Monday, July 31

Many people frustrated with relatively slow Internet access at home are discarding telephone modems in favor of high-speed residential connections. Depending on where you live, you may have no options for high speed Internet access or you may have a couple of services to choose from. Right now, just a small percentage of Minnesotans have high speed connections at home, but that's changing rapidly. Minnesota Public Radio's Mark Zdechlik reports on what's available and how much it costs.

The Republican National Convention kicks off today in Philadelphia. The gathering will culminate Thursday night with the formal endorsement of Texas Governor George W. Bush as the GOP's presidential nominee. Although the party's major decisions have been made in advance of the convention, Minnesota's delegation say there's still reason to be excited. Minnesota Public Radio's Michael Khoo reports.

Recent polls have found more people recognize former State Auditor Mark Dayton than any of the other DFL U.S. Senate candidates. Dayton is a politician who's run in five statewide elections, but perhaps more importantly, his name calls to mind the department store his family founded. He came in fourth in the DFL gubernatorial primary two years ago, but this time, many observers think he's got a good shot at winning the Senate primary. In the first of our series of candidate profiles, Minnesota Public Radio's Laura McCallum looks at Mark Dayton's career and campaign.

State Senator Larry Pogemiller plans a hearing today to find out what caused the scoring errors on Minnesota's Basic Standards Tests. Almost 8,000 students were told they failed the math portion of the test when in fact they passed. Over 300 of those students may have been barred from graduating due to the error by National Computer Systems, the company that grades the tests. This isn't the first time a testing company has made a mistake. In 1997, Kentucky found that a different testing company had underscored tests used to give schools performance ratings. Lisa Gross of the Kentucky Department of Education is on the line now.

Chris Farrell joins Perry Finelli for Monday Markets, a look at what's coming up this week in the financial world.

Explosives experts and federal officials are in Agency Village, South Dakota this week, trying to dispose of thousands of pounds of dynamite buried near the village more than 60 years ago. Agency Village is located on the Sisseton Wahpeton reservation about 100 miles south of Fargo Moorhead. After one day of painstaking excavation at the site, and anxious waiting by evacuated residents, officials found no dynamite. Minnesota Public Radios Dan Gunderson reports.

The Minnesota Delegation to the Republican National Convention will be in the spotlight again tonight when they're expected to endorse Texas Governor George Bush for President. Yesterday, Minnesota featured prominently when candidates for U.S. Senate and House addressed the convention. Minnesota Public Radio's Michael Khoo joins us now from Philadelphia.

Last month, General Mills announced it would acquire Pillsbury from British food and drinks conglomerate Diageo. Federal regulators and shareholders of both companies still have to approve the $10.5 billion merger, and that may not happen until December. But General Mills' management is already making decisions that may determine whether this merger will be one of the few that truly succeeds. Minnesota Public Radio's Andrew Haeg reports.

School districts across the state are managing the aftermath of the basic standards tests scoring mistakes. In Minneapolis, school officials are holding meetings and handling phone calls from parents who want to know the status of their children's education. Joining us on the line is David Heistad, director of research, evaluation, and assessment for the Minneapolis Public Schools.

State and Washington County officials met with residents in Woodbury last night to address public questions about group homes in that city. Some residents have expressed concern about living near group homes after a teenager living in a Woodbury home was charged with killing an 18-year-old woman in July. Dan Papin is the director of community services for Washington County, and was at the meeting last night. He's on the line now.

For the last month, 30 minority high school students from across the country have been in the Twin Cities to take part in a nationwide program that teaches students about the business world. The students met with corporate leaders and attended seminars at the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management. They're learning to write business plans and create product prototypes. The students wrapped up their stay yesterday at General Mills where they presented their new products to a group of judges. Minnesota Public Radio's Andrew Haeg reports.

University of Minnesota officials said Tuesday that former basketball coach Clem Haskins has admitted making a $3,000 payoff to a former tutor. Haskins told NCAA investigators that he gave the money to Jan Gangelhoff, the woman who admitted writing papers for several basketball players. Though Gangelhoff said Haskins paid her, and a U of M investigation pointed to Haskins as the source of the payment, the coach denied the charges when the school conducted its own investigation. Minnesota Public Radio's Brandt Williams reports.

Federal Emergency Management Agency director James Lee Witt will be in Granite Falls today to survey last week's tornado damage. The mayor of Granite Falls now says in addition to those homes destroyed by the winds, as many as 70 more damaged houses may have to be razed. Granite Falls and neighboring parts of Yellow Medicine county have been declared a disaster area. The damage estimate from the F-4 tornado is put at about $15 million. The Granite Falls tornado forever complicated the lives of everyone who lived through it, including a group of people who were in the struggle of their lives even before the storm arrived. The residents of "Project Turnabout" are fighting to beat gambling or chemical addictions, but the tornado threatened their new found stability. Mainstreet Radio's Mark Steil reports.

Top federal officials have stepped in to try to break the impasse over a proposed $148 million bridge over the St. Croix River at Stillwater. Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Losure reports.

Governor Jesse Ventura is in northern Minnesota to talk to community and business leaders about the future of the region. Ventura and his cabinet are holding a round table discussion later today near Eveleth. Tom Reagan is the co-chair of the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Minerals and Mining, and he'll be giving a presentation to the Ventura administration. He joins us on the line now.

The oldest International African American Fraternity for professional men has unveiled what it's calling a National Strategic Plan for Black America. The Sigma Pi Phi fraternity is holding it's National meeting in Minneapolis this week. Yesterday the group broke with its own non-political traditions to unveil its answers to the problems facing African Americans. Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Scheck reports.

Delegates to the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia are getting ready for the main event tonight. Texas Governor George W. Bush will officially accept the GOP's nomination for president and address the convention. Last night Bush's running mate Dick Cheney spoke and brought the audience to its feet, including the Minnesota delegation. Minnesota Public Radio's Michael Khoo reports.

St. Thomas University is one of the oldest landmarks in the Summit Avenue neighborhood of St. Paul, but residents say the university's planned expansion would hurt the area's historic character, as well as their quality of life. The university wants to build a series of academic and residential buildings along two blocks of Summit. About 200 homeowners attended the university's unveiling of revisions to its plan Wednesday, meant to appease their concerns, but most weren't persuaded. Minnesota Public Radio's Amy Radil reports.

Starting salaries for lawyers in the Twin Cities are approaching $100,000 a year with incentives, as the largest firms compete for the best talent. Just four years ago, starting salaries were about half that. The rapidly rising salaries present big management challenges for the firms, who want to hire and keep the best new attorneys. Joining us on the line is Pat Comeford, president of the Esquire Group, a legal search and placement firm in Minneapolis.

Author Wayne Johnson is out with a second novel, another mystery called Six Crooked Highways. It's a sequel to Don't Think Twice, which was published a year ago. Johnson now lives in Kansas. But he grew up in the Twin Cities and lived on the Red Lake Indian Reservation on the Northwest Angle, the setting for both novels. The central character is Paul Two Persons, an acculturated Ojibwe resort owner who this time must deal with a government-sponsored plan to build a highway across the Red Lake reservation. Of course, mayhem and murder result. Johnson says the stories are not real, in the true sense of the word.

There's a familiar sound echoing once more over the Duluth harbor today. Workmen have returned a forty-year-old air horn to the famous aerial lift bridge. The horn was removed several months ago during remodeling, after neighbors complained about the noise. But others thought its low powered replacement just didn't sound like Duluth. Minnesota Public Radio's Bob Kelleher reports.

Mark Seeley talks about the weather.

Many of the Minnesota Delegates to the Republican National Convention are heading home today. The convention wrapped up last night in Philadelphia after George W. Bush accepted the party's nomination for president. The Minnesota delegates gave Bush's speech high marks, and say they're leaving Philadelphia united and confident Bush will defeat Vice President Al Gore in November. Minnesota Public Radio's Michael Khoo reports.

DFL party officials here in Minnesota have been watching the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia this week. Mike Erlandson is the chair of the state DFL party, and he joins us now.

Jurors in an Iron Range Courtroom heard a tape of Donald Blom confessing to abducting and killing Katie Poirier Thursday. The taped confession which Blom has since recanted, was a long-awaited and painful part of the prosecution's case. Minnesota Public Radio's Stephanie Hemphill reports.

Food safety is the focus of much public debate and academic research, but the subject has only recently become available for study at the undergraduate level. At North Dakota State University in Fargo, the Great Plains Summer Institute of Food Safety has developed a special series of courses in food safety. Officials at NDSU say they're the first in the nation to offer students a minor in the subject. Minnesota Public Radio's Bob Reha reports.

In a special meeting later today, the Minneapolis City Council will take a look back at the police department's handling of protests at the Animal Genetics Conference. The police arrested over 80 people last week, as they clashed with protesters near downtown Hyatt Regency hotel. Members of the Public Safety committee on the City Council will ask police chief Robert Olson about police procedures and the high cost of security for the event. Joining us on the line is Lisa McDonald, a member of the Council who's on the Public Safety committee.