Monday, March 19

Northwest Airlines and its mechanics union make their cases for a contract settlement before a three member Presidential Emergency Board this week. Four days of board hearings convene this afternoon in a Philadelphia hotel. In less than a month the PEB will present President Bush with a settlement proposal that could end the four and a half year old dispute. Minnesota Public Radio's Mark Zdechlik reports.

Minneapolis St.Paul airport officials today consider a huge expansion of a noise abatement program. The proposal before the Metropolitan Airports Commission would more than double the number of homes eligible for insulation and air conditioning. But residents are warning airport officials not to adopt a plan that scales back the sound mitigation program already in place. Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Olson reports.

The Minnesota House is expected to pass a budget resolution this week. It will be one of the first concrete indications of the House's spending priorities for the session. The Legislature is about halfway through its five-month session, in which its main job is to come up with a two-year budget. Joining us now for a look at the week ahead is Minnesota Public Radio's Capitol Bureau Chief, Laura McCallum.

Driving by outdoor billboards, few of us see anything other than the advertisement. But Joni Johnson, an entrepreneur from Minneapolis, sees a raw material for her business. Her company, Relan, recycles old billboards into colorful handbags, and tote bags. Most billboards are made of vinyl; after their time as a billboard is over, the vinyl surface is dirty and wrinkled. For two years now, Joni's company has perfected the process of taking the material and recycling it into fashionable bags. We joined Joni and her operations manager Jonathan Fitz at their warehouse where they cut the tennis-court-sized billboards into workable pieces. Joni says the huge images on a billboard make it difficult to describe her much smaller handbags.

MPR's Chris Farrell with a look at the markets.

St. Paul NAACP President Nathaniel Khaliq will meet with St. Paul police officials later today to review charges of racial profiling.

Northwest Airlines says it will soon unveil a plan to cut costs in response to a decline in ticket sales. The airline says the weakening economy is forcing the move. Minnesota Public Radio's Mark Zdechlik reports.

The Senate Health and Family Security Committee last night voted 6-3 in favor of a bill that would force drug manufacturers to offer Minnesotans the same discounts they offer HMO's, the state and other bulk purchasers. Consumer rights groups, seniors and advocates for low-income Minnesotans say the bill would provide a great benefit for those who need discounts, but others say the bill is unconstitutional. Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Scheck reports.

Civil rights leaders and members of the St. Paul Police department met Monday afternoon with a federal mediator to discuss racial profiling. The parties involved in the discussion say the talk was productive and that further meetings are expected. However, neither side is revealing any details about what was discussed. Minnesota Public Radio's Brandt Williams reports.

A House committee will consider a bill later this week to allow grocery stores to sell wine. Thirty-two states around the country allow wine to be sold in the supermarket. Critics of bill say that it will make it harder to keep alcohol out of the hands of underage drinkers. Joining us on the line is Barb Sykora, the sponsor of the bill and a Republican from Excelsior.

The University of Minnesota men's basketball team lost to Tulsa 76-73 in overtime last night at Williams Arena, ending the Gopher's run in the National Invitational Tournament and their season. The loss also marked the end of an era. It was Ray Christiansen's last game as a play by play announcer for WCCO radio. He is retiring after 50 years in the broadcast booth. At the end of the game he talked about his career.

At 7:31 a.m today we mark the passing of the vernal equinox, one of two times each year when the amount of daylight and darkness are equal. Though it would be hard to tell by our still snow-covered landscape, the vernal equinox marks the official beginning of spring. I visited the Lowry Nature Center and took a hike through the woods with Interpretive Naturalist Dianne Rowse, to see if we could find any signs of spring. She says last year, those signs came early.

Police came up empty-handed after shutting down the Mall of America most of yesterday to search for fugitive felon Anthony Zappa. It was the second narrow escape in as many days for the man who faces a number of charges in Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Minnesota Public Radio's Helms reports.

A House committee dealt a major setback to Governor Jesse Ventura's hopes for campaign finance reform this year. After a brief introduction of the bill last night, the panel set the measure aside for further consideration in the summer. Supporters of reform call the move outrageous, but House Republicans say such significant legislation needs more study and debate. Minnesota Public Radio's Michael Khoo reports.

State lawmakers are turning up the heat on the Department of Children, Families and Learning for its alleged mishandling of grant money. A Minnesota House committee held a hearing Tuesday on a recent Legislative Auditor's investigation that accused the agency of fraud and misuse of public funds. Many legislators are calling for swift action against the alleged wrongdoers. Minnesota Public Radio's Tim Pugmire reports.

Minneapolis is getting ready to host the NCAA men's basketball Final Four at the end of next week. But there's another national Final Four coming to the Twin Cities first. The NCAA is holding its first-ever women's hockey championship at the University of Minnesota this weekend. The advent of an NCAA national championship is a milestone in the growth of women's hockey and holding the event in Minnesota is another sign the women's game in the upper Midwest has caught up to the more established programs of New England schools. Minnesota Public Radio's William Wilcoxen reports.

Shannon Miller has been the coach of the UMD women's hockey team since its inception in 1999. She's busy preparing the team for their game on Friday, and she joins us now.

Parents, students and other home schooling advocates filled the Capitol Wednesday calling for lawmakers to preserve their educational freedom. Members of the Senate Education Policy Committee were listening and rejected a proposal to place new requirements on Minnesota home schools. Minnesota Public Radio's Tim Pugmire reports.

The simmering controversy over the University of North Dakota's Fighting Sioux came to the fore at a daylong conference in St Cloud Wednesday. Hundreds of Native Americans, college students and faculty attended as St. Cloud State University played host to a summit on American Indian Mascots. Mainstreet Radio's Tim Post reports.

The Minnesota Vikings and the University of Minnesota have reached an agreement for a shared, publicly subsidized football stadium that they want state lawmakers to consider. In the deal, the university would donate 30 acres of campus property to the project. The Vikings say they'll need between $300 million and $350 million in public money for the stadium, but they may have trouble selling the deal to the Legislature. Minnesota Public Radio's Helms reports.

Police are still hunting today for a 29-year-old fugitive who is wanted in three states. Anthony Zappa evaded police and the FBI on Tuesday after a search at the Mall of America turned up empty. The mall was closed for eight hours after Zappa was spotted on a security camera. Zappa is a federal fugitive wanted on firearms and other charges. Authorities say he has a flair for staying one step ahead of his pursuers. Nick O'Hara is a former FBI agent and former head of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. He has been involved in similar searches, including the one for serial murderer Andrew Cunanan in 1997. O'Hara in on the line now.

This week, hundreds of men and women are transforming the Metrodome into a basketball arena for the men's Final Four NCAA basketball championship, which gets underway on March 31. The crews are adding extra seats to handle the tens of thousands of fans who will visit Minneapolis to watch the games at the dome. Room is also being made to accomodate nearly 1,000 members of the media. When it's all said and done the Dome's transformation is estimated to cost $1 million. Minnesota Public Radio's Brandt Williams reports.

The National Park Service is hosting the first of three forums tonight about taking care of the Mississippi river. Local experts on the Mississippi will speak to the public about the kinds of projects going on in and around the river. One of the topics of tonight's meeting will be exotic species. John Moriarty is a Natural Resources Specialist with Ramsey County Parks and Recreation. He'll be speaking about some of the non-aquatic species that threaten the Mississippi. He's on the line now.

Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch is suing Allina Health System. He accuses the health-care giant of spending millions of dollars on items like golfing trips, spas and image consultants. Hatch also wants the company to hand over thousands of documents. He estimates that as much as 47 percent of the health insurance premiums paid to Medica, Allina's HMO, have been spent on administration rather than on medical care for its members, far more than the ten percent Medica has reported. Hatch says his office has been investigating Allina for some time. This morning we talk to Hatch and to Alliana's chief executive officer, Gordon Sprenger.

Mayor Norm Coleman will be out filling potholes in St. Paul this afternoon. He'll also announce the city's asphalt plant is now fully operational, and ready to provide a hot mix of asphalt for filling the holes, and it's just in time because there are a lot of potholes out there.

It's Friday and time for Mark Seely's meteorological musings.

A Twins ballpark bill generated little support or enthusiasm from lawmakers last night at its first Senate hearing. After hearing testimony on the bill members of the Senate State and Local Government Operations Committee asked few questions and put aside the bill until at least next week when it faces a critical legislative deadline. Minnesota Public Radio's Marisa Helms reports.

Minnesota officials continue to plan for a possible emergency if foot-and-mouth disease strikes anywhere in the state. Officials with the Department of Public Safety and the Board of Animal Health met yesterday to discuss what they would do. Foot-and-mouth disease is spreading. It started in Britain, and was most recently found in Ireland and the Netherlands. State Veterinarian Dr. Tom Hagerty says the risk of the disease coming here is quite low.

Twin Cities' homebuilder Robert Leslie returned this week from a trip to El Salvador. He spent his time there building more than 20 homes for victims of recent earthquakes. The homes, which he invented, are called Roundhouses. They're circular with a 16-foot diameter. He designed them so they would be as cheap as possible to build. Robert Leslie is also the president of International Building Concepts. He says a team of El Salvadoran's are helping him construct his roundhouse homes.