Stories by Patty Wetli

Bird-friendly window film is being installed on the convention center’s approximately two football fields’ worth of glass. Work on the $1.2 million project began in early June and is expected to take approximately three months.

The nearly 20-acre parcel will expand the existing Fort Sheridan Forest Preserve.

Chicago’s piping plover monitors are mourning the loss of one of the recently hatched chicks at Montrose Beach. Parents Imani and Searocket are watching over the remaining three.

The boil order had been in place since Tuesday night following an outage at the Roseland Pumping Station.

Residents of several Chicago South Side neighborhoods are under a boil order following a service disruption at the Roseland Pumping Station Tuesday night.

The Chicago Park District board approved the deal Wednesday, along with an option to extend the contract another five years.

From emergence holes in the parkway to molted shells on trees to ear-splitting mating calls, cicadas have very much arrived in Chicago. Just not the ones everybody was obsessing over a month ago.

The remnants of Beryl are expected to sideswipe northeastern Illinois and northwestern Indiana on Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.

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.