A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
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Members of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe have voted in a historic advisory referendum to eliminate a requirement that enrolled members must have 25 percent tribal blood. Out of nearly 7,800 ballots cast, 64 percent of voters said the “blood quantum” requirement should be removed from the tribe's constitution, which was adopted under pressure from the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs in the early 1960s. In a second referendum question 57 percent said individual bands or reservations should be able to determine their own membership req... 
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On the first day of a first-of-its-kind public hearing this week on the fate of a key permit for the proposed PolyMet copper-nickel mine, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommended against reissuing the permit, saying the project risked increasing levels of mercury and other pollutants in the St. Louis River downstream from the proposed mine. While only a recommendation, it could deal a potentially severe blow to the controversial $1 billion mine proposed near the northeastern... Website
With measurable snowfall coming to northern Minnesota the past week, cross country skiers are hitting the trails. And it’s a good bet that a majority of those skiers coat the bases of their skis in wax that contains per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances — a family of human-made chemicals known as PFAS — that have polluted water supplies around the world, including in Minnesota. The so-called “forever chemicals” are used in a huge variety of products, from nonstick cookware to fire-suppressing foam, carpet and clothing. For decades they’ve a... Website
State transportation officials are posting 12 highway signs in northeastern Minnesota to mark the boundaries of a treaty signed in 1854 by the U.S. government and three Ojibwe bands: the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Bois Forte Band of Chippewa and Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. The Minnesota Department of Transportation installed the first sign on Nov. 1 on southbound Highway 61, just south of the Canadian border and near the entrance to Grand Portage State Park.... Website
Hospital systems serving swaths of northeastern and northwestern Minnesota are struggling with the newest surge of Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations amid a shortage of health care staff and rising numbers of non-Covid patients. “We were running as though it were a sprint to begin with. And it really turned out to be a marathon. And as any sprinter will tell you, you can’t run a marathon at that pace,” said Harmony Tyner, an infectious disease physician at St. Luke’s Hospital in Duluth. The Essentia Health system, with operations in Minnesota,... Website
Minnesota's air quality has been exceptional for all the wrong reasons this week. On Thursday, an air quality monitor in Brainerd recorded the highest particulate reading ever recorded in the state, since the monitors were installed about 20 years ago. "And then a couple hours later, that smoke moved down to St. Cloud, and we broke that record in a matter of hours — at like 422 micrograms,” said Nick Witcraft, an air quality forecaster for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA). “That was quite impressive to see." And those two recor... Website
A state court on Monday sent a key air emissions permit for the planned PolyMet copper-nickel mine back to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency for further consideration and additional findings. The Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled that the MPCA did not adequately explain its reasons for granting the permit, after environmental groups and the Fond Du Lac tribe alleged that PolyMet was engaging in so-called “sham permitting” by planning a much larger mine than what it applied for. It’s a setback for what would be the state’s first copper-... Website
The Minnesota Court of Appeals handed a major victory to Enbridge Energy this week, affirming state utility regulators’ approval of the Canadian company’s Line 3 oil pipeline replacement project. A three-judge panel ruled 2 to 1 that there is substantial evidence to support the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission’s approval of the project. The PUC approved a certificate of need for the Line 3 project twice — in 2018, and again last year. The commission also granted the project a route permit, along a different route than the current Line 3....
A federal judge says Enbridge Energy can proceed with construction on its contentious Line 3 oil pipeline, less than a week after a state appellate court panel also denied a request from Minnesota tribes and environmental groups to temporarily block work on the project. The Red Lake Band of Chippewa, White Earth Band of Ojibwe, the Sierra Club, and the Native American-led environmental group Honor the Earth filed suit in federal court in December, seeking to overturn a key permit issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. At the same time,... Website
