Michael Hawthorne

Kyle McCradic gets ready to replace an old lead service line from a water main with new polyethylene tubing in Galesburg on March 4, 2021.

Chicago lags far behind other cities in getting rid of brain-damaging lead pipes. Even if Biden’s $45 billion replacement plan passes, city ‘is ground zero for this problem’

April 15, 2021 at 5:47 p.m.

As President Joe Biden pushes a $45 billion plan to replace every lead water line across the nation, dozens of cities already have a head start in eliminating the lingering...

Brain-damaging lead found in tap water from most Illinois communities during the past 6 years, Tribune analysis finds

March 19, 2021 at 5:44 p.m.

More than 8 of every 10 Illinoisans live in a community where brain-damaging lead was found in the tap water of at least one home during the past six years,...

Was brain-damaging lead found in tap water in your town? Search our analysis of Illinois EPA data to find out.

April 15, 2024 at 5:00 p.m.

Samples of drinking water collected under federal regulations by the state's 1,768 water utilities provide snapshots of a widespread threat to public health that for decades has been largely ignored....

Oscar Sanchez, Chuck Stark and Breanna Bertacchi are among several protesters who've been on a hunger strike, drawing attention to concerns about a scrap shredder under construction in the East Side neighborhood. (Armando L. Sanchez/baiduhai)

Hunger strikers see glimmer of hope as Lightfoot asks EPA for advice about scrap shredder

February 21, 2021 at 7:34 p.m.

More than two weeks into a hunger strike, activists appear to have gotten Mayor Lori Lightfoot's attention about their opposition to a clout-heavy scrap shredder under construction in Chicago's heavily...

The Chicago River flows below the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago in 2018.

Judge rules Trump hotel in Chicago violated Illinois environmental laws

February 6, 2021 at 3:03 p.m.

Former President Donald Trump's hotel along the Chicago River violated state environmental laws by sucking in massive amounts of water without a valid permit, a Cook County judge ruled in...

A site on Chicago's Southeast Side where Reserve Management Group is building a new scrap shredder is shown in 2018. The company is moving operations from General Iron on the North Side.

Southeast Side activists go on hunger strike to stop scrap shredder: ‘The system isn’t set up to take into account the concerns of ordinary people’

February 5, 2021 at 5:00 a.m.

When the owners of an often-troubled scrap shredder announced they planned to move to Chicago's heavily polluted Southeast Side, community organizers followed a familiar script. They wrote letters urging city...

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Chicago lags far behind other cities in getting rid of brain-damaging lead pipes. Even if Biden’s $45 billion replacement plan passes, city ‘is ground zero for this problem’

Brain-damaging lead found in tap water from most Illinois communities during the past 6 years, Tribune analysis finds

Was brain-damaging lead found in tap water in your town? Search our analysis of Illinois EPA data to find out.

Hunger strikers see glimmer of hope as Lightfoot asks EPA for advice about scrap shredder

Judge rules Trump hotel in Chicago violated Illinois environmental laws

Southeast Side activists go on hunger strike to stop scrap shredder: ‘The system isn’t set up to take into account the concerns of ordinary people’

Feds investigating Pritzker EPA for approving new scrap shredder on Chicago’s heavily polluted Southeast Side

Coal-fired power plant in southern Illinois a major obstacle to Biden’s push for carbon-free electricity by 2035

General Iron closes North Side facility; shredder awaits final permit to start operations on the Southeast Side

Trump EPA overhaul of lead pipe regulations allows toxic plumbing to stay in the ground in Chicago and other cities