A detailed memo from Johnson’s top finance officials generally sought to discredit the proposal floated earlier this week in a letter signed by 26 aldermen. Some ideas aren’t legal or workable, while others are simply bad ideas, Johnson’s team argued.

“Get your act together. Stop with the one-time revenue sources. Get to the structural fixes because what you’re doing is not sustainable. You are out of time,” Civic Federation President Joe Ferguson said.

Dart said his office once ran a strict program, but changes in state law made the program unsafe and eroded public trust. “If you’re going to put people that have violence in their backgrounds out, you need to have a strict program. You can’t just let people just sort of run free,” Dart said.

The district is preparing to sell the old Bontemps Elementary in Englewood for $75,000, the old Henson Elementary in North Lawndale for $25,000, and the former Shedd Elementary, which last served as a satellite building for Bennett Elementary, in Roseland for $25,000. All three buildings closed in 2013.

A seven-time convicted felon who has been non-compliant with court orders in a pending misdemeanor case tried to kill a man with an intellectual disability by pushing him onto the CTA tracks as a Blue Line train was approaching the station, prosecutors said Wednesday. CTA personnel and a bystander rushed to help the injured man, and the transit worker was able to stop the train and cut power to the third rail.

The officers’ promotions this spring were not due to an oversight. Department officials knew about their disciplinary records, but those records could not be considered as the department evaluated their fitness for promotion. The main qualifying factor was their test scores from a two-part exam.

“Springfield lawmakers may have saved our region’s transit agencies with over $1 billion in funding — but unless Johnson makes the CTA safer and there is financial accountability, previous levels of ridership won’t come back. This could have a negative impact on businesses.”

Another speaker at the Chicago Teachers Union Center for the annual conference of the National Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression was Ald. Jeanette Taylor, who offered a wave of profanity. “I don’t know where they get that American s**t from,” she began. “I’m from the continent of Africa. . . . I ain’t from f***ing here.” A DSA member herself, Taylor noted that while bad knees keep her out of fights, “If you know anything about Chicago, we’re all for a good a**-whooping.”

“Chicago and Cook County leaders have allowed the city to devolve into a refuge for those who repeatedly commit serious crimes and face virtually no consequences. … The SAFE-T Act was framed as a tool for fairness but has instead undermined community security.”

Newly released crime numbers show 390 people were murdered through the end of November. That’s the lowest number since 2014. Chicago had 586 murders last year and has seen a decrease in killings every year since 2021 when the city saw 805 murders.