News
Perspective: The smartest animal in the world
1+ hour, 32+ min ago (279+ words) Connie Seraphine salutes our eight-armed friends. Perspective: The smartest animal in the world I am a lover of all animals. On our sheep farm, I've loved lambs, especially those I've helped raise as "bottle babies." We've had intelligent sheep herding…...
A San Francisco coyote makes a great escape to Alcatraz
1+ day, 13+ hour ago (501+ words) There have been many daring escapes from Alcatraz, the notorious prison off the coast of San Francisco. But what about a daring escape to Alcatraz? In a tourist video shot last month, you see a coyote paddling through the frigid…...
McHenry County College event will compare AI poetry to a human's creation
1+ day, 18+ hour ago (225+ words) Artificial intelligence may make writing poems easier for some, but not all creators are on board. An upcoming pre-Valentine's Day event at McHenry County College will combine human emotions with robotics to see what happens when the two intersect. The…...
Blue Origin pauses space tourism flights to focus on lunar lander
5+ day, 19+ hour ago (293+ words) Blue Origin, the private spaceflight company founded by Jeff Bezos, is suspending the short flights of its suborbital New Shepard spacecraft, which took paying customers to the edge of space and back. Since its first human launch in July 2021, New…...
Data centers in Illinois could add up to $37 billion to the cost of electricity over the next 25 years, new report shows
1+ week, 2+ day ago (230+ words) A new analysis from the Union of Concerned Scientists shows that data centers in Illinois could add up to $37 billion to the cost of electricity over the next 25 years. The report shows that without policy change, data centers will increase…...
Extreme Cold Warning issued for Central Illinois with 'dangerously cold wind chills"
1+ week, 6+ day ago (270+ words) The National Weather Service [NWS] has elevated Friday's deep freeze to an Extreme Cold Warning, with wind chills expected to fall to 25 to 30 degrees below zero. The deep freeze is expected to be followed by accumulating snow over the weekend....
Confused by all the notices issued for intense winter weather? Here's your guide
2+ week, 10+ hour ago (654+ words) Much of the country is bracing for fierce cold and wintry weather this weekend. To prepare people, the National Weather Service has issued several types of notices nationwide, including winter storm watches, extreme cold warnings and winter weather advisories. Different…...
A massive winter storm will hit large parts of the U.S. through the weekend
2+ week, 17+ hour ago (758+ words) A massive winter storm system is forecast to sweep the country this weekend, stretching from Central Texas through the Northeast. The NWS warned of "treacherous travel conditions, prolonged power outages, and tree damage," across the southeast U.S. Government officials in these…...
Grassroots air monitoring helps people track pollution in their own backyards. Those efforts are under threat in Louisiana
2+ week, 18+ hour ago (1673+ words) Correction: This story was updated Jan. 20, 2026, to describe more accurately the limitations of commercially available air sensors. These sensors are sometimes unable to measure air toxics, not that they are always unable to measure air toxics reliably. SULPHUR, La. " When…...
You can pick up free mulch made from recycled Christmas trees in northern Illinois
2+ week, 3+ day ago (237+ words) The annual Christmas tree recycling program in northern Illinois is over. Keep Northern Illinois Beautiful, the organizer of the program, estimates they collected around 8,000 trees this year. The nonprofit accepted trees at parks throughout Rockford and in other municipalities across…...