April 5, 2001 - Governor Jesse Ventura told the Willmar Chamber of Commerce that he's committed to his plan of property and income tax cuts while expanding the state's sales tax to include services. The governor says he won't bargain with the Legislature, which hasn't been enthusiastic about his plan. He says if lawmakers don't follow his proposals, including on education, he'll be very difficult to deal with.
April 5, 2001 - University of Minnesota officials expect it will take a few weeks to complete an investigation of possible rule violations in the women's basketball program. Assistant coaches are overseeing the team now that the university has put head coach Cheryl Littlejohn on a paid leave pending the outcome of the investigation. Minnesota Public Radio's William Wilcoxen reports...
April 5, 2001 - THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA IS LAUNCHING AN INVESTIGATION INTO IT'S WOMEN'S BASKETBALL PROGRAM. HEAD COACH, CHERYL LITTLEJOHN, HAS BEEN PLACED ON A PAID LEAVE OF ABSENCE AS THE SCHOOL INVESTIGATES POSSIBLE NCAA VIOLATIONS. MARK ROTENBERG IS THE UNIVERSITY'S GENERAL COUNSEL. OC: "PROGRAM LAST YEAR"
April 5, 2001 - A major donor to Augsburg College is suing the school. Elroy Stock of Woodbury says Augsburg should either return his half million (m) dollar contribution or fulfill its promise and name a building wing after him. Augsburg refused him the honor when it learned of his now-notorious race-based letter writing campaign but has no plans to return the money. Minnesota Public Radio's Patty Marsicano reports:
April 5, 2001 - The Saint Olaf College community in Northfield held a memorial service last night Helms reports.
April 6, 2001 -
April 10, 2001 - President Bush wants to eliminate emergency farm spending as part of his new budget plan. Over the past three years, Congress has provided $25 billion in special assistance to compensate farmers for falling commodity prices and weather-related crop losses. The Bush plan would cut about 6 and a half billion in emergency reserves from the Department of Agriculture's 2002 budget. Steven Taff is a Professor of Agriculture and Applied Economics at the University of Minnesota. He says the President's proposal isn't as dramatic as it sounds.
April 11, 2001 - Democrats in the Minnesota Senate say they want to spend about 600-million dollars more than Governor Ventura's budget on education, transportation and health care, and about 400-million dollars more than House Republicans. Senate D-F-L'ers revealed their spending priorities today WEDNESDAY, setting the stage for the end-of-session negotiations between the three players in Minnesota's tripartisan government. Minnesota Public Radio's Laura McCallum reports...
April 12, 2001 - The Hillside Flyers are kids who tumble. But that's only part of the story. Many of the Flyers come from the poorest parts of Duluth, and they don't go to music lessons or summer hockey camp. Some of the kids have problems at school and at home, and tumbling with the Flyers is the only thing they believe they're good at. And they ARE good. Minnesota Public Radio's Chris Julin has this story.
April 17, 2001 - THE MINNEAPOLIS FOUNDATION HAS ANNOUNCED A NEW SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM THAT GIVES MONEY TO STUDENTS WHO GRADUATE ON TIME FROM A HANDFUL OF SCHOOLS IN BOTH MINNEAPOLIS AND ST. PAUL. THE SEVEN SCHOOLS WERE CHOSEN BECAUSE THEY ARE STRUGGLING ACADEMICALLY AND HAVE A HIGH NUMBER OF POOR STUDENTS, AND THOSE WHO DON'T SPEAK ENGLISH AS A FIRST LANGUAGE. A NEW BOOK BY A MINNEAPOLIS TEACHER GIVES US A GLIMPSE AT THE CHALLENGES AND REWARDS OF TEACHING A DIVERSE GROUP OF STUDENTS. JULIE LANDSMAN HAS BEEN TEACHING IN THE MINNEAPOLIS PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOR TWENTY-FIVE YEARS. HER BOOK, "A WHITE TEACHER TALKS ABOUT RACE" INTRODUCES READERS TO HER STUDENTS AND TO THE QUESTIONS OF RACIAL IDENTITY AND CULTURAL CONFLICT THAT COME UP IN HER CLASSROOM. LANDSMAN TALKED WITH MINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO'S JULIE SIPLE. SHE SAYS IT'S IMPORTANT TO KNOW WHERE HER STUDENTS ARE COMING FROM.