A CPS spokesperson said the district has responded to more than 740 proposals from the union. “Today, the teams spent the majority of our time engaging in deeper discussions about Whole School Safety, early childhood education, and CTU’s proposal to increase planning time for elementary school teachers,” the spokesperson said. “We spent very little time caucusing and focused instead on understanding how CTU envisions increasing planning time without reducing instructional time.”

CPD Supt. Larry Snelling and the independent monitoring team charged with enforcing the consent decree had reached an agreement more than seven months ago to expand the court order and allow Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer to oversee the department’s use of traffic stops. But the proposal to expand the consent decree for the fourth time to include traffic stops ran into a brick wall of opposition from progressive alderpeople and a coalition of police reform groups.

By Sheriff Tom Dart’s estimation, upwards of 200 pre-trial defendants have recently been charged with new crimes that include shootings and other gun offenses. As a result, the veteran lawmaker has penciled in April 1, as the day his office will begin completely phasing out electronic monitoring across the county.

“How is he (Mayor Johnson) defending Black families when he threatens to shut down schools? And how is he defending Black families when he allows migrants into his city without any vetting and then allocates millions upon millions of dollars to them?”

Voters in Lemont Township are taking up the pension crisis, gerrymandering and unfunded mandates on the April 1 ballot to let state leaders know they expect progress on the issues. Barrington Township gave voters the question on pension reform Nov. 5, which passed with more than 70 percent voting yes to constitutional pension reform.

Retired justice Eileen O’Neill Burke took office on December 2 and immediately followed through on her campaign promise to adhere to state law by pursuing felonies against people who shoplift merchandise worth more than $300. Kim Foxx ordered prosecutors to withhold felony charges unless the value exceeded $1,000 or the accused shoplifter had ten or more previous convictions.

In a temporary victory for common sense, a Cook County Judge acted in the best interest of the City.

Advocate will invest $25 million in workforce development, committing to retain all current South Side employees and hire more than 1,000 new team members over the next three years.

A spokeswoman for the former mayor said no one was present when the bullet got into the garage wall, and no one was injured.