Free Republic

Pounded and strained by heavy traffic and weakened by missing bolts and cracking steel, the failed Minnesota bridge over the Mississippi River also faced a less obvious enemy: Birds. Inspectors began documenting the buildup of pigeon dung on the span near downtown Minneapolis two decades ago. Experts say the corrosive guano deposited all over the span's framework helped the steel beams rust faster. Although investigators have yet to identify the cause of the bridge's Aug. 1 collapse, which killed at least 13 people and injured about 100, the pigeon problem is one of many factors that dogged the structure. "There...

At least seven people died, and he voted for the aid. But that didn’t stop U.S. Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski from suggesting Minnesota is trying to “screw” the rest of the country out of federal funding for its collapsed Interstate bridge, generating a firestorm among political bloggers. Comments the Nanticoke Democrat made Tuesday at a regional economic forum at the University of Scranton were posted on political Web logs, or “blogs,” touching off the controversy. “His comments are grossly inappropriate. He needs to apologize to the victims’ families for his rude comments,” a contributor wrote on one Web site. During...