September 15, 1998 - As part of a series of stories following the path of the "Father of Waters,” aka the Mississippi River, Minnesota Public Radio's Art Hughes has this Mainstreet report on the he U.S. Army Corps, which vigorously controls the river in the southeastern part of Minnesota. That has come at a environmental cost…a loss of diversity.
September 16, 1998 - The state patrol arrested two activists this morning in the protest against the rerouting of Highway 55 in Minneapolis. Members of Earth First! and other groups have been camped (out) in the path of the proposed highway expansion for more than a month, but today marked the first arrests. Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Losure reports. Officers arrested two men who had chained themselves to heavy equipment. The bulldozers were sent there to remove water and gas connections to houses condemned to make way for the highway. Earth First! and other groups including the American Indian Movement, the Indiginous Environmental Network, and the Mendota Dakota have
September 17, 1998 - Norm Coleman says HE's the only candidate for Governor who knows how to lower taxes -- and keep them low. He's been campaigning on that theme for months, but today (THURS) he got specific for the first time about which taxes he plans to cut -- and by how much. Minnesota Public Radio's Martin Kaste reports: In the three months since the Republicans endorsed him for Governor, Norm Coleman has hinted he'd emphasize cuts in INCOME taxes over other kinds of tax relief. Now he's put hard numbers to his tax-cut promises, and it appears income tax cuts do indeed take the lion's share: Of the $1.08 Billion dollars in permanent tax relief, 1 Billion is income tax cuts and credits. ((COLEMAN: What we're looking for is something that is clear and is simple, soemthing that cuts across the board for all taxpayers. So we're giving the m9oney back the way it came in, and the simplest way, the most equitable way, so I can tell every Minnesota who's listenin
September 21, 1998 - Pollution that that has killed tens of thousands of fish in a southern Minnesota creek is spreading slowly downstream toward the Minnesota River. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is investigating to see if a pipe leak reported September 14th by a vegetable processor in Montgomery is the main cause of the fish kill. Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Losure reports. Around 15 miles of Sand Creek-- a tributary that flows north to the Minnesota River--are now contaminated. What DNR officials describe as a "black slug" water has moved downstream from Montgomery and is now a few m
September 28, 1998 - Over the weekend the largest windfarm in the world was dedicated in Southwestern Minnesota, and started feeding electricity into the power grid. However if you want a smaller wind generator just for a house or a farm, you have to look further north. A Duluth company is one of only a half a dozen in the world which manufactures small wind generators intended to power single households. World Power Technologies is finding new markets for it's tower-mounted generators after riding a wild boom and bust cycle in the United States for 20 years.
September 29, 1998 - This summer as many as 150 thousand fish died in four major fish kills in southeast Minnesota. Contamination from area farms was blamed for two of the kills and a spill from a local packing plant for a third. While news of the kills attracted lots of media attention, Department of Natural Resources officials don't even think they're finding all of the kills that take place. They're forming a group of scientists to try to figure out why fish kills occur and how to prevent them.
October 1, 1998 - The Federal Environmental Protection Agency has negotiated a 32 and a half million dollar settlement for environmental violations by Marathon Ashland Incorporated. The company operates refineries in Kentucky, Ohio, and St.Paul Park. THe Minnesota Pollution Control Agency says only a small portion of the fine is for violations at the St. Paul Park refinery.
October 2, 1998 - The corn and soybean feilds of southern Minnesota might seem an unlikely place for a a national gathering of anti-logging activists,but that's where a group called the Ruckus Society is holding its training camp. In a park outside the small town of Geneva, activists are learning techniques for timber road blockades and other so-called "direct action" tactics.
October 7, 1998 - A Mainstreet Radio special broadcast from the Prairie Wetlands Learning Center in Fergus Falls. In this first hour of program on Minnesota's wetlands and waterfowl, Rachel Reabe interviews Tim Bodeen, director of the Prairie Wetlands Learning Center; Kevin Brennan, member of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife; and Dr. Jay Leitch, economist at North Dakota State University. The group discuss Minnesota's vanishing wetlands, actions being taken to protect them, and educating the public about the wetlands.
October 7, 1998 - A Mainstreet Radio special broadcast from the Prairie Wetlands Learning Center in Fergus Falls. In this second hour of program on Minnesota's wetlands and waterfowl, Rachel Reabe hosts a discussion on hunting in the wetlands with Doug Wells, wildlife manager at the Fergus Falls office of Natural Resources; and Tom Brimhall, chairman of the local Ducks Unlimited. Reabe then interviews John House, wildlife artist, and winner of DNR duck stamp contest.