DNA Info: Chicago Teachers Union Softens on April 1 Strike, Says CPS 'Backed Down'
Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis says teachers plan a “showdown” for April 1 — but she didn’t say whether the teachers would walk off the job on that date or hold a rally downtown.
Lewis declared a “showdown,” even as both sides blinked Friday in the ongoing contract standoff between teachers and Chicago Public Schools.
Declaring an “unfair-labor-practice day of action” on April 1, Lewis said at a news conference Friday it could produce a one-day walkout or “just a nice big rally Downtown.”
Chicago Tribune: DePaul stands to reap $34 million from basketball arena by McCormick Place
When DePaul University agreed to contribute $82 million toward the publicly funded McCormick Place Events Center, the private school positioned itself to gain more than just a $200 million new home for its basketball teams.
DePaul also stands to recoup at least $34 million off naming rights, sponsorships and other revenue streams through its partnership with the arena’s landlord, the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, according to estimates included in the school’s agreement with a New York marketing company.
DePaul will pay annual rent to the agency, known as McPier, starting at nearly $445,000, for the next 50 years, but the school won’t have to contribute to the building’s maintenance, records show. And its cut of ticket revenues will increase from the current arrangement at Allstate Arena in Rosemont.
Chicago Tribune: The Chicago Bloat of Education
You might think, based on a rare, overwhelmingly bipartisan vote in the Illinois House on Thursday, that creating an elected Chicago Board of Education is a terrific idea. After all, what else would get a landslide 110-4 vote in the usually fractious House?
But this proposal is fingernails-on-chalkboard terrible.
The bill would sweep aside the current seven-member board, appointed by the mayor, and install an unwieldy 21-member board chosen by voters from 20 newly created districts, with a president elected at large.
Journal Standard: The perils of Illinois' pension system
We’ve just read Brian Stewart’s column exhorting people to vote. We couldn’t agree more. We applaud Illinois for making voting easier by having early voting available. We’ve already voted.
The representative thinks we don’t know how to use a calculator. Actually, Stewart just seems to be using numbers that are different from ours.
We agree that the pension system is in trouble.
Fox: Law enforcement urge end to Illinois budget standoff
Prosecutors and law enforcement officials criticized Illinois lawmakers and Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner on Wednesday for failing to pass a state budget, saying their nine-month standoff is hurting public safety.
State county attorneys, sheriffs, and police chiefs focused their comments on youth crime-diversion programs that are serving fewer teens because they haven’t gotten state funding since July 1, when the current year budget should have taken effect. Law enforcement officials argued that lack of funding for those programs will hurt the state in the long term.
USA Today: Illinois higher-ed budget crisis affects grant for low-income students
There’e a new victim in the higher-education crisis in Illinois, where funds have been frozen in a nine-month budget battle: the state-run Monetary Award Program (MAP).
The Illinois House failed to override by two votes Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner’s veto of MAP, which provides grants to Illinois residents who attend approved Illinois colleges and demonstrate financial need. A month ago, Democratic lawmakers wanting to separate the higher-education funding issue from the overall budget battle had passed a standalone bill that would have restored money for the grants.
In an email to constituents, State Representative Scott Drury, who voted against the standalone bill, called it “piecemeal,” arguing that its purpose was to “temporarily calm an agitated group of citizens and allow the impasse to continue.”