April 2, 2001 - When the draft was abolished in 1973, *the decision affected not only the country's military*, it also did away with a primary source of *recruits* for the Indian Health Service . Medical students or Interns facing the draft had the option of serving their time in the Commission Service Corp. To help fill that void the University of North Dakota's Medical school developed the Indians into Medicine or INMED program. Nearly 30 years later, the program is still recruiting and producing health care professionals. Mainstreet Radio's Bob Reha reports.
April 2, 2001 - Agriculture students were quarantined because of the Foot and Mouth outbreak.
April 3, 2001 - Americans think that child pornography is the biggest problem on the internet. Child pornographers are coming out of the dark corners of the world and they are congregating on the internet.
April 3, 2001 - Private providers of family planning services today (TUESDAY) said they could lose signficant funding if legislation approved by a key House committee becomes law. Last week, the Health and Human Services committee voted to shift state family planning grants from non-profit groups to cities and counties. Opponents say the move is a veiled attack on groups that provide abortions. But supporters say the switch simply gives taxpayers oversight into how the money is used. Minnesota Public Radio's Michael Khoo reports. {NARRATION: The state health department estimates private family planning groups currently receive roughly 3 million dollars a year in state grants. But amendments tacked onto the omnibus health care financing bill would strip those funds from private non-profits and pass them to local governments to provide the same services. Ray Martin is the director of Healthy Start, an adolescent health care organization which receives a yearly 100-thousand dollar grant. He says continuing the funding for non-profit providers will pay off in the long run.
April 3, 2001 - The Minnesota Department of Agriculture announced today it has formed an inter-agency task force to coordinate state and federal efforts to prevent Mad Cow Disease. The highly contagious disease, which is also called BSE, wastes the brains of cattle and can be transfered to humans. The state agriculture department's Meat Inspection supervisor Kevin Elfering says Minnesota has ALREADY been taking precautions to make sure the disease doesn't infect the state's livestock:
April 3, 2001 -
April 4, 2001 - Advocates pitched state lawmakers yesterday on the notion of at least considering legalizing marijuana for medical use. They told members of the Senate Transportation and Public Safety Budget Division the illegal drug has beneficial uses to treat certain illnesses. They want the state to spend 100 thousand dollars to conduct further research on the drug. Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Scheck reports...
April 4, 2001 - Here in Minnesota, a new non-profit is helping foreign doctors learn new techniques to treat people with HIV. This year, PlanetAide is sponsoring four doctors from Ecuador who have been meeting with Minnesota AIDS specialists, talking to people who are HIV-positive and gathering information to use in their own clinics. Dr. Lilly Marquez, an Ob-Gyn from Guayaquil, (Gway-ah-keel) Ecaudor has been in Minneapolis since late January. She says there are very few AIDS drugs in Ecuador.
April 6, 2001 - The Minnesota Partnership for Action Against Tobacco is kicking off a 5 and a half million dollar advertising campaign to raise public awareness about the dangers of secondhand smoke. The organization says most Americans don't know that secondhand smoke has severe health effects for non-smokers. Anti-tobacco activists say this type of advertising discourages people from smoking. But even the Minnesota group gears up its latest effort, House Republicans are eyeing another pot of anti-smoking money they say could be better spent elsewhere. Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Scheck reports...
April 6, 2001 -