September 22, 1999 - The University of Minnesota's Twin Cities campus has been transformed this year into a huge construction zone. There's an unprecedented number of building projects underway, and one of the biggest began today. Riverbend Commons will eventaully add much needed student housing and parking space on the East Bank campus.
September 22, 1999 - With the arrival of a new century, many of us may be taking stock of where we are now compared with a hundred years ago. The latest issue of The Old Farmer's Almanac makes such comparisons easy. In addition to it's bigger-than-usual Special Millenium Issue, editors reprinted the black-and-white 56-page edition printed in 1900. Managing Editor Susan Peery says while the old Almanac focused on the traditional farmer's calendar, it also contained poems, riddles and bits of homespun advice.
September 22, 1999 - We're all digging a little deeper these days to gas up the car and grumbling about it. But researchers at the University of Minnesota say our out-of-pocket costs of owning and operating a vehicle - substantial as they are - are just part of the full cost. A new study being carried out by U researchers attempts to calculate the full cost and offer some suggestions for more equitable ways of funding road building in the Twin Cities.
September 22, 1999 - The Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources wants counties to clean up feedlots polluting the state's waterways. The Board has set a side a million dollars for the effort, and half that money is going to Stearns County in Central Minnesota.
September 22, 1999 - Minneapolis ' waterfront could be the site of a whitewater rafting and kayaking park in a few years. Minnesota's Department of Natural Resources has published a study that says the Mississippi River through downtown Minneapolis is a suitable spot for the whitewater course.
September 23, 1999 - An immigration court judge today ruled Rene Hurtado can stay in the US. Hurtado --who now goes by the name Rene Larin-- fled El Salvador in the 1980's claiming he feared persecution. However US Immigration officials said it was Hurtado who had committed attrocities.
September 23, 1999 - Covering Governor Ventura has become a growing challenge for the Capitol press corps. The state's chief executive has shown an increasing willingness to bypass the reporters who cover him on a daily basis. The Governor hasn't granted interviews with most of the local media for months, and when he has they have been limited to specific topics. Observers say Ventura doesn't need Capitol press coverage like other politicians - he has a statewide weekly radio show and the ability to generate international news interest.
September 23, 1999 - Koch Petroleum Group has announced it will make a new, low sulphur gasoline for sale in the twin cities. Company officials say it will reduce tailpipe emmissions 10 to 20 percent. That's the equivalent of taking 40 thousand cars off the road in the metro area.
September 23, 1999 - correct version Donald Blom's story took another twist in Carlton today when Blom declined to enter a plea to charges of first-degree murder in the death of Katie Poirier. The case is now headed to a jury trial, still several months away. Blom has confessed to killing Poirier, as part of a plea agreement. That agreement collapsed and, so the confession will likely be inadmissable as evidence. Poirier's friends and relatives say the latest series of negotiations has left them bewildered and upset.
September 27, 1999 - To close out the millennium, Minnesota Public Radio's All Things Considered presents a look back at Minnesota life in 1900 via a 12-part series, entitled “A Minnesota Century.” This segment is the the story of a woman who had mixed success as a novelist but eventually found her voice in the character of Betsy, whose antics and adventures mirrored Maud's real-life childhood in Mankato at the turn of the century.