Stories by Patty Wetli

The boy went missing in the water near the Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk Beach in Indiana. This marks the seventh drowning in Lake Michigan in 2023.

The increases, MCA’s first since 2017, were approved Wednesday by the Chicago Park District Board of Commissioners and will affect residents and non-residents alike, though the latter is getting hit harder.

After a rough summer in 2022 when a lifeguard shortage left the Chicago Park District scrambling to open even a fraction of its pools, the district doubled down on recruitment efforts in 2023.

Riot Fest received permit approval from the Chicago Park District Board of Commissioners on Wednesday, over the objections of opponents who’ve campaigned for more than a year to keep the festival out of Douglass Park.

City officials shared the latest plans for road closures, detours and alternate routes in advance of the upcoming NASCAR Street Race, and it’s going to be a bumpy ride for commuters.

Wildlife officials believe the bear spotted over the weekend in Antioch is the same one seen last Wednesday in Gurnee.

Piping plovers might not be on the nest in Chicago this year, but 2023 is shaping up as a banner breeding year for the birds across the Great Lakes.

When it comes to alleviating the impacts of climate change, trees have been promoted as the ultimate “green infrastructure.” But trees are living organisms, and they can be sensitive to some of the same climate stressors as people. But just how sensitive?

A black bear was caught on video running through the parking lot of a Gurnee daycare. Wildlife officials confirmed the sighting as the real deal.

With large swaths of the U.S. shrouded in smoke from Canadian wildfires, now's a good time to review the basics of the Environmental Protection Agency's Air Quality Index.

Pending final approval, Openlands will transfer the Lakeshore Preserve to the Lake County Forest Preserves, which owns the adjacent 250-acre Fort Sheridan preserve.

Chicago is one of 18 cities chosen for the Heat Watch Campaign, which will map the city's urban heat islands — places with fewer trees and more pavement, where temperatures can soar 20 degrees higher than surrounding areas.

This time of year, Shedd Aquarium biologist Melissa Youngquist can be found in the woods, sloshing through ponds in search of signs of amphibian life.

Another week, another wildlife sensation. This time it’s a pair of protective peregrine falcon parents who are dive-bombing pedestrians downtown in order to steer them away from their nestlings.

Yep, it’s the annual appearance of cottonwood fluff, and if you were thinking this year’s showering seems excessive, you’re right. It is.

State climatologist Trent Ford said conditions aren't alarming, yet, but if June isn't signficantly wetter than May, there's cause for concern.

With high temperatures in the forecast, city officials issued a reminder to landlords about new air conditioning requirements, put in place in 2022 after three women died in a Rogers Park senior living facility.

A newly announced $21 million gift will help the Chicago Botanic Garden further its conservation and research projects, like the development of a studbook for plants.

For a bunch of hardened urbanites, Chicagoans sure do have a soft spot when it comes to animals.

Beach season will run through Sept. 4. The city’s pools are expected to open by June 23.

The Army Corps of Engineers’ plan to build a 25-foot-tall “toxic tower” on Lake Michigan has hit a speed bump.

A U.S. Supreme Court ruling that narrows the Clean Water Act’s authority to regulate certain wetlands has met with disappointment, frustration and head-scratching among Great Lakes environmentalists.

Legislators and environmental activists alike say they were caught off guard by fast-tracked proposals that would pave the way for a private entity to own a piece of an expanded I-55. 

Chicago has recorded less than half an inch of rain in May, leading to what climate experts call a flash drought.

Forest Preserve District officials presented a proposal to increase fines and to add a provision that would allow the district to collect restitution from people caught trashing the preserves.

The recent loss of Nakili, Brookfield Zoo’s 33-year-old eastern black rhinoceros, unexpectedly sent us on a trip down memory lane, revisiting some of the zoo’s most beloved residents.