May 11, 1998 - Michael Ciresi, Minnesota’s lead state attorney for the tobacco trial, discusses the tobacco settlement, in which the tobacco industry will pay the State of Minnesota 6.1 billion dollars, and Blue Cross/Blue Shield 500 million dollars. Topics include banning of tobacco marketing to children, collaboration with Blue Cross/Blue Shield, and litigation choices made. Ciresi also answers listener questions.
May 11, 1998 - It's an old argument with a new twist. Which is more important: economics or the environment? As new technologies have emerged, some people criticize the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency for favoring the economics of new ventures, and ignoring the serious environmental questions posed by emerging industries. All this week we will look at specific cases ... including animal feedlots, expanding potato farms and a new ethanol plant. In some cases, the concerns center around how a variety of state and federal agencies work together, or do not, to protect our environmental resources. We begin our series of reports, with an issue that's received a lot of attention recently. Opponents of large livestock feedlots say the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has ignored health problems created by those operations. They're especially concerned with air pollution. This spring for the first time the MPCA documented hydrogen sulfide emissions from a hog farm which violated state law. Opponents call it vindication, but wonder if the MPCA will take vigorous action to bring the feedlot into compliance. Mainstreet Radio's Mark Steil reports:
May 11, 1998 - Gubernatorial candidate Mike Freeman appears to be maintaining his lead in the race for the DFL party endorsement. This weekend Freeman won two more DFL straw polls, at the party's 3rd and 4th Congressional District conventions -- which represent Minneapolis's southwestern suburbs and the St Paul area. About HALF the delegates polled indicated they're backing Freeman, with second-place finisher Skip Humphrey scoring about 37 percent. Minnesota Public Radio's Martin Kaste has more: Attorney General Skip Humphrey wore a big smile, walking into Saturday's DFL conventions -- ((SH: Let me just say this is a beautiful day today in a lot of ways!!))
May 11, 1998 - Tobacco companies say one of the reasons they settled Minnesota's tobacco lawsuit was their view that they couldn't get a fair trial here - they argued the jury and judge were biased against them. A statement from RJ Reynolds said the court's rulings favored the state, and, quote, "placed a loaded gun to our head". The judge in Minnesota's tobacco trial found his name in the news nearly every day for the past four months - his every word heavily scrutinized as he presided over what might be the most high-profile case in Minnesota history. Minnesota Public Radio's Laura McCallum looks at Kenneth Fitzpatrick's reputation and judicial style.
May 12, 1998 - Kate Trewick, assistant commissioner of the Department of Children, Families and Learning; and State Senator Larry Pogemiller, chair of the Senate K-12 Budget Committee, discuss the newly approved graduation standards called "Profile of Learning." Trewick and Pogemiller also answer listener questions.
May 12, 1998 - (use THIS ... corrected TIME) Gubernatorial candidates from all three major political parties declared open season on the state's $7 Billion tobacco settlement today (TUESDAY). The candidates criticized the deal's financial structure, as well as what they consider the "excessive" fee for the state's lawyers. But the real target was the DFL front-runner in the Governor's race, Attorney General Skip Humphrey. Minnesota Public Radio's Martin Kaste reports: The critics' main theme today was attorneys fees.Prominent Republicans have been grumbling for months about the potential for a huge payout for Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi, the private firm that handled the state's case; now DFL gubernatorial Mark Dayton has joined in. He says enriching the lawyers seems to be the settlement's first priority.
May 13, 1998 - The director of the Mayo Clinic Nicotine Dependence Center says Minnesota's tobacco trial will prove to be one of the most significant public health developments of the latter part of the 20th century. Dr. Richard Hurt was the state's first witness in the case. He testified nicotine is a drug and said tobacco companies conspired to hide its addictiveness. Dr. Hurt told Minnesota Public Radio's Brent Wolfe the trial is as important as any warning issued by the surgeon general.
May 14, 1998 - Dwight Silverman, computer columnist for the Houston Chronicle; and MPR's Jon Gordon talk about the pending anti-trust lawsuit against Microsoft. Silverman and Gordon also answer listener questions. Programs begins with report on if traditional industrial anti-trust standards apply to high-tech.
May 14, 1998 - It's an old argument with a new twist. Which is more important: economics or the environment? Residents in the rural parts of Minnesota continually face this question when it comes to feedlots. Livestock operators on small farms want to expand to keep their businesses afloat. But their neighbors don't want more odor or more pollution problems. All this week we've been looking at environmental issues around the state...some of which fall under the authority of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. In the fourth of our week-long series, Gretchen Lehmann reports on one Central Minnesota county where officials believe counties should handle feedlots, not the MPCA.
May 15, 1998 - Ray Suarez, NPR's Talk of the Nation host, critiques the media at a recent Twin Cities seminar sponsored by the Twin Cities chapter of the Association of Women in Communications. Suarez’s speech was titled "The Media's Role in Defining Reality."