December 4, 1998 - Note host outcue! The Minnesota D-F-L Party is asking Minnesotans what went wrong in last month's election, and how should the party change. The D-F-L holds a public hearing at the Capitol tomorrow (Saturday) to get ideas. The soul-searching comes in the wake of devastating election defeats - their gubernatorial candidate came in third, they lost control of the Minnesota House and not one endorsed candidate for statewide office won. Minnesota Public Radio's Laura McCallum reports... HOST OUTCUE: The D-F-L party holds its public hearing tomorrow (Saturday) at noon at the State Office Building. Reform ideas are posted on the party's web site at www.dfl.org.
December 8, 1998 - Mainstreet Radio’s Leif Enger reports on how various retailers are adjusting to a warm winter in the region. It’s nightmare weather if you sell snowmobiles or downhill skis for a living…but not bad if you prefer bicycling, or fishing from a boat.
December 11, 1998 - The Minneapolis City Council has passed a budget that will raise city property tax levies for the first time in five years....but councilmembers say residents won't have to pay more out of their own pockets. Minnesota Public Radio's Eric Jansen reports: Minneapolis Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton got just about everything she asked for in her 842-million dollar 1999 budget. But she had to work for it. Last night she scolded councilmembers who threatened not to pass it, saying it contains MONEY FOR projects they want: 35:41 "I don't think anyone can sit around this table and say the things included in this budget are not in the interests of the city of Minneapolis. From Armitage Park to Central Park to the riverfron
December 15, 1998 - MPR’s Bob Kelleher reports from Duluth, where the temperature soared close to 50 degrees on December 14th. This fell just short of a 100-year old record. Few seemed to mind the sunshine and distinct lack of ice or snow.
December 16, 1998 - Minnesota hog farmers are wondering when a price slump which has made their pigs almost worthless will end. Prices fell sharply again yesterday as an oversupply of hogs continues to drive the market down. More than 300 producers voiced anger at their precarious economic situation last night in Marshall, during a meeting organized by congressman David Minge. Mainstreet Radio's Mark Steil reports: The collapse of the hog market is the crisis of a lifetime for pork producers. the worst slump they've ever experienced. The Mar
December 17, 1998 - The crumbling farm economy in Northwestern Minnesota is starting to erode local government budgets. Polk county commissioners are struggling to balance the county budget. It appears employee layoffs and reduced services for county residents are inevitable. Mainstreet Radios Dan Gunderson reports. Polk county tax revenue took a big hit when hundreds of East Grand Forks homes were washed off the tax rolls by the flood of 1997. But its budget problems started long before the flood. For the last half dozen years Polk county commissioners took the path of least resistance. They held down tax increases by trimming a l
December 23, 1998 - Low prices for this year's crops have left many farmers struggling... and now, they're making decisions for the next planting season. With both crop and livestock prices the lowest they've been in decades, farmers may have to diversify in order to make it as agriculture changes. Minnesota Public Radio's Cara Hetland reports: Pioneer seed salesman Brian Jergans finishes up a sale for next spring. Most farmers buy their seeds early, to get in on price breaks and to ensure they'll get the seed they want. This year, farmer Jim Lammers will buy ten different varieties of corn. Salesman Brian Jergans encourages customers to test varities and check data over three years before ordering large quantities.
December 28, 1998 - On Sunday March 29th a huge storm tore across more than 60 miles of south/central Minnesota. The storm took out much of the small town of Comfry. Then, around 5:30 pm, an F3 tornado, carrying winds of up to 206 miles per hour, smashed through St. Peter. Two people died--one, a boy just six years old.
December 29, 1998 - Most farmers in our area will shudder when they think back on 1998. The agricultural economy moves in well defined peaks and valleys. 1998 was a valley. Nearly every farmer felt the disquieting unknown of economic hard times. Mainstreet Radio's Mark Steil reports: The seeds of the farm slump were as farflung as the asian financial crisis and as down-home as weather, overproduction and disease. It was a year when Minnesota farmers took home their first billion bushel corn crop, a record soybean harvest and wagons full of red ink. The farm crisis o
December 31, 1998 - An MPR Special report, presenting the big Minnesota news stories of 1998. Highlights include Governor election, Comfrey and St. Peter tornado, farm crisis, mergers, the Northwest strike and the big tobacco trial. Program ends with brief remembrance segments on various individuals that made news in the year.