Here’s your Daily Digest for Monday, Feb. 27
A spokesman for the Nobel Peace Prize announced today that the jury received 231 nominations for the honor including Bradley Manning, a U.S. Army private accused of releasing the most classified U.S. intelligence information in history to WikiLeaks.
The Associated Press reports that nominations closed Feb. 1, but the five-person committee continued to add names to the pool during a meeting Friday.
“Being nominated doesn’t say anything about a candidate’s chances. A wide range of submissions come in every year from lawmakers, university professors and others with nomination rights, but the decision rests solely with a five-member panel appointed by Norway’s parliament,” according to the AP.
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The U.S. will spend $51.5 million fighting Asian carp in the Great Lakes this year, according to the AP.
Their proposed strategy includes water sampling, more trapping and netting in rivers with access to the lakes and an acoustic water gun that can scare carp away.
The Obama Administration will have spent $156.5 million total over the last three years fighting bighead and silver carp, imported from Asia decades ago, that have since migrated up the Mississippi River and now within 55 miles of Lake Michigan.
Experts fear carp could destroy the $7 billion Great Lakes fishing industry because they are highly invasive species that eat “massive amounts of plankton” and muck up the food chain, harming populations of other fish and the water quality of the lake.
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"The Artist," a film that chronicles two silent film actors' transition into sound pictures, took home the first Oscar for a silent film since the first Academy Awards ceremony was held in 1929.
Billy Crystal hosted the ceremony at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles where "The Artist" and Martin Scorcese's "Hugo" tied for the most prizes.
Meryl Streep, who has been nominated more times than any actor in the history of the awards, took home her first trophy since 1982 for her portrayal of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in "The Iron Lady."
For more awards season coverage, check out Los Angeles Times' The Envelope.
Click here for a full list of winners.
And in case you were wondering what Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak was rooting for…
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In the wake of the courthouse shootings in Grand Marais, Minn. — a tourist town on the North Shore of Lake Superior —the community is shaken up over a long history of older men pursuing sexual relationships with teenage girls.
MPR News reports the story of a town where “all you need to pick up a 16-year-old high school girl is a nice-looking truck or a nice car.”
