Helen Ramirez Odell Visitation and Chapel Service, Sunday April 3, 2022
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There was a visitation at Malec and Sons Funeral Home Sunday, April 3, from 1 until 5 pm. A simple Chapel Service was held at 3 with a minister who knew Helen.
'Bloody Sunday' still scars Northern Ireland 50 years on
Having lived in Northern Ireland from 1979 to 1984, I learned about how wounds have never healed there. There is still many families traumatized, losing loved one in the sectarian violence with the British forces . . .
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Remembering Our Lady of Angels Fire, December 1, 1958
Remembering the Our Lady of Angels Fire, December 1, 1958
by Susan Hickey
Anyone who was living in Chicago when this disaster happen will never forget it. I was about to turn 10 . . .
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Was Fred Hampton Executed? Dec. 4, 1969
December 4th is the 51st anniversary of the killing of Fred Hampton and Mark Clark by the Chicago Police with the help from FBI and Ed Hanrahan, Cook County State's Attorney. It is a date . . .
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As holiday season approaches, mental health crises in the schools can't be met because of the cuts in mental health workers... while CTU has ignored the issues!
[Reprint from Nov. 21, 2017, yet needed more than ever today especially with the added stress and disease if a World Wide Pandemic and Racist Authoritarian President who seems top be refusing to leave office. . . .
The Sex Abuse Scandal Exposed by Tribune Reporters Have Caused an Outcry...but much more needs to be done...
June began with another scandal for Chicago Public Schools: an expose by the Chicago Tribune of sex abuse and assaults by employees of CPS students. The media has been instrumental in getting Chicago Public Schools . . .
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State rules that CPS has violated the rights of disabled children, takes over monitoring...
On Wednesday, May 16, 2018, the monthly meeting of the Illinois Board of Education (ISBE) voted to accept the findings and recommendations of the investigative committee headed by Stephanie Jones, the ISBE general counsel. The . . .
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Members First draws 250 CTU rank and filers to April 13 event...It's official that Members First will be challenging CORE in the 2019 Chicago Teachers Union election...
There were slightly more than 250 people attending a fundraising event at Cork and Kerry’s on the south side of Chicago for Members First, and they were enjoying pizza and other treats (including "Board of . . .
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Illinois State Board of Education meeting hears the CPS Special Education Inquiry Report... CPS Needs to Make Changes...
The ISBE (Illinois State Board of Education) monthly meeting, held at the Thompson Center on Wednesday, April 18, 2018, was filled to capacity. This crowd was there due to the report of their investigation into . . .
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U.S. Virgin Islands still suffering months after hurricanes hit...
Most of the people who live in the U.S. Virgin Islands are -- like the people of Puerto Rico -- still suffering months after huge hurricanes hits the islands. The media has moved on to . . .
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March for Our Lives: A Movement that Will Shape the Nation’s Agenda draws hundreds of thousands to D.C. and at least 85,000 to Chicago's Union Park event...
The Parkland mass shooting, which claimed the 17 lives -- 14 students and 3 teachers -- has produced a student movement that is reminiscent of the anti-war movement over fifty years ago. The March for . . .
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The neglect isn't limited to Puerto Rico. Five Months After Hurricanes Irma and Maria: Saint Croix Feels Forgotten by the US Government...
The media has moved on to other stories since Hurricane Irma and Maria left death and destruction in the Caribbean which includes Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. I went to see how Saint Croix . . .
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Will CTU hold a new retiree delegate election? Union's financial office has made several mistakes in this important mail-ballot election...
Members of the Chicago Teachers Union's Rules and Electisn Committee received a text on the morning of December 31, 2017. It said: 'The latest retiree election process has turned into quite a mess. I believe . . .
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CTU Retiree luncheon highlights issues facing the union and union retirees... but union officers don't take questions about major changes they are proposing to the CTU Constitution and By-Laws...
The annual retiree holiday luncheon was held Tuesday, December 5th at the CTU headquarters at 1901 W. Carroll Street. There were no new contract books available for retiree members as there has been an edict . . .
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Claypool resignation only the beginning of the necessary clean up... Chance the Rapper and Gubernatorial candidate J.B. Pritzker supports elected school board...
After a denial of wrongdoing, then an ‘apology’, Chicago Public Schools Chief Executive Officer Forrest Claypool resigned effective December 31, 2017. In an unusual press conference )with Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the unelected Board of Education . . .
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As holiday season approaches, mental health crises in the schools can't be met because of the cuts in mental health workers... while CTU has ignored the issues!...
I have learned during my tenure in Chicago Public Schools that little attention is paid to assist students and staff dealing with mental health concerns especially during the holiday season. It is a busy time . . .
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Eyewitness... The Situation in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands: What the Press Is Not Reporting
As Donald Trump has been tweeting about NFL players not standing for the pledge or how he is being badly treated by the press (“Fake News”), the people in the American territories of Puerto Rico . . .
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BOOK REVIEW: Chicago's massive racial segregation and the 'border' along Austin Blvd. between Chicago and Oak Park...
As I was reading the December 2016 Chicago Union Teacher paper that I received in late January 2017, I got very excited to read that a book was written about the racial segregation in the . . .
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Does the plan for a one-day CTU 'strike' on May 1 including a strike against the Special Olympics?... Or did somebody just fail to look at the calendar after the Polar Plunge was ended...
Is it possible that the leaders of the CTU did not look at the Special Olympics 2017 schedule when announcing a one-day "strike" for May 1, 2017? In the rush to have some sort of . . .
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Time Is Running Out on One of the 'Victories' Won by CTU Leadership: the 'Retirement Buy-Out of Veteran Teachers' is not getting enough teachers to risk early retirement with medical and other benefits in danger...
On Tuesday, March 28, 2017, CPS officials sent out the memo (unsigned, but from the "Talent Office", see below) to try to get more veteran teachers to take the "buy-out" incentive that was included in . . .
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BOOK REVIEW: A look back at the 2012 Chicago Teachers Strike in a recently published book by Steven Ashby and Robert Bruno: 'A Fight for the Soul of Public Education (Part 1)'...
The news in Chicago about public education has been catastrophic: looking at every governmental level: federal with the appointment of an avowed enemy of public education, Betsy DeVos, as Secretary of Education; Bruce Rauner and . . .
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BOOK REVIEW: Part Two...A Look Back at the 2012 Strike in a Recently Published Book by Steven Ashby and Robert Bruno: A Fight for the Soul of Public Education (Part 2)...
In 2011 Chicago had a new mayor, a pugnacious foul-mouthed transplant from the northern suburbs, Rahm Emmanuel. He had a reputation in Washington of being combative and he is partially to blame for the breakdown . . .
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Repression against protests grows as Trump administration and Republicans push anti-protester legislations... First Amendment rights of Americans against under attack...
It may be still far from the Kent State and Jackson State massacres during the Nixon administration (when the President and Vice President actually encouraged violence against opposition protesters), the Trump administration is working with . . .
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A week of Trumpism... Trying to make sense of the political climate that is shaping up to be a Horror Movie
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it"; a quote from George Santayana, has been running through my mind since with every new decree (that is what they should be called- NOT . . .
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Women's March on Washington to protest Trump inauguration January 21, 2017...
There will be a Women's March in Washington on Saturday, January 21st starting at ten in the morning. The Women's March on Washington announced that the location of our rally has been approved by an . . .
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Wisconsin lessons for Illinois unions... Before it's too late...
[The following article article appeared more than a year ago -- before Donald Trump was elected President -- and should serve as a warning for Chicago and Illinois. The article is excerpted here. If readers . . .
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Chicago's Women's March Exceeded the Organizers' Expectations... 250,000 Shut Down the Loop... 'It was a cheerful crowd and the signs were poignant...'
Going to the March on Saturday, January 21, 2017, in Chicago gave us a sense of hope after feeling despair the day before with the swearing in of a person that has been epitomizing all . . .
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How the Trump Election Is Negatively Impacting Students in CPS and Across the Country... Hatefilled threats, graffiti and fears are increasing across the USA and across Chicago's schools and communities...
Each day there are reports of harassment across the country of racial, gender, LGBQT, anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim and anti-anyone who does not share the Brietbart view of the world. Following is part of an article detailing . . .
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CPS Security Chief, the 'Crisis Team,' and the real world... A Bizarre Takeaway from the December 7, 2016 Chicago Board of Education meeting...
The Chicago Board of Education meeting of December 7, 2016, had a number of bizarre facets to it, but for me none was as bizarre as the conversation I had with Jadine Chou, Chief Safety . . .
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Hunter Thompson predicted Trumpism years ago... A new look at the Hell's Angels and reality in the USA...
As we approach the inauguration of Donald Trump as President of the United States of America in a few weeks, there have been a number of people trying to make sense of the 2016 presidential . . .
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CHICAGO TEACHERS UNON NEWS: How the CTU sold out clinicians...
I will be giving the Substance News readers background information and reports on how this CTU leadership has sold clinicians out; leaving us in a vulnerable position at CPS in a series of articles. In . . .
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BOARDWATCH: Retired clinician details dangers to children from CPS's privatization of nursing and other health services... [one] The child did not want to come to school because she was afraid of the RCM nurse...
[Editor's Note: As we are reporting at the top of the Substance Home Page this morning, the Board waited until the critics of the privatization of health services all were gone and then called on . . .
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The passing of Martha Jones... Speech Pathologist and Union Delegate Extraordinaire... Funeral Wednesday December 7, 2011
For those of us privileged to have known Martha Jones, the news that she passed away sometime over the Thanksgiving weekend saddened us. On that Wednesday, November 23, 2011 (the day before Thanksgiving), we had . . .
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