Stories by Evan Garcia

The notoriously polluted Chicago River is about to get cleaner with disinfection technology at a Skokie water treatment facility.

Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood has long been a haven for the bright green monk parakeet, but its presence – and recent decline – is shrouded in mystery.

An outbreak of canine distemper has infected a record number of racoons in Cook County, putting dogs at risk of contracting the highly contagious virus.

Donald Trump is the winner in Illinois, gaining 24 delegates in the state's Republican presidential primary. On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton eked out a close victory over Bernie Sanders.

Maku the eastern black rhino is one of less than 1,000 such animals living on Earth due to decades of poaching. Today he turns 30.

It’s official: The first day of spring, March 20, is less than two weeks away. Chicago is gearing up for warmer weather and blossoming flowers with gardening and horticulture events in the area.

This weekend's festive Chiditarod shopping cart race will raise thousands of dollars and pounds of food for the Greater Chicago Food Depository, but organizers this year are making special efforts to prevent teams from dressing in offensive costumes.

It’s that time of year again, when brazen Chicagoans, some donning outrageous costumes, brave the icy waters of Lake Michigan for a good cause. The 16th annual Polar Plunge benefiting Special Olympics Chicago takes place on Sunday at North Avenue Beach.

February 29, better known as leap day, only comes around every four years. The observation of this extra day of our calendar year has some interesting history.

There's a new way to measure age that might prove helpful in assessing an individual's risk of developing cancer, according to a recent Northwestern University study. Learn about epigenetic age and how it can impact your health.

The Chicago River is far from America's cleanest waterway. But a few anglers are trying their luck as its ecosystem improves. Captain Tim Frey took us for a winter fishing trip on the river.

There are signs that climate change is having negative effects on maple syrup production. Researchers are now surveying maple trees in the Midwest to look for them.

A 10-week-old sea otter pup rescued after a rough storm in California last month is recovering at her new home in Chicago.

Say so long to the adorable red panda cubs captivating visitors of the Lincoln Park Zoo. Soon, the almost 8-month-old cubs will be leaving town.

An enormous rooftop greenhouse on Chicago's South Side is growing crops year-round and providing the area with much-needed local produce. Joining us to talk about Gotham Greens' growing power is co-founder and CEO, Viraj Puri. 

After reading about people living in tents on a large plot of abandoned property along the Chicago River, I grabbed my camera and set out for the South Loop to investigate.

A viewer's video, shared with "Chicago Tonight," shows his encounter with a coyote in Columbus Park while walking his two dogs. Coyote mating season has begun, which means the urban animals may behave aggressively.

Scientists at the University of Chicago are hoping a new, highly sensitive camera they're developing for the South Pole Telescope will reveal new information about the early universe. The camera measures something that's nearly 14 billion years old: radiation left over from the Big Bang.

It’s 2016 and we’re still three metaphorical minutes away from global doom. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists say global warming and nuclear weapon proliferation pose serious threats to mankind.

Chicago animal shelters like PAWS are still coping with the spread of a new, highly contagious strain of canine influenza. In the U.S., the outbreak of the H3N2 dog flu virus was first found in Chicago last year. It's now spreading to western states.

The Chicago River is now visible via Google Street View. A small team spent nearly 10 hours documenting the waterway with a 360-degree camera in October. Here's what it looks like.

For the first time in a decade, five planets will be visible at the same time in the pre-dawn sky – and you won't need a telescope to see them.

Thousands of birds in southwest Indiana were killed after a new strain of bird flu, the H7N8 virus, was found at 10 poultry farms late last week, according to the Indiana State Board of Animal Health.

New reports show that Earth’s surface temperature last year was its highest since modern temperature record keeping began in 1880. The global record was also broken in 2014, although 2015 saw dramatic increases by comparison.

Two organizations have joined forces to release nearly 200,000 fish into the Chicago and Calumet waterways over the past two years.

Alice, the famous smelly flower of the Chicago Botanic Garden, is bearing fruit – hundreds of them.