Explore our content

All types | All dates | All authors
Mike Madigan
Quick Hit
by Ellyn Fortino
2:50pm
Thu May 9

Lisa Madigan, Female Leaders Discuss The Political 'Year of the Woman'

Hemlines, husbands and hairdos.

Despite this year being coined the "Year of the Woman" by some political pundits, those characteristics continue to define women seeking a run for public office or who are already in power, said Bev Perdue, former Democratic governor of North Carolina.

But as America's demographic profile continues to shift, and as today's young women enter the workforce, bias against female politicians will eventually dissipate, Perdue added.

"I think you're going to bring about all this change we've been fighting about," Purdue said at a Women In Politics panel discussion at the University of Chicago (U of C) Wednesday evening. "I'd like to live long enough to see a real year of the woman, and actually a year of the gay man and a year of people not worrying about sex or race."  Read more »

Quick Hit
by Ellyn Fortino
11:48am
Tue Apr 16

West Siders Hold Nearby Charters Responsible For Emmet Elementary's Shrinking Enrollment

Emmet Elementary School’s utilization rate is 66 percent, higher than a handful of other Austin neighborhood schools.

Even still, the Chicago Public Schools wants to close it at the end of the year, and that decision continues to puzzle some West Side community members and parents who spoke out against the action before Emmet’s final community meeting last night.

“Unfortunately we have an administration with this corporate ideology of privatizing education that uses our data to punish schools rather than use them as tools to go ahead and improve our children’s education,” said Dwayne Truss with the Austin Community Action Council. “And that’s wrong.” Read more »

Quick Hit
by Matthew Blake
7:34pm
Thu Nov 15, 2012

Emanuel Calendar Shows Mayor Holding On To National Profile

Through a public information request, the Chicago Tribune obtained Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s daily calendar between January and August of 2012. The Tribune’s focus on the hundreds of pages of documents is almost identical to the Chicago Reader, which did a two-part review of Emanuel’s public schedule between January and November of 2011. In a nutshell, the publications noted that Emanuel meets a lot with business leaders.

Emanuel’s ties with business are important given his policy record of ramming the Infrastructure Trust through city council in April, a nebulous effort to use private money for public projects, and expanding his own role as chairman of World Business Chicago, which coordinated the NATO summit in May.

But perusing through the calendar, available on the Tribune Web site, reveals other elements of Emanuel’s tenure including his national profile and approach to the Chicago Teachers Union labor dispute. Read more »