Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s budget includes $250,000 for a group advocating for increased government spending and higher taxes. He gave the group money last year, too.
Clean-up efforts for the Democratic National Convention included putting Chicago’s homeless in hotels used as temporary shelters. Though the celebrity-filled week has ended, this affordable housing approach should be expanded.
Chicago for the 12th year is America’s murder capital. The deadliest areas are not far from the Democratic National Convention, with at least one a moderate walk from the United Center and others that can be visited on a city-sponsored tour.
While Mayor Brandon Johnson has denied clearing Chicago’s homeless encampments had anything to do with the Democratic National Convention, his administration has said otherwise. Even his allies suspect a double standard.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is about to host the Democratic National Convention. He’ll be a party cheerleader that nearly 2 in 3 Chicagoans would rather not follow.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is reportedly working to get rid of Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez. Martinez has been fighting financial ploys by Johnson and the mayor’s former employer, the Chicago Teachers Union.
Chicago’s pension systems for city workers have $51 billion in debt, so much that they are in worse shape than 43 states. Fixing them requires Chicago’s mayor to push for a change in the Illinois Constitution.
Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates had words for state lawmakers, the governor, corporations and financial institutions at a public bargaining session over a new union contract. She said union demands are not a money discussion, but rather about culture.
Nearly 100,000 Chicago-area residents are out of work, and at 6.2% the Chicago metro area has the highest unemployment rate of the nation’s 50 largest metro areas. Illinois as a whole isn’t doing much better, with a 6.1% unemployment rate.
Chicago’s $1.15 billion projected budget gap is the latest in a decades-long string of structural deficits. Making Chicago’s high taxes worse is not the solution.