Stories by Alex Ruppenthal

On Thursday, the Illinois Environmental Council released its Environmental Scorecard, highlighting the top pieces of environmental legislation (and legislators) from 2016. 

The decadeslong fight to clean up the Chicago River took a step forward last week with the resolution of two lawsuits targeting phosphorous discharge that has polluted waters from Chicago to the Gulf of Mexico.

Dozens of Chicago activists met last week to plan a defense of environmental policies that appear vulnerable under the administration of President Donald Trump.

Alligator snapping turtle Patsy McNasty moved into a new 300-gallon tank this week at Chicago's Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, where visitors attended a “housewarming” event for the 14-pound turtle. 

Chicago will depend on residents to help enforce the city’s updated recycling ordinance – at least initially. The changes, which took effect Jan. 1, mark the first update to the city’s recycling rules in 20 years.

Pollution causes 10 million deaths per year, according to an upcoming report written by 50 researchers and policymakers, including Chicago-based energy experts.

Thanks to a new state law, officers partnered with a police dog are first in line to keep the dog once it is deemed no longer fit for service.

Cook County is ahead of schedule on its goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050, a new report shows.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel has named former chief deputy U.S. Marshal John P. O’Malley to the Chicago Police Board, which decides the most serious cases of police discipline. 

Organized by the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity, Earth2Trump is a series of rallies aimed at building “resistance to all forms of oppression and all attacks on the environment,” the group states.

Donald Trump is no friend of the environment. And based on new energy use data from the city, neither is his trademark Chicago skyscraper.