March 26, 2002 -
March 25, 2002 - MPR’s Lorna Benson talks with capitol reporter Michael Khoo about Minnesota House expected to vote on a ballpark financing plan first proposed by Governor Jesse Ventura's administration.
March 21, 2002 - (NOTE: This has not been edited) The Minnesota Twins are celebrating a House committee's approval of new ballpark legislation. The House Ways and Means committee voted 22-to-6 late last night (WEDNESDAY) in favor of a bill modelled closely on a financing plan offered by Governor Jesse Ventura last week. The plan envisions a limited role for the state's contribution -- but the version approved in committee would give a host community the option of raising local taxes to help fund the project. Minnesota Public Radio's Michael Khoo reports.
March 20, 2002 - (NOTE1: This has not been edited.) (NOTE2: This was written when it appeared Kennedy would NOT make a decision Tuesday night -- but it's 12:15am EST and no one is answering phones at his office or returning numerous messages. If he DOES make a decision, then you'll have to spike this pkg and come up with a new Morning Edition feature for the Congressional redistricting.) New political districts drawn by a special state court panel could pit two of the state's incumbent Congressmen against each other in the fall. The map has paired DFLer Bill Luther and Republican Mark Kennedy in a newly constituted 6th District. The panel released the Congressional map -- along with a new state Legislative map -- yesterday (TUESDAY) after lawmakers failed to meet a deadline for completing the task themselves. Minnesota Public Radio's Michael Khoo has more.
March 18, 2002 -
March 15, 2002 -
March 15, 2002 -
March 14, 2002 - MPR’s Michael Khoo reports that a Twins ballpark bill has limped across the finish line in the Senate. It's the first time a stadium bill has succeeded in the House or Senate since 1997. The bill survived several potentially lethal amendments and passed only after lawmakers scaled back a proposed statewide tax on sports memorabilia.
March 13, 2002 -
March 13, 2002 - BENSON: The Senate this afternoon passed a Twins stadium bill after seven hours of debate and legislative maneuvering. The plan is now on hold until the House takes similar action -- and ballpark supporters acknowledge significant obstacles remain. Minnesota Public Radio's Michael Khoo followed today's debate and joins us now from the Capitol. Michael, why did it take so long for the Senate to reach a decision? KHOO: Lorna, ballpark legislation comes with considerable baggage from past debates -- and supporters of the current bill had to navigate some tricky waters to create a deal that enough lawmakers could support. As a result, amendment after amendment was offered to make the bill more palatable -- including diverting some funding to affordable housing or transportation or airport noise mitigation or requiring the pledge of allegiance before games are played. Most of those attempts failed, but the bill did pick up what Dean Johnson calls "barnacles" relating to housing and airport noise. Johnson's a DFLer from Willmar and the bill's sponsor. The bill also had to appease legislators from St. Paul and Minneapolis and ensure both sides that NEITHER was favored in terms of where a ballpark might be sited. BENSON: There were several close calls -- and more than once it seemed like the bill might fail. What happened? KHOO: Well, at one point, the bill was amended to give St. Paul more or less the right of first refusal if a ballpark is ever built. That would have cost the support of Minneapolis lawmakers and almost certainly would have sunk the bill. But after more maneuvering and some changed votes, that pro-St. Paul provision was neutralized. On final passage, however, the bill failed to get the three-fifths supermajority needed to pass a statewide sports memorabilia tax. That seemed to doom the package for good -- but it was revived and the statewide tax was reduced to a metropolitan-only tax. That meant the bill could proceed on a simply majority. It did: 37-to-30.