July 14, 2000 - A Minnesota discus thrower is hoping the third time is the charm at the Olympic Track and Field trials in Sacramento this weekend. Kris Kuehl is the best woman discus thrower in the country. But in her two previous attempts to make the Olympic team, she came up short. Kuehl says she has an ideal body for throwing a discus; her arms and legs are very long and she uses them to her advantage in her pre-throw spin.
July 12, 2000 - Grant Dunstan set off last month for what he knew would be a long and difficult bike ride. But what he got was a whole lot worse than he expected. An impressive string of bad luck forced him to give up just two days into the 18-hundred mile trip from his home in Flagstaff, Arizona to his parents place in Virginia, Minnesota. Dunstan was riding to raise money for a friend who was paralyzed in a mountain biking accident last fall. He says the first leg of the trip was deceptively calm:
July 7, 2000 - MPR’s Lorna Benson interviews Alan Hunter, an animal geneticist, about G-E-N-E, the world's first cloned bovine... a three year-old Holstein bull who weighs about one ton. Gene is part of an exhibit at the Minnesota Zoo introducing visitors to the inner-workings of a typical family farm.
July 6, 2000 - Starting August First, when you renew your license or vehicle registration, you don't have to check a box to keep the state from selling your name to mailing lists. It may not seem like much of a change, but it's actually a major change in state policy. Currently, the Minnesota government makes 2-point-5 million dollars every year selling driver and vehicle information. Under the new system your name will only be sold if you check a box giving your permission. Brian Lamb, Director of Driver and Vehicle Services, says that the opt-in system brings the state in line with a 1999 federal law. It's not the same as some of the privacy bills that were before the legislature earlier this year, because everyone's information IS still available to certain people and organizations.
July 5, 2000 - When Qwest's buyout of US West was finalized last week, the new company agreed to give up long-distance service customers in the 14 states formerly served by US West. The federal government will not allow so-called baby bells, such as US West, to offer long distance service until they have competition to provide local service. The buyout gives Qwest a monopoly on local service in the 14 US West states, but the company wants to surrender that advantage so it can re-enter the long distance market. Lew Wilks, President of Internet and Multi-media markets at Qwest, says moving into the extremely competitive long distance market makes business sense.
July 4, 2000 - Dairy farmers across the region are protesting low milk prices today by dumping thousands of pounds of milk. The price of milk is less than 10 dollars for one-hundred pounds. Last September, farmers were getting six dollars more for the same amount. Mark Rohr has a 50 cow dairy operation in Bluffton, Minnesota. He says he hasn't seen prices this low for twenty two years.
July 4, 2000 - MPR’s Lorna Benson interviews Cathy Quinn, a crew leader on the eastern end of the Gunflint Trail. She says it may be two years before the clean-up is complete and speaks to the enormity of change to landscape.
July 3, 2000 - MPR’s Lorna Benson talks with Kevin Hennessy, an analyst for Total Sports Publications, about the Minnesota Twins signing starting pitcher Brad Radke to a new four-year contract worth a reported $36 million. The deal will keep the right-hander with the club through 2004. Radke joined the Twins in 1995. He would have been eligible for free agency at the end of this season.
June 27, 2000 - MPR’s Lorna Benson talks with reporter Dan Gunderson about Governor Jesse Ventura’s fourth leg of Tour 2000. The Governor began his day in Moorhead and by tomorrow will visit 12 Northwestern Minnesota cities to talk about flood relief, the state of agriculture, and business development.
June 13, 2000 - The Victorian grandeur of St. Paul's Summit Avenue and the dusty, noisy sewing rooms of the Pillsbury flour mills provide the backdrop for Minnesota native Mary Sharratt's debut novel "Summit Avenue." Set at the dawn of the first World War, Sharratt's tale follows the experiences of a young German immigrant who travels to America after the death of her mother, in the hopes of creating a better life. Sharratt says this period of American history is particularly interesting because of the many changes in society.