INSIDER
Heavily armed security boats patrol winding Milwaukee River during GOP convention
Read full article: Heavily armed security boats patrol winding Milwaukee River during GOP conventionSecurity planners for the Republican National Convention have had to contend with the winding river that snakes through downtown Milwaukee and near the Fiserv Center convention site.
Toys, silverware from 1800s? Great Lakes shipwreck explorer takes us back to the past
Read full article: Toys, silverware from 1800s? Great Lakes shipwreck explorer takes us back to the pastThe objects are from a shipwreck located in Lake Michigan that represent a link to life back sometime in the 1800s.
Much of America asks: Where did winter go? Spring starts early as US winter was warmest on record
Read full article: Much of America asks: Where did winter go? Spring starts early as US winter was warmest on recordAcross much of America and especially in the normally chilly north, the country went through the winter months without, well, winter.
Fewer fish and more algae? Scientists seek to understand impacts of historic lack of Great Lakes ice
Read full article: Fewer fish and more algae? Scientists seek to understand impacts of historic lack of Great Lakes iceAn unusually warm winter has left the Great Lakes all but devoid of ice and sent scientists scrambling to understand the possible consequences as climate change accelerates.
Oregon braces for freezing rain while cold temperatures elsewhere strain electric grids
Read full article: Oregon braces for freezing rain while cold temperatures elsewhere strain electric gridsParts of Oregon are bracing for freezing rain after a weekend of extreme winds knocked down trees and cut power to thousands.
Historians race to find Great Lakes shipwrecks before quagga mussels destroy the sites
Read full article: Historians race to find Great Lakes shipwrecks before quagga mussels destroy the sitesHistorians are racing to locate Great Lakes shipwrecks before a seemingly unstoppable invasive mussel destroys them and erases part of the region's heritage.
Opponents of COVID restrictions took over a Michigan county. They want deep cuts to health funding
Read full article: Opponents of COVID restrictions took over a Michigan county. They want deep cuts to health fundingThe public health department in Ottawa County in Michigan is facing deep cuts to its funding.
Tornado touches down near Chicago's O'Hare airport, disrupting hundreds of flights
Read full article: Tornado touches down near Chicago's O'Hare airport, disrupting hundreds of flightsThe National Weather Service says a tornado touched down near Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport prompting passengers to take shelter and disrupting hundreds of flights.
A fireworks explosion in western Michigan killed 1 woman and injured 9 other people
Read full article: A fireworks explosion in western Michigan killed 1 woman and injured 9 other peopleFireworks explosions in adjacent counties in western Michigan have left at least one woman dead and nine others with injuries from critical to minor.
Canadian wildfires are causing the worst air in the US in cities like Chicago and Detroit
Read full article: Canadian wildfires are causing the worst air in the US in cities like Chicago and DetroitDrifting smoke from the ongoing wildfires across Canada is creating curtains of haze and raising air quality concerns throughout the Great Lakes region, and in parts of the central and eastern United States.
BP subsidiary agrees to record $40M penalty and pollution-cutting steps at Lake Michigan refinery
Read full article: BP subsidiary agrees to record $40M penalty and pollution-cutting steps at Lake Michigan refineryFederal officials say a BP subsidiary will pay a $40 million penalty and install technology to control the release of benzene and other contaminants at its Whiting oil refinery in northern Indiana.
Chicago mayor seeks help for immigrants bused from Texas
Read full article: Chicago mayor seeks help for immigrants bused from TexasChicago officials have asked the public for volunteers and donations to help immigrants being bused to the city from Texas amid the Republican-led state’s political battle over the immigration policies of President Joe Biden’s administration.
He made it! Paddleboarding 28 hours, over 44 miles — now just one Great Lake left to conquer on his quest
Read full article: He made it! Paddleboarding 28 hours, over 44 miles — now just one Great Lake left to conquer on his questIt took nearly 28 hours and more than 44 miles, but a Canadian man is now one step away from completing his quest to cross all five Great Lakes via paddleboard.
Record-setting attempt to paddleboard across all 5 Great Lakes continues this week
Read full article: Record-setting attempt to paddleboard across all 5 Great Lakes continues this weekMike Shoreman will depart from Union Pier, Michigan on Tuesday night, with plans to finish along Chicago’s North Avenue Beach at around noon Wednesday.
Milwaukee gets recommendation to host 2024 GOP convention
Read full article: Milwaukee gets recommendation to host 2024 GOP conventionMilwaukee moved another step closer to hosting the 2024 Republican National Convention when a site selection committee unanimously recommended the event be held there rather than Nashville.
Canadian man with disability on mission to cross all 5 Great Lakes by paddleboard
Read full article: Canadian man with disability on mission to cross all 5 Great Lakes by paddleboardAn avid paddleboarder, Mike Shoreman was told he could never paddleboard again. But he didn’t pay attention to that edict and now is trying to make history.
EV battery maker LG will add up to 1,200 jobs in Michigan
Read full article: EV battery maker LG will add up to 1,200 jobs in MichiganElectric vehicle battery maker LG Energy Solution, a joint-venture partner with automaker General Motors, plans a $1.7 billion expansion in western Michigan that will add up to 1,200 jobs by 2025.
Tlaib running for new Detroit-area seat after redistricting
Read full article: Tlaib running for new Detroit-area seat after redistrictingRep. Rashida Tlaib says she will seek reelection in a new Detroit-area seat created through redistricting, an announcement that came hours after fellow Democratic Rep. Brenda Lawrence said she will retire from Congress.
The Great Lakes are warmer than they’ve ever been in early November: Why that’s a problem in several ways
Read full article: The Great Lakes are warmer than they’ve ever been in early November: Why that’s a problem in several waysSome parts of the Northern Great Lakes region were greeted by their first significant snowfall of the season earlier this week, but not even the arrival of the fluffy white stuff could mask these historic times for the Great Lakes themselves.
A giant sequoia tree in Northern Michigan? Yes, and it’s not only surviving, but thriving
Read full article: A giant sequoia tree in Northern Michigan? Yes, and it’s not only surviving, but thrivingThere is a thriving, giant sequoia tree located in the far north, in an area that can best be described as a frozen tundra during the winter.
Missouri tornado confirmed as storms swept into Illinois
Read full article: Missouri tornado confirmed as storms swept into IllinoisThe National Weather Service has confirmed a strong tornado hit the southeastern Missouri city of Fredericktown as strong storms that swept the state and moved into Illinois.
I took the high-speed ferry across Lake Michigan -- and it made for the coolest experience
Read full article: I took the high-speed ferry across Lake Michigan -- and it made for the coolest experienceMaybe you’re in Michigan, with family in Wisconsin (or vice versa). Or perhaps you’re planning some sort of trip across state lines, and you came across the idea of using a ferry to save some time around the Great Lakes.
Michigan approves Great Lakes oil pipeline tunnel permits
Read full article: Michigan approves Great Lakes oil pipeline tunnel permits(AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. – Michigan's environmental agency said Friday it has approved construction of an underground tunnel to house a replacement for a controversial oil pipeline in a channel linking two of the Great Lakes. AdThe project requires permits from the state Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. “We have issued permits designed to ensure that if a tunnel is constructed, it will be in strict compliance with relevant statutes and adhere to stringent protections against impacts to the Great Lakes,” Clark said. State officials emphasized the tunnel project was a separate legal matter from the dispute over the existing pipeline, which was laid in 1953. It has taken steps to prevent future anchor strikes and says the tunnel project would eliminate that danger.
Michigan governor seeks shutdown of Great Lakes oil pipeline
Read full article: Michigan governor seeks shutdown of Great Lakes oil pipelineGretchen Whitmer took legal action Friday to shut down a pipeline that carries oil beneath a channel linking two of the Great Lakes. “Enbridge has routinely refused to take action to protect our Great Lakes and the millions of Americans who depend on them for clean drinking water and good jobs,” the Democratic governor said in a statement. "They have repeatedly violated the terms of the 1953 easement by ignoring structural problems that put our Great Lakes and our families at risk. One of the pipeline supports was damaged this summer, apparently by a boat cable. Placing the pipes beneath a busy shipping lane with no protective cover violated the state's duty to protect the public's interest in Great Lakes waters and bottomlands, the document said.
Biden's lessons learned: spending time, money in Midwest
Read full article: Biden's lessons learned: spending time, money in MidwestBiden's "campaign is doing a better job, even during COVID, of reaching out with the candidates and a voter-to-voter effort. Besides spending no time in Wisconsin and only five days in Michigan, Clinton didn't begin advertising in either until two weeks before the election. There's been more to Biden's sharper focus on Michigan and Wisconsin than showing up and spending money. Biden's Michigan campaign as well as national aides have contacted Kinloch more in the past two months than Clinton's did throughout all of 2016, he said. “They're looping everything we're doing individually together under the Biden campaign,” Kinloch said.
Agent: Michigan, Virginia governors mentioned in kidnap plot
Read full article: Agent: Michigan, Virginia governors mentioned in kidnap plotA judge ordered three of six men charged in the case held without bond until trial, delaying rulings on two defendants. It wasn’t immediately clear if talk of targeting Virginia’s Democratic governor, Ralph Northam, continued beyond the meeting. Trask, the FBI agent, testified that authorities learned of the June meeting in Ohio while investigating various anti-government groups. Some defendants conducted surveillance of her northern Michigan house in August and September, according to the complaint. Michigan, and particularly the Detroit area, were hit hard early during the pandemic, leading Whitmer to tightly restrict personal movement and the economy.
Enbridge says contractor vessels may have damaged pipeline
Read full article: Enbridge says contractor vessels may have damaged pipelinePipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, the Michigan attorney general's office and the state Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy. A state judge granted a request from Nessel to close the line June 25 after Enbridge reported the damage. The Enbridge report said the nature of the damage and drag marks in the lakebed pointed to a cable or anchor from a small or moderately sized vessel. Enbridge says it has stepped up security measures in the straits since a 6-ton (5.44-metric tonne) barge and tugboat anchor struck Line 5 in April 2018. They have focused primarily on avoiding contact with larger vessels but are being expanded to prevent encounters with smaller ones, Duffy said.
Protests in Trump country test his hold in rural white areas
Read full article: Protests in Trump country test his hold in rural white areasFar from the industrial norths urban centers, hundreds of protests over black injustice have cropped up in small cities in rural areas. The protests in these Republican-leaning areas offer a test of the president's ability to reassemble his older, white voting bloc. No, you cant.Trump carried Pennsylvania by about 44,000 votes in 2016, in part with overwhelming support from a patchwork of rural, white counties. Dozens of protests have taken place in counties in these four battleground states that Trump flipped from Democrat to Republican. If Biden carries every state Clinton did in 2016 and reclaims Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, he would win a majority of the Electoral College votes.