Congratulations to Marshall Helmberger, Jodi Summit and the crew at The Timberjay newspaper in Tower-Cook-Ely. The Timberjay is the winner of six awards in the Minnesota Newspaper Association’s Better Newspaper Contest, for stories, editorials, and the newspaper’s website. The newspaper received the awards during the annual Minnesota Newspaper Association convention, held late this past week in Bloomington. Among the most prestigious of the honors was a first-place award to Marshall Helmberger

Area Voices producer Katie Carter checked in on today's morning show with a whole slew of arts happenings in Bemidji and Cook. Events included an open mic night at Headwaters School of Music and Art , an art market at the Northwest Indian Community Development Center , arts classes at the Watermark Art Center and a pincushion making class in Cook . Listen to the link for the full report. For a listing of the Bemidji related first Friday events, check out the Watermark Art Center website .

Room Service opened on Broadway back in 1937. It was an instant hit and the story made its way to the big screen the following year. This comical, theatrical farce has now made its way to the Bemidji Community Theater stage. It opens Friday, February 1st at 7pm. Additional showtimes are February 2nd, 8th and 9th at 7pm and February 3rd and 10th at 2pm. We spoke with Derrick Houle who directs the play on the morning show. He told us about the play's beginnings, what directing a play is like and

Program 29: Camp Mishawaka, Tourism, and Recreation; Automobile Travel in 1916 A radio series produced by historian Don Boese. Don is the author of eight books dealing with local history in Itasca County, including "John C. Greenway and the Opening of the Western Mesabi", and the main source for this series, "Papermakers: the Blandin Paper Company and Grand Rapids, Minnesota". The series begins with the arrival of the first Euro-Americans to the forested wilderness of Itasca County in the 1870s.

Carissa Andrews lives in Crosslake, MN. She's a graphic designer, a freelance writer, raises five kids and is a prolific author. Andrews has published several books , both fiction and nonfiction. She will facilitate a series of writing workshops this winter at the Brainerd Public Library aimed at helping teen and adult writers hone their craft, overcome self doubt and get their work both published and selling. She recently spoke with Area Voices host Katie Carter about her writing and how she

Phenology is the biological nature of events as they relate to climate. Every Tuesday morning, our resident Phenologist John Latimer gathers his phenological data and reports his findings in the weekly Phenology Report. In this week's report, John discusses what he observed on a recent walk with his dog and discusses the effects of the predator/prey relationship. John also takes us to San Diego thru his notes from his recent trip. Need a taste of warm weather? Listen to his description of

Every week we hear from Minnesota school kids as they call or email us with their nature observations. It may be frigid outside, but the kids noticed all kinds of activity this week. Swans on the river, bald eagles, coyotes, a wolf in someone's yard, wild turkeys and information on where you can look to see Jupiter and Venus in the night and early morning sky are all inlcuded in these reports! What are you noticing outside? We would love to hear from you whether you are in a classroom or your

Program 28: A Changing Economy in 1916; "Potatoes Did It!" A radio series produced by historian Don Boese. Don is the author of eight books dealing with local history in Itasca County, including "John C. Greenway and the Opening of the Western Mesabi", and the main source for this series, "Papermakers: the Blandin Paper Company and Grand Rapids, Minnesota". The series begins with the arrival of the first Euro-Americans to the forested wilderness of Itasca County in the 1870s. In those early days

David Treuer's latest book is described as an 'essential, intimate story of a resilient people in a transformative epoch'. Treuer brings his skills of anthropology, of creative non-fiction and of reporting to the new book "The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee - Native America 1890 to the Present". Treuer's writing is skilled and personal "a history of Indian lives, not Indian deaths". The New York Times said "Treuer is mounting a challenge to the whole idea of Indian identity as depicted by both Native

Program 27: Competiton in the Paper Industry; E.W. Backus A radio series produced by historian Don Boese. Don is the author of eight books dealing with local history in Itasca County, including "John C. Greenway and the Opening of the Western Mesabi", and the main source for this series, "Papermakers: the Blandin Paper Company and Grand Rapids, Minnesota". The series begins with the arrival of the first Euro-Americans to the forested wilderness of Itasca County in the 1870s. In those early days