March 2010 
There are 6 blog entries for March 2010.
Greening Minnesota ~ February / March 2010
Wednesday, March 31st, 2010 at 8:34pm. 1192 Views, 0 Comments.
The short month of February caught me offguard, so this issue of Greening Minnesota is for both February and March of 2010. Some of these stories date back at least that far. Read on to learn about environmentally friendly practices around the Twin Cities and Minnesota!
Janitors usually do their work after everyone else has gone home. But that has changed at the Hennepin County Government Center and other heavily used county buildings as of March 1. About half of Hennepin County's 63 buildings are vacuumed, wiped down, swept and emptied of trash during the daytime rather than at night. By shutting off the lights and turning down thermostats at night, the county expects to save at least $100,000 a year in energy costs. It's thought to be the first public…
Spring Flower Shows in the Twin Cities
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010 at 5:37pm. 686 Views, 0 Comments.
There are two great flower shows coming up to help get you into the mood for spring!
Starting Saturday, the Spring Flower Show at Como's Marjorie McNeely Conservatory will be abloom in the Sunken Garden with more tulips than would probably ever fit in your back yard. There will also be a few thousand daffodils and hyacinths, accented with snapdragons, irises, ranunculus, hydrangeas, freesias and lilies. If the sight and smell of all those flowers isn't enough to pique your interest, there also will be gardener talks, family activities such as storytelling, games and take-home crafts as part of the opening of the show this Saturday and Sunday, known as the Spring Fling. The Spring Flower Show is free and open to the public from March 27 throug May 2. For…
Strange But True: Home For Sale, Lot Not Included
Friday, March 12th, 2010 at 11:58pm. 679 Views, 0 Comments.
There is a 2,000-square-foot, three-bedroom rambler for sale in Chaska. Ron Olson is even willing to deliver it to a lot of your choice, as long as it's close to Chaska.
Ron is a contractor who runs an excavation company, acquired with the custom-built house after he was hired last fall to demolish it on a lot in Chaska MN. The home had suffered some smoke damage after some paint rags caught fire during the finishing process. The buyers didn't want it though, so the builder offered to tear it down and build a new one. Rather than haul it to a landfill, Ron decided to recycle the house, which would have sold for $600,000 at its former location.
"It's really a waste to take a perfectly good house that can be cleaned up fairly easily and throw it away like it's…
Elk River is the Kindest City in Minnesota
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010 at 6:40pm. 626 Views, 1 Comments.
Minnesota Nice. You hear about it all the time, but it's not always apparent. Elk River has brought it back.
After the Elk River City Council declaired February the Month of Kindness, Mayor Stephanie Klinzing challenged residents to commit 1,000 "random acts of kindness." And the Elk River MN resdients didn't hold back. All month long, residents did kindly deeds, then recorded them either on post cards sent to the city or posted them online at www.loveelkriver.org.
"We are the kindest city in Minnesota," Klinzing declared this week, as she stood beside a wooden thermometer in Rivers Edge Park that registered the city's progress -- 1,300 acts of kindness as of Thursday.
The project was started due to Elk River's size. The city has grown so big, with a…
Emerald Ash Borer Discovered in Minneapolis
Thursday, March 4th, 2010 at 5:16pm. 794 Views, 1 Comments.
The dreaded emerald ash borer has been discovered in Minneapolis. The Minnesota Agriculture Department confirmed the infestation of four trees at Tower Hill Park, not far from known infestations in St. Paul and Falcon Heights. The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board will cut down the trees before spring and intensify efforts to find other diseased trees.
This is not an unexpected turn of events. With the discovery of the green beetles last spring in St. Paul and later in Falcon Heights, officials are trying to slow the spread. A widespread and expensive infestation could threaten the state's 940 million ash trees.
Last year, 82 diseased trees were found and removed in the South St. Anthony Park neighborhood of St. Paul and one tree in Falcon Heights.…
Home Affordable Refinance Program Extended
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010 at 7:04pm. 782 Views, 0 Comments.
The Home Affordable Refinance Program was set to expire in June, but the Obama administration announced Monday that borrowers with little or no equity in their homes will have another year to take advantage of the refinancing program.
So far it has reached fewer than 200,000 of the up to 5 million borrowers federal regulators hoped it would help. However, market conditions have not changed significantly since the program was launched last year. So to give lenders more time to implement the plan and to support market stability, the initiative will be extended to June 2011.
The program is aimed at the millions of borrowers whose home values have been diminished by a weak housing market. It also meant for people who owe more than their houses are worth, making…
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