Some personalized license plates are too crude for Michigan roads. That’s why the state department weeds out inappropriate requests.

But what if a plate that appears to be suggestive honors Michigan’s natural resources?

Echo reporter Andrew Norman broke a big story this spring: People like beer, and the Great Lakes are full of its primary ingredient.
That story has sources from some of the region’s small breweries hailing the region’s versatile water, which lends itself to a diverse set of beer styles.
But beer giant Budweiser also has love for the lakes, and is once again partnering with the Biodiversity Project’s Great Lakes Forever program to sponsor their sixth annual photo contest.
The contest has professional and amateur categories, and the top prize is a kayak …

The accidental poisoning of Michigan dairy cattle in the 1970s sparked the largest chemical contamination in United States history. Nine million residents consumed contaminated meat and milk for a year.

A community advisory group was created in response to a cleanup at Velsicol Chemical Corp., the company responsible for Michigan’s PBB crisis. Ed Lorenz chairs its legal committee.

More than 1,000 proposals requesting $946 million were trimmed to 270 finalists.

On Wednesdays through July, Great Lakes Echo will run a video segment expected to become a building block of a finished documentary on the greening of Flint, Mich. You can help.

Troy Hale: 11-Time Emmy Award winning television producer and filmmaker. Producer for the Big Ten Network as well as executive producing and host for a TV program for Michigan PBS stations.
Geri Alumit Zeldes: Assistant Professor at Michigan State University and producer of the documentary film “Arabs, Jews and the News.” AJN is the winner of a 2010 Award of Excellence from the Broadcast Education Association, 2010 winner of Best Documentary from the Virtual Film Festival, as well as other awards. The work was uplinked March 2010 for national distribution …

Michigan State University faculty and students are producing a documentary on a vision of Flint as a healthier, greener city. It will show the challenges of bringing fresh produce to a food desert, feeding schools, providing educational options and battling bureaucracy.
On Wednesdays through July, Great Lakes Echo will run a segment expected to become a building block of the finished story. You can help. After each publication date passes, the images below are linked to the segments that they illustrate.
Check them out and then post questions, suggest interviews, make comments …

Transportation Services at Michigan State University is increasing its hybrid cars inventory.

The idea is to save gas and money.

Check out the short video

The term “invasive species”  is a new one in my life. I was raised to love nature. The idea that something that is growing out of the ground on its own has no business doing so was never considered.
A case in point: The Purple Loosestrife Festival. This was something we looked forward to each year in rural Hillsdale County, in southern Michigan along the Ohio border. The gorgeous purple spiky flowers brightened the roadsides throughout our county in late July and cars often pulled into the ditch to harvest what …