Welcome to the Reader‘s morning briefing for Thursday, May 11, 2017.
- Chicago FBI chief under consideration for interim FBI director job
Michael Anderson, the head of Chicago’s Federal Bureau of Investigation office, has been interviewed for the FBI interim director position, according to the Tribune. President Donald Trump fired FBI director James Comey suddenly Tuesday, and the Department of Justice quickly identified Anderson and three other candidates for the interim director job. Congressional approval is required for a permanent replacement, but not for interim director. [Tribune]
- Mayoral aide: CPS needs $596 million to finish 2016-2017 school year
Chicago Public Schools needs $596 million to keep schools open for the rest of the school year, not the $129 million previously mentioned by officials, according to Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s chief financial officer, Carole Brown. The city is looking at all options to raise the money needed quickly. “It’s a really difficult problem we’re trying to solve and a difficult needle we’re trying to thread because ultimately the responsibility of funding CPS is the state’s, it’s not the city’s,” Brown said. [Sun-Times]
- Mike Quigley: Firing Comey was a “brazen decision taken straight out of the Nixon playbook”
Illinois congressman Mike Quigley slammed President Donald Trump for firing FBI director James Comey Tuesday, calling the move a “brazen decision taken straight out of the Nixon playbook.” The Chicago Democrat is a member of the House Intelligence Committee, which is investigating possible ties between Russia and the Trump campaign. “It is no coincidence that Director Comey was fired shortly after confirming the existence of the FBI’s investigation into collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian officials,” Quigley said in a statement. “Despite the administration’s illogical excuses, this move serves only one purpose: to stall the process and prevent the truth from being revealed to the American people.” [Tribune]
- Teen slain while shielding friend on CTA bus gets an honorary street sign
Blair Holt was shot to death on a CTA bus while trying to shield his friend from gunfire on May 10, 2007. On the tenth anniversary of his death, Holt was rewarded with an honorary street sign in front of his school, Julian High School, at 103rd between Vincennes and Elizabeth. “If he had cancer, if he had been hit by a car, I might kind of understand a little bit better; not much,” the 16-year-old’s mother, Annette Nance-Holt, said during the ceremony. “But just to get him taken away from me when I dropped him off at school that morning, coming home from the firehouse, and telling him to do good, and that I loved him, they don’t know what they took from us. They took everything from us.” [CBS Chicago]
- Low-income housing activists slam antigentrification vandals who hit Alderman Proco Joe Moreno’s office
Alderman Proco Joe Moreno’s office was attacked by antigentrification vandals last week who broke the front door and spray-painted “Gentrifier” on the walls. Moreno called the vandalism “cowardly.” Low-income housing activists at the Chicago Housing Initiative agreed that the vandals tactics were wrong. “Smashing windows doesn’t transform. It doesn’t educate, it doesn’t call us together or build our capacity to make change,” CHI said in a statement. “It just scapegoats a single public official for a broken system, very little of which he has control or influence over.” Somos Logan Square, a group of neighborhood residents concerned about gentrification, also criticized the attack, saying they are “completely opposed to vandalism and any violent forms of actions.” [Chicagoist]
- Washington, D.C., sandwich favorite Taylor Gourmet to open its first Chicago location
Taylor Gourmet is legendary in the Washington, D.C., area for its Philadelphia-inspired hoagies and cheesesteaks, and even former president Barack Obama and former vice president Joe Biden are fans. The sandwich chain is planning to open its first location outside of the D.C., Maryland, and Virginia area in the Loop at 1 N. Dearborn, and is looking into opening more locations in Chicago. [Eater Chicago]