Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI)

"In rural west Michigan, food processors have sprayed so much wastewater onto fields that heavy metals seeped into groundwater, contaminating wells."

"Hazardous 3M trash buried decades ago in Washington County is being dug up and will be reburied with a protective lining."

"For decades, one of the nation's most widely used dry cleaning solvents was billed as a marvel of modern chemistry that could safely remove dirt and stains from clothing. ...But over the years, with little if any notice to the public, the often sloppy use of perchloroethylene has poisoned hundreds of sites in Illinois."

"Robert Wainwright, 65, a fugitive wanted in Indiana for allegedly polluting wetlands, was arrested July 14 in Mexico by U.S. marshals and agents of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, working with Mexican police."

It took awhile, but the U.S. Midwest finally has recognized that the industries that once powered its economy will never return. Now leaders in the region are looking to renewable energy manufacturing and technologies as key to the heartland’s renaissance.

"On July 4, 1999, a storm devastated the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in northern Minnesota and killed millions of trees. Now, the forest is growing back." Everybody who was there 10 years ago has a story.

"Advocates and U.S. government agree to list the gray wolf as "threatened" in Minnesota and to put ones in Wisconsin and Michigan on the endangered list."