December 27, 1999 - It's been a political football for nearly 70 years, but there may be a resolution in sight for tens of thousands of acres of northern Minnesota's so-called consolidated conservation lands. Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Robertson reports from Bemidji.
December 27, 1999 - A Minnesota program that subsidizes the cost of prescription drugs for seniors has much more room for takers. Earlier this year, state lawmakers created the program, but few seniors are taking advantage of the aid.
December 28, 1999 - The state and its second largest union have avoided a strike by reaching a tentative employment contract. The agreement gives members of the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees -- or MAPE -- a two and a half percent raise the first year and a three percent increase the second. The union had asked for a four percent raise in both the first and second years.
December 28, 1999 - Governor Ventura stopped by the Minnesota Public Radio studios today to offer his reflections on his first year in office and his hopes for 2000. Ventura said he had governed to the best of his abilities, but did have some regrets, such as the controversial playboy magazine interview in which he criticized organized religion. If he gets his way with the legislature next session, the governor says taxpayers can expect another sales tax rebate this summer, and a reduction in auto license tab fees. MPR listeners had a chance to call in and praise or challenge the governor. One listener took the governor to task for not doing more to help the homeless.
December 28, 1999 - Republican Party leaders are considering urging their candidates to skip the Star Tribune newspaper's endorsement process. GOP leaders accuse the state's largest newspaper of liberal bias and say it's a waste of time for their candidates to seek the paper's endorsement. We invited the party's deputy executive director Randy Skoglund and the Star-Tribune's editorial page editor Susan Albright to talk about relations between the party and the paper. Skoglund says Republicans aren't getting a fair shake.
December 28, 1999 - A few years ago, researchers in Africa had a perplexing problem. Lions were dying in record numbers on the Serengetti Plain. University of Minnesota evolutionary biologist, Craig Packer, was among the researchers who linked the problem to canine distemper. Since then, Packer and others launched "Project Life-Lion", a massive campaign to vaccinate dogs who had never been innoculated for common canine diseases. Packer just returned from the Serengetti, where he checked in on colleagues who have vaccinated about 30,000 dogs so far.
December 28, 1999 - For decades, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has been cutting back on emissions from factory smokestacks, to protect the state's air. But today, the greatest threat to clean air in Minnesota is not smokestacks, but motor vehicles. PCA Commissioner Karen Studders says the agency is changing how it does business to take on this new threat. As part of Minnesota Public Radio's look ahead to the new year, MPR's Mary Losure talked with the head of the PCA about the state's growing air pollution problems.
December 28, 1999 - The holiday shopping season was supposed to be a big coming out party for online retailers. Shoppers by one estimate spent more than 3 billion dollars over the Internet during the holidays, and that's up from a negligible amount last year. But the real news may be how many of the biggest names in retailing have fallen short when it comes to processing orders and delivering goods when promised. Minnesota Public Radio's Tim Post looks at how some big local firms fared in the wild world of internet retailing.
December 29, 1999 - A "Minnesota Century" special - reports from Minnesota at the turn of the Century, 100 years ago.
December 29, 1999 - A state representative from Crookston wants to radically change the way the state raises money for road improvements. Crookston Democrat Bernie Lieder says because more motorists are avoiding the gas tax by driving cars that run on alternative fuels or electricity, it's time to replace the gas tax with a mileage tax.