? Below: Billionaire-backed groups aligned against the Chicago Teachers Union are aiming their dollars at attacking the CTU's pick for school board president.
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Big money races: For the first time on Nov. 3, the city will elect all 20 members of Chicago Public Schools' board of education and a citywide president. Cash is flooding the election, the bulk so far coming from wealthy, often suburban donors, whose political groups have outraised the Chicago Teachers Union 5:1 and outspent CTU nearly 3:1, our analysis of campaign finance filings shows.
CTU pushback: Charter school backers and a few prominent billionaires aligned in a shared antipathy for the teachers union have aimed their millions at attacking Hilario Dominguez, the CTU's board president pick, rather than at bolstering any particular candidate, our analysis shows. More than a quarter of the $8.1 million total spent on all races so far by these political action committees and the independent expenditure committees has targeted Dominguez. The spending to oppose Dominguez is more than four times the amount spent on the top supported candidate, Jessica Biggs.
Proxy battle?: The billionaire-funded political groups see the school board races as an opportunity to take down the CTU before the mayoral race in February, one expert said. Mayor Brandon Johnson remains closely allied with the union, which helped catapult its former organizer to office.
More on elections:
'Seasonal sweet spot': The housing market slows down in the fall, as children return to school and families prep for upcoming holidays. That means buyers who've struggled for months to find a home within their budget could score a discount, as sellers are eager to part with homes they've not yet sold. "The seasonal sweet spot represents the time when discounts off a home's original asking price ... are typically near their highest," according to a recent Redfin report.
Key context: This seasonal moment comes amid an inventory crunch and rising mortgage rates, factors that sideline many buyers. "October is the best time to negotiate because those sellers that haven't sold yet are going to be willing to lower their price. But the high mortgage rates have just priced out a lot of people who just can't work it under these higher mortgage rates," a Redfin rep said.
History-changing figure: The late Al Raby, a civil rights changemaker and Chicagoan, was honored Friday in Woodlawn with a street dedication ceremony and proclamation of February 19, 2027, as Al Raby Day. The block-long stretch of Cottage Grove Avenue between 63rd and 64th streets is now Al Raby Lane.
His legacy: Raby, a former school teacher who died in 1988, is known for orchestrating a school boycott of nearly 300,000 students to protest segregation in 1963, bringing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to Chicago in 1966 to protest poor housing conditions for Black Chicagoans, and serving as the campaign manager for Mayor Harold Washington's 1983 election as the city's first Black mayor.
Today's clue: ___ Kare, Apple employee who designed the "Chicago" font
Makgeolli, Korea's oldest alcoholic drink, is now being brewed in Chicago.
Yido, located on the Near West Side, specializes in brewing makgeolli, an unfiltered rice wine that's naturally fermented with a starter culture — similar to kombucha. The drink is often described as being creamy, tart and sweet with fruity notes.
"(Chicago) really cares about local craft and artisan creators, and so it just seemed like a big unfilled gap," said Yido Brews founder Peter Quinn Woo Chung of starting his brewery.
Chung was born and grew up in the Chicago area, but he spent a year in Seoul, South Korea, from 2018 to 2019 for a postgraduate fellowship. There, he said, he discovered and fell in love with the taste of makgeolli.
Without any locally brewed options, Chung resorted to buying makgeolli at chain supermarkets. But he said he was disappointed with the artificially sweetened options he was finding in stores. So, he set out to make his own.
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Written and curated by: Matt Moore
Editor: Michael Lansu
Copy edited by: Satchel Price
