July 10, 2001 - MPR’s Andrew Haeg reports that the continuing decline of small agricultural communities in the Great Plains is fueling a search for ways to keep people from moving away. Increasingly, rather than looking to federal or state governments for aid, townspeople are trying to save themselves.
July 10, 2001 - All Things Considered’s Lorna Benson interviews Kit Borgman, communications director for the Minnesota Department of Trade and Economic Development, about trade with Canada. Borgman says Minnesota exports a variety of products to our northern neighbor.
July 10, 2001 - Ron Bosrock, founder and executive director of the Global Institute at St. John's University in Collegeville, comments on Governor Ventura's fourth international trade mission since taking office.
July 11, 2001 -
July 11, 2001 - Patients with congestive heart faliure may be interested in news that a kind of treatment has been developed by Fridley-based Medtronic. The device, which has receive preliminary FDA approval, is about the size of half a dollar, and it's surgically implanted in patients, much in the same manner as a pacemaker. Dr. Jay Cohn, at the U of M Medical School, says the device, called In-Sync, appears to be a big step forward for patients who have congestive heart faliure.
July 11, 2001 - In recent months, the three counties that meet in St. Cloud; Benton, Stearns, and Sherburne, have all been considering new laws to stem the growth of adult entertainment. Tonight it's still unclear how or whether the law will be carried out.
July 11, 2001 - County and state officials met today Wed to discuss relief options for employees who are currently out of work at the Farmland Foods plant in Albert Lea. The meat packaging plant, the second largest employer in Albert Lea, is assessing damages and may announce plans for the facility later this week.
July 12, 2001 -
July 12, 2001 - It appears the outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Britain is largely over. Since mid February, more than 17-hundred cases were reported. Many US farmers took precautions to limit foreign visitors as a way to prevent the spread of the disease. But some Minnesota farmers were still willing to take exchange students from infected countries to live and work on their farms. Mainstreet Radio's Cara Hetland reports two brothers decided the benefit of learning from students outweighed the risk of bringing the devastating livestock disease to their farm.
July 12, 2001 - The weather has been dry as a bone in the last three weeks in Minnesota. Since mid-June, the Twin Cities has had only 4 days with rain. The recent dry weather is making life difficult for farmers who, a few weeks ago, were worried about flooding.