requirements and facility upgrades. The latest budget passed in July allocates $611 million for improvements to mechanical systems that control indoor environments and air quality, roofing systems, ADA accessibility upgrades and restroom modernization, among other things.

Foxx says she has already met with her successor, Eileen O’Neill Burke, the Democrat who won handily last week, and who has promised to reverse some of the programs put in place by Foxx. But Foxx says some of her signature items can’t be changed, such as bail reform and legal marijuana, because they are now the law.

The mayor maintains his promise to fund the pension program, and is refusing layoffs or furloughs to city staff. “Well, I know that those ideas are on the table, but here’s the good news: People are bringing more ideas to the table,” he said. “That’s a good thing.”

A panel of federal judges is weighing whether to overturn a Cook County ban on semiautomatic weapons in a case that could upend other local bans and call into question the statewide prohibition on the controversial class of firearms. But the appeal under consideration at the federal 7th Circuit Court of Appeals faces potentially long odds of success.

Chicagoans are facing this after property taxes have already nearly doubled in the past decade for the city. They live in a state with the second-highest property tax burden in the nation. As a result, Chicago is losing thousands of residents and aldermen seem to be aware of the exodus and wary of how the mayor’s spending spree will aggravate it.

Pastor Corey Brooks: “I’ve never seen the KKK march down King Drive. I’ve only seen Democrats around. I’ve seen how they say sweet things that result in yet more dependency.”

“By far, the biggest oversight in Johnson’s budget is the mayor’s unwillingness to grapple with Chicago’s ever-increasing public-school subsidies, which next to pensions is the biggest contributor to the city’s financial crisis.”

During one phone call, apparently to her boss, Deputy Mayor of Community Safety Garien Gatewood, Alyxandra Goodwin is heard saying, “They’re not bothering me. They’re going to arrest me.” Goodwin handed her phone to the sergeant, saying her boss wanted to have a word. The call ended with Goodwin’s boss apparently asking who the district commander was, and Goodwin being arrested for an outstanding traffic warrant from DuPage County.

“President Trump was able to win because people are tired of the crime,” said Pastor Corey Brooks, the founder of Project H.O.O.D, a violence prevention organization on the South Side. He added that, like himself, many Chicagoans feel that the people causing crime have become emboldened. “Giving power back to our police departments and allowing them to do the work is only going to make things better for our communities,” he said.

Cook County Board of Review Commissioner George Cardenas: “Year after year, Chicago leans on property taxes to cover pension liabilities and debt. Recently, costs included unchecked migrant spending. These increases occur with little regard for the mounting strain on taxpayers. Families are being squeezed to the point where paying their tax bills means sacrificing basic needs. Small business owners, already grappling with slim margins, are pushed to the edge. “