Monday, September 6

Before all Minnesotan students return to school, they have to make one last dash to the malls to shop at the back-to-school sales. The reason for the frenzy? As visiting German journalist Torsten Teichmann found out, it's because for many students, fashion and displaying the right style at school is at least as important as having a good teacher.

A conversation with Steve Ordahl who will take over as Executive Director at Underwater World on September 20th.

Golf courses are proliferating around Minnesota. There are now at least 450 statewide. Seventy new courses have opened in the past five years alone. Such growth begets an inevitable battle for patrons, with courses promoting low fees, or natural beauty, or nearby attractions. The latest lure for the golf-obsessed is satellite technology, global positioning to be exact. Mainstreet Radios Leif Enger reports on digitally-mapped, electronically monitored, pushbutton GPS golf.

Jim Peterson of the Science Museum of Minnesota discusses the transition from the old building to the new. The old building closes today.

The Artist formerly known as Prince drew 40,000 music fans to downtown Minneapolis last night for the finale of the Mill City Music Festival. The three-day festival featured 130 bands on six different stages. This is the third year the event has been staged and for the first time all the acts were from Minnesota. Minnesota Public Radio's Bill Wareham follows the local music scene closely. He was at the festival all three days and he's on the line now.

Classes begin at the University of Minnesota today, two weeks earlier than the traditional start of the acacdemic year. This is the first time in 75 years the university has operated under a semester-based calendar. Planning for the conversion from quarters to semesters began four years ago and touched every aspect of the university. Minnesota Public Radio's Tim Pugmire reports.

With summer officially over, Minnesota's public schools are starting Year Two of the controversial "Profile of Learning" curriculum standards. Last spring, opponents of the Profile had a big impact at the State Capitol with protests and constituent phone calls, and they convinced the Minnesota House to vote to scrap the system altogether - a move that ultimately failed in the Senate. Despite their near-success, opponents of the Profile say the news media have misrepresented their positions and portrayed them as kooks, and they say the people of Minnesota don't really know what's at stake. Minnesota Public Radio's Martin Kaste takes a closer look at the people resisting the Profile.

Jodi Carlson shed tears of joy last May as she watched the Minnesota Legislature overturn a gubernatorial veto for the first time in 17 years. It was a triumph for the Bemidji native, who has used a wheelchair ever since a 1995 accident. She spent weeks at the Capital convincing lawmakers to amend a law preventing her from suing a car manufacturer over an alleged defective seat-belt. But Carlson's legal battle is not over. Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Robertson reports.

The Minnesota Department of Public Safety reports the incidence of serious crime dropped 7 percent statewide last year. The Minnesota experience is part of a national trend that has seen crime levels fall steadily since the early nineties. Minnesota Public Radio's Michael Khoo reports.

The Minneapolis city council has passed an affordable housing policy that some low-income housing advocates say will do nothing. During a raucous meeting, the council passed a measure yesterday afternoon to double city funding for affordable housing from the current $5 million to $10 million per year. But that's only a fifth of what a council-appointed task force had recommended to erase a city-wide shortage of affordable housing units. Minnesota Public Radio's Eric Jansen reports.

Eleven St. Paul schools have begun a new school year on academic probation. School board members last night approved a district accountability plan that turns up the heat on under-performing schools. Superintendent Pat Harvey is pushing tough new rules aimed at improving student test scores, and more reforms are on the way. Minnesota Public Radio's Tim Pugmire reports.

This fall, there are many teachers in new classrooms. Two million teacher positions were vacant this year, because of a higher than normal number of retiring teachers and those leaving the profession. In South Dakota some superintendents had more open positions than ever before. As Mainstreet Radio's Cara Hetland reports, South Dakota's teacher shortage may be acute because they are the lowest paid educators in the nation.

Sister Justina Violette of Crookston, Minnesota has been named the top American missionary of 1999. The Catholic Extension Society of the United States chose Sister Justina for her three decades of work helping those in need. Sister Justina has sometimes been called the "Mother Teresa of the North." In 1986 she founded a homeless shelter. She still works there today, at the age of 81. Sister Justina is on the line now.

Eleven St. Paul schools are reacting to the news that they are on academic probation. Earlier this week School Board members approved a new plan for improving student performance at under-achieving schools. That plan was suggested by Superintendent Pat Harvey. It places schools on probation based on last years standardized test scores. Harvey led a similar program as Chief Accountability Officer in Chicago. The first Chicago Public Schools were placed on probation in 1996. Barbara Radner is Director of the Center for Urban Education at DePaul University in Chicago, and she's worked closely with several schools on probation. She's on the line now.

Minneapolis mayor Sharon Sayles-Belton will be in Washington today along with about 50 other mayors and many police chiefs. The group will meet with President Clinton at the White House to discuss gun-related issues. Afterward they will go to the Capitol to lobby Congress for stricter gun legislation. Minneapolis police Chief Robert Olson has made fighting gun-related crime a priority. He's on the line now.

A study reported in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association finds that soccer players sustain more brain injuries than other athletes. One possible explanation is that soccer players frequently use their heads to hit the ball. In the name of safety, a pair of Twin Cities soccer dads have invented a new piece of soccer equipment: a protective headband. Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Stucky reports.

What exactly prompted Donald Blom to confess to the kidnapping and killing of Katie Poirier is unclear. But after more than two months in prison, Blom gave a statement to authorities yesterday in which he confessed he kidnapped Poirier and said the human remains found on his property are hers. Blom's attorneys discouraged him from making the plea agreement, since he'll still likely face life in prison without parole. But Blom said he wants to get the matter behind him. Minnesota Public Radio's Amy Radil reports.

A new Hmong-language radio program premiered last night on WMIN Radio Rey in St. Paul. The variety show features Hmong music and news from both Laos and the Twin Cities region. Backers of the show say the estimated 75,000 Hmong living in the metro area represent an under-served market with significant economic potential. Minnesota Public Radio's Michael Khoo reports.

Patti Wetterling is the founder of a foundation that works to prevent abductions and find missing children. The Foundation is named after her son Jacob, who has been missing since 1989. She's on the line now.

It's the start of the college football season, not usually a time of high excitement on the campus of perenial MIAC doormat Macalester College, but that attitude may be changing. Former all-pro defensive back and CBS TV commentator Irv Cross is the new athletic director at the St. Paul college. He's seeking to blend the necessities of top-ranked academics with the pressures, even at the Division III level, of trying to win a game . . . or two. Minnesota Public Radio's Jay Weiner reports.

Teacher raiding is becoming common practice as the nation faces a teacher shortage. Two million teachers were needed this fall. In Minnesota, competition between districts means the best staff is often going to the highest bidder. Signing bonuses are becoming commonplace as is districts paying moving expenses and broken contract penalties . Mainstreet Radio's Cara Hetland reports the financial incentives benefits all teachers in the long run.

Hundreds of people filled the pews of Moose Lake's Hope Lutheran Church last night for a special prayer service for Katie Poirier and her family. The church has served as the headquarters in the search for Poirier since her disappearance from a Moose Lake convenience store last May. Wednesday the Poiriers learned Donald Blom confessed to kidnapping and killing their daughter, and the search headquarters became instead a place for grief and consolation. Minnesota Public Radio's Amy Radil reports.

Meteorologist Mark Seeley discusses the unseasonably cold weather which could mean fall colors earlier than usual.

Chris Roberts brings us up to date about what's going on in the world of art in Minnesota.