Parks and Nature
After struggling over the last few years, the Chicago area’s firefly population seems to be enjoying a “pretty good year,” thanks to a milder winter and wetter spring.
Bob Heinzel and other Joliet residents were shocked to learn that David Meneou, their longtime neighbor, died trying to save his son.
Lifeguard Charles Leto is accused of fatally shooting 15-year-old Marjay Dotson and seriously injuring 14-year-old Jeremy Herred near the park pool June 26. But tension between lifeguards and park patrons has been brewing for years, the 24th Ward alderperson says.
While 14-year-old Jeremy Herred fights for his life, Ald. Monique Scott questioned Tuesday why the park district hired lifeguard Charles Leto, who has since “resigned in lieu of termination,” according to park officials.
Charles Leto, 55, of Lake View, was ordered detained before trial. He is charged with murder and attempted murder in the shooting death of 15-year-old Marjay Dotson and the wounding of 14-year-old Jeremy Herred, a cousin of Laquan McDonald, who was shot to death by a Chicago cop in 2014.
Odai Al Fayoumi, Wadee’s father, thanked the crowd at Van Horn Woods East in Plainfield on Saturday morning for coming to the ceremony and had said the community’s presence since Wadee’s murder had made him feel less alone. Wadee was stabbed to death in October 2023 in an anti-Muslim hate crime.
Preservationists and a community organization say a public park and musical festival site is an idea worth pursuing, but demolition of the structures appears imminent.
The city’s outdoor pools opened for the summer on Saturday, coinciding with the year’s first major heat wave. Eager residents came out to swim, with many describing their visits as family traditions.
Reptiles Alive! has a spider-tailed horned viper on display, the only one of its kind currently in the United States. The exhibit will run until April 2026 and features 20 live reptiles from Madagascar, Southeast Asia and New Guinea, models and specimens from the museum archives.
It’s been a slow return to seven days, and the Chicago Park District’s pool season will be short this year, ending just before Chicago Public Schools students return Aug. 18.
The family event, scheduled for Saturday night at La Villita Park was postponed “out of an abundance of caution taking into account multiple contributing factors and a range of concerns raised in connection to a few recent situations,” Adler Planetarium said.
The famed reptile emerged with her longtime mate late last month in the Chicago River near Goose Island. But a new, unnamed turtle in the area has conservationists wondering if there is trouble in paradise.
A Reddit user captured video of a snapping turtle Saturday near Chonkosaurus’ chomping grounds around Goose Island.
Though most avoided the frigid lake, visitors kick off Memorial Day weekend on Saturday by sunbathing, playing in the sand and biking at North Avenue and 31st Street beaches. The city’s 22 beaches will remain open seven days a week through Labor Day.
Though not endangered, painted turtles have a “pretty rough life,” said wildlife ecologist Dan Thompson, who said many of the tiny turtles are eaten by predators before they hatch.
It’s too late for changes this year, but Park District Supt. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa is open to ideas to end the “Hunger Games”-style competition to sign kids up for the highly prized camp spots.
The former Meigs Field terminal building will be open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Annual programs such as family fishing and bird walks will be available again, as well as a new fly fishing program in May and June.
The Lisle arboretum is offering about 36,000 (mostly) perennial plants during its three-day Arbor Day sale.
The country won’t deteriorate any faster if you take a few hours to enjoy a sport that requires no athletic skill.
Given the constant churn of development proposed for the lakefront and the nearby neighborhoods, now is a good time to rethink the laws that are supposed to safeguard the iconic waterfront.