Welcome to the Reader‘s morning briefing for Tuesday, July 25, 2017.
- Showdown between Rauner and Democrats over school funding intensifies as governor calls legislators back for a special session
Governor Bruce Rauner is calling legislators back to Springfield for a special session Wednesday, making good on his threat to do just that if Democrats failed to send him a school funding bill by noon Monday. “We will ask everyone in the General Assembly, come to Springfield, do your job, pass school funding. We have a deadline set for July 31st,” he said at a news conference. “There is no reason that we can’t have school funding completed and signed off and done by July 31st so our schools can open on time.” But Rauner promised again to veto $300 million in funding for Chicago Public Schools. [Tribune] [DNAinfo Chicago]
- ICE chief singles out Chicago, NYC, San Francisco, and Philadelphia as the “worst” sanctuary cities
Chicago, New York City, San Francisco, and Philadelphia are the “worst” sanctuary cities in the U.S., according to Thomas Homan, acting federal director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Washington Examiner reported on Monday. Homan singled out Chicago particularly, blaming the city’s gun violence on its and Cook County’s policy of harboring undocumented immigrants. “In the last year, I’ve read all these stories of how the crime rate has exploded in Chicago, and the president’s trying to help them. We’re stepping up our game in Chicago. Is Chicago doing everything that it can to decrease the criminal activity up there? I say no,” Homan said in an interview.”I say no because if you’re an illegal alien, and you get arrested in the United States for a crime, and you get booked in Cook County, Chicago, my officers aren’t allowed in the jail. They don’t accept our detainers. They don’t share information with us.” [Washington Examiner]
- Edwin Eisendrath discusses purchase of Sun-Times, Reader with the New York Times
Former alderman Edwin Eisendrath and a group of investors recently purchased the Sun-Times and the Reader, outbidding Tribune publisher Tronc. In an interview with the New York Times, Eisendrath discusses his plans to return to the Sun-Times‘s working-class roots. “Our story is such a Chicago story,” he said. “There’s such an overlap of identity between the city that we love and the group that we put together and this mission that we’re on. We think we’re going to serve the city really well.” [New York Times]
- Chicago Public Schools releases school-by-school budget
Chicago Public Schools has released budgets for individual schools after a delay the district blamed on software problems. CPS has broken out each school’s special education funding in the budget, which it did not do last year, according to the Sun-Times. [Sun-Times]
- Alderman Willie Cochran is losing donors as his legal fees pile up after federal charges
Alderman Willie Cochran is running low on cash in his campaign fund after spending a lot of money on legal fees, according to DNAinfo Chicago. Cochran was indicted in December on federal charges of wire fraud, bribery, and extortion. Since the indictment, his campaign fund has only received one donation: $2,500 from Ike’s Foods. Between April 1 and June 30, Cochran spent $10,500 from his campaign fund on legal fees, and had only $4,630 by July 1. [DNAinfo Chicago]
- Cafe Robey chef resigns from the Wicker Park bistro
Cafe Robey chef Bradley Stellings has resigned from the French-American bistro in Wicker Park’s Robey hotel. Stellings is heading back to New York City after successfully opening the restaurant only to find that changes were in store. “It was a pleasure working for Grupo Habita and Convexity,” he told DNAinfo, but “there were persistent talks about reconcepting to more of a cafe/diner,” he told DNAinfo Chicago. “I was not comfortable with those changes and left the company amicably a week ago Saturday.” [DNAinfo Chicago]