The two small houses are going up on the back half of a lot just off a busy street, not far from downtown Fargo.
"These homes are identical in blueprint, they're 13 by 23, with 12 foot ceilings, there's a loft in each of them," explains Grassroots Development president Justin Berg, the man behind this one-of-a-kind construction and research project.
One of the houses is built with a traditional wood frame, fiberglass insulation and covered with that shiny white house wrap material. A second house a few feet away also has a wood frame but the walls are filled with 12 inches of hempcrete, giving it a brown, textured look inside and out.
The raw material is called hurd. It’s the inner woody core of the hemp plant, chipped into small pieces. The hurd is mixed with a lime binder and water. These homes might become short-term rentals, but the primary purpose is research. Read more about the project.
Yesterday was the 15 year anniversary of the day the Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis fell into the Mississippi River during the evening rush hour.
The unbelievable tragedy was completely unexpected and took the lives of 13 people. Several drivers were rescued from the river — including Lindsay Walz.
She was in her car on her way home from work when the bridge collapsed. Host Cathy Wurzer met Walz at the I-35W Remembrance Garden near the bridge to talk about how she made it through.
What else we're watching:
A security guard shot and wounded a man who reportedly was trying to stab a woman with a knife late Monday night in Brooklyn Park. Police have not released information about the extent of his injuries, but said the man wounded by the gunfire was taken to a hospital . It wasn't clear if the woman required medical attention.
The U.S. has killed top al-Qaida leader and key 9/11 plotter, Ayman al-Zawahiri. A senior military official has confirmed with NPR that a drone strike carried out by the U.S. in Kabul, Afghanistan, has killed top al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Bipartisan compromise bill would restore abortion rights. While the bill is not expected to pass — and is unlikely to even get a vote — the legislation introduced by two Republicans and two Democrats on Monday is intended to send a signal to state legislatures and the public that a majority of the Senate supports codifying Roe, even if they can’t get the necessary 60 votes to pass it in the 50-50 Senate. Man who stormed Capitol with gun gets longest prison term. Prosecutors said Guy Reffitt told fellow members of the Texas Three Percenters militia group that he planned to drag House Speaker Nancy Pelosi out of the Capitol building by her ankles, “with her head hitting every step on the way down,” according to a court filing.
