Stories by Matt Masterson

Chicago Public Schools will not require eligible students to get a COVID-19 vaccine, but once in-person classes resume Aug. 30, those who are unvaccinated and test positive for the virus must quarantine for 14 days.

Chicago police officials have released video of two suspects sought in connection with the fatal shooting of Yvonne Ruzich early Monday as she sat inside her car in the 13300 block of South Baltimore Avenue.

The Civilian Office of Police Accountability said the order bars “the city of Chicago and its entities” from releasing any materials related to the fatal shooting of police Officer Ella French under the Freedom of Information Act or the city’s transparency policy.

Chicago police said the girl and her 6-year-old sister were each shot multiple times by an unknown suspect in the 6200 block of West Grand Avenue around 2:50 p.m. Sunday. 

With less than three weeks until in-person classes resume, Chicago Public Schools has announced it will require all teachers and staff to get a COVID-19 vaccine by the fall.

Kenyate Jackson will be held without bail after he allegedly followed a stranger into a Lincoln Park store in broad daylight, grabbed her and choked her for several minutes until a witness could pry him off the woman’s body.

Chief Judge Timothy Evans issued an order allowing nearly all domestic violence proceedings to go forward by videoconference or teleconference, saying it’s being done “in order to better serve victims” in these cases.

Jamel Danzy will be released from jail following his arrest on a federal charge earlier this week. The 29-year-old Indiana man allegedly acted as a straw purchaser to buy the firearm used to kill Chicago police Officer Ella French.

The 21-year-old Chicago man who allegedly shot and killed Officer Ella French during a traffic stop Saturday has been ordered held without bail and remains hospitalized with a gunshot wound to the chest. His brother, who has also been charged, was held without bail during a separate hearing.

Emonte Morgan, 21, and his brother Eric Morgan, 22, each face criminal charges stemming from the Saturday night shooting in West Englewood that left one police officer dead and another in critical condition.

Jamel Danzy, 29, of Hammond, Indiana, was arrested Sunday and has been charged with conspiracy to violate federal firearm laws.

There were more than 45 separate shooting incidents over the weekend, according to police, including two mass shootings and the killing of Chicago police Officer Ella French on Saturday night.

Melvina Bogard has been charged with aggravated battery and official misconduct, according to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, more than 17 months after the shooting of Ariel Roman inside the Grand Red Line station.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot said a new information and resource hub will bring city resources together under one roof so they can more readily address and prevent violent crime. Chicago has seen more than 2,000 shootings and 450 homicides so far this year.

With classes for students in pre-K through 12th grade set to resume across Illinois in the coming weeks, Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday announced a mask mandate for all students and staff at public and private schools.

Ten people from the city and suburbs face the potential of decades behind bars after they allegedly used counterfeit U.S. Postal Service money orders to fraudulently obtain hundreds of thousands of dollars from area banks.

Chicago police Officer Karol Chwiesiuk, who was charged for his alleged role in the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, may lose his job, his attorneys claim, because he’s been forced to turn over his firearm owner identification card as part of the conditions for his release from jail.

Fifty-one people were shot in 38 separate shooting incidents over the weekend. Chicago also closed out the month of July with 105 homicides, marking the second consecutive July in which the city has surpassed 100 killings.

In a 10-page ruling, Judge James Linn ordered that Jussie Smollett may continue using attorney Nenye Uche to represent him in the actor’s disorderly conduct case, despite a push from Special Prosecutor Dan Webb to have Uche removed.

Anthony Lorenzi was held without bail Friday following his arrest earlier this month in San Diego. He has since been extradited back to Cook County on a charge of first-degree murder in the killing of 24-year-old Gyovanny Arzuaga.

It’s official: The Chicago Board of Education will transition from being an appointed body to an elected one — over the objections of Mayor Lori Lightfoot. 

As the massive four-day music festival gets underway in Grant Park, event organizers announced the launch of a fund that will support arts education over the next five years for more than 100,000 students within Chicago Public Schools.

Speaking Wednesday at his first Board of Education meeting since he was appointed as interim Chicago Public Schools CEO, Jose Torres said the district’s “true north” goal before reopening schools must be to make sure at-risk students are prepared to return to CPS.

A Cook County judge has appointed Lawrence Oliver to serve as special prosecutor in the case of Jackie Wilson, who wrongfully spent decades behind bars for a double murder he didn’t commit.

Federal authorities on Tuesday announced that Jose Valdovinos had been arrested earlier this week after a federal grand jury returned an indictment charging him with maliciously damaging and destroying a building in June 2020.

There were 52 separate shooting incidents between Friday evening and Sunday night, according to data from the Chicago Police Department. That includes a police shooting Sunday in the Kenwood community that left one person wounded.