Chicago Politics and Urbanism Daily
Chicago’s Reform Fights Hit Schools, Streets and the L
Tuesday, May 19, 2026 · 9 min
Chicago’s first fully elected school board is becoming real just as CPS faces budget pain, forcing voters to decide who controls the district’s toughest choices. Elsewhere, accountability fights over federal agents, hit-and-run deaths, and CTA slow zones put reform back in concrete terms.
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Show notes
Chicago’s first fully elected school board is becoming real just as CPS faces budget pain, forcing voters to decide who controls the district’s toughest choices. Elsewhere, accountability fights over federal agents, hit-and-run deaths, and CTA slow zones put reform back in concrete terms.
In this episode
- Race is on for Chicago’s first fully elected school board — Chicago Sun-Times
Race is on for Chicago’s first fully elected school board - Chicago Sun-Times Hedge funds have gutted local news across America. Chicago is fighting back. The Hardest-Working Paper in America | Monday, May 18, 2026 My Account Manage Account Log out Log In Why are we asking for donations? ### Why are we asking for donations? This site is free thanks to our community of supporters. Voluntary…
- Step Back — With Chicago heading into its first fully elected school board while CPS is staring down budget cuts, what will these new board members actually have the power to change — taxes, spending, school closures, the CEO — and what still stays with the mayor or the state?
Background sources
- Chicago Public Schools and its CEO can part ways more quickly under her new contract - Chalkbeat — Chalkbeat
- Can a resolution pushing lawmakers to embrace progressive revenue help with Chicago Public Schools’ budget woes? - Chalkbeat — Chalkbeat
- Chicago Board of Education names interim CPS CEO Macquline King as permanent schools chief - Chalkbeat — Chalkbeat
- Mayor Johnson rules out school closings, mum on possible bid for reelection - WBEZ Chicago — Wbez
- Chicago Public Schools is poised for belt-tightening at schools as campus budgets are released - Chalkbeat — Chalkbeat
- Chicago’s new school board members on what it takes to lead CPS - Chalkbeat — Chalkbeat
- Ald. Jessie Fuentes Sues Feds, Demands $100,000 In Damages After ICE Agent Handcuffed Her — Block Club Chicago
HUMBOLDT PARK — An alderperson who was handcuffed by agents and threatened with arrest last year is suing the federal government, saying she wants to hold the agents accountable and show she wasn’t intimidated by violence. Ald. Jessie Fuentes (26th) filed a federal lawsuit Monday stemming from an October incident captured on video of a federal agent grabbing and handcuffing Fuentes in a Humboldt…
- Hit-and-run drivers fatally struck two people, and critically injured a third, on Chicago streets last week - Streetsblog Chicago — Streetsblog Chicago
localStorage.setItem('darkMode', val)); } }" x-bind:class="{ 'dark': darkMode }"> Hit-and-run drivers fatally struck two people, and critically injured a third, on Chicago streets last week - Streetsblog Chicago Sponsored Today's stories are presented by # Hit-and-run drivers fatally struck two people, and critically injured a third, on Chicago streets last week 9:41 PM CDT on May 18, 2026 The…
- Slow zones on the Chicago L — Wikipedia
Slow zones on the Chicago L Slow zones on the Chicago L are a recurrent problem. Slow zones are places of track where trains have to run at reduced speeds due to one or more reasons, such as bad track quality, structural issues (e.g. fouling of the ballast, damage to and failure of concrete retaining walls, rotting of wooden ties), signal issues, insufficient power, and construction occurring on…