December 14, 1999 - A Minnesota group is releasing a report documenting the damage off-road vehicles cause in the state's wild areas. The report by Minnesotans for Responsible Recreation calls for new limits on the vehicles and a renewed emphasis on enforcing existing OHV laws.
December 14, 1999 - A blood bank may bring new hope to patients waiting for bone marrow transplants. The Midwest's first public "cord blood bank" has opened in Minnesota. American Red Cross nurses will collect the blood from the placenta and umbilical cords from babies born at Fairview-University Medical Center in Minneapolis .
December 14, 1999 - St. Paul police say they will begin arresting errant landlords who haven't answered warrants to clean up or repair nuisance properties. The arrests, set to begin this weekend, follow warning letters from Mayor Norm Coleman.
December 15, 1999 - On Sunday Russians go to to polls to decide roughly half the membership of the Duma, the Russian Parliament. It's been a contentious campaign so far, but there is a slight echo of Minnesota in one race: an internationally known wrestler who is running for elected office. From Moscow, Charles Maynes offers this profile of the man some are calling Russia's Jesse Ventura.
December 15, 1999 - The Jesse Ventura volunteer committee swung into action last night, holding its first public meeting to try to mobilize citizens to support a one-house legislature -- one of the governor's pet causes. The meeting took place in District 51, where all three legislators are undecided about the issue. Since Governor Ventura has no Reform Party allies in the legislature, his volunteer committee hopes Ventura supporters can sway legislators on unicameralism and other administration priorities.
December 15, 1999 - Norwest Mortgage has agreed to buy Honeywell's former world Headquarters in the Phillips neighborhood of South Minneapolis . The deal ends months of uncertainty over whether a major new tenant would be found to replace Honeywell.
December 15, 1999 - Twin Cities-based Sun Country airlines is working to attract business travelers, the customers airlines covet because they typically pay the most for tickets. Six months after launching scheduled service, Sun Country is making progress in convincing companies its low fare alternative can cut corporate travel costs significantly.
December 16, 1999 - Eden Prairie based Best Buy has announced a joint marketing partnership with Microsoft. The software giant will also buy 200 million dollars worth of Best buy stock.
December 16, 1999 - Govenor Ventura has declared Minnesota officially ready for the year 2000. The state's Y2K Superboard met for a final time this morning and reported it doesn't expect any more problems than a normal New Year's Eve. The final tab for preparing the state for the Y2K bug came to about 30 million dollars. David Fisher is the State Commisoner of Administration and Chairman of the Y2K Superboard. He says Minnesotans can put their fears to rest.
December 16, 1999 - MPR’s Annie Feidt tests out the snow with a few cross-country skiers as they hit the trails at Trollhaugen and hope for more snow.