July 20, 2001 - The good news is that higher lake levels this year is slowing the growth of eurasion water milfoil. The bad news is that an experiment using milfoil-eating water beetles isn't working that well. Chip Welling coordinates the Eurasion Water Milfoil program at the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. He hasn't given up on the beetles yet.
July 20, 2001 - Attorney General Mike Hatch's audit and investigation of Allina Health System has prompted some concern by other non-profit health care organizations in the state and non-profit organizations overall. Under Minnesota law, the attorney general has the right to investigate any charities or non-profits that operate in the state. Legal experts say such investigations are rare, but many non-profits say Hatch's audit of Allina may change the way they do business. Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Scheck reports:
July 20, 2001 - We reached Attorney General Mike Hatch a few minutes ago, and he says he doesn't really have a reaction, but he says his investigation is ongoing. outcue '... get into."
July 20, 2001 -
July 20, 2001 - We expect to hear from Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch a bit later in the half hour. We asked two local Health Care experts to speculate on what split of Allina will mean for the roughly one million Medica members in Minnesota. Dave Durenberger is Senior Health Policy Fellow at the University of St Thomas. He says hes disappointed by the news:
July 19, 2001 - Alice Quinn, poetry editor at the New Yorker and Head of the Poetry Society of America discusses the promotion of poetry. Quinn also reads two of her favorite poems.
July 19, 2001 - Twin Cities Public Television's foray into nightly local news coverage appears to be all but over. Sources say Newsnight Minnesota- TPT's half-hour long evening news program launched in 1994 - is on the chopping block. TPT officials won't confirm Newsnight faces a shutdown. But a spokeswoman says the station is considering a number of cutback options because of the enormous costs of meeting a federal mandate to convert to digital transmission. TPT staffers say they've been informed Newsnight's future is in serious doubt and the show's staff members have started looking for other jobs. The board is expected to make a final decision on Newsnight's future next month. Brian Lambert is Media Critic at the St. Paul Pioneer Press. He says for the most part, Newsnight has lived up to its promise to provide a more thoughtful alternative to commercial t-v news:
July 19, 2001 - (to follow catlin) Northwest Airlines is not alone. Hundreds of Minnesota companies have announced layoffs in recent months, including American express Financial Advisors, Honeywell, 3M and ADC Telecommunications. The state dislocated workers office has counted more than 20,000 mass layoffs in the past year... a number officials say represents only SOME of the total jobs lost. John Fossum is the Director of the Industrial Relations Center at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. He says despite those dramatic numbers- at this point- the ecomonic downturn in Minnesota is mild:
July 13, 2001 - Runoff from spring floods is also hampering barge traffic on the Mississippi. Two groups of barges ran aground Wednesday night near downtown St. Paul in a channel clogged by flood-deposited sediment. The Army Corp of Engineers will start dredging the channel tomorrow and expects to have it open by the middle of next week. Lee Nelson is President of Upper River Services, Inc. a barge servicing company. He says the sediment has been building up for three months:
July 13, 2001 - The carp has few fans among Minnesota anglers today. But in the 1880's, the DNR saw the adaptable bottom-feeder as it's best hope for restocking overfished lakes and rivers. Betting sport fisherman would embrace the carp as a desirable catch and a good source of protein, the DNR stocked Minnesota waters with thousands of the fish. And by 1890, the non-native species was well established. But it didn't take long for the Carp to lose its appeal for both anglers and state officials. Stephen Hoffbeck wrote an article on the history of Carp in the state for the summer issue of Minnesota History Magazine. He says by 1910, the DNR was committed to getting rid of the species: