Stories by Matt Masterson

Forrest Claypool said he hopes that when this chapter of his life is written, “people will say that even good men can make stupid mistakes.” And with that, the embattled schools chief officially resigned on Friday as Chief Executive Officer of the Chicago Public Schools.

Chicago Public Schools’ Inspector General Nicholas Schuler says CPS CEO Forrest Claypool engaged in a “cover-up” and “repeatedly lied” during a 16-month ethics investigation.

Ken Bennett has served as an aide under Barack Obama, Harold Washington and Rahm Emanuel. On Wednesday, he called out the Chicago Public Schools CEO for the district’s plan to close four Englewood high schools next year.

From 2011 to 2013, a LaSalle County physician prescribed hundreds of thousands of milligrams of controlled substances to a trio of opioid-dependent patients in exchange for sex, according to a plea agreement.

Facing ongoing controversy from an advertisement it now calls “indefensible,” a Champaign-based bus company says it hopes to “relaunch” its conduct and will cooperate with a state investigation into its business practices.

Attorney General Lisa Madigan issues a subpoena to college bus service Suburban Express over possible civil rights violations after the company told customers in an ad that “you won’t feel like you’re in China when you’re on our buses.”

As Chicago Public Schools' five-year moratorium on school closures draws to an end, the district announced plans Friday for a new series of school closings, conversions and consolidations.

A day before Chicago Public Schools is expected to unveil its action plan following a five-year neighborhood school closing moratorium, the district announced it will move to shutter one charter school and authorize another.

Part-time teachers and faculty, tired of dealing with what they see as attacks from administration on their academic freedom during labor negotiations, walked off the job Wednesday.

Chicago police say robbers on the city’s Northwest Side are deceptively warning residents of urgent situations such as gas or water leaks in order to gain entry and steal valuables.

CPS leaders want the Illinois State Board of Education to make sure the district is following best practices with its special ed programming, admitting “fundamental changes” are necessary.

“It’s a brand new beginning for me,” said Leonard Gipson, one of 15 men who had drug convictions vacated by a judge Thursday. The convictions stemmed from arrests made more than a decade ago by disgraced former Chicago Police Sgt. Ronald Watts.

Shooting deaths are down across Chicago in 2017 after last year’s unexpected spike, but this week the city homicide totals crossed another grim milestone.

Michael Borys was in jail for less than a day when he had a seizure and fell from his bunk, resulting in vision loss and multiple brain surgeries. Three years later, Cook County has agreed to settle a federal lawsuit 

The number of hate crimes recorded across the country rose nearly 5 percent last year, according to new data from the FBI. In Chicago, the number of recorded incidents rose 34 percent over 2015.

Oversight officials released several clips showing the shooting death of teen Juan Flores after he pinned an officer between his SUV and a squad car in September.

Yingying Zhang disappeared in June. Now, attorneys for the man accused in her kidnapping and death are requesting a delay in the trial, in part because they want to investigate possible sightings of the victim.

A Chicago Public Schools watchdog report recommended her termination just two months ago, but on Thursday, York Alternative High School Principal Sharnette Sims received an apology from the district and was told she’ll be reinstated to her position, effective immediately.

President Donald Trump this week again claimed—erroneously—that Chicago has the “strongest gun laws in our nation,” pushing back against the idea the tough legislation will reduce gun violence.

Could the deadly mass shooting inside a Texas church on Sunday have been predicted? Yes, a Northwestern professor argues, if only more attention had been paid to the gunman’s history of domestic violence.

A 33-year-old man sparked a brief manhunt Sunday afternoon after he phoned a Chicago dispatcher claiming his vehicle had been stolen with an 8-year-old girl inside.

More than a decade after Kevin Clewer was stabbed to death inside his Lakeview apartment, his family and Chicago police are once again asking for help identifying his killer.

A Chicago Public School principal whose school is in the process of constructing a $60 million expansion attempted to sway the answers of teachers on a 2017 survey measuring the overall quality of the school.

Former Northwestern professor Wyndham Lathem and his accomplice Andrew Warren, charged in the stabbing death of a Chicago hairstylist, will have their hearings scheduled together as their cases proceed.

Allegations of abuse against a former theater teacher at Evanston Township High School have poured in this month following a social media post by an ETHS grad.

A new book by Rolling Stone reporter Matt Taibbi examines the life of Eric Garner, and the impact his death had on his family, friends and the criminal justice system in New York City.