January 2, 2001 - Two Minneapolis lawyers are at Angola Prison in Louisianna today, preparing for the release of their client --death row inmate Albert Ronnie Burrell. Steve Pincus and Chuck Lloyd have been working on Burrell's case pro bono since 1991. Burrell was sentenced to death in 1987 for the shooting deaths of an elderly couple. Today, a judge granted Burrell a new trial and the state dismissed the charges agaist him, allowing him to walk free. I spoke with Chuck Lloyd on his way to the prison earlier this afternoon. He says when he read the transcript of Burrell's original trial, it didn't seem to hold together:
January 2, 2001 - Winona Knits announced today it's closing eleven of its twelve retail stores across the country. The company began in the 1970s as an outgrowth of Winona Knitting Mills and sells high-end sweaters, mittens and other apparel. Stores in six states will close but the company will keep its namesake store in Winona. CEO Pete Woodsworth says the closings allow Winona Knits to focus on its internet and catalog divisions:
December 29, 2000 - Ann Bancroft and Liv Arnesen have crossed more than one-third of Antarctica in their attempt to become the first women to traverse the continent under their own power; and they join Lorna Benson to discuss the trip so far.
December 19, 2000 - If you're in the midst of a cookie disaster or your fudge isn't looking so good, help is just a phone call away. For the past 11 years, thousands of frenzied cooks have called the Land O'Lakes Holiday Bakeline for tips on how to fix runny frosting, speed-thaw a frozen turkey, or jazz up mashed potatoes.
December 18, 2000 - U-S News and World Report has named a University Of Minnesota Reseacher one of the nation's ten leading innovators in science and technology. Dr. Catherine Verfaillie heads the University's new Stem Cell Research Institute. Stem Cells are the so-called "mother cells" that have the ability to divide for indefinite periods and give rise to specialized cells in the body. Verfaillie came to Minnesota in 1987 after studying medicine in her native Belgium. I asked her how she became interested in stem cell research:
December 14, 2000 - A Minnesota attorney hopes the influence of the American legal system will help Kosovo recover. Greg Gisvold is taking a two year leave of absence from his job with a Twin Cities law firm to direct the American Bar Association's Central and Eastern European Law Initiative in Kosovo. He says the main objective is to develop the rule of law in Kosovo, in part by rewriting criminal and property codes and establishing a bar association for lawyers. But Gisvold says it will be challenging to overcome the 12 years of repression under the Milosevic regime.
December 7, 2000 - American chestnut trees, once wide-spread and widely used for food and timber, are all but gone due to a devastating fungus brought to this country in the late 1800s on mail-ordered Japanese chestnut trees. But scientists believe in another year or two they may begin reversing that trend, when they complete the final hybrid crosses of disease-resistant chestnuts. Agricultural scientist Sandra Anagnostakis (Ahnahg-nose-tahKEES) is with the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station where the chestnut breeding program has been underway since 1930.
December 6, 2000 - Photographer Annie Leibovitz is in the Twin Cities tonight promoting the paperback edition of her picturebook called "Women." The book is a departure for Leibovitz who is most recognized for her glossy celebrity photographs in Vanity Fair and Vogue. "Women" does contain shots of actresses lounging in their underwear, but it also includes photos of ordinary women who make their living doing all sorts of odd and not-so-odd jobs. Leibovitz says she wanted the collection to show who women are and what they look like, but initially she wasn't sure her idea would work:
December 5, 2000 - The second hour of Midday and the latest edition of our "Voices of Minnesota" series features the recently retired Catholic Bishop of New Ulm, Raymond Lucker. During his twenty five years of service, his outspoken and liberal views were often controversial. The program also includes Rabbi Bernard Raskes interview and Dan Gunderson report on faith-based healing.
November 20, 2000 - In his new book "Postville" author Stephen Bloom examines the conflict that erupted when a group of Hasidic Jews from New York moved to a small Iowa town in the late 1980s and opened a kosher slaughterhouse. The relationship began on a friendly note, with the locals welcoming the Jews who were bringing hundreds of jobs to the economically depressed region. But soon the relationship soured and when the locals lobbied in favor of a referendum to annex the slaughterhouse, the Jews claimed anti-semitism was fueling the vote. For Bloom, the clash of cultures was particularly interesting since he too, is a Jewish man who traded in big city life for Iowa cornfields.