"Alarming levels of brain-damaging lead are poisoning more than a fifth of the children tested from some of the poorest parts of Chicago, even as the hazard has been largely eliminated in more prosperous neighborhoods, a Tribune investigation has found."

"Minnesota declared a state of emergency on Thursday over a fast-spreading strain of avian flu that has led to the extermination of more than 7.3 million birds in the country. It followed Wisconsin's action on Monday."

"Although contaminants buried in the sediments of Green Bay may be out of sight, they should not be out mind, according to research published last month in the Journal of Great Lakes Research. Two invasive species – the quagga mussel and round goby – can allow a group of toxic chemicals deposited more than 45 years ago to reenter the food web, passing them to predatory fish and possibly people."

"A Canadian company proposes a multibillion-dollar oil pipeline through some of the Midwest's prized lakes and wetlands, igniting a firestorm among environmentalists, tribes and anti-fossil fuel activists who say the proposal is built on hollow promises of economic development and dubious claims of environmental protection."

"Discussing climate change is out of bounds for workers at a state agency in Wisconsin. So is any work related to climate change — even responding to e-mails about the topic. A vote on Tuesday by Wisconsin’s Board of Commissioners of Public Lands, a three-member panel overseeing an agency that benefits schools and communities in the state, enacted the staff ban on climate change."

"Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Director Craig W. Butler and Ohio Department of Natural Resources Director James Zehringer today announced that the state has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for its plan to place dredge material from Cleveland Harbor, which includes six miles of the Cuyahoga River, in Lake Erie or not dredge the entire navigation channel unless a non-federal partner pays to place it in confined disposal facilities."

"Months after rural voters helped Republicans reclaim the majority in the Minnesota House, lawmakers in both parties are looking to weaken environmental laws tied to agriculture."

"Ohio's governor is set to put in place new rules that should help cut down on the pollutants feeding the algae in Lake Erie."

"The Ohio General Assembly Wednesday passed a major new measure to clean up Lake Erie pollution and fight the harmful algal blooms that contaminated Toledo’s water last summer."

Regulation of Lake Ontario water levels has many complex impacts on people, property, and ecosystems. Now a plan might return the lake to the rhythms of nature.