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Wild pangolin: We're eating the rare mammal into exctinction
Once a supplemental protein source for people in rural villages, it has become a luxury food for newly-rich urbanites, prized precisely because it must be caught in the wild.
Researchers to conduct first survey of Minnesota's native bees
For years, scientists have studied honeybees to assess the connection between their declining population and the use of pesticides, declining habitat and disease. But until recently, they paid little attention to Minnesota's native bees.
Minnesota starts to think about re-using wastewater
Treated sewage water is getting used again in a few places, watering golf courses, washing trucks and sweeping streets. The economics in a water-rich state make for slow change, but those who have tried it think it could be a way of the future.
The water ban is affecting more than 400,000 people and the governor has declared a state of emergency. Officials are telling some residents to avoid showering with the water, reports Toledo News Now, and to make sure their children and pets stay away from it, as well.
Mosquito numbers down, West Nile virus still a threat
The heat of August, paired with the heavy rains and flooding of early summer, have created conditions perfect for mosquitoes carrying the virus.
Iraq's fight against militants shifts to control of water
Islamist extremists have pushed Iraq into crisis. They have taken towns and cities, roads and bridges, and Iraq's army can't seem to push them back. Now the militants and the army are battling for control of the two great rivers that flow through Iraq: the Tigris and the Euphrates. The extremists are believed to have skilled water engineers among their number, and if they control Iraq's waterways, they could create serious disasters.
Houston County gave the Erickson Mine permission to start mining silica sand, but a 2013 law requires a DNR permit for mines if they are located near trout streams within an area known as the Paleozoic Plateau.
The EPA approved the state's water quality variance for Mesabi Nugget in 2012, allowing the facility to exceed water quality standards for four pollutants: hardness, bicarbonates, conductivity and total dissolved solids. But the EPA reversed itself earlier this month.
How to make the Vikings stadium more bird-friendly
Sharon Stiteler, who blogs at BirdChick.com, joined MPR News' Tom Crann to discuss the concerns of the Audubon Society about the new Vikings stadium and possible solutions.