Chicago Teacher Strike Looms; Harrisburg Police Drone Accused of Spying
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel Charles Rex Arbogast / AP Photo
Connecting state and local government leaders
Also in our State and Local Daily Digest: Uber and Lyft back in legal limbo in Philly; Ohio considers voting to abolish state agencies; Wyoming replaces state license plates
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
TEACHERS | The Chicago Teachers Union has marked October 11 as the day they will go on strike if an agreement isn’t reached to replace a contract that expired more than a year ago. It would be the second time schools were shut down due to teacher striking in Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s time in office. Apparently the negotiations haven’t been going very well. When asked how close they were coming to making a deal, the president of the union answered, "I don't even know what 'close' means anymore." The city’s Board of Education is preparing for the worst. Similar to the 2012 strike, the board has authorized a $15 million emergency plan to shelter and feed students if teachers walk out. [Chicago Tribune]
HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA
POLICE DRONES | A flap over an aerial drone demonstration for police in Harrisburg continued Wednesday, as Police Chief Thomas Carter appeared before the City Council. During the demonstration, a drone contractor recorded video of police officers talking to a black man near the Susquehanna River. Later the company posted the footage on YouTube, where it drew complaints that the police department was "spying on a random black person.” Mayor Eric Papenfuse believes police should have taken more precautions to protect the video. “It speaks to the fact that if we ever were to actually employ drone technology, we'd have to have very clear policies and procedures,” he said. [PennLive]
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA
RIDESHARING | Starting this Saturday, Uber and Lyft are going back to legal limbo in the City of Brotherly Love. The temporary authorization for these ride-hailing services, that was provided by the state legislature ahead of the Democratic National Convention, expires this Friday. Philadelphians, however, are unlikely to notice that anything has changed. The two companies have, after all, worked as rogue operations in the city since their debut in 2014. The change could mean the Philadelphia School District loses out on some money, although no one really knows how much. During Uber and Lyft’s moment of legality, the legislature had given the district 66.7 percent of the money collected from a 1 percent tax on rides. [Philly.com]
COLUMBUS, OHIO
STATE AGENCIES | State agencies could find themselves dissolved if lawmakers don’t vote to continue them, per a bill that just passed the Ohio Senate. Agencies would be forced to prove their worth according to criteria such as whether they serve the public interest, increase efficiency and reduce costs. Their regulations would be compared to those of other, similar state agencies should the bill become law. “This bill intends to reassert legislative authority,” said Senate President Keith Faber, a Republican. Senate Democrats argued the bill was an attempt to by the GOP to shut down government. [The Columbus Dispatch]
CASPER, WYOMING
LICENSE PLATES | New scenery will soon replace an image of the iconic Teton mountain range on Wyoming’s license plates. State law mandates that the plate design must change every eight years and beginning in 2017 it will feature Lower Green River Lake and Squaretop Mountain in the Bridger-Teton National Forest. As with the current plates, the new ones will have a cowboy riding a bucking horse overlaid on the background. [Casper Star Tribune]
NEXT STORY: Route Fifty Roadmap: A Dispatch From a Remote U.S.-Canada Border Post