The Minnesota Department of Human Rights says Glacier Ice House laid off an employee who was on leave for cancer treatment, and didn’t give the worker a chance to move into a different position.
In north-central Minnesota, a persistent drought stretching over several years has created a “storage drought,” depleting water stored in lakes, streams and groundwater. It will take months of above-normal rainfall before they bounce back.
The U.S. Forest service says recent rains have helped firefighters in their effort to contain several wildfires burning in and around Minnesota’s Boundary Waters. Now, the fires are at least 50 percent contained and some are fully contained.
Several popular lakes in the Boundary Waters will reopen to day use beginning July 31, including Moose Lake and the Number Chain of lakes near Ely, and Saganaga and Seagull Lakes at the end of the Gunflint Trail.
The Forest Service Thursday reopens about 40 percent of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness to overnight campers. But some outfitters say more access should be allowed as the wildfire risk wanes.
Resort owners and outfitters in Ely played a critical role this week in helping evacuate canoeists from the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, as they used their motorized towboats to get people and their gear out. But there's long been a controversy over the use of noisy towboats in the quiet and pristine wilderness.
Smoke from the wildfires burning in northeastern Minnesota and in Canada is creating the worst air quality on record in many cities across Minnesota and the entire Great Lakes region. One of the worst spots has been Duluth, which is in the height of the city's busy tourist season.
There’s no perfect substitute to the BWCA. But paddlers and campers can still find peaceful water, star-filled skies and off-the-beaten-path experiences in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Here’s where to look.
Two YMCA camps near Ely, as well as scout and wilderness camps also near the BWCA, are closing and sending kids and families home as wildfires in that area of northern Minnesota grow.
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