October 28, 2003 - A winter storm warning is in effect for the Northeastern part of Minnesota due to heavy snow and periodic freezing rain. A small craft advisory is also in effect along the North and South shores of Lake Superior. Craig Sanders is a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Duluth. He says his office initially issued only a winter weather advisory this morning, but changed it to a warning once more information came in.
October 30, 2003 - There's a tiny piece of the Big Woods still standing in Wayzata. Tuesday, voters in the western Twin Cities suburb next to Lake Minnetonka will decide its fate. On the ballot is a proposal, which if approved, would tax Wayzata property owners about three million dollars to help pay for preserving fourteen acres of trees. Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Olson reports.
October 30, 2003 - The Duluth Schools are in trouble. The district is short $6 million dollars for next school year. The district is asking voters to raise property taxes to help close the gap. But even if the tax increase wins at the polls, the district will face a $2 million shortfall. And Duluth is not alone. On Tuesday, voters in more than 60 Minnesota school districts will decide whether to raise their taxes. Two years after the legislature took school funding off the property tax, 80% of districts are taxing themselves anyway. Mainstreet Radio's Stephanie Hemphill reports. {
October 31, 2003 - Preliminary Climate Summary for October. It appears that mean October temperatures will range from 1 to 3 degrees F warmer than normal for most communities around the state. Temperature extremes during the month ranged from just 13 degrees F at Embarrass back on the 2nd, to 90 degrees F at Milan on the 7th and at Browns Valley on the 7th and the 20th..the latter being a new all-time state high temperature for that date.
November 14, 2003 - Minnesota is one of several states in a Midwestern belt that experiences a weather phenomenon called "thundersnow" -- when lightning flares and thunder rumbles in the midst of a snowstorm. Meteorologists really don't know a lot about thundersnow, and that's why a University of Missouri researcher has just been awarded a half-million dollar grant from the National Science Foundation to find out more. Patrick Market has been studying thundersnow for the past four years. He says thunderclouds that form in the winter are much different from those we see in the summer.
November 14, 2003 - An 800-million dollar loan package earmarked for an electrical power plant on Minnesota's Iron Range has survived in the Federal Energy Bill. The loan package is one provision in a 17-hundred page bill that's expected to go before the U-S House and Senate next week. The bill also includes support for the region's ethanol industry. Minnesota Public Radio's Bob Kelleher reports
November 14, 2003 - Some people in northern Minnesota are frustrated over a new law regulating all-terrain vehicles. The law says it's illegal to ride an ATV on certain types of wetlands. But in Koochiching County on the Canadian border, most of the land -- more than a million acres -- is wet. County officials say the law needs to be changed. As Mainstreet Radio's Tom Robertson reports, some lawmakers agree...
November 19, 2003 - Columbia Heights is trying to figure out what to do about the approximately 45 deer that have made themselves at home in the Twin Cities suburb. The herd resides on a 76-acre enclosed area owned by the Minneapolis Water Works. The land houses one of the state's largest water treatment plants and doesn't provide enough space or food for the dozens of deer that occupy it. Yesterday a task force recommended that the deer population be reduced by bow hunters. City Manager Walt Fehst says it's not uncommon to hear about deer popping up in the metro area. But he says the situation in Columbia Heights is unique.
November 21, 2003 - Minnesotans throughout the state are bracing for the first major snowstorm of the season. And like any major storm, the Minnesota Department of Transportation is urging motorists to use extreme caution when traveling. But a news release issued by MnDOT today also says travelers may notice fewer snow plows on the roads due to reduced overtime costs and staffing changes. The news releases were sent by district engineers in several rural parts of the state. House and Senate DFLers say the changes are a result of budget cuts, another example, they say of how the state's budget cuts are affecting Minnesotans. Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Scheck reports..
November 21, 2003 - The U.S. Senate is expected to vote today on the federal energy bill. The bill would provide money to help build a new power plant in northern Minnesota. The plant would convert coal into gas to make electricity. Burning gas is much cleaner than burning coal. But critics say the Iron Range isn't the best place to use the technology. Mainstreet Radio's Stephanie Hemphill reports.