Stories by Matt Masterson

Llovana Torres, 26, has been charged with one count of aggravated battery to a victim under the age of 13. A judge on Monday ordered that she be detained in Cook County Jail pending trial.

Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke called on legislators to pass a bill that would amend the terrorism article of the state’s criminal code to include language protecting reproductive health care facilities.

Stacy Davis Gates and the Caucus of Rank-and-file Educators (CORE) will remain in charge of the Chicago Teachers Union for three more years after emerging victorious in Friday’s officers elections.

The Chicago Board of Education this week announced a series of public meetings to be held over the coming days in order to “engage the public in shaping the future of Chicago Public Schools.”

Weeks after ratifying a new labor agreement, rank-and-file members of the Chicago Teachers Unions this week will be voting once again, this time to decide on their leadership for the next three years.

Raoul and 19 other Democratic attorneys general announced a pair of new lawsuits against the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Transportation and their respective secretaries claiming they’re attempting to illegally coerce states into enacting sweeping immigration enforcement.

Thirty members of the City Council signed a letter this week urging the board to stand by a resolution it passed less than two months ago requiring that the CPS CEO hold a licensed superintendent credential.

The Civilian Office of Police Accountability is investigating the shooting, which occurred around 6 p.m. Thursday after officers 4th District officers responded to a report of a person with a gun.

The 20 homicides recorded throughout the city last month were the fewest for any month in Chicago since February 2015 while marking the fewest for any April since 1962.

Bogdana Chkoumbova, who was named the district’s chief education officer in 2022, has spent more than two decades in CPS, beginning as a teacher before moving on to become a principal, network chief and eventually one of the top district leaders.

Attorneys for the city and Smollett informed U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall they had reached a settlement, though specifics have not yet been released.

The Head Start programs from Illinois and a handful of other states are suing the Trump administration after officials proposed slashing federal funding for early childcare and education programs across the country.

The Trump Administration has launched another investigation into Chicago Public Schools, this time targeting its newly-created Black Students Success Plan, claiming it discriminates against students based on their race.

Federal prosecutors have asked a judge to reject Michael Madigan’s request for his convictions to be tossed out, claiming the former House speaker repeatedly lied on the witness stand when he testified in his own defense at his landmark corruption trial earlier this year.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois late last week filed a motion informing U.S. District Judge John Blakey that it will not move forward with a planned forfeiture trial following the speaker’s conviction in February.

Charles Green, 44, was charged Friday with two counts of murder and one count of aggravated arson after he allegedly started the fire that led to Meyer’s death.

The 21-member board voted to approve the deal during its monthly meeting at Chicago Public Schools’ Loop office Thursday — the last step necessary to finalize the new labor agreement.

Robert Crimo III, 24, on Thursday was handed seven consecutive life terms, along with the maximum of 50 years in prison on each of the 48 counts of attempted murder he faced.

The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education voted 9-0 in favor of selecting the embattled CPS chief from a pool of three finalists to become the state’s next Department of Elementary and Secondary Education commissioner.

The settlement comes after a complaint filed in Chicago’s federal court alleged Walgreens pharmacists filled illegal prescriptions for excessive quantities of opioids and prescriptions for a particularly dangerous combination of drugs.

Northwestern officials say the university intends to fund at-risk research, days after the Trump administration announced plans to freeze nearly $800 million in federal funding.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Mayor Brandon Johnson and other public officials lauded the program after a Northwestern University study found that specific “hotspots” where peacekeepers have been deployed have seen drops of more than 40% in gun violence.

The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education on Tuesday announced Martinez as one of three finalists for the job as its next commissioner. He and the other candidates will each interview for that role Thursday in a public meeting before the board.

CTU officials on Monday morning announced that 97% of its members who voted last week cast ballots in favor of the contract proposal, a mark union President Stacy Davis Gates called “overwhelming (and) historic.”

The U.S. House Education and Workforce Committee withdrew its records request during an emergency court hearing in Chicago after Northwestern professors sued the committee, claiming its investigation into the university’s law clinics violated their First Amendment rights.

“Our solidarity has brought us this far,” CTU President Stacy Davis Gates and union leadership wrote in an open letter to members. “Your vote decides what happens next.”