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Great Lakes Daily News, formerly GLIN Daily News, is a collection of news articles of interest to the Great Lakes community, curated daily by Great Lakes Commission staff. This valuable service provides a selection of recent coverage of Great Lakes issues from professional media outlets in the United States and Canada. Subscribers receive a daily email digest, making it easy and convenient to keep up with important regional news. Sign up now to get Great Lakes Daily News in your inbox!
All views and opinions presented are solely those of the author or attributed source, and do not necessarily reflect those of the Great Lakes Commission or its member states and provinces.
Latest Daily News
State files motion revealing previously unknown information about the Edenville Dam
The Michigan Department of Attorney General filed a motion for summary judgment in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan as part of the State’s ongoing enforcement action against the former owners of the Edenville Dam. The east embankment of the dam failed on May 19, 2020, sending a surge of water downstream that resulted in catastrophe for the surrounding communities. Key facts have now been uncovered showing the dam’s owners, Boyce Hydro, knew of this potential failure since 2010 without divulging the defect to the state or federal government. Read the full story by The Morning Sun.
Chicago environmental group presses for action on Lake Erie
Robert Michaels, senior attorney for the Environmental Law & Policy Center, hopes his latest legal victory will result in a healthier Lake Erie with smaller harmful algal blooms by forcing closer regulation of the industrial-sized livestock farms that produce large amounts of manure in Lake Erie’s watershed. Read the full story by The Sandusky Register.
Highland Park, Great Lakes Water Authority miss deadline for plan to pay city’s $24M tab
The City of Highland Park, Michigan, and the Great Lakes Water Authority failed to meet a court-ordered deadline of May 31 to come up with a payment plan for the estimated $24 million the city owes to the suburban water authority. The two sides are still engaged in talks in hopes of having a payment plan ready for a June 6 court hearing. Read the full story by The Detroit News.
Thunder Bay’s ready for busy cruise ship season with more ships on the horizon
Thunder Bay, Ontario, has said goodbye to the Viking Octantis, the first cruise ship that docked for the 2023 season, but there are plenty left to come. A total of 15 cruise ship stops by four ships have been booked for this season and 24 stops by five ships have been booked for the 2024 cruise season. Read the full story by CBC News.
City council member blasts states pipe approval that would send raw sewage into Detroit River
Detroit City Council Member Mary Waters sent Governor Gretchen Whitmer a letter asking her to rescind a permit issued by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) that she believes could result in the release of raw sewage into the Detroit River from Grosse Pointe Park. In February, EGLE issued the permit to Grosse Pointe Park, allowing them to construct the extreme emergency relief valve. Read the full story by WDIV-TV – Detroit, MI.
Backed by infrastructure law, $10M project completed to repair Fair Haven pier
After sustaining significant damage in 2019, the West Barrier Bar Pier in Fair Haven, New York, has undergone a $10 million repair project with funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law of 2021. The Army Corps of Engineers highlighted the project’s benefits, including safe navigation between Little Sodus Bay and Lake Ontario and supporting the local economy by ensuring safe passage to 550 boat slip rentals and eight launch ramps. Read the full story by The Citizen.
Center Line installs rain gardens with help from CRWC and EGLE
With help from the Clinton River Watershed Council and the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy, the city of Center Line, Michigan, added four rain gardens to the corners of a newly paved and graded parking lot to ensure water will flow into the rain garden cells and go into the ground instead of into the stormwater drain. Read the full story by Macomb Daily.
Female charter captain has been making a splash on Lake Erie for nearly 40 years
At Anchors Away Marina in Marblehead, Ohio, the charter boat “Myrmidon” awaits her captain, Carole Vukmer, who is one of just a handful of female charter captains on Lake Erie. Being a female captain in a male-dominated industry is a challenge. There are just over a thousand licensed charter captains that make a living fishing Lake Erie; of that number, just 46 are women. Read the full story by WKYC-TV – Cleveland, OH.
Jellyfish sightings in Michigan waters? Yes, it’s a thing
Since its first sighting recorded near Ann Arbor, Michigan, in the Huron River in 1933, officials say there have been dozens of freshwater jellyfish findings in Michigan’s streams and inland lakes. Freshwater jellyfish typically appear in northern temperate inland lakes during the late summer and there is little-to-no evidence that they have any significant impact on the Great Lakes. Read the full story by WDIV-TV – Detroit, MI.
Now is your chance to own a Michigan lighthouse
In Houghton County, Michigan, the Keweenaw Waterway Lower Entrance Light is now available for purchase through public auction; the opening bid is $10,000. Read the full story by WBCK – Battle Creek, MI.