June 11, 1999 - "Bridget Jones' Diary," the fictional daily musings of a 30-something British single woman has created a literary sensation. Millions of readers on both sides of the Atlantic have shared Bridget's despair over dieting, family and in particular her love life. Author Helen Fielding, now touring the U.S. to promote the paperback edition, says she didn't expect Bridget's story to strike such a chord with women everywhere. Many can relate to the kind of "doomed-to-fail" new year's resolutions Bridget lists on the first page of her diary.
June 11, 1999 - The Reform Party and the Republican Party are both holding all-day conventions on Saturday, and both plan to elect new chairmen and party executives. One potential new leader says it's time for his party to grow up a little; another says "stay the course."
June 11, 1999 - Governor Ventura says his new radio show "Lunch with the Governor" is his chance to "correct the media." The weekly, hour-long show premiered today on commercial radio stations around the state, and Minnesota Public Radio's Martin Kaste has the story.
June 14, 1999 - A campaign oversight panel says the company selling Jesse Ventura merchandise will be allowed to operate as a private corporation instead of a political committee. The company, "Ventura For Minnesota Incorporated" has said the money will be used to fund charitable activities and constituent services for the governor. The board's ruling means V-M-I won't have to report what it earns or how it spends the money, which political committees must do.
June 14, 1999 - Delegates to the Minnesota Reform Party's annual convention elected Mankato businessman Rick McCluhan as their new party chairman on Saturday. McCluhan says the insurgent third party is at a turning point in its history, and has to prove to voters that it's more than a "one-trick pony," as he puts it.
June 15, 1999 - Governor Jesse Ventura says state government needs to do everything it can to help Minnesota farmers and to prevent an economic collapse in rural areas. Last night, the governor participated in the first of four forums on agriculture this summer. He says he's open to several ideas including an anti-trust investigation of large farming conglomerates and the elimination of the state inheritance tax.
June 16, 1999 - J.F Powers, One of Minnesota's most acclaimed authors died on Saturday at his home in Collegeville. He was 81 years old. Powers' first novel, "Morte D'Urban" won the national book award in 1962. In the following years, Powers published a collection of short stories, but it took him more than two decades to complete his next novel. Like most of Powers' work, that book, "Wheat that Springeth Green," explored the world of the priesthood. In 1988, just after the novel's publication, Powers told Minnesota Public Radio he'd never considered the priesthood himself.
June 16, 1999 - J.F. Powers, one of Minnesota's most celebrated authors, died of natural causes at his home in Collegeville on Saturday. He was 81. Powers won national acclaim for his novels which explore the tensions of Midwestern Catholicism by following the story of a small-parish priest. He was considered a quiet literary giant, who worked various jobs in Chicago during the Great Depression and became a conscientious objector during World War II. Powers was a Professor and Writer-in-Residence at St. John's University in Collegeville until 1993.
June 16, 1999 - St. Paul Mayor Norm Coleman has formally launched his bid to bring the Minnesota Twins to downtown St. Paul. Yesterday, volunteers armed with petitions began collecting signatures to put a ballpark question on the November ballot. The proposal, however, is already drawing stiff opposition.
June 17, 1999 - Some regional legislators say they're feeling betrayed by Governor Jesse Ventura's liberal use of line-item vetoes for rural projects. Items receiving a gubernatorial veto include a new boiler at Winona State; and money for the flood control project near Willmar that's already received one million dollars in federal matching funds. And then there's the veto of a little-known adult education program in central Minnesota that helps rural immigrants get their high school equivalency degree or GED.