June 7, 1999 - Mike Christensen, executive director of the Allina Foundation and vice-president for Community Investment for Allina Health System; Judith Borger, author of "Honeywell: The First 100 Years"; and Sharon Sayles Belton, mayor of Minneapolis, discuss the Honeywell merger's impact on the community.
June 8, 1999 - Business leaders are asking themselves if there was anything the state could have done to keep Honeywell from leaving Minnesota. The general consensus is NO -- for one thing, Honeywell kept its merger plans secret from state officials until the last minute. But some people inside and outside government say the state should take Honeywell's sudden departure as a warning of things to come.
June 15, 1999 - The Minnesota Department of Revenue is advising Governor Ventura against repealing the state inheritance tax because it wouldn't save taxpayers money. Ventura said at a farm forum yesterday he's considering repealing the tax as a way to help farmers.
June 21, 1999 - Mike Yost recently testified before Congress on the trade embargo issue. Yost is the president of the American Soybean Association and farms near Murdoch, Minnesota. He says Congress should consider the potential gains for struggling American farmers.
June 22, 1999 - As Minnesota logs month after month of historically low unemployment, the jobless rate in the twin cities hovers at even lower levels. The metropolitan area has consistently posted the lowest unemployment rate among major cities since August of 1997. Last month it was just one-point-six percent. As Bill Catlin reports, the low unemployment rate is changing the balance of power between companies and workers.
June 22, 1999 - A lot of people in North Minneapolis are hoping the good times have finally begun to roll. The city is demolishing rundown public housing to make way for new market rate homes. There's a plan to clean up the riverfront. And a few months ago, the area won federal designation as an Empowerment Zone, allowing people interested in doing business there to apply for grants and credits.
June 22, 1999 - Mainstreet Radio’s Leif Enger reports that the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe are looking ahead at a future without gaming. Like many Indian tribes, the Mille Lacs Ojibwe got an enormous boost from gaming in the 1990s. Its two casinos brought in millions of dollars annually, and hundreds of new jobs. Now the Band is trying to broaden its economy.
June 29, 1999 - The defeat of gun control legislation in the U-S House recently came as no suprise to gun policy expert Tom Diaz. In his new book Making a Killing: The Business of Guns in America, Diaz says a better strategy would be to challenge gun manufacturers on their marketing of increasingly deadlier products. Diaz comes to gun policy from the perspective of someone who loved guns. From his boyhood scouting experience in Mississippi, to his military service, to collecting guns as an adult, Diaz says there were always guns in his life. Then his law degree landed him a job with the House Crime subcommittee.
July 7, 1999 - Northwest Airlines flight attendants will soon vote on a contract offer. Union leaders have been holding informational meetings around the country, explaining to the rank and file details of the agreement they reached with Northwest last month. Yesterday evening several hundred flight attendants gathered at a Bloomington hotel. Many were there to criticize the contract. Another session is planned for later this morning in the Twin Cities.
July 9, 1999 - The US Justice department has approved Cargill's purchase of arch rival Continental Grain Company's grain business. To win that approval Cargill agreed to sell grain handling facilities in 9 cities. The Justice department says the requirements are designed to prevent the combined companies from artificially lowering prices paid to farmers. Critics have said the acquisition would give Cargill too much power in the market.