>> Hello and thanks for joining us on Chicago tonight.

I'm Nick Blumberg.

Brandis Friedman has the evening off.

Here's what we're looking at.

New records put a price tag on efforts to monitor CBD.

Slow compliance with the consent decree.

And Chicago's first team takeover of 2026.

Raises questions about public safety and 3rd spaces for young people.

>> First off tonight, it's official Chicago Public Schools has a new permanent CEO.

The Chicago School board today approved a contract for Macklin King by a vote of 18 to one king who's been serving as interim CEO since last June was awarded a three-year contract with an annual salary of $380,000.

A former teacher and Principal King previously served as Mayor Brandon Johnson's policy director for education, dormant.

>> This moment and what it means to our future does not escapement love I understand that this could be my on my resume.

However, this truly is a commitment to community.

It is a responsibility I carry with the weight.

Every student's future in mind, vice president.

you know, search had been marred by board complaints about mayoral interference.

>> And by multiple reported candidates dropping out.

We've got more about the search and the challenges ahead for King on our website.

The new push to allow incarcerated Illinoisans to vote.

Advocates gathered today at Rainbow PUSH headquarters to show their support for the reintegration and civic Empowerment or race Act, which would restore voting rights for an estimated 35 to 50,000 eligible Illinois voters behind bars.

Backers say incarcerated people are facing inhumane conditions and are calling on the governor.

House speaker, Senate president and the Black Caucus to prioritize this bill during this legislative session.

>> The Illinois legislature has been kicking the can down the road on this bill for quite some time.

We've been trying to pass this bill for 5 years and every year they hide behind another reason for why they can't pass it.

The reality is this is a human rights issue.

People deserve to have a voice in a democracy.

That is it to that is determinant.

Their lived experience.

>> Cook County property taxes skyrocketed at double the rate of inflation over a 30 year period.

That's according to a new study from Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas is office which looked at property tax bills between 1995, 2024. taxing agency sent bills of 19.2 billion dollars in 2024. compared to 6.8 billion dollars in 1995.

That's 180% increase during that same time period.

Inflation rose by less than 91% and average wages rose by 161%.

The study found in a statement Pappas who's up for reelection and considering a Chicago mayoral run called on state legislators to pass significant tax reform and find ways for local taxing agencies to cut spending.

Adding the annual increases in taxes are relentless, taking more and more money out of people's pockets.

Up next, the hefty cost to monitor Chicago police.

That's right after this.

>> W T Tw News coverage of policing and police reform is supported by the Joyce Foundation.

>> 7 years of extensive oversight from a federal judge designed to reform the Chicago Police Department has come at a significant cost for Chicago Taxpayers W T Tw News.

Heather Reporter Heather joins us with a first of its kind analysis.

So have you examine the cost of the independent team of experts on policing and reform are charged with implementing the court order known as the consent decree.

What did you find?

Well, this 11 member team, which is charged with being U.S.

District Court, Judge Rebecca, Paul Myers, eyes and ears on the consent degree.

He's paid been paid.

26.8 million dollars between 2019 when the decree went into effect.

>> And 2025, that is a significant amount of money for a city that's facing a massive budget crisis.

Also in 2025, it reached a new height of nearly 4.8 million dollars for all of last year.

That is a significant bill indeed.

So break it down for us.

What exactly are taxpayers paying for?

Well, this team, which is led by attorney Maggie Hickey, is charged with figuring out if CPD and of course, the other city departments that are covered by the consent decree are doing what the finding court order says they have to do.

Now.

They assess compliance on 3 levels.

Preliminary secondary in full compliance.

CPD has only reached full compliance with 22% of the consent decree.

If the monitors next report is due out in early April.

So do we know how long the city will be on the hook to pay these bills?

Well, the consent decree was supposed to be done by the end of 2024, but it was extended for 3 years to at least the end of 2027.

It will be up to Judge Paul Meyer as to how long it continues for long as it does.

The city will be on the hook to pay this bills submitted by the monitors every month.

Yeah, certainly 22% compliance with less than 2 years to go quite a mountain to climb there.

They sure Alright, Heather, Thanks so much.

Thanks, Nick.

And you can read Heather's full story on our website.

That's at W T Tw Dot com Slash news.

>> Chicago tonight is made possible in part why the Alexandra and John Nichols family.

The Pope Brothers Foundation.

And the support of these donors.

>> 8 arrests and 20 for curfew violations issued last week.

Chicago saw its first so-called team takeover of the year.

Hundreds of young people gathered in the loop, packing sidewalks and streets leading some to renew calls for a stricter curfew ordinance.

Mayor Brandon Johnson last year vetoed a measure that would have allowed police to impose a so-called snap curfew earlier than 10:00PM in an effort to curb large crowds of young people from gathering.

Joining us to discuss the issue are Pastor Sandy Norman community organizer and founder of the outreach Group Life Beyond Limits.

Andres, I asked a retired Chicago police sergeant and member of the Puerto Rican Police Association board.

Coleman coordinator for Voices of Youth in Chicago, Education at Communities United and by Zoom, Rodney Phillips, associate director of crisis prevention and response at Metropolitan Peace Initiatives.

We also invited a representative from the city of Chicago, but they were unavailable.

We have a statement from the mayor's office will read later in the program that we think the 4 of you for joining us this evening.

So Sandy, you were at last week's team take over.

What did you see there?

saw at least about between 3 to 400.

>> You that were It was very chaotic when I got there the scene was chaotic.

Just kids Some of the children were fighting and then it's the crowd different kids in different spots.

But for the most part, it was definitely chaotic, chaotic situation with kids fighting.

And of course, anytime kids here, police or they think the police are near, you know, it's it causes more chaos and very, very chaotic.

Did you get a chance to speak with any of the young people there?

What you hear from them?

I did.

I spoke to quite a few teams.

even took teen's home to kind of assist with the helping them to stay out of troubling and trying to get them out of the environment.

Most of the teens said that they were there to have a good time spent to meet up because it was spring break.

Some of the concerns that they addressed to me.

We're that when they when they are other people that come, you know, I'm just going to be honest on the terminology that they use in the street when cops see ops.

And so that is the terminology that these kids use.

Normally when you have different teams that, you know, don't like each other and they wound up all coming together.

That's where you have the problems that come in the fighting.

And then it just turns into, you know, what should be peaceful into total chaos.

Yeah, it may not be the goal, but folks who have contentious relationship with one another.

And up in this this tightening the sags so understand town alderman Brian Hopkins.

He's he's once again calling for snap curfew powers for police.

>> He's a bit of what he said about last week's takeover.

The situation was out of control about an hour ago, but then at 10:00PM and order was issued for curfew enforcement.

It had an immediate impact on this violent teen trend.

Curfew enforcement is effective.

Do you agree with him?

I do agree.

Absolutely.

I agree with superintendent's position and I think most officers agree to.

>> There has to be a curfew.

Yes, there has to be accountability.

But how we go about it.

I think we need to come back to the table with collaborators and and get us away from the silo and get us into a think tank and look at it from a task force we have we got to get the smartest people in the room.

Emotional intelligence is important.

We have to get the right people.

We've done it for other major campaigns in 95.

96, we had the heatwave.

What do we do?

We put plans to save lives.

These kids need to be safe too.

But remember, they're suffering from trauma and so are the parents.

And when you put this all together night, the pastor was seen the kids are fighting each other from neighborhoods from sets from clips, for clips and so on and so forth.

And they're bringing it to their final destination.

The goal isn't to to to to cause problems.

The problems find their way there.

And then everybody gets caught up in it.

And you know how off our officers trained to respond to large groups of young people, particularly in a potentially cats like that.

So I can tell you that with the stand on the orders that came out in 2005 2006 and eventually eroded away.

So now do we have that same tools?

Not can use the old tools.

We have to come up with a new hybrid way of the dressing.

Our youth and what they're going through because there's a lot changes that recognize.

We recognize that as well.

Yeah, you know, you work with many young people would hear from them about their perception of Chicago police.

>> A lot of my own people talk about the root cause of the problem is youth mental health.

It's important that we focus on it.

Getting funding for youth, mental health.

We're not asking anyone to reinvent the wheel right?

It gets these things are already happening.

But how do we expand them?

Because a lot of the young people are saying, hey, a lot of these programs literally are limits it.

You have to be on the waitlist different things like that for a lot of these programs.

And they're saying, hey, we're not going into these communities trying to be violent.

We're going into these communities because isn't safe.

Gun violence is happening.

Game violence and different things like that are happening in these young people's community is so we have to actually pay attention to.

Curfew.

Doesn't stop a bully.

You know?

So, yeah, that's definitely what a lot of people are saying.

Yeah, and sort of to to and races point about, you know, convening people bringing people together.

How important is it?

>> To have the folk, the voices of young folks at the table for something like that.

It's very important, especially in the time right now.

I think that yes, the adults going to run the space to run the room.

But the young people who are directly impacted are the ones who should make the decisions of, you know, what happens to them?

I think that young people have for a long time what they need and why they needed there.

If we don't listen our young people will continue to be in that the spaces that we're in now, I think young people should be in the room all the time.

Not sometimes.

I think that we should continue to think about what it does it mean to truly invest in young people in their mental health into how do we keep them close spaces, Rodney, like to bring you and you know, you work in crisis prevention.

What is your role look like before law enforcement that's involved?

>> I do feel of social directed a precious Ponce.

My role is to be a a it would be a buffer between we have a professional, understandably the acpd.

But we also have a built relationship with tea.

So we mainly step in and engage a there and try to keep down the conflict so they won't get a rare state.

No, and things like that.

And we got a step and break and a lot of fights.

Well, a lot CPI, you worthless, come from Khamenei organization.

That's in the neighborhoods that come from.

So we already have a relationship with a lot of them.

So this is like a a year.

going crash response and we we respond to downtown 31st.

Street Beach is stand things like this.

A lot of what I would play a crucial role was like a go between the 2.

>> And at what point does a large gathering of young people become potentially a crisis in your view?

>> Like they earlier.

So this stops off initially.

I believe everybody calm.

We good intentions, but because a trauma and the things that go through in a neighborhood and we got a real live and work a week.

He is so they don't process and deal things deal with things like we do.

We A scientists say a look at it as when they ran into ops and then you do a lot of variables.

You know, teens down there.

You go into alcohol.

He's going So, yeah, potential for real dangerous situation.

is is going take a very so I won't Like Me like CPD saw just say it.

is going take us to get a Roman.

He everybody set.

I do believe that some of the children should be there because believe it or not, some gusts not enforce They have the flu most and just got to be directed in a positive way.

>> Well, the mayor's office, they had this to say regarding the last takeover utilizing existing curfew laws.

Cpd worked alongside community violence, intervention workers present on the scene and the Cook County Sheriff's Office to safely disperse a group of young people who gather downtown and restored order to the affected area.

We are confident that the city's public safety infrastructure and current laws equip CPD with the tools needed to effectively mitigate these incidents when they cannot be prevented in advance.

And rusty, do you think that's fair to say or the mayor and other leaders doing enough on this issue?

I want to say that people's hearts are in the right place.

I just believe that.

They have really do some self awareness is some soul searching and they have to really realize that are they here to temporary, put a Band-Aid on the problem of do they want to solve?

Years and years of trauma.

I mean, these are the kids that are going to take care of us when we no longer can take care of ourselves.

So if we don't invest in our youth today.

We lost a we lost girls and club.

We've lost the Boy Scouts of America.

We lost on the social groups of basketball in the Parks night Games.

We lost all Why?

All right.

Our youth isn't worth it.

No, I think our youth is worth it.

They're a great investment.

We just gotta get the.

If the folks one credit.

>> For this, you know what?

It's a collective good.

The supply this 21st century mission towards helping all the kids in the United States.

Not just Chicago.

How about this?

And even what do you think helps reduce potentially violent incidents, violent gatherings among young people.

>> So I work with a lot high risks.

You may not work some of that youth that have been shot that have you know, she talked about mental health issues.

>> And even as you talked about, it's going to take a collaboration of people that actually know what they're doing and it's going to have to include the u N people that are actually boots on the ground that work with children that are related bowl, all, you know, with the EU.

And I also want to say that it's going to take the parents that need to get more also involved, you know, with the children also as well as song.

I just feel that as I've been doing, violence prevention for almost 7 years in mostly zones.

And so those are really like high crime areas.

And I work a lot with the children.

As you said, it's about, you know, even the approach as we talked about the way that you deal with all the children, you got to show the children love.

You got to give the children a place to go.

And if they don't have activities and things really to and especially the parents the have to play, I believe big part and even working with the police department.

And so I know for me, I work with the police department.

I work with parents and I have to honestly say that we have to prepare for situations like this because even being on site, there were not a lot of violence prevention organizations that where they are.

Then if I could just tell the truth, which is that's why I'm here to tell the truth.

And so you got to have, you know, people in place you got to be prepared.

You need I think that we need to listen to the police department also as And as we said at the table, you got to bring the youth to the table because these are the people that are going to be affected and it just needs to be people that are doing this not for, as you say, credibility, but we really want to do this because we don't want to put a Band-Aid on the problem.

We want to get to the root it and we want real solutions so that our children can Yeah.

How about that?

I mean, what?

What are some of the things you'd like to see, you know, put into place here?

I would definitely like to see young people at the tables making the decisions because like I before, they are the ones who are directly impacted and know what they need and what they want.

>> I would like to see an investment in our young people.

I would like to see our young people being able to join these different programs with.

They are able to continue to connect with each other because we just came off of COVID not too long ago and this pandemic has really to us created silos of different communities.

And so we need to come together as one to continue to help our young people navigate.

And yeah, I definitely would like to see us do If we can do that, we would a long ways.

Yeah, yeah.

And you know, just mention folks have boots on the ground.

You know, you have concerns that some of the folks who are making decisions here who are weighing in on these issues don't necessarily have direct experience with with this field.

for you know, riding from your perspective with with a moment like what we saw in the loop.

What would an ideal response have looked like?

>> Ideal.

you through how how it happened.

So we were close with city and the weeks.

A lot of times we get we get our information about trends in real life time.

someone from city or too many it they are contact me.

They'd be up.

Watch an light social media.

So to a post on on responds be to get there the foam before.

lot.

The key is not able to get in a large crowd able to engage Well, also have you know, CPD and whether down it's not like they say it's not working silos but working together.

But here he is.

The is the thing right him.

asked to be accountability.

Around board.

Like, like I say, been Teen takeovers tree is my team have been a spray beat makes some of the things you know.

And the thing years we have to have some type accountability.

I don't just have them so.

But I'm glad Page, the passion.

And I've been doing not light.

The young Lady Sandy is some people out here who says say on all those have to be at the table.

It's our trees are different.

You know, it's easy to say.

One thing.

But when you get down to bulls on ground, it could be a whole different thing.

It came that the plan.

So it's is is is sort of like we have things in place, but it's not enough.

And that's that's the just not enough.

We need a whole wrap-around services for children.

>> You know me, I we're talking about the issue of the snap curfew coming back into debate once again.

have concerns.

already mentioned the difficulty.

Sometimes the folks who work with have in terms of their relationship Acpd.

Do you think something like a snap curfew could make that even more challenging relationship?

It definitely simply because a lot of our young people have expressed that they are not super comfortable with police officers and >> if there has been, you know, ways that folks have tried to mend that relationship and different things like that.

But the reality is young people need to see folks that look like them.

Young people need to see folks in their community that are actually trying because if you can't just come up to Christmas say, hey, my name is so and so you have to actually build that relationship.

And the young people are looking for relationship building with you know, looking for someone backs them about a meal that they ate today.

It's just that simple Haywood to him today.

You could get a million people.

Just person.

Sorry, just like that.

And so I definitely have high concerns for that.

We've got just about 30 seconds left.

But Anderson, want to ask you, what do you think success looks like?

Is it fewer gatherings or safer ones?

>> You know, it's safer.

>> And and that's what really comes down to.

I remember growing up in Humble Park.

I remember when we left the neighborhood to go to Oak Street Beach, North Avenue Beach.

And we know that we couldn't go to Florida to beach for obvious reasons, other neighborhood kids.

So we stay within our own lane.

We were dealing with the same thing.

We left our neighborhood to go someplace safe.

Well, guess what?

It's changed entire neighborhood is going.

Good with the bad and the bad a small percentage.

But the spectator sport of it all is where it becomes a problem.

And it's everyone wants to be a spectator.

Everybody wants that video.

Everybody wants to get the social media.

I got that one.

A very different environment that you sold me.

Yes, we can approach in 19 like you would in 1985. where we had no cell phones.

We need to 20 26.0 26 solution.

Alright, and I know there's a lot of work to be done on that.

That's what we'll have to leave it for tonight.

But we thank you all for sharing your insights.

Pastor standing arm in the eye of Coleman and race, I think and Rodney Phillips.

Thank thank >> And that's our show for this Monday night.

Join us tomorrow night at 5, 30 10.

Now for all of us here Chicago tonight.

I'm Nick Blumberg.

Thank you for watching.

Stay healthy and safe and have a good night.

>> Woes captioning is made possible by Robert a cliff and Clifford law offices, Chicago, personal injury and wrongful death for with more than 40