November 9, 2001 - Sun Country Airlines is up for sale. The Twin Cities-based airline announced yesterday that it is in immediate need of cash. Sun Country is the biggest local competitor to Northwest Airlines, but it has not made a profit since it came under new ownership in 1998. The sole owner of Sun Country, Milwaukee-based entrepreneur Bill La Macchia, has personally been underwriting the losses. Now La Macchia has removed himself from the board of directors and given full decision-making power to presdient and CEO David Banmiller. Mr. Banmiller is on the line now.
November 9, 2001 -
November 12, 2001 - Members of Minnesota's two largest state employee unions are voting on a contract deal reached last month. The state and the unions reached the tentative deal after union members had been on strike for two weeks. Many workers are upset about the proposed package of wages and benefits, and say they'll vote against it. The leader of one union says the vote is too close to call, while the head of the other is predicting members will ratify the contract. Minnesota Public Radio's Laura McCallum reports...
November 12, 2001 -
November 12, 2001 - Major League Baseball owners vote to eliminate two teams before the beginning of next season prompted many listeners to call Morning Edition’s comment line. Host Cathy Wurzer presents a snippet of the commentaries left within the in-box.
November 12, 2001 - Twins fans organized a last ditch grass-roots effort to save the team over the weekend. About 40 fans gathered at the Metrodome Sunday, waving homer hankies... asking passers-by to sign a petition to deliver to baseball commissioner Bud Selig. Paul Ridgeway is leading what he's calling the "Keep the Twins at Home" campaign. He says fellow fans can sign the petition at his website, keepthetwins.com.
November 12, 2001 - The American Airlines crash has stoked new fears for the safety of air travel. On the ground the nation's airports are still struggling to improve the quality of the private companies that operate passenger security checkpoints. Some of those firms have been sharply criticized for myriad shortcomings ... including a failure to detect concealed weapons and hiring checkers with criminal records. Globe Aviation Services handles security screening at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. The company says it's ...... done much to tighten procedures since the September 11 attacks. Minnesota Public Radio's Kaomi Goetz reports.
November 12, 2001 - There are no known survivors of the 255 people aboard American Airlines flight 587 that crashed into the Queens borough of New York City this morning. Six people on the ground are missing and 35 others were treated for minor injuries. Early investigations point to mechanical failure as the most likely cause of the crash. Northwest Airlines is back to its normal schedule, after canceling 15 to 20 flights bound for New York-area airports. Hotel and airline stocks fell across the board today and Northwest was no exception, its stock fell six percent. Northwest spokesperson Kathy Peach says it's too early to tell if today's crash will cause a rush of cancellations or a drop off in bookings:
November 13, 2001 - From Minnesota Public Radio this is Future Tense for November 13. I'm Jon Gordon. It's a huge week for video game players and electronics retailers, as Microsoft and Nintendo roll out their new game machines. X-Box from Microsoft is due in stores Thursday, while Nintendo's GameCube arrives three days later. Analysts say despite the slow economy, the 20 billion dollar video game industry is robust. Sean McGowan is co-founder of PlayDate Inc, a toy industry market services firm. ((bite 1)) X-Box, GameCube and the year-old Sony PlayStation 2 are expected to do so well this holiday season, they could help lift third and fourth quarter profits for retail chains like Best Buy and Circuit City. McGowan says it's a unique time for the industry. ((bite 2)) It's going to be a fierce battle for the hearts and minds of video game players. Microsoft alone is will spend 500 million dollars to promote X-Box. Which game console will be the big winner? ((bite 3)) Sean McGowan with Play Date Inc ((button)) In the news& The number of subscribers getting high-speed access to the Internet through cable television lines jumped 15 percent during the third quarter. That's according to the National Cable and Telecommunications Association. The 825,000 new subscribers brings the total number of U.S. cable modem users to 6.4 million. That's about 9 percent of the homes that are able to receive the service. Cable lines remain the most popular way to get broadband Internet. A fledgling aerospace company took another step toward making private space flights yesterday as a rocket-powered plane soared 9,000 feet over the Mojave desert. Xcor Aerospace's EZ-Rocket is outfitted with twin, 400-pound-thrust rocket engines. The flight was the fifth for the EZ-Rocket, which burns isopropyl alcohol and liquid oxygen, consuming about $75 worth of fuel during each short flight. The company hopes to eventually build a craft capable of flying regularly to altitudes of 60 miles that could allow scientists to conduct experiments in microgra
November 13, 2001 - If Major League Baseball goes through with plans to eliminate the Minnesota Twins and the Montreal Expos, it will mark a historic moment for the game. This would be the first league contraction in 100 years and the end of one of the charter members of the American League. MPR’s Jim Bickal interviews Bill James, one of the country's leading authorities on the history of baseball and author of the book The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract.