Stories by Matt Masterson

The Evanston university on Tuesday announced that Bienen will begin serving as its interim president beginning Sept. 16.

The former state senator and farmer from Clay County would become the highest-profile Republican to enter the race, having lost the 2022 campaign against Gov. JB Pritzker and a close primary race in 2024 against U.S. Rep. Mike Bost for a downstate congressional seat.

Jeremie Fant, director of conservation at Chicago Botanic Garden, has spent 15 years experimenting with growing native plants in containers on his 10-foot by 5-foot Chicago condo balcony.

Neville, who has served on the high court for the past seven years, will take over for current Chief Justice Mary Jane Theis beginning in October. He’ll become the second Black chief justice in Illinois history.

Employees at Fermilab in Batavia and Argonne in Lemont were recently offered voluntary separation packages. The move comes as the Department of Energy recommends funding for the local national labs be reduced by almost $240 million for the next fiscal year, and focuses on new research priorities.

Local Congress members react to ICE’s latest move in Chicago. What to expect from the Bears this season. And the iconic Uptown Theatre turns 100.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is starting Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago. The agency said the Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation is targeting “criminal illegal aliens who flocked to Chicago.”

The Chicago Bears enter a new era Monday in a highly anticipated matchup against the Minnesota Vikings. The Bears are playing with a few major changes this season. Namely, new leadership.

Chicago’s landmark Uptown Theatre opened its doors in August 1925 with much fanfare. Like a lot of 100-year-olds, the building’s got some aches and pains — but it’s also got a dedicated community hoping to see the long-vacant movie palace restored and brought back to life.

The letter was included as part of a 2003 album compiled for alleged sex trafficker Epstein’s birthday. The president has denied having anything to do with it. Democrats on the House Oversight Committee received a copy of the birthday album on Monday as part of a batch of documents from Epstein’s estate.

Homeland Security officials on Monday said they intend to target “criminal illegal aliens who flocked to Chicago and Illinois” in a new immigration operation after an Illinois woman was killed in a drunk driving crash allegedly involving an undocumented immigrant early this year.

The conservative majority lifted a restraining order from a judge who found that “roving patrols” were conducting indiscriminate stops in and around LA. The order had barred immigration agents from stopping people solely based on their race, language, job or location.

Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke’s office announced the charges against the six adults, who were arrested Friday after allegedly leading authorities on a chase from the store down Lake Shore Drive and the Dan Ryan Expressway before they ultimately crashed.

President Donald Trump is swiftly implementing his vision of the military as an all-powerful tool for his policy goals. It’s ground that presidents have hardly ever crossed outside of times of war, and experts say it’s remaking the role of the most powerful military in the world and its relationship with the American public.

For the Chicago Police Department, the challenge is acute. The force must preserve public safety in a city already under strain while avoiding the appearance of working hand-in-hand with federal immigration authorities, a stance that could erode community trust and ignite new protests.

Chicago taxpayers paid $6.3 million to settle 54 lawsuits, according to a WTTW analysis of city records. An additional $4.5 million went to pay private lawyers to defend the conduct of CPD officers named in those lawsuits.

This year the typically joyful period coincides with Trump’s threats to add Chicago to the list of other Democratic-led cities he has targeted for expanded federal enforcement. His administration has said it will step up immigration enforcement in Chicago

Chicago police officers have now shot 16 people, killing eight, less than nine months into 2025, more than in all of last year, records show.

Chicago braces for the possibility of National Guard troops as federal immigration agents prepare to hit city streets. And concerns over changes to vaccine guidance.

Mayor Brandon Johnson said Walter "Red" Burnett was the best choice to replace his father, who represented parts of the West Side and the West Loop for 30 years on the Chicago City Council.

Multitalented is hardly enough of a word to describe Hershey Felder, the Canadian-born multilingual pianist, actor, composer and playwright. He can now be captured on the Writers Theatre stage in the Chicago/Midwest premiere of “Rachmaninoff and the Tsar.”

The investigations come as the White House and a Republican-controlled Congress slashed taxpayer spending on immigrant health care through cuts in President Donald Trump’s spending-and-tax law passed this summer.

Chicago Public Schools says it does not intend to offer a remote learning option to students amid a possible deployment of National Guard troops, immigration strike teams or other armed military personnel into the city.

In recent years, Acutis has shot to near rock star-like fame among many young Catholics, generating a global following the likes of which the Catholic Church hasn’t seen in ages. Much of that popularity is thanks to a concerted campaign by the Vatican to give the next generation of faithful a relatable, modern-day role model.

Legal questions swirl over the possibility of National Guard troops in Chicago. And how local groups are mobilizing to push back against ICE.

The president expanded his criticism of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture to include additional museums. But specialists in the field said these actions could potentially “erode the public’s trust in shared institutions,” not just in Washington, D.C., but around the country.