Stories by Matt Masterson

An Illinois appellate court this week ruled that Chicago Public Schools did not violate a moratorium on school closures when it voted down charter renewals for a pair of South Side high schools.

People marched the streets in Bronzeville to demand that elected officials and law enforcement authorities do more to resolve missing persons and murder cases. Black girls and women are overrepresented in missing persons cases in Chicago, according to reports.

The nominees cover a diverse range of cuisine and chef experience, a recent shift following turbulent, pandemic-era years for the James Beard Foundation. The most-anticipated categories include awards for outstanding restaurateur, chef and restaurant.

Chicago’s Latino lesbian, gay, bisexual and queer communities are embracing the city’s progress toward equality, while recognizing there’s still work to be done. Particularly when it comes to providing safe and welcoming environments for today’s LGBTQ+ youth.

Members of the first wave of cicadas have done their thing: They came, they molted, they screamed, they bred, and now they’re dying.

Officials say more than half of the migrants forced to leave city shelters immediately returned. How Latino communities are celebrating Pride. And meet the first Mexican-born woman to travel to space.

The acknowledgement that approximately 500 people returned to city shelters after living there for at least two months raises new questions about plans by officials to start evicting families with school-age children from city shelters on Monday.

Many kids dream of blasting off into space one day — and Katya Echazarreta was no exception. As the first Mexican-born woman to travel to space, she is dedicated to showing other women the sky’s the limit when it comes to reaching their goals.

U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly ruled there was enough evidence for a jury to conclude “that the city had a custom or policy of condoning racial harassment and discrimination at (the Water Department) as well as inaction in the face of a risk of potential constitutional violations.”

The Chicago City Council is poised to fill two long-vacant seats on the city's Board of Ethics after Mayor Brandon Johnson faced months of criticism from good-government advocates.

The proposal, based on a unanimous recommendation by the Chicago Board of Ethics, now heads to a final vote at the City Council meeting set for June 12.

Rosa Escareño, Chicago Park District general superintendent and CEO, announced an $8 million investment in broadband infrastructure that will provide free, public internet service at 60 of the city’s parks on the South and West sides.

The Chicago Police Department held an open training session at McCormick Place, where police demonstrated for media the different measures and strategies the department is planning to deploy during the August convention.

Ronald “Ronnieman” Johnson, 25, was shot and killed by Officer George Hernandez in the early morning hours of Oct. 12, 2014, near 53rd Street and King Drive.

As young soldiers, they waded ashore in Normandy through gunfire to battle the Nazis. On Thursday, a dwindling number of World War II veterans were joined by a new generation of leaders to honor the dead, the living and the fight for democracy in moving commemorations on and around those same beaches where they landed exactly 80 years ago on D-Day.

With rising overtime costing the city more each year, records show the Chicago Police Department paid a high price for overtime for shifts meant to curb violence before ending its strategic deployment initiative. The city did not explain how it judged the effectiveness of the plan it recently ended.

The City Council’s Finance Committee is set to consider the proposed settlement, which calls for taxpayers to pay $21 million and the city’s insurance company to pay $29 million.

Evanston’s groundbreaking reparations program is facing a legal challenge. And Major League Baseball makes a historic move by adding Negro Leagues stats to its records.

More than 2,300 Negro Leagues players from 1920 to 1948 were added to the online database — a historical correction that’s four years in the making. It was announced in December 2020 that the MLB would be “correcting a longtime oversight.”

Evanston’s program is aimed at addressing housing discrimination and segregation that took place in the northern suburb from 1919 to 1969.

“There’s no silver bullet here,” study author David Johnson said. “But there is some really solid evidence that the work that schools are doing matters. And I think that’s really exciting and important.”

Sports wagering and video gambling have developed into two of the most robust markets in the nation; Illinois’ sportsbooks collectively have the fourth-largest handle among all states, while Illinois’ video gambling industry is by far the largest of any state.

A Sangamon County judge blocked the Illinois State Board of Elections from enforcing a new law that would have prevented certain General Assembly candidates who didn’t run in the March primary from getting on the November ballot. The move doesn’t void the bill in its entirety, but rather blocks it only for this year’s general election for the 14 named plaintiffs in the case.

Declaring it a spending plan that’s “balanced, fiscally responsible, pro-family, cuts taxes on workers and opens up doors of opportunity,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday signed Illinois’ next state budget into law.

Triumph the Insult Comic Dog hosted a “Jeopardy!”-style game show in Chicago this week with celebrity contestants, including ex-Cubs pitcher Ryan Dempster, actor Samm Levine and ex-governor Rod Blagojevich.

After the three-hour hearing, U.S. District Court Judge Virginia Kendall declined to issue a ruling immediately, instead promising a written order “shortly.”