February 19, 1997 - Mediators trying to write new a management plan for Voyageurs National Park have again found themselves stuck on an old issue: the use of snowmobiles within the Park. Minnesota Public Radio's Bob Kelleher reports from Duluth: After meeting for months and finding solutions to dozens of management questions, the 12 active members of the Voyageurs Mediation panel have found themselves split over the single most contentious surrounding use of the park: snowmobiling on the park's largest land area, the Kabetogama Peninsula. Mediators agreed in January that the snow machines should be allowed on the peninsula's chain-of-lakes trail, but they parted over a proposal to limit
February 19, 1997 - A panel of state lawmakers has recommended schools administrator Dave Metzen join the University of Minnesota's Board of Regents -- DESPITE allegations of sexism in the candidate selection process. Minnesota Public Radio's Martin Kaste reports: Allegations of male chauvinism stirred up the otherwise placid process of selecting new University Regents at the state capitol on Tuesday. Roseville Representative Mindy Greiling complained to the news media that lawmakers from the Ramsey County area had passed over Roseville school superintendent Carol Ericson for one of the vacancies on the Board of Regents -- even though Greiling says Ericson WAS CLEARLY the best candidate. The group of lawmakers instead endorsed another school superintendent, David Metzen of South St Paul. Women's political lobbying groups quickly picked up on Greiling's complaint... Judith Schotzko, president of the Minnesota W
February 20, 1997 - A huge piece of countryside south of the Twin Cities near Rosemount has been off limits to development for fifty years. The owner, the University of Minnesota, says it may be interested in selling off a portion of the property. Some neighbors worry urban development moving south from the Twin Cities will overrun a portion of the land. Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Olson has more.
March 19, 1997 - State education officials say the state's eighth-grade students did slightly better in the second year of the basic skills reading test...but test scores stayed the same in math. Nearly a third of the students who took the tests for the first time last year failed. The Department of Children Families and Learning released the latest test scores today, and like last year they show nearly a third of the students are not meeting the minimum standards. Minnesota Public Radio's Tim Pugmire reports... The basic skills tests are the first phase of the state's new minimum high school graduation standards. The tests help determine if students are on track for graduation. This is the second year students have taken th
March 19, 1997 - State education officials say the state's eighth-grade students did slightly better in the second year of the basic skills reading test...but test scores stayed the same in math. Nearly a third of the students who took the tests for the first time last year failed. The Department of Children Families and Learning released the latest test scores this morning. Minnesota Public Radio's Tim Pugmire reports... The basic skills tests represent part of the state's first effort to impose minimum high school graduation standards. The tests help determine if students are on track for graduation. This is the second year students h
March 19, 1997 - Mainstreet Radio’s Catherine Winter looks at Challenge Incarceration Program, a Minnesota juvenile boot camp in Willow River. Supporters say strict discipline and hard work will knock some sense into criminals. But research seems to indicate that boot camps don’t work, don’t save money, and they don’t rehabilitate criminals.
March 20, 1997 - Minnesota eighth graders' mediocre performance on the state-wide math and reading tests caught people's attention at the state capitol yesterday (Wed). Lawmakers expressed disappointment in the scores, but they're already hard at work writing laws to require MORE state-wide standardized tests. Minnesota Public Radio's Martin Kaste reports: --------------------------------------------------------- | D-CART ITEM: 2594 | TIME: 2:41 | OUTCUE: "...soc --------------------------------------------------------- The news media's side-by-side comparisons of school districts based on their performance on the grad rule tests is making some people at the state capitol squirm. It was the Legislature that originally mandated the state-wide tests... but now some DFLers wonder whether they've delivered ammunition to Governor Carlson for his attacks on teachers unions and the job they've don
March 21, 1997 - Midday discusses the results of the basic skills tests given to Minnesota eighth-graders. Guests Mike Tillmann, who coordinates graduation standards for the Minnesota Department of Children, Families and Learning; and State Representative Becky Kelso, chair of the K-12 Education Finance Division, give their perspectives on the test numbers and answer listener call-in questions.
March 21, 1997 - School district officials from throughout the nation will be in Minneapolis next week to recruit Minnesota college students for teaching jobs. Students attending the Minnesota Education Career Fair will find they are much in demand. U-S Secretary of Education Richard Riley recently warned of a nationwide shortage of teachers. Minnesota has traditionally had a surplus of teachers, but some teaching skills are in especially high demand. Minnesota Public Radio's Tim Pugmire reports... Saint Paul needs teachers...a lot of them. The district, which has a record number of vacancies this spring, has hired about 300 teachers each of the past four years to keep pace with rising enrollment and normal teacher
March 21, 1997 - The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Board this week authorized the state's technical colleges to cut nearly 200 programs and lay off about 90 faculty members this fall. But, MnSCU officials say it's not as bleak as it seems. The board was required to approve tentative layoffs and potential cuts that may not happen. Minnesota Public Radio's Laura McCallum reports.