Monday, September 21

With only a few weeks left until adjournment, congress is still struggling with the question of how best to help farmers facing near record low crop prices and other problems. At a rally in Worthington this weekend, farmers and politicians said immediate federal action is needed to stave off the failure of thousands of Midwest farmers. Mainstreet Radio's Mark Steil reports

On September 21, broadcast and cable television networks aired President Clinton's Grand Jury testimony about his affair with Monica Lewinsky which was videotaped last month. As a result of the media frenzy surrounding the release of the video, some members of Minnesota's Congressional delegation say important issues are getting sidetracked by the President's troubles. They hope Congress can get back to legislative business when it reconvenes on September 23. Minnesota Public Radio's Laura McCallum reports.

Some of the most dramatic images from the Red River Floods of last year were of buildings ringed by sandbags or clay, surrounded by water as far as the eye could see. While residents of the Red River Valley hope to never see such sights again, some of them are getting prepared just in case. Mainstreet Radio's Hope Deutscher reports on a Minnesota program established to build ring-dikes around remote farms.

Muriel Humphrey Brown died September 20 at the age of 86. She was the wife of former Senator and Vice-President Hubert Humphrey. When Humphrey died in 1978, she was appointed by Governor Rudy Perpich to take her husband's place in the Senate. Humphrey-Brown made her final public appearance last Tuesday at the victory party for her son, Skip Humphrey who had just won the DFL primary for Governor. Jane Freeman was a good friend of Muriel Humphrey for 60 years. She is the wife of former Minnesota Governor Orville Freeman; she joins us by phone.

One of the crop that farmers and non-farmers are harvesting right now is apples. Orchards all over Minnesota are filling up with people picking their favorite apples for eating or baking or turning into apple cider. This time of year brings back fond memories for author Frank Browning. He grew up on an apple orchard in Kentucky and has written a new book simply titled Apples. In the book, Browning explores the apple's place in American culture and the impressive array of apple varieties that can be found worldwide.

One day last week Federal Reserve Board Chairman Allan Greenspan hinted about the possibility of cutting interest rates, then he told Congress that there are no plans to cut interest rates. Minnesota Public Radio's Senior Business and Economics Editor Chris Farrell tells Gary Eichten that we can expect rate cuts, eventually.

Pollution that that has killed tens of thousands of fish in a southern Minnesota creek is spreading slowly downstream toward the Minnesota River. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is investigating to see if a pipe leak reported September 14th by a vegetable processor in Montgomery is the main cause of the fish kill. Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Losure reports.

One of the most important educational issues to many voters is smaller class sizes in the lower grades. Minnesota's three gubernatorial candidates have sharply different views on the matter, one says the state can reduce class sizes with no new spending; another is calling for a greater state investment, and the third hasn't made it a priority. Minnesota Public Radio's Laura McCallum reports.

There's hasn't been an expansion of a railroad since west Texas in the 1920's; the beginning of the end of the rail age. Supporters of the 1.2 billion dollar proposed expansion of the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad say it means economic development potential, new markets for agriculture and a state of the art transportation system through railroad-poor South Dakota and southern Minnesota. Opponents say it'll hurt the environment and quality of life in the small towns through which the trains pass. In the first part of a Mainstreet Radio series Cara Hetland lays out the DM&E's plan.

The town of Afton is a rural community near the Twin Cities that is home to a mixture of farmers and commuters who want a place in the country. But Afton Mayor Jerry Kellogg is concerned that some of those non-farmers don't understand what living in the country means. Kellogg, who owns a 26-acre hobby farm, is proposing a "right to farm" ordinance for Afton. He says rural life isn't just solitude and pretty landscapes.

Golden Oval Eggs of Renville has temporarily withdrawn an expansion proposal that would have made it the biggest livestock farm in the state. The company shelved the plan because of concern it would add to problems in an area that already has high levels of agricultural-related air pollution. Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Losure reports.

The Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern is a small, independent railroad. But it has laid out an ambitious expansion plan to take on industry giants like Burlington Northern, Santa Fe and Union Pacific for a share of the coal-shipping market. The company is waiting to hear whether the federal Surface Transportation Board will approve the plan to extend its tracks into Wyoming and begin hauling coal through South Dakota and southern Minnesota. In the second part of a Mainstreet Radio series on the DM&E railroad's proposal, Art Hughes reports the company's success hinges on the still uncertain future of the electric utility industry.

Classes begin tomorrow at the University of Minnesota. And today for the first time since 1969 the University will hold a campus-wide convocation for new students. President Mark Yudof and Vice-President McKinley Boston will speak at the event. The University Marching Band will perform and teach the students the U of M Rouser. One man who should know the rouser by heart is President Yudof. He joins us by phone.

The Minneapolis City Council will vote next week on whether the downtown Handicraft Guild Building should be given historic status. Yesterday, the council's Zoning and Planning Committee voted in favor of the historic designation. City Council member Lisa Goodman supports preserving the Handicraft Guild Building. In addition, she says the city needs to develop a preservation plan that would give developers an incentive for saving historic buildings.

A new poll says DFL candidate Skip Humphrey has a sizable lead over Republican Norm Coleman in the race for governor. The Star Tribune/KMSP-TV Minnesota Poll gives Humphrey a 20-point lead over Coleman, 49 percent to 29 percent. Reform Party candidate Jesse Ventura was favored by ten percent of 1009 adults interviewed statewide. But some Republicans are questioning the validity of the poll. Republican party chair Bill Cooper joins us by phone.

Star Tribune Editor Tim McGuire defends the accuracy of the poll. He says the poll numbers aren't adjusted based on the party identification of the respondents because party I-D changes over time.

October first marks the end of another post-flood era in the Red River Valley; the Federal Emergency Managment agency is officially shutting down its trailer parks, set up in the weeks following the spring flooding of 1997. Minnesota Public Radio's Hope Deutscher reports the closures aren't being welcomed by everyone.

A small South Dakota railroad wants to become a big-time player in the coal business by expanding its operations in Minnesota and South Dakota. But the city of Rochester is fighting the expansion plans of the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad. The city is spending five thousand dollars on an ad campaign to build opposition to the proposal. Minnesota Public Radio's Brent Wolfe reports from Rochester.

Rochester city officials aren't the only ones against the expansion plans of the DM&E Railroad. The expanded service would send as many as forty trains a day through dozens of small towns and cities, causing traffic delays, noise and other problems. Mainstreet Radio's Mark Steil reports.

Muriel Humphrey Brown will be buried this morning in a private ceremony at Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis. There will be a public memorial service this afternoon at Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church beginning at 2:00 p.m.. One of the people who will be speaking at the Memorial Service is former Vice-President Walter Mondale. He joins us now.

Yesterday, The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose over 250 points. Overnight, the Asian markets were up sharply. Hong Kong was up 4.4 percent, Singapore rose 3.4 percent and Japan's market was up three percent. All of this exuberance was attributed to the news that Federal Reserve Chairman Allan Greenspan had strongly hinted that he would fight the global economic crisis by lowering US interest rates. Joining us now is Suhn Won Sohn, Chief Economist for Norwest Bank.

Wind turbines are generating electricity and money in one of Minnesota's poorest counties. Phase two of NSP's wind farm on Buffalo Ridge is finished and will be dedicated tomorrow with a ceremony in Lake Benton. Although California is by far the nation's largest wind energy producer, the southwest Minnesota project is the largest single wind farm ever built. Mainstreet Radio's Mark Steil reports.

Animal-rights groups will rally in Duluth this weekend in support of protecting the timber wolf. Many of the participating groups want keep the wolf on the Endangered Species list. The federal government intends to remove the wolf from the list, saying the wolf population has recovered. But de-listing promises to be a long and contentious process, with litigation threatened on all sides. Minnesota Public Radio's Amy Radil reports from Duluth.

A decade ago Minnesota had one of the most aggressive fish-stocking programs in the country, pouring millions of young walleye into its lakes to support the sport-fishing industry. But in the 90s, the Department of Natural Resources reversed itself. Armed with studies showing high mortality in stocked fish, the agency cut costs, and cut walleye stocking in half. Now some believe sport-fishing is bottoming out. Leif Enger reports from Brainerd.

The most famous names in Minnesota politics honored one of their own September 24, Muriel Humphrey Brown, who died Sunday at the age of 86. Friends and family shared their memories of the tiny, blue-eyed woman who spent much of her life in public service, first as the wife of former vice-president Hubert H. Humphrey, and later as Minnesota's first and only woman US Senator. Minnesota Public Radio's Laura McCallum reports.

Surrounded by bustling traffic and brick apartment buildings sits St. Paul's newest cultural attraction, the Western Sculpture Park. The park, which is located in the densely populated Fuller-Aurora neighborhood, features 15 pieces of contemporary sculpture. When I visited the park this week, workers were busy installing a sculpture in time for this afternoon's formal dedication. Christine Podas-Larson, president of Public Art St. Paul, told me the story of the Western Sculpture park's transformation from an empty space to a park that people of all ages can enjoy.

It's the last weekend of the regular season for Major League Baseball. And while Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and the New York Yankees are getting fans excited elsewhere, for the Twins another dismal season will end with little fanfare. Meanwhile the Vikings are 3 and 0 and fans are getting very excited about the team's chances. Joining us now is Britt Robson, who writes about sports for City Pages.

Meterorologist Mark Seeley discusses the weather and where it comes from.