June 3, 1998 - Thousands of Twin Cities area residents are still waiting for the lights to come back on after last Saturday's storm. As of this afternoon, Northern States Power reports 41-thousand-200 customers without power. That's down from a total of 434-thousand Saturday night. But the utility says it could be Friday before all service is restored. Utility crews are working non-stop, but some customers are losing patience. Minnesota Public Radio's Tim Pugmire reports... (Sound of crew) On a stretch of rural road in Afton, utility workers prepare an auger to drill fresh holes in a ditch cluttered with broken tree branches. They'll erect new wooden poles and replace the power line neede
June 3, 1998 - In the years since the first reports about the disappearance of frogs worldwide, many researchers have warned the plight of amphibians may be an early sign of environmental problems that could affect humans. More recent reports of DEFORMED frogs have added to these concerns. Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Losure has the final report in our series on vanishing frogs. Around the world, frogs are disappearing for reasons scientists don't understand. Now, that mystery has a new twist---the DEFORMED frogs first reported in Minnesota in 1995, and later from many other states.
June 3, 1998 - Migrant workers are arriving in southeast Minnesota to work in canning and packing plants. Many come from the Eagle Pass area of Texas, along the Mexican border. They used to travel to the Red River Valley to work on the sugar beet harvest but mechanization and better farm chemicals mean sugar beet farmers don't need as much labor. In the first report in an occasional series on migrants in Minnesota, Minnesota Public Radio's Brent Wolfe introduces us to one migrant family and what they leave behind.
June 3, 1998 - There's change taking place in Saint Peter. Since the tornado hit March 29th, businesses and homes are slowly rebuilding. It seems the storm effected everything and everyone. And for some people reinvention rather than replication from the rubble heals best. In the past few weeks we've been following the recovery through the eyes of two Saint Peter residents. Today Minnesota Public Radio's Lynette Nyman talks again with resident Nancy Jordet. Nancy Jordet has been very busy reconstructing her life. But there's a sense of calm and purpose in her face that was missing those first few days after the storm. She is back at work running her graphic design business, but the common problems of balancing business and family
June 4, 1998 - Vice President Al Gore says the residents of Spencer, South Dakota will receive immediate federal aid to help them recover from Saturday's tornado. Six people were killed by the storm which nearly leveled the town of 300. Gore visited the town yesterday and said he was amazed by the damage. After Gore left, most of the town's residents gathered in a city park for a worship service. Mainstreet Radio's Mark Steil reports: Vice President Gore walked past mounds of rubble which once were homes. The broken pieces of lumber were strewn with clothes, toys, books and other persona items. He stopped often to comfort r
June 8, 1998 - intro: The Mille Lacs 1837 Treaty case will get its day in the US Supreme Court. Minnesota Public Radio's Leif Enger reports. tape runs :58 The 1837 Treaty preserving the hunting and fishing rights of 8 chippewa bands was upheld through seven years of lower court decisions and appeals; it was described as an epic losing streak for the state. But with the Supreme Court's decision to review, one of the landowners' attorneys challenging the treaty says the momentum has turned. Randy Thompson is encouraged by what he calls a string of recent court setbacks for Indian tribes, including one announced today making it harder for tribes to avoid taxation on re-purchased reservation land. Randy: "I think it's a trend in which the courts are saying, We're gonna take a very hard look at these Indian law cases and decide them on the issues we think are presented."
June 8, 1998 - This spring has been a once in a lifetime experience for Minnesota farmers. The weather has been almost perfect. Crops were planted so early the old rhyme "knee high by the fourth of July" could be a huge understatement. But the good news from the fields is not matched at the market place. In fact U.S. Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman will be in Minnesota and North Dakota today (monday 6/8) to talk with farmers about their economic problems. The price farmers receive for their corn, soybeans, and wheat are low and headed lower. American farmers are producing more than this nation or the world can use. The problems come as a historic change in the federal government's role in agriculture is about to take place. Two years ago congress passed landmark legislation known as "freedom to farm." It will end most federal farm support payments after 2002. With the current downturn, farmers wonder if the disappearance of the federal safety net will cause a wave of farm consolidations and bankruptcies during the next decade. In the first of a series of reports on what some are calling the new midwestern farm crisis, Mainstreet Radio's Mark Steil reports on concerns raised by "freedom to farm:"
June 9, 1998 - With President Clinton's signature now affixed to the massive transportation bill, two Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness portages become mechanized. Motor vehicles such as trucks will be allowed to pull boats across the narrow forest paths between fishing lakes. Now the US Forest Service will have to determine just how to allow trucks back on the portages and who will get to operate them.
June 9, 1998 - U-S Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman visited Minnesota and North Dakota Monday offering emotional support and announcing changes to farm programs in hopes of helping struggling upper Midwestern farmers. Glickman visited individual farms, and then spoke to two thousand farmers at a forum. Minnesota Public Radio's Hope Deutscher reports... (walking through field) As about a dozen reporters and Congressional delegates tagged along, East Grand Forks farmer John Driscoll told Secretary Glickman farmers are suffering. There's been years of bad weather, low prices and a succession of blig
June 9, 1998 - The news from farm country is not good. Prices are low and costs are high. The squeeze is reminiscent of the farm crisis 20 years ago. The response by farmers is to buy more land and equipment to raise more food. Getting bigger in order to sell more product, the argument goes, is the only way to survive low prices. But a handful of farmers are going in the opposite direction. They're farming smaller, and they are making a living. But it may not be a style of farming others can afford to follow. Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Olson has more. A January wind dragging temperatures below zero did nothing to cool the anger of thousands of farm families gathered 13 years ago at the capitol in St. Paul.