Monday, July 2

Target corporation has ambitious plans to double the size of its name namesake discount chain over the next decade. The company hopes to achieve much of the growth in its relatively new SuperTarget division. SuperTargets add groceries to the store's traditional mix of merchandise. The first two Minnesota SuperTargets are slated to open at the end of this month in Shoreview and in Rochester. SuperTargets' entrance into Minnesota is prompting a major retail workers union to launch an organizing campaign. Minnesota Public Radio's Mark Zdechlik reports.

A crackdown on drunk boaters in Minnesota lake country last summer caused some residents to cheer and others to angrily complain about harassment and a threat to vacation business. Mainstreet Radios Dan Gunderson recently rode along with a DNR water patrol to see if boaters have changed their habits.

The Minnesota Legislature has finally finished its work. Lawmakers met until Saturday evening, barely averting a government shutdown. Craig Grau is a political science professor at the University of Minnesota in Duluth. He's on the line now.

Minnesota Public Radio's Chief Economics Correspondent Chris Farrell.

State employees are on the job as usual this Monday morning. Lawmakers got their work done this weekend, passing all spending and tax bills, thereby averting a shutdown. Though state workers faced uncertainty in recent weeks, it may be the lawmakers who are most relieved the session is over. Averting the shutdown could mean there's less fear of voter retribution come re-election time. But a sampling of constituents at the Taste of Minnesota festival in St. Paul this weekend shows legislators aren't off the hook just yet. Minnesota Public Radio's Marisa Helms reports.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources reported 19 boating deaths during 2000, down three from 1999. So far this year, there have been eight boating deaths. According to the DNR, the state's boating death rate continues to be one of the lowest in the nation. Part of the reason is the work by county sheriff water safety patrols. Mainstreet Radios Bob Reha reports from Ottertail County in northwestern Minnesota.

Flooding this spring hit several Minnesota state parks. The damage was so severe in some areas, that a few of the parks only recently opened for business and still have areas off limits to visitors. After the third such bout of serious flooding in less than a decade, park officials are taking a look at long range plans to determine how Minnesota's state parks can withstand future floods. Mainstreet Radio's Tim Post reports.

One of the busiest street corners in St. Paul is also one of the city's biggest economic disappointments. Development efforts at the corner of University Avenue and Lexington Parkway have lagged for more than a decade. Now, the country's biggest home improvement retailer is looking at the site as a possible store location. But the prospect of Home Depot moving onto the corner has sparked a community discussion about the best use of a location considered critical to the surrounding neighborhoods. Minnesota Public Radio's William Wilcoxen reports.

In a speech last night in Minneapolis, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor said she has "serious questions" about whether capital punishment is fairly administered. O'Connor says if statistics are any indication, "the system" may well be allowing some innocent defendants to be executed. O'Connor did not allow her speech to be recorded, but Lisa Brabbit heard it live. She is president of Minnesota Women Lawyers, which sponsored the event.

The conflict in the Middle East continues with hundreds dead, and real peace as elusive as ever. About 40 percent fewer students and tourists visited the region in the past year. Still, some Minnesotans continue to travel to Israel. Some are traveling on one-way tickets. Minnesota Public Radio's Kaomi Goetz has this report.

Two years ago Wednesday, a windstorm swept through the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness with hurricane force. Straight-line winds toppled tree trunks like dominoes, flattening more than a third of the million-acre wilderness. To many, the July 4 storm seemed like a catastrophe. But it's provided a rare opportunity for scientists to study how a wilderness recovers from a massive natural disturbance. Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Losure reports.

Patriotism ran high in Blaine, a day ahead of Independence Day. A record 15,000 soccer fans turned out at the National Sports Center to wave Old Glory and cheer the U.S. national women's team in its 1-0 victory over Canada in a holiday exhibition match. Minnesota Public Radio's William Wilcoxen has more.

For residents in Siren, Wisconsin, the Fourth of July this year is more than just a chance to celebrate the nation's birthday. It's a chance to get away from the daily struggles of recovering from the tornado that hit the town about two weeks ago. Greg Hunter is one of the organizers of the day's festivities and the owner of a restaurant that was destroyed in the storm. He says many people have been calling to see if the festivities are still on.

The official announcement hasn't yet come, but the merger between United Airlines and US Airways appears to be off. The companies confirmed earlier this week they were talking about terminating the deal. The acquisition would have made United much bigger than any of its competitors. Now it seems United doesn't think it can get permission for the deal from the Department of Justice, where antitrust regulators fear it would stifle competition and lead to worse service for millions of airline passengers. Congressman Jim Oberstar is former chair of the House Aviation Subcommittee and senior Democrat on the House Transportation Committee. He's on the line now.

Neighborhood groups across Minneapolis are coming to grips with the sudden loss of revenue for the Neighborhood Revitalizaton Project or NRP. The losses are the result of changes in the state tax code passed last week at the state legislature. The NRP was designed to take excess Tax Increment Finance money from big projects in the city, and give them to neighborhoods across the city to control and spend as they saw fit. Joining us on the line is Jeff Hayden, chairman of the Powderhorn Park Neighborhood Association.

Minnesota ambulance providers say lagging federal support for their industry is putting them in financial jeopardy. They say Medicare is not properly reimbursing them for their costs, and because most Medicare recipients live in rural Minnesota, it could drive some rural ambulance services out of business. Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Robertson reports.

These days, not many people are gutsy enough to take a canoe out on Lake Superior, but 200 years ago the voyageurs did it all the time. During the 1700s and 1800s, they carried beaver skins across the Great Lakes in giant, 40-foot canoes paddled by a dozen men. Now, the Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center in Ashland, Wis. turns tourists and school groups into voyageurs for a day, and takes them out on Superior in a huge, Montreal canoe. Mainstreet Radio's Chris Julin has this report.

The U.S. Department of Commerce is holding hearings in Virginia, Minn. today to hear from Iron Rangers on how cheap steel imports have affected their industry. It's part of an investigation to determine whether the imports harmed national security, which would allow President Bush to protect the domestic steel industry. Samatha Grippe lives in Biwabik. Her father was recently laid off from LTV Steel Mining Co., and she'll testify before the Commerce Department later today.

We asked you, our listeners, to visit the MPR Forum to post your thoughts on the legislative impasse, stem cell research, and other issues in the news. Here's a sample of what you had to say.

More than a million tiny weed-eating beetles have been released in endangered wetlands around the state by the Department of Agriculture. Since the early '90s, beetles have been used as nature's foil to purple loosestrife, a noxious, invasive weed that has crowded native plants out of more than 50,000 Minnesota acres. Now a group of Red Wing High School students plan to build on the beetle's success, by introducing them to a new loosestrife-ridden site. But first as Mainstreet Radio's Erin Galbally reports they have to catch some.

While we have started July on the cool side in the upper Midwest, some of the western states have been struggling to meet energy needs as a result of a heat wave, especially in California and Nevada. Is it headed our way? Mark Seeley joins us with more.

Nearly 1,000 people filled the high school auditorium in the Iron Range town of Virginia yesterday to talk about problems in the nation's steel industry. Mining companies and their workers have banded together, calling on President Bush to use some form of trade sanctions to limit the amount of foreign steel imported into the United States. Federal officials came to Minnesota to gather testimony in their investigation of the industry's troubles. Minnesota Public Radio's Chris Julin was at the hearing, and he has this report.

Residents of St. Paul's West 7th Street area may eventually mark this week as the time when the neighborhood gained its long-sought independence from the stink. Officials with Gopher State Ethanol say newly installed equipment has dramatically reduced emissions from the plant and, at least so far, has eliminated neighborhood complaints about odors. Minnesota Public Radio's William Wilcoxen has more.

Square dancing is one of those things where you can learn a few basic steps in moments then spend a lifetime practicing. Some people like to push the square dancing envelope. Take the Park Rapids Crazy Eights: four couples who traded their dancing shoes for wheels, very large wheels. Mainstreet Radios Dan Gunderson explains.

Gary Sjoquist helped put together the updated Twin Cities Bike Map and Commuter Guide. He's here with more information.