June 21, 2001 - State employment figures confirm what newspapers have been experiencing. Between 1995 and 2000, the state added 55-thousand new jobs annually. This year we're down to 27-thousand new jobs. And with summer officially underway there's more competition for those jobs. Jay Mousa is sirector of research at the Minnesota Department of Economic Security. He says students are noticing a big change in this year's job hunt.
June 20, 2001 - The tornado that ripped through Siren, Wisconsin on the night of June 18th, 2001 also devastated the area of Mudhen Lake, where Richfield's Hope Presbyterian Church holds a summer camp. 53 third and fourth graders were gearing up for a week at Camp Ojibway. Now the camp is closed for the summer.
June 5, 2001 - (to follow William's Mauer profile) Some baseball observers had thought the Twins would go with U-S-C pitcher Mark Prior instead of Joe Mauer. But analyst Kevin Hennessy says the Twins were probably trying to improve their chances by choosing a local boy.
May 17, 2001 - Twins are now off to the best start in franchise history. In an interview with MPR’s Lorna Benson, baseball analyst Kevin Hennessy attributes most of the team's early success to good pitching.
May 16, 2001 - The Minnesota Lynx are in Oregon tonight for a WNBA exhibition game against the Portland Fire. The team won its first preseason matchup, beating Charlotte last Saturday. Minnesota players hope the franchise's third season will bring a few more wins than last year when the Lynx finished with a record of 15 wins and 17 losses. Even though it was a losing year for the team, rookie Betty Lennox had a standout season. She averaged nearly 17 points a game and was the league's fifth leading shooter from three-point range. AND she was the only rookie selected by coaches for the All Star game. Lennox grew up playing hoops in her driveway with her five brothers. She says they were tough on her, but they helped prepare her for the WNBA.
May 14, 2001 - Marv Koep, the fishing guide for Governor Ventura's fishing opener, discusses what he is expecting and how he is preparing for the big day. He says he's excited to have such a colorful governor in his charge, but he's also a little nervous.
May 10, 2001 - MPR’s Lorna Benson interviews David Gisch, the Emergency Preparedness coordinator for Dakota County, about damage assessment after several tornadoes and funnel clouds touched down along a path south of the Twin Cities. Gisch says the damage is most severe in a farming area just east of Northfield.
May 10, 2001 - It should have been one of the most memorable disasters of World War 2, but the sinking of the USS Indianapolis took a backseat to a much bigger historical event ... the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan. The Indianapolis actually played a very important role in that event. Days earlier, it delivered the bomb's components to a U.S. military base on a tiny island in the south Pacific. It was a top secret job that the USS Indianapolis wasn't supposed to be a part of until fate intervened. Author Doug Stanton explains what happened in his new book "In Harm's Way."
May 9, 2001 - MPR’s Lorna Benson interviews Twins outfielder Matt Lawton, who predicts the Twins will continue to do well as long as their pitchers keep it together. The Minnesota Twins are dominating the defending World Champs, winning three of four games against the New york Yankees so far this season.
May 2, 2001 - MPR’s Lorna Benson interviews Minnesota Twins outfielder Torii Hunter, who has been with the team since he was drafted right out of high school in 1993. Hunter says he didn't get serious about baseball until he turned 15, because he was obsessed with another sport…football.