The Spin: CPS, CTU ‘cooling off,’ making progress | Kinzinger starts PAC aimed at returning Republicans to pre-Trump era | Rev. Jackson hospitalized, recovering from surgery

They haven’t inked a deal, but it sounds like Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s Chicago Public Schools team and Chicago Teacher’s Union negotiators are making progress on a deal aimed at returning teachers and students to the classrooms almost a year after COVID-19 gripped the city.

The details are trickling in.

Meanwhile, Republican U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger is launching a political action committee aimed at recalibrating a Republican Party that has “lost its way,” he said in a slickly produced 6-minute kickoff video. He’s looking for Republicans who, like him, want to see the party return to how it was before President Donald Trump took it over.

And weeks after Trump pardoned him, suburban Mettawa Mayor Casey Urlacher has reactivated his campaign finance committee to raise money for a reelection effort, Illinois State Board of Elections documents show. Casey Urlacher was facing federal charges alleging he recruited bettors across the region for a sports gambling ring that raked in millions of dollars.

The pardon came months after his brother Brian Urlacher, the Bears Hall of Famer, visited Trump at the White House.

Welcome to The Spin.

Lightfoot’s CPS, teachers union making progress

With Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union on the brink, Mayor Lori Lightfoot this afternoon announced that the two sides have made “substantial progress” on a reopening plan and called for a 48-hour “cooling off” period in hopes of eventually reaching a final deal.

“We have reached another important milestone today in our efforts to provide in-person learning for our students in the Chicago Public Schools system. We have secured agreement on one other open issue and made substantial progress on a framework that we hope will address the remaining issues. We are calling for a 48-hour cooling off period that will hopefully lead to a final resolution on all open issues. As a result of the progress we have made, and as a gesture of good faith, for now, teachers will retain access to their Google Suite. Students will remain virtual Tuesday and Wednesday and we will update the CPS school community as there are further developments.”

The Chicago Teachers Union offered its own statement: “Thanks to the advocacy of our members and school communities, Mayor Lightfoot and CPS have agreed to continue bargaining and will not lock any educators out of their teaching platforms.”

It’s a stark contrast from recent days - or even just a few hours ago.

Just this morning, Lightfoot was on national cable news talking how there’s largely peace when it comes to the labor unions that represent Chicago’s city workers - with a couple of exceptions.

The outliers? “The right-wing leadership of the Fraternal Order of Police” and the CTU, Lightfoot told MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski.

It doesn’t seem likely that the mayor lumping the CTU in with the embattled head of the police union helped them get to this point.

Roughly 16 months ago, the teachers — led by Jesse Sharkey and Stacy Davis Gates — went on strike and the war of words between the two sides was heated. My colleague Katherine Rosenberg-Douglas reminds in a piece today: “The CTU endorsed Lightfoot’s opponent, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, in the 2019 mayoral race and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars against her.

“Since Lightfoot’s win, the union has repeatedly criticized her for failing to live up to progressive campaign promises, accusing her of campaigning one way but governing another. In turn, Lightfoot has accused the union of attempting to harm her politically by propping up her critics.”

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Nearly 80 community groups now calling for ouster of controversial president of Chicago’s police union, John Catanzara

The Tribune’s Annie Sweeney and Jeremy Gorner write: “Nearly 80 organizations have joined a chorus of calls that the head of the Chicago police union be fired over allegations he made racist remarks in a series of social media posts.

“The diverse list of organizations now calling for the firing of John Catanzara, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7, includes the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois and the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, as well as numerous religious and other civil rights organizations.”

Catanzara also has been active in politics, grabbing the attention of former President Trump. Trump congratulated him via Twitter when he won the FOP election and Catanzara attended Trump’s August speech on the South Lawn of the White House where he accepted the Republican Party’s nomination for reelection. Read the full story here.

Kinzinger launches new PAC aimed at recalibrating Republican Party

Over the weekend, U.S. Rep. Kinzinger announced he formed a PAC via a slick video that is somewhere between an infomercial and a campaign ad. In his story, the Tribune’s Rick Pearson writes that Kinzinger’s “‘country first’ movement seeks like-minded supporters to ‘take back our party’ and to ‘unplug the outrage machine, reject the politics of personality and cast aside the conspiracy theories and the rage.’” Read Pearson’s full story here.

Today, Kinzinger told MSNBC’s Katy Tur that the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, egged on by Trump over his false claims that the election was stolen from him, prompted him to act.

He told her “the response has been pretty incredible” to the video, ranging from those Republicans who’ve felt disaffected to concerned “Democrats who say ‘we need a healthy Republican Party’” to “a lot of people that are sitting there on the edge going, ‘man, I’m thinking about leaving’” the party because “‘I don’t have a home to go to.’

“It’s presenting that alternative to say, ‘we’re a GOP that’s not about Trump first, it’s about country first.” Kinzinger told Tur.

Casey Urlacher reopens political campaign account, according to State Board of Elections

Weeks after receiving a Trump pardon, Mettawa Mayor Casey Urlacher has filed paperwork to reactivate his political committee, according to documents filed with the state election board.

The brother of Bears Hall of Famer Brian Urlacher, Casey Urlacher reactivated his “Citizens for Casey Urlacher” political committee, created so he could run and raise money for seeking reelection as Mettawa mayor, according to documents filed with the state election board.

The two-term mayor of Mettawa — a Lake County village of 500-plus — received a pardon from Trump shortly before the former president left office last month.

Worth Township trustee pleads guilty to tax charge stemming from ongoing political corruption probe. The Tribune’s Jason Meisner elaborates: “Richard Lewandowski, 61, of Palos Heights, pleaded guilty to a criminal information charging him with one misdemeanor count of failing to file an income tax return in 2018.” He’s the “latest Democratic political player to cooperate with federal authorities in a corruption investigation that has stretched from Chicago to the southwest suburbs and Springfield,” Meisner notes. Full story here.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson hospitalized, recovering from surgery

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, the civil rights leader who worked under the tutelage of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and heads the South Side-based African American social justice organization Rainbow/PUSH, is recovering from surgery, his spokesman said.

Details were scant, but Jackson spokesman Ryan Stewart said in an email: “Rev. Jackson was recently admitted to the hospital for abdominal discomfort. After routine medical observation, successful surgery ensued, and Rev. Jackson is resting. He is in good spirits and will be discharged in a few days.”

Jackson, 80, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2017, has remained active in the civil rights movement, including efforts in the recent election to boost registration of Black voters as well as playing host to Democratic presidential candidates looking for his endorsement.

Thanks for reading The Spin, the Tribune’s politics newsletter. Sign up here to have it delivered to your inbox weekday afternoons. Have a tip? Email host Lisa Donovan at ldonovan@chicagotribune.com.

Twitter @byldonovan