Monday, May 17

State lawmakers have worked out the final details of a $2.9 billion tax-relief package. The compromise comes as legislators work to meet tonight's midnight deadline for adjournment. Disagreements over abortion restrictions in the major Health and Human Services funding bill and borrowing money for capital improvement projects remain unresolved and could still lead to a possible special session. Minnesota Public Radio's Michael Khoo reports.

Just about every roadside marquee in Itasca County had a welcome sign for the Governor this weekend. Governor Ventura and his wife Terry drew large, admiring crowds during the fishing opener in Grand Rapids - and they even had some luck with the fish. Although, as Minnesota Public Radio's Amy Radil reports, the walleye was the one that got away.

Executives with the Minnesota Timberwolves are planning for next year, now that the team has been eliminated from the National Basketball Association playoffs. Saturday's 92-85 loss to the San Antonio spurs signaled the start of an off-season during which the Timberwolves face several questions about who will play for the team next fall. Minnesota Public Radio's William Wilcoxen reports.

This rainy weather may not be good for picnics or softball, but it's perfect for mosquito larvae. In puddles across the state, the little larvae are growing up, preparing to buzz and bite. And that means the Metropolitan Mosquito Control District is busy trying to kill them. Mike McClean has been out surveying the scene, and he's here now to give his perspective on this year's mosquitoes.

House and Senate conferees have agreed on one of the most contentious pieces of legislation at the state capitol: a $5.4 billion Health and Human Services bill. DFLers had objected to abortion restrictions that Republicans included in the bill. The conference committee passed a version without any restrictions. Senate majority leader DFLer Roger Moe says House Republicans should still find much to support in the bill.

The Minnesota Legislature has until midnight tonight to finish its work. Lawmakers met through the night to reach agreement and try to avoid a special session. Governor Ventura has vowed not to call one. Minnesota Public Radio's Laura McCallum covers the Capitol for MPR and joins me now with an update.

The Financial markets are getting a whiff of something they really don't like: inflation. Minnesota Public Radio's Chris Farrell says fears sparked by rising interest rates and a booming market may be a bit overblown.

The Minnesota Legislature adjourned its 1999 session late last night after passing all the biggest items on its to-do list. Lawmakers passed record-breaking tax relief, a big increase in spending on schools, a billion-dollar tobacco endowment and - under pressure from Governor Ventura - $60 million for light rail. But the work was not easy: at least twice during the day, deep ideological differences in the House threatened the major bills. Minnesota Public Radio's Martin Kaste has the story.

Funding for K-12 education was one of the last pieces to fall into place as the state legislature wrapped up its business last night. House and Senate negotiators reached consensus on a $7.9 billion appropriations bill with only hours left until adjournment. But the legislature took no action to reform the new Profile of Learning curriculum standard - despite a last minute attempt to strike a deal. Minnesota Public Radio's Michael Khoo reports.

While it seems we're constantly assailed with stories of writers being offered huge advances on the strength of a single sample chapter: the journey to being a published author is often long and lonely. Just ask Minneapolis writer Wendy McCormick who labored for years - and crossed an ocean - before she finally saw her name in print. Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Stucky reports that McCormick's first book, a picture book for children, is appropriately enough, about traveling.

We asked a couple of lobbyists to give us their take on how the session turned out. Kevin Chandler is the President of the Minnesota Credit Union Network. Judy Cook is a lobbyist with the firm of Cook, Hill and Girard. And they joins us now.

Governor Ventura has a stack of bills on his desk to sift through this morning following the wrap-up of the legislative session last night. In the hours before the midnight adjournment deadline, lawmakers passed a record tax relief bill, a bonding bill with $60 million for mass transit, and a health and human services bill that sets up a $1 billion endowment for health care and smoking prevention. Steven Schier is the Chair of the Political Science Department at Carleton College and he joins us now.

Today the University of Minnesota and the Guthrie Theater will announce a new joint program that is expected to attract the nation's most talented young actors and is being called the only program of it's kind in the country. As part of the new arrangement, students in the U's new Undergraduate Acting Program will get the chance to work with the Guthrie's professional artistic staff learning voice, speech and movement for the classical stage. Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Stucky reports.

The name of their 50-year-old organization pretty much says it all: Pike for Vets. Every year this small group of folks from Grand Rapids asks for donations of enough walleye to give the patients at the V.A. Hospital in Minneapolis one memorable dinner. Minnesota Public Radio's Amy Radil reports.

An increasing number of Somali immigrants in Minneapolis are finding themselves in court charged with possessing Khat, a substance that's a big part of their East African culture. Khat is a controlled substance under Minnesota law and illegal in the U.S. Minnesota public radio's Elizabeth Stawicki reports.

After much hoopla, the Force has arrived. The new Star Wars movie opened at midnight last night in theaters across the Twin Cities. The Mall of America has been running the show continuously since then, and marketing director Jim Froehlich says they don't plan to stop until midnight tonight. Froehlich has been at the theatre since last evening, and he's on the phone with us now.

Now that the legislative session is over, Governor Jesse Ventura is reviewing the bills on his desk, deciding what to sign and what to veto. He should find much to his liking, since the House and Senate approved many of his priorities. Former Governor Arne Carlson was known for his willingness to veto the bills that came his way, but he says this session was different from other sessions for a couple of reasons.

A Minnesota State Representative from Owatonna is quitting the Republican Party to become an independent. Doug Reuter will join state Senator Charlie Berg of Chokio, a former DFLer who is now the only other independent in the legislature. Reuter says he objects to how much the party gave up in negotiations during the session that just ended.

In about 18 months the Metro-area will have two more area codes. Minnesota Public Radio's Karen Louise Boothe reports.

Low-income people enrolled in Minnesota's public health-care programs are having a tough time getting access to dental care. MinnesotaCare and other medical-assistance programs don't fully reimburse dentists for treating patients on public assistance. Such patients are finding it increasingly difficult to find dentists willing to treat them, especially in rural areas. A Health and Human Services Bill just approved by the Minnesota Legislature directs nearly $3.2 million toward the problem, but some say it's only a Band-Aid for an issue that's reaching crisis proportions. Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Robertson reports from Bemidji.

Nearly half of Northwest Airline's unionized employees continue to work without new contracts, more than two-and-a-half years after the agreement that cut their pay expired. Typically airline employees threaten to strike as a way of putting pressure on management. But an alternative tactic often referred to as CHAOS is growing in popularity among some unions. CHAOS involves small scale surprise work interruptions designed to trigger domino effects. Northwest's flight attendants are threatening a version of CHAOS if negotiations break down. The union the airline's mechanics voted to join is an even more enthusiastic proponent of the strategy. Minnesota Public Radio's Mark Zdechlik reports.

Inaction by the state legislature on the controversial Profile of Learning means it returns intact next fall for a second school year. Teachers throughout the state have struggled with the new graduation standards. Minnesota Public Radio's Tim Pugmire reports on how one suburban school district has been coping.

Saint John's Abbey and University sits alone off Interstate 94, just west of Saint Cloud, isolated from nearby towns. After a big campus fire in the late 1930's, it became clear that Saint Johns needed a fire department of its own to respond to campus emergencies fast. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Saint John's Firemonks. Marisa Helms has this Mainstreet report.

Many Minnesotans can look forward to getting checks in the mail from the state treasury come August. The legislature approved a $1.3 billion tax rebate plan which returns some of the state budget surplus to Minnesotans based on the estimated amount of sales tax they paid during 1997. Joe Lefto of the Minnesota Revenue Department says to qualify, you have to have been a Minnesota resident for some part of 1997.

Minneapolis and St. Paul are getting ready to stage one of the largest disaster drills ever held in the Twin Cities. The scenario goes like this: Sunday morning, nerve gas attacks will be reported simultaneously at the Minneapolis Public Service Center and St. Paul's City Hall. Police, firefighters, emergency medical teams, even the National Guard and the FBI will be called into action across the region to test how well they're prepared to deal with such an attack. Tim Turnbull is an emergency preparedness supervisor for Hennepin County and will serve as incident commander in Minneapolis.

A massive emergency-spending bill to pay for the war in Kosovo passed the U.S. Senate yesterday, 64-36, after being approved by the House earlier this week. Tucked away in the nearly $15 billion bill is long awaited money to help farmers facing low commodity prices following several seasons of bad weather. But some long-time ag supporters voted against the bill and farmers say it's still not enough. From Washington, Emily Harris has this report.

Clean-up time has begun at the state Capitol. Legislative leaders and the Governor's staff are beginning to sift through the thousands of pages of legislation passed in the final few hours of the session on Monday, with an eye to weed some of it out before it has a chance to become law. Minnesota Public Radio's Martin Kaste reports.

You can't turn around nowadays without hearing about Sir Ernest Shackleton and his ill-fated trip to Antarctica. There are radio and television documentaries, a major exhibit in New York, and lots of books. When Shackleton and his crew returned from Antarctica in 1916, they knew what they'd been through was astounding and they reasonably assumed they'd make it into the history books. But as Minnesota Public Radio's John Rabe reports, they probably never guessed how many popular books they'd be selling - 85 years later.

The upper Midwest has been hit by the worst nature can dish out the past few years with floods, tornadoes and blizzards. But apparently it has the leaders to handle those disasters. For the second year in a row President Clinton will present the Phoenix leadership award to a Midwest mayor. Last year it went to Grand Forks North Dakota's Pat Owens for her work following the city's devastating 1997 flood and fire. Next week the Phoenix award will be given to a small-town southern Minnesota mayor who's leadership helped energize a community left for dead by a tornado. Minnesota Public Radio's Mark Steil reports.