Digitization made possible by the State of Minnesota Legacy Amendment’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, approved by voters in 2008.
February 11, 1998 - Governor Carlson's 12-million dollar bonding proposal to fund boarding schools gets another hearing at the capitol today. (wed) The schools would serve at-risk juveniles who have had no major criminal problems. The proposal for Minnesota may be modelled after the Milton-Hershey School in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Minnesota Public Radio's Karen-Louise Boothe travelled there to take a closer look. She reports on what SOME experts say is a new view of an old concept.
February 12, 1998 - A researcher on smoking and health resumes his testimony today that smoking is the chief cause of lung cancer. Johns Hopkins physician and researcher Jon Samet told jurors lung cancer deaths in Minnesota have increased ten-fold in the past 40 years. Minnesota Public Radio's Elizabeth Stawicki reports.
February 12, 1998 - A moratorium on building large new feedlots is all but dead in the state legislature. The moratorium's defeat in a Senate committee last night hints at a coming showdown between the Senate and House over regulation of hog farms and other livestock facilities. Minnesota Public Radio's Eric Jansen reports from the Capitol.
February 12, 1998 - Minnesota officials are letting welfare recipients know it's time for them to look for work. Under the state's welfare reforms, 1600 northeastern Minnesotans in the Minnesota Family Investment Program, mostly single mothers, must be employed by 1999. Employment in the Arrowhead has lagged behind the rest of the state in recent years. Social service agencies say encouraging welfare recipients to start their own busines may be a promising alternative. Minnesota Public Radio's Amy Radil reports on two women in Hibbing who are going to work, for themselves.
February 12, 1998 - In Minnesota's tobacco trial, the state today began building its case that smokers increase health care costs. The state and Blue Cross Blue Shield are seeking nearly 2-billion dollars to cover the cost of treating smoking-related illnesses over the past two decades. Minnesota Public Radio's Laura McCallum reports.. Cancer expert Jon Samet testified today that smoking causes more than a dozen diseases, and those diseases result in higher health care costs. The Johns Hopkins epidemiologist said according to criteria established by the Surge
February 12, 1998 - Minnesota Public Radio's Mark Zdechlik reports on the 2,500 striking Honeywell workers who vote on a proposed contract, possibly ending their walkout now in its 11th day. The terms of the proposed settlement are not being made public but union officials say Honeywell modified what had been the company's final offer. Central to the negotiations since the first contract was rejected, has been the union's opposition to Honeywell putting together a separate compensation package for new employees. Such arrangements often called "Two Tier," contracts, have been dividing workforces for two decades in the United States.
February 12, 1998 - Back in the mid-1980's, Minnesota saw its first tobacco lawsuit. The widow of a man named John Forster sued R.J. Reynolds, the maker of Camel cigarettes. She said smoking caused her husband's cancer. But after two dismissals and two re-instatements by appeals courts, the case was dropped due to the enormous expense of fighting the tobacco industry. The family's attorney, Mike Weiner , has been watching the state's tobacco case. He says this time, the industry might have finally met its match.
February 12, 1998 - A Minnesota House committee today considers whether to spend taxpayer money for convention centers in Minneapolis, Duluth and Fergus Falls. Governor Carlson has sprinkled new and expanded convention centers throughout his state spending blueprint. Supporters say the facilities are key to economic growth in the cities and towns. Critics say they're an expensive way to buy a vote for a hockey arena in St. Paul. Minnesota Public Radio's Karen-Louise Boothe reports.
February 12, 1998 - One of the hot issues in the welfare to work debate is the skills gap. Some people argue the idea of requiring people to get on a payroll and off welfare is all very well, but how do people get the skills to find and keep a job that pays well? The cherished part of the American dream of owning and running your own business can seem far out of reach to many welfare recipients. But a program in Fargo is trying to help low-income people do just that. As Minnesota Public Radio's Hope Deutscher reports, the program, now in its sixth year, is being seen as a potential national model.
February 12, 1998 - Later this month the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in a Minnesota case that will affect local governments and indian tribes nationwide. At issue is whether land owned by tribes can be taxed. Mainstreet Radios Dan Gunderson reports.