Echo

How Whole Foods might affect similar local businesses

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Texas-based Whole Foods recently announced plans to open a new store on Grand River Avenue in Meridian Township in 2015. This location will put the new organic food store in very close proximity to several similar stores, including Foods for Living and the East Lansing Food Co-op. General Manager of ELFCO Dave Finet joins Current State to discuss what implications the new store may have in the area.  

How Whole Foods might affect similar local businesses by Great Lakes Echo

Echo

PSA: Use the bathroom before you swim

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Throughout the summer Great Lakes Echo will feature an occasional series of public service announcements produced by Michigan’s Ottawa County Health Department  to promote clean beaches. This one reminds swimmers not to treat lakes like a bathroom. Though the card features a child with a dirty diaper, children aren’t the only cause of the problem. A recent survey from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention showed that swimmers of all ages contribute to water contamination. Human waste in water can lead to recreational water illnesses, spread by contact with contaminated water in lakes, rivers, oceans and even chlorinated pools or hot tubs, according to the center.

Echo

Data Watch: Minnesota’s top priorities

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Nationwide, there are 1,320 final sites on the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Priority List of waste sites that have released or can release hazardous contaminants. They are either awaiting or undergoing cleanup. Sites can be deleted from the list when “no further response is required to protect human health or the environment,” according to the EPA. Each site is scored through the Hazard Ranking System on a scale from 0-100. The higher the score, the greater threat they represent.

Echo

An asset for Detroit’s recovery

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With Detroit’s economic woes in national headlines it is significant that some of the city’s assets are, well…liquid. Today, Great Lakes Echo and our partner, WKAR’s Current State public affairs program, launch a series of stories exploring the Detroit waterfront.  They are remarkable stories of recovery and promise. They include a push to “daylight” the city’s ghost waters and soften its shoreline. They describe some of the best fishing in the world and report on efforts to repair longtime damage to an industrial riverfront. These are important stories for a city struggling to remake itself.

Wildlife

Scientists across Michigan oppose legislation to limit biodiversity

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Scientists across Michigan oppose legislation to limit biodiversity by Great Lakes Echo

This past spring the Michigan Senate passed Bill 78, which prohibits state agencies from setting aside land to maintain biodiversity.  The bill has drawn strong criticism from various environmental groups. Dr. Brad Cardinale, a professor at the University Of Michigan School of Natural Resources, along with 133 other scientists from around the state, wrote a letter to Governor Snyder requesting he veto the legislation.

Echo

Great Lakes in Jeopardy: Sea lamprey in Lake Ontario

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Our “Jeopardy in July for Lake Lovers” feature was so popular, we decided to continue posting Great Lakes trivia . Keeping checking back for the answers — and new questions. online polls
The answer to the previous question: Lake Ontario’s microclimate delays the onset of fall frost, contributing to the success of fruit orchards on the south shore.

Echo

Data Watch: Indiana’s top priorities

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Nationwide, there are 1,320 final sites on the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Priority List of waste sites that have released or can release hazardous contaminants. They are either awaiting or undergoing cleanup. Sites can be deleted from the list when “no further response is required to protect human health or the environment,” according to the EPA. Each site is scored through the Hazard Ranking System on a scale from 0-100. The higher the score, the greater threat they represent.

Echo

PSA: Leave your pets at home

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Throughout the summer Great Lakes Echo will feature an occasional series of public service announcements produced by Michigan’s Ottawa County Health Department  to promote clean beaches. This one  encourages beachgoers to leave their pets at home. “As far as pets go, it is the problem of owner’s not picking up after their pets,” said Kristina Wieghmink, communications specialist for the health department. “It’s the excrement washed into the water that causes a potential health risk.” Echo recently reported that abandoned pet waste can lead to human health hazards.

Echo

Great Lakes in Jeopardy: The microclimate of Lake Ontario

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Our “Jeopardy in July for Lake Lovers” feature was so popular, we decided to continue posting Great Lakes trivia. Keeping checking back for the answers — and new questions. customer surveys
 

The answer to the previous question: Phosphorus was the substance addressed in the 1972 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.

Echo

Data Watch: Michigan’s top priorities

By |

Nationwide, there are 1,320 final sites on the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Priority List of waste sites that have released or can release hazardous contaminants. They are either awaiting or undergoing cleanup. Sites can be deleted from the list when “no further response is required to protect human health or the environment,” according to the EPA. Each site is scored through the Hazard Ranking System on a scale from 0-100. The higher the score, the greater threat they represent.