August 19, 1999 - Everyday across the Twin Cities casino-operated buses collect people for gambling trips around the state. "Bingo" Barney's Fun Tours is one of Minnesota's oldest --independent-- gambling bus excursions. For the past twelve years, Barney's riders have found a kind of second family that shares a passion for gambling --especially the game bingo. Minnesota Public Radio's Lynette Nyman joined one trip to southwest Minnesota.
August 19, 1999 - A group from St. Paul has returned from a scouting trip to a major league baseball stadium in Denver. Residents and business people toured Coors field and the surrounding neighborhood with an eye toward how St Paul might build a similar ballpark for the Minnesota Twins.
August 20, 1999 - Senator Rod Grams told farmers today in Moorhead, Alexandria and St. Cloud he supports short term aid to help them weather the current farm crisis. But the GOP lawmaker says a free market system is still better than government subsidies. Grams criticized democrats for politicizing the farm crisis by blaming the Republican Freedom to Farm Act for problems in the ag economy.
August 20, 1999 - Governor Ventura says he feels vindicated by a Ramsey Court ruling this week that upheld his right to work for the World Wrestling Federation this Sunday night. Ventura says the court reaffirmed his conviction that his side projects do NOT represent a conflict of interest -- and he turned the tables on his critics, accusing THEM of having conflicts of interest.
August 20, 1999 - The St. Paul stadium delegation is on its second ballpark tour in Camden Yards tonight. The home of the Baltimore Orioles opened in 1992, and has been an incredible success for the team. It's classic open-air ballpark style integrated into an urban neighborhood has been a big hit with fans. Though it isn't selling out quite as consistenly as it did a few years ago, Orioles' vice president Joe Foss says the team is still at the top of the American League for attendance. Foss is a St. Paul native who will play tour guide to the delegation.
August 20, 1999 - Housing advocates are cheering a decision to once again postpone demolition of public housing on Minneapolis ' near northside. Officials say they'll consider saving seventy units that remain from the hundreds demolished at two public housing projects. The demolition results from a housing discrimination lawsuit charging the city with concentrating poor people in one neighborhood. But advocates worry the postponement is a symbolic victory and doesn't solve the problem.
August 20, 1999 - Health officials are urging doctors to be on the look out for a strain of antibiotic resistant staph that, for the first time, is beginning to surface outside hospital and nursing homes. At least four upper Midwestern children have died from the infections so far, including two Minnesotans.
August 23, 1999 - Governor Jesse Ventura climbed back into the ring last night -- and for a few fleeting moments, he actually did a little wrestling. Ventura's appearance as a "guest referee" at the World Wrestling FEderation's "Summerslam" event has caused weeks of speculation and some criticism from the state's political establishment, and as Minnesota Public Radio's Martin Kaste reports, the Governor's actual performance was somewhat anticlimactic.
August 23, 1999 - The US Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing a ban on lead sinkers in three Minnesota wildlife refuges in response to growing concern about contamination of lakes and wildlife. The public can comment on the proposed changes until September 10th. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is also concerned about lead from fishing tackle. Carol Nankivel wrote the Annual Lead report for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. Nankivel says that in Minnesota, researchers found about 18 percent of loons suffered from lead poisoning. In the eastern part of the U-S, that number was much higher.
August 23, 1999 - Yesterday's Personal Computers are becoming today's junk. It's often less expensive to purchase a new PC than it would be to repair or ugrade even a slightly used model. Meanwhile, the replaced computers, are piling up in closets and storerooms across the state, leaving Minnesotans wondering how to get rid of the things.