The public may be invited to discharge scattershot firearms at jumping fish from boats speeding along the bumpy waters of the Illinois River. What could go wrong? more ›

The round goby. This googly-eyed invasive species has been winning the war for the Great Lakes. But scientists have a new weapon to battle these foreign fish: a "seismic gun." What could go wrong? more ›

The Army Corps of Engineers has determined that adding zip to the zap of their anti-Asian carp electric barrier in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal will not blow up barges passing over it. Yay! more ›

But the judges agreed the dreaded fish posed a significant risk to the Great Lakes. more ›

So how does Paso Robles’ pioneering capybara stack up to the bane of the greater Great Lakes? more ›

What the heck is going on with the Chicago River? Rainstorms wreaked havoc on all manner of its operations, banks are crumbling and sending bystanders into the drink and there’s more Asian carp fun coming. more ›

The latest flare-up of our apparently never-ending Asian carp infection brings new evidence the fish are swimming in Chicago on the same day as officials leading the fight say otherwise. Oops. more ›

Fear not, the Army Corps of Engineers thinks it will only take "a generation or two" for a permanent Asian carp solution to swing into action on Chicago's waterways. more ›

The press took an Asian carp cruise to hear about how the invasive fish have been kept at bay, but the New York Times and a leviathan netted in the Ozarks make clear what's at stake if they are wrong... more ›

The Asian carp population that threatens the ecosystem of Lake Michigan requires a thoughtful, reasoned response. Unfortunately, Peoria Carp Hunters isn't that. But it sure as hell is funny. more ›

We aren’t sure when the Trib got to be such a “glass half full” kind of operation, but the headline on their coverage of the latest chapter in the Asian carp saga is oddly positive. Yesterday, the Army Corps of Engineers admitted they are only sure that their electric fish barrier is effective with carp 5 1/2 inches or larger. While the headline “Electric barriers stop big Asian carp, tests show” is technically right, it does seem to miss the big news…after all, any little fish that happen to slip through will eventually become the big jumping demons that plague Great Lakes advocates’ nightmares. more ›

The U.S. House of Representatives have blocked a measure introduced by Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI) to indefinitely shut two area shipping locks in order to block Asian carp from entering Lake Michigan. more ›

Newspapers throughout the Great Lakes region have let out a primal scream over the recent Asian carp federal court decision. Editorial after editorial mourns the seeming inability to aggressively address the problem…except for the Trib's oddly juvenile entry, which seems to not only misunderstand the judge’s decision, but also the nature of the threat to Lake Michigan. more ›

It seems like we are always looking for scapegoats. This week, in the wake of a decision in the Great Lakes States’ Asian carp court dustup, an unlikely figure has stepped up to take the blame for Lake Michigan's most-hyped invader: Robert Halpin, Chicago’s most infamous renter and Mayoral candidate. more ›

It has been more than a year since Asian carp threatened to invade Chicago’s waterways and Lake Michigan. Their takeover of the media has been far more of a certainty. But it is becoming clear that the ugly, jumping, invasive fish is making a very real and lasting cultural mark in Chicago. You can see it in quick pop-culture references; like Rahm’s soon-to-be-legendary parting gift and iconic posters. But the fish have been bubbling down into more significant cultural spheres as witnessed by the scars on our local culinary scene and some upcoming documentary projects sure to excite all your fishy fantasies. more ›

While the city came to a standstill over a certain mayoral announcement yesterday, the wheels of justice kept (slowly) turning in the ongoing Asian Carp saga. Yesterday was the first day of testimony in the lawsuit against the state of Illinois to stop the spread of the destructive species. The states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota and Pennsylvania are plaintiffs in the suit which calls for the closing of two locks in local waterways to prevent the spread of fish into Lake Michigan. more ›

Mayor Daley pushed back at State Representative John Fritchey's proposed TIF legislation in characteristic Daley fashion - full of bluster and accusation. “Everybody wants to raid something,” Daley told the Chicago News Cooperative. “I’m not going to listen to state government for financial advice. I’ll tell you one thing: The city of Chicago should not listen to the federal or state government for financial advice. We would be bankrupt today. We [should] not listen to them, your state senators or representatives. No way. Look what they’ve done with the state budget and now they’re telling us what to do with the city budget. No way.” Daley didn't limit his attacks to the general assembly, though. He took on (one of his favorite targets) the local news media, telling Dan Mihalopoulous that he wouldn't ask the Sun-Times or the Tribune for financial advice, either. Citing the Tribune's bankruptcy and layoffs of reporters, he pointed out to Mihalopoulous that he "worked there before and they let you go.” Mihalopoulous replied that he quit the Tribune and wasn't laid off. “Oh, didn’t they? OK, well, you were on the waiting list then.” more ›

• The State has removed and limited information about doctors available online.
• The federal government has fined Sea World over the death of Dawn Brancheau, a trainer at the Orlando location earlier this year; Brancheau was a native of Northwest Indiana.
• An overnight traffic accident killed a taxi driver and left two others hurt.

Is that a loud gurgle of relief bubbling up from the Chicago River? Sadly for us humans, it has been a good week for Asian carp as they seem to have eliminated their most prominent foodie nemesis, are proving difficult to sell in China, and made a bunch of guys trying to fish for them downstate look downright silly (well, OK, the costumed fishermen did that to themselves). more ›

• Cook County President Todd Stroger's troubled jobs training program lost $2,7 million and could lose even more.
• The Cook County Sheriff's latest partner in crime-fighting: garbage men.
• The attorney for Rod Blagojevich, brother and co-defendant of former governor Rob Blagojevich, admitted he regrets not calling U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. to the stand.

• News/not news of the day: we have really high taxes.
• Chicago Public Schools will tap into their reserves to help close their $370 million budget gap.
• Some father-son duos watch baseball together. This one grew pot.

The Asian Carp Saga took something of a strange turn recently. With reports of the fish's potential spread into Lake Michigan causing alarm, a group of scientists from Southern Illinois University Carbondale is now suggesting that an asian carp found past a barrier designed to stop the fish might have been planted there. The fish was the first carp caught past the barrier. While the specialists say that it's still "plausible" that the fish came from the Illinois River, testing suggests it came from the Mississippi River basin. Illinois Department of Natural Resources Assistant Director John Rogner said via a press release, "While this report does not have all the answers, it does suggest to us that the fish caught in Lake Calumet last month may have been put there by humans, perhaps as a ritual cultural release or through a bait bucket transfer." And so the mystery continues. more ›

As clean up of the Kalamazoo River oil spill continues, EPA officials continue to downplay fears that the spill has spread and is threatening Lake Michigan. The EPA's Ralph Dollhopf told the media, “There is no anticipated inflow (of oil) into the city of Kalamazoo. We are confident we can contain the oil upstream.” And another EPA official, Susan Hedman, disputed claims by Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm that there was oil on Lake Morrow, an important milestone for potential spread of the oil downriver. Other experts have also spoken up saying, that while this is certainly a disaster for local wildlife, damage to Lake Michigan is unlikely. more ›

Bad news out of Michigan where reports say that oil from this week's spill has breached Morrow Dam and is now travelling downriver, as far as halfway from the spill site to Lake Michigan. The reports come even as Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm's office and the EPA continue a public dispute over the spill's reach. Granholm's officereleased photos (one is above) that claim to show an oil sheen Lake Morrow while EPA officials deny the claim. Officials are also suggesting the evacuation of as many as 50 homes located near the original spill site near Battle Creek, Michigan. more ›

Sometimes you, the readers, have burning questions. Send them. For example, an email from Phillip came into the Chicagoist public inquiry machine yesterday asking “if anyone thinks the Asian Carp were given free admission last night into Lake Michigan when the locks at the Wilmette Pumping station were opened to consider storm drainage.” Great question! more ›

And, lo, the fight over the Asian Carp invasion continued... Five states - Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota and Pennsylvania - filed a lawsuit against the federal government today, demanding tougher restrictions and more action to prevent the spread of the destructive fish into the Great Lakes. Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, who spear-headed a fight over the fish that went all the way to the Supreme Court (who opted not to tackle it), said in a statement, "Asian carp will kill jobs and ruin our way of life. We cannot afford more bureaucratic delays -- every action must be taken to protect the Great Lakes." Not on the list is Indiana, who has already started their own experiment at rebuffing the fish. The ongoing carp saga has only increased as one was discovered in Lake Calumet last month and a recent fish kill in Garfield Park didn't go over as popular as hoped. more ›

After initially downplaying the threat of Asian carp accessing Lake Erie through flooding in waterways near Fort Wayne, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources has announced that they will build a carp barrier of their own. Unlike the the electric fence built to rebuff the invasive fish outside Chicago, the Hoosier state will build a physical mesh barrier to limit the movement of spawning carp in Indiana. According to the Journal Gazette: more ›

• Gapers Block reminds us that 15 years ago today was the peak of the legendary 1995 Heat Wave that claimed the lives of 700 people.
• Bail has been set at $1.5 million for a West Side woman accused of setting her disabled boyfriend on fire.
• Police want a new gun range in an area surrounding Whitford Pond near 134th street but environmentalists aren't so hot on the idea.

It seems that something has fundamentally changed in the collective view of the Chicago Waterways System recently. Not long ago, discussions of disinfection and separation from the Mississippi River system were dismissed as unrealistic or far-fetched, “the Chicago River is what it is…” A year ago, the idea of candidates for the U.S. Senate agreeing that they river should be cleaned up seemed inconceivable. more ›

The fish that everyone wants to go away…won’t. Asian carp popped up in the news even more broadly than in our waterways this week. more ›