Stories by Matt Masterson

This weekend will mark the end of Johnson’s 30-day window to pick the next superintendent of the Chicago Police Department from a list of three finalists: Angel Novalez, the head of CPD’s office of constitutional policing and reform; Larry Snelling, the chief of CPD’s counterterrorism bureau; and Shon Barnes, the police chief in Madison, Wisconsin.

The last such request from the White House, made in November, was met and then some — Congress approved more than what the Democratic president had requested. 

Northwestern is facing more than a dozen lawsuits across multiple sports with allegations including sexual abuse of players by teammates as well as racist comments by coaches and race-based assaults. Attorneys representing some of the athletes who have already sued say more are coming.

A wildfire tore through the heart of the Hawaiian island of Maui in total darkness Wednesday, reducing much of a historic town to ash and forcing people to jump into the ocean to flee the flames. At least six people died and dozens were wounded.

What’s driving a record number of opioid overdose deaths in Cook County. Allowing non-citizens to become police officers. And a former Madigan aide goes on trial.

A new state law will soon allow non-citizens who are both legally eligible to work in the U.S. and authorized to possess firearms under federal law to become police officers and deputy sheriffs.

“When the defendant answered those questions, the defendant lied,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane MacArthur said, “not just once, but again and again and again to prevent the grand jury from finding out what Madigan had done and what Madigan had done through him.”

There were 103 overdose deaths attributable to fentanyl in Cook County in 2015. That number shot up to a record 1,825 in 2022, according to statistics from the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office. That accounts for more than 90% of all opioid-related deaths in the county.

A state-run mental health center in Springfield is being renamed to honor the woman who publicized its former namesake’s abusive methods.

The electronically stored patient data involved in the breach includes names, dates of birth, addresses, and social security numbers that an unauthorized third-party gained access to earlier this year.

The box office hit “Oppenheimer” has prompted DePaul University nuclear ethics professor Yuki Miyamoto to shed light on the stories of people whose lives were directly and negatively intertwined with the film’s depicted events.

The results underscore the new political reality, one that’s been repeatedly demonstrated in both blue and red states: Since the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade last year, abortion rights are a major, driving force.

The company currently lists nine Chicago location on its website, including a number in the West Loop and Near West Side, according to the WeWork website.

Many of the country’s worst rail crossings are located in diverse suburbs south and southwest of Chicago. Some will be helped by big construction projects while others get creative finding potential solutions.

A Portage Park man charged in the fatal shooting of a 9-year-old girl. Why thousands of Illinoisans are being kicked off Medicaid. And remembering Chicago native and film legend William Friedkin.

For the first time since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Medicaid recipients are being asked to provide proof of their eligibility.

The United States is now at a record 15 different weather disasters that caused at least $1 billion in damage this year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced. It’s the most mega-disasters through the first seven months of the year since the agency tracked such things starting in 1980.

Michael Goodman, 43, has been charged with first-degree murder in the shooting that left Serabi Medina dead outside her home on the city’s Northwest Side.

Born in Chicago on Aug. 29, 1939, he began working in local TV productions as a teenager. By age 16 he was directing live shows.

The charge was filed against Michael Goodman, 43, in the death of Sarabi Medina, Chicago police announced. The shooting happened Saturday night in Chicago’s Portage Park neighborhood.

DJ Casper, the South Side native who created the enduring party classic “Cha-Cha Slide,” has died. He was 58.

In the latest installment of our series WTTW News: A Safer City, we tackle the issue of domestic violence. We examine state laws that protect survivors and meet a local woman providing essentials to women in need.

The Illinois Domestic Violence Hotline reported a 9% uptick in contacts received between 2020 and 2021, according to The Network for Advocating Against Domestic Violence 2021 annual report. With those grim statistics, Illinois lawmakers hope updates to domestic violence laws will help survivors of abuse.

An increase in domestic violence reports has not only highlighted the need for better legal protection and laws for survivors, but also the need for creating an improved network of care in cases of abuse. Dozens of organizations in Chicago are working to address those needs. 

The judge said at the hearing in Waukegan, north of Highland Park where the shooting occurred, that he would issue a ruling at the next hearing, on Aug. 28.

All of the organs in  Dennis Deer’s chest and abdomen — including his lungs — were flip-flopped in his body, with organs that should be on the right existing on the left and vice versa.