Plus: How to stop the spread of a disease that kills oak trees.
| Pine County, Minn., community health services administrator Samantha Lo tracks the spread of COVID-19 there. “We’re worried about obviously people still getting sick and going to the hospital and dying. You can see these really disastrous consequences happen.” | Mark Zdechlik, MPR News |
Red oak leaves from a tree infected with oak wilt. Infected trees have wilting and bronze to reddish-brown discolored leaves that may also look water-soaked. | Wisconsin DNR
|
A disease that kills oak trees is spreading in Minnesota, and a discovery of it as far north as Crow Wing County has foresters and landowners worried.
Oak wilt slowly kills the leaves of oak trees and eventually kills the tree itself. It spreads naturally through root systems, sap beetles and open tree pores, but people accelerate the spread when they prune oaks and carry infected firewood across the state.
Here's what to watch for in oak trees and how to help stop the spread.
| |
|
|
|
The Legislature passed the state's two-year budget bill before the July 1 deadline, but this special session is still not over. Today, the Minnesota Senate is reviewing agency leaders from Gov. Tim Walz's administration — and possibly voting on removing them.
The Senate has unilateral power to confirm or reject the governor's appointments. Several of Walz's commissioners have served for years without confirmation, which is not uncommon or required.
Commissioners from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, the DNR and the Board of Animal Health are among many of the people under review today.
| |
|
|
|
| Minnesota's blood centers are in urgent need for donations. With the usual summer slump plus a shortage of workplace and school blood drives, inventories are stretched thin. A recent outbreak of chronic wasting disease, the always-fatal deer disease, sparked outcry. Now, a new law gives the state's DNR authority to inspect the state's 174 deer farms — previously a job just for the Board of Animal Health. And the two agencies have different priorities. | |
|
|
|
Preference Center ❘ Unsubscribe You received this email because you subscribed or it was sent to you by a friend. This email was sent by: Minnesota Public Radio
480 Cedar Street Saint Paul, MN, 55101 |
|
|
| |
|
