Daywatch: No easy solutions for CPS

Good morning, Chicago.

A report commissioned by Mayor Brandon Johnson’s handpicked Board of Education president confirmed what Chicago Public Schools officials have known for months about the district’s financial woes: There are no easy solutions.

The school board released a report from outside financial advisory firm Baker Tilly yesterday, two days before a meeting where board members will vote on a measure that will have huge financial implications for the district and the city moving forward.

According to the report, massive midyear cuts would require significant staff reductions or as many as 10 to 11 furlough days across the district. Asking the city for more money from tax increment financing, or TIF, districts “presents challenges,” the report says. And debt restructuring, an option recently floated by the city, could also pose risks.

Read the full story from the Tribune’s Nell Salzman and Alice Yin.

Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day, including: 2025 Chicago Top Workplaces nominations opening, changes ordered for Chicago’s crosswalks and the Kane County Cougars under new ownership.

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Nominations are open for 2025 Chicago Top Workplaces

Not everyone is lucky enough to work at a great workplace. If you do, it’s worthy of recognition. Be honored as a Top Workplace in Chicagoland.

It all starts with a nomination. The deadline for nominations is April 25. Anyone can nominate any organization, whether it is public, private, nonprofit, a school or even a government agency. To nominate an employer or for more information on the awards, just go to chicagotribune.com/nominate or call 312-878-7356.

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams return to Earth after 9 months stuck in space

Stuck in space no more, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams returned to Earth yesterday, hitching a different ride home to close out a saga that began with a bungled test flight more than nine months ago.

Their SpaceX capsule parachuted into the Gulf of Mexico in the early evening, just hours after departing the International Space Station. Splashdown occurred off the coast of Tallahassee in the Florida Panhandle, bringing their unplanned odyssey to an end.

Previously classified files related to JFK assassination released

Previously classified documents related to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy were released following an order by President Donald Trump shortly after he took office.

The vast majority of the National Archives’ collection of over 6 million pages of records, photographs, motion pictures, sound recordings and artifacts related to the assassination have previously been released.

Indiana Medicaid bill amended to remove 500,000 cap, but health officials say bill still harmful for recipients

A proposed cap on Medicaid enrollment to limit participants to 500,000 was removed from Senate Bill 2 yesterday, which will advance to the House Ways and Means Committee to determine its fiscal impact. The bill maintains the work requirements, with 11 exemptions.

Judge orders Chicago to install audible crossing signals for the blind and visually impaired

A federal judge has ordered Chicago to install audible crossing signals at intersections with traffic lights to help people who are blind or have problems seeing to cross public streets.

The order would require the city to install at least 75 accessible pedestrian signals this year and more than 100 every year until at least 71% of intersections have the devices within 10 years.

Mayor Brandon Johnson defends asking city contractors to take pay reductions

After pushing Chicago contractors to voluntarily reduce their prices, Mayor Brandon Johnson defended the request yesterday as “standard procedure.”

Johnson’s remarks came after Chief Procurement Officer Sharla Roberts sent emails to prime contractors doing business with the city last Wednesday asking for “a price reduction of minimally 3% off all invoices sent to the city for the next twelve months off any contracts you currently hold.”

Columbia College names new president

Columbia College Chicago announced the appointment of Shantay N. Bolton as president of the school, beginning July 1. The former executive vice president and chief business officer at Georgia Institute of Technology will be the first woman of color to lead the school, and the first woman in nearly 90 years, Columbia said in a statement.

Damage to Elgin church roof likely caused by straight-line winds, NWS says

Straight-line winds — not a tornado or microburst — are the likely cause of the damage done to the roof of First United Methodist Church in Elgin by a storm that moved through the area Friday night, the National Weather Service said.

Homewood-Flossmoor High School to pay $3.5 million to settle lawsuit alleging it failed to protect student from assault

Homewood-Flossmoor High School District 233 will pay $3.5 million to settle a 2022 lawsuit brought by a now former student who claimed school officials failed to protect her from an alleged sexual assault at the Flossmoor school.

Then a 17-year-old junior at Homewood-Flossmoor, she claimed a male student at the school raped her at the end of October 2022, and had been harassing and making sexual advances toward her for some weeks before the assault, according to the lawsuit.

Kane County Cougars sold; team to keep playing in Geneva

The Kane County Cougars are being sold to REV Entertainment, a Texas-based sports and entertainment company, with the baseball team to keep playing at its longtime home in Geneva.

Chicago Bears Q&A: When did they last invest so much in the O-line? How high is too high to draft a RB?

The initial wave of NFL free agency has passed, and the Chicago Bears continue to fill out the roster for coach Ben Johnson’s first season while looking ahead to next month’s draft.

General manager Ryan Poles put a heavy emphasis on the line of scrimmage in his early trades and signings, but his offseason work is far from done. The Tribune’s Brad Biggs sorts through what’s next in his weekly Bears mailbag.

Sehri scenes at Cafe Bethak in Lombard: Samosa chaat, card games and chai during an early morning in Ramadan

Nimra Irfan opened Cafe Bethak with her husband Ibad Ali just over a month ago and extended the cafe’s hours to 4 p.m. to 4 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays during the month of Ramadan for the early morning meal known as suhoor, or as it’s referred to in Urdu, sehri. She said the crowds are expected on weekends, but sometimes it’s families with children and older adults and other times, it’s largely young men in prayer thobes prolonging their evening before suhoor.

Review: New bilingual musical ‘Go Dog Go! — Ve Perro ¡Ve!’ has world premiere at Chicago Children’s Theatre

Like some of the best picture books for the youngest readers, there’s not much of a plot to the latest production at Chicago Children’s Theatre, “Go Dog Go! — Ve Perro ¡Ve!” Rather, this musical is structured as a series of vignettes and relies on colorful images, repetitive language and whimsical movement to portray a community of dogs at work and play, writes Emily McClanathan. Just as illustrations in a book can help kids connect written words with their meanings, the show’s seamless blend of English and Spanish offers a gentle primer in bilingual comprehension.