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CPS said that decrease was caused in large part by a “significant drop” in the number of new enrollees, while the number of students leaving the district remained relatively consistent.
Ald. Marty Quinn worked with Acting Zoning Chair Bennett Lawson to draft a compromise that sweetens the deal for building trade unions by requiring that any new coach house be built by workers from an approved labor apprenticeship program. “Chicago is a union town and including unions in this process was critical,” Quinn said.
State lawmakers are reviewing multiple proposals to help lower utility bills and increase energy capacity during veto session. Storage will play a key role in any plan lawmakers try to pass next month.
“I will stand with those who are challenging this administration’s illegal attempts to eliminate these programs and turn back the clock on the important progress that has been made toward equity,” Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said.
State Rep. C.D. Davidsmeyer said instead of focusing on wind and solar energy, the state needs to reverse course and get back to generating baseload power. “Our current plan is to just import from other states because we’re not allowing our state to actually produce baseload generation.”
Attorney General Kwame Raoul also filed a new motion Wednesday alongside 21 other states and Washington, D.C., that seeks to stop a new federal law from blocking funding to Planned Parenthood and other health care facilities that provide abortion services.
“In my decades of service, I have never witnessed such a reckless campaign targeting federal law enforcement officers,” said Weitzel. “The Chicago Sun-Times’ public portal mapping ICE operations and soliciting citizen photos crosses the line from journalism into doxing. This endangers agents and undermines public safety.”
“President Donald Trump is in war mode, and his battle plans are clear. During his eulogy on Sunday at Charlie Kirk’s memorial, the president recalled his last conversation with the slain right-wing activist and podcaster. “‘Please, sir, save Chicago,’” Kirk supposedly told Trump, who made it clear to the tens of thousands gathered at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., that he intended to honor Kirk’s wish. “We’re going to save Chicago from horrible crime,” Trump said, and then proceeded to attack Illinois Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker.”
“Aside from his thoughtless characterization of law enforcement, (Brandon) Johnson’s words directly contradict what an overwhelming majority of Chicago’s black residents want: More police officers. In a late-August poll conducted by M3 Strategies, 86 percent of black residents surveyed said they want the city to hire more police. In the same poll, 84 percent of Hispanics support the hire of more officers. It’s quite clear minorities in Chicago don’t view the Chicago Police Department as part of a sickness.”
The bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Robert Martwick, admitted the negative financial impact of the bill but argued that inaction would have cost local and state governments more, as the current Tier 2 benefits fell below federal standards.
The report from Truth in Accounting names the top “sinkhole states” — states lacking the funds to cover their costs: New Jersey, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, and California.
State Sen. Robert Martwick and former CPS executive director Paul Vallas debate what Chicago needs to do to account for its increasing pension liabilities.
Students in third to eighth grades who took the Illinois Assessment of Readiness in spring of 2024 saw an improvement in their math scores from the previous school year, but scores were lower than they were in 2019, signaling that students had yet to rebound from the pandemic, according to the state’s 2024 report card. However, students’ reading scores increased from the previous year and were higher than before the pandemic.
“Many legislators continue to get their intent wrong just by reading headlines and taking action without consulting those that do the job on a daily basis,” Kane County Sheriff Ron Hain said.
Domestic homicides are up 18 percent over last year, according to the city’s violence reduction dashboard. Fatal domestic shootings have increased by 46 percent over the same time period, and calls to the Illinois domestic violence hotline have more than doubled since before the pandemic. Yet city funding for gender-based violence services is set to drop dramatically, as COVID-era federal funding runs out and as funds from a tax on short-term housing rentals are depleted.
Ted Dabrowski formerly served as president of Wirepoints, which calculated the direct costs of Illinois welcoming programs for the undocumented at $2.2 billion from 2022 to early 2024. The programs included housing, food, legal services, transportation, healthcare and K-12 education costs paid by state and municipal taxpayers.
Jim Dey: “Chicago’s mayor is in way over his head when it comes to finance. He’s so wedded to his extreme ideology and blinded by his loyalty to the Chicago Teachers Union that he doesn’t know any better. Pritzker, however, does have credibility when it comes to public finance. Governor Moneybags, a billionaire with vast experience examining assets and liabilities, shouldn’t have had to hear from the mayor to know the pension bill is poison.”
Illinois doesn’t have to opt into the program for a taxpayer to benefit. A donor in Chicago or Carbondale could contribute to a scholarship granting organization in another state and still claim the tax credit. But then those donor dollars would not benefit Illinois students. Illinois leaders must join the program or Illinois students will fail to benefit.
From supporting the weakening of educational accountability to opposing transparency when a teacher is being investigated for sexual misconduct, some of IFT’s stances may concern many Illinoisans, including IFT’s own members.
Republican Gubernatorial candidate Ted Dabrowski held a press conference Wednesday outside the ICE facility in Broadview. Dabrowski spoke on how, if elected, his first call of duty is to repeal sanctuary city status across Illinois.
Pritzker’s meddling in the Republican primary worked beautifully for him four years ago. History rhymes, they say. Are Bailey and Pritzker about to prove it?
In this one-on-one interview, Gov. JB Pritzker discusses the president’s threats to Chicago and his potential plans for 2028.
Among the suggestions:Instead of paying a fixed tax per gallon of liquor, Chicagoans would pay taxes based on the price. That’s expected to bring in between $60 million and $120 million for the city. And regarding bottled water, the city already charges a 5-cent tax per bottle of water. Raising it could generate $8 million to $28 million in new money each year.
“(Gov. JB) Pritzker, Mayor Brandon Johnson and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, you protected the delegates attending the Democratic National Convention. Are your constituents entitled to the same level of protection? Why reject the help from President Donald Trump if it will save lives? African Americans, the Democratic Party’s most loyal voter base, account for a disproportionate number of gunshot victims.”
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