* Chalkbeat…

As they worked to close a budget deficit this summer, Chicago Public Schools officials proposed a surprising and bold cost-saving measure: Combine the Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund with the Illinois Teachers’ Retirement System. […]

Both the Chicago Teachers Union and the Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund oppose the plan, saying teachers would not support it and both groups want to keep the pension system they’ve had since 1895.

The Illinois General Assembly would have to pass a bill for a consolidation of both pension systems to happen. Even proponents of the plan aren’t sure if state lawmakers would take this on.

Chicago Public Schools pays for the pension plan out of its operating budget each year. This school year, Chicago’s budget projects paying $661.6 million toward teacher pensions. This number includes $102.9 million from the district’s operating budget, $558.7 million from property taxes, and $353.9 million from the state.

That sizable payment comes as Chicago grapples with the loss of federal COVID relief funding, a decrease in property tax revenue, the increased cost of employee health care, and an uptick in expenses for students with disabilities. In addition, it’s unclear how much teacher salaries will increase over the years as contract negotiations are ongoing.

* We discussed this last week. Capitol News Illinois…

The Illinois Supreme Court last week vacated a lower court ruling and reinstated a statute that authorizes the state to revoke a person’s Firearm Owners Identification card once they’ve been charged with a felony, even if they haven’t yet been convicted.

The case involved Aaron and Charles Davis, a father and son who were charged with reckless discharge of a firearm, a felony, for allegedly shooting their rifles into the air over the Fourth of July weekend in 2016. […]

Soon after the charges were filed, the Illinois State Police revoked their FOID cards pursuant to a provision of the law that authorizes the agency to revoke permits from anyone “who is prohibited from acquiring or possessing firearms or firearm ammunition by any Illinois State statute or by federal law.” […]

In March 2023, Madison County Judge Ronald Foster granted the Davises’ motion and declared the law unconstitutional as it applied to people charged with, but not convicted of, felonies. He issued a permanent injunction barring the state from enforcing that provision of the law.

The state appealed directly to the Supreme Court, which stayed the lower court order while the appeal was pending. And in a unanimous opinion Thursday, the high court reversed the lower court decision, saying because the Davises had already had their FOID cards reissued, they no longer had standing to sue and claim they were being injured by the law.

* WGEM…

Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias is taking his push to ban certain food additives to the FDA. […]

The FDA is set to meet Wednesday to talk about developing a better process for its post-market assessment of chemicals.

“The bottom line is that we need to put food safety first, and we need the FDA to do its job,” said Giannoulias, a Democrat. […]

Giannoulias, who oversees the state’s organ and donor tissue registry, isn’t new to the push to ban certain food additives. He promoted legislation earlier this year banning five commonly used additives in candies, soda and other ultra-processed food: brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propylparaben, Red Dye No. 3 and titanium dioxide.

The state Senate passed the bill before it stalled in the House of Representatives.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Chronicle Media | Democratic leadership gets behind Williamson’s second try for 47th House seat: During his Smoke Filled Room podcast on Aug. 30, Collin Corbett, the founder of Cor Strategies, a political consulting firm, called [Rep. Amy Grant] “the third most vulnerable” House Republican.  Corbett noted the “extensive polling in specific districts so they can decide where they will and where they won’t put their money in September and in October for the final stretch,” Corbett said.

*** Statewide ***

* ABC Chicago | Lawsuits filed against Illinois DCFS, Springfield employees after baby taken from family: One suit is against DCFS, and one is against four of the agency’s employees based out of Springfield. The suit alleges that they knowingly kept an infant away from his family for three months, even when they knew nearly from the beginning that no abuse had occurred. […] In July of last year, he was taken away from his mother, after she took him to the doctor’s office to check up on a burn located on his upper arm. Unable to speak English and with no interpreter provided for her, her attorneys say she was unable to properly answer the questions that were being asked.

* CBS Chicago | Some clean energy investments are slow to roll out, while others are spurring job creation: Two years ago, Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and nearly three years ago it passed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). Both pieces of federal legislation provided money to states and local municipalities to invest in clean energy projects. One of those is NanoGraf in Chicago’s West Town neighborhood. NanoGraf just awarded a $60 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to stand up a battery material facility for electric vehicles in Flint, Michigan. This facility is set to produce 2,500 tons of NanoGraf’s proprietary silicon anode material per year, and create 200 construction jobs and 150 permanent jobs.

*** Chicago ***

* Heartland Signal | Chicago Teachers Union’s Stacy Davis Gates talks CPS CEO Pedro Martinez with WCPT’s Richard Chew: “We are deeply disappointed in CEO Pedro Martinez because he has an opportunity to be legendary,” Gates said. “And he has chosen to take our work, turn it in as his own, and then tell everyone he can’t afford to implement any of it. It just feels so cynical and disconnected for the type of partnership coalition that we’ll need to actually resource and transform our school district.”

Amid calls for his ouster, CPS CEO Pedro Martinez sends letter to teachers and parents announcing a resolution on school closures moratorium thru his tenure & until a fully elected school board in 2027. Says: “I’m disappointed that this misinformation campaign is out there” pic.twitter.com/YIyqKsjAas

— Alice Yin (@byaliceyin) September 24, 2024

* WTTW | Chicago Expects to Spend Less Than $141M to Care for Migrants in 2024: Officials: But the surge that many officials said was certain to hit the city never materialized, and the city expects to spend less than $141 million to care for the migrants, who are in the country legally after requesting asylum and receiving permission to remain in the U.S. while their cases are resolved. That is approximately $9 million less than the $150 million City Council earmarked to care for the migrants a year ago when it approved the city’s 2024 budget. At the time, Johnson said he did not think that would be enough to care for the migrants for an entire year but hoped it would convince state, county and federal officials to send additional aid to the city.

* Block Club | ‘We’ve Been Tired For A Long Time’: Inside A Public Housing Advocate’s Push To Oust The CHA CEO: In addition to being a veteran activist, [Francine Washington] is a member of the CHA’s board of commissioners. CHA board members typically back whatever the CEO proposes. Criticizing Scott publicly, and calling for her ouster, is unusual. But Washington’s remarks were planned well ahead of time and coordinated with other resident leaders. Frustration with Scott has been growing, Washington said after the meeting, and they wanted alderpeople and the CEO herself to hear it.

* Streetsblog | After recent crashes in 39th Ward, constituents urge Ald. Nugent to make safer walk/bike infrastructure happen before someone else gets hurt: On her way out the door, local Alderperson Samantha Nugent shared hers as well. “I don’t have a vision,” she said. She mentioned her plan to listen to constituents about traffic hot spots in the ward, then take those concerns back to the office and map them out. She said the next step will be to take the map to transportation experts and heed their advice on best practices.

* Crain’s | Bank weighs holding onto distressed Loop office tower as Google beckons: A French bank that recently foreclosed on a Loop office tower across the street from Google’s future Chicago home is signaling it may hold on to the property after negotiating to unload it at a steep discount. At issue is the future of the 49-story office building at 161 N. Clark St., which a venture led by Paris-based lender Societe Generale took control of in March, according to Cook County property records. The bank had filed a $236 million foreclosure lawsuit last fall and was reportedly in talks earlier this year to sell the property to Chicago-based real estate firms Farpoint Development and Golub, likely taking a massive financial haircut in the process on the $230 million loan it had provided the tower’s previous owner.

* Tribune | Flood advisory issued as weather system moves into Chicago area: Tornado sirens blared early Tuesday afternoon in parts of the south suburbs as thunder sounded on Chicago’s South Side and weather officials issued a flood advisory until 3:15 p.m. The flood advisory was for portions of northeast Illinois in Cook and Will counties, according to the National Weather Service.

* Sun-Times | Chicago White Sox meme their way through baseball’s worst season ever: Even the Sox’ social media team is struggling to spin the squad’s sad performance. After falling to the San Diego Padres on Sunday, tying the record for most losses, the Sox’ official account on the social media platform X refused to report the score — a running joke in the season’s waning days. Instead, the Sox posted a meme showing a car swerving off the Dan Ryan Expressway toward 35th Street, where the team plays. An edited overhead sign had directed the car — labeled “Admin,” referring to the administrator of the account — to either stay straight and “Post [the] final score” or turn and post “Literally anything else.”

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Lake County News-Sun | Lake County official says recycling myth ‘needs to be debunked’; ‘It’s real, and that material has value’: Where there are recycling bins, there are sometimes people claiming they go to the same landfill as regular household garbage. But, officials said, that is definitely not the case in Lake County. Of the roughly 1 million tons of municipal waste generated in the county every year, about 40% is recycled or composted, they said.

*** Downstate ***

* KFVS | Southern Illinois lawmakers call for change at prisons after exposure incidents: Illinois State Senator Dale Fowler (R-Harrisburg), State Senator Terri Bryant (R-Murphysboro), State Representative Patrick Windhorst (R-Metropolis), State Representative Paul Jacobs (R-Pomona), State Representative David Friess (R-Red Bud) and State Representative Dave Severin (R-Benton) are urging IDOC to temporarily suspend mail processing services within correctional facilities. IDOC reports items recovered at some of the facilities have tested positive for synthetic cannabinoids, chemicals found in insecticides and Fentanyl, but at some locations, there have been no positive results. Illinois State Police are conducting further testing at their lab.

* WJBD | Centralia elects to go with 1/2-cent sales tax to replace 1-cent sales tax being eliminated by the state: City Manager Kory Smith explained how the tax would affect sales tax figures in various sections of Centralia. “If passed, this will bring the city’s total sales rate to 6.75 (percent) in both Clinton and Washington counties, with it still being 7.25 within the Jolliff Bridge Business District within Clinton County. The rate in Jefferson County will be 7.25, as it includes a half-percent county public safety tax. In Marion County the rate will be 8 percent, as it includes 1 percent for a county schools facility tax and a quarter percent for a county public safety tax.”

BREAKING: The Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs is reporting an increase in mild COVID cases for veterans and staff. 17 residents and 7 staff at the Anna home have contracted COVID-19. 15 residents and 9 staff at the Manteno facility have COVID as well. #twill https://t.co/5AgAx6CC5T

— Mike Miletich (@MikeMiletichTV) September 24, 2024

* WCIA | Person arrested after FBI investigates social media threat at Parkland College: WCIA confirmed with Stephanie Stuart, the Chief Communications Officer for Parkland College, a person was arrested Tuesday morning after law enforcement including Champaign Police Department and the FBI investigated a social media threat mentioning the community college. There was an increased police presence on campus Tuesday morning. The college said there is no threat at this time.

* Vermillion County First | Immigration Controversy Causes Retraction from Vermilion Advantage Leader: The press release also included language about seeking funding for “a streamlined regulatory process for immigrants so we are more readily able to attract immigrants into our community.” According to the retraction from Vermilion Advantage and Marron, “that language was inadvertently included by CEO Mike Marron. That language reflects the personal views of Mike Marron and should not have been included in the release. The language does not reflect the views of Vermilion Advantage, nor anyone involved with the organization or its board.”

*** National ***

* STLPR | Who owns the Riverfront Times? Signs point to Texas-based companies hawking OnlyFans camgirls: But a path to discovering who purchased the St. Louis alt weekly opened on Aug. 1. A new executive editor took to the Riverfront Times’ X account to introduce himself, JD Davis, and his “plan to save RFT” by publishing articles about OnlyFans. […] By putting his name out there, Davis revealed more than his business plan for the paper. St. Louis Public Radio has dug into incorporation documents, lawsuit filings and information from people close to the matter — all of which points to RSC Ventures, an operation that is leveraging the RFT’s online reputation to fund a link-farming business run by out-of-state owners.

* The Tennessean | Nashville legend Johnny Cash becomes first musician honored with statue inside US Capitol: At an unveiling ceremony in the United States Capitol Visitor Center, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders joined over 100 members of the Cash family to reveal artist Kevin Kresse’s bronze statue. The 8-foot-tall statue depicts the “I Walk the Line” singer with his head slightly downturned, a Bible in one hand and the other on his chest. A guitar is slung over his back.

* NYT | The U.S. News College Rankings Are Out. Cue the Rage and Obsession.: Indeed, to students and their parents, the rankings can be tools for narrowing college searches, and status symbols surrounding admissions to certain schools. To university leaders, the rankings are often publicly heralded but privately detested. To regulators, including Education Secretary Miguel A. Cardona, the rankings are responsible for “an unhealthy obsession with selectivity” and the development of “the false altar of U.S. News and World Report.”