November 2, 1999 - If you haven't made it to the polls yet, you still have a little more than 3 hours to do so. The polls close at 8:00 tonight. Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer has spent the day traveling to polling stations around the state. She says voter turnout is impressive, considering its an off-year election.
November 2, 1999 - While Twin Cities residents have been debating stadium issues for months, Saint Cloud area residents have been quietly grappling with a similar issue. Today residents will vote for or against a half cent sales tax increase to fund an events center and other amenities. Supporters call it a once in a lifetime opportunity. Opponents of the measure say Central Minnesotans are already overtaxed.
November 2, 1999 - Members of Congress are starting to hear from a sector in the agriculture business they haven't heard much from before -- bankers. For the first time a task force of the American Bankers Association is taking a position on ag policy and recommending solutions to permanently lift farmers out of financial crisis mode.
November 2, 1999 - Republican presidential hopeful Steve Forbes has made a brief visit to Minnesota. Last night, Forbes outlined his conservative agenda during a campaign organizing event in Bloomington.
November 2, 1999 - The Donald Blom federal firearms trial has recessed until tomorrow while Blom decides whether to testify in his own defense. Blom's attorney has advised him not to take the stand.
November 2, 1999 - MPR’s Lynette Nyman reports on the 5th National Hmong Conference being held in downtown Minneapolis, where social service advocates look to prevent violence by keeping Hmong kids out of gangs. They say parents are the key and want to them more involved in their kids lives. But for some Hmong teens, independence from families is the attraction of a gang --especially for girls.
November 3, 1999 - Election '99: Reports on the St. Paul ballpark vote, school elections, Duluth and St.Cloud votes, interviews on the interest in voting on ballot initiatives, school board and levy referenda elections, the "Progressive Minnesota" organization, and more.
November 3, 1999 - MPR’s Michael Khoo reports that St. Paul residents overwhelmingly rejected a sales tax increase to pay for a new Minnesota Twins ballpark in the city's downtown. After a summer of sometimes contentious debate, voters defeated the proposal 58% to 42%.
November 3, 1999 - Voters in St. Paul have rejected an attempt to eliminate about half the city's billboards. 53-percent of voters said no to a measure that would have removed billboards from city streets and prohibited new signs. The billboard industry says the result shows people don't want to get rid of a legal form of advertising, but billboard opponents say they're not giving up.
November 3, 1999 - Now that St. Paul voters have rejected a stadium tax to lure the Minnesota Twins to the Capitol city, attention in the stadium debate is shifting back to Minneapolis . Community leaders there say the time has come for them to find a solution that will satisfy the Twins' and the Vikings' needs. But they also say a firm proposal may not come forward until the 2001 legislative session.