April 12, 2001 - MPR’s Lorna Benson interviews Winona resident Calvin Fremling, who shares memories of 1965 flood that threatened the town.
April 11, 2001 - Discussing how it can be difficult to build things under water.
April 11, 2001 - Members of the local Tibetan community are making painstaking preparations for the Twin Cities visit by the Dalai Lama in early May. Tenzin Gyatso (Ten-zin Gee-aht-SOE), the fourteenth Dalai Lama, is considered by some to be the living buddha. In northeast Minneapolis, Tibetan painter and craftsman Rinchen Dorjee has transformed his small, low ceilinged basement into a busy workshop for construction of a ceremonial throne. The throne is more than half complete, painted white, gold and powder blue. Dorjee intricately draws Tibetan designs for wood carvings that will be placed upon the platform. Local monks, have adapted their technique of sculpting in butter to create dozens of little roses out of modeling clay that will adorn the chair's back. The Lama will sit upon a cushion of silk fabric brought over from India. Dorjee explained through fellow Tibetan Tsultim Tsagong (Sul-Tim SAY-Gong) that he has limited time to complete this sacred job:
April 9, 2001 - A capacity crowd of 43-thousand is expected at the Metrodome tonight for the Twins home opener against Detroit. The Twins have won three of their first five road games this season including two against the Tigers. Its a start that-although not rock solid - does have fans hoping for a winning season this year. Author and fan Mick Cochrane grew up watching the Twins during one of the team's winning streaks in the late 1960's. His love for the team inspired his latest novel, "sport." In the book, 13-year-old Harlan uses the regular rhythm of baseball -and his beloved- Twins to anchor his increasingly chaotic life. Cochrane says as a kid, he especially loved the excitement of opening day:
April 9, 2001 - The Minnesota River is expected to crest seven-feet above flood stage on Saturday in Granite Falls. The town has constructed an emergency levee across the street from City Hall and is suplementing that with sandbags. Bill Lavin is the city manager of Granite Falls. He says the town needs lots of volunteers to help:
April 5, 2001 - Rwanda is in the midst of a weeklong commemoration of the 1994 genocide of at least 500,000 minority Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus by the then-ruling Hutu government. Flags are flying at half-staff and authorities are holding conferences to discuss how Rwandans can remember what led to the killing and work together to rebuild their country. Genocide survivor Alphonse Nkunzimana recalls fleeing his house as the violence escalated nearby. He says the rampage that followed is hard to forget:
April 4, 2001 - Minnesota's bald eagle population is at its highest level since 1972, when the state first started collecting data on the species. There are now almost 700 nesting pairs in the state. Mark Martel is the coordinator of conservation programs at the University of Minnesota's Raptor Center. He says the birds are nesting in areas that weren't traditionally considered prime habitat:
April 3, 2001 - While Best Buy's share price soared today, other prominent Minnesota companies watched their stock tumble along side the Dow. ADC telecommunications was down 12 percent. St. Paul Companies was off four percent. Jim Paulsen is an economist at Wells Fargo in Minneapolis. I asked him why Best Buy is beating the odds in the current market:
April 3, 2001 - The U-S Fish and Wildlife Service is putting the final touches on a plan to restore an historic migration route of one of North America's most endangered birds. The whooping crane was on the verge of extinction in the early 1940's, with only 16 birds left in the world. The species is now about 400 strong, with three separate groups of birds nesting in the wild. One of the flocks migrates across the American west, following a path from Canada to Texas. Now officials hope to establish a second migration route, this time in the eastern U-S... from Wisconsin to Florida. Joan Guilfoyle is an external affairs officer at the Minneapolis office of the U-S Fish and Wildlife Service. I asked her to describe what the birds look like:
April 2, 2001 - That was N-P-R's Steve Inskip on Capitol Hill. We asked two of Minnesota's represenatives to react to the Senate's Campaign Finance reform Bill and speculate about its future in the House. Third district Republican Jim Ramstad says he's pleased with the bill... especially the provision that bans so-called soft money: