Axios Chicago
July 21, 2025
1 big thing: Public weighs in on $734M CPS deficit
Chicago Public School officials will host a final public meeting tonight to discuss the district's $734 million budget gap.
Why it matters: It finishes a series of feedback sessions designed to give residents an opportunity to weigh in on balancing the CPS budget.
Between the lines: During a Thursday meeting at Roosevelt High School in Albany Park, the breakout discussion tables were heavily populated by Chicago Teachers Union members.
- Many promoted the official CTU budget strategy — reject school cuts and seek more state funding — a view largely repeated when each table shared their group's consensus plan at the end of the night.
Yes, but: Some broke form by suggesting that CPS rescind its offer to pick up $175 million in city pension obligations and even to consider consolidating underenrolled schools.
By the numbers: CPS projects a budget of $8.43 billion for FY 2026, with $5.8 billion in personnel costs and $2.6 billion for operations and funding charter schools.
- The district spends $817 million a year in loan repayments alone.
- Without cuts and revenue boosts, CPS projects a $1.3 billion deficit by 2030.
Zoom in: Three main factors are driving the deficit, according to CPS:
- Costs to serve students with disabilities, which have grown by $450 million since 2019.
- Building expenses that include $14 billion for backlogged repairs, and costs for more engineers and maintenance that have boosted spending by $100 million since 2019.
- Growing pension payments, including the $175 million CPS took over from the city.
If you go: CPS is hosting its final session virtually tonight at 5:30pm. You can register here.
What's next: CPS must present a balanced budget to the board by Aug. 28.
2. Noncriminal ICE arrests spike in Illinois
ICE arrests of people without criminal charges or convictions have soared nationwide, including in Illinois, per data compiled by the Deportation Data Project at the UC Berkeley School of Law.
Why it matters: The surge came after the Trump administration tripled U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's arrest quota, and it marks a major shift from the president's pledge to target the "worst of the worst."
By the numbers: In January, ICE arrested 160 people in Illinois, of whom 31% had no criminal charges, an Axios analysis found.
- By June, 61% of the 333 people ICE arrested in the state had no criminal charges.
What they're saying: "This disturbing data trend reflects what we've been hearing on the community level and on our hotline: that ICE under the Trump administration is expanding their operations and attacking our families at a rate we haven't seen before," Brandon Lee, communications director at the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, tells Axios.
The big picture: Nationally, people without criminal charges or convictions averaged 47% of daily arrests in early June — up from about 21% a month prior, before the quota increase, according to Deportation Data Project figures.
The bottom line: The Trump administration is casting a far wider net than initially promised — and Illinois and Chicago are facing increased enforcement as a result.
3. Native American affordable housing breaks ground
Chicago has moved closer to the city's first affordable housing complex for Native Americans.
Why it matters: The metro area has the third-largest urban Native American population in the United States, about 65,000, WBEZ reported last year.
Driving the news: Mayor Brandon Johnson joined developers last week for a land blessing at Jigzibik, an apartment building in Irving Park that will have 45 affordable units designed for Native American residents.
- Jigzibik is a Potawatomi word for "at the river's edge."
Zoom in: Each unit will have a balcony so residents can burn sage, Shelly Tucciarelli of Visionary Ventures, a Native American housing advocate, tells Axios, and they are working on getting native plants for a rooftop garden.
- Apartments range from studios to 3-bedrooms amenable to multi-generational households.
- Prices will be based on the low-income tax credit rate at the time when the building is completed next fall.
4. Tips and hot links: Jewel groceries up by 4.2%
Be a Local News Champion
5. Vote: Best ice cream shops
It's time for our monthly tournament, designed to choose the best of all things Chicago.
This month, we are diving into one of our most cherished institutions —ice cream shops.
Why it matters: Ice cream parlors help tie our neighborhoods together. The best are seared into our city's collective consciousness.
- Whether it's soft serve, sundaes, milkshakes or a heaping pile of all of it (including sherbet), we love our sweet treats.
Methodology: Here's the hard part. We could only pick 16 places for this tournament, so there are some stipulations.
- We only picked spots in the city. We'll leave the suburbs for a different tournament. We did, however, include Dairy Star, since that is so close to the city limits.
- We excluded big chains. So no Baskin-Robbins, Dairy Queen, Jeni's, Oberweis or La Michoacana.
- No gelato spots or Italian ice stands. Sorry, Black Dog and Mario's!
Vote for the first round here. We'll keep the polls open until 4pm.
6. 1 picture to go: Aldermanic dugout
Axios Chicago
