Monday, June 19

Some places are called landfills. Pig's Eye was a dump. Beginning in the 1950's, it was the unofficial drop- off point for more than a half million tons of household junk, city garbage, lead acid batteries, barrels of toxic waste, and more. It's leaked pollution into nearby Pig's Eye Lake and the Mississippi River ever since. Now, the state is finally moving to try to contain the problem. Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Losure reports.

For years the linocut cartoons of Richard Mock graced the editorial page of The New York Times. Mock's work is still internationally syndicated. Often his work deals with controversial issues including gun control. But for the past six years he has broadened his work to include teaching kids, from elementary age to high school, the craft of linocut cartooning and printmaking. This summer Mock is an artist in residence at the Plains Art Museum in Fargo. Minnesota Public Radio's Bob Reha reports.

The Mississippi is the third longest river in the world, draining 41% of the continental United States. Now, the Army Corps of Engineers has to decide what to do with it. The corps controls the river from its headwaters in Minnesota to its mouth at the Gulf of Mexico, but it's under increasing pressure to run the river not just for barge traffic and flood control, but for recreation and wildlife. The corps is asking for public guidance --but some groups doubt it intends to make any real changes. Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Losure reports.

Employees at two Bloomington hotels are on strike and workers at seven other Twin Cities hotels are poised to join them. Union leaders of Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees local seventeen called the strike Friday evening, after rejecting a contract offer by hotel managers. Minnesota Public Radio's William Wilcoxen reports.

The Summer Solstice begins just before 9:00 tonight which means tomorrow is the official beginning of summer. Usually, by this time of the year we are coping with swarms of mosquitoes, but so far this year, at least in the Twin Cities, mosquitoes have been scarce. Jim Stark of the Metropolitan Mosquito Control District tells us why.

Minnesota's kids are doing the best in the nation in overall well-being, according to a statistical look at children nationwide by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Their Kids Count Data Book tracks more than just the physical health of children. It also takes into account educational, economic, and social factors. The report measures ten indicators, and ranks each state from best to worst using 1997 data. Diane Benjamin is the Kids Count director for the Children's Defense Fund of Minnesota.

The average price of regular unleaded gas in the Twin Cities yesterday was $1.79 a gallon... 15 cents more than the national average and 66 cents higher than a year ago. Other Midwestern states including Wisconsin and Illinois have been hit even harder. Everyone wants to know why gas prices jumped overnight by as much as 10 cents and are continuing to rise. Minnesota Public Radio's John Bischoff reports.

Several state groups say they're concerned about the availability of long term care for the baby boom generation. They've been holding forums around the state to raise the issues profile. Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Scheck reports.

Officials with the hotel and restaurant employees' union say walkouts and picket lines will spread to more hotels as long as negotiations are deadlocked, but they aren't divulging specifics. About 300 housekeeping and restaurant workers at the Hilton Minneapolis and about 85 at the Crowne Plaza Northstar in Minneapolis walked off their jobs Monday -- four of the nine hotels in Union Local 17 have been hit in the strike so far. No new talks between union officials and hotel management are scheduled. Minnesota Public Radio's Amy Radil reports.

Thousands are expected to attend this weekend's Pride Festival in Minneapolis. The event celebrates Minnesota's gay and lesbian community which seems to be thriving and prouder than ever. The state's human rights laws as well as gradual, cultural change outside the gay community may be the reasons. Still gay activists say there's a long way to go before homosexuals enjoy equal footing with heterosexuals. Minnesota is far from tackling what's next in the gay movement: legal unions between same-sex couples. Minnesota Public Radio's Lynette Nyman reports.

Nicaraguan union leader Pedro Ortega and members of the Minnesota Fair Trade Coalition came knocking at the doors of Target Corporation Tuesday. The demonstrators say that a central American clothing factory, which makes products for Target, subjects its workers to sweatshop-like conditions and has engaged in union busting. Minnesota Public Radio's Brandt Williams reports.

Striking Twin Cities hotel workers seeking higher wages and better benefits are now picketing at four hotels, including two in downtown Minneapolis. Nearly 1,000 workers are on strike, and union officials have said they expect the strike will reach the five other hotels involved in contract talks. John Budd is a professor of Industrial Relations at the Carlson School of Management. He's on the line now.

Minnesotans are grumbling at the gas pumps, but the recent price hikes don't seem to be keeping us from our vacations or weekends at the cabin. On the other hand, some businesses and government agencies are getting ready to make some changes that could affect our pocketbooks. Minnesota Public Radio's Stephanie Hemphill reports.

Gustavus Adolphus Political Science Chair Chris Gilbert previews Al Gore's trip to Minnesota.

The cold war may be over but the debate over the cold war certainly isn't and former Minnesotan John Earle Haynes is right in the middle of that debate. Haynes, a former top tax adviser to Minnesota Governors Wendell Anderson and Rudy Perpich, is a political historian at the Library of Congress and the author of several books including his latest, Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America. His work has not been well received. Many scholars have argued in recent years that the Soviet threat was never as serious as it was made out to be. But Haynes says that his research into previously secret material has uncovered what he calls a "massive intelligence offensive against the United States."

President Clinton's proposal to limit new roads in National Forests gets a public airing in Duluth today. The proposal has implications nationwide, including Minnesota's Chippewa and Superior National Forests. Minnesota loggers worry about new restrictions on timber available for cutting, while environmental groups say the measure isn't tough enough. Minnesota Public Radio's Bob Kelleher reports.

Vice President Al Gore's social call on Governor Jesse Ventura mixed some business with pleasure yesterday when Gore first stopped off at a St. Paul diner to rally DFL stalwarts and visited striking hotel workers in Bloomington. Then Gore and his wife Tipper joined the Venturas at a horse show where their daughter Jade was competing. The Gores also spent the night at the Governor's mansion. Gore made no public statements or speeches, but that didn't stop speculation about the political overtones of his visit. Minnesota Public Radio's Amy Radil reports.

Vice President Al Gore is in the Twin Cities today to spend some time with Governor Ventura and do some campaigning. His visit comes while hotel workers in Minneapolis and Bloomington continue to strike. Gore has received the endorsement from the AFL-CIO, but relations between him and labor leaders have been strained over the past few months. Bernard Brommer is the President of AFL-CIO here in Minnesota. He's on the line.

Minnesota Public Radio's Michael Khoo joins us from Minnetonka where Vice President Al Gore and Governor Jesse Ventura will visit Hopkins North Junior High School to confer on funding for special education.

Farmers are beginning to assess crop damage from the heavy rain that's pummeled parts of the Red River Valley over the past week. Federal officials are gathering preliminary damage reports. The full extent of the damage won't be known for several weeks, but it appears crop loss may be widespread and significant. Minnesota Public Radios Dan Gunderson reports.

Opiate-related deaths are on the rise in the Twin Cities area, according to a new report by the Hazelden Foundation. The report shows opiate deaths, which are primarily caused by heroin overdose, are this year outnumbering cocaine deaths for the first time in Hennepin County. Carol Falkowski is the director of research communications at Hazelden and authored the report. She's on the line.

Appearing with Governor Ventura on this morning's broadcast of the Today show, Vice President Gore says the two stayed up past midnight talking about everything but politics.

A number of athletes are in Dallas this weekend competing for spots on the U.S. Olympic team. One of them is Brandon Paulson, a 26-year-old Greco-Roman wrestler from Golden Valley. Paulson won a silver medal at the Olympics in Atlanta in 1996. At that point he thought he was done with wrestling, but two years ago, he changed his mind. Since then, Paulson has been dividing his time between training for the Olympics that will be held in Sydney, Australia this fall and caring for his baby daughter, Sydney. Minnesota Public Radio's Jay Weiner caught up with Paulson before a recent training session at the University of Minnesota's Bierman Building.

Two years ago, Jesse Ventura took the political establishment by surprise, defeating two well known politicians with a campaign that was heavy on blunt talk and short on money. The Governor's former volunteer coordinator is hoping to do the same this year in the 4th Congressional District, which includes St. Paul and surrounding suburbs. Pam Ellison, endorsed by the Independence Party to run for retiring Congressman Bruce Vento's seat, is banking on the district's block of independent voters. But Ellison doesn't have two of the Governor's advantages: the name Jesse Ventura and state campaign funding. Minnesota Public Radio's Laura McCallum reports.

Teachers in Pelican Rapids in Northwestern Minnesota, are learning to use art to help immigrant children deal with emotional trauma. Nearly 40 percent of the town's population are immigrants who have arrived in the last 10 years, many fleeing from troubled homelands. This week, children from Bosnia, Africa, Southeast Asia and other countries have been working with teachers and experts, using art to unlock painful emotions. Minnesota Public Radios Dan Gunderson reports.

High gas prices across Minnesota have people wincing as they fill up their tanks. But in St. Cloud, hundreds of customers at First Fuel Bank are gassing up for less than a dollar a gallon. They secured that bargain because they bought gas in bulk before the price shot up. Mainstreet Radio's Tim Post has a look at what it's owners say is the world's only price protected gas station.