Minnesota Public Radio: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/03/31/rapson/

Minneapolis Star Tribune: http://www.startribune.com/local/17155846.html

Rapson Architects: http://www.rapsonarchitects.com/

CDes: http://blog.lib.umn.edu/cdescomm/cdes_memo/2008/03/ralph_rapson_september_13_1914.html

LA Times: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-rapson2apr02,0,3542445.story

And finally, the New York Times, better late than never: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/03/arts/design/03rapson.html?_r=2&ref=obituaries

MINNESOTA RECLAIMS TITLE OF THE NATION'S MOST HEALTHY STATE

Minnesota is still a good place to live, two surveys reveal. The worst: Mississippi was deemed to be the least healthiest and least livable state in the country.

by Tim Harlow, Star Tribune

When it comes to health, Minnesota is No. 1, but the Gopher state has slipped a bit when it comes to livability. That's according to CQ Press, which is out with its list of the most healthy and livable states for 2008.

Minnesota supplanted Vermont as the nation's most healthy state, marking the first time since 1999 that Minnesota has come out on top in the annual survey. In its "Health Care State Rankings 2008: Health Care Across America" survey released Wednesday, the publisher examined 21 factors such as access to health care providers, affordability of health care and the general health of the population to come up with this year's list.

New Hampshire came in second followed by Vermont, which won the award as the nation's most healthy state six out of the last seven years. Maine and Massachusetts round out the top five.

Iowa came in sixth, North Dakota ninth, Wisconsin 14th and South Dakota 24th among states in the Upper Midwest.

The least healthy states were Mississippi, Louisiana, New Mexico, Nevada and Florida.

New Hampshire was named the most livable state for the second straight year. The state was lauded for low crime rates, low levels of poverty and a highly educated populace.

Minnesota fell two positions to No. 4, according to the list contained in "State Rankings 2008: A Statistical view of America." Utah came in second and Wyoming third. Iowa was fifth.

The Washington-based publisher, a division of Congressional Quarterly, used 44 criteria to come up the 2008 list, including economic, educational, health-oriented, public safety and environmental factors.

North Dakota ranked 10th, South Dakota 15th and Wisconsin 23rd among states in the Upper Midwest.

Mississippi was deemed the least livable state, a distinction the Magnolia State had held nine of the past 10 years. Preceding Mississippi are South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee and Arkansas.

Well, it's that time of year again. 22 Mom + Dad's Anniversary, 23 Kendall, 24 Me, 25 Olivia. So happy birthday to everyone and thanks for the birthday wishes. They made my day really great.

In honor of our collective aging. Here is a great link thanks to the Public Design Center. It's a pretty amazing book and I recommend it to everyone: Things I Have Learned In My Life So Far by Steven Sagmeister.

After a couple of awesome weeks mapping Hancock County, I'm heading to New Orleans tonight with the group from Minnesota that is in town and whooping it up while visiting some other friends there and then heading back in the morning to chill out and recharge the ol' batteries. Thanks to everyone who made these last two weeks happen. It was a lot of fun to rock that hard again.

I have to give a quick shout out to my BSL Mapping Posse. I know there are a lot of holes on the website right now, but all the updates and an overhaul are going to start up now that the two weeks of Alternative Spring Break is over.

Total Miles Walked (36 Posse Members): Over 650
Total Towns Mapped: Bay St. Louis (plus Ward 5 in the Annex), (polished off) Waveland, Clermont Harbor
Total Crawfish Consumed: 15 lbs.

Cold Drink. Bad Touch. Big ups Posse.

FROZEN FIVE SEMIFINALS, HERE WE COME! WHO'S READY TO RIOT LIKE IT'S 2002?

Late Goal Lifts Gophers into WCHA Semifinals

Mike Howe ripped a rebound off the boards pasts St. Cloud State goalie Jase Weslosky with just 12.7 seconds to play and Minnesota advanced to the WCHA semifinals with a 3-2 victory before a quarterfinal round record crowd of 19,232 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

The victory was the third in a row and the fifth in the last seven games for the suddenly red-hot Golden Gophers (18-15-9), who simultaneously advanced to the WCHA semis for the 10th straight year and ended a 0-4-3 run against the Huskies with the win.

Minnesota will face regular-season champion Colorado College at 7 p.m. inside the Xcel Energy Center. Denver and North Dakota will meet in the other semifinal game, which is slated to get underway at 2 p.m.

The Gophers’ berth in the semis was far from a sure thing, however, as Minnesota appeared destined to play its fourth overtime game in seven days until Howe lit the lamp with just seconds remaining.

The game-wining goal was set up by senior team captain Derek Peltier’s blast from the point that just missed the left post and ricocheted right to Howe, who buried it for his sixth goal of the season.

It was the second time in the game that Peltier had directly had a hand in a goal as Tony Lucia, the hero of Minnesota’s series-clinching win in Mankato just four nights earlier, deflected a Peltier shot from the right point past Weslosky just 25 seconds into the game to give the Gophers a 1-0 lead.

A drive from the left slot by freshman Mike Hoeffel at 5:10 of the first nearly gave the Gophers a two-goal lead before Minnesota ran into a rash of penalties that helped turn the tide.

With Howe in the box for tripping and Ben Gordon sent off for hooking and the Huskies on a 4-on-3 power play, St. Cloud State leveled the game at 1-1 when Garrett Raboin slipped a shot through the pads of Gopher netminder Alex Kangas at 7:33.

Just 16 seconds later, Minnesota once again found itself shorthand. Stu Bickel was penalized for hooking, sending the Huskies’ potent power-play unit back on the ice.

This time, however, it was the Gophers who had the best scoring chance as a drive to the net and a nifty backhand by Mike Carman was just steered wide by Weslosky.

Minnesota added a power-play goal of its own for the lone score of the second period and made it 2-1 when Evan Kaufmann tipped in a Blake Wheeler shot with the Gophers on a 5-on-3 advantage at 4:35.

St. Cloud State had a 5-on-3 power play of its own at the 13:06 mark of the second period that lasted for 1:34, however, the Gophers were able to kill off the penalty to maintain the one-goal lead.

The Gophers were able to cling to their lead behind the solid play of Kangas, who made 25 saves and was once again rock solid between the pipes to up his record to 11-8-9 on the season.

Still, St. Cloud State (19-15-5) was not about to go down without a fight and tied the game on a goal by Tony Mosey at 15:35, to set the stage for Howe’s last second goal.

As we continue to look at the option of uniting a variety of non-profits and the Housing Resource Center under one roof here in Hancock County, we've looked at a great variety of spaces. Some are squeaky clean, sterile, or just too expensive, and some have rooms full of grass growing out of moldy and soggy former ceiling panels. Needless to say, none have been ideal yet. This was certainly the most interesting building we've checked out. It looks like an aerial shot out of the window of a jet.

Okay, let me be straight with you. I’m not the biggest Minnesota Basketball booster. I love playing basketball with friends, I’m not a big NBA guy, or even, truth be told, a NCAA guy, but when it was announced that we were getting Tubby Smith as our head coach I have to admit that I was intrigued. So, for the first time in my post-college career, I have kept up with the happenings of the Gophers Men’s Basketball team. I think that the last time I followed Gophers b-ball this closely was when Lindsey Whelan and Janelle McCarville were ripping it up. Given the fact that Tubby Smith was starting with players he hadn’t recruited and an abysmal record from last year, this season was nothing short of miraculous. It is a testament to the power of a coach in a young athletes life because I guaran-damn-tee that without Coach Smith, Tollackson and a couple of the other slouches on the team would still be tossing up bricks and then whining about it. Not on Tubby’s watch.

Anyhow, after catching the highlight of the last second win and Laettner-esque shot by Blake Hoffarber against Indiana last night and then watching the Gophs keep pace with Illinois today I am pretty proud to be back as part of the Barnyard and am waiving my Tubby Towel full pace. Here’s to a great season and an even better 2009!

Links:

The Hoff's Last Second Save

A Good End to a Great Season