February 9, 1998 - Minnesota's tobacco trial enters its third week today, with more questioning of a spokesman for the tobacco industry's trade association. Minnesota Public Radio's Laura McCallum reports.
February 9, 1998 - House Republicans today (MON) announced they want to use the money generated by the state's tobacco lawsuit for state-wide tax relief. Minnesota Public Radio's Martin kaste reports the lawmakers aren't waiting to see how the trial ends to consider how to spend the money the state MIGHT win.
February 9, 1998 - For decades, the rule was you couldn't win against big tobacco. The companies had deep pockets to wage legal battles. Juries and judges consistently blamed smokers for their own use of cigarettes and the harm they caused. Then, in 1994, a friend of Mississippi Attorney General Michael Moore came up with a new idea. If a state sued for money it paid out in medical bills for cigarette smokers, the companies might be found responsible. The tobacco companies could not claim that a state smoked a cigarette. In a new book about how the states took on the tobacco companies, The People Vs Big Tobacco, the authors follow both sides of the story that lead to the trial here in Minnesota. Co-author Adam Levy says its been difficult for individual smokers to make headway against tobacco companies.
February 9, 1998 - MPR’s Dan Olson reports on Next Innovations, a Minneapolis organization that trains young non-profit employees business and leadership skills….and possibly the next generation of non-profit managers.
February 10, 1998 - It's been six months since a suspected dumping of a toxic chemical wiped out 7800 trout in one of Minnesota's most popular trout streams. Authorities still don't know who is responsible. Even as the investigation continues, there are indications the stream is healing itself and will soon replenish the trout lost last August. Minnesota Public Radio's Mike Edgerly reports Hay Creek is one of the most studied, accessible and productive of southeast Minnesota's trout streams: The creek is a spring fed series of shallow rif
February 10, 1998 - The Minnesota River valley could look different in a few years...and the river water may be much cleaner. What may be the most concentrated effort ever in Minnesota to clean a river is set to begin this spring..... assuming the U.S. Agriculture Department okays the state/federal effort. That approval is expected this month. The goal is to reduce the amount of agricultural run-off entering the river. Mainstreet Radio's Mark Steil reports: This southern Minnesota field doesn't look much out of the ordinary with its spikes of brown grass poking through ice-encrusted snow: SOUNDS OF FOOTSTEPS FADE UP UNDER PREVIOUS :11 (We got good snow cover out here, we're looking
February 10, 1998 - A logger in northern Minnesota is preparing to cut a tract of century-old red pines known as "Little Alfie" in Superior National Forest. Environmental advocates lost a series of court challenges to prevent logging of as many as 6-thousand trees on a one hundred acre site. As of 4pm today, the logging can begin. Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Losure is at the logging site and joins me on the line.
February 11, 1998 - Lieutenant Governor Joanne Benson today (WED) made official her intention to succeed Governor Carlson. Minnesota Public Radio's Martin Kaste has the story: The Joanne Benson campaign has been up and running for more than a year, but Benson saved the official announcement for a propitious moment. With St Paul Mayor Norm Coleman expected to announce on Sunday, that moment seems to have come -- ((I will seek and expect to win the endorsement of the republican party, and THEN seek the endorsement of the people of MN. (applause).)) -- Benson is hoping she's beat Coleman to the punch on more than just announcements. While the media has been fixated on Coleman's Hamlet act -- to run or not to run? -- the Benson campaign has been bus
February 11, 1998 - Governor Carlson's 12-million dollar bonding proposal to fund boarding schools gets another hearing at the capitol today. (wed) The schools would serve at-risk juveniles who have had no major criminal problems. The proposal for Minnesota may be modelled after the Milton-Hershey School in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Minnesota Public Radio's Karen-Louise Boothe travelled there to take a closer look. She reports on what SOME experts say is a new view of an old concept.
February 12, 1998 - In Minnesota's tobacco trial, the state today began building its case that smokers increase health care costs. The state and Blue Cross Blue Shield are seeking nearly 2-billion dollars to cover the cost of treating smoking-related illnesses over the past two decades. Minnesota Public Radio's Laura McCallum reports.. Cancer expert Jon Samet testified today that smoking causes more than a dozen diseases, and those diseases result in higher health care costs. The Johns Hopkins epidemiologist said according to criteria established by the Surge