November 24, 2000 - Should people buy the new Pentium computer just because it is new? That is what Dell is hoping for.
November 24, 2000 - At a time where farmers are being urged to diversify their income one Minnesota dairy farmer is doing just that by making celebrities of his cows. David Lill recently published a book of whimsical photos featuring his cows in human poses, and there are plans for a calendar, t-shirts, coffee mugs and posters. Minnesota Public Radios Dan Gunderson reports.
November 24, 2000 - How big is your holiday gift budget? A retail industry group expects consumers to spend about 6 percent more than last year. But the US economy and retail sales are slowing. So ... will retailers' bottom line be candy cane red? As Minnesota Public Radio's Bill Catlin reports, the trends may favor shoppers over shareholders this holiday season.
November 27, 2000 - Interview with Chris Farrell, talking about the impact of business and lifestyle in Florida during the election recount and talking about holiday shopping.
November 29, 2000 - Northwest Airlines and its mechanics union squared off in federal court in Minneapolis this afternoon. The airline was asking judge David Doty to find the Airline Mechanics Fraternal Association in contempt for violating his order last week NOT to engage in an illegal slowdown. Minnesota PUblic Radio's Mark Zdechlik has been at the courthouse following events.....
November 29, 2000 - Mechanics at Northwest Airlines are headed to court. They were not ordered to slow down, but administration found that the mechanics slowed down anyway. Lisa Jordan, an economist at the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management.
November 29, 2000 - Minnesota's recent warm winters have left ski-enthusiasts pining for the days of predictably snowy trails. Well, if Ahvo TY-pah-le has his way, good snow cover will never be far away. Ty-pah-le -- who owns Finn-Seesu Ski Shop in St. Paul -- wants to build the continent's first underground cross-country skiing facility. He doesn't have a site picked out for the so-called "ski-tunnel" but he estimates it will cost about 14-million dollars to build. Ty-pah-le says he visited the world's first ski-tunnel, in Finland, and thought the Twin Cities could use one too:
November 30, 2000 - A new study says Twin Cities residents spend more on transportation than on any other necessity, including housing. The Surface Transportation Policy Project-- a national smart-growth advocacy group based in Washington D-C-- ranked the Twin Cities 6th of 28 metro areas in out of pocket expenses for transportation. The typical Twin Cities' household spent 8,600 dollars per year on transportation. And 98 percent of that money went into owning and operating automobiles. The findings are based on data from the federal goverment's Consumer Expenditure Survey. Barbara McCann Co-authored the study. She says the findings weren't very suprising:
November 30, 2000 - From Minnesota Public Radio, this is Future Tense for November 30th. I'm Jon Gordon. Today, e-customers: more satisfied than brick and mortar shoppers... ((tease cut)) Each quarter the University of Michigan business school releases the American Customer Satisfaction Index. The ACSI measures how satifsied consumers are across different segments of the economy. For the first time the ACSI looked at electronic commerce, and the results show Americans are generally happier with e-commerce than the old-fashioned kind. Professor Claes Fornell is director of the National Quality Research Center at the University of Michigan. ((fornell))
November 30, 2000 - A federal judge in Minneapolis has extended a temporary restraining order barring Northwest Airlines mechanics from any illegal work slow downs. Judge David Doty heard evidence from Northwest that members of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Assocaition are allegedly disrupting operations to protest stalled contract talks. Doty is scheduled to hear more from the airline and from the union on Monday. Minnesota Public Radio's Mark Zdechlik reports...