NORTHERN STATES POWER

Sweet Motherhood

Local upstart candy company Edna's Caramels proves parenthood can take you to the most surprising places

Minnesota by the numbers: The nation's biggest importer of electricity

Fixing a Leak

What happens when a reporter doesn't keep his word to an anonymous source?

Shoot the corporate naming consultants first

Nuke 'Em!

Xcel energy spearheads a high-stakes plan to store nuclear waste on a tiny, dirt-poor Indian reservation in the Utah desert

In Coal We Trust

A boondoggle on the range lives another day

Chump Changed

The pay was low, but working for Ma Bell meant a worry-free retirement. Now Qwest is sending out the pension checks, and local retirees say they're getting the wrong number.

Off Beat

Bury My Heart

For years it has been whispered that the 1976 slaying of American Indian Movement activist Anna Mae Aquash was an inside job. Now a new rash of accusations aims squarely at local heroes Clyde and Vernon Bellecourt.

Sandy Berman's Last Stand

For 26 years Hennepin County's head cataloger led the charge for libraries of, by, and for the people. When he took aim at a new target this spring, his boss fired back.

Check's in the Mail

Under the 1994 Prairie Island law, NSP must pay millions into a clean-energy fund. Fine, says the power company--but define "pay."

The Meal at the End of the Millennium

How to answer God's call to feed the world's starving children? Richard Proudfit couldn't figure it out. Then Y2K answered his prayers.

Cheesehead Power?

NSP says it needs to run high-voltage wires over the scenic St. Croix to keep the lights on in western Wisconsin. But critics charge the utility's plans go much further.

Out With Clout

In corporations and churches, in classrooms and capital corridors, these 100 Queers have contributed to the "Good Life" in Minnesota.

Room at the Bottom

When Eisenhower-era civic leaders drunk on urban renewal laid waste to the Gateway district, they forever altered the topography of this town's hard-luck hotels and shot-and-a-beer saloons.

Prairie Dogged

A fake flyer making the rounds at the Capitol suggests NSP wants to pay itself millions in fines for failing to move nuclear waste off Prairie Island. Lawmakers say the parody is eerily accurate.

Overpowered

For 43 years, the Piekarskis cherished the peace and quiet that came with living on a large, wooded lot. Then NSP strung enough wires across the family's land to carry 150,000 volts.

Party Poopers

It's Candidates vs. delegates: Who's milking who in the DFL endorsement process?

Power Play

Seducing away well-connected legislative staffers who work on energy issues is part of what Sen. John Marty calls NSP's "record of undue influence."

Bayou Bias

For the first time ever, citizens convinced the feds not to license a nuclear facility.

The Gubernatorial Gang

Minnesota pols never stand so tall as when they loom over black youths.

NEWS BRIEF

NORWEST FINDS THE BRIGHT SIDE OF POVERTY

NUCLEAR POWER'S DIRTY SECRET

When a group of activists gained access to private papers from NSP's lawsuit against Westinghouse, they got a rare look at one of the nuclear industry's most serious problems.

Hazardous Paper