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  "path": "/wbez-newsletter/2026/04/16/the-rundown-what-to-know-about-electing-chicagos-school-board",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-16T20:45:00.000Z",
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  "textContent": "<p><i>Good afternoon! It’s Thursday, and I’m planning to stream Season 2 of Netflix’s “</i><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/04/16/nx-s1-5781193/beef-season-2-netflix-review\" target=\"_blank\" ><i><u>Beef</u></i></a><i>” this weekend to avoid the rain. Here’s what you need to know today.</i></p><p><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/education/2026/04/16/chicagos-school-board-election-is-coming-heres-what-to-know-and-whats-at-stake\" target=\"_blank\" ><b><u>1. Chicago’s school board election is coming. Here’s what to know and what’s at stake</u></b></a></p><p>Soon, voters will elect all 21 members of the Chicago School Board for the first time — a significant shift for the governing body after being under mayoral control for decades. The city held its first-ever school board elections in 2024, but only 10 seats were up for grabs. The rest, including board president, were appointed by Mayor Brandon Johnson.</p><p>The board has several responsibilities, including opening and closing schools, hiring and evaluating the CPS CEO, approving the budget, the school calendar and vendor contracts and deciding which school buildings get upgrades.</p><p>For the upcoming election on Nov. 3, the city has been divided into 20 subdistricts. Residents will vote for one candidate to represent the area where they live. Candidates who win races for seats currently held by appointed members will serve two-year terms, while those who win seats currently held by elected members will serve four-year terms. The board president will serve for four years.</p><p>Many expect spending in this year’s school board elections to exceed what was spent on the first-ever school board race two years ago: $13 million, according to a Chalkbeat Chicago analysis.</p><p>Still have questions? My colleague’s full guide is in the link, along with a survey to submit your queries to help shape our reporting. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/education/2026/04/16/chicagos-school-board-election-is-coming-heres-what-to-know-and-whats-at-stake\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>Chicago Sun-Times</u></a>]</p><p><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://chicago.suntimes.com/city-hall/2026/04/15/chicago-cab-fare-hike-rideshare-lyft-uber\" target=\"_blank\" ><b><u>2. Chicago cab fares will increase 20% as City Council tries to buoy the taxi industry</u></b></a></p><p>As Fran Spielman reports for the Chicago Sun-Times, this is the first fare increase in a decade. The goal is to help cabdrivers struggling to compete with Uber and Lyft amid skyrocketing gasoline prices and increasing insurance, maintenance and vehicle replacement costs.</p><p>Downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) cast the only dissenting vote — even after acknowledging the taxicab industry has been “eviscerated” by ride-hailing services — to protest what he called “rampant abuse” by cabdrivers who fail to start the meter when a passenger enters the cab.</p><p>The mayor introduced the fare hike last fall, when public attention was focused on the battle over his 2026 budget. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://chicago.suntimes.com/city-hall/2026/04/15/chicago-cab-fare-hike-rideshare-lyft-uber\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>Chicago Sun-Times</u></a>]</p><p>“For a very long time, this is what taxi drivers have been calling for to put them in a stronger and more competitive position, making sure that our workforce is fully supported,” Johnson said on WBEZ’s “In the Loop” this morning. “I’m always going to lean in to ensure that the everyday people who make our city great and who help run our city, that they are fully supported.” [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/city-hall/2026/04/16/mayor-brandon-johnson-ask-the-mayor\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>WBEZ</u></a>]</p><p><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/education/2026/04/15/former-charter-school-executive-tim-king-charged-with-stealing-more-than-100-000-from-urban-prep\" target=\"_blank\" ><b><u>3. A former charter school executive was charged with stealing more than $100,000 from Urban Prep</u></b></a></p><p>Federal prosecutors charged Tim King, who won national acclaim for founding and serving as CEO of Urban Prep Academies on the South Side, with stealing more than $100,000 from the privately run but publicly funded charter school network.</p><p>In a newly unsealed grand jury indictment, the office of the U.S. attorney in Chicago accused King of taking $103,833.31 by siphoning money from Urban Prep’s bank account to pay his credit card bills, my colleague Dan Mihalopoulos reports.</p><p>King’s lawyer Christopher Parente said King denied wrongdoing and expressed confidence he would be vindicated.</p><p>WBEZ first reported in June 2022 that Urban Prep had been mired in deep financial trouble, with Chicago Public Schools officials expressing “grave concerns” about its sustainability. The charter network has since been in a legal battle to keep its two schools open within CPS, which has the power to authorize, oversee and fund charter schools in Chicago. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/education/2026/04/15/former-charter-school-executive-tim-king-charged-with-stealing-more-than-100-000-from-urban-prep\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>WBEZ</u></a>]</p><p><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/arts-culture/2026/04/16/record-store-day-chicago-stores-2026-deals-vinyl-music\" target=\"_blank\" ><b><u>4. Record Store Day returns to Chicago this weekend with live bands, exclusive pressings and $1 deals</u></b></a></p><p>Record Store Day is an annual tradition that, while celebrated around the country, gets special treatment in Chicago. This year, expect more than three dozen shops in the area to fete the occasion with live events and fresh pressings, including a 20th-anniversary release from a-Ha and famed private recordings of John Coltrane’s band by musician Frank Tiberi from the ‘60s.</p><p>Chicago’s independent record stores know how to celebrate, often drawing lines around the block — some starting the night before, my colleague Morgan Ciocca writes.</p><p>You can see her recommendations for shops to check out in the link, including Beverly Records, Pinwheel Records and Val’s Halla Records. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/arts-culture/2026/04/16/record-store-day-chicago-stores-2026-deals-vinyl-music\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>Vocalo</u></a>]</p><p><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/fashion-style/2026/04/16/johnson-publishing-company-alexa-johnson-rice-beech-beauty-ebony-jet-magazine\" target=\"_blank\" ><b><u>5. Johnson Publishing heir Alexa Rice is entering the billion-dollar beauty biz on her own terms</u></b></a></p><p>In a culture obsessed with beauty, Rice’s grandmother was a defining force in Black cosmetics and fashion, WBEZ arts contributor Elly Fishman writes. Eunice Johnson created the Ebony Fashion Fair, and Rice’s grandfather John H. Johnson founded Johnson Publishing Company and became one of America’s first Black self-made millionaires. Rice was raised inside one of the most influential Black business dynasties in American history and in a family that helped establish Chicago as a center of Black economic and cultural life.</p><p>Rice didn’t inherit her grandmother’s beauty business. But she inherited her savvy — and from her Gold Coast apartment, the millennial entrepreneur is building Beech Beauty one shiny lip gloss at a time.</p><p>It took multiple iterations, she said, to create a product that felt inclusive, playful and bold. “This whole clean girl aesthetic, it’s just not for me,” said Rice, laughing at the current fad of dewy, fresh-faced minimalism. “I don’t know her. I wish her luck. She’s in my prayers, but that’s just not who I am.” [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/fashion-style/2026/04/16/johnson-publishing-company-alexa-johnson-rice-beech-beauty-ebony-jet-magazine\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>WBEZ</u></a>]</p><p><b>Here’s what else is happening</b></p><ul class=\"rte2-style-ul\" style=\"margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;padding-inline-start:48px;\" id=\"rte-3e00cc20-39cb-11f1-9239-f7f8d96456a9\"><li>Israel and Lebanon agree to a 10-day ceasefire that’s set to start within hours. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/04/16/g-s1-117656/a-complex-set-of-negotiations-to-end-israels-overlapping-wars\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>AP</u></a>]</li><li>The Commission of Fine Arts voted to move ahead with President Donald Trump’s proposed victory arch in Washington, D.C. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/04/16/nx-s1-5787535/trump-victory-arch-dc\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>NPR</u></a>]</li><li>Here’s a look inside the Vatican bubble during an exchange between Pope Leo XIV and Trump. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://apnews.com/article/pope-leo-xiv-media-coverage-trump-africa-bb65bbd4d88949e549f0b0b27916d5da\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>AP</u></a>]</li><li>Colleges and universities are largely responsible for the public’s distrust in higher education, a Yale University committee found. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/15/us/yale-report-colleges-unversities-trust.html?unlocked_article_code=1.bVA.VzT2.vS64TvPmq7nR&smid=url-share\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>New York Times</u></a>]</li></ul><p><b>Oh, and one more thing …</b></p><p>What makes a good page-turning thriller or mystery novel? What about a good movie adaptation?</p><p>Chicago author Gillian Flynn (author of bestseller “Gone Girl”) stopped by ahead of her sold-out <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/event/wbez-presents-an-evening-with-patrick-radden-keefe-and-gillian-flynn\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>WBEZ event</u></a> to answer those questions, among others.</p><p>“Never answer a question until the audience is asking it,” she said. “That should be the rule for everyone. You don’t get ahead of it; you let the audience go, ‘What?’ and then boom, you bring it down.”</p><p>Her favorite emotion: unsettled. Flynn brought up author Scott Smith, whose novels make her feel like “a rope is tight around your midsection.”</p><p>You can listen to the full conversation in the link. [<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/say-more-with-mary-dixon-patrick-smith/2026/04/14/gillian-flynn-on-what-makes-a-great-mystery-novel\" target=\"_blank\" ><u>WBEZ</u></a>]</p><p><b>Tell me something good …</b></p><p>What nature-related travel memories stand out to you, whether it’s camping, hiking or something else?</p><p>Katharine writes:</p><p>“After getting laid off from my job in 2025 and being so burnt out from working at a desk, I decided to bird in 32 states and see 493 species of birds and countless other natural wonders. Four months in, I saw a Golden Eagle perched on the side of the road in west Texas and cried happy tears for the next hour about how beautiful it was.”</p><p>Chris writes:</p><p>“Several years ago, I was vacationing in San Francisco. When I left SF, rather than coming straight home, I drove north to visit my parents in Oregon. That drive took me through the Redwood Forest in Northern California. I was not only amazed by the beauty of that space, but also the size of the trunks and the height of those trees was astounding!”</p><p>Feel free to email me, and your response may be included in the newsletter this week.</p>",
  "title": "What to know about electing Chicago’s school board: The Rundown",
  "updatedAt": "2026-04-16T20:45:02.033Z"
}