Stories by Matt Masterson

A Chicago firm is suing the vendor behind the SAT and Advanced Placement exams in a federal class-action suit that accuses them of collecting and selling millions of students’ personal information.

The U.S. government is moving to revoke the citizenship of José Vilchis, a longtime gymnastics coach who’s been accused of sexually abusing multiple underage girls over the course of three-plus decades.

The Chicago Police Board held the first of three community listening sessions Monday in Washington Heights as it continues its search for a new superintendent.

In June, Brendt Christensen was convicted of kidnapping and killing University of Illinois Chinese scholar Yingying Zhang. This week, he was sent to McCreary United States Penitentiary, a high-security federal prison that houses some 1,500 convicts in southern Kentucky.

Three public listening sessions will be held next week as the board seeks a permanent replacement for Eddie Johnson, who was fired as police superintendent earlier this week.

Ernesto Godinez, 29, the reputed gang member convicted of shooting a federal agent in the head last year on the Southwest Side, has been sentenced to more 200 months in federal prison.

Federal prosecutors say Kenneth Johnson continued accepting Social Security checks meant for his mother for more than two decades after her death. His sentence includes six months of community confinement and an order to pay back all the money he stole.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot makes a bombshell announcement: Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson is terminated, effective immediately. Lightfoot says an inspector general’s investigation revealed Johnson “repeatedly lied” to both the mayor and the public.

Fifteen-year-old Rylan Wilder remains hospitalized after he was shot last week as police trailed a bank robbery suspect in the Old Irving Park neighborhood.

Former Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke is being held in a facility in Baltimore, Maryland, as he awaits placement inside another prison. He was moved out of federal custody this week. 

Former Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke is no longer being held in a federal prison in New York – or in federal custody, period – but it’s unclear where he will serve out the remainder of his sentence for the murder of black teen Laquan McDonald in 2014.

The family of Rylan Wilder, who was wounded last week during a confrontation between a bank robbery suspect and police, is suing that suspect and asking local police departments for more information about their son’s shooting.

The father of slain pharmacist Dayna Less is suing Mercy Hospital and its security firm, claiming their “systemic failures” allowed a domestic violence incident “escalate into a triple homicide.”

Federal prosecutors in Chicago say their office is entering into a new Department of Justice initiative aimed at reducing gun violence through coordinated prosecutions and new or improved background check enforcements.

Former “Empire” star Jussie Smollett has filed a federal counterclaim against the city of Chicago claiming he owes the city no more money and was maliciously prosecuted for the alleged hoax attack police say he orchestrated on himself.

The family of Rekia Boyd erupted into applause Tuesday after a judge denied a request from the man who was charged and acquitted in her killing – a former Chicago police detective – to expunge any record of his criminal case from the public’s view.

In her first campaign ad for 2020, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx acknowledges missteps in the Jussie Smollett case and calls out critics like President Donald Trump and the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police.

Days after the Chicago Teachers Union voted to approve a new five-year contract with the city, the Chicago Board of Education is expected to follow suit at its regular monthly meeting this week.

Two weeks after ending their historic work stoppage, more than 25,000 rank-and-file Chicago Teachers Union members ratified their new contract with the city.

Former Chicago police Detective Dante Servin was found not guilty of Rekia Boyd’s killing in 2016. Now he wants any record of his criminal trial removed from the public eye – a move family members call a “terrible slap in the face.”

The Chicago Teachers Union’s 11-day strike is suspended, but it’s not officially over until rank-and-file members vote to ratify a five-year tentative contract agreement reached with the city. That vote begins Thursday.

Chicago Public Schools said heating issues at the school had been fixed Tuesday. But on Wednesday the district said several classrooms were suffering from insufficient heat circulation as temperatures across the city remained below freezing.

A broken heater inside a South Side high school left students in classrooms without normal heat circulation on a day with record cold temperatures.

Chicago police say a 28-year-old man is dead after he was stabbed in the chest during a confrontation on the 5300 block of West Irving Park Road just after 2 a.m. Monday morning.

Fewer students are enrolled at Chicago Public Schools this year compared to last year, according to figures released by the district Friday. But CPS says the drop-off is “significantly” smaller than declines in recent school years.

Charlie Beck, who led the Los Angeles Police Department for nearly a decade, has been tabbed to serve as the interim Chicago police superintendent following Eddie Johnson’s retirement at the end of the year.