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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

"Chill the Drill - Or Don't?" - Minnesota Hosts Polar Bear Protest

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Wednesday, February 6, 2008   

Minneapolis, MN – Demonstrations are planned in Minnesota and across the country today, to protest a federal government move that could put the deep-freeze on an already "chilly" lifestyle. The U.S. Department of the Interior plans to lease 30 million offshore acres of Alaska's North Coast to oil and gas drilling.

Organizer Lois Noorgard, a Minnesota representative for the Alaska Wilderness League, explains the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas in the Arctic Ocean are nicknamed the "Polar Bear Seas" because the area supports about one-quarter of the world's polar bear population.

"The polar bears are in trouble, and the administration is needlessly placing them in even greater risk of extinction. We're here to say that the polar bear should not only be listed as a threatened species, but we need to protect its habitat because of climate change."

She says today's protests are meant to focus the nation's attention, not only on protecting wildlife, but on stopping climate change.

"The 'business as usual' fast-track oil and gas development is something we need to slow down, so we can look into clean, new energy technologies. We can have, wind, solar and other energy sources that do not pollute and do not destroy our pristine wild habitats."

Noorgard adds Minnesota has a special tie to polar bears.

"The polar bear is an iconic species, loved by people across the country. When the Fish and Wildlife Service put forward the thought that they may list it as an endangered species, 600,000 people commented, urging them to do so. Across the country, and here in Minnesota, people really care about that."

She notes federal legislation has been introduced that would prohibit drilling in the polar bear habitat. The Minnesota protest will take place at 10:00 AM, at the Shell Oil distributorship at 46th and Chicago Avenues in Minneapolis. Noorgard says bidding on the Interior Department lease contract begins today, and Shell is among the bidders.

Learn more about the efforts online, at www.alaskawild.org.




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