Good morning, Chicago.
Rebeca Salazar’s morning routine is familiar. For the last three years, she wakes up and travels the few blocks from her house to McNair School of Excellence in Austin, where students and staff know her affectionately as “Miss Becky.” The commute is the shortest in her 25 years as a Chicago Public Schools custodian.
Salazar, 65, knows her day will include cleaning floors and bathrooms in between classes long before she steps foot in the school at 11 a.m. The school’s second floor, which houses third, fourth, fifth graders and special education students, is hers to maintain. She’ll likely be tasked with cleaning up accidents, saving the day by doing the work others often don’t want to do. But for the children she has watched grow up and formed connections with, it’s work worth doing.
This month, however, Salazar was blindsided by a layoff notice from the district with no prior warning. Her husband, also a custodian, got the same notice. They were among more than 1,200 privatized custodians laid off by CPS on Aug. 1, part of an effort to save $40 million as the district tries to plug a $734 million deficit.
Today, the board faces mounting pressure to pass a balanced budget, but despite already cutting thousands of jobs, it’s still unclear how they’ll get there. And in the days leading up to the vote, the fight over labor — and jobs like Salazar’s — has come to the forefront.
Read the full story from the Tribune’s Kate Perez, Nell Salzman and Alice Yin.
Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day, including what Black MAGA activists in Chicago say of the president’s attention, a suburb offering an interim superintendent $1,500 a day and the latest fight between President Donald Trump and Gov. JB Pritzker — this one involving fish.
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A woman is allowed to drop off flowers at the Annunciation Catholic School sign near the scene of a shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church, Aug. 27, 2025, in Minneapolis. (Renée Jones Schneider/Star Tribune via AP)
What we know about the shooter who killed 2 and wounded 17 in Minneapolis
Authorities are working to learn the motive of the shooter who fired into a Minneapolis Catholic school’s church during Mass, killing two children and injuring 17 worshippers.
Officials identified the shooter as Robin Westman, 23, and said Westman was found dead in the parking lot from what they believe was a self-inflicted gunshot. The FBI is investigating yesterday’s shooting as an act of domestic terrorism and hate crime targeting Catholics, officials said.
Susan Monarez, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, arrives to testify before the Senate HELP Committee, at the Capitol in Washington, June 25, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
CDC director Susan Monarez is out after less than one month on the job, federal officials say
The director of the nation’s top public health agency is out after less than one month in the job, and several top agency leaders have resigned.
CDC dramatically scales back program that tracks food poisoning infections
Why getting a COVID-19 vaccine is likely to be more complicated this year
Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, one of Advocate Health’s 11 Illinois hospitals. (José M. Osorio/Chicago Tribune)
Advocate Health Care no longer prescribing gender-affirming care medications for patients under 19
Advocate Health is pulling back on its gender-affirming care for minors, joining a growing list of hospital systems in Illinois and across the country cutting the services amid threats to their federal funding.
The Brandon Road Lock and Dam can be seen Monday, Feb. 1, 2021, in Joliet, Illinois. The Army Corps of Engineers is currently working on a project to deter Asian carp from reaching the Great Lakes by constructing an acoustic fish deterrent, electric dispersal barrier, engineered channel, flushing lock and air bubble curtain in the area. (Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune)
Trump says he won’t fund invasive carp barrier unless Pritzker ‘asks.’ But the money has already been set aside.
As tensions rise between Illinois politicians and President Donald Trump over his plans to deploy the National Guard to Chicago, the latter contrasted Democratic governors’ resistance to their desire for federal assistance on an issue that has plagued the Great Lakes for decades: invasive carp.
Jessica Jackson, left, and Danielle Carter, right, try to shout their opposition to speakers supporting Chicago’s sanctuary city status during the public comment period at a City Council meeting on Jan. 15, 2025, at City Hall. Jackson and Carter are part of the group Chicago Flips Red. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
‘Our president is listening’: Handful of Black MAGA activists in Chicago catch Trump’s eye
The women in red hats are met with eye rolls, indifference and jeers during Chicago City Council meetings.
But in the past week, their movement has been embraced on live TV inside the Oval Office.
Former Illinois GOP Chairman Don Tracy talks with reporters during Republican Day at the Illinois State Fair, Aug. 14, 2025, in Springfield. (Dominic Di Palermo/Chicago Tribune)
Republican US Senate hopeful Don Tracy lends $2M to his campaign fund
Former Illinois GOP Chairman Don Tracy said yesterday he has loaned $2 million to his nascent campaign seeking the Republican nomination for the state’s open U.S. Senate seat next year.
Sheila Harrison-Williams, center, interim superintendent for Dolton West Elementary District 148, addresses the school board on Aug. 26, 2025. (Olivia Stevens/Daily Southtown)
Dolton 148 approves contract for interim superintendent at $1,500 per day
Less than two weeks after Superintendent Kevin Nohelty announced his abrupt retirement, the Dolton West Elementary District 148 board approved a contract for his interim replacement Tuesday.
Sheila Harrison-Williams will be paid $1,500 a day for up to 120 days, according to board President Shalonda Randle. Students returned to District 148’s 10 early childhood, elementary and junior high schools last week.
Rebecca Ruiz, a parent student advocate, plays “Ring Around the Rosie” with first graders during recess at McCormick Elementary School in Little Village, Aug. 21, 2025. Parent student advocates come at recess to engage and play with the kids as part of the school’s social-emotional programming through CPS’ Sustainable Community School program. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)
As budget deadline looms, CPS adds over a dozen new sustainable community schools: What to know
The Board of Education named the Sustainable Community Schools as a strategic priority in its 2023 five-year plan. The recently ratified CTU contract also included the creation and funding of more Sustainable Community Schools, with each school receiving $500,000 annually.
With payroll on the line, Chicago school board faces vote on budget and new member
Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler looks on before an NFL football game against the Denver Broncos in Chicago, Aug. 11, 2016. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Former Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler sentenced to 4 days in jail for DUI
Jay Cutler will spend four days in jail after pleading guilty to driving under the influence, WSMV reported.
Cutler, 42, was arrested in October after he rear-ended another vehicle with his pickup truck. Police said Cutler smelled of alcohol, had bloodshot eyes and was slurring his words. According to an arrest affidavit, Cutler offered the other driver $2,000 to not call the police and to let him drive away.
Illinois coach Bret Bielema runs practice at Memorial Stadium on Aug. 7, 2025, in Champaign. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
Big Ten football: What to know about every team before the season kicks off
Welcome to the 2025 college football season.
The Big Ten, which has won the last two national championships, for the third year in a row has two of the top three teams and six in the Top 25 — including No. 12 Illinois. Here’s what to know about the 18-team conference before kickoff.
From left: Adam Brody as Noah and Kristen Bell as Joanne in Season 2 of “Nobody Wants This.” (Erin Simkin/Netflix)
TV for fall 2025: 25 shows, including a Glen Powell comedy and the return of the rom-com ‘Nobody Wants This’
Here’s a look at what’s coming up this fall. There are at least four separate “hmmm, something strange is going on”-type thrillers starring women, writes Tribune critic Nina Metz. Make of that what you will.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/08/28/daywatch-laid-off-cps-workers-question-next-steps/
