Good morning, Chicago.
In the latest development in a monthslong battle between the Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union, the school board will convene for a special meeting to address the impending closures of several charter schools.
The meeting, scheduled for this afternoon, will also allow audience members to closely watch another issue: The hiring of outside legal counsel to represent the board. Mayor Brandon Johnson’s allies deem the help necessary as an accountability mechanism to help the school board have independence from the general counsel that reports to both the board and Chief Executive Officer Pedro Martinez.
Last month, Acero charter network leadership announced the closure of seven of their 15 schools, citing financial constraints, declining enrollment and inadequate space to ensure compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Afterward, Martinez said he hadn’t been made aware prior to the charter leadership’s announcement that the schools were moving forward with closures.
But the district said the Acero closures have garnered more involvement from outside politicians than other charter school closings.
Read the full story from the Tribune’s Nell Salzman and Sarah Macaraeg.
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Donald Trump returns to Washington vowing a smooth transition — something he didn’t ensure four years ago
President-elect Donald Trump made a victor’s return to Washington on Wednesday, visiting the White House for a nearly two-hour meeting with President Joe Biden and committing to a straightforward transition of power despite actively working to disrupt the same process four years ago.
- Donald Trump picks Sen. Marco Rubio for secretary of state, Rep. Matt Gaetz for attorney general, Tulsi Gabbard for national intelligence director
- What to know about Pete Hegseth, Trump’s pick to serve as defense secretary
Republicans win 218 US House seats, giving Donald Trump and the party control of the government
Republicans have won enough seats to control the U.S. House, completing the party’s sweep into power and securing their hold on U.S. government alongside President-elect Donald Trump.
A House Republican victory in Arizona, alongside a win in slow-counting California earlier Wednesday, gave the GOP the 218 House victories that make up the majority. Republicans earlier gained control of the Senate from Democrats.
- Speaker Mike Johnson wins GOP nomination to remain in job, faces full House vote in new year
- Republican John Thune of South Dakota is elected the next Senate majority leader
Aldermen struggle with Mayor Johnson’s ‘rudderless’ lobbying office amid budget negotiations
Johnson’s second spending plan already has faced a series of hurdles that mark this as one of the most contentious fall budget negotiations in recent years. On Thursday, aldermen who have felt ignored throughout the process — among them some close council allies of the mayor — are striking back with an extraordinary special meeting where they aim to vote down his requested $300 million tax increase.
Lawmakers confront costly choices as state workers rally for better pension benefits
As a nurse in her 30s, Kristen Perez cringes at the prospect of working until she’s almost 70. But because of changes made to the state’s massively underfunded pension system 13 years ago, employees like Perez, who were hired by the state after the changes took effect, don’t qualify for the same retirement benefits as her longer-tenured colleagues with the Illinois Nurses Association.
“This creates a second class of state workers that sows division,” Perez said Wednesday during a rally at the Illinois State Capitol of thousands of unionized teachers, first responders and other public employees seeking changes to the state’s pension system.
Madigan defense pushes away from co-defendant, attacks credibility of key witness
The corruption charges against former House Speaker Michael Madigan are in many ways tethered to his longtime confidant, Michael McClain, a self-described “agent” of the speaker who was captured on FBI wiretaps pushing contract and job requests that he said came directly from Madigan himself.
On Wednesday, however, Madigan’s attorneys made their most aggressive attempts yet to distance the former Democratic leader from his co-defendant, strongly implying in a lengthy cross-examination of a key government witness that McClain used his relationship with the speaker to push his own, sometimes strange agenda.
A firefighter pays his respects before the procession and the remembrance service for Chicago firefighter Andrew Price.
One year after his death, firefighter Andrew Price remembered as ‘full of love and life’
On the one-year anniversary of Chicago firefighter Andrew Price’s death, family, friends and fellow first responders remembered him as selfless, hardworking and caring during a ceremony in his honor at his former firehouse.
Known as “Drew,” the 39-year-old died from “significant injuries” after falling through a shaft in the roof of a four-story building while battling a blaze in Lincoln Park last November.
Long-lost mother and son find healing and sweet reunion at South Shore bakery
Vamarr Hunter never dreamed he’d be running a bakery when he first walked into Give Me Some Sugah over a decade ago, nor that the chef behind his favorite creations might be his birth mother.
Column: Can Thomas Brown save the Chicago Bears season — or, more importantly, save Caleb Williams?
A week after backing Shane Waldron as his offensive coordinator, Bears coach Matt Eberflus pushed him out the door in a measure to save his own job, save the season and — most significantly to the franchise — prevent things from going terribly awry with rookie quarterback Caleb Williams, writes Brad Biggs.
- New Bears OC Thomas Brown will have to work quickly to get QB Caleb Williams unlocked
- Fired Bears OC Shane Waldron was ‘too nice of a guy.’ 3 things we learned on a busy day at Halas Hall.
Maurie and Flaurie are back at Superdawg in Chicago
The iconic 12-foot-tall couple was taken down from the rooftop of the historic Superdawg Drive-In for refurbishment just after Labor Day. They returned to their perch on Wednesday morning, “all refurbished and rested,” said Don Drucker, co-owner of the Northwest Side staple.
‘Red One’ review: Santa smackdown is everything that’s wrong with Hollywood moviemaking. Merry Christmas.
“Red One” is a holiday fantasy built on the retribution, punishment and crushed hopes we deserve right now, writes Tribune film critic Michael Phillips. It imagines a nightmarish mass-incarceration scenario put in motion by a Christmas witch seeking revenge on billions worldwide who’ve landed on Santa’s previously unenforced “naughty list.” Job one: abduct St. Nick, code name Red One (J.K. Simmons), suck the goodness out of him with expensive and mediocre digital effects, and leave him a lifeless shell of his former magical self.
