At least 45 tornadoes have been preliminarily confirmed in the Dec. 15 storms that crossed the Great Plains and Midwest amid unseasonably warm temperatures.

Chicago has never gone this late in the year without a measurable snowfall, and there's no sign of the white stuff in sight.

On Friday, the Greater Rockford Airport Authority filed a motion in U.S. District Court to dismiss a lawsuit blocking the airport’s planned expansion of its cargo operations, which would destroy a rare five-acre high-quality remnant prairie in the process.

Visitors to the Garfield Park Conservatory have a rare and exciting opportunity to witness a plant in its spectacular death bloom as an agave prepares to flower for its first and last time.

Wednesday saw record high temperatures across the region, wind gusts above 60 miles per hour and even the smell of smoke, which rode in on winds all the way from brush fires in Kansas.

Great Lakes governors are asking the federal government to fund costs of the Brandon Road Lock and Dam project on the Des Plaines River, designed to block the incursion of invasive carp into the lakes.

A 140-foot-tall transparent structure that’s brightly illuminated 24/7, located across the street from Harms Woods nature preserve, along a key migratory greenway, is a triple threat to birds, environmentalists say.

What if our cities could be more like forests? That’s the question at the heart of a new building prototype developed by architecture and engineering firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.

A 50-year record could fall Wednesday as the temperature in Chicago is expected to reach the mid- to upper-60s, according to the National Weather Service. The warmest Dec. 15 to date was 64 degrees in 1971.

As searches continued for those still missing, efforts also turned to repairing the power grid, sheltering those whose homes were destroyed and delivering drinking water and other supplies.

If the thought of drinking a caramel brownie iced coffee or peppermint mocha latte sounds like a punishment, you might be a coffee snob or, according to a new study, a preference for bitter cups of plain black joe just might be in your DNA.

In Chicago, predominantly Latino communities often bear the environmental burden of heavy industry, and residents of those communities say they have a hard time making their concerns heard.

A 20-year extension of the dump, operated by the Army Corps of Engineers to hold toxic sludge dredged from Lake Michigan, is still under review. The dump was supposed to be retired in 2022 and turned over to the Chicago Park District for redevelopment.

One of the country’s longest-running community science projects is about to get underway. We’ve got all the details on Audubon Society’s 122nd annual Christmas Bird Count, including how to join the effort. 

A strong storm system is moving into the Chicago region, bringing an “out-of-season” threat of thunderstorms and even tornadoes, with the worst expected to hit after 9 p.m. Friday, the National Weather Service said.

Bison once roamed Illinois’ tallgrass prairies in some of the largest herds east of the Mississippi, but they’re so rare in these parts today, a single escapee from a Lake County farm is creating a social media stir.