Stories by Patty Wetli

If a casino is coming to the riverfront, publicly accessible open green space should be a priority, as well as considerations for wildlife habitat, environmental advocates say. And the buildings themselves should be held to the highest standards of sustainability and climate resiliency.

Earth Hour started as a simple “lights out” message to draw attention to climate change but has become a global call for environmental action.

A new study led by the Field Museum shows that a number of bird species are laying their eggs nearly a month earlier than 100 years ago, likely due to climate change.

In a repeat of last week’s giveaway, thousands of motorists lined up at gas stations across Chicago on Thursday morning for free fill-ups courtesy of businessman and sometime political candidate Willie Wilson. This time, the city was prepared.

The strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza circulating in the U.S., the first since 2016, doesn’t appear to pose a threat to humans, but is highly contagious among birds and often fatal.

If last week’s gas giveaway is any indication, people can expect to be idling in their cars for upwards of an hour or more Thursday as they wait their turn at the pump for Willie Wilson’s $1 million giveaway. 

Equinoxes are always extra special in Chicago, thanks to the city’s grid. The sun rises due east and sets due west on the equinox, creating a phenomenon known as “Chicagohenge“ (in reference to Stonehenge), when the sun is strikingly framed by the city’s skyscrapers. The official start of astronomical spring takes place Sunday at 10:33 a.m.

Six student-led designs have been chosen as finalists, whittled down from 23 semi-finalists, which were themselves plucked from the nearly 300 original submissions. Each semi-finalist was assigned a design mentor to help hone their idea.

The cub was born March 15, with its sex still unknown. Mom Zari and dad Jabari both arrived at the zoo in 2021 for the opening of the Pepper Family Wildlife Center.

Jason Vincent of Giant is a finalist for outstanding chef and Parachute in Avondale is up for outstanding restaurant, among several Chicago nominees. Winners will be announced in June at the James Beard Award ceremony in Chicago.

Even with officials from several government entities keeping watch, someone dumped dye into the North Branch of the Chicago River, turning it bright St. Patrick's Day green over the weekend.

Robyn Detterline’s March Chicago Collision Bird Migration Madness tournament may be a product of her own imagination, but the stakes are very real for birds when it comes to navigating their way safely through Chicago.

Congress recently held a hearing on whether the U.S. should continue shifting back and forth between daylight saving and standard time. Guess what? We’re still springing forward Sunday.

Dyeing the Chicago River green on St. Patrick’s Day has been a tradition since the 1960s. But in 2020 and 2021, rogues extended the practice to a section of the North Branch, a bridge too far for environmentalists.

The weekend will kick off with subzero wind chills Friday night into Saturday morning, before milder temperatures move in Sunday, forecasters said.

Skunk cabbage is one of the first native plants to emerge from the frozen winter ground in the Chicago area. Its powerful aroma isn’t the only quirky thing about this plant.

Preservation Chicago has announced its annual list of most endangered buildings and landscapes, representing pieces of the city’s history most threatened with imminent erasure.

DuSable Park has been a park in name only since Mayor Harold Washington dedicated the site, at the confluence of the Chicago River and Lake Michigan, in 1987. Wednesday, a design team was selected to bring the vision to life.

The Chicago Bears are teaming up with the Lake County Forest Preserves to remove invasive buckthorn from the property surrounding Halas Hall in Lake Forest.

Back in the 1980s, the number of fish species found in the Chicago River could be counted on a single hand. Today, that number is up to 60 species, an increase in diversity that can be directly attributed to a decrease in wastewater pollutants, according to a new study from the Shedd Aquarium.

A powerful line of thunderstorms ripped through the Chicago region Saturday night, with wind gusts topping 80 miles per hour. The wild weather continues Sunday with winter mounting a comeback.

Cook County’s forest preserves are much loved for their picnic groves and trails. Not as well known: The forest preserve district’s role as a research hub and early warning system of sorts against zoonotic diseases.

Get ready to experience spring, a brief dalliance with summer, and then a return to winter – all in the coming weekend.

As problematic as invasive plants, pests and pathogens already are, climate change will only magnify the havoc they wreak on habitat, wildlife and even humans.

A bit of space junk is hurtling toward the moon at 5,800 miles per hour, with impact set for Friday morning.

A rare patch of 8,000-year-old remnant Illinois prairie has been granted a new three-month lease on life, as the Greater Rockford Airport Authority has again delayed demolition of the natural area, pending additional environmental review.