October 2, 2001 - No new talks are scheduled on day two of the largest labor strike in state history. As many as 28-thousand workers walked off the job Monday over better pay and health insurance. Those workers include, among others, Capitol security guards, highway maintenaince workers, and probation officers. Their absence has remaining workers doing jobs they don't usually do. State troopers are fielding 911 calls, National Guard troops are changing bedpans, and senior officials are doing clerical work. This is the first such walkout in Minnesota since 1981. Former DFL lawmaker Wayne Simoneau chaired the Employee Relations Committee in the Minnesota House during the last strike. Two years ago he managed labor negotiations for Governor Ventura and before that for former Governor Arne Carlson. He says pressure on the state will continue to build each day of the strike-- and he says, a couple of things are already happening that do not bode well for the state.
October 2, 2001 - All Things Considered’s Lorna Benson talks with reporter Tom Scheck about Governor Ventura’s visit to New York City to meet with bond officials and pay respects at the World Trade Center site, where Ventura and wife Terry delivered 9,000 cards from Minnesota to the relief workers at the World Trade Center.
October 1, 2001 - The Bush administration has approved tens of millions of dollars in relief aid to Afghan refugees. The move is intended in part to quell resentment in Pakistan as the country absorbs a large number of displaced Afghanis. Up to 15,000 refugees have entered Pakistan since September 11th. About 20,000 have congregated on the Afghan side of the now-closed Pakistani border. A Wisconsin man is headed back to Pakistan tomorrow to provide aid for refugees on both sides of the Pakistan border. Onalaska's Sigurd Hanson is the director of the International Rescue Committee's program in Pakistan and Afghanistan. We reached him in Bangkok. He says the situation in Afghanistan is desperate.
September 27, 2001 - Negotiators for the state and the two unions did return to the bargaining table today in an effort to avoid a strike next week. The talks were originally set for two weeks ago, but both sides agreed to put them on hold in the immediate aftermath of the East Coast attacks. Though workers say they're still set to strike Monday morning, walking off the job now raises a different set of implications than it did before September 11th. Mario Bognanno (BOHN-yah-noh) is a professor of Industrial Relations at the Carlson School of Management. He has studied the frequency and duration of strikes during two other national crises-- World War II and the Korean War. We asked him for some historical perspective.
September 26, 2001 - Northwest Airlines has announced it will provide help to about 55-hundred employees who've lost their jobs in the recent round of job reductions. Meanwhile, lawmakers met today to discern the scope of the problems facing airlines based in the state to understand what, if any help, the state can provide. Minnesota Public Radio's Andrew Haeg joins us with details. LB: Minnesota Public Radio's Andrew Haeg is in the studio, Andrew what exactly is Northwest offering its workers?
September 25, 2001 - There has been a lower demand for air travel and that also means low demand for jet fuel. In turn, that will help bring down the price of gas.
September 20, 2001 - Major airlines aren't the only part of the aviation industry hit hard by last week's terrorist attack. Many flight schools are struggling to continue teaching in the face of flight bans enacted by the Federal Aviation Administration. Last night, the FAA lifted some restrictions on small aircraft... but kept a full ban on training flights in place. Bruce Smith is Dean of the University of North Dakota's School of Aerospace Sciences. He says until the FAA lifts the ban, UND's 900 flight program students are grounded. He says he doesn't know why the FAA hasn't lifted the ban.
September 13, 2001 - US stock markets will re-open on Monday at 9:30am Eastern time, after being closed for four days. This has been the longest shutdown of the stock market since the Great Depression. Local financial planner Ross Levin says he's been fielding many calls from concerned investors.
September 7, 2001 - On Tuesday, primary voters in Minneapolis and St. Paul will narrow a large field of mayoral candidates to two in each city. Here on Morning Edition we've been giving you a chance to hear from the candidates for mayor of Minneapolis. Today, an interview with Bill McGaughey (Ma-GOY). McGaughey is a landlord and a self-publisher. He lives in the Harrison neighborhood of North Minneapolis, and has been in the city for over 12 years. He says affordable housing is the biggest issue facing the city, and the solution is to let the free market work.
September 7, 2001 - Cathy Wurzer visits St. Andrew's Lutheran Church in Mahtomedi, which is installing a 1927 Casavant pipe organ, one of the largest of its kind in the upper Midwest. The instrument was restored by Schantz Organ Company in Ohio. It has more than 7,000 original and restored pipes, the smallest the size of a pencil...the largest 32-feet high weighing over 1,000 pounds.