March 11, 1999 - The season is over for the gopher men's basketball team. Today in Seattle, they lost 63 to 75 to Gonzaga in the first round of the N-C-A-A tournament. University officials declared four gopher players ineligible today after allegations surfaced that they had cheated on their academics. The University is investigating the incident. We'll have more on that story in the next half hour. But on the court today, City Pages Sports reporter Britt Robson says the Gophers played out a respectable game.
March 11, 1999 - The Moorhead Police Force will soon expand by a dozen. But The city is not hiring new officers, its starting a volunteer citizen police unit. As Minnesota Public Radios Dan Gunderson reports, law enforcement agencies across the country are finding new ways to use volunteers.
March 11, 1999 - House Republicans are offering to relent in the two-month-old standoff over tax rebates, but their capitulation may cost the Governor and the Democrats more than they're willing to pay.
March 11, 1999 - Following the Gophers 75-63 loss to Gonzaga, Coach Clem Haskins and players Quincy Lewis and Dusty Rychart spoke to the press. Haskins stressed he was proud of his team's performance despite missing four players through ineligibility including two starters, and another who was injured.
March 11, 1999 - Crop insurance got a lot of attention on Capitol Hill Wednesday, with committees of both the Senate and the House taking first steps to overhaul the program. There appears to be committment from all sides to somehow overhaul crop insurance -- but exactly what changes, and how to pay for the changes, are the subjects of intense debate.
March 11, 1999 - The Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled protesting at privately-owned shopping malls such as the Mall of America is not protected speech. The ruling stems from the case of several animal-rights activists who were arrested while protesting a Macy's department store fur sale.
March 11, 1999 -
March 12, 1999 - MPR’s Vaughn Ormseth takes a look at Einojuhani Rautavaara, one of Finland’s best-loved composers. Rautavaara has come to Minnesota with new work, "Finlands Spirit: Rautavaara." The premiere is sponsored by the Plymouth Music series, in collaboration with the University of Minnesota and St. Olaf College.
March 12, 1999 - The University of Minnesota's men's basketball team was eliminated yesterday in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Their season ended on a controversial note as four players -- including two starters -- were declared ineligible for the game after allegations of academic fraud surfaced earlier this week.
March 12, 1999 - Later this month, the town of St. Peter will mark the one year anniversary of the tornado. Sunday, March 29th, 1998, a storm with winds over 200 miles an hour hit the towns of St. Peter, Comfrey and Le Center, killing 2 and damaging hundreds of homes and businesses. The day after the tornado, St. Peter residents held their first community meeting at 1st Lutheran Church. The modern brick chuch sits up on the hill above town, and wasn't damaged. It became the community center, where disaster officials and residents would meet to discuss each hurdle of disaster recovery. In the middle of it all was 1st Lutheran pastor Mark Solyst. When we talked with him last year, he had opened his church to Catholics who had lost their church at the center of town. They are still sharing quarters. I asked Solyst to reflect on the year since the tornado.