Monday, December 8

On Future Tense: David Goldman, Director of HateWatch, a web site that monitors racist activity on the Internet. He says the Internet is the greatest thing to happen to hate.

Aitkin County in Central Minnesota made it on the "green" map a few weeks ago when half a million acres of state and county forest was certified by the Smartwood organization. Smartwood is a non-profit group that approves woodlands managed under strict environmental guidelines. Wood from certified forests is specially labeled and presumably fetches a premium price from environmentally conscious consumers. Leif Enger of Mainstreet Radio reports.

Progressive Minnesota, the alternative political party behind two successful ballot initiatives in last month's election, hopes to parlay its victories into more electoral success in 1998. The four-year-old party spearheaded the passage of two charter amendments in Minneapolis, the more publicized one requiring voter approval before the city could spend more than 10-million dollars on a new baseball stadium. But party organizers recognize that jumping from a popular stadium measure to trying to elect statewide candidates will be a struggle. Minnesota Public Radio's Laura McCallum reports.

Stocks got off to a roaring start in December, as the US economy shows more strength with no inflation. Here's what MN Public Radio's Chris Farrell thinks is happening.

Rep. Wes Skoglund discusses the today's sentencing guideline hearing and why judges in Minnesota are not following the guidelines.

Dr. Catherine Verfaillie of the U of M's Blood and Marrow Transplant Research Program discusses her research into genetic therapy to treat leukemia.

Tuesday, December 9

The federal government operated an insane asylum solely for American Indians in the tiny town of Canton, South Dakota for 32 years. Beginning in 1902, it would house more than 350 indians from tribes throughout North America. Little is known about the operation of the asylum but documents show some who were confined at Canton had no mental illness at all but were confined there because they fought with a white man or an agency. Minnesota Public Radio's Elizabeth Stawicki reports.

On Future Tense: The online edition of the St. Paul Pioneer Press has taken a small step away from its parent. Pioneer Planet this week began offering an afternoon edition, making Pioneer Planet a little less like a newspaper and a little more like a broadcast. Brett Benson is Senior Online Editor at Pioneer Planet.

The McKnight Foundation is issuing more than 15 million dollars in grants to help move welfare recipients in Minnesota into work. The foundation is funding twenty-one partnerships around the state made up of local employers, community groups and branches of government. The money is intended to help an estimated 34 thousand welfare recipients get job training, child care, tranportation and other services they need to find and hold down a job. The Headwaters Regional Development Commission in Bemidji was the first partnership to receive its grant last September. David Hengel is the Economic Development Director.

MPR Classical Music announcer Tom Crann reviews Opera for Dummies.

Wednesday, December 10

Some rural Minnesota telephone companies are gearing up for what they hope will be a reverse migration...from the Twin Cities to small towns. Two Minnesota communities are part of a national pilot project to offer high speed fiber optic connections to the homes of rural residents, making telecommuting possible in even the most rural areas. Mainstreet radios Dan Gunderson reports.

Basketball is a high profile sport for high school girls and its popularity continues to grow. About 400 hundred Minnesota schools offer the sport. It might be expected that basketball's popularity would provide an attractive career path for women who want to coach. That doesn't seem to be the case. The number of women coaching the sport has decreased. About a third of the girl's high school teams in Minnesota this year will be coached by women. Twenty years ago in the sports early days, about half the coaches were women. Mainstreet Radio's Mark Steil report.

On Future Tense: Earlier this week we heard from the Director of HateWatch, an organization that monitors so-called "hate speech" on the Internet. David Goldman said the net is the best thing that ever happened to racist politics. I put that question to former presidential candidate David Duke, who has a bid presence on the Web. Duke, a former KKK leader, says yes indeed, the net is a good way to promote his brand of racist politics.

A Congressionally appointed commission has prepared a list of recommendations on how to improve the nation's air safety programs. Linda Barker is a member of the commission. She's also co-owner of Business Aviation in Sioux Falls and she joins me now.

Requests for public subsidies have set off bidding wars between cities, regions and states that are eager to attract new companies and terrified of losing old ones. Minnesota Congressman David Minge has introduced a bill that would use three approaches to end such economic warfare.

State Patrol Chief Anne Beers joins discusses the impact of the higher speed limits that took effect in July. The initial findings contain some intriguing results. Minnesotans aren't driving much faster, but fewer people are being killed on Minnesota's roads despite speed limits that are now as high as 70 mph. According to the Minnesota Department of Transportation, the 166 fatalities for July through September hit a 10-year low, 20 percent below the same period in 1996.

Thursday, December 11

No information available for this day.

Friday, December 12

The Lake Mille Lacs region has extensive historical and archaeological significance, and as a result it's one of the most studied areas in the state. Archaeologists first explored the region back in the 1880s. Despite all the work, there has yet to be a comprehensive source which brings all this research together, that is, until now. Minnesota Public Radio's Gretchen Lehmann reports.

One hundred and fifty-seven collisions occured at railroad crossings last year in Minnesota. That's the seventh worst record in the country. The Minnesota Department of Transportation and 3M are collaborating on a system intended to prevent crashes between trains and other vehicles. It's a warning device that can be installed in a car, bus or truck and is triggered by a radio signal from a transmitter located at the crossing. The system is being tested on school busses in Glencoe. We talk about it with Lynn Ihlenfeldt of 3M, one of the project managers.

At the beginning of the month, the FBI began testing out a DNA registry designed to catch sex offenders by matching their genetic profiles to DNA found at crime scenes. The National DNA Index System already contains the genetic profiles of 75-thousand convicted felons and it's being tried out first in Minnesota and seven other states. 36 states already have their own DNA registries, but the national system is intended to help catch offenders who cross state lines. But some concerns remain about the fallibility of DNA matching. We talk to John Sheehy, a defense attorney and partner with Meshbescher and Spence, and prosecutor Steve Redding, Assisstant Hennepin County Attorney.

Mark Seeley forecasts a warmup... and maybe even a brown Christmas!

On Future Tense: This week's Internet World Conference in New York makes it pretty clear that control of the Internet has passed from Utopian dreamers to profit-minded people. Minnesota Public Radio's Manager of Online Services, John Pearson, is one of the 42-thousand people at Internet World, and he's been taking in the sights at the Javitz Convention Center.

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