Michael Hawthorne – Page 16

The General Iron Industries plant on the the North Branch of the Chicago River in Chicago on Sept. 28, 2018.

Lightfoot cracks down on North Side scrap shredder, suggesting the chronic polluter’s clout at City Hall is evaporating

February 11, 2020 at 2:01 p.m.

Despite repeated complaints about metallic odors drifting into surrounding neighborhoods, city health inspectors only cited General Iron Industries once during former Mayor Rahm Emanuel's eight years in office. The same...

Mark Willis helps families with children pick out toys during a Christmas Day event at Apostolic Faith Church.

Chicago church provides fellowship, holiday cheer to thousands in need on Christmas: ‘There is so much love coming through this building’

December 25, 2019 at 5:23 p.m.

Alexis Shannon and her two children walked empty-handed into Chicago's Apostolic Faith Church on Christmas Day. They left with their bellies full from a hot meal; bags of toys bigger...

Samuel Dolcimascolo, 3, who has leukemia, looks at his port connected to his chest as registered nurse Dena Porter prepares him for chemotherapy at home in Waukegan on Nov. 8, 2019. The family lives less than a mile from the Medline assembly plant in Waukegan.

Amid chemical industry lobbying, Trump EPA reconsiders risk of cancer-causing ethylene oxide

April 15, 2024 at 5:09 p.m.

Facing tougher restrictions, companies that manufacture and use ethylene oxide are pushing the Trump administration to undercut federal scientists and adopt a dramatically weaker standard for the cancer-causing gas. The...

Medline Industries in Waukegan on Sept. 28, 2018.

Higher levels of cancer-causing ethylene oxide found in people living near Medline in Waukegan, CDC study shows

December 11, 2019 at 2:58 p.m.

People living near Medline Industries in north suburban Waukegan had higher levels of the cancer-causing chemical ethylene oxide in their bloodstream than others who live farther away, according to test...

The Midwest Generation Crawford Generating Station on South Pulaski Road in Chicago's Little Village neighborhood on Aug. 23, 2012. The coal burning plant closed in 2012.

Illinois has cut its EPA workforce by 38% in the past decade — more than any other state, report shows

December 5, 2019 at 11:05 p.m.

Years before President Donald Trump's industry-backed appointees began rolling back enforcement of environmental laws, Illinois had begun shedding inspectors and slowing the policing of air and water pollution. A pair...

Illinois House approves phaseout of cancer-causing ethylene oxide, but Medline Industries and business groups are working to quash bill in Senate

October 30, 2019 at 4:42 p.m.

Illinois is a step closer to phasing out the use of cancer-causing ethylene oxide, but business lobbyists are rallying to block the legislation from reaching Gov. J.B. Pritzker's desk before...

From discovery of a powerful chemical to shutting down Sterigenics: 160 years of ethylene oxide

April 15, 2024 at 5:10 p.m.

The chemical at the center of a Willowbrook environmental controversy -- ethylene oxide -- was discovered nearly 160 years ago and used over the decades as a sterilizer. Signs of...

Medline Industries is shown Sept. 28, 2018, in Waukegan.

How tough is the Illinois law on ethylene oxide? Not nearly tough enough, some lawmakers and residents say.

October 17, 2019 at 4:17 p.m.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker and state lawmakers promote their newly adopted restrictions on cancer-causing ethylene oxide as the "toughest in the nation." Lobbyists for chemical companies and manufacturers go a step...

The Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk Beach in Porter, Indiana, is closed on Aug.15, 2019, after a chemical spill in a tributary of Lake Michigan.

With EPA and Indiana on sidelines, groups threaten to sue steel mill for fish-killing chemical spills in Lake Michigan tributary

October 7, 2019 at 11:12 a.m.

Alarmed by a recent fish-killing spill of toxic chemicals into a Lake Michigan tributary, environmental lawyers discovered a northwest Indiana steel mill violated clean water laws more than 100 other...

Lauren Kaeseberg, an activist from Stop Sterigenics, points to the Sterigenics Willowbrook plant while at a news conference at Village Hall to celebrate the company's announcement of its plans to close operations in Willowbrook, on Sept. 30, 2019. "It'll feel more real once these signs are down," Kaeseberg said.

Sterigenics is leaving Willowbrook, eliminating key source of cancer-causing ethylene oxide in Chicago’s western suburbs

September 30, 2019 at 9:28 p.m.

For more than a year, community activists in Chicago's western suburbs fought to drive Sterigenics out of Willowbrook. The village mayor and leaders of surrounding communities threatened to seize the...

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