by dap | Jan 8, 2025 | Chicago Tribune
The Gary Airport Authority awarded a $70,430 contract Wednesday to B & B Thomas Upholstery, of Hammond, to refurbish 76 passenger seats in the airport’s terminal.
While there’s still no news on a commercial airline to fill those seats, the airport’s terminal is undergoing a renovation project in anticipation of landing a new carrier soon.
In September, the authority approved $525,695 in contracts including electrical work needed for new screening equipment and two passenger bridges that escort passengers from their plane into the terminal.
The renovation also includes HVAC improvements, new flooring, painting, updated fire protection, plumbing, casework on cabinetry, drywall, doors and hardware.
The terminal hasn’t had passenger service since Allegiant Airlines stopped its flights in 2015. It hasn’t been updated since 2001.
In September, executive director Dan Vicari said negotiations with commercial airlines were ongoing. He declined to identify the airlines, but said he hoped an announcement would come soon.
Vicari said Transportation Security Administration rules require a 90-day preparation period, once an airline commits to passenger service.
The terminal renovation will bring the airport into compliance with TSA standards, Vicari said earlier.
Carole Carlson is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
by dap | Jan 8, 2025 | Chicago Tribune
Despite City Hall’s claims, the City of Chicago Board of Ethics said it did not provide Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration with an opinion about whether he should resign from Chicago Public Schools to avoid a conflict of interest.
The ethics board told the Tribune this week it has “no documents showing any written opinions” about Mayor Brandon Johnson taking a leave of absence from CPS, nor has it ever issued any written or oral opinions or guidance about CPS leaves by city officials or employees.”
The
that Ben Felton, a high-ranking CPS staffer, called on the mayor to resign from CPS after his election in 2023, but City Hall shrugged off the concerns.
In a June 28 memo, Felton wrote he was “concerned that it could be a potential conflict of interest for the mayor to be an employee of an organization that he was overseeing (through the appointment of the Board of Education).” In the memo, Felton suggested the mayor resign from CPS instead of remaining on what is known as a “CTU leave of absence.” Union members can sometimes take leaves and return to their jobs later.
Johnson’s former education chief, Jennifer Johnson – who is unrelated to the mayor – told Felton that the city’s ethics advisor “did not have concerns” about the mayor remaining on leave from CPS (instead of resigning) and that they would ‘keep the status quo for now.”
The “status quo” included Jennifer Johnson – then deputy mayor for education, youth and human services – also remaining on leave from CPS instead of taking a personal leave of absence as Felton suggested. Jennifer Johnson stepped down from her role at City Hall in October.
It is unclear who Jennifer Johnson consulted when she said she’d conferred with the city’s “ethics advisor.” Steven Berlin, the executive director of the City of Chicago Board of Ethics, said neither the staff nor the board was consulted.
That raised questions about the timeline of events offered by CPS before.
When the mayor was inaugurated in May 2023, he was still on a CTU leave of absence from CPS.
That’s what led Felton to advise then-Deputy Mayor Johnson to speak with the city’s “ethics advisor” in early June of 2023, he wrote in the memo.
In the June memo, Felton wrote, “My primary concern is that the Mayor and Deputy Mayor would be able to guarantee future employment with CPS if they chose to return to the district, as our current practice is to place employees returning from a CTU leave into the reassigned teacher pool.” Felton added, “While I imagine it is unlikely that Mayor Johnson would return to the classroom, this is not an immaterial benefit.”
The memo says Jennifer Johnson, told Felton that Mayor Johnson did not want to leave CPS “so as to signal his support for education and teachers.”
A little over a week later, according to the memo, she said she had spoken with that person and saw no need to move beyond the “status quo.”
When the Tribune reached out to the mayor’s office for clarification, they asked for more time to comment but ultimately did not answer repeated requests about specifically who Jennifer Johnson spoke to on the ethics board.
In December, Johnson’s press secretary, Erin Connelly, told the Tribune the mayor “is not a CTU member.” She said he ended his employment and membership with the teachers union in April 2023. “His leave status at CPS is similar to that of other public officials who formerly served in other public service areas such as CPD, CFD and CPS as teachers. There is not a conflict,” she said.
CPS is currently negotiating a new contract with its powerful teachers union; salaries are a big sticking point.
Meanwhile, Chicago Teachers Union members have repeatedly said there is “historical alignment with the mayor,” considering his background as an educator and former CTU organizer.
The mayor started his career as a social studies teacher in 2007. If he were to go back to teaching, he would return with almost two decades accrued toward his salary and pension.
In an unrelated interview this week, Johnson told the Tribune, “There’s no job waiting for me over there in Chicago Public Schools.”
“I enjoy teaching, but I have a unique honor of serving as the mayor of the greatest freakin’ city in the world,” he said, adding he might “go back and teach at the college level, but that’s, you know, several terms from now.”
by dap | Jan 8, 2025 | Chicago Tribune
The wide net the Chicago Bears are casting in search of the 19th coach in team history includes at least one college coach.
The team is expected to meet with Iowa State’s Matt Campbell, according to multiple sources.
Campbell, 45, has been the Cyclones coach since 2016, and his name has popped up previously for jobs not only at more traditional college powers, but also in the NFL. The Detroit Lions were rumored to be pushing to hire him in 2021.
Campbell, who was the coach at Toledo before taking the Iowa State job, guided the Cyclones to the Big 12 title game this season and the first 10-win season in program history. He was rewarded in December with an eight-year contract extension that runs through the 2032 season.
He is the third-longest-tenured coach in program history and has the most wins at Iowa State with a 64-51 record.
Bears general manager Ryan Poles made it clear the team’s search will take it in many directions. It’s believed the Bears began virtual interviews Wednesday.
“It’s going to be a diverse group,” Poles said Tuesday. “This will be different backgrounds from offense, defense, special teams, college, pro. We’re turning every stone to make sure we’re doing this the right way.
“There’s going to be some names that you don’t expect that are going to surprise you because we’re digging deeper than we ever have before.”
Poles said the Bears will announce the names of candidates after interviews are completed, with permission of the candidate. Given the sensitive and competitive nature of college recruiting, it’s possible the Bears wouldn’t release Campbell’s name or any other college coaches they might interview — but the Iowa State coach is a candidate for the job.
by dap | Jan 8, 2025 | Chicago Tribune
BERLIN — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Wednesday that the principle of inviolability of borders applies to every country, however powerful, and suggested that expansionist comments by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump are meeting with “incomprehension” among European leaders.
Trump on Tuesday said he would not rule out the use of military force to seize control of the Panama Canal and Greenland — an autonomous territory of Denmark, a longtime U.S. ally and a member of NATO and the European Union. He declared U.S. control of both to be vital to American national security.
In a hastily arranged statement to reporters, Scholz said he spoke earlier Wednesday with several European leaders, whom he didn’t name, and the president of the European Council.
He said it was a longstanding central principle that “borders must not be moved by force,” a principle that Russian President Vladimir Putin violated with his war in Ukraine.
He said that during Wednesday’s discussions “a certain incomprehension became clear regarding current comments from the U.S.”
“The principle of the inviolability of borders applies to every country, regardless of whether it lies to the east of us or the west, and every state must keep to it, regardless of whether it is a small country or a very powerful state,” Scholz said.
“It is a fundamental principle of international law and a key part of what we call Western values,” he added.
Scholz did not refer to Trump by name or mention the details of his comments.
The center-left Social Democrat, who is seeking a second term in an early election next month, also noted that NATO is “a central pillar of the transatlantic relationship.”
At his news conference on Tuesday, Trump said he believes that NATO should dramatically increase its spending targets, with members committing to spend at least 5% of their GDPs on defense spending, up from the current 2%.
Germany, a target of Trump’s ire for failing to meet the latter target during his first term, raised its spending to meet it in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Scholz said there is a “regulated procedure” within NATO for determining the necessary military capabilities. He said “it is important that we stand together and act in unity on these questions.”
by dap | Jan 8, 2025 | Chicago Tribune
Lake Superior Judge Gina Jones declared a mistrial Wednesday in a Merrillville motel murder, citing an unspecified medical emergency, court records show.
Barry “Blu” Billingsley, 45, is charged with murder and aggravated battery in the Oct. 2, 2021, shooting death of Anthony Gibbs, 36, of Highland. He has pleaded not guilty.
The case has been rescheduled or delayed several times.
A new hearing is set for Jan. 15.
Police called to the Economy Inn, 8275 Louisiana St., found Gibbs “unresponsive” around 6 p.m. on the sidewalk outside, shot in the face and leg, according to court documents.
His girlfriend was sitting on stairs nearby, shot in the foot, the affidavit states. Her pit bull was also wounded in the leg.
mcolias@post-trib.com
