Midwest
Chicago’s selective schools grapple with budgets woes due to new equity policy: report
Chicago Public Schools’ (CPS) new funding formula has reportedly impacted the district’s most selective and competitive schools.
CPS officials in March voted on an “equity-based” formula that prioritizes the district’s underfunded schools. School districts typically issue funding based on enrollment population.
Among the selective schools reportedly impacted by the funding formula is LaSalle Language Academy–a distinguished institution from other schools in the district due to its world language program–it offers daily classes in Spanish, Mandarin, and other languages.
CHICAGO SCHOOL PRINCIPAL SAYS POLICE ARE IN SCHOOLS ‘THAT WANT THEM’ AFTER THE MAYOR SUPPORTED THEIR REMOVAL
Chicago Public Schools’ new funding formula has reportedly impacted the district’s most selective and competitive schools. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
LaSalle boasts diversity in different backgrounds and cultures among its student population.
According to the Chicago Sun Times, local school council members at LaSalle fret over such language courses being impacted due to budget cuts next fall.
“They’re grappling with whether they can continue the programming they say makes their schools — which have no neighborhood boundaries and admit based on lottery or academic requirements — the gems of the district,” Sun Times reported.
“The world language program is fully integrated into every aspect of the curriculum,” said one of the council members. “And to strip that piece of the identity away… it is really difficult to fathom the consequences.”
CPS officials told Fox News Digital that advocates have been protesting against that model for decades because it is attributed to school funding inequality. Back in 2020, community members provided feedback to CPS that “student-based budgeting wasn’t working.”
“This new model removes the ability of schools to use social capital to advocate and earn more positions or funds,” a CPS spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
“As our Budget and Management Office and the Office of Network Support works with schools and LSCs on their FY 2025 budgets, we are applying the formula to help schools make evidence-based decisions for each school as they transition to working under the new model,” the spokesperson said.
In response to the backlash, CPS said that “school budgets are not being reduced” but rather “some schools may see shifts.”
“CPS is maintaining the overall level of funding to our schools,” the statement reads.
The new changes that seek to lift disadvantaged schools have drawn concern from parents, WBEZ reports.
“Many parents have been concerned about their future after the school district eliminated busing to them, citing a bus driver shortage, and the school board passed a resolution calling for a shift away from school choice,” the outlet reported.
CPS officials reportedly said back in December 2023 that they aren’t looking to dismantle schools with selective enrollment like magnet and charter schools. However, that could happen if the community wants it, as officials plan to facilitate public comment to weigh in on issues over the next few months.
The spokesperson told Fox News Digital on Thursday that “the resolution has no immediate impact on selective enrollment schools” and “it only sets parameters for the development of the District’s next strategic plan.”
“The primary goal of the resolution was to prioritize neighborhood schools and students furthest from opportunity and ensure that all students have access to a world-class, public pre-k-12th grade education,” the spokesperson added in a statement released to Fox News Digital.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson gives an update on migrant issues at City Hall on Jan. 29, 2024, in Chicago. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
The funding formula comes amid CPS facing a $391 million budget deficit and a dwindling COVID-relief fund.
CPS funding formula stems from their resolution they passed last year that moves away from school choice and bolsters the city’s neighborhood schools to address “long-standing structural racism and socio-economic inequality.”
CHICAGO MAYOR SLAMMED AFTER CITY APPROVES RESOLUTION CALLING FOR CEASE-FIRE IN GAZA AS CRIME RUNS RAMPANT
According to the resolution that was passed, the board looks to “transition away from privatization and admissions/enrollment policies and approaches that further stratification and inequity in CPS and drive student enrollment away from neighborhood schools.”
“The new budget model also offers a streamlined funding formula that more clearly shows how education is funded in our District,” a CPS spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
The spokesperson added that under this new “FY 2025 budget model, selective enrollment and magnet schools will continue to receive the funding to support the robust and rigorous teaching and learning offerings that have led many of them to land among the state and national top school rankings.”
Chicago Public Schools voted to remove school resource officers from the 39 schools where they still patrolled. ((Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)/(Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images))
The funding formula change has been a “long time coming,” a CPS spokesperson said.
“For many years, CPS community members have advocated for a budget that better supports schools in historically under-resourced communities that are supporting students with the greatest needs,” the spokesperson said.
CPS stated that the FY2025 budget model “puts equity first while still accounting for the student population of each school.”
“This new budget model will not disproportionately impact selective enrollment or any other type of school. While still preliminary, the majority of our selective enrollment schools will maintain or improve upon their current number of teachers,” the spokesperson explained.
“We have given our principals, our Local Schools Councils and parents updates on this new funding model and will continue to inform our CPS community through direct outreach and via the Budget page on the CPS website.”
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Supreme Court rejects Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order
The Supreme Court struck down limits on birthright citizenship, a centerpiece of President Donald Trump’s immigration policy.
Immigration has been a defining force in creating the nation’s identity over the last two and a half centuries and continues to shape the country and Michigan as the United States looks beyond its 250th birthday on Saturday.
That was on display in Southwest Detroit during a recent weekend event, as hundreds gathered for the unveiling of a state historical marker honoring a Latina activist.
“Michigan is defined by the efforts and cultures from the waves of immigrants who began to arrive when we were still a territory,” said Laurie Kay Sommers, a folklorist and historic preservationist based in Okemos, who has been writing about Michigan history and culture since the 1970s.
While the state was once shaped by waves of German, Irish, Dutch and Polish immigrants who arrived in the 19th century seeking job opportunities, especially as the auto industry exploded, immigration continues to play a key role in the state’s population.
Immigration is the sole reason the state’s population is growing, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures, adding 55,000 residents in the 21st century. Population counts are a key factor in determining how much federal aid flows to states, counties and communities through hundreds of federal programs, according to the Project on Government Oversight, a nonprofit government watchdog based in Washington, D.C.
“All the growth in Michigan between 2020 and 2025 is attributable to immigration,” demographer Kurt Metzger said. “In other words, we’ve gotten more people from other parts of the country than the rest of the country got from us.”
According to the American Immigration Council, about 7% of Michigan’s population was born in another country, while another 7% are native-born U.S. citizens but have at least one immigrant parent. Metro Detroit’s immigrant population is even higher at 10.7%.
The Trump administration has sought to rein in immigration, specifically those who’ve entered the country illegally. Heightened immigration and customs enforcement since the start of Trump’s second term, as well as executive orders, have led to court cases and clashes with activists across the country.
Trump touched on the dangers of illegal immigration during his June 24 remarks at the opening ceremony of the Great American State Fair in Washington, D.C., marking the start of celebrations for the nation’s 250th anniversary.
“We inherited the worst, most dangerous, most wide open and insecure border in history, and we have quickly turned into the strongest, most secure border in the history of our country,” said Trump, according to video of his remarks posted online by Fox News.
“We are removing murderers, gang members, drug dealers and dangerous criminals by the thousands. They came in through a ridiculous open border.”
How immigration has evolved in Michigan
Still, how Michigan immigrants are reshaping Michigan continues to evolve.
In Detroit, a city once made up of a wide range of immigrants, the southwest side is one of the city’s last ethnic enclaves. Home to thousands of Latinos, it reflects how the contributions of immigrants and their descendants have shaped Michigan even before it became a state in 1837.
The Smithsonian was one of the sponsors of an event Saturday that recognized part of southwest Detroit’s commercial corridor, full of Latino businesses, which is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
In a separate event, about 100 people attended the Sunday unveiling of a State of Michigan historical marker in honor of Dr. Lucile “Luci” Cruz Arellano Gajec, a community organizer, author and historian, who died in 2008.
“It’s well-deserved and long overdue,” said Tobi Voigt, director of museums for the State of Michigan Historical Center, at the unveiling of the historical marker at 4000 W. Vernor.
Latino businesses in southwest Detroit are just one example of the way “Main Street” businesses in Metro Detroit rely on immigrants to own and operate restaurants, hardware stores, dry cleaners and pharmacies, to name a few professions, according to a recent study by nonprofit Global Detroit that explored the immigrant impact on the economy. Global Detroit said it advocates for “equitable local, regional and statewide economic growth through immigrant inclusion.”
The April report, called “Job Creators: How Immigrant and Diverse Entrepreneurs Drive Metro Detroit’s Prosperity,” found that while immigrants comprise 10.7% of Metro Detroit’s population, they make up 12.5% of the workforce, 18.4% of area business owners and 23.8% of “Main Street” business owners.
Like many immigrant business owners, Gias Uddin Talukder, a Bangladeshi immigrant, saw a niche that he could fill to help others in his community. In 2013, Talukder started Bengal Auto Sales, a used-car dealership in Hamtramck, to serve other Bangladeshi immigrants who have formed a community on the border of Hamtramck and Detroit.
“I want to be known as more than just a businessman; I want to be involved in lots of activities,” Talukder said in an interview with the nonprofit New Economy Initiative.
He has given cars away to those in need and has raised thousands of dollars for various charities.
The largest number of immigrant business owners in Metro Detroit were born in Iraq, according to the Global Detroit report. Organizations such as the Chaldean Chamber of Commerce and the Chaldean Free Loan Fund have invested millions of dollars to support start-up businesses within the Chaldean community, as well as services for immigrants and refugees.
The West Bloomfield-based Chaldean chamber said an estimated 59% of Chaldean households own at least one business.
“Immigrants are critical drivers of the small business economy and are well-represented among the region’s business owners despite their small share of the population,” the Global Detroit report said. “The facts rebut tropes that immigrants take jobs from U.S.-born workers. Immigrants expand the economy.”
Changing demographics
Still, data shows that the mix of those who come to Michigan from other countries is changing.
As the six-county Metro Detroit area continued to lose both Black and White residents in the last five years, the region experienced double-digit increases in the Asian and Latino populations.
In 2023, the region’s Asian population of 261,532 residents surpassed the Latino population’s total of 250,215. The latest Census data doesn’t fully capture the impact of Middle Eastern immigrants because, until recently, they were categorized as White. In 2024, President Joe Biden’s administration created the designation of Middle Eastern or North African (MENA) as a new federal race category.
The enduring influence of previous waves of immigration is felt in every part of the state, said Sommers, the Okemos-based historic preservationist. Whether it is the French names of cities like Detroit or Calumet, the former Finnish churches in the Upper Peninsula or the many local bakeries on the west side of the state that sell Dutch or Czech pastries, the impact can last through food and historical architecture.
“Much of Michigan’s surviving 19th and early 20th century buildings were built by immigrant carpenters, brick layers, iron workers,” Sommers said. “Much of the interior artistry of major architectural landmarks were decorated by immigrant artisans.”
Same immigration concerns, but a different century
Immigration at times has also created a backlash in the form of anti-immigration policies, nativist rhetoric and sometimes violence.
Much of the language and immigration policy of the Trump administration echoes the early 20th-century battles to halt the influx of Southern and Eastern Europeans, among others, said Ashley Bavery, an associate professor of history at Eastern Michigan University.
“There’s a lot of rhetoric about how immigrants are going to pollute the good Nordic and Protestant stock of America, and America is going to turn into something, kind of racially, that wasn’t right,” Bavery said. “They’re going to be too many Catholics and too many Russians and Poles, just to name a few.”
The Trump administration has justified its immigration enforcement efforts as an attempt to collar and expel criminals — whom Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has termed “the worst of the worst” — who entered the country illegally while deporting undocumented immigrants it has encountered.
There were federal laws a century or more ago that limited the flow of immigration. In Detroit, during the 1920s and throughout the Great Depression, the city’s police chief teamed up with a local federal representative of immigration services to conduct what they called “a deportation war,” Bavery said.
Bavery is the author of a 2020 book, “Bootlegged Aliens: Immigration Politics on America’s Northern Border,” that looks at the labeling of immigrants as criminals, among other things. The book examines the policies applied to combat “bootleggers,” the smugglers of Canadian alcohol across the Detroit River during Prohibition, who sometimes would also transport a handful of immigrants on the boats along with the illegal booze.
23.8% of ‘Main Street’ businesses owned by immigrants
The April report by Global Detroit found that while immigrants account for 18.4% of all the business owners in the region, they are 23.8% of the business owners of so-called “Main Street” businesses. Those include supermarkets and grocery stores, convenience stores, pharmacies, gas stations, as well as hotels and motels.
Behind Iraq, India ranks as the second most common country of origin for business owners in Metro Detroit, followed by Romania.
Still, the report found that barriers remain for many immigrant entrepreneurs, especially in accessing loans and grants.
“The region’s economic success will depend, in part, on its ability to spark, attract, retain and nurture a wide range of businesses from a diverse group of business owners,” the report said.
laguilar@detroitnews.com
LUVERNE, Minn. (FOX 9) – There’s a new giant in town, and it’s turning heads and bringing the world to Luverne.
Luverne unveils a record-breaking nutcracker statue to attract visitors
What we know:
Towering 65 feet above a rock shop near the edge of town, Luverne’s new nutcracker statue is believed to be the tallest in the world—almost twice as tall as the current record holder.
“We know he’s the tallest because he is almost twice as tall as the current world record holder,” said Katie Walgrave, who designed the statue.
The nutcracker was finished a couple of weeks ago and has already drawn visitors from as far as Wales and China.
“This week we’ve had people from Wales. We had people from China last week,” said Walgrave.
The statue sits just a block from the interstate, with the goal of enticing travelers to stop and explore Luverne instead of driving past on I-90.
“We’ve just needed something to pull people off the interstate before they get to Sioux Falls or something like that. It’s basically we’re trying to mine the interstate,” said Vance Walgrave, owner of Those Blasted Things.
Since the nutcracker’s arrival, local businesses have seen a surge in visitors.
“The people coming in here were double and triple the amount of people. Just overnight, all of a sudden, we were going, did we create a monster?” said Vance Walgrave.
‘If you build it, they will come’
The backstory:
The idea for the giant nutcracker came after city leaders wanted a new attraction, something even more unique than the area’s previous claim to fame — a herd of bison at Blue Mounds State Park. A marketing consultant suggested something that would truly stand out.
Betty Mann, who has the second-largest collection of nutcrackers in the United States, played a big role in inspiring the project. Mann has collected over 7,000 nutcrackers since 2001, enough to fill two rooms at the Rock County Historical Society and outnumber the residents of Luverne.
“I bought my first nutcracker in 2001, and if you’d have told me then that this was all going to happen, I would have told you, ‘You’re crazy,’ because I had no clue. This just exploded, and there was really nothing I could do to stop it,” said Mann.
Mann donated her collection to the historical society, and she hopes the new statue will bring even more people to see what Luverne has to offer.
“It brings people to Laverne to see what we have. And then you’ll see all the good things that we have in our museum here. And that was my intent,” said Mann.
The city is planning an official ribbon cutting for the nutcracker in a couple of weeks. Anyone who donates $20 to the statue maintenance fund will get a chance to name the new resident.
“I’ve been hearing nutty a lot, but we’ll see,” said Vance Walgrave.
For many in Luverne, the nutcracker is more than just a statue — it’s a symbol of community pride and a way to put the town on the map.
“Anytime you see something weirdly big or weirdly small, we’re going to be interested in it. So if we can have something weirdly big that brings people off of the interstate and off of the highway and from all over the world, we are going to do it,” said Katie Walgrave.
The nutcracker joins other Minnesota record-holders, such as the largest ice maze and the tallest family, adding to the state’s reputation for quirky, oversized attractions.
Local perspective:
Residents are excited to see their town getting attention for something so unique.
“I just love that we’re doing something big for the community that everybody can benefit from,” said Katie Walgrave.
The nutcracker has already made an impact, with local shops and museums reporting more visitors and a renewed sense of excitement around town.
“Oh, they’re just kind of whimsical. There’s really nothing much to like about them. It just, some of them are kind of goofy looking and some of the are really a work of art,” said Mann.
‘It’s just the visual effect of it’
Why you should care:
Luverne’s giant nutcracker is not just a roadside oddity — it’s a new reason for travelers to stop, explore, and support a small Minnesota community. The project shows how creativity and a bit of whimsy can help put a town on the map and bring people together.
The upcoming ribbon cutting and naming contest offer a chance for everyone to get involved, whether they’re locals or visitors just passing through.
The Source: This story uses information gathered by FOX 9 reporter Maury Glover.
The Missouri Lottery offers several draw games for those aiming to win big.
Here’s a look at July 1, 2026, results for each game:
Winning Powerball numbers from July 1 drawing
02-06-26-39-68, Powerball: 06, Power Play: 2
Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Pick 3 numbers from July 1 drawing
Midday: 1-3-3
Midday Wild: 9
Evening: 3-8-0
Evening Wild: 5
Check Pick 3 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Pick 4 numbers from July 1 drawing
Midday: 0-5-9-5
Midday Wild: 1
Evening: 5-4-4-8
Evening Wild: 5
Check Pick 4 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Cash Pop numbers from July 1 drawing
Early Bird: 12
Morning: 03
Matinee: 01
Prime Time: 07
Night Owl: 02
Check Cash Pop payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Show Me Cash numbers from July 1 drawing
05-07-18-25-33
Check Show Me Cash payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Powerball Double Play numbers from July 1 drawing
10-20-30-60-64, Powerball: 07
Check Powerball Double Play payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your lottery prize
All Missouri Lottery retailers can redeem prizes up to $600. For prizes over $600, winners have the option to submit their claim by mail or in person at one of Missouri Lottery’s regional offices, by appointment only.
To claim by mail, complete a Missouri Lottery winner claim form, sign your winning ticket, and include a copy of your government-issued photo ID along with a completed IRS Form W-9. Ensure your name, address, telephone number and signature are on the back of your ticket. Claims should be mailed to:
Ticket Redemption
Missouri Lottery
P.O. Box 7777
Jefferson City, MO 65102-7777
For in-person claims, visit the Missouri Lottery Headquarters in Jefferson City or one of the regional offices in Kansas City, Springfield or St. Louis. Be sure to call ahead to verify hours and check if an appointment is required.
For additional instructions or to download the claim form, visit the Missouri Lottery prize claim page.
When are the Missouri Lottery drawings held?
- Powerball: 9:59 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Mega Millions: 10 p.m. Tuesday and Friday.
- Pick 3: 12:45 p.m. (Midday) and 8:59 p.m. (Evening) daily.
- Pick 4: 12:45 p.m. (Midday) and 8:59 p.m. (Evening) daily.
- Cash4Life: 8 p.m. daily.
- Cash Pop: 8 a.m. (Early Bird), 11 a.m. (Late Morning), 3 p.m. (Matinee), 7 p.m. (Prime Time) and 11 p.m. (Night Owl) daily.
- Show Me Cash: 8:59 p.m. daily.
- Lotto: 8:59 p.m. Wednesday and Saturday.
- Powerball Double Play: 9:59 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Missouri editor. You can send feedback using this form.
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