CHICAGO — By now, you know we’re about to be visited by billions of cicadas, including downstate Illinois where, for the first time in more than 200 years, two types of cicadas are emerging at the same time. Scientists say both the 13 year and the 17-year cicadas will arrive in the next few weeks ..read more

The Romantic poet William Blake once wrote you can “see a world in a grain of sand.”  At Northwestern University’s Integrated Laboratories for Earth and Planetary Sciences, a single grain may reveal worlds beyond our own. Hunched over a powerful microscope, Professor Steve Jacobsen studied a grain of lunar soil.  “Oh, look,” he said. “You can see the green color already. This is the well-known green glass collected during the Apollo 15 mission.” He’s on a NASA mission of his own:  to study lunar soil, known as regolith, so the space agency knows how to build on the moon. “One of ..read more

CHICAGO — Chicago's famous skyline, renowned for its modern architecture and sweeping lakefront, carries another reputation, one that became glaringly apparent on the morning of October 5, 2023. In a single day, more than 3,000 birds died after flying into a death trap of shiny glass boxes that makes up the city’s skyline. For a city of millions, it was a devastating lesson about Chicago’s role. Most people may be unaware, that in the dark of night there is a dense path of birds migrating overhead from far reaching corners of the earth. Previous: Nearly 1,000 migrating songbirds peri ..read more

CHICAGO — Tourists looking for prime viewing spots of Monday's solar eclipse are flocking to southern Illinois, a region in the path of totality. The astronomers at the Adler Planetarium are preparing for a big viewing party. Millions expected to travel to see total solar eclipse In a classroom at the planetarium, it may look like they're preparing for a total eclipse of the art. But 10-year-old Myles Pendarvis and 5-year-old Carsyn Richards are learning about the upcoming total eclipse of the sun. The eclipse is sure to draw interest across the country. It'll be the second one to fall across ..read more

In 1986, Nancy Peter took out a student loan to finish her Psychology degree at Mundelein College. “Ok, well, I’m hoping I’m going to get a good job and I’m going to make money and I’ll do whatever I need to pay this back,” she remembered thinking at the time. ‘You found my brother’: Man’s torso found 44 years ago in Barrington Hills now identified Almost four decades later, she’s still paying it back. “The interest compounds and compounds, so every penny I don’t pay, it goes sky high,” Peter said. She took out another loan to go to grad school at Loyola University in Chicago and has worked as ..read more

BARRINGTON HILLS, Ill. — The torso of a man discovered 44 years ago in Barrington Hills has been identified thanks to new technology from a private company. The torso was found on Aug. 5, 1979, in a quiet neighborhood by a boy horseback riding in a wooded area about a mile down from Route 59 and Dundee Road. Officers found the decapitated body, of a man who was 27 at the time, had been burned. His head and arms were missing. "It was on a Sunday," former Barrington Hill Police Chief Al Schuld said. "I was cutting my lawn at the time when I got the call and I come out and it was just chaos r ..read more

A talented Illinois high schooler has won the acclaim of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra by mastering a rare instrument: the steelpan drum.   Jaden Teague-Núñez, 16, won first place at the CSO’s Young Artists Competition and is being called one of the most talented young steelpan players in the country. “I think it’s really amazing to know that I can do this, because there’s not really many steelpan players out there in the world, there are not many high-level steelpan players that are kids,” Teague-Núnez said. MORE FROM WGN’S MIKE LOWE | Stirring Star-Spangled Banner: Joliet West HS senio ..read more

JOLIET, Ill. — At the IHSA girl's basketball championships last weekend, the best performance just may have been before the games themselves. Joliet West High School senior Payton Fraser wowed the crowd with her voice, delivering a stirring rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”    “The Lord has blessed her with this beautiful instrument,” said Tim DeBoer, director of choral activities at Joliet West High School. “She deserves the attention that she gets.” MORE FROM WGN'S MIKE LOWE: At this Chicago landmark, home is where the ‘heart’ is Fraser possesses a versatile voice. She’s com ..read more

We all know and love Tom Skilling: The Man. He’s been part of our lives for more than four decades here at WGN. But what you may not know is the story of Tom Skilling: The Boy — whose curiosity about weather was born in childhood. “Growing up with someone like Tom, it was magical. There was never a dull moment,” his sister Sue Skilling said. Sue, along with Tom, recently visited their hometown of Aurora, Illinois. They spoke about growing up in their family home, which included Tom’s first weather office which allowed Tom to launch his career at the age of 14. More: Tom Skilling’s career mirro ..read more

CHICAGO — If ever there was a musician who embodies the rich Chicago Blues scene, it's Buddy Guy, a legend in many ways. Now in his later years, at 87, he feels it's as important as ever to share his life and lessons with the youth of today. At a recent evening at Evergreen Park Community High School, crowds gathered to honor him. His grandson Nikolus is a Senior at the school. “My whole life people had been telling me, ‘Your grandpa is amazing.’ I was like he's just my grandpa,” he said. “But now doing my research for this event I really can grasp the full atmosphere of who he is. He's a lege ..read more