While Great Lakes fish populations are constantly in a state of flux, one species has declined precipitously in the last decade: lake whitefish. But Great Lakes leaders and fisheries managers are looking ahead in planning to do more with less.
And in the case of whitefish, a lot more.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/11/great-lakes-iceland-connection-through-whitefish-effort/
By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/11/michiganders-lobby-state-on-possibility-of-a-hunt/
From lead pipes to PFAS, drinking water contamination is a major issue plaguing cities and towns all around the Great Lakes. Cleaning up contaminants and providing safe water to everyone is an ongoing public health struggle.
Keep up with drinking water-related developments in the Great Lakes area.
Click on the headline to read the full story:
Illinois:
The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency will make more than $70.6 million in water infrastructure loans to local governments and sanitary districts for the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2023.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/11/drinking-water-news-roundup-illinois-drinking-water-projects-students-ohio-water-quality-research/
NEW YORK (AP) — Five people died of Legionnaires’ disease over the summer at a New York City nursing home that had been cited repeatedly for improper maintenance of the cooling towers where the Legionella bacteria can spread, The New York Times reported.
The outbreak at Amsterdam Nursing Home, a 409-bed facility in upper Manhattan, was the city’s worst since 2015 when a cooling tower in the Bronx was blamed for an infection that caused 16 deaths.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/11/ap-deaths-nyc-nursing-home-legionnaires-disease/
Broadcasting in our monthly PBS television program, The Catch is a Great Lakes Now series that brings you more news about the lakes you love. Go beyond the headlines with reporters from around the region who cover the lakes and drinking water issues. Find all the work HERE.
This month, The Catch features a story about a canoe that is thought to be made by ancestors of the Ho-Chunk Nation.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/11/the-catch-secrets-of-lake-mendota/
DETROIT (AP) — Sailors who lost their lives in shipwrecks on the Great Lakes and Michigan waterways will be remembered at a historic church in downtown Detroit.
The annual Great Lakes Memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday and will be livestreamed from Mariners’ Church along the Detroit River.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/11/ap-detroit-church-to-remember-sailors-lost-on-great-lakes/
Keep up with energy-related developments in the Great Lakes area with Great Lakes Now’s biweekly headline roundup.
Click on the headline to read the full story:
Illinois
Chicago entrepreneur Arthur Burton is closing the gap in solar and electric vehicle charging stations in disinvested communities, while providing job training opportunities for at-risk youth.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/11/energy-news-roundup-electric-school-buses-solar-powered-recreational-boats-on-the-rise/
Broadcasting in our monthly PBS television program, The Catch is a Great Lakes Now series that brings you more news about the lakes you love. Go beyond the headlines with reporters from around the region who cover the lakes and drinking water issues. Find all the work HERE.
This month, The Catch features a story about cruising the Great Lakes.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/11/the-catch-cruising-the-great-lakes/
(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)
Daniel Merino, The Conversation and Gemma Ware, The Conversation
(THE CONVERSATION) Humans do a lot of different things to the environment, and there aren’t many natural processes – aside from an asteroid impact or the like – that can rival the scale of change brought on by human activity.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/11/humans-now-a-driver-of-evolution-in-the-natural-world/
Great Lakes Moment is a monthly column written by Great Lakes Now Contributor John Hartig. Publishing the author’s views and assertions does not represent endorsement by Great Lakes Now or Detroit Public Television.
Today, many educators are experimenting with unique forms of instruction to increase student engagement in the classroom and encourage critical thinking.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/11/great-lakes-moment-video-game-teaches-watershed-management/
Broadcasting in our monthly PBS television program, The Catch is a Great Lakes Now series that brings you more news about the lakes you love. Go beyond the headlines with reporters from around the region who cover the lakes and drinking water issues. Find all the work HERE.
This month, The Catch features a story about Great Lakes piping plovers.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/11/the-catch-record-number-of-piping-plovers/
By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/11/nonprofit-buys-31000-forested-acres-by-copper-harbor/
Great Lakes Now tries to make every episode interesting and educational.
In “Surf and Turf,” dig into the future of land use in the Great Lakes as needs grow for both housing and agriculture, then join an eFoiling adventure on Lake Huron, and keep up with news about the lakes you love with The Catch!
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/11/surf-and-turf-the-great-lakes-now-episode-quiz/
By Lester Graham, Michigan Radio
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/11/republicans-democrats-environmentalists-more-wetlands/
By Kari Lydersen, Energy News Network
This story was first published on the Energy News Network and was republished here with permission.
More than nine out of 10 coal ash impoundments nationwide are contaminating groundwater in violation of federal rules, according to environmental groups’ comprehensive analysis of the latest industry-reported data.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/11/analysis-finds-lack-of-compliance-with-coal-ash-rules-groundwater-at-risk/
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana’s governor is planning his fifth overseas trip of the year, this time to attend a U.N. climate conference in Egypt.
Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb’s office announced Wednesday that he would take part in the COP27 climate change conference. Holcomb’s schedule includes giving a speech about Indiana’s efforts to increase use of clean energy in the state, the governor’s office said.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/11/ap-indiana-governor-traveling-climate-summit-egypt/
Editor’s Note: “The Nibi Chronicles,” a monthly Great Lakes Now feature, is authored by Staci Lola Drouillard. A direct descendant of the Grand Portage Band of Ojibwe, she lives and works in Grand Marais on Minnesota’s North Shore of Lake Superior. Her two books “Walking the Old Road: A People’s History of Chippewa City and the Grand Marais Anishinaabe” and “Seven Aunts” were published 2019 and 2022, and she is at work on a children’s story.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/11/nibi-chronicles-water-is-life-festival-goes-beyond-music/
They stop dozens of vehicles creating traffic jams so that a single boat can dawdle through and sometimes they make us late. They’re usually very old and expensive to maintain and operate and holy smokes, they move slow as cold molasses.
But seriously, aren’t they great?
“It can definitely be an inconvenience, but in all reality it’s only a few minutes every hour,” Port Clinton Mayor Mike Snider said.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/11/great-lakes-moving-bridges/
This article was republished here with permission from Great Lakes Echo.
By Abigail Comar, Great Lakes Echo
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Environmental Protection Agency have demonstrated a new technology designed to reduce harmful algal blooms in lakes, including Lake Erie, which have been plagued by eutrophication.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/11/new-technology-hope-great-lakes-polluted-waters/
PFAS, short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a group of widespread man-made chemicals that don’t break down in the environment or the human body and have been flagged as a major contaminant in sources of water across the country.
Keep up with PFAS-related developments in the Great Lakes area.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/11/pfas-news-roundup-upper-peninsula-industrial-fire-forever-chemical-concerns-medical-monitoring-programs-new-york/
Do you know if your state has an official food or drink? If you live in the Great Lakes region, chances are your state boasts multiple official foods, drinks and even crops. Some of them – not all – a part of the region’s water-related culture, history and traditions.
Each state chooses their respective official delicacy for a variety of reasons.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/10/know-your-state-foods/
Keep up with energy-related developments in the Great Lakes area with Great Lakes Now’s biweekly headline roundup.
Click on the headline to read the full story:
Illinois
Chicago transit advocates raise concerns over a state transportation plan that calls for more expressway lanes instead of prioritizing public transit.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/10/energy-news-roundup-michigan-study-of-nuclear-power-clean-energy-jobs-wisconsin/
CLEVELAND (AP) — Two men accused of stuffing five walleye with lead weights and fish fillets during a lucrative fishing tournament on Lake Erie pleaded not guilty to cheating and other charges on Wednesday.
Jacob Runyan, 42, of Broadview Heights, Ohio, and Chase Cominsky, 35, of Hermitage, Pennsylvania, made no comments during their brief court appearances in Cleveland.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/10/ap-fishermen-plead-not-guilty-to-charges-in-tournament-scandal/
This lesson will explore the sport of eFoiling and how Newtonian physics can be used to explain the phenomenon of the surfboard moving on the Great Lakes. Students will learn to model constant speed and how balanced forces allow objects to move at constant speeds.
Lesson Objectives:
View the entire lesson plan including teacher background information, worksheets and more below or download for free here.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/10/episode-2210-efoiling-lesson-plan/
By Ashley Okwuosa, The Narwhal
Photography by Ramona Leitao
This story first ran on The Narwhal, a non-profit news organization that publishes in-depth stories about Canada’s natural world.
Susan Rosebrugh rose from sleep when she heard the sound of fire trucks, and turned to her partner in frustration.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/10/former-gm-plant-leaking-toxic-chemicals/
Editor’s Note: Look for coverage of Great Lakes recreation and adventure in this new monthly feature. The author, Ian Solomon, founded Amplify Outside, a nonprofit dedicated to increasing access and representation by Black people in the outdoors, starting in the Great Lakes region. Find more about him HERE.
From the Detroit River to the shores of Tawas Bay, I chased the last bite of summer I could manage.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/10/the-debut-of-ian-outside/
Love staring at a map and discovering something interesting? Then “Mapping the Great Lakes” is for you. It’s a monthly Great Lakes Now feature created by Alex B. Hill, a self-described “data nerd and anthropologist” who combines cartography, data, and analytics with storytelling and human experience.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/10/mapping-the-great-lakes-where-do-you-live/
A fishing tournament weigh-in in Cleveland last month, an event most often attended by anglers, family, friends and passersby, sent the Lake Erie walleye scene into worldwide news after several videos went viral.
They appeared to show two consistently winning tournament anglers get caught cheating red-handed after 10 lead weights, tipping the scales at about 7 pounds, were removed from their five walleye at the final 2022 event for the Lake Erie Walleye Trail.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/10/weighted-walleye-fallout-lake-erie-fishing-tournament/
For Elizabeth Kolbert, the path to writing a book on our penchant to control nature started with a guided tour on the infamously reversed Chicago River.
Kolbert wanted to get a close look at the Asian carp issue and talk to the people on the front lines of efforts to repel the carp advance to the Great Lakes.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/10/great-lakes-chicago-river-asian-carp-elizabeth-kolbert/
PFAS, short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a group of widespread man-made chemicals that don’t break down in the environment or the human body and have been flagged as a major contaminant in sources of water across the country.
Keep up with PFAS-related developments in the Great Lakes area.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/10/pfas-news-roundup-petition-says-epa-loophole-lets-forever-chemicals-evade-review/
By Andy Balaskovitz, Energy News Network
This story was first published on the Energy News Network and was republished here with permission.
PIPELINES: Enbridge will pay more than $11 million to settle water quality violations and three aquifer breaches related to Line 3 construction in northern Minnesota; Attorney General Keith Ellison also announced a misdemeanor criminal charge for the company’s alleged taking of water without a permit.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/10/enbridge-will-pay-11m-fine-for-minnesota-water-violations/
By John Flesher, Associated Press
Lifelong Cleveland resident Steve Gove recalls when the Cuyahoga River symbolized shame — fetid, lifeless, notorious for catching fire when sparks from overhead rail cars ignited the oil-slicked surface.
“It was pretty grungy,” said the 73-year-old, a canoeist in his youth who sometimes braved the filthy stretch through the steelmaking city.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/10/ap-clean-water-act-at-50/
When it comes to Halloween, I’m a Hallmark participant.
I like costume parties and I’ve mooched enough candy to make a significant contributor to my dentist’s children’s college fund. But I do not visit haunted houses and fail to see the appeal of fear.
I have an adventurous spirit but I do not think I’m overly courageous.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/10/i-speak-for-the-fish-water-snakes-are-spooktacular/
Broadcasting in our monthly PBS television program, The Catch is a Great Lakes Now series that brings you more news about the lakes you love. Go beyond the headlines with reporters from around the region who cover the lakes and drinking water issues. Find all the work HERE.
This month, The Catch features why lightning bugs are in trouble.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/10/the-catch-lightning-bug-population-dimming/
Keep up with energy-related developments in the Great Lakes area with Great Lakes Now’s biweekly headline roundup.
Click on the headline to read the full story:
Illinois
With a 100% carbon-free electricity target by 2045, Illinois must now grapple with the complexities over how exactly to reach that goal.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/10/energy-news-roundup-indigenous-communities-clean-energy-solutions/
Broadcasting in our monthly PBS television program, The Catch is a Great Lakes Now series that brings you more news about the lakes you love. Go beyond the headlines with reporters from around the region who cover the lakes and drinking water issues. Find all the work HERE.
This month, The Catch features a new bulk freighter that is making waves in Great Lakes shipping.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/10/the-catch-new-freighter-in-town/
By Andrian Lee, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Melissa Scanlan, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, The Conversation
is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.
When storms like Hurricane Ian strike, many people have to cope afterward with losing water service.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/10/money-drinking-water-sewer-upgrades-communities-need-most/
In August, the “Poisonous Ponds: Tackling Toxic Coal Ash” student reporting initiative investigated the complicated policy and impacts of coal ash in the Great Lakes. The special collaboration included Great Lakes Now, The Energy News Network, and Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications.
Keep up with more coal ash news published by The Energy News Network as part of this project:
How Puerto Rico’s banned coal ash winds up in rural Georgia
After Puerto Rico banned coal ash storage, the toxic waste from its coal plant is being quietly shipped through Florida to Georgia.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/10/more-from-poisonous-ponds-tackling-toxic-coal-ash/
Broadcasting in our monthly PBS television program, The Catch is a Great Lakes Now series that brings you more news about the lakes you love. Go beyond the headlines with reporters from around the region who cover the lakes and drinking water issues. Find all the work HERE.
This month, The Catch features a story on the return of 100 acres to the Onondaga Nation.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/10/the-catch-historic-land-transfer/
From lead pipes to PFAS, drinking water contamination is a major issue plaguing cities and towns all around the Great Lakes. Cleaning up contaminants and providing safe water to everyone is an ongoing public health struggle.
Keep up with drinking water-related developments in the Great Lakes area.
Click on the headline to read the full story:
Indiana:
Prior to the approximately $12 million project that connected Plumville and Crooked Creek water treatment plants, most residents in the area as well as the school district relied on well water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/10/drinking-water-news-roundup-new-water-infrastructure-funding-projects-programs/
Editor’s Note: Great Lakes Moment is a monthly column written by Great Lakes Now Contributor John Hartig. Publishing the author’s views and assertions does not represent endorsement by Great Lakes Now or Detroit Public Television. This month’s article is a combination of excerpts and a preview of his new book, “Rouge River Revived: How People are Bringing Their River Back to Life,” which chronicles how citizens are leading an effort to restore their river in metropolitan Detroit.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/10/great-lakes-moment-rouge-river-revived/
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — The City of Ann Arbor says an estimated 1.38 million gallons (5.2 million liters) of partially treated wastewater flowed into the Huron River during maintenance Tuesday at its treatment plant.
The wastewater had received all treatment except disinfection, the city announced Wednesday in a news release.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/10/ap-ann-arbor-sends-partially-treated-wastewater-into-river/
PFAS, short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a group of widespread man-made chemicals that don’t break down in the environment or the human body and have been flagged as a major contaminant in sources of water across the country.
Keep up with PFAS-related developments in the Great Lakes area.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/10/pfas-news-roundup-high-levels-forever-chemicals-pesticides-artificial-turf/
“Craft beers inspired by Lake Superior.”
That’s how Sleeping Giant Brewing Company describes its menu. Founded in 2012, this Canadian beer brand was the first independent brewery to open in Thunder Bay, Ontario. And its beer is more than just inspired by the lake.
Sleeping Giant uses roughly 50,000 liters of lake water per month to produce beers with colorful names like Northern Logger and Mr.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/10/coastal-craft-beers-come-to-lake-superior/
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled a western county in the state must conduct an environmental review to determine whether a proposed drainage ditch improvement could harm one of the last free-flowing creeks in the heavily agricultural area.
The ruling last week affirms a state Court of Appeals judgment that reversed a Renville County Board decision which said the study wasn’t necessary.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/10/ap-farm-country-stream-protected-waterway/
By Mark Gillispie, Associated Press
CLEVELAND (AP) — The county prosecutor’s office in Cleveland has opened an investigation into an apparent cheating scandal during a lucrative walleye fishing tournament on Lake Erie last week.
A video posted to Twitter shows Jason Fischer, tournament director for the Lake Erie Walleye Trail, cutting open the winning catch of five walleye on Friday and finding lead weights and prepared fish filets inside them.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/10/ap-authorities-report-scandal-fishing-tournament/
By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/10/michigan-will-study-states-nuclear-prospects/
By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/10/septic-pollution-michigan-lawmakers-reform/
Great Lakes Now tries to make every episode interesting and educational.
In “Finders, Keepers,” join researchers as they uncover details about the bottom of the Great Lakes, head to Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum to learn how scientists are using a natural history collection to understand changes to global biodiversity, and tune into The Catch for more news about the lakes you love.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/09/finders-keepers-the-great-lakes-now-episode-quiz/
By Giovanna Dell’Orto, Associated Press
ON LEECH LAKE, Minnesota (AP) — Seated low in her canoe sliding through a rice bed on this vast lake, Kendra Haugen used one wooden stick to bend the stalks and another to knock the rice off, so gently the stalks sprung right back up.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/09/ap-minnesota-ojibwe-harvest-sacred-wild-rice/
