October 26, 2000 - The Minnesota Timberwolves will be at Target Center tonight for their final exhibition game before the opening of basketball's regular season next week. But the team and its executives are still trying to digest yesterday's news that the Timberwolves have been hit with the harshest penalty ever imposed by the National Basketball Association. Minnesota Public Radio's William Wilcoxen reports.
October 24, 2000 - The final shoe dropped in the University of Minnesota academic fraud scandal today. But it was not as heavy as some Minnesotans feared it might be. Many of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's sanctions against the men's basketball program are adjustments in punishments the university has already imposed on itself. Minnesota Public Radio's William Wilcoxen reports.
October 19, 2000 - Many Saint Paul residents are getting more vocal in their complaints about the odor problem emanating from the Gohper State Ethanol plant on the city's West End. Last night (Wed) the city council held a public hearing in a school near the plant. Minnesota Public Radio's William Wilcoxen reports council members heard plenty of anger from citizens living with the smell...
October 13, 2000 - Hundreds of mourners came to St. Paul to pay a final tribute to Bruce Vento, who passed away on October 10th, 2000. The former school teacher and twelve-term Congressman was hailed as a champion of the environment, the working class, and the needy. Vento died at the age of 60 from a rare form of lung cancer, as a result of exposure to asbestos.
October 12, 2000 - Minnesota has moved up in the National Hockey League standings for the first time in more than seven years. The state's new team, the Minnesota Wild, skated to a three-to-three tie with the Philadelphia Flyers last night in the first home game of their young history. Hockey fans filled Saint Paul's new arena and cheered an NHL team for the first time since Norm Green moved the North Stars south. Minnesota Public Radio's William Wilcoxen reports on the Wild's home opener.
October 11, 2000 - Tonight is a night many hockey fans in this part of the country have been anticipating for years. For the first time since 1993, a Minnesota team will host a National Hockey League game. The state's new team, the Minnesota Wild, plays the Philadelphia Flyers in the first regular season game at the Excel Energy Center in Saint Paul. The Wild, though, cast themselves as a team not just for the Twin Cities but for the whole state. Minnesota Public Radio's William Wilcoxen reports on enthusiasm for the Wild in Saint Paul and in one of northern MInnesota's hockey hotbeds.
September 29, 2000 - It's been a long time since Minnesota's fourth Congressional district provided a political race that garnered national attention. But with Bruce Vento's retirement and an Independence Party candidate positioning himself as an alternative to the Democrat and Republican, the fourth has suddenly become less predictable. Saint Paul and its closest suburbs have sent Democrats to Washington for more than fifty years. This year the DFL hopes state representative Betty McCollum of North Saint Paul will continue that streak. Minnesota Public Radio's William Wilcoxen has this look at McCollum...
September 13, 2000 - Betty McCollum, Linda Runbeck, and Tom Foley have advanced to the November general election in the race to succeed retiring Fourth District Congressman Bruce Vento. D-F-L endorsee McCollum won a hotly contested primary last night. But a couple of her party rivals are upset about negative campaigning in the primary and are not sure they'll work for McCollum. Meanwhile, Republican and Independence Party candidates see the D-F-L rift as a chance to take a seat the Democrats have held for fifty-two years. Minnesota Public Radio's William Wilcoxen reports...
September 12, 2000 - The University of Minnesota is suing the only basketball coach to take the Gophers to the Final Four. The lawsuit against former men's coach Clem Haskins stems from the academic fraud scandal that led the university to dismiss Haskins and several other athletic department officials. Now the university is trying to recover some of the one-and-a-half million dollars paid to Haskins in a contract buyout. Minnesota Public Radio's William Wilcoxen reports...
September 11, 2000 - The University of Minnesota is suing the only basketball coach to take the Gophers to the Final Four. The lawsuit against former men's coach Clem Haskins stems from the academic fraud scandal that led the university to dismiss Haskins and several other athletic department officials. Now the university is trying to recover some of the one-and-a-half million dollars paid to Haskins in a contract buyout. Minnesota Public Radio's William Wilcoxen reports...