Stories by Patty Wetli

Palos Preserves has been named an Urban Night Sky Place by the International Dark-Sky Association. The site emits nearly 1,000 times less light than downtown Chicago, with four times as many stars visible in the night sky than can be seen in the city.

There’s nothing bashful or traditional about the Thompson Center, so it should come as no surprise that finalists’ designs in a competition to reimagine the building include a proposal for an indoor water park. Here’s a look at each of the designs.

As Chicago inches toward the replacement of its lead service lines, officials need help identifying where those pipes are. Here’s a simple way to determine whether you’ve got lead, steel or copper lines running into your home.

Portions of Albany Park, Lincoln Square, Irving Park and North Center are slated for mosquito spraying Wednesday to protect residents against West Nile virus, according to the Chicago Department of Public Health. 

Protect Our Parks had asked the Supreme Court to issue an emergency injunction against construction of the Obama Presidential Center while litigation is still pending, citing the potential for “irreversible” alterations to Jackson Park.

Charles Ethan Porter, the only late-19th century Black painter of still lifes and landscapes, translated scenes from nature onto canvas. Now the Garfield Park Conservatory has reversed the process, using plants in place of paints, to transform its Artist’s Garden into a living interpretation of Porter’s work.

Jupiter and Earth are currently about as close as they get to each other. The outer planet is visible from sunset to sunrise and is among the brightest objects in the sky.

Thieves claiming to be affiliated with ComEd are contacting Illinois residents and threatening to shut off their electricity unless a purportedly “past-due” bill is paid immediately via Bitcoin, according to a warning from Attorney General Kwame Raoul.

An entry fee proposed by the National Park Service would provide funding for additional visitor amenities at the park and address a maintenance backlog, officials said. Here’s how you can weigh in on the plan.

The patriarch of Chicago’s piping plover family was seen taking off from Montrose Beach on Saturday morning and was spotted at his winter home near Galveston, Texas, a mere 53 hours later.

The Route 66 Monarch Flyway in Illinois aims to breath new life into small towns while providing critical habitat for the imperiled butterfly.

Nearly 200,000 people downloaded an app, Cicada Safari, created by researchers to track observations of Brood X. Scientists will be reaping the rewards of that communal effort for years to come.

If crack-of-dawn birding isn’t your thing, maybe give under-the-cover-of-darkness moth-watching a try this weekend at Indian Ridge Marsh. 

The city has been testing alternatives to open-trench digging and tree removal during pipe replacement and repair projects. Failure of one new technique spelled the end of the line for a slew of trees in Chicago’s Andersonville neighborhood.

The sculpture was unveiled to great fanfare Wednesday, but the 800-pound bovine was barely visible to observers thanks to steamed-up glass.

The annual Perseid meteor shower will hit its peak in the coming days, and may even put on its best display in years thanks to diminished competition from a waxing crescent moon. Here’s what you need to know.

A highly anticipated report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change states in the plainest terms yet that the window of opportunity to avert disaster is narrow, and closing.

A year after being taken to task by the city’s Office of Inspector General for inefficient weed-clearing practices, the Department of Streets and Sanitation has made some improvements but still has work to do, according to a follow-up report released last week.

Reports of sick and dying birds have tapered off since first coming to light in late spring. Illinois was not affected and wildlife officials reiterated that it's OK to have bird feeders and baths in outdoor spaces — just be sure to keep them clean. 

Opponents of the Obama Presidential Center’s construction in Jackson Park suffered another legal setback Thursday in federal court.

A proposed two-story triangular DraftKings Sportsbook addition to Wrigley Field still requires a heavy lift from City Council, but the Commission on Chicago Landmarks won’t stand in the way of Cubs ownership.

Three years in the making, the Douglass 18, a bird-themed mini-golf course, opens Saturday in Douglass Park. Neighborhood teens researched and designed the holes, drawing inspiration from Chicago’s bird population.

If you thought your last move was a hassle, CTA has got you beat: The agency just relocated an entire building.

Nearly 600 million birds are killed annually in North America due to collisions with buildings. A new Illinois law mandates bird-friendly design for state buildings.

The newest members of Chicago’s growing piping plover family have names. Meet Siewka (pronounced Shivka), which is the Polish word for “plover,” and Imani, the word for “faith” in Swahili. 

Monitoring stations have been set up at various parks and preserves in the Chicago region for visitors to snap photos, which are then stitched together in a time-lapse series to document environmental changes.