September 4, 1997 - Negotiations between Japan and the United States over aviation treaties have pitted most U.S. airlines AGAINST Twin Cities-based Northwest Airlines. Post World War II netted Northwest valuable air routes to Japan. Now as Northwest celebrates the 50th anniversary of its sucessful service to Asia, there's talk about amending the treaties that have greatly benefited Northwest. Minnesota Public Radio's Mark Zdechlik reports... | D-CART ITEM: 5784 | TIME: 5:21s
September 5, 1997 - Midday presents a report by Dan Olson about the prospects for a Light Rail Transit line in the Twin Cities, followed by a discussion of the transit issue with guests Nacho Diaz, Transportation Planning Director for the Metropolitan Coucil, and Ken Stevens, Director of the Hennepin County Regional Railroad Authority. Listeners call in with questions. (program ends early due to special coverage)
September 5, 1997 - Here's today's news quiz. What costs nearly as much as a new baseball stadium and goes ding-ding? Times up. It's LRT, of course - light rail transit. Just when you thought it's safe to consign LRT to the attic of public policy debate, out it comes. On the drawing board is a Hiawatha Avenue 'transit way'. LRT boosters want to build a line from the University of Minnesota, run it by a new ball park, past the existing Metrodome, through downtown Minneapolis, then out to the airport and the Mall of America along Hiawatha AVenue. Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Olson has more. tape . . . bus Buses - you remember buses - those big vehicles seldom seen anymore because of all the route cutbacks - buses, at the ver
September 8, 1997 - Today in our Odd Jobs report, we meet 31-year-old Chris Laumb, who calls himself an ambassador of beer in central Minnesota. Laumb is head brewer at O'Hara's Brew Pub and Restaurant, St. Cloud's first brewery in more than fifty years. Laumb was an avid home-brewer before he took over at O'Hara's last year. He shows Minnesota Public Radio's Laura McCallum how it's done.
September 9, 1997 - Minnesota based Courage Center says unemployment among the disabled is way too high, and is costing the U.S. more than $200-billion every year. The center is out with a new report showing the unemployment rate for all people with disabilities stands at 48-percent. People with severe disabilities, defined as disabilities leaving the person unable to perform activities of daily living, face an unemployment rate of 74-percent. The Courage Center's Katie Knips says many of those people want to take a job and can take one.
September 10, 1997 - FOR M.E. WEDS 9-10-97 Today we begin a three part series on bank fees. Consumer groups have blasted banks for excessive fees in an era of record profits. One of the most lucrative service charges is the bounced check fee. In the first report of our series, Minnesota Public Radio's Bill Catlin reports that banks have figured out the bounced check fee can turn rubber into gold. Tune in at 5:30 tonight for more about bounced check fees, including a banking practice that can make customers bounce more checks
September 10, 1997 - FOR ATC WEDS 9-10-97 Today we begin a three part series on bank fees. Consumer groups have blasted banks for excessive fees in an era of record profits. Much of the recent criticism has focused on Automated Teller Machine fees. But the amount banks collect in bounced check fees dwarfs their income from the new ATM surcharge. In the first of our series, Minnesota Public Radio's Bill Catlin reports that banks have figured out the bounced check fee can turn rubber into gold. | D-CART ITEM: PLAYLIST #7329 | TIME: PART ONE (7327) 7:42 | OUTCUE: "... is enormous." | TIME: PART TWO: (7328) 6:57 | OUTCUE: SOC note: story includes a promo for next day's story just prior to SOC.
September 10, 1997 - Browning Ferris Industries, the nation's second largest waste hauler, plans to open methane- to-energy plants at more than half the 110 landfills it operates across the country. Methane is one of the products of garbage decomposition, and up until recent years it has gone unused. BFI held an open house to celebrate the first year and a half of operation of a methane to electricity plant at the Pine Bend Landfill in Inver Grove Heights. The event also celebrated improved relations between BFI and its neighbors. Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Losure reports.
September 12, 1997 - Consumer groups argue bank fees are gouging customers at a time of record profits in the industry. In Minnesota and nationally, banks have increased service charges and added new ones. The fees add up to a lot of money. According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Minnesota commercial banks collected more than $800, 000 a day in service charges last year, a total of $293 million. Complaints about fees have reached the Minnesota Legislature, where proposals to reign in bank fees are pending. Minnesota Public Radio's Bill Catlin has the third in our series of reports on bank fees.
September 12, 1997 - Consumer groups argue bank fees are gouging customers at a time of record profits in the industry. In Minnesota and nationally, banks have increased service charges and added new ones. The fees add up to a lot of money. According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Minnesota commercial banks collected more than 800 thousand dollars a day in service charges last year, a total of 293 million dollars. Complaints about fees have reached the Minnesota legislature, where proposals to reign in bank fees are pending. Here is an exerpt from the third of Bill Catlin's reports on bank fees.