By Marisa Helms | Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2008

After 12 years of effort, supporters finally can celebrate federal legislation bearing the late senator's name. There are still details to work out, including meshing its provisions with state law, but here's an early look at what it will and won't do.

By Ron Way | Monday, Oct. 6, 2008

As the date nears for a long-anticipated release of perhaps the most important environmental document in Minnesota's mining history, political wrangling has stepped up over concerns about the effects of copper-nickel mining on ground and surface water in northern Minnesota.

By Katherine Glover

Friday, Oct. 3, 2008

"This is the kind of movie that's going to make my life harder," says Jennifer Dunnam, president of the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota. "The people in this movie just seem to lose all capacity for creativity and for taking care of themselves, and it's a problem when real people already think that about blind people."

By Catharine Richert | Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2008

WASHINGTON, D.C. — As he waves goodbye to his congressional career, Jim Ramstad is also hoping to say farewell to a nearly 12-year battle to improve health insurance coverage for people with mental illnesses. The House and Senate both passed Ramstad's so-called mental health parity bill, but the chambers are squabbling over how to pay for the program.

By Sharon Schmickle
Monday, Sept. 15, 2008

Scientists at the CERN laboratory near Geneva are warming up their mighty Large Hadron Collider to begin smashing atoms and taking back their lead in physics.

By Dr. Craig Bowron | Monday, Sept. 15, 2008

With increasing frequency, physicians who are recognized as leaders in their respective specialties are developing strong financial ties to the pharmaceutical or medical-device industry. Some become "KOLs," or key opinion leaders, who are groomed to be "on message."

By Sharon Schmickle | Thursday, Sept. 11, 2008

Environmentalists are encouraged that both John McCain and Barack Obama agree that global warming is an urgent problem. And for the first time the Republican Party included a plank in its platform acknowledging that climate change is a serious problem.

The easy stuff has already been pumped out; energy insiders now worry about reaching a point where oil production hits its maximum, after which supply goes into permanent decline.

Antiquity's most sophisticated technology tracked ancient Olympics along with celestial events.

A brewing controversy over a proposed sale to benefit a large mining project is pitting Iron Range DFLers and allied unions against other Democrats and the environmental community — a political lineup reminiscent of the Boundary Waters battle three decades ago.