September 18, 2007 - If your travel plans take you over the Lowry Avenue bridge in Minneapolis this week, you'll need to make new plans. Today's rain is delaying the closure of the Lowry Avenue bridge in Minneapolis. But the span connecting North and Northeast Minneapolis will be closed for inspection from 8am to 6pm for the rest of the week if weather clears up. While the two-lane truss bridge is closed Hennepin County recommends drivers use the West Broadway Ave. bridge to get across the Mississippi River in that part of town. Jake Bronder is a bridge engineer for Hennepin County. He says MnDOT and the county are just closing the bridge for inspection.
September 27, 2007 - Many people dismiss the North Dakota plains as an uninspiring landscape. A Moorhead photographer uses words like comfortable and intimidating to describe the prairie. Wayne Gudmundson has spent 35 years photographing the prairie landscape. Gudmundson sees the prairie a place that represents a regional sense of identity. A retrospective of Gudmundson's work opens this week at the Plains Art Museum in Fargo. Minnesota Public Radios Dan Gunderson reports.
October 8, 2007 - A new report on the economy of northeastern Minnesota calls into question the value of mining jobs. The region is poised to add more than a thousand high-paying jobs in several new mining projects. But the report's author says the region should think hard about whether those jobs will fulfill the promises their backers are making. Minnesota Public Radio's Stephanie Hemphill reports.
October 11, 2007 - The big hurryup to get the new 35W bridge built means working through a Minnesota winter. And even with our recent history of warmer than normal winters it can still get pretty darn cold in January and February. Not to worry, the bridge builders say. We've been building structures for decades in cold weather they point out. The secret according to the engineers is keeping the fingers, the water and the sand warm. Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Olson reports.
October 15, 2007 - This is the first full week of work on the new $234 million I 35W bridge. Flatiron/Manson is under contract to get the bridge up and carrying traffic by December 24th, 2008. But the cost and the challenges of building a new bridge don't end with concrete and steel. State, local and federal officials have to deal everything from lost parking spots to threats to the pearly eyed mussel. And almost everything affected by the bridge collapse and bridge reconstruction has a price tag. Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Scheck reports.
October 18, 2007 - Linda Figg, lead designer of the I-35W bridge replacement project, talks about how the new 35W bridge will be designed to weather Minnesota's extreme winters and summers.
May 26, 2008 - MPR’s William Wilcoxen reports from Hugo, where a severe storm struck the city on May 25th. Wilcoxen interviews residents on what they saw and experienced as intense wind and hail battered their homes.
May 26, 2008 - After a severe storm system traversed over the metro on May 25th, MPR’s Tom Crann discusses tornado science with meteorologist Paul Huttner, who explains the importance in distinguishing between straight line winds and a tornadic storm for climatology analysis.
May 30, 2008 - MPR’s Tom Weber provides an intimate perspective while visiting Hugo, Minnesota in the aftermath of a tornado. It's a painful, difficult week for people in the St. Paul suburb.
July 7, 2008 - MPR’s Bob Kelleher visits the Split Rock Lighthouse as it undergoes a large restoration work. The lighthouse is 130 ft above Lake Superior's blue waves, but the lake's notoriously bad weather and winds have taken a toll on the iconic structure.