Stories by Matt Masterson

Local progressives and elected officials say the time is now to talk gun reform following the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

Stephen Paddock, the gunman who opened fire on thousands of concertgoers in Las Vegas late Sunday night, had booked two rooms in Chicago overlooking Grant Park in August, during Lollapalooza, according to a report from TMZ.

A new charge against 28-year-old suspect Brendt Christensen opens up the possibility of the death penalty for the Champaign man charged in the disappearance and murder of a Chinese student.

An eyewitness recounts what she saw in Las Vegas on Sunday night during what has become the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

Attorneys for Brendan Dassey discuss interrogation techniques and environmental factors that can leave a suspect feeling like they have no choice but to confess – even if they’re innocent.

Two former university employees charged in the brutal stabbing death of a Chicago hairstylist earlier this summer have pleaded not guilty to a half-dozen murder charges levied against them.

“Everything is unusual about this case until we hear more,” a Loyola University Chicago criminal justice professor said regarding Wyndham Lathem and Andrew Warren – two former university employees accused in the stabbing death of a Chicago hairstylist.

The number of homicides in the U.S. increased about 8 percent between 2015 and 2016, new data from the FBI shows. Chicago was responsible for more than 20 percent of the jump.

According to data from the National Registry of Exonerations, Illinois has a false confession rate more than three times higher than the national average. Is there “a culture in Chicago of solving cases by confession?”

More than 2,000 exoneration cases are on record in the U.S., according to the National Registry of Exonerations. Only a handful of people appear on that list twice, and one of them is Chicago native Dana Holland.

Calls for the ouster of CPS CEO Forrest Claypool and General Counsel Ronald Marmer come on the heels of a leaked report alleging Marmer violated the district’s ethics code.

The former Bolingbrook police officer had appealed his conviction in the 2004 death of his third wife, Kathleen Savio.

Wyndham Lathem and Andrew Warren each face six counts of first-degree murder in the July stabbing death of a 26-year-old man inside Lathem’s River North home.

On top of announcing its 2017 PARCC results, the Illinois State Board of Education says it plans to stick with the exam that critics have called confusing and unreliable.

More than a dozen residents of the former Ida B. Wells housing project say they were framed and intimidated by a former Chicago Police Department sergeant. Now they are seeking to have their convictions overturned.

A new report from Chicago Public Schools’ legal watchdog states an alternative high school located within the Cook County Jail has been falsifying its enrollment and graduation numbers for years.

Just days after Gov. Bruce Rauner signed a new education funding formula into law, his handpicked education chief announced her departure.

A week after announcing a record-high graduation rate among students last year, Chicago Public Schools said Monday that more of those students are ready for college than ever before.

A former CPS student says he was sexually abused by the head of a district mentoring program from 1988 until 1993. “I feel like it’s time for me to tell my story,” he said.

Despite ongoing funding issues and declining enrollment, students at Chicago Public Schools graduated last year at the district’s highest rate on record, with more students earning a diploma than in each of the past six years.

The Chicago-born recording artist said money raised through the New Chance Arts & Literature Fund will be split among nearly two dozen Chicago schools to help boost arts programming and facilities.

Days after state legislators approved a historic education funding reform bill, Illinois has now received a green light to begin implementing another new system to keep school districts accountable.

What role should the state have in private school education? A look at Illinois’ plan and how other states run the controversial program.

The head of the Chicago Board of Education on Monday put his full support behind the state education funding reform deal on the table in Springfield, saying it represents a big step toward putting Chicago Public Schools on solid fiscal ground.

A controversial plan to convert a high-performing Near South Side elementary school into a neighborhood high school will move forward, Chicago Public Schools announced Friday.

After days of meetings and months of debate, an agreement has been reached on education funding reform in Springfield. What we know about the deal.