May 28, 1998 - Twin Cities United Healthcare announced it is merging with another major national health care firm, Kentucky-based Humana. Officials with the companies say the 5 and a half billion dollar deal will result in an unspecified number of jobs cuts. The company will be based in Minnesota, and retain the United Healthcare name, but observers say it's unlikely to have much affect on consumers or the health care industry in the state. Minnesota Public Radio's Bill Catlin reports.
May 28, 1998 - With news Northwest Airlines Pilots have authorized a strike, travelers are increasingly uneasy about flying the nation's fourth largest airline even though it would be at least a month before any Northwest union could legally walk out. Minnesota Public Radio's Mark Zdechlik.
May 29, 1998 - The Steele County city of Owatonna is bustling today (Friday) with the grand opening of Cabela's, a massive retail hunting and fishing extravaganza. The grand opening is shared with a privately-funded museum that is a local man's vision-become-reality. Minnesota Public Radio's Art Hughes reports. Owatonna is not a sleepy town, but it is still small enough to have its name on a water tower. After today, Minnesota residents from more than 200 miles around will be driving here. Outdoors enthusaists who used to order duck decoys and bait-casting reels from a catalog in the privacy of their own home, may just decide to get in the car and go to the Cabela's store
June 1, 1998 - The American Association of Retired Persons' national conference gets underway in Minneapolis tomorrow. The three-day convention is expected to draw some twenty thousand seniors and there's a special focus on baby-boomers this year. For most of us, our first contact with AARP comes about six months before our fiftieth birthday. Commentator Susan Vass explains: Comedian Susan Vass lives in Maplewood. Her next show is a benefit at the Mount Zion Temple in St. Paul Sunday June 14th. "Get High-High-High with Laugher" celebrates 18 years in the comedy business.
June 1, 1998 - Comparing American business with Chinese, Japanese, and Russian businesses.
June 1, 1998 - Mainstreet Radio’s Leif Enger reports on Aitkin County farmers experimentation in establishing cranberry bogs for harvesting. Cranberries take deep pockets and sturdy patience; but now, after three years and hundreds of thousands of dollars, the Aitkin County bogs are ready to produce.
June 2, 1998 - The Who's Song "My Generation" spoke for many baby boomers in the sixties, who couldn't envision the day when they'd be their parents' age. Thirty years on.... it's happened. According to the American Association of Retired People, one person every eight seconds turns 50 in the United States. Over time, the impact of baby boomer numbers has changed schools, the workplace and family life. And now, officials in Minnesota and throughout the country are trying to anticipate what kind of impact they'll have on the greying of America. Minnesota Public Radio's Gretchen Lehmann reports.
June 2, 1998 - The March tornadoes in southwestern Minnesota forced many farmers to ask some very tough questions about their future. Rebuilding a farm operation broken apart by a tornado is difficult.... and this year's recovery is complicated by low grain, livestock and milk prices. Mainstreet Radio's Mark Steil reports: The tornado tore a good chunk of the roof off the dairy barn on the Ron and Penny Mohr farm near New Ulm. It also ruined a couple of feed silos, toppling concrete blocks from one into the barn. Ron Mohr says within a few hours of the storm he knew he might have to sell his milk cows: :17 (There was guy came here at ten o'clock at night to help
June 2, 1998 - There's a mix of glitz, glamour, and politics over the next few days as representatives of the nations seniors gather in Minneapolis. Astronaut Shannon Lucid and entertainer Debbie Reynolds are among the celebrities appearing at the American Association of Retired Persons' national convention running through Thursday. The AARP is the nation's leading organization for people 50 and older. Convention organizers say even though most of the seminars will focus on issues important to seniors, the event is inter-generational. Minnesota Public Radio's Todd Moe reports.
June 2, 1998 - There are still some seventy-thousand people in the metro area without power after Saturday night's storm. That's down from nearly half a million in the immediate aftermath of the storm, but for those still without power, NSP is now estimating it could be near the end of the week before they're back on line. Gerry Larson is the General Manager of Electric Delivery for NSP: Gerry Larson is with NSP. Three Minneapolis public schools that lost power in the storm will