October 4, 2000 - Hunters shoot more black bears in Minnesota than in any other state. The Department of Natural Resources relies on hunting to control the bear population, but this year, hunters aren't bagging as many bears as the D-N-R hoped for. There's plenty of natural food in the woods, and bears aren't coming to the bait hunters set. The number of bears in Minnesota is at an all-time high, and DNR officials say the lack of hunting success could mean more problem bears in years to come. Chris Julin reports from Duluth. {
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 9, 2000 - State officials today announced creation of a unified plan for managing water in Minnesota. They say "Minnesota Watermarks" represents the first time local, state, and federal agencies and some citizens' groups have collaborated to create a common vision for water quality and use. Minnesota Public Radio's Lynette Nyman 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 12, 2000 - The clear blues skies over Snowbank Lake filled with billowing smoke, as the Forest Service set a prescribed fire in timber blown down in the July 1999 windstorm. Fire experts consider controlled burn just the first of many more to come in and near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
October 18, 2000 - More than 2,000 gray wolves live in Minnesota. That's by far the largest wolf population south of Alaska, but the number of wolves is growing in several states. A few hundred wolves now live in Michigan and Wisconsin, and a few hundred more in western states. In response, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposes taking wolves off the "endangered" list across most of the country. Federal wildlife managers will gather public testimony on the proposal at a public meeting tonight in Duluth. Minnesota Public Radio's Chris Julin has the story.
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.
October 19, 2000 - Many Saint Paul residents are getting more vocal in their complaints about the odor problem emanating from the Gohper State Ethanol plant on the city's West End. Last night (Wed) the city council held a public hearing in a school near the plant. Minnesota Public Radio's William Wilcoxen reports council members heard plenty of anger from citizens living with the smell...
October 24, 2000 - Revised rules dealing with the state's feedlots went into effect yesterday. Farm feedlots are the byproduct of livestock operations. Large dairy and pork farms have received attention lately for their affects on air and water quality. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency says the new rules will help deal with that pollution while considering the number of operations in an area, as well. Minnesota Public Radio's Tim Post reports.
October 26, 2000 - With high gas prices, some automakers are taking serious looks at building hybrid cars, cars that use gas and run on electricity. This week, another automaker promised to build a hybrid vehicle. The US unit of Germany's DaimlerChrysler says it will make a hybrid Dodge Durango SUV. Hybrid vehicles are gaining popularity because they are more fuel efficient and environmentally friendly than cars that run only on gas. One of the new hybrids is the Toyota Prius. It gets up to 52 miles to the gallon, seats 5 people, and will cost about 20-thousand dollars. Workers at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency are already using a few of the cars on the job. The MPCA's Ned Brooks took me for a spin in the Prius and says he likes the way the car looks.