February 6, 2002 - Walk in the woods in Minnesota today and chances are you will see a young forest. Much of the state was heavily logged in the early 20th century. The old growth pines and hardwoods have been replaced by softwoods like aspen. Aspen has become a staple of the forest products industry. It's used for pulp, paper and particle board. But some people would like change that. In the second in our series of reports on changes in the Northwoods, Mainstreet Radio's Stephanie Hemphill visits a logging site in Aitkin County, about 50 miles west of Duluth. Aitkin was the first county in the nation to have its lands certified as a well-managed forest. The certification is part of a conscious effort to encourage local forest-based industries.
February 11, 2002 - Many kids from small towns grow up and leave. Teachers at Cotton high school in northeastern Minnesota have a plan to keep more of their graduates in town. They've started a student-run business. Teachers hope some students might be inspired to stay in Cotton and start their own businesses. Mainstreet Radio's Stephanie Hemphill reports. {
February 12, 2002 - INTRO: > Song birds populations in the forests of northern Minnesota are falling.
February 12, 2002 -
February 18, 2002 - FOR USE MONDAY MORNING The U-S Senate is taking up a long awaited national energy bill. Like a house version passed last year, the Senate is expected to support continued research and development into what's called "clean coal technology." Two Northeast Minnesota power plant proposals are based on the new technology. But some environmental groups say there's no such thing as clean coal - especially at the edge of the Great Lakes. Mainstreet Radio's Bob Kelleher reports from Duluth.
February 25, 2002 - One place that's never been popular for sailing or cruising is the North Shore of Lake Superior. The big lake is famous for its sudden storms. MPR's Stephanie Hemphill reports that local boaters have been pushing the state to build safe harbors along the rocky North Shore. Duluth City Council looks at a plan for a harbor that's created its own storm of controversy.
March 4, 2002 - On this Mainstreet Radio report, MPR’s Chris Julin looks into the Ely school district starting a "wilderness high school." School officials are trying to recruit a dozen students from cities around the state. The students will go to Ely High School, but they'll also spend lots of time traveling the Boundary Water wilderness in canoes and on snowshoes.
March 7, 2002 - Hotel workers in Duluth have been picketing for the last three months in front of five downtown hotels. Picketing is a standard strategy in labor disputes, but these workers are not on strike. They're demanding that their employers stay out of a union organizing effort. Minnesota Public Radio's Stephanie Hemphill reports its becoming an increasingly popular tool for unions.
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March 14, 2002 - The Minnesota Zoo is celebrating a major breakthrough in a decade-long attempt to artificially inseminate a clouded leopard. Researchers don't know if the procedure they performed earlier this week will result in leopard cubs, but they are happy to have even completed it. Clouded leopards are extremely hard to breed. The males tend to have low sperm counts and the females have erratic heat cycles. So a few months ago, researchers decided to use a norplant implant to shut down the reproductive system of a seven-year-old clouded leopard female, named Kuala. They then started her system back up by using hormonal injections to stimulate ovulation. That finally occured earlier this week and tropics zoologist Beth Jo Schoeberl (SHOW-burl) says researchers immediately sedated the cat and made a surgical incision directly in her uterus to inseminate her.