Jess Savage
Environment ReporterJess is the environmental reporter at Northern Public Radio based in DeKalb, Illinois. They are a Report for America corps member covering agriculture and the environment throughout the Mississippi River Basin. They also regularly contribute food and farm stories for Harvest Public Media.
Jess recently completed their master's degree from Northwestern University's journalism program, where they specialized in health, environment and science reporting.
Before moving to Illinois, they studied ecology and natural resources at the University of Vermont. For their honors thesis, they researched the impacts of climate change on agriculture systems in New England.
They grew up on the north shore of Massachusetts, where their dad took them out clamming and lobstering on the Parker River. Jess worked on several farms over the years and spend most of their weekends exploring farmers markets throughout Chicago.
If you need to reach Jess, you can always send story ideas, recipes, book recommendations or anything else on your mind to jsavage2@niu.edu.
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Aurora City Council voted on a suite of new regulations for data centers that come to the city. The meeting on March 24 aligned with the end of a moratorium the city placed on data centers. -
Local food system organizations have until the end of the month to apply for a local food infrastructure grant. -
A wild week in northern Illinois that included destructive tornadoes, high winds and record-setting hail wrapped up — how else? — with a blizzard. -
La sesión legislativo de este año está en plena marcha en Illinois. Un proyecto de ley prohibiría los concursos de matanza de animales salvajes en el estado. -
La oficina del sheriff del condado de Ogle afirma que el público no está en peligro después de una exposición química que involucró a los empleados que trabajaron durante el apagón en la Constellation Generating Station ubicado en 4405 N. German Church Road en Byron, Illinois -
Tallgrass prairies used to dominate the Illinois landscape before European settlement and corn and soy agriculture. While there are very few prairies left in the state, what remains requires a special management technique: fire. -
The Ogle County Sheriff’s Office and Constellation Energy have each issued statements related to chemical exposure involving employees working during the outage at the Constellation Generating Station located at 4405 N. German Church Road in Byron, Illinois.
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This year’s legislative session is well underway in Illinois. One bill would ban wildlife killing contests in the state.
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Uno nuevo proyecto de ley, presentado a la Asamblea General de Illinois la semana pasada, podría regular el impacto de los centros de datos en el agua, la energía y las comunidades sobrecargadas. Jess Savage de WNIJ estuvo en la conferencia de prensa donde se anunció el proyecto de ley, y tienen más información. -
Illinois fue el mayor productor de soya en Estados Unidos en 2025. Esto es medio de crecientes costos de insumos y a pesar de las condiciones históricas de sequía en el estado.
