June 16, 1999 - Today 34 indian tribes from across the country filed a lawsuit against the tobacco industry. The tribes are demanding big tobacco companies repay the cost of treating what they say are smoking-related illnesses. The tribes, mostly from the west and midwest filed suit in New Mexico, accusing the tobacco industry of deliberately targeting Indians. The Red Lake Band of Ojibwe is the only Minnesota Band included in the suit. Bobby Whitefeather, tribal chair of the Red Lake Band, says Native Americans are bringing their own suit because they don't know if they'll get a share of the national tobacco settlement.
June 16, 1999 - Todd Gitlin is a professor of culture, journalism and sociology at New York University. He lived in San Francisco at the time the SLA was active, and has written numerous books on America's culture wars including The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage. I asked him to put the SLA in context.
June 16, 1999 - A tribal ordinance aimed at relieving chronic unemployment on the Leech Lake Reservation has ignited a firestorm of controversy. The Tribal Emplyment Rights Ordinance--- or TERO --- charges contractors a fee to work on the reservation... and requires them to hire tribal members for their work crews. Some in the non-Indian community say the TERO is unfair, and claim the tribe is overstepping its bounds.
June 17, 1999 - For the last seven decades watercolor artist. John Cody has been obsessed with the nocturnal insects few people see. Cody is known as the "Audubon of Moths"... creatures he says are misunderstood. More than sixty of Cody's moth paintings are on display at the University of Minnesota's Bell Museum of Natural History. Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr took a tour with the artist.
June 17, 1999 - Some regional legislators say they're feeling betrayed by Governor Jesse Ventura's liberal use of line-item vetoes for rural projects. Items receiving a gubernatorial veto include a new boiler at Winona State; and money for the flood control project near Willmar that's already received one million dollars in federal matching funds. And then there's the veto of a little-known adult education program in central Minnesota that helps rural immigrants get their high school equivalency degree or GED.
June 17, 1999 - Talk of Governor Ventura's presidential qualities was in the air at the state capitol yesterday after the San Francisco Chronicle ran a story claiming more Californians knew and like Ventura than their own governor. It turns out the newspaper story over-stated the case a little, but it forced Governor Ventura to explain once more that he has no intention of running for president in 2000.
June 17, 1999 - Today, June 17th, is the 90th birthday of former Minnesota governor Elmer L. Anderson. Few Minnesotan's who held public office are held in as high esteem as the 90-year-old Arden Hills resident.
June 17, 1999 - Olson faces a potentially long and complicated legal battle now that she's in custody. Leon Trawick, a Minneapolis defense attorney who worked on the high-profile Coppage trial, says the Minnesota phase of Olson's case is limited. The Ramsey County court is only responsible for making sure police have the right person in custody, that a valid California law was broken, and that she was in the area when the crime occured.
June 17, 1999 - Tonight, St. Paul Mayor Norm Coleman will host the first in a series of community meetings to present his vision of a new downtown stadium for the Minnesota Twins. Organizers are promoting the forum as a chance to gauge public interest and receive community input -- but opponents of the Mayor's ballpark initiative remain skeptical.
June 17, 1999 - Kids and guns is the hot topic in Washington this week. After April's school shooting in Littleton, Colorado, members of Congress swamped a major juvenile justice bill with dozens of amendments to respond to the growing debate over gun control and causes of youth violence. The House took up the issue yesterday, and continues debate today. And as Emily Harris reports from Washington, members of Minnesota's delegations are finding it a very sensative topic.