(IN CHICAGO) – 2 kids slain among 79 shot in July 4th weekend gun violence; 3rd weekend straight of children dying

Natalia Wallace, a 7-year-old described as “an angel,” was gunned down Saturday evening. A $2,000 reward was offered Sunday for information about her killing.

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Chicago was left reeling over the Fourth of July weekend as citywide gun violence left multiple children killed for the third weekend in a row.

As of 5 a.m. Monday, 79 people were shot, 15 of them fatally, including two children shot dead Saturday night. Nine other gunshot victims over the weekend were minors.

Ten children under 18 have died in Chicago gun violence since June 20, according to Chicago Sun-Times records.

The weekend ended up being more deadly than Independence Day weekend in 2019, when five people were killed and 65 others wounded. In 2018, 14 people killed and 87 wounded citywide in holiday weekend shootings.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot prepared for the historically violent weekend by deploying an extra 1,500 Chicago police officers — something the city did in 2019 — but the gun violence continued unabated.

Two more children killed

On Saturday night, 7-year-old Natalia Wallace died after being shot while visiting her grandmother at a party in Austin.

She was outside where kids were riding on bicycles when three gunmen stepped out of a car and let off more than 20 shots in the 100 block of North Latrobe Avenue, Chicago police said.

Natalia died at the scene of a gunshot to her head, officials said. Police were reviewing video from the scene and have taken a person of interest in for questioning.

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Natalia was about to enter the 2nd grade at Crown Community Academy of Fine Arts in Little Village, according to a school official.

“She was a really good kid — an angel,” said the official, who asked not to be named. “She had a lot of family at the school. Everyone in her class would’ve said she was their friend.”

Natalia Wallace
Natalia Wallace
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Nathan Wallace, the girl’s father, said at a news conference Sunday he’d hugged her goodbye just 10 minutes before the shooting occurred.

“I just wanted her to have a chance at life,” Wallace said. “Whatever she wanted to do, I was going to be there no matter what. To see my daughter on the table with a gunshot wound to the forehead, that’ll change somebody’s life.”

He said he’d heard about other children being shot in recent weeks, but didn’t think about it until it was his own daughter killed. He called for others in the community to take a more active, personal role in confronting the gun violence crisis.

We need help finding her killers,” he said. “Kids can’t be out here playing without worrying about people shooting. It hurts me that my youngest daughter is no longer here, that I will not be able to talk to her, hold her, tell her bedtime stories, anything.”

In response to her killing, Lightfoot took to Twitter to say Natalia “joined a list of teenagers and children whose hopes and dreams were ended by the barrel of a gun. We cannot grow numb to this. We are making progress in slowing shootings, but we have to do better, every single one of us.”

Also Saturday night, 14-year-old Vernado Jones Jr., died after being among eight people shot, three others fatally, in Englewood on the South Side, officials said.

Four gunmen walked up to a large gathering in the 6100 block of South Carpenter Street and opened fire, police said. Jones, of West Lawn, died at Comer Children’s Hospital, according to the medical examiner’s office.

The shooting also wounded two boys, 11 and 15 years old, police said.

Activists demand ‘law and order’

Community activist Andrew Holmes announced Sunday a $2000 reward for “information leading to the arrest and conviction” in the case of Natalia Wallace.

“Let’s stop pointing fingers and get these shooters off the streets,” Holmes said at a news conference Sunday in Austin, “because with the technology we have in this city, there’s enough cameras and enough citizens around here that’s seen something.”

Also Sunday, several community activists demanded federal funding to help with the “out of control” gun violence, while also accusing the mayor of turning her back on police.

In a news conference in Little Village, Raul Montes Jr. called the weekend gun violence a “carbon copy” of the last few weeks and blamed Lightfoot for allowing protests to devolve into looting while “giving a nod to Antifa,” a far-left anti-fascist group.

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Another activist, Jacqueline Baez of Belmont Cragin, said residents are scared to go outside and called for increased police funding.

“Here we are again, another bloody weekend in Chicago. Our innocent children are dying,” Baez said.

Baez dismissed the calls of other activists to defund police departments, a refrain of nationwide protests since the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

“Defunding police is the stupidest thing to say,” Baez said. “We need police. We need to feel safe in our communities … I don’t feel safe letting my kids play outside.”

‘When you shoot children, we’ve lost it all’

Another activist, Frank Coconate, while acknowledging the extra officers over the holiday weekend, said it’s not just about having more police.

“It’s about cooperation; we need to build a bridge between community and police,” Coconate said.

“People in Pilsen and Little Village, there’s no bond with police. There’s a fear of talking with them, and that’s a huge problem. Here they’re scared. It’s good to have those [extra cops], but let’s have those cops walk the streets and talk with people … There should be more invested in having Chicago police working with the community.”

Coconate said it’s up to the mayor — and for citizens to lay on the pressure — to stop the violence.

“When you shoot children, we’ve lost it all. And the mayor holds the bag now … This has been going on every weekend, and now what’s really rubbing me — it’s children … That poor little girl playing on a holiday weekend dies. That shouldn’t be happening. We are, as citizens, are to blame. We’re not working hard enough.

Three weekends of gun violence

The last three weekends in Chicago have been especially deadly for children.

Last week, 1-year-old Sincere A. Gaston was killed when someone opened fire on his mother’s car as they drove home from a laundromat in Englewood. Lina Nunez, 10, was killed in Logan Square when a bullet came through her window and struck her.

Over Father’s Day weekend, Mekhi James, 3 years old, was fatally shot while riding in an SUV with his father in Austin when someone opened fire on them from another vehicle. Amaria Jones, 13, died after she was struck by a stray bullet in a shooting that also wounded two boys on the West Side. They were among 104 people shot that weekend, 15 of them fatally.

 

 

CHICAGO: INDEPENDENCE DAY FIREWORKS CANCELLED, BUT GAY PRIDE ‘PROTEST’ FOR BLACK TRANS LIVES GOES AHEAD

Fireworks displays are canceled, but the LGBTQ community was able to march for black trans lives with impunity

National File – JULY 1, 2020

CHICAGO: Independence Day Fireworks Cancelled, But Gay Pride ‘Protest’ for Black Trans Lives Goes Ahead

A Chicago fireworks display celebrating Independence Day has been cancelled due to fears of large congregations becoming COVID-19 infection hotspots, even as the city allows thousands to march in Chicago’s North Side to elevate black LGBT voices.

ABC7 reported that roughly 25,000 people were expected to turn out to the Itasca fireworks display in Chicago before it was cancelled due to fear of spreading COVID-19, and its cancellation has left the fireworks industry experiencing financial trouble as small business struggle after months of intermittent lockdowns and restrictions.

A spokesperson for the American Pyrotechnics Association said that “until large gatherings can happen again, the firework industry is not going to survive,” and added that around 80% of all American fireworks are used on Independence Day. One local pyrotechnics vendor said that he had over half a million pounds of explosives in stock, waiting for use.

Meanwhile, although LGBTQ pride parades were officially cancelled by the City of Chicago due to the inability for social distancing guidelines to be observed in a typical march, thousands of members of the the LGBTQ community broke the guidelines and left their homes in support for black trans lives in a two-mile march in Chicago’s North Side on June 28.

Hundreds of grassroots LGBT activists assembled for the event, nominally part of the ongoing Black Lives Matter protests throughout the United States, in the absence of a formal LGBTQ Pride Month event.

According to ABC7, activist Ashabi Owagboriaye said that “The reason the march is so important is to highlight those lives that we lost and highlight the people whose lives may not have been lost, but have been wrecked just because they exist openly.”

Local media described the event, not officially sanctioned by Chicago but instead viewed as an act of protest, as a continuation of the city’s previous LGBTQ Pride Month events.

LGBTQ media depicts the event as a continuation of the “protest” that LGBTQ Pride historically began as, potentially admitting that the protest march was an opportunity to flout the city’s COVID-19 restrictions.

18 dead, 47 wounded in Chicago weekend shootings

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By Chicago Sun-Times – 6/29/2020

Four children were among the weekend’s victims, including a 1-year-old boy fatally shot in Englewood, a 10-year-old girl killed in Logan Square and a 17-year-old boy killed in Humboldt Park.

Four children were among 65 people shot across Chicago this weekend, 18 of them fatally. Three of the children were killed.

The weekend gun violence brought Chicago past 300 homicides so far this year, the benchmark that Supt. David Brown challenged the police department to stay under in April. Last year, the city didn’t break 300 homicides until early August, according to Sun-Times data.

Three children killed

A 10-year-old girl was fatally shot Saturday night when a stray bullet hit her inside a Logan Square home on the Northwest Side.

She was inside the apartment about 9:40 p.m. in the 3500 block of West Dickens Avenue when the bullet came through a window and struck her in the head, Chicago police said.

Lina Nunez was taken to Stroger Hospital, where she was pronounced dead hours later, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Neighbors said they heard gunfire but believed it was fireworks. Police said the shots may have come from a group of males who began firing at another group in the block.

Earlier that afternoon, a 1-year-old boy was killed and his mother was wounded in Englewood on the South Side.

The woman and her child were driving home from a laundromat just after 2 p.m. when a gunman pulled up alongside them in another vehicle and opened fire near 60th and Halsted streets, according to police. The child was struck once in the chest, while his mother, 22, was grazed on the head. She drove them to St. Bernard Hospital, where the child died. The mother was later taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center for treatment and her condition was stabilized.

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The medical examiner’s office identified the boy as Sincere A. Gaston. He lived in South Chicago.

Earlier that morning, a teenage boy was shot to death in Humboldt Park on the West Side.

Antiwon Douglas, 17, was in a large crowd at 11:25 a.m. in the 1100 block of North Monticello Avenue when he got into an altercation and someone from the group pulled out a gun and fired shots, authorities said. Douglas, who lived in Humboldt Park, was struck on the left side of his chest and taken to Stroger Hospital, where he died.

Monday morning

The most recent fatal shooting happened early Monday in Brighton Park on the Southwest Side.

A 21-year-old man was walking about 2:22 a.m. in the 4400 block of South Whipple Street when a male suspect approached him and shot him in the face and leg, police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Nearly two hours before that, a man was found shot to death in Humboldt Park.

Joseph Gisc, 22, was discovered inside a home with gunshot wounds to his chin and face at 12:39 a.m. in the 900 block of North Central Park Avenue, authorities said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Sunday

Sunday night, 23-year-old Rayshaon Williams died of gunshot wounds after crashing his car and then collapsing outside in Garfield Park.

He was found unresponsive in the 4500 block of West Fulton Avenue with a gunshot wounds to his hip and pronounced dead at the scene, officials said. He appeared to have exited the car and collapsed on the ground after crashing into two parked cars in the 4500 block of West Maypole Avenue.

Earlier Sunday night, another man was killed in West Pullman on the Far South Side.

Terron S. Tate, 24, was walking about 8:40 p.m. in the 12100 block of South Michigan Avenue when someone in a black vehicle shot him in the head, back and shoulder, authorities said. Tate, who lived in West Pullman, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Three people were killed in separate shootings within 90 minutes Sunday morning.

The latest of those attacks left a 38-year-old man dead in Little Village on the Southwest Side.

He was walking in an alley about 8:30 a.m. in the 2500 block of South Troy Street when someone got out of an SUV, walked up to him and fired shots, striking him multiple times, police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Just over an hour earlier, an 18-year-old man was shot to death in South Chicago.

Andrew Richmond was shot multiple times in the torso about 7:20 a.m. in the 8200 block of South Escanaba Avenue, officials said. He was taken to University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

About 20 minutes before that, another man was fatally shot in Rogers Park on the North Side.

Angelo D. Pullum, 36, was walking about 7 a.m. in the 1400 block of West Lunt Avenue when someone walked up to him and shot him in the back of the head, authorities said. The shooter then ran to a black SUV that sped off west on Lunt toward Clark Street. Pullum, who lives in Rogers Park, was taken to Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston, where he was pronounced dead.

Earlier that morning, a man was shot and killed in Austin on the West Side.

Officers responding to a ShotSpotter alert for gunfire at 3:54 a.m. found 28-year-old Demil D. Spears lying unresponsive on the sidewalk in the 1300 block of North Mayfield Avenue, authorities said. Spears, who lived in Lawndale, had been shot in the back and face and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Saturday

Another man was killed and three others were wounded late Saturday night in Douglas on the South Side.

The men were at a large gathering about 11:35 p.m. in the 3100 block of South Rhodes Avenue when they were struck by bullets, police said. They were all taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center. A 24-year-old man who was struck in the groin was pronounced dead. Two 21-year-old men were shot in the leg. One is in good condition, and the other is in fair condition. A 22-year-old man was shot in the head and is in critical condition. Detectives took two people into custody for questioning.

Earlier that afternoon, two people were killed in separate shootings in Brighton Park and South Shore.

In Brighton Park, officers responding to a ShotSpotter call about 3:50 p.m. found 31-year-old David Santoyo unresponsive in the 4400 block of South Kedzie Avenue with a gunshot wound to his head, authorities said. Santoyo, who lived in Chicago Lawn, was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital and pronounced dead.

Meanwhile, a man was shot to death in South Shore about the same time.

Officers responding to a ShotSpotter alert found the man, 28, unresponsive in the 7600 block of South Phillips Avenue, police said. He had been shot in the chest, neck and arm. The man was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he later died.

Hours before that, a man was killed in a drive-by in Lawndale on the West Side.

About 10:25 a.m., he was walking in the 1300 block of South Springfield Avenue when someone in a passing silver-colored vehicle opened fire, according to police. The man, identified by the medical examiner’s office as 28-year-old Deron Collins, was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he died.

Nearly four hours earlier, a man was shot to death in Englewood.

He was sitting in a Chevrolet Tahoe about 6:50 a.m. in the first block of West 57th Street when someone fired shots, according to police. The man, thought to be about 30, was hit in the head and pronounced dead at the scene. Witnesses told investigators they saw a 2003 Nissan speeding away from the area after the shots were fired.

About half an hour before that, another man was killed in Burnside on the South Side.

Dangelo Byrd, 33, was shot multiple times in the shoulder during a domestic dispute about 6:20 a.m. in the 9300 block of South Lyon Avenue, officials said. He was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Friday

A man was killed in the weekend’s first shooting Friday evening in Austin.

The 42-year-old was on the sidewalk about 5:42 p.m. in the 200 block of North Leclaire Avenue when someone emerged from an alleyway and opened fire, Chicago police said. The man was struck in the head and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Nonfatal attacks

In nonfatal shootings, an 8-year-old girl was grazed by a stray bullet Saturday night inside a home in Englewood.

She was sitting on a couch at 11:18 p.m. inside the home on Wood Street when the stray bullet came through the window and grazed her on her head, according to police. She was taken to Comer Children’s Hospital in fair condition.

A woman was critically injured in a shooting Sunday morning in Rogers Park on the North Side.

The 31-year-old was riding in a vehicle at 5:42 a.m. in the 1700 block of West Juneway Terrace when someone fired shots, police said. A bullet came through the rear window and grazed the woman on the left side of her head. She went to Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston in critical condition.

Just over an hour before that, three people were shot in Austin.

They were outside with a group of other people at 4:26 a.m. in the 500 block of North Menard Avenue when someone fired at them from a passing vehicle, police said. A 31-year-old man was shot in the chest and foot. Someone drove him to West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park in serious condition.

A 35-year-old woman was taken to the same hospital in fair condition with a gunshot wound to her foot, police said. A 37-year-old woman was shot in the leg and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in fair condition.

At least 38 other people have been injured by gunfire throughout the city between 5 p.m. Friday and 5 a.m. Monday.

Last weekend’s gun violence reached a peak this year with 104 shot, 15 fatally. Five children were among those killed.

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Chicago Mayor Now Pleading With Walmart And Other Companies Not To Leave The City

By Mike LaChance – 6/9/2020

After the recent riots which saw multiple large stores looted, some retailers are having second thoughts about remaining in certain cities.

In Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot has been talking to these retailers and asking them not to leave the city.

Not only do these companies make it possible for residents to get the things they need, they pay tons of taxes which the city relies on.

WBBM News reports:

TRENDING: Chicago Mayor Now Pleading With Walmart And Other Companies Not To Leave The City

Mayor Lightfoot Pleads With Walmart, Other Retailers To Not Abandon Chicago

Mayor Lightfoot said she’s hopeful major retailers will reopen the Chicago stores that were looted or otherwise damaged during protests surrounding George Floyd’s killing by police in Minnesota. But, she’s unsure of one of the biggest.

Mayor Lightfoot said she was on a conference call with Walmart and other major retailers that had stores looted or heavily damaged during the unrest in Chicago. She said she pleaded with them to not abandon Chicago.

“I think in the case of Walmart, what they were focused on was assessing the damage. They are doing an effort to donate fresh produce, to the extent of what’s left so it doesn’t perish, and other perishables, and they are taking their time, as I would expect.”

Who can blame these companies if they leave the cities?

The same thing is happening in Minneapolis:

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The cities hit by riots will be damaged by it for a long time.

85 Shot – 24 Dead in Chicago’s Most Violent Weekend Following Leftist Riots — As Democrats Continue to Call to Defund the Police

By Jim Hoft – 6/8/2020

The “mostly peaceful” leftist rioters in Chicago dragged police officers through the street and kicked them in the head last week.

The far left rioters and looters made Chicago’s Magnificent Mile look like Chicago’s Boarded Up Mile.

By last weekend the left was calling to defund the police in several US cities.

This past weekend Chicago suffered its most violent weekend of the year.
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The Sun-Times reported:

Twenty-four people were killed and at least 61 others were wounded by gun violence in Chicago’s most violent weekend of the year so far, which also saw widespread protests, riots and looting throughout the city in the wake of the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd.

More than half of the weekend’s victims were shot on Sunday as the city reeled from violent protests Saturday night that led to hundreds of arrests and the implementation of a curfew.

Chicago Police Supt. David Brown said Monday that of the total fatal shootings over the weekend, 17 homicides occurred on Sunday alone. The Cook County medical examiner’s office confirmed 15 for Sunday, with another three at unknown locations.

The weekend’s toll surpasses the tally from the same weekend in 2019, when 52 people were wounded — 8 fatally — in citywide gun violence.

 

FINALLY! Trump To Withhold Federal Funding From Sanctuary Cities

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Thanks to last month’s ruling by the 2nd Circuit Court Of Appeals, Trump has now announced that the federal government will be withholding funding to sanctuary cities that harbor illegal aliens.

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The Hill reports:

President Trump on Thursday said his administration will begin withholding funding from self-described sanctuary cities after a federal court ruled last week that it could do so.

“As per recent Federal Court ruling, the Federal Government will be withholding funds from Sanctuary Cities,” Trump tweeted. “They should change their status and go non-Sanctuary. Do not protect criminals!”

The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan ruled on Feb. 26 that the Department of Justice (DOJ) could withhold funding from cities and states that refuse to cooperate with the Trump administration’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants.

The three-judge panel found Congress had delegated authority to the attorney general to set conditions on the federal grant program it had created, called the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program.

The decision came after multiple courts had ruled against the Trump administration on the issue, saying it lacked the authority to impose immigration-related conditions on certain funding.

A group of seven states and New York City sued the DOJ in 2017 after then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the agency would start withholding funding from local governments that refused to share information about undocumented immigrants or provide jail access to federal authorities investigating inmates’ immigration status.

This spells bad news for several of the far left lunatics who are in charge of many of the big cities in the country.

In fact, Center For Immigration Studies has put together a  map that shows all of these places that are now S.O.L.

Perhaps the next step will be to file criminal charges against those who have worked to protect and harbor illegal aliens.

Mississippi Man Charged with Insurance Fraud After Allegedly Defacing Cars with Racist, Pro-Trump Graffiti

This looks to be another left-wing hate hoax.

By Shane Trejo – 3/3/2020

A Mississippi man has been arrested on suspected insurance fraud after he reported racist graffiti on two of his cars back in February, in what very well may be another left-wing hate hoax.

Mississippi resident Trumaine Foster said that he woke up to find two of his cars defaced with various racial slurs next to the word “TRUMP” on Feb. 4. Police took him into custody for evidence tampering and insurance fraud after he painted over the vehicles, although they stopped short at explicitly blaming him for defacing his own cars in the first place.

The individuals in the community do not necessarily see Foster as some kind of victim. Shelby and Bradley Littleton, who are neighbors to Foster, claimed that the “hoax just kind of made us look silly” and “to make something up, that just does not make sense.”

Foster is now being held in the the DeSoto County Jail and is set to make a court appearance on Wednesday.

This may be the latest in a series of hate hoaxes that have happened across the country since the election of President Trump.

The most prominent hate hoax has come from Jussie Smollett, the third-rate actor who was caught poorly faking a hate crime in Chicago early last year:

Chicago actor Jussie Smollett was charged by a Cook County special prosecutor with six counts of disorderly conduct related to lying to the police on Tuesday. Dan Webb, a former U.S attorney appointed by Judge Michael Toomin, announced the charges as the result of a grand jury investigation.

Smollett had appeared to escape criminal repercussions for a hoax he orchestrated of January 2019, in which he paid two Nigerian brothers to play the role of Trump supporters and “attack” him in a fake racially charged event. Smollett was originally charged by prosecutors with filing a fake police report, but evaded punishment when a suspect district attorney ordered the charges dropped on the basis of Smollett’s supposed community service.

But he won’t use his ‘get out of jail free’ card after all. Webb was appointed by Judge Toomin six months ago to investigate the circumstances surrounding the suspicious dropping of Smollett’s charges. In a statement, the special prosecutor explained his decision to file new criminal charges against Smollett for his orchestration of the hoax.

“The grand jury’s investigation revealed that Jussie Smollett planned and participated in a staged hate crime attack, and thereafter made numerous false statements to Chicago Police Department officers on multiple occasions, reporting a heinous hate crime that he, in fact, knew had not occurred.”

The hate hoax epidemic is continuing throughout the country, enabled by a Democrat Party and fake news media that is always happy to amplify dubious stories.

 

Mish: Chicago Headed For Insolvency, Get The Hell Out Now!

By Tyler Durden – 11/04/2019

Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk,

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the Teachers Union reached agreement on a deal sure to send Chicago over the cliff.

The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board blasts Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot for her deal with the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU). The deal will further wreak havoc on the already insolvent school system.

Who will be hurt most?

The WSJ answers the question this way: Union Routs Students in Chicago.

Contract Details

  1. 16% raise over five years (not including raises based on longevity)
  2. Three-year freeze on health insurance premiums
  3. Lower insurance copays
  4. Caps on class sizes
  5. More than 450 new social workers and nurses.
  6. New job protections for substitute teachers who going forward may only be removed after conferring with the union about “performance deficiencies.”
  7. Chicago Public Schools will become a “sanctuary district,” meaning school officials won’t be allowed to cooperate with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement without a court order.
  8. Employees will be allowed 10 unpaid days for personal immigration matters.
  9. Under the new contract, a joint union-school board committee will be convened to “mitigate or eliminate any disproportionate impacts of observations or student growth measures” on teacher evaluations.
  10. Instead of student performance, teachers will probably be rated on more subjective measures, perhaps congeniality in the lunchroom.
  11. The new union contract caps the number of charter-school seats, so no new schools will be able to open without others closing.

Get the Hell Out

The WSJ commented “Michelle Obama the other day complained that white people were leaving the city to escape minorities who are moving in. No, they’re fleeing Chicago’s high taxes and lousy schools—and so are minorities.”

Chicago Public School Bond Ratings

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You can kiss those positive and stable outlooks goodbye. The system is insolvent and this contract will further weaken the outlook.

Bond Rating Comparison

 

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S&P already has CPS bonds in the “highly” speculative area, five steps into its junk ratings.

Pension Spiking

Chicago Teacher’s Pension is based on your years of service and a pension percentage (up to 75%), multiplied by your final average salary. Their union notes “There are ways to increase these factors to enhance your pension or meet eligibility requirements.”

Let’s Discuss Pensions

Wirepoints asks Chicago Teachers Strike: Why is No One Talking About Pensions?

The average retired CPS teacher already receives a pension of nearly $55,000 a year, according to a 2019 FOIA request to the Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund.

However, looking at the pension of an average teacher far understates the true size of CPS pensions. The “average” benefit includes teachers who only worked a few years for CPS, which brings down the average.

To get a more accurate picture of what pensions are really worth, look at career teachers. Over half of all currently retired CPS teachers worked 30 years or more. On average, they receive a $72,000 annual pension and began drawing benefits at age 61.

In comparison, the average annual Social Security payment in Chicago is just $16,000 and the maximum benefit for someone retiring at age 62 is $26,500.

C-O-L-A Cola, la la la Payola

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The average career CPS pension will grow by 3 percent, compounded annually, due to the COLA benefits teachers get. That will double a teacher’s annual benefit to over $140,000 in 25 years.

Teacher Contributions

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Those projections were based on the proposed contract. The CTU held out for even more benefits and got them.

Pension Funding Level

The Chicago Tribune notes that the end of 2018, City Hall’s pension funds had only 23% of what they should have.

By 2023, Lightfoot must find an additional $989 million a year for pensions, according to the Tribune’s Hal Dardick and Juan Perez Jr. Thank you, former mayors and aldermen, for promising more pension benefits than Chicagoans could afford.

Who Will Pay?

That one is easy.

  • The kids will suffer because charter schools are reined in, grading standards lowered, and incompetents were given further projections.
  • Taxpayers will face higher property taxes, higher gas taxes, and higher sales taxes with every penny going to pensions.

Get the Hell Out

On October 5, I commented Escape Illinois: Get The Hell Out Now, We Are

Goodbye Illinois. Hello Utah. See my reasons for Utah above.

If you can’t get out of Illinois, do the second best thing, Get the Hell Out of Chicago.

By the way, Chicago is not “headed” for insolvency, it’s already there, but it is just not recognized yet.

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