Daniel Wanschura

The pandemic, high water levels, and warm temperatures could mean more drownings on the Great Lakes. 

There have been 58 reported drownings so far this year, according to the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project. 32 of those have occurred in Lake Michigan.

Water levels on the Great Lakes might finally start going down.

With the exception of Lake Superior, each of the Great Lakes have likely reached their peak water levels for the year, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

When the late William Grawn Milliken first told his mother about his aspirations to serve in government, she told him to be a “statesman, not a politician.” He went on to be Michigan’s longest-serving governor, make the state a national leader in environmental policy and leave a legacy of civility and bipartisan public service.

Watch a recording of the memorial event on Facebook. 

A trio of Traverse City artists are out with a new album called "Live at St. Andrews." It features David Chown, Miriam Picó and Laurie Sears during a 2018 show at St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Beulah.

After crossing the Mackinac Bridge and heading west on US Highway 2 in St. Ignace, I’m looking for something I was told would be just outside of town.

Believe it or not, I’ve come to this part of Michigan to look at a billboard.

In the mid-19th century, a persuasive Mormon leader named James Jesse Strang led hundreds of followers to Beaver Island in the middle of Lake Michigan. Then he declared himself the King of Earth and Heaven.

That’s the story author Miles Harvey tells in his new book, The King of Confidence - A Tale of Utopian Dreamers, Frontier Schemers, True Believers, False Prophets, and the Murder of an American Monarch.

After starting last week, the Traverse City Pit Spitters season has been put on hold. The same goes for the newly created Great Lakes Resorters and Northern Michigan Dune Bears.

Several players recently tested positive for COVID-19 which prompted the pause.

Water levels in the Great Lakes continue to remain high. 

Every month this year, Lakes Michigan and Huron have surpassed record-high water levels set in the 1980’s. In June, those lakes were nearly three feet above average. 

Water levels in the Great Lakes are really high right now. Lakes Michigan, Huron and Erie are all breaking records and creating all sorts of problems for communities on their shores.

Despite the coronavirus pandemic, baseball is coming back to northern Michigan this summer. On Monday the Traverse City Pit Spitters announced the creation of two brand new teams – the Great Lakes Resorters and the Northern Michigan Dune Bears.

To eliminate travel during the COVID-19 pandemic, all three will play against each other at Turtle Creek Stadium in Traverse City this summer.

As if shoreline erosion wasn’t enough, communities and property owners on Lake Michigan are now dealing with another problem due to record high water levels — trash. Up and down the lake, large amounts of it are washing up on shore.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Michigan elections are still on for Tuesday, May 5.

Residents across the state — including some in northern Michigan — will vote on a variety of local ballot initiatives.

Summer is going to look and sound a lot different at Interlochen Center for the Arts this year. The usual cacophony of music coming from students practicing their instruments all around campus will not happen.

Last week, Interlochen canceled its traditional summer arts camp experience due to COVID-19 concerns. Instead, the summer camp will transition to online, virtual instruction.

Isolation is one of the biggest triggers for people in addiction recovery, which is why socially distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic is especially hard time for some. That’s why Addiction Treatment Services in Traverse City is ramping up its virtual outreach efforts.

“The opposite of addiction isn’t necessarily abstinence, the opposite of addiction is connection,” says Matt Zerilli, Recovery Center Manager at ATS. 

The show won’t go on for Traverse City’s Parallel 45 Theatre Festival. The group announced Wednesday that it canceled its upcoming summer season due to COVID-19 concerns.

If you want to look at art during the coronavirus pandemic, your options are pretty limited. Art museums and galleries are considered non-essential businesses and are closed across the state until at least the end of the month.

That’s why Michigan Legacy Art Park in Thompsonville is uniquely positioned at a time like this. It’s outdoors and visitors have plenty of space to socially distance in the park’s 30 acres. 

County health departments are asking businesses that remain open to step up their efforts to prevent transmission of the coronavirus.

Add Elk Rapids to the list of northern Michigan communities worried about the influx of travelers coming north amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Village President Jim Janisse wrote a letter to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer this week, asking her to give people a “one-time choice” between staying at their first and second homes and banning future travel between the two. Janisse says there are currently some people coming to the area just for the weekends. 

Artists across northern Michigan are scrambling to find ways to make up for lost income due to the COVID-19 crisis.

With many events and large gatherings canceled through spring and into the summer, artists have lost out on gigs and other opportunities they were depending on to make ends meet. 

Non-profit organizations in northern Michigan are among those hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

Dave Mengebier is the president and CEO of the Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation. He says more people depend on nonprofits for essentials during this crisis, but it’s a really tough time for those organizations to raise money. 

A $500,000 grant from the state will support businesses in the 10 counties of northwest lower Michigan affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

About that same amount is also available through a new loan program from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.

As coronavirus continues to spread in Michigan, the pandemic puts the state's blood supply at risk.

If you’re traveling to Grand Traverse County, please quarantine yourself. That’s the message from the Grand Traverse County Health Department. It's requesting a 14-day self-quarantine for anyone coming to the county from areas with high numbers of COVID-19 cases.

Traverse City singer songwriter Miriam Pico thought she was just writing a song to sing to her own kids. But now, kids in China are learning that song to help get through the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Update 3/25/20, 3:30pm: Due to the coronavirus pandemic, on Monday, March 23, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced temporary requirements “to suspend activities that are not necessary to sustain or protect life” through April 13, 2020. Under that order, limited forms of construction are still permissible, including projects necessary “to maintain and improve the safety, sanitation, and essential operations of residences.” A spokesman for the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy says whether or not that includes shoreline construction “is dependent on the purpose and necessity of the shoreline work, and is case-specific.” He says contractors, their legal counsel and homeowners need to make that determination and if they are still unsure, contact the Governor’s office for more clarity.

At a time when many Michigan companies are slowing down due to the coronavirus pandemic, business is booming for contractors working along Lake Michigan’s shoreline.

They’re fighting a different crisis — trying to save people’s homes from extremely high water levels. But with so much demand, there’s little to stop unqualified contractors from jumping in on the action.