Stories by Matt Masterson

A 26-year-old father allegedly shook and beat his infant child to the point where the boy suffered injuries consistent with a car crash and will require medical care for the rest of his life, prosecutors claimed.

“We’re gonna have to see what happens with omicron, but I do not expect that we will be making plans to move entirely remotely and certainly not for extended periods, even if that were a thing,” Dr. Allison Arwady said Thursday.

Chicago education officials approved a settlement Wednesday that will put an end to years of litigation with the Chicago Teachers Union over a series of layoffs that disparately impacted hundreds of Black teachers and paraprofessionals.

“The trial of Mr. Smollett being complete, it is now appropriate for the seal on the (Office of Special Prosecutor’s) Summary Report to be lifted and for it to be publicly available,” Dan Webb wrote in a new motion Wednesday.

A man accused in a fatal shooting after a traffic accident earlier this year now faces charges in a separate West Englewood homicide in which he allegedly killed a man as he stood outside a vehicle that had two young children inside.

Brett Dimick, 30, has been charged with reckless homicide stemming from the Aug. 14 hit-and-run that left 24-year-old Sophie Allen dead and another woman injured.

“Everyone is always welcome downtown, everyone is welcome to enjoy all our city has to offer,” Police Superintendent David Brown said. “Chicago belongs to all of us, but if you come downtown or anywhere else, you engage in disorderly conduct or other crimes, you will be arrested.”

Alphonso Joyner, 23, was ordered held without bail during a court hearing Thursday following his arrest on charges including first-degree murder and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon stemming from the brazen killing of 71-year-old Woom Sing Tse.

Charleston Harris, 37, was ordered held without bail Wednesday following his arrest on a single count of first-degree murder stemming from the fatal July shooting of 44-year-old Theodore Smith.

According to police department data, 32 people were shot in 28 shooting incidents over the weekend in Chicago.

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul on Friday said law enforcement recovered “four semitrailers of merchandise” from eight storage units in two Chicago locations Wednesday night that had been stolen from major national retailers.

The Chicago Police Department released surveillance footage showing the moments before 59-year-old Rae Park was shot and killed by a male suspect at around 7 a.m. Wednesday in the 2600 block of West Catalpa Avenue.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot issued a statement Wednesday night saying the city had dropped its lawsuit at her discretion following an increase in compliance among Chicago police officers with the city’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

Mauricio Ramirez, previously accused of sexually assaulting an underage lifeguard, has been arrested for a second time in just over a month after media coverage of his initial case led a second victim to come forward, prosecutors said.

The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed its 1,000th homicide of the year over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, though that total has since grown to at least 1,009, per county officials.

Under the pilot, an unvaccinated student who is exposed to COVID-19 would be allowed to stay in school if they agree to testing on the first, third, fifth and seventh day after their exposure.

Jussie Smollett faces six counts of disorderly conduct for allegedly making false reports to multiple different Chicago police officers about being the victim of a racist and homophobic attack in 2019.

Jury selection begins Monday as the former "Empire" star will stand trial on charges of disorderly conduct after he allegedly filed a false police report claiming to be the victim of a January 2019 attack by two men near his Streeterville apartment.

Felton Williams was on parole following a previous aggravated battery against a peace officer when he allegedly fired a gun at Chicago police officers during a foot pursuit Sunday evening.

The Chicago Police Department has issued missing persons alerts for 15-year-olds Sujeily Zepeda and Izebella DeLeon, who were last seen Friday outside Amundsen High School, where both are students.

A 14-year-old boy was among the seven people killed across Chicago over the weekend, according to Chicago police.

"The behavior uncovered revealed a stunning betrayal of trust and colossal failure of judgment in character on the part of far too many individuals," CPS CEO Pedro Martinez told media during a press conference Friday morning.

Beginning June 1, 2022, juror pay — which has not increased for decades — will increase from $14.50 per day to $30 per day, while travel stipends will increase from $2.70 per day to $5 per day.

“I know this is a complicated fact pattern,” Assistant State’s Attorney James Murphy said, “but in looking at the facts as alleged by the state, it’s as if these two defendants tried to copy every armed robbery movie out there, right down to the double cross.”

CPS CEO Pedro Martinez on Wednesday said his team is beginning to set up plans and solidify a specific health metric that can be used to decide when to shut down in-person learning within a school or across the district itself.

A day after he announced his intention to leave the department, John Catanzara — the first-term president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7 — posted a picture of his personnel action request on his Facebook page, which shows that he has indeed retired from the CPD.