DNA Info: Teachers Threaten Immediate Strike Over Pension Pickup Cut
The teachers’ union threatened to strike Monday if Chicago Public Schools drops a so-called pension pickup payment, but the district said it plans to go ahead with that plan.
Addressing CPS’ announcement Monday that the district will cut 62 positions, 17 of them teachers, Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Jesse Sharkey went on to say that if the district cuts the 7 percent pension payment it makes for teachers, that would break their existing contract and set the stage for an immediate strike.
According to Sharkey, that would be an unfair labor practice that would break the existing pact, as the two sides continue to negotiate for a new agreement, and free the union’s hands to stage an immediate walkout.
Chicago Tribune: Rauner executive order allows simultaneous investigations of ethics violations
Gov. Bruce Rauner has issued an executive order he says will strengthen state ethics rules and make state workers “more accountable to taxpayers.”
The Republican says the order signed Friday includes changes made in collaboration with Illinois’ Office of the Executive Inspector General.
The order allows state agencies to conduct internal investigations of possible ethics violations while the state inspector general is investigating. Prior to Friday, agency investigations had to be put on hold once a case was referred to the inspector general.
Sun-Times: CPS to lay off 62 employees, make $85 million in cuts
Chicago Public Schools announced $85 million in cuts on Monday, saying that in all, 62 employees — including 17 teachers — are being laid off.
In a statement, the district said its hand was forced by the lack of a funding solution from state government.
“The reductions will come through layoffs, closing vacant positions, reallocating funds held in reserve, and changing programs,” CPS said in the statement. “Next year, the reductions will amount to $120 million on an annualized basis.”
DNA Info: 'Distressed Communities' Report Shows Big Divide Between North, South Sides
When it comes to being “distressed,” a new study shows a stark difference between North Side neighborhoods with South Side neighborhoods.
Economic Innovation Group, a D.C.-based organization, recently released its “Distressed Communities Index,” a study that looked at over 26,000 ZIP codes across the United States, compiling factors from high school degree rates to unemployment to housing vacancies into a “distress score.”
Based on the organization’s definition of “distressed,” nearly 40 percent of Chicagoans live in distressed ZIP codes.
Daily Southtown: Thornton Township spent $106,000 on ads for Nobel Peace Prize for S.C. church
Thornton Township, in Illinois, spent more than $106,000 on an advertising push aimed at garnering support for awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to a South Carolina church that was the site of a tragic 2015 mass shooting, newly released records show.
The township, which includes some of the poorest communities in Chicago’s south suburbs, spent $106,257 on radio and newspaper ads around the Chicago market, mainly aimed at predominantly African-American audiences, records show. Thornton Township’s ad purchases followed a $46,000 taxpayer-funded trip to South Carolina taken by township Supervisor Frank Zuccarelli and 14 other delegates in September, which the Daily Southtown detailed earlier this month.
In a previous interview, Zuccarelli said the four-day trip’s “main purpose” was to “get knowledge from the people directly in Charleston as to why their reaction was so much different than the reactions in Ferguson and Baltimore,” a reference to police-involved killings of young African-Americans in those cities that generated nationwide outrage and violent protests.
Sun-Times: Rauner: Madigan manipulating university leaders in funding crisis
Gov. Bruce Rauner on Monday pushed blame for the state’s higher education funding crisis onto House Speaker Michael Madigan — accusing him of manipulating leadership at state universities to withhold support of Rauner-backed solutions.
Rauner supports a bill sponsored by Rep. Ken Dunkin (D-Chicago) to provide $160 million in emergency funding to universities, and invited several university presidents to stand with him at a press conference.