January 16, 2001 - A Minnesota Author has won the American Library Association's prestigious Newbery Honor for Children's Literature. Kate DiCamillo's book "Because of Winn-Dixie" follows the friendship of ten year old India Opal Buloni and a stray dog named Winn-Dixie during their first summer together in a small Florida town. DiCamillo says she is still recovering from the shock of finding out she had won.
January 15, 2001 - Two new Giant Pandas at the National Zoo in Washington DC have focused the world's attention on one very high profile endagered species. But countries from India to Brazil are working to save species as diverse as the Giant Grizzeled Squirrel and the Golden Lion Tamarin. An organization based at the Minnesota Zoo in Apple Valley is facilitating much of this work. The Conservation Breeding Specialist Group, or CBSG, has just a few employees in Minnesota, and relies on a network of over 700 people from 150 countries. CBSG Chairman and Founder Ulysses Seal says his organization is dedicated to protecting the planet's biodiversity:
January 10, 2001 -
January 10, 2001 - American Airlines announced today that it will take over troubled Trans World Airlines and some U-S airways assets in a deal valued at about five (B)billion dollars. If the complicated transaction survives review by the justice department and other authorities, American will own a quarter of the U-S market, about equal to the size of its rival, United airlines. Barbara Beyer is President of AVMARK, an aviation consulting firm. She says the deal makes Northwest an attractive candidate for an aquisition or merger:
January 8, 2001 - Twin Cities hospitals are increasingly diverting ambulances because their emergency rooms are too full. Last year metro area hospitals reportedly closed their doors about one-thousand times because of too many patients and not enough staff. Dave Feinwachs (FYN-wahks) is General Counsel for the Minnesota Hospital and Health Care Partnership which represents 142 hospitals in Minnesota. He says the practice involves patients who are not in life-threatening situations and who can be safely sent to a neighboring hospital ten to fifteen minutes away.
January 4, 2001 - Governor Ventura presented his State of the State message to a joint session of the Legislature this afternoon. He used the speech to propose broad changes in Minnesota's tax system. The Governor's plan includes reforming what he called the "big three" taxes - property, income and sales. Dan Salamone, executive director of the Minnesota Taxpayers Association, says the Governor has laid out an impressive slate of reforms.
January 3, 2001 - Law firms in town that specialize in immigration cases are swamped with clients trying to take advantage of a rule allowing illegal immigrants who meet certain requirments to become legal permanent residents without having to leave the country first. Immigration lawyer Audrey Carr says Congress has made an exception like this before, but she says the difference now is that illegal immigrants now have more to lose if they don't take advantage of the law.
December 29, 2000 - Most of the world may have celebrated the new Millenium last year, but most of the world was 365 days early. The third Millenium actually starts on January 1st 2001. Jeff Detray edits the website astronomy boy.com, which devotes a page to explaining why the new millenium starts when it does. He says the confusion can be traced back to Dionysis, who created the calendar we use beginning with the year one, instead of zero:
December 29, 2000 - Salvation Army officials are worried the organization won't meet its 5 (M)millon dollar holiday fundraising goal. By this time last year, the organization had raised 3.7 million dollars compared to 3.2 million this year. Spokeswoman Annette Bauer says Salvation Army workers have spent the past couple weeks trying to figure out why people aren't giving as much this year:
December 28, 2000 - A deep low pressure system has descended over much of Central Minnesota... bringing with it one of the heaviest snow storms of the season. Mark Kavinsky is a meteorologist at the national weather service in Chanhassen. He says it has been a potent winter storm: