Monday, March 6

If your mood swings as gas prices go up and then down, then listen to this. A company in St. Cloud will let you lock in the price of gas for your car for as many gallons as you want to buy. So if you're worried that gas prices are going up, you could buy, say, 5000 gallons of gas at today's price. The company is called First Fuel Bank, and they have 5 locations in St. Cloud. Joining us on the line is the company's CEO Jim Feneis.

A Minnesota Public Radio/St. Paul Pioneer Press poll found a majority of registered Minnesota voters think Governor Jesse Ventura is doing a "good" or "excellent" job. Ventura's popularity is rebounding since his controversial comments to Playboy magazine last fall. His advisors say voters are pleased with the governor's concentration on government business. Minnesota Public Radio's Mark Zdechlik reports.

Legislators at the state Capitol are still coping with the news that one of their members was arrested last week. Republican Representative Jim Rostberg was charged Friday with criminal sexual misconduct. House Speaker Steve Sviggum says an ethics investigation into the charges against Rostberg will begin this week. Here to talk about that and what else is coming up this week at the capitol is Minnesota Public Radio Political Editor Mike Mulcahy.

Chris Farrell, Minnesota Public Radio's Chief Economics Correspondent, looks ahead to the week on Wall Street.

Minnesota's Reform Party seceded from the national party this weekend, days before precinct caucuses mark the official kickoff of the campaign season. By an overwhelming margin, Reform Party members voted to follow Governor Jesse Ventura out of the national party, rename themselves the Independence Party, and focus on fielding statewide candidates for office. But the splintering process isn't over - a core of activists say they'll reestablish the Reform party to keep ties to Ross Perot's national group. Minnesota Public Radio's Amy Radil reports.

The six-year-boy who shot and killed a classmate in Michigan last week was "living in chaos," according to authorities. Officials found cocaine and a second gun in the house where the boy was living. They say he didn't even have a bed to sleep on. The situation has raised concerns about children living in neglect all over the country. Brian Guidera is Division Manager for the Hennepin County Department of Children and Family Services. He explained what Hennepin officials consider when deciding whether to remove children from their homes.

Republican Representative Jim Rostberg was back at the Minnesota Capitol yesterday, despite the felony charges filed against him on Friday. Rostberg spoke briefly to his Republican colleagues to thank them for their support even as GOP leaders filed a formal ethics complaint against him that could result in his expulsion from the Legislature. Minnesota Public Radio's Mike Mulcahy reports.

Results of a new Minnesota Public Radio/St. Paul Pioneer Press poll show strong support for using the state budget surplus to make permanent tax cuts. But many respondents also want the legislature to use the excess cash for schools, roads and other projects. The House, Senate and Governor have significantly different plans for the projected $1.8 billion surplus, and the poll numbers will likely do little to settle the debate. Minnesota Public Radio's Tim Pugmire reports.

The official campaign season gets underway in Minnesota tonight as the Republican and newly declared Independence parties hold precinct caucuses. In schools and other public places around the state, attendees will have the chance to take part in a non-binding presidential straw poll and discuss their party's platform. Attendance at the grassroots meetings has historically been light, so in an attempt to boost their numbers the DFL party will hold its caucuses on Saturday and Sunday. As Minnesota Public Radio's Amy Radil reports, the move has not been well-received in some quarters.

Minnesotans should start looking for census forms in their mailboxes. The Census Bureau has begun mailing the forms for the 2000 count. Everyone should receive them between now and April 1. Meanwhile, many census offices in Minnesota are still looking for workers. The low unemployment rate had made it tough to find enough workers nation-wide. Linda Keiser is the manager of the census office in Duluth. She's on the line now.

Governor Jesse Ventura is riding high in public opinion polls, but there is a growing chorus of discontent in rural Minnesota. Many local leaders in northwest Minnesota say the governor is ignoring rural issues, and his policies are deepening an existing rural-urban divide. Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Gunderson reports.

George W. Bush won Minnesota's non-binding Republican straw poll by a landslide last night, with Alan Keyes coming in a distant second and John McCain third. The neck-and-neck contests Bush and John McCain faced in primaries around the country contrasted strongly with McCain's negligible showing of 17 percent in Minnesota, while Bush received over 60 percent of the vote. Republican officials credited Bush's appeal and strong organization with the win, and said McCain didn't make an effort in the state. Minnesota Public Radio's Amy Radil reports.

Independence Party Chair Rick McCluhan says turnout for his party's caucuses was lower than expected. About 800 people turned out and only half of them participated in the Presidential straw poll. A majority of people responding to a new Minnesota Public Radio/St. Paul Pioneer Press poll oppose using state bonding authority to help finance a new Guthrie theatre in Minneapolis. Sixty-seven percent of the respondents surveyed say it's a bad idea for the state to contribute up to $25 million dollars to the Guthrie project. Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Olson reports.

Concern is rising in many quarters that Minnesota is losing ground to some other states when it comes to high tech development. The Minnesota High Tech Association wants to set aside up to $500 million of the budget surplus to promote the expansion of technology firms in the state. Minnesota Public Radio's Carl Goldstein reports.

Many folks were surprised to wake up this morning to find a fresh couple inches of snow on the ground. Rick Hiltbrand of the National Weather Service explains what happened.

Twin Cities Entrepreneur Tom Petters is establishing a foothold in the booming field of business to business e-commerce. He's focusing less on his trademark Petters Warehouse Direct stores. Instead he hopes to become king of the online excess inventories business. Minnesota Public Radio's Andrew Haeg reports.

The state Senate took a look at changing the Profile of Learning yesterday at the Capitol. The controversial high school graduation standards were discussed in the Senate's K-12 Finance committee. Committee members met into the evening to discuss changes in the Profile, which has been criticized as being too cumbersome. Joining me on the line now is the Chairman of the K-12 Finance committee Democratic state Senator Larry Pogemiller.

A clause in the contracts that school bus companies have with school districts means the cost of recent gas price increases will be passed on to the schools. That's bad news for many districts who are already having to cut their budgets because of rising costs. A few metro districts will have to cut their budgets between two and four million dollars. Scott Croonquist is the executive director of the Association of Metropolitan School Districts. He says many districts are facing a shortfall despite a billion dollars in additional funding that was approved by the Legislature last year.

The Minnesota House Education Policy Committee has approved legislation to overhaul the Profile of Learning graduation standards. The measure retains, but significantly scales back the controversial show-what-you-know system. The panel also kept alive a separate plan to entirely replace the Profile with a back to basics approach. Minnesota Public Radio's Tim Pugmire reports.

Meteorologist Mark Seeley talks about a wild weather week, plus a suggestion that meteorologists describe the confidence they have in an a particular forecast.

Governor Jesse Ventura's push to create a one-house legislature stumbled not once but twice at the Capitol. Yesterday, a House committee killed a bill that would have let voters decide the issue in the fall. Later in the day, an attempt to revive the measure on the house floor met stiff resistance and was abandoned. But supporters say they'll continue the fight. Minnesota Public Radio's Michael Khoo has this report.

The season is over for the University of Minnesota Men's basketball team after losing to Iowa in the Big Ten tournament yesterday. In a typical year the team could look forward to a post-season tournament invitation, but this year has been anything but typical. One year ago today, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported on a pattern of academic fraud within the basketball program. In the wake of the scandal coach Clem Haskins and other top athletic department officials lost their jobs and the University voluntarily banned the team from post-season play this year. Joining us now is University of Minnesota President Mark Yudof.

For the past ten years, women with metastatic breast cancer have looked to bone marrow transplants as their last hope of conquering the disease. But a recent study indicates women who undergo the costly treatment may not be any better off than those who receive a standard form of chemotherapy. The study's findings have created a dilemma for Minnesota health care plans because they are required by law to cover the procedure. Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Scheck reports.

The snowy weather up north may give avid snowmobilers one last chance to get out on the trails. Northern Minnesota is where the modern-day snowmobile was invented by two men, David Johnson and Edgar Hetteen. The two also started a company to make their snowmobiles - called Polaris. For a few years, they didn't sell many machines, so Hetteen went on a publicity stunt to demonstrate the snowmobile on a dangerous 1,200 mile trip across Alaska. It worked, and sales of snowmobiles rose steadily. The two inventors are now in their late 70's and they're going to re-trace that Alaskan trip later this month. David Johnson and Edgar Hetteen join me now in the studio.

MPR's Chris Roberts separates the wheat from the chaff in the Minnesota art scene with the Word of Mouth arts round up.