Environment and Nature

Country Financial Trail will allow access from Raab Road, Vermillion Way and Heartland Community College's The Corn Crib parking lot. The trail will wrap around Birky Pond and run alongside 13 acres of soon-to-be restored prairie land.

The Grand Prairie Bird Alliance says it needs people who are willing to help address a housing shortage — not of houses for people, though. It's a dearth of purple martin dwelling space.

The City of Bloomington is getting a $600,000 state grant to build a green infrastructure park near to the community sewage treatment plant on the west side of town. It's the Sunnyside Park Sustainability Initiative.

The Grand Prairie Bird Alliance has a new way to learn about the birds of Bloomington-Normal.

We might have an answer to the pungent question in Central Illinois of late: Just what is that awful smell? It's likely a phenomenon called petrichor, according to a state climatologist.

Decades of data show nitrate levels in rivers often drop during dry years and spike when rain returns. Experts say more conservation practices in and around farm fields could help smooth out the sharp peaks to protect drinking water and downstream impacts.

The city manager for the Town of Normal says it will take a long time to fully implement the newly-approved sustainability plan.

Two Champaign-Urbana area lawmakers said they will introduce legislation to ban carbon capture in region served by the Mahomet Aquifer.

A story of corporate greed, willful worker exploitation, and human tragedy in Bloomington-Normal began nearly a century ago with the introduction of asbestos for industrial and home use.

The Town of Normal is making progress on an experimental project to remove ammonia from town water by using bacteria.