CHICAGO — Here's what we're reading today.
The Schools Are Doing What Now?: While there has been a rash of stories about pending budget cuts for Chicago Public Schools, few explain the process that led to the slashings as well as Ben Joravsky does for the Chicago Reader. Joravsky attacks CPS for failing to spend its money wisely, then calls out Mayor Rahm Emanuel for reneging on his promise to hold schools harmless now that the election is over. Reporter Ariel Cheung found it a solid (and, obviously, opinionated) explainer for parents and teachers wondering how we've gotten to this point.
Thanks, Obama: The Obama administration is planning to restore federal funding for prisoners' Pell grants, allowing potentially thousands of inmates to take college courses again, reporter David Matthews is reading in the Wall Street Journal. American prisoners in 1993 received $34 million in Pell grants — the primary form of federal aid for low-income college students — before Congress took away the funding, arguing taxpayer aid should only go to law-abiding citizens. The American prison population has since doubled to 1.6 million inmates, many of them repeat offenders, leading policymakers of both parties to look for ways to keep ex-cons from returning to jail. A 2013 study found that inmates who participated in education programs, including college courses, had lower odds of returning to prison than inmates who didn’t. Obama officials are set to unveil the plan Friday.
The dog-bone shaped swimming pool at Paradise 4 Paws is a big hit for the four-legged guests. [DNAinfo/Kyla Gardner]
The Lap Dog of Luxury: JFK airport is getting a luxury pet terminal, and one of the companies involved is Chicago’s own Paradise 4 Paws, a luxury pet resort with locations near both Midway and O’Hare Airports, reports the New York Times. The terminal will have space for all manner of domestic (horses, pigs, sheep) and exotic (penguins, aardvarks) animals, but the Paradise 4 Paws area features a dog-boned shaped swimming pool, massage therapy, 24-hour webcams and pawdicures.
Move Over, Grumpy Cat: There's a newer, grumpier pet in the spotlight — and it's a puggle (beagle and a pug) named Earl. Earl and his owner, Derek Bloomfield, live in Iowa where the pooch's unamused expression has garnered millions of fans around the world after Bloomfield posted the pup's picture on Reddit. Earl's owner says although the 5-month-old dog may be stuck with a sour expression, his family vet and Bloomfield's own experiences assure him Earl's sweet and kind on the inside — and that's what really counts, right?
Earl, the grumpy puggle, may need to have a showdown with the now-famous Grumpy Cat to see who is the most unamused. [Facebook]
WARNING: 'BACHELORETTE' SPOILERS BELOW....
Did The Bachelorette Find a Way to "Accommodate Casual Sex?": Bachelorette Kaitlyn Bristowe would not stop talking about her chemistry with Nick since he came on the show halfway through the season. She even slept with him before the Fantasy Suite date, which, if you're a fan of "The Bachelor" and "The Bachelorette," you know is a big deal in the realm of the ABC show. As Slate's Willa Paskin cleverly put it, "sex was like the sun, shining down on everyone, but never to be looked at directly." So reporter and devoted fan Mina Bloom was surprised when Bristowe ended up picking Shawn. Paskin argues that that Nick had to go for various reasons. When he was rejected by Andi on a previous season, he asked her "how she could 'make love to him' when she did not, in fact, love him."
"By losing, a version of the point Nick had so grossly made to Andi one season ago, that a Bachelorette really shouldn't be sleeping around, won," Paskin writes. It's an astute point and one that needs to be made. The relationships that win are never tainted by casual sex.
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