Remember how we told you that the Great Lakes brews great beers? Echo writers knew we weren’t alone in our fascination with the region’s ales, lagers, malts and stouts. But we weren’t so savvy to propose and film a TV show about them, which is what producer Matt Renner and host Amy Sherman have done.
The “Great American Brew Trail” will showcase Great Lakes breweries — about 80 percent of them in Michigan — when it premiers on PBS stations this fall. Beers in other regions will follow.
Check out the trailer, …

See video of the sea lamprey, an eel-like Great Lakes invader that sucks out bodily fluids of fish and have caused the extinction of three types of whitefish.

A study in Colorado and Texas may influence the Great Lakes wind energy debate.

It says that coal plants ramping up to accommodate the intermittent nature of wind could be more polluting than if they ran at a set rate.

Supporters of 10 Michigan lighthouses requested renovation grants from the Michigan Historic Preservation Office this year.

Funding for the Michigan Lighthouse Assistance program comes from the sale of specialty license plates. Michigan has 128 lighthouses, the most of any state.

Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox was rebuffed again by the U.S. Supreme court in his effort to keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes.
On Monday, the court declined to consider Cox’s request to close the Chicago locks to prevent the invasive fish from traveling from the Mississippi River into Lake Michigan. This is the third time they refused the request by Michigan and six other states.
Cox is now focusing on Congress and President Obama as potential saviors.
“While President Obama has turned a blind eye to the millions of Great …

Even if they’re used as nothing more than glorified coasters, phone books continue to pile up at doorsteps and recycing centers. Manufacturers insist they are valuable advertising vehicles needed to bridge the digital divide.

Great Lakes environmental junkies know the big names credited with major policy decisions that affect the basin. But who are the people behind the names that keep the Great Lakes gears grinding?

We enlisted the help of some of our sources to highlight “Five Great Lakes Policy Players You Don’t Know.”

A mashup from the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway System lets users track vessels navigating Great Lakes waterways in real time. Users can see a list of ships in transit and get information about locks and ports.

In July 2008, Iran launched a provocative test of a few missiles and released an photograph of the occasion. It didn’t take long for folks to figure out that the image had been digitally altered to include more missiles than had actually launched.
What’s even more nefarious is that some sleuthing by Echo’s Flickr friend outside perspectives shows that Iran wasn’t really launching missiles at all.

You can shut down all the locks you want, but that won’t stop a rogue state’s rocket-propelled plantation of Asian carp (click for all the carp …

A legacy of Michigan’s manufacturing might is seen in abandoned, contaminated and deteriorating buildings.
State officials are gearing up efforts to turn such sites into restaurants, condominiums, golf courses, new manufacturers.