December 29, 2000 - The National Weather Service says we'll be ringing in the new year in bitterly cold weather . According to the forecast, it will be as cold AS 20 below zero this weekend. All around the region people are struggling with higher energy bills. It's been a double whammy this winter: colder than normal temperatures coupled with about a 50 percent increase in the cost of natural gas. There are several ways to cut down on your energy expenses this winter all the while remaining comfortable in your home or apartment. Minnesota Public Radio's Mark Zdechlik reports...
December 29, 2000 - The snow created bad road conditions in many other parts of the state as well. We checked in with Renard Fritz of the state patrol in Detroit Lakes to see how things are going in that area of the state. Renard Fritz is a radio communications operator for the State Patrol in Detroit Lakes.
December 29, 2000 - How people in the Twin Cities are faring the morning rush hour.
December 29, 2000 - Meteorologist Mark Seeley on the weather. It was a snowy December.
December 29, 2000 - Governors of the eight Great Lakes States have floated a series of proposals intended to keep Great Lakes water in the five Great Lakes. The plan by the Council of Great Lakes Governors would make it a lot harder to sell water to anyone outside the region. But first, they've got to convince two Canadian provincial governments and a handful of environmental groups the proposals are tough enough. Minnesota Public Radio's Bob Kelleher reports: {Great Lakes residents were alarmed two years ago when a private company announced plans to sell ship loads of Lake Superior water to Asia. Few would have missed the water. But it could have established a precedent ... and some predicted future deals might involve much more than a few ship loads at a time.
January 4, 2001 -
January 10, 2001 -
January 10, 2001 - More than a thousand band members gathered at Mille Lacs Tuesday to hear their new chief executive's State of the Band address. Melanie Benjamin defeated former executive Marge Anderson last June. Her campaign stressed accountability and reform. Yesterday's speech amplified those ideas. Minnesota Public Radio's Stephanie Hemphill has this Mainstreet report. { Benjamin's central theme was courage. She reminded the attentive audience of the courage shown by past generations of Ojibwe. They were warriors in the past and in more recent conflicts ranging from the Great War to the Gulf War, and they defended their language, their religion, and their treaty rights.
January 10, 2001 - US Forest Service has put a stop to logging old trees, or old growth, in forests. Lee Frelich is the director of the University of Minnesota's Center for Hardwood Ecology and he is being interviewed about this situation.
January 12, 2001 - Opponents of corporate agriculture say a vote to end a mandatory fee represents a major victory for family farmers. Known as the pork checkoff, the fee is collected on every hog sold and raises about 50 million dollars a year. Independent farmers with small operations say the money collected has not helped them sell more hogs, but checkoff supporters say they'll challenge the results in court. Mainstreet Radio's Mark Steil reports: The fight over the future of agriculture is mostly a behind the scenes struggle which most consumers rarely see. But the pork checkoff produced at least one bit of adverstising that most people have heard: