Monday, October 13

Thousands of American Indians live in substandard housing on reservations. In fact, some statistics indicate more than 300-thousand indians are homeless. Federal funding for Indian housing is only a fraction of what tribal official say is needed to fix the problem. Now, in a first of its kind program, some tribes in the Dakotas are taking matters into their own hands. With help from the military and a national organization known as Operation Walkingshield, they've launched the Untied States' largest ever home recycling project. Minnesota Public Radio's Mainstreet Radio's Dan Gunderson reports.

Think of a stereotype of a Native American and the image of a stoic brave in buckskin with braided hair and feathers is still bound to pop into your head. A new exhibit at the Weisman Art Museum in Minneapolis allows Indian artists to play with that stereotype and other cultural misrepresentations native people have contended with for generations. Minnesota Public Radio's Chris Roberts has more on the traveling exhibit, "Indian Humor." On Future Tense, Houston Chronicle computer Columnist Dwight Silverman is a huge fan of the game QUAKE. Why? He says the Quake community is a good place to be.

Another inflation report and the start of the Third Quarter earnings season are likely to occupy a lot of minds on Wall Street this week. Chris Farrell talked with Bob Potter about how things are shaping up, after a jarring week last week.

The University of Minnesota's Carlson School is merging with the Juran Foundation. Doctor Joseph Juran is one of the countries leading business theorists and a key figure in launching the Quality movement worldwide. The Juran Foundation will become part of the University's Quality Leadership Center. Jim Buckman is the Co-Director of the Center and he says soon after Juran graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1924 he started working for Bell Laboratories.

State Fire Marshall Tom Brace discusses the importance of annual furnace check ups and how deadly carbon monoxide can be in the home.

Tuesday, October 14

St. Paul residents responding to a Minnesota Public Radio, St. Paul Pioneer Press, KARE-11 Poll favor incumbent Mayor Norm Coleman over his challenger Sandy Pappas by a 54 to 32 percent margin. Fourteen percent of those polled were undecided. In addition, 91 percent of St. Paul residents polled called the quality of life in their city good or excellent. As Minnesota Public Radio's William Wilcoxen reports, several political observers say St. Paulites' apparent satisfaction with the city makes Pappas' task of unseating the incumbent more formidable.

The cost of running for school board is skyrocketing. In some large urban school districts across the country, partisan politics and the influence of special-interest groups are forcing candidates to raise tens of thousands of dollars. In Minnesota, a few school board candidates still get by paying a two dollar filing fee and knocking on a few doors in their community. But others have a campaign organization and raise big bucks to get their message heard. Some fear that's the direction all school board campaigns are heading. Minnesota Public Radio's Tim Pugmire reports.

Doctors in Minnesota are examining the pros and cons of forming physician unions. Proponents say frustration with HMO's is so high, doctors are opening the door to an idea that would have been unthinkable in the recent past. The HMO industry acknowledges there's frustration, and says it's taking steps to address it. Minnesota Public Radio's Bill Catlin reports.

On Future Tense... Apple Computer is cutting prices on some of its most popular computers, and is shipping a version of its new operating system to software developers. Analysts say these are two key steps toward financial recovery chips are manufacturered in 1999, they will run at 900 megaherts - four times as fast as a typical fast machine of today. Michale Slater is executive editor at Microprocessor Report, an influential trade journal. He says the new chips use a new instruction set architecture. I asked him what that means.

Kathy Heidel leads Bob Potter on a search for insects in acorns and explains why leaves change colors.

Wednesday, October 15

No information available for today.

Thursday, October 16

On Future Tense... One reason American culture seems hell-bent on rapid technological change is the notion that computers will make people and the economy more productive. But Future Tense news analyst Bill Loving of the Star Tribune says it's hard to make the case that computerizations equals higher productivity.

Minnesota's new welfare reform law may get its first Constitutional test. The 1997 welfare law attempts to discourage migration to Minnesota by limiting benefits for new arrivals to what they would have received in their previous state for their first twelve months. Minnesota Public Radio's Lorna Benson reports.

MPR political commentators Bob Meek and Tom Horner discuss this week's poll results in the Minneapolis and St. Paul mayor's races.

Friday, Octiber 17

On Future Tense...Governor Carlson and new University of Minnesota president Mark Yudoff host the 1997 digital summit. Techno-luminaires from around the country will gather to discuss the future of electronic commerce, digital publishing, and using computers in higher education and more. The summit is designed to help the state and the U formulate Minnesota's role in the digital revolution. Minnesota Public Radio's Martin Kaste caught up with Yudoff at his innaugural celebration, and sked him whether Minnesota can recapture the glory days when it led the nation in computer technology. For his 70th birthday, Pulitzer Prize winning Minnesota composer Dominick Argento made a wish...to hear one of his least performed compositions...a ballad opera based on the Elizabethan drama "The Shoemaker's Holiday." Saturday, Philip Brunelle and the Plymouth Music Series will make Argento's wish come true. As Mary Stucky reports, the performance marks something of a homecoming.

State lawmakers are in the west-central town of Willmar this week for a three-day mini-session. Topics of hearings range from housing to education to agriculture. But as Minnesota Public Radio's Karen-Louise Boothe reports...debate over funding a new baseball stadium is overshadowing MANY of the hearings.

St. Paul Police Chief William Finney discusses his proposal to put the pictures of suspected Johns on cable TV and the Internet.

Naturalist Kathy Heidel leads Bob Potter into the woods where they encounter and scare off a flock of Blue Jays.

Meteorologist Mark Seeley discusses snow in October, warm autumns, El Nino and Omega High.

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