In search of a Great Lakes ghost ship

The Ghost Ships Festival of Milwaukee is known for its maritime history exhibits and presentations.

This year, a woman credited with one of the Great Lakes’ most recent finds told her tale in the search for missing vessels, called “ghost ships.”

Terrestrial Terror Round 2 results: Mute Swan vs. Emerald Ash Borer

By Alice Rossignol and Rachael Gleason

Editor’s note: Great Lakes SmackDown! Terrestrial Terror is an ongoing Great Lakes Echo series. Last week the Terrestrial Terror victors took to the ring for a second round SmackDown! The mute swan faced the emerald ash borer  in a rumble that ended in a landslide victory for The Green Menace. Eighty-five percent of pollsters rooted for the green-plated insect over the large and hostile waterfowl.

Terrestrial Terror Round 2 results: European Starling vs. Gypsy Moth

By Alice Rossignol and Rachael Gleason

Editor’s note: Great Lakes SmackDown! Terrestrial Terror is an ongoing Great Lakes Echo series. The Extreme Defoliator and Shakespeare’s Darling took flight last week in Round 2 for an invasive air battle. In the polls the competition was close. Fifty-three percent of readers chose the gypsy moth and 47 percent chose the European starling.

Echo commentator discusses Wisconsin column

Echo commentator Gary Wilson’s take on Wisconsin environmental rollbacks picked up some attention from Changing Gears: Remaking the Manufacturing Belt. That’s a project using journalism and public engagement to look at the future of the industrial Midwest. It turns out that Gary’s got a pretty good radio voice. Hear him elaborate on his Echo column.

Terrestrial Terror Round 2 results: Beech Scale vs. Chinese and Japanese Mystery Snails

By Alice Rossignol and Rachael Gleason

Editors note: Great Lakes SmackDown! Terrestrial Terror is an ongoing Great Lakes Echo series. Teamwork helped the Chinese and Japanese Mystery Snails and the beech scale defeat Round 1 terrors. So what will happen when the odds are evened in the next round? How did the giant stinky snail tag team fair against the Bark Butcher and his trusty fungal side-sick?

Terrestrial Terror Round 2 results: Garlic Mustard vs. Feral Swine

By Alice Rossignol and Rachael Gleason

Editors note: Great Lakes SmackDown! Terrestrial Terror is an ongoing Great Lakes Echo series. In Round 2, The Beast crushed Colonel Mustard into the ground in the brackets and the polls. Seventy-one percent of pollsters chose the feral swine over the garlic mustard. In the brackets, 47 percent of bracketeers picked the feral swine and 21 percent chose the garlic mustard.

Terrestrial Terror Round 2: Beech Scale vs. Mystery Snails

By Alice Rossignol and Rachael Gleason

Editor’s note: Great Lakes SmackDown! Terrestrial Terror is an ongoing Great Lakes Echo series. With the help of a fungal sidekick, The Bark Butcher was able to come from behind and beat out The Knapster, a favored snack of the honeybee. Another duo, the Mystery Snail Tag Team, sidelined a much smaller opponent: The Spiral of Doom. Now the two pairs double-team each other.