January 28, 1999 - One of Minnesota's largest industries is getting a boost from the new governor. Jesse Ventura's budget includes increasing the Office of Tourism's advertising budget by five MILLION dollars. The former wrestler and actor says Minnesota can exploit HIS entertainment background to make the state a worldwide vacation destination.
January 26, 1999 - Governor Ventura today named Ted Mondale to take over as chairman of the Metropolitan Council. The Council has a variety of Twin Cities-wide responsibilities... but Mondale and Ventura indicated MASS TRANSIT will be their number-one priority in the next few years.
January 19, 1999 - The House Tax Committee got its first chance to examine Governor Ventura's sales tax rebate today. Republicans - who would prefer an income tax rebate - are poking holes in the plan. DFL'ers on the committee like the idea.
January 19, 1999 - Minnesota's Commissioner of Natural Resources resigned today -- one week after Governor Ventura appointed him. Al Horner resigned after two DNR officials quit to protest what they regarded as his dismissive attitude toward the work of conservation officers.
January 18, 1999 - Governor Ventura and singer and actress Melba Moore were among the featured speakers today at the Martin Luther King holiday events in Saint Paul. The celebration began this morning with a rally at Central High School. Participants then marched down Marshall Avenue to a gathering at Concordia University.
January 18, 1999 - MPR’s Laura McCallum reports on Jesse Ventura’s lively inaugural bash as the 38th governor of Minnesota. Segment includes sounds and music clips from the event.
January 15, 1999 - Governor Ventura has outlined an education agenda that could add hundreds of millions of dollars to K-12 education. The Governor is also taking a new approach to his plan for lowering class sizes in the early grades.
January 14, 1999 - Governor Ventura today proposed a sales tax rebate plan which he says will get more money to the middle class than the House Republicans' income tax rebates would. Republicans say they'll keep an open mind, but they don't like the limits Ventura is putting on the size of rebates for wealthy Minnesotans.
January 13, 1999 - Governor Ventura filled three of the most important and visible jobs in his administration today. The commissioners of the Department of Natural Resources, the Department of Agriculture, and the Department of Children, Families & Learning.
January 12, 1999 - On MPR and Public Television last night, Governor Ventura declared the state should use SALES taxes as the guideline for returning the budget surplus to taxpayers. As Minnesota Public Radio's Martin Kaste reports, the Governor's comment has had an immediate effect at the state capitol.