May 2, 2003 - Experts say it's unusual....but it appears that a horse near Brainerd is the first case of West Nile virus in Minnesota this year. The horse, a pregnant mare, was euthanized April 19th. State officials say the early emergence of the disease doesn't necessarily mean Minnesota will see a big spike in West Nile cases this year.. West Nile arrived in Minnesota for the first time last year. Nearly one thousand horses tested positive for the virus, and about 38 percent of them died. New research from the University of Minnesota indicates many of the surviving horses seem to have residual effects...even six months after being diagnosed.. Julie Wilson is a veterinarian at the U of M. She says she was surprised by the number of horses still having trouble.
April 29, 2003 -
April 25, 2003 - Earlier this month, Minnesota made the weather headlines with record-setting snowfall amounts in southern counties on the 7th and new state record high temperatures of 93 F on the 13th and 14th. On Wednesday (April 23) of this week, we made the national news again with the lowest temperature reading in the conterminous states of 17 F at Embarrass. This however, was not a record value for Embarrass, as they have been as low as 12 F on that date. Topic: Shakespeare on Ice
April 23, 2003 - It's come down to game 7. The Minnesota Wild forced the Colordao Avalance to a final game in the Stanley Cup playoff series. The series is now tied 3-3. The final game is in Colorado. The Wild thrilled a capacity crowd in St. Paul Monday night by winning game six in overtime on a goal by Richard Park. The Wild blew a two-goal lead in the final 3 and a half minutes of regulation, only to have Park save the day. Fernandez stopped 22 shots. There have been 105 NHL playoff series extended to Game 7 since the best-of-seven format was introduced in 1939. The home team has won 67 times.
April 23, 2003 - The Minnesota planinng agency officially disappears today (WEDNESDAY). The agency provides policymakers information to help them position Minnesota for the future. Most of its functions will be transfered to the Department of Administration. Jack Uldrich was the director of the planning agency during the Ventura administration. Uldrich is still thinking about what's next for Minnesota, and he's written a book called "The Next Big Thing is Really Small." The book is about nanotechnology, and how it could change our lives and our businesses. Nanotechnology deals with materials that, when reduced to an incredibly small size, turn out to have surprising strength as well as special qualities. Many scientists believe we're close to achieving this revolutionary step in technology. Author Jack Uldrich explains.
April 18, 2003 - New all-time state high temperature records were set on April 13 and 14 earlier this week. Both Benson and Montevideo reported highs of 93 degrees F on those dates, while Madison also reported a high of 93 F on April 14th. Numerous individual community record highs were set on both days as well, including an 89 F reading in the Twin Cities on April 14th....recall last year a new record high of 91 F was set on April 15th...
April 11, 2003 - Though the 71 degrees F high temperature at International Falls, MN on Wednesday, April 9th did not set a new record, it was only the 3rd time in history that the temperature has reached 70 F or higher there on that date.....the others were 72 F in 1977 and 77 F in 1987. Many other Minnesota communities reported highs of 70 F or above on Wednesday as well.
April 8, 2003 - U-S warplanes bombed a building in Baghdad where they believed Saddam Hussein may have been meeting with his sons. The decison to bomb yesterday was based on information gathered by Special Operations forces which are operating covertly in Baghdad. Keith Larson, of Two Harbors, Minnesota, served with a different group of special forces, the elite Special Operations Group, during the Vietnam War. The unit's existence was only recently admitted by the U-S Army. Former Sargent Larson says he did his work in secret.
April 3, 2003 - The downing of a Black Hawk helicopter in Iraq has resulted in at least 6 more casualties of war for the U.S. If any of those casualties has family in a six state region including Minnesota... it's the job of an Army Reserve unit based in the Twin Cities to notify them of their loss. The Pentagon says 51 Americans have been killed in the war so far... 16 are listed as missing... and 7 have been captured. Sargent Harold Bishop is the casualty area coordinator for the region. He says soldiers in his unit go out to the homes of the families, and tell them everything they can about what happened.
April 1, 2003 -