2011 Mid-American Conference football season, Head coaches, Pre-season coaching changes
On December 16, ESPN reported that Michael Haywood, who had been named the 2010 Mid-American Conference Football Coach of the Year days before, had accepted the head football coaching position at the University of Pittsburgh. Haywood was arrested in South Bend, Indiana on December 31, 2010 on felony domestic violence charges arising from a custody dispute, and was fired by Pittsburgh hours after being released on bond the next morning. Defensive backs coach Lance Guidry will coach Miami University in the 2011 GoDaddy.com Bowl. On December 31, 2010, Miami University hired Michigan State offensive coordinator Don Treadwell as its head coach.


2011 Mid-Ohio Sports Car Challenge
The 2011 Mid-Ohio Sports Car Challenge was held at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on August 5, 2011. It was the fifth round of the 2011 American Le Mans Series season.


2011 Mid-Ohio Sports Car Challenge, Qualifying, Qualifying Result
Pole position winners in each class are marked in bold.


2011 Mid-Ohio Sports Car Challenge, Race
The race was red flagged with around 10 minutes to go due to heavy rain conditions. Team Falken Tire had very good wet weather tires which earned them their first win in ALMS. Driver Wolf Henzler was fifth in class before the rain started falling and made his way up to first place in just one lap.


2011 Mid-Ohio Sports Car Challenge, Race, Race result
Class winners in bold. Cars failing to complete 70% of their class winner's distance are marked as Not Classified (NC).


2011 Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders football team
The 2011 Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders team represented Middle Tennessee State University in the 2011 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Blue Raiders were led by sixth-year head coach Rick Stockstill and played their home games at Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium. They are members of the Sun Belt Conference. They finished the season 2–10, 1–7 in Sun Belt play to finish the season in eighth place.


2011 Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders football team, Coaching changes
On January 13, 2011, it was announced that both coordinators, Mike Schultz (Offensive) and Randall McCray (Defensive), would not return for the 2011 football season. After a very successful 2009 season, when the team went 10–3 and won the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl, during the 2010 season the team fell in several statistical categories. The team's turnover margin went from being ranked 8th in the nation to being 120th in the nation. Middle Tennessee's total offense fell from 27th in the nation to 69th in the nation, while their total defense fell from 50th in the nation to 72nd in the nation. Both coordinators only served for one season at Middle Tennessee.


2011 Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders football team, Coaching changes
On January 24, 2011, Rick Stockstill announced that he promoted cornerbacks coach Steve Ellis to defensive coordinator and running backs coach Willie Simmons to offensive coordinator. Two days later, Coach Stockstill completed his staff by hiring Joe Cauthen to coach the linebackers and serve as the special team's coordinator, and Buster Faulkner to coach the quarterbacks and be the passing game coordinator.


2011 Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders football team, Coaching changes
During the season, on October 14, 2011, Willie Simmons abruptly resigned from his job as offensive coordinator following his arrest on aggravated assault charges. On October 17, Buster Faulkner was named MTSU's offensive coordinator.


2011 Middlesbrough Borough Council election
The 2011 Middlesbrough Borough Council took place on Thursday 5 May 2011 to elect all 48 councillors, across 23 multi-member wards. to Middlesbrough Borough Council. The Labour Party retained a majority on the council.


2011 Middlesbrough Borough Council election, Overall results
A total of 63,433 valid votes were cast and there were 328 rejected ballots. The turnout was 36.35%.


2011 Middlesbrough Borough Council election, Council Composition
Con - Conservative PartyMI - Marton IndependentsL - Liberal DemocratsG - Green Party


2011 Mid–Eastern Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament
The 2011 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament began on May 18 and ended on May 21, 2011 at Jackie Robinson Ballpark, on the campus of Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, Florida. It was a six-team double elimination tournament. Bethune-Cookman won the tournament, as they have done each year but one since the tournament began in 1999. The Wildcats claimed the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference's automatic bid to the 2011 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament.


2011 Mid–Eastern Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament, Format and seeding
The top six finishers from the regular season were seeded one through six based on conference winning percentage only, with the top seed playing the sixth seed, second seed playing the fifth, and so on for first round matchups. The winners advanced in the winners' bracket, while first round losers played elimination games. The format meant that Coppin State was left out of the field.


2011 Milan Kosanovic Cup
The 2011 Milan Kosanovic Cup is an international rugby league tournament played in Eastern Europe The competing teams are the Russia Bears, Ukraine and Serbia.


2011 Milan Kosanovic Cup
The 2011 tournament is the inaugural staging of the Milan Kosanovic Cup.


2011 Milan municipal election
Municipal elections were held in Milan on 15–16 and 29–30 May 2011 to elect the Mayor and the 48 members of the City Council, as well as the nine presidents and 359 councillors of the nine administrative zones in which the municipality is divided.


2011 Milan municipal election
The incumbent Mayor of Milan, Letizia Moratti, was defeated by Giuliano Pisapia.


2011 Milan municipal election
As a result of the election, Pisapia was elected on the second round becoming the first leftist mayor of Milan after nearly 20 years. The centre-left coalition gained control of 29 seats in the City Council.


2011 Milan municipal election, Background, Centre-left primary election
In June 2010, Pisapia was the first to submit his own nomination as the Mayor of Milan, for the elections that would take place the following year. A number of intellectuals and notable people from the cultural and political elite of Milan immediately expressed their support to Pisapia.


2011 Milan municipal election, Background, Centre-left primary election
On 14 November 2010 he ran for the open primary election of the centre-left coalition led by the Democratic Party, with the support of Nichi Vendola's Left Ecology Freedom, and unexpectedly won (receiving 45% preferences) despite not being an actual member of the PD:


2011 Milan municipal election, Background, Campaign
At the beginning of the campaign, incumbent Mayor Letizia Moratti was thought to be largely advantaged, especially as Milan is traditionally a right-wing stronghold, the homeland of Silvio Berlusconi's party (to which Moratti belongs), as well as a symbol of the alliance between Berlusconi and Umberto Bossi's Lega Nord, a party that promotes a greater independence of Northern Italy.


2011 Milan municipal election, Background, Campaign
Both Bossi and Berlusconi repeatedly declared that the left wing had no chance to win the elections in Milan, and Berlusconi himself actively contributed in the campaign, possibly to reaffirm his appeal to the Italian people leveraging on the results of what was supposed to be an easy match. Berlusconi warned that if Moratti was defeated, Milan would become a "Gypsytown" and an "Islamic city".


2011 Milan municipal election, Background, Campaign
As Berlusconi had recently been involved in a number of controversial matters, including the so-called Ruby Gate, many observers described the elections in Milan as a poll that would assess the popular support of Berlusconi's politics. This attracted much attention to this particular election (one of many administrative elections held in the same days in several locations in Italy).


2011 Milan municipal election, Voting system
The semipresidential voting system is used for all mayoral elections in Italy of cities with a population higher than 15,000 for the fifth time. Under this system voters express a direct choice for the mayor or an indirect choice voting for the party of the candidate's coalition. If no candidate receives at least 50% of votes, the top two candidates go to a second round after two weeks. This gives a result whereby the winning candidate may be able to claim majority support.


2011 Milan municipal election, Voting system
For zones the voting system is the same, not referred to the mayor but to the president of the zone.


2011 Milan municipal election, Voting system
The election of the City Council is based on a direct choice for the candidate with a preference vote: the candidate with the majority of the preferences is elected. The number of the seats for each losing party is determined proportionally.


2011 Milan municipal election, Parties and candidates
This is a list of the major parties (and their respective leaders) which participated in the election.


2011 Milan municipal election, Results
In the first round of elections, on 15–16 May 2011, Pisapia got 48% of the votes and Moratti 41%. As none of them exceeded 50%, a second face-to-face round was scheduled for 29–30 May. This first success of Pisapia was one of a number of successes of the left wing in several other cities and provinces. With the campaign reaching ever harsher tones than before, Pisapia finally won on 30 May, with 55% of the votes. Internet and  social networks played a relevant role in the election of Pisapia.


2011 Milan municipal election, Results
The candidate of Beppe Grillo's party Five Star Movement, Mattia Calise, who was only 20 years old, obtained nearly 3.5% of the votes.


2011 Milan municipal election, Results
According to each part's popular vote, the People of Freedom party (PdL) won a narrow victory over the center-left Democratic Party (PD), which however won the majority in the City Council.


2011 Milan municipal election, Results by zona
After the 2006 election, 8 zone were governed by the centre-right and only one by the centre-left. Then all were gained by the centre-left coalition.


2011 Milan municipal election, Results by zona
Table below shows the results for each zona with the percentage for each candidate and president elected:


2011 Milan municipal election, Results by zona
Table below shows the seats for each coalition in every zona 's Council:


2011 Milan municipal election, Results by zona, Mayoral votes, Second round
Table below shows the results of the votes for mayoral candidates on the second round (29–30 May 2011) in each zona:


2011 Milan–San Remo
The 2011 Milan–San Remo was the 102nd running of the Milan–San Remo single-day cycling race. It was held on 19 March over a distance of 298 kilometres (185.2 miles) and was the fourth race of the 2011 UCI World Tour season.


2011 Milan–San Remo
The race was won by HTC–Highroad rider Matthew Goss, who was part of an eight-man group that battled for the victory, in a sprint finish. Goss finished ahead of Leopard Trek's Fabian Cancellara – the winner of the race in 2008 – and Omega Pharma–Lotto's Philippe Gilbert, who completed the podium.


2011 Milan–San Remo, Teams
25 teams competed in the 2011 Milan–San Remo. Each team had been scheduled to start with eight riders, making a starting peloton of 200; but only 198 started the race. They were:


2011 Military Bowl
The 2011 Military Bowl Presented by Northrop Grumman, the fourth edition of the game, was a post-season American college football bowl game, held on December 28, 2011, at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington, D.C. as part of the 2011–12 NCAA bowl season.


2011 Military Bowl
The game, which telecast at 4:30 p.m. ET on ESPN, featured the Air Force Falcons from the Mountain West Conference versus the Toledo Rockets from the Mid-American Conference.


2011 Military Bowl, Teams
The 2011 Military Bowl was the first meeting between Air Force and Toledo. Prior to the bowl game, the Falcons had played against one Mid-American Conference team, winning and losing one game to Kent State.


2011 Military Bowl, Teams, Air Force
The 2011 Military Bowl was the Falcon's fifth consecutive appearance in a bowl game (2007–11). Air Force was highlighted by the performances of Jon Davis who has a 10 career games with 10 or more tackles; Asher Clark who has 11 career 100-yard rushing games; and senior quarterback Tim Jefferson, Air Force's winningest quarterback. The Falcons came into the game 2nd in the FBS in rushing, average 320.3 rushing yards a game.


2011 Military Bowl, Teams, Toledo
Coming into this game, Toledo averaged 42.3 points per game for the season, including  an FBS-best 53.8 points in November. The team was led by junior first-team All-MAC WR Eric Page, who set numerous school records in 2011, including most receptions in a season (112) and for a career (293) and senior RB Adonis Thomas, who finished the season with 963 yards rushing. Toledo quarterback Terrence Owens, however, only started the final two games of the 2011 season coming into the bowl game; quarterback Austin Dantin started the first 10 games before a concussion sidelined him. A few days after accepting the invitation to the 2011 Military Bowl, coach Tim Beckman left Toledo to become the coach for Illinois, leaving offensive coordinator Matt Campbell to coach the Rockets in the bowl game.


2011 Military Bowl, Game summary
Within a period of 5 minutes, 2 seconds in the 1st quarter, Toledo and Air Force scored a combined 5 touchdowns. The Rockets scored first on a 17-yard touchdown pass. On the ensuing kickoff, Air Force's Cody Getz fumbled the ball, giving the ball back to Toledo. Toledo took advantage of the fumble to go up 14-0. Air Force got on board on a 22-yard Tim Jefferson quarterback rush to cut the lead 14-7. On the ensuing kickoff, Toledo's Eric Page returned the kickoff 87 yards to make it 21-7. Air Force, helped by a 60-yard Jonathan Warzeka run, cut the lead 21-14 going into the 2nd quarter.


2011 Military Bowl, Game summary
After forcing Toledo to punt, Air Force tied the game 21-21 on an Asher Clark touchdown run. Toledo retook the lead on a 48-yard passing touchdown to make it 28-21. On the ensuing drive, Air Force turned the ball over on downs. However, Toledo fumbled the ball on its possession. Taking advantage of the fumble, Air Force tied the game 28-28 on a 37-yard touchdown pass. The game remained tied at the end of the first half.


2011 Military Bowl, Game summary
Toledo took the lead in the 3rd quarter when Jermaine Robinson intercepted Tim Jefferson and returned the ball 37-yards for a touchdown. However, the Falcons were able to tie the game 35-35 on a 2-yard Mike DeWitt touchdown run.


2011 Military Bowl, Game summary
The first four drives of the 4th quarter ended in punts. Toledo took the lead on a 33-yard touchdown pass to Bernard Reedy to make it 42-35 with 5:01 remaining in the game. Air Force was able to respond on a 4th-and-3, 33-yard touchdown pass from Tim Jefferson to Zack Kauth with 52 seconds remaining in regulation. Air Force then lined up for to kick an extra point. Instead of going for the extra point, though, Air Force went for a two-point conversion in order to go ahead of Toledo. However, on the conversion attempt, an option run, David Baska pitch to kicker Parker Herrington was low and ended up bouncing out of bounds in the end zone. Toledo was able to recover the Falcon's onside kick and was able to seal the victory after getting a 1st down.


2011 Military World Games
The 2011 Military World Games (Portuguese: Jogos Mundiais Militares de 2011), officially known as the 5th CISM Military World Games (Portuguese: V Jogos Mundiais Militares do CISM), was hosted from July 15–24, 2011 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.


2011 Military World Games
The 5th Military World Games was the largest military sports event ever held in Brazil, with approximately 4,900 athletes from 108 countries competing in 20 sports. The Games were organized by the Military Sports Commission of Brazil (CDMB) and the military commands (Army, Navy and Air Force), in accordance with CISM regulations and the rules of the International Sports Federations.


2011 Military World Games, Organization, Bidding process
Brazil was chosen to host the 5th Military World Games during a meeting of the International Military Sports Council held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, on May 25, 2007. Brazil won, by means of a ballot, the race against Turkey to host the 2011 games. Representatives from over 75 countries took part in the poll. Rio's existing sports infrastructure, the Brazilian expertise at hosting major events, and the support granted to the project by the local authorities were decisive for the Brazilian victory.


2011 Military World Games, Organization, Infrastructure and budget
The athletes participating in the 5th Military World Games were accommodated in three athlete's villages (Green, Blue and White), all located in Rio de Janeiro. The Green Village was located in the neighborhood of Deodoro, the Blue Village in Campo dos Afonsos and the White Village in the district of Campo Grande. The villages were built to be a functional and diverse center, vital to the operations of the Military World Games. The three villages comprise 106 buildings, 1,206 apartments and 4,824 rooms, with capacity to accommodate about 6,000 athletes and 2,000 officials. The budget used for the construction of the three villages is of R$ 400 million.


2011 Military World Games, Organization, Venues
Twenty-seven competition venues were used during the 5th Military World Games, the majority located within Rio de Janeiro.


2011 Military World Games, Organization, Venues
The venues located outside the city of Rio de Janeiro were the Resende Airport and the Academia Militar das Agulhas Negras located in Resende, the Avelar Instruction Center located in Paty do Alferes, the Mario Xavier National Forest located in Seropédica, and the Giulite Coutinho Stadium belonging to America Football Club located in Mesquita.


2011 Military World Games, Participating nations
Below is a list of the 108 participating nations (the number of competitors per delegation is indicated in brackets)


2011 Military World Games, Sports
The competition comprised 20 sports, some of them appearing for the first time in military world games, such as beach volleyball.


2011 Military World Games, Medal table
The nations by number of gold medals are listed below. The host nation, Brazil, is highlighted.


2011 Miller Superbike World Championship round
The 2011 Miller Superbike World Championship round was the fifth round of the 2011 Superbike World Championship. It took place on the weekend of May 28–30, 2011 at Miller Motorsports Park, in Tooele, Utah, United States. The races were held on Memorial Day Monday.


2011 Milton Keynes Council election
The 2011 Milton Keynes Council election took place on 5 May 2011 to elect members of Milton Keynes Unitary Council in Buckinghamshire, England. One third of the council – the 17 seats contested in the 2007 election – was up for election and the council, which totalled 51 seats, remained under no overall control.


2011 Milton Keynes Council election, Election results
The Conservative Party won four seats from the Liberal Democrats – in Emerson Valley, Linford South, Sherington and Walton Park. All other seats remained in the same hands. Two Liberal Democrats representatives had become Independent seats between the 2010 and 2011 elections.


2011 Milwaukee 225
The 2011 Milwaukee 225 was the seventh round of the 2011 IndyCar Series season, held on June 19, 2011 at the 1.015-mile (1.633 km) Milwaukee Mile, in West Allis, Wisconsin.


2011 Milwaukee Brewers season
The Milwaukee Brewers' 2011 season was their 42nd season for the franchise in Milwaukee, the 14th in the National League, and 43rd overall. The Brewers posted a franchise-best record of 96–66, winning their first-ever National League Central Division title. The Brewers defeated the  Arizona Diamondbacks in five games in the first round of the playoffs and advanced to the National League Championship Series, where they lost in six games to the St. Louis Cardinals.


2011 Milwaukee Brewers season, 2010–11 offseason
Despite having arguably the best offense in the National League, the Brewers had struggled in 2010 due to lack of starting pitching as the Brewers had finished next-to-last in the league in team ERA. Vowing to the Brewer fans to get more starting pitching, GM Doug Melvin traded or released three of the team's most ineffective starters in Jeff Suppan, Dave Bush, and Doug Davis. The Brewers also tabbed John Axford as the Brewers new closer with the retirement of Trevor Hoffman.


2011 Milwaukee Brewers season, 2010–11 offseason
In keeping with their vow of getting better starting pitching, the Brewers made a deal just hours into the Winter Meetings with the Toronto Blue Jays in acquiring starting pitcher Shaun Marcum in exchange for top prospect Brett Lawrie. The Brewers also were in the hunt for 2009 American League Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke of the Kansas City Royals. On December 19, the Brewers reached a deal with the Royals.


2011 Milwaukee Brewers season, 2010–11 offseason
The Royals got Brewers' starting shortstop Alcides Escobar and prospects Lorenzo Cain, Jake Odorizzi, and Jeremy Jeffress in exchange for Greinke, shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt, and $2 million to cover the last year of Betancourt's contract. The arrival of Greinke created a wave of excitement in Milwaukee. In the first 72 hours after the trade had been announced, the Brewers sold 1,500 season tickets compared to only 800 sold in the previous two months, and sold almost 1.5 million individual tickets before Opening Day.


2011 Milwaukee Brewers season, 2010–11 offseason
The Brewers also signed to the team veterans Takashi Saito and Mark Kotsay and made a last minute trade at the end of Spring training in sending Class-A prospect Cutter Dykstra to the Washington Nationals in exchange for outfielder Nyjer Morgan.


2011 Milwaukee Brewers season, Regular season
With the trades for Shaun Marcum and Zack Greinke, the Brewers were tabbed by many experts as favorites to not only win the NL Central Division, but also contenders for the National League pennant. The first month was a bumpy road for the Brewers as they were without Greinke due to a basketball-related rib injury during Spring training. The team opened the season with four consecutive losses.


2011 Milwaukee Brewers season, Regular season
By the end of April, the Brewers had fallen to 5th place in the NL Central, but came back to have an impressive May, by taking advantage of the struggles of division rivals Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Cardinals. The Brewers had problems offensively but were carried by the efforts of All-Stars Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder, and Rickie Weeks. Nyjer Morgan, who was acquired via trade on March 27 from the Washington Nationals, took over center field for struggling Carlos Gomez. Morgan became a fan favorite in Milwaukee because of his alter-ego and bizarre antics.


2011 Milwaukee Brewers season, Regular season
By the All-Star break, the Brewers were tied with St. Louis for the division lead despite having the National League's worst road record (16–29). The Brewers had NL's best home record at (33–14) which gave them a respectable 49–43 record at the midpoint of the 2011 season.


2011 Milwaukee Brewers season, Regular season
To address some needed bullpen help, the Brewers made another big trade just hours after the All-Star Game, trading two Class A prospects to the New York Mets in exchange for ace reliever Francisco Rodríguez, and also made another trade before the end of the trade deadline for veteran infielder Jerry Hairston Jr., who became essential to the Brewers' success after All-Star second baseman Rickie Weeks suffered a bad ankle sprain in the last week of July and Carlos Gomez was lost with a shoulder injury.


2011 Milwaukee Brewers season, Regular season
The Brewers started to overcome their road woes after the All-Star Break when they went on an 11-game road trip to Arizona, Colorado, and San Francisco. The Brewers ended up having a modest 5–6 mark on the road trip and came back to sweep the floundering Cubs and Astros and take two out of three games against the Cardinals to win eight of a nine-game homestand and take over 1st place in the NL Central.


2011 Milwaukee Brewers season, Regular season
They followed the successful homestand with a sweep of the Astros in Houston; the first time they have swept the Astros away from Milwaukee, and also took 2 out of 3 games in St. Louis to extend the Brewers division lead to 7 games. The Brewers went on to have a stretch of 29 games from late July to mid August where they went 23–6 and finished the month of August with a 21–7 mark, setting a franchise record for most wins in one month.


2011 Milwaukee Brewers season, Regular season
The Brewers went through a series of scuffles in early September where their division lead, which had been up as high as 10 games in late August, went down to as few as 4.5 games as the Cardinals went on a sudden hot streak, becoming the first team to sweep the Brewers at Miller Park during the season. The Brewers, though, were able to keep their division lead steady, thanks to a mid-September sweep of the Reds.


2011 Milwaukee Brewers season, Regular season
On September 16, Ryan Braun hit his 30th home run of the season. Along with his 31 stolen bases, Braun became only the 2nd Brewer ever to have a 30-homer, 30-steal season, joining Tommy Harper, who accomplished the feat in 1970.


2011 Milwaukee Brewers season, Regular season
The Brewers came into their final 6 games with a 5-game lead over the Cardinals. On September 23, the Brewers beat the Florida Marlins 4–1, with Ryan Braun hitting a clutch 3-run homer in the 8th. In St. Louis, the Cardinals fell to the Cubs 5–1, giving the Brewers the NL Central Division title, their first division title since 1982. The Brewers also became the first franchise ever to win a division title in both the American and National leagues.


2011 Milwaukee Brewers season, Regular season
The night drew eerie echoes to the Brewers playoff year of 2008, as the Brewers that year needed to beat the Cubs and needed the Marlins to win to get into the playoffs, whereas it was vice versa in 2011, with the Brewers needing to beat the Marlins and for the Cubs to win to get into the playoffs. And like in 2008, Ryan Braun hit the clutch, game-winning home run for the Brewers.


2011 Milwaukee Brewers season, Regular season
On September 28, the final game of the season, the Brewers beat the Pirates 7–3, which was also their 96th win of the season, breaking the team record for wins in a season set in 1979 and tied in 1982. The Brewers finished the season 96–66, the second best record in the National League behind only the Philadelphia Phillies.


2011 Milwaukee Brewers season, Regular season
Along with their team accomplishments, the Brewers had many individual achievements from their players. Ryan Braun finished the season with 33 homers and 33 steals while finishing second in the National League in batting average, hitting .332 while Prince Fielder finished second in the league in both home runs and RBIs, hitting 38 home runs while driving in 120.


2011 Milwaukee Brewers season, Regular season
The Brewers starting pitching was also drastically better than 2010. Each of the Brewers 5 regular starters had 10-plus wins during the regular season. Yovani Gallardo won 17 games, the most by a Brewer since 2005, Zack Greinke won 16 games despite missing one month, both Shawn Marcum and Randy Wolf won 13 games, and number five starter Chris Narveson won 11 games. It was the first time since 1982 that the Brewers had five pitchers with 10 or more wins in a season. The Brewers also used fewer starting pitchers than any team in baseball, using only six starting pitchers, with Marco Estrada filling in for 7 games when Greinke and later Narveson were out with injuries.


2011 Milwaukee Brewers season, Regular season
The Brewers bullpen was also stellar, led by closer John Axford, who set two new club records with most consecutive converted saves (42) and most saves in a season (46).


2011 Milwaukee Brewers season, Regular season
The Brewers faced the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NLDS and won the first two games at Miller Park. The Brewers however got shelled by the Diamondbacks in games 3 and 4 in Arizona, and the series and season came down to Game 5 at Miller Park. The Brewers won the game in extra innings 3–2 to give the Brewers their first postseason series win since the 1982 ALCS.


2011 Milwaukee Brewers season, Regular season
The Brewers then faced their division rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals, in the NLCS, in a rematch of the 1982 World Series. The Brewers staged a come-from-behind victory, winning game one of the best-of-seven series by a score of 9–6. St. Louis however went on to pound the Brewers 13–2 in Game Two and scored 4 runs in the first inning of Game 3 to take the game, 4–3. The Brewers won Game 4 in St. Louis, however, they then lost the next two games to surrender the National League Pennant to the Cardinals.


2011 Milwaukee Brewers season, Farm system
The Brewers' farm system consisted of seven minor league affiliates in 2011.


2011 Milwaukee Mustangs season
The 2011 Milwaukee Mustangs season is the third season for the franchise, and the second in the Arena Football League (AFL). This is the first season for the team as the Mustangs, having previously been known as the Milwaukee Iron. The team is coached by Bob Landsee and plays their home games at Bradley Center. The Mustangs finished 7–11, missing the playoffs.


2011 Milwaukee Mustangs season, Regular season schedule
The Mustangs began the season at home against the Chicago Rush on March 14, and concluded the season against the Rush in Chicago on July 23.


2011 Mini 7 Racing Club season
The 2011 Mini 7 Racing Club season consisted of thirteen rounds over seven events including a return to Spa-Francorchamps for the first time since 2006. Paul Thompson was the Mini Miglia defending champion  and Paul Spark the Mini Se7en defending champion.


2011 Mini Challenge UK
The 2011 Mini Challenge season was the tenth season of the Mini Challenge UK. The season started on 16 April at Silverstone Circuit and ended on 16 October at Snetterton Motor Racing Circuit. The season featured seven rounds across the UK.


2011 Mini Challenge UK, Championship standings
Championship points were awarded for the first 15 positions in each Championship Race. Entries were required to complete 75% of the winning car's race distance in order to be classified and earn points. There were bonus points awarded for Pole Position and Fastest Lap.


2011 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team
The 2011 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team represented the University of Minnesota for the 2011 college football season. The Golden Gophers are members of the Big Ten Conference and played their home games at TCF Bank Stadium. They were led by head coach Jerry Kill for his first season as head coach at Minnesota. They finished with 3–9 overall record, 2–6 in Big Ten Legends play.


2011 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team, Game summaries, @ USC
Matt Barkley threw three touchdowns to Robert Woods as the Trojans won their 14th straight season opener. Barkley went 34-of-45 with 304 yards while Woods caught 17 passes, a USC single-game record, for 177 yards in the win. D.J. Morgan added 18 carries for 70 yards in the win for USC.


2011 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team, Game summaries, @ USC
Duane Bennett ran for a touchdown while Max Shortell threw for a touchdown but was intercepted on the final drive for the Golden Gophers, who failed to win in the debut of new head coach Jerry Kill.


2011 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team, Game summaries, @ USC
Bennett finished with 53 yards on 15 carries while MarQueis Gray went 7-of-12 with 94 yards and added 48 yards on 16 carries for Minnesota, which went just 3–9 last season.


2011 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team, Game summaries, @ USC
The Gophers never led in the game, but made it a one-score possession with 8:03 to play when Shortell hit Brandon Green on a short pass to the left and the receiver curled around his defender and into the end zone from 12 yards out to make it 19–17.


2011 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team, Game summaries, @ USC
Minnesota got the ball back at its own nine-yard line with just over two minutes to play. However, the drive only made it to the Minnesota 28 and on 3rd-and-1 Shortell was picked off by Torin Harris and the Trojans killed off the rest of the clock.


2011 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team, Game summaries, vs. New Mexico State
Aside from losing the game 28–21, this game represented a scare for Minnesota outside of the game itself as head coach Jerry Kill had a seizure with 20 seconds left in the game and was taken away by ambulance.


2011 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team, Game summaries, vs. New Mexico State
Kill was stabilized, and Minnesota's team physician said the coach's condition was not life-threatening. Kill has had similar episodes three times before in his career, but never missed a game, and his assistants said they weren't worried.


2011 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team, Game summaries, vs. New Mexico State
Regarding the game, the Aggies set the tone from the start with a six-play, 60-yard drive. Manley hit Rogers for a 26-yard score, with cornerback Brock Vereen and safety Shady Salamon failing to reach Rogers in time. Manley had help from Robert Clay, who rushed 20 times for 97 yards and a touchdown. Taveon Rogers had 88 yards receiving and two scores.


2011 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team, Game summaries, vs. New Mexico State
MarQueis Gray had another uneven performance at quarterback for the Gophers, who hadn't lost their first two games to start a season since 1992. Da'Jon McKnight made a handful of acrobatic catches, finishing with 146 yards and one touchdown, and tight end Colin McGarry dived to haul in a 10-yard score in the corner of the end zone and pull the Gophers within 21–14 right before the half.


2011 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team, Game summaries, vs. New Mexico State
Gray, who was relieved in the third quarter by freshman Max Shortell because he had cramps on a hot day, finished with 110 yards rushing on 17 attempts. He went 16 for 32 through the air for 211 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. Gray threaded a perfect pass to McKnight on a quick post route for a 4-yard touchdown with 11:47 left, pulling the Gophers within 28–21.


2011 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team, Game summaries, vs. New Mexico State
He nearly tied the game later on a rollout with a head-first dive at the pylon with 7:51 left, and the initial ruling on the field was a touchdown. But a replay review determined his foot was out of bounds.


2011 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team, Game summaries, vs. New Mexico State
On fourth and 1, Edwards was stopped and NMSU took over.


2011 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team, Game summaries, vs. New Mexico State
Clay and Victor Johnson ground down the clock for the Aggies, and the Gophers didn't get the ball back until 2:09 remained, starting at their own 11-yard line with no timeouts. This proved to be too much for the Gophers to overcome.


2011 Minnesota Lynx season
The 2011 WNBA season is the 13th season for the Minnesota Lynx of the Women's National Basketball Association. The Lynx qualified for the WNBA Playoffs for the first time since 2004 and won their first Western Conference championship.


2011 Minnesota Lynx season
The Lynx finished the season with a 27-7 record, best in the WNBA and the best regular-season record in franchise history. They then defeated the San Antonio Silver Stars in three games and the Phoenix Mercury in two to reach the 2011 WNBA Finals.


2011 Minnesota Lynx season
The Lynx swept the Atlanta Dream to win their first WNBA championship.


2011 Minnesota Lynx season, Offseason, 2011 WNBA Draft
The Lynx held the first overall pick in the 2011 Draft, and surprised nobody by selecting Maya Moore, a 6'0" forward out of Connecticut. Moore had won three consecutive Wade Trophies as the best player in women's college basketball, the only player to have done so. She had also won two championships with the Huskies. The Lynx also held the fourth overall pick, which they used to select Amber Harris from Xavier. Both Moore and Harris would ultimately make the team out of training camp.


2011 Minnesota Lynx season, Offseason, 2011 WNBA Draft
In the second round, the Lynx selected Jessica Breland, Felicia Chester, and Kachine Alexander. The Lynx ultimately released Alexander.


2011 Minnesota Lynx season, Offseason, Free Agency
The Lynx declined to re-sign Hamchetou Maiga-Ba and Kristen Mann. Instead, they signed veteran center Taj McWilliams-Franklin and center/forward Jessica Adair, who had played one game with the Lynx in the 2010 season.


2011 Minnesota Lynx season, Offseason, Trades
The Lynx traded the draft rights to Jessica Breland to the New York Liberty for Angel Robinson and a second-round pick in the 2012 WNBA Draft. They traded Felicia Chester to the Atlanta Dream for Rachel Jarry and a second-round pick in the 2012 Draft. They traded Quanitra Hollingsworth to the Liberty for the rights to swap third-round picks in the 2012 draft, and they traded Nicky Anosike for a first-round pick in the 2012 Draft. The Lynx ultimately waived Jarry and Robinson.


2011 Minnesota Swarm season
The 2011 Minnesota Swarm season was the seventh season of the Minnesota Swarm, a lacrosse team based in Saint Paul, Minnesota playing in the National Lacrosse League.


2011 Minnesota Swarm season, Standings
x: Clinched playoff berth; c: Clinched playoff berth by crossing over to another division; y: Clinched division; z: Clinched best regular season record; GP: Games PlayedW: Wins; L: Losses; GB: Games back; PCT: Win percentage; Home: Record at Home; Road: Record on the Road; GF: Goals scored; GA: Goals allowedDifferential: Difference between goals scored and allowed; GF/GP: Average number of goals scored per game; GA/GP: Average number of goals allowed per game


2011 Minnesota Twins season
The 2011 Minnesota Twins season was the 51st season for the franchise in Minnesota, and the 111th overall in the American League. The team drew 3,168,107 fans during the year. The Twins had a poor season, falling from first place the year before to last in 2011.


2011 Minnesota Twins season, Regular season
Longtime Twins pitcher and broadcaster Bert Blyleven was elected to the Hall of Fame on January 5, and inducted on July 24.


2011 Minnesota Twins season, Regular season
On May 3, on a 42-degree Chicago Tuesday night, Francisco Liriano hurled the Twins' fifth no-hitter, closing down the White Sox. He struck out two and walked six on 123 pitches, but won 1-0. Liriano's gem follows previous no-hitters by Jack Kralick (1962), Dean Chance (1967), Scott Erickson (1994) and Eric Milton (1999). To date, the Twins have been no-hit four times in their history.


2011 Minnesota Twins season, Regular season
The Twins opened their June 21 game against the San Francisco Giants and Madison Bumgarner with four singles and four doubles. The eight consecutive hits to open a game tied a major league record. After Ben Revere collected his second hit of the inning, Bumgarner was lifted.


2011 Minnesota Twins season, Regular season
Only Michael Cuddyer represented the Twins at the All-Star Game. As a reserve outfielder, he was inserted at first base for two innings and went 0 for 1.


2011 Minnesota Twins season, Regular season
Slugger Jim Thome belted career homers number 599 and 600 on August 15. He was just the eighth player in history to reach 600. Six days later at Target Field, Thome on the diamond with New York's Alex Rodriguez marked the first time since July 17, 1973 that two 600-home-run club members squared off—on that date it was Willie Mays and Hank Aaron.


2011 Minnesota Twins season, Regular season
A Twins first happened on September 6, when Chris Parmelee, Joe Benson and Liam Hendriks each made their major league debut in the same game. Starting pitcher Hendiks took the loss, striking out 4 but giving up four hits and all three Chicago White Sox runs. Parmelee's 2-for-4 night topped Benson's 0-for 3.


2011 Minnesota Twins season, Regular season
At season's end, closer Joe Nathan finished with 260 Minnesota saves, topping Rick Aguilera's club record of 254. Nathan signed as a free agent with the Texas Rangers in November.


2011 Minnesota Vikings season
The 2011 season was the Minnesota Vikings' 51st in the National Football League, and the first full season under head coach Leslie Frazier, who served as the team's interim head coach for the final six games of the 2010 season. The team failed to improve on their 6–10 record from 2010, going 2–6 before their bye week, before being eliminated from playoff contention in week 12 with a 2–9 record. The team also suffered its first six-game losing streak since the 1984 season.


2011 Minnesota Vikings season
The team started the season with a new starting quarterback, Donovan McNabb, who had enjoyed great success with the Eagles but had a subpar year with the Redskins in 2010. McNabb played respectably, having a passer rating of 82.9 and only turning the ball over twice, but his 1–5 record as starter led to him being benched in favor of rookie Christian Ponder in Week 6, and McNabb was later waived on December 1, 2011. Despite a poor year for the team as a whole, Jared Allen set a franchise record for most sacks in a season with 22. The team led the league in sacks with 50, but also tied a team record for fewest interceptions caught in a season with only eight.


2011 Minnesota Vikings season, Offseason, Draft
After finishing with a 6–10 record in the 2010 season, the Vikings were allocated the 12th pick in the 2011 NFL Draft.


2011 Minnesota Vikings season, Preseason, Schedule
The Vikings' preseason schedule was announced on April 12, 2011.


2011 Minnesota Vikings season, Preseason, Game summaries, Week 3: vs. Dallas Cowboys
at Mall of America Field at Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, Minneapolis, Minnesota


2011 Minnesota Vikings season, Preseason, Game summaries, Week 4: vs. Houston Texans
at Mall of America Field at Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, Minneapolis, Minnesota


2011 Minnesota Vikings season, Regular season, Game summaries, Week 2: vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
at Mall of America Field at Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, Minneapolis, Minnesota


2011 Minnesota Vikings season, Regular season, Game summaries, Week 3: vs. Detroit Lions
at Mall of America Field at Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, Minneapolis, Minnesota


2011 Minnesota Vikings season, Regular season, Game summaries, Week 5: vs. Arizona Cardinals
at Mall of America Field at Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, Minneapolis, Minnesota


2011 Minnesota Vikings season, Regular season, Game summaries, Week 7: vs. Green Bay Packers
at Mall of America Field at Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, Minneapolis, Minnesota


2011 Minnesota Vikings season, Regular season, Game summaries, Week 10: at Green Bay Packers
After being swept by the Packers, the Vikings dropped to 2–7.


2011 Minnesota Vikings season, Regular season, Game summaries, Week 11: vs. Oakland Raiders
at Mall of America Field at Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, Minneapolis, Minnesota


2011 Minnesota Vikings season, Regular season, Game summaries, Week 13: vs. Denver Broncos
at Mall of America Field at Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, Minneapolis, Minnesota


2011 Minnesota Vikings season, Regular season, Game summaries, Week 15: vs. New Orleans Saints
at Mall of America Field at Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, Minneapolis, Minnesota


2011 Minnesota Vikings season, Regular season, Game summaries, Week 17: vs. Chicago Bears
at Mall of America Field at Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, Minneapolis, Minnesota


2011 Minnesota state government shutdown
The 2011 Minnesota state government shutdown was a government shutdown affecting the U.S. state of Minnesota. The shutdown was the result of a fiscal dispute between the Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) Governor Mark Dayton and the Republican-majority Minnesota Legislature, that was not resolved by the constitutional deadline on June 30. The Republican caucuses and their leaders demanded bigger spending cuts, and for the budget shortfall to be met without tax increases, while Dayton demanded some tax increases. The shutdown started at midnight on July 1, and ended after a budget bill was passed and signed on July 20.


2011 Minnesota state government shutdown
During the shutdown all less important parts of the state government, that were not identified as critical services before the shutdown or in several court cases, suspended their operations. Most state government services were identified as critical or otherwise allowed to continue, so as much as 80 percent of state government spending continued. The eventual budget agreement started to form after Governor Dayton announced on July 14 that he would "reluctantly" pass the last proposal of the Republican legislative leadership before the shutdown, but with conditions. The shutdown was disruptive to the government and some Minnesotans, but its ultimate economic impact was minimal. Politically, it could have influenced the Republican electoral defeat in the 2012 state elections, although there were other factors that may have been more important.


2011 Minnesota state government shutdown, Background
Going into the 2010 state elections, the Minnesota government faced an approximately $5 billion budget shortfall in the coming 2011–2013 biennium, left over from the outgoing administration of Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty. The Republican Party claimed that the shortfall was a result of unsustainable increases in spending, and pledged to balance the budget without raising taxes. In the gubernatorial election, former U.S. Senator Mark Dayton campaigned pledging to close the budget deficit by increasing income taxes on the state's highest earners.


2011 Minnesota state government shutdown, Background
The Republicans won control of both houses of the legislature for the first time in decades, while Dayton narrowly defeated Republican candidate Tom Emmer with 44% of the vote. Many of the newly elected Republican legislators were affiliated with the Tea Party movement and had more anti-government positions than the Republican establishment. Both Dayton and Republican legislators claimed a popular mandate for their positions.


2011 Minnesota state government shutdown, Background
Minnesota's state government cannot operate without appropriations under law, as mandated by the Minnesota Constitution. However, state courts have determined that Priority One and Two Critical Services must continue in the event of a shutdown. Services that must remain uninterrupted to avoid a potential immediate threat to public health or safety are considered Priority One, and some additional services are designated Priority Two. Before the shutdown, a list of priority services was compiled and prepared by Minnesota Management and Budget, based on recommendations from state agencies.


2011 Minnesota state government shutdown, Background
Since Minnesota had divided governments for decades before 2010, a number of past budgets had brought the state close to a shutdown, and there had been one shutdown before in state history. After Governor Pawlenty and the Republican-majority House could not agree on a budget with the DFL-majority Senate in 2005, the state government went through a nine-day shutdown.


2011 Minnesota state government shutdown, Preceding budget negotiations
Governor Dayton formally proposed a state budget on February 15, calling for $37 billion in state spending, necessitating cuts of about 10 percent to most state agencies. Because the state was projected to take in only about $32 billion in taxes, the rest of the budget shortfall was covered by increases to income and property taxes for wealthier Minnesotans, as he had promised during his campaign. Meanwhile, Republican legislators, led by House Speaker Kurt Zellers and Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch, demanded the budget be kept below $32 billion.


2011 Minnesota state government shutdown, Preceding budget negotiations
As negotiations went on during the legislative session, Dayton suggested compromise budget frameworks ultimately reducing his proposed budget to $35.8 billion, but insisted that he would go no further and that Republicans were not amenable enough to compromise. The legislature passed budget bills that balanced the budget with significant cuts to social and infrastructure services, rather than raising any taxes. They described their budget as a compromise with the DFL after the state's revenue forecast was revised upward, as it called for $34 billion in state spending increased from $32 billion.


2011 Minnesota state government shutdown, Preceding budget negotiations
Dayton claimed that the impasse was the doing of "extreme right-wing" freshman Republican legislators whom he did not talk to, and that he had cordial relationships with Republican leaders. In a statement at the end of the session on May 23, Dayton said "Here I am in the middle — and they haven't moved". Republicans, including Koch and other legislative leaders, consistently insisted they would not accept a budget of over $34 billion, citing polls suggesting public opinion was on their side. During the session, the Republican Party held a rally calling for tax cuts at the State Capitol on May 7. Protesters supporting Dayton's tax increases and opposed to the Republicans, many from public employee unions, gathered at the capitol multiple times, including at the end of the session.


2011 Minnesota state government shutdown, Preceding budget negotiations
By the day after the regular session ended, Dayton had vetoed all of the budget bills passed by the legislature, and said in a statement that he anticipated a shutdown would occur. Dayton did not call a special session of the legislature to further address the budget during May or June, claiming that the lack of agreement between him and Zellers and Koch would make it unproductive to do so. He remained in contact with legislative leaders, sticking by the $35.8 billion budget he proposed late in the session, with minor changes.


2011 Minnesota state government shutdown, Preceding budget negotiations
As the end of June approached, Koch urged the governor to call a session to pass a temporary 'lights-on' bill while a final deal was reached, but he refused to answer this proposal on the grounds that extending the budget's deadline would not serve the goal of reaching a final agreement. Since the budget impasse had not ended by the end of June 30, the shutdown began at midnight of June 30–July 1, 2011.


2011 Minnesota state government shutdown, Shutdown
At that time the shutdown began, all state government spending and operations not considered to be critical stopped. Suspended state services included driving tests, childcare assistance, senior and disability linkage lines, criminal background checks, and road construction. State government offices, state parks, highway rest areas, and sites run by the Minnesota Historical Society, among others, closed. The commissioner of the Department of Human Services, Lucinda Jesson, said that letters had to be sent to over 580,000 households that relied on the department for social services to notify them about the possible shutdown. More critical parts of the state government, including public safety, health care, benefit payments, and care for residents of state facilities continued. Services that were continued during the shutdown could have amounted to as much as 80 percent of state spending.


2011 Minnesota state government shutdown, Shutdown
During the first days of the shutdown, many programs requested that their funding continue, especially social service organizations that relied on state funding. To hear their pleas, the courts appointed retired State Supreme Court judge Kathleen Blatz as a special master. Dayton and State Attorney General Lori Swanson also both submitted petitions to the Ramsey County District Court when the shutdown began, asking for the court to clarify whether some programs could continue.


2011 Minnesota state government shutdown, Shutdown
Judges Kathleen Gearin and Bruce W. Christopherson issued their rulings on July 7, finding that some programs could start again, including criminal background checks, public schools, and local government aid. Gearin complained that the governor and legislature should have been responsible for making decisions about which services could stay open. Gearin had previously heard a case from the Minnesota Zoo, which asked to remain open despite the shutdown, and another from the Canterbury Park horse racing track in Shakopee. While both pay for themselves at least during the summer, Gearin determined that only the Zoo was allowed to operate without legislative appropriations, so she allowed the Zoo to open on July 2 but ordered Canterbury Park to remain closed the same day.


2011 Minnesota state government shutdown, Effects
During the shutdown, some 19,000 state employees were laid off. State and federal government employees in Minnesota lost approximately $65 million in wages over the course of the shutdown. Because of court rulings, some of the 36,000 state employees who received layoff notices leading up to the shutdown continued or returned to work during the shutdown. Laid-off employees were immediately eligible for unemployment benefits, and continued to receive health insurance, costing the state millions a week.


2011 Minnesota state government shutdown, Effects
In addition to the costs associated with staff, Minnesota lost some revenue during the shutdown. The Minnesota State Lottery did not sell tickets during the shutdown, which meant the state could have lost about $1.25 million in revenue daily. Minnesota stopped selling tax stamps for cigarettes, which must be affixed to each pack before sale. The Star Tribune reported that cigarette sales would come to a halt by mid-August if no more tax stamps were issued. The state also stopped issuing liquor purchasing cards, which businesses need in order to purchase liquor from wholesalers.


2011 Minnesota state government shutdown, Effects
Many stores, bars, and restaurants renewed their liquor purchasing cards before the shutdown. However, the purchasing cards for approximately three hundred establishments expired on the first day of the shutdown, July 1. Liquor purchasing cards would have continued to expire on the first day of each month. Alcohol brand licenses expired, so MillerCoors lost their license to sell 39 brands of beer in Minnesota, and had to have them removed from shelves.


2011 Minnesota state government shutdown, Effects
While public schools remained open during the shutdown, and teachers continued to be paid following Gearin's ruling, the shutdown interfered with their operations, and would have caused serious problems if it had continued. Teachers could not renew or receive new licenses during the shutdown, creating a backlog, and property tax levy approvals could have been delayed. No fishing, hunting, and boating licenses or new drivers' licenses were issued during the shutdown. Taxes continued to be due, but tax refunds stopped.


2011 Minnesota state government shutdown, Effects
Services for state parks stopped, including roads, making them mostly accessible only by foot, and causing a number of problems. An official for the Department of Natural Resources told the Pioneer Press that visitors were relieving themselves on trails in Gooseberry Falls State Park, as the restrooms were closed, and that uncollected garbage attracted bears in Crow Wing State Park. Vandalism occurred at Afton State Park, where the main office was "ransacked" and a group of twelve "ripped off shingles and pieces of deck for firewood, burned additional furniture and wrote messages bragging about breaking in for free". While many state-run attractions were closed during the shutdown, institutions not part of the state government stayed open. Museums such as the Science Museum of Minnesota reported an increase in visits, as did county parks and attractions in neighboring states.


2011 Minnesota state government shutdown, Effects
In an arson case at the former home of Governor Dayton near Lake Harriet in Minneapolis, police were "investigating the possibility that someone [was] upset over last week's shutdown".


2011 Minnesota state government shutdown, Effects
In total, about $48 million in revenue was lost, and over $10 million was spent on expenses related to preparing for and recovering from the shutdown. Overall, the shutdown disrupted the state government's activities, the lives of some Minnesotans (especially the most vulnerable), and private sector work such as road construction, but had minimal impact on the larger economy of the state.


2011 Minnesota state government shutdown, Budget agreement
For the first two weeks of the shutdown, there was little progress and neither the governor nor the Republican leaders made proposals accepted by the other side. On July 4, Republican lawmakers affirmed their commitment to not agree to a budget of over $34 billion. Documents leaked after June 30 stated that the Republican leadership included anti-abortion provisions, a voter ID requirement, and a ban on stem cell research during the budget negotiations. Both the Republican legislative leaders and Dayton (along with DFL legislative leaders) toured Minnesota to make their case to Minnesotans. The government shutdown ended after Governor Dayton announced on July 14 that he would accept the last Republican offer before the shutdown, albeit with certain conditions.


2011 Minnesota state government shutdown, Budget agreement
The Republican offer called for an approximately $35 billion budget and no tax increases, and relied on delaying the payment of some K-12 school aid and issuing bonds against future tobacco revenue to cover the remaining gap. It differed from the previous Republican proposals in several provisions, particularly increasing the K-12 per-student formula by $50 per year to cover additional borrowing costs, adding $10 million to the University of Minnesota budget to equalize Minnesota State Colleges and Universities cuts, and restoring funding to the Department of Human Rights and the Trade Office. Dayton's conditions were that measures on social issues such as abortion be dropped from the budget, 15 percent reductions to state employees in all agencies be dropped, and a $500 million infrastructure construction bonding bill.


2011 Minnesota state government shutdown, Budget agreement
When a final agreement was reached with the Republican legislative leadership, Dayton called a special session of the legislature on July 19. The legislature met on July 20 and passed the budget bills, which were signed the same day by the governor. Most state employees returned to work on July 21, facing a backlog of unfinished work and new problems in many agencies.


2011 Minnesota state government shutdown, Budget agreement
After the budget was passed, Dayton said he approached Republicans again after meeting with ordinary citizens—who said they wanted government services to resume and did not care how the shutdown was ended—and because he feared a worse budget deal and unease in the DFL legislative minorities. Zellers said when the deal was finalized that in his view it was "a deal that we can all be disappointed in, but a deal that is done, a budget that was balanced". His sentiments that a 'balanced' budget needed to be passed, and that both sides had something to be unhappy about, were echoed by Koch.


2011 Minnesota state government shutdown, Political influence
According to a MinnPost poll, Minnesotans blamed the Republican legislature more for the shutdown. Overall, 42% said Republicans in the legislature were more responsible, 21% said the DFL governor was more responsible, and 22% volunteered an answer that they were equally to blame. As expected, partisans blamed the other party more; only 10% of Republicans blamed the legislature more, and only 2% of DFLers blamed Dayton more.


2011 Minnesota state government shutdown, Political influence
Following the shutdown, DFL Representative Phyllis Kahn authored a continuing appropriations bill that would prevent government shutdowns in the event of disagreements between the governor and legislature, as she had done in several past sessions. The House commissioned a policy brief from its research department, published in December 2011, that looked into what such a bill would require. The brief noted that such ideas had been considered before, including after the 2005 shutdown, and had been abandoned.


2011 Minnesota state government shutdown, Political influence
In the state elections of 2012, during which all members of the legislature (but not the governor) were up for election, the shutdown was a major campaign issue. The Republicans lost their majorities in both houses of the legislature, giving the DFL full control of the state government. Kurt Zellers and other Republican legislators said the shutdown probably was one reason for their electoral defeat. However, other national and state issues may have had more of an influence on the result. The presidential race was also on the ballot, as were the proposed Minnesota Marriage Amendment and Voter ID Amendment, which had been put on the ballot by the legislature in 2011. All of these ballot items increased the turnout of DFL-leaning voters.


2011 Minnesota state government shutdown, Political influence
After winning control of the state legislature, the DFL passed a $38 billion budget containing the tax hikes on the wealthy that Dayton had wanted in 2011. The shutdown still was a political issue in the 2014 elections, when gubernatorial candidates Zellers and Dave A. Thompson were among the candidates for statewide office who had been Republican legislators during the shutdown. Zellers claimed having "balanced the budget without a tax increase" during the shutdown was his signature accomplishment as speaker, but he was criticised by Republican rivals and DFL leaders alike for the shutdown and for the means by which the budget was balanced.


2011 Minsk Metro bombing
The 2011 Minsk Metro bombing took place on 11 April 2011 when 15 people were killed and 204 were injured when a bomb exploded within the Minsk Metro, Belarus. The explosion happened at the central Kastryčnickaja station at 17:55 local time.


2011 Minsk Metro bombing
Initially the cause of the explosion was unclear, but was found to have been a bomb. The Prosecution Office launched a criminal investigation and classified the event as a terrorist attack. Two suspects arrested on 13 April confessed to the bombing but the motives remained unclear. In March 2012 both perpetrators, Dzmitry Kanavalau and Vlad Kavalyou, were executed by shooting.


2011 Minsk Metro bombing
There has been considerable debate about the possibility that the Belarusian government itself was behind the bombing. The UN Security Council statement condemning the bombing refers to "the apparent terrorist attack". The trial attracted international political condemnation and the verdicts passed out have been questioned, primarily by the Belarusian opposition and the EU. The bombing came at a time of a serious economic crisis and protests against President Alexander Lukashenko's government.


2011 Minsk Metro bombing, Background
The bombing of the Minsk Metro led to the country's largest loss of life since 53 people were crushed to death at Nemiga in 1999.


2011 Minsk Metro bombing, Background
Previous bombings in the recent history of Belarus did not result in any fatalities. In September 2005, two bombings occurred in the northeastern city of Vitebsk. The first was blamed on criminal gangs, and the second, in which 46 people were injured outside a cafe, was blamed on hooliganism. During the Belarus Independence Day celebrations on 4 July 2008, 54 people were injured when a bomb exploded at a concert in Minsk. Like the bombing at the Vitebsk cafe in 2005, the concert bombing in Minsk was blamed on hooliganism.


2011 Minsk Metro bombing, Background
The 2010 Belarusian presidential election was held in December. Lukashenko won 79.65% of the vote (he gained 5,130,557 votes) with 90.65% of the electorate voting. Up to 40,000 people protested against Lukashenko and about 600 were arrested. The economic crisis of 2011 meant that the belarusian ruble fell considerably during the year and the average salary (in dollars) decreased by 38% between December 2010 and May 2011. This would inspire further protests against Lukashenko's government in June of that year.


2011 Minsk Metro bombing, Bombing
The explosion happened at 17:55 during evening rush hour at Kastryčnickaja station inside the Minsk Metro. Like nearly every station in Minsk, Kastryčnickaja has an island platform, and during the explosion, trains were located on both tracks. According to the initial investigation, the bomb was located under a bench next to the inbound (Institut Kultury-bound) tracks. The bomb exploded next to the second car of an inbound train. At the moment of the explosion, there were approximately 300 people in the station and an outbound (Uruchye-bound) train passed through the area without stopping.


2011 Minsk Metro bombing, Bombing
According to witnesses, there was "a flash and a bang" as passengers exited a train which had arrived at the station. The bomb was reported to have been packed with nails and ball-bearings and could have been detonated by remote control. The explosion carved a hole 80 cm in diameter. It was so powerful that it shook trains at the adjacent stations Pl. Lenina and Pl. Pobedy. The blast was equivalent to five to seven kilograms of TNT.


2011 Minsk Metro bombing, Bombing
According to Interfax, the bomb was partially composed of fragments of metal. Most of the injuries from the blast were caused by shrapnel. It is believed that the explosive device was radio-controlled and that the bomb was of advanced technical quality. Interior Minister Anatoly Kuleshov said the perpetrators sought to "kill as many people as possible."


2011 Minsk Metro bombing, Bombing, Aftermath
The wounded victims were admitted to five hospitals in Minsk. Among the injured, 22 were in a serious condition, one of them died in the hospital. Another 30 suffered injuries of moderate severity.


2011 Minsk Metro bombing, Bombing, Aftermath
A national day of mourning was declared for 13 April 2011. Black ribbons were attached to flags, and all entertainment events cancelled.


2011 Minsk Metro bombing, Bombing, Aftermath
Like all metros built during the Soviet period, the Minsk Metro contains many artistic elements such as stylised lighting and decorative ceilings. In his speech following the explosion, the president suggested that the design of Kastryčnickaja station may have worsened the injuries. "The metro should be decorated in a way so that nothing will fall onto people's heads," Lukashenko said. "Not only from the blast. People also received injuries from objects that fell from the ceiling."


2011 Minsk Metro bombing, Bombing, Aftermath
Following the attack, the Interior Ministry began installing metal detectors to all stations.


2011 Minsk Metro bombing, Investigation
President Lukashenko asserted that the explosion was aimed at undermining "peace and stability" and hinted at possible foreign involvement but also ordered an emergency investigation of domestic weapon storage facilities. A thorough investigation into the explosion was ordered. "There should be results every day. Work day and night," Lukashenko told the Belarus security apparatus. He urged Belarusian security officials to get in touch with Russian security to aid in the investigation due to their experience with terrorist attacks in the Moscow Metro.


2011 Minsk Metro bombing, Investigation
The president said "We have been thrown a serious challenge. It requires an adequate response and it must be found. They will not let us have a peaceful life, I want to know – who". He made an appeal to the Belarusian population to assist in the apprehension of the perpetrators: "I would like to address the people honestly and openly: without you it will be difficult for us to find these monsters. You must help us." He also ordered the full transparency of the investigation and the full availability of information to the citizens.


2011 Minsk Metro bombing, Investigation
The Belarusian State Security Committee announced that they would pay anyone who had photos or videos of the attack. The opposition newspaper Nasha Niva provided certain material.


2011 Minsk Metro bombing, Investigation
Three residents of Minsk were detained "for spreading provocative rumors, sowing panic". These people were alleged to be spreading false information about the bombing on Internet forums and social networking sites.


2011 Minsk Metro bombing, Investigation, Arrests
Several people were arrested on 12 April and the facial composite of the bomber was released. Three possible motives of the terrorist attack were being investigated: as a destabilisation attempt, the action of an extremist anarchist organisation and the action of an unhealthy person. Following the arrests, the third motive was now considered the correct one, that the attack was an act of an unhealthy person. Through cooperation with Interpol, fingerprint evidence provided by the Belarusian Interior Ministry matched the fingerprints of the perpetrator of the Metro attack with prints from the Independence Day bombing in 2008. According to the investigation, the bomb was unique and the foreign investigators also expressed great interest in it.


2011 Minsk Metro bombing, Investigation, Arrests
Lukashenko declared that they may have knowledge into who "ordered the attack". He also claimed they had admitted their guilt and described the investigation by the police and the Belarusian State Security Committee as a "brilliant operation". He claimed that they admitted they were also guilty for the Vitebsk and Independence Day attacks. He also said their motives remained unclear. It was reported that psychiatrists interviewed the prime suspect and that he said that he "enjoyed the suffering of others" and did not claim any political motives. However, they considered him sane.


2011 Minsk Metro bombing, Investigation, Arrests
Two of the arrested suspects were Vlad Kavalyou and Dzmitry Kanavalau. Kavalyou was born and raised in Vitebsk by a single mother and moved to Minsk in 2010 where he got a job. On 10 April 2011 Kavalyou's friend Dzmitry Kanavalau came to Minsk to meet a girl he'd met online. Kanavalau worked at a tractor factory in Vitebsk. Kanavalau rented an apartment in Minsk between April 10th and 13th, 2011, which Kavalyou shared with him for those three days.


2011 Minsk Metro bombing, Investigation, Controversies
Initial scepticism about the official version of events pointed out that there are no significant ethnic or religious divides in Belarus, nor any history of violent political opposition. Moreover, most of Lukashenko's opponents were either in prison or under surveillance by the Belarusian KGB. Andrei Soldatov, an analyst at Agentura.Ru, opined that organising and executing the bombing required specialised training and that "In Belarus there is no opposition group that has that kind of experience. Indeed, there doesn't seem to be anyone at all capable of doing that, if we exclude the authorities."


2011 Minsk Metro bombing, Investigation, Controversies
The day after the bombing, president Lukashenko suggested that it might be linked to the Independence Day bombing three years earlier. The very next day, the two suspects had confessed to as much.


2011 Minsk Metro bombing, Investigation, Controversies
The UN Security Council issues a standard statement whenever a UN member country suffers a terrorist attack. The choice of words in such statements are of serious importance. In this case, the United States insisted on qualifying it and this was the first time the council has ever used such phrasing after an act of terror.


2011 Minsk Metro bombing, Trial and execution
The trial began in September 2011. Kavalyou and Kanavalau were found guilty in November.


2011 Minsk Metro bombing, Trial and execution
Both Kavalyou and Kanavalau were executed by shooting sometime in early March 2012. The exact time and place of the executions of the convicts were kept secret. On 15 March 2012 the European Parliament passed a resolution condemning the Belarusian government for implementing the death penalty. The Belarusian Foreign Ministry's press service stated that the resolution indicates serious interference in the internal affairs of the country. On 17 March 2012 Vlad Kavalyou's mother was informed. She received a notification saying that her son's execution had been carried out.


2011 Minsk Metro bombing, International reaction
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus received condolences from the Foreign Ministers of Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Nicaragua, Poland, Ukraine, Finland, Estonia and Japan on 12 April. On 13 April condolences came from the Foreign Ministers of Germany, Turkey, Iran, Italy and Russia. The President's office also received condolences from leaders of Turkey, Slovakia and Cuba.


2011 Minsk Metro bombing, International reaction
Political interests outside of Belarus have questioned the official version of events as well as the investigation and court precedings, repeatedly calling for Belarus to pardon those convicted as well as abolishing the death penalty. According to the EU the investigation was not properly conducted and subsequently the trial not conducted on legal grounds; this point of view has even led the German Parliament to officially question the objectivity of the international investigation, accusing Interpol of willfully acquiescing to the "faulty" evidence provided by Belarusian investigators.


2011 Minsk Metro bombing, International reaction, International aid
The press service of the Belarusian president reported that Israel, Russia and the United Kingdom offered to help in the investigation. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev also offered all necessary assistance in the investigation of the incident. President Lukashenko responded in saying that the help must not be rejected under any circumstances. Subsequently, the Interior Ministry announced that the explosive specialists from these three countries would arrive in Minsk during the following day. Georgia and Iran also proposed to send all needed aid to Belarus.


2011 Minsk Metro bombing, International reaction, International aid
On 12 April 2011, a team of three Israel Defense Forces Medical Corps doctors departed for Belarus in order to assist in the efforts following the subway attack. Leading the team was the head of the Medical Corps' trauma department, Alon Galzberg. The team began operations by examining the steps needed to be taken, while advising local authorities on trauma and post-trauma procedures. The team was dispatched following a formal request by the Belarusian Government. Israel also sent an expert team of Shin Bet specialists as well as a police forensic team and experts in the field of combating terror.


2011 Mirabella Cup
The 2011 Mirabella Cup was the first edition of a football (soccer) knockout-cup competition held between men's clubs in Victoria, Australia in 2011, the annual edition of the Dockerty Cup. It was to be unique in Australian football in that the competition was to integrate clubs from the national top level league, the A-League, with the state system below.


2011 Mirabella Cup
However, the Football Federation Australia later withdrew their permission for Melbourne Victory and Melbourne Heart to take part in the competition while the first rounds were already ongoing, citing confusion of fans in marketing an as yet unannounced national knockout cup competition, which the FFA described in a press announcement announcing their reversal as still being in a stage of consideration, and not yet having a viable plan.


2011 Mirabella Cup
Northcote City SC defeated Melbourne Knights in the final to win their first Victorian top-level silverware.


2011 Mirabella Cup, First Round Playoffs
Round 1 will contain clubs below State League 1. Clubs will play teams in their Zones and some teams will have a bye which automatically puts them into the second round. The draw was held on 8 March 2011 at 7pm, and broadcast live by webcam.


2011 Mirabella Cup, Zone Semi Finals
The draw for the Zone Semi Finals took place on 14 April 2011. This round saw the introduction of the Alanic Victorian Premier League teams, with the exception of Richmond SC, and Victorian State League 1 teams. These 23 (seeded) teams were paired of with 23 of the 25 (unseeded) teams who progressed through the Zone Playoffs stage, with Malvern City and Fortuna 60 SC playing each other in the 24th match. This stage contained 48 teams in total. Green Gully Cavaliers set the record for most goals in a match, in the short history of the competition. The side compressively beat Regional side Mildura United SC 18 – 0 after leading 9 – 0 at the half.


2011 Mirabella Cup, Zone Finals
The lowest ranked team left in the competition is North Sunshine Eagles of the Victorian Men's Provisional League 1 (North-West), the fifth tier of Victorian state football. All 11 VPL clubs in the tournament survived their first round matches.


2011 Mirabella Cup, Super 12
The draw for the Super 12 round was held on 17 June 2011. 8 of the 11 VPL clubs survived their second round matches. The lowest ranked club remaining in the tournament is Cobram Victory, from the regional Goulburn North East Football Association.


2011 Mirabella Cup, Quarter Final Series
After the removal of Melbourne Heart and Melbourne Victory, who were set to debut in the Quarter-Finals, the structure of the tournament was revised. Instead of a straight knockout – as was previously planned – the six teams will be placed into two round-robin tournament groups of three, with the top two teams from each group to advance to the Semi-Finals. The draw for this stage, as well as the announcement of the format, was held on 22 July.


2011 Misano Superbike World Championship round
The 2011 Misano Superbike World Championship round was the sixth round of the 2011 Superbike World Championship. It took place on the weekend of June 10–12, 2011 at the Misano Adriatico circuit in Misano Adriatico, Italy.


2011 Missinippi Airways Cessna 208 crash
On July 4, 2011, a Missinippi Airways Cessna 208 Caravan passenger aircraft with nine people on board crashed while attempting to take off  from Pukatawagan Airport in Manitoba, Canada. One passenger was killed and the other eight occupants were injured.


2011 Missinippi Airways Cessna 208 crash, History of the flight
At around 4PM local time on July 4, the Cessna Caravan was preparing to depart for  the return leg of the hour-long daily scheduled flight from The Pas/Grace Lake Airport, Manitoba, to Pukatawagan Airport. On board were a single pilot and eight passengers. After lining up at the start of the 3,000-foot-long (910 m) gravel runway, the pilot applied full power and commenced take-off.


2011 Missinippi Airways Cessna 208 crash, History of the flight
During the take-off run, the aircraft encountered several soft patches on the runway. The pilot realised that the airspeed had stopped increasing, and rejected the take-off with an estimated 600 ft (180 m) of runway remaining. With reverse pitch selected but the engine at idle, the aircraft failed to stop before the end of the runway and rolled down a steep slope, coming to rest in a ravine. The airframe, including the fuel system, was severely damaged by the impact with the up-slope past the ravine, and a post-impact fire ensued almost immediately.


2011 Missinippi Airways Cessna 208 crash, History of the flight
One passenger who was knocked unconscious in the impact could not be extricated from the wreckage and died of smoke inhalation. The pilot and the other seven passengers received minor injuries and were able to return to the terminal building.


2011 Missinippi Airways Cessna 208 crash, Aircraft
The aircraft was a single-engine turboprop Cessna 208B Grand Caravan with registration C-FMCB and manufacturer's serial number 208B-1114. Built in 2005, it was owned by Beaver Air Services and operated by Missinippi Airways.


2011 Missinippi Airways Cessna 208 crash, Aftermath
The investigation led Transport Canada to revoke Missinippi Airways' air operator's certificate, for safety concerns. Without this, it is unable to fly commercial air services in Canada. The air operator's certificate was subsequently reinstated effective September 3, 2011.


2011 Missinippi Airways Cessna 208 crash, Aftermath
On October 21, 2011 at 11:59 pm Transport Canada suspended the Air Operator Certificate again due to deficiencies with the company's Operational Control System after an inspection during the week.


2011 Missinippi Airways Cessna 208 crash, Aftermath
On November 19, 2011 the Air Operator Certificate was again reinstated.


2011 Missinippi Airways Cessna 208 crash, Investigation
An investigation was carried out by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada. The final report was released in June 2012 and found that several factors combined to prevent the aircraft from attaining take-off airspeed, including the soft conditions of the gravel runway following recent rain, the take-off technique adopted by the pilot, which may have caused an increase in the aerodynamic drag, and likely gusty wind conditions.


2011 Missinippi Airways Cessna 208 crash, Investigation
It was also determined that although the pilot's decision to reject the takeoff was reasonable, it was made at a point from which insufficient runway remained to bring the aircraft to a stop without resulting in a runway excursion. Contributing to the only fatality was the fact that the deceased passenger was not wearing the available shoulder harness, which could have limited the extent of his injuries and the risk of loss of consciousness while the fire was engulfing the wreckage.


2011 Missinippi Airways Cessna 208 crash, Investigation
As a result of the investigation, Missinippi Airways implemented a new short-field take-off procedure and committed to put greater emphasis on short/soft field take-off and landing training.


2011 Mississippi River floods
The Mississippi River floods in April and May 2011 were among the largest and most damaging recorded along the U.S. waterway in the past century, comparable in extent to the major floods of 1927 and 1993. In April 2011, two major storm systems deposited record levels of rainfall on the Mississippi River watershed. When that additional water combined with the springtime snowmelt, the river and many of its tributaries began to swell to record levels by the beginning of May. Areas along the Mississippi itself experiencing flooding included Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana.


2011 Mississippi River floods
U.S. President Barack Obama declared the western counties of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi federal disaster areas. For the first time in 37 years, the Morganza Spillway was opened on May 14, deliberately flooding 4,600 square miles (12,000 km2) of rural Louisiana to save most of Baton Rouge and New Orleans.


2011 Mississippi River floods
Fourteen people were killed in Arkansas, with 348 killed across seven states in the preceding storms. Thousands of homes were ordered evacuated, including over 1,300 in Memphis, and more than 24,500 in Louisiana and Mississippi, though some people disregarded mandatory evacuation orders. The flood crested in Memphis on May 10 and artificially crested in southern Louisiana on May 15, a week earlier than it would have if spillways had not been opened.


2011 Mississippi River floods
The United States Army Corps of Engineers stated that an area in Louisiana between Simmesport and Baton Rouge was expected to be inundated with 20–30 feet (6.1–9.1 m) of water. Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and many other river towns were threatened, but officials stressed that they should be able to avoid catastrophic flooding.


2011 Mississippi River floods
From April 14–16, the storm system responsible for one of the largest tornado outbreaks in U.S. history also produced large amounts of rainfall across the southern and midwestern United States. Two more storm systems, each with heavy rain and tornadoes, hit in the third week of April. In the fourth week of April, from April 25–28, another, even more extensive and deadly storm system passed through the Mississippi Valley dumping more rainfall resulting in deadly flash floods. The unprecedented extensive rainfall from these four storms, combined with springtime snow melt from the Upper Midwest, created the perfect situation for a 500-year flood along the Mississippi.


2011 Mississippi River floods, Flood stages and effects by state
As flood waters proceeded down the Lower Mississippi from the St. Louis area (where the Missouri River and the Mississippi River converge), they affected Missouri and Illinois, then Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana.


2011 Mississippi River floods, Flood stages and effects by state, Missouri and Illinois
On May 3, using the planned procedures for the Birds Point-New Madrid Floodway, the Corps of Engineers blasted a two-mile (3 km) hole in the levee protecting the floodway, flooding 130,000 acres (530 km2) of farmland in Mississippi County, Missouri, in an effort to save the town of Cairo, Illinois and the rest of the levee system, from record-breaking flood waters. The breach displaced around 200 residents of Missouri's Mississippi and New Madrid counties, who were forced to evacuate after a court approved the plan to breach the levee.


2011 Mississippi River floods, Flood stages and effects by state, Tennessee
Dyersburg, a city in northwestern Tennessee, experienced the worst flooding with over 600 homes and businesses inundated as the Forked Deer River, a tributary of the Mississippi, flowed backwards into southern areas of the city. On May 10, the river reached 47.8 feet (14.6 m), the highest level reached at Memphis since 1937, when the river there reached a record 48.7 feet (14.8 m), and the second highest level ever recorded, even surpassing the 1927 flood. Many local rivers spilled their banks, including Big Creek, the Loosahatchie River, and the Wolf River along with Nonconnah Creek. Subsequent flooding occurred in Millington, as well as suburban areas of Frayser, Bartlett, and East Memphis.


2011 Mississippi River floods, Flood stages and effects by state, Arkansas
Interstate 40, connecting Memphis and Little Rock, experienced flooding west of Memphis along the White River between Hazen and Brinkley, where lanes in both directions were closed. Brinkley itself also experienced flooding. Eight people died in Arkansas as a result of flooding.


2011 Mississippi River floods, Flood stages and effects by state, Mississippi
In Tunica County, nine casinos located on stationary river barges were closed most of May. The hotel portion of the casinos are located on adjacent, low-lying land, and began to flood with the rising waters, some up to 6 feet. Near Vicksburg, Highway 465 in Warren and Issaquena counties was closed on May 3 due to high flood waters. North-south access to and from Vicksburg was cut off for more than two weeks. U.S. Highway 61 between Vicksburg and Port Gibson was closed by backwater flooding along the Big Black River on May 12; it reopened June 1. Another portion of U.S. Highway 61 near Redwood was closed by backwater flooding along the Yazoo River on May 13 and was closed until June 3.


2011 Mississippi River floods, Flood stages and effects by state, Mississippi
In anticipation of major flooding, the U.S. federal government declared 14 counties along the Mississippi River, the Thames River: Adams, Bolivar, Claiborne, Coahoma, DeSoto, Humphreys, Issaquena, Jefferson, Sharkey, Tunica, Warren, Washington, Wilkinson and Yazoo.


2011 Mississippi River floods, Flood stages and effects by state, Mississippi
The Flood of 2011 set new record stages at Vicksburg and Natchez. The peak streamflow at Vicksburg, 2,310,000 cubic feet per second (65,000 m3/s), exceeded both the estimated peak streamflow of the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, 2,278,000 cu ft/s (64,500 m3/s), and the measured peak streamflow of the 1937 flood, 2,080,000 cu ft/s (59,000 m3/s). The Project Design Flood predicts that a flowrate at Vicksburg of 2,710,000 cubic feet per second (77,000 m3/s) would still be within the limits of the downstream capacities, meaning that the May 17 - May 18 peak flow was about 85% of the acceptable flowrate for Vicksburg.


2011 Mississippi River floods, Flood stages and effects by state, Louisiana
Following the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, much effort has been invested in building defenses to withstand a flood of three million cubic feet  per second just upstream from the Old River Control Structure. The US Army Corps of Engineers refers to this design goal as Project Flood. the expected flow will be on the high side, but still within that maximum capacity, assuming everything works as expected.


2011 Mississippi River floods, Flood stages and effects by state, Louisiana, Morganza Spillway and Atchafalaya Basin
On May 14, a single floodgate of the Morganza Spillway was opened in order to divert 125,000 cubic feet per second (3,500 m3/s) of water from the Mississippi River to the Atchafalaya Basin. This diversion was deemed necessary to protect levees and prevent major flooding in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, with the tradeoff of exacerbating flooding in the Atchafalaya Basin, and will also reduce floodwater stress on the Old River Control Structure upstream. This was the first opening of the spillway since the 1973 flood.


2011 Mississippi River floods, Flood stages and effects by state, Louisiana, Morganza Spillway and Atchafalaya Basin
By May 15, a total of nine gates had been opened by the Corps of Engineers. The Corps had estimated that it would take opening one-fourth of the spillway's 125 bays—or 31 bays—to control the flow of the river through Baton Rouge in response to a forecast crest of 45 feet (14 m) anticipated on May 17, which must remain below 1,500,000 cu ft/s (42,000 m3/s) of water per second through Baton Rouge to ensure the integrity of the levee system.


2011 Mississippi River floods, Flood stages and effects by state, Louisiana, Morganza Spillway and Atchafalaya Basin
Prior to the decision to open more gates on the spillway, the Corps studied four flooding scenarios, all of which assumed the Bonnet Carré Spillway near New Orleans would be concurrently operating at full capacity (100%).


2011 Mississippi River floods, Flood stages and effects by state, Louisiana, Morganza Spillway and Atchafalaya Basin
Following this analysis, which showed that extensive flooding was expected in the Atchafalaya Basin regardless of the choice made regarding the Morganza Spillway, the Corps decided to start the 2011 diversion by opening the spillway a bit less than described in scenario 1a (21%, not 25%)


2011 Mississippi River floods, Flood stages and effects by state, Louisiana, Morganza Spillway and Atchafalaya Basin
The Corps of Engineers subsequently released a map showing the estimated times it would take the flood waters to reach the various communities in the Atchafalaya Basin over eight days.


2011 Mississippi River floods, Flood stages and effects by state, Louisiana, Morganza Spillway and Atchafalaya Basin
Natural-colour satellite image of the Floodway on May 15, 2011.


2011 Mississippi River floods, Flood stages and effects by state, Louisiana, Morganza Spillway and Atchafalaya Basin
False colour satellite image of the Floodway on May 15, 2011.


2011 Mississippi River floods, Flood stages and effects by state, Louisiana, Waterford Nuclear Generating Station
The Waterford Nuclear Generating Station, about 25 miles (40 km) west of New Orleans, was restarted May 12, after a refueling shutdown on April 6.


2011 Mississippi River floods, Flood stages and effects by state, Louisiana, Bonnet Carré Spillway and Lake Pontchartrain
The Bonnet Carré Spillway, near New Orleans, was built to divert water from the Mississippi River to Lake Pontchartrain, and from there to the Gulf of Mexico, reducing water levels and flow near New Orleans. On May 23, 2011, 330 of the structure's 350 bays were opened due to rising water levels otherwise anticipated to jeopardize levees protecting New Orleans. The Army Corps of Engineers began closing the spillway gates on June 12 as the river level began to fall and the last of the gates were closed on June 20.


2011 Mississippi River floods, Climate factors
The  satellites indicated a continued water storage increase over the Missouri River Basin (MRB) prior to the 2011 flood event. A 2014 study  examined what climate forcing conditions preceded the long-term changes in these variables. It was found that precipitation over the MRB undergoes a profound modulation during the transition points of the Pacific quasi-decadal oscillation and associated teleconnections. The results infer a prominent teleconnection forcing in driving the wet/dry spells in the MRB, and this connection implies persistence of dry conditions for the next 2 to 3 years.


2011 Mississippi River floods, Risk of major course change in the Lower Mississippi River
During the 2011 floods, concerns were raised that the Mississippi might divert its main channel into the Atchafalaya Basin if the Old River Control Structure, the Morganza Spillway, or nearby levees failed, or into Lake Pontchartrain if the Bonnet Carré Spillway or adjacent levees failed. Jeff Masters of the Weather Underground noted that failure of the Old River Control Structure "would be a serious blow to the U.S. economy, and the great Mississippi flood of 2011 will give [this structure] its most severe test ever."


2011 Mississippi River floods, Risk of major course change in the Lower Mississippi River
During the 2011 floods, the Army Corps of Engineers decided to open the Morganza Spillway at 1/4 of its capacity to allow 150,000 cu ft/s (4,200 m3/s) to enter the Morganza and Atchafalaya floodways. In addition to reducing the 2011 flood crest downstream, this reduced the chances of a channel change by reducing stress on the other elements of the control system.


2011 Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball team
The 2011 Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball team represented Mississippi State University in the NCAA Division I baseball season of 2011. The team was coached by John Cohen, in his 12th year as a collegiate head coach, and his 3rd at Mississippi State.


2011 Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball team
Mississippi State returned to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2007 and after three consecutive losing seasons. They were the number 3 seed in the Atlanta Regional hosted by number 1 seed Georgia Tech. They won the Regional, winning three games straight, beating Southern Miss, 3–0, Austin Peay, 8–3, and Georgia Tech, 7–3. They advanced to the Super Regional against host Florida, where they won one game but were eliminated by losing the other two games.


2011 Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball team
They started the season unranked in the four major polls, and finished in the final polls with their highest rankings of the season.


2011 Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball team, Ranking movements
^ Collegiate Baseball ranks 40 teams in their preseason poll, but only ranks 30 teams weekly during the season. † NCBWA ranks 35 teams in their preseason poll, but only ranks 30 teams weekly during the season. * New poll was not released for this week so for comparison purposes the previous week's ranking is inserted in this week's slot.


2011 Mississippi State Bulldogs football team
The 2011 Mississippi State Bulldogs football team represented Mississippi State University in the 2011 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team was coached by Dan Mullen, who was in his third season with Mississippi State. The Bulldogs played their home games at Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field in Starkville, Mississippi and compete in the Western Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). They finished the 2011 season with a 7–6 overall play, 2–6 in SEC play, placing fifth in West Division, and were invited for Music City Bowl, where they defeated Wake Forest.


2011 Mississippi State Bulldogs football team, Personnel, Coaching staff
In the week following the Gator Bowl victory, several changes were made to the Mississippi State coaching staff. Defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Manny Diaz resigned his position to serve in the same position for Texas as the replacement for Will Muschamp. Co -defensive coordinator and defensive line coach Chris Wilson was promoted to defensive coordinator to replace Diaz on January 10. At that time, Angelo Mirando was promoted from graduate assistant to wide receivers coach to replace Mark Hudspeth who had resigned earlier to accept the head coaching position at UL Lafayette. Geoff Collins was hired on January 12 to serve as co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach to fill the vacant position made when Wilson was promoted.


2011 Mississippi State Bulldogs football team, Game summaries, 2011 Egg Bowl
Mississippi State wore new uniforms for the game that featured gold numbers, gold shoes and "Hail State" replacing each of the player's last names on the back of the jersey.


2011 Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils football team
The 2011 Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils football team represented Mississippi Valley State University in the 2011 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Delta Devils were led by second year head coach Karl Morgan and played their home games at Rice–Totten Field. They are a member of the East Division of the Southwestern Athletic Conference. They finished the season 1–10, 1–8 in SWAC play to finish in last place of the East Division.


2011 Mississippi gubernatorial election
The 2011 Mississippi gubernatorial election was held on November 8, 2011. Incumbent Republican Governor of Mississippi Haley Barbour was unable to run for a third term due to term limits.


2011 Mississippi gubernatorial election
Republican nominee Lieutenant Governor Phil Bryant defeated the Democratic nominee, Hattiesburg Mayor Johnny DuPree. Sworn in on January 10, 2012, Bryant became only the third Republican Governor of Mississippi since Reconstruction.