March 27, 1998 - Miles Lunak moved to St. Peter from New Prague in 1930 to start his own shoe repair business. People said he would not make it. There were already three cobblers in town. But when Miles closes his shop at the end of March, there won't be any. Minnesota Public Radio's Lynette Nyman has this story. The slow speed limit on Minnesota Ave through downtown St. Peter doesn't keep people from missing the town's last shoe repair shop. There is no sign on Miles Lunak's store. He removed it because he has got plenty of business from around town.
March 17, 1998 - When you think of Minnesota tourist spots, you probably don't think of Owatonna. But that may change when Cabela's, one of the nation's biggest sellers of sporting goods, opens a retail entertainment complex on I 35. Cabela's ships out 60 million catalogs every year, and a couple of million of the company's customers could bring changes to Owatonna. Minnesota Public Radio's Lynette Nyman reports.
January 29, 1998 - At the Capitol this afternoon the Senate Agriculture Committee will hear public testimony on what may be the most divisive issue in rural Minnesota: the future of large livestock operations and the environmental problems they cause. The Legislature will consider whether to impose a moratorium on these 'factory farms'. The next feedlot might be just south of St. Peter, in Nicollet County. Many area residents oppose construction of the dairy feedlot, a place for feeding and holding livestock. Farmers and non-farmers alike are fighting the state's potential approval of it. Supporters counter that big dairy is the only way to save Minnesota's dairy tradition. Minnesota Public Radio's Lynette Nyman has this report.