09/30/09: This week's Minnesota news from other media

"The continuing weak housing market and the permanent shutdown of some of northern Minnesota's wood mills have sliced demand for timber stumpage to a degree not seen since at least the 1980s," writes Marshall Helmberger in the Ely/Cook/Tower Timberjay. The story says that in fiscal year 2009, 167,000 cords worth of timber stumpage offered in northeastern Minnesota went unsold -- more than a third of the roughly 425,000 cords the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) had planned to sell.

The Albert Lea City Council on Monday approved a variance that will allow Riverland Community College to build a wind turbine, reports Sarah Stultz in the Albert Lea Tribune. The turbine will be used in training Riverland students in alternative energy.

Dustin Kass reports in the Winona Daily News that Lewiston's Security State Bank "is one of three Minnesota banks that received cease-and-desist orders from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation last month telling them to modify lending practices and raise capital." The story says, "The FDIC determined the bank has 'engaged in unsafe and unsound banking practices,' such as unsafe lending practices, operating with inadequate earnings and operating with excessive loan losses."

Colleges throughout southeastern Minnesota are again reporting enrollment gains, writes Elliot Mann in the Rochester Post-Bulletin. For example, "More students have enrolled at Winona State University this fall than ever before in the college's 151-year history," the story says, "with 8,606 students attending school this year. That's up from 8,450 last fall."

The diversity of today's quilters will be displayed at the St. Cloud Heritage Quilters 2009 show — "Cotton Candy: A Treat for the Eyes" — this weekend at the College of St. Benedict, St. Joseph, writes Amy Bowen in the St. Cloud Times. More than 600 quilts will be displayed.