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November 17 - 21, 2003
[ Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday ]
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Monday, Nov. 17, 2003 |
St. Paul Cos. merges with Travelers
The St. Paul Companies is merging with Travelers Property Casualty Corporation to create the nation's second-largest commercial insurer. The combined company will have a total shareholders equity of $20 billion. Jay S. Fishman, chairman and chief executive officer of The St. Paul Companies, will serve as chief executive officer of the combined company. He talked about the merger during a webcast this morning.
Recall effort of Ramsey Sheriff Fletcher begins
A group of St. Paul community activists plans to kick off a petition drive today to try to recall Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher. The people organizing the petition drive say Fletcher abused his power after a city council candidate debate last month. Fletcher took a stack of cards containing questions for the candidates, after one of the cards read aloud by the moderator made claims about the relationship between Fletcher and candidate Kris Reiter that both say are false. Fletcher says he and Reiter were defamed, and he didn't abuse his authority when he took the cards. Minnesota Public Radio's Laura McCallum reports.
Sen. Dayton assists in Chinese adoption case
A Rochester couple trying to adopt a 3-year-old Chinese boy got a visit yesterday from Minnesota Sen. Mark Dayton. Carol and Rob Nassif want to officially adopt Luke, a Chinese orphan being treated at the Mayo Clinic for a heart condition. But Chinese adoption law requires that both the parents and the child be in China in order to finalize the adoption, and the Nassifs say the trip would be too dangerous for Luke, given his medical condition. Sen. Dayton has contacted Chinese officials, hoping they might allow an exception in this case. Carol Nassif joins us now.
MPR's Chris Farrell on Monday Markets
Minnesota Public Radio's Chief Economics Correspondent talks about the week in economic news and financial markets.
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Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2003 |
St. Paul Companies to merge with Travelers
The St. Paul Companies plans to merge this spring with a rival nearly twice its size. The St. Paul would join with Travelers Property Casualty, a Connecticut-based provider of business and personal insurance. The combined company would be the nation's second-largest commercial insurer. The company will have its headquarters in St. Paul. But the move raises questions about the future in Minnesota of one of the state's oldest companies. Minnesota Public Radio's Jeff Horwich reports.
Officials relieved St. Paul Companies HQ stays
St. Paul officials are breathing a sigh of relief that, for the moment at least, the new St. Paul Travelers Insurance company will be headquartered here. That decision was part of yesterday's merger announcement. Analysts say the proposed merger buys the company some time in an environment where change is the order of the day. Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Olson reports.
Importation of Canadian drugs not in Medicare bill
Congress is nearly finished with a bill that would add a prescription drug benefit to Medicare and increase the role of private insurers in the program. House and Senate negotiators announced over the weekend that they had reached initial agreement on the $400 billion measure. One of the criticisms of the bill is that it does too little to control the cost of prescription drugs. While it does make it easier for generic copies of brand-name drugs to get approval, it leaves in effect the current ban on the importation of lower-cost prescription drugs from other industrialized countries. The bill would allow Americans to buy drugs from Canada, but only if the FDA certifies that the drugs are safe, which the FDA has said it will not do. Minnesota Republican Congressman Gil Gutknecht favors the importation of prescription drugs and authored a House bill that would allow importation from 25 countries. He joins us now.
Mark Zdechlik previews NTSB's Wellstone report
Later today in Washington, National Transportation Safety Board investigators will lay out the findings of their inquiry into the plane crash that killed Sen. Paul Wellstone, and seven others last fall. Minnesota Public Radio's Mark Zdechlik has covered this story from the beginning and he joins us in the studio.
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Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2003 |
NTSB blames pilots for crash that killed Wellstone
The chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board says the plane crash that killed Sen. Paul Wellstone and seven others last fall was a tragic accident that should not have happened. The NTSB issued the final report on its investigation into the crash yesterday and laid the blame squarely on actions of the flight crew. The board also announced regulatory recommendations that it hopes could prevent similar accidents in the future. Minnesota Public Radio's Mark Zdechlik reports.
Former Wellstone campaign manager reacts to crash report
The National Transportation Safety Board says the crash that killed Sen. Paul Wellstone and seven others was a result of pilot error. The crash happened in October of last year, near the end of Wellstone's campaign for a third team. The NTSB said the plane lost air speed and the aerodynamic lift required to keep it in the air as it approached the airport in Eveleth. The Board also agreed with the investigators' findings that the pilots lacked proper training in crew coordination. Former Wellstone campaign director Jeff Blodgett says the findings of the report are difficult to take.
Pawlenty to testify in DC for importation of prescription drugs
Gov. Tim Pawlenty is taking his prescription drug importation plan to Washington. Pawlenty will testify before the Senate Commerce Committee tomorrow morning at the invitation of chairman Sen. John McCain. Pawlenty is the only Republican governor to actively push the idea of importing drugs from Canada. Larry Jacobs is a political science professor at the University of Minnesota who follows the politics of health care. He's also the author of the book The Health of Nations. Jacobs says the importation issue comes at a good time for Pawlenty.
Job impact of St. Paul Companies merger remains cloudy
The CEO of The St. Paul Companies, Jay Fishman, held a question-and-answer session Tuesday with employees to talk about the proposed merger with insurance giant Travelers Property Casualty. Travelers is about twice the size of The St. Paul, and the merger would create the country's second-largest provider of business insurance. Fishman cautioned workers to ignore speculation about job losses and focus on the promise of increased industry clout. Minnesota Public Radio's Jeff Horwich reports.
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Thursday, Nov. 20, 2003 |
Survey shows challenges for Minneapolis Public Schools
A new survey about the Minneapolis Public Schools shows that city residents think the big problems for the district revolve around discipline and a lack of strong academic programs. The survey follows news that the district is losing students, and is trying to slow down an exodus of students to charter and suburban schools. Morning Edition host Cathy Wurzer talked with longtime school board member Judy Farmer, who says the results of the survey raise more questions than answers.
Theater in prisons and homelss shelters
One Minnesota theater company has discovered there are great audiences in some unusual places. Ten Thousand Things theater company performs in Minnesota's prisons and homeless shelters. Critics regard it as some of the best theater in the region. Minnesota Public Radio's Marianne Combs reports.
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Friday, Nov. 21, 2003 |
The science of coal gasifications
The energy bill in Washington is expected to provide money to help build a new power plant in northern Minnesota. The plant would convert coal into gas to make electricity. Burning gas is much cleaner than burning coal. But critics say the Iron Range is not the best place to use the technology. Mainstreet Radio's Stephanie Hemphill reports.
Wisconsin wrestling with issues of same-sex marriage
Two Minnesota lawmakers are proposing that voters decide whether the state constitution should be amended to say marriage is a civil contract between a man and a woman. Sen. Michele Bachmann and Rep. Mary Liz Holberg announced their idea yesterday. Minnesota already has a law, called the Defense of Marriage Act, which bans same-sex marriage. The state of Wisconsin is also dealing with this issue. There, the governor vetoed a Defense of Marriage Act. Now some Republican lawmakers are proposing to change the Wisconsin constitution. Morning Edition host Cathy Wurzer talked with Frederica Freyberg, who covers state politics for Wisconsin Public Radio.
Responses to anti-gay marriage commentary
The issue of gay marriage has elicited a strong response from our listeners. Several of you called our comment line after we aired a National Public Radio commentary by Stanley Kurtz, who said he opposes gay marriage. Kurtz said gay marriages, by definition can't produce children, and allowing it would undermine what he calls the "symbolic link" between marriage and parenthood. That, he says, would lead to more out-of-wedlock births and more family disillusionment. He says this has already happened in Scandinavian countries.. where gay marriages have been allowed for a decade. But two of our listeners opposed his commentary.
Church in Duluth reborn as concert hall
People come from all over the world to play the organ at Sacred Heart in Duluth. They love the sound. Bluegrass bands and punk rockers like the sound, too. The Sacred Heart Music Center spent more than 100 years as a cathedral. It has different acoustics from most concert halls and recording studios. And musicians say it has a different feel. Chris Julin has this Mainstreet Radio report from Duluth.
Meteorologist Mark Seeley's weather commentary
This week, Mark Seeley discusses the warm weather in early November, and the wintery change coming in the forecast.
Vikings having trouble on and off field
The Minnesota Vikings go into Sunday's game against the Detroit Lions saddled with more than just a 4 game losing streak. Two of the players were arrested for drunk driving earlier this week. Defensive ends Kenny Mixon and Kevin Williams were fined by the team, but will play this Sunday. For Williams, it's his first offense. For Mixon, it is his 3rd drunk driving arrest in the last year-and-a-half, though he was acquitted in one incident. The team held a meeting on Wednesday to discuss all of the on-field, and off-field issues, with both players apologizing to teammates for their behavior. Joining us on the line is Sean Jensen, who covers the Vikings for the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
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