February 16, 1998 - Honeywell production and maintenance workers are back on the job today after approving a contract and ending a two week strike yesterday. The company backed down on a plan to pass along some of the costs of health care benefits to the workers, but the union swallowed the plan for lower pay and pensions for new employees. John Remington is a professor of Industrial Relations at the University of Minnesota. He says the union vote didn't really decide the issue, and expects it to pop up again during the next round of negotiations: John Remington is a professor of Industrial Relations at the University of Minnesota. Sun 28-MAY 12:21:30 MPR NewsPro Archive - Wed 04/11/2001
February 16, 1998 - The strike of 25 hundred Honeywell workers is over. Teamsters Local 1145 rank and file voted by a extraordinarily thin margin yesterday to accept Honeywell's latest contract offer. Many union memebrs are angry with the deal. They say their colleagues should have held out for a better contract. The first shifts reported back to work last night. Minnesota Public Radio's Mark Zdechlik reports...
February 18, 1998 - In a celebratory mood after winning the gold medal in Women's hockey, players were asked by the media, "what next?" Well, there's a Hawaiin vacation, and a trip to the White House...and maybe even a Wheaties Box in their future. As St. Paul native Alana Blahosky asked, "Why not us?" Since 1935, when javelon-thrower Babe Dedrickson showed up on a Wheaties box, it's been a tradition for Olympic Athletes to show off their medals and help sell the so-called "The breakfast of Champions." Jack Sheehan at General Mills says the Wheaties people are busy scouting the games for the next champion, and the women's hockey team is definately in the running:
February 19, 1998 - MPR’s Martin Kaste reports that Governor Carlson has asked Major League Baseball to give Minnesota one more chance…and one more year, to try to save the Twins. Debate continues at the Capitol on how that could happen.
February 19, 1998 - MPR’s Martin Kaste reports on end of another stadium bill at State Capitol. The sponsors of the latest Twins stadium plan threw in the towel, as the bill's author, Harris DFLer Loren Jennings, announced he was withdrawing the plan from consideration, just hours before a crucial committee hearing.
March 1, 1998 - On this MPR Special Report, the American RadioWorks documentary “The World Turned Upside Down: An End to Inflation?” looks at inflation, deflation, and how the U.S. Federal Reserve keeps a watchful eye for BOTH.
March 5, 1998 - Minnesota's state senate has approved nearly a billion dollars in cash payments for parks, roads, college buildings and other capital investment projects. Todays passage of a capital budget bill puts the Senate in direct opposition with the House and Governor Arne Carlson, who say bonds should pay for long-term projects: Minnesotas Senate has passed a $954-million-dollar capital budget bill, following a lengthy argument over whether to pay for major projects with cash or on credit.
March 6, 1998 - A new light rail system for the Twin Cities is very close to becoming a reality -- perhaps closer than it's ever been. The State Senate yesterday (THURS) approved $49 Million dollars for a line linking downtown Minneapolis to the airport and the Mall of America... and today (FRI) key House members indicated they'll probably do the same. Minnesota Public Radio's Martin Kaste reports on how the LRT project got this far -- and what obstacles remain: So far, supporters of the Hiawatha corridor light rail project seem to have played all their cards right at the state capitol. They were careful to link the project with money to study other rail projects for the suburbs, which helped build support from non-urban legislators and even some Republicans -- who generally favor spending as little money this year as possible. St Louis Park Republican Jim Rhodes says this project crosses all kinds of boundaries:
March 6, 1998 - When the nation's largest red meat processor shuts down a packing plant in southwest Minnesota later this week it will hurt more than the employees. Farmers who sell cattle to the IBP plant in Luverne are worried too. Some say the situation underscores complaints that the few remaining meatpackers are too powerful. Mark Steil of Mainstreet Radio reports: Slaughtering plants shutdowns are becoming a common experience in southwest Minnesota and across the border in Iowa and South Dakota. Last year a Campbell Soup chicken plant in Worthington and a hog processor in Huron South Dakota closed.
March 11, 1998 - Some state lawmakers say Northwest Airlines misled the Legislature last year when it asked for a change in a Minnesota law. The change could save the Airline from paying out millions of dollars in a lawsuit. Minnesota Public Radio's Martin Kaste reports: Joseph O'Donnell, a bankruptcy trustee in Portland, Maine, says Northwest Airlines misled the Minnesota Legislature last year to defend itself from a $30-million dollar lawsuit in Maine. He says Northwest convinced the Legislature to change a Minnesota law in a way that would make it easier for the airline to defend itself -- but the airline never told legislators about the lawsuit... even when they made a point of asking. O'Donnell says the airline used the state legislature: ((30:43 What I object to, is Northwest's attemp