August 30, 2000 -
August 29, 2000 - If you have more frequent flyer miles than you can possibly use or you never seem to accumulate enough for a free ticket, Northwest Airlines now has a new option for customers. The airline will now let passengers use their extra miles to buy books, wine and lots of other retail products. Northwest is one of six carriers to join with the e-commerce company, milepoint.com, which offers links to more than 100 retailers that accept frequent flier miles as cash. Northwest spokeswoman Mary Beth Schubert says the web retail site is easy to use.
August 28, 2000 - When it opened 22 years ago, the Minnesota Zoo was on the cutting edge of design. The exhibits were spacious. Herd animals could roam on acres of park land. And indoor species could perch in jungle trees or lounge in wading pools. But by today's standards, the Minnesota Zoo is outdated. At least that's what new zoo director, Lee Ehmke thinks. Ehmke, who started his job today, comes from the Bronx Zoo in New York where he drew rave reviews for designing a $50 million dollar Congo Gorilla Forest. He says while the Minnesota Zoo could use a facelift, it is still well respected throughout the world.
August 25, 2000 - A new poll finds Mark Dayton leading the pack of DFL US Senate candidates. Dayton was favored by 27 percent of likely primary voters responding to the Saint Paul Pioneer Press, KARE11, and Minnesota Public Radio poll. Mike Ciresi had 18-percent, Jerry Janezich had 17-percent and Rebecca Yanisch had 13-percent. About one-fourth of the respondents were undecided. MPR political analyst Chris Gilbert says Dayton's nine point lead is not massive, given the poll's five point margin of error. But he says in a crowded field it's good to have any lead.
August 25, 2000 - They're good for the garden, but in northern Minnesota's hardwood forests, earthworms are a regular menace. That's according to University of Minnesota-Duluth researcher Cynthia Hale. She says earthworms are killing tree seedlings by consuming duff. That's the layer of decaying plant matter on the forest floor, which seedlings prefer to grow in. She says there are two things you can look for in a forest bed to determine whether there is an infestation of worms.
August 24, 2000 - Are you ready to climb aboard something called the Slingshot? How about the Power Surge, Extreme or the Storm? These rides debut as the Minnesota State Fair opens. Such rides are usually safe, but things have been known to go wrong. Last year, almost 10,000 people were injured on amusement park rides. Bob Johnson, executive director of Outdoor Amusement Business Association, says there are plenty protections in place to make sure the rides are safe.
August 24, 2000 - A state study shows that half of Minnesota's low-income children in medical assistance programs aren't recieving primary or preventative care from their H-M-O's. Federal law requires certain developmental checkups for the kids, too, yet only 6-percent of the children and teens in these publicly funded programs are recieving such treatment. Mary Kennedy is assistant commissioner with the Department of Human Services. She says the children enrolled in these programs tend to be the ones who need preventative care most:
August 24, 2000 - The price of gas has gone up 10 cents in the last month and is expected to keep climbing higher. According to the Triple-A in Minneapolis, the average price of unleaded in the Twin Cities is $1.47 a gallon. That's up almost 25 cents from a year ago at this time. Triple-A spokeswoman Dawn Duffy says this latest jump shouldn't come as a complete suprise:
August 23, 2000 - Federal divers have found a large infestation of zebra mussels on the Saint Croix River. The mussels were discovered last week on the lower end of the river, north of Prescott, Wisconsin. It's the first significant foothold by the mussels in the federally protected river. Jay Rendall is the exotic species program coordinator for the D-N-R. He says the Saint Croix has been considered a high risk location because it is so close to the infested Mississippi:
August 17, 2000 - The athletes may get all the attention at the Olympic games. But behind the scenes, a 47-member U-S Olympic medical staff makes sure they are physically up to the challenge. Winning a spot on the medical team is no easy task... applicants must spend years volunteering with the U-S Olympic committee and then go through an intense evaluation process... and they must be willing to work for free. Park Nicollet chiropractor Andrew Klein passed the test and will head to Sydney with the team in mid-September. He says the pressure of preparing Olympic athletes for the biggest competition of their careers doesn't bother him: