September 4, 2007 - Fall classes resume today at the University of Minnesota's Twin Cities campus and officials are bracing for traffic problems. The first day back is often chaotic, as nearly 70,000 students and staffers return to campus. But this year could be more complicated than usual because of the 35W bridge collapse. Minnesota Public Radio's Art Hughes reports from a pedestrian overpass on Washington Avenue, on the U of M's East Bank.
September 3, 2007 - This week, many Minnesota students will head back to school. Peter Smith and his wife will see their kids off to college. Their son will be a freshman at Hamline University this fall, and their daughter will be a junior at the University of Minnesota in the Twin Cities. Peter expects big changes when the kids leave.
August 24, 2007 - Investigators trying to figure out why the 35W bridge collapsed will likely be on-scene until November. The National Transportation Safety Board provided an update on the investigation this week but did not indicate whether they were any closer to figuring out why the bridge fell. Investigators did say that there were more than 280 tons of construction materials and equipment on the bridge when it fell. They're also looking at a de-icing system and the potential corrosiveness of the chemicals it used. Dr. Jon Hanson is a distinguished professor emeritus of Structural Engineering and Mechanics at North Carolina State University. He has worked on bridge failure investigations in the past and comments on the bridge collapse.
August 16, 2007 - One part of the 35w bridge collapse story that is quietly proceeding is how best to chronicle this tragic event for posterity. Right now, officials with the Minnesota Historical Society are trying to decide what artifacts need to be saved and how to document what occurred on the evening of August 1, 2007. One of the curators who is in on some of these discussions is Matt Anderson, who is with the historical society.
August 6, 2007 - The Minnesota Department of Transportation is placing the process to rebuild the 35W bridge on an extremely fast track. MnDOT officials hope to open a new bridge by the end of next year. They want contractors interested in the job to contact them within the next few days. As they make plans to rebuild, state officials may be looking to incidents in other states for guidelines. Back in April, you might remember news of another interstate freeway collapse in California. When a tanker truck crashed and caught fire in a vital bay area interchange the heat caused the collapse of a stretch of Interstate 580 onto the highway below. Will Kempton is the director of Caltrans, the California Department of Transportation. He says that stretch of freeway was rebuilt well ahead of schedule.
August 2, 2007 - Morning Edition host Cathy Wurzer talked with Congressman Jim Oberstar.
May 12, 2006 - Morning Edition's Julie Siple visited East Lake Street in Minneapolis, where some of the state's most recent Latino immigrants live and work. She scratched the surface of the Latino culture and found the remnant of another wave of immigration underneath.
April 10, 2006 - The House plans to take up the bonding bill Wednesday, before leaving for the Easter break. MPR's Laura McCallum reports.
March 8, 2006 - Following the recent outrage of the depiction of the prophet Muhammed in media, a St. Paul charter school is adjusting its art program to better accomodate its many Muslim students. Higher Ground Academy is on the cusp of this new issue. MPR's Cathy Wurzer reports.
February 1, 2006 - A writer, who has traveled the world searching for the secrets of a long life, is now working to fight obesity in children. In partnership with MPR's Sound Learning, Dan Buettner is launching the Blue Zones Challenge. It is named for the so-called blue zones, places in the world where people live longer than the rest of us. Buettner is the author of "Secrets of Long Life" which was the cover story in November's National Gegraphic magazine. Dan Buettner joins me this morning in the studio.