January 24, 2013

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Thursday, January 24, 2013

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THURSDAY

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H 86 16 L 66 2

FRIDAY

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SATURDAY

Record weather slams state

MSU professor cautions reading too much into statistics.

web photo Sources are currently divided as to the meaning of Minnesota’s wild weather patterns, but the regions record weather will likley remain a point of discussion in 2013. SAM WILMES

staff writer

Minnesota and the nation suffered through a historically hot and stormy 2012, rais-

ing concerns about climate change. The state saw 68 weather records broken and more than 3,527 records were shattered nationally. The data, compiled by The

National Resources Defense Council, revealed that an astounding 30 percent of Minnesota’s weather records were broken in 2012, placing Minnesota only behind Tennessee

and Wisconsin. The upper Midwest, the Northeast, the northern Great Plains, and Rocky Mountain states were hardest hit. Minnesota’s weather featured recordbreaking heat in 42 counties. Last year was the hottest one in the United States since records have been kept. March 2012 was the hottest March ever, with over 15,000 records set nationwide. July was the hottest month ever recorded. Heavy rain in 34 counties set 72 new records, but the worst drought in 50 years struck the Midwest, including in Minnesota, where 36 wildfires were also sparked by drought. Minnesota’s wildfires were part of 9.2 million acres nationwide that burned. The drought led to over 1,300 counties in 29 states being labeled disaster areas. Without replenishing spring

moisture, agriculture faces a serious challenge this year. Pastures yielded no forage and hay supplies for the nation’s beef herd is at record low levels. Dry conditions caused grain and meat prices to soar, resulting in significantly higher food costs. Record breaking snow in five counties produced a halfdozen new snow records. In comparison, the Twin Cities received only 22.3 inches in the 2011-12 winter, the ninth lowest amount in the area’s history. Last year’s weather is seemingly only a large piece of the puzzle that has been forming for the past three decades. According to German international insurance giant MunichRe, from 1980-2011, extreme weather events in

Weather / page 2

Mankato renews detox contract

Community service officers will continue chauffeuring the excessively intoxicated to New Ulm LUCAS RYAN

staff writer

Mankato community service officers will be forced to continue making trips to the Brown County Detox Center. In the last three years, an average of 246 people were arrested on-campus for alcoholrelated reasons according to the Minnesota State University, Mankato “Partners in Safety 2012” Campus Fire and Safety Report. Some of those arrests were individuals who needed to be transported by Mankato community service officers to spend two days at nobodies favorite place: detox. With no other realistic option on January 14, the Mankato City Council decided to renew the Blue Earth County detox transportation agreement. Renewing

the contract means Mankato Community Service Officers (CSO) will continue to be the taxicab for people in need of a trip to the Brown County Detox Center located in New Ulm, Minn. “We are the entity that comes upon these individuals most often,” Mankato City Manager Pat Hentges said. More than one third of Brown County Detox Center‘s patients come from Blue Earth County. According to the business coordinator at the Brown County Detox, Heather Reetz, 584 people from Blue Earth County were treated at the facility in 2012. The Brown County Detox treated just 883 people from all other counties combined. According to an article in the Mankato Free Press, “Officials

web photo The nearly 30 mile trek from Mankato to New Ulm means that heavy drinkers are costing the city a pretty penny in travel expenses.

say a total of 13 counties use the Detox Center in New Ulm” The money it costs to transport the individual is not the

problem. Rather it is the officers time being spent driving around drunk people to detox centers instead of patrolling Mankato for

MAVERICK TAKES ON THE GOPHERS ON SEEPAGES PAGE 15 5-7 WINTER HOCKEY CAR CARE ISSUE ADVERTISERS

crime. “They are reimbursing us for the CSO. They are fully

Detox / page 2

A&E

15 11

INDEX: SPORTS

21 15

CLASSIFIEDS

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