April 6, 1999 - MPR’s William Wilcoxen reports the Minnesota Twins roster for 1999 season feature several unproven players who are new to Major League Baseball…the consequence of owner Carl Pohlad’s decision to slash the Twins' payroll over the winter. The move puts Twins management in the position of trying to raise interest in the team amid low expectations.
April 6, 1999 - The Saint Paul school board will let its high schools decide individually whether to provide birth control directly to students. Board members met until early this morning debating the controversial proposal to allow health clinics in those schools to distribute contraceptives. In a hastily concieved compromise, parents, teachers and students at each school will now vote on the issue.
April 6, 1999 - Minnesota's U-S Senators, DFLer Paul Wellstone and Republican Rod Grams, made a rare joint appearance for a journalism awards ceremony at the University of Minnesota. The intended topic of discussion was the impeachment procedure and policy in the 1999 Congress. But talk quickly turned to the conflict in Kosovo. The two senators are known for disagreeing with each other. As Minnesota Public Radio's Michael Khoo reports, last night was no exception.
April 6, 1999 - The stock of Minnesota motorcycle manufacturer Excelsior Henderson lost another one percent today after a nearly 23 percent plunge Monday. Investors sold off the stock following the company's report that losses in 1998 were bigger than expected and it's 1999 losses would be as well.
April 6, 1999 - Yugoslav officials said today they will impose a unilateral cease-fire in its battle against Kosovo rebels for the Orthodox Easter holiday. Western leaders called the move a sham and pledged to press ahead with airstrikes. A Serbian journalist who's visiting Minneapolis says NATO's airstrikes are only worsening the humanitarian situation in Kosovo. Aleksandra Ajdanic is an editor for the BETA news service, an independent news agency in Belgrade. She left for the United States six days after the airstrikes began because she had been planning to attend a conference. She has connections to the Twin Cities because she was a fellow at Macalester College's World Press Institute last year. Ajdanic is continuing to follow the war through her agency's website, and is sharing her experience in the American media.
April 6, 1999 - One of Minnesota's most unusual tutoring programs requires college students to live in the neighborhood of the children they serve. Project for Pride in Living, the non-profit Minneapolis housing developer, operates College House, a renovated home in the city's Phillips neighborhood. Bethel College students live in the house and tutor neighborhood young people.
April 7, 1999 - The Minnesota Twins opened their 1999 season with a win, defeating the Toronto Blue Jays 6-1 at the Metrodome. The victory comes amid low expectations for this year's team which includes a large number of rookies. 10 of the 25 names on team roster are new to Major League Baseball. MPR's Michael Khoo reports the lack of star power hasn't dampened fan enthusiasm.
April 7, 1999 - The Republican leadership of the Minnesota House suffered a setback yesterday when it failed to get enough votes to pass its first big spending bill. The legislation was supposed to make up for budget shortfalls in state spending on things like unanticipated legal bills, and Republican leaders assumed it would pass without difficulty. Instead, a group of dissident Republicans joined with Democrats to defeat the legislation, and some lawmakers say the vote undermines Speaker Steve Sviggum's control of the House.
April 7, 1999 - The folks in the Red River have learned to "never say never", but the risk of spring flooding in the Grand Forks area appears to be over. Today the national weather service said the Red River is dropping, and won't crest again. Kevin Dean of the Grand Forks Emergency Management Center says the revised forecast is a relief.
April 7, 1999 - The University of Minnesota says it'll know by the end of the week the full extent of damage done by animal rights activists who smashed microscopes and computers and freed more than 100 lab animals early Monday. The University says the vandalism could set back progress in research into Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, Cancer, Cerebral Palsy and other illnesses.