Stories by Matt Masterson

The head of Chicago’s largest police union believes his officers in his union should have the right to go to arbitration over the most serious disciplinary decisions, but reform leaders believe doing so could “set us back decades.”

In a surprise move Monday, Crimo III told the court he wishes to proceed pro se and will act as his own attorney. The 23-year-old also invoked his right to a speedy trial — pushing what had been expected to be a February 2025 trial date up to Feb. 26, 2024.

Architect Warren Johnson took the witness stand Thursday afternoon, more than a month after trial proceedings got underway in former Ald. Ed Burke’s landmark corruption case.

Eugene McLaurin, 31, pleaded guilty to three counts of assaulting a federal officer and two counts of using a firearm during a crime of violence, more than two years after he opened fire on an unmarked vehicle in Chicago’s Morgan Park.

The Chicago Board of Education is expected to renew the campus agreement for Urban Prep charter schools located in Bronzeville and Englewood after a judge ruled that CPS violated its moratorium on school closures by attempting to take control of the schools.

A restaurant group official said he was “taken aback” when Ald. Ed Burke brought up possible work for his property tax law firm as the pair discussed driveway permits for a Burger King undergoing a remodel in Burke’s 14th Ward in 2017.

New data from the Chicago Police Department on Tuesday shows that through the end of November, the number of homicides has dropped by 11% while shootings dropped nearly 13% compared to the same time in 2022.

Gabriella Garcia-Martinez, a firm administrator with Burke’s property tax practice, was allowed to testify Monday because she is set to undergo a medical procedure that would make her unavailable for the remainder of the trial.

Joseph Pavlik, 66, was sentenced to two months in prison, six months of home confinement and 24 months of supervised release. He also must pay a $6,000 fine and $2,000 in restitution.

In a 2-1 decision published Friday, the First District court rejected the actor’s claims that he had faced double jeopardy when a special prosecutor filed renewed charges against him after Cook County prosecutors dropped their initial criminal case.

Following the Thanksgiving break, faculty members represented by the Columbia College Faculty Union (CFAC) have entered the fifth week of the ongoing strike.

Evidence in Burke’s landmark corruption case moved into the third of four schemes the former 14th Ward alderman allegedly spearheaded, this one involving the massive Old Post Office building, which had been left vacant and run down for years before it was sold to 601 West Companies in 2016.

Unlike last time when the landmark corruption case was put on hold for a week, proceedings continued briefly Monday before the parties broke until Tuesday.

Jurors on Tuesday began hearing evidence of the second of four criminal schemes the longtime 14th Ward alderperson was allegedly involved in — this one involving remodeling work at a Burger King restaurant that was located in Burke’s district.

Attorneys from the Chicago-based Clifford Law Offices announced Wednesday they’ve filed two additional lawsuits against the CTA, which allege that the commuter train was operated negligently.

At least three teenagers were fatally shot over the weekend across Chicago, including a pair of 14-year-old boys killed in the Chatham neighborhood Sunday and a 16-year-old boy who died Saturday.

Federal prosecutors called their first witness Friday afternoon in the longtime alderman’s landmark corruption trial — Elmhurst College professor Constance Mixon, who gave the jury a crash course in the city’s political system.

The Chicago Police Department has reached full compliance on just 6% of its consent decree requirements. Independent monitor Maggie Hickey expressed a belief that additional transparency will help bring police in line with necessary reforms.

After a weeklong delay after an attorney tested positive for COVID-19, a jury was picked Thursday to decide the federal corruption trial of former Ald. Ed Burke and his two co-defendants.

At a hearing Wednesday morning, attorneys for the so-called “ComEd Four” argued that the scheduled January sentencing dates should be pushed back by a month in order to allow their defense teams to better prepare their sentencing briefings.

Chicago Fire Department officials confirmed Andrew “Drew” Price was killed after suffering injuries during a fire in the 2400 block of North Lincoln Avenue.

According to the Chicago Police Department, 20 people were shot in 18 separate shooting incidents between Friday evening and Sunday night. Those victims included at least one juvenile who was killed.

It was expected that during the first week of the longtime 14th Ward alderperson’s landmark racketeering trial a 12-person jury would be seated, opening arguments would be given and witness testimony would begin. Instead, none of those things happened.

The four former Commonwealth Edison officials convicted this year for their efforts to bribe ex-House Speaker Michael Madigan are seeking to push back their sentencing dates, but federal prosecutors claim there’s “no good reason” to do so.

Officer Craig Lancaster, an active member of the Chicago Police Department, has reportedly been charged with aggravated battery following a May incident with 14-year-old JaQuwaun Williams outside Gresham Elementary School.

A federal judge this week sentenced 51-year-old Ayanna Nesbitt to one year and one day in prison after she entered a guilty plea to one count of wire fraud.