Stories by Patty Wetli

The Great Lakes Piping Plover Recovery Effort is reporting a record-setting 90 pairs of plovers in 2026, the most since the bird was listed as an endangered species in 1985.

As cleanup continues from last week's storms, more severe weather is in the forecast for this week, with the greatest threat on Wednesday.

The National Weather Service will be surveying damage from multiple reported tornadoes that touched down Thursday, while recovery efforts continue from the derecho that walloped Chicago on Wednesday.

The National Weather Service is tracking two rounds of severe weather Thursday.

Chicagoans should prepare for multiple rounds rounds of thunderstorms and uncomfortably hot and humid conditions on Wednesday and Thursday.

“Flyway City,” a new exhibit at the Chicago Architecture Center, calls on Chicagoans to do better by birds. It shows solutions that are saving lives.

The water is already on at some Chicago Park District splash pads, just in time to provide relief from summer’s first heat wave.

WTTW News Explains on the common myths around tornadoes and how the weather events can hit Chicago.

WTTW News got a sneak peek of the Obama Presidential Center: Here’s what visitors can expect from the museum and the broader campus.

While a number of high-profile bills failed to garner enough support during the spring session of the Illinois General Assembly, the designation of an official state bee sailed through both the House and Senate.

Admire the creativity of the region's green thumbs and discover inspiration on garden walks, hosted by neighborhood associations and garden clubs across the area.

A man has been arrested in the sexual assault of a 29-year-old woman in LaBagh Woods on May 23.

On Friday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service finalized its designation of critical habitat for the endangered bumblebee. Counties in six states, including Illinois, are listed in the new ruling.

The Obama Presidential Center is kicking off its public programming with a three-day grand opening festival, June 19-21.

Friday marks the unofficial start to summer, with the city’s lakefront beaches opening for the Memorial Day holiday weekend.

More than 1,100 people participated in the contest, submitting more than 3,200 options. A committee narrowed the choices down to three finalists.

Chicago City Council members unanimously approved an amendment to the city’s Native and Pollinator Garden Registry ordinance, which now allows plants up to 36 inches tall in the parkway.

Monitors with both Chicago Piping Plovers and Lake County Audubon Society reported eggs laid at Montrose Beach and the Waukegan shoreline, respectively.

The rare ghost orchid bloom will be on public display at the garden’s Tropical Greenhouse through May 25.

On May 9, one of the herd's females gave birth to a calf, the first baby bison born on tallgrass prairie in the county in 200 years, officials estimate.

The Chicago Park District has erected barriers at the Southeast Side park where a pair of eaglets and their parents are nesting.

Chicago’s Native and Pollinator Garden Registry is now open for applications. But before a single submission has even been accepted, an amendment to the ordinance governing the registry is already in the works.

For the first time in more than 100 years, a bald eagle has been born inside the city’s limits, the Chicago Park District announced Wednesday.

Most birds migrate over Chicago at night. A new network of acoustic monitors is tracking their movements by listening for what can't be seen.

Grounds, custodial and facilities employees had been on the picket line since Monday.

Officials with Chicago's Department of Environment recently released an updated Green Infrastructure Strategy, the first revision to the document in more than a decade.