May 24, 1999 - In Martell, Wisconsin, residents are organizing to stop a new dairy farm planned near one of the best trout streams in the midwest--- the Rush River, about an hour's drive east of the Twin Cities. Opponents say a manure spill from the farm's storage lagoons could wipe out the trout in the Rush River for years to come. Defenders of the project say such fears are based on emotion, not science, and that large scale dairy operations are the way of the future in Wisconsin.
May 24, 1999 - One day after the "made-for-tv" movie "The Jesse Ventura Story" air from coast to coast on NBC, the reviews have been uniformly bad. And Governor Ventura added his own thumbs down today at the annual meeting of the Minnesota Film Board saying he only watched the first few minutes.
May 24, 1999 - Governor Jesse Ventura has moved from wrapping up a legislative session to selling his new autobiography. Ventura kicked off a promotional tour this weekend with a book-signing at the Mall of America. The event drew hundreds of fans, but the book and the tour have attracted some criticism as well.
May 24, 1999 - Monday at noon, about three-dozen University of Minnesota students protested the latest developments in an investigation of the U-of-M athletic department, and won a concession from the U.
May 25, 1999 - St. Paul Mayor Norm Coleman is floating an idea for a new outdoor ballpark for the Minnesota Twins. The mayor argues a stadium in St. Paul would help revitalize the city's downtown core. He hasn't offered any specifics yet, but already the proposal is drawing some criticism.
May 25, 1999 - After three years of national welfare reform, we know fewer Americans are getting benefits, but we have little other information on how they fare when the checks stop coming. Today, an amendment by US Senator Paul Wellstone to require federal tracking of welfare recipients failed by just one vote. Wellstone says he offered the amendment because states need to make sure people going off welfare aren't falling into poverty.
May 25, 1999 - State aid is nearly on its way to Minnesota farmers. The Revenue Department has begun mailing nearly 60-thousand applications for farm relief. The 1999 legislature approved 70-million dollars in one-time agriculture assistance, which farmers can apply for starting next Monday.
May 25, 1999 - A five-year breast cancer trial begins today testing two drugs--tamoxifen and raloxifene. 22-thousand post-menopausal women from the United States, Puerto Rico, and Canada will take part. Minnesota cancer specialists hope to recruit volunteers for the study from across the state.
May 26, 1999 - A Mainstreet Radio special broadcast from Lake Benton. Rachel Reabe hosts a discussion about Minnesota's wind farm on Buffalo Ridge and the greater wind-power industry with guests Marlin Thompson, Lake Benton mayor; Jim Nichols, a former agriculture commissioner who now heads economic development efforts for the area; and Audrey Zibelman, director of Energy Marketing for Northern States Power.
May 26, 1999 - MPR’s Mary Losure reports that Governor Jesse Ventura has vetoed a bill that would have loosened the Minnesota Pollution Control's regulation of animal feedlots. The bill would have exempted livestock farmers from state air quality standards when they were spreading manure on farm fields. It also would have eliminated a new set of rules that govern which feedlots are subject to environmental review.