Stories by Matt Masterson

Cook County College Teachers Union Local 1600 announced Thursday they will begin their strike Oct. 19, days after 96% of its voting members said they were in favor of a work stoppage.

Through the first three quarters of 2026, Chicago is on pace for fewer homicides than it recorded in 2025, a year that closed with the city’s fewest recorded killings in 60 years.

A federal judge has not yet ruled on whether to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate possible wrongdoing by U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros’ office in the botched “Broadview Six” case. But the judge does intend to conduct additional fact-finding.

A Chicago-based law firm is suing current and former Trump administration officials in connection with the death of Renee Good, whose fatal shooting in Minneapolis early this year sparked nationwide protests against the president’s expanded immigration enforcement efforts.

Former Chicago Board of Education vice president Sendhil Revuluri is ending his campaign to become the board’s first-ever elected president, blaming “special-interest cash” for blocking out the “voices of real Chicagoans.”

The U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday announced the charges against Eva Bratcher, 72, who was indicted late last month on counts including theft of government property and fraud, misrepresentation or misuse of Social Security benefits.

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul's office on Friday announced 79 felony charges against 11 current and former elected officials and employees of the village of Ford Heights.

On what would have been Laquan McDonald’s 29th birthday, U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth is reintroducing legislation that would incentivize the use of independent, impartial investigations into the use of deadly force by law enforcement officials.

The embattled federal prosecutor whose alleged misconduct before a grand jury last year led to the dismissal of the “Broadview Six” case and a review of her previous cases has left Chicago’s U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Chicago Public Schools CEO Macquline King said the district’s 20th day enrollment — which is typically used as the official student count in a given year — has fallen to 304,687 students in the 2026-27 academic year.

Wednesday marked the launch of a new union organizing drive by non-tenure eligible and adjunct faculty at the Evanston-based university after two years of organizing conversations.

A federal judge will hear oral arguments and could rule as early as next week on a request from the former “Broadview Six” defendants as they seek a special prosecutor to investigate potential wrongdoing that led to the collapse of the high-profile case against them earlier this year.

Both Chicago-area universities fell slightly in the new rankings, coming in a tie for ninth place, but they remained the highest-ranked schools both in Illinois and the Midwest as a whole.

The county program provides funding for numerous services including crisis intervention, emergency financial assistance and behavioral health.

More than a dozen Illinoisans are taking legal action against the Trump administration claiming they were victimized by the violence and abuse federal agents allegedly carried out across Chicago and beyond during the expanded immigration enforcement operation known as “Midway Blitz.”

La actual integrante de la junta Jessica Biggs, el exdirector político del Sindicato de Maestros de Chicago (CTU) Hilario Dominguez, el exvicepresidente de la junta Sendhil Revuluri y el abogado litigante Victor Henderson son los cuatro candidatos que buscan convertirse en el próximo presidente de la junta.

“The self-evident truth is that the government is still contorting itself to avoid the very transparency that it claims to embrace while opposing any further judicial inquiry into what transpired here,” defense attorneys wrote in a new filing.

With Election Day less than two months away, the four candidates running to become Chicago’s first-ever elected school board president faced off Tuesday to discuss finances, student achievement and their vision for the future of education as part of a special town hall forum hosted by WTTW News.

For decades, Chicago has been the only city in Illinois with its board of education handpicked by its mayor. In the November general election, for the first time ever, all 21 seats on the board will be up for grabs, ending a reign of mayoral control that dates back to 1995 under Richard M. Daley.

A federal judge has denied a motion that sought to block a controversial new Illinois law that will allow terminally ill adults to take life-ending medication, just days before that law is set to take effect.

Chicago’s Office of Inspector General published a new report evaluating the CFD’s hiring and promotion processes, finding that while the initial firefighter and EMT applicant pool reflected the city’s racial and ethnic diversity, that representation shifted as applicants moved through the hiring process.

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s office has reached a settlement agreement with the Northern Illinois Gas Company to cut the natural gas utility’s requested rate increase by approximately $140 million.

According to the Chicago Police Department, 37 total people were shot in 30 separate shooting incidents between Friday and Monday evenings.

Chicago public safety officials are urging caution for boaters and anyone else planning to enjoy time on Lake Michigan during the extended Labor Day holiday weekend.

Chicago Public Schools is canceling all outdoor activities Thursday unless they can be moved inside amid another day of extreme heat across the city.

A federal judge has refused to toss out charges against a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent whom federal prosecutors allege operated in Chicago is a “serial rapist” after it was revealed those charges came from the same grand jury in the botched “Broadview Six” case.