April 3, 2002 - Israeli tanks pushed into new areas of the West Bank today, exchanging fire with Palestinian gunmen in Nablus and Jenin. Israel is trying to wipe out militant networks following a wave of terror attacks on Israelis, including seven suicide bombings in seven days. Former Minnesotan Fred Schlomka is a Jewish humanitarian aid worker who relocated to Israel with his family last year. This morning Schlomka was taking part in what he called a "peaceful" demonstration by some 2000 Palestinians, Israelis and foreigners when Israeli forces tried to break it up.
April 1, 2002 - An April snowstorm is snarling road and air traffic in the state. More than 100 vehicle crashes have been reported including one that killed two people. And, Northwest Airlines has had to cancel nearly 100 flights out of the Twin Cities. A spokesperson for the airline expects operations to be back to normal tomorrow. Craig Edwards is a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Chanhassen. He says after a mild winter, Minnesotan's are finally getting a dose of reality:
March 28, 2002 - A day after a suicide bombing attack that killed 20 Israelis at a Passover dinner in northern Israel -- there's been more deadly violence. The Israeli military says suspected Palestinian gunmen opened fire at a Jewish settlement in the West Bank -- killing three people. Meanwhile, Palestinian leader Yassar Arafat says he's ready to work for an immediate and unconditional cease-fire. But he's not declaring a truce. Former Minnesotan Fred Schlomka has been living in Israel with his wife and two children for more than a year. He says he feels the tension whereever he goes and there have been shootings in nearby towns. Yet, he still feels relatively safe.
March 28, 2002 - The Metropolitan Council has approved a new definition for what constitutes an affordable home in the Twin Cities. The council has determined an affordable home costs 170-thousand dollars or less. That's up from 134 thousand last year. According to the council's standard, a family of four making 76-thousand dollars a year can afford to buy a 170-thousand dollar home without spending more than 30 percent of its gross income. Met Council chair Ted Mondale says the jump is both good and bad news for the region:
March 27, 2002 - Northwest Airlines is recalling about 500 ground workers who were among the nine-thousand employees laid off after the September eleventh terrorist attacks. A Northwest spokesman says most of the employees being recalled to permanent jobs are customer service agents and equipment service employees in the Detroit and Minneapolis hubs. This is the second time since the terrorist attacks that Northwest has called back employees to permanent jobs. Previously, the carrier recalled a little over 300 part-time reservation agents to permanent jobs. Airline analyst Joel Denny says Northwest's recall is similar to what's going on at other carriers and indicates the industry is SLOWLY rebuilding.
March 26, 2002 - Andrew Zimbalist, a professor of economics at Smith College and the author of a book called Baseball and Billions, comments on local stadium actions. Fifty St. Paul business owners started a campaign against a proposed food, beverage, and lodging tax to fund a Twins stadium, while Minnesota House approved a bill for a $330 million open-air stadium that allows the host city to levy the tax to help repay bonds.
March 26, 2002 - 1:20 Dr. Austin Smith Center for Genome Research at the University of Edinburgh important for the progress of embryonic stem cell research:
March 25, 2002 - Singer/songwriter Greg Brown says his life on the road and in the studio doesn't feel like a real career until he looks back on the body of work he's produced. The Midwestern folk-rocker has released nearly twenty CD's in the last twenty years. His latest C-D, "Milk of the Moon" is a collection of stripped down songs that address one of his favorite topics- love. Brown took what he calls a year long hiatis from touring to write and record the C-D. He says the time away from his routine had a positive affect on the new record:
March 22, 2002 - The Twin Cities has the top so-called "knowledge economy" in the world, according to a think tank in the United Kingdom. Robert Huggins Associates measured hundreds of regions worldwide in areas ranging from public education spending to the number of patents registered. Runners up include San Francisco, California and Austin, Texas. Art Rolnick is director of research at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. He says the term "knowledge economy" is hard to define:
March 21, 2002 - The state redistricting map released this week divides the state's population nearly EQUALLY among the eight Congressional districts. Based on census 2000 data, each district is home to exactly 614,935 people, with the exception of the second district, which is one person short. Joe Mansky is an elections expert who managed Governor Ventura's redistricting plan. He says new computer programs make it much easier for map makers to balance district populations: