Echo

Water-monitoring robofish almost ready to patrol Great Lakes

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After three prototypes and multiple tweaks to his robotic fish, Xiaobo Tan is planning to deploy the water-monitoring device this August.  

 

“Things have been going slower then what we expected, but we are making good progress overall,” said Tan, associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Michigan State University. Great Lakes Echo covered the early development stages of Tan’s robofish in 2009. His latest prototype can submerge, something the initial robofish couldn’t do. It is almost capable of transferring sensor signals in real time, another new development.

Water

More on Great Lakes beer: Which has the best name?

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Last week we asked you to nominate the best beer made from the waters of the Great Lakes watershed. And what a great job you did. The Echo staff is inspired to turn that list into a shopping list. One disappointment: The nominees didn’t reflect the binational nature of the watershed. They don’t make beer in Canada?

Echo

Green Gavels examines environmental impact of Michigan Supreme Court decisions

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A non-profit conservation group recently launched a first-of-its-kind tool for measuring the environmental impact of Michigan Supreme Court decisions. Green Gavels uses red, yellow and green gavels to illustrate the negative, neutral or positive conservation impact of each environmental case that reaches the Michigan Supreme Court. The group heading the project, Michigan League of Conservation Voters, also rates each justice’s decision in each case. People can see if a specific justice’s voting patterns has a negative or positive environmental impact overall. “Our mission is to provide the information necessary for citizens to hold officials accountable,” said Drew YoungeDyke, the league’s policy and communications specialist.

Water

Chicago River comes off endangered river list, but Ohio’s Grand River replaces it

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Here’s a milestone for the Chicago River: It’s no longer on a list of the most endangered rivers in the nation. American Rivers each year reports on what the river advocacy group believes are the most endangered. It’s a call for action to save rivers facing critical tipping point. The Chicago River was on the list for almost two decades, mostly because the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District spewed bacteria-filled sewage without disinfecting it. For years the EPA and local environmental groups pushed city authorities to apply clean up technology since the water is widely used.

Echo

Federal officials study Great Lakes basin to help prevent future floods

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Federal officials are studying how to help Great Lakes communities better prepare for hazardous floods. “It will be the most comprehensive study ever conducted of shoreline flooding,” said Ken Hinterlong, a senior engineer with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. So far, only “…the first phase of the project is done, which is a basin-wide data collection for Lake Michigan and Lake St. Clair.”

The study began in 2009. The agency is holding technical workshops for scientists and informational meetings for the public throughout 2012, to share data collected for Lake Michigan, Lake Erie and Lake St.

Echo

Great Lakes cities listed as bicycle friendly communities

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The League of the American Bicyclists announced this week the largest number of cities it has ever added to its list of Bicycle Friendly Communities. 

Several Great Lakes cities were upgraded or added to the list for the first time.  The annual evaluation recognizes investment in bicycling promotion, education, infrastructure and. Regional cities on this year’s list:

 Minnesota

Minneapolis (gold)
Greater Mankato (bronze)- First time

Wisconsin

Madison (gold)
La Cross (silver)
Milwaukee (bronze

 

Michigan,

Ann Arbor (silver)
Grand Rapids (bronze)
Lansing (bronze)
Traverse City (bronze)

Indiana,

Bloomington  (silver)
Indianapolis and Monroe County (silver)
Columbus (bronze)- First time
Fort Wayne (bronze) — First time

Illinois,

Chicago (silver)
Schaumburg (bronze)
Naperville (bronze)

Ohio,

Cincinnati (bronze) — First time

New York,

New York City (silver)

Pennsylvania,

Philadelphia (bronze)
State College-Center Region (bronze)- First time
Franklin (bronze)
Pittsburg (bronze)

And here is how the league ranks the Great Lakes states in terms of bicycle friendliness:

Wisconsin (3)
Minnesota  (4)
Illinois (11)
Indiana (19)
Michigan (22)
Pennsylvania (25)
New York (34)
Ohio (37)

The entire state rankings are here.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Echo

What is the best beer brewed with Great Lakes water?

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Outside Magazine recently released a list of the top 10 canned beers of 2012. The magazine claims these as the best of 100 brands sampled. Apparently they were sampled at once and by very few judges. How else to explain the impaired judgment resulting in a selection containing only two  beers brewed in Great Lakes states:  Sly Fox Pikeland Pils from Pottstown, Pa., and Sixpoint Resin Ale in Brooklyn, N.Y.

And those two aren’t even in the Great Lakes watershed. Sorry Outside.