Erin Allen: I’m Erin Allen and this is the Rundown. We will finally get to see the updated international terminal at O’Hare Airport. Yesterday, Chicago officials cut the ribbon on a $1.3 billion terminal renovation. The original Terminal 5 was built more than 30 years ago, and as Chicago’s gateway to the world, it's a part of why O’Hare is the second busiest airport. Watch out Atlanta. The latest expansion created more gates and concessions. Jamie Rhee is the Department of Aviation Commissioner, and she says these investments will support O’Hare’s long term future.

Jamie Rhee: O’hare 21 is designed to transform the passenger experience from curb to gate, while meeting the needs of the traveling public throughout the 21st century. 

Erin Allen: Construction started in 2019, and accelerated during the pandemic since activity at the airports was at an all time low.

The staffing shortage news continues, this time in Illinois public schools. My colleague Char Daston is reporting on a survey of districts across the state that found nearly 4 out of 5 of them reported a shortage of teachers already this year. Almost every district said the problem was the same or worse compared to last year. The survey came from the Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools. Their president, Mark Klaisner said not enough teachers were applying, and schools had to make do with long-term substitutes or teachers trained in the wrong subject or grade level.

Mark Klaisner: One of my colleagues mentioned he knew of a middle school in his region where not one of the teachers was fully endorsed to be teaching what they were teaching.

Erin Allen: But district officials also said the state has some tools to make things better. For instance, state policies that allow substitutes to work more days per school year have helped. But over 80% of district officials said the state should make it easier to pay teachers more, which would help recruit and retain more of them. Makes sense.

In other education news, yesterday, the Illinois State Board of Education announced Tony Sanders as the state’s new school superintendent. Sanders is replacing Carmen Ayala, who’s been serving since 2019. She retired yesterday. John Burkey is the executive director of the Large Unit District Association. He gave Ayala her propers on her leadership during the pandemic.

John Burkey: This is not the four years you thought you were going to get when you took the job. But with leadership, you have to take what's thrown at you. And I think you did a great job trying to navigate through a very difficult couple of years.

Erin Allen: Illinois has a new state superintendent of education who will start later this month. Sanders is currently leading the Elgin-based district: U-46, which is the second largest school system in the state. He’ll start his new position at the end of this month, which again is February. Like how are we already here? 

The city of Chicago has been negotiating with utility company ComEd for months on a franchise agreement, and they’ve finally reached a new deal. Mayor Lori Lightfoot is expected to introduce it at the City Council meeting today. The deal allows ComEd to keep providing electricity to Chicagoans for at least 15 years. It also includes a so-called “Energy and Equity Agreement” that’s supposed to establish some environmental, social and economic goals that ComEd would help the city accomplish. For instance, the city is saying ComEd will commit to using up to $120 million in shareholder funds, in part for community projects aligned with the city’s Climate Action Plan. The last agreement with ComEd was nearly three-decade long, and it expired in 2020.

And it's time for quick hits. Before we get to the weather, another COVID update. Yesterday, Governor JB Pritzker announced the end of Illinois’s COVID disaster emergencies, which lines up with President Biden’s announcement that national health emergencies will also expire, both on May 11. Pritzker was careful, though to add that the emergency’s over, but danger is not. COVID-19 has not disappeared. Yeah, we know.

And another L for the Chicago Sky yesterday, 13 year veteran Courtney Vandersloot said she also won’t be returning to the team next season. The Sky lost Candace Parker to free agency earlier this week. Now with Courtney gone, they’ll lose a four-time all-star and longtime captain.

As for weather, temperatures are still in the single digits right now, but it’s jumping up to a high of 27 today. And the sun is out all day so soak it in. Tonight, partly cloudy, low in the 20s.

And that's it for The Rundown. Later today, libraries have been a battleground for free speech for a long time. But over the last couple years it’s been next level in the US, including the Chicago area. Ban the books, don’t ban the books, just move the books up to where the kids can’t see. 

Adora Namigadde: How do I maintain the professional standard of allowing my kids to have access to books, but how do I also grapple with the fact that some of this kind of feels like a personal attack?

Erin Allen: My colleague Adora Namigadde will tell us how the back and forth at libraries in the area is affecting library staff and changing the culture of libraries at large. That’s today at 2pm. I'm Erin Allen, I'll talk to you then.

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