Good morning, Chicago.
When Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot rolled out her 2022 budget, she offered each alderman a $100,000 sweetener to spend in their wards virtually however they please.
Nine months into the year, some of their priorities are coming to light: Emergency shelter for people without housing, private security to augment police, voter “mobilization,” a new ward website, youth mentoring, trees and outreach to residents on “what makes them feel safe and unsafe” are among areas where the money is going.
It’s not clear how all the aldermen plan to spend the money. The city budget office only released information on some of the projects and said more records weren’t immediately available. The Tribune has filed a Freedom of Information Act request for all existing contracts.
The $5 million “microgrant fund,” split among the 50 wards, was billed by the mayor as a flexible “tool” to tailor investments across a diverse city to individual communities’ needs. Lightfoot often boasts that she doesn’t buy votes, but the program was also seen as a bargaining chip for aldermanic support for the $16.7 billion budget that ultimately passed.
Read the full story from The Tribune’s Alice Yin.
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Illinois sex ed law puts school districts in center of latest battleground in education culture wars
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed the Keeping Youth Safe and Healthy Act into law in August 2021, making Illinois the first state in the U.S. to formally pass legislation codifying new national sex education standards developed by SIECUS: Sex Ed for Social Change. The law, which was criticized by Republicans but passed with overwhelming support from the General Assembly’s Democratic majority, attracted little attention from local school districts.
Now, as students return to classrooms where most pandemic virus restrictions including masking have been lifted, the revival of a so-called normal school year is riven with dissent at some districts over the new sex ed standards, which have prompted both pushback and praise.
Celebrations ended tragically this month in Lake Michigan’s “Playpen” area when a boat rammed into a mom of two, leaving her without feet, and another boating accident claimed the life of a man remembered as a “great dad and a great brother.”
The Playpen is a no-wake boating hot spot, just south of Oak Street Beach and north of Navy Pier, where powerboats often raft together and a see-and-be-seen crowd soaks up perfect skyline views. The area is popular with boaters because of the dampening effect the breakwalls have on the waves, which means the Playpen’s waters tend to be calmer even if it’s choppy out on the lake, said Ald. Brian Hopkins, 2nd, whose ward covers the Playpen.
What is Chicago’s ‘Playpen’? Explaining the hot spot on Lake Michigan.
After a tough summer for air travel, what will the fall bring?
The busy summer season was again marked by flyers eager to get out after years of delayed travel, but also by high prices, canceled flights and delays that left passengers sitting in airports or on the tarmac.
As another holiday weekend approaches, followed by the typically slower fall travel season, airlines and travelers are adjusting their habits and expectations.
Brad Biggs shares his 10 thoughts after the Chicago Bears completed an undefeated preseason for the first time since 1994, defeating the Cleveland Browns 21-20 at FirstEnergy Stadium Saturday night.
Review: Chef Art Smith’s Reunion brings Oprah-worthy fried chicken — and much more — to Navy Pier
Louisa Chu writes: “Nobody goes to Navy Pier just for the food. You used to settle for the best of bad choices.”
Now at Chef Art Smith’s Reunion, the mouthful of a name for the new restaurant from the man perhaps forever best known as Oprah’s former personal chef, they offer more than just good food. It’s a sanctuary meant to send you home with leftovers — not just edible, but emotional.