Results tagged “lakemichigan”

Is it any surprise that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers couldn't properly maintain a levee to hold up against a hurricane when they can't even seem to keep a fish out of Lake Michigan? New word from the Corps in the fight against the Asian carp is that they've discovered the fish's DNA beyond an electronic barrier that was set up along the Illinois River to keep the fish out of the Great Lakes. The new evidence was found a mere 7 miles from Lake Michigan, and at this point if the carp makes its way through a navigational lock it's home free from there, and its feeding habits will wreak havoc on the Great Lakes native species. Cameron Davis, from the Environmental Protection Agency, said that the DNA evidence is "very accurate" in terms of indicating the fish's presence.

The last time we checked in with the Asian carp, Congress had voted to allocate $6 million to help fight off their invasion, with the money going towards building permanent barriers and studying ways to get rid of the fish. On Friday, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources announced that it would dump Rotenone, a dangerous fish-killing chemical, into the canal between Romeoville and the Lockport Dam next month.

Oh sure, it's usually health care reform this and nuclear Iran that, but Congress is also tackling the big issues, like preventing Asian carp from entering Lake Michigan. The carp, which can be up to 4 feet long and weigh 100 pounds, eat a whole lot of food and threaten to disrupt the food chain of the native fish that live in Lake Michigan and the entire Great Lakes ecosystem. The fish has been found in the Illinois River, so the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers placed an electronic barrier on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, and so far the barrier has kept the carp from getting into the lake.

There are several runners on staff here at Chicagoist, a few of whom have actually run some marathons. But what we've accomplished ins nothing compared to the feat completed by 30-year-old Canadian Paula Stephanson: she has completed swimming across all of the Great Lakes. She completed the 35-mile swim across Lake Michigan, from Chicago to Michigan City, last night. The undertaking began in 1996. [Sun-Times, NBC 5]

It was a simple stakeout at first, but eventually a boat chase broke out on Lake Michigan early this morning. Police were on a stakeout at Monroe Harbor due to a recent number of burglaries that had occurred there. A boat approached the harbor and went dark. When a police boat approached, the mysterious boat took off. According to WBBM:

Why the city is technically not breaking any rules or laws by excluding them, their failure to list some of what was found in the waters of Lake Michigan seems disingenuous. The annual report was recently sent to residents across the cities and while the City did follow the rules, the Tribune took a look at the full report and came across a few discoveries:

A plane from World War II was pulled from Lake Michigan near Waukegan on Friday. The plane was an SBD Dauntless Dive Bomber, used for training. Joseph Lokites was the pilot of the plane, who apparently made a mistake when switching fuel tanks. He switched to an empty tank, the engine stopped, and the plane ditched in the lake. The airplane sank, and Lokites was rescued.

The annual migration to the lake has begun.

• President-Elect Obama's team is set to release a report that will clear Rahmbo of the Blago mess. Too bad, we were hoping for a wiretap transcript that would have made Glengarry Glen Ross seem like a Disney movie.
• Ah, Christmas-themed irony, our favorite kind. Dozens of health department workers in southern Illinois became sick -- after eating ham at their own office's holiday party. That's why we usually go with an all bacon Christmas dinner.
• Despite millions traveling over the holidays, beleaguered airline United has told their flight attendants union that more layoffs may be coming soon -- perhaps 250 more jobs next month on top of the 1,550 flight attendant jobs cut a few months ago. Expect the airlines to be next with their hat in hand in front of Congress any day now.

A body of a man in his 20's pulled from Lake Michigan yesterday may be that of missing Northwestern student Travis Boehm. Boehm has been missing since November 9 and late last week, searchers found his jacket and other personal items on a Lake Michigan beach near the Northwestern campus. The body was found about six miles south of where the personal items were found. An autopsy was scheduled at the Stein Institute and police also hope to make a positive identification of the body today.

Over 90 billion gallons of storm runoff water rushed into Lake Michigan this weekend in an attempt to slow or prevent further flooding. A typical heavy rainstorm in the Chicago area brings between 3 and 4 inches of rain in a day; this weekend, parts of Chicagoland saw more than 9 inches of rainfall in a day. Chicago's water management systems aren't built for these kinds of storms, and the "deep tunnel," which holds 2.5 billion gallons of water, was full by 7:30 a.m. Saturday.

The three-year-old boy who was swept into Lake Michigan in April when wind blew his stroller into the water has made a full, and doctors say miraculous, recovery. Lazar Ognjenovic's grandfather, who also fell in the water, is fine, too. Doctors say after weeks in the hospital and months of rehab, the little boy is doing great, plus he's picked up English as his second language. [Trib, S-T]

Only days after a Chicago Heights teen drown in a dangerous rip current, the National Weather Service announced they will be issuing specific rip current warnings. The program has been in the works for some time, reviewing data on incidents that span years. Originally, it was thought that the Great Lakes were immune to the dangerous tides, commonly found on the coasts.

The body of 14 year-old DeVante Jackson was recovered from Lake Michigan this morning after several reports of an object in the water from people at the beach. Jackson had been swimming on Sunday afternoon with friends at Kemil Beach at the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, a quarter of a mile away from where his body was found. Officials suspect that Jackson drowned when he was pulled under by a rip current, but an autopsy will be performed by the Porter County coroner's office to determine the official cause of death. [Trib, S-T]

Hundreds of pounds of garbage, including medical waste, have washed up on a 10-mile stretch of shoreline in Michigan. The Coast Guard doesn't know where the trash came from, but some of it apparently contains Wisconsin names and addresses. [AP]

I'll mention upfront that I'm afraid of fish, which may affect how disgusting I find this story, but the line "thousands of bloody, hemorrhaging fish" should gross out even the steeliest reader. Thousands! Gaaaah. They washed up on shore near Milwaukee.

Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle signed state legislation yesterday making Wisconsin the fifth state to join the Great Lakes Basin Compact. The compact was created among eight U.S. states and two Canadian provinces after a Canadian company proposed shipping water from Lake Ontario to Asia in 1999. The states and provinces reached a voluntary water deal in 2001, then spent four years negotiating language that would go into the law. The agreement bans most diversions of water from the Great Lakes Basin, and establishes procedures to mediate disputes among the states and provinces that surround the Great Lakes.

Strong winds apparently blew a toddler in a stroller into Lake Michigan. His grandfather tried to rescue him, and both were taken to the hospital in serious condition. [CBS 2]

Yeah, kind of. Back in March, a study found a cocktail of chemicals in metropolitan drinking water, but the study didn't include Chicago's supply. Well, the Trib commissioned a study of local samples, and guess what? It found trace amounts of "an anti-seizure drug, a common painkiller, caffeine and two chemicals used to make Teflon and Scotchgard."

Keep tagging those fabulous flickr photos "chicagoist," or post 'em to our handy dandy flickr pool. Lovely.

Send good thoughts Roger Ebert's way tomorrow. He's having surgery again. [S-T]

Thousands of migratory birds died in the last few months due to Type E Botulism poisoning from Lake Michigan. Scientists don't know exactly how the birds are contracting botulism, but our theory that they ate tainted canned goods—that's the most common way to human adults contract botulinum poisoning--isn't an option, apparently. The current theory blames invasive populations of zebra mussels and round gobies.

Less than 15 people want to attend the virtual U of I. A spokesman says, ""It is important for people not to focus on the doggone numbers for these initial enrollments. The key is that it exists now." Aim high guys!

It's not just your friends from college: Lake Michigan is getting shallower, too. It's approaching record lows, and its water levels have been dropping since 1997.

We got an e-mail today from a national travel magazine fact-checker wondering about local lingo. Some of the terms are definitely things we're familiar with, but..."the prairie"? Huh. Let 'er rip, cats and kittens. Would you agree that while the term "Chi-Town" means "Chicago," it's rarely spoken by a resident? Does the term "dees and doze guy" refer to a working class local who speaks with a Chicago accent? Does the term "dragged through...

Three men died last night after the sailboat they were on in Lake Michigan capsized in Indiana waters near 95th and Lakeshore. A fourth man survived, but all were in the water for close to 45 minutes, and spokesman for the fire department says the rescue was exceptionally difficult. Authorities still aren't sure what the four men were doing out on the lake, given that the National Weather Service had issued a small craft advisory....

Sure, Al Gore got a Nobel Prize today, but the environment? Well, it's still pretty fucked. Nearly half of Illinois's waterways are unsafe for swimming or fishing.

First item on the agenda is a month away, but a classic case of the early bird getting the worm. The Northern Illinois Branch of the International Wine & Food Society is sponsoring a seven-course dinner November 10 at Bonsoirée. Bonsoirée will do the cooking; IWFS is bringing the wines. Cost is $120 per person, and advance reservations (highly recommended) can be made here. This weekend is going to be a cold one to ride...

Nailah Franklin is still missing today, but her car was found in Hammond, Ind., over the weekend. Now police are searching the Lake Michigan shoreline, too. According to the Trib, "Police found Franklin's vehicle near an abandoned building in Hammond on Friday night, and on Saturday searched a pond at the River Oaks Golf Course in Calumet City. [Franklin's sister] said personal items belonging to Franklin and found near the pond prompted the search, which...