Stories by Matt Masterson

Chicago police have recovered a record number of illegal firearms so far this year, but the city’s top cop on Monday said his department is now launching a team that will target those who buy the guns for others.

The mayor announces a deal to create a civilian police oversight board. Gov. Pritzker makes his reelection bid official. Portillo’s plans to go public. The environmental impact of electric vehicles. 

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday made American civil rights leader Jesse Jackson a commander of the Legion of Honor, France’s highest award, for helping “change the destiny of the United States” and with it, the world. 

According to the Chicago Police Department, 56 people were shot in 44 shooting incidents between Friday evening and Sunday night. Eleven of those victims died.

The agreement could end years of contentious debate over how best to ensure that the Chicago Police Department no longer routinely violates the constitutional rights of Chicagoans.

Shared rides were a key part of how the founders of Uber and Lyft envisioned disrupting transportation. Back in 2014, the companies raced each other to be first to announce their carpooling options. Then the pandemic hit, and the companies swiftly suspended their shared offerings.

Keeping teens engaged during the summer. Remembering the life of civil rights icon John Lewis. Helping former drug abusers find a new lease on life. And the end of the state’s eviction ban.

After a year of being cooped up inside, many Chicago teens are ready to get outside. We talk with youth organizations about low- or no-cost activities young people can do right now and through to the fall.

The state’s ban on most evictions will have lasted more than 17 months after the governor in 2020 ordered Illinois residents to stay home to stop the spread of the coronavirus. The deadline to apply for rental assistance grants of up to $25,000 from the state is Sunday, officials said.

The U.S. surgeon general said Sunday that he’s concerned about what lies ahead with cases of COVID-19 increasing in every state, millions still unvaccinated and a highly contagious virus variant spreading rapidly.

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday both marked the one-year anniversary of U.S. Rep. John Lewis’ death by urging Congress to honor the legacy of the civil rights icon by enacting laws to protect voting rights.

A new documentary on the LGBTQ Latino experience in Chicago. Two Latino festivals are making a comeback. And finding home away from home in a community garden.

A new documentary explores inequities through the experiences of four Latino Chicagoans who identify as LGBTQ-plus as they navigate the COVID-19 pandemic in their personal and professional lives.

In Chicago, summer is synonymous with festival season. This year, with Chicagoans hungrier than ever for summer food and festivities, two signature Latino festivals are set to stage their comebacks.

A rapidly growing wildfire south of Lake Tahoe forced the evacuation of a mountain town and the cancellation of an extreme bike ride through the Sierra Nevada, leaving thousands of riders and spectators stranded Saturday and rushing to flee the area.

Republican leaders believe the party is on the precipice of a political realignment among Hispanic voters in communities along the U.S.-Mexico border. 

Less than a week after a rare series of antigovernment protests were broken up by police and government sympathizers, and elicited self-criticism from President Miguel Díaz-Canel, things appear calm in Cuba. But many wonder for how much longer.

Immigrants and advocates are urging Democrats and President Joe Biden to quickly act on legislation to protect young immigrants after a federal judge in Texas on Friday ruled illegal an Obama-era program that prevents the deportation of thousands of them brought into the U.S. as children.

A possible compromise on civilian police oversight. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg takes a Chicago infrastructure tour. And legislators whiff on ethics. 

The former 1st Ward alderman pleaded guilty to multiple charges Friday, but will avoid jail time, following a highly publicized 2019 incident in which he loaned his vehicle to a woman and then falsely claimed it had been stolen.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says he’s confident the Biden administration’s infrastructure bill will pass Congress, touting on Friday its bipartisan support and saying both the president and the public are impatient to see the deal finalized.

Supporters of a long-stalled plan that would put an elected board of Chicago residents in charge of the Chicago Police Department said Friday they are close to an agreement with Mayor Lori Lightfoot that could pave the way for a final vote next week.

Recipients of money from the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund include a consortium of civil rights sites and Black churches in Alabama; work to establish an African American heritage trail in Colorado; and preservation of the church where Emmett Till's funeral was held in Chicago after his lynching in Mississippi in 1955.

President Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the U.S. Census Bureau told a Senate committee on Thursday that he would bring transparency and independence to the nation’s largest statistical agency, which was challenged by the pandemic, natural disasters and attempts at political interference while carrying out the 2020 census.

The Biden administration on Thursday convened the first meeting of its community violence intervention collaborative, a group of mayors and administration officials that will share best practices and work closely with the federal government to reduce gun violence.

Frank Harris will remain in jail following his arrest on charges of murder and aggravated vehicular hijacking, stemming from the death of Keith Cooper, 73, who was struck in the head during an attempted carjacking.