Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is in a tight spot. The school district has a huge budget problem. The school board recently posted a budget change that lets the mayor's office borrow money for CPS. This is a big deal because the district's budget for 2025 has a massive hole in it. The district approved a $9. 9 billion budget in July. They did not include the costs...
Recently, Mayor Brandon Johnson's campaign finance report revealed over $200, 000 in previously unreported funds. This comes after his spokesperson, Christian Perry, told Politico in early January that the mayor actually raised around $200, 000, despite an earlier report showing only $970 for the last quarter of 2024. The new report, filed on Thursday evening, lists...
Chicago's Mayor Brandon Johnson has been under scrutiny due to potential ethics issues linked to his past role in the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and ties to the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU). Just a few weeks after his May 2023 inauguration, high-ranking CPS official Ben Felton wrote a memo expressing concerns about a conflict of interest. The memo detailed conversa...
Pedro Martinez, the schools chief of Chicago Public Schools, was unceremoniously fired on Friday. The city's school board, controlled by Mayor Brandon Johnson, made the decision after a closed-door meeting. This move follows a long-running dispute between the mayor and Martinez over educational policies and financial decisions. Some experts believe this change could ...
Is ShotSpotter a life-saving tool or an expensive mistake? That's the key question facing Chicago as Mayor Brandon Johnson prepares to phase out the controversial gunshot detection system later this month, despite strong opposition from many aldermen who see it as essential for getting police to crime scenes faster. At a heated Public Safety Committee hearing on Mon...
The battle over who will chair Chicago's powerful Zoning Committee has turned into a major political showdown. On one side, Mayor Brandon Johnson is pushing for progressive firebrand Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez to lead the committee. On the other, business interests and influential unions are backing an alternative candidate, Ald. Felix Cardona, claiming they have the v...