While Illinois lawmakers are hard at work trying to pass a state budget and keep the Bears in Illinois, Mayor Brandon Johnson and his Roman retinue of 46 people shook hands with Pope Leo XIV and handed him some giardiniera at the Vatican.
One of the mayor’s guests on the trip, Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates, faced a major loss before setting off for Rome, as CTU members voted down a dues hike that would have given leadership $8.5 million to spend on upcoming school board elections. Gov JB Pritzker is hopeful for a deal to keep the Bears in Illinois even after Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas released an analysis of the broader tax impacts the megaprojects bill would have beyond the proposed Arlington Heights stadium.
President Donald Trump’s pick for the Texas GOP Senate runoff Ken Paxton won: After meeting with his Cabinet, the president also got closer to making a final decision on whether to extend the ceasefire in Iran.
We hope you enjoy the new format of Quotes of the Week curated by the Tribune Editorial Board. Missed last week? You can find it here
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or check out our past editions of Quotes of the Week.- “It’s a real Chicago style in terms of the way the pope delivers his message and justice. What I witnessed was an incredibly humble individual whose roots really defined his leadership in this moment. … A pope who can talk about global international population shift and could have a good home Chicago argument over the Cubs and the Sox, that’s who we are in Chicago.” — Mayor Brandon Johnson
- “My dead grandmother would have to come back to life for the Bears to go to Indiana. That is all B.S., that they’re going to Indiana. It is a toxic site. It is a toxic site.” — Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas
- “We’re working diligently to get this (process) across the finish line. I don’t want to understate it: This size and complexity takes a longer time.” — Sharla Roberts, Chicago’s chief procurement officer on finding a replacement for ShotSpotter
- “If I had a dollar for the word diligent, I could go buy a nice lunch today,” — Ald. Pat Dowell on the city’s update on finding a replacement for ShotSpotter
- “You have changed America and created the golden age.” — Howard Lutnick to President Donald Trump
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