February 18, 1997 - The Twin Cities metropolitan area is the third most spread out in the country. It sprawls more than Phoenix or Dallas or even Los Angeles, a city notorious for its seemingly endless suburbs. Unlike states such as Florida or Oregon , Minnesota has no state wide land use planning to direct its growth. Bills that would take the first steps in that direction are expected to be introduced this session at the state capital, but no one expects easy solutions. Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Losure reports.
January 31, 1997 - When Freeman Wicklund was a student at the University of Minnesota , he was the charismatic leader of the campus animal rights movement, leading protests against everything from fur farming and horse racing to the Shriner Circus. At the U, he majored in nutrition, but he says he was preparing for a full time career as an animal rights activist. Now he's graduated and living with his parents in their suburban home where he answers the phone "animal liberation". Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Losure produced this portrait of a idealist totally devoted to a cause outside the mainstream.
January 28, 1997 - pronouncer Rahr= RAHr A Minneapolis based malting company plans to pay farmers and landowners to reduce polluted runoff into the Minnesota River. In return for helping clean up sources of pollution upstream, Rahr (RAHr) Malting Company has obtained permission from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to discharge treated wastewater downstream at Shakopee, where the company's plant is located. The deal... trading in so- called discharge "credits" on a river
January 15, 1997 - The Minnesota Pollution Agency says its investigation of deformed frogs has become too big to handle. Deformed frogs have been reported across Minnesota, in neighboring states, and as far away as Vermont. The MPCA plans to turn much of the research over to federal agencies better equipped to handle the deepening mystery. Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Losure reports. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency first began looking into the problem in the summer of 1995, when a group of schoolchildren on a fei
January 9, 1997 - A University of Minnesota researcher hopes to convince the nation's beekeepers to adopt a new approach to fighting the diseases that are devastating the honey industry. Entomologist Marla Spivak has developed a new, commercially viable strain of disease resistant bees that she hopes will allow beekeepers to cut down on pesticides and antibiotics.. Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Losure reports. Last winter, half the commercial bee colonies in the country died---due to the combined effects of a harsh winter and parasitic mites
December 31, 1996 - Officials at the Minnesota department of transportation say they'll fight in both the courts and the U.S congress to see a proposed 60 million dollar bridge built over the Saint Croix River near Stillwater. On Monday, the U.S. park service announced it would block the bridge, using the park service's authority under the federal Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.
December 26, 1996 - MPR’s Mary Losure created this report for National Public Radio detailing the efforts to save Native American language by teaching it to next generation. Losure interviews both language teachers and students at Nay Ah Shing school in Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe.
December 16, 1996 - A Texas based company will plead guilty to charges it polluted the Blue Earth River with improperly treated wastewater from a rendering plant. Rendering plants convert dead animal carcasses and byproducts from slaughterhouses into animal feed and other products. The company has also admitted to falsifying water test results so regulators would not learn about the illegal discharges, which took place in 1991 and 1992.
November 13, 1996 - Members of the Sierra Club say the Saint Croix River should be closed to boat traffic from the Mississippi, in order to prevent the further spread of the exotic zebra mussel.
October 28, 1996 - For this Halloween edition of our Odd Jobs series, MPR reporter Mary Losure went out with psychic Echo Bodine on one of her ghostbusting jobs…at an ordinary house in the suburbs, where most of the ghosts were out in the backyard. If the ghosts don't feel like leaving, she also helps homeowners understand their ghosts, and learn to live with them.