Afternoon Edition: Why CTU is focused on Springfield

Good afternoon, Chicago. ✶

Although Chicago Public Schools’ spring break is well underway this week, we’ve still got education on the brain.

Specifically, the Chicago Teachers Union, which heads back to the bargaining table this spring after an eventful five years, to say the least.

Below, we’ll break down why, despite having a former organizer and ally in the mayor’s office, the CTU will set its sights on Springfield.

Plus, we’ve got reporting on a push to censure an alderperson, a Sundance film fest coming to Chicago, a look back at two transformative baseball seasons and more community news you need to know. 👇

⏱️: A 7-minute read

— Matt Moore, newsletter reporter (@MattKenMoore)

TODAY’S TOP STORY

CTU negotiations will feature a new battleground this year: Springfield

Reporting by Nader Issa and Sarah Karp | WBEZ

Negotiations ahead: The last five years have brought a Chicago Teachers Union strike and two pandemic-era school reopening showdowns with the mayor’s office. The teachers union is heading back to the bargaining table to work out a new contract this spring. But it should be smoother sailing this time with one of its own as mayor in former union organizer Brandon Johnson — right? Not necessarily.

Springfield is the focus: While the mayor and CTU appear in lockstep on their vision for the school system, the city likely won’t have the money to pay for the union’s costly proposals for more staffing and resources in schools. So the CTU says it’s shifting its target from City Hall to Springfield to demand more funding for Chicago Public Schools. And that’s a tough sell as the state faces its own financial constraints.

Key context: The CTU would hardly be the first to push for more state funding for CPS. Schools CEO Pedro Martinez, hired by former Mayor Lori Lightfoot, has long said the district needs more state support to adequately serve its students. Lightfoot’s Board of Education called for the same.

Identifying needs: Pandemic relief funding is set to run out this fall, exposing a $391 million deficit in the CPS budget next school year. Help from the state is likely the only way to get art and music classes, librarians and other programming into underresourced schools as desired by the CTU, the mayor, CPS officials and parent groups. District officials last month pointed to a best-in-the-nation reading recovery from pandemic learning loss as a sign they’re doing the right things.

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WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?

Provided by Matthew Kaplan

• Censure Sigcho-Lopez? Some City Council members are talking about censuring 25th Ward Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez, who recently appeared at a rally outside City Hall where an American flag was burned to protest U.S. support for Israel.
• Pregnant in prison: A new report details the poor treatment pregnant people in county jails across Illinois receive. Many are often denied basic medical care, according to the report by the ACLU of Illinois and Women’s Justice Institute.
• State’s attorney race update: As of Monday night, Eileen O’Neill Burke’s razor-thin lead over Clayton Harris III in the Democratic primary for Cook County state’s attorney is down to less than a third of a percentage point. Based on the unofficial results, O’Neill Burke now leads Harris 50.16% to 49.84%.
• Bears’ lakefront campaign continues: Building a stadium on the lakefront will give the Bears “the best opportunity for success,” Bears President and CEO Kevin Warren said Tuesday at the NFL’s annual meetings. It was the latest declaration from the Bears that playing downtown is their preferred course of action.
• Sundance in Chicago: A new weekend event, called Sundance Institute x Chicago 2024, will run June 28-30 and include screenings and programming featuring titles from the annual Sundance Film Festival in Utah.
• 4 stars for ‘Purpose’: Clearly inspired by Chicago’s Jackson family — as in Jesse and Jesse Jr. — this stellar play is set at a transitional moment when the family must process a problematic recent past and consider the future, writes Steven Oxman in a review for the Sun-Times.
• Award-winning cheese: Is the world’s best cheese from Melrose Park? A Caputo Cheese fresh mozzarella took first place in the 2024 World Championship Cheese Contest, which was held in Wisconsin this month.

CHICAGO HISTORY ⚾

Diamond anniversaries: a look at two transformative seasons

Sun-Times file

Reporting by Daryl Van Schouwen, Steve Greenberg, Maddie Lee and Mark Potash

Ahead of this year’s home openers for the White Sox (Thursday) and Cubs (Monday), the Sun-Times sports team took a look back at a pair of transformative Cubs/Sox seasons — and the best players in franchise history.

The year that wasn’t — 1994: The 1994 White Sox were focused on the World Series ... then the players’ strike happened.

The Sox were 67-46 on Aug. 10 after winning four of five games and eight of 12, taking a series from Tony La Russa’s Athletics that day to complete a nine-game road trip. The only thing that stopped them was a players’ strike on Aug. 12 that made 1994 a great year and an awful one.

What might have been — 1984: A trip back in time to 1984 reveals plenty of great memories, but ultimate heartbreak, for Cubs fans — a time when the Cubs fought the curse and damn near beat it.

To say they were a long shot to win the division would be putting it mildly — but the Cubs defied the odds. By God, the whole thing was glorious.

“The good Lord wants the Cubs to win,” Harry Caray assured WGN viewers. But apparently, the good Lord was a Southern Californian.

The top 50 White Sox: Among the greatest Sox players in the team’s 123-year history is Frank Thomas, who sits at No. 1 on the list as the GOAT.

The top 50 Cubs: Despite their failure, the 1969 Cubs still dominate the top 10 of the franchise’s 50 best players of all time.

BRIGHT ONE ✨

Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

A sea of green, a sense of community as Shamrock Shuffle returns to Grant Park

Reporting by Kaitlin Washburn

After last week’s corned beef and Guinness, 28,000 runners continued the St. Patrick’s Day fun during the annual Shamrock Shuffle 8K downtown Sunday morning.

“It’s a beautiful day for a shuffle!” one supporter shouted as runners neared the finish line in Grant Park.

This was the city’s 43rd Shamrock Shuffle, kicking off Chicago’s outdoor running season and capping off three weekends of St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. Runners, decked out in head-to-toe green attire with shamrocks all over, reveled in the fun and goofy energy of the race.

Francisco Aguilar, an 18-year-old senior at Benito Juárez Community Academy, participated in Sunday’s race with Running Forward, a youth running club from Little Village.

The weekend of running was a family affair for Citlallin Lara. She and her 9-year-old son ran in the 1-mile race Saturday in Grant Park. Then she ran the 8K on Sunday with her sister-in-law and her 18-year-old daughter. The three wore matching green tutus, green-and-white striped knee socks and shamrock temporary tattoos.

“It’s just so fun and a reason for the family to get together,” Lara said. “It’s also a chance to do something for ourselves.”

The race creates a strong sense of community among the runners, Aguilar said, and it’s extra fun when everyone is in a good mood. Sunday’s race was his fourth Shamrock Shuffle, and he set one of his personal best times.

“It’s really fun and inspiring,” Aguilar said. “I love that it brings all kinds of people together.”

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YOUR DAILY QUESTION ☕️

When do you feel most connected to your community in Chicago?

Email us (please include your first and last name). To see the answers to this question, check our Morning Edition newsletter. Not subscribed to Morning Edition? Sign up here so you won’t miss a thing!

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Editor: Satchel Price
Newsletter reporter: Matt Moore
Copy editor: Angie Myers