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[MUSIC PLAYING] PAULA SCHROEDER: It's 29 minutes past 10 o'clock. The Minnesota Twins victory parade should be just about ready to start at the St. Paul downtown airport. We'll take you live to the scene in the next half hour of Midmorning. And then at noon today, you'll have your chance to participate in all this talk about baseball. Everybody will be able to join in on the midday program.

Bob Potter will host this baseball extravaganza. He'll be joined by Howard Sinker and Gary Eichten at the Metrodome and MPR reporters on the scene at the Twins parades in St. Paul and Minneapolis. And you will have an opportunity to call in from all over the region as well. That's at noon today here on Minnesota Public Radio. News is next. It's 10:30.

JEANNE COCHRANE: national Public Radio news in Washington, I'm Jeanne Cochrane. President Bush and Soviet president Gorbachev held a joint news conference in Madrid this morning, on the eve of the Middle East peace conference. Gorbachev promised an active role for the two nations in working for peace in the region. President Bush said the main purpose of the conference is to get all sides talking.

PRESIDENT BUSH: At least from the US side, it is not my intention to try to impose a settlement or to go back to years of differences and reiterate strongly held convictions. On the US side, what's interested is getting-- we're interested in is getting Israel and its neighbors to sit down and talk, talk in a multilateral facet and then go forward bilaterally.

JEANNE COCHRANE: Presidents Bush and Gorbachev met earlier for about two hours. President Bush said the two agreed to renew arms control talks. He said they also talked about possible food aid to the Soviet Union. Mr. Bush added that no specifics had been agreed to.

As the delegates arrive in Madrid to talk peace tomorrow, violence persists in the Middle East. Lebanese guerrillas attacked Israeli soldiers in Israel's self-declared security zone in South Lebanon today. At least three Israelis and two Arabs were killed. Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir in Madrid said that despite the violence, the quest for peace will be unrelenting.

The government reported today that the nation's economy began growing in the third quarter for the first time in a year. The commerce department says the gross national product expanded at an annual rate of 2.4% for its biggest advance in more than two years. Economist Marco Babic says the expansion may not last long.

MARCO BABIC: I certainly don't see any real sustained growth at this point, as a matter of fact. I think we will have some growth in the fourth quarter, but not as great as the third quarter. We'll probably look on the order of about 1.8% to 2.0%.

JEANNE COCHRANE: The gross national product is the country's total output of goods and services. The Conference Board reports consumer confidence fell to a reading of 6.4 in October, down from about 73. The index monitors consumers current perception of the economy and future spending plans.

Conference Board executive director says the message is clear. Consumers are apprehensive. The soaring costs of caring for the poor and building new prisons are holding down state spending for education and roads despite record tax increases.

According to a report released this morning by the National Governors Association, state problems are made far worse by the lingering recession, which is cutting into tax collections. The survey found the recession has hit hardest in the East, but as the period of no growth or slow growth continues, more states will feel the pinch.

The Senate today considers final amendments to the Civil Rights bill, with a vote on the bill possible before the day is through. The lawmakers are considering an Amendment that would extend some of the measure's job protections to their own employees. This is national Public Radio news.

PERRY FINELLI: And good morning. This is Perry Finelli with news from Minnesota Public Radio. Thousands of fans are lined up on the parade route for the world champion Minnesota Twins that begins in St. Paul and travels to the state capital. The parade then resumes in Minneapolis and ends up at the Metrodome, where organizers plan a celebration for the players and fans beginning at 2:00 this afternoon.

Dolores Henderson, a principal of the Rondo Education Center in St. Paul, says classrooms are only about 2/3 full today and will get thinner as the morning wears on as the kids leave to watch the parade. Henderson says she has no problem with letting the kids see their heroes.

DOLORES HENDERSON: We look at the total aspect of our children. And that's part of our life. Sports is part of life. That's an activity. We have to understand that we have other kinds of things in our life other than just the book. And that is what makes life so interesting and so enjoyable.

PERRY FINELLI: That's Dolores Henderson, principal of the Rondo Education Center in St. Paul. A Minnesota lawmaker has filed a lawsuit against Control Data Corporation, accusing the company of violating state laws on leaves of absence for lawmakers when it fired him last spring. The company says Minneapolis DFLer Wes Skoglund was let go in a workforce reduction that has shrunk the Bloomington headquarters for more than 2000 to about 300.

Pentagon says members of the Duluth-based 477th Army Reserve Medical Company won't have to return the extra paycheck the army gave them in May, at least for now. An aide to Congressman Jim Oberstar says it's possible the reservists may never have to repay the checks.

Minnesota air National Guard units will train in at least 10 foreign countries in the next 12 months. Plans are for troops to go to Germany, Spain, Panama, Japan, Korea, Italy, England, Honduras, the West Indies. And Norway. Major General Eugene Andreotti says the overseas assignments provide the National Guard with realistic training that prepares them for war situations each, such as desert storm.

And a Blaine couple has won $340,000 in the Minnesota lottery's Gopher 5 game. Dick and Judy Humphrey matched the five numbers chosen in the October 25 drawing. And that's the news update from Minnesota Public Radio. I'm Perry Finelli.

PAULA SCHROEDER: Thanks, Perry. We've got a winter weather advisory in effect for extreme Northwestern Minnesota today. And that winter-like weather will be moving across the state throughout the afternoon. Temperatures are going to be sliding sharply into the 20s and 30s by this evening.

Freezing drizzle is expected in the Twin Cities area by late this afternoon, and starting out in the Western part of the state right now. Scattered snow showers or flurries are possible tonight with lows from the teens in the Northwest to around 30 in the southeast. Tomorrow it's going to be cold with a chance of light snow or flurries, highs from the 20s in the northwest to the 30s in the southeast.

In the Twin Cities, colder with temperatures getting down into the 30s during the morning, patchy areas of drizzle or freezing drizzle late this afternoon, northwest winds at 15 to 25 miles per hour. Look for an overnight low in the 20s with a 30% chance of light snow or flurries. Then tomorrow mostly cloudy with a few flurries possible, high around 30 degrees.

Right now, it's 41 degrees in Rochester, drizzle reported there, and in St. Cloud where it's 32 degrees. In Duluth, it's quite balmy, 51 degrees under cloudy skies; and in the Twin Cities, now cloudy and 37 degrees.

And that the Minnesota Twins victory parade has gotten underway, or at least it should have. It's 10:37 right now. Bill Catlin is on the scene at the St. Paul downtown airport, Holman Field, to be precise. And Bill, things moving?

BILL CATLIN: First cars in the police motorcade are driving by. It's quite an impressive sight. We've got about six police cars, lights flashing, heading down here, representing a variety of law enforcement organizations. It's quite a ways before we actually get to what looks to be the Twins team members-- several groups of people, WCCO Radio, truck with a huge speaker system blaring something or other.

PAULA SCHROEDER: [LAUGHS]

BILL CATLIN: And then--

PAULA SCHROEDER: Oh, you can't tell what it is?

BILL CATLIN: Oh, the speakers are not facing me. I'm not sure exactly what it is. And then the first pickup truck has, of course, manager Tom Kelly in the back looking-- no, I'm sorry, that's one of the organizers of the thing. From a distance, he looks a little bit like Tom Kelly. First truck with the Twins official is-- Carl Pohlad, it looks like. And-- pardon?

PAULA SCHROEDER: They're bringing all the front office people out first before the players. Kind of a little anticipatory move, I would imagine, on the part of the organizers.

BILL CATLIN: Absolutely, absolutely. Let's see. Now let's see. All of the trucks are labeled. We have the family of the Pohlads, the owners of the Twins. And let's see who's next. We've got the Bells. I believe that's the president of the Twins, Jerry and Phyllis Bell, they get parts.

And then St. Paul Mayor Jim Scheible. And it's quite an impressive sight here. I'm looking down a street with police cars that I think there are at least two dozen police cars, all with their lights flashing. It's quite a visual spectacle.

PAULA SCHROEDER: Have they been able so far to keep people off to the sides of the road so that there's no one charging the vehicles surrounding them?

BILL CATLIN: I'm going to have to double-check that. I'm a little bit in front of where the parade began, the official start of the parade. The crowd is a little ways down. But so far, I see a few vehicles moving. It's not progressing terribly quickly. I have no idea what the expected plan was. But it does look as if they will be able to make some progress at a reasonable pace. But things have stopped right now at the very beginning of the parade, at the intersections of Plato and Fillmore.

PAULA SCHROEDER: People are keeping warm, though, and getting excited, I would imagine, Bill.

BILL CATLIN: People are trying their best to keep warm. One gentleman told me ironically, this is a summer game. Some people are complaining that they didn't bring enough air to keep warm. But by and large a fair amount of anticipation, people are quite into it. They really wanted to get the parade feel. So those who came out and braved the winds, which are really quite gusting right now.

PAULA SCHROEDER: Well, there must be some players coming along behind you, Bill, because I hear some screaming back there.

BILL CATLIN: Well, yeah, actually, the screams begin in the-- player hasn't reached the crowd yet, as far as I can tell. But nonetheless, I suppose the screaming is a symbol of the level of excitement here, because I believe the Pohlads are the first-- Carl and Eloise Pohlad are the first to actually reach the crowd. We have yet to have a Twins player get to the crowd.

PAULA SCHROEDER: Well, you stand by Bill and be sure to cheer for us, too. We have Chris Roberts standing by. Chris, are you there?

CHRIS ROBERTS: Yes I am.

PAULA SCHROEDER: So you're awaiting the arrival yet? You're down at Kellogg Park.

CHRIS ROBERTS: That's right, Kellogg park, near the corner of Roberts Street and Kellogg. I'm looking at the bridge right now. Probably about a quarter of the way over the bridge, there's a solid wall of people gathering. The rest of the bridge, people aren't inhabiting it right now. It's obviously a really cold place to stand and wait for the Twins.

But a really impressive crowd is building here. Anticipation is building as well. I'm looking at buildings around the area. There are people out on balconies, people in Windows. There's a parking structure across the street on the corner of Minnesota and Kellogg, a line of people on every level of that parking structure. It's about four or five deep on either side of the westbound lanes of Kellogg. People are really ready. They're ready for the Twins to come by.

PAULA SCHROEDER: Has traffic been stopped downtown?

CHRIS ROBERTS: Traffic has completely stopped. The westbound lanes of Kellogg have been cordoned off with yellow ribbon. And every once in a while, you hear a yell welling up in the crowd. The anticipation is building, Paula.

PAULA SCHROEDER: We'll check in with you later. Thanks a lot, Chris. And Kate Moose is in downtown St. Paul, right in the heart of downtown.

KATE MOOS: Hello, Paula.

PAULA SCHROEDER: Hi. Are you in the midst of a big crowd, Kate?

KATE MOOS: Well, I'm sort off to the side of a big crowd, frankly. But in fact, the crowds are huge down here on the corner of 7th and Wabasha. I'm standing perched on the stairs right next to the World Trade Center.

It's not a bad place to be at all, because there's a very warm doorway into the World Trade Center right next to me, and the snack shops are in there, too, as people have discovered. A very big crowd. All the sidewalks are filled. I don't know why, but for some reason the Dayton side is more crowded than the Walgreen's side. You figure it out.

PAULA SCHROEDER: Well, I imagine the retailers are thrilled to death with this parade.

KATE MOOS: I would think so, too. A lot of people walking out of the doors here, carrying cups and burgers and that sort of thing. So business is probably brisk. Paula, in my endless search for controversy over on this end of things, I have been polling people to see if, in their opinion, it is, in fact, colder or warmer today than it was in 1987. And at this point, the results are mixed. I can tell you why I'm warmer because I'm better-dressed. But a lot of people down here seem to be shivering in the wind.

PAULA SCHROEDER: Yeah, it was pretty cold that day back in 1987, too, wasn't it?

KATE MOOS: It sure was.

PAULA SCHROEDER: Yeah, we can't count on the end of October being balmy in Minnesota.

KATE MOOS: I don't think so.

PAULA SCHROEDER: Well, Kate, you and all the other folks down there at the-- you're just on the corner of the World Trade Center, I guess. You've got a few more minutes to wait, probably. But have a great time.

KATE MOOS: Thanks, Paula.

PAULA SCHROEDER: Thanks for checking in. Of course, the Downtown St. Paul parade is not the only thing that's going on. Another parade is set for Minneapolis at this afternoon. It's going to regroup about 12:30. It will start in Minneapolis Inn. A big rally at the Metrodome. Minnesota Public Radio's Gary Eichten, Mr. Baseball to his friends, is at the dome already this morning. I imagine you camped out there last night, right, Gary, to get the best seat.

GARY EICHTEN: I haven't left since the seventh game of the World Series, Paula.

PAULA SCHROEDER: Gary, it's got to be a totally different atmosphere at the Metrodome today. Before the seventh game of the World Series, tension was really thick. You could cut it with a knife. No one knew what was going to happen. Now it's just let everything rip. We've won. The World Series champions are on their way. I can imagine there's going to be a lot of noise at the dome to this afternoon.

GARY EICHTEN: Well, 63,000 people are supposed to show up here. And I would imagine. You're absolutely right, Paula. They've got the parade on the-- this is the way to go. There was a reason they built the Metrodome after all here in Minnesota. And while my friends are out there shivering, it's nice and toasty in here. And we have the parade on the big screen, and concession stands will be open, very, very pleasant.

63,000 people are supposed to show up and there's no reason to believe they won't. There are some trickling in already-- marching bands and speeches. Back in 1987, I remember standing at the State Capitol, which was supposed to be the culmination of the parade, and was.

The thought was that once they got to the State Capitol, there would be lots of speeches and so on and so forth. But by the time the players got there, they were so drained from the parade that I think Bert Blyleven got up on behalf of the team and said, thanks a lot. And that was pretty much it. I'm guessing this is going to be a lot livelier because it's warm in here, and the parade seems to be moving along nice and smoothly. So there should be a good show.

PAULA SCHROEDER: And they're giving them a little bit of a break, too, between the two cities, which should help out a little bit. It seems like the traffic control situation is better than it was in 1987-- just having a number of people out there to keep the crowds away from them. They literally could not get through four years ago. And hopefully, they'll be moving through today pretty well.

Do you know what kinds of activities-- you said marching bands and things like that. But I think that the fans are really going to want some kind of entertainment, something to help them sustain this excitement, other than the players standing around on the field. Any idea what they might do to accomplish that?

GARY EICHTEN: No. Frankly, I'm not entirely sure what they have planned yet, although my guess is that what they're going to end up doing is having a lot highlight films. You remember, in 1987 when they had the spontaneous welcome home celebration from Detroit, when they opened the dome up and the place filled up, and there was-- it filled up.

And there was nothing actually planned. But the crowd itself, as I recall, sat here a good three hours waiting for the team to arrive and without any organized activity entertained itself with Cheers. They'd put up highlight films on the scoreboard of the team, and so on. I'm guessing that even if nothing is planned, the fans will more than take care of their entertainment here. It should be a lot of fun. It would be a lot of fun.

PAULA SCHROEDER: I'm sure that you're going to have a great time, Gary. We'll be--

GARY EICHTEN: This is not one of the worst assignments.

PAULA SCHROEDER: Yeah. We'll be checking in with you. You're going to be doing a program live from the dome starting at 2 o'clock this afternoon here on our stations. And we'll hear from you again then, if not before. Also, at noon today, you're going to be on with Howard Sinker and all the folks from around the region who want to call in, too.

GARY EICHTEN: It should be fun.

PAULA SCHROEDER: Thanks. Gary Eichten, out at the Metrodome as the parade for the Minnesota Twins gets underway in downtown St. Paul, and it will continue this afternoon. Today's programming is made possible in part by the advocates of Minnesota Public Radio. Contributors include General Mills Foundation and Sheffield Olson and McQueen, specialists in employee benefit plan administration.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

It's 12 and 1/2 minutes before 11 o'clock. This is Midmorning on the news and information service of Minnesota Public Radio. I'm Paula Schroeder. 1,000 Cree and Inuit Indians live in a small village where the Great Whale River meets the east side of Quebec's Hudson Bay. The lives and traditions of these Native Americans revolve around the river.

But now a proposed hydroelectric project on the Great Whale River could destroy their way of life. Protests from environmentalists and the tribes has delayed construction of the dams. But as Malcolm Howard reports, Great Whale residents are still worried about the river's future.

[WATER SPLASHING]

MALCOLM HOWARD: A pontoon air Wemindji charter departs from a dock near the Great Whale River's mouth on Hudson Bay. The plane carries a Cree fishing expedition to camp 60 miles inland. Across the creaky wooden terminal, 11-year-old Peter Natashquan and a dozen friends dive into the chilly estuary.

PETER NATASHQUAN: It's cold. The water is fine.

SPEAKER 1: Don't worry. The water's fine.

MALCOLM HOWARD: Around Natashquan's home town of Great whale, water is the most abundant commodity. It's everywhere, from the small ponds that pockmark lichen-covered hilltops to the placid surface of Lake Bienville, the destination of today's [? air ?] Wemindji departure.

But the complex network of streams and lakes that sustain the Cree and Inuit is also attractive to hydroelectric developers. Now a Quebec-owned power authority plans to build three dams on the Great Whale River. The dams would generate 3,000 megawatts for cities such as Montreal, Boston, and New York. But it would cut the Great Whale's current to a trickle one fifth its present size.

PETER NATASHQUAN: Because the hydro project is going to be making dirt, and they come here. And the ocean is going to come in here. It's going to be a lot of mercury. That's what they said about the dam.

MALCOLM HOWARD: Natashquan's fears are backed up by history and environmental studies. Joyce Rosenthal is a New York-based environmentalist who's co-authored several reports on the proposed dams for the Audubon Society.

JOYCE ROSENTHAL: When a river is dammed or diverted, you completely alter the flow of that river and also the amount of nutrients that it carries downstream that fish life and other wildlife are dependent upon.

And we also know in that region that the naturally occurring mercury in the soil and the plants, when that land is flooded, create a situation in which the mercury becomes biologically available and bio-concentrated in fish.

MALCOLM HOWARD: That's exactly what happened when Hydro-Québec built three dams on the La Grande River to the south, where scientists found high mercury levels in the river's fish. More than half of the 4,000 Cree living in Chisasibi, a town near the dams, live with higher than normal mercury levels. And none of them eat the trout, walleye, and pike from the lower parts of the La Grande.

While the Inuit have traditionally looked to the sea for fish, seal, or whales, the Cree work inland. 70-year-old Charlie [INAUDIBLE] has been setting traps ever since he was strong enough to pry one open. Wearing a baseball cap and a light nylon parka, he listens earnestly at a Cree Trappers Association meeting. He learns that most of his territory would be flooded by reservoirs. And later he wonders if his family will always be able to afford the traditional way of life.

SPEAKER 2: [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

INTERPRETER: With all the land that's flooded will probably have to go way up beyond Lake Bienville. The only way to get there is by plane. And do you know how much plane trips cost? The camp where I stay now is about 33 miles from here, and it costs over $1,000. So it's probably going to cost $2,000 to $3,000 to go 100 miles or so past Lake Bienville.

MALCOLM HOWARD: The [INAUDIBLE] generation spent nine months a year living in teepees in the bush, the nickname given to scrubby black spruce and undergrowth of the subarctic taiga. But since the two tribes signed land settlement treaties with Canada less than 20 years ago, life is centered around town.

The treaty brought schools, zoning boards, and a complex bureaucracy to oversee millions of dollars in compensation. That money meant some jobs, better houses and appliances, but it also brought mortgage payments and electric bills that averaged $200 a month. Now, kids are brought up in town on a mix of TV, month-long hunting trips, video games, junk food, and caribou. Many elders fear the traditional way of life is in jeopardy.

SPEAKER 3: [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

INTERPRETER: The 24-year-old Thomas Shim spins country and rock and roll records at WATA, the local Radio station of [INAUDIBLE], the Cree side of Great Whale. To Shim, mixing old and new isn't necessarily bad. But like many Cree, he worries about too much too fast. His biggest fear is Hydro-Québec's plan to build the first road to great well. The road would bring building supplies for the dams.

THOMAS: I'm sure I'm going to see 18 wheelers, but that's the truck I don't like to see in this town for sure, because this is a small town, but they have an 18 wheeler in town. It's going to look weird. It's going to be the same size as this town.

SPEAKER 4: [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

INTERPRETER: For all the ills that Cree and Inuit say dams bring, Hydro-Québec's Radio and TV commercials tell Metropolitan Quebecois that hydropower is an environmentally benign way of powering the provincial economy. Madeleine LaRue was a social worker in Inuit communities for 15 years. And now she works for Hydro-Québec's.

She's gazing out over an endless reservoir created by LG2, the nickname for the first dam built on the La Grande River. She ticks off statistics. The dam is 2.8-kilometers long and 670 meters thick at its base.

MADELEINE LARUE: When we compare LG2 to the largest Egypt pyramid that is Cheops pyramid, here, we're having 10 times the volume of rockfill that is involved in Cheops pyramid.

MALCOLM HOWARD: She says Crees should help build the dams, not complain about them. Less than a dozen Chisasibi Crees have regular jobs with Hydro-Québec's. But LaRue says more are being trained. She adds a new Quebecois village near Great Whale would bring economic opportunity, not social decay.

But 26-year-old Irene Charbonneau is host of the Women's program at Chisasibi's radio station. And she says Hydro-Québec is responsible for submerging most of her past. She remembers her grandfather's island camp upstream from Chisasibi.

IRENE CHARBONNEAU: One time I told my grandfather, what happened to that place where he used to stay? And he said, it's under the water. I couldn't believe it because I used to be there, too. And now it's gone. It's under the water. And all those burial grounds where they buried our ancestors, they're under the water.

MALCOLM HOWARD: This is Malcolm Howard.

PAULA SCHROEDER: It's six minutes before 11 o'clock. Since scientists invented gene splicing several years ago, a stream of innovations have flooded the marketplace. Products ranging from light beers and cheeses to vaccines are now made using genetic engineering.

Earlier this month, when leaders in the biotechnology industry gathered in San Francisco, some of those present showed a growing concern about their deteriorating public image. The Christian Science Monitor's Matt Binder reports on why some observers think the biotech industry is indeed running amok.

MATT BINDER: 3,000 people attended this year's International Biotechnology Expo and Scientific Conference, where you could, if you had the money, buy the latest automated biotech equipment, including the $110,000 gene machine that reads the genetic code of any scrap of DNA fed into it.

SPEAKER 5: And that's where you put your sample, and you just have to place it on there with a syringe. It takes you--

MATT BINDER: That machine illustrated what seemed to be the theme of this year's conference, how to make money with biotechnology. Five years ago, biotech conferences used to be filled with young, idealistic scientists in tennis shoes and T-shirts plotting to save the world from disease and hunger. This year, the dress was strictly suits and ties, and the talk focused on the bottom line.

Randall von Wedel is the founder and President of CytoCulture International, a biotech company in Richmond, California. Five years ago, he was one of those hopeful young scientists dedicated to solving the world's problems. Now, he says, he's had to put away his idealism.

RANDALL VON WEDEL: We all have to support ourselves through private enterprise. There are immediate markets, although limited, but there are immediate markets now that people perceive will allow those biotechnology companies to get off the ground. Now, my feeling is once they do that, they'll be in a better position to, then, turn around and develop a malaria vaccine and worry about how it's going to get funded later.

MATT BINDER: But critics compare the current biotechnology situation with the advent of the chemical pesticide and nuclear power industries earlier this century. Nechama Wilker is with the Council for Responsible Genetics in Boston. She says the claims of the biotech industry sound ominously similar to the rosy futures promised by chemists and physicists.

NECHAMA WILKER: The history of introduction of exotic species, all the way from gypsy moths to kudzu shows that once you release a biological organism into the environment on a large scale that there's very little that we can do and/or know as to how it will interact with the broader ecosystem.

MATT BINDER: The biotech industry is worried about its image. Surveys show that most people in the US are concerned about the ethics of gene manipulation and about the safety of releasing altered organisms into the environment. Barry Teeter of the North Carolina Biotechnology Center led a roundtable discussion called packaging biotechnology for the public.

BARRY TEETER: We need to demystify biotechnology, to make it a household word, so it will carry with it a comfort zone. And then people would tend not to view it as an exotic risk that's beyond their control.

MATT BINDER: Enhancing its image, though, won't be enough to satisfy critics. They say the public should have some control over the industry because of all the taxpayer dollars that go into biotech research and development at publicly funded universities.

As it stands now, the industry is steering itself, and it remains to be seen whether it will head back to the idealism of its early days, or veer off into the pitfalls of previous technical revolutions. For the Christian Science Monitor, I'm Matt Binder in San Francisco.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

PAULA SCHROEDER: Yes, of course. We're continuing our live coverage of the parade for the Minnesota Twins, the champions of the World Series. That will continue after the news at 11:00. And we have gotten word now from Senator David Durenberger's office that

President Bush will meet with the team members on Thursday in the Rose Garden. That will about 12:45 our time. President Bush is expected to be back from the Mideast peace talks in time to meet with the Minnesota Twins on Thursday.

And there has been word, too, from the makers of Maalox that they're going to supply a season supply of Maalox to the Twins. They said after the difficult series that the Twins went through, they deserve to have a supply in their dugout.

Members of the team will be able to keep the tablets in the dugout to relieve any future Maalox moments that may arise on the playing field. This is all prompted by Al Newman's contest or comment that his stomach was burning for each and every game of the World Series. So the Twins will be able to suffer in comfort next year.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

And that's Midmorning for this Tuesday morning. Midmorning was produced and directed by Liz Hannan and Mike McCaul Pengra. Our technical director today is Rob Gebczynski. Thanks to all of our reporters out in the field today, Bill Catlin, Chris Roberts, Kate Moos, and Gary Eichten out at the dome. We'll be checking in with them throughout the day.

Executive technical director Scott Yankus today, masterminding all of those difficult technical connections that we have to make. Newscasters are Cathy Wurzer and Perry Finelli. I'm Paula Schroeder. Thanks for joining us. And stay tuned for the rest of the Twins celebration.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

PAULA SCHROEDER: This is KNOW 91.1 FM and 13:30 AM Minneapolis, St. Paul-- the Twin Cities news and information station of Minnesota Public Radio. The time now is 11 o'clock. We'll check the news from the BBC.

LAURENCE REES JONES: BBC World Service. The news read by Laurence Rees Jones. President Bush and President Gorbachev have had wide-ranging talks in Madrid about the Middle East peace process, nuclear arms, and aid to the Soviet Union. Both leaders stressed the historic importance of tomorrow's peace conference.

Earlier, the Israeli delegation, led by the Prime Minister, Mr. Yitzhak Shamir, arrived, and more of the Arab participants are expected later today. Britain says it has signed an agreement with Vietnam for the mandatory repatriation of all Vietnamese who've arrived in Hong Kong, not qualifying for refugee status.

President Bush has held a meeting in Madrid with President Gorbachev to discuss tomorrow's Middle East peace conference and other issues. At a joint news conference after their meeting, Mr. Bush stressed that they would not be trying to impose a solution on the Middle East. The worst thing, he said, would be to restate known positions so that one side became disenchanted.

The two leaders said they'd also discussed, in some detail, the internal situation in the Soviet Union. Mr. Bush said the United States wanted to play its part in seeing Soviet reforms continue. Mr. Gorbachev said the two leaders had also agreed that high priority must be given to nuclear disarmament.

The Israeli Prime Minister, Mr. Yitzhak Shamir, has arrived in Madrid for tomorrow's peace conference negotiations, which a BBC correspondent in Jerusalem describes as possibly the most significant in the country's history. The joint Palestinian-Jordanian delegation arrived yesterday, and more of the Arab participants are expected to arrive during the day.

Before he left Israel, Mr. Shamir acknowledged in a television interview that land would be the main subject of the negotiations. In an apparent reference to the occupied territories, Mr. Shamir said, Israelis were convinced that the land belonged to them, but perhaps Palestinians had the same belief.

At another Madrid news conference, one of the leading Palestinian representatives, Professor Hanan Ashrawi, welcomed Mr. Shamir's remarks, saying that it seemed to reflect a position less hardline than before.

Mrs. Ashrawi also expressed her support for the co-sponsorship of the conference by the Soviet Union and the United States. She said a third party, in the shape of the international community, had to be involved, or the conference would not make progress.

Israeli helicopter gunships are reported to have opened fire on a Palestinian refugee camp near Tyre in southern Lebanon. The report said, one person was killed, and at least three others were wounded. People in the camp at Rashidieh are said to have returned automatic weapons fire. There's been, so far, no word from Israel on the reports.

The attack followed the killing of three Israeli soldiers by a roadside bomb in Israel's self-declared security zone in southern Lebanon. In another incident, the Israelis said two armed attackers were killed in an exchange of fire with an army patrol near Israel's border. The army said five Israeli soldiers were wounded.

An agreement has been announced between Britain and Vietnam to send back home, against their will, the estimated 50,000 Vietnamese being detained in Hong Kong who do not qualify for refugee status. The agreement, which was announced after lengthy negotiations, is expected to be implemented in stages starting next month.

The BBC Hong Kong correspondent says the most difficult category will be the thousands of Vietnamese who have regularly demonstrated and threatened violence if they are forced home against their will. The only previous attempt at forcible repatriation, two years ago, was abandoned in the face of protests led by the United States and refugee relief agencies.

The former Indian Prime Minister, Mr. VP Singh, was briefly arrested by police as he was trying to reach the northern town of Ayodhya, which is at the center of a religious dispute. The former prime minister and several hundred of his supporters were planning to demonstrate in the town against the building of a Hindu temple on the site of a mosque, an issue which brought down Mr. Singh's government last year.

The police, who arrested Mr. VP Singh, told him he was in danger of causing a breach of the peace. He and a number of supporters arrested with him were later released. About 300 people were later detained in the nearby town of Faizabad during a separate demonstration about the temple. And that's the end of the news.

PERRY FINELLI: And good morning. The time now, five minutes after 11 o'clock. This is Perry Finelli with the news update from Minnesota Public Radio. The world champion Minnesota Twins are making their way through St. Paul this morning in the first of Twin victory parades.

St. Paul Mayor Jim Scheibel says he's renamed the city Morristown just for today in honor of World Series most valuable player Jack Morris. The Twins and their fans are braving 37 degree temperatures and 60-mile-per-hour winds. It's cloudy. But so far no rain reported.

The Twins' players and their families are riding nearly 50 pickup trucks for this parade instead of convertible sports cars, as they did following their 1987 World Series victory. The reason is twofold. One, the truck's set higher, giving fans a better view of the players.

The other is that confetti is less likely to catch fire from the vehicle's exhaust systems. In 1987, three Corvettes carrying Twins players caught fire. The pickup trucks, each have one firefighter and two extinguishers aboard.

Hibbing Community College student leaders are organizing a candlelight vigil for Thursday night. The rally will be to show support for the Black students recruited for the school's football team who have been subject to racial harassment by some people in the Hibbing community.

The Hibbing Community College team is 8 and 0 and ranked 11th nationally with the help of the Black players recruited from Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin by second-year coach Dale Heffron. But several of the Black players say they intend to leave school after the fall quarter because of the treatment they have received from the community. One Black player was dismissed from the team after shooting a gun inside the off-campus dormitory this fall. No one was injured in that incident.

Several communities in Northwestern Minnesota and Northeastern North Dakota were without electrical power last night. And this morning, high winds and ice took out a transmission line. The homes are served by PKM Electric and Ottertail Power. Communities affected include St. Vincent and Kennedy in Minnesota.

Northwest Airlines now says it is not actively discussing its planned Airbus bases with any state other than Minnesota. And Northwest officials say the airline has changed its decision to discontinue funding of a consultant's report for lawmakers. The announcements came last night after another meeting between the airline and officials from the State and the Metropolitan Airports Commission. Minnesota Public Radio's Mark Zdechlik reports.

MARK ZDECHLIK: Just two weeks after officially terminating talks with Minnesota on the Airbus spaces, Northwest Airlines has agreed to resume funding of a consultant's report that's intended to help lawmakers determine whether Northwest could repay the hundreds of millions of dollars the airline is requesting in public financing.

And contrary to statements from the airline a week and a half ago, Northwest spokesman Mark Ables says Northwest is not actively talking to any state about its planned Airbus bases, other than Minnesota.

MARK ABLES: We have had a number of expressions of interest since our announcement that we were terminating negotiations. We are not actively pursuing those.

MARK ZDECHLIK: A plan to ask the Iron Range Resources and rehabilitation board to bridge the $50 million financial gap between what Northwest wants and financing and what the Airports Commission says it can offer the airline appears to have successfully jumpstarted, but according to Northwest, were failed negotiations for the Airbus bases. This is Mark Zdechlik.

PERRY FINELLI: A Blue Earth County Red Cross official says some Minnesota hospitals may have to delay elective surgeries because of a critical shortage of blood. Bob Meyers says typically, rural residents are especially helpful with blood donations, but because of the harvest and other farming problems this year, they haven't had time to donate. But David Thorkelson of the St. Paul Red Cross says the situation is not that severe.

DAVID THORKELSON: Our collections have been running below goal. Our type Os have not been coming in quite as we would like. So we've been concerned, and we continue to be concerned. Even so, we are meeting all requirements of the hospitals we serve. And at this time, we aren't looking at a situation where elective surgeries would be canceled.

PERRY FINELLI: Thorkelson says the greatest demand is for type O blood. And that's the latest news from the Minnesota Public Radio newsroom. I'm Perry Finelli.

PAULA SCHROEDER: OK, Perry, we have some winter weather on the way. In fact, it's moving into the western part of the state with snow showers expected across much of the state by tonight, freezing drizzle by late this afternoon in the eastern part of Minnesota. Our temperatures are going to be falling into the 20s and 30s by this evening, and we'll have strong northwesterly winds as well.

Tomorrow it's going to be cold with a chance of light snow or flurries, highs in the 20s in the northwest to the 30s in the southeast. In the Twin Cities, our temperatures are going to fall into the 30s by this afternoon, with northwesterly winds at 15 to 25 miles per hour. Freezing drizzle possible late this afternoon, so hopefully, we'll get the Twins into the Metrodome before we get any of that precipitation.

In Minneapolis, Mostly cloudy tonight and tomorrow with a chance of light snow or flurries, the overnight low in the 20s, tomorrow's high around 30 degrees. Currently 48 degrees in Duluth, where skies are cloudy. Southwesterly winds are gusting at 26 miles per hour.

In St. Cloud, it's cloudy and 30 degrees, cloudy skies and 38 degrees in Rochester, and in the Twin Cities now, it's cloudy and 36 degrees with southwesterly winds at 21 miles per hour. And nevertheless, people are still outside cheering the Minnesota Twins on in downtown St. Paul. Minnesota Public Radio news director Laura Nomoto has stationed himself at the State Capitol in Morristown. Did you hear that one, Laura?

LAURA NOMOTO: I heard that-- Morristown instead of St. Paul. I think that 36 degrees might be a little generous today, Paula, but it certainly hasn't discouraged the folks out here. They're lining the streets about four deep on either side of Cedar Avenue, coming up from downtown Constitution Avenue, which is the semi-circular street that goes along in front of the Capitol, and then also down John Ireland Boulevard, headed toward the St. Paul Cathedral.

Mostly a calm crowd right now, I suppose. Every once in a while, the noise level picks up just a bit when one of those red lights on the TV cameras goes on. But other than that pretty calm, pretty well-behaved folks. Also, I should point out up here on the Capitol mall, kind of facing right into that wind. So they're certainly getting the full flavor of that winter weather that's on the way.

PAULA SCHROEDER: Well, it seems like everybody learned a little bit from 1987 because things do indeed seem to be going a little bit more smoothly this time. Traffic control is a little bit better, crowd control and everything else. And maybe just the people themselves are conducting themselves with a little more decorum.

LAURA NOMOTO: Well, yeah, certainly the crowd up here is smaller. And that's probably explained by the fact that neither the governor nor any other dignitaries are scheduled to make any speeches up here. This is not the end of the parade as it was in 1987. Also, people do seem to have come up prepared for the weather, wearing their good Minnesota winter garments.

There's perhaps one exception, though, and I want to throw it over here just real quickly to Karen Burrows, who's down at the corner of Constitution, and John Ireland with a fella wearing kilts and playing the bagpipes. Karen?

KAREN BURROWS: Yes, this is John Hughes of St. Paul, who is, as he knows, a little bit of the Minnesota Twins, but he's been entertaining the crowd with bagpipe music. $15-- [AUDIO OUT]

LAURA NOMOTO: Well, Karen--

PAULA SCHROEDER: Oh, we lost. No there they are. [LAUGHS] They keep coming back in.

LAURA NOMOTO: Well, I'm not sure what the connection with the bagpipes is, but--

PAULA SCHROEDER: Well, it's adding a festive note to the celebration. Yeah. Laura Nomoto, we'll be checking back with you again. Probably during the noon hour when we've got a big baseball extravaganza planned. And first of all, do you know if the Twins are going to be spending any time up at the State capitol? Or is it just kind of a drive-through?

LAURA NOMOTO: Indications are they're going to whiz by, although folks here are certainly hoping against hope that they might stop and there might be a little speech or presentation or something. I think that explains a lot of the reason for the somewhat larger crowd here. As I walked up here through downtown, I noticed that the crowds of here seemed a little bit thicker. And that might be why.

PAULA SCHROEDER: Yeah, well, I guess the big celebration, of course, will be at the Metrodome this afternoon. Laura Nomoto, thanks a lot for joining us this morning. In our studio is Robin Gail. Robin, I thought you were going to be in the parade as the number one fan.

ROBIN GAIL: [LAUGHS] I'm ready to run out there, pretty soon.

PAULA SCHROEDER: Well, this is really the culmination of everything for the players. You've spent a lot of time with them this year, doing lots of interviews after the games, and getting a little sense of who they are. I would think that it would be a totally different kind of feeling that they have today than they did even after they won the series, after the last game.

ROBIN GAIL: Oh, absolutely. The recurring theme the last couple of days, now, was how just tiring and grueling. They didn't really even have time to reflect during the World Series. And as I said, and they've said, it wasn't even really fun for them. It was just so intense.

Brian Harper and a couple of the other players were saying that from one weekend of the World Series to the previous weekend of the World Series, it seemed like eons. The whole month of October, just was on and on and on, and they couldn't even remember back to when they clinched. It was just so grueling.

And now I think they are finally having time to reflect a little bit. And I'm sure not even now. I'm sure they'll just begin to think about it now, next month, as will fans and fans and everybody. I've got stacks of articles and papers and videos that I'll enjoy all winter long. It was so intense and such an amazing World Series.

And it's being regarded by that nationwide and worldwide, too, is truly one of the handful of the greatest World Series ever for the intensity and the talent and the pitching and whatnot. And it's just going to be fun to just finally relax and spend some time reflecting back on some of the wonderful play we've seen.

PAULA SCHROEDER: Do you think that the parades and celebrations today are just one more, oh, kind of an effort that they have to make, that the players have to make?

ROBIN GAIL: It is in one respect. It's a way for them to truly get out and to have fans see them and enjoy them. But it's got to be a little fun for them to. I'm sure they enjoyed almost as much as the fans.

PAULA SCHROEDER: Well, after all, they just have to sit there. [LAUGHS] Well, our coverage will continue. Of course, Robin Gail is going to dash out there. We're right downtown St. Paul. So they should be heading by our studios pretty soon. So we'll get a chance to see them.

The parade in Minneapolis will start about 12:30 at the Basilica of St. Mary and then work its way down to the Metrodome, where that big celebration is scheduled for 2 o'clock this afternoon. Robin Gail, Thanks a lot.

ROBIN GAIL: Thank you.

PAULA SCHROEDER: It's 15 minutes past 11 o'clock. Next from the BBC is the world today. This morning, Aziz Rashid examines the changing political atmosphere in Singapore.

AZIZ RASHID: The Singaporean prime minister, Mr. Goh Chok Tong, cuts a very different image from his predecessor, Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, who ruled the country with a firm hand for more than 30 years. Mr. Goh seems altogether more easygoing. Last month, he was seen kissing babies during the election campaign, a favorite pastime for Democratic politicians.

But it's not just Mr. Goh's style, which is more relaxed. Censorship has been eased, and diversity of opinion has become more acceptable. Singapore is now a far more tolerant place. As novelist Gopal Baratham explains.

GOPAL BARATHAM: On the television interview, I was quite impressed by the sort of groundswell of the new professional, English-educated middle class demanding their rights as people and wanting to say their piece. And I feel that this is a good thing, because 20 years ago, when I came back from England for a visit and nobody, even your best friends, wouldn't say anything. But now everybody is talking.

AZIZ RASHID: Gopal Baratham's novel, A Candle or the Sun, which is about a Marxist plot to overthrow Singapore's government is now available in the country-- another example of the easing of censorship. But Prime Minister Goh's popular style did not translate into more votes at the ballot box.

In 1980, his People's Action Party, or PAP, commanded 77% of the vote. But this was reduced at each successive general election and fell to 61% at the August 31 election. Mr. Goh took it as a personal rebuff.

GOH CHOK TONG: Personally, I'm disappointed that I got to perhaps modify my style of government. I'm reluctant to do so because that's my personality. That's something which I believe in. But obviously, since I did not get a strong endorsement for this, I would have to make modifications to my style.

AZIZ RASHID: For the first time since the 1960s, the opposition won four seats in parliament. They contested less than half the seats in the election, so the government was sure to win. And the government's information minister, Brigadier General George Yeo, says that it was because the government was assured of victory that the opposition did so well.

GEORGE YEO: While many Singaporeans wanted to see more opposition candidates in parliament, I would also say that most Singaporeans want the PAP to have a clear 2/3 majority and to be fully dominant in parliament.

But because on nomination day the government had already come in, so the psephology changed. People could not afford to be more adventurous with their vote than what otherwise they would have been had all 81 seats being contested.

AZIZ RASHID: Despite the fact that there'll only be four opposition members in parliament, Prime Minister Goh acknowledged that the mold of Singapore politics had been broken and that de facto one-party rule was over.

GOH CHOK TONG: There is now a proper opposition in parliament. The ground rules have changed. Those who are opposed to the government can now have the official opposition to work through.

AZIZ RASHID: One of the four seats won by the opposition went to the leader of the Singapore Democratic Party, Mr. Chiam See Tong, who was the only opposition member in the last parliament.

CHIAM SEE TONG: For a long time, we had only a dominant one party in parliament. Then in '81, we had one opposition elected to parliament. Now we have actually four elected to parliament from the opposition-- three from the Singapore Democratic Party and one from the Workers' Party. And we are definitely on our way to a two-party system in Singapore.

AZIZ RASHID: The BBC's South East Asia correspondent Alexander Thompson, who's based in Singapore, believes that the opposition will now play a much greater role in the country's politics.

ALEXANDER THOMPSON: They're not only changes in Singapore, but changes in the region and global changes which could affect the electorate, things that the PAP obviously cannot affect. I think that if the opposition does prove itself effective, it could expand. I think it's still highly unlikely that the PAP will ever lose power completely.

The opposition is also going to, I think, make the PAP and backbench MPs become much more effective. And I think that's going to be a contribution. So it's not just that you will have a slightly more effective opposition in parliament. You will have PAP constituency MPs performing better to make sure that this trend doesn't grow to the extent that the PAP would actually be directly threatened.

AZIZ RASHID: Now That there's an official opposition in Singapore, Mr. Goh and the governing People's Action Party are reassessing their policies. This week, the deputy prime minister, Mr. Ong Teng Cheong, said that too much attention had been paid to the English-educated Singaporeans who had called for liberal reforms. He said that not enough thought had been given to Chinese-educated Singaporeans whose votes had been taken for granted. The information minister, Brigadier General George Yeo, agrees.

GEORGE YEO: As society evolves, the totality of our political management must change to accommodate changing hopes and aspirations. For this particular general election, we discovered that in trying to meet the aspirations of the English-speaking group, we have neglected somewhat the Chinese ground, and we've lost some support there. So some adjustments will have to be made to correct this.

AZIZ RASHID: What sort of adjustments is the PAP thinking of? Because does this mean a reversal of some of the reforms, which are seen as liberal reforms which have been made under Mr Goh's in the last few months?

GEORGE YEO: Not the reversal, but some adjustments, some modifications will have to be made. The most talked about example, of course, is film classification. We've been reviewing our censorship regulations to see how we can relax selectively to keep up with a changing world.

So we introduced film classification, our rating. And it turned out that the ground was more conservative than we thought. Yes, many people supported the idea of classification, but they wanted more controls.

AZIZ RASHID: But Singaporean journalist Mary Lee does not believe it's more cinema censorship that's required. She thinks that Chinese-educated citizens have felt left out of Singaporean mainstream life.

MARY LEE: There will be a large segment of the working class who no longer see the party as their party because for the past five years, the emphasis of the leadership has been on pushing Singapore to even higher levels of excellence. And in order to do that, a lot of attention has been focused on the brighter students and the more brilliant national servicemen.

The PAP willy-nilly has formed an elite. Albeit that the elite have come from the working class, but nevertheless, the vast majority of hawkers and factory workers feel they're treated like second class citizens because the focus has always been on people who are smart.

AZIZ RASHID: So it doesn't seem to be the reforms which are responsible for the drop in support for the government. The BBC's Alexander Thompson says Mr. Goh can't turn his back on the reform program.

ALEXANDER THOMPSON: I don't think things can really be turned back. I think to a certain extent the mold in Singapore has been broken. Singapore itself is a changing, maturing society, that people's needs, people's wants, people's expectations have changed.

I think it would be a great mistake if they overreacted and felt that the new kind of liberalism hasn't succeeded, because it is possible that if Mr. Goh Chok Tong hadn't relaxed a bit, if he hadn't projected a different style, if he hadn't been accommodating to a younger electorate, the results might have been much worse.

AZIZ RASHID: In fact, the opposition believes that Singaporeans who didn't vote for Mr. Goh were voting for faster, not slower reform. Singapore Democratic Party leader Mr. Chiam See Tong.

CHIAM SEE TONG: We certainly want a reform, and we want a real, genuine reform, not the type of reform that is advocated by the government, because without opposition in parliament, we cannot really have an open society. And also, we require certain of the more stringent laws to be abolished.

For example, the Internal Security Act, which we think should be repealed. Only then can we have real reform or real openness, or the genuine consultative style that Goh Chok Tong is now advocating.

AZIZ RASHID: Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong seems to be a popular man. Even the opposition wants him to remain in power, as long as he keeps to his reforming ways. But there are those in the ruling People's Action Party who feel he's let them down. They believe Mr. Goh allowed too much freedom and liberalization, which they say is against the wishes of the conservative majority Chinese population.

And there was speculation that Mr. Goh should be replaced, perhaps by the deputy prime minister, Brigadier General Lee, son of the former prime minister. Journalist Mary Lee finds it strange that the former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, still a senior minister in the government, has not really commented on the election results.

MARY LEE: We are still waiting for an official version of events to come from someone like Lee Kuan Yew. It's making us feel very nervous that Lee Kuan Yew has only made a cursory remark, something like, oh, of course, he was disappointed because everybody liked him and everybody continues to him, but yet, he lost four seats.

But knowing Lee Kuan Yew, he must have reams of thoughts about the results. And he has said nothing about it. So we are sort of waiting with bated breath for when he does say something. And the fact that he has remained silent on his theories about what has happened also leads some of us to believe that Goh Chok Tong is walking on eggshells at the moment.

AZIZ RASHID: Mr. Lee is still the Secretary General of the People's Action Party. And as a senior minister in the cabinet, he has a lot of power. He could possibly bring forward the presidential elections due in 1993, which he's expected to win. But such an election is not a prerequisite to continue wielding influence, as Alexander Thompson explains.

ALEXANDER THOMPSON: Mr. Lee Kuan Yew is quite conspicuous by the low profile he kept during the election campaign. He hasn't said very much after it, I think. Inevitably, he's going to be a bit disappointed that there was a setback. But he knows that Singapore does need a younger generation leadership. He's still going to be hugely influential, if not powerful, behind the scenes.

When I saw him recently, he made a point, which, I think, sums up his view that whereas a president can block a stupid government, a senior member of cabinet can stop that government becoming stupid.

AZIZ RASHID: Despite all the speculation, the information minister, Brigadier General Yeo, says Mr. Goh's position is completely secure.

GEORGE YEO: There is tremendous support for him, I think, both among the people of Singapore and within the party. I don't think that will change. He was disappointed because he was hoping for a better showing, so that did not eventuate. But his leadership will continue.

AZIZ RASHID: This setback in the elections for prime minister Goh has certainly had an effect on the party. And everyone is waiting to see how the style of government might change. The deputy prime minister, BG Lee, is widely considered to be Mr. Goh's successor. And it's possible that his appointment to the leadership could be speeded up following the election results. But Alexander Thompson takes a more cautious view.

ALEXANDER THOMPSON: There was speculation that Goh Chok Tong's setback might bring BG Lee's arrival as prime minister closer to speculation about the timing. But I don't think about the event. I don't think there's going to be an overreaction, and I don't think BG Lee is going to come in within two or three years.

I think there are many reasons for that. One is, I think Goh Chok Tong is going to be given a bit more time to try to prove himself. And the other is that BG Lee, and perhaps he recognizes himself, is not quite ready, and he's a man who is willing and prepared, I think, to wait.

PAULA SCHROEDER: Alexander Thompson, ending that edition of the World Today, presented by Aziz Rashid.

SPEAKER 6: This program from the BBC World Service has been made possible by a grant from the Capital Group, a money management firm investing throughout the world for American individuals and institutions.

PAULA SCHROEDER: There have been 13 inches of snow that's fallen in the Bismarck, North Dakota area over the past couple of days. I-94 west of Bismarck is closed. East of Bismarck is open, but the State Patrol in North Dakota says caution is advised. The State Capitol building there has been shut down as well for the day.

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MARK HEISTAD: Hello, this is Mark Heistad, inviting you to start your weekday mornings with Morning Edition, here on the news and information service of Minnesota Public Radio. We bring you the program each weekday morning from 5:00 to 9:00, and I hope you'll tune in.

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PAULA SCHROEDER: This is KNOW 91.1 FM and 13:30 AM Minneapolis St. Paul, the Twin Cities news and information station of Minnesota Public Radio.