ICN Midwest

What Chicago’s Boulevards Reveal about Community, Climate Change and Inequality

The city’s park and boulevard system was built to connect people, reduce heat and protect against floods. Can it live up to that?

By Yiannis Mastoras

Decades After the U.S. Government Conducted Research Beneath This City, a Promising Clean Energy Technology Returns to Its Roots

By Phil McKenna

A New Unifying Issue: Just About Everyone Hates Data Centers

By Dan Gearino

Unpredictable Spurts of Dry and Wet Weather Cause Confusion and New Challenges for Midwestern Farmers

By Katie Cerulle

‘It’s Not Too Late’: New Cornell Study Maps the Environmental Cost of AI and How Policy Could Limit the Damage

By Carl David Goette-Luciak

Illinois General Assembly Passes Energy Reform Act Aiming to Reduce Rates and Reach Clean Energy Goals

By Sarah Mattalian

Trucks Move the Country’s Goods Through This County. As Even More Loom, People Are Pushing Back.

By Siri Chilukuri

Hurricane and Tropical Storm Remnants Impact the Midwest, Too

By Susan Cosier

Trump’s Order to Keep Michigan Coal Plant Running Has Cost $80 Million So Far

By Marianne Lavelle

Can We Produce More Food With Less Land?

By Anika Jane Beamer

A Home Energy Fair Offers a Counter Narrative to Cynicism About Climate Change

By Dan Gearino

As the Data Center Boom Ramps Up in the Rural Midwest, What Should Communities Expect?

By Alexia Underwood

Data Center Developer Takes a Small Michigan Farming Community to Court

By K.R. Callaway

There’s a New Plan and Funding to Clean Up the Muck Plaguing Lake St. Clair

By K.R. Callaway

Iowa Counties Keep Water Quality Monitoring Afloat After State Funding Cuts

By Anika Jane Beamer

Wetlands Help Remedy Agricultural Pollution. Some Illinois Farmers Are Installing New Ones.

By Alexia Underwood

Ohio Has Invested Millions in Wetlands to Catch Nutrient Runoff From Farms. A New Report Suggests It’s Working.

By Theo Peck-Suzuki

Renewable Energy Act Before Illinois Legislature Would Decrease Stress on Ratepayers, Advocates Say

By Sarah Mattalian

Illinois Wants Climate Education in Schools. Now Teachers Need to Figure Out How to Make It Happen.

By Amber X. Chen