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Students at the University of Illinois at Chicago are only two weeks away from finishing the semester, but now graduate student workers and teaching assistants are not holding office hours or helping professors after they went on strike Monday.On Wednesday, more than 50 graduate and undergraduate students organized a rally with leaders from other Chicago-area labor unions to show support and help form protest pickets around the UIC campus.AdvertisementThe Graduate Employees Organization has been bargaining with the university for more than a year over a contract for the 2021-22 school year. The organization is seeking a raise in wages, reduction of student fees that workers are charged, better health care, adding no-lockout language to the contracts and trying to overhaul their nondiscrimination and harassment policy. The university and the union have yet to reach an agreement. The graduate student workers have been working without a contract since August 2021.GEO members held a strike vote after a semester and a half without a contract, and earlier this month the union announced that 97% of its 1,500 members voted in favor of a strike, said Adam Pratt, 26, co-president of GEO who is a Ph.D. student and teaching assistant in the mathematics department.AdvertisementGraduate Employees Organization workers march on the University of Illinois at Chicago campus as they begin a strike over wages and fees April 18, 2022. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)UIC posted a statement on its website saying normal operations would continue during the work stoppage. In some cases, this might mean more work for faculty and students.“I know my boss is really worried about getting grades submitted and that’s something that just cannot happen right now with the strike,” Pratt said, referring to the professor of the class he is assisting. There are 150 students in the class, so if the strike continues, the professor will have to grade all the final exams without help. “We’re all just gonna have to hope that the university starts making improvements and we can move together towards a fair contract and the strike can be over.”Pratt said other classes in his department, like Calculus I, have around 1,000 students and five professors. Without the T.A.s in those courses, the five professors will be left to grade all of the final exams, again without help from assistants.“We started with raises equal to Loyola University (around a 30% raise), but we’ve come significantly down since then to a 21% raise,” Pratt said. “We wanted to cut all of our fees and have them reimburse because the fees are a way of basically doing wage theft to our graduate workers.”These fees, paid by all students, account for around 10% of the workers’ $20,615 minimum salary for the nine months of the school year. “We also wanted to decrease the cost of health care both for graduate workers and their dependents and the university wants to increase the cost even for the same coverage, which is not particularly good coverage,” Pratt added.Lidia Aguilar, 36, was one of the students singing chants in the picket line at the UIC Science and Engineering Labs. She is a doctorate candidate in the Hispanic studies department and a T.A. for the Spanish for bilinguals undergraduate course.“I don’t want to be here, I want to be with my students; it’s our last two weeks together,” said Aguilar, who is an international student from Spain. “This lack of raise has affected my ability to pay my (university) fees, the ability to see my family once a year because it’s $1,000 to go to my hometown in the south of Spain, so I spent a whole year saving so I can spend Christmas with them and I haven’t been on a summer break in my country for eight years.”Graduate Employees Organization workers march on the UIC campus on April 18, 2022, as they begin a strike over wages and fees. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)“Also something very important about international students is that we cannot work outside of campus,” Aguilar said. “I cannot be a barista at Starbucks, a T.A. is the only option that I have a job while I am a student in this country because of my visa status, and it’s not enough. … My landlord raised my rent by $100 and I cannot afford to stay in my apartment, so it’s really hard not (to) know what the future contract brings to my paycheck.”AdvertisementMeg Rock, 35, a doctoral student in the College of Education and an assistant, also sees the strike as the only way to get fair treatment.“I’m here because I want to be a teacher,” Rock said. “I’m not here because I like sitting outside in the cold. I want to be supporting my students, but it doesn’t feel good to know how much my fellow workers are hurting. There have been many times where I’ve been on bargaining sessions on Zoom and I have to turn off my camera so that I can cry because of the experiences of harassment or difficulty of fellow workers are so painful.”In a statement released by UIC hours after the rally on Wednesday, officials said they wish to reach an agreement soon. “With 21 of 27 issues agreed upon in our good-faith negotiations to date and sessions scheduled for today and tomorrow, April 20 and 21, we believe much can be resolved through continued dialogue at the bargaining table.”“U of I was able to provide the president of their system a 40% pay increase (in 2020). Enough is enough,” said John Miller, president of University Professionals of Illinois Local 4100. “The university has to get its priorities right. … It is not a time to prioritize administration and management, it is time to prioritize the students and the people who do all the work, including all of the graduate employees.”Susan Hurley, executive director of Chicago Jobs With Justice, said there is an issue with the University of Illinois system. “There is no reason why the boss of a public institution being paid with tax dollars should be making over $600,000 a year,” she said. “The value of the education that is provided here is the fruit of your labor and I think you deserve to be compensated fairly for that. This university wouldn’t function without all of you.”AdvertisementGraduate Employees Organization workers march on the UIC campus as they strike over wages and fees on April 18, 2022. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)In a coffee shop in the UIC area, two undergraduate seniors, Maahi Shah and Yesha Prajapati, were talking about the recent protests on campus.“I think it is a little bit stressful for some students because they don’t know how their next few weeks of academics might be affected,” Shah, 22, said. “But at the same time, I think it’s pretty understandable because the T.A.s have to use that pressure point to be able to get the university to make some compromises and be able to discuss something urgently.”Prajapati, 21, remembered there was a similar strike by GEO during her first year, in 2019, and thinks not a lot of progress has been made. “I feel like it’s really repetitive and I feel like UIC should be providing T.A.s with what they need instead of just repeating the cycle.”tmijares@chicagotribune.com

Students at the University of Illinois at Chicago are only two weeks away from finishing the semester, but now graduate student workers and teaching assistants are not holding office hours or helping professors after they went on strike Monday.On Wednesday, more than 50 graduate and undergraduate students organized a rally with leaders from other Chicago-area labor unions to show support and help form protest pickets around the UIC campus.AdvertisementThe Graduate Employees Organization has been bargaining with the university for more than a year over a contract for the 2021-22 school year. The organization is seeking a raise in wages, reduction of student fees that workers are charged, better health care, adding no-lockout language to the contracts and trying to overhaul their nondiscrimination and harassment policy. The university and the union have yet to reach an agreement. The graduate student workers have been working without a contract since August 2021.GEO members held a strike vote after a semester and a half without a contract, and earlier this month the union announced that 97% of its 1,500 members voted in favor of a strike, said Adam Pratt, 26, co-president of GEO who is a Ph.D. student and teaching assistant in the mathematics department.AdvertisementGraduate Employees Organization workers march on the University of Illinois at Chicago campus as they begin a strike over wages and fees April 18, 2022. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)UIC posted a statement on its website saying normal operations would continue during the work stoppage. In some cases, this might mean more work for faculty and students.“I know my boss is really worried about getting grades submitted and that’s something that just cannot happen right now with the strike,” Pratt said, referring to the professor of the class he is assisting. There are 150 students in the class, so if the strike continues, the professor will have to grade all the final exams without help. “We’re all just gonna have to hope that the university starts making improvements and we can move together towards a fair contract and the strike can be over.”Pratt said other classes in his department, like Calculus I, have around 1,000 students and five professors. Without the T.A.s in those courses, the five professors will be left to grade all of the final exams, again without help from assistants.“We started with raises equal to Loyola University (around a 30% raise), but we’ve come significantly down since then to a 21% raise,” Pratt said. “We wanted to cut all of our fees and have them reimburse because the fees are a way of basically doing wage theft to our graduate workers.”These fees, paid by all students, account for around 10% of the workers’ $20,615 minimum salary for the nine months of the school year. “We also wanted to decrease the cost of health care both for graduate workers and their dependents and the university wants to increase the cost even for the same coverage, which is not particularly good coverage,” Pratt added.Lidia Aguilar, 36, was one of the students singing chants in the picket line at the UIC Science and Engineering Labs. She is a doctorate candidate in the Hispanic studies department and a T.A. for the Spanish for bilinguals undergraduate course.“I don’t want to be here, I want to be with my students; it’s our last two weeks together,” said Aguilar, who is an international student from Spain. “This lack of raise has affected my ability to pay my (university) fees, the ability to see my family once a year because it’s $1,000 to go to my hometown in the south of Spain, so I spent a whole year saving so I can spend Christmas with them and I haven’t been on a summer break in my country for eight years.”Graduate Employees Organization workers march on the UIC campus on April 18, 2022, as they begin a strike over wages and fees. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)“Also something very important about international students is that we cannot work outside of campus,” Aguilar said. “I cannot be a barista at Starbucks, a T.A. is the only option that I have a job while I am a student in this country because of my visa status, and it’s not enough. … My landlord raised my rent by $100 and I cannot afford to stay in my apartment, so it’s really hard not (to) know what the future contract brings to my paycheck.”AdvertisementMeg Rock, 35, a doctoral student in the College of Education and an assistant, also sees the strike as the only way to get fair treatment.“I’m here because I want to be a teacher,” Rock said. “I’m not here because I like sitting outside in the cold. I want to be supporting my students, but it doesn’t feel good to know how much my fellow workers are hurting. There have been many times where I’ve been on bargaining sessions on Zoom and I have to turn off my camera so that I can cry because of the experiences of harassment or difficulty of fellow workers are so painful.”In a statement released by UIC hours after the rally on Wednesday, officials said they wish to reach an agreement soon. “With 21 of 27 issues agreed upon in our good-faith negotiations to date and sessions scheduled for today and tomorrow, April 20 and 21, we believe much can be resolved through continued dialogue at the bargaining table.”“U of I was able to provide the president of their system a 40% pay increase (in 2020). Enough is enough,” said John Miller, president of University Professionals of Illinois Local 4100. “The university has to get its priorities right. … It is not a time to prioritize administration and management, it is time to prioritize the students and the people who do all the work, including all of the graduate employees.”Susan Hurley, executive director of Chicago Jobs With Justice, said there is an issue with the University of Illinois system. “There is no reason why the boss of a public institution being paid with tax dollars should be making over $600,000 a year,” she said. “The value of the education that is provided here is the fruit of your labor and I think you deserve to be compensated fairly for that. This university wouldn’t function without all of you.”AdvertisementGraduate Employees Organization workers march on the UIC campus as they strike over wages and fees on April 18, 2022. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)In a coffee shop in the UIC area, two undergraduate seniors, Maahi Shah and Yesha Prajapati, were talking about the recent protests on campus.“I think it is a little bit stressful for some students because they don’t know how their next few weeks of academics might be affected,” Shah, 22, said. “But at the same time, I think it’s pretty understandable because the T.A.s have to use that pressure point to be able to get the university to make some compromises and be able to discuss something urgently.”Prajapati, 21, remembered there was a similar strike by GEO during her first year, in 2019, and thinks not a lot of progress has been made. “I feel like it’s really repetitive and I feel like UIC should be providing T.A.s with what they need instead of just repeating the cycle.”tmijares@chicagotribune.com

Somebody had to win.In the battle of two NHL lottery chasers, the Chicago Blackhawks gave up a two-goal lead to the Arizona Coyotes in the third period, but pulled out a 4-3 win in overtime — thanks to Alex DeBrincat’s game-winner.Advertisement“Feels good,” coach Derek King said. “I thought we played pretty decent. I didn’t like some of our puck plays at the end, especially when they tilted the ice. But young mistakes and this is how they’re going to learn.”DeBrincat said, “Feels like we’re battling every night. We let them back in there but it’s nice to get a win.”AdvertisementHere are three takeaways from the win.It means a lot statistically — let’s be clear — but DeBrincat and Winnipeg’s Kyle Connor are the only members of the 40-goal club this season whose teams have been eliminated from playoff contention, and Connor’s Jets were just eliminated Wednesday night.DeBrincat has been chasing the ghost of 2018-19 when he put up 41 goals. That breakout season put those expectations on him, fairly or not.He actually shot better (20.6%) during last year’s 56-game schedule with 32 goals, but despite a 15.7% clip this season, “40-goal season” carries a different air.“It’s awesome,” DeBrincat said. “I think I’ve had a lot of good players I’ve been playing with. Lot of credit to them. I don’t think you cherish it as much when it’s in your second season, and then you realize how hard it is to get back.”Against the Coyotes, Patrick Kane slipped a cross-crease pass to DeBrincat for a backdoor tap-in with 37 seconds left in overtime. Kane, who has assisted on 35 of DeBrincat’s goals (29 as the primary), helped his linemate break up a seven-game dry spell.“So I was stuck there for a while, but lucky I’ve got Kaner passing to me,” DeBrincat said.Kane was at the goalmouth when Vlasic fired down from the top of the left circle, and the puck bounced off Nick Schmaltz’s skate and into the net.AdvertisementFirst NHL goal in the books for the rookie defenseman.“It’s good to get it out of the way and I don’t know how that one snuck in there but I’m just glad it went in, I guess” Vlasic said.But then there’s the adage: Rookies taketh, but they also giveth away.In the Hawks defensive zone, Vlasic attempted to pass up ice to DeBrincat when Schmaltz, looking over his shoulder at Vlasic, intercepted the pass to set up Anton Stralman’s third-period score for the Coyotes that forced overtime.“I definitely could’ve made a better play with that, just putting it up the wall instead of up through the middle,” Vlasic said. “But that’s just part of the game, you make mistakes, try not to dwell on it too long.”King said, “This is the stuff he’ll learn as he gets some more (maturity) and he’ll get better and better, more games under his belt.”AdvertisementThat was a critical mistake, but defensively Vlasic looked more confident than he had in his nine previous games, playing sound defense, forechecking hard and making smart and timely plays with his stick.“He was probably our best defenseman on the ice today,” King said.Vlasic will get a chance to celebrate with cousin and San Jose Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic, who he’ll see for the second time this month later this week.“We’ve got a day off coming, hopefully I can get out to my cousin’s house for a little bit,” the rookie said. “I think he said something about a steak dinner, but I don’t know if I’ll hold him to it.”Chicago Tribune SportsWeekdaysA daily sports newsletter delivered to your inbox for your morning commute.The Hawks carried a 3-1 lead into the third period, but allowed two Coyotes goals to send it to overtime.It’s familiar territory for the Hawks. They took a one-goal lead in the second period against the Nashville Predators, then gave a goal right back 43 seconds later.AdvertisementThe Hawks grabbed the lead three times against the Sharks and had a two-goal lead in the third period, but had to scratch out a shootout victory.And then there’s the infamous Buffalo Sabres game, when they frittered away a 4-0 lead and lost 6-5 with a power-play goal with 12 seconds left.“I think maybe we get away from our game a little, try to put more up on the board,” DeBrincat said. “We just need to play sound defense, not turn the puck over and hopefully we can get in their zone and start playing offense.”King added, “When we have the lead, we don’t realize we don’t need to score a goal every shift that we get out there. Sometimes you’ve got to live to fight another day kind of attitude, get the puck deep, you don’t have to make that extra play to see if we can get some offense going.“And that’s where we’ve been making mistakes and that’s what’s been costing us for the season.”

Elon Musk says he has lined up $46.5 billion in financing to buy Twitter, and he’s trying to negotiate an agreement with the company.Last week, Musk announced an offer to buy the social media company for $54.20 per share, or about $43 billion. At the time, he did not say how he would finance the acquisition.AdvertisementThe Tesla CEO said Thursday in documents filed with U.S. securities regulators that he’s exploring what’s known as a tender offer to buy all of the social media platform’s common stock for $54.20 per share in cash. Under a tender offer, Musk, who owns about 9% of Twitter shares, would take his offer directly to other shareholders, bypassing the board.But Musk hasn’t decided yet whether to do that.AdvertisementThe documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission say San Francisco-based Twitter Inc. has not responded to Musk’s proposal.Last week Twitter’s board adopted a “poison pill” defense that could make a takeover attempt prohibitively expensive.The filing states that “entities related to (Musk) have received commitment letters committing to provide an aggregate of approximately $46.5 billion.”The financing would come from Morgan Stanley and other financial institutions. Some would be secured by stock that Musk owns in Tesla, the electric car and solar panel maker. Other banks involved include Barclays, Bank of America, Societie Generale, Mizuho Bank, BNP Paribas and MUFG.Shares of Twitter were down slightly to $46.69 in Thursday morning trading after the financing became public. The share price is $7.51 below Musk’s offer.Musk “is seeking to negotiate a definitive agreement for the acquisition of Twitter … and is prepared to begin such negotiations immediately,” the documents say.With a tender offer, Musk would try to get other shareholders to pledge their stock to him at a certain price on a certain date. If enough shareholders agree, Musk could use that as leverage to get the board to drop the poison pill defense.Musk signaled the possibility of a tender offer several times this week in tweets using the word “tender.”

An Illinois appellate court on Wednesday sided with Chicago Public Schools in vacating a temporary restraining order that prevented the district from taking employment action against six CPS teachers for refusing to submit proof of vaccination or undergo weekly tests for COVID-19.The ruling restores the district’s ability to enforce the requirement while a lawsuit challenging the practice continues in a downstate courtroom.Advertisement“We stress the weekly test defendant is requiring plaintiffs to take is noninvasive, nonharmful, self-administered, free to the teachers, available on school property, and can be taken during paid working hours,” Justice John W. Turner, of the 4th District Appellate Court in Springfield, wrote in a unanimous decision.“While it may be questionable why only unvaccinated employees are required to take these weekly tests, the tests and the manner defendant makes the tests available to its employees do not appear unreasonable,” the judge wrote.AdvertisementDownstate attorney Tom DeVore, who represents the six teachers, declined to comment. In a statement, CPS said it “has made the safety and well-being of our students and staff a priority since the onset of the pandemic.”The district continued: “The appellate court’s ruling confirms the district’s right to act affirmatively on behalf of our school communities. As of today, more than 90% of CPS employees are vaccinated, demonstrating a shared commitment to keeping our employees, students, and their families safe.”Sangamon County Circuit Judge Raylene Grischow granted the temporary restraining order against CPS on April 8.Grischow entered a similar temporary restraining order in February as part of a challenge to Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s school COVID-19 policies such as universal masking, quarantining for unvaccinated close contacts of an infected person, and testing for unvaccinated staff members.Martha Arevalo of Broadway Medical Center fills a syringe with a COVID-19 vaccine during a vaccination event at Chicago Teachers Union headquarters, Jan. 27, 2022. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)Pritzker appealed the decision, which the appellate court dismissed as moot because school COVID-19 rules from the Illinois Department of Public Health had been allowed to expire. The Illinois Supreme Court declined to hear the case, vacating that temporary restraining order, and Pritzker dropped the statewide masking requirement the same day.CPS later dropped its mask mandate, but maintained its vaccine and testing requirements for employees.DeVore sought a new temporary restraining order last month after two of his clients were told by CPS to submit proof of vaccination, test for COVID-19 or risk being placed on a nondisciplinary administrative leave of absence without pay. The other four teachers had continued to test weekly, DeVore said. He argued the employees were not provided their right of due process of law.The district announced an employee vaccine mandate in August, with exceptions for staff members who qualified for religious or medical exemptions. CPS backed off its mandate in October, saying unvaccinated staff members could keep their jobs as long as they tested weekly for the virus.AdvertisementCPS says 9% of its staff — about 4,400 employees — are required to test.The district paused its in-school COVID-19 testing program last week because of spring break. Thirty-four adults tested positive for the virus Monday and Tuesday through the free program. It’s unclear how many of those staff members are unvaccinated because CPS doesn’t provide that information. The testing program is available to vaccinated staff members as well as students.After CPS dropped its mask mandate last month under legal pressure from DeVore, the district has experienced an uptick in cases. Health and school leaders have said it’s nothing to be concerned about.tswartz@tribpub.com

Mike Tyson took his skills out of the ring Wednesday night when he repeatedly punched a passenger on a plane that was set to take off from San Francisco to Florida.The retired heavyweight boxer was filmed leaning over the back of his seat and attacking the man, leaving him bloodied, according to video obtained by TMZ.AdvertisementThe passenger, seated in a row behind Brooklyn-born Tyson, asked for a selfie with the 55-year-old fighter, then kept talking, according to TMZ. Tyson, seemingly annoyed at the chatterbox, shut him up with his fists.A second video, filmed across the aisle, corroborates that story, as the passenger excitedly tries to talk to Tyson through the seats.Advertisement“My boy just got beat up by Mike Tyson,” the man recording says. “He got f–ked up.”Sources told TMZ that the passenger was “extremely intoxicated.”The attack happened at around 10:30 p.m. PT, according to TMZ, and JetBlue had a flight departing San Francisco International Airport at 10:54 p.m., landing in Miami just before 7 a.m. local time.Reps for Tyson and JetBlue did not immediately return requests for comment from the Daily News Thursday.The passenger was bloodied from repeated punches. (TMZ Sports)The passenger reportedly met with police, but it’s unclear if charges have been or will be filed. A spokesperson for the San Francisco Police Department did not immediately answer questions from The News.Earlier Wednesday, Tyson had been on stage at San Francisco’s 420 cannabis festival in Golden Gate Park, promoting his cannabis brand, Tyson 2.0, according to SF Gate.

DETROIT — A popular Zamboni driver for the Detroit Red Wings said he was dismissed for urinating in a drain.Al Sobotka filed a discrimination lawsuit this week against Olympia Entertainment, two months after he was fired, following 51 years with the Red Wings. His lawyer said he has a health condition that causes him to frequently urinate.AdvertisementSobotka, 68, couldn’t get to a restroom so he urinated in a drain that carries ice runoff from the Zamboni machines at Little Caesars Arena. Someone saw him and apparently reported it in February.“He thought no one was in the building,” attorney Deborah Gordon said. “He was given no warning, no second chance.”AdvertisementAl Sobotka hurls an octopus onto the ice before Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinal series in 2009. (Osorio/AP)Olympia Entertainment said it wouldn’t comment on a legal matter.Besides steering the Zamboni at Red Wings games, Sobotka was known for removing octopus thrown to the ice by fans, a Detroit tradition at Olympia Stadium, Joe Louis Arena and now Little Caesars Arena. Fans cheered as he twirled the sea creatures over his head.Gordon said management was aware of Sobotka’s prostate problem.“I was shocked,” Sobotka told WDIV-TV, referring to his dismissal. “I didn’t know what to say. Heartbroken, yes.”

In 2017, an investor group that included Goodman and Higginbottom bought the Sun-Times, the Reader and other assets for $1. One year later, when the Sun-Times was looking to shed the unprofitable Reader, Goodman and Higginbottom put up another dollar and bought it, assuming the debt and stewardship of a Chicago journalistic institution, whose days may now be numbered.

A frustrated Stroman struggled for a second consecutive start to find a rhythm on the mound, unable to get in sync mechanically. Stroman never got going on a cool, wet night against the Tampa Bay Rays, surrendering eight runs, including seven earned — both tying his career high — in 4⅓ innings. The Cubs lost 8-2 when the game was called after a 1-hour, 4-minute rain delay before the bottom of the sixth.

Remember, the Bears targeted Montgomery in 2019 because they deemed him a better fit for Matt Nagy’s offense than Jordan Howard, the running back who was in place from the previous coaching staff. The key for Montgomery is to use the 2022 season to convince the decision makers he’s the right fit for the new system, something Howard didn’t do despite rushing for 3,370 yards and 24 touchdowns in three seasons and missing only one game before he was traded.