Monday, March 30

We'll hear from Art Hughes live from the Nicollet County Courthouse on how St. Peter is dealing with the aftermath of the tornadoes that touched down yesterday.

Sunday's tornadoes struck first in Southwest Minnesota, causing extensive damage in the community of Comfrey and neighboring farms. The twister damaged the economic heart of the town and caused more misery for farmers already facing challenging times. Mainstreet Radio's Mark Steil reports.

Hundreds of people are working to repair the damage left in the wake of a tornado that swept through the city of St. Peter last night. People are stunned but grateful. Looking across the cityscape, some residents say its is hard to imagine only one person was killed. Minnesota Public Radio's Lynette Nyman reports.

The tornadoes last stop on the ground was in Le Center in Le Sueur County. Several businesses and residences in Le Center were badly damaged but residents feel lucky the town escaped with only two minor injuries. Today, residents of Le Center were busy cleaning up and as Minnesota Public Radio's Brent Wolfe reports, Hispanic agricultural workers in the town face the biggest loses.

We'll talk with Mark Seeley about how rare it is to have such severe tornadoes this early in the spring and whether this is any kind of indicator of what this means for this summer.

Power is still out in St. Peter. We'll talk with Bob Julius of the Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Agency.

US West is working to restore phone service. We'll get an update from Mary Hisley.

Tuesday, March 31

Volunteers poured into St. Peter today to help with the massive cleanup after Sunday's tornado. Officials and residents alike are realizing the extent of work ahead. Minnesota Public Radio's Art Hughes reports.

People left homeless by the tornadoes in southern Minnesota are just beginning the process of finding a temporary place to live while their homes are repaired. Many are living in two shelters set up by the Red Cross and the Salvation Army. Life in those shelters can be tedious and frustrating. Minnesota Public Radio's Brent Wolfe reports on how residents at the shelter in Le Center are adapting.

A cigarette designer from the nation's number two tobacco company today denied his company modified cigarettes to hook smokers. Tobacco companies are using David Townsend's testimony to counter claims by the state and Blue Cross Blue Shield that they manipulated nicotine content in cigarettes, and conspired not to develop safer products. Minnesota Public Radio's Laura McCallum reports.

Nature photographer Jim Brandenburg created the "ninety days project" to challenge himself, and to reconnect with the wilderness. He will appear tonight at the Bell Museum of Natural History in Minneapolis. His talk and slide show will feature images from the project, which will also be the subject of an upcoming book. Minnesota Public Radio's Amy Radil has this report.

A huge piece of South Minneapolis real estate changed hands today. After a decade of negotiations the Sears property on Lake Street in south Minneapolis has been sold to developer Ray Harris and his partners. Harris has told city officials he will preserve the building and fill it with a mix of retail and commercial tenants. City officials say reuse of the Sears site is a big part of bringing economic health back to Lake Street. Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Olson has more.

The Minnesota House narrowly voted for a constitutional amendment setting up a permanent trust fund to benefit the state's youngest children. The Senate has passed a similar bill, and if the two houses can negotiate a compromise version, voters will see the proposal on the ballot in November. Minnesota Public Radio's Martin Kaste reports.

We'll talk with Melanie Rubrecht of the Red Cross about disaster relief operations in St. Peter.

We'll talk with Jeff Olson, principal at St. Peter High School about plans to move students to the elementary and middle school through the end of the year.

The Twins played Montreal in an exhibition game in North Carolina today. We'll talk with Mason Linker, a reporter with the Winson-Salem Journal who covered the game about the reception the Twins got in a state they may call home.

Wednesday, April 1

William Wilcoxen gives us an update on the St. Paul City Council's wish to renegotiate the Wild arena deal.

One of the Ojibway bands that had staked its fortunes on a casino at Hudson Wisconsin is now struggling under a new financial crisis. Northern Wisconsin's Red Cliff band was one of three who's joint application to build a new Casino near Minnesota's border was rejected by Interior Department Secretary Bruce Babbit, triggering a federal investigation. The Red Cliff band has declared a state of emergency after discovering a huge shortfall of cash intended to support social programs. Now its trying to keep services in place. Minnesota Public Radio's Bob Kelleher reports from Duluth.

It's been just over 20 years since the "Willmar 8" went on strike against Citizens National Bank. This story of eight female bank tellers, demanding equal pay and equal opportunity made national and international news....even Hollywood picked up the story with a made-for-TV movie and a documentary. The attention has died down since the late 1970s and now many are wondering how or if the Willmar 8 will be remembered by future generations. Minnesota Public Radio's Gretchen Lehmann reports.

The Salvation Army says more than a thousand volunteers flooded into St. Peter by noon yesterday. It created a bottleneck that left a surplus of volunteers waiting in buses. Officials in Comfrey would accept only 300 volunteers today due to the small size of the town. Joanelle Dyrstad is with the Emergency Management team in St. Peter. She says volunteers are needed, but right now officials are working out the logistics of how to get them in and out of town.

Olympic silver medal figure skater Michelle Kwan says she won't turn pro and instead has her sights on the 2002 Olympic competition in Salt Lake City when she'll be 21 years old. Kwan told reporters at the World Figure Skating Championships in Minneapolis today she is struck with the youthfulness of figure skaters getting high marks in competition.

Dale Connelly brings us an imaginative solution to the dilemma over campaign finance reform.

Thursday, April 2

Laura McCallum reports on the Supreme Court order to the tobacco industry to release 39,000 secret documents. Justice Clarence Thomas ordered the documents released no later than 4:00 central time on Monday.

Martin Kaste reports from the capitol on the funding plan for the victims of Sunday's tornadoes.

Mark Zdechlik reports on how the St. Peter schools will manage to fit in classtime and other activities despite dealing with heavily damage to the buildings.

Art Hughes reports on how St. Peter is starting to regain some of its normalcy.

Chris Roberts talks with Joanelle Dyrstad about the volunteer effort in St. Peter, where coordination seems to be going smoothly, and Peggy Kill about the volunteer effort in Comfrey, where the coordination is facing a bit rougher road because of busloads of people showing up unannounced.

Chris also talks with Dr. Bill Shores about the St. Peter Hospital emergency room reopening.

a name="Friday"> Friday, April 3

Martin Kaste reports on Minneapolis officials scared that they will lose funding for the convention center because of the St. Paul arena flap.

Dan Olson reports on the failure of a General Accounting Office audit of the federal government, and compares to a similar process Minnesota officials have done for 20 years.

Mark Steil reports on the process of decided whether to reopen the Comfrey school. It was heavily damaged in Sunday's tornado.

Chris Roberts talks with Art Hughes to get find out how St. Peter is coping, five days after the tornado damaged much of the town.

Chris talks with Martin Kaste to get an update on today's movement on various issues at the legislature.

Chris talks with with Kevin Hennessey about the Twins game and his cybercast of the home opener.

Chris talks with former World Figure Skating champion Jill Trenary. The Minnesota native won in 1990. She gives her impressions of this years World's going on in Minneapolis.

Lorna Benson talks with Matt Wesenberg, a 15-year old amateur skater from Bloomington who's attending some World Figure Skating events. We'll talk with him about what it's like to have his idols in town, and who he's most excited to see.

On "Restoring St. Peter, " the special airing at 5:30...

Lorna Benson talks with Gustavus Adolphus President Axel Steuer about the damage at the college and how the school will recover.

Lorna talks with a number of St. Peter residents to find out how they are coping, nearly a week after the tornado hit, and how they expect to get their lives back on track.

Stephen Smith visits St. Peter's mainstreet to survey the damage and find out how business is faring.

St. Peter resident Anne Burckhardt gives her thoughts from the last five days.

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