Stories by Matt Masterson

CPS on Friday announced that 93.4% of its 300,000-plus students were in their classrooms for the start of the new school year on Aug. 22. That’s the highest percentage since the 2019-20 school year, the district said.

Kelly told U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber on Thursday that he would not be testifying in his own defense at his second federal trial in as many years. One of his codefendants, however, is planning to take the witness stand.

Sixty-six people were killed across the city in August, new department data shows, which brings the total number of homicides in 2022 up to 448. That’s below the pace set in each of the last two years, but the total is more than 100 homicides higher than the first eight months of 2019.

Brian Crowder, 40, has been accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting an underage female student over the course of multiple years.

A second alleged victim who claimed R. Kelly sexually abused her while she was a minor in the 1990s, told jurors Monday that she lied during an investigation into the R&B superstar’s past child pornography allegations to conceal her own involvement with him.

Thirty-five people were shot, nine of whom died, in weekend shootings across the city of Chicago, including an 18-year-old killed outside a home in Chatham and a 50-year-old killed inside a Humboldt Park restaurant.

Alan Perez, 25, was charged with first-degree murder Friday afternoon stemming from the killing of 36-year-old Jeremy Walker, who died following an altercation at Dearborn and Ohio streets.

Terran McKethan has been charged with aggravated kidnapping and indecent solicitation stemming from the Aug. 17 incident at the Cermak Fresh Market in the 6600 block of North Damen Avenue. He’s also been accused in another incident near that same store.

The average bus trip districtwide is 39 minutes and over 80% of rides are under an hour, according to CPS CEO Pedro Martinez, but 365 diverse learners currently have rides lasting more than 90 minutes each day.

According to Chicago police, one adult and three teens were shot while at outside a restaurant across the street from Schurz High School in the Old Irving Park neighborhood.

Charles Freeman, who had worked for Kelly as a merchandiser in the 1990s, testified that he asked R. Kelly and his associates for $1 million to recover an illicit sex tape in the early 2000s.

Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown announced that Tavis Dunbar, 34, has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted first-degree murder. Three men were killed and another injured when a car drove into a crowd of people Aug. 15. 

Monday marks the first day of the 2022-23 school year, as some 300,000-plus students head back to class on one of the earliest start dates in recent memory.

According to Chicago Police Department data, 37 people were shot in 26 separate shootings between 6 p.m. Friday evening and 11:59 p.m. Sunday night. That included a drive-by shooting in Homan Square that left four people injured and one dead Friday.

When attempting to access any of the specific courtrooms, users will now find live videos replaced with the following message from YouTube: “This account has been terminated due to multiple or severe violations of YouTube's policy against spam, deceptive practices, and misleading content or other Terms of Service violations.”

The woman — now 37 and identified in court only under the pseudonym “Jane” — is one of the main witnesses at the center of the government’s latest case against Kelly. She was allegedly the 14-year-old girl who later appeared in child pornography videos Kelly allegedly produced. 

Opening statements got underway at the Dirksen Federal Building on Wednesday in R. Kelly’s second federal trial, where he stands accused of multiple child pornography-related charges, as well as conspiracy to obstruct justice and enticing a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity.

Jury selection in R. Kelly’s trial began Monday inside a 25th-floor courtroom at the Dirksen Federal Building, where the 55-year-old Chicago native stands accused of multiple child pornography-related charges, as well as conspiracy to obstruct justice and enticing a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity.

According to Chicago Police Department data, 44 people were shot in 35 separate incidents between 6 p.m. Friday and 11:59 p.m. Sunday.

Jury selection begins Monday morning at the Dirksen Federal Building downtown, where the 55-year-old Chicago native will stand trial, nearly a year after a New York jury convicted him of sex trafficking and other charges.

Sebastian Aguilar, 37, has been charged with first-degree murder stemming from the fatal June 30 shooting of 39-year-old Mario Leyva.

The trio allegedly falsified documents and lied about the number of employees at multiple companies in order to defraud the government out of millions of dollars in COVID-19 relief aid they instead used to cover personal expenses and purchase luxury vehicles.

Robert Boik, who served as executive director of the CPD’s Office of Constitutional Policing and Reform, is no longer with the department, a police spokesperson confirmed Tuesday afternoon.

Prosecutors won't oppose post-conviction litigation for eight people with murder convictions tied to ex-Detective Reynaldo Guevara because the state’s attorney “no longer believes in the validity of these convictions or the credibility of the evidence.”

Gregory Baldwin, 45, was charged with a felony count of criminal damage to property, and misdemeanor charges of reckless driving and leaving the scene of a property damage accident.

According to Chicago Police Department data, 54 people were shot in 45 separate shooting incidents between 6 p.m. Friday and 11:59 p.m. Sunday.