June 26, 2000 - A common fertilizer is a new target for drug manufacturers in rural counties. Small amounts of anhydrous (ann HIGH druss) ammonia are used to make methamphetamine. The powerful central nervous stimulant with a high potential for abuse and dependence is becoming more available in rural areas. Authorities say they're telling farmers to lock up a chemical that's typically left in the middle of the field over night. Minnesota Public Radio's Cara Hetland reports:
June 26, 2000 -
June 27, 2000 - For the 23 years that he's been head of non-game wildlife for Minnesota's Department of Natural Resources, Carol Henderson has been trying to save the species that don't interest hunters and anglers. Some of them have been a success--the bald eagle and the timberwolf, but many others haven't attracted the same kind of attention and level of funding. Now Henderson is hopeful that he's finally going to get some help from the Federal Government. The House has passed a bill that would take revenues from off-shore oil drilling and funnel it to state parks and recreation areas, and non-game wildlife. The bill is now going through the Senate, and Henderson says it could mean an extra 36 to 37 (M)million dollars annually for Minnesota's non-game species:
June 29, 2000 - I {Organizers of the Women's Health Center say, if not for Dr Jane Hodgeson, more women would still be driving from northern Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Canada to the Twin Cities for abortions. Hodgson became a physician in 1939 - one of eight women in a class of 150. As an obstetrician-gynecologist, she says she learned from her patients about the tragedies that sometimes come from unplanned pregnancies.
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 4, 2000 - For most of its long history of building dams and straightening rivers, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers hasn't had to worry much about endangered species. But that's changing. This spring, the Federal Fish and Wildlife Service released a sweeping document known as a "jeopardy opinion." It says the corps' operations on the Upper Mississippi River threaten two endangered species, including one called the pallid sturgeon. Fish and Wildlife is expected to issue another document soon, saying corps operations threaten the pallid sturgeon on the Missouri river as well. Now, the Fish and Wildlife Service wants the corps to make some changes in how it runs the nation's largest river system. But change for the Corps does not come easy. Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Losure reports.
July 5, 2000 - FOR WEDNESDAY MORNING 7-5 Officals at North Dakota State University continue to cleanup after a disastrous flash flood swamped much of the campus. Heavy rains caused millions of dollars of damage to NDSU's library. Some departments remain without phone service. *While much of the damage was immediately obvious, some of the storm's toll is still submerged. School officials are still trying to gauge the long term impact *to the nearly 800 acres devoted to* crop research. Some say the loss of *this growing year* for *crop and seed developers* may be more important than the monetary damage. Minnesota Public Radio's Bob Reha reports. *On a recent summer day, *the sun makes an appearance* on the NDSU campus.
July 5, 2000 - MPR’s Stephanie Hemphill catches up with a small band of environmental crusaders starting a planned walk around Lake Superior to bring attention to the need to protect the greatest of the Great Lakes. The walk is fulfillment of an the idea from Walter Bresette, a prominent Ojibwe activist.
July 5, 2000 - A federally funded water project in southwest Minnesota designed to serve farms and small towns is doing business with a large agri-business company, an arrangement which appears to violate federal regulations. The Lincoln Pipestone Rural Water system provides water to almost three thousand farms and rural homeowners and some two dozen small towns and cities. Critics say the company has over-pumped environmentally sensitive areas and they blame the federal agency that funded much of the project for ignoring their own rules about who should get water. Mainstreet Radio's Mark Steil reports: