An Illinois city once home to Miles Davis, Tina Turner and Senator Dick Durbin is being sued over allegations that its sewage discharge practices violate the Clean Water Act
Following an investigation by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the EPA filed a complaint and a call for penalties and infrastructure improvements to sewage treatment in East St. Louis, Illinois, after finding that “hundreds of unlawful discharges of untreated sewage” ended up in the Mississippi River and Whispering Willow Lake in Frank Holten State Park, violating the Clean Water Act.
Whispering Willow Lake is used by the public for fishing and boating, and the parts of the Mississippi River investigated by the EPA are reserved for swimming and kayaking. Exposure to raw sewage and e. coli in water poses serious health risks, including skin infections, ear and eye infections, vomiting and diarrhea.
“East St. Louis’ failure to monitor outfalls interferes with EPA’s ability to evaluate the danger that discharges to these water bodies pose to human health,” the DOJ said.
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An American flag flies in the breeze high above the Mississippi River in the village of Hamburg, Illinois, on June 20, 2008. The EPA is suing the city of East St. Louis, Illinois, for polluting… An American flag flies in the breeze high above the Mississippi River in the village of Hamburg, Illinois, on June 20, 2008. The EPA is suing the city of East St. Louis, Illinois, for polluting its part of the river.
Win McNamee/Getty Images
The DOJ said that both of East St. Louis’ sewage facilities are “in a state of disrepair” and added that “the city’s failure to properly operate and maintain these systems has led to additional discharges of combined or sanitary sewage into streets and buildings and has put members of the public at risk for unknowingly coming into contact with untreated sewage.”
Newsweek contacted East St. Louis Mayor Charles Powell III and the Illinois EPA via email for comment.
Another Illinois city, Cahokia Heights, recently reached a settlement with the EPA regarding its sewage treatment.
The settlement requires the city to pay a $30,000 civil penalty and implement an estimated $30 million to compliance measures to ensure that they do not release any more treated or untreated sewage into water, ditches, roads, yards and homes.
The Illinois EPA said that its Environmental Justice Policy exists to “promote environmental equity in this State,” and works to “ensure that communities are not disproportionately impacted by degradation of the environment or receive a less than equitable share of environmental protection and benefits.”
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East St. Louis and Cahokia Heights are majority-Black cities that have experienced potentially toxic water because of sewage run-off and improperly maintained sewage systems.
“Both of these cases reflect the improper operation and maintenance of sewer systems located in environmental justice communities where both residents and the environment have been negatively impacted,” Illinois EPA Acting Director James Jennings said.
“Illinois EPA has worked closely with the Illinois Attorney General’s Office, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S. Department of Justice to address our concerns and ultimately bring resolution to Cahokia Heights and East St. Louis.”
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Illinois has seen more tornadoes in 2026 than in any year on record.
Following several more tornadoes confirmed this week across the state, Illinois has recorded 143 tornadoes so far in 2026, beating the previous record of 142 tornadoes set in 2024. With reliable records dating back to 1950, Illinois averages just 54 tornadoes per year. But in recent years, the state has experienced many more:
2023: 121
2024: 142
2025: 126
2026: 143 and counting
Unlike 2024, when a record two-day tornado outbreak accounted for a large share of the year’s tornadoes, the activity in 2026 has been spread out across several months.
On Thursday, June 11, a tornado outbreak brought at least 21 confirmed tornadoes to northern Illinois and northwest Indiana, 13 of them in Illinois. Two tornadoes that day — in Streator, Illinois, and Hebron, Indiana — reached rare EF-3 intensity, with winds over 135 miles per hour. Numerous injuries were reported from the storms, but there were no fatalities.
Confirmed tornadoes from June 11:
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Long Point to Streator, IL: EF-3
Wenona/Osage Township, IL: EF-1
Graymont to Dwight, IL: EF-1
Lee, IL: EF-U
Harpster to Elliott, IL: EF-0
Pembroke Township (Leesville), IL: EF-U
St. John to Schererville, IN: EF-0
Paxton/Loda, IL: EF-1
Merrillville to Hobart, IN: EF-2
Ludlow, IL: EF-1
Cedar Lake, IN: EF-0
Schneider to Hebron, IN: EF-0
Watseka, IL: EF-0
Hebron to Kouts, IN: EF-3
Wellington/Prairie Green Township, IL: EF-1
Bartlett, IL: EF-1
Boswell to Atkinson, IN: EF-1
Ade to Mount Ayr, IN: EF-0
Naperville to Lisle, IL: EF-0
Hickory Hills to Garfield Ridge: EF-2
Morocco, IN: EF-0
Though most of the Chicago area dodged severe weather from storms this week, the National Weather Service confirmed a brief tornado touchdown Wednesday night in Lake County near Grayslake. The EF-0 tornado had estimated winds of 80 miles per hour and was on the ground for about a quarter-mile. Damage consisted of several downed or split trees and sporadic minor roof damage along a narrow corridor in the Saddlebrook Farms subdivision.
Four more tornadoes were confirmed Wednesday in western and central Illinois. NWS crews are still surveying damage in central Illinois, and more tornadoes may be added to the count in the coming days.
With 143 tornadoes so far this year, Illinois leads the nation in tornado count for the third time in the last four years — a remarkable statistic for a state not typically thought of as being in Tornado Alley.
The recent increase in tornado activity across Illinois and the Midwest fits research showing a shift in tornado-favorable environments away from parts of the traditional Plains Tornado Alley and farther east into the Midwest and South. Climate change is one likely factor, as warming temperatures are expected to make the Plains hotter and drier overall, shifting tornado ingredients eastward toward the Mississippi River.
BEECHER CITY, Ill. (WAND) – Farms were damaged in Effingham County Wednesday evening when a powerful storm swept through at around 8 p.m.
The McKay Farm in Beecher City was heavily damaged when the rapidly moving storm hit.
“Two buildings were totally destroyed,” Dan McKay told WAND News on Thursday. “We’ve got five grain bins and they’re all damaged.”
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The buildings collapsed onto farm equipment and a semi that were parked in the structures. A utility pole was snapped and ripped out of the ground.
In nearby Shumway, another farm was hit. A barn collapsed, with a grain bin being ripped apart and debris traveling several hundred feet through a nearby corn field. A house on the property was also damaged.
