By Tina Lam, Detroit Free Press Aug. 4--After a parched summer last year that left docks stranded and boat propellers scraping sandy shallows, the Great Lakes are blissfully -- and surprisingly -- full again this year. Heavy snow and rains since last winter have made the lakes rise.

By Tina Lam, Detroit Free Press Oct. 4--BIG BAY -- Harbormaster Kim Bourgeois has watched the wavy waterline on rusty pilings in Big Bay Harbor plunge a foot in the past year and 2 feet in the last decade.

Drought and mild temperatures have pushed Lake Superior's water level to its lowest point on record for this time of year, continuing a downward spiral across the Great Lakes.

By Tina Lam and Ben Schmitt, Detroit Free Press Aug. 29--Wild rice fields have dried up in Wisconsin; sandy islands have appeared in the Duluth, Minn., harbor; Marquette's beaches are broader; and freighters are lightening their loads and avoiding some ports altogether.

DETROIT _ Wild rice fields have dried up in Wisconsin; sandy islands have appeared in the Duluth, Minn., harbor; Marquette's beaches are broader; and freighters are lightening their loads and avoiding some ports altogether.