June 21, 2001 - Demographers and state planners are worrying about dramatic shifts in Minnesota's population, with younger workers moving to the Twin Cities metro area and older people concentrating in rural areas. Are small towns ready for an aging population? Will there be enough young people to take care of the older people? Scenic Cook County, along the North Shore of Lake Superior, has only about 5000 year-round residents. Nearly a thousand of them are older than 65. And many summer visitors are moving there to retire. As part of our "Aging Gracefully" Series Mainstreet Radio's Stephanie Hemphill visited Grand Marais recently and found people are coming up with creative ways of meeting the needs of older residents.
June 21, 2001 - That's Tim Smalley, boating safety specialist with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. By the way Slow-no-wake restrictions are again in place on the entire Lower St. Croix (kroy) River. The rule was automatically reinstated today when the river rose above 683 feet at the U-S Army Corps of Engineers Stillwater gauge. That's eight feet above the normal river stage.
July 3, 2001 - Flooding this spring hit several Minnesota state parks. The damage was so severe in some areas, that a few of the parks only recently opened for business and still have areas off limits to visitors. After the third such bout of serious flooding in less than a decade, park officials are taking a look at long range plans, to determine how Minnesota's state parks can withstand future floods. Mainstreet Radio's Tim Post reports.
July 4, 2001 - MPR’s Lorna Benson talks with Marlin Bree, a boater who was among a few unlucky people caught on Lake Superior when hundred-mile-an-hour winds whipped up 30-foot waves.
July 9, 2001 - Where can you hear works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Darius Milhaud, (me-YOH) and Bernstein's (BURN-stine) "West Side Story" performed on the same Wednesday evening? In Duluth, of course. The Lake Superior Chamber Orchestra's adventurous artistic director and conductor Warren Friesen, says he programs concerts the way he fixes dinner -- tossing together a tasty variety of interesting flavors and textures. Minnesota Public Radio's Stephanie Hemphill samples a few courses.
July 10, 2001 - Dry conditions have prompted a number of Minnesota cities to enact water restrictions. Public Works Supervisor Doug Hartman. In Prior Lake, officials have issued an emergency ban on all outdoor watering. Hartman says new water emergency means Prior Lake's 15,000 residents face steeper fines for violations.
July 11, 2001 - In Duluth tonight, the Parks and Recreation Commission hears public comment on a controversial proposal to build a golf course and lodge on Spirit Mountain. The Commission approved the $24 million project last month, but people opposing it are still hoping the development can be stopped. Minnesota Public Radio's Stephanie Hemphill reports.
July 12, 2001 - Dry conditions are forcing new restrictions on wilderness hiking, campfires and outdoor burning in Northeastern Minnesota. Firefighting reinforcements are arriving in case wildfire breaks out in the huge blowdown in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
July 12, 2001 - The dry weather has prompted officials in the Boundary Water Canoe Area to ban open fires throughout the BWCA. Officials are worried that a fire could quickly get out of control and could ignite the hundreds of thousands of blown down trees that were knocked down during a severe storm two years ago.
July 12, 2001 - The weather has been dry as a bone in the last three weeks in Minnesota. Since mid-June, the Twin Cities has had only 4 days with rain. The recent dry weather is making life difficult for farmers who, a few weeks ago, were worried about flooding.