March 13, 1973 - Reaction to Supreme Court decision to uphold veterans' preference laws. Veterans' preference, discrimination, and women's rights in the military are discussed.
March 13, 1973 - Excerpt of Gloria Steinem speech where she talks about women and reproductive freedom, birth control, and women on welfare.
March 13, 1973 - A discussion with sociologist and writer Greg Stone about the sport and "drama" of professional wrestling, especially in the Twin Cities.
March 15, 1973 - MPR’s Connie Goldman sits down with composer Aaron Copland for conversation at a local diner. In between food and drink, Goldman asks Copland about conducting, his film scores, time overseas, and his youth.
March 20, 1973 - Speaker talks about the effect of a proposed bill on gun control. He is concerned about red tape and procedures that would deny firearms to the disadvantaged. it would be impossible for the poor, the black, the Indians, the Chicanos to comply with them. This is substantive denial of due process of law. He talks about scenarios, asking what are the chances a sheriff at Cass Lake or Wounded Knee will give a gun to an Indian? The speaker cites Hubert Humphrey, who said one of the chief guarantees of freedom under any government, no matter how popular and respected, is the right of the citizens to keep and bear arms. The speaker adds this is not to say firearms shouldn't be very carefully used. However, the right to bear arms is one safeguard against arbitrary government, against the tryanny which now appears remote now but has always been possible. For example, the Japanese Americans on the West Coast during WWII were stripped of their property and put in concentration camps. That was 30 years ago, more or less. It can happen; this bill makes it possible. Speaker is possibly Clyde Bellecourt, but is unknown for certain.
March 20, 1973 - Speaker says on Dec. 16, 1971 he was in a restaurant with his wife. She was shot and killed by a man who was a paranoid schizophrenic with a long history of mental illness who had five handguns. The speaker prays no one listening has to go through such a horrendous trauma. His wife was alive and radiant one moment, and the next moment on the floor with her mouth and eyes open as if to say ?why me??. He says it isn?t fun to go to the movies anymore because of the violence depicted there, or to watch television. To be honest, he says, it really irritates him to think there even has to be a discussion on such an issue. Considering what?s happened in this country over the last five to ten years, the violence that we read in the newspapers, see on TV, the increasing violent crime in Minneapolis, 62 percent over last year, twenty five murders over a five month period, most by handgun, he thinks it would be quite obvious what has to be done. That is: to reduce easy availability to those unable to cope with society, and to severely punish those who commit crimes with firearms. He says we?re so concerned with violence in other parts of the world, such as Northern Ireland which had 350 killed over a five year period. Yet in the U.S. 50 people are shot to death each day by handgun, 500 or more are seriously wounded and disabled. He asks what?s wrong with a police permit or waiting period to obtain a handgun, or more stringent penalties against those who carry a concealed weapon without a permit or commit a crime with a firearm?
March 20, 1973 - Several bills are before the legislature this session to regulate the hearing aid industry. Most are licensing bills for dealers of hearing aids. However one bill introduced in the Rep. Mike Sieben and Senator Conzemius requires that before a dealer may sell a hearing aid the buyer must obtain a prescription from a doctor. This ensures that the hearing aid is indicated and needed. The Attorney General?s office has run into the problem of dealers selling the devices to people who didn?t need them, either unwittingly or knowingly. A spokesman from the Attorney General?s office says not all hearing problems can be helped by a hearing aid. There are many different types and the correct type, or strength, is not always being recommended. Other physical problems may lead someone to think he has a hearing problem when he does not Dealers are not necessarily qualified to discover problems that may create hearing loss or the appearance of hearing loss Some dealers sell them much like cars, with the price being determined by the bargaining power of the buyer. The manufacturers suggest list prices and some dealers sell above or below that price The AG?s office has had many complaints about abuses by hearing aid dealers and supposed discounts that weren?t really discounts.
March 20, 1973 - The speaker (Holloway?) says the governor reaffirmed his commitment to Right to Read in the state of Minnesota and agreed to try to get some of his colleagues to hear about the program and get involved. She thinks it?s remarkable that the governor of a state can take that kind of interest in the program; he knows about it, he believes in it. Also the State Commissioner of Education is interested in eliminating illiteracy and providing the right to read for all children. She adds it?s obvious when she visited a school today that it?s not just a state level effort. It really is something that filters to the local school and that?s impressive.
March 20, 1973 - Female speaker (Holloway?) says Minnesota has moved far ahead on reading programs and has been able to coordinate resources to focus on a central goal. We want to take the concept from Minnesota and share it with other states, and perhaps learn from them as well. Some outstanding features of the Minnesota model are the ability to coordinate existing resources, and can help other people learn hw to coordinate resources; there?s a multiplier effect. They have been able to get people to commit themselves to placing reading as a priority. very often in federal programs nothing is established as a priority; the priority is determined by the amount of money received. Minnesota has been able to get school districts and superintendents and boards of education to establish the priority first.
March 20, 1973 - State representatives Arne Carlson and Gary Flakne of Mpls and Robert Federer of St. Paul claim that Gov. Wendell Anderson hasn't put Minnesota's revenue sharing funds in a special account as he is required to do by law, that he hasn't outlined his plans for spending the money, as he must by June 1, and that he intends to use the money to reduce the state debt. At a morning news conference the governor's executive secretary Thomas Kelm asserted the money has been put in a special fund and called the charges nothing but a smokescreen to cover up the cruel reality of the Nixon administration's new budget. State Commissioner of Administration Dick Brubaker says no revenue sharing money has been or will be used to eliminate a deficit in this fiscal year. There will be no deficit, we will wind up at least $15 million in the black without revenue sharing money. A special account was set up for revenue sharing money in December of last year, when state received its first payment. All the money has been invested and is drawing interest. It will be used to help finance new programs and ongoing state expenses over the next two years. The state can't file any statement on how the money is to be used until the federal government publishes regulations on how states can use the money. The Democrats called on the president to release federal money impounded for social programs until Congress can adopt a special revenue fund. They want the governor to create a non-partisan committee on revenue sharing to work out a plan with counties for the money's use, and advocated more money for the state welfare budget and programs such as daycare, human services, rural development and job incentives.