Stories by Matt Masterson

Attorney Steve Greenberg believes the celebrity attorney may have “bullied” or “manipulated” the Cook County state’s attorney into filing sexual abuse charges against R. Kelly.

The Jussie Smollett case may be over, but confusion over the surprise ending is rampant. Why was the “Empire” star offered a deal? Was his record expunged? We tackle those questions and more.

Jussie Smollett has already forfeited $10,000 to the city of Chicago following the hoax attack he allegedly orchestrated on himself. But if Mayor Rahm Emanuel has his way, that bill will grow to $130,000.

“I stand behind how this office, and how I in particular, handled this case,” Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx said a day after felony disorderly conduct charges against “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett were dropped.

“Empire” actor Jussie Smollett exited the Leighton Criminal Court Building a free man Tuesday morning after prosecutors unexpectedly dropped felony charges against him in a case that’s garnered national headlines for months.

Chicago police say they’re considering hate crime charges against two men charged in the fatal shooting of off-duty Officer John Rivera.

As he awaits trial on nearly a dozen charges of criminal sexual abuse, singer R. Kelly is asking a judge to let him travel overseas for a planned three-day concert in April.

The Illinois Supreme Court’s decision comes one month after the state filed its request. With its ruling, former police Officer Jason Van Dyke will continue serving his 81-month prison sentence.

Richard K. Booy, 50, pleaded guilty last year to one count of mail fraud. Prosecutors say he swindled more than $1 million from 15 victims between 2012 and 2016.

Chicago Teachers Union President Jesse Sharkey suggests the union’s rank-and-file members save at least 10 percent of each paycheck “to make sure we can stand strong on the picket line.”

The 31-year-old victim said she was grabbed and assaulted while walking southbound on the 6600 block of North Clark Street on Wednesday evening.

The “Empire” actor entered the plea after his case was assigned to a new judge. He faces more than a dozen charges stemming from a staged attack he allegedly planned against himself.

Chicago Public Schools missed out on as much as $2 million in pre-K payments over the past four school years due to a combination of errors, uncollected tuition and employee fraud, according to the district’s internal watchdog.

“Operation Road Rage,” as the investigation was known, led to the seizure of 1 kilogram of heroin, as well as approximately $100,000 in cash, five firearms and four vehicles.

A grand jury has returned 16 additional disorderly conduct charges against the actor following an alleged attack hoax, according to the Cook County State’s Attoorney’s Office.

Timothy Williams was shot three times during the Feb. 15 attack at a manufacturing facility in Aurora. He believes that attack would have been prevented if state police had “followed their internal protocols.”

The former Chicago police officer is currently slated to get out of prison in 2022. But an upcoming decision from Illinois’ Supreme Court could directly impact that timeline.

The defendants include two Harvey police officers, a private consultant to the city and two cousins with “high-ranking relatives” inside the city’s government.

Nadia Bull, an auxiliary police officer in a western suburb of Chicago, claims her department “turned a blind eye” after she was forced into sex and sexually harassed by her superiors for years.

The outgoing 20th Ward alderman is set to appear at a change-of-plea hearing on March 21. He was charged in 2016 with 15 federal charges including fraud, bribery and extortion.

A veteran Chicago police sergeant claims he was demoted after refusing to approve a report he believed would falsely justify the officer-involved shooting of an unarmed teen in 2017.

Luis Castejon faces a charge of first-degree murder in the shooting Monday of Emanuel Gallegos, a 17-year-old junior at one of the city’s elite public high schools.

Attorneys for inmate Janiah Monroe say she suffers from PTSD and has been a constant target for sexual harassment and abuse inside her all-male prison.

Authorities on Wednesday released photos of an offender they believe was involved in the fatal shooting of Emanuel Gallegos outside a high school Monday evening in the Old Irving Park neighborhood.

More than half the ballots cast as of 6 p.m. Tuesday came from voters who were 55 or older, according to unofficial totals from the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners.

The R&B superstar posted $100,000 bail Monday and walked out of Cook County Jail, where he spent the weekend after being charged in four separate cases late last week.