Michael Hawthorne – Page 28

Kids poisoned by lead in CHA housing; landlords still got paid

June 14, 2024 at 6:43 p.m.

As private landlords increasingly take over the government's role of housing low-income families, dozens of children have been poisoned by brain-damaging lead while living in homes and apartments declared safe...

Trump’s EPA cuts threaten programs that clean up Chicago, Great Lakes

August 21, 2019 at 10:37 p.m.

State officials in Indiana planned to give BP's Whiting refinery permission to churn more toxic chemicals into the air until the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency overruled them and forced one...

A water tower with the slogan “For Our Children, East Chicago” looms near the West Calumet housing complex in East Chicago. In recent testing, the EPA found high levels of lead in tap water in 40 percent of the homes tested in the Indiana city.

EPA warns of lead in water in East Chicago

June 14, 2024 at 6:44 p.m.

When federal officials revived a long-delayed cleanup of toxic soil in East Chicago last year, they discovered that decades of factory emissions weren't the only source of brain-damaging lead endangering...

Petcoke piles gone, but another dangerous pollutant discovered in the air

May 22, 2019 at 11:06 p.m.

Dusty mounds of petroleum coke are gone from Chicago, but federal and city officials discovered a potentially more dangerous type of pollution while investigating the black piles that once towered...

Potentially dangerous chemicals found in fast-food wrappers, researchers say

June 6, 2018 at 2:44 a.m.

For more than three decades, fast-food chains have relied on the chemical industry to keep grease and oil from soaking through burger wrappers, french fry cartons and pizza boxes. Few...

Contractors hired by Chicago Public Schools test drinking water for lead in June.

Illinois poised to require lead testing in schools, day care centers

May 22, 2019 at 10:56 p.m.

Illinois is poised to become one of the first states to require schools and day care centers to test water fountains and faucets for brain-damaging lead. Gov. Bruce Rauner is...

Bill to require school lead testing stalls in Springfield

May 22, 2019 at 10:55 p.m.

Despite renewed national attention to the dangers of lead plumbing, most schools and day care centers still aren't required to guarantee the safety of drinking water provided to children who...

Angelica Nieves-Figureroa, center, the sister of Jose Nieves, is comforted by family, during a press conference regarding the death of her brother at Montclair-Lucania Funeral Home on Jan. 9, 2017, in Chicago. Jose Nieves' father, Angel Nieves, is third from right and his mother, Burlinda Torres, is second from left.

Two police-involved shootings mark rocky start to 2017 in Chicago

May 22, 2019 at 10:54 p.m.

Less than two days into the new year, authorities already had opened investigations into two separate shootings of unarmed men by Chicago police officers. About two hours after the calendar...

Off-duty officer fatally shoots unarmed man in NW Side confrontation: Cops

May 22, 2019 at 10:54 p.m.

An off-duty Chicago police officer Monday fatally shot an unarmed man whom he had previously had a confrontation with, according to Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson, who said he had...

Money from the $14.7 billion VW settlement could help Metra to scrap 52 of its oldest locomotives and replace them with new engines that emit 90 percent less nitrogen oxides and diesel soot. Nearly 400 Metra trains travel through Union Station each day.

VW windfall could help clean up dirty diesel trains at Union Station

June 8, 2018 at 1:48 p.m.

Commuters are still breathing high levels of toxic diesel pollution trapped inside Union Station, but long-stalled efforts to clean up Metra's fleet of dirty locomotives could get a big boost...

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