Flint water crisis

Six years after assuring residents Flint’s water was fine, Michigan attorneys asked the state Supreme Court to drop a class-action suit claiming that residents waited too long. The claim drew scoffs from one justice: "At a certain point ..., you kind of have to make sense.”

The latest can’t-miss journalism about natural resources in Michigan and the Great Lakes.

As Gov. Gretchen Whitmer focuses on environmental justice, a new study by the University of Michigan maps ‘hot spots’ where low-income people of color are exposed to high levels of pollution.

The Flint water crisis impacted thousands of young children. A researcher who has studied the impact of lead exposure says there are interventions that can help.

The state's new prosecution team delivered a scathing rebuke of how the investigation was handled by former Attorney General Bill Schuette. But their promises to deliver justice for the people of Flint were greeted by skepticism and even grief.

Flint leaders are both hopeful and skeptical that Attorney General Dana Nessel will reboot the criminal cases and prosecute high-ranking officials

Charges against the state’s former top doctor and former health director have been dropped but could be refiled, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel says.

Since Michigan halted its free bottled water program, Nestlé has provided 100,000 bottles water per week to help centers that continue to face high demands from residents who refuse to drink from their taps.

Saying “the people of Flint deserve nothing short of justice,” Michigan’s attorney general is moving quickly to resolve dozens of civil lawsuits filed in the wake of the Flint lead poisoning crisis.

Michigan shouldn’t turn its attention away from Flint just because the state says drinking water is “restored,” says an environmental activist.

A year after Michigan declared Flint’s drinking water “restored” and began encouraging residents to return to their faucets, the city’s demand for bottled water remains sky-high, leading to hours-long waits for dwindling supplies.

The water conglomerate is donating millions of bottles of water to Flint. But it’s taking millions of gallons of water from central Michigan and touting its efforts on television. That’s led to mixed feelings.

Detroit-area water providers are challenging Michigan’s rules for lead in drinking water, which are the nation’s toughest. The challenge has high stakes for public health and ratepayers’ wallets.

Momentum has stalled, costs are rising dramatically, and state officials are threatening to halt funding for efforts to replace all of Flint’s water lead pipes.

A Democratic Governors Association PAC says Schuette’s office “OK’d” the deal that produced lead-tainted water in Flint, and that residents were harmed as a result of his office’s inaction.

University of Michigan researchers developed an algorithm that has played an important role in Flint’s efforts to replace hazardous lead service lines. It could help other Michigan cities better locate older, compromised pipes.

A former Michigan spokesman who resigned because of “callous” statements about Flint was paid by a state contract to train government employees on how to communicate with media, records show.

he director of the Michigan Department of Civil Rights says the agency has taken steps to reduce bias that led to the public health crisis.

House lawmakers voice bipartisan support for legislation to require schools, child care centers, colleges hospitals and veterans centers to test for lead and other contaminants.

An innovative – but expensive preschool – is showing dramatic gains for youths exposed to lead in Flint. Money for operations runs out next year.