November 10, 2000 - Some Democrats are blaming The Green Party and Ralph Nader, in part, for the closeness of the presidential election. They say Nader and his backers cost Al Gore thousands of votes in Florida and other states in Tuesday's election. Nader's running mate, Winona LaDuke, says that the criticism of Nader is misplaced.
November 8, 2000 - Some Star-tribune readers woke up to the headline "Bush Wins Cliffhanger." The paper was not alone in calling the race prematurely... newspapers from the New York Post to the Charleston Gazette declared a Bush triumph in their first editions, only to find out later that the race was and IS STILL too close to call. Pam Fine is Managing Editor at the Star Tribune. She says the decision to go with headline was made just after network t.v stations called the race in Bush's favor:
November 7, 2000 - Minnesota's first significant winter storm is underway. Greg Gust is the lead forcaster with the National Weather Service in Grand Forks, North Dakota. He says the storm is just starting to pick up steam over western Minnesota and eastern North Dakota.
November 6, 2000 - MPR’s Lorna Benson interviews Yer Moua, a Hmong woman about her concerns and views as a voter. Speaking through her daughter, Mai Ning Moua, Yer said that although this will be her first U.S. election, this wont be her first time in a voting booth.
October 25, 2000 - In what may be a discovery of national significance, archeologists have found over 100 prehistoric charcoal drawings in western Wisconsin. The pictures on the walls of the three chamber sandstone caves depict birds, deer, geometric shapes and human bowhunters. Some of these types of designs have never been seen before. Archaeologist Ernie Boszhardt, with the Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, says it's the most comprehensive rock art collection of any one site on this region:
October 23, 2000 - In two weeks, Minneapolis voters will decide whether to approve $110-million dollars for a new Central Library. The current building, located between Hennepin and Nicollet Avenues, was built in 1961 and is already packed with more than two and a half million books, magazines tapes and videos, most of which are locked away from the public, accessible only through a librarian. Last week the library began offering tours of its extensive "stacks" collection to let the public see some of its hidden treasures. Officials say the hour-and-a-half tours are not linked to the upcoming vote for a new library.
October 20, 2000 - David Sturrock, an Associate Professor at Southwest State University in Marshall, Minnesota, says Minnesota is not alone this year in defying its usual voting patterns.
October 17, 2000 - The final presidential debate will go on as scheduled despite the sudden death of the Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan. We asked two local political analysts how the town hall style debate, with questions from audience members, will affect the candidates. Democrat Sara Stoesz expects Gore to thrive in the format: Republican Tom Horner expects that Bush will do better tonight than in either of the earlier face-offs.
October 16, 2000 - MNDOT ramp study project manager Mike Sobolewski says the first known case of ramp metering occurred in 1963 on the Eisenhower Expressway in Chicago.
October 16, 2000 - Gus Hall, the American Communist Party leader and frequent presidential candidate has died. He was 90 years old. Hall was born Arvo Gustav Hallberg in Virginia on Minnesota's Iron Range. Both his parents were immigrants from Finland. Hall joined the local Communist club when he was fourteen because his father was the head of the group. He told Minnesota Public Radio in an interview several years ago... his support for socialism and unions started in northern Minnesota lumber camps. Workers there, he said, were paid a dollar a day and were virtual prisoners in the isolated, tar-paper-shack encampments.