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Matthew Hendrickson

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Chicago
As seen in: Chicago Sun-Times, La Voz Chicago, RealClear Politics, WBBM-AM (Chicago, IL), WLS-TV (Chicago, IL), Daily Herald, WMAQ-TV (Chicago, IL), WAGA-TV (Atlanta, GA), WBEZ-FM (Chicago, IL), WFLD-TV (Chicago, IL), KTBC-TV (Austin, TX) and
Covers:  Crime, criminal justice, courts
Reporter in the courts/streets for @suntimes.
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Ex-Cook County judge, accused of stealing decorated Tuskegee Airman's life savings, is ordered to...

Ex-Cook County judge, accused of stealing decorated Tuskegee Airman's life savings, is ordered to...

Chicago Sun-Times — Oscar Wilkerson Jr. lived a rich life, serving with the trailblazing Tuskegee Airmen during World War II before settling in Chicago's south suburbs and eventually being awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. As he grew old, his health deteriorated, and his finances were placed in the hands of Patricia Martin, a former Cook County judge who's a niece of his former wife.
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Blacks make up 75% of those charged with violating city curfew, data shows

Blacks make up 75% of those charged with violating city curfew, data shows

Chicago Sun-Times — As protesters took to the city's streets to highlight racial discrepancies in police enforcement, city data shows Chicago Police charged significantly more African Americans with violating a curfew imposed by Mayor Lori Lightfoot. Of more than 400 people charged, a Chicago Sun-Times review of the violations found, 75% were African American.
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Raised by radicals in Chicago, he's about to become San Francisco's new top prosecutor

Raised by radicals in Chicago, he's about to become San Francisco's new top prosecutor

Chicago Sun-Times — Chesa Boudin's life story sounds like something out of a right-winger's nightmares. The son of two left-wing radicals convicted for their roles as getaway drivers in an infamous 1981 armored-car robbery, he was raised in Chicago by adoptive parents Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, former leaders of the Weather Underground, a militant offshoot of the group Students for a Democratic Society.
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New video shows Chicago cops dragging, punching and tasing CPS student

New video shows Chicago cops dragging, punching and tasing CPS student

Chicago Sun-Times — A new surveillance video shows Chicago police officers pushing and dragging a student down a set of stairs at Marshall High School on the West Side before punching her and shocking her with a stun gun multiple times.
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Butler College Prep senior's bright future cut short by a bullet during vigil

Butler College Prep senior's bright future cut short by a bullet during vigil

Chicago Sun-Times — The fatal shooting Saturday night of a young man with a bright future has left a hole as large as his personality in the lives of his family, teachers and loved ones. James Garrett, an 18-year-old senior at Butler College Prep, was shot in the back as he tried to run to safety when gunfire erupted about 8 p.m.
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Eight children dead in Little Village blaze: 'God, take them to heaven'

Eight children dead in Little Village blaze: 'God, take them to heaven'

Chicago Sun-Times — Rosario Vergara was getting home from a family reunion early Sunday when her daughter noticed smoke coming from the rear of an apartment in the Little Village neighborhood. "She says 'there's a lot of smoke' and I looked and it was bad," Vergara said.
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Murder case shows system's hurdles for victims of domestic violence

Murder case shows system's hurdles for victims of domestic violence

Chicago Sun-Times — Shaquita Bennett sought her first order of protection against her ex-boyfriend, Deshawn Johnson, in 2013, just months after the two had broken up. On top of that, she'd filed 10 reports with Chicago Police Department accusing Johnson of harassment, domestic violence and other alleged crimes, police and court records show.
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Her daughter was killed; mother defends city, hopes for justice

Her daughter was killed; mother defends city, hopes for justice

Chicago Sun-Times — A line of mourners reached from Simone McKay's casket to the back of St. Margaret of Scotland Church at her funeral. The crowd filled the pews below the parish's blue cathedral ceiling Saturday and talked about the 26-year-old woman who was taken from them too soon, for reasons no one could understand.
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Streeterville Scene - Dining Out Chicago

Streeterville Scene - Dining Out Chicago

diningout.com — The origin of modern day Streeterville began with a storm, a stranded ship, and the derailed plans of an aspiring gunrunner. In 1886, George Wellington "Cap" Streeter and his wife Maria were testing their vessel on Lake Michigan before a planned trip to Honduras to become arms dealers.
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A Chicago Police officer's suicide - in a house full of cops

A Chicago Police officer's suicide - in a house full of cops

Chicago Sun-Times — The Chicago Police officer had put her gun on the kitchen counter for only a second. But that was just long enough for a fellow cop, probationary Officer Ruby Falcon, to snatch it and hold it to her head.
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'The fat lady hasn't sung' says iconic FitzGerald's Nightclub owner

'The fat lady hasn't sung' says iconic FitzGerald's Nightclub owner

Chicago Sun-Times — Bill FitzGerald, whose namesake nightclub in west suburban Berwyn has been synonymous with eclectic live music for nearly 40 years, is having a hard time figuring out how to let it go. He and his wife, Kate, have finally made a grueling decision, one they have talked about for a few years but never really got around to making: selling the club he turned into a musical destination.
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Lawsuit slams Pokemon GO Fest as 'unplayable'

Lawsuit slams Pokemon GO Fest as 'unplayable'

Chicago Sun-Times — A complaint filed Thursday against the organizers of last weekend's Pokemon GO Fest in downtown Chicago seeks to recoup damages through a class action lawsuit for those who attended the festival and found the game to be "unplayable."
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Community groups keep pushing Obama library for written promises

Community groups keep pushing Obama library for written promises

Chicago Sun-Times — A standing-room only crowd gathered on the South Side Saturday with hopes for the economic opportunities the Barack Obama Presidential Center library could bring to the South Side - and with some still pushing for those benefits to be promised in writing.
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All detainees released from O'Hare after chaotic day at airport

All detainees released from O'Hare after chaotic day at airport

Chicago Sun-Times — A dozen travelers who'd been held at O'Hare International Airport were released late Saturday, ending a day in which 18 people were detained there due to an executive order signed by President Donald Trump. All of those detained throughout the day had been released by 11 p.m., said Fiona McEntee, one of the lawyers with the American Immigration Lawyers Association who represented the travelers.
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Japanese war diary could find its way home

Japanese war diary could find its way home

Forest Park Review — It had been tucked away for 70 years, stored in a garage, kept in closets and drawers. But now, seven decades after its last entry was written, the journal of a Japanese soldier who likely died at Iwo Jima may find its way home.
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Men say promised jobs disappeared after they each paid $600 to UCS Auto representative

Men say promised jobs disappeared after they each paid $600 to UCS Auto representative

My Suburban Life — It was summer, and Alex Hernandez was looking for a new job. A college student, Hernandez, 20, of Alsip, had the price of higher education on his mind as he scoured the Internet looking for something with flexible hours and high pay. An ad on Craigslist caught his eye one day.
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A behind-the-scenes look at the battle against lead poisoning

A behind-the-scenes look at the battle against lead poisoning

chicagotalks.org — Editor's note: This is Part One in a three-part series examining lead poisoning in Chicago. Read Part Two and Part Three. Also, see the results for playgounds tested for lead. By Matthew Hendrickson March 13, 2009 - Lead poisoning in Chicago children is a major health concern, but the city's day-to-day battle against the problem has drawn surprisingly little scrutiny.
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