Stories by Matt Masterson

The Board of Education on Thursday approved a resolution that will grant school leaders the ability to begin spending their funding allocations when the 2025 fiscal year begins next month — even as the full district budget has not yet been finished.

Robert Crimo III, who was expected to plead guilty Wednesday, instead appeared in a Lake County courtroom packed with victims of the shooting and rejected an agreement in which he would have pleaded guilty to seven counts of first-degree murder and dozens of other charges.

The U.S. Supreme Court may have thrown a wrench into some of the biggest corruption cases across Illinois — including the upcoming trial of former House Speaker Michael Madigan — with a new ruling that redefines federal bribery statutes.

As Chicago Public Schools prepares to eliminate resource officer positions districtwide, a new study found removing police from city schools has not led to increased disciplinary issues, nor did it make students and staff feel less safe.

According to the Chicago Police Department, 31 people were shot in 25 separate shooting incidents between Friday and Sunday evenings.

Deer’s family announced his passing on social media Sunday. He was 51 years old.

Attorneys for Herman Williams — a former U.S. Navy member who served two tours in the Gulf War — announced Tuesday he has been awarded the certificate by the state following his exoneration in the 1993 killing of his former wife Penny Williams.

Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling confirmed that the victim died after he was shot around 3 p.m. Tuesday in the 2300 block of West Jackson Boulevard.

Cordale Nichols, 37, will be detained pending trial following his arrest on charges of first-degree murder, felony murder, attempted murder and arson stemming from the June 15 fire that left Charnette Walker dead.

According to the Chicago Police Department, the boy was standing on the sidewalk in the 1300 block of South Independence Boulevard just before 8:30 p.m. Friday when he was shot.

Ed Burke’s attorneys are seeking to delay his upcoming sentencing date until sometime in mid-July after the U.S. Supreme Court has a chance to rule on an appeal filed by James Snyder, the former mayor of Portage, Indiana, who was convicted in 2021 of accepting a bribe.

Chicago Public Schools on Thursday announced that preliminary state assessment figures show students in grades 3-8 achieved gains in both subjects on the spring Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) exam.

“Judge Harry D. Leinenweber was a friend, mentor, and model jurist,” Rebecca Pallmeyer, chief judge for the Northern District of Illinois, said in a statement. “My colleagues and I are deeply saddened by Judge Leinenweber’s passing.”

CPS on Tuesday announced the CPS CEO Pedro Martinez had informed network and school leaders the final draft of its FY25 budget would now be presented in July as the district continues “finalizing the total budget.”

The former president shook hands with construction workers and signed a beam that will be used in the ongoing construction of the center in Jackson Park.

The CTU announced the sides have agreed to schedule an open contract bargaining session Friday from 5-7 p.m. at Marquette Elementary School, 6550 S. Richmond St., in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood.

An 18-year-old woman fatally shot as she sat in a vehicle early Sunday morning in West Englewood was among eight people killed by gunfire over the weekend across Chicago.

An Illinois appellate court this week ruled that Chicago Public Schools did not violate a moratorium on school closures when it voted down charter renewals for a pair of South Side high schools.

The Chicago Police Department held an open training session at McCormick Place, where police demonstrated for media the different measures and strategies the department is planning to deploy during the August convention.

“There’s no silver bullet here,” study author David Johnson said. “But there is some really solid evidence that the work that schools are doing matters. And I think that’s really exciting and important.”

Chicago police officials on Tuesday announced first-degree murder and armed robbery charges against 32-year-old Divonte Calhoun and Justin Redmond, 41, nearly a month after the killing of 24-year-old Zet Rodriguez.

“This is abuse that occurred at the hands of those who were hired to protect and educate the residents of these facilities,” attorney Todd Mathews said Monday. “Instead, they created a horrific environment and performed unspeakable acts on these survivors.”

Through the end of May, there have been 204 homicides and 979 shootings, both of which are the lowest totals for any year in Chicago since 2019.

A man who was fatally shot in a drive-by shooting in the Back of the Yards neighborhood Sunday was among at least three people killed by gunfire across Chicago over the weekend.

Mayor Brandon Johnson announced plans to reopen the city-run Roseland Mental Health Center by the end of this year, and open two other mental health service sites at the Legler Regional Library on the West Side and at the Chicago Department of Public Health’s Lower West Side vaccine clinic in Pilsen.

Chicago police are better prepared to handle the large protests and crowds expected during the upcoming Democratic National Convention, but concerns still exist around the police department’s ability to put those preparations into action, a new watchdog report found.