October 6, 2000 - People attending a memorial service in Duluth today will celebrate the life of a lost friend, but they are also hoping her story will raise awareness of a health crisis in America. At the age of 27 Heather Henderson had been a writer and a magazine editor. She'd dedicated the last few years to combating dangerous images of women in the media. She was spurred in part by her personal decade long battle with anorexia and bulimia, a battle she lost last week. Stephanie Hemphill reports .
October 10, 2000 - Taconite mining creates a lot of waste rock. After thirty years of dumping the rock, or tailings as the miners call it, the Evtac facility near Eveleth has just about filled its dump. Now the company faces a new challenge: return the rock pile to a natural looking landscape. Evtac has been looking at a number of options, and as Minnesota Public Radio's Stephanie Hemphill reports, the hot favorite appears to be what the experts call bio-solids, and the rest of us call sewage sludge. Turning iron ore into taconite creates twice as much waste rock as taconite. Since the Evtac mine opened over 30 years ago, waste rock has been piled in one place. The pile is now a mountain a mile long, a mile wide and 150 feet high. It looks like a lunar landscape, and it's virtually sterile.
October 18, 2000 - In Northeastern Minnesota, voters in the 8th district have returned Jim Oberstar to his House seat thirteen times. This year he faces two opponents, because of a battle during the Republican endorsement process that prompted the loser to run as an independent. Minnesota Public Radio's Stephanie Hemphill reports.
November 7, 2000 - Minnesota's first significant winter storm is underway. Greg Gust is the lead forcaster with the National Weather Service in Grand Forks, North Dakota. He says the storm is just starting to pick up steam over western Minnesota and eastern North Dakota.
November 10, 2000 - Mainstreet Radio’s Mark Steil presents a special report on The Armistice Day Blizzard. Steil talks with meteorologist Paul Douglas on how the storm formed and interviews numerous survivors who recollect on their experiences in the infamous storm.
November 10, 2000 - MPR’s Stephanie Hemphill profiles Frank Kutka and his farm near Mahtowa, about an hour south of Duluth. Kutka is experimenting with corn from all over the world to create a variety that will grow up north. His work is attracting attention around the country, and experts are hoping it may result in new crops that will help marginal farms.
November 10, 2000 - It's an event that's a part of Great Lakes lore. On November 10, 1975, The SS Edmund Fitzgerald, one of the biggest, fastest, and most powerful iron ore carriers at the time, sank in a fierce storm on Lake Superior. All 29 crew members went down with the ship. MPR’s Cathy Wurzer talks with Captain Dudley Paquette, the last living captain who sailed on Lake Superior during the infamous storm.
November 10, 2000 - MPR’s Cathy Wurzer interviews meteorologist Mark Seeley about the Armistice Day Blizzard of 1940. The storm brought strong winds which averaged over 25 mph for a 24-hour period and gusted over 60 mph. Rain turned to sleet and snow in the late morning on November 11th, and worsened to blizzard conditions very rapidly, as snowfall rates approached 4 inches per hour. The air temperature fell by as much as 40 degrees over 24 hours and inch thick ice coated poles and phone lines, breaking many of them. 49 Minnesotans perished; many duck hunters caught off-guard by the storm.
November 20, 2000 - Some owners of gas stations and convenience stores around the state are getting nervous as Wal-marts and Sam's Club stores begin selling gas at discount prices. Nationwide, nearly 2,000 discount stores and supermarkets sell gas, but so far Minnesota has seen only skirmishes in this latest assault in the gas wars. Minnesota Public Radio's Stephanie Hemphill reports.
November 21, 2000 - Duluth's Great Lakes Aquarium, open since August, has lost its education director and two board members in a controversy involving a major funder. The flap started with a newspaper opinion piece by the education director opposing a power line proposed by Aquarium backer Minnesota Power. The controversy is heating up, just as public hearings on the line get underway in Wisconsin. Minnesota Public Radio's Stephanie Hemphill reports. Andrew Slade had been with the Great Lakes Aquarium for eight years during its planning and development. He designed and ran its educational programs. He's also a guest columnist on environmental issues in the Duluth News-Tribune. His September column criticized the proposed powerline, saying the environment would be better off if consumers reduced their electricity use, and power companies would develop solar and wind energy.