(NY) New York Times – When Ken Preston went organic on his dairy farm here in 2005, he figured that doing so would guarantee him what had long been elusive: a stable, high price for the milk from his cows.

By Jeff Gillies, gilliesj@msu.edu
Great Lakes Echo
May 28, 2008

Great Lakes advocates hope that this week’s push by the federal government to clean up of one of the nation’s worst sites of dioxin contamination is a sign that the new administration will make good on its promise to jump start restoration of the region.
Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lisa Jackson on Tuesday pledged a strong agency presence in the effort to clean up the Tittabawassee River and Saginaw Bay watershed in Michigan’s Thumb area.

(MI) The Detroit News – A request from Genesee County to tap into Lake Huron for future water needs could provide a litmus test for the Great Lakes Compact and its protections for the region’s greatest natural resource.

(MI) Bay City Times – Bay City will be part of an international meeting on Great Lakes water levels on June 11.  The public meeting is scheduled from 7-9 p.m. at the Delta College Planetarium and Learning Center, 100 Center Ave. in downtown Bay City.

(WI) Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel – The volume of Lake Michigan water the city likely will pursue to replace its ailing deep wells will be nearly 23% less than originally planned, a reduction credited to local water conservation initiatives, Mayor Larry Nelson confirmed Tuesday.

(ON) The Windsor Star – For the first time in 30 years, lake sturgeon are spawning on the Canadian side of the Detroit River.

(NY) The New York Times – If the melting of Greenland’s ice sheets continues to accelerate, sea levels will rise even more in the northeastern United States and Maritime Canada than in other areas around the world.

(MI) The Detroit News – Most of them, if not all, smell and smell bad. Some pollute Michigan’s air and water and increase human health risks. One of their main byproducts is, to put it politely, excrement — and lots of it. And for better or worse, they might be a big part of Michigan’s farming future.

(IN) The News Dispatch – How can we reduce the amount of E. coli bacteria along the beach in Washington Park? That’s a question we asked Dr. Julie Kinzelman, research scientist and laboratory director for the city of Racine, Wis.

(MI) The Detroit News -  Gov. Jennifer Granholm will join forces with energy industry guru T. Boone Pickens today to talk about the future of Michigan’s burgeoning alternative energy sector.