Monday, March 2

The heads of the nation's top two cigarette manufacturers will testify in Minnesota's tobacco trial this week. As the trial enters its sixth week, the state says it's close to wrapping up its case against tobacco companies. Minnesota Public Radio's Laura McCallum reports.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of a unique exchange between Minnesota and Norway. Troops from Minnesota's National Guard and the Norwegian Home Guard switch places two weeks out of the year and train in each other's country. Minnesotans test their metal in the snowy mountains and Norwegians tackle the cold Midwest winter. Minnesota Public Radio's Gretchen Lehmann met with some of the Norwegian troops last week at Camp Ripley and has this report.

Last year, the Red Lake Warriors were one of the big stories of the state boys' basketball tournament. It was the first appearance at state by all -Native American team -- and Red Lake's play and sportsmanship made the Warriors the talk of Minnesota. But the celebration ended soon after the tournament when one of the players was stabbed to death -- a tragedy that hit the town hard. As Leif Enger reports, Red Lake has regrouped, and the Warriors are preparing for another run at the state title.

Last spring the flood -swollen Red, Minnesota, and Mississippi Rivers carved a trail of destruction across the upper Midwest. Through a combination of backbreaking sandbagging and a healthy dose of luck some communities such as Fargo Moorhead, Mankato, and St Paul held off the floodwaters. Other towns lost the battle... Ada and Breckenridge were swamped twice...and hundreds of people were evacuated. But when the Red River rolled over the dikes into Grand Forks and East Grand Forks on April 18th the eyes of the nation were drawn to the unfolding tragedy. Nearly 60- thousand people were forced to leave...the largest single evacuation in U-S history. Then fire broke out in the flooded downtown and people watched in horror while a dozen buildings burned as firefighters looked on helplessly. In the first of a five part series on the Flood on 1997 Minnesota Public Radios Dan Gunderson looks back at that catastrophic weekend.

On Future Tense: Janet Reno says the nation's increasing reliance on technology makes it vulnerable to attack. So the Attorney General is creating a new high-tech crime lab designed to crack down on cyberattacks on the federal government and private institutions. Reno's announcement comes after hackers broke into the Pentagon's computer system. FBI agents confiscated computers and software from teenagers in two California homes last week, but made no arrests. Computer security expert Ira Winkler says if it turns out teenagers have been hacking into Pentagon computers, we should be scared.

The stock market keeps barrelling ahead. Trading opens this morning with the Dow Industrials above the 8500 level for the first time. Here's what's pushing the market higher, in the view of Minnesota Public Radio's Chris Farrell.

Another work-week gets underway at the State Capitol. Minnesota Public Radio's Martin Kaste is watching things from the Capitol Bureau.

Tuesday, March 3

A state senate committee has voted to restrict public input on new feedlots and in some cases, to DOUBLE the number of swine that could be allowed on a feedlot without environmental review. Last night's vote underscores the different directions Minnesota's Senate and House are moving on feedlot regulation. Minnesota Public Radios Eric Jansen reports from the state capitol.

The Minnesota DFL, Republican and Reform parties hold caucuses tonight to pick the delegates who will go on to district and statewide conventions. Minnesota is one of the few states that still has a caucus system and attendance has been declining with each election season. Minnesota Public Radio's Lynnette Nyman talked to passersby in downtown St. Peter last week and found most of them don't care.

The 10 Republicans and DFLers running for Governor are hoping for strong showings at tonight's party precinct caucuses. But at this early stage of the Minnesota caucus process, it's often hard to tell which candidate has done well -- or even whether it matters much in the final outcome. Minnesota Public Radio's Martin Kaste reports.

The cities of Grand Forks and East Grand Forks... at least as the locals knew them... disappeared April 19th, 1997, when the Red River burst the dikes, washing through the streets, destroying houses and businesses. In the days following the flood local officials worried about a mass exodus from the area. Some people predicted as many as 20 percent of the people would leave forever. That didn't happen.... in the end, only three percent moved elsewhere. But as Minnesota Public Radio's Hope Deutscher reports in the second report of our flood series, rebuilding has been a long and frustrating process that is still far from over.

On Future Tense: The Defense Department recently went public with what it says is a highly organzied break-in of its computers. Computer secreity expert Ira Winlker says the Pentagon is not well prepared to deal with hackers.

Minneapolis will spend millions of dollars over the next few years to upgrade its water treatment system...and St. Paul may have to follow suit. The expenditure is in response to proposed federal regulations which are largely the result of the 1993 cryptosporidium outbreak in Milwaukee. 100 people died and 400-thousand got sick from a parasite in the water. Minnesota Public Radio's Perry Finelli reports.

Today is the 37th anniversary of the founding of the Peace Corps. Minnesotan and Peace Corps volunteer Marianne Combs is stationed in a poor village in the African country, Ivory Coast. In her latest "Letter from Africa," she describes how hard it is to introduce western health care to people who have to choose between vaccinating a child or buying food at the market.

Voters in Duluth will decide tomorrow whether to establish a new waterfront state park featuring the USS Des Moines. Governor Carlson is asking the legislature to spend 14 million dollars to bring the retired Navy Cruiser to Duluth. The proposal has set off an intense debate among veterans, residents and politicans over the ship's appropriateness as a war memorial and its value as a tourist attraction. Tim Hastings is ships curator at the Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia - home to the USS Olympia, a vessel that served in the Spanish American War, and the US Submarine Becuna which dates from World War II. He says the ships make great tourist attractions... but that ticket sales don't raise enough money to cover long-term maintenance.

The perception is that the people who do show up at the caucuses are mainly party activists or people interested in one issue. DFLer Michelle St. Martin will convene a precinct caucus in her South Minneapolis Senate district. She says that's a misperception.

Wednesday, March 4

The boys' hockey tournament, Minnesota's biggest high school sporting event, opens this week in St. Paul. The tournament comes two weeks after the girls' hockey tournament, and the constrast could not be more striking. No body checking is allowed in the girls' tournament. Boys, on the other hand can use their body anywhere on the rink to slam into whomever has the puck. Rink-wide checking has been the rule in boys' hockey for 25 years. Checking is popular with fans, but critics say it should be banned because of the rising rate of injury. Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Olson reports.

The DFL, Republican and Reform parties held caucuses across the state last night and elected delegates. This is the first step in the party endorsement process which will eventually narrow the field of candidates in the Governor's race. We have two reports on the caucuses, first from Brent Wolfe who visited a sparsely attended Republican caucus in Rochester.

Minnesota Public Radio's Karen-Louise Boothe stopped in to a DFL caucus meeting in Minneapolis and has this report.

The devastating flood and fire that struck Grand Forks and East Grand Forks nearly a year ago forever changed the physical face of the communities. The less immediately noticeable changes are perhaps more profound...the disaster stretched and tore the social fabric of the community. In part three of our series on the flood of 1997 Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Gunderson examines how people were changed by disaster.

The head of the nation's number one cigarette maker told jurors he's ashamed and embarassed by previously-secret company memos that detailed the smoking habits of teenagers under 18. Philip Morris C-E-O Geoffrey Bible is on the stand in Minnesota's tobacco trial. The tobacco industry has long denied it markets cigarettes to children. Minnesota public radio's Elizabeth Stawicki reports.

On Future Tense: Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates wanted a North Dakota software maker at his side when he testified today before Congress yesterday. Great Plains Software Chairman Doug Burgum spoke to the US Senate Judiciary Committee, alongside another friendly witness, Michael Dell of Dell Computer. Microsoft critics Scott McNealy of Sun Microsystems and Jim Barksdale of Netscape accused Microsoft of being a dangerous monopoly. Burgun, whose copmany makes financial and accounting software for businesses, defended Microsoft from such charges.

In addition to electing delegates, the DFLers held a straw poll in the governor's race. With 44 percent of the precincts reporting, Attorney General Skip Humphrey is in front with 35 percent of the vote. Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman is second with 30 percent. No other candidate has more than 10 percent of the votes that have been counted. Joining me now for some instant analysis is Steven Schier, chair of the political science department at Carleton College in Northfield.

Thursday, March 5

The State introduced previously-hidden internal memos that show the world's largest cigarette maker was worried higher cigarette taxes would result in fewer teenagers taking up smoking. The memos were introduced during testimony by Philip Morris C-E-O Geoffrey Bible during Minnesota's tobacco trial. Minnesota public radio's Elizabeth Stawicki reports.

36 years of beef slaughtering ends Saturday in Luverne in Southwestern Minnesota. The I-B-P Meat packing company is closing its Luverne plant leaving 370 employees out of work. This comes hard on the heels of the Campbell Soup plant closing in Worthington last year. Minnesota Public Radios Cara Hetland reports everyone in the town will be hit in some way by the plants closing.

A referendum in Duluth on a veterans' state park with the USS Des Moines has been rejected by voters. 60 percent of of those voting went against the project. The vote was non-binding but Governor Carlson and city officials pledged to abide by its results. Minnesota Public Radio's Amy Radil reports.

Late last week the Grand Forks and East Grand Forks City councils officially endorsed a 300-million dollar flood protection plan. The proposed dikes will snake along both sides of the Red River...and if all goes as the Army Corps of Engineers plan it will prevent the re-occurrance of flooding on the scale of 1997. But as Minnesota Public Radio's Hope Deutscher reports, the construction of new dikes will come at the cost of more people's homes and local history.

On Future Tense: Choosing a company from which to buy your Internet access is still a complicated affair. Here's Houston Chronicle computer columnist Dwight Silverman with some advice on choosing an Internet service provider, or ISP.

Minnesota has begun penalizing welfare recipients who fail to comply with the state's new welfare law. This month, about 950 parents had their welfare checks reduced. But that's a small portion of the total number of people enrolled in the Minnesota Family Investment Program. Out of some 32-thousand cases, only 2.4 percent had their checks cut by 10 percent. Half a percent had their checks cut 30 percent. Deborah Huskins is assistant commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Human Services.

Carl Vogt, an Extension Forester with the University of Minnesota, discusses how the maple sap is flowing and the prospects for the syrup harvest.

Friday, March 6

The State produced memos in Minnesota's tobacco trial suggesting the nation's number two cigarette company was marketing to children as young as 14. Those memos were introduced during testimony by R-J-Reynolds C-E-O Andrew Schindler. The tobacco industry has long denied it markets to children. Minnesota Public Radio's Elizabeth Stawicki reports.

When the nation's largest red meat processor shuts down a packing plant in southwest Minnesota tomorrow, it will hurt more than the employees. Farmers who sell cattle to the IBP plant in Luverne are worried too. Some say the situation underscores complaints that the few remaining meatpackers are too powerful. Mark Steil of Mainstreet Radio reports.

The flood of 1997 set records all along the Red River of the North. The river rose to levels no one alive has ever seen. The high water caused billions of dollars in damage, but it also gave flood fighters some valuable insights that may help their communities and communities across the country fight future floods. In the final part of our series on the flood of '97, Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Gunderson examines what lessons were learned.

Grain farmers in the Red River Valley are facing an economic crisis that's been years in the making. Disease, pests and five straight seasons of wet weather have devastated crops. Falling prices have left some farmers without enough cash on hand to even plant this year. Lawmakers will be in Northwestern Minnesota tomorrow to discuss the problem. Curt Nyegaard is an extension educator in Kittson County. He blames the crisis in part on 1980s farm policy which made it hard to rotate crops and required farmers to leave crop residue on their land after harvest to stem erosion. Such practices fostered the spread of crop disease.

Mark Seeley says the sun will be arcing much higher in the sky by the end of March. Whether anyone will be able to see it through the clouds is another question.

Beads, broken glass, stones, bottle caps...not what you usually think of when you think of art. But these ordinary objects have been transformed into colorful, extraordinary sculptures and paintings by midwestern folk artists and are on display at The Phipps Center for the Arts in Hudson Wisconsin. There's a six-foot tall replica of syrup-huckster Mrs. Butterworth, a chandelier made of bottle caps and creatures of concrete decorated with broken china. The show "Passionate Obsessions" was curated by Loris Connolly who took us on a tour of the exhibit.

A group of people who create software for Apple's Newton handheld computer are planning a protest at Apple headquarters this afternoon. They're upset Apple has decided to kill off the Newton, which has been a big commercial disappointment, even though it paved the way for popular devices such as the Palm Pilot. At it's launch in 1993, the public and the media criticzed the machine for its faulty handwriting regognition. In recent years, the Newton has received much praise, but Apple leader Steve Jobs views it as an expensive distraction from Apple's main business. Adam Tow, who's organizing today's protest for the Newton Developers Association, says Apple is leaving lots of software writers high and dry.

For more Morning Edition listings: