Stories by Matt Masterson

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin announced Tuesday new federal legislation targeting the straw purchasing of firearms, nearly a year after a Chicago police officer was fatally shot with such a weapon during a traffic stop in Englewood.

Growth appears to be sputtering, home sales are tumbling and economists warn of a potential recession ahead. But consumers are still spending, businesses keep posting profits and the economy keeps adding hundreds of thousands of jobs each month.

Legal experts, including Republican attorneys, say there is no legal means to decertify the past election and no evidence to support such action. Nevertheless, decertification continues to be a rallying cry among many Republicans in Wisconsin and elsewhere.

Indiana is one of the first Republican-run state legislatures to debate tighter abortion laws following the U.S. Supreme Court decision last month overturning Roe v. Wade. The Supreme Court ruling is expected to lead to abortion bans in roughly half the states.

The mayor unveils her Hail Mary plan to keep the Bears at Soldier Field. The owner of a bakery vandalized with hate speech. A Chicagoan on his painful bout with monkeypox.  And inside the new musical based on a cult sci-fi comedy.

Mayor Lightfoot unveiled three options to renovate Soldier Field, ranging in price from $900 million to $2.2 billion. The mayor, who is running for a second term, declined to say how much public funding she was prepared to spend to prevent the Bears from leaving the city and moving to Arlington Heights.

Additional monkeypox vaccines are arriving in Chicago, but they will be in limited supply. This as the World Health Organization this declared monkeypox a public health emergency. 

It’s been a difficult few weeks for UpRising Bakery and Café in suburban Lake in the Hills. The cafe was targeted with hate speech and vandalized after making plans to host a family-friendly drag show. 

A new business venture from a co-founder of a Chicago weed giant fizzles. The company that gave up the Water Tower Place is now selling it’s big property across the street. And there’s some good news for landlords trying to fill suburban office spaces.

Sundays on State brings the city of neighborhoods to one central location to showcase the best of what Chicago has to offer. What started as a way to accelerate the economy after the pandemic has since transformed into a free celebration showcasing local vendors and performers.

The abandonment and neglect that has undermines the economies of many Chicago and Cook County neighborhoods is very much man-made, according to a new study.

From planter boxes to koi ponds, these Chicago gardeners know how to create an oasis in the city. 

The city’s Board of Education on Wednesday will vote on a one-year, $10 million contract renewal with the Chicago Police Department that would allow it to provide school resource officers in several Chicago high schools.

Destructive fires in recent years that burned too hot for forests to quickly regrow have far outpaced the government’s capacity to replant trees. That’s created a backlog of 4.1 million acres in need of replanting, officials said.

Your chance of winning the grand prize is minuscule, at one in 302.5 million. You have better odds of a smaller payoff, such as winning $1 million for matching five regular numbers but missing the Mega Ball. But even that is one in 12.6 million.

The bee was logged at the outset of the fourth annual Backyard Bumble Bee Count, which kicked off Saturday and runs through Aug. 1.

According to Chicago Police Department data, 65 people were shot in 43 separate shootings between 6 p.m. Friday and 11:59 p.m. Sunday.

Nearly a dozen baby Blanding’s turtles — a state-listed endangered species — were recently released into the swampy waters of a Cook County forest preserve wetland.

The Chicago City Council voted to create Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability more than a year ago after a contentious debate between Mayor Lori Lightfoot and alderpeople who demanded the board have real authority over the Chicago Police Department. Every deadline set by that ordinance has been missed.

For the past few years, the prolific, multi-talented Hershey Felder — who forged his career in the U.S., and then moved to homes in Paris and Florence — has taken a new direction in the form of an ever-expanding series of what he has dubbed “musical films” that are available for screening on the web.

As brutal heat waves sweep across the globe, calls to address the effects of climate change have become increasingly urgent. But in addition to large-scale policy efforts, making lasting change often starts with individuals.

Hoops in the Hood is taking over the streets of Chicago this summer by bringing kids and teens together to play basketball in their neighborhood backyards. Chicago Tonight’s Joanna Hernandez hears more about the mission behind the program and the leaders who are driven to make a change. 

Both Chicago and Cook County are in the process of launching guaranteed income programs that will provide more than 8,000 residents with $500 a month, no strings attached. While applications for Cook County residents will open in the fall, Chicago residents have started receiving monthly payments.

Checks begin rolling out for Chicago’s guaranteed income pilot program. Plus, how the Nature Conservancy is connecting teens to nature. And honoring White Sox favorite Minnie Miñoso.

As we head toward summer’s peak and temperatures routinely reach the 90s and above, people who work outdoors are at increased risk of overheating. And it’s not only people like farmworkers and construction workers who are at risk. 

Between 2000 to 2016, six of Chicago’s suburbs flipped from majority white suburbs to majority Latino.That's a reflection of a broader trend of immigrants bypassing the historical “port of entry” neighborhoods in the city and settling directly in the suburbs. And as the demographics of these communities have evolved, their institutions have had to find new ways to serve and engage residents.