April 18, 2002 - Cities and counties across the state participated in a statewide tornado drill earlier this afternoon as part of Minnesota's Severe Weather Awareness Week. And in about a half an hour, many communities will activate their sirens as part of a second OPTIONAL drill scheduled for 6:55 tonight. But officials are concerned that in areas with ACTUAL severe weather tonight, residents might ignore "REAL" warning sirens -- thinking they're just drills. Barbara Fonkert is coordinating today's drills for the Division of Emergency Management. She says residents should always confirm what the drill means by listening to their weather radio or local broadcasters.
April 12, 2002 - Tonight Minnesota's literary community will gather at the Fitzgerald Theater in St Paul to celebrate the years's top books. The 14th annual Minnesota Book Awards identifies the best in popular fiction, anthology, and children's literature among others. Minnesota book critic and independent book seller Brad Zellar says it says a lot about the state that so many small presses are competing.
April 11, 2002 - Projections show the state's population could increase by one million people in the next 30 years, pushing us closer to gridlock UNLESS policy makers can agree on a long-term transportation strategy. Some of those policy makers shared their ideas for fixing transporation in a summit at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute.
April 8, 2002 - University officials say they will announce on Wednesday a plan outlining the future of the school's athletics departments. One possibility calls for merging the women's and men's departments. The University's board of regents will consider the plan when it meets on Friday. Board chair Maureen Reed says the main argument for merging the departments is fiscal:
April 8, 2002 - The Gopher hockey team continues its championship celebration tonight. Team members will drop the puck at the Minnesota Wild game in St. Paul. The Gophers beat Maine in overtime Saturday night to win their first N-C-A-A championship since 1979. Meanwhile the Wild has lost its last five games. There are just four games left in the season including tonight's match-up against San Jose. Star Tribune N-H-L reporter Tom Jones says the Gopher's victory comes at a perfect time for the Wild.
March 29, 2002 - MPR’s Lorna Benson interviews Kurt Badenhausen, a senior editor at Forbes Magazine, who estimates the Minnesota Twins are worth $127 million…up from $99 million in the previous year. The jump in value was the second largest in major league baseball. Still, the Twins rank 29th out of 30 teams, ahead of only the Montreal Expos.
March 26, 2002 - Andrew Zimbalist, a professor of economics at Smith College and the author of a book called Baseball and Billions, comments on local stadium actions. Fifty St. Paul business owners started a campaign against a proposed food, beverage, and lodging tax to fund a Twins stadium, while Minnesota House approved a bill for a $330 million open-air stadium that allows the host city to levy the tax to help repay bonds.
March 25, 2002 - MPR’s Lorna Benson talks with capitol reporter Michael Khoo about Minnesota House expected to vote on a ballpark financing plan first proposed by Governor Jesse Ventura's administration.
March 25, 2002 - Minnesota-based American Refugee Committee is allowing relief worker Frank Anderson, Jr to continue his work in Pakistan. Last week, the U.S. State Department ordered embassy dependents and nonessential staff in Pakistan to leave. State Department officials also issued a global warning, saying they continue to receive credible reports that extremists are plannin terrorist acts against Americans worldwide. Anderson says he's following the Embassy's advice about ways to protect himself:
March 20, 2002 - Spring is officially underway and so is the annual bird migration. Soon Minnesotans will see millions of robins, ducks, cranes and geese as they make their way north. Three years ago at this time, Englishman William Fiennes, was on his own North American journey following migrating snow geese from the plains of Texas to frigid Baffin Island ... an adventure he recounts in his new book, "The Snow Geese." Fiennes says his fascination with the birds was peaked after he read a book by Paul Gallico called "The Snow Goose." The story is about a migrating bird that gets blown off course, is shot down over England by a hunter and then saved by a lonely artist who provides sanctuary for the goose. Fiennes says he was haunted by the snow goose tale because it mirrored some of the circumstances of his life at the time.