July 23, 2001 - More than one-thousand delegates from 47-countries are in Duluth today for the Joint International Summit on Community and Rural Development. Researchers, policy makers and community leaders have gathered to discuss ways to strengthen and build up rural communities. In preparation for the conference, about two hundred people have been logging on to rural-policy-forum-dot-org to share their thoughts about how to change rural public policy. Now their ideas are part of a survey for Summit participants. Marcie McLaughlin, Executive Director of Minnesota Rural Partners helped launch the rural policy forum. She says the on-line discussions help highlight the specific challenges facing rural communities:
July 20, 2001 - High unemployment and homelessness are some of the greatest problems facing southwestern Minnesota's low income population according to a new Wilder Foundation report. The non-profit surveyed emergency assistance organizations in the regions mostly rural counties. Greg Owen is the Wilder foundation researcher who prepared the report. He says overall the population of Southwestern Minnesota is declining, but people who are moving to the area, are likely to need community resources:
July 16, 2001 - Ten members of the Minneapolis Green Party filed as candidates today for city council, school board and park commissioner. The grassroots organization just gained major party status in last year's election, which could account for the largest filing of Green Party members in the state's history. Holle Brian, Green Party Chair for the fifth district, says the pool of candidates is diverse:
July 13, 2001 - Many University of Minnesota students fear they will have to drop out of school because of the 13.3 percent tuition hike approved Thursday by the Board of Regents. The hike is expected to increase the demand for financial aid. Annually, the state awards one hundred million dollars. Bob Poch, Executive Director of Minnesota's Higher Education Services Office which distributes the grants, says the change in state tuition costs will affect the amount of aid available.
July 11, 2001 - Weekly visits to a local farmers market have become an important summer tradition for many Minnesotans. Farmers markets offer an abundance of home grown produce as well as arts, crafts and even music. City Pages Restaurant Critic Dara Moskowitz has toured many Twin Cities choices and stopped by to talk about them.
July 10, 2001 - All Things Considered’s Lorna Benson interviews Kit Borgman, communications director for the Minnesota Department of Trade and Economic Development, about trade with Canada. Borgman says Minnesota exports a variety of products to our northern neighbor.
July 10, 2001 - Dry conditions have prompted a number of Minnesota cities to enact water restrictions. Public Works Supervisor Doug Hartman. In Prior Lake, officials have issued an emergency ban on all outdoor watering. Hartman says new water emergency means Prior Lake's 15,000 residents face steeper fines for violations.
July 3, 2001 - The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency says air pollution levels in the Twin Cities last week jumped to the highest levels since the nineteen seventies. Temperatures in the nineties and hot, stagant air mixed with high levels of auto emissions increased the amount of ozone and other toxins causing a health alert for three days. David Thornton, a specialist with the agency's Policy and Planning Division says some areas of the Twin Cities reported worse levels than others:
June 25, 2001 - Disaster clean-up officials in Siren, Wisconsin say they need more volunteers. Yesterday only about 350 people showed up to help remove debris following a tornado that swept through the area a week ago. That number is down from a high of 1,100 volunteers last Wednesday. Jim Bishop, the Emergency Information Officer for Burnett County, says they will use all the help they get:
May 25, 2001 - The Metropolitan Airports Commission and Northwest Airlines have reached a tentative agreement on some key issues affecting the airline's future in the Twin Cities. After ninety days of discussions, the MAC agreed to extend its largest tenant's lease for another fourteen years. The airport will also provide most of the new gates the airline sought in the expanded main terminal. MAC executive director Jeff Hamiel says one which they continue to disagree is how to pay for a noise reduction program.