October 12, 2001 - Sponsors of a new reward fund hope to reenergize investigations of some of Minnesota's unsolved murders. Spotlight on crime is a 1 and a half million dollar fund established by Minnesota businesses and individual contributors. The first three rewards were announced around the region Thursday. Minnesota Public Radio's Cara Hetland reports:
September 27, 2001 - Lightning started nearly two dozen fires this summer in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Many were small and easily contained. Some were larger and took weeks to put out. Recently hot spots sparked in 17 different locations in the vast pine covered hills. It's been just over a year since the largest fire ever burned in the Black Hills. The blaze dubbed the "Jasper" fire burned nearly 7 percent of the forest. Some roads in the area will reopen for the first time, tomorrow. The fire has some pointing to government management of the Black Hills National Forest as the cause, with predictions of even more devasting fires to come. Mainstreet Radio's Cara Hetland reports:
September 25, 2001 - As our nation faces a new kind of war, much has been made about what has changed in our world. Even our appreciation of history, is evolving. In 1991, then President George Bush signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. Hundreds of missile silos and launch facilities in the Midwest were demolished. The START agreement provided that one silo and launch command center be preserved to teach future generations about the Cold War and contemplate the power of nuclear weapons. Mainstreet Radio's Cara Hetland takes us to two sites in South Dakota, a minuteman missile silo and launch command that have a new assignment.
September 13, 2001 - Congress will take up two new resolutions this week. One will increase the president's authority to react to this weeks attacks in New York and Washington. The second resolution provides emergency supplemental funding. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota held the first ever joint caucus today with all members of congress to discuss the resolutions. Minnesota Public Radio's Cara Hetland reports:
August 29, 2001 - South Dakota becomes the final state in the nation to allow cameras in the courtroom. Today (Wednesday) and tomorrow (Thursday) the South Dakota Supreme Court will allow video and audio coverage of oral arguments. For years, South Dakota and Mississippi were the only holdouts among the 50 states. There's an effort in congress - called the "Sunshine in the Courtroom" act to open federal courtrooms to television and radio coverage. While history is being made today in South Dakota, present practice shows even when courtrooms are open to cameras, rarely are cases covered. Mainstreet Radio's Cara Hetland reports:
August 13, 2001 - Somewhere in South Dakota today eight teenagers will light a cigarette for the first time and three adults will die from a smoking related illness. A recent Surgeon General's report shows South Dakota leads the nation with the highest rate of female teenage smokers. Anti-smoking advocates say the ranking shows the state is behind in anti-smoking campaigns and programs - but teenagers say those programs wouldn't prevent them from lighting up. Mainstreet Radio's Cara Hetland reports:
July 12, 2001 - It appears the outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Britain is largely over. Since mid February, more than 17-hundred cases were reported. Many US farmers took precautions to limit foreign visitors as a way to prevent the spread of the disease. But some Minnesota farmers were still willing to take exchange students from infected countries to live and work on their farms. Mainstreet Radio's Cara Hetland reports two brothers decided the benefit of learning from students outweighed the risk of bringing the devastating livestock disease to their farm.
July 5, 2001 - South Dakota's child mortality rate is among the highest in the nation. A recent Kids Count Survey ranks South Dakota 49th for deaths among children. There were two homicides in Sioux Falls last year, both were babies shaken to death. As a way to give kids a better start in life, Governor Bill Janklow ordered a pilot program to send nurses into the homes of young women who are raising a child on their own or, without much support. Janklow says the home visits help moms improve their own health, have healthier babies and become better parents. In it's first year the Bright Start program is at capacity with 234 new moms in Sioux Falls and Rapid City. Mainstreet Radio's Cara Hetland spent the last six months following one young woman. They met for the first time, the day she became a new mom.
June 27, 2001 - A White House spokesman says President Bush is ready to compromise but wants some limits on the right of patients to sue. President Bush is meeting with House Republicans this afternoon. South Dakota Senator Tom Daschle says the Senate's version of the Patient Bill of Rights is five years of compromise and he's determined to pass the legislation before adjourning for summer recess. Daschle is using his new authority as Senate majority leader to acknowledge his home state roots, while adding an intense layer of political arm twisting to his national constituency. Minnesota Public Radio's Cara Hetland attended a round table discussion between South Dakota doctors and the state's most powerful leader.
May 17, 2001 - Foot and Mouth disease is a major threat to the United States. It could wipe out the entire livestock population of South Dakota.