For 30 hours, the teens in Duluth, Rochester, Mankato, St. Cloud, the Twin Cities and other parts of the state will go without food to expand their understanding of global and local hunger. They'll also volunteer at food shelves, pack food for hungry children in developing nations, or serve breakfast at homeless shelters.
This year Moorhead decided to make the switch to all paid labor for filling sandbags. They'll use a temp labor agency to supply the workers who are expected to earn $9 to $10 an hour.
After a year, MPR News editor David Cazares is starting to forget Florida. But he misses its lovely mess and is not sure he'll ever embrace winter as "real Minnesotans" do.
The University of Minnesota is teaming up with agribusiness and conservation groups to use a massive data base to boost food production while reducing harm to the environment. The Global Landscapes Initiative combines on-the-ground reports and satellite images to pinpoint trends in crop production, fertilizer and water use, and other variables.