Cat video fans invade the Fair; same-sex advertising isn't mainstream yet

• Meow-wow: Cat Video Festival packs the State Fair Grandstand
  Last year, an estimated 10,000 people gathered in Minneapolis for the Walker Art Center's first Internet Cat Video Festival. This year, organizers moved it to the Minnesota State Fair and last night the audience followed.
• Internet Cat Video Festival photos
  Here's a look at some of the people -- and cats -- on hand for the Internet Cat Video Festival.
• Video: Lindstrom 'town' girl's State Fair cow connection
  With the help of 4H, Megan Nelson, of Lindstrom, Minn., raises dairy cows to show at the Minnesota State Fair even though she doesn't live on a farm.
• State Fair University: How to walk in Antarctica
  We've been trying to learn something new about the world each day of the State Fair, and for today's Morning Edition State Fair University, we found a group of scientists and map-makers who are closely studying Antarctica.
• Minn. State Fair attendance down 20 percent
  The brutally hot weather continues to drive down attendance at the Minnesota State Fair.
• Ads featuring same-sex couples not yet mainstream
  Advertisements featuring gay couples are still few and far between. Many companies try to cater to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender customers, but those efforts are generally not obvious to the general public. That's starting to change.
• Minn. tourism shows moderate growth for 4th consecutive year
  For the fourth consecutive year, the Minnesota tourism industry saw moderate growth this summer, based on results of a survey by the state's tourism agency, Explore Minnesota.
• Southwest Light Rail tunnel proposals would remove hundreds of trees
  One of the proposed options for the Southwest Light Rail Transit line would destroy a huge swath of trees along the Kenilworth corridor of Minneapolis, a top planning official told members of the Metropolitan Council today.
• Minneapolis Public Schools cancels classes at more than two dozen sites
  There are no classes at more than two dozen Minneapolis public school sites that lack air conditioning for Thursday and Friday, Aug. 29 and 30, according to Minneapolis Public Schools. Classes will resume on Tuesday, Sept. 3.
• What's your reaction to MPS canceling class?
  Two days after the start of the school year, Minneapolis Public Schools cancelled classes at 27 sites due to excessive heat. MPR News wants to hear from parents about their reaction to the cancellations.
• Video: Terrible beauty of Yosemite's wildfire
  Like other disasters before it, the Yosemite Rim Fire is providing some tremendous beauty in photographs and video. Today, the Yosemite National Park released this time-lapse video of the unfolding disaster.
• Sand mine gets approval in Mankato
  The Planning Commission has approved a conditional use permit for Jordan Sands, an affiliate of Coughlan Companies, which is planning to mine 70 acres and use another 40 acres just north of the city for processing the sand.
• Smart phones aren't reducing the rural Internet gap
  Ten percent of the nation's adults say they don't have broadband at home but do have a smart phone, says a report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project. On the other hand, the same report shows that phenomenon has done nothing to narrow the urban-rural gap.
• Fast-food strikes set for cities nationwide
  Thursday's planned walkouts follow a series of strikes that began last November in New York City, then spread to cities including Chicago, Detroit and Seattle. Workers say they want $15 an hour, which would be about $31,000 a year for full-time employees. That's more than double the federal minimum wage.
• Interactive: How possible US strike against Syria could unfold
  The details of how and when the U.S. military and allied forces might attack Syria are under debate, but would be based on complex plans developed and repeatedly reworked over time by the Pentagon.
• Minnesotans mark 50th anniversary of March on Washington
  As tens of thousands gathered in the nation's capital to mark the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King's call for economic justice and racial equality, Minnesotans marched to the state Capitol in St. Paul.
• Scientists find clue to age-related memory loss
  A report offers evidence that age-related memory loss really is a distinct condition from pre-Alzheimer's -- and offers a hint that what we now consider the normal forgetfulness of old age might eventually be treatable.
• 9 million use sleeping pills to get more zzz's
  Can't get enough shuteye? Nearly 9 million U.S. adults resort to prescription sleeping pills -- and most are white, female, educated or 50 or older, according to the first government study of its kind.
• EPA sued for scrapping livestock data collection
  Environmental and animal welfare groups sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday, alleging the federal agency unlawfully scrapped a rule that would have authorized it to collect information from large-scale livestock confinement farms.
• Xcel Energy's Monticello plant to be re-inspected for flood safety
  Federal regulators concluded Xcel Energy's nuclear power plant in Monticello, Minn. was not adequately prepared for flooding.
• US sugar producers receive good news from Mexico
  Questions about low sugar prices, dry growing conditions, discolored product and a bloated North American market due in large part to Mexican exports had American Crystal Sugar Co. officials reeling in recent weeks.
• Court file: Minn. woman says dead babies were hers
  A Minnesota woman interviewed in a South Dakota homicide investigation into the deaths of two newborns has admitted she gave birth to the babies, according to court documents.
• Minn. Security Hospital: Investigators find two cases of patient maltreatment
  State investigators have found that patients held at the Minnesota Security Hospital in St. Peter were maltreated in two cases, including one where a patient banged his head against a concrete wall for three hours without staff intervention.
• Native sex trade crossing international borders through Lake Superior
  A sex trade involving Native women from Minnesota's northern reservations is using freighters on Lake Superior to traffic victims between Duluth and Canada, according to research by a University of Minnesota-Duluth student.

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