A judge on Monday ordered the Dakota Access pipeline shut down for additional environmental review more than three years after it began pumping oil — handing a victory to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.

It’s not quite bathwater warm — that honor goes to Lake Erie — but Lake Michigan’s average surface temperature has topped 72 degrees thanks to the recent heat wave. 

Environmental activists from the city’s Southwest Side brought their ongoing fight against MAT Asphalt to the North Side front yard of owner Michael Tadin Jr. on Thursday night.

The three chicks hatched in mid-June and now local birding organizations have created a contest to give them names. Submissions are open through Wednesday.

Openlands’ searchable guide to parks, preserves, prairies, woodlands and more is a great resource for nature lovers. 

Millennium Park’s Great Lawn is open to visitors again, with painted-on circles in place to emphasize social distancing guidelines. 

The northern saw-whet is a tiny owl with a big personality. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service staff caught this normally secretive owl performing a hilarious stare down.

Taking a phased approach, the conservatory is reopening its outdoor grounds to neighbors on July 1, members on July 8 and everyone else starting July 15.

Scores of Chicagoans have planted milkweed — the monarch’s host plant — in their yards and other green spaces, but how effective are those efforts? The Field Museum is recruiting citizen scientists to find out.

Forty million locusts are winding their way through Argentina and a massive dust cloud has crossed the Atlantic from the Sahara. What else could 2020 possibly have in store for us?

Over the objections of environmental activists, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday issued a construction permit to General Iron, allowing the company to move its metal-shredding operation from Lincoln Park to the Southeast Side. 

The Forest Preserves of Cook County announced it will reopen Swallow Cliff Stairs, nature centers and bathrooms, plus allow grilling and lift restrictions on parking lots at popular sites — but not until after the Fourth of July.

The ongoing federal review of plans to construct the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park hit a minor speed bump when the Illinois State Historic Preservation Office weighed in. What does it mean for the controversial project?

He is optimistic about the development of vaccines and treatments to slow the spread of COVID-19 but describes the national response to the virus as a “disgrace.” We speak with Dr. Robert Murphy of Northwestern University.

Similar in size to the monarch, the regal fritillary is also a stunner in the looks department, but the native prairie butterfly has nearly disappeared from Illinois. To save this pollinator, we need to save the prairie.

The 150-year-old zoo is preparing to welcome its first visitors since the March coronavirus shutdown. Here’s what you need to know.