Points North is a biweekly podcast hosted by Daniel Wanschura and Morgan Springer about the land, water and inhabitants of the Upper Great Lakes.

This episode was shared here with permission from Interlochen Public Radio. 

In 2007, helicopters were circling over a few rivers and streams in Minnesota near Lake Superior.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Great Lakes Moment is a monthly column written by Great Lakes Now Contributor John Hartig. Publishing the author’s views and assertions does not represent endorsement by Great Lakes Now or Detroit Public Television.

For over a century, vast amounts of toxic contaminants were discharged by industries into the Detroit and Rouge Rivers.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Editor’s Note: “Nibi Chronicles,” a monthly Great Lakes Now feature, is written by Staci Lola Drouillard. A direct descendant of the Grand Portage Band of Ojibwe, she lives and works in Grand Marais on Minnesota’s North Shore of Lake Superior. Her two books “Walking the Old Road: A People’s History of Chippewa City and the Grand Marais Anishinaabe” and “Seven Aunts” were published 2019 and 2022, and she is at work on a children’s story.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Editor’s Note: “Nibi Chronicles,” a monthly Great Lakes Now feature, is authored by Staci Lola Drouillard. A direct descendant of the Grand Portage Band of Ojibwe, she lives and works in Grand Marais on Minnesota’s North Shore of Lake Superior. Her two books “Walking the Old Road: A People’s History of Chippewa City and the Grand Marais Anishinaabe” and “Seven Aunts” were published 2019 and 2022, and she is at work on a children’s story.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Broadcasting in our monthly PBS television program, The Catch is a Great Lakes Now series that brings you more news about the lakes you love. Go beyond the headlines with reporters from around the region who cover the lakes and drinking water issues. Find all the work HERE.

This month, The Catch features a story about cruising the Great Lakes.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

They stop dozens of vehicles creating traffic jams so that a single boat can dawdle through and sometimes they make us late. They’re usually very old and expensive to maintain and operate and holy smokes, they move slow as cold molasses.

But seriously, aren’t they great?

“It can definitely be an inconvenience, but in all reality it’s only a few minutes every hour,” Port Clinton Mayor Mike Snider said.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Love staring at a map and discovering something interesting? Then “Mapping the Great Lakes” is for you. It’s a monthly Great Lakes Now feature created by Alex B. Hill, a self-described “data nerd and anthropologist” who combines cartography, data, and analytics with storytelling and human experience.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

A common question for casual observers of Great Lakes vessels is “Where are the big container ships?” The reference is to the massive ocean-traversing ships with containers stacked stories high.

The container ships have been absent from the Great Lakes where cherished lake freighters dominate the waterways hauling bulk cargo.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

New research into Great Lakes water levels looks farther into the future to predict how much climate change will increase lake levels in four of the five Great Lakes.

The predictions for the levels between now and 2050 show average increases from 2010-2019 levels of Lake Superior rising 19 centimeters (7.5 inches), Lake Erie 28 centimeters (11 inches) and lakes Michigan and Huron by 44 centimeters (17.3 inches).

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

ST. PAUL (AP) — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Thursday activated the National Guard to help control record flooding in areas of northeastern Minnesota.

Emergency management officials in St. Louis and Koochiching counties requested the assistance to deal with high water caused by heavy spring rains and rapid snowmelt throughout the Rainy River Basin.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.