What do carp, walruses, toilets, lazy journalism, sexy cardinals, beer, fish fights and phone books have in common?

They are all fodder for the Echo staff’s favorite headlines of 2010.

Miles of coastline, beautiful beaches and spectacular sand dunes. But Michigan’s wines and beers, fresh fruits, fish and other local flavors are attracting visitors as well. On Jan. 10, state organizations meet to promote culinary tourism.

Training for alternative energy jobs is a hot new mission for community colleges.
Eleven schools in Michigan are part of an alternative energy collaborative that helps schools create curriculum and training programs.

As the industry grows, finding qualified instructors is a challenge.

People feel more productive and healthier in green buildings, according to an MSU study. But some researchers say buildings made airtight for energy efficiency could trap gases that pose health problems.

Several years after Michigan and other Great Lakes states imposed tougher regulations on ships, there’s still a call by environmental groups, biologists and shippers for federal rules.

State standards for ballast developed piecemeal, and Carl Lindquist, the executive director of the Superior Watershed Partnership and Land Trust based in Marquette, said they were a step in the right direction. But ballast water is still carrying invasive species, he said.

Heavy rainfall often overflows Detroit sewers, dumping untreated human and industrial waste, toxic materials and other debris into streets and waterways.
Separating sanitary and storm systems is costly and time consuming. So Detroit is tackling water before it hits the streets.

Once prized for its medicinal value, the water produced at Waukesha, Wisc., is at the center of a fight with precedent-setting ramifications for using Great Lakes water.

This time the battle is over replacing instead of capturing the city’s water.

Train ridership has reached all-time highs and President Barack Obama has proposed a big boost in federal aid to transportation. Advocates want more direct routes, an increase in the frequency of trains and schedules that better accommodate business travelers. They say paying for public transportation is far cheaper than expanding and maintaining highways.

When more than two inches of rain falls in the Chicago area, the deluge flowing into storm sewers mixes with the wastewater from homes and businesses.   Often there is more water than the metropolitan area’s treatment plants can handle, so the excess is discharged untreated into the Chicago River and its connected waterways.
Such Combined Sewer Overflows – CSOs – are common in Chicago and many other U.S. cities where storm water and municipal wastewater are funneled into the same aging combined sewer pipes. Milwaukee and other cities discharge CSOs into …

Native American tribes in the Northern Lower Peninsula and Upper Peninsula are seeking to develop renewable energy, but a lack of money is impeding many projects, experts say.

Michigan tribes have a potential for wind energy and wood-based biomass, said Roger Taylor, the principal project manager of the Tribal Energy Program.