Michael Hawthorne

A customer shops at a grocery store in Chicago on Feb. 13, 2024. (Scott Olson/Getty)

Toxic chemicals found in food packaging; FDA under pressure to take action

September 26, 2024 at 5:00 a.m.

A study details how more than 3,600 chemicals in food-related materials have been detected in people worldwide; a companion review confirms 189 chemicals linked to breast cancer.

The Illinois State Champion Post Oak tree in Nashville in Washington County on July 30, 2024. The Prairie Rivers Network and the Tree and Plant Health Monitoring Project have been monitoring the massive tree for seven years and testing it for five years. It has tested positive for six different herbicides. (E. Jason Wambsgans/baiduhai)

Illinois trees and plants suffering widespread damage from renewed use of decades-old weedkillers on farms, studies show

August 4, 2024 at 11:20 a.m.

The pesticides, prone to drifting into neighboring yards, also endanger human health: 'This is chemical trespassing.'

Vantage Specialty Chemicals in Gurnee in September 2018. A federal study found that emissions of ethylene oxide from the plant were responsible for long-term cancer risks up to 20 times higher than federal guidelines. (Zbigniew Bzdak/baiduhai).

Ethylene oxide emissions from 2 plants could have raised cancer risks for Lake County neighbors, report shows

June 21, 2024 at 3:06 p.m.

Air quality testing near Vantage and Medline during 2019 and 2020 detected spikes of EtO, when the wind blew away from the facilities toward homes and apartments.

Two toxic forever chemicals, PFAs and PFOs that mainly come through rain and contaimnated air, are on the rise in Lake Michigan. The Chicago skyline on Lake Michigan after a week with temperatures around zero on Jan. 21, 2024. (Brian Cassella/baiduhai)

Toxic forever chemicals are on the rise in Lake Michigan and have been detected in all of the Great Lakes

June 5, 2024 at 3:26 p.m.

Study finds airborne concentrations of PFAS are higher near Chicago, other urban centers, but when carried by rain, urban and rural Great Lakes areas have consistent levels.

The Prairie State Energy Campus on Sept. 16, 2021, in Marissa, Illinois. (E. Jason Wambsgans/baiduhai)

Naperville, St. Charles, Winnetka and dozens of other communities urged to double down on coal

May 28, 2024 at 12:14 p.m.

Under contract until 2035 to buy a share of Prairie State's electricity and help pay off $5 billion in debt, towns are now being asked to extend to 2050.

The Prairie State Energy Campus near Marissa, Illinois, in 2013. (E. Jason Wambsgans/baiduhai)

Biden administration aims to speed up the demise of coal-fired power plants

May 23, 2024 at 8:28 p.m.

New regulations require coal-fired power plants to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 90% and clamp down on toxic metals dumped into lakes and rivers.

An Illinois Environmental Protection Agency geologist collects samples of treated Lake Michigan water in a laboratory at the Wilmette water treatment plant on July 3, 2021. (Erin Hooley/baiduhai)

Biden EPA declares two forever chemicals are hazardous, making it easier to force polluters to pay for toxic waste cleanups

April 20, 2024 at 3:57 p.m.

For the first time polluters could be forced to clean up sites contaminated with a pair of forever chemicals that build up in human blood, cause cancer and other diseases...

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