In what’s become an annual tradition, staff at Brookfield Zoo handed out Valentine’s Day treats to several animals this holiday. The reactions were priceless.

As a more complete, and complex, portrait has emerged of John James Audubon, birders and ornithologists have struggled to reconcile their missions with the troubling aspects of his legacy: buying and selling slaves, plagiarism and the exploitation of natural resources.  

During press interviews held after WTTW's mayoral forum Tuesday evening, challengers to Mayor Lori Lightfoot pledged to reestablish a Department of Environment — disbanded in 2011 under Rahm Emanuel — if elected.

Road salt runoff is making its way into Great Lakes waterways. Wisconsin has pending legislation that could encourage contractors to use less.

The Commission on Chicago Landmarks has given Promontory Point preliminary landmark status. But the Park District board needs to consent to the designation as the next step in the process. 

“There are places you walk where you see sky touching the earth, and you can imagine this as the gateway to the Grand Prairie,” site steward Pat Hayes said of Orland Grassland.

With Valentine’s Day around the corner, animal rights advocates are asking the Cook County Forest Preserve District to have a heart and release “Rocky” the coyote.

Crews released toxic chemicals into the air from five derailed tanker cars that were in danger of exploding  and began burning it after warning residents near the Ohio-Pennsylvania state line to leave immediately or face the possibility of death.

Authorities feared the death toll would climb as rescuers searched through tangles of metal and concrete for survivors in a region beset by more than a decade of Syria’s civil war and a refugee crisis.

New research shows bison are altering the landscape in unexpected ways when reintroduced to Midwest prairie ecosystems. 

Chicago has announced the winners in its “name that snowplow” contest. Did your favorite make the cut?

Late winter is coyote mating season, which reaches its peak toward the end of February. That's leading to more sightings than usual by humans — even in downtown Chicago — as the animals are a bit bolder and on the move in their search for a soulmate.

For an animal that has its own holiday, the groundhog kind of flies under the radar. Let’s get to know it better.

The Green Comet is making its closest pass to Earth Wednesday night and the skies are looking clear enough for Adler Planetarium to host a virtual viewing party.

Oil refineries are discharging toxic pollutants into our waterways and the Great Lakes with little oversight from regulators, according to a new report from the Environmental Integrity Project, a nonpartisan nonprofit group that advocates for enforcement of environmental law

A federal evaluation of Chicago’s shoreline by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will no longer include Promontory Point — because the Point is getting a review all its own.