Chicago Teachers Union in a State of Panic

I would like to say you can take that in both meanings of the word, but while I believe the State of Illinois should be described as a "state of panic," the politicians running the state, or running the state into the ground, are not panicking enough. From Chicago Contrarian: CTU’s CORE Caucus in a State of Panic as Political Setbacks Mount

CORE stands for Caucus of Rank-and-File Educators, and it is currently the faction in charge of the CTU.

The union faces public controversy, member-led litigation, and congressional scrutiny over its failure to release audited financial reports for five consecutive years. Following legal and political pressure, the CTU released backdated audits; however, serious questions remain regarding omitted data, missing financial transparency, and the massive allocation of union dues toward political activism rather than direct member representation.

Five years is a long time, not to release audited financial statements. I worked for Fortune 100 companies that could close the books on a year, by January 15th, and produce an audited financial report before the end of the first quarter. Chicago Teachers Union is less complicated than any of those businesses. So what is the problem?

The union is suing, and being sued by, the Illinois Policy Institute and the Liberty Justice Center. The CTU is claiming defamation, the other organizations are suing over the lack of financial transparency. But that is really just the sideshow.

Citywide, public support for the CTU has dropped significantly. An Illinois Policy Institute poll found that only 27.5 percent of Chicago voters hold a favorable opinion of the union, while 53.6 percent view it unfavorably. For every voter with a favorable view, two view the union negatively, and over 50 percent of voters report being less likely to support candidates backed by CTU money. This decline in popularity is producing a consistent trail of electoral defeats since Brandon Johnson’s election in 2023.

Click thru for details. The one that most caught my eye is that the budget for Chicago Public Schools, and by extension the CTU, keeps going up, despite the fact that enrollment has been going down for a number of years. And don't ask about test scores.

Do I expect anything to get better in Chicago education? No. I expect that the schools will still consume an ever-larger part of Chicago taxes, despite shrinking enrollment, and I expect that Chicago schools will fail to educate Chicago students.

Is Chicago Beyond Bankruptcy?

Chicago Contrarian brings a bit of reality to Chicago's financial situation. Why a Chapter 9 Bankruptcy Might Not Work for Chicago

Detroit went bankrupt and it worked. But Detroit was not Chicago.

Detroit owned an art collection that was turned into a private collection, which got them $817 million dollars. Chicago doesn't have anything close to that kind of asset.

Detroit's pensions were funded at about 70 percent. Detroit pensions were cut, but not by a lot. Chicago's pensions are funded at about 28 percent.

The city’s four pensions have combined unfunded liability of $36 billion. They have just 28 percent of the assets on hand needed to pay for benefits already earned, a catastrophically low number and worse by far than any major city or state in America.

And finally, who would run this bankruptcy?

Detroit was blessed with an exceptionally capable emergency manager for its bankruptcy, Kevyn Orr, who was appointed by the State of Michigan.

Would the Illinois super-majority in Springfield appoint a similarly talented, hard-nosed restructuring expert willing if necessary to challenge public-sector unions, reduce payroll, renegotiate contracts, sell nonessential assets, and impose genuine operating reforms?

If you believe that, there are probably some bridges in Illinois up for sale, that you might be interested in.

In short, Chicago is not the next Detroit. Chicago's finances are in so much worse shape than Detroit was ever in, that it may not be possible for them to come back.

I am sure that the powers-that-be in Illinois and Chicago are hoping for a Democratic administration, so that they can get a bail out, at least of that $36 billion pension hole. Be prepared to scream about it to your representatives, if you don't want to foot that bill.

Chicago's Homicide Rate Is Worst Among Big Cities

Well, at least in this list of big cities. It is even slightly worse than Killadelphia. Chicago Homicide Rate: 2026 Analysis

I knew things were bad, but I didn't realize they were this bad.

This report analyzes murder rates in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, and other U.S. cities with high homicide rates.

Local databases and Chicago Police Department (CPD) press releases were used for city- and neighborhood-specific murder rates, which exclude justifiable homicides and involuntary manslaughter. The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer was used to extract homicide rates from cities across the U.S.

Chicago PD calculates murder rates that are different from the rates reported by the FBI. According the CPD, the 2025 murder rate in the city was 15.23 per 100,000 population.

But that means that to compare the CPD rates to the FBI rates would be ... problematic.

The following rates are from the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program. Click thru for the entire list of cities.

• New York City - Population 8.3 million - 3.92 homicides per 100,000
• Los Angeles - Population 3.8 million - 6.95 homicides per 100,000
• Chicago - Population 2.6 million - 17.47 per 100,000

There are more cities listed.

Although cities like Houston and Dallas also have double-digit homicide rates, Chicago is an outlier due to the combination of its large population and high homicide rate.

I always say that New York is 4 times the population of Chicago. I guess I will have to stop saying that. It is only about 3 times the population. NYC is roughly 300 square miles of land, (it has a significant amount of water) while Chicago has 227 square miles of land. So Chicago has only about ⅓ of NYC's population but ¾ as much land. NYC has more than double the population density of Chicago.

I would have guessed that would contribute to a higher crime rate, but NYC hasn't had as much incompetent leadership for as long as Chicago has. They seemed determined to correct that, but they are still running on the accomplishments of the past.

Hat tip to MaddMedic at Freedom Is Just Another Word…

August Crime in The Windy City

HeyJackass! brings us August Wrap-up

We’re back. Sort of. More on that later. In the meantime, it would appear the city’s low-IQ retards never paused their low-IQ activities. Speaking of low-IQ retards, is the 🚨 Transfemicide State of Emergency 🚨 still in effect? We finally took delivery of our custom N95 masks from China and would prefer not to look stupid walking around if City Hall has already moved on to the next manufactured crisis.

The final count for August was 9 homicides by any means, with 168 shot and wounded.

As bad as that is, it is significantly better than the past few years.

Click thru for details like the demographics of the victims, the shot clock, the number of selfies, and #ShotInTheAss

And I'm glad that HeyJackass! is back. He was on a bit of a hiatus.

Do Chicago Schools and the Teachers Union Serve Chicago?

There are two people from different parts of the country writing about Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union in one week.

Chicago Contrarian has the story I am most interested in. CPS Corruption Exposé Shows Why the CTU’s Reign of Terror Must End — Now

Those who can’t do, teach. And those who can’t teach, govern. That has to stop. We have to stop it

Chicago didn’t wake up one morning and discover itself governed by incompetents.

This disaster was grown, nurtured, and weaponized inside the very institution that now consumes the largest share of your property taxes while delivering ever-worsening results: the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and the demons who have possessed it, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), led by the Notorious SDG, Stacy Davis Gates.

Chicago Public Schools consumes an enormous amount of money. What do the students get? That is a good question.

Chicago now spends nearly $40,000 per pupil on a system with declining enrollment, a ballooning bureaucracy, and outcomes that would embarrass a developing country. Functional illiteracy is up. Discipline is down. Parents are fleeing, taking their children with them, continuing the systemic death spiral.

Click through for the details.

Meep at STUMP has a story about the CTU being upset, and then a compendium of stories from the past few years. CTU Making Friends and Influencing People By Suing the Illinois Policy Institute

The subtitle is to the point.

The IPI has been big ole meanies by pointing out the CTU has not been a positive contributor to Chicago education

Meep is an actuary, so her interest in Chicago Public Schools is usually directed at the state of the pensions. (They are not in a good state.) But occasionally she can't help but covering other issues.

So, I’ve been enjoying the hissy fit that the CTU (Chicago Teachers Union) has been having over the past couple of days by saying it’s filing a lawsuit against the Illinois Policy Institute.

She has a bit of information about the lawsuit. Click thru.

We All Need More Time at the Range

But it is my understanding that there are no shooting ranges in the City of Chicago. Chicago shooting: Shots fired between 3 suspects, CCL holder near CTA Blue Line station on N. Milwaukee Ave. in Jefferson Park - ABC7 Chicago

Three people approached a man on the northwest side. They keep saying "near a Blue Line station" of the El, but I'm not really sure why that is an issue.

There was an argument. As the man walked away, the three other people began shooting. The man returned fire, but no one was hit, CPD said.

The guy who was approached is a Concealed Carry Weapon license holder, which is becoming more common in Chicago.

The Chicago PD claims to be investigating, but I don't expect them to find anything. The closure rate by Chicago PD is very low.

Woman Defends Herself from Home Invader

What does the anti-gun part of the Left (it isn't all of the Left) think she should have done? Woman shoots man who opened her window screen during overnight burglary attempt, CPD says - CWB Chicago

How would you respond to an intruder in your home, or breaking into your home, before five o'clock in the morning? How should a woman alone respond?

A concealed carry holder shot a man who opened the window screen of her South Shore home during a burglary attempt early Tuesday morning, Chicago police said.

South Shore, is one of the 77 neighborhoods in Chicago. It is about 7 miles south of the Loop, and as the name implies it is on the lake shore.

In addition to the victim, a neighbor called 911 to report seeing the man lying on the ground across the street from the woman’s home and screaming that he had been shot. But the suspect was gone when CPD arrived. Moments later, he walked into Jackson Park Hospital for treatment. CPD said he was in good condition. The woman was not injured.

One of the things I appreciate about CWB Chicago is that they know the difference between victims, and perpetrators.

I always wish the anti-gun part of the Left would do, is explain exactly how a woman should react to a home invader. I'm not expecting them to say anything aside from, "Wait for police." With the shortages of police in the blue cities (I haven't looked into the situation in Chicago in a number of years, but they were understaffed) waiting for police to arrive may be a long wait. You may wait the rest of your life.

Hat tip to USA Carry

Deadly force is justified only against an imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm, and that is the same standard armed citizens across the country carry under every day. A stranger opening a window on an occupied home in the dark gives the person on the other side no way to know what comes through it next, and no time to find out.

The current Illinois State's Attorney for Cook County is a more reasonable person than her predesessor, so I expect the only charges to be filed against the guy who got shot.

Rats, Meet Sinking Ship Named Chicago

I wouldn't stick around either Chicago Public Finance Watch: How Many Finance People Have Left?

Advice to the mayor (and CTU): GET REAL

Spoiler Alert: They won't get real. And another Spoiler Alert: If Democrats take over in Washington, they will bail out Chicago, which means you will be paying for their bad behavior.

A number of financial people have left Mayor Brandon Johnson's administration in the Windy City. It is almost like they get familiar with the books, and head for the exit. Almost.

With the most recent announcement of the budget director leaving, here’s the list I’ve got, in chronological order:

• Dec 2024, City Comptroller Chasse Rehwinkel
• Jan 2026, CFO Jill Jaworski
• June/July 2026 – Noor Shaikh, Deputy Chief Financial Officer
• Aug 2026, Acting CFO Steven Mahr
• Aug 2026, Budget Director Annette Guzman

Meep didn't count the people who left when Johnson was first elected. It is common for people to leave when an administration ends. She also didn't include the HR director, who also left.

Even back in the age of absolute monarchs, bad finance was enough to undermine power. That was what cut down kings time and again

Click thru for the state of the budget, Chicago Public Schools, and their issues, and a bit on the State of Illinois. They are all nearly bankrupt, and refusing to admit it.

Could It Be That Media is Biased Against Cops?

I would be shocked to find a regular media outlet NOT biased against cops. Bodycam appears to contradict details in man's story about teen trend arrest - CWB Chicago

Are we shocked that body cam video does not support the story of the guy who was arrested? Are we shocked that Fox Chicago accepted his version of events as "truth" without bothering to check the body cam video?

Police body camera footage appears to contradict parts of a television news report in which a Chicago man claimed CPD officers beat and wrongly arrested him while he was trying to rescue his younger brother from a Fourth of July “teen takeover.”

Quotangelo Temple, 19, was featured by Fox Chicago four days after his arrest in the 1200 block of South Fairfield Avenue.

Hat tip to Second City Cop: Body Cam Proves Lies....Again.

A criminal making false statements against the police? The "media" reporting these lies as fact?

CWB Chicago is a small media organization that covers crime in Chicago. It started by covering 2 sections of one of Chicago's neighborhoods, but now covers the entire city.  (The 2 sections of Lakeview East were Wrigleyville, and Boystown.)

That CWB Chicago is doing a much better job of actual journalism than the legacy media in Chicago can be bothered to do, is a shameful reflection on the Professional Journalists (so called) at those legacy media outlets.

Chicago's Mayor Has Everyone Up In Arms

George Shay of Chicago Contrarian has the details. The Red Dawn of Realism: Why Brandon Johnson’s Base Is Fleeing Chicago's Progressive Circus

While I don't think Chicago is going to flip Red, I do think the Machine is seriously broken.

The 911 system is broken, not because of the 911 Center, or the operators, or dispatch, but because there are not enough police to maintain law and order. They can't investigate crimes, let alone respond to a crisis. (Click thru for those details. Call 911, and there is no patrol unit available to respond.)

By allowing our police districts to consistently fall into RAP [Radio Assignment Pending] status, the current administration has achieved something historic. They have bridged the traditional divides of Chicago geography. The South Side mother tired of local community centers being converted into unvetted migrant shelters now shares the exact same grievance as the Lincoln Park resident watching businesses shut down due to unchecked violence. They are both looking at a government that takes more and more of their money and, with property and other taxes, gives them more and more lawlessness in return.

As for the breakdown in the system:

The breakdown in the 18th District is a direct symptom of prioritizing political theater over core municipal functions. When an affluent North Side neighborhood experiences a two-hour window where zero police units are available to respond to an active, 50-person brawl, the social contract is completely broken.

It used to be a wonderful city. I went to college there. I worked there for a number of years. I spent Saturday afternoons in the art museums, and Saturday nights in the clubs. Now you couldn't pay me to set foot in the city, or at least not in any of the places I used to frequent.

Chicago Teachers Union Hates America

From Warner Todd Huston at Chicago Contrarian: Chicago Teachers Union Pushes Radical, Anti-American Communist Event

The Chicago Teachers Union has once again proven that it is about radical, leftist revolution and not anything approaching educating our children with its latest stunt in support of an Iran-supporting, pro-Hamas terrorist, Israel-hating, communist event that called for sabotaging America's sea ports among other revolutionary acts.

It almost sounds like a joke, doesn't it? Why is the radical, left-wing "teachers" union jumping in to support an event for Marxists trying to take down and destroy the United States? What possible reason could a putative American education union have for helping an organization that wants to destroy our country?

Click thru.

Chicago's Pensions Are a Mess

Meep at STUMP has an update on the insanity. Chicago Pension Watch: No, There Aren't Many Choices

Let me round up the latest “discourse” on the “way out” for Chicago pensions.

But first — where the pensions stand.

In 2025 Chicago's pension debt rose to $36.4 billion. That according the city itself.

One of the things that comes up is a Detroit-style, Chapter 9 bankruptcy.

The principal difference is that Detroit owned a bunch of art, which could be sold. Chicago doesn't own any art, or not on that scale.

If you are not a finance person (and some people who are in finance) do not necessarily understand what Chapter 9 bankruptcy can and cannot do.

It’s a legal process in federal court. It doesn’t cause money to appear from nowhere. It doesn’t cause art that a city doesn’t own to come into being — people get confused when proposing “Hey, let’s have a Grand Bargain like Detroit had in its bankruptcy!”, forgetting that Detroit for some odd reason owned art it could hold ransom. As far as I know, Chicago the city owns no such art.

Chapter 9 bankruptcy, i.e., municipal bankruptcy, is not the same thing as bankruptcy for an individual or a company. The city is not going to liquidate. Creditors know that. The creditors have limits on what they’re going to get — they will not necessarily get zeroed out (but some might).

The funding rates for the various pension funds are sad. The national average for municipal pension funds of 82.5%. The police pension is funded at 25.5% of liabilities. The firefighters pension is funded at 25.2% of liabilities. When you include all of the funds, and all of the liabilities, Chicago’s pension funds were only funded at 28.1% of liabilities.

Click thru for the details.

“But you promised” and “It’s not my fault” don’t mean much when the money runs out.

The Chicago Weekend

HeyJackass! is on vacation... so we have to go with other sources. 3 dead, 15 hurt in Chicago weekend shootings, according to Chicago police - CBS Chicago

The don't say what the consider the weekend, but they do include Friday evening in the mix.

In the first shooting of the weekend, Chicago police officers responded to the 400 block of North Central Avenue around 7:47 p.m., where a 29-year-old man was shot while standing near the sidewalk.

The last shooting they include in the mix was from 3:43 AM Monday. Click thru for all the details.

Hat tip to Breitbart and Chicago: At Least 11 Shot Friday into Saturday Afternoon.

The Chicago-Sun Times noted that 228 have been murdered in Chicago thus far in 2026.

The Weekend In the Windy City

HeyJackass! has the stats for the weekend in Chicago. Wrong Place, Wrong Time Weekend

The July 4th weekend in Chicago was surprisingly peaceful. Well, it was peaceful by Chicago standards, though Mother Nature did lend a hand. There is less crime in Chicago during the winter cold, and during thunderstorms.

With the July 4th weekend behind us, we now return to our regularly scheduled programming.

So are these numbers good, or bad?

Final Demonized Tally: 4 killed, 19 wounded
2025 weekend tally: 4 killed, 25 wounded
2024 weekend tally: 11 killed, 29 wounded

It used to be a wonderful city.

Do Something, Even If It Is Meaningless

Politicians in Blue Cities must love crime and criminals. With Chicago’s Streets Awash with Crime, Brandon Johnson Launches Meaningless Gun Violence Office

Instead of dealing with his blood-soaked streets, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is pretending he's "doing something" by launching another do-nothing, bureaucratic office, this one called the "Office of Gun Violence Reduction," staffed with cronies making big salaries.

Stopping crime is not rocket science. It means doing things the Democrats do not want to do in the big cities.

Johnson appointed Emmanuel Andre to head the new venture. Andre is the city's $184,000 a year Deputy Mayor for Community Safety who was appointed to the office in April after Johnson fired the former deputy mayor, Garien Gatewood.

Along with Andre's big salary, this new office will have an even greater budget of a whopping $100 million annually. That sure seems like money that could be invested in Chicago's neighborhoods to improve people's lives, instead of being put into yet another pointless government office.

Click thru for more details.

Exploiting the Vulnerable to Close a Budget Gap

Why are cities, states, whoever embracing gambling? Because they can't bring themselves to cut a budget. Brandon Johnson Trying to Torpedo Chicago’s First Gambling Licenses

According to financial services firm Wallet Hub, Illinois ranks as the 17th most gambling addicted state already. The Prairie State also ranks 36 out of 50 for proper treatment availability. So, Illinois is already doing poorly over gambling and its legality is still relatively fresh.

Gambling at bars, or gambling at a massive casino downtown, none of it is good for Illinois. But politicians are rubbing their hands greedily over the possible tax revenue it will generate.

But that is the world we live in. Someone needs to revisit the definitions of license and liberty. (Mortimer J. Adler's work is a good place to start.)

Tren de Aragua Gang Members Kidnap/Kill Man in Chicago

I miss living in a civilized society. Venezuelan gangsters beat man to death after kidnapping him from Chicago park — then called his mom to tell her where the body was: prosecutors

Rojas Barrios was walking with two other men near the park’s basketball courts when Tren de Aragua members captured him, forced him into a vehicle, and drove him to an apartment, according to the allegations. There, Boutros said, men bound his hands behind his back and held him against his will for hours before transporting him to an abandoned building.

Inside the vacant building, prosecutors said, the attackers beat Rojas Barrios and then shot him multiple times before leaving him face down in a bathroom with part of his body inside a bathtub.

The Chicago gang members then had an associate in Venezuela call the dead man's mother, and tell her where the body was.

These are the people that the Democrats don't want to deport.

One of the people now charged with the murder was not in jail for a previous offense, but was on pre-trial electronic monitoring.

I miss law and order.

June in the Windy City

HeyJackass! brings us the June Wrap-up

To understand the following statement, you would need to know that Mayor Brandon Johnson claimed a couple of things. One is that there is epidemic of violence against transwomen of color. Which may or may not be true, but that isn't really going to move the statistics much in either direction.

Despite the 🚨Transfemicide State of Emergency🚨, The Summer of Silly Decisions got off to nearly the same start as last year.

June 2026: 43 killed, 157 wounded
June 2025: 42 killed, 140 wounded
June 2024: 74 killed, 323 wounded

So it is more than last year, and less than 2024. Actually it is much less than 2020 or 2021. Does that mean that crime is down, or is it up?

Aside from the statment about transwomen of color, Johnson has claimed that this entire wave of death and violence is all Nixon's fault. Richard Nixon. This isn't the first time Brandon Johnson has brought up Nixon. He won't let it go. (It used to be a wonderful city.)

It's So Obvious!

Chicago Democrat Mayor Brandon Johnson blames deceased former President Richard Nixon for a spate of shootings in his city over the Father's Day weekend.

I mean, of course, yeah. Why would anyone think differently! pic.twitter.com/LsxtefrocI

— Conservative Brief (@ConservBrief) June 22, 2026

Chicago Police Brass and Media Wouldn't Lie About Crime

Or would they? Jack Lucey at Chicago Contrarian brings us a story of lies. Chicago Police Brass, Media Present an Inaccurate View of Crime Statistics

Early on the morning after Memorial Day, Chicago Police officials announced there were no homicides over the just-concluded holiday weekend. The local media, operating with the lack of morals and dishonesty of a sleazy PR phony, with Mayor Brandon Johnson cheering them on, immediately parroted the news.

Except there was a homicide. At least one. On Memorial Day morning, a 47-year-old man was stabbed to death in Greater Grand Crossing on the South Side. Chicago Police officers were on the scene that day — and the victim was immediately declared dead.

CPD brass very likely knew about the stabbing death. But they wanted to rush the news out -- perhaps at the urging of Johnson — so the “no homicides” headline would dominate the post-holiday news cycle.

Click thru for the details.

They Only Keep People in Jail When They Kill Someone

Also, electronic monitoring of violent criminals does not work as implemented in Chicago. Man on electronic monitoring for CTA sex cases accused of sexually attacking woman on Orange Line in the Loop - CWB Chicago

A man accused of sexually attacking a woman aboard a CTA train in the Loop was wearing an electronic monitoring device and had been ordered to stay away from the transit system while awaiting trial in a similar case. And police are looking at the possibility that he is responsible for incidents involving another woman and a teenage girl on CTA trains, prosecutors said.

At least the politicians in the city are going to "look into it," because the public is not happy about the system's failures.

Read the whole thing.