July 25, 2000 - Members of the International Society for Animal Genetics continued their conference in Minneapolis today under heavy security. Police arrested about 80 people at protests against the conference yesterday, but reported no disturbances in downtown Minneapolis today. The FBI is still looking at suspicious canisters found near downtown Minneapolis that authorities say are linked to protesters. An FBI spokesman says one canister showed trace amounts of cyanide. The agency is still awaiting tests to determine what substance was mixed with the cyanide. St. Paul Police officers are standing by near Landmark Center where the conference participants are holding a banquet this evening. Minnesota Public Radio's Brandt Williams is on the scene with an update.
July 24, 2000 - Authorities say they arrested approximately 80 people at protests of an international conference of animal geneticists meeting today in Minneapolis. Some organizers of the protest had vowed to shut down the conference, but the hotel was barricaded with chain link fences patrolled by offices from Minneapolis police, Hennepin County Sheriff's department, and the state patrol. At least 150 officers were assigned to the conference, with a total of 700 standing by. Protesters were arrested as they tried to get through police lines to reach an area close to the hotel where the animal geneticists were meeting. Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Losure reports.
July 14, 2000 - Biologists on the upper Mississippi River are making a last ditch attempt to save a little-known endangered species---a small, mud brown mussel known as the Higgins' eye. Hordes of non-native zebra mussels infesting the Mississippi have devastated native mussel populations---and nearly wiped out the Higgins eye. Now, scientists are trying to evacuate the Higgins' eye to tributaries of the upper Mississippi--- places free of zebra mussels where the native mussels can find refuge. Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Losure reports.
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.
January 6, 2000 - A new study shows frogs and toads can be killed by very low levels of nitrogen fertilizer in the water where they live and breed. Run-off from fertilizer is a problem worldwide, so the findings could help explain the mysterious decline of amphibians across the globe. Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Losure reports. Oregon State University zoologist Andrew Blaustein
January 4, 2000 - An attorney for a former employee at the Koch refinery in Rosemount portrayed him as a good worker who was fired because he reported serious environmental violations by the company. Charles Chadwell is suing Koch Petroleum Group under a state law that protects whistleblowers from retailiation.The case went before a 10 person civil jury yesterday in Minneapolis. An attorney for Koch told the jury Chadwell was fired for "legitimate and lawful reasons." Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Losure reports. Charles Chadwell is a former waste water treatment operator at the Koch refinery in Rosemount. He was fired in 1997, eight months after he reported environmental violations to the Minnesota
December 28, 1999 - For decades, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has been cutting back on emissions from factory smokestacks, to protect the state's air. But today, the greatest threat to clean air in Minnesota is not smokestacks, but motor vehicles. PCA Commissioner Karen Studders says the agency is changing how it does business to take on this new threat. As part of Minnesota Public Radio's look ahead to the new year, MPR's Mary Losure talked with the head of the PCA about the state's growing air pollution problems.
December 16, 1999 - Today a state environmental board decided a massive study of Minnesota's forests does NOT need to be updated. The decision could smooth the way for the expansion of Boise Cascade's paper mill in International Falls.
December 10, 1999 - The state patrol says it will soon clear out protesters camped in the path the highway 55 reroute in south Minneapolis . But authorities say the impending raid will be much different than the pre dawn sweep they made the last time they cleared the camp, last December.
December 3, 1999 - Members of the Mendota Mdwakanton Dakota are making a last ditch effort to save four big oak trees they believe are sacred. The four oaks stand directly in the path of the reroute of Highway 55 in south Minneapolis . The members of the tribe met late yesterday with Minnesota Department of Transportation Commissioner Elwyn Tinklenberg.