Stories by Matt Masterson

A new report from a group of UIC students claims at least 450 predominantly international students received incomplete ballots or were erroneously told they were ineligible to vote in April’s student government election.

A huge South Side parade, food festivals, acrobatic felines and natural wines usher in the weekend. Here are 10 things to do in and around Chicago.

Watch the Aug. 7, 2019 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

After killing the Chinese scholar, Brendt Christensen says he put her body in three separate garbage bags, which he tossed in a dumpster outside his Champaign apartment.

The 40 counts R. Kelly faces carry a combined maximum prison sentence of more than 500 years, meaning the R&B star could spend the rest of his life behind bars if he loses badly at trial. 

Marijuana will be legal in Illinois in five months, but a growing number of communities across the state are considering saying “no” to cannabis sales within their borders, including suburban Naperville.

As a writer, publisher and general lover of literature, opening a bookstore was never in the plans for Danielle Mullen. But when faced with a tumor, she was forced to answer a question she hadn’t thought much about: her own legacy.

After a weekend of mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, as well as nearly 60 people shot in Chicago – seven of them fatally – gun control proponents are once again calling for action.

Descendants of the notorious Depression-era bank robber claim they have evidence that the body in his grave in Indiana may not be his. We examine the enduring fascination with the legendary outlaw.

To truly appreciate the charm of a terra-cotta lavished building, Chicago author and photographer Lee Bey says to put on your gym shoes and go for a walk. We join him for a look at some of the city’s early architecture.

Every second weekend in August, a stretch of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in Bronzeville is taken over by one of the largest parades in the country. We talk legacy and tradition with parade organizer Myiti Sengstacke-Rice.

Joel Brammeier, president and CEO of the Alliance for the Great Lakes, talks about the area’s shrinking and disappearing beaches this year, and why it matters.

As they set out to learn more about kids’ affinity for nature, a group of psychologists had a strong idea about what they would find. As it turned out, their assumptions were wrong. “We were incredibly surprised,” said the lead author of the study.

Inside a lavish, 330-seat theater space in the Loop is the madcap escapade “Love, Chaos & Dinner” – a high energy combination of cabaret, comedy and circus, plus a four-course dinner (or brunch) – all backed by a dynamite band.

Watch the Aug. 6, 2019 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

The discovery comes about a month after an alligator in the Humboldt Park Lagoon captured the attention of the city for about a week before the alligator was captured by a gator hunter who was flown in from Florida.

Publisher Alfred A. Knopf says Nobel laureate Toni Morrison died Monday night at Montefiore Medical Center in New York. She was 88.

A Minnesota prosecutor charged singer R. Kelly on Monday with prostitution and solicitation related to an allegation that he invited a 17-year-old girl to his hotel room in 2001 and paid her $200 to dance naked with him.

Hundreds of researchers, community organizations, policymakers, health care professionals and students gathered Monday at Malcom X College to discuss mental health, gun violence, the opioid epidemic and other topics.

Dozens were killed and wounded in mass shootings over the weekend. And in Chicago, it was the most violent weekend of the year, leaving seven dead from shootings. How local leaders are responding.

President Donald Trump condemns hate, but says hateful rhetoric and mental illness are to blame for mass shootings in Dayton and El Paso – not guns.

As political candidates spar over health care, a local journalist gathers startling personal stories about medical costs. We speak with Dan Weissmann, host of a podcast about the high cost of health care. 

Could you imagine life without the “like” button? Ben Grosser, an arts and design professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, tells us about “demetrication.”

Chicago has become a major player in attracting TV and film productions of all shapes and sizes. The heads of the Illinois and Chicago film offices discuss the role a tax credit extension plays in getting productions made locally.

A lawsuit filed Friday aims to stop a plan by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that would lower fines for automakers that fail to meet fuel-economy standards. 

Advances in prosthetics mean that in the not-too-distant future it’s possible that people who have lost a limb could receive a fully functional robotic replacement. And a lab in Chicago is leading the way to the future.