"More than a year after residents of Flint, Mich., were switched onto a water supply that has since been linked to rising levels of lead in the blood of some children, state and city officials abruptly reversed course, announcing on Thursday that Flint would return to its old water source."
"Stain repellent and fire retardant chemicals that scientists know little about are increasingly showing up in herring gull eggs around the Great Lakes, spurring concern for potential health impacts."
"FLINT, MI -- More Flint infants and children are being found with elevated levels of lead in their blood since the city switched to using the Flint River as its water source, according to a new study by a Hurley Medical Center doctor."
"Thick mats of algae spreading across western Lake Erie in recent weeks appear to be pushing one of the region's most-prized sport fish to flee, forcing some charter boat captains to cancel trips. At least one told out-of-state visitors hoping to catch walleye to stay home for now."
"After years of neglect, the site of the long-closed U.S. Steel Duluth Works may be be on the verge of revitalization."
"Though the amount of microcystin present in raw Lake Erie water near Toledo’s water-system intake Wednesday was double the amount detected two days earlier, city officials announced they planned to scale back testing for the toxin."
"The Kalamazoo River near Marshall, Mich. today teems with kayakers paddling amid swimming turtles, buzzing dragonflies and fish that leap from the water—with few visible scars of the environmental disaster that struck the riverside community five years ago."
"Air pollution in the Twin Cities contributes to about 2,000 premature deaths every year, and sends 1,000 people to the hospital for asthma, lung and heart disease treatments."
When a stealth legislative move to dismantle Wisconsin's open records law was revealed this month, a statewide uproar caused sponsors to back off. Appropro that the old lesson "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty" would be taught once again around July 4, 2015.
"Assurances from Enbridge Energy that the company's twin oil pipelines under the Straits of Mackinac are in 'excellent' condition and pose 'minimal' risks of a spill are not enough to resolve existing public concerns about the line's potential threat to the Great Lakes and Michigan's economy."
