March 20, 2002 - A Univeristy of Minnesota professor is one of the ten most wired women in the world, according to ABC news. Nora Paul directs the University's Institute for New Media Studies at the school of journalism. She focuses her work on maximizing the internet's potential to transform and improve the traditional news media. Other women on the list include the CEO of eBay and the director of the MIT Initiative on technology. Paul says she understood the promise of computer technology early on:
March 20, 2002 - Second District Republican Representative Mark Kennedy said today he'll announce on Friday which congressional district he plans to run in. The redistricting map released yesterday has him paired with Democratic Congressman Bill Luther in the sixth District. Bob Webber is a professor of political science at St. John's University. He says Kennedy has a tough decision to make:
March 19, 2002 - Steven Schier is Chairman of the political science department at Carleton College. He says the most dramatic redistricting changes involve the legislative districts:
March 18, 2002 -
March 15, 2002 - The US Paralympic sledge hockey team will compete for the gold tonight against Norway in Salt Lake City. The team was ranked last when the tournament began. The sport is nearly identical to traditional hockey, except players sit on manuverable sleds that ride just three inches above the ice. Twin Cities resident Manny Guerra is the team's starting goalie. He played hockey growing up in Chicago until polio, contracted from a vaccine, left him with limited use of his left leg. He's been playing sledge hockey for 12 years. Guerra says its been a thrill to beat the worlds' top ranked teams:
March 15, 2002 - Researchers at the University of Minnesota have discovered that a special bile found in large quantities in the gall bladders of black bears can reduce damage caused by strokes and possibly other brain afflictions. Black bear gall bladder is enriched in urso-dioxy-cholic acid. Humans have the acid as well, although in very small quantities. Professor of Medicine, Dr. Clifford Steer, says the acid basically protects brain cells. He says the study confirmed what some ancient cultures already knew about black bear bile.
March 14, 2002 - Evening rush hour will be rough in the Twin Cities. Mike Mauren is an information officer with the Minnesota Department of Transportation's traffic control center. He says driving conditions are poor throughout the metro:
March 14, 2002 - The Minnesota Zoo is celebrating a major breakthrough in a decade-long attempt to artificially inseminate a clouded leopard. Researchers don't know if the procedure they performed earlier this week will result in leopard cubs, but they are happy to have even completed it. Clouded leopards are extremely hard to breed. The males tend to have low sperm counts and the females have erratic heat cycles. So a few months ago, researchers decided to use a norplant implant to shut down the reproductive system of a seven-year-old clouded leopard female, named Kuala. They then started her system back up by using hormonal injections to stimulate ovulation. That finally occured earlier this week and tropics zoologist Beth Jo Schoeberl (SHOW-burl) says researchers immediately sedated the cat and made a surgical incision directly in her uterus to inseminate her.
March 14, 2002 - Byron Paulson is a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Chanhassen. He says the most persistent band of heavy snow right now is located just north of the Twin Cities:
March 14, 2002 -