Great Lakes Echo (https://greatlakesecho.org/author/eric-freedman/)
By Eric Freedman
Flashing light on warning signs near curves can slow drivers and reduce the odds of a crash during winter weather conditions, says a new study by Michigan State University engineers.
By Eric Freedman
Looking for a holiday gift for a reader who loves the Great Lakes? Here are five prospects to consider – and what our reporters learned from interviewing their authors this year.
By Eric Freedman
Tiny pieces of moss can be crime-busters, says a study examining how law enforcement agencies, forensic teams and botanists have used moss to solve murders, track missing people, calculate how long ago someone died and – in a notorious Mason County case – try to locate the body of a baby murdered by her father.
By Eric Freedman
A horse-drawn carriage. A runaway horse. A crash. Sounds like an old-fashioned drama – not a bizarre 21st-century event. But that’s what happened three years ago when a visitor was injured while riding in a horse-drawn omnibus at Greenfield Village. The Court of Appeals has refused to reinstate her negligence suit against The Henry Ford and the driver.
By Eric Freedman
Empty lots in deindustrialized cities like Detroit may contribute to bird species diversity, says a new study by researchers at MSU and Carleton University in Canada. The study is based on sound recordings collected at 110 sites in 11 Detroit neighborhoods. The study recommends that vacant land management in the city takes a balanced approach that considers the needs of both residents and birds. There are other concerns about vacant land, too, including as sites for solar arrays.
By Eric Freedman
A Wisconsin bear hunting guide has been barred for a year from hunting on federal land. Timothy Collar’s crime: illegal bear baiting in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest.
By Eric Freedman
The Michigan Court of Appeals has cleared the city of South Haven of liability in the 2020 drowning of an 18-year-old swimmer at a public beach on the Lake Michigan coast.
By Eric Freedman
Motorcycles and deer don’t mix. And motorcyclists are especially vulnerable to injury or death when they do, according to a recent study of a decade’s worth of crashes in Michigan.
By Eric Freedman
The iconic Blue Water Bridge has received a clean bill of operational health from the Michigan Auditor General’s Office. Based on its preliminary survey of procurement, fleet vehicles, employee training and toll transactions, the office said it saw no need to do a full performance audit of the bridge’s effectiveness and efficiency.
By Eric Freedman
In nature, a lot can change on a largely uninhabited Great Lakes island over the course of a century. And a lot can stay the same. That includes the disappearance and appearance of wildlife species. That’s what scientists discovered when they inventoried mammals and amphibians on Charity Island, a 252-acre speck near the mouth of Saginaw Bay in Lake Huron. It’s one of about 35,000 islands in the Great Lakes, most of them even smaller than Charity Island, according to a recent study.