June 12, 2001 - Many of you have thoughts on the nurses strike. Here are some of the comments that were left on our Soap Box feature at Minnesota Public Radio dot o-r-g. Frank from Minneapolis writes-- This strike isn't about patient care, it is about greed. Nurses are not the only people who work in hospitals who have stressful jobs. There are many people who work for far less money, and their jobs are just as stressful. The difference is, patient care is their number-one concern, not union solidarity. Kate from St. Paul writes-- I'm just sick of a system that forces nurses to strike in order to be heard. I realize that the people I contact most often in the health-care system are nurses. I might see a doctor for a two-minute diagnosis, but the nurses have to provide the bulk of ongoing emotional and physical care. I think they should make more money.
May 28, 2001 - Whether you're out hunting turkeys, camping or doing anything outdoors this Memorial Day weekend, chances are you're fighting mosquitos. A wet spring followed by a hot spurt two weeks ago means there's a bumper crop of the pesky bugs. But there IS one part of the state where some people say there are almost NO mosquitos. It's bluff country, in southeastern Minnesota. The area is slightly west of the Mississippi, and is marked by limestone cliffs and deep valleys. Dave Palmquist is an interpretive naturalist at Whitewater State Park, about 20 miles east of Rochester and in bluff country. He says the area has so few mosquitos because of its geography.
May 25, 2001 - MPR's Morning Edition, Friday, May 25, 2001 Topic Ice problems in Siberia Having suffered through one of the toughest winters in recent memory, residents of Siberian Russian have been fighting floods this month along the Lena River.
May 23, 2001 - MPR’s Cathy Wurzer interviews Minnesota musicians John Koerner and Peter Ostroushko about tribute CD for Bob Dylan and their personal memories of the famed musician.
May 15, 2001 - America's war on drugs is almost 30 years old now and costs taxpayers $40 billion dollars a year. Those who fight the war on drugs point to successes: drug cartels busted, tons of drugs confiscated, drug dealers jailed. Yet, today the price of cocaine is at an all-time low, the purity of heroin is at an all time high, and new designer drugs, such as ecstasy and methamphetamines, are everywhere. Illegal drugs are part of the fabric of American life. The following is an excerpt from a new hour-long special from American RadioWorks, "America's Drug War." Host Deborah Amos explains that one of the hardest parts of the business for the drug lords is managing the profits.
May 10, 2001 - Now that trees are budding and the ground is warming up, officials at the Carlos Avery Wildlife Management Area are assessing the damage from a large wildfire. About 6500 acres of state forest, grassland, and wetland went up in flames last October. The fire burned for eight days, and cost an estimated two million dollars. I visited the area with manager Dan Rhode. He says the fire was strong enough to cause a good amount of damage.
May 9, 2001 - One week from today, Timothy McVeigh will be executed for bombing the federal building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. One of the people who will be there to witness the execution is Kay Fulton who lives in Red Wing, Minnesota. Fulton's brother, Paul Ice, was killed in the blast, along with 167 other people. Fulton was three blocks away when the bomb went off, and she saw part of the explosion... but she says she didn't immediately know that her brother had been killed.
May 4, 2001 - MPR's Morning Edition, Friday, May 4, 2001 Topic New voices for NOAA Weather Radio The National Weather Service is conducting an online poll to test the public reaction to new synthesized computer voices for broadcasting over the NOAA Weather Radio system.
May 3, 2001 - One of Minnesota's award-winning children's authors is out with a new book. Kate Dicamillo's won the Newbery Honor for her first story, "Because of Winn-Dixie." Now she's written "The Tiger Rising," which follows a boy named Rob, his friend Sistine, and a live tiger Rob finds while walking through the Florida woods. Dicamillo says her main goal was to write a good story.
May 3, 2001 - The Dalai Lama will arrive in Minnesota on Monday. The Buddhist monk is the religious and political leader of the Tibetan government in exile. He is well-known throughout the world for his non-violent philosophies. One Minnesota lawmaker says he won't attend when the Dalai Lama addresses the Minnesota Legislature. Republican representative Arlon Linder said earlier this week that Buddhism is considered a cult. We asked Roger Jackson, a Professor of Religion at Carleton College in Northfield, to define Buddhism.