Stories by Matt Masterson

Mayor Lori Lightfoot has repeatedly said she’s not in favor of defunding the Chicago Police Department, but with position reductions, budget cuts and investments in a new pilot program, the city may be rethinking the way policing will work.

Purdue Pharma will plead guilty to three federal criminal charges as part of a settlement of more than $8 billion, Justice Department officials told The Associated Press.

After policy changes were made to improve equitable enrollment, students of color and those from low-income households were three times more likely to enroll in full-day pre-K, according to a new report from the University of Chicago.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot will face the biggest test of her time in office on Wednesday when she details her plan to fill the massive budget shortfall caused in part by the coronavirus pandemic.

How to educate students during a pandemic is far from the only issue elected officials — and Illinois residents — have to grapple with. And it seems unlikely the federal government will agree to another stimulus package before the election.

The coronavirus has had a disparate impact on Black and Brown communities. What would an equitable recovery look like? Dr. Helene Gayle tells us about a new initiative for equitable economic recovery.

The Justice Department on Tuesday sued Google for abusing its dominance in online search and advertising — the government’s most significant attempt to protect competition since its groundbreaking case against Microsoft.

Chinese scholar Yingying Zhang went missing in June 2017 at the University of Illinois. Her story is detailed in a new documentary that goes beyond true crime. We speak with the film’s director and a producer to learn more.

What may look like news websites are instead thinly veiled organizations pushing partisan agendas without journalistic standards, according to investigations from the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. 

Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson talks about the school district’s recently announced plan for some students to return to the classroom. 

Republican Jeanne Ives talks about her bid to unseat freshman Democratic U.S. Rep. Sean Casten.

A member of the Wilmette Library Board of Trustees who also works as a state lobbyist sued the city of Chicago, seeking to overturn a ban on elected officials from outside Chicago from lobbying city officials.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot and two of her closest allies on the Chicago City Council remain at odds over long-stalled efforts to put an elected board of Chicago residents in charge of the Chicago Police Department.

Starting Friday, indoor service at bars and restaurants will halt in DuPage, Kane, Kankakee and Will counties due to rising coronavirus positivity rates. But Gov. J.B. Pritzker says he is ruling out another stay-at-home order at this time.

Watch the Oct. 20, 2020 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

In all, the city’s order warns residents against travel to 30 states and Puerto Rico.

The city this week will receive a $1 million federal grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to aid in the testing and tracking of sexual assault kits, many of which have been held up in a statewide backlog that dates back decades.

Critics of Thomas Kilbride are making the most of their once-in-a-decade chance to toss a sitting Illinois Supreme Court justice.

Months after they were initially diagnosed with COVID-19, some patients known are still experiencing a wide range of symptoms, from extreme fatigue to brain fog and hair loss. What medical experts and patients have to say about the condition.

When her music education program was cut from a charter school in East Garfield Park, a local teacher refused to quit on the kids in this underserved community. We check out the nonprofit BandWith to learn more.

The Chicago Police Department plans to adopt only five changes to its use-of-force policies out of 155 recommended by a community working group. Members of that group are now criticizing the entire process.

Chicago Public School parents are having mixed reactions to the district’s new plan to bring some students back into the classroom before the end of the calendar year, just as COVID-19 cases in the city begin to increase again.

Republican state Sen. Jim Oberweis discusses his effort to unseat incumbent Rep. Lauren Underwood, a Democrat, in Illinois’ 14th Congressional District.

With confirmed coronavirus cases, positivity rates, hospitalizations and deaths rising statewide, Gov. J.B. Pritzker pleaded with residents to wear a mask. “It takes care of most transmission issues that we have,” he said. 

QAnon followers celebrated President Trump’s response to a question during a televised town hall last week. Asked if he would completely disavow QAnon and reject its followers’ baseless beliefs, he dodged.

American Airlines says it’s bringing Boeing 737 Max planes back into service. Crain’s Chicago Business Editor Ann Dwyer takes us behind the headlines of that story and more.