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Today's News Headlines is a comprehensive collection of U of M news clips including select U of M news from local, national and global sources, as well as News Service releases and multimedia content. It is delivered every morning, Monday-Friday.
Today's News: Wednesday, October 28, 2009
U of M researchers receive grant to use bacteria for biofuels
The Department of Energy has awarded University of Minnesota researchers and a startup company $2.2 million to use bacteria to produce biofuel... University of Minnesota researchers will also work with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, where scientists have used blue-green algae to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and combine it with bacteria to produce hydrocarbons.
Minnesota Public Radio
To listen: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display
/web/2009/10/27/u-of-m-biofuels-grant/#at
Alaska World Affairs Council Presents: Dr. William Beeman
Listen to Dr. William Beeman on U.S. – Iranian Relations During the Obama Era this week on KSKA’s Addressing Alaskans, Dr. William Beeman is the president of the Middle East Section of the American Anthropological Association and chair of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Minnesota
KSKA - Radio - AK
To listen: http://kska.org/2009/10/27/awac-presents-dr-william-beeman/
Police Investigate Rape At 'U' Dorm
Police are investigating reports that a teenager was raped inside her dorm room at the University of Minnesota.
WCCO - TV
To view: http://wcco.com/crime/dorm.rape.university.2.1273658.html
U of M Police Increase Patrol this Halloween
The University of Minnesota’s never had the Halloween reputation that comes with a certain school in Wisconsin.
KMSP - TV
To view: http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/dpp/news/More_
Halloween_Police_Patrol_at_U_of_M_oct_27_2009
Minnesota facing both political and budget crises, U political scientist says
Larry Jacobs, director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute, University of Minnesota, discusses how a major political crisis in Minnesota is leading to an economic crisis in regard to the state's budget.
MinnPost
To view: http://www.minnpost.com/minnclips/2009/10/27/12767/
minnesota_facing_both_political_and_budget_crises_u_
political_scientist_says#at
Groups pushing for 3 additional light-rail stops
St. Paul community groups pushing for three additional stops along a proposed light-rail transit line are fired up about new federal concerns over when those stations could be built... Meanwhile, Central Corridor planners continue to meet with officials with the University of Minnesota over how to resolve the U's concerns over vibration and electromagnetic interference with its research facilities.
Minnesota Public Radio
To listen: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/10/27/central-corridor-stops/#at
1-year poll shows changed views on Obama
Shannon Norris thinks President Obama deserves more time to deliver on his promises from last year's campaign... "There's a kind of realism that's taken over, that 'the change you can believe in' — people have woken up and seen that as kind of a talking point, and I think there's some disappointment, some deflation," says Lawrence Jacobs, director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota.
USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-10-27-obama-year_N.htm
1 year after election, luster is off Obama
As the anniversary of the election approaches, the tidal wave of hope that swept President Barack Obama into office has ebbed and some perceptions of the president have changed, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds... "There's a kind of realism that's taken over, that 'the change you can believe in' — people have woken up and seen that as kind of a talking point, and I think there's some disappointment, some deflation," said Lawrence Jacobs, director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota.
Tennessean
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20091028/NEWS08/91028
0394/1025/NEWS01/1+year+after+election++luster+is+off
+Obama
Check city regulations before you look for renters
Thinking about adding some paying housemates to your household?... First make sure it's legal, cautions Marilyn Bruin, associate professor with the University of Minnesota's housing studies program.
Star Tribune
http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/homegarden/66436902.html
DNR supervisor who won job back alleges gender bias in firing
A supervisor for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources who won her job back in a labor arbitration is alleging that top managers committed gender discrimination when they fired her a year ago... Under the ruling by arbitrator Stephen Befort, a University of Minnesota labor law professor, Hamm was awarded back pay, about $88,000, although her retirement benefits collected during the past year, about $62,000, will be deducted and returned to the state retirement system.
Star Tribune
http://www.startribune.com/local/66729167.html?page=2&c=y
St. Paul's RiverCentre gets clean - and green
Every time you go to the Xcel Energy Center for a Minnesota Wild game, a reception at 317 on Rice Park, a concert at Roy Wilkins Auditorium or attend a convention at the St. Paul RiverCentre, you generate a little more than a pound of trash... Administrators did not set any recycling goals at the new TCF Bank Stadium at the University of Minnesota, but associate athletics director Scott Ellison said they are committed to recycling.
Pioneer Press
http://www.twincities.com/ci_13656032#at
Wolves lose their predatory edge in mid-life, new U of Minnesota study shows
Although most wolves in Yellowstone National Park live to be nearly six years old, their ability to kill prey peaks when they are two to three, according to a study led by Dan MacNulty and recently published online by Ecology Letters... He has continued tracking Yellowstone's wolves as a University of Minnesota postdoctoral researcher for Craig Packer, the world's foremost authority on lions.
Science Centric
http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09102838
-wolves-lose-their-predatory-edge-mid-life-new-u-minnesota
-study-shows
Drop In Ag. Spending May Lead To Higher Food Prices
A global fall in agricultural research spending — other than in China — is slowing growth in farm output and will lead to higher world food prices for the first time in five decades, an economist said Tuesday... Climate change and associated water shortages have contributed, but the productivity slowdown is "heavily related" to declining research spending since the late 1970s, said Philip Pardey, professor of science and technology policy at the University of Minnesota.
Food Manufacturing
http://www.foodmanufacturing.com/scripts/ShowPR~RID~13030.asp
Professor says agricultural research investment has huge pay-off
Leading agricultural researchers are calling for more private public partnerships to help solve the world's food crisis... Economics Professor at the University of Minnesota, Philip Pardey, says research brings huge returns on the investment.
Australian Broadcasting Company
http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/content/200910/s2726168.htm
Why are hog farmers not a priority for flu vaccine?
The H1N1 flu virus that's now infecting people in more than 190 countries around the globe -- and that's responsible for the reported deaths of nearly 5,000 people worldwide, including high numbers of children in the southern U.S. -- is believed to have begun in a pig... "The thing we're concerned about is if this [novel H1N1] virus gets into pigs and then comes back out of pigs into people," said Michael T. Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.
Southern Studies
http://www.southernstudies.org/2009/10/why-are-hog
-farmers-not-a-priority-for-flu-vaccine.html
Ordering Wisely at Fast-Food Restaurants Can Save Lives
It is estimated that one in five Americans is obese, a condition defined as being more than 30 percent above the ideal weight based on height... Despite some of their recent healthful offerings, the menus still tend to include foods high in fat, sugar and calories and low in fiber and nutrients,” said researcher Mark Pereira, Ph.D., assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Minnesota.
Emax Health
http://www.emaxhealth.com/1357/74/34252/ordering-
wisely-fast-food-restaurants-can-save-lives.html#at
UWS teach-in takes up health care reform
Nearly 50 University of Wisconsin-Superior students and staff packed into a classroom in the Health and Wellness Center on Thursday for a teach-in on health insurance reform... Jennifer Schultz, director of the Health Care management Program at the University of Minnesota Duluth, explained how some of the health care systems work in other countries such as France, Canada and Great Britain.
Superior Telegram
http://www.superiortelegram.com/event/article/id/38081/group/News/w
Bill to protect consumers portrayed as ‘financial safety net’
A proposed federal consumer protection bill would create a financial safety net for consumers, says U.S. Congressman Keith Ellison (D-MN)... “We want a consumer financial agency that protects the consumer,” said University of Minnesota Law Professor Prentiss Cox, adding that “you often can’t tell the difference” between the regulators and the persons or agency being regulated.
Minnesota Spokesman Recorder
http://www.spokesman-recorder.com/news/article/
article.asp?NewsID=99762&sID=4&ItemSource=L
King Connectivity
Connectivity is king. As painful as that admission would be for empire-building media moguls, it also looks to be true... Yet US wireless operator sales are now about $150 billion a year - or ten times as large as radio broadcasting revenues, according to Andrew Odlyzko, a professor at the University of Minnesota and former Bell Labs researcher.
Business Standard
http://www.business-standard.com/india/brv
_storypage.php?autono=374476
Mauer is the Twins MVP; Cuddyer is most improved
Joe Mauer was named the Twins' Most Valuable Player for the first time in his career Monday by the Twin Cities chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America... All proceeds from the event will benefit the University of Minnesota's research and patient care focused on ataxia, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease and ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease).
Star Tribune
http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/66013737.html
Food to be distributed in Evansville Friday
Evansville Horizons, along with West Central Community Action, North Country Food Bank and the Grant County Food Shelf, will distribute food in four western Minnesota communities this Friday, October 30... Horizons is a poverty reduction program through the Northwest Area Foundation and University of Minnesota Extensions Center for Community Vitality.
Alexandria Echo Press
http://www.echopress.com/event/article/id/69433/
Bangladesh forms first tiger plan
The Tiger Action Plan aims to save an estimated 300-500 tigers in the Sundarbans mangrove forest... The plan was drawn up by the Bangladesh Forest Department and the Wildlife Trust of Bangladesh with help from the Zoological Society of London, the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the University of Minnesota.
BBC - UK
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8329771.stm
A New Form of Solar Energy: Direct Solar Fuel
Think of direct solar fuels as gas without the death or waiting... BioCee and the University of Minnesota wants to take sunlight, carbon dioxide and two organisms (cyanobacteria for sunlight capture and shewanella for metabolic transformation) to produce a liquid hydrocarbon.
Greentech Media
http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/a-
new-form-of-solar-energy-direct-solar-fuels/
Innovative Energy Research Agency Opens By Funding 37 Projects
Liquid metal grid-scale battery technology that could enable constant energy supply from intermittent renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar power... Researchers at the University of Minnesota have developed a bioreactor that has the potential to produce gasoline directly from sunlight and CO2 using a symbiotic system of two organisms.
Eco Factory
http://www.ecofactory.com/news/innovative-energy
-research-agency-opens-funding-37-projects-102709
Kretek International's Djarum Clove Cigars Still for Sale
Kretek International's Djarum Clove Cigars, introduced in January 2009 after two-and-a-half years of development, testing and government approvals, are not covered under the FDA's (Food and Drug Administration) new ban on flavored cigarettes... A University of Minnesota study in 2006 actually found a 40 percent drop in 12th grade clove cigarette smokers since 2001.
Convenience Store News
http://www.csnews.com/csn/cat_management/tobacco/
article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1004030908
Editorial: New energy needed on Park Board
With an annual budget of $58 million and a separate police force, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board has too long been an under-the-radar political entity for many voters... A University of Minnesota horticulture professor and previous Park Board commissioner, Erwin has a record of working collaboratively and will think strategically about City Hall relations.
Star Tribune
http://www.startribune.com/opinion/editorials/66665697.htm
Mary Hockenberry Meyer - Rake-free zone
Every fall, my husband does his best to avoid raking leaves... Mary Hockenberry Meyer is a professor and Extension Horticulturist with the University of Minnesota.
Star Tribune - Home and Garden
http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/homegarden/66436917.html
TCF Bank Stadium built with U of M students' overdraft fees
It sits like a citadel of stone and brick on University Avenue at the tail end of the east campus's Dinkytown neighborhood, an opulent colossus of Big Ten football... It's been called "The Bank" and "The Vault," but the University of Minnesota calls it TCF Stadium.
Citypages
http://www.citypages.com/2009-10-28/news/tcf-bank
-stadium-built-with-u-of-m-students-overdraft-fees/
U of M presents rare Chinese opera performance
http://www1.umn.edu/news/news-releases/2009/UR_CONTENT_144406.html
Coroner, author Janis Amatuzio to give lecture at U of M: "Beyond the Threshold of Death: A Forensic Pathologist's Perspective on Living"
http://www1.umn.edu/news/news-releases/2009/UR_CONTENT_144358.html
University of Minnesota researchers win $2.2 million federal stimulus grant to use bacteria to produce biofuel
http://www1.umn.edu/news/news-releases/2009/UR_CONTENT_144404.html
University of Minnesota announces recipients of SEED awards for outstanding diverse students
http://www1.umn.edu/news/news-releases/2009/UR_CONTENT_144376.html