March 27, 1973 - A hundred people in the Lake Minnetonka area have formed a club to supply their basic food needs. It?s an alternative to a supermarket. Jenny Eastburn says she wants wholesome natural foods, and describes how the group was formed and how the club sells the food. Food is sold one day a week, on the honor system, and chores are handled by volunteers. She talks about how she shops at health food stores as well, and that household food expenses are comparable to a regular supermarket if you cut out high priced junk food and use healthy substitutes. She says she?s not affected by increasing food prices, and says we?ve been consuming more than we need to be, we?ve had everything we wanted and didn?t appreciate it, it's time to take a second look.
March 29, 1973 - Speaker: What will happen if you adopt this particular amendment is that you will be back here next year and you are going to change it to eighteen. What you are saying to young adults in the metro area near adjacent states is that you cannot drink here; you get in your car and you drive. What eighteen year old will not have it available to them in Minnesota? People came before the committee and said it is easier to obtain drugs in Minnesota than alcohol. I did not start out as a crusader to lower this particular age, I served on a subcommittee and I did not have the answers. But I think this is the answer, it is a big step. I want you to take it with me and vote down Mr. Kempe's amendment.
March 29, 1973 - Unknown speaker: What makes you believe that by allowing 18 years olds to drink intoxicating beverages they can cope with this when many mature grown men and women cannot? We have a rapidly increasing number of divorces, one of the main reasons for divorce is alcoholism. Increased juvenile delinquency and adult crime are also byproducts of the alcoholic parent or parents. It?s ironic to me that we build alcoholic detoxification centers on the one hand, and on the other we are now encouraging 18 year olds to have the right to drink alcoholic intoxicating beverages. We have on our highways an ever increasing amount of traffic fatalities, are you going to provide the catalyst that will increase the carnage on our highways? Members you have in your hands by your vote the lives of individuals. Giving 18 year olds the right to drink they will infringe on our rights to use the roads and highways and make a menace to use them.
March 29, 1973 - The food co-op movement is providing an alternative to grocery stores. The reporter says what began as an underground grocery store has survived the scrutiny of the public health department. The North Country Co-op has gown into a warehouse supplying perhaps twenty more efforts like it in Minnesota. Most have grown up near college communities, but other populations are also served including the elderly and inner city. There are no store managers, clerks, or customers, just people who share the work and savings. Store coordinators run the ongoing operation. Store coordinators Linda Irish and Jim Erickson describe how the co-op works, including the kind of food that?s offered, the costs for food and markups, prices that vary depending on what people are willing to pay, and education about food preparation
March 29, 1973 - Nixon: What we need is action that will stop the rise in meat prices now. And that is why I have today ordered the Cost of Living Council to impose a ceiling on prices of beef, pork and lamb. The ceiling will remain in effect as long as it is necessary to do the job. Meat prices must not go higher.
March 29, 1973 - One of the first witnesses on the second day of Senate Communication subcommittee hearings on federal funding for public broadcasting was William Harley, president of the National Association of Educational broadcasters. Chairman Pastori asked him what essentially is the trouble in public broadcasting, Harley answers: The dream of the Carnegie Commission has not been fulfilled as anticipated, In order to be independent from possible political pressure there would have to be established an independent corporation to funnel the funds to the stations, and keep the funds from being subject to annual appropriation. We have not been able to do that and are now having some repercussions. We could not establish a true heat shield to protect this enterprise from the possiblity of pressures. It?s new, it?s struggling to get started, of course there will be problems and difficulties, differences in philosophies. What?s going on is a conflict over whether to be centrally controlled or if control rests with the stations. There?s been lip service to localism. There have been moves in recent months which suggest an assertion of authority by the corporation board of exerting even greater central control. He?s confident difficulties can be worked out. He hopes to announce and agreement between corporation board and licensees. This can be resolved within the industry without resorting to legislation.Ralph Rogers, chairman of the Coordinating Committee Governing Board of the public television licensees testified on control and scheduling of the television interconnection. He says licensees want to get programs over interconnection without restraint or censorship. However the corporation charged under the law that programs of controversial nature must be objective and balanced. Problem resolved by creating a monitoring committee, of both CPB and licensees. Reporter unknown.
March 30, 1973 - Reporter does comparison shopping of salvage food stores to area supermarkets and finds little overall savings. Heller?s Railway Salvage Supermarket manager Stu Yellen explains how the salvage food system works, pricing strategies, and that profits are not outrageous, but are similar to wholesale/retail ratios. Customers talk about prices. Reporter compares prices for ketchup, ground beef, and other products.
April 3, 1973 - Cable TV is an exciting and new opportunity with the potential for educational opportunities. State Senator Borden says the state has to provide regulation. Other states have seen corruption without cable regulation; local governments don?t have expertise to deal with these companies. There needs to be public hearings on who will get the franchises, a need to ensure competitive bids, and establishment of minimum standards. Cable companies say the industry is already regulated enough by the FTC. When color TV first came in there were no standards which resulted in three different systems; a state agency could set minimum standards for inter-connectivity, public access and program origination. The bill would ask the industry to pay for its own regulation, as is done in other areas of state government. There?s potential for cable snooping, and although two-way communication will be some time in coming there?s a need to respect people?s right to privacy. The bill prohibits censorship, which might provide an avenue for adult content which would be subject to pornography laws. A growing concern is concentration of the growing communications media industry in a few hands. A cable commission would need to judge each case.
April 6, 1973 - Rising meat prices have prompted a meat boycott movement headquartered in California, Fight Inflation Together. A local meat cutter?s union spokesman claims the boycott is being observed mostly in affluent neighborhoods. Families in those areas think it?s stylish to go along with the boycott. The state chapter chairman says the boycott is not intended to hit the farmers. She doesn?t think that?s where the price rise is. The group may ask homemakers to support two meatless days each week.
April 6, 1973 - The Coleman bill on health maintenance organizations (HMOs) would allow both for-profit and non-profit HMO?s in Minnesota. Right now only non-profit HMO?s are permitted. The bill would give HMO?s a legal basis to operate and provide state regulation, both of which don?t exist now. It would also provide money for planning and research to start new HMO?s. The interviewee discussed what makes an HMO a non-profit. He says the bill would allow health consumer to choose which provides better service at a cheaper price. The state Board of Health would monitor quality control and there would be a strong reporting system with strict regulations. Group Health, the largest and oldest HMO in Minnesota wants to limit the bill strictly to non-profits; newer HMOs support the bill because it allows more flexibility.