Chicago tonight.

I'm Brandis Friedman.

Here's what we're looking at.

School board members rushed to pass a budget ahead of the looming deadline and mounting pressure from lawmakers.

And you may have seen his work on the show.

The bear without even realizing it.

We sit down with Michelin-starred chef Curtis Duffy, talk about the hit show and his new memoir.

>> First Off Tonight, local union leaders are preparing for a rally and March on Labor Day.

A coalition of groups including the Chicago Federation of Labor and the Chicago Teachers Union announced Monday's demonstration called workers over billionaires.

Organizers say the purpose of the rally is to push back on the Trump administration's actions, cutting Medicaid and stripping union contracts for thousands of federal workers.

Monday is March and rally will take place from 11:00PM to 01:00PM at the Haymarket Memorial in the West Loop.

Back that announcement comes as President Trump is threatening to send the National Guard to Chicago.

Trump has said the move would be to address crime in the city despite violent crime being down more than 20% in Chicago so far this year, shootings and homicides are also down more than 30%.

Local anti-violence groups today are calling out the president for making cuts to federal violence.

Prevention grants.

>> The administration cared about public safety.

They would not have slashed 158 Million.

dollars in violence.

Prevention programming, federal funds.

They would not have on day one shut down the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention.

>> Ok, so it is not.

It is not about safety.

It is about intimidation and control.

>> Starting today, the stories of those who survived the Holocaust and other genocides across the world are being told through a moving new holographic exhibit in downtown Chicago.

>> I speak the house stabbed, but the hatred in the world has not And hatred is such a useless.

>> Emotion >> I think if you lead with love.

If you get a lot further.

>> One of those survivors is roadie glass who shares her family's story of surviving the not see occupation of Amsterdam.

It's part of the year long exhibit experience 3.60, at 3.60, North State Street.

It is the first satellite branch of the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Skokie, which is currently under renovation.

Visitors will wear headsets for a 360 degree experience.

Hearing glasses story as well as those of Rwandan and Guatemalan genocide.

Survivors.

For more information, please check out our Web site.

Up next, we sit down with some CPS school board members to talk budget pressures.

>> Chicago tonight is made possible in part why the Alexander and John Nichols the gym and K maybe family the Pope Brothers Foundation and the support of these donors.

>> The Chicago Board of Education is facing a looming deadline on the district's budget board.

Members have to come to a consensus by Friday or face being in violation of state law.

The issue not everyone on the board is on board.

11 members recently signed a letter knocking the current budget proposal for not including an option to take out a loan to cover the cost of the municipal pension payment.

the plant House keeping cuts out of the classroom.

There are concerns about long-term financial stability joining us now, our Jennifer Custer, the CPS board member representing District One B, that includes neighborhoods like Irving Park and Portage Park and CPS board member Angela Gutierrez who represents District which includes neighborhoods like West Lawn and Garfield Ridge.

Welcome to Chicago in a thanks for joining us.

Thanks so much, Thank you.

So as mentioned, CPS leaders say that the budget protects classrooms even with that 126 million dollars in cuts to central office staff.

It projects.

Jimmy.

Do you think the proposal cuts will really steer clear of students in classrooms?

I do.

I think that the budget that we've been presented protects kids protects classrooms and protects the financial future of the district.

>> And I think those that oppose this budget are really threatening to potentially shut down the district, but also they're threatening the financial well-being of the district in years to come.

>> Both of you have expressed opposition to paying into the municipal pension this year in jail.

Why is deferring that payment?

What do you think?

That's the best choice for CPS, right?

Now-you know if you think of them but it is all rights balance.

That's responsible community driven.

And our ability to be have to pay Now.

>> We'll take 175 million dollars out of the clash because somehow some way we will have to pay for that.

We'll have to take some of the savings out of the classrooms and you can't have that do feel like the organization has really been cut as much as it can with half an inch of the classroom, basically just enough to stay away from classrooms.

And after.

>> If you had to spend that 175 million dollars from the CPS budget, that's when we see the hit.

It will it will.

It will take dollars away from the classroom that me teachers down the age.

That will mean some of our ramming programming that we're doing in the schools as well.

So critics argue that deferring this payment.

only kicks the can down the road.

How do you respond to concerns that this only deepens the district's long-term financial instability and postponing the inevitable?

>> I mean, I think paying this payment is is nothing more than helping the mayor fix his own budget gap.

I mean, the state law says that this is a payment that the city makes.

This is not a payment that the district makes all this really is is fixing his budget problem.

And we as the governing body of the board of Chicago, the school Board of Chicago, our job is to make sure that we're making the best decisions for the district as a whole moving forward.

And state law precludes us from making that payment.

>> So last week, your Micaela Blaze and YouTube round, they joined us in Blaze had a bit of a different view.

Here's what she said.

>> The entire and the pension payment as a billion dollars.

Half of that is CPS employees.

So we'd say roughly half a billion dollars should be our portion.

And the city's only asking for for us to put in 175 routes.

They're giving us in 10th.

So if you look at it comprehensively, we still end up on the plus side and we are we also have skin in the game and we're taking care of our employees.

>> And what's your reaction to perspective?

So, you know, it's interesting hearing that I think >> us moving forward as poor as wheeze.

Begin to look at what this entanglement looks like from the city of Chicago.

All those things will have to be at the table.

I thing in this current budget cycle, I would challenge the education mayor.

To stop.

Trying to shake that.

And take dollars out of the classroom.

To help fund.

His particular problems.

So the plan accounts on nearly 379 million dollars in TIF revenue an angel.

You've argue that that's money that's already owed to the district, right?

Because it's already factored into the district's budget.

>> Is tiff?

Is that a reliable fix or short-term short-term patch for the district?

>> think it's a combination, I think, right?

When you earn those dollars, they're caught right until the expiration of tax increment finance turned district right?

So so it's it's a double edged sword.

But every year.

Over the course of the last 10 years.

There's been a declaration, a surplus in And roughly, I think there's 3 point 1 billion dollars in that if not give you a billion dollar reason.

Why the mayor has to declare attempt because he's got a billion dollars with the problems.

>> Almost literally.

far as like the size of the budget they after that is of Jenny.

You've also supported using tip.

do you respond when critics say that, you know, using only makes the district more vulnerable year after year?

You know, I do.

I do think it is kind of a short-term fix right?

I think what our job is here on this board, what we are tasked to do is we're task to set up the district for financial stability moving forward.

>> And sometimes, yes, it does require some really hard moves like we've had to make this year.

Nobody wants to make any cuts anywhere to the district.

We don't want to do that, but we might have to make some of those moving forward.

If we want to put the district in financial stability.

And the fact of the matter is changing this budget in any way threatens that financial stability moving forward.

And it's our job to make sure that we're keeping it as healthy as possible so that we're not constantly coming back to the discussion about whether or not we're gonna have to surplus to make it over the finish line.

>> So the plan does not include new borrowing.

Both of you have been opposed to taking out a massive loan to cover the district's finances.

And so if accruing new debt is off the table, gentle, come to you with this.

What realistic alternatives to CPS have to maintain stability?

Yeah, we've I mean, we have to look at some structural changes.

We have to look at all of our spending.

What are we spending it on?

How is it affecting the students in her classroom?

What are the outcomes of that spending?

>> And we need to take a really good hard look at some of that and have some really honest conversations and, you know, we began this process already with this budget by going out to the community, talking to them about some of the issues, asking them what their thoughts are, how they feel about things.

And they gave us some of that feedback already.

And those are things that I think we need to continue to do is engage our communities and engage that conversation about what we do moving forward as a district.

>> And I think the reason that we are against that borrow because we saying what it's done in 2016 to 2018, right?

200 million dollars loan that.

Is the equivalent of 2000 teachers.

Job.

So think about that.

That that would put most out of business as a district and we can't have that.

>> So some state legislators, Representative Curtis Tarver in particular have suggested that more state funding should come along with more oversight and reform.

Here's a little bit of what he had to say on our show earlier this month.

>> But I do think this, too, needs to be a role for the state to implement some reforms.

we're going send that those funds to CPS.

>> One of the 2 of you make of that should any additional funding from the state mind you?

The state has said repeatedly they don't have money for CVS, but should any additional funding come with, you with ties basically to show that there are reforms or improvements.

I think before that conversation even starts, we need to talk about how charity begins at home.

I mean, every state representative that I've talked to every legislator that I've spoken with is looking for us to make these hard decisions to set the district off on the right path before we come asking and knocking at the door for more funding and more things like this.

So I think charity begins at home.

I think we need to start having some of these really difficult conversations and start making some of these difficult choices and setting the district up for a stronger financial future.

And then when we've made some good progress, we should start working with our state legislators and we should start talking about how do we do better and how do we advocate for more?

Both of you voted no for interim CEO Macklin who was, of course, backed by the mayor.

But since an angel, you've said that, you know, she's actually change your mind.

You've been pleasantly surprised by her leadership.

What is it >> that she's done or said to win you over?

You know, I she's pretty even keel.

>> And she is really everything.

She said she was going to.

She's kept her word.

And I think that goes a long way in a leader.

She wanted to do these community gatherings to gather the information and what did the gathering overwhelmed learned so much that.

Residents and parents wanted.

To keep no cuts to the classroom.

They wanted to make sure that we didn't take on any additional.

Revenue and growing that we pay that payment unless there was additional dollars right.

And those are the same things that the former superintendent.

Told her she that that yes, who, of course, is wired by your Jenny, what happens if you all don't agree on a budget by Friday?

>> That is the big question.

If we don't agree on a budget by Friday on the district spending authority per our resolution passed in June.

And if we do not agree if we cannot come up with a balanced budget and if we cannot pass a budget, we are potentially looking at a district wide shut down until the time when we can couldn't successfully passed 10 seconds left.

What do you think the likelihood of that is to go into Thursday's meeting with full faith that you all will be able to get this done.

>> I trust and hope that my colleagues will understand the gravity of the situation and will understand at the end of the day, what this means for the children in the classrooms and the families across the city of Chicago who who send their kids to the schools and entrust us with them.

So I'm hoping for a good outcome will be watching Jimmy Custer and hear us.

Thanks to both.

Good luck on Thursday.

Thank thank you.

And we're back with more right after this.

>> Foodies, this one's for you.

Decorated chef Curtis Duffy has become a household name, making his mark on Chicago's dining table for the past.

25 years.

Now he's sharing a little more than fine dining his new book, fireproof memoir of a chef outlines his rise to success and dives even deeper into challenging and traumatic events he faced throughout his childhood.

And joining us now is James Beard.

Award-winning Michelin-starred chef Curtis Duffy, chef and owner of restaurant.

Welcome back.

Good to see Thank you.

Nice to see you again.

Congrats on all the things.

Thank course, your documentary for Grace came out back in 2015. told a lot of your personal story then why did you want to write a book now, too?

That's a great question.

You when we started writing the book, Jeremy.

>> The co-writer also asked that same question why you're so young.

You.

45?

Why now?

And for me, you know, it is the transformation through adversity and felt it was time for me to tell my story.

Like you said, Grace just skim the surface a little bit.

And I want have a lot more stories that they needed to get out.

Wanted to get out and what a better way than to put it on paper to feel somewhat therapeutic.

Yeah, very much so.

Every story lead to something new.

a new discovery.

Something that I had put away for many kind of shuffled onto the carpet, if you will, as we all So, yeah, it was very therapeutic in that sense.

You mentioned your co-writer, Jeremy Wagner.

And in reading the book, the writings, very clever did he sort of master your voice because he knows he that well.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We because we were friends before.

Right?

So that made the story for me allowed me to kind of.

Be OK with letting some of it go, right.

I think the big part writing this memoir was the comfort ability to allow those stories to come out in.

>> Into somebody that I trusted nearly and I felt like if we were wrote this book with somebody else, maybe the stories when the bin as harsh and and as Leona says, we won't set out to do was to make sure that we're telling the story with the utmost brutally honest and not sugarcoat anything.

You share a lot of a lot about your difficult childhood living mostly in poverty, sleeping your parents closet because the apartment at the time was too small.

>> The time your father held a shot gun to your head to force you to fire your own shot down as a kid fights and violence frequently.

yet you still dedicate the book to your father, Robert Duffy, your Mother, Jan, your stepmother, who you came to call mom how are you still able to see the humanity in your father when maybe others, others didn't throughout his life?

and I spoke about making sure that the book didn't philonise my father.

>> And and I was I was very adamant about that.

You I had spent 30 years.

It's 30 years now since surpassing I spent.

30 years of my life understanding and trying understand his mentality in the way he operated in the way he did things and why he did things certain way.

So.

For me, it was it was a long process of forgiveness.

And, you know, they are my parents and they've given me a tremendous amount outside of.

You know, the things that we how we grew up.

They gave me a tremendous amount great things as well.

So, you know, I'm always bust that, you know, I had a certain amount of time.

They were present in my life and I'm always going to be thankful for that.

Of course, one of the biggest dramatic moments that you had to overcome was, of course, when your father killed your mother and then himself in a murder suicide.

>> After a 10 hour standoff with you were 19 years old at the time when you had to identify them.

Out of all the tough moments in your childhood.

How did that when Chief U?

mean, it's It was in an instant.

It changed my life forever.

So everything that I knew enough to that kind of all just disappeared.

And I had to kind of just put it away and and decide for myself humming and move forward and how moderna.

What am I going to take from it?

I want to learn from it and move forward.

And I think we all do that in life is we have that option too.

Take the good and bad and we can choose left or right.

And for me like I wanted to take.

That portion of it and dedicated towards my craft, which happen to be cooking at the time and and that's all I wanted to do.

And that kind of just forced me and put blinders on and just try to achieve something great.

You also you share the letters that your father wrote in those last very dark months in this book, which is something deeply personal, of course, for you, for your family, for him.

Certainly.

>> Why did you want to share those here?

It's part of the story.

mean, it's we said I wanted to be an open book.

I wanted to this to be my entire story.

So I didn't want to pick and choose like all these fluff pieces and make this think this beautiful book.

I wanted it to be what it is.

I want tell my story and that is part of the story.

So why not put him in the book?

What do you hope other people take from from this particular chapter of your life of the book?

I think inspiration.

I want people to know that, you know, everybody has a story.

I'm lucky enough to be able to have a platform to have a voice.

My story.

But we all know everybody goes through things and you know, if they can take a little bit from the book it helps them.

In a direction dealing with something currently dealing with something in the past, that's a win for us.

That's a win for me.

never got to cook for your parents.

Certainly not at the Les you mentioned, you know, cooking for them when you're still learning and testing some stuff out.

Maybe they're being nice because it wasn't that good.

>> Owner.

At the level that you cook today, what would you make for them?

For me, it wouldn't be about cooking at this point.

It would be just about.

>> The idea of sitting at a table together with them with my family, my immediate my wife and children and down.

To have a sit and you don't have conversation and I don't want to Figure it out of 2 point.

>> Okay.

So pivoting a bit because we know that, you know, you during home EOC is when you find cooking and you've some teachers mentors who I'm trying to fast forward here, some teachers mentors get you on your way.

Now, of course, you are chef and owner ever and your cocktail lounge after next door.

So you and a restaurant, you play some quiet but critical roles and that little show called the Bear.

Your hands are in several important food plating scenes.

Both the restaurant and the cocktail lounge play the role of kitchen.

What did it mean for you and your business is play those parts in a show that became wildly successful?

Yeah, I was so important because it was.

>> It's a show that really gets it.

It's a show that really what I really love about it also, it shows so much of our city in such a great light.

I know there's a lot of films that hit shot here in the city.

this one does magical things for our city and to be a part of that was it was incredible.

You know, the team was incredible because the cast was incredible.

And they they tell a story that really nails it the kitchen life there that they do portray is about 90% accurate.

You know, they do a really good job with it.

Has anybody recognized her hands from with the black males is pretty easy pick a >> Can you relate to the main character Carmi in that program and what he and his team are going through like getting a restaurant off the ground and running it every night 100%.

Yeah.

I mean, that is the daily grind with us, right?

It is.

>> It is.

We have a deadline every day.

5 o'clock when we open those doors and we have those pressures leading up to 5 o'clock and then.

>> Once the doors open here we are.

Now we have 60 guess that we have to please and hit their expectations and make sure that they're leaving incredibly.

honored that they were.

They're incredibly thankful happy when they walk out the front door and that's that's our job every single night that we're open and a lot goes into the work that you all to you learning about those guests before they even 100%.

Yeah, we try.

We do Google.

We do with link.

Then we do Instagram.

We try to find as much as we can.

To make your experience better.

We're going to try to find as much as we possibly can.

If you're left-handed, we're gonna make sure you still wears on your left side.

If you treat Coca-Cola and a lot of your pictures, we're to make sure we have that product in House.

you talk about that, you know, some the people that you worked under.

Of course, Charlie Trotter Grant Achatz Alinea John Souza.

>> Big lessons you learn from them.

What's your advice to future ships?

Well, I think taking a little bit from each one of them is what made my successful is what made me successful.

It's.

>> It's understanding their successes and taking what used what available to you and what you can apply on your daily.

Every day during your journey.

Exactly right.

So what I take from John was certain things.

What I've taken from Charlie was certain things and grant all of those had great attributes to who I am today.

>> 30 seconds left.

The book is called Fireproof was being fireproof mean to you?

>> means being resilient.

Its means, you know.

Building character through adversity.

It's it's everything to me.

It's me.

Coming up through what I came up and coming on the other side untie untouched being able to continue push forward.

>> All right.

Congratulations, Curtis, Stephanie, thank you for joining us.

Thank you so much Again, the book is called Fireproof memoir of a Chef.

You can read an excerpt on our website.

And that's our show for this Tuesday night.

Stay connected with our reporters and what they're working on by following us on Instagram at W T Tw Chicago and notice tomorrow night at 5, 30 10, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul on the legal debates on President Trump's plans to deploy the National Guard in Chicago.

Great and from job training to legal support.

We take a look at the services being provided at a new workforce hub in the Austin neighborhood.

Now for all of us here Chicago tonight and Bridges.

Friedman, thank you for watching.

Stay healthy and safe and have a good night.

>> Closed captioning is made possible by Robert a cliff and Clifford law offices, a Chicago personal injury and wrongful death that