January 14, 1999 - The 1999 Minnesota House includes 21 freshmen, 14 of them Republicans, who helped their party gain the majority for the first time in thirteen years. Most of the Republican gains came from suburban districts, although one D-F-L'er won a traditionally-Republican suburban seat. Ann Lenczewski of Bloomington is considered a moderate Democrat. She's landed a plum assignment on the House Taxes Committee.
January 15, 1999 - Governor Ventura has outlined an education agenda that could add hundreds of millions of dollars to K-12 education. The Governor is also taking a new approach to his plan for lowering class sizes in the early grades.
January 15, 1999 - Sun Country Airlines says it will go head to head with Northwest Airlines. Sun Country plans to offer low-fare, daily non-stop service in June to ten popular destinations. Sun Country is tiny compared to Northwest, the dominant airline in the Twin Cities market. But their announcement follows a year in which Northwest's dominance has been broadly criticized, and government regulators have stepped up their scrutiny of competitive practices in the twin cities air travel market.
January 15, 1999 - St. Paul schools celebrated the legacy of the reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. today in downtown St. Paul on the day the slain civil rights leader would have been 70 years old. Minnesota Public Radio's Eric Jansen brings us some of the words and sounds of that celebration.
January 18, 1999 - In addition to their superbowl hopes, the Vikings have been pining for a new stadium. Owner Red McCombs has said while there's nothing physically wrong with the Metrodome, the team need a more profitable stadium to remain competitive. McCombs and Vikings management have been holding meetings in recent weeks with business leaders and lawmakers to cultivate support for a new facility. Minneapolis Star-Tribune sports writer Jay Weiner is writing a book on the history of Minnesota's stadium struggles. He says the Vikings loss may have a silver lining.
January 18, 1999 - MPR’s Bob Kelleher reports on Madeline Island’s Windsled. Fewer than 200 people live year 'round on the Island just off the southern shore of Lake Superior near Bayfield, Wisconsin. While island life revolves around the mainland ferry schedule most of the year, islanders can drive across the ice during the depths of winter….but for a few weeks each year, the trip to shore has to be made in the island's unique water transportation vehicle.
January 18, 1999 - In the movie "You Got Mail" the central characters carry on a relationship over the internet long before they ever meet in person. Even in these cyberlinked days this might seem a strange way to connect but consider the case of a Minneapolis woman who is using email to write novels together with an author in Montreal a man she'd never even met face to face until after they'd written 3 books together.
January 18, 1999 -
January 18, 1999 - MPR’s Laura McCallum reports on Jesse Ventura’s lively inaugural bash as the 38th governor of Minnesota. Segment includes sounds and music clips from the event.
January 18, 1999 - Governor Ventura and singer and actress Melba Moore were among the featured speakers today at the Martin Luther King holiday events in Saint Paul. The celebration began this morning with a rally at Central High School. Participants then marched down Marshall Avenue to a gathering at Concordia University.