Free Republic

CHICAGO, IL -- An adult live Asian carp was caught about 9 miles from Lake Michigan this week, far north of the leading edge of the invasive fish population in the Illinois River and upstream of an electric barrier designed to keep them from the Great Lakes. Illinois Department of Natural Resources Asian carp biologist Kevin Irons said the 8-pound, 22-inch silver carp was caught by commercial fishermen in a regular carp monitoring spot on the Little Calumet River about two miles below the T. J. O'Brien Lock and Dam. It's the second time an adult Asian carp has been...

A spill at a U.S. Steel plant in northern Indiana that sent wastewater containing a potentially carcinogenic chemical into a Lake Michigan tributary was apparently caused by a pipe failure, the steelmaker said Wednesday. Tuesday’s spill of an unknown amount of wastewater led to the closure of two beach areas at the scenic Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and prompted a local water utility to stop drawing water from the lake out of “an abundance of caution,” the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said. U.S. Steel said a preliminary investigation shows an expansion joint failed Tuesday in a pipe at its Portage,...

...It's in contrast to water levels for Lake Michigan and Lake Huron in 2013, which were 2 feet below average, The (Waukegan) News-Sun (http://trib.in/23IJPoG ) reported. The two lakes are measured together because the Straits of Mackinac connect them. "That's almost a 4-foot difference between today," Hungness said. "Right now, the lake is closest to being the highest it's ever been...

Research Casts New Light on History of North America Research by a Valparaiso University geography professor and his students lends support to evidence the first humans to settle the Americas came from Europe, rather than crossing a Bering Strait land-ice bridge. Valparaiso’s research shows the Kankakee Sand Islands – a series of hundreds of small dunes in the Kankakee River area of Northwest Indiana and northeastern Illinois – were created 14,500 to 15,000 years ago and that the region could not have been covered by ice as previously thought. Newswise — Research by a Valparaiso University geography professor and his...

Bill McIntosh interviews Federal judicial reform activist Chuck Panici The story of Chuck Panici, four times GOP mayor of Chicago Heights, Illinois, from 1975 to 1991; skilled political strategist is, both a great saga and a sad one. He turned around a seemingly hopeless municipality, brought fresh water from Lake Michigan to his town: built municipal buildings and built a coalition around his effort that united people across racial and ethnic lines. His bright future changed dramatically however in the aftermath of Chicago Heights city council member Nick LoBue´s name coming up repeatedly during Chicago mob boss Albert Tocco´s Federal...

Though the past winter was the hottest on record, it was chilly enough on the East Coast to send seasonal sheets of ice creeping across the Great Lakes. Now that that ice has cleared with spring, Lake Michigan is clear enough that shipwrecks lying on the lake bottom can be seen from the air. The U.S. Coast Guard Air Station in Traverse City noted the crystal clear water conditions and the lost ships during a routine patrol. Last week, they posted a handful of pictures to their Facebook page. The images come from the area near Sleeping Bear Point known...

“Great Lakes ice is now running ahead of last year and ice will increase with more brutal cold coming,” says meteorologist Joe d’Aleo. “We are likely to have the most ice since records began.” “By the end of February the entire country east of the Rockies will have averaged below normal,” says d’Aleo. “Boston will have either the coldest or second coldest month in their history. It is nearly 13F below normal in Cleveland and all points east for February. Boston has the second most snow for the season and is very likely to be the snowiest ever by the...

According to NOAA's Great Lakes Surface Environment Analysis (GLSEA) the record for total Great Lakes ice coverage was set in 1979 with 94.7% coverage. Last year's winter almost broke that record with 92.2% and is currently sitting in second place. Just a few days ago the ice coverage sat at 60%. Today that number has jumped to 76.6% based on yesterday's analysis due the recent cold the area has been receiving. Their forecast for the next 24 hours is for that coverage to jump to 82.3%. This is within 10% of second place. Some long range weather forecasts I have...

More than 4,700 square miles of ice formed over the Great Lakes in just one night on Tuesday. The Arctic blast that swept the Midwest and Northeast saw a near-record amount of Lake Ontario was iced over, with just 20 per cent of open water left. Overall 82 percent of the five water bodies sealed up. Temperatures are expected to drop again on Thursday night, leading forecasters to predict that figure to climb significantly by Friday morning.

The Siberian Express that’s imported northern Russia’s weather into North America is leading to a second year of fast-growing ice cover on the Great Lakes, setting up the Chicago area for the possibility of another cool spring. By Wednesday, the Great Lakes were 85.4 percent ice-covered, just above the 85.2 percent on Feb. 18 last year, according to the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory. With below-average temperatures predicted for at least the next week, the lakes could approach last year’s levels of 92.5 percent ice cover, the second-highest level since records began in the early 1970s.

TRAVERSE CITY - The French government says it still owns the Griffin, a 17th century ship built by legendary explorer La Salle that may have been discovered in northern Lake Michigan. France filed a claim to the vessel Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids, escalating a legal battle over who owns and has authority to retrieve artifacts from the long-lost vessel. Michigan also is seeking title, although state officials have raised doubts about whether the Griffin's gravesite actually has been found. They say federal law gives the state ownership of abandoned vessels embedded in its Great Lakes bottomlands....

Ross Richardson of Lake Ann said he uncovered the wrecks this summer in the waters around the small Island of Skillagalee, located between Beaver Island and the northern Lower Peninsula community of Cross Village, The Grand Rapids Press (http://bit.ly/10KU6ac ) reported. An extensive reef system about four feet under the water was responsible for many shipwrecks in the area before advanced navigation. [SNIP] He found four other wreck sites during his three trips to the island. Richardson believes one of his other discoveries, the largest of the Skillagalee wreck sites with the greatest amount of artifacts present, is the wreck...

FULL TITLE: Stunning pictures of Michigan's St Joseph Lighthouse transformed into giant icicles as arctic blast continues to sweep across the US With sub-zero temperatures, severe wind chills and snowfall, millions across the eastern US have been desperately trying to stay warm this week. But one photographer chose to brave the frigid weather for hours on end - to capture these stunning photos of St Joseph Lighthouse in Michigan. Donning sturdy boots and warm clothing, Joshua Nowicki trekked along the icy shore of Lake Michigan on Thursday morning, armed with a camera. He then captured a breathtaking array of photos...

Lake Michigan and Lake Huron water levels may do something only achieved four times in the last 154 years. This time of year is normally the season when Great Lakes lake levels begin to fall. Typically evaporation is greater than precipitation and runoff from rivers and streams. So there is normally less water going into Lakes Michigan, Huron, and Superior at this time of year. On Lakes Michigan-Huron July is typically the high water month. Lake Superior usually sees peak water level in July or August. This year is different. Lakes Michigan-Huron, and Lake Superior have continued to rise, even...

ON LAKE MICHIGAN NEAR POVERTY ISLAND, Mich. – In a remote part of northern Lake Michigan, divers have started looking at an underwater pit, hoping to find the resting place of the Griffin, a ship commanded by the 17th century French explorer La Salle.

An archaeologist says it remains a mystery how a circle of stones initially arrived at the floor of Michigan's Grand Traverse Bay. Underwater archeologist Mark Holley said while he first discovered the underwater stones in 2007, no one has been able to prove whether the rocks were placed there by nature or by mankind, the Chicago Tribune reported Sunday. "The first thing I said when I came out of the water was, 'Oh no, I wish we wouldn't have found this,'" Holley said of his discovery. "This is going to invite so much controversy that this is where we're going...

Underwater Archaeologists Find Possible Mastodon Carving On Lake Michigan Rock September 4, 2007 11:51 p.m. EST Nidhi Sharma - AHN News Writer Traverse City, MI (AHN) - Underwater archaeologists in Lake Michigan's Grand Traverse Bay are speculating a boulder they found in a June ship wreck to be engraved with a prehistoric carvings. Mark Holley, a scientist with the Grand Traverse Bay Underwater Preserve Council, believes that the granite rock, which was found hidden at a depth of about 12 metres, has markings that resemble a mastodon. A mastodon is an elephant-like creature that once inhabited parts of North America....

In a surprisingly under-reported story from 2007, Mark Holley, a professor of underwater archaeology at Northwestern Michigan University College, discovered a series of stones – some of them arranged in a circle and one of which seemed to show carvings of a mastodon – 40-feet beneath the surface waters of Lake Michigan. [Image: Standing stones beneath Lake Michigan? View larger]. If verified, the carvings could be as much as 10,000 years old – coincident with the post-Ice Age presence of both humans and mastodons in the upper midwest. [Image: The stones beneath Lake Michigan; view larger]. In a PDF assembled by...

The iconic Stonehenge in the UK is one of the most famous prehistoric monuments in the world, but it is not the only stone formation of its kind. Similar stone alignments have been found throughout England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales… and now, it seems, in Lake Michigan. According to BLDGBLOG, in 2007, Mark Holley, professor of underwater archeology at Northwestern Michigan College, discovered a series of stones arranged in a circle 40 feet below the surface of Lake Michigan. One stone outside the circle seems to have carvings that resemble a mastodon—an elephant-like animal that went extinct about 10,000 years...

On Thursday, March 6th, 2014, we attempted something that hasn’t been done for 40 years: to hike the treacherous ice across the Manitou Passage to the islands 8 miles out... (click the link for commentary and photos of a bold day of hiking)