August 20, 2001 - It will be five years this week from the time Congress passed the Federal Welfare Reform Act which encourages self sufficiency and puts a five-year limit on benefits. Over the past few weeks, we've talked with several women who are on welfare and could lose some of their benefits next summer. In Minnesota, 38 percent of those facing the deadline are white, 36 percent are black, and 12 percent are Asian. Most of them have between two and three children. Some have had several jobs; many have never worked in their lives. Jan Mueller is with Lifetrack Resources, a social service agency in the Twin Cities that runs a job training program. We asked Jan to tell us how what we've heard over the past few weeks compares to what she sees every day. Jan says it's still not clear exactly who will or won't get an extension of their benefits.
August 20, 2001 - For the third year in a row, rebate checks have begun arriving in Minnesotans' mailboxes. Checks totaling nearly 800-million dollars are going out to about three-point-four million Minnesota taxpayers. But Governor Ventura says there's no guarantee there will be a fourth round of rebate checks, and he's urging taxpayers to make sure local officials keep a lid on taxes. Minnesota Public Radio's Laura McCallum reports...
August 21, 2001 -
August 21, 2001 -
August 22, 2001 - St. Paul Mayor Norm Coleman kicked off a five-city fly-around today (WEDNESDAY) in Rochester as part of a campaign to promote tourism in the capital city. Coleman is widely expected to challenge DFL incumbent Paul Wellstone for a seat in the U.S. Senate in 2002, and today's excursion could be perceived as an early warm up for the race ahead. Minnesota Public Radio's Erin Galbally has this report.
August 23, 2001 -
August 23, 2001 -
August 27, 2001 - Twin Cities voters have a lot of choices this year. A total of 38 people are running for mayor of Minneapolis or St. Paul. On September 4th and 5th, MPR will broadcast debates with the leading candidates. And from now until the primary on September 11th, we'll also give you a chance to hear from the OTHER candidates. You can hear the Minneapolis candidates on Morning Edition and the St. Paul candidates will be right here on ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. Today, we hear from Marc Anderson, who is a drummer and an adjunct professor of music at Hamline University. Anderson says he's running for mayor to expand the political discussion:
August 27, 2001 -
August 28, 2001 - State law requires that neighbors be told, when certain sex offenders are released back into a community. There is often worry amoung residents, who fear the convict will reoffend. Later today, at a national conference of probation and parole officers in St.Paul, there will be some research presented on whether treatment for sex offenders really works. One of the presenters is Robin Goldman, a psychologist and sex offender treatment program director at the state corrections facility at Lino Lakes. She says psychologists have made great progress in treatment approaches in recent years.