Monday, September 28

Over the weekend the largest windfarm in the world was dedicated in southwestern Minnesota, and started feeding electricity into the power grid. However if you want a smaller wind generator just for a house or a farm, you have to look further north. A Duluth company is one of only a half a dozen in the world which manufactures small wind generators intended to power single households. World Power Technologies is finding new markets for its tower-mounted generators after riding a wild boom and bust cycle in the United States for 20 years. Minnesota Public Radio's Bob Kelleher reports.

More than one-hundred twenty Minnesota candidates have signed a so-called "Taxpayer Protection Pledge," promising to oppose any tax increase. The pledge is certain to be an issue in many races this year, and particularly the race for Governor; only one of the three major party candidates has signed it. Minnesota Public Radio's Laura McCallum reports.

Hundreds of home health care agencies around the nation are closing their doors or struggling to survive. Their problems were caused by changes Congress made last year in Medicare repayments. The impact is being strongly felt in North Dakota, and Minnesota agencies are bracing for similar financial problems. Mainstreet Radio's Hope Deutscher reports.

A new installation at the Soap Factory art gallery in Minneapolis is giving visitors a chance to consider how they respond to art. The small, three-room exhibit is called "Potential Space," and it's designed to create a place where the artist's intentions aren't nearly as important as the viewer's perceptions. Minnesota Public Radio's Chris Roberts reports.

Minnesota's campaign season came to a brief halt last week as politicians and the public marked the death of Muriel Humphrey Brown. But now, little more than five weeks remain before election day and the candidates for governor are sure to hit the trail again in earnest. David Sturrock is a political science professor at Southwest State University in Marshall. He joins me now.

The Major League Baseball playoffs begin today. One man who won't be participating in the playoffs is Paul Molitor. That's because he plays for the the hapless Minnesota Twins, and there is a lot of speculation that Molitor may not return to the game next year. The Minnesota native has played for 20 years and racked up statistics that many analysts say make him a shoe-in for the Hall of Fame: he's eighth on the all-time hitting list and he's joined Ty Cobb and Honus Wagner as the only players in baseball history to collect 3000 hits, 600 doubles and 500 stolen bases. Minnesota public radio's Elizabeth Stawicki reports on Molitor's rise in baseball from the sandlots in St. Paul.

Republican candidate for Governor Norm Coleman will attend a ground-breaking ceremony today for a new heart facility at United Hospital in St. Paul. DFL candidate Skip Humphrey will also be in St. Paul. He will appear with former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop at the Tobacco Youth Summit. Yesterday, Coleman and Humphrey exchanged charges over their respective budget plans, accusing each other of bad money management. Coleman toured the state with Governor Arne Carlson. The Republican candidate promised to lower taxes if elected, and charged Humphrey with making too many costly campaign promises. Humphrey made much the same charge about Coleman. Minnesota Public Radio's Amy Radil reports.

This summer as many as 150 thousand fish died in four major fish kills in southeast Minnesota. Contamination from area farms was blamed for two of the kills and a spill from a local packing plant for a third. While news of the kills attracted lots of media attention, Department of Natural Resources officials don't even think they're finding all of the kills that take place. They're forming a group of scientists to try to figure out why fish kills occur and how to prevent them. Minnesota Public Radio's Brent Wolfe reports.

A proposal for a shorter, lower, and less intrusive bridge over the St. Croix River near Stillwater is getting a generally favorable reaction. Interest groups have been battling over how to solve one of the twin cities most difficult transportation problems: how to increase traffic over the river without destroying its scenic beauty. Many, but not all, of the interest groups say they can live with a consultants recommendation unveiled on Monday. Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Losure reports.

Throughout this election season, polls have been heavily scrutinized and often criticized, sometimes by candidates who don't like the results. But do polls actually influence voting behavior? Polling experts say no; they say polls simply reflect voter sentiment at a particular point in time. Minnesota Public Radio's Laura McCallum reports.

The Federal Reserve Board's Open Market meets today and is expected to lower short-term interest rates. Last week, interest on fixed-rate 30-year mortgages fell to a record low of 6.64 percent. This is the lowest rate since 1967 which, in theory, means now is a great time to buy a new home or refinance a mortgage. But in a highly competitive market like the Twin Cities, buying a home won't be easy. Buyer/broker Karen Wilson says buyers are having trouble finding homes and getting a loan approved.

Last week, the Senate overwhelmingly approved a bill to increase airline competition and improve service to rural parts of the country. The bill would add flights at four major airports in Chicago, Washington, and New York in order to expand options for travelers. An amendment to the bill would force major airlines to connect their ticketing and baggage systems with regional carriers. That would bring more flights and cheaper fares to small communities according to the measure's sponsor, North Dakota Senator Byron Dorgan.

A new Minnesota non-profit which will decide how to spend some of the state's tobacco settlement met for the first time yesterday. The Minnesota Partnership for Action Against Tobacco will administer about 200 million dollars approved by the court for smoking cessation and research. Minnesota Public Radio's Laura McCallum reports.

Officials with the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad are using a restored Pullman car to visit southern Minnesota towns this week. They're laying the groundwork for agreements in each of the cities potentially affected by the proposed 1.4 billion dollar rail construction and renovation project. Some city officials welcome the chance to make the railroad expansion a quiet and safe addition to their community. Others, as Mainstreet Radio's Art Hughes reports, are skeptical.

With farmers in Minnesota and across the country facing crisis due to low prices, politicians in Washington are determined to do something. So far though, it appears that fighting is mostly what's getting done. In recent weeks, Democrats and Republicans put forth competing proposals for farm relief. The bills were several billion dollars and a wide philosophical gulf apart. Republicans won the most recent round. But, with time running out, Democrats say they will fight for their proposal, and President Clinton is backing his party up with a veto threat. From Washington, Emily Harris reports.

Russell Sharon is one of the rarest kind of artists, one who makes a living at it. Sharon has exhibited his paintings all over the world; his sculptures have been compared to Rodin's and his handmade furniture was featured in the movie Slaves of New York. But only recently has Sharon gained appreciation in his hometown of Randall in Central Minnesota, and this weekend he is putting house and home on exhibit for the first time. Mainstreet Radios Leif Enger reports.

Next month the Department of Natural Resources is expected to issue a final report on the number of trees that were killed during the four major spring and summer storms. In addition to figuring out how many trees were lost, foresters are trying to determine why some went down and others didn't. Gary Johnson, associate professor of Urban Forestry at the University of Minnesota, led a team of students and volunteers who performed approximately 600 tree autopsies after the storms. Johnson says the autopsies help determine which parts of the tree were damaged.

Kevin Paap, a farmer in Blue Earth County and Vice President of the Minnesota Farm Bureau, discusses the farm bills being debated in Congress.

The world appears to be populated with born-again accordion players: people who started the instrument, dropped it, and have picked it up again. This summer a St. Paul accordion player started weekly jam sessions in front of his music shop. He got a warm response from people returning to the instrument. Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Olson reports.

Earlier this week, Cargill announced plans to sell its North American seed operations to a German chemical and biotechnology company. The sale is the latest development in the seed industry which is becoming dominated by companies with big investments and expertise in genetic engineering. Philip Larsen is associate dean of the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences at the University of Minnesota.

Earlier this year, the Minnesota Twins and a group called Minnesota Wins spent millions of dollars on lobbying and ad campaigns to get the legislature to approve public funds for a new baseball stadium. According to a new University of Minnesota study, the strategy failed because of poor organization and because of the strength of public opposition to the idea. Communications professor Edward Schiappa prepared the report. He joins me now.

A jury has awarded the Minneapolis-based Children's Broadcasting Corporation 20 million dollars in its lawsuit against ABC Radio Networks, a part of the Walt Disney Corporation. CBC had sued Disney for failing to uphold a partnership agreement and stealing trade secrets. In 1995 the two companies formed a strategic alliance to help save CBC's Radio Ahs network. Disney dropped out out of that partnership and then started its own children's radio network. Radio Ahs ceased operations earlier this year. Joining us now is Tom Taylor, a radio industry analyst for M Street Daily.

The Federal Environmental Protection Agency has negotiated a 32.5 million dollar settlement for environmental violations by Marathon Ashland Incorporated. The company operates refineries in Kentucky, Ohio, and St. Paul Park. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency says only a small portion of the fine is for violations at the St. Paul Park refinery. Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Losure reports.

The three major-party candidates for governor met yesterday in Brainerd for the first debate of the general election campaign. The League of Women Voters had billed the event as a debate of rural issues, but the candidates ranged over most of the contentious issues of the '98 campaign. Minnesota Public Radio's Martin Kaste reports.

Throughout this election season, Minnesota Public Radio is examining campaign advertising by the state's gubernatorial candidates. Since the primary, the bulk of the ads have focused on agriculture, in an effort to capture the farm vote. Minnesota Public Radio's Laura McCallum reports.

A panel of the Minnesota State High School League is warning coaches not to advocate use of the popular dietary-supplement Creatine. Baseball slugger Mark McGwire uses the product and it's showing up more frequently in high school locker rooms. But there are concerns about its long-term effects. The league's medical advisory board yesterday presented its findings on the product and developed position statement discouraging its use. Minnesota Public Radio's Tim Pugmire reports.

It could be called art for the brave. A large metal sculpture by a Florida artist, part of the permanent collection at the Plains Art Museum in Fargo, goes on display today.. But if you want to experience this artwork you'll have to sign a waiver and get safety instructions. Minnesota Public Radios Dan Gunderson reports.

Rep. Bruce Vento of the House Banking Committee discusses the problem with failing hedge funds and whether we should bail them out.

Meteorologist Mark Seeley discusses September which was unusually warm and dry this year.

Tom Vanderbilt, author of The Sneaker Book: Anatomy of an Industry and an Icon talked to Minnesota Public Radio's Perry Finelli about how the athletic shoe industry has been transformed over the last 40 years.