Stories by Matt Masterson

According to Chicago police, 55 people were shot in 47 separate incidents between 6 p.m. Friday and 11:59 p.m. Monday.

Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson announced Tuesday he is exploring a possible run for Chicago mayor, taking the first step toward confronting Mayor Lori Lightfoot with a serious challenge from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party.

The weather may still feel like summer, but when it comes to Chicago's beaches, the season is officially over.

In a city where air pollution is an environmental justice issue, local grassroots groups are self-installing, funding and monitoring air pollution monitors to understand the specific threats they face and demand change.

On this Labor Day, remembering the city’s long history of unions and what a pro-worker ballot measure means this November. Plus, LGBTQ icons make a splash and a South Side parade marches downtown.

The so-called Workers’ Rights Amendment would guarantee Illinois workers the constitutional right to collectively bargain for things like wages, hours and working conditions. 

Ald. Susan Sadlowski Garza, 62, the first member of the Chicago Teachers Union to be elected to the City Council, said in a statement released on Labor Day that she wanted to start the “next chapter” of her life.

The group that arrived Sunday was made up of mostly families, their country of origin was not clear, Lightfoot said.

In 1925, the all-Black, all-male workers organized and founded the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in hopes of forcing the Pullman Company to the bargaining table.

This week, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced the names of seven interim commissioners who will make up the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability, Chicago’s first civilian police oversight board. The group is charged with a tall order: rebuilding public trust in the department.

While the overall unemployment rate for Chicago is nearly 5.8% in August, the rate for Black residents is more than twice that, at 14.3%.

Jorge Garcia wasn’t always a bird paparazzo – in fact, he’s only been at it for a couple of years, after a gear upgrade for his job as a technologist took an unexpected turn. The fledgling interest soon hatched into a full-blown hobby.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he’s moving out migrants to other cities because the border crisis has Texas overwhelmed. Critics say he’s using them in an attempt to send a political message.

On Saturday, Sept. 10, sweet and savory empanadas take center stage in a one-day festival at Whiting Lakefront Park along with cultural performances by local music and dance groups

What lies ahead for newly arrived migrants in Chicago. Answers for vendors at the Discount Mall. And a taste of the first-ever Empanada Fest in Northwest Indiana.

Why the Black unemployment rate in Chicago is nearly three-times the rate for White Chicagoans. Plus, some of the city’s newest civilian police oversight commissioners and Taylor Bennett’s new tracks.

Chicago’s new immigrant arrivals, the president’s partisan calls for saving democracy and the Chicago Police Department gets some civilian oversight and more time off. 

A team of researchers, led by Morton Arboretum, spent the better part of the past five years creating the first-ever standardized checklist and threat assessment of the nearly 900 species native U.S. trees. Their work provides the foundation on which to build awareness, advocacy and future conservation efforts.

Chicago police leaders are adding patrols in neighborhoods, high-traffic areas and along the CTA during the Labor Day weekend, officials announced Friday.

Most recently, his focus has been on purchasing a 326-acre tract of land in suburban Arlington Heights, Illinois, where a new stadium and entertainment complex could be built. 

The ceremony will also mark Michelle Obama’s first visit to the White House since Obama’s presidency ended in January 2017, and only the second visit for Barack Obama. He was at the White House in April to mark the 12th anniversary of the health care law he signed in 2010.

Jehovah’s Witnesses suspended door-knocking in the early days of the pandemic’s onset in the United States, just as much of the rest of society went into lockdown too.

The new boosters are combination or “bivalent” shots that contain half the original vaccine that’s been used since December 2020 and half protection against today’s dominant omicron versions, BA.4 and BA.5.

CPS on Friday announced that 93.4% of its 300,000-plus students were in their classrooms for the start of the new school year on Aug. 22. That’s the highest percentage since the 2019-20 school year, the district said.

The neighborhood is an industrial corridor. It has a long history that dates back decades with the arrival of steel mills that drove hundreds of immigrants to move to the area to work and build. We started by talking to a long-time resident who tells us more about the economic impact of the steel mills' shutdown.

How local leaders are responding to migrants who’ve arrived in Chicago, by bus from Texas. Plus, how the city’s teen curfew is working. And we’re in East Side for our In Your Neighborhood series.