Editorials: Texting and driving: dumb and dumber
Nearly everyone knows it’s dumb. Nearly everyone knows it’s dangerous. And most of us probably know it’s illegal in Illinois. Yet, we continue to text and drive. More reminders every day, and in every way possible, are clearly in order. Last Wednesday was one of …
Editorial: Emanuel ad strikes a nerve with teachers
The new TV ad featuring Mayor Rahm Emanuel as he promotes the new teachers contract looks innocent enough. He’s calm, not overtly confrontational, and he admits the negotiations were difficult for all. “Change,” the mayor says into the camera, “is never easy.” But if you’re …
Editorial: Pending DCFS cuts unacceptable
Is this the kind of state we really want to live in? In less than two weeks, 283 state Department of Children and Family Services workers will be laid off because of state budget cuts. Another 100 positions won’t be filled. These are not loafing …
Editorial: Voters deserve better
It’s all about respect. For the voters, that is. Two races on the Nov. 6 ballot are well on their way to enhancing Chicago’s rich lore of elections that, shall we say, don’t run along conventional lines. First, there’s the Second Congressional District, where U.S. …
Editorial: CPS must come clean on school closings
There are endless reasons why Chicago teachers say they went on strike. Pay, charter school growth, unfair evaluations, teacher recall, the over-use of standardized tests, the “privatization” of public education, poor teaching and learning conditions, anger toward Mayor Rahm Emanuel and on and on. But …
Editorial: The strike is over: Now ratify the deal
Teachers and students should keep one key fact in mind as they return to school on Wednesday: The new contract is an unequivocal win for students and for the thousands of top-flight teachers in Chicago. It bears repeating again and again because while the strike …
Editorial: City can’t afford to pay healthy people not to work
Public employees who are permanently injured in the line of duty deserve disability payments. We would never want to turn our backs on those who sustain serious harm while keeping our streets safe or carrying citizens out of burning buildings. But it’s important to keep …
Editorial: Read the fine print, then end strike
As Chicago teachers spend the next two days studying the fine print of their proposed contract, they’ll discover something that was painfully obvious on Sunday: Not only did Chicago teachers get a fair deal, the contract is the very best they are going to get. …
Editorial: Call off the strike
At 3 p.m. today the Chicago Teachers Union should call off the strike. The deal released late Saturday is a win for both the teachers and the schools. It represents the outer limits of what the Chicago Board of Education can do, both on salary …
Editorial: Past time for an honest debate on drug laws
Last week, the Mexican Navy nabbed one of the world’s biggest drug kingpins, a man said to be responsible for billions of dollars in drugs flowing into the United States and for tens of thousands of deaths. Score one, you might say, for the war …
Editorial: Stop ‘straw buyers’ of guns
For three years Chicago and Cook County officials have been pushing a law that would help close the spigot of guns flowing illegally into the city. So, far the National Rifle Association has blocked the law in Springfield, but officials here should keep pushing. The …
Editorial: Nail property tax cheats
About 1,000 times a year, the Cook County assessor’s office gets a tip saying someone is unfairly lowering his or her property taxes by claiming an unwarranted exemption. If the tip turns out to be true, the violator is told to pay up, right? Actually, …
Editorial: Rahm is wrong about the Boston teachers union contract
If only Chicago teachers could be more like those enlightened educators in Boston. They settled their thorny conflicts over teacher recall, teacher evaluations and pay without a strike, Mayor Rahm Emanuel told reporters at City Hall on Wednesday. And Boston teachers agreed to only a …
Editorial: Stand up to teachers, but don’t demonize them
Allow us today to come to the defense of the striking Chicago teachers in a way that will fully please almost nobody, certainly not the teachers. We don’t think the teachers are greedy. We don’t think the teachers are in this just for themselves. They …
Editorial: Teachers risk losing a lot if strike drags on
It may be hard to believe, but the Chicago Teachers Union has already won big. The union leadership doesn’t talk about it much, but Chicago teachers should seriously chew over all that the CTU has already gained — and what they risk losing if this …