Climate change, industry, parks, air and water quality are issues that are debated in congress, compete for funding and enpassion many Minnesotans.
December 16, 1998 - Minnesota hog farmers are wondering when a price slump which has made their pigs almost worthless will end. Prices fell sharply again yesterday as an oversupply of hogs continues to drive the market down. More than 300 producers voiced anger at their precarious economic situation last night in Marshall, during a meeting organized by congressman David Minge. Mainstreet Radio's Mark Steil reports: The collapse of the hog market is the crisis of a lifetime for pork producers. the worst slump they've ever experienced. The Mar
December 17, 1998 - The crumbling farm economy in Northwestern Minnesota is starting to erode local government budgets. Polk county commissioners are struggling to balance the county budget. It appears employee layoffs and reduced services for county residents are inevitable. Mainstreet Radios Dan Gunderson reports. Polk county tax revenue took a big hit when hundreds of East Grand Forks homes were washed off the tax rolls by the flood of 1997. But its budget problems started long before the flood. For the last half dozen years Polk county commissioners took the path of least resistance. They held down tax increases by trimming a l
December 23, 1998 - Low prices for this year's crops have left many farmers struggling... and now, they're making decisions for the next planting season. With both crop and livestock prices the lowest they've been in decades, farmers may have to diversify in order to make it as agriculture changes. Minnesota Public Radio's Cara Hetland reports: Pioneer seed salesman Brian Jergans finishes up a sale for next spring. Most farmers buy their seeds early, to get in on price breaks and to ensure they'll get the seed they want. This year, farmer Jim Lammers will buy ten different varieties of corn. Salesman Brian Jergans encourages customers to test varities and check data over three years before ordering large quantities.
December 28, 1998 - On Sunday March 29th a huge storm tore across more than 60 miles of south/central Minnesota. The storm took out much of the small town of Comfry. Then, around 5:30 pm, an F3 tornado, carrying winds of up to 206 miles per hour, smashed through St. Peter. Two people died--one, a boy just six years old.
December 29, 1998 - Most farmers in our area will shudder when they think back on 1998. The agricultural economy moves in well defined peaks and valleys. 1998 was a valley. Nearly every farmer felt the disquieting unknown of economic hard times. Mainstreet Radio's Mark Steil reports: The seeds of the farm slump were as farflung as the asian financial crisis and as down-home as weather, overproduction and disease. It was a year when Minnesota farmers took home their first billion bushel corn crop, a record soybean harvest and wagons full of red ink. The farm crisis o
December 31, 1998 - An MPR Special report, presenting the big Minnesota news stories of 1998. Highlights include Governor election, Comfrey and St. Peter tornado, farm crisis, mergers, the Northwest strike and the big tobacco trial. Program ends with brief remembrance segments on various individuals that made news in the year.
January 18, 1999 - MPR’s Bob Kelleher reports on Madeline Island’s Windsled. Fewer than 200 people live year 'round on the Island just off the southern shore of Lake Superior near Bayfield, Wisconsin. While island life revolves around the mainland ferry schedule most of the year, islanders can drive across the ice during the depths of winter….but for a few weeks each year, the trip to shore has to be made in the island's unique water transportation vehicle.
March 9, 1999 - Matt Davis, a forecaster with the National Weather Service, says March 8th snowstorm set a record. The storm blanketed much of the Midwest and dumped 16 inches of snow in the Twin Cities.
March 18, 1999 - Mainstreet Radio’s Amy Radil reports on the U.S. Coast Guard's Mackinaw and the debate to replace it. The 55-year-old ship is the biggest icebreaker on the Great Lakes, and always greeted enthusiastically by commercial shippers and idle boat watchers alike. The U.S. House approved spending 130-million dollars to replace the Mackinaw, but its fans are nothing if not loyal, and are trying to keep it around.
March 25, 1999 - In the first of a series of reports, Mainstreet Radio's Brent Wolfe reports on the re-building of the trailer park in Le Center, after a devastating tornado a year ago.