Stories by Matt Masterson

A day after he announced his intention to leave the department, John Catanzara — the first-term president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7 — posted a picture of his personnel action request on his Facebook page, which shows that he has indeed retired from the CPD.

The plastics industry is expected to be putting more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than coal by the end of this decade according to a recent report by Beyond Plastic, an environmental advocacy group.

“Our goal in public safety is to have children no longer think about being shot at,” said Chris Patterson, who was tapped to lead the newly created Office of Firearm Violence Prevention. “Communities don’t feel safe because of the violence.”

In September, 4.4 million people left their jobs, according to the latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Some say workers have spent the pandemic reevaluating their priorities and values, leading them to leave their places of work or demand more from their employers. 

As union contract negotiations wrap at John Deere, the used tractor business sees a boom. Ann Dwyer has details on that story and more.

The $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan signed into law Monday by President Joe Biden includes $1.7 billion that will help Chicago “kick-start” lagging efforts to replace lead service lines responsible for contaminating the tap water in homes across the city, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said. 

After a full day of arguments, the jurors were told to return Tuesday morning for the start of deliberations in the case that has stirred fierce debate in the U.S. over guns, vigilantism and law and order.

The stunning announcement comes after John Catanzara, the head of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7, spent hours testifying at his own termination hearing Monday.

“It is not surprising to me that he did not want to face accountability for his own conduct,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said.

The president hopes to use the infrastructure law to build back his popularity, which has taken a hit amid rising inflation and the inability to fully shake the public health and economic risks from COVID-19.

On Monday, the Environmental Protection Agency released its first National Recycling Strategy, which aims for a 50% recycling rate in the U.S. by 2030. 

More than 4,900 members of the Chicago Police Department are not fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or have refused to disclose their vaccination status to city officials, one month after the deadline set by Mayor Lori Lightfoot, according to data released Monday by city officials.

Steve Bannon did not enter a plea Monday and is due back in court on Thursday for the next phase of what could be the first high-level trial in connection with January’s insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

“Florencia en el Amazonas” (“Florencia in the Amazon”), the first Spanish language opera to be performed on the Lyric Opera mainstage, is pure magic on every count. 

According to Chicago Police Department data, 21 people were shot in 18 shooting incidents over the weekend in the city.

President Biden signs the bipartisan infrastructure bill into law. Mayor Lightfoot talks about its impact on Chicago. What’s behind “The Great Resignation”? Gun violence as a mental health crisis, and more.

The announcement by the Cook County Department of Public Health comes after health officials in New York City, Colorado and California urged all adults to get a booster dose of the vaccine.

Unless spending snaps sharply back to services — or something else leads people to stop buying so much — it could take deep into 2022 or even 2023 before global supply chains regain some semblance of normalcy.

American journalist Danny Fenster, who was recently sentenced to 11 years of hard labor after spending nearly six months in jail in military-ruled Myanmar, was freed and on his way home Monday, a former U.S. diplomat who helped negotiate the release said.

The United Auto Workers said in a statement Friday night that the proposed contract with the agricultural machinery giant “includes modest modifications" to the latest rejected proposal, which included immediate 10% raises.

The Chicago Police Board on Monday will hold the first in a series of hearings that could lead to the termination of police officer and union head John Catanzara for defying the department’s brass and ignoring its rules.

Animal rights organizations have been advocating for stricter federal limits on exotic animals for years. Now lawmakers have two bills in the works to put interstate limits on the sale, breeding, possession of and public contact with primates and various species of big cats.

Two antiviral treatments for existing COVID infections are on the horizon. And in Chicago, more than 6,000 children ages 5 to 11 received COVID-19 vaccinations this past week. But, case counts are again on the rise and with holiday gatherings just around the corner, the threat of COVID remains.

For the last two years, stay-at-home orders and closed schools made people’s reliance on the internet more apparent than ever. It also showcased the inequities in access to broadband internet. Nationwide, Latino households are not only less likely to have broadband access, but also the devices needed to get connected.

Aguijón Theater of Chicago on the Northwest Side kicked off its 21st season with “La Gran Tirana,” exploring the idea of immigrant identity as it follows the journey of Ana Morgana, an immigrant who transcends her own reality by imagining herself to be the Cuban diva La Lupe.

The latest in the fight against COVID-19. Help for those who can't afford broadband internet. Exploring immigrant identity in a new show. And La Ultima Palabra on standing up for your community.