Construction has started on a pocket Riverwalk park at 430 S. Washington St. that will link North Central College and downtown Naperville with plazas, an archway and ADA access.

A new study finds heavy metals in soils and eggshells and the fungus Ophidiomyces in snakes across the Chicago region, complicating ongoing headstart and reintroduction work.

Ottawa has endorsed a plan to move 30 belugas and four dolphins from Marineland to aquariums including Georgia Aquarium. Initial permits are in hand but the transfer is complex.

A wolf at Washington Park Zoo died and a lemur later died from a separate medical event; officials say staff involved in a subsequent wolf-related incident are stable.

Wheeling’s village board signed off on site plans for a new roughly $30 million aquatic center at Heritage Park, with construction underway and a spring/summer 2027 target. Funding, renderings and permitting steps are now moving forward.

Rapid qPCR testing briefly put 31st Street Beach on a yellow swim advisory over Memorial Day weekend, and advocates say aging infrastructure could mean more advisories this summer.

A South Side yard turned into a buzzing spectacle on Memorial Day when a massive honeybee swarm settled, drawing neighbors and cameras.

Chicago opened its Native and Pollinator Garden Registry and is accepting applications; a committee also advanced a change to allow registered parkway plants up to 36 inches tall.

An eaglet hatched in Park No. 597 on April 28 — the Chicago Park District says it’s the first bald eagle born within city limits in more than 100 years. Officials credit habitat restoration and ask residents to keep their distance.

An updated timeline now targets 2027 for construction of the Englewood Nature Trail, but early remediation will affect trees and murals along the elevated corridor.

Bradford pear blossoms are back across Illinois — but the trees are being phased out under the state’s Exotic Weeds Act, with a sales ban set for Jan. 1, 2028.

Windblown sand buried Mount Baldy's parking area, closing the access site while crews move roughly 40,000 cubic yards of sand. The cleanup is expected to run into mid‑June.

A federal shoreline plan for the 47th–51st stretch has reignited fights in Hyde Park over Morgan Shoal’s habitat and a visible century-old shipwreck. Neighbors and agencies are at odds over how to protect the lakefront without erasing the shoal.