Stories by Matt Masterson

Chicago education officials this week could vote to approve more than $800,000 in payments to settle a pair of lawsuits filed in response to a 2015 carbon monoxide leak at a Northwest Side elementary school that left several dozen students and staff members hospitalized.

Maher Kassem, 63, was detained in jail following a hearing Tuesday after he was arrested and charged with four counts of first-degree murder.

According to the Chicago Police Department, eight people were shot — one fatally — in seven separate shooting incidents between Friday evening and Sunday night.

The Chicago Board of Education will take public comments on proposed changes to the district policy. That move comes weeks after CPS Inspector General Will Fletcher published investigatory results showing that $23 million worth of electronic devices had been unaccounted for.

CPS announced classes will be in session for all students Wednesday as the frigid temperatures the city has seen this week have begun to dissipate.

According to the Chicago Police Department, 18 people were shot in 16 separate shooting incidents between 6 p.m. Friday and 11:59 p.m. Monday.

“We have been carefully monitoring the forecast over the past 24 hours, and have determined that given frigid temperatures predicted for tomorrow, and a Wind Chill Warning from the National Weather Service that wind chills that could reach -30 degrees, it will be unsafe for staff and students to travel to school,” the school district said in a statement.

Helen Grace Caldwell, 58, was charged in Chicago’s federal court Thursday with wire fraud. Her arraignment has not yet been scheduled.

Federal prosecutors have once again expressed their opposition to any delay in sentencing for the “ComEd Four” defendants, arguing it’s “wishful thinking” that an unrelated case making its way before the U.S. Supreme Court could put those verdicts in jeopardy.

The GoFundMe campaign organized on behalf of the parents of Jean Carlos Martinez Rivero has raised more than $6,000 out of its $25,000 goal as of Thursday afternoon.

Deshawn Lucas, 33, has been charged with two counts of attempted murder and unlawful use of a weapon, as well as individual counts of aggravated battery and burglary.

The February trial date for alleged Highland Park parade gunman Robert Crimo III has been removed, with a new trial date coming either later this year or in early 2025.

Those findings were among numerous cases highlighted in an annual report published Tuesday by CPS Inspector General Will Fletcher, which examined investigations undertaken by his office between July 1, 2022 and June 30, 2023.

According to the Chicago Police Department, 11 people were shot in 11 separate shooting incidents between 6 p.m. Friday and 11:59 p.m. Sunday.

The four former Commonwealth Edison officials convicted last year of conspiring to bribe ex-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan will not be sentenced until at least next month, but the delay could last much longer.

Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan appeared in court in person for the first time Wednesday, as a judge pushed back his upcoming federal racketeering and bribery charges to October.

There were 617 homicides and 2,450 shootings across Chicago throughout 2023, according to Chicago Police Department data, with both totals hitting their lowest marks since 2019.

“We know it’ll be a busy night,” Commander Jon Hein said Friday. “We ask everyone to please ensure that you have a safe night and if you’re going to celebrate, do that responsibly.”

Chicago firefighters rescued multiple people from a fire that broke out on the sixth floor of an Uptown high-ride Friday morning.

Mayor Brandon Johnson on Thursday announced two new appointments, tapping Jose Tirado to serve as OEMC’s new executive director and Lissette Castañeda to serve as commissioner for the Department of Housing.

The university confirmed that the Douglas County District Attorney’s office in Kansas issued an arrest warrant for Shannon on Wednesday. He has since turned himself in to police in Lawrence, Kansas, posted bail and is now returning to Illinois.

CTA has announced that it is partnering with Miller Lite to offer free rides, which will be available across the city on both trains and buses from 10 p.m. Sunday until 4 a.m. Monday.

Inspector General Deborah Witzburg on Wednesday said the court overseeing the federal consent decree has found that her office and its public safety section are in “full and effective compliance” with all applicable requirements.

According to the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, 33-year-old Michael O’Connor was found unresponsive in his cell in the jail’s Residential Treatment Unit at around 4:30 p.m. Christmas day.

The Chicago Police Board will move ahead with evidentiary hearings to determine “whether the officers violated any of the Chicago Police Department’s rules of conduct and, if so, the appropriate disciplinary action,” Vice President Paula Wolff wrote in her decision.

When former Chicago alderperson Ed Burke was convicted on racketeering, bribery and extortion charges, he became the latest Illinois politician and powerbroker to face accusations of corruption — but he’s far from the first in recent years.