April 10, 2001 - Xcel Energy is planning to complete the final phase of the nation's largest windfarms next year in southwest Minnesota. Public meetings on the project will be held tonight and tomorrow night in Lake Wilson. Most residents have embraced wind power, but near the town of Chandler one farmer sacrificed a great deal of money to oppose the modern day wind mills. Mainstreet Radio's Mark Steil reports:
April 10, 2001 - President Bush wants to eliminate emergency farm spending as part of his new budget plan. Over the past three years, Congress has provided $25 billion in special assistance to compensate farmers for falling commodity prices and weather-related crop losses. The Bush plan would cut about 6 and a half billion in emergency reserves from the Department of Agriculture's 2002 budget. Steven Taff is a Professor of Agriculture and Applied Economics at the University of Minnesota. He says the President's proposal isn't as dramatic as it sounds.
April 9, 2001 - Neal Kraemer is the co-owner of the Minneapolis based travel agency Carousel Travel. He says the tentative agreement is great news for Twin Cities travelers: Neal Kraemer is the co-owner of Carousel Travel.
April 9, 2001 - The possibility of getting 3/4 of an inch to 1 1/2 inches of rain could mean higher waters.
April 6, 2001 - As the sun sets on Saturday night, Jews will gather to celebrate the first night of Passover. The eight-day festival begins with family and friends participating in a ritual meal called a Seder. The leader of the Seder tells the story of the exodus of the Jews from Egypt. The Jewish slaves didn't have time to allow their bread dough to rise. What resulted was a flat, cracker-like bread called matzah. Chaim Goldberger (Hy-am) is a modern orthodox Rabbi at the Kenesseth (Ken-ess-et) Israel Synagogue in St. Louis Park. He says that in observing Passover, Jews are commanded to eat matzah. Opening excerpt: The Torah tells us that there is a link between dough and a human being; mixing a dusty flour with water to create bread and humans. Yeast makes bread rise and is the human equivalent for ego. Unleavened bread takes the ego out of the bread and human…
April 5, 2001 - The Walker Art Center has unveiled a conceptual design for its upcoming expansion. Swiss Architecture firm Herzog de Meuron has designed a new building and a surrounding park that it hopes will become an artistic landmark ... and a magnet for civic activity. Minnesota Public Radio's Andrew Haeg reports.
April 4, 2001 - Here in Minnesota, a new non-profit is helping foreign doctors learn new techniques to treat people with HIV. This year, PlanetAide is sponsoring four doctors from Ecuador who have been meeting with Minnesota AIDS specialists, talking to people who are HIV-positive and gathering information to use in their own clinics. Dr. Lilly Marquez, an Ob-Gyn from Guayaquil, (Gway-ah-keel) Ecaudor has been in Minneapolis since late January. She says there are very few AIDS drugs in Ecuador.
April 3, 2001 - The Minnesota Department of Agriculture announced today it has formed an inter-agency task force to coordinate state and federal efforts to prevent Mad Cow Disease. The highly contagious disease, which is also called BSE, wastes the brains of cattle and can be transfered to humans. The state agriculture department's Meat Inspection supervisor Kevin Elfering says Minnesota has ALREADY been taking precautions to make sure the disease doesn't infect the state's livestock:
April 2, 2001 - If clear skies prevail, the Northern Lights could provide viewers a spectacular show tonight. Astronomers are predictinga colorful display because of an enormous sun spot explosion last Thursday. Astronomer's say the magnetic sun spot or solar storm occurs in eleven year cycles. Bob Bonadurer, director of the Minneapolis Planetarium, says this is the cycle's peak:
March 30, 2001 - Tests on two North Carolina pigs supsected of having Foot and Mouth Disease came up negative today. Minnesota State Veternarian Tom Hagerty says chances are very low that a Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak could occur in the U-S. Hagerty is just back from a meeting with other state veternarians and U-S agriculture officials in Washington D.C. He says the meeting was helpful for establishing a federal strategy for containing any U-S cases of Foot and Mouth: