Great Lakes Echo » Catch of the Day

Water-monitoring robofish almost ready to patrol Great Lakes

Jennifer Kalish — Tue, 29 May 2012 05:33:11 +0000

After three prototypes and multiple tweaks to his robotic fish, Xiaobo Tan is planning to deploy the water-monitoring device this August. “Things have been going slower then what we expected, but we are making good progress overall,” said Tan, associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Michigan State University. Great Lakes Echo covered the early development stages of Tan’s robofish in 2009. His latest prototype can submerge, something the initial robofish couldn’t do. It is almost capable of transferring sensor signals in real time, another new development. The robofish ...

Photo Friday: Monarch butterfly rests after taking a dip in Lake Michigan

Great Lakes Echo — Fri, 25 May 2012 05:30:44 +0000

More on Great Lakes beer: Which has the best name?

Great Lakes Echo — Thu, 24 May 2012 05:09:14 +0000

Last week we asked you to nominate the best beer made from the waters of the Great Lakes watershed. And what a great job you did. The Echo staff is inspired to turn that list into a shopping list. One disappointment: The nominees didn’t reflect the binational nature of the watershed. They don’t make beer in Canada? If you’ve got a favorite made from Canadian waters of the Great Lakes watershed, make sure to add it to the original post. And as far as that goes, the nominees were very Michigan heavy. ...

Green Gavels examines environmental impact of Michigan Supreme Court decisions

Jennifer Kalish — Wed, 23 May 2012 05:12:58 +0000

A non-profit conservation group recently launched a first-of-its-kind tool for measuring the environmental impact of Michigan Supreme Court decisions. Green Gavels uses red, yellow and green gavels to illustrate the negative, neutral or positive conservation impact of each environmental case that reaches the Michigan Supreme Court. The group heading the project, Michigan League of Conservation Voters, also rates each justice’s decision in each case. People can see if a specific justice’s voting patterns has a negative or positive environmental impact overall. “Our mission is to provide the information necessary for citizens to hold ...

Chicago River comes off endangered river list, but Ohio’s Grand River replaces it

Saodat Asanova-Taylor — Tue, 22 May 2012 05:55:43 +0000

Here’s a milestone for the Chicago River: It’s no longer on a list of the most endangered rivers in the nation. American Rivers each year reports on what the river advocacy group believes are the most endangered. It’s a call for action to save rivers facing critical tipping point. The Chicago River was on the list for almost two decades, mostly because the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District spewed bacteria-filled sewage without disinfecting it. For years the EPA and local environmental groups pushed city authorities to apply clean up technology since the water is ...

Federal officials study Great Lakes basin to help prevent future floods

Jennifer Kalish — Mon, 21 May 2012 05:54:06 +0000

Federal officials are studying how to help Great Lakes communities better prepare for hazardous floods. “It will be the most comprehensive study ever conducted of shoreline flooding,” said Ken Hinterlong, a senior engineer with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. So far, only “…the first phase of the project is done, which is a basin-wide data collection for Lake Michigan and Lake St. Clair.” The study began in 2009. The agency is holding technical workshops for scientists and informational meetings for the public throughout 2012, to share data collected for Lake Michigan, Lake ...

Photo Friday: Glen Lake overlook

Carol Thompson — Fri, 18 May 2012 05:07:17 +0000

Upending the basin: Would you explore Toronto’s sewers with a $10,000 expedition?

David Poulson — Thu, 17 May 2012 05:15:01 +0000

Many years ago I wrote a news story about a group of divers hired to vacuum a chemical spill from the bottom of the St. Clair River. It was dangerous work. The current was fast and they had to remove insoluble contaminants skittering around in depressions and mapped out with a rope grid. The divers were an interesting bunch. Their next job was on a deep sea oil rig. But it was the job they just came from that caught my attention: Repair and maintenance of the sewers serving Toronto. How cool of ...

Great Lakes cities listed as bicycle friendly communities

Saodat Asanova-Taylor — Wed, 16 May 2012 05:15:32 +0000

The League of the American Bicyclists announced this week the largest number of cities it has ever added to its list of Bicycle Friendly Communities. Several Great Lakes cities were upgraded or added to the list for the first time. The annual evaluation recognizes investment in bicycling promotion, education, infrastructure and. Regional cities on this year’s list: Minnesota Minneapolis (gold) Greater Mankato (bronze)- First time Wisconsin Madison (gold) La Cross (silver) Milwaukee (bronze Michigan, Ann Arbor (silver) Grand Rapids (bronze) Lansing (bronze) Traverse City (bronze) Indiana, Bloomington (silver) Indianapolis and Monroe County (silver) Columbus (bronze)- First time Fort Wayne (bronze) – First time Illinois, Chicago (silver) Schaumburg (bronze) Naperville (bronze) Ohio, Cincinnati (bronze) – ...

What is the best beer brewed with Great Lakes water?

Great Lakes Echo — Tue, 15 May 2012 05:57:48 +0000

Outside Magazine recently released a list of the top 10 canned beers of 2012. The magazine claims these as the best of 100 brands sampled. Apparently they were sampled at once and by very few judges. How else to explain the impaired judgment resulting in a selection containing only two beers brewed in Great Lakes states: Sly Fox Pikeland Pils from Pottstown, Pa., and Sixpoint Resin Ale in Brooklyn, N.Y. And those two aren’t even in the Great Lakes watershed. Sorry Outside. Every beer lover – at least those who read Echo – ...