Environmental
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Debris from Hurricane Helene is helping fuel Georgia’s wildfires
Apr 23, 2026 4:13 pm - The destructive wildfires tearing through Georgia this week are being fed by not only a persistent drought, but also by fallen trees and limbs scattered across the South by Hurricane Helene well over a year ago.
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New study finds ‘alarming’ high flood risk for 17 million Americans on Atlantic and Gulf coasts
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‘This project gave me a purpose’: 84-year-old spearheads restoration of wetland and pond in BartlettApr 21, 2026 4:17 pm - Students from St. Isidore School in Bloomingdale visited Hearthwood Senior Living in Bartlett Tuesday for an Earth Day celebration centered around a community-wide ecological restoration of a two-acre public wetland and pond spearheaded by 84-year-old resident Joyce Zemba.
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Precautionary water boil advisory lifted after two weekend water line breaks in GrayslakeApr 21, 2026 2:00 pm - Breaks in two water transmission lines in Grayslake over the weekend resulted in precautionary boil advisories lifted Tuesday morning.
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Bill would give Illinois EPA greater oversight of manufacturers’ plastic pellet runoff
Apr 21, 2026 10:56 am - A bill that cleared the Illinois House would give the state’s EPA emergency rulemaking powers to address plastic pellet spills and their effect on stormwater runoff. Plastic pellets are small round objects; the building blocks of plastic manufacturing, shipped from pre-production plastic manufacturers to production facilities then melted and molded into common plastic products. Unintentionally spilled pellets can end up in the state’s waterways when blown by the wind or carried by stormwater, potentially harming birds, turtles and fish.
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During intense flooding, Levee 37 proving effective at keeping the waters at bayApr 20, 2026 5:05 pm - For years, heavy rains along the Des Plaines River meant anxiety for residents in Mount Prospect, Prospect Heights and Wheeling. Since Levee 37 was built, however, flooded streets and sandbags reaching to the middle of River Road are just an unpleasant memory.
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The Supreme Court hands a win to oil and gas companies fighting environmental lawsuits in Louisiana
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After Trump’s EPA reverses landmark climate change ruling, what does it mean for Illinois?
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Pritzker joins bipartisan group of governors pushing for data centers to pay their own electric billsApr 11, 2026 7:22 am - As data centers pop up across the U.S., demand for power is surpassing supply in some regions and solutions are costly.
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Schedule change for Lake Zurich’s polystyrene recycling programApr 10, 2026 3:34 pm - The schedule of Lake Zurich’s polystyrene recycling program has changed to 9 to 11 a.m. the first and third Saturday of the month.