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Shortly after the devastating eruption, some gophers went on a very confusing day trip. A member of the gopher recovery team getting to work. Image credit: Mike Allen/UCR When Mount St Helens erupted in 1980, the resulting lava, ash, and debris turned the landscape barren for miles around. It was clear the land would take a long time to recover from the eruption. But one team of scientists had an idea about how they could help speed up the process; sending a few gophers there on a day trip. Plant life struggled to return to the area around Mount St...

Smoke machines, same as you'd use on gophers only bigger...

Spending most of its life below ground has allowed the Southeastern pocket gopher to harbor a fascinating secret. Apparently, the rodent native to Alabama, Georgia, and Florida, glows in the dark. "It's kind of an indescribable blend of purple and blue and pink," J.T. Pynne, the scientist who made the discovery, told WABE....

MINNEAPOLIS -- Two days after a black Minnesota man died after being pinned by police, the University of Minnesota announced it will sever its relationship with the Minneapolis Police Department. School president Joan Gabel made the announcement Wednesday night in a letter that was sent to students, faculty and staff members, writing that the university will no longer use local officers to assist at major events, including Gophers football games.

Under a dark canopy of fir trees lie a blanket of moss and decomposing needles. Scattered across this dark forest floor are hundreds of pocket gopher skulls and bones in a timeless scene only nature can create. Based on the location and detritus, it appears that many generations of owls have flourished in this young stand of trees, nourished by the large population of nearby pocket gophers and other rodents. Normally, this would just be another example of the natural cycle of life. Perhaps this would be a scene that a biology professor would explore with students. However, in south...

For roughly 40 years, Scott Wallace has bought tickets and sat in the stands at Gopher football games. But on Saturday, the University of Minnesota graduate walked onto the field of TCF Bank Stadium because of the most important ticket of his life. "I call it my ticket to the Titanic," said Wallace. That ticket is the visitor's pass to the World Trade Center's North Tower, which was given to Wallace on a business trip on Sept. 11, 2001. Wallace was on the 63rd floor when the first plane struck. He was one of three Minnesota graduates honored before the...

A total of 650,000 civilian employees are now being furloughed at U.S. military bases in response to sequester cuts -- but the Department of Defense is still spending millions to protect fuzzy critters. Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) in Washington state just received a $3.5 million department grant to purchase land around the base in an effort to protect the Mazama pocket gopher, a species that has not even been listed as endangered or threatened. The expense is not sitting well with furloughed workers. "That really makes me mad that they would do that," said Matt Hines, one of 10,000 civilian...

An Iowa football fan in town for the Gophers final game at the Metrodome helped Minneapolis police catch a criminal Friday night. As bars were closing in the Warehouse District early Saturday morning, officers responded to shots fired in a parking lot near 5th Street and Hennepin Avenue. At the parking lot they found Christopher Scott Sinclair, 29, of Minnetonka shooting up a car. “For him to start firing off five shots randomly, we're very lucky he didn't hit somebody,” Sgt. Jesse Garcia said. Sinclair took off running when he saw police. Police chased Sinclair for about two city blocks,...

WASHINGTON, June 7, 2007 – Inspired by pro golf’s support of the troops, about 100 golfers hit the links each weekend for friendly competition that ultimately benefits injured servicemembers. Those who come away victorious from the informal games at Tournament Players Club Sawgrass in Jacksonville, Fla., donate a portion of their winnings to the cause, Dan McAuliffe, the games’ organizer, said. Since December, the “Gophers,” as the group calls itself, have raised nearly $2,000 in this manner. “We play together week in and week out. … We decided, ‘Let’s go to the golf course, and let’s make a difference...

MINNEAPOLIS — With two of the hottest teams in the nation facing off Friday night, something had to give in the battle for first place in the WCHA. That something turned out to be Denver's seven-game winning streak, as well as the seventh-ranked Pioneers' grip on the top spot in the conference standings. Short two defensemen and facing a five-minute Denver power play late in a tie game, No. 1 Minnesota killed the major penalty, then got Ryan Potulny's second goal of the evening to claim a 3-2 win at Mariucci Arena and move into first in the league.

MINNEAPOLIS — Friday's game between Minnesota and North Dakota was advertised as a showcase on offense. It was — but only for one team. The Golden Gophers racked up 48 shots on goal — 42 of them in the first two periods — and scored twice on a UND major penalty in the second period on the way to a 6-1 win before a crowd of 10,215 at Mariucci Arena. For Minnesota, defenseman Mike Vannelli had two goals and an assist, while Danny Irmen racked up four points with a goal and three assists. Irmen and Ryan Potulny both extended...

<p>After winning the Dodge Holiday Classic, the third-ranked Univ. of Minnesota hockey team is on a roll. The Gophers now hold the top spot in this week's All-Sports Rankings.</p> <p>Football season is over, and what an ending it was. Vince Young's fourth-down touchdown scramble in the waning seconds of the Rose Bowl gave Texas the national championship and helped the Longhorns secure a spot in the top 10 of the All-Sports rankings.</p>

By Roberta Rampton WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - Animal rights activists are blazing mad at gun-toting Canadians in the rodent-infested Prairies who will try to kill thousands of ground squirrels this summer in a shootout offering rifles as prizes A hunters organization in the province of Saskatchewan hopes to attract up to 1,000 people to enter the derby, which last year saw 63 entrants kill more than 60,000 Richardson's ground squirrels, or gophers. Animal rights groups have blasted the contest as barbaric. But organizer Len Jabush fired back on Thursday and said it provides a helpful service to farmers with crops...

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - The Canadian province of Saskatchewan is offering cash prizes to the top guns in its 2002 gopher-hunting derby, but the plan to rid the Prairie farming region of a plague of the cute, crop-eating rodents is drawing flak from animal rights activists. "It's a killing derby basically and there's other ways of dealing with wildlife," said Sinikka Crosland, a Canadian nurse who has spearheaded an international letter-writing blitz. "We're going to have people out there with their firearms blasting away at the gophers," she said. The 2002 Ken Turcott Memorial Gopher Derby began this week in...