Stories by Matt Masterson

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.

A Cook County judge on Saturday ordered R. Kelly held on $1 million bond, a day after the R&B star was indicted by a grand jury on 10 charges of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. 

Controversial Chicago R&B singer R. Kelly is facing a slew of sexual abuse charges after a video purporting to show him sexually assaulting an underage girl was turned over to Cook County investigators.

Former Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez this week blasted her successor Kim Foxx for not “doing her job” after Foxx recused herself from the investigation into claims made by “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett.

“Empire” actor Jussie Smollett took advantage of the “pain and anger and racism” in Chicago in order to promote his own career, police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said Thursday.

Hours after Chicago police deemed him a “suspect” in his own alleged attack, “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett has been charged with disorderly conduct, according to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office.

Attorneys for former Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke believe the 81-month sentence he received last month for the fatal shooting of black teen Laquan McDonald conforms with Illinois law and should not reviewed by the state Supreme Court.

Classes will resume Tuesday at four Chicago International Charter Schools following a two-week long strike that ended early Monday morning.

Plaintiffs claim they were framed by disgraced former police Sgt. Ronald Watts and his tactical team at a South Side housing project, and that a “code of silence” allowed it to happen.

“The next time this could happen they could kill him,” Tiffany Van Dyke told the media through tears at a press conference Thursday. “I cannot bury my husband.”

Former Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke was beaten by his fellow inmates shortly after being transferred to an out-of-state prison, a source close to his family confirms.

Four men were exonerated of false drug convictions Wednesday, joining more than 60 others who’ve been falsely convicted and later exonerated in cases related to former Chicago Police Sgt. Ronald Watts.