Stories by Matt Masterson

The former “Empire” star on Monday filed a petition to the state’s high court after an appellate court upheld his 2021 convictions on five counts of disorderly conduct.

Chicago Teachers Union-backed educators at two Instituto del Progreso Latino charter schools are going on strike after they say little progress was made during the latest round of contract negotiations over the weekend.

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

According to the Chicago Police Department, there were 31 homicides recorded through the first month of 2024. That’s the lowest total for any January since 2019 (23 homicides) and the third-fewest in the last decade.

CPS on Thursday released its proposed calendars for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 academic years, which included a start date of Aug. 26 for the upcoming year due to the “estimated influx of 75,000 visitors: coming to Chicago for the convention.

Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling confirmed the shooting occurred just after 3:30 p.m. in the 1200 block of West Thorndale Avenue, just blocks away from Senn’s campus.

Speaking Wednesday before the Economic Club of Chicago, Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said police officers will always have some role in school safety, even if they’re no longer working inside schools.

Chicago police on Tuesday morning announced that two boys and a girl have been charged with armed robbery. The boys also each face an additional count of armed robbery stemming from a separate incident Monday.

In a sentencing memo filed Monday, the government asked a federal judge to sentence Mapes to between 51 and 63 months in prison following his conviction last August on charges of making false declarations and attempted obstruction of justice.

In a message posted on its webpage, Innovations High School informed students that classes would be canceled Monday and then resume Tuesday.

According to Chicago Police Department data, 13 people were shot across the city between 6 p.m. Friday and 11:59 p.m. Sunday.

Two teen boys were fatally shot as they left their high school Friday afternoon in the Loop.

Chicago Teachers Union-backed educators at a pair of Instituto del Progreso Latino charter schools could go on strike early next month after more than two years of bargaining.

The seven-member board voted unanimously in favor of the agreements, which would settle a pair of lawsuits filed by Prussing parents after at least 71 students and seven adults were taken to the hospital as a result of the leak.

CBS News reported a federal judge in Washington D.C. sentenced Karol and Agnieszka Chwiesiuk each to three months home detention and three years probation after they were found guilty last year on multiple misdemeanor charges.

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.