The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency gave us a peek this weekend at what groups vying for Great Lakes Restoration Initiative cash hope to do with it.
The deadline for the EPA’s first request for proposals under the GLRI was Jan. 29. The agency reports that it took in 1,057 proposals for $946 million worth of projects.
A list of every proposal is available here, though there isn’t much to learn besides the first five to 10 words of each proposal’s title. For example: somebody, somewhere, would like some amount of money for …

Help Echo turn the Great Lakes basin on its ear and shake up journalism.

Perhaps the greatest change you’ll notice in this Echo redesign is that reporters will ask for your help, tell you about reporting challenges and empty their notebooks of those odds and ends that otherwise never quite become stories.

But expect us to stick with the Echo core concept: We’re a news community that transcends political borders and is defined by a global resource. Check out how we intend to do an even better job of that.

Social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn make reaching sources a breeze for journalists. Navigating handlers to secure an on-the-record interview with a source, however, isn’t always so easy.
While reporting a story for Great Lakes Echo about illicit marijuana production on public lands, I ran into a federal roadblock that stymied my work as a journalist and as a government watchdog.
It’s a barrier that shows President Barack Obama has a lot of work to do to square his campaign promise of transparency with his administration’s actions.
As the old adage …

As if overeating wasn’t already a problem, now we are offered the option to eat our dishes.
Large, hollowed out loaves of bread known as “bread bowls” have become a trendy addition to the menu of a startling amount of chain restaurants.
They are fully operational bowls, filled with soup, pasta, chili, dip, quiche and even salad, and customers love it.
I once watched a woman practically throw her tray back at the cashier after her broccoli and cheese soup was served in ceramic.
However, after the meal was returned to her in the …

One of my sources, a scientist at the Annis Water Resources Institute in Muskegon, Mich., recently chided me for writing about the Great Lakes from the middle of Michigan here in East Lansing.  How could we properly relate to the Lakes when we are so far away, he wondered.
It got me thinking.  Does he have point?
The Great Lakes Echo is hardly on the beach.  According to Daft Logic’s handy Google Maps distance calculator, the Echo newsroom is 71 miles from Lake Huron, 82 miles from Lake Erie, 88 miles from …

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then what value does a map hold?
As a journalist, I often turn to my background in geography for story ideas and elements to supplement complicated stories. Most data can be a big yawn. But display it on map with colored icons, and watch it come to life.
Most of my colleagues are aware of my love affair with mashups, or interactive maps like those found on Google.
Last year, I developed a mashup of coal-fired power plants in the Great Lakes for a Cleaning …

A. Blakeman (Blake) Early died on Sunday, Feb. 7, at the young age of 64 after a long battle with cancer. He was a skilled crafter of some of America’s most powerful pollution control policies.

In the Great Lakes, the area closest to shore is also one of the least understood.  This special report explores the innovations scientists use to learn more about the nearshore.

Jan. 27
Triaxus reveals Great Lakes sunken ships and data treasures
One of the Environmental Protection Agency’s newest members uses side-scan sonar to look at the watery depths of Lake Michigan.

Jan. 28
Remote controlled Stealth II reveals nearshore landscape
The Stealth II’s camera allows scientists to map the bottom of nearshore areas and better understand habitat types. After some more practice with the equipment, …

The 76-year-old moderate from Grand Rapids helped gain the visibility and funding for the Great Lakes that have long been available to the East and West Coasts.

Little Black Creek in Muskegon, Mich., has a long history of abuse. And one of the stream’s biggest threats rushes in every time it rains. Rain is shunted into storm drains that lead straight to the stream.