(Courtesy City of Chicago)

With high temperatures in the forecast, city officials issued a reminder to landlords about new air conditioning requirements, put in place in 2022 after three women died in a Rogers Park senior living facility.

A sculpture representing scientist Carolus Linnaeus, “father of modern taxonomy,” at Chicago Botanic Garden. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News)

A newly announced $21 million gift will help the Chicago Botanic Garden further its conservation and research projects, like the development of a studbook for plants.

A family of foxes has taken up residence in Chicago’s Lurie Garden. (Courtesy of Lurie Garden)

For a bunch of hardened urbanites, Chicagoans sure do have a soft spot when it comes to animals.

(WTTW News)

Beach season will run through Sept. 4. The city’s pools are expected to open by June 23.

An aerial view of the Chicago Area Confined Disposal Facility, a 45-acre site on Chicago’s Southeast Side that has been in operation since 1984. Inset: The CDF is outlined in red. (Credit: Army Corps of Engineers)

The Army Corps of Engineers’ plan to build a 25-foot-tall “toxic tower” on Lake Michigan has hit a speed bump.

(David Mark / Pixabay)
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A U.S. Supreme Court ruling that narrows the Clean Water Act’s authority to regulate certain wetlands has met with disappointment, frustration and head-scratching among Great Lakes environmentalists.

(WTTW News)
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Legislators and environmental activists alike say they were caught off guard by fast-tracked proposals that would pave the way for a private entity to own a piece of an expanded I-55. 

No rain in the Memorial Day weekend forecast. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News)

Chicago has recorded less than half an inch of rain in May, leading to what climate experts call a flash drought.

People dump everything, including the kitchen sink, in Cook County's forest preserves. (Courtesy of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County)
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Forest Preserve District officials presented a proposal to increase fines and to add a provision that would allow the district to collect restitution from people caught trashing the preserves.

Argonne National Laboratory is pictured in May 2023. (Credit: Argonne National Laboratory)

Argonne National Laboratory has been at the cutting edge of molecular scale research for almost three decades. At the heart of that research is the Advanced Photon Source, a huge particle accelerator. 

(David Schwarzenberh / Pixabay)

An apparent AI-generated photo went viral on social media Monday showing a fake explosion near the Pentagon. Officials confirmed that the image and accompanying reports were fake. Critics pointed to the as an example of the problems that come along with the promise of artificial intelligence technology. 

Cookie the cockatoo, in life and in bronze, at Brookfield Zoo. (Courtesy of Brookfield Zoo-Chicago Zoological Society)

The recent loss of Nakili, Brookfield Zoo’s 33-year-old eastern black rhinoceros, unexpectedly sent us on a trip down memory lane, revisiting some of the zoo’s most beloved residents.

(Patty Wetli / WTTW News)

The Great Lakes was named a global “Hope Spot,” joining the Galapagos Islands, the Great Barrier Reef and the Bering Sea as a place identified as critical to the health of the ocean.

Smoke from wildfires in Canada is making for colorful sunrises and sunsets in Chicago, as seen May 18, 2023. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News)

Smoke from raging wildfires in western Canada has reached Chicago, creating hazy skies and making for redder sunrises and sunsets.

Endangered Blanding's turtles are among the native species on the move this time of year. (USFWS Midwest Region / Courtney Celley / Flickr Creative Commons)

The death of even one turtle can have ripple effects on the larger population, forest preserve officials said. If a female is killed in a hit and run, her future progeny, which could number in the hundreds, are lost as well. 

Trashion Revolution will feature designs made from plastic pollution, like the two pictured above. "I am just blown away by the designs," said Jordan Parker. Photos provided by the designers. (Alan Emerson Hicks, left / Jess Crane, right)

The tax was supposed to discourage the use of plastic bags. Instead, it’s turned into a cash cow for the city. Activists say it’s time to rethink the policy.