Stories by Matt Masterson

The first cohort of students in Northwestern University’s Prison Education Program are set to graduate next month, and when they do they’ll be joined by one of the most renowned writers and journalists in the country.

The FDA has been officially exploring the possibility of a menthol ban for more than a decade. In July 2013, the FDA requested comments on preliminary research, data and evaluations with regard to the regulation of menthol.

The incident occurred Sunday evening near a banquet hall in Skokie, where about 1,000 people had gathered to show solidarity with Israel, according to event organizers. A group of about 200 pro-Palestinian protesters also staged their own rally near the hall.

Dave Graham, who a watchdog report said should be fired for “willful bureaucratic negligence” in the 2020 incident that covered Little Village in dust, is now in charge of environmental inspections and enforcement.

The episode took place Sunday evening around a banquet hall in Skokie, where about 1,000 people had gathered to show solidarity with Israel, according to event organizers.

Less than 72 hours ago, Johnson hailed the agreement with the Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge 7, as “fair and in alignment with Chicago’s current policing needs, economic landscape and budgetary capabilities.”

A major effort to restore nearly 200 acres of wetland habitat at Powderhorn Prairie and Marsh Nature Preserve on the Chicago’s Southeast Side is now complete after more than three years.

Local members of Congress on aid to Israel. What’s behind record opioid overdoses. And a city program that allows drug offenders to choose treatment over arrest.

The rise in opioid deaths is largely due to the increase in synthetic opioids like fentanyl, says law enforcement officials. 

U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Chicago, and U.S. Rep. Jonathan Jackson, D-Chicago, joined “Chicago Tonight” to discuss aid to Israel, the House Speaker race and a growing number of migrants arriving to Chicago from the southern border.

The Narcotics Arrest Diversion Program, an initiative launched in 2018, offers those arrested for low-level drug offenses who meet certain criteria a chance to have their charges dropped if they agree to meet with a drug counselor.

The union says that 6,800 members walked out Monday morning and shut down the Sterling Heights, Michigan, Assembly Plant, a huge profit center for the company.

Though the full melt will take hundreds of years, slowly adding nearly 6 feet to sea levels, it will be enough to reshape where and how people live in the future, the study’s lead author said.

Nine lower-level Republican lawmakers are now running to be speaker, leader of the House and second in second in line to the presidency — none with any clear shot for the gavel.

Mohammad Reza Baniassadi allegedly conspired to provide fraudulent information to U.S. immigration authorities to obtain benefits for his foreign national clients over the course of seven years.

The victim — who was identified as Damien Green, according to Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office records — was one of 23 total people who were shot in 22 separate shooting incidents between 6 p.m. Friday and 11:59 p.m. Sunday.

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s 2024 spending plan would increase the overall CPD budget to nearly $2 billion, accounting for more than 31% of the city’s $5.7 billion corporate fund, by far the most of any city agency or department.

Members of the Illinois legislature will reunite on Tuesday to take care of any unfinished business before the year’s end, including deciding the ultimate fate of measures rejected in whole or in part by Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

The plan included several hundred miles of pipeline in Illinois which terminated at sequestration sites designed to store carbon dioxide underground. The project was met with significant pushback from environmentalists and landowners.

The deal, which must be approved by the Chicago City Council, resolves the issues left over from the contract agreement reached by former Mayor Lori Lightfoot in July 2021 that ended the longest union negotiations in the city’s history.

Judith Raanan and her 17-year-old daughter Natalie, were out of the Gaza Strip and in the hands of the Israeli military, an army spokesman said. Hamas said it released them for humanitarian reasons in an agreement with the Qatari government.

An Evanston mother and daughter held hostage by Hamas are released. And immigration protests turn chaotic as a Chicago alderwoman gets physically assaulted.

WTTW News theater critic Hedy Weiss recommends an evening spent with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, guest conductor James Gaffigan and the extraordinary pianist Conrad Tao.

A new study that aims to explore Midwest state boundaries and identity was a result of over 11,000 responses across 22 states.

The Republicans have no realistic or workable plan to unite the fractured GOP majority, elect a new speaker and return to the work of Congress that has been languishing since hard-liners ousted Kevin McCarthy at the start of the month.

Art Recovery International, a company focused on locating and recovering stolen and looted art, tracked down the painting after a person in Chicago reached out claiming to possess a “stolen or looted painting” that their uncle brought back to the U.S. after serving in World War II.