GREAT LAKES

The Biden administration's new infrastructure package will pump more funding into two high-profile Great Lakes projects.

A project that will boost Great Lakes shipping in a crucial bottleneck and another intended to protect the lakes from invasive carp will get big funding increases under the Biden administration's infrastructure package, officials said Thursday. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said it would pump $479 million into construction of a new navigational lock at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, expanding a complex that enables vessels to haul bulk cargo between Lake Superior and the other Great Lakes.

A winter storm has brought about 9 inches of snow to the Southeast and is now heading to north. Powerful winds and heavy rain is expected. Vanessa Murdock has the forecast.

The lake's fish contain what are known as "forever chemicals." Will the government’s recent steps to regulate this type of chemicals be enough?

The Shedd Aquarium's Centennial Commitment will fund the renovation of galleries, educational programs and new approaches to combat climate change.

Snow showers dusted a variety of locations across the Northeast on Nov. 23.

Experts say water in the Great Lakes is warmer than average and less ice cover is expected this winter, but lake-effect snow trends are difficult to predict.

Roads in Bangalore, India, were buried under several feet of water on Nov. 22 after several days of torrential rain soaked the city. Dozens of people in the region have reportedly died or are missing as a result of flooding.

In the wake of a potent cold front that will track through the Northeast early Thanksgiving week, the coldest air of the season will bring temperatures plummeting to levels more typical of mid-December to the Great Lakes region and Northeast. The wintry chill will also fuel the lake-effect snow machine, sending snow squalls barreling across the region. As a storm brings rain to the Ohio Valley and into the Northeast through Sunday night, the cold front associated with the storm will sweep throug

Rich Luterman has the forecast.

Video shows a car underwater as parts of Northwestern Washington state experience flooding. Video credit: Travis Janeway

Everything remains quiet for the tropics in the Atlantic basin and is expected to stay that way over the next five days.

Schools are closed for a week in New Delhi as winter pollution levels remain dangerously high. Delhi is ranked one of the world's most polluted cities, with a hazardous melange of factory and vehicle emissions and smoke from agricultural fires turning its air a toxic grey every winter.

Steve Paulson says today will start off cloudy and then become warmer with temps in the 70s.

FOX 29's Sue Serio has the latest weather updates.

Tuesday will warm before a cooling trend comes later in the week.

7 First Alert Forecast 6 a.m. Update, Monday, November 15

Sunny skies with a high near 86° today in the Valley.

Some Georgians experienced the coldest temperatures so far this season over the weekend. Now, we're on the upswing through midweek.

FOX 32 meteorologist Mike Caplan has your Monday morning weather forecast for the Chicago area.

Cold overnight with temperatures in the 20s on Monday morning. Mostly cloudy with a few rain/snow showers possible late in the morning into the afternoon. Highs in the 30s.

Today marks the anniversary of the loss of the Edmund Fitzgerald, a 729-foot ore carrier in Lake Superior that was lost in 1975.

Some parts of the Northern Great Lakes region were greeted by their first significant snowfall of the season earlier this week, but not even the arrival of the fluffy white stuff could mask these historic times for the Great Lakes themselves.

Climate change is causing drastic swings in the level of Lake Michigan, which in turn is putting the city of Chicago at risk.

The city of Goma, capital of North Kivu province in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, is hosting its first major sports competition: a karate tournament bringing together five countries from the Great Lakes region, with the aim of promoting peace and peaceful cohabitation in a region that has been plagued by violence.

The U.N. Security Council is urging leaders in central Africa’s Great Lakes region to seize the momentum of recent positive political developments to make progress toward ending conflicts and the illegal exploitation of gold and other natural resources

Good morning, Chicago. Here are some of the top stories you need to know to start your day.

Some Iqaluit residents hauled water from a nearby river after authorities warned against drinking tap water.

President Joe Biden named Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago Commissioner Debra Shore as head of the midwest region for the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

The pope addressed parliamentarians who were in Rome for a preparatory meeting before the U.N's annual climate conference.

After scientists from Japan, German and Italy win, one says it's "very urgent" that steps be taken now to fight climate change.

It's not just the coasts experiencing climate change. The coastline along the Great Lakes is changing too.

It's not just the coasts experiencing climate change. The coastline along the Great Lakes is changing too.

Heavy rains and wet springs have led to high water levels in Powderhorn Lake — and flooding for neighboring communities. With high water, native plants and fish nursery habitat have essentially been drowned out.

Maybe you’re in Michigan, with family in Wisconsin (or vice versa). Or perhaps you’re planning some sort of trip across state lines, and you came across the idea of using a ferry to save some time around the Great Lakes.

Those along the Great Lakes and rivers near Detroit and Canada have taken notice of a special boat that’s been sailing those waters this summer.

Pentagon documents show at least 385 military installations nationwide are polluted with PFAS, mostly from firefighting foam used in training exercises.

More drownings have been reported in the Great Lakes so far in 2021 than by this time last year, prompting officials to urge swimmers to practice water safety measures. As of July 2, there were 32 drownings in the Great Lakes, compared to 25 as of July 4, 2020, according to data collected by the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project. The nonprofit annually tracks drownings in the Great Lakes and recently issued a warning about a summer spike in deaths.

Lake Michigan beaches suffered recently from the double whammy of the coronavirus pandemic, which closed or limited access, and to historically high water levels, with erosion and flooding causing widespread damage.The 2021 beach season — traditionally beginning on Memorial Day — looks like its starting on brighter note with COVID-19 mitigations becoming less strict and water levels also on the dropping. Many beaches will be closer to normal than 2020.

A group of scientists urged the Biden administration Thursday to restore legal protections for gray wolves, saying their removal earlier this year was premature and that states are allowing too many of the animals to be killed. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service dropped wolves in most of the lower 48 states from the endangered species list in January. The decision was among more than 100 Trump administration actions related to the environment that President Joe Biden ordered reviewed after taking office.

A spell of dry, mild weather is giving the Great Lakes a break after two years of high water that has shattered records and heavily damaged shoreline roads and homes, officials said Monday.

In and around this region, measurable snow in May seems to occur about once every decade or two.

In and around this region, measurable snow in May seems to occur about once every decade or two.

Siphoning water from the Great Lakes would be illegal and predatory. To survive drought, California needs to recycle water.

The Chicago Park District has signed off on a habitat expansion of the Montrose Park Dunes natural area, part of the beach where a pair of endangered Great Lakes piping plovers escaped a music festival, lost a clutch of eggs, fought off other birds and successfully fledged chicks two summers in a row.

A great egret wades at Big Marsh Park in Chicago on March 22, 2021. An Audubon report is being released with a blueprint for wetland restoration in the Great Lakes region. Audubon developed a method from modeling and analysis to identify and prioritize 12 areas that are important to the health of marsh birds and overall ecosystems. Restoration work has been completed at Big Marsh Park and marsh birds are on the rebound. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)

Bennett said the only thing the prosecutors proved in the case was that Snyder was poor, and stated that Snyder went to Great Lakes Peterbilt to get a second job as a consultant to support his family. Koster asked the jury to consider how many people get a second job stating “I need money” and are handed a check for the work upfront.

When Great Lakes Peterbilt sent recommendations for purchasing a 2012 garbage truck that sat in the lot for about two years, prosecutors have showed emails between Reeder, Snyder and the city attorney about how to purchase that truck without going to bid. The city attorney said a purchase over $150,000 has to go to bid, according to emails.

As Fanatics continues to hold off on a potential IPO, the sports merchandise company is busy expanding global operations, this time in China. The Michael Rubin-led company is starting Fanatics China, a joint venture with investment firm Hillhouse Capital, an Asia-focused private equity fund with companies in Asia's e-commerce and retail sectors, the company told CNBC. Sources close to the deal told CNBC Fanatics expects the "venture alone to be over a $1 billion piece of business in China." Topsports is one of the largest sports retail businesses in China and operates more than 20,000 Nike and Adidas retail stores. In 2018, the PE firm went through its raise of $10.6 billion and now attempting to surpass that with a $13 billion raise.

Chapman said she has been without power for two nights and is using the propane to keep warm. The worst U.S. power outages were in Texas, affecting more than 2 million homes and businesses. Texas officials said more than 400,000 doses due now will not arrive until at least Wednesday because of the storm. Several cities had record lows: In Minnesota, the Hibbing/Chisholm weather station registered minus 38 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 39 degrees Celsius). Sioux Falls, South Dakota, dropped to minus 26 Fahrenheit (minus 26 degrees Celsius).

There have been other COVID-19 cases at Great Lakes — Chitty declined to say how many — and the base does tracing investigations to determine who might have been in contact with that person. Those determined to have been at the highest level of exposure are quarantined for 14 says, he said.

(AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. – Michigan's environmental agency said Friday it has approved construction of an underground tunnel to house a replacement for a controversial oil pipeline in a channel linking two of the Great Lakes. AdThe project requires permits from the state Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. “We have issued permits designed to ensure that if a tunnel is constructed, it will be in strict compliance with relevant statutes and adhere to stringent protections against impacts to the Great Lakes,” Clark said. State officials emphasized the tunnel project was a separate legal matter from the dispute over the existing pipeline, which was laid in 1953. It has taken steps to prevent future anchor strikes and says the tunnel project would eliminate that danger.

The structure on the Des Plaines River is a choke point between the Illinois River, which is infested with the invasive carp, and Lake Michigan. The next step is developing design and engineering specifications, expected to take three to four years and cost about $28.8 million. Under the new agreement, the Corps will pay $18 million and Michigan $8 million. Both states will collaborate with the Corps as it designs the complex mechanism, which will require thousands of pages of drawings. Government agencies, advocacy groups and others have long debated how to prevent them from reaching the Great Lakes, where scientists say they could out-compete native species for food and habitat.

As part of the series “Great Lakes, High Stakes,” the Tribune visited and reported from each of the lakes, exploring the environmental issues and how coastal communities are adapting to a warming world. Along Lake Michigan, communities are searching for new ways to stop the erosion of its sandy shoreline. Those solutions could forever alter the way we interact with the lake.

“Enbridge has routinely refused to take action to protect our Great Lakes and the millions of Americans who depend on them for clean drinking water and good jobs,” the Democratic governor said in a statement. "They have repeatedly violated the terms of the 1953 easement by ignoring structural problems that put our Great Lakes and our families at risk.

If you’re driving in your car a lot today, don’t be surprised if you hear more Gordon Lightfoot than usual.

Both feared and revered by people, gray wolves have recovered from near extinction in parts of the country but remain absent from much of their historical range. Federal wildlife officials contend thriving populations in the western Great Lakes region, Rocky Mountains and Pacific Northwest ensure the species' long-term survival. “In the early part of the 20th century the gray wolf had essentially become a ghost throughout the United States," Bernhardt said. The decision keeps protections for a small population of Mexican gray wolves in the Southwest. Fish and Wildlife Service would have no say about moving ahead with the plan, if voters approve it.

A Michigan regulatory panel refused Tuesday, June 30, 2020, to grant quick permission to run a new oil pipeline beneath a channel that connects two of the Great Lakes, deciding instead to conduct a full review. Enbridge filed an application in April with the Michigan Public Service Commission to relocate a segment of its Line 5 that extends beneath the Straits of Mackinac, which links Lakes Huron and Michigan. (Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy via AP)TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. A Michigan regulatory panel on Tuesday refused to grant quick permission to run a new oil pipeline beneath a channel that connects two of the Great Lakes, deciding instead to conduct a full review. The state Public Service Commission's decision involved a proposed replacement for a segment of Enbridge's Line 5 that extends beneath the Straits of Mackinac, which links Lakes Huron and Michigan. Enbridge filed an application in April with the Public Service Commission to relocate the underwater section of Line 5 into the proposed tunnel.

Cruising on the Great Lakes is likely to be more resilient than the cruise industry generally, said Klein, a Memorial University of Newfoundland professor, in an email. This is in part because of the size of ships, in part because people may become reluctant to travel outside the U.S., and in part because the clientele is not as vulnerable to the economic downturn, largely because they tend to skew older than the target audience of mass market lines like Royal Caribbean and Carnival.

Prices for a gallon of gas drop below $2.00 at a Gulf service station on April 08, 2020 in Farmingdale, New York. Prices of less than 20 cents a gallon were found in Colorado, Wisconsin, Iowa, Montana and the Dakotas, but in other parts of the country they are higher. "I think you are going to see much more common sub-$1 gasoline prices in the nation's midsection, and I think we are looking at a national average of $1.25 to $1.50" at the pump. Unleaded gasoline retail prices averaged $1.90 per gallon nationally Wednesday, but were lower in much of the country, according to AAA. He explained that the super low prices under 20 cents per gallon at the rack, where trucks fill up with fuel, are lower than spot prices in the wholesale market and are way below gasoline prices in the futures market.

How about escaping to a lighthouse in the middle of the Great Lakes? Right in the middle of Lake Michigan, 7 miles from the nearest shore, is the White Shoal Lighthouse, and it's about to start taking reservations. As of now, dates available for reservation at the lighthouse are Aug. 1, 20, 21, 26 and 27. There is a 13-mile boat trip from Big Stone Bay inside Wilderness State Park, which is 12 miles west of Mackinaw City. An overnight stay will give people approximately 24 hours at the lighthouse.