April 7, 1998 - St. Paul-based Green Tree Financial is being sold to an Indiana insurance company. Conseco (kahn SAY co) will buy Green Tree for about $7.6 billion if stockholders and federal regulators give their approval. The deal is seen as a way for Green Tree to expand its loan business for consumer products. Green Tree's founder Larry Coss, once America's highest paid corporate executive, will stay on as head of the company. Coss says he expects the deal means Green Tree will hire more employees. Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Olson reports. The 23-year-old Green Tree Financial got its start selling mobile home mortages. It's one of the country's fastest growing and most profitable consumer loan businesses. Green Tree's profits have come down but business is growing, Coss says, because c
April 8, 1998 - Joseph Daly, law professor at Hamline University, discusses progression of the tobacco trial in Minnesota. Daly outlines lawsuit that the State of Minnesota and Blue Cross have filed against the tobacco industry. Daly also answers listener questions.
April 8, 1998 - Abortion issues are likely to come up in both houses of the state legislature today. A legislative conference committee has passed a Health and Human Services spending bill with money for lots of health and social services programs. But the bill does not include two controversial abortion provisions a majority of house members have demanded . Minnesota Public Radio's Eric Jansen reports from the state capitol.
April 9, 1998 - Minnesota's House of Representatives has rejected a health and human services spending bill because it doesn't include a ban on a prodedure sometimes referred to as a "partial birth" abortion. The issue could be one of the last resolved on what's supposed to be the last day of the state legislature. As Minnesota Public Radio's Eric Jansen reports... A majority of House members was upset the Health and Human Services bill did not ban a procedure commonly called partial birth abortion. So, as they pledged to several weeks ago, they refused to adopt the bill yesterday and sent it back
April 10, 1998 - State lawmakers passed a health and human services spending bill early this morning after a compromise on abortion. The bill funds millions of dollars worth of health care and social service programs. Minnesota Public Radio's Eric Jansen reports from the capitol: The impasse over the Health and Human Services bill broke when abortion opponents dropped their demand that the bill include a ban on partial-birth abortions. Jackie Schweitz, of Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life says she realized the Senate, led by Roger Moe, would not approve the ban, so her group settled for stronger abortion reporting
April 10, 1998 - Governor Arne Carlson signed a bill this week to allow citizens, doctors, social workers, and law enforcement officials to report pregnant women who abuse alcohol. The purpose of the new law is to reduce the number of cases in which babies are born with brain damage or birth defects caused by excessive drinking of alcohol, a condition known as fetal alcohol syndrome. Minnesota Public Radio's Karen-Louise Boothe reports on the new law.
April 14, 1998 - If your food stamps have been cut, your health may be at risk. Those are the findings of researchers at Hennepin County Medical Center and the University of Minnesota. Their research, published in tomorrow's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, concludes patients whose food stamps have been cut have a higher incidence of hunger, and poorer health. Dr. Nicole Lurie is a professor of medicine and public health at the University. She discovered the problem after seeing a patient who had stopped taking her insulin because she was no't eating the food needed for the medication to work properly: Dr. Nicole Lurie, a professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota.
April 27, 1998 - The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has found half the ten feedlots it tested in the past two weeks exceed state standards for hydrogen sulfide, a toxic gas. State Agriculture Commissioner Gene Hugoson says the test results are unsettling, but factors such as wind, weather, livestock feed and water, could have influenced the outcome: Minnesota Agriculture Commissioner, Gene Hugoson. Sun 28-MAY 11:25:05 MPR NewsPro Archive - Wed 04/11/2001
April 29, 1998 - What is organic food? That question is at the heart of a fight between the U.S. Agriculture Department and organic farmers. New rules proposed by USDA leaves open the chance "organic" may include genetically modified food and items currently banned from carrying the label. A public comment period on the nation's first organic standard ends Thursday (April 30). Thousands have commented, a majority oppose a broad definition of "organic". Mainstreet Radio's Mark Steil reports. : Most of the nation's organic farmers agree some sort of national definition of organic is needed. Right now organic is whatever individual state or private agencies say it is and that varies a great deal. Far
April 30, 1998 - A new government report says teen birth rates have declined in Minnesota and the nation as a whole in the first half of this decade. Minnesota participated in the trend and historically has teen birth rates significantly lower than the nation's as a whole. However, African American teen pregnancy rates in Minnesota are among the highest in the nation. Those numbers are NOT declining, even though THEY ARE nationally. Minnesota Public Radio's Bill Catlin reports: Teen birth rates declined from 1990 to 1996 nationally, to about 55 per one thousand 15 to 19 year old females. IN the first half of the 90's Minnesota's teen birth rate dropped 13 percent, a bigger drop than the national decline of 8 and a half percent. Rebecca Wright saw some of the trends a