Monday, May 18

No information available for today.

Tuesday, May 19

Officials for the Koch Refining Company will take their request for a new, flexible air quality permit before the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency citizens board today, for a second time. The permit could allow the company to expand operations at its Rosemount Refinery, at a time when it's under increasing fire for widespread contamination in Minnesota and in other states. Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Losure reports.

There's a certain mystery to the way in which artists create their work. The final product on view in a museum or gallery come with little explanation about the how and why of a piece. But now, at the Walker Art Center, three sculptors are letting the public in on their creative process. They're working in one of the Walker galleries, and the public is invited to stop in, watch, and ask questions. Mary Stucky visited with Robert Fischer, the first of the three sculptors in what the Walker is calling "Sculpture on Site."

Guns, gangs and violence. Not the usual picture when you think of a small northern Minnesota town. But residents of Cass Lake on the Leech Lake Reservation say they're under siege. As MPR's Tom Robertson reports, the area is also struggling with high unemployment, poverty, and longstanding racial divisions between the Leech Lake tribal government and city officials.

State and local officials are gathering in Minneapolis today for a Summit on Hate Crimes. The State Department of Public Safety says the number of reported hate crimes has declined slightly...but officials don't believe the number of INCIDENTS are necessarily dropping. They say Hate Crimes are vastly under-reported. Minnesota Public Radio's Karen-Louise Boothe reports on one family's experience which will be told today during the summit meeting.

On Future Tense: Attorney General Janet Reno says Microsof has developed a "chokehold" on the market for Internet browser software. In its anti-trust lawsuit against Microsoft, the government is seeking a remedy that strikes some people as radical. The Department of Justice says if Microsoft refuses to separate its browser from Windows 98, it should distribute a competing product, Netscape Navigator, along with Win 98. Houston Chronicle computer columnist Dwight Silverman says the government is going too far.

There may a settlement in the 20-year battle over the use of motors in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. Congressmen Jim Oberstar and Bruce Vento announced a compromise yesterday that would restore motorized transports at two heavily used portages. Those portages connect lakes that allow the use of motorboats. As a trade-off for opening those portages, motorboats will be banned from two other lakes. By agreeing to the compromise, Vento broke rank with environmentalists who oppose the addition of any motors in the BWCA. Vento says he had to soften his position because Oberstar had the votes to get a bill passed that would expand the area in which motorboats are allowed. Becky Rom, Vice-Chair of the Friends of the Boundary Waters says Oberstar had that power because of his role in negotiating the comprehensive ICE-T transportation bill.

Wednesday, May 20

Young people are frequent victims, and the most likely perpetrators, of hate crimes. Many Minnesota teens were among hundreds who gathered yesterday at a hate crimes summit in Minneapolis, hoping their stories will encourage more people to pay attention to the problem. Minnesota Public Radio's Eric Jansen reports.

Northern Minnesotans hope a compromise over motor use in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wildnerness will settle long standing disputes over the region. Congressman Jim Oberstar's proposal to allow trucks on two wilderness portages has been entered into the transportation bill now under consideration by a Congresional Conference Committee. It has Congressman Bruce Vento's reluctant support after the addition of a provision removing some lakes from motor access. Minnesota Public Radio's Bob Kelleher reports.

In December, the Minnesota Supreme Court delivered "the Stone decision," a ruling on a case brought by members of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe. They claimed the state lacks authority to enforce civil laws, such as traffic regulations, on reservations. The high court agreed and as a result Tribal authorities now face big decisions over how to provide their own law enforcement... and how to pay for it. Minnesota Public Radio's Amy Radil reports from Duluth.

The National Transportation Safety Board suggests people who plan to hop on a jet ski this holiday weekend get some training first. The NTSB says the vast majority of personal watercraft accidents are due to inexperience. An NTSB survey conducted last year shows 84 percent of personal watercraft accidents involved operators who had no boating safety education or instruction. Forty-eight percent had never operated a personal watercraft or had done so only once. Minnesota was one of 37 states that contributed to the report. Tim Smalley is boat and water safety specialist with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. He joins me now.

BW Sportswire in Huntington, Maryland has a received a press release from a spokesman for Tom Clancy confirming that Clancy is withdrwaing his bid to buy the Minnesota Vikings. In the release Clancy is quoted as saying that the "decision is painful, but neccessary." Clancy says he has been unable to secure the financing he needed in order to complete the deal. Donald Dwight is spokesperson for Clancy.

Thursday, May 21

A Duluth agency which has insulated homes and paid heating bills for low-income people for twenty years, is shutting down this week. The Community Action Program, or "CAP" has been in trouble for months. CAP board members, management and union members are bitterly divided over the elimination of programs. As a result, low-income people in Duluth could lose an agency that helps them survive the winter. Minnesota Public Radio's Amy Radil reports from Duluth.

Owners of the Minnesota Vikings are contemplating their next move now that Tom Clancy's effort to purchase the team has ended. Clancy's withdrawl of his bid to purchase the football team ended an unusual chapter in the Vikings' ownership saga and left only question marks about the team's future ownership. Minneosta Public Radio's William Wilcoxen reports.

More than 125 Indian tribes from across the nation are represented at a tribal environmental conference underway at the Prairie Island Dakota Community. One session addressed a key issue facing Prairie Island and other tribes - the storage of nuclear waste on or near their lands. Minnesota Public Radio's Laura McCallum reports.

On Future Tense: The Galaxy IV satellite outage which has disrupted pager service, radio and TV stations and more, may not be such a bad thing in the long run. Edward Tenner says if we learn the right lessons from the current satellite outage, our communications system might improve. Tenner is the author of Why Things Bite Back: Technology and the Revenge of Unintended Consequences. I asked Tenner what he makes of the Galaxy IV mess.

The malfunction of the Galaxy Four satelite has caused some people to wonder if we have become too dependent on this kind of technology. Ray Conover is Vice President of engineering for Hubbard Broadcasting's television and newsgathering satellite services. He says in general the technology is reliable.

The Tom Clancy-Vikings deal is just the latest high profile sale invloving a local professional sports team that has fallen through. There was the sale of the Timberwolves to a group of New Orleans investors and then the Carl Pohlad/Don Beaver Twins sale. Now the Clancy debacle. MPR Sports Commentator Jay Weiner has followed the ups and downs of all those deals and he joins me now.

Friday, May 22

The historic Arts and Heritage building in St Peter is about to come down. It will be demolished due to lack of money to repair extensive tornado damage sustained March 29th. As Minnesota Public Radio's Lynette Nyman reports, the building will leave the largest hole yet in Saint Peter as residents continue recovery efforts.

The new movie "The Horse Whisperer" is the latest example of a long-standing interest in the special relationship that can exist between humans and horses. Horse whispering is a natural approach to training and riding horses. Minnesota Public Radio's Gretchen Lehmann introduces us to a Central Minnesota woman who's a horse-whisperer-in training.

On Future Tense: Galaxy IV may be just the beginning. John Pike with the Federation of American Scientists says the satellite mishap foreshadows problems with the world's increasingly connected and complex communications systems, from cell phones to the Internet.

The investigation of a University of Minnesota scientist is raising concerns that open-records laws are being used to squelch academic research. A New York law firm hired by an anonymous client is using freedom of information laws to collect research and personal information about professor Deborah Swackhammer. Swackhammer is researching the source of a pesticide she found in Lake Superior. She claims someone is trying to stifle her research. U of M general counsel Mark Rotenberg says the case illustrates a problem facing any faculty member conducting research at a public land grant university.

In the heart of the Twin Cities, just across the highway and below the bluffs from the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, lies the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge: ten thousand acres of woods, lakes and marshes. It's a place many city dwellers go to immerse themselves in nature...and maybe catch sight of an eagle, egret or fox. But a new runway planned at the airport could shatter the peacefulness of the refuge and drive away many of the 200-thousand visitors it attracts each year. That's according to refuge manager Rick Shultz. MPR's Bob Potter spoke with him recently outside the refuge visitor center in Bloomington.

Meteorologist Mark Seeley discusses the great spring and what to expect this Memorial Day weekend.

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