July 14, 1999 - U.S. Forest Service officials are expected to announce soon whether they'll allow further use of chainsaws and low-flying aircraft in the storm damaged Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Both have been authorized during the initial search and rescue effort in the area, but sawyer crews have nearly completed their exploration of tree-choked portages.
September 6, 1999 - MPR’s Eric Jansen reports on trip from the BWCA, after the severe storm on the Fourth of July that downed millions of trees over more than 300,000 acres. Despite the devastation, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness is already showing signs of recovery.
October 13, 1999 - Midday presents a Mainstreet Radio special program to discuss shipwrecks on Lake Superior. Hosted at the Canal Park Maritime Museum in Duluth, Rachel Reabe speaks with guest panelists, including director of The Maritime Museum, an underwater photographer, a Maritime historian, and founder of the Great Lake Shipwreck Preservation Society. Panelists also answer listener questions.
June 27, 2000 - MPR’s Lorna Benson talks with reporter Dan Gunderson about Governor Jesse Ventura’s fourth leg of Tour 2000. The Governor began his day in Moorhead and by tomorrow will visit 12 Northwestern Minnesota cities to talk about flood relief, the state of agriculture, and business development.
July 4, 2000 - MPR’s Bob Kelleher takes a look back on the one year anniversary of BWCA blowdown, and what has happened since.
July 4, 2000 - MPR’s Lorna Benson interviews Cathy Quinn, a crew leader on the eastern end of the Gunflint Trail. She says it may be two years before the clean-up is complete and speaks to the enormity of change to landscape.
July 11, 2000 - MPR’s Erin Galbally reports on record breaking floods that have divided downtown Austin, Minnesota. Heavy rains caused the Cedar River, Dobbins Creek and Turtle Creek to overflow into basements and roadways. Some in community find themselves without a home or belongings.
July 26, 2000 - MPR’s Tim Post reports on how residents of Granite Falls spent the day cleaning up and assessing damage after a tornado ripped through town on Tuesday night. Hundreds of homes were pulverized on the westside of town. Post talked with homeowners as they were allowed back into damaged areas of town to collect personal items.
July 26, 2000 - Mainstreet Radio’s Mark Steil reports on tornado that struck Granite Falls, Minnesota. Steil gets firsthand accounts of the storm. The tornado is the latest disaster for a city which has seen floods and job losses in the last few years.
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.