The Boundary Waters Canoe Area is a one million acre wilderness area in northeast Minnesota that is protected by the state. It has hundreds of lakes connected by rivers and streams. Recently a bill has been proposed to ban copper-nickel mining in a huge area of federal land bordering the BWCA.

Mining is a big part of the economy in northeast Minnesota. There have been iron ore mines open in the area for over a century and people there are getting frustrated. They believe the proposed bill will interfere with their way of life. According to Steve Giorgi, the director of the Range Association of Municipalities and Schools says the area needs more high-paying mining jobs rather than the outdoor tourism jobs that have been increasing. He also claims that the vast deposits of copper and nickel could bring another economic heyday to the region.

The proposed bill would  permanently ban copper-nickel mining in 365 square mile of land surrounding the BWCA. This is being proposed because the mining threatens the delicate ecosystem and will pollute hundreds of surrounding lakes with highly sulfuric chemicals. There has never been a copper-nickel mine that hasn’t polluted surrounding waterways but the mining companies have proposed a way to treat the water so it won’t permanently harm the ecosystem. The problem with this plan is that it is very expensive and would take 500 years after the mine closes to treat all the water. 

The BWCA is not only valued by Minnesotans; people from all around the world come to see the pristine waters and the beautiful wildlife. Jason Zabokrtsky, the owner of Ely Outfitting Company said he saw people from 48 states and 13 countries going into the BWCA. 

In 2016 Obama launched a study on the environmental effects of copper-nickel mining but in 2018 Trump shut it down four months before it was finished and renewed the mining companies’ leases which gives them the right to explore and eventually mine in the area.

Copper-nickel mining has pros and cons. It can bring jobs and money to northeastern Minnesota but it also has the potential to wreck a fragile and valuable ecosystem. 

For more information, please see these articles:

• Copper-Nickel Studies and Non-ferrous Mining – Minnesota Issues Resources Guides
• Bill to ban copper-nickel mining draws sharp contrast between Boundary Waters, Iron Range | MPR News
• FAQ: Everything you need to know about PolyMet | MPR News

In the city of St. Paul, there have been 28 homicides in only one year. This is the most homicides in a decade. The two shooters on Sunday evening, November 10th, brought the tally up by 2. During the month of September, there were only 9 shootings. 

The mayor of St. Paul has had enough and called a public meeting to discuss public safety.

Recently, there has been a shooting that happened the 2nd week of November, on Maryland Ave and Hazelwood St. A person was shot and it was reported at around 5pm. When the police came to the scene, one of the men was dead and the other one was injured badly, 

Another shooting happened in the Highland neighborhood, which is St. Paul’s 27th case. A man was shot in a car and the woman with him was injured as well. It happened on a Friday morning and is being investigated immediately.

There were 2 shootings that happened this past Wednesday, November 6th. The first one involved a senior football player from Henry Sibley. The second one was a gas station situation that involved a U.S Marshal.

The first guy, Da’Qwan Jones-Morris, was accidentally shot by his friend and one person said that it didn’t look like they were fighting. The police were questioning people but there were no arrests made.

The second one happened on 7th St and Kittson St when a U.S. Marshall shot an armed man who was trying to kill a car full of people. 

The Star Tribune recorded another recent shooting that just happened this past weekend as well, which is St. Paul’s 30th shooting. This happened on Rice St and Wayzata St at around 5pm. 

The city of St. Paul is planning on having a meeting to talk about the shootings and the violence. If this continues it may beat the 1992 record which saw 34 shootings.

On Friday, April 13, a 5-year-old boy named Landon was thrown off of the 3rd floor at Mall of America. The Bloomington police got reports at 10:17 a.m. that a young child had fallen about 40 feet from the third floor balcony and had landed on the first floor. Witnesses recall seeing a woman screaming for help on the third floor, which was his mother. The child was was lying face up in between an escalator and the Michael Kors store on the first floor. The 5-year-old boy suffered life threatening injuries and has been hospitalized. According to Fox9, witnesses on the first floor described seeing the boy on his back, not breathing and fully unconscious.

A family friend set up the GoFundMe page that will help the family cover the medical costs including many surgeries. The GoFundMe has since raised $400,000.

According to NBC News, the suspect of this attack has been named a 24-year-old man from Minneapolis: Emmanuel Deshawn Aranda. He was immediately arrested after the attack and has been in custody on a suspicion of an attempted murder charge. The suspect has been banned from the mall, in the past, on misdemeanor charges. He was arrested at the Mall of America in 2015 after he threw items from the 3rd floor at the mall and broke many items at stores nearby. He has since then told police after his arrest, for throwing the child, that his motive and plan was that he had been looking for someone to kill on April 13.

According to CNN, the 5-year-old boy had been improving. Doctors said they found no brain damage and not even any swelling or nerve damage. They referred to his injured as something more like a child falling off a bike rather than falling 40 feet in the air.

The boy has suffered a good amount of broken bones and bleeding internally, but he has since been making great improvements.

There has been fridge weather in the Midwest, specifically in Minnesota, during the past month. The wind chill temperature in the Midwest has reached around -30. The negative weather began around the week of January 28 and extended through February 1. The arctic cold has resulted in many with no homes to freeze to death in Chicago. According to NBC Chicago, 19 people have died in the blistering cold, many of whom were homeless.

There were closings of hundreds of schools across districts for days across the Midwest. Here in Minnesota, governor Tim Walz is not going to penalize school districts in the state by adding more school days to compensate for the school days lost, the week of January 28, during the fridge below zero temperatures. The cold broke records in many cities and states that week. According to Fox 9 News, it became the lowest temperatures recorded in Minnesota since 1994.

Although the governor of Minnesota decided to not add school days at the end of the school year, I asked some students around how they felt about school days being added. It has been a big topic for quite a while, especially since a few years ago, more school days were added at the end of the school year due to having too many snow days.

Tovi Yangh: Honestly I would rather have schools added at the end of the year if it is needed. I’d rather go to school when it’s warm than suffer in the cold walking to school or having to carry my jacket around because it’s too cold. Other than that, I don’t really mind with whatever that happens. If school days are added then I’ll go since I have to.

Emily St. Clair: I would hate it if school days were added. I don’t want to go to school in the summer especially since we don’t have air conditioner. No one would want to show up and be surrounded by a lot of students when it’s hot.

Vahue Thao: I think that adding days would be unfair because it wasn’t really our fault that we had snow days. Also, I think that kids won’t show up because maybe their families have already made plans for it already.

Dayna Baty: Honestly, it doesn’t really affect me but I think that school days shouldn’t be added no matter how many snow days there are. Personally, I’ve used those snow days to catch up on school work and I think they’re really helpful with just catching up on school.

I also interviewed many others who had the same views. Overall, students want their summer break to start early with no school days added. Many others also have stated that they are thankful that SPPS is doing a better job at calling snow days and early releases than they did a few years back.

Hopefully, next winter will be less dangerous, not just for students, but for everyone else.