Stories by Matt Masterson

The Chicago Police Department will outfit officers in a half-dozen South and West Side districts with an opioid overdose-reversal medicine as part of a $2 million federal grant.

A North Side man allegedly used Twitter, Facebook and other social media applications to spread propaganda, recruit operatives, encourage terrorist attacks and provide aid to ISIS.

A retired judge, a former U.S. prosecutor and a local firm reviewing Chicago Public Schools’ response to sexual misconduct are among the finalists to oversee police reforms in the city.

Local attorneys filed a suit on behalf of the Chicago chapter of Black & Pink – a nonprofit that offers prisoners news updates on LGBTQ issues through a monthly newsletter and other publications.

A first-of-its-kind program in Illinois allows inmates to earn college credits and liberal arts degrees inside the maximum-security prison some 40 miles from Chicago.

New video shows an off-duty Chicago police officer shooting and wounding an unarmed, developmentally disabled teen as he stood outside a Far South Side home late last summer.

A fundraiser started by one of Jason Van Dyke’s trial attorneys has raised more than $43,000 in one week to support the family of the suspended Chicago police officer.

Jason Van Dyke is the first Chicago police officer to be convicted for an on-duty shooting in 50 years. Sentencing and an appeal are sure to follow, but as that case comes to a close, another is yet to begin.

The suspended Chicago police officer, who was convicted last week in the shooting death of Laquan McDonald, is being sent to Rock Island County Jail nearly three hours away.

The special prosecutor in the Jason Van Dyke murder trial talks with us about one of the highest-profile cases in Chicago history.

Jurors explain how they came to their decision in the high-profile murder trial.

A 12-person jury has found Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke guilty of second-degree murder for the 2014 shooting death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald.

After nearly three weeks of witness testimony from police officers, medical and law enforcement experts, and police Officer Jason Van Dyke himself, the 12-person jury began deliberations in the high-profile murder case.

Jurors heard from more than 40 witness over the past two-plus weeks, including emotional testimony from Jason Van Dyke himself. On Thursday, they’ll hear closing arguments before beginning their deliberations.

The suspended Chicago police officer spent more than an hour on the witness stand Tuesday, recounting how and why he killed teen Laquan McDonald in 2014. Updates from the high-profile murder trial.

Jurors on Thursday learned how officers, including suspended Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke, are trained in the use of firearms as the second week of the high-profile murder trial came to a close.

Attorneys for suspended Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke wrapped up their third day of defense by calling a truck driver who they believe was attacked by Laquan McDonald the night the fatal shooting, and an instructor from Chicago’s police academy.

Jason Van Dyke’s attorneys presented expert testimony and an animated video that purports to show how the shooting occurred from Van Dyke’s perspective during the sixth day of the high-profile murder trial.

Jason Van Dyke is the one facing murder charges, but his attorneys on Monday painted teen Laquan McDonald as a violent drug user who became aggressive when under the influence of PCP.

Prosecutors wrapped up their case this week in the high-profile murder trial, which saw testimony from Jason Van Dyke’s partner, eyewitnesses at the scene and the county’s chief medical examiner. Notes from the first four days of testimony.

After four days of testimony from two dozen witnesses, special prosecutors rested their case against Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke in his murder trial for the shooting of teen Laquan McDonald. 

Jurors spent hours Wednesday staring at graphic autopsy photos and hearing explicit details about where and how each of the 16 bullets fired by Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke struck the body of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. A recap from the day’s proceedings.

Even after he’d been shot 16 times, Laquan McDonald still posed a threat because he held a knife in his hand. That’s what the partner of Jason Van Dyke testified during the second day of arguments in the high-profile murder trial.

Defense attorneys have argued a fair trial in Cook County is impossible. But the judge in the high-profile murder case said jurors should be believed when they say they’ll be impartial. More from the first day of arguments.

A 12-person jury will decide Jason Van Dyke’s fate. That decision comes only days before opening arguments are expected to begin in the high-profile murder trial.

Twelve jurors have been selected. Eleven have been sworn in. Suspended Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke and his attorneys have one more day to decide if they want a jury trial or a bench trial, with opening arguments expected as soon as Monday.