Stories by Matt Masterson

More than 90% of individuals in the gang database are people of color, according to Chicago Inspector General Joe Ferguson, who says that puts a strain on police-community relations. “There’s an extraordinary adverse effect on certain communities.”

A Halal lifestyle fest, scaly creatures, roller derby matches and island music usher in the weekend. Here are 10 things to do in and around Chicago.

Watch the April 10, 2019 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

Mayor Rahm Emanuel gets a warm send-off from his colleagues at his final City Council meeting. Our politics team tackles that and some of the behind-the-scenes maneuvering over Lincoln Yards.

Ever since Einstein’s theory of relativity first predicted them, black holes have captured the imagination of the public and scientists alike. We speak with two local astrophysicists about this scientific breakthrough.

Sometimes the best thing for a forest or prairie is to burn it. We spend a day with a Cook County burn crew.  

Chicago’s next mayor won’t be sworn in until May 20, but she’s hitting the ground running. On Wednesday, Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot left the city to meet with top political leaders in Springfield.

A semi-pro baseball team once bested the big leagues on the Northwest Side. Geoffrey Baer takes a swing at local baseball history and its “outlaw clubs.”

More than 128,000 individuals in Chicago are identified as gang-related, according to reports. The city’s top watchdog tells us about the police department’s gang database.

“The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey” is a wildly creative story about a familiar message brought to life by Chicago actor Joe Foust’s effortless storytelling skills, comic sensibility and emotional range. 

The non-binding measure is being celebrated by environmental advocates, who note that Chicago is now the largest U.S. city to announce a timeline for obtaining all of its energy from renewable sources.

An evidentiary hearing that began Wednesday will be used to determine whether four officers can keep their jobs following accusations they lied about what happened the night Laquan McDonald was killed.

After months of debate, the controversial $1 billion public subsidy for Lincoln Yards is now law. City Council approved the measure hours after Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot softened her opposition to the project.

Lawyers for a former University of Illinois student accused of killing a Chinese scholar say university counselors didn’t offer him adequate care when he sought help for suicidal and homicidal thoughts.

Johnson Publishing Co., former owner of the iconic Ebony and Jet magazines that helped changed the negative image of black people portrayed by U.S. media, filed for bankruptcy liquidation Tuesday in a federal court in Chicago.

The latest on a possible – and major – amendment to the state constitution that would lift a requirement that all income be taxed at a flat rate.

A dispatch from Wisconsin’s Northwoods, where Darren and Genevieve Coady hopes to reel in other Chicagoans who want an old-fashioned vacation experience.

A U.S. magistrate ordered an Ohio man to remain jailed without bond Tuesday on a charge that he lied to federal agents about being a missing child from Illinois.

Watch the April 9, 2019 full episode of “Chicago Tonight.”

There’s a grassroots push for an elected school board in Chicago, but how would a move away from an appointed board impact students? We discuss the pros and cons with Jesse Sharkey and Rufus Williams.

Renowned University of Chicago paleontologist Neil Shubin recently returned from an expedition to search for fossils in Antarctica. He tells us about his trip.

She is a psychotherapist and author of the “Dear Therapist” advice column. Lori Gottlieb tells us about her new book, “Maybe You Should Talk to Someone.”

In many ways, modern American life is set up for convenience and speed – and that can generate a lot of garbage. What you can do at home to reduce your waste output.

Lawsuits mount and sales tumble in the aftermath of two deadly crashes involving Boeing’s 737 Max jet. Can the company repair its reputation? Commercial pilot Rob Mark weighs in.

Nearly one out of every three criminal exonerations in the U.S. last year occurred in Illinois, according to a new report. Most of those cases stemmed from disgraced former police Sgt. Ronald Watts and his crew.

State health officials say Illinois has had 154 confirmed cases of candida auris, a rapidly spreading fungus that can cause severe illness and even death, between May 24, 2016 and April 4, 2019.