Stories by Matt Masterson

The former 1st Ward alderman pleaded guilty to multiple charges Friday, but will avoid jail time, following a highly publicized 2019 incident in which he loaned his vehicle to a woman and then falsely claimed it had been stolen.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says he’s confident the Biden administration’s infrastructure bill will pass Congress, touting on Friday its bipartisan support and saying both the president and the public are impatient to see the deal finalized.

Supporters of a long-stalled plan that would put an elected board of Chicago residents in charge of the Chicago Police Department said Friday they are close to an agreement with Mayor Lori Lightfoot that could pave the way for a final vote next week.

Recipients of money from the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund include a consortium of civil rights sites and Black churches in Alabama; work to establish an African American heritage trail in Colorado; and preservation of the church where Emmett Till's funeral was held in Chicago after his lynching in Mississippi in 1955.

President Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the U.S. Census Bureau told a Senate committee on Thursday that he would bring transparency and independence to the nation’s largest statistical agency, which was challenged by the pandemic, natural disasters and attempts at political interference while carrying out the 2020 census.

The Biden administration on Thursday convened the first meeting of its community violence intervention collaborative, a group of mayors and administration officials that will share best practices and work closely with the federal government to reduce gun violence.

Frank Harris will remain in jail following his arrest on charges of murder and aggravated vehicular hijacking, stemming from the death of Keith Cooper, 73, who was struck in the head during an attempted carjacking.

A coalition of 16 Chicago museums and cultural institutions has weighed in on the ongoing battle over the Obama Presidential Center, coming down firmly on the side of the center versus those who would block its construction in historic Jackson Park.

Eight people have been infected with salmonella typhimurium, with illness starting on dates ranging from June 10 to June 15, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

The full-length documentary captures the story of Monty and Rose from their hatching in 2017 to their status as standard bearers for piping plover conservation efforts. 

The state’s efforts to expand the marijuana industry. Child tax credit payments arriving. A little-known Frank Lloyd Wright apartment building. And Ravenswood is tonight’s In Your Neighborhood stop.

Eight miles north from the Loop, manufacturing buildings, Victorian homes and small businesses line Ravenswood’s streets. The community is neighbored by North Center and Lincoln Square, and there’s much disagreement over where the three neighborhoods’ borders end and begin.

Today we know Frank Lloyd Wright as one of the most influential American architects, but early in his career he designed projects you might have trouble recognizing as his — even if you lived in the building.

Chicago generates more than 4 million tons of material waste annually. A new, highly anticipated report recommends a number of strategies aimed at keeping more of that trash out of landfills.

The Biden administration is beginning to distribute expanded child tax credit payments, giving parents on average $423 this month, with payments continuing through the end of the year.

Three lotteries have been set where successful applicants will win coveted licenses to collectively open another 185 cannabis dispensaries throughout Illinois.

The Chicago region is warming faster than the globe, says the newly sworn-in administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. How a new plan aims to take on the root cause of climate change: greenhouse gas emissions.

U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly cannot solicit campaign funds for candidates running in state contests as the head of the Democratic Party of Illinois, the Federal Election Commission ruled Thursday. Instead, the party can create a separate committee to seek campaign cash.

Aldermen should have input on who gets hired as their ward superintendents — but cannot have the final say, Inspector General Joseph Ferguson determined.

The Chicago Park District officially broke ground Thursday on the agency’s new $65 million, 58,000-square-foot headquarters in the Brighton Park neighborhood. “This is the wealth-building we talk about,” community leaders said.

“To any who have been hesitating about being vaccinated, please I implore you to hesitate no longer. We’re very concerned about the spread of this so-called delta variant,” said Dr. Kiran Joshi of the Cook County Department of Public Health. “Please go out, get vaccinated.”

According to a 41-page complaint filed Thursday, the Chicago Police Department has refused to share information about its social media monitoring task force, including the reason for its expansion, which accounts are tracked and what is done with that information.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot acknowledged that the rise in shootings and murders concentrated on Chicago’s South and West sides has forced her to reset her agenda as mayor. “We have experienced too much bloodshed in this city,” she said Thursday.

Working to reverse a notion that Chicago and Illinois have become false confession capitals in the U.S., Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed legislation Thursday that prohibits the use of deceptive tactics by law enforcement officers when interrogating juveniles.

Overdose deaths soared to a record 93,000 last year in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. government reported Wednesday. That estimate far eclipses the high of about 72,000 drug overdose deaths reached the previous year and amounts to a 29% increase.

The child tax credit had always been an empty gesture to millions of parents. That changes Thursday when the first payment of $1,000 hits bank accounts — and dollars start flowing to the pockets of more than 35 million families around the country.