Stories by Patty Wetli

On Monday, the Chicago Park District announced that Myetie Hamilton, president of the district’s board of commissioners since February 2022, will step down from the role following Wednesday’s board meeting.

After another shortened race weekend that was by turns thrilling and soggy, NASCAR is packing up its Chicago street course and heading out of town.

Submissions are being accepted online through July 11. People can suggest up to four names, which should reflect Chicago’s heritage, culture and diversity.

A 34-year-old man was killed while handling a firework Thursday night, according to the Chicago Police Department.

Don’t know a “spoiler” from a “splitter”? We’re here for you with a beginner’s guide to stock-car racing and what to look for during Saturday and Sunday’s events.

After months of negotiations, Illinois has finally signed onto a project partnership agreement with the state of Michigan and the Army Corps of Engineers to move forward with construction of what’s largely viewed as the last line of defense against invasive carp entering the Great Lakes.

A long holiday weekend is a great opportunity for Chicagoans to play tourist in their hometown, but with the NASCAR Street Race set to circle Grant Park July 6-7, what’s even open to visit?

Piping plover chicks have also recently hatched at Illinois Beach State Park.

What happens when an endangered bird nests in a hayfield set to be harvested? A great debate has been swirling in Northwest Indiana. 

Multiple people have drowned in recent days as Chicagoans head to Lake Michigan to beat the heat. 

Only one egg had initially been reported at the end of May, but now monitors say Imani and Sea Rocket are incubating a full clutch of four eggs.

“I am humbled and grateful to participate in further advancing Chicago as a role model in forming equitable cities,” Kupe said in a statement.

All of the Chicago Park District’s 77 outdoor and indoor pools are expected to be open six days a week from June 17 through Sept. 2. Beaches are also open.

The endangered black-crowned night herons aren’t captive, they just happened to build their nests on the grounds of Lincoln Park Zoo. Why? Because they like having bodyguards.

Riot Fest has announced it’s leaving its longtime home in Chicago’s Douglass Park and is setting up RiotLand in Bridgeview’s SeatGeek Stadium for the 2024 event, set for Sept. 20-22.

Guy joins a previously announced list music lineup for NASCAR weekend, which includes the Black Keys and Keith Urban.

All signs point to a cicada-induced vitamin deficiency as the cause of a mystery disease that affected some birds during a 2021 emergence and now again in 2024.

The Chicago Park District also received nearly $1.5 million to conduct an inventory. Morton Arboretum's Chicago Region Trees Initiative is administering the grants on behalf of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

After Saturday, the Field Museum’s newest dinosaur fossil will be off display until fall while staff works on building a permanent exhibit for the Chicago Archaeopteryx.

Members of the first wave of cicadas have done their thing: They came, they molted, they screamed, they bred, and now they’re dying.

Rosa Escareño, Chicago Park District general superintendent and CEO, announced an $8 million investment in broadband infrastructure that will provide free, public internet service at 60 of the city’s parks on the South and West sides.

The Field Museum has more than 10 million specimens in its insect collection and — believe it or not — not a single 13-year periodical cicada among them. So what better time than now to fill that gap?

While financing for the Chicago Bears’ proposed new lakefront stadium remains in doubt, opponents of the plan have sent an unequivocal “hands off” message regarding any use of lakefront property for private interests.

If you wouldn’t eat a vegetable grown in that soil, don’t eat a cicada.

Some of the early “They’re here!” excitement has definitely given way to “Wait, they’re staying for how long?” At the opposite end of the spectrum, Chicagoans are wondering why they got left out of the great 2024 emergence.

The tiny critters are almost impossible to spot, but you can’t miss their bubbles.