Monday, November 10

In the 1960s, Klezmer music all but disappeared. This traditional Jewish music born in Eastern Europe suffered from assimilation in this country and the Holocaust In Europe. But in the last few decades there has been a Klezmer revival, and tonight the Dakota Club in St. Paul will feature its first Klezmer performance, with a local ensemble called The Minnesota Klezmer Band. Mary Stucky reports.

Legislators return to St. Paul this week to vote on a package that would fund a new baseball stadium and allow for community ownership of the Minnesota Twins. Many lawmakers have spent the past few days talking to their constituents about the new proposal. We talk to DFL Representative Bernie Lieder who has been making the rounds in his district in northwestern Minnesota.

There's no end in sight to the volatilty on world financial markets. In addition to the ups and downs we've seen over the past couple of weeks, there are fresh concerns about inflation in the US, and during a week in which the Federal Reserve Board meets. We hear from MN Public Radio's Chris Farrell.

On Future Tense: Web pages are rather fleeting. Once deleted from a web server, they're seemingly gone forever. But Future Tense analyst Bill Loving has the story of a San Francisco company called Alexa that's trying to preserve the whole of the web.

Tuesday, November 11

Governor Carlson and Senate Majority Leader Roger Moe will try to drum up support for the latest Twins stadium package today on a whistle-stop tour of the state. They hope to shore up popular support for the package, which commits at least $260 million dollars of state money to a new, open-air ballpark. But back at the capitol, opponents of the stadium plan say they already know what the public wants. Minnesota Public Radio's Martin Kaste reports.

We talk to Governor Carlson about support for a publicly subsidized Twins stadium.

On Future Tense: The Audit Bureau of Circulations is an 83-year-old company that verifires circulation figures for newspapers and magazines. A year ago it formed ABC Interactive, to audit web site traffic. ABC Interactive says web site administrators need to agree on a standard for certifying how many people visit a site. Company president Mike Lavery says without such a standard, the web will not attract major advertisers. And Lavery says web content will suffer unless advertisers pump big money into the system.

Wednesday, November 12

In January, students at the Carlson School of Managment at the U of M will begin attending class in a shiny new 50 million dollar building - outfit with the latest computer and multi-media technology, faculty offices, conference rooms, dining areas... and the list goes on. Administrators hope the building will enhance the school's image nationwide. Bob Potter recently took a tour with Carlson School Dean David Kidwell who says the building was designed to encourage partnership between the school and Twin Cities businesses.

Legislators return to St. Paul tomorrow to vote on the stadium proposal that was worked out last week. For the past week lawmakers have been in their districts gauging public reaction to the new plan. We hear what people in Duluth, Rochester and St. Paul are saying about the stadium.

On Future Tense: Some automakers this year are pushing Global positioning systems in cars. The devices use satellites to pinpoint your cars location, help you plan routes, and provide you with other handy information, like where to find a Thai restaurant in the neighborhood where you're driving. Jon Gordon reports.

Thursday, November 13

Minnesotans jammed the switchboards at the state capitol all day yesterday with calls for and against the latest Twins baseball stadium plan. US West reports the telephone traffic to the capitol was SEVENTEEN times greater than usual, and other St. Paul phone customers experienced delays in their service. State lawmakers will reconvene this morning after a two-week break to continue their special legislative session on the stadium issue, and perhaps vote on the Twins baseball package. Minnesota Public Radio's Martin Kaste reports.

The day of decision on the stadium has arrived...again. Legislators will be in session at the Capitol today debating the latest proposal for building a new Twins stadium. And as we've heard before, this could be the day that the deal is passed or killed. Lobbyist Barry Tilly has been following the debate closely. One of his clients is the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association, a group that opposes the use of slot machines to pay for the stadium. He says the stadium issue is playing out like no other he's seen.

On Future Tense: The Simon Wiesentahl Center says the number of Internet hate sites has nearly doubled to 600 in the last year. The Center says the sites range from one showing 218 ways to make a bomb to another offering access to a virtual Auschwitz. Jay Tcath, director of the Jewish Community Relations Center in Minneapolis, agrees hate speech on the Internet is a growing problem.

Friday, November 14

The Minnesota House killed the Twins stadium package last night by a margin of nearly a two-to-one. The action effectively ends the special legislative session on the stadium issue, even though the Senate was showing signs of passing a stadium bill. Minnesota Public Radio's Martin Kaste reports.

McClatchy Newspapers has agreed to pay $1.4 billion for Cowles Media Co., parent company of the Star Tribune. McClatchy publishes The Sacramento (Calif.) Bee and nine other daily newspapers, plus 13 non-daily newspapers across the United States. Cowles Media said the purchase price was $1.4 billion in cash and stock, or about $90.50 a share, making it larger than the $1 billion the New York Times Co. paid for the Boston Globe in 1993. John Morton is a newspaper industry analyst. He talked with MPR's Bill Catlin about McClatchy.

The stadium plan voted down yesterday would have required Twins owner Carl Pohlad to give the team to a community foundation which then could have sold stock in the team in the future. The concept of community ownership of the Twins seemed to be generating support during the final days of the debate. Minneapolis DFLer Phyllis Kahn was an original proponent of community ownership - but she ended up voting against the stadium.

Mark Seeley talks SNOW and SNOW EMERGENCIES. St. Paul recently changed its procedure for calling a snow emergency. Now, 3 inches will bring out the plows - (it used to take 4). But how often does it snow at least 3 inches without exceeding 4?

On Future Tense: A Sunday night speech by Bill Gates kicks off the giant computer show COMDEX. The Houston Chronicle's Dwight Silverman will be one of about 250,000 people running wild in Las Vegas for the weeklong convention. Silverman says COMDEX is not only a huge economic event, but a social one as well.

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