August 3, 1999 - The St. Paul Companies is cutting another one thousand jobs. The St. Paul based insurer says the move will lower expenses by 100 million dollars next year. The announcement comes a week after the company reported a sharp increase in second quarter profits. Officials say the job reductions will boost profits further.
August 3, 1999 - The national conversation on urban sprawl has reached rural Minnesota. Specifically the Brainerd lakes area, where the city of Baxter has seen such commercial growth it's now trying to expand its boundaries, and its tax base.
August 3, 1999 - The Minnesota Twins have reached a deal with St. Paul on building a new downtown ballpark. The agreement, reached last night, contains several provisions intended to persuade reluctant St. Paul residents and state lawmakers to support the effort. A key element requires the current team owners -- the Pohlad family -- to sell their entire stake in the Twins.
August 3, 1999 - While the Senate debated Farm Aid, Minnesota farmers were gathering in Redwood Falls today for Farm Fest, the state's largest ag show. In addition to seeing the latest technology and innovations, hundreds of farmers attended an ag policy forum and discussed "Freedom to Farm" the 1996 law which overhauled the nation's ag system. Tom Rothman is farm director of the Minnesota Farm Network, a statewide radio network. I asked him what he's been hearing at Farm Fest.
August 3, 1999 - The Senate today tentatively approved a Republican sponsored emergency farm aid package as an amendment to a $61 billion dollar agriculture appropriations bill. The GOP amendment would add nearly 7 billion dollars of emergency aid. A final vote on that is expected tomorrow. The Democrats' 11 billion dollar version was essentially killed. But any emergency agriculture assistance won't likely be available until September at the earliest -- when a review of national farm policy could take place on Capitol Hill.
August 3, 1999 - MPR’s William Wilcoxen reports on a new agreement with St. Paul Mayor Norm Coleman and the Minnesota Twins, in which owner Carl Pohlad and his sons have agreed to sell baseball team to new owners, provided a new ballpark is built in St. Paul. Some Minnesotans say an ownership change would make little difference in fostering public support for subsidizing a new stadium.
August 3, 1999 - In less than a month Kathleen Soliah, known as Sara Jane Olson in the Twin Cities, is due back in a Los Angeles County Court room for a pre-trial hearing on charges she conspired to kill Los Angeles police officers. Freed on a million dollars bail, Soliah is waiting under electronic surveillance at home in St. Paul for her trial to begin. A Los Angeles County Grand Jury indicted Soliah in 1975 for allegedly conspiring to commit murder by placing pipe bombs under L.A. police cars. Minnesota Public Radio's Mark Zdechlik spoke with some of the people involved in the case more than twenty years ago and prepared this report.
August 4, 1999 - A discussion of the St. Paul agreement with the Minnesota Twins regarding sale of the team and a new ballpark with St. Paul City Council Member Chris Coleman, a member of the negotiating team.
August 4, 1999 - There are thousands of miles of multi-use trails in Minnesota. Their popularity is exploding among hikers, bikers, snowmobilers, skiers and skaters. These trails are often a boon to small towns, pulling in tourists year round. The Lake Wobegon Trail in central Minnesota is one of those popular destinations. The former rail line-turned path stretches thirty miles in Stearns County, from Avon to Sauke Centre. Trail supporters want to add another 9 mile stretch north to the town of Holdingford. But some landowners are opposed to the move, saying its violates their rights.
August 4, 1999 - The Senate has approved a seven billion dollar Republican-sponsored farm aid bill. A more expensive Democratic proposal was defeated. A final version still must be worked out with the House, so cash probably will not flow until fall. Minnesota Republican Senator Rod Grams says the emergency funding is necessary, and that Freedom to Farm, the nation's current market-oriented farm policy, isn't causing the farm crisis.