South Dakota Public Broadcasting

Asian Carp Invasion, Harold Kozak - Search for Extraterrestrial Life and Sioux Falls Storm Owner Todd Tryon

Dakota Midday - 07/16/2012

Sam Stukel, fisheries biologist for South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks, talks about the increase of Asian Silver Carp in South Dakota. This is the invasive "flying fish" that jumps into boats - damaging equipment and injuring people. Along with its cousins the Asian bighead and grass carp, also present in state waters, the fish is a big threat to local ecosystems. They're ravenous eaters and bullies, pushing out weaker, native species. First introduced to the United States in the early 1970s to control algae in catfish farms in the south, the Asian Carp have been spreading up the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers.

Harold Kozak, astronomy professor at Wagner College in New York and a NASA Solar System Ambassador, talks about the search for extraterrestrial life on Mars. In three weeks, the next NASA Mars Rover, "Curiosity," is scheduled to land on the Red Planet. Among its objectives is the search for evidence of life. Meanwhile, scientists looking through data captured by NASA's Kepler space telescope have determined that smaller, Earth-like planets are more common than previously thought - increasing the odds that some of them might harbor life. Kozak is giving a talk at the Journey Museum in Rapid City this evening at 7 on the "Search for Extrasolar Extraterrestrial Life."

Todd Tryon, owner and CEO of the Sioux Falls Storm football club, talks about last Saturday's championship game, in which the Storm defeated the Tri-Cities Fever 59-32. The Storm won their second consecutive Indoor Football League title Saturday night in front of a sold out crowd at the Sioux Falls Arena. The win allowed the Storm to complete an undefeated season, the third in team history. However, problems occurred along the way. Coach Kurtiss Riggs was suspended two games when the Storm was found to have violated one of the IFL's rules on player compensation. And, three players got into trouble with the law since the end of the 2011 season.

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