Monday, June 26

It could be slow going for drivers on Hennepin Avenue in uptown for the next couple of weeks. Starting this morning, the street will be reduced to two lanes between Franklin Avenue and Lake Street in order to repave it. The construction is part of a $2.7 million project which started at the beginning of June and is intended to create safer intersections and better street surface on Hennepin in the uptown area. Larry Matsumoto is the paving engineer for Minneapolis and oversees all road construction in the city. He's on the line now.

The city of St. Cloud is debating whether to join a federally organized coalition designed to force gun manufacturers to add safety features to their weapons. Earlier this year, the nation's oldest and biggest gun maker, Smith and Wesson, created a shock wave by announcing it would settle 14 of the lawsuits against the company by agreeing to several restrictions and safety provisions for sale and distribution of Smith and Wesson guns. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development brokered that agreement and has stayed involved by creating the Communities for Safer Guns Coalition. Now requests have gone out to local governments across the country, including St. Cloud, asking them to join the Coalition. Mainstreet Radio's Marisa Helms reports.

Jim Gibson will formally launch his campaign as the Independence Party's endorsed candidate for U.S. Senate today at the State Capitol, joining the sizeable group of challengers for Republican incumbent Senator Rod Grams. Gibson won his party's endorsement for U.S. Senate with ease, but faces a daunting race ahead. The Edina based software developer faces at least two competitors in his party primary, and party officials are hinting others may still enter the race. Minnesota Public Radio's Amy Radil reports.

The heavy rains and flash flooding that swamped northwest Minnesota last week are bad news for many farmers in the area. The rains flooded fields and caused widespread crop damage. Jim Stordahl is an extension educator for the University of Minnesota Extension Office in Clay County. He's on the line now.

Members of Local 17 of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees who work at the Regal Hotel in downtown Minneapolis have walked off their jobs. There are now six hotels in Minneapolis and Bloomington affected by a strike that is entering its second week. No new talks are scheduled. It continues despite the Alcoholics Anonymous convention scheduled to begin in the Minneapolis on Thursday. Minneapolis Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton joins us now.

Twenty-five years ago today, two FBI special agents were gunned down in South Dakota while searching for a robbery suspect near Pine Ridge. Leonard Peltier was charged with the murders and sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison. Since then, many Peltier supporters have suggested that he was framed. FBI Director Louis Freeh today released a statement remembering the slain agents and reaffirming Peltier's guilt. Nick O'Hara worked for the FBI at the time of the murders, and was later the agent in charge of the Minnesota Division, which includes the Dakotas. He joins us now.

Three of Minnesota's largest forest products producers are asking the state to allow them to expand. Potlatch, Boise Cascade and International Paper want to increase production and they say to do that, they'll need much more pulpwood. Company officials says Minnesota's forests can handle the increased harvest, but environmentalists contend it would be harmful to the forest and to wildlife. Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Robertson reports from Bemidji.

In honor of what would have been former governor Rudy Perpich's 72nd birthday today, a long-sought-after portrait of Perpich and his wife Lola will be unveiled at the state Capitol. The unconventional portrait was rejected in Perpich's lifetime, but subsequent action by the Legislature paved the way for the couple's likeness to hang amidst the solitary portraits of governors past. Minnesota Public Radio's Amy Radil reports.

Officials from across the state and representatives from minority groups will meet today to discuss racial profiling in Minnesota. They are part of a new workgroup created by the Department of Public Safety in response to questions raised about the extent of racial profiling in the state. The group will include the Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court, and leaders from the state Legislature. Joining us on the line is St. Paul police chief William Finney, who is also a member of the work group.

Chris Farrell joins us to talk about what the recent economic indicators say about the economy and what the Fed is likely to do about it.

The neighboring cities of Brainerd and Baxter, joined at the hip in central Minnesota lake country, are wrestling over territory. Specifically, the commercially promising land along state Highway 371 to the north. Each city says it needs the property to continue growing economically; each has submitted an annexation proposal to the state. Meantime, the people who live in the disputed area say they just want to be left alone. Mainstreet Radio's Leif Enger reports.

A new workgroup formed by the Minnesota Department of Public Safety is trying to get facts on racial profiling. The group met for the first time yesterday; the meeting comes after a hearing earlier this month where lawmakers heard anecdotal evidence of racial profiling. Minnesota Public Radio's Brandt Williams has this report.

Striking hotel workers and management have reached a tentative contract agreement that could end the almost two-week-old walkout. Seven downtown Minneapolis and Bloomington hotels had been hit by the job action. City officials have feared the union would disrupt the meeting of 50,000 alcoholics anonymous members which starts tomorrow. The two sides emerged at 1:30 a.m. today with a settlement. More than 1,400 Union members are expected to vote on the deal this afternoon. Minnesota Public Radio's Andrew Haeg reports.

Governor Jesse Ventura is in the second day of a bus tour through northwest Minnesota. The Governor has been drawing big, enthusiastic crowds at every stop. His focus has been partly on recent flooding in the Red River Valley, but he's also been outlining his vision for the future of rural Minnesota. Minnesota Public Radios Dan Gunderson reports.

Hotel managers and the union representing striking workers reached a tentative agreement early Wednesday that would end a strike that has been going for nearly two weeks. The tentative settlement comes on the eve of the International Alcoholics Anonymous convention which starts tomorrow. Area Hotel managers and the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Local 17 reached the agreement around 1:30 a.m. today. Jaye Rykunyk, head of Local 17, said she thinks union members will ratify the agreement. "I think the settlement is very fair, and it rewards the workers well for their hard work," she told WCCO-TV. Michael Colloton, the attorney representing the hotels in the negotiations talked about the details of the agreement with Minnesota Public Radio's Carl Goldstein.

The International Convention of Alcoholics Anonymous will begins its convention in Minneapolis today. AA is the leading alcohol recovery program in the United States with an estimated two million members. Officials estimate that more than 50,000 AA members from over 75 different countries will come to the Twin Cities to share their difficulties of defeating alcoholism. Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Scheck reports.

Striking hotel workers have voted overwhelmingly to approve the tentative contract agreement reached by union and hotel management negotiators yesterday. The vote ends the almost two-week-old strike that disturbed operations at seven twin cities hotels and threatened to disrupt the Twin Cities largest-ever convention. After weeks of sometimes acrimonious negotiations and picketing, both the and the hotels management say they got what they wanted. Minnesota Public Radio's Andrew Haeg reports.

Hmong veterans and widows of veterans lined up all day yesterday in St. Paul to start their path to citizenship. The veterans are using a new law which exempts them from the English language requirement for naturalization. Still, it's not a free pass to become an American. Minnesota Public Radio's Lynette Nyman reports.

In Duluth this afternoon, the plaza in front of the Building for Women will be dedicated in honor of Dr. Jane Hodgson, the controversial physician who founded Duluth's Women's Health Center. The Center provides health services for women, including abortion, and it shares the new Building with nine other women's organizations. Minnesota Public Radio's Stephanie Hemphill reports.

Officials at Right Step Academy Charter School have announced a new learning strategy they want to begin using in classrooms this fall. The five-year-old school, with operations in Minneapolis and Saint Paul, has been under fire in recent weeks for several academic and operational problems. The Saint Paul School District has set a July 15th deadline for school officials to address those problems. Minnesota Public Radio's Tim Pugmire reports.

More than 100 Minneapolis-area residents concerned about the impact of a new runway at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport turned out in beachwear Thursday, to voice concerns about possible damage to the region's many lakes. The Metropolitan Airport Commission has applied for a permit to pump about four billion gallons of groundwater into the Minnesota River over the next two years, while it builds a series of airport tunnels. The board took no action on the permit, but may eventually require a number of conditions be met to address citizen concerns. Minnesota Public Radio's Amy Radil reports.

Beginning tomorrow, Minnesota law enforcement agencies will collect more than mug shots and fingerprints from certain convicted felons. A new law goes into effect broadening the class of offenders who must provide DNA samples to the state's growing database. Law enforcement officials say the expansion will help solve difficult investigations. But some civil libertarians say the DNA files could be abused. Minnesota Public Radio's Michael Khoo reports.