April 19, 1999 - House Republicans today outlined their comprehensive tax relief plan, adding to the income tax cuts passed by the House last week. The complete $4-Billion-dollar package eliminates the so-called "sick tax" on medical care, cuts agricultural property taxes by about 10 percent and makes the income tax system more favorable to married couples. Republicans say they're delivering on their promise to cut taxes across the board, but DFLers in the Senate say the plan goes too far.
April 20, 1999 - When Republicans took control of the Minnesota House, they talked about cutting government spending, and appointed one of their most fiscally conservative colleagues to chair the committee in charge of funding certain state agencies. Republican leaders then told State Government Finance Committee chair Phil Krinkie to spend one-hundred million dollars LESS than Governor Ventura proposed in his budget. Krinkie has gone even further, chopping another 40-million, and ruffling some feathers in his own caucus in the process.
April 22, 1999 - The school shootings in Littleton, Colorado, has re-opened a debate here in Minnesota over permits for concealed weapons. Governor Jesse Ventura is speculating so-called "concealed-carry" laws could have prevented the violence in Colorado. Opponents say more guns only lead to more bloodshed.
April 23, 1999 - You might know Lynda Barry from her NPR commentaries, from her comic strip Ernie Pook's Comeek, or her novella -- what she called a "novelini" - The Good Times Are Killing Me. Barry has just finished her first novel. Cruddy is an illustrated novel, Barry says based in form on illustrated novels from the turn of the century, with paintings instead of the quirky line drawings of her comic books. Cruddy is definitely an adult book, and is at the same time charming and disturbing. You're charmed by the heroine's spirit given her cruddy life, but then disturbed when you find out "cruddy" doesn't begin to describe it.
April 23, 1999 - With no Reform Party members in the legislature, Governor Ventura has no party allies, and is turning to technology to lean on lawmakers. The latest project of "JesseNet" - the Ventura administration's online network of supporters - is Legislature Watch Teams, volunteers who will try to pressure lawmakers to support the Governor's policies. The first team is being organized in the district of a key lawmaker opposed to Ventura's light rail proposal.
April 26, 1999 - To close out the millennium, Minnesota Public Radio's All Things Considered presents a look back at Minnesota life in 1900 via a 12-part series, entitled “A Minnesota Century.” In this segment, the story of Maude Baumann and her family's pioneer trek through the state in 1900.
April 26, 1999 - Broadcast of Czech President Vaclac Havel's speech at Macalester College Monday morning. He will receive honorary degrees from Macalester and from the University of St. Thomas at this event. His speech is titled, "Toward a Civil Society."
April 26, 1999 - Czech president Vaclav Havel, a poet and playwright, says freedoms taken away by totalitarian leaders can be restored overnight on paper. But he warned today in a speech in St. Paul keeping a democracy alive requires a civil society - one where people are free to associate with others and where the power of government is limited and decentralized. The former Communist government in Czechoslavakia banned Havel's writing, and put him prison three times. Ten years ago he helped create the political movement which negotiated the "velvet revolution" - the Czech Republic's peaceful handover of power from Communists to a democracy.
April 26, 1999 - Minnesotans concerned about the plight of Kosovar Albanians have been given the chance to contribute to relief efforts -- and to tap their feet. Last night, the Minnesota Czechoslovak Center sponsored a benefit rock concert for Balkan refugees at the State Theater in Minneapolis. The event featured the rock band Three Dog Night and was briefly attended by Governor Jesse Ventura and Czech President Vaclav Havel.
April 26, 1999 - Democratic Presidential candidate Bill Bradley made a campaign swing through Minnesota and Iowa over the weekend, picking up the endorsement of Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone. Bradley lags behind Vice President Al Gore at this early stage of the race for the Democratic nomination. But many Minnesota Democrats say they're taking Bradley more seriously, now that Wellstone is backing his campaign.