Great Lakes Echo

By Bauyrzhan Zhaxylykov Bald eagles are helping scientists uncover where per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, contamination may be coming from across Wisconsin and the Great Lakes region. A new study in the journal Environmental Research analyzed blood samples from 115 bald eagle nestlings collected across seven regions of Wisconsin from 2023 to 2025.

By Kyrmyzy Turebayeva For more than six decades, Minnesota high school biology teacher Bob O’Hara climbed into a canoe every summer and paddled north. His journeys eventually stretched from the Boundary Waters, a protected region straddling the border of Minnesota and Ontario, to the remote rivers of the Canadian Far North. What began as a love of wilderness travel became a lifelong pursuit that made him a quiet legend among serious canoeists.

Lighting during a thunderstorm captured in Ohio. Credit: Don Keffer/Flickr By Elizabeth McGowan Heavy downpours that once felt rare are becoming more common across Ohio, turning streets into rivers and pushing stormwater systems past their limits. Across the Midwest, precipitation is increasing and falling in heavier bursts, a trend scientists link to a .

By Anna Barnes Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel plans to file another request for rehearing with the U.S. Department of Energy over a coal-fired power plant near Lake Michigan operated by Consumers Energy. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel plans to file another request for rehearing with the U.S. Department of Energy over a coal-fired power plant near Lake Michigan operated by Consumers Energy.

By Anna Barnes A pilot project to remove large mats of algae build-up from three locations on Lake St. Clair is set to begin this fall. The $800,000 field trial will allow two contracting groups to remove the mats with researchers studying what happens after. Candice Miller, the Macomb County Public Works commissioner, said she has no doubt the mats will return, but the project will provide immediate relief to these three shorelines.

By Julia Roeder While health officials urge people to stay indoors due to the smoke draping the Midwest, experts say we should remember that the same polluted air affecting humans also threatens animals. On July 16, Detroit ranked as the city with the worst air quality in the world with a 724 index – climbing past the 300-point threshold on the Air Quality Index, where air quality is considered hazardous. In second place sat Toronto, then Minneapolis, and fourth was Chicago.

By Anna Barnes Michigan’s Department of Natural Resources Fisheries Division has received one-time funding of $350,000 for whitefish recovery. The ailing species has undergone a rapid population decline in recent years, and for the first time, recovery efforts have landed a specific line in the state budget. But officials said while the money will help rescue some of the most vulnerable lake whitefish populations, it’s not enough to address the systemic ecosystem issues causing the decline.

By Julia Roeder For more than a decade, conservation groups have fought to protect Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness from proposed copper-nickel mining projects. Now, following actions by the Trump administration to remove federal protections from the area, advocates’ fight for the region has entered a new phase. Local environmental groups, as well as national legal organizations, have spent years working together to protect the 1.1 million-acre outdoor space.

By Kyrmyzy Turebayeva For decades, scientists believed that the earliest four-limbed vertebrates developed much like modern amphibians: They hatched from eggs, passed through a larval tadpole stage and then underwent metamorphosis into adults. However, a new study published in Science challenges that long-held view.

By Akia Thrower Residents and city officials in Gary, Indiana, have called for improved utility infrastructure and accountability after an extended power outage. When severe storms tore through the Northwest Indiana region, Gary residents lost power in their homes and local establishments, causing a disruption in their daily lives.