* That’s a lot of newly registered voters, but they’re gonna need more than this. A lot more…

A coalition of community organizations affiliated with the Chicago Teachers Union and with groups opposed to many of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s policies will announce today that they have registered 25,000 new voters this summer in advance of upcoming local and state elections.

Officials from the Grassroots Collaborative will appear with Cook County Clerk David Orr to talk about where the people they have registered live and their attempts to register another 25,000 new voters prior to the Nov. 4 state and federal elections.

The group said it is canvassing neighborhoods to register new voters by talking to residents about “raising the minimum wage and the fight for quality public schools.”

* And speaking of the minimum wage…

Vice President Joe Biden, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Gov. Pat Quinn on Monday afternoon held a behind-closed-doors discussion on raising the minimum wage, appearing briefly afterward for the cameras.

Biden’s visit, which included a campaign fundraiser for the governor, allowed Emanuel and Quinn to draw attention to their efforts to raise the minimum wage in Chicago and Illinois. […]

Emanuel has said the city is prepared to act on his proposal if Springfield lawmakers do not raise the state minimum wage after the election. The mayor has refused to say, however, whether he would still push for a $13 minimum wage in Chicago if lawmakers raise the state rate to $10 an hour.

“I’m not going to answer hypotheticals at this point,” Emanuel said earlier this month. “If the state acts, I’ll bring the (city) task force back together and see what we want to do.”

* More…

In the Biden event, reporters were only allowed in for the final 10 minutes to listen to statements by Biden, Emanuel and Quinn. They did not take questions.