Chicago Teachers Go On Strike

The Chicago Teachers Union will stay on strike after a weekend of negotiation over their demands that the city improve a variety of support services for students. On Sunday, city representatives said they had reached a tentative agreement on services to offer homeless students, while making an offer to allocate $10 million for staffing to alleviate overcrowding, the Chicago Tribune reported. But not enough progress was made for classes to be held on Monday, meaning classes will be canceled for the third day. At the start of the strike, the union said the city must step up to provide nurses, social workers, and librarians in all schools, as well as assist homeless and housing insecure students with affordable housing. Teachers also said they want a pay raise and the system to hire more teachers to decrease the number of students per class, which can range as high as 40. Chicago Teachers Union President Jesse Sharkley said that union delegates voted unanimously last week to strike after negotiations with the city reached a standstill. “We have not achieved what we need to bring justice and high-quality schools to the children and the teachers of Chicago,” he said. On Sunday, Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson said in an email to parents that the city's proposal includes a pay hike for teachers. “We believe our generous compensation, staffing and class size proposals represent a strong foundation for an agreement that will put us back on the path to success, and we are committed to doing what it takes to re-open schools as quickly as possible,” Jackson said.  CTU last went on strike in 2012, when a standoff lasted seven days. [Chicago Sun Times; Wall Street Journal; Vox; Chicago Tribune]

CAR BAN | The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency board of directors voted unanimously to ban private cars from Market Street, one of the city’s most famous major thoroughfares. The ban is part of the “Better Market Street” plan that will expand a network of protected bike lanes, improve pedestrian walkways and safety features, and create transit-only lanes for buses, emergency vehicles, and taxis. Jodie Medeiros, executive director of Walk San Francisco, spoke in favor of the move. “A half million people walk on Market Street each day, yet it’s one of our city’s most dangerous streets for traffic crashes. The Better Market Street plan will finally change that, plus create a more climate-friendly city and an incredible public space at the same time,” she said. San Francisco Mayor London Breed sent a letter to the Municipal Transportation Agency in favor of the change. “After a lengthy public planning process that included hundreds of outreach meetings and conversations with stakeholders, the city has developed a design that will support Vision Zero safety goals, improve transit and transform Market Street for our next generation,” she said. There was virtually no opposition to the plan, even from companies like Lyft and Uber who will be banned from using the street under the new rules. “We support the Better Market Street project because it is deeply aligned with Lyft’s vision: reorienting our cities around people, not cars,” a transportation policy manager at Lyft wrote in a Medium post. [San Francisco Chronicle; Curbed SF; CityLab]

CONVERSION THERAPY | The mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, is working on a city-wide ordinance to ban conversion therapy, the process meant to change someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity. The practice has been scientifically discredited and has been called cruel for its use of electroshock therapy and physical abuse. Mayor Quinton Lucas said the practice, which is banned in many states and municipalities, shouldn’t be allowed in Kansas City. "It's important for us to join communities around the country. We are standing up as a place that's welcoming to anybody. And that means you're not just welcomed here, but that we are not allowing abusive practices,” he said. Lucas said he is modeling the ordinance after one passed earlier this month by Columbia, Missouri, the first city in the state to ban conversion therapy. The city council there unanimously approved the ban after hearing testimony from former conversion therapy patients, and doctors like Aaron Sapp. “Practitioners are not only engaging in an ethical violation for their professional organizations, but they’re engaging in false and deceptive trade practices,” Sapp said. [KSHB; The Missourian]

DEBT FORGIVENESS | The Washington state attorney general has put out a call to hear from people who have had trouble having their student loan debt forgiven through Public Service Loan Forgiveness. The federal program forgives loan debt for those who have spent ten years working for the government or in nonprofits and who have made timely payments during that period. But while 802,040 borrowers had registered for the program by the end of 2017, the Department of Education has so far approved only 1% of the applications. Attorney General Bob Ferguson is now urging people to submit complaints to his office if they have not received forgiveness. “With the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, the federal government made a deal with students. For a decade, these borrowers have upheld their part of the bargain by using their talent and skills for the public benefit. However, the refusal rates we’re seeing are frankly alarming,” he said. Ferguson has already filed two lawsuits against the federal government to defend student loan protections. [Seattle Times; Access Washington]

EXECUTION VIEWINGS | The Virginia Department of Corrections has asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by media organizations that would allow media witnesses to view the entire execution process in death penalty cases. The suit was filed by the Richmond Times-Dispatch along with several other news organizations that claim the First Amendment guarantees the public the right to view government proceedings, including executions. Margaret Hoehl O’Shea, an assistant attorney general, said that the First Amendment rights to view criminal court proceedings does not extend to executions. “For well over a century, Virginia has mandated—by statute—that executions be conducted in private … there is no First Amendment ‘right’ to witness an execution in this Commonwealth. If this were true, states could be compelled to broadcast executions for public viewing, a position that has been universally rejected by every court to have considered it,” she said. But Anna Kaul, of the Yale Law School’s Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic, said that the case is about constitutional principles. “We are confident in our clients’ claim. The complaint asserts an important constitutional right to know how the Commonwealth exercises its most consequential power,” she said. [The Richmond Times Dispatch; Associated Press]