September 25, 2001 - A North Dakota State University veternarian is going to Russia to learn about anthrax. Dr. Charlie Stoltenow leaves Fargo on Saturday as part of seven-member research team funded by the U-S Department of Defense. The team will spend two weeks visiting Russian laboatories. Dr. Stoltenow says there are two main goals for the trip.
September 26, 2001 - Poseidon Drowning Detection System comes from Paris and St. Cloud School District has the first one in the country to have one.
September 27, 2001 - Talks resume today (Thursday) to try to avert a state employee strike scheduled to begin Monday. Nearly 30-thousand workers are ready to walk off the job over wages and health insurance, unless their two unions and state negotiators can reach an agreement in the next four days. The fallout from the terrorist attacks this month may put extra pressure on both sides to reach a deal. Minnesota Public Radio's Patty Marsicano reports:
September 28, 2001 - MPR's Elizabeth Stawicki reports that The National Center for State Courts (CHIPS), a non-profit organization which conducts research and educates courts on how to improve the administration of justice, has found opening child protection hearings and records to the public has had virtually no major effects in Minnesota…negative or positive. CHIPS studied the effects in the 12 Minnesota counties that took part in the three-year pilot project.
October 1, 2001 - Some 28-thousand state employees are on strike today. Talks between the state and its two largest employee unions broke down Saturday over wages and healthcare coverage. Members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, or AFSCME and the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees, or MAPE, are walking picket lines all round the state. Union officials toured Minnesota today, warning members they should be prepared for the long haul. The state employees strike includes a couple dozen workers at a state veterans home in Luverne, in southwest Minnesota. National Guard troops are filling in for the strikers. On the first day of the work stoppage, world events were as much an issue as labor disagreements. Mainstreet Radio's Mark Steil reports:
October 1, 2001 - Today we begin a series of reports examining the economic fallout in Minnesota from the terrorist attacks last month. Even before hijackers flew commercial aircraft into the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon, the weakening US economy had shed one million manufacturing jobs over 13 months. Minnesota officials are bracing for rising layoffs, but say it's too soon to gauge the attacks' full impact in the state. Minnesota Public Radio's Bill Catlin has the first report in our series, Economy on the Edge.
October 1, 2001 - Northwest Airlines labor unions and the state's Democratic congressional leaders say they want an economic stimulus package to cover laid off workers in the airline and hospitality industries. Yesterday Helms reports.
October 1, 2001 - A strike of janitors, food inspectors, accountants, and highway workers began striking today. Minnesota Association of Professional Employees and American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (Council 6) are fighting for their rights.
October 3, 2001 - Packing food for animals was usually done by union workers. Now that the strike is happening, managers and non-union staff is taking over that job.
October 3, 2001 - Contract talks between the government and the two largest unions (AFSCME and MAPE) broke down over both wages and health insurance, but for many employees, they are focused on benefits.