Winter Storm Hits Dakotas and Minnesota

It's October, so that means the northern states are fair game for some snow.

Inches and inches of snow hit the Dakotas and Minnesota yesterday.

I say it's too early.

From Growing Up in a Family of Packer Fans to Becoming a Viking Cheerleader

Is there nothing sacred anymore?

A Wisconsin Rapids native can add professional cheerleader to her resume, but it's not for the Packers. If you look at the Minnesota Vikings Cheerleaders roster, one brunette, listed as "Chelsea J." might look familiar to those in Wisconsin.

It appears Chelsea attended elementary school and seventh-grade at East Junior High in Wisconsin Rapids and still has family living there.

She may have gone to the University of Minnesota, but did she leave relatives that are Packer fans back in the Cheese State?

Chelsea is one of 11 rookies on the 35-member squad and attends three, 31/2-hour practice sessions a week.

She holds degrees in health and wellness and child psychology, Chelsea also teaches preschool full-time for an organization providing services to homeless children and their families in Minneapolis.

And, with much of her family residing in Wisconsin Rapids, she was asked THE QUESTION...
Packers or Vikings?

"I think the bottom line is they were proud I was going to be an NFL cheerleader," Chelsea said democratically.

Asian Carp Found in Minnesota River

The invasive Asian carp might have made its first appearance in Minneapolis, about 25 miles from the Wisconsin border. The Minnesota DNR said yesterday that samples near the Ford Dam on the Mississippi River have tested positive for the carp’s DNA. That’s about four months after similar DNA indicated a presence of the silver carp on the Saint Croix River at the Wisconsin border.

Minnesota’s DNR says it will hire a commercial fisherman begin netting-and-searching operations below the Ford Dam, to see if any actual Asian carp can be found.

It is too early to know what effect, if any, the animal, a copepod -- a crustacean known as Neoergasilus japonicus -- will have on the lake. Researchers have seen little damage in Saginaw Bay, a part of Lake Huron, where the copepods were found in 1994.

"It seems to be a relatively innocuous parasite," said Rochelle Sturtevant, the regional extension coordinator for Michigan Sea Grant. "But they do have the potential to disperse quickly."

The copepods, which are native to eastern Asia, first appeared in Europe in the 1960s. Within 20 years, they had crossed the continent.

From there, they moved to Finland and Cuba.

In 1994, they were found in an aquaculture pond at Auburn University, in Alabama. Every fish there was infected.

The copepods have since been spotted in Colorado, in Saginaw Bay and, on Sept. 26, in the western basin of Lake Erie.

A biologist there found two samples on the dorsal fin of a green sunfish.

The animals are tiny. Adults are just a half-millimeter long.

They make up for it with numbers: Each female can produce 2,000 eggs, which mature within 21 days.
Copepods use hooks at the ends of their antennae to latch onto a fish's dorsal fin. U.S. researchers have found as many as 44 on a single fish.

NHRA Drag Racing Rolls into Brainerd

It's one of the biggest events of the summer in Minnesota. It's the 30th annual National Hot Rod Association Lucas Oil Nationals at the Brainerd International Raceway.

Brainerd is a favorite event of many NHRA drivers and teams.  Fans also love it, they've been camping out for days.  If you've never been to Brainerd for drag racing, you need to go.

More than 100,000 people will fill the bleachers, easily doubling the population of the entire Brainerd Lakes Region and then some. The hotels literally fill up within 60 miles of us to accommodate that number of people and this week's race alone will generate $10 million of revenue for the area.

More than 230 people are hired to work at the event over the weekend, so a lot of people get part-time jobs and they get a chance to watch the races at the same time.  ESPN 2 wil be televison the action on Saturday and Sunday.

The television and media exposure is worth millions alone to the region in exposure alone.

This is the biggest weekend of the year for Brainerd tourism, not to mention the fans. Through Sunday it will be all about fun, especially for the winners.

Rubio to Finally Join T-Wolves

The much talked about Ricky Rubio is going to be the Minnesota Timberwolves point guard next season.

Rubio, the 20-year-old Spanish phenom point guard drafted by the Timberwolves two years ago, has reached a deal to play in the NBA. That means he and Minnesota will pay a $1.2 million buyout of his deal with Barcelona (the Timberwolves can only pay $500,000 of that).

Because of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement, Rubio will take a pay cut to come to the NBA and is locked into that scale for years.  The Wolves sure could use a point guard and some young talent.  It reamins to be seen if Rubio will provide the boost the team needs.