January 23, 2001 - Parts of Northern California may be hit with more blackouts this morning as officials scrounge for electricity. Efforts continue to find a long-term solution to the problem. A proposal crafted over the weekend would allow the state to take over hydro-electric facilities, currently owned by cash-strapped utilities. California's energy crisis is the result of both deregulation and an energy shortage. Linda Taylor is the Deputy Commissioner for Energy at the Minnesota Department of Commerce. She says we shouldn't see anything like the California crisis here in Minnesota-- but we ARE facing a shortage of our own.
January 24, 2001 - MPR’s Michael Khoo reports on reaction to Governor Ventura’s released budget plan which tightens the fiscal reins. When Governor Jesse Ventura took his first stab at the budgeting process two years ago, he acknowledged many of his proposals were based on former-Governor Arne Carlson's work, but Ventura is describing his latest effort as entirely his own. The plan calls for more than a billion dollars in tax relief and holds spending to about the level of inflation.
January 24, 2001 -
January 24, 2001 - St. Paul has picked off five hundred jobs from Minneapolis. Today a company called Personnel Decisions International announced plans to move across the river into St. Paul office buildings owned by the Minnesota Life Insurance company. St. Paul Mayor Norm Coleman says the new jobs mark a continuation of the city's turnaround and are worth the one and a half million dollar subsidy the city is giving the company. Minnesota Public Radio's Mark Zdechlik reports...
January 24, 2001 - Heating bills are not the only place Minnesotans will feel this winter's soaring natural gas prices. Expensive natural gas means expensive fertilizer -- and an uncertain spring for the regions' farmers. Minnesota Public Radio's Jeff Horwich has this Mainstreet report (There's not much farming to be done in January, so John Wojtanowicz brings his mammoth potato picker in for a tune-up. Before the picker sees any action this spring, his 1200 acres of potatos will need hundreds of pounds of nitrogren. The same goes for his 2000 acres of corn and kidney beans, hungry for anhydrous ammonia and urea -- two popular fertilizers made by mixing raw nitrogen with natural gas.
January 25, 2001 - Mainstreet Radio’s Mark Steil reports on Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura in southern Minnesota as he continued to promote his budget plan and fire back at critics. During a stop in Worthington he said one of his most important priorities is to reform telephone service in the state. He says increased telecommunications competition will help business growth in rural areas.
January 25, 2001 - A team of migrant workers pulled well-formed apples from trees at the Pepin Heights Orchard. They are also working on getting rid of the pests.
January 25, 2001 - MPR’s Annie Feidt reports on The Midwest Food Alliance, a new local organization that is hoping to convince Minnesotans to pay closer attention to the source of their food. The alliance supports and promotes the products of local farmers who practice environmentally sound, sustainable agriculture. The organization hopes consumers will search out its brightly colored stickers on produce and meats, the way some look for the organic label.
January 29, 2001 - The loss of jobs on Minnesota's Iron Range doesn't just affect mining towns, such as Hibbing and Chisholm. In Duluth, the huge ships passing under the aerial bridge are already carrying less iron ore. In fact, last year the port moved more coal than iron ore for the first time since the Great Depression. Last year, ore shipments from the Duluth-Superior port hit their lowest level since the 1980s, when the Iron Range economy took a nose dive and the mines laid off thousands of workers. The mining slump in the '80s hit Duluth hard, too. Businesses closed. People lost jobs. This time, economists are predicting Duluth will withstand the blow somewhat better. But they say the city WILL suffer. Minnesota Public Radio's Chris Julin reports.
January 29, 2001 - Across southern Minnesota the preparations for the ice-storm began early... long before the first drops of freezing rain fell. Minnesota Public Radio's Laurel Druley reports the majority of southeastern Minnesota schools closed today. {Rochester public school transportation manager Jeff Cappers says his thoughts were more on the possible state of country back roads this afternoon when he made his decision to close his schools early this morning.