WBEZ 91.5 Chicago

Illinois came a giant step closer to approving the nation's strictest regulations for high-volume oil and gas drilling as lawmakers approved a measure they hoped would create thousands of jobs in economically depressed areas of southern Illinois. 

Historian Carl Smith explores how Chicago’s first planners dealt with the city’s lakeside conundrum. 

Through an analysis of a broad range of sources, Dr. Carl Smith shows how the discussion, design, and use of waterworks reveal how Americans framed their conceptions of urban democracy and how they understood the natural and the built environment, individual health and the well-being of society, and the qualities of time and history.

At this roundtable, MPC releases their paper Immeasurable Loss: Modernizing Lake Michigan Water Use, which supports IDNR’s proposals and makes further recommendations for more efficient water use. The paper and the discussion provide up-to-date information on IDNR’s proposals and an opportunity for frank discussion.

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources proposes tighter regulations for those who draw water out of the lake.

As Mayor Rahm Emanuel announces a big new flood control project for Chicago, some say plans need to adapt for climate change.

Soil moisture is back to normal, marking the end of a long drought, but now rain is getting in the way of planting.