April 8, 1998 - President Clinton led a discussion yesterday in Kansas City on how to fix Social Security. Clinton warned against completely privatizing Social Security although he didn't rule out the idea of allowing some private investment. He also said the program could be saved without increasing payroll taxes. Social Security is expected to come under increasing strain as the baby boom generation retires from the workforce. Yesterday's forum was the first in a series intended to spark a national debate over the program's future. But political science professor Larry Jacobs at the University of Minnesota says that debate is already well underway. He joins me now.
April 8, 1998 - In 1993, Reno Air began offering low-cost flights from the Twin Cities to Reno Nevada. Northwest Airlines quickly responded by introducing cheaper fares on overlapping routes. Within months, Reno Air pulled out of the Twin Cities...and Northwest hiked its fares once again. Small airlines say that's an example of predatory pricing that Northwest and other large airlines use to stifle competition at their hub airports. The US Department of Transportation this week proposed a set of new rules that would penalize airlines for doing that. Mike Boyd is an airline industry analyst and head of the Boyd Group based in Colorado. He doesn't think the rules will make it any easier for small airlines to gain a toehold in markets like the Twin Cities.
April 9, 1998 - Hennepin County Commissioner Peter McLaughlin, who also chairs the Seven County Rail Authority; and Art Leahy, general manager of the Metropolitan Council Transit Operations, discuss legislative passage of light rail project in the Twin Cities. McLaughlin and Leahy also answer listener questions.
April 9, 1998 - Tom Gravelin, a cafe owner in St. Peter, shares his experience during and after a tornado hit the Minnesota town.
April 9, 1998 - MPR’s Hope Deutscher reports on eight wrestlers at the University of Minnesota-Morris that are gaining international recognition. They are not only overcoming an opponent, but also stereotypes as they train for the future…even a potential Olympics.
April 9, 1998 - One of the people keeping a close eye on how things shake out at the Capitol is former State Senator Kevin Chandler. Chandler is now a lobbyist and President of the Minnesota Credit Union Network. He disagrees with the speculation that Senate Majority Leader Roger Moe was holding out on the hockey deal as a way to damage the gubernatorial ambitions of Saint Paul Mayor Norm Coleman.
April 10, 1998 - At first glance, many of the photographs in the new Suburban Landscapes exhibit at the Weisman Art Museum in Minneapolis have the same mundane quality as an urban commute. For example, curator Colleen Sheehy points to a picture of a huge banner hanging across the back of a new home in a metro area subdivsion which reads, "model home." Seen from the highway says Sheehy, it's another banal image flashing by. On the wall in a museum the layers of meaning behind the words "model home," reveal themselves.
April 10, 1998 - Steven Schier, chair of the Carleton College Political Science Department, discusses politics of the Session.
April 10, 1998 - It will take months... and probably years for Saint Peter, Comfrey and other towns to rebuild following last week's tornadoes. It's likely to take just as long for residents to recover psychologically from the blow. Dr. Gerard Jacobs is Director of the Disaster Mental Health Institute at the University of South Dakota. He says right after a disaster people are running on adrenaline, then there is a period of thankfulness that it wasn't worse. After that, the mental stress can take its toll.
April 11, 1998 -