By Joey Cappelletti, Associated Press

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan is on the verge of implementing one of the nation’s most ambitious clean energy mandates, aiming to be carbon-free by 2040 in what is a pivotal test of the Democrats’ environmental goals in a state with a long-standing manufacturing legacy.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

By Todd Richmond, Associated Press

LA CROSSE, Wis. (AP) — Wildlife officials across the Great Lakes are looking for spies to take on an almost impossible mission: stop the spread of invasive carp.

Over the last five years, agencies such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Minnesota Department of Natural Resources have employed a new seek-and-destroy strategy that uses turncoat carp to lead them to the fish’s hotspot hideouts.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

By Seth Borenstein and Tammy Webber, Associated Press

Revved-up climate change now permeates Americans’ daily lives with harm that is “already far-reaching and worsening across every region of the United States,” a massive new government report says.

The National Climate Assessment, which comes out every four to five years, was released Tuesday with details that bring climate change’s impacts down to a local level.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

By Suman Naishadham and Victor Caivano, Associated Press

FORT MCMURRAY, Canada (AP) — During a May wildfire that scorched a vast swath of spruce and pine forest in northwestern Canada, Julia Cardinal lost a riverside cabin that was many things to her: retirement project, gift from from her husband, and somewhere to live by nature, as her family had done for generations.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

By Steve Karnowski, Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A strike has shut down all shipping on the St. Lawrence Seaway, interrupting exports of grain and other goods from Canada and the United States via the Great Lakes to the rest of the world.

Around 360 workers in Ontario and Quebec with Unifor, Canada’s largest private-sector union, walked out early Sunday in a dispute over wages with the St.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

By Seth Borenstein, AP Science Writer

The upcoming United States winter looks likely to be a bit low on snow and extreme cold outbreaks, with federal forecasters predicting the North to get warmer than normal and the South wetter and stormier.

A strong El Nino heavily moderates and changes the storm tracks of what America is likely to face from December to February, with an added warming boost from climate change and record hot oceans, officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Thursday in releasing their winter outlook.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Federal, state and local officials have agreed to spend about $450 million to dredge contaminated sediment from Milwaukee’s Lake Michigan harbor and area rivers.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday that it will devote $275 million from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative to the project.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) — A Milwaukee suburb has finally started to pull millions of gallons of water per day from Lake Michigan after spending years seeking approval from regulators.

The city of Waukesha began the diversion Monday. City officials say 90% of the city will be using Lake Michigan’s water within five days.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

By Todd Richmond, Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Great Lakes’ frigid fresh water used to keep shipwrecks so well preserved that divers could see dishes in the cupboards. Downed planes that spent decades underwater were left so pristine they could practically fly again when archaeologists finally discovered them.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

By John Flesher, Associated Press

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Drinking water from nearly half of U.S. faucets likely contains “forever chemicals” that may cause cancer and other health problems, according to a government study released Wednesday.

The synthetic compounds known collectively as PFAS are contaminating drinking water to varying extents in large cities and small towns — and in private wells and public systems, the U.S.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.