January 19, 1998 - The death last month of 3-term republican Barb Vickerman created the open seat. The district borders the Minnesota River and includes the town's of Redwood Falls, New Ulm and Springfield. Because of the compressed timetable of the special election.... the candidates have little more than three weeks to meet voters and plug their ISS.
January 19, 1998 - When deep-pocketed Microsoft rolled out its online entertainment guide "Twin Cities Sidewalk" in July, many people expected it to eventually rule the local online scene. That hasn't happened. In fact, a disappointed Microsoft is expected to announce big changes to Sidewalk as early as this week as it tries to stop the venture from losing so much money. Apparently, not enough people seem to really need a web site that provides lists and reviews of movies, restaurants, and other leisure time activities.
January 19, 1998 - Ten years after many predicted their demise, small towns are surviving, even thriving. A strong economy is helping. The ripple effect of the farm crisis, many thought, would hasten their end. What happened? And what are small towns like these days? We went back to Atwater to find out. Atwater, population 1000, is the little town near Willmar in west central Minnesota we visited a decade ago. Here's our follow-up report, Return to Atwater, from Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Olson.
January 19, 1998 - The State's lead attorney in Minnesota's lawsuit against the tobacco companies disrupted a tobacco industry press conference today. Michael Ciresi crashed the briefing...calling it inappropriate on the eve of jury selection. what ensued was a discussion between Ciresi and Philip Morris officials Michael York and John Sorrells.
January 20, 1998 - Life is pretty bleak in a small village on the western coast of Ireland until a fugitive named Christy Mahan arrives and promptly announces he has killed his father. So begins John Millington Synge's comic play about a town caught up in the excitement of a dramatic event and a young man who is transformed by his hero's welcome. "The Playboy of the Western World" opens tomorrow at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis . Guthrie Artistic Director Joe Dowling says Synge's play is an Irish classic...that avoids pandering to the stereotypical notions of Ireland and the Irish.
January 20, 1998 - The US Fish and Wildlife Service is seeking federal protection for a Minnesotaow found in the upper midwest. Farmers who may have to change operation practices resent the governmental intervention. While environmentalists say the decline in population of the Topeka shiner should be a sign and we should all sit up and notice.
January 20, 1998 - State lawmakers meet at noon today to start the 1998 legislative session. Bonding-bill sessions are usually quiet affairs, but this year's 1-point-3 Billion dollar surplus may stir things up.
January 20, 1998 - The stock market reacted favorably today to news that the St. Paul Companies plans to buy the Baltimore-based insurance company USF&G. The three and a-half billion-dollar deal would make St. Paul Companies the eighth biggest property-casualty insurer in the nation. St. Paul Companies chairman Doug Leatherdale says the deal will result in the elimination of up to two-thousand jobs, most at USF&G's headquarters in Baltimore.
January 20, 1998 - The state legislative auditor has decided NOT to investigate further Attorney General SKip Humphrey's contract with a Minneapolis law firm arguing the tobacco case.
January 20, 1998 - This year's mild winter weather has increased the danger for snowmobilers, skaters and people ice fishing. According to the Department of Natural Resources, five people have died after falling through ice so far this winter, four of them on snowmobiles. The DNR is warning people to use extra caution on the ice. In remote areas where accidents often occur and rescues can be a problem, volunteer fire departments are keeping an eye out for those in trouble.