Wirepoints’ Mark Glennon on AM560’s Morning Answer
April 22, 2026
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Summary and audio linked here.
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Supporters of an elected board say it will inject democracy and community voice into CPS decision-making, to the benefit of students and communities. But there are concerns: that the campaign structure and lack of pay will shut out working class and grassroots candidates, that the elected board is too large to be effective. Detractors also worry an elected board will be divisive and could be corrupted by financial contributions. SIGN UP HERE FOR FREE WIREPOINTS DAILY NEWSLETTER
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Audio and summary Illinois bill would override local law to allow homeless living in all public parks – Wirepoints
April 14, 2026
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If this bill passes, say goodbye to local control over all Illinois parks and expect to see open drug and alcohol use, needles, no sanitation and fire hazards, but no ordinary park users.
Mark Glennon on AM560’s Morning Answer: Chicago Fiscal Crisis Worse Than Pre-Bankruptcy Detroit, HIV Surge and Public Health Threat From Open Borders Goes Unreported
April 10, 2026
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Summary and audio linked here.
Mark Glennon on AM560’s Morning Answer: Chicago pension buyout plan mostly shifts debt rather than eliminating it, property tax surge doubles inflation over three decades
April 3, 2026
9 Comments
Chicago’s political leadership is floating a pension buyout program as evidence it is seriously addressing the city’s thirty-six-billion-dollar unfunded pension liability, but Mark Glennon, founder of the Illinois policy research organization Wirepoints, said that the proposal moves debt from one column to another rather than reducing it, and that the broader fiscal picture facing the city continues to deteriorate across every measurable dimension. Audio here.
Pretty much a waste of time we already know the outcome.
“The elected school board law has no campaign contribution limits, though many people have been pushing for them.”
You wonder how much worse it can get, just think what a school board bought and paid for by CTU will do.
Well, if regular voters believe it’s “pretty much a waste of time” then CTU won’t need to spend much money to control the board. If on the other hand the majority of the public that isn’t a CTU member decides to take CPS in a different direction then we will have change. It’s up to the voters as to what they want.
The power to make changes to CPS begins with the school board. I have read so many comments on this site discussing how CPS could be improved. Now is your chance to vote and decide who will lead that charge for better outcomes. Better yet, why not run for the school board? Now is your chance to do something other than call the mayor CTU/Brandon or blame the CTU. Will any of you reformers actually step up or are you just going to complain when someone else does the job?
Just kidding. We all know what will happen.
Yes, we all know what will happen. Having attained this level of power over the city, CTU is not about to relinquish it to a few people on a school board. And we will hear ad nauseum about what “the voters” want.
So you’re quitting? You’re not even going to try and make it better? Just sit back and let others vote or run the school board and then complain about teachers some more. Sounds like a solid plan that proves you and so many others here have no desire to make any changes.
“Here, we’ll give you an opportunity to fix it. Elect a new school board! Oh, that didn’t fix anything because we made sure that only our supporters got elected? Well, you had your chance. Thanks for playing our little game with us.”
I’m just a realist. Nothing will change until people are fed up enough to kick the current education establishment to the curb.
If you can’t get elected then that means the majority doesn’t want whatever you are selling.
How can that happen if you don’t support candidates that want change or run yourself. No, you just want to sit back and complain and not actually do anything.
And apparently you want to maintain a system that fails the majority of its students, as long as the money keeps flowing to education.
When did I write that? Just making up more lies I see.
Simple deduction. Do the same thing, expect the same result. Or have I missed you advocating for any changes, except more money to unions?
No, you are making things up in your head instead of reading my written words. I have never said I don’t want anything to change. That’s absurd on the surface and not backed up with any of my comments. Where have I advocated more money for unions? You are having a conversation in your head with an imaginary person if that’s what you believe I have written.
Stop making up things in your head and start relying on actual written words. If in doubt, ask a question for clarification. It’s really not that hard.
You’ve never said we need to pay teachers more. That’s never been your position. OK PPF. You seem to think I’m one of those who went through what unions pass off as an education these days.
You stated you wanted more elite and higher quality teachers as the current batched according to your, should be fired. I remember (along with James) telling you that if you want to have more elite teachers you would need to pay them more money. That’s hardly advocating for higher teacher pay as I don’t believe your plan was serious. I was merely providing you a lesson in economics and certainly not advocating that we need higher teacher pay. Since you are so highly educated you should have no problem identifying past comments I’ve made that stated we need more money… Read more »
I’ve never said we need more elite teachers, in fact just the opposite. I think we need more effective teachers who live in the real world and aren’t chasing some fantasy progressive utopia. I won’t fight this silly battle with you. It’s symptomatic of the larger problem, the total lack of common sense in our schools today. So just keep telling us that the problem is the voters, or your faithful acolytes can explain that we must get new parents and a new society before kids can be educated. Meanwhile, keep pressing for us to throw more money down this… Read more »
Don’t worry because you aren’t having any battle with me. Just your imaginary voice inside your head.
I don’t disagree with that statement but unfortunately the voters do. Where we disagree is that it’s up to the voters to fix this by choosing different leaders. I have no idea how you believe this can be fixed without the voters.
Interesting comment. There is a group of voters who should have a strong interest and could have an immediate impact on fixing this- the members of teacher unions. Why wait for the general public to fix it? Vote current leadership out. Vote for leaders with common sense, who will work to make your classrooms better. Stop listening to the lunatics talking about environmental justice and settler colonialism. Forget the gender ideology and start voting for leaders to bring normalcy back to the classroom.
Teacher unions have shown their power. Start using it for good instead of insanity.
The teaching profession has been gatekeeping out conservatives for decades. Its at the point now where the profession attracts mostly crazy progressives especially in the big cities. And normie Democrat teachers have mostly become activists since the Orange Fascist Man was elected. An old friend of mine – a teacher in a far northwest suburb – she used to be a normal person, but this past weekend she brought her elementary school aged children to a local anal s3x parade. I know this from social media. 10 years ago she was normal, never talked politics. She came to my wedding,… Read more »
I must say though, my normie friends whose wives adopted the Pink Hat as their personal, I feel bad for them. Several of them have gotten divorced. One buddy told me he knew his marriage was over the night Hillary lost because his wife lost her mind, wore the pink hat, and filed for divorce several months later. Several other guys I know claim they are progressive democrats now just to appease their wives, but when you talk to them, they don’t actually sound like Democrats. I only know of one conservative guy who married a normie democrat when you… Read more »
Yes, I know and agree. The teachers could vote to make positive changes in the school system. They certainly tell us how many problems there are in their classrooms.
We are told that the general public must vote to change things. But like Dorothy in the Land of Oz, teachers have always had the power to change things in their own ruby slippers. They choose to align with lunacy instead. There’s that old saying about if you aren’t part of the solution, you must be part of the problem.
“There’s that old saying about if you aren’t part of the solution, you must be part of the problem.”
Sounds like the voters, by choosing BJ and continuing to support elected leaders, are part of the problem. The people that complain about CPS but won’t run for the school board are part of the problem. Why don’t you and other WP readers run for the board and be part of the solution?
“There is a group of voters who should have a strong interest and could have an immediate impact on fixing this- the members of teacher unions.” The CTU wants more money. They believe their students need access to affordable housing, food, clothing, health care, etc… You have expressed disapproval with that line thinking and their proposals. The CTU members only represent a tiny sliver of the overall Chicago voters but it seems that the other residents agree with the CTU plan when we see the results of each election. You can call it insanity but the majority of the voters… Read more »
The will of the voters argument, because voting is infallible. Doesn’t matter that one party controls all of the political machinery, for 100 years now, and never intends to relinquish power, and almost every candidate for every office, other than mayor, is pre-slated by party leadership. Voters can just vote for…whom exactly?
Can you really not understand that teachers could vote for union leaders with a grip on reality instead of voting for Stacy Davis Gates? And that changing direction could have a profound impact on making schools better? Instead, they keep voting for crazy and wondering why their classrooms are becoming more like a nightmare each year. It won’t change until union members start connecting the gigantic neon dots between these leaders with the horrible results.