Stories by Patty Wetli

Morton Arboretum conducted an international search to select a successor to retiring CEO and president Gerard Donnelly, and landed on a familiar face, close to home.

A trio of high-level renderings released by the team on Tuesday demonstrate the scope of the Bears ambition. More than just a new stadium, the team is aiming to turn the 326-acre Arlington Park property into "a multi-purpose entertainment district anchored by a new, best-in-class enclosed stadium."

The weather may still feel like summer, but when it comes to Chicago's beaches, the season is officially over.

A team of researchers, led by Morton Arboretum, spent the better part of the past five years creating the first-ever standardized checklist and threat assessment of the nearly 900 species native U.S. trees. Their work provides the foundation on which to build awareness, advocacy and future conservation efforts.

The Chicago Park District is joining a national community science project designed to raise awareness of all the bees, butterflies, beetles, moths and wasps that rely on urban green spaces for food and shelter.

Dr. Allison Arwady, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, called the vaccines the “best possible match” against strains of the virus now in circulation. They’ve been formulated to provide immunity against the omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5, which account for nearly all of the cases of COVID-19 in the U.S.

To meet the boom in pickleball's popularity, the Chicago Park District announaced a plan to build 50 new pickleball courts by 2025, including three regional centers capable of hosting tournaments.

The Duchossois family — whose late patriarch, Richard Duchossois, purchased Arlington Park in 1983 — has announced the sale of its 246.5-acre Hill ‘N Dale Farm South property to Barrington-based Citizens for Conservation, ensuring the land’s protection as open space in perpetuity.

The Chicago Police Department's caravan task force, formed a month ago to combat ramped up incidents of drag racing and "drifting," has made inroads against brash street takeovers but isn't going to win the battle overnight, officials said.

A 5-year-old boy is fighting for his life after being shot in the head Sunday evening, according to the Chicago Police Department.

It’s the time of year when some of the tallest native plants are in bloom, coming into their own just as most other flora are on the wane. And by tall, we mean they could easily dunk on LeBron James.

As part of a grassroots "depaving" movement, communities are ripping up strips of asphalt and concrete to make way for pocket parks, gardens and nature play spaces. The newly launched Depave Chicago is aiming for a spring 2023 pilot project.

Illinois officials are about to release a draft of the first comprehensive overhaul of the State Water Plan in 40 years, with climate change among the critical issues the document is set to address.

After a week that saw multiple people dead from drownings in Lake Michigan off Chicago’s shoreline, Mayor Lori Lightfoot had words of caution for the city’s residents and visitors.

Chicago police and fire departments conducted multiple water rescues in a less than 24-hour period on Lake Michigan, with at least two people dead.

The Chicago Department of Public Health announced that the city will receive another 20,000 doses of monkeypox vaccine from the federal stockpile, to be distributed to clinics across the city next week.

The man was pulled from the water early Wednesday morning. More than 30 people have drowned in Lake Michigan so far in 2022.

While federal legislation to create a modern-day Civilian Conservation Corps inches its way through Congress, the Cook County Forest Preserve is moving full steam ahead with programs that deploy crews of youth and adults to tackle restoration and maintenance projects across the district’s acreage.

The native swamp rose mallow has hit full bloom, its super-sized six-inch blossoms bursting forth in seemingly every shade of pink from the palest blush to saturated fuschia

The new contract will be in place for 2023 and run through 2032, with the potential for a five-year extension.

The online used-car dealer has once again had its dealer’s license in Illinois suspended. The company’s construction of a glass “vending machine” for cars remains on hold in Skokie as a result.

For the fifth consecutive month, the Chicago Police Department reported a decline in homicides from the same period a year prior, but that hasn’t translated into a reduction in other crimes.

A 16-year-old boy fatally shot in Brighton Park early Sunday morning was among five people killed by gunfire over the weekend in Chicago.

The 2022 season may have been heartbreaking for Chicago’s piping plover lovers (RIP, Monty and Rose), but the news from across the Great Lakes was among the most encouraging in decades when it comes to the endangered shorebirds.

Complaints from animal rights advocates regarding the coyote, dubbed “Rocky,” prompted the forest preserve to review its ambassador animal program. A report was released Tuesday, outlining changes to the program, including a bigger enclosure for the coyote.

From planter boxes to koi ponds, these Chicago gardeners know how to create an oasis in the city.