February 6, 2002 - Local leaders and policy makers are gathering in St. Paul today for a conference on workforce development. The group will discuss ways to help low-wage workers and improve the workforce at the same time. Elaine Ryan, the Government Affairs Director for a Washington DC-based group that represents state and local human service agencies, will present the keynote address. She'll discuss how welfare reform has affected the workforce, and she's on the line now. That's Elaine Ryan who's in St. Paul today to give the keynote address at a conference on workforce development. By the way, Governor Ventura will be at the conference as well. He's expected to make an announcement about how he's merging two departments: Trade and Economic Development, and Economic Security.
February 6, 2002 - The Fosston High School girls basketball team is on quite a streak. This week, the team set a state record for consectutive wins... SEVENTY games in a row. That surpassed the record set by the Edina boys from 1966 to 68. And it's not over yet. Rochelle Horn coaches the Fosston Greyhounds, and she's on the line now.
February 5, 2002 - A report released today traces the welfare of newborns over the past ten years. The report, which is based on data from the National Center for Health Statistics, considers factors that help kids get off to a healthy start... factors like prenatal care and low teen birth rates. It was produced by two research organizations-- Kids Count, and Child Trends. The results show Minnesota newborns get off to a good start, while the numbers are less impressive in Minneapolis. Diane Benjamin heads up the Kids Count project for the Children's Defense Fund in Minnesota, and she's on the line now.
February 4, 2002 - Good Morning, I'm Cathy Wurzer. Most mornings we broadcast this program from the Minnesota Public Radio headquarters in St. Paul, but today I am coming to you from our studio's in Duluth. This is the first in what we hope will be a series of special programs about the places we live. We want to find out what brought people to this place and why they stayed. Before we came up for this broadcast, we asked our listeners in the Duluth area to call and tell us why they choose to live here. This is a sampling of what they had to say.
February 4, 2002 - Ice climbing is only one of many activities that gets people up here outside in the wintertime. Sam Cook writes about outdoor recreation for the Duluth-News Tribune and he joins me this morning in the studio.
February 4, 2002 - Good Morning, I'm Cathy Wurzer and this morning I am coming to you from our studios in Duluth. We've brought Morning Edition to the Twin Ports to learn about the area and explore what makes this part of Minnesota unique. Well, anyone who lives here will tell you that if there's one thing that's unique about Duluth, it's the weather. University of Minnesota Meteorologist and Climatologist Mark Seeley says there are two main reasons that the weather here is so unusual.
January 31, 2002 - The Minneapolis Institute of Arts has acquired a rare Chinese sculpture of a horse from the Han (HAWN) Dynasty in the first Century. It's one of only 11 such works known to exist in the world, and will be the only one on public display in the United States. It's called the "Celestial Horse," and it stands almost 4 feet high. Joining us on the line is Dr. Robert Jacobsen, Senior Curator of Asian Art at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.
January 30, 2002 - That was Minnesota DFL Senator Paul Wellstone.
January 25, 2002 - Two weeks from today in Salt Lake City, Utah the 2002 Olympic Winter Games will begin. One sport that has produced many medals for the United States over the years is speedskating. Tom Cushman of Roseville, Minnesota was on the US speedskating team in 1988 and now he's coaching at least four and possibly five speedskaters who will be on this year's US team. Tom joins us now from Salt Lake City. Tom says Witty is getting better every day and he is confident that she will be close to full strength when it's time for her to compete.
January 22, 2002 - The mayor of St. Cloud will meet with state legislators later today to see what the state can do to save Fingerhut. The parent company of Fingerhut -- Federate Department Stores -- said last week that it plans to shut Fingerhut down if a new buyer isn't found. Two businessmen have emerged saying they're thinking about bidding for the struggling catalogue retailer. St. Cloud has 2700 Fingerhut jobs. Joe Opatz (OH-pats) is a DFL member of the Committee who represents part of St. Cloud. He says there are a number of things the state can do to help Fingerhut.