August 26, 1999 - The Duluth media market has a new player. Red River Broadcasting of Fargo has bought one television station and four radio stations in recent months. The move gives Duluth its first local Fox-TV affiliate -- plus a strong group of radio stations to help promote it. The company's entry into Duluth broadens the public's programming choices but will also heat up competition for advertising sales.
August 18, 1999 - Call it an obsession. This morning book afficionados in Duluth are lining up outside the doors of the downtown public library for what has become an institution as well as a library fund-raiser: the annual book sale. They are prepared to mow people down or elbow them aside, all in the interests of finding the perfect cheap summer reading.
August 16, 1999 - In 1997 and 1998, a series of almost a dozen suspicious fires destroyed a number of older buildings in Superior, Wisconsin. Investigations into the causes and perpetrators of the fires were inconclusive. Author Mike Savage draws on the arson episodes in his new mystery novel Burn baby Burn.
July 22, 1999 - Opponents call them "motorheads" and complain about noise and fumes. But the sport of off-roading is exploding in Minnesota, with thousands of new all-terrain vehicle users hitting the state's trails each year. Along with motorbikes and four-wheel trucks. These high-powered machines come under the heading of "off highway vehicles... or OHV's," and their use is largely unregulated in the state. The Department of Natural Resources is working on giving OHV users their own places to ride. Tonight the first planning meeting for the state's second OHV recreation area will be held in the town of Virginia, even as some people living near the state's first OHV park continue to protest they don't want it.
July 15, 1999 - Residents of Isabella and Burntside Lake in northeast Minnesota have long wanted to trade their unpredictable radio phones for regular phone service. Now their wish has been granted. Following an investigation, the state's Public Utilities Commission ruled the local phone service provider, GTE, MUST supply the residents with standard phone service and at regular rates, something people in the area southeast of Ely say they've been too long without.
July 14, 1999 - U.S. Forest Service officials are expected to announce soon whether they'll allow further use of chainsaws and low-flying aircraft in the storm damaged Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Both have been authorized during the initial search and rescue effort in the area, but sawyer crews have nearly completed their exploration of tree-choked portages.
July 12, 1999 - MPR’s Amy Radil reports on Governor Jesse Ventura viewing storm damage in northeast Minnesota. Includes excerpts of Ventura speaking and comments from residents.
July 1, 1999 - The man accused of kidnapping Katie Poirier now faces federal charges as a convicted felon in possession of firearms. If convicted Donald Blohm will face a mandatory minimum sentence of fifteen years in prison, with the possibility of life. Investigators also announced today they found human remains at a search of Bloms property near Moose Lake.
June 24, 1999 - Carlton County prosecutors formally charged Donald Albin Blom yesterday in the kidnapping of 19-year-old Katie Poirier from the Moose Lake convenience store where she worked. The felony charge carries a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison or a $50,000 fine. At Wednesday's arraignment the Carlton County prosecutors also described the evidence gathered against Blom so far, including his conflicting stories of where he was when Poirier disappeared.
June 23, 1999 - The Richfield man arrested for Katie Poirier's disappearance in Moose Lake will be released today unless lab tests provide enough evidence to charge him with kidnapping. Authorities say the man was in Moose Lake without his family when Poirier disappeared from the convenience store where she worked. But no evidence was found at his Moose Lake cabin or his Richfield home linking him directly to Poirier. News that the man has a record of criminal sexual assault and kidnapping, however, has done nothing to ease the fears of area residents.