QUOTE OF THE DAY
PC Mag: Philadelphia Impounds 5 UberX Drivers on Service’s (Abrupt) Launch Weekend
Cat and mouse: That’s what Uber’s recent deployment of its UberX service feels like in Philadelphia.
The on-demand car service officially announced in an email blast Friday afternoon that it was launching UberX in Philadelphia that weekend—for those otherwise Uber-less, that’s the service’s lowest-tier car option that involves normal people, in normal vehicles, picking you up instead of Uber’s fancier black-car offerings.
WSJ: Why Kansas Drives Liberals Crazy
Daily Herald: New disagreement in Dist. 60 teacher’s strike: school lunches
Along with teacher salary raises and benefits, something new was added to the list of things the Waukegan School District 60 administration and the teacher’s union cannot agree on: school lunches.
In a post to the district website Sunday, the administration said union leadership was holding up a district plan to suspend the ongoing teacher’s strike two hours a day to resume food service that is available to some students during the school year.
“The District cannot conduct this program without the Union’s consent,” Superintendent Donaldo Batiste said in the statement. “With their cooperation, we would be able to resume feeding our students, and bringing this District one step closer to normalcy.”
Chicago Tribune: Chicago wants to roll out universal app for hailing taxis
The rapidly expanding rides-for-hire industry in Chicago is undergoing more change Monday.
Customers will no longer be able to arrange a regular taxi or a black-car pickup usingHailo, one of a number of transportation smartphone apps that have debuted in the last few years to a strong reception from consumers who appreciate shorter wait times and the ability to prearrange payment using a credit card.
Now, the city of Chicago is preparing to enter the contest. It will implement one or more universal smartphone apps to connect riders with the closest available taxi among all cabs in the city rather than a customer going online to hail a cab from a specific company. The apps are designed to provide one-stop shopping for taxis and also “can help level the playing field” between taxis and ride-sharing services, city officials said.
Chicago Sun Times: Tollway project in south suburbs and Indiana losing some traction
Add to the list of people who oppose the controversial Illiana tollway: Paul Fisher, one of the guys who pushed the idea in the first place.
While there are other detractors around the proposed 47-mile road south of Chicago into Indiana, Fisher’s distaste for the project is notable since the real estate executive was an early advocate for building it.
In fact, the retired CEO and co-founder of industrial real estate firm CenterPoint Properties was instrumental in moving the project forward several years ago. The east-west Illiana was expected to benefit CenterPoint’s 6,500-acre train-to-truck freight operations in Joliet and Elwood.
Chicago Sun Times: Under pressure from community, CPS wants new Dyett HS
Phased out over the past few years to just 13 seniors, Dyett High School in Bronzeville will again be an open-enrollment high school, Chicago Public Schools announced Friday as it yielded to community pressure.
CPS will formally issue a request for proposals in December for a new school to be put in the building at 555 E. 51st St. that would accept students in the 2016-17 school year. Requests will be accepted through April; district CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett made it clear that charter schools need not apply, though contract school providers may.
“Members of the community have expressed a strong interest in a new school at the Dyett site, and we look forward to working with the community to develop a new high-quality option for students living in the neighborhood,” she said in a statement. “We are committed to ensuring the new neighborhood school at Dyett meets the community’s needs and will evaluate proposals from all interested parties.”
Wall Stret Journal: The Emerging Political Divide Between Public and Private Unions
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has earned the ire of government-worker unions by supporting cuts in pension benefits for some city workers and closing failing schools. The head of the American Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten, has pledged $1 million of union money to unseat Mr. Emanuel, up for re-election in February.
Private unions have a different take. Building trade groups like the Construction and General Laborers’ District Council approve of the mayor’s infrastructure spending and have donated heavily to his campaign. The hotel-workers union Unite Here has endorsed him for his work promoting Chicago tourism. “There’s a lot of support I have from working men and women,” Mr. Emanuel told a reporter earlier this year, when the subject of public-union opposition came up.
The labor rift in Chicago politics has emerged elsewhere, too. Government workers are increasingly fighting to defend their pay and benefits, including trying to defeat officials running for re-election who have preached fiscal reform. But private unions have embraced some of these same candidates, arguing that when economic growth is sluggish, politicians should focus on creating jobs. The conflict is roiling Democratic primary campaigns and even pushing some labor groups into the arms of Republican candidates.
CARTOON OF THE DAY
