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Saturday
STA R T R I B U N E . CO M M I N N E S O TA S TOP NEWS CHOICE

ITS CHAMPIONSHIP DAY

P R E P B OYS BA S K E T BA L L I N S P O RT S

Kenny Chesney heats things up

C O N C E R T R E V I E W, 2 B

MINNEAPOLIS,

S T.

PAU L

MARCH

26,

2011

Longer and later river crests?

The scope of the protests and once-unthinkable scenes of upheaval posed biggest challenge yet to Assads rule.
By ZEINA KARAM and BASSEM MROUE Associated Press DAMASCUS, SYRIA Troops opened fire on protesters in cities across Syria and pro- and anti-government crowds clashed in the capitals historic old city as one of the Mideasts

SYRIA OPENS FIRE ON PROTESTERS

most repressive regimes sought to put down demonstrations that exploded nationwide Friday demanding reform. The upheaval sweeping the region took root in Syria as an eight-day uprising centered on a rural southern town dramatically expanded into protests by tens of thousands in multiple cities. The once-unimaginable scenario posed the biggest challenge in decades to Syrias iron-fisted rule. Protesters wept over the bloodied bodies of slain comrades and massive crowds chanted anti-government slogans, then fled as gunfire erupted, according to footage posted online. Security forces shot to death more than 15 people in at least six cities and villages, includSyria continues on A4

ing a suburb of the capital, Damascus, witnesses said. The regime of President Bashar Assad, an ally of Iran and supporter of militant groups around the region, had seemed immune from the Middle Easts three-month wave of popular uprising. His security forces, which have long silenced the slightest signs of dissent, quickly snuffed

Latest flood predictions foresee high water starting relatively late, and lasting through April.

Obama to address the nation on Libya role Monday. A4 Read the latest and see more photos at startribune.com

By JAMES WALSH and TARYN WOBBEMA jwalsh@startribune.com

The rivers are rising and a flood season begins this weekend that could set records and stretch through April. First to crest are rivers in the metro area, swelled by a thaw that preceded recent cold weather, forecasters said Friday. Next up is potentially record-setting and repeated flooding along the Red River near Fargo-Moorhead. Were in this for the long haul. Theres still a lot of water out there, said Diane Cooper, a hydrologist for the Twin Cities office of the National Weather Service. We havent even started melting the Upper Mississippi yet. In Delano, where the Three Crows Cafe and Coffee House sits so close to the rising Crow River that no temporary levee can be built to protect it, owner Gina Coburn has canceled Saturdays live music and cleaned out the flood-prone storeroom. The South Fork of the Crow River in Delano is expected to equal its 1997 record crest late Saturday or early Sunday. In addition, the Minnesota River in Savage and the Mississippi in St. Paul will see top-10 crests
Flooding continues on A8
F L O O D C OV E R AG E

To read stories and view multimedia and photos of our 2011 flood coverage, go to startribune.com/flood.

RAISE HIGH THE ROOFBEAMS

Proposal to harvest black walnut trees in state parks for money ignites a firestorm.
By DOUG SMITH dsmith@startribune.com

JIM GEHRZ jgehrz@startribune.com

Workers began work to replace the tattered Metrodome roof on Friday, a job that comes with an $18 million price tag. Insurance is expected to cover most of the cost. Birdair Inc., hired to do the work, pledged to be all but done by Aug. 1, in time for Vikings preseason games.

Too hot a property for the History Channel, the miniseries will be shown on Reelz, a St. Paul-based cable channel.

Bill would log, sell trees from state parks

One side says valuable black walnut trees in Minnesota state parks shouldnt be left to age and rot they should be cut down and sold for much-needed state revenue. The other side says our state parks have never been commercially logged, and they have long been managed to let nature take its course, not maximize profits. A bill requiring the Department of Natural Resources to commercially log trees in two southeastern Minnesota state parks, which officials say would be unprecedented, has sparked the debate and galvanized park supporters. The bill will be voted on next week in the full Minnesota House. It orders the DNR to harvest black walnut and timber resources suitable for harvest in Frontenac and Whitewater state parks, and use profits to help fund the park system. Bill supporters say the state cant afford to let valuable trees rot in the woods. Opponents say the measure is shortsighted and would open up state parks to commercialization. The DNR opposTrees continues on A9 At the Legislature: Senate panel passes measure seeking $1.6B in health and human services cuts. B1

Kennedys a coup for Hubbard

By NEAL JUSTIN njustin@startribune.com

ts far from election season, but one of the Twin Cities wealthier and more prominent Republican families is leading a controversial campaign with a fabled Democrat on the ticket. After being abandoned by the History Channel and rejected by other major cable TV outlets, The Kennedys will premiere April 3 on ReelzChannel, a small-fry cable operation owned by St. Paulbased Hubbard Broadcasting. The acquisition is the boldest move in the channels six-year history. While its drawing much desired publicity, it also is scaring away prominent advertisers. The eight-hour miniseries, starring Greg Kinnear as John F. Kennedy and Katie Holmes as Jacqueline

H A P P Y T O G E T H E R : Stan E.

Courtesy ReelzChannel

Hubbard and actress Katie Holmes as First Lady in The Kennedys.

Black walnut trees are native to southeastern Minnesota.

Kennedy, is an unvarnished look at the former president, dramatizing both his political savvy and his wandering eye. The History Channel, which produced the project for $25 million, declined to put it on the air after Kennedy supporters, such as the late Ted Sorensen, slammed the project based on their review of preliminary scripts. The Hollywood Reporter has said that JFKs daughter Caroline Kennedy and JFKs niece Maria Shriver worked
Kennedys continues on A9

A new weapon in the war on skin cancer

FDA approved first drug shown to extend the survival of patients with advanced melanoma.
By ANDREW POLLACK New York Times

When to watch: The Kennedys airs at 7 p.m. on April 3 and April 5-10 on the ReelzChannel

The first drug shown to prolong the lives of people with the skin cancer melanoma won approval from the Food and Drug Administration on Friday. The drug, Yervoy, was developed by Bristol-Myers Squibb and is a novel type of cancer drug that works by unleashing the bodys own immune
HAVE YOU HEARD?

system to fight a tumor. This is really the first time in the melanoma field that there is a drug that extended survival in a meaningful way, said Dr. Gerald Linette, an assistant professor of medicine at Washington University in St. Louis. In a randomized clinical trial, patients with metastatic melanoma treated with Yervoy lived a median of about 10 months, compared with 6.4 months for patients in a control group, who received a treatment believed to have had little effect. After two years, more than 20 percent of those who got

Yervoy were alive, compared with 13.7 percent for the control group. Bristol-Myers said it would charge $120,000 for a complete course of treatment, which consists of four infusions given over a three-month period. There were about 68,000 new cases of melanoma in the United States last year and 8,700 deaths, the American Cancer Society said. The number of cases has been rising, probably because of sun exposure without proper protection at a younger age.
Cancer continues on A5

TOP NEWS

Wisconsin law gets published

But whether the law eliminating most collective bargaining rights will take effect was not certain. A5

District to spend $1.4 M to give an iPad to every student in grades 5-12 as a take-home teaching tool. B2

Little Falls gives Target sues gay students iPads rights group
The retailer says activists canvassing outside its San Diego stores are driving away customers. D1

Pending sales of $1 million-plus houses rose 67 percent in metro area last month over a year ago. D1

High-end homes selling briskly

Baby Jessica, who as a Texas toddler in 1987 tumbled down an abandoned well and became trapped, has turned 25. That means McClure has access to

an $800,000 trust fund donated by thousands of strangers who spent 2 days glued to their television screens until she was freed. She now is the mother of two. A7

OMG! LOL and BFF have become legit the texting slang landed in the latest edition of the venerable Oxford English Dictionary. A7

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S TA R T R I B U N E Minneapolis, St. Paul Volume XXIX No. 356 March 26, 2011