April 23, 1997 - Pronouncer = STAUSS = rhymes with house The mayor of East Grand Forks now says it could be a month before city residents can go back hom. He says sewage in the flood waters has contaminated their homes. That was tough news to more than two thousand flood victims who have come to stay temporarily in Bemidji. East Grand Forks Mayor Lynn Stauss (stouse) travelled to several northwestern Minnesota towns where flood victims have congregated, as Minnesota Public Radio's Christina Koenig (KAY-nig) reports. Several hundred of the flood victims gathered Bemidji State University's Hockey arena to hear the mayor. Lynn Stauss told his fellow flood victims
April 24, 1997 - State lawmakers have yet to approve a new stadium for the Minnesota Twins...but Minneapolis business leaders have already begun the push for ballpark-related development. The Minneapolis Downtown Council announced today it will form a task force to come up with ideas for stimulating development around a stadium. Minnesota Public Radio's Bill Wareham reports: When the Metrodome was on the drawing boards in the 70's...many assumed it would act as something of a development magnet...attracting entrepreneurs eager to capitalize on the millions of people who would visit the facility each year. But 15 years after opening...there's little to distract a fan on his
April 28, 1997 - A NORTHWEST AIRLINES 747 CARGO PLANE DELIVERED 120-THOUSAND-POUNDS OF SUPPLIES FROM THE TWIN CITIES TO THE GRAND FORKS AREA YESTERDAY. TARGET STORES COLLECTED THE GOODS ON SATURDAY. RESIDENTS DONTATED MORE THAN THE AIRPLANE COULD CARRY, SO FIVE SEMI-TRUCKS WILL BRING THE REST IN THE DAYS TO COME. MINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO'S JON GORDON REPORTS. ........................................................................... DCART ITEM:9150 TIME:2:58 OUTCUE:soc ........................................................................ TWELVE TRUCKLOADS OF BOTTLED WATER, CLEANING SUPPLIES, TOILETRIES AND MORE WERE TAKEN FROM THE TARGET STOREES TO THE TWIN CITIES AIRPORT SATURDAY. NORTHWEST AIRLINES EMPLOYEES VOLUNTEERED THEIR TIME TO STUFF THE GOOD INTO SILVER CRATES, THEN INTO THE BELLY OF THE BOEING 747,
April 29, 1997 - State lawmakers on the House and Senate tax committees will be discuss proposals for financing a new Twins stadium…and It's a critical day for stadium supporters, because with less than three weeks left in the legislative session, they still have no politically viable plan to pay for a new ballpark.
April 30, 1997 - Ojibwe Band members had hoped to be spearing and netting fish on dozens of central Minnesota lakes by now. For seven years a group of tribes, led by the Mille Lacs Ojibwe, worked through the courts to restore fishing and hunting rights given them by treaty in the 19th century. It appeared the tribes would finally exercise those rights this spring. But a group of local landowners won an injunction earlier this month, halting the Indians' plans, at least for now.
May 1, 1997 - Bud Selig, Major League Baseball's acting commissioner, told state lawmakers the league wouldn't prevent the Twins from leaving Minnesota. Selig says the team needs a new stadium to remain financially healthy. Selig failed to fully endorse two elements many stadium supporters hope to see in a ballpark bill: financing with gaming revenues, and partial state ownership of the team.
May 5, 1997 - One of the most widely debated issues in the modern workplace is whether employers should offer domestic partner benefits. In Minnesota, local governments which have sought to include unmarried, same-sex partners in their health insurance plans have run into legal roadblocks. But in the private sector, where the competition is growing for talented workers, more companies and organizations are finding domestic partner benefit packages make good business sense.
May 12, 1997 - In today's Odd Jobs feature the man who puts the "international" in Rochester International Airport. Wes Niemitalo (NEE-muh-tell-oh) is the sole U.S. Customs Agent at the aiport - paid for by the city and the Mayo Clinic. He spends most of his day waiting to check in well-to-do overseas travelers coming in their private or government aircraft to the clinic for medical treatment. Minnesota Public Radio's Brent Wolfe talked to a man who gets an inside look at the lives of some rich and famous patients.
May 13, 1997 - With a threat of a Governor's veto, both houses of the Minnesota Legislature have passed a bill increasing the state's minimum wage. A bill passed the House last week differs at the bottom-line with the measure which passed in the Senate today. But Minnesota Public Radio's Karen-Louise Boothe reports conferees are expected to quickly iron out their differences: The Senate bill increases the state wage to the federal level, from 4.25 and hour to 5.15 an hour. The house version, increases it above the federal level, to 5.40 and hour. Conferees are expected to go with the lower of the two.
June 9, 1997 - Governor Carlson plans to call a special legislative session in to deal with the Minnesota Twins request for a publicly-funded ballpark. Carlson says he believes the Twins will leave if lawmakers don't approve funding before October, when the team can opt out of its Metrodome lease.