August 4, 2000 - The prosecution has rested its case in the Donald Blom kidnap and murder trial. Three weeks of testimony culminated with emotional stories from two women who had been kidnapped and assaulted by Blom seventeen years ago. Minnesota Public Radio's Stephanie Hemphill reports. { The Blom jurors heard two women describe how - 17 years ago when they were both in their teens - they picked up Blom who was hitch-hiking near Stillwater. They said he threatened them with a knife, forced them into the woods, and attempted to choke and rape one of them. When a police car stopped to check on the abandoned vehicle, Blom ran off. One of the women recognized him two months later and he pled guilty to the assault and served four years in prison.
August 7, 2000 - Environmental questions are seldom simple. A little publicized fight over hydro-electric power in Manitoba is a classic example. Dams built over the last three decades have caused irrevocable change the Manitoba landscape and destroyed the traditional lifestyle of Cree Indians living in the area. Now the demand for electricity is increasing, and one of Manitoba Hydro's biggest customers Northern States Power is considering a new contract. There's a possibility of new dams. Some of the Cree people are campaigning for the removal of hydro power and have enlisted Minnesota activists to help: but as Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Stucky reports they are opposed by members of their own tribe, who say the future lies in embracing the new projects.
August 7, 2000 - Amy Blom today told a Virginia Courtroom her husband, Donald Blom, was at home with her and their four children the night Katie Poirier disappeared. The wife of the man accused of kidnapping and murdering Poirier in late May last year was the first defense witness to testify at the trial. Minnesota Public Radio's Stephanie Hemphill reports. { Amy Blom said her husband was away two nights the week Katie Poirier disappeared, but she said on the night in question he was in their Richfield home. She told the court she remembered the events of Wednesday, May 26th because the next day she saw a report about the missing convenience store clerk on television. She says it "stuck out in her mind" because the Bloms owned vacation property near Moose Lake. She said Blom telephoned her from work during the day on Wednesday to say he was going to spend some time fishing. He arrived home around 9:30, they watched the 10:00 news, and then went to bed. The next morning Blom said her husband was gone, but she thought he'd gone to work because the coffeepot was on as usual. Security video tape from the convenience store, which is just off I-35 about 100 miles north of the Twin Cities, shows Poirier being abducted at about 11:30 Wednesday night by a man wearing a New York Yankees shirt .
August 7, 2000 - For the first time in 40 years, peregrine falcons are nesting and raising young on the cliffs along the upper Mississippi River. They're taking back nesting spots that have sat empty since peregrine falcons were nearly wiped out by the insecticide DDT. It's one of the final stages in the spectacular comeback of the once-endangered birds. Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Losure reports.
August 9, 2000 - Citizens in Rochester are gearing up for the expected release of a key environmental document regarding the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad's expansion plan. It's the most important event so far in the contentious fight over plans to expand rail lines in Wyoming, South Dakota and southern Minnesota for coal trains. Rochester leaders are bitterly opposed to the plan and have formed a new group dedicated to stop it. Minnesota Public Radio's Art Hughes reports the renewed opposition effort has considerable political might which sparks concerns from many rural residents who aren't included.
August 9, 2000 - A new study finds it may be feasible to build a combined direct reduced iron and steel plant on Minnesota's Iron Range - providing a fledgling Minnesota company can raise a lot of money. Minnesota Public Radio's Bob Kelleher reports:
August 9, 2000 - Grassland songbird populations are declining more rapidly than any other North American species, mainly because most prairie grasslands have been turned into farmland. Some of the prime nesting sites for the remaining birds are in eastern North Dakota and northwest Minnesota. Researchers there are combining old fashioned legwork and high tech equipment in hopes of learning ways to stabilize the population of prairie songbirds. Minnesota Public Radios Dan Gunderson reports.
August 10, 2000 - Donald Blom took the stand in his own defense and told the jury he was at home in bed when Katie Poirier was abducted and killed late on the night of May 26, 1999. His nearly four hours on the stand Wednesday provided another dramatic day in the fourth week of testimony in his kidnapping and murder trial. Minnesota Public Radio's Stephanie Hemphill reports. { Last week the Virginia courtoom heard a tape of Donald Blom confessing to kidnapping and killing Katie Poirier: a confession he later recanted. Many people, including Katie Poirier's family, have asked why someone would confess to a crime they had not committed. Wednesday, Donald Blom gave his explanation. He said he had recently turned fifty, was suffering from various health problems, and had two small girls to worry about. He said he had "been through this" years ago - referring to earlier convictions for sex offenses - and had been hoping never to have to go through it again. Blom talked about sitting in his Carlton County jail cell, hearing from his wife Amy about things taken away from the family home in Richfield for evidence - "truckloads of things," he said, including the children's school clothes. His wife was afraid to go out of the house, someone threw a firebomb at the house, and she was getting threatening phone calls. Meanwhile, Blom said he was confined to a small cell without a window 23 hours a day much of the time. His voice breaking, he said the last straw was when someone from the FBI told him his wife could be implicated in the crime; she could be charged with transporting Poirier's body to Wisconsin in the trunk of the family car, making it a federal offense subject to the death penalty. He said he felt authorities were deliberately trying to "make him crack." He told defense attorney Rodney Brodin his confession was what he thought investigators wanted to hear.
August 14, 2000 - Floating down the Otter Tail River on an inner tube is a popular summer pastime in Becker County in Northwestern Minnesota. Over the past 20 years "tubing " has grown from a kids summer pastime into a profitable business. But the profit has come at a price. Despite the efforts of outfitters to keep the river clean, pollution is a problem. Empty cans, broken bottles and other trash litter the stream bed and banks. It gets noisy too when tubers get a little rowdy. Now county Commissioners are considering a clampdown, and at least one outfitter is crying foul. Minnesota Public Radio's Bob Reha reports }
August 14, 2000 - Farmers, environmentalists and members of the Army Corps of Engineers crammed into the conference room of a giant barge this morning in Wabasha to talk about the future of navigation on the Mississippi River. Today's annual meeting of the Army Corps' Mississippi River Commission marked one of the first public gatherings since a high ranking official accused the agency of "cooking the books" in a bid to expand the lock and dam system. Minnesota Public Radio's Erin Galbally has this report. {Early this morning, in the shadow of the 241-foot, cream and red Army Corps vessel, a handful of environmental groups held a press conference to call attention to the plight of the Mississippi River. Representatives from the Sierra Club, the Audobon Society, and others spoke in favor of conservation and against the expansion of the lock and dam system. The Sierra Club's Dean Rebuffoni says expansion would help big business and hurt the river. In fact he says big business is lying to help its cause.