Good morning, Chicago.
It’s been a whirlwind few weeks for public school parents, students and Chicago residents as Mayor Brandon Johnson, Chicago Public Schools Chief Executive Officer Pedro Martinez, the Board of Education and the Chicago Teachers Union engage in an acrimonious back-and-forth on the district’s future and funding.
On Oct. 4, all seven school board members resigned over disagreements about how to address a hefty budget deficit. Three days later, the mayor announced six new appointees to the board at a news conference where he excoriated people who asked questions about his plan.
“They said that it would be fiscally irresponsible for this country to liberate Black people,” he said. “And now you have detractors making the same argument of the Confederacy when it comes to public education in this system.”
The conflict continues weeks before the Nov. 5 general election, in which the voters in the city’s 10 new school districts will choose who will represent them on a new 21-member hybrid school board. Voters will select 10 members, and the mayor will appoint 11, including a new president. The new board will convene in January.
The Tribune’s education team shares the background on how this all began.
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Two holidays, one Chicago: Indigenous Peoples Day and Columbus Day celebrated across the city
Four years after then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot ordered statues of Christopher Columbus removed from Chicago’s Grant and Arrigo parks, sparking a debate over the explorer’s legacy and a lawsuit from the city’s Italian leaders, celebrations of both holidays occurred across the city in perhaps an uneasy truce.
‘We were all stabbed:’ Community marks a year since the death of 6-year-old Palestinian boy
Muslim civic and elected leaders condemned Islamaphobic rhetoric Monday night as they gathered at the Muslim Community Center in Irving Park to mark a year since a Palestinian-American child was stabbed to death in what authorities are investigating as a hate crime following the outbreak of the war between Israel and Hamas.
Nov. 5 referendums in Chicago’s suburbs: School building projects, backyard chickens and even a roundabout
About two dozen government bodies in Chicago’s suburbs will ask voters for more money or other changes in the Nov. 5 election.
The referendums cover a range of issues from $420 million in school improvements in Naperville and Aurora to whether to allow backyard chickens in Thornton.
Overwhelmed by election incivility? Look up at the night sky to find wonder and connection.
Looking up at celestial phenomena such as the Northern Lights can boost feelings of empathy and collective belonging, feelings many believe are in short supply as a sense of divisiveness marks this fraught election cycle. A record-high 80% of Americans believe the nation is divided.
Walgreens lays out plan to shutter 1,200 drugstores
Walgreens plans to close about 1,200 locations over the next three years as the drugstore chain seeks to turnaround its struggling U.S. business.
The company said that about 500 store closures will happen in its current fiscal year and should immediately help adjusted earnings and free cash flow.
82 cannabis stores opened in Illinois, but social equity owners remain on the margins
State regulators boasted in a 2024 annual report that “social equity” marijuana business owners, those who come from poor areas or who were most impacted by the war on drugs, now own nearly half of the 220 dispensaries statewide.
But social equity owners say they remain largely on the fringe of the industry, because the state favors previously existing big businesses.
Column: Who are Jerry Reinsdorf and Tom Ricketts rooting for in these intriguing baseball playoffs?
It goes without saying baseball needs Shohei Ohtani in the World Series after years of sagging ratings and media attention, writes Paul Sullivan.
Cubs fans should be rooting for Anthony Rizzo, who returned to the Yankees roster Monday for Game 1 of the ALCS after fracturing two fingers on his right hand Sept. 28 and missing the division series. None of the big names from the 2016 Cubs has won another ring, so it would be fitting if Rizzo — the most beloved ex-Cub of the bunch and the most heartbroken to leave — broke the drought.
Sox fans should be eagerly cheering on Michael Kopech, one of the faces of the 2017-21 rebuild who finally found his groove after being dealt to the Dodgers in July. Going from the losingest team in baseball history to a championship would be a dream season unlike any other.
Should Ayo Dosunmu be starting for the Chicago Bulls? Here’s how the guard’s role could change this season.
Ayo Dosunmu doesn’t expect his role with the Chicago Bulls to be stagnant.
For the fourth-year guard, things never have stayed the same for long. Despite being slotted into a bench role at the beginning of each season, Dosunmu has started the majority of his games as a Bull: 128 of the 233 games he played during his first three seasons.
Dosunmu is back on the bench this season — but it’s not clear how long that can (or will) last.
United Center marks 30th anniversary with new food offerings for Bulls and Blackhawks fans
Ushering in its 15th year with hospitality partner Levy, chefs at the United Center unveiled a few new food and beverage offerings for the 2024-2025 Chicago Bulls and Blackhawks season, including several favorites that were perfected during the offseason, at a preview event Monday afternoon.
The pandas are coming! The pandas are coming!
The National Zoo’s long dark panda drought seems to be coming to an end.
Eleven months after the zoo said sent its three wildly popular pandas — Mei Xiang, Tian Tian and their cub Xiao Qi Ji — back to China, a new pair of bears is set to arrive.
Oishii strawberries are now available at Chicago-area Whole Foods for $10 a tray. Are they worth it?
Hiroki Koga, co-founder and CEO of New Jersey-based Oishii, hopes his vertical farming company with Japanese roots will show American consumers what a first-rate strawberry tastes like.
While Oishii’s strawberries are grown in New Jersey, the vertical farm mimics the optimal growing environment of the Japanese Alps: soft rain, mild heat, warm light and buzzing bees.
