According to CPS, the union’s proposal includes annual raises of 10-12% when factoring in cost-of-living adjustments and step increases. The union is also calling for the addition of 13,000 new positions, which CPS leaders say could push the district’s deficit to $4 billion—nearly half of its current budget—by 2030.

Board President Toni Preckwinkle said the budget approved Thursday includes the nation’s largest publicly funded guaranteed income initiative and a program to abolish up to $1 billion of medical debt. The budget also includes $15 million for a new Homeowner Relief Fund aimed at reimbursing property owners experiencing sharp increases in their property tax bills, as well as additional staffing for the property tax valuation division.

“Since the ascension of the Caucus of Rank-and-File Educators leadership in 2010, the CTU has consistently engaged in behaviors and advanced policies that have shuttered schools for extended periods of time, blocked charter schools from using school buildings and created conditions that will force the district to close more schools.”

Kathryn Zamarrón, a music teacher at the Walt Disney Magnet School in Chicago, appeared to be referencing a quote by civil rights activist James Baldwin. “From Gaza to Little Village to Altgeld and all over the country, the children are all ours, every single one of them,” Zamarrón said, referencing the Gaza Strip and Chicago neighborhoods. “And it is our duty to fight for them.”

Revenue per available room, a measure of hotel profitability, averaged $162.70 through September, reflecting an increase of 9 percent compared to 2019. However, inflation-adjusted figures show revenues trailing pre-pandemic levels. Labor costs have further squeezed margins, with hospitality-sector wages in Chicago rising 30 percent over five years, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The nonprofit Franciscan Outreach plans to purchase and renovate a vacant building on 21st Street into a shelter with 120 beds, city documents show.

The Chicago City Council quietly approved the Northwest Side Housing Preservation Ordinance in September, giving multifamily tenants in several Chicago neighborhoods the right of first refusal to buy their buildings should a landlord decide to sell and imposing major fees on demolition of existing apartment structures.

“The lesson here? Prosecutorial errors have consequences that even special prosecutors cannot undo.”

“The incoming top prosecutor for Chicago will set up a special office to target pro-life demonstrators while the city continues to reel from crime.”

After decades of corruption and chronic mismanagement, chicago might be ready to admit it has a problem — and its far-left crony mayor pushing the city to the brink might trigger a revival.

The court said it would be “unjust” to allow Jussie Smollett’s conviction to stand in light of the deal he struck with the office of Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, which allowed him to end the action against him by paying $10,000 and performing minimal “community service.” The unanimous court said the special prosecution, jury trial and conviction that followed amounted to violations of Smollett’s right to due process.

“We have a real, clear and present danger staring at us,” Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates said about Donald Trump’s administration. “The responsible thing to do is to figure out how to settle a contract that protects, supports and builds a force field, and then figure out how we begin to work together to secure our district.”

David Greising, of the Better Government Association: “The false economies baked into (Mayor Brandon) Johnson’s ill-considered cost cuts are especially glaring when we compare the minuscule proposed savings to the big-dollar costs of police misconduct. Racially bigoted and undisciplined policing is the root cause of some $80 million paid out in 2023 to settle police misconduct cases alone.”