Used EVs are pretty affordable right now, as is public transportation. The weather is warming up, so bike commuting is also a fun option.

This graph shows how registration rates between Black and White voters varied in Louisiana since Reconstruction. In a single image, it tells the story of political power and discrimination. Black voters had power, briefly, then it was taken from them. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/power-demo...

That’s quite a chart www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

This is the first time the Wild and Timberwolves have advanced during the same post season! Good morning, haters!

Minnesota Timberwolves and Wild close out a playoff series on the same night?!?!

#OnThisDay Apr 30 1971: Great Northern Station in downtown Minneapolis, on the eve of the conversion of America's ailing and underinvested passenger railways to Amtrak. The station would be demolished in 1978. Roger Puta photo via Marty Bernard.

Well that's a (career) wrap! Thanks to all of you who have watched and listened to this 4-year old weather obsessed Minnesota kid who launched a 40-year weather career. I retire tomorrow. It's been an honor! #mnwx www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...

As heard on @mprnews.org, Minnesota has termites!! And they are moving north! I legitimately had NO IDEA that termites even lived in Minnesota 😳 apps.extension.umn.edu/garden/diagn...

"For the first time in more than 100 years, evidence of cougars reproducing in Minnesota was documented in video captured by the University of MN's Voyageurs Wolf Project (youtu.be/7EL1FRB11DU). The videos, shared with the MN DNR by the project researchers, show a female cougar with 3 large kittens"

This story, as heard on 'All Things Considered' is absolutely crazy! It involves a Holocaust denying conspiracy theorist, a New Hampshire Republican, and... baby oil. www.npr.org/2026/04/29/n...

In some small part (maybe large) the chicken tax is probably playing a role in why we don't have Chinese EVs in the U.S. This fowel stoey on tariffs is an old @planetmoney.bsky.social episode. That and national security fears (or "fears") www.npr.org/2024/01/31/1...

A lot of people are going to learn real quick about water right rules of the SW U.S. When the Colorado River Compact was established in 1922, the watershed was in a rainy period, meaning they thought there was more water to work with. The last 20+ years there has been a drought, and much less water

Have coffee and now waiting for the EarthScope webinar "Explore Your Future: Geoscience Career Panel"...

"Riverview Dairy seeks to expand their Morris-based West River Dairy operation from 7,855 to almost 19,000 cows. In terms of waste output, that’s roughly the same as a city of 750,000 [the] dairy plans to make use of it by spreading it on nearby fields." minnesotareformer.com/2026/04/28/b...

Stratigraphic records of #microplastic deposition in Puerto Rico coastal sediments: a focus on hurricane impacts link.springer.com/article/10.1...

If only this could have been predicted and prevented... www.startribune.com/minnesota-fa...

Via 'Wait wait don't tell me' 'Meow, meow': Pilots scolded after animal noises heard on air traffic control frequency - ABC News share.google/WnpppJMjLOzH...

Extremely exciting that my report was mentioned on this weekend's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! broadcast on @npr.org. It was one of the questions during the lightning round at the end. It's at the 38:55 minute mark here: www.npr.org/2026/04/25/g...

When I was an undergraduate, I spelled below as 'bellow' because I did not know that below only had one 'l'... I finally figured it out, but I couldn't figure out why my reports always had one of the 'l's in 'bellow' crossed out. Because, you know, bellow is a word and spell check didn't help.

I doubt Exxon and the other oil companies like the little people talking like this but it is the industry business model in action. Sell the old wells to people like this who have no intention of ever paying to plug or clean up the wells. “We’re not financially able to plug a bunch of oil wells."

This is particularly relevant to wildfires in the California foothills, which often have serpentine rock and soil.

Midcentury suburbs landscaped with a fast growing shrub- Buckthorn. I’ve been dutifully trying to rid my yard of it since we moved in. Last year I bought a clamping lever gadget called the WeedWrench- and it’s kind of amazing. This was 30 minutes of light work. Look at all those roots!!!

I guess that when you print the paper in Iowa in the early afternoon this is front page news you have to go with because you went to print before the actual news happened...

A relic from another time... I wounder when the last time it had a Star Tribune newspaper in it? Location: Doughnut Star, Burnsville, MN

I cannot wait for the first marathon to be run in under an hour

Waves of showers will bring widespread rainfall to the state through Monday, then we'll enter a quieter and drier stretch the rest of the week. #WeatherLoon #mnwx https://www.youtube.com/@WeatherLoon/live

Bluesky has the Minnesota T-wolves juice

I’m 💯 delighted to be in such good company here with @rfhirschfeld.bsky.social and @anneschech.bsky.social does amazing work, but I also want to point out this is a huge 🐘 in the room in largely b/c a great majority of people in the land grant university system are too cowardly to study/discuss it.

But sleepy Joe, amiright?

Whelp, that stinks... www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

Holy shit. "In recent years, with the rise of a large number of specialty journals, the Journal of Geology started receiving fewer and fewer high-quality submissions. This year it has become impossible to build a sustainable publication model"

Fact checked, true www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/s...

Heads up southern Twin Cities suburbs!

Words of wisdom from my undergraduate advisor, Calvin Alexander, at the Minnesota Groundwater Association spring meeting. "Computers are just a tool, don't let a computer program (or AI) limit how you answer a question."

What a piece of 🗑

Ah, I see they are taking the Star Trek approach. Try enough ideas and one surly will work...

I hear that lawn mowing season has started... well, it was a nice spring while it lasted.

So China & Tesla don’t steal all the headlines, Volvo Trucks (Volvo Group) quietly put 5,000+ electric trucks into real-world deployment, logging 100+ million zero-emission miles over the past five years. Not under Geely. Not hype. This is happening. EV trucks are scaling everywhere, all at once.

"When Brianna Lawrence and her husband Devon found out they were expecting their first child...Their premium for the new family coverage plan could nearly quadruple to $2,200 a month" BuT wHy ArEn'T mOrE pEoPlE hAvInG kIdS? www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...

Endorsed

Happy Earth Day

Duh, no. It’s a wind instrument.

NPR talking about cancer rates in Iowa and mental health. Partner texts me: "no mention of the cause of elevated cancer rates in Iowa?" Me: "yeah..." Narrator: "Remember folks, excessive fertilizer and pesticide use along with lax regulation is why Iowa has elevated cancer rates."

The study certainly appears to add to evidence that ‘COVID vaccination can play a role in reducing disease burden and associated costs, and it highlights the value of increasing vaccination.’ Credit link: @cidrap.bsky.social www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/cov...

This is absolutely infuriating.

Forget "total cost of ownership." In the UK, the average EV is now cheaper than the average ICE vehicle, up front. Sticker cost. And of course the savings just keep accumulating after that.

Nice story featuring work done by @microbialmatt.bsky.social and his group! The story talks about how nitrate pollution has resulted in many wells being above 10 ppm (drinking water limit) and within a few years many more wells will be above that limit. www.kcur.org/environment-...

TFW you look out the window and see the Earth disappear 🎥 Astronaut Reid Wiseman 📍 Artemis II from the far side of the Moon

The pending western South Dakota and Missouri River water crisis does not get the attention the Colorado River Basin does, but this is a huge issue. There are few good groundwater resources in South Dakota, so piping the water in is the only option. southdakotasearchlight.com/briefs/south...

This was about 10 miles from my parent's house.