Environmental
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Violent tornado tears through Oklahoma town, damaging 40 homes but sparing lives
Apr 24, 2026 4:44 pm - Raeann Hunt scrambled to her cellar as a tornado bore down on her Oklahoma community. “It is headed right for us,” she recalled thinking, as she peeked outside, unable to contain her curiosity. Huddled inside the dark 8-by-8 foot concrete shelter with her husband, brother-in-law and a neighbor, she heard roaring, metal slapping on the door and glass breaking.
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Arbor Day celebrations held in Arlington Heights, PalatineApr 24, 2026 4:13 pm - Park districts led Arbor Day celebrations Friday that involved community participation in Arlington Heights and Palatine.
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What a 5,000-mile-long marine heat wave means for summer in the US
Apr 23, 2026 4:32 pm - A massive ocean hot spot is stretching across a 5,000-mile swath of the Pacific — from Micronesia to the coastal waters of California. Across this zone, waters are as much as 6 to 8 degrees above average.
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Debris from Hurricane Helene is helping fuel Georgia’s wildfires
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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