August 22, 1997 - U.S. Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman is asking for a national strategy to save small farms. Glickman appointed a commission to take public testimony and issue recomendations. The commission was in Sioux Falls today and farmers want the government to assist in coming up with better ways to market and finance the products they grow. Minnesota Public Radio's Cara Hetland reports.
August 24, 1997 - MPR’s Dan Olson visits Minnesota State Fair bee exhibit superintendent Winnie Johnson in the horticulture building to discuss bees in our state. Johnson raises bees in Anoka County.
August 24, 1997 - Move over Shirley Temple, step aside Fred Astaire--several nationally acclaimed tap dancers are shuffeling into the Twin Cities this weekend for the Tappin' In the Twin Cities Festival. You're listenting to 18-year old St. Paul dance sensation Tyheesha Collins. She's a featured dancer in this weekend's festival. I met her between classes at the Hennepin Center for the Arts in Minneapolis . Tyheesha says she started tapping when she was two years old. Her six year old cousin was taking tap and little Tyheesha used to get in trouble for stealing her cousins tap shoes.
August 25, 1997 - One of the newer animal exhibits at the Minnesota State Fair is The Butterfly House. David Bohlken, of St. Paul, has set up a big see-through, tent-like enclosure the size of a double garage, which originator Bolhken says is a great scientific study.
August 25, 1997 - The Minnesota Department of Transportation is testing a new traffic control system that's a bit more sophisticated than your average ramp meter. The Guidestar Trilogy Project uses electronic sensors, global positioning satellites and dashboard computers to help drivers steer clear of traffic jams on Twin Cities highways. MnDOT is testing the system to work out bugs and to figure out how much people are willing to pay for it. Minnesota Public Radio's John Bischoff reports: (car door slam, ding dong) "When they installed this they put in a monitor and stand. Then in the trun
August 26, 1997 - Eddie Lyback is the president of the Mille Lacs Lake Advisory Association, a group of eighty fishing-related businesses. He says people he's talked with are extremely disappointed by the ruling.
August 27, 1997 - This weekend marks the real end of Hart's Record Store. Hart's was open in St. Paul until 1952, when owner Hart Callender closed the doors because of health problems. But he always planned to re-open it, and he held onto all his merchandise until he died last year, never letting that faint hope die. That merchandise, including 200,000 unopened records, but also some record players and radios, spent years in the Callendar basement and then in a warehouse, and no one knows how much it's worth to collectors. Pop music historian Arne Fogel got a sneak preview of the collection, which includes this old record of the music from the movie Pinnochio.
August 27, 1997 - The Attorney General's office and the Minnesota Medical Association hold a press conference this morning to warn parents about a new product from Nestle they say poses a choking hazard for small children. "Nestle Magic" is a ball of chocolate with a plastic Disney character in the middle. Nestle says it's safe and meets all federal safety regulations. Minnesota Public Radio's Brent Wolfe reports.
August 27, 1997 - Two provisions in a major spending bill in the US Senate would deal a serious blow to the sovereignty of Native American tribes. The first would force tribes to waive their sovereign immunity from civil lawsuits or lose 767-million dollars in Federal funding. The second would deny tribes Federal money if tribal members' average income is above a certain level. Some say it's part of a strategy to eventually dismantle tribal protections. The proposals apparently face stiff opposition in the Senate and a Presidential veto threat. But if they were to pass, Federal Judge Jack Tunheim doesn't think they'd survive in the judiciary. The measures are riders on a 13-billion dollar bill paying for the National Endowment for the Arts and parklands acquisition, and are supported by a Senator who has an old axe to grind, according to Henry Buffalo.
August 28, 1997 - The home improvement industry is one of the fastest growing areas in retailing and the nation's largest and fastest growing home store is aggressively expanding in the Twin Cities. Less than a year and a half ago Home Depot didn't even have one of its giant warehouse-like stores in the Minneapolis St. Paul area. Now it has seven with plans to open three more by the beginning of next year. Minnesota Public radio's Mark Zdechlik reports.