March 27, 2001 - Mark Broderson and a few other ice climbers built their own ice waterfall. It is 42-feet high and three telephone poles are supporting the structure. They are also able to control the safety of the ice structure.
March 29, 2001 - Mainstreet Radio’s Chris Julin talks with Lee Murdock, a folk singer who sings about Lake Superior and the Great Lakes. Murdock has made his career singing songs of the Lakes, from 200-year-old sailors' work songs, to his own compositions based on Great Lakes folklore.
March 30, 2001 - Rolling blackouts and rising electricity prices in California have brought new urgency to efforts in Minnesota to keep the state's power supply affordable and reliable. Proponents of moving electricity generation closer to consumers are holding a conference in St. Cloud today Mainstreet Radio's Jeff Horwich reports.
March 30, 2001 - A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO, ON THIS DATE, IT WAS 73 DEGREES. THE ICE WAS GONE OFF OF LAKE WACONIA, AND LAKES CALHOUN AND HARRIET IN MINNEAPOLIS. TODAY, THERE'S STILL ABOUT EIGHT INCHES OF SNOW ON THE GROUND, AT THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE IN CHANHASSEN....UP TO TWO FEET STILL REMAINS AT THE TIP OF THE ARROWHEAD, AROUND GRAND MARAIS. JUST HOW LONG WILL THE SNOW HANG ON? MARK SEELY CAN'T ANSWER THAT QUESTION THIS MORNING, HE'S IN GREAT BRITAIN. STILL STATESIDE IS PAUL DOUGLAS, CHEIF METEORGIST WITH WCCO TV.
March 30, 2001 - Tests on two North Carolina pigs supsected of having Foot and Mouth Disease came up negative today. Minnesota State Veternarian Tom Hagerty says chances are very low that a Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak could occur in the U-S. Hagerty is just back from a meeting with other state veternarians and U-S agriculture officials in Washington D.C. He says the meeting was helpful for establishing a federal strategy for containing any U-S cases of Foot and Mouth:
April 2, 2001 - Duluth's restaurant smoking ban - now three months old - is generating more controversy than ever. A few restaurants are openly defying the ordinance. Supporters of the ban say it just needs more time. Minnesota Public Radio's Stephanie Hemphill reports. {Duluth's restaurant smoking ban has been complicated and confusing from the time it was first proposed. And oddly enough, both supporters and detractors agree on what's causing the biggest problem - the exemptions built into the law. Bars and bowling alleys are exempt. Restaurants that show a 15% loss of business can also get an exemption. To complicate matters further, after 8:00 at night, restaurants that are also bars CAN allow smoking.
April 2, 2001 - A new report says it's feasible to build an enhanced iron pellet operation in Northeastern Minnesota - but that LTV Steel's shuttered Hoyt Lakes taconite plant may not be the best place to do it. A consultant for a state development agency has formed a new company to produce iron pellets at an existing taconite plant in Silver Bay -- a project he says would eventually provide one hundred jobs. But the future of the LTV mining plant remains in doubt. Minnesota Public Radio's Bob Kelleher, reports: {A new study says, yes, it's possible to produce high iron-content pellets in the closed LTV Steel taconite plant in Hoyt Lakes, but, no, it's not likely to happen any time soon. Instead, a steel industry consultant expects to produce Minnesota's first enhanced iron pellets in Northshore Mining company's taconite plant in Silver Bay.
April 2, 2001 - Agriculture students were quarantined because of the Foot and Mouth outbreak.
April 2, 2001 - If clear skies prevail, the Northern Lights could provide viewers a spectacular show tonight. Astronomers are predictinga colorful display because of an enormous sun spot explosion last Thursday. Astronomer's say the magnetic sun spot or solar storm occurs in eleven year cycles. Bob Bonadurer, director of the Minneapolis Planetarium, says this is the cycle's peak:
April 3, 2001 - The U-S Fish and Wildlife Service is putting the final touches on a plan to restore an historic migration route of one of North America's most endangered birds. The whooping crane was on the verge of extinction in the early 1940's, with only 16 birds left in the world. The species is now about 400 strong, with three separate groups of birds nesting in the wild. One of the flocks migrates across the American west, following a path from Canada to Texas. Now officials hope to establish a second migration route, this time in the eastern U-S... from Wisconsin to Florida. Joan Guilfoyle is an external affairs officer at the Minneapolis office of the U-S Fish and Wildlife Service. I asked her to describe what the birds look like: