February 12, 1998 - Minnesota Public Radio's Mark Zdechlik reports on the 2,500 striking Honeywell workers who vote on a proposed contract, possibly ending their walkout now in its 11th day. The terms of the proposed settlement are not being made public but union officials say Honeywell modified what had been the company's final offer. Central to the negotiations since the first contract was rejected, has been the union's opposition to Honeywell putting together a separate compensation package for new employees. Such arrangements often called "Two Tier," contracts, have been dividing workforces for two decades in the United States.
February 12, 1998 - For more than a year, Minnesota environmentalists and the timber industry have been fighting over a small stand of pines in the Superior National Forest. The Little Alfie stand, as it's known, is only 100 acres---about the size of the state fairgrounds---but it represents much larger issues. Loggers in northern Minnesota worry Little Alfie is just the first attempt to make many of the state's off limits to logging, in the same way old growth trees in the west were protected to save the spotted owl. Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Losure reports.
February 13, 1998 - Romance and glamor are words often attached both to Valentine's Day, and the heady world of publishing, although not by commentator Debby Bull. She's the author of "Blue Jelly." When she's not on book tours she lives in Chippewa Falls.
February 13, 1998 - Mainstreet Radio's Catherine Winter has this remembrance of Terry Wilkey, former Bovey police chief. Wilkey spent more than 30 years on the town's police force and the 800-some residents of Bovey all knew him. But his fame spread much farther; to the Twin Cities, even as far as Texas and North Carolina…because of Terry Wilkey, the writer.
February 13, 1998 - State Representative Tim Pawlenty (pah-LEHN-tee) bowed out of the Governor's race today. The Republican Representative from Eagan says he's giving up in the face of the momentum of Lieutenant Governor Joanne Benson's campaign, combined with St Paul Mayor Norm Coleman's likely entry into the race. Coleman says he'll announce this Sunday whether he'll run for Governor. Political commentators Bob Meek, a Democrat, and Tom Horner, a Republican, say it's very likely he'll run. Horner says Coleman would join an already strong field of Republican candidates: Republican political commentator Tom Horner, and Democrat Bob Meek.
February 13, 1998 - A Westminster Town Hall Forum address by former U.S. Poet Laureate Rita Dove. Rita Dove's speech is entitled "The Poet's Voice."
February 16, 1998 - Honeywell production and maintenance workers are back on the job today after approving a contract and ending a two week strike yesterday. The company backed down on a plan to pass along some of the costs of health care benefits to the workers, but the union swallowed the plan for lower pay and pensions for new employees. John Remington is a professor of Industrial Relations at the University of Minnesota. He says the union vote didn't really decide the issue, and expects it to pop up again during the next round of negotiations: John Remington is a professor of Industrial Relations at the University of Minnesota. Sun 28-MAY 12:21:30 MPR NewsPro Archive - Wed 04/11/2001
February 16, 1998 - The strike of 25 hundred Honeywell workers is over. Teamsters Local 1145 rank and file voted by a extraordinarily thin margin yesterday to accept Honeywell's latest contract offer. Many union memebrs are angry with the deal. They say their colleagues should have held out for a better contract. The first shifts reported back to work last night. Minnesota Public Radio's Mark Zdechlik reports...
February 16, 1998 - Jay Weiner reports from the Olympics in Nagano on men's hockey, Minnesota ski jumper, speed skater Amy Peterson, and women's figure skating.
February 16, 1998 - Today is President's Day, the day we honor the legacy of Abraham Lincoln and George Washington. When Washington became President he appointed Alexander Hamilton as the first Secretary of the Treasury. These days politicians talk a lot about the importance of balancing the budget and reducing debt, but Hamilton had a different view. He called the national debt a blessing and Hamilton's Blessing is the name of a new book that looks at the role of the national debt through history. Author John Steele Gordon talked to Bob Potter about how this tradition of borrowing got started.