November 29, 2000 - Minnesotans can look forward to another tax rebate. The state has banked a 345-million dollar surplus since last July, and by law, that money along with any additional surplus projected for fiscal year 2000- must go to a tax rebate. Earlier this year, the state gave back 645-million dollars from the last fiscal year's surplus. That was only HALF of what the state had given back a year earlier. Tomorrow, state budget officials will release the state budget forcast that will project the surplus for the 2000-2001 and 2002-2003 fiscal years. Art Rolnick is Vice President and Director of Research at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. I asked him what the projected surplus says about the Minnesota economy:
November 28, 2000 - The election results may be certified but the next president is still far from certain. Vice President Gore today brushed aside new polls showing most Americans believe he should concede and pushed ahead with his effort to include more ballots in the final count, while Governor Bush continued building his transition team. Both sides filed briefs with the Supreme Court in preparation for Friday's oral arguments. We asked Minnesota congressmen on both sides of the aisle for their thoughts on this year's unusual election process. Republican Gil Gutknecht thinks Vice President Gore should concede and he says he's not alone.
November 27, 2000 - President Clinton says he will review a clemency request for American Indian Movement activist Leonard Peltier. In 1977, Peltier was sentenced to life in prison for the murders of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Peltier says he's innocent and that the evidence against him was falsified. Gina Chiala, co-coordinator of the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee, says President Clinton's willingness to review the case bodes well for Peltier.
November 22, 2000 - Representatives at a climate conference at the Hague this week are trying to agree on how to cut down on pollutants that are believed to cause global warming. One of the main pollutants is carbon dioxide. The United States supports what its calls a flexible plan. In part, that means forests that absorb carbon would count toward meeting reduction targets. There has even been talk of paying farmers here in the United States to plant trees rather than crops. The European Union rejected the United States' plan yesterday. John Pastor is a biology professor and part of the University of Minnesota's Natural Resources Research Institute in Duluth. He's on the line now. John Pastor is a biology professor at the University of Minnesota-Duluth
November 22, 2000 - The process of hand counting hundreds of thosands of ballots in three Florida counties has been described as excruciatingly dull. But that hasn't stopped hundreds of counters and observers from showing up for work. Minnesotan Brian McClung jumped at the chance to be a Republican observer in Broward, County Florida. He was recruited last weekend at a Young Republicans conference in Austin, Texas. We reached him outside of the Broward county emergency operations center, where the hand count had just wrapped up:
November 21, 2000 - The outspoken and progressive Bishop for the New Ulm diocese has retired. Pope John Paul II accepted Bishop Raymond Lucker's resignation effective last friday. In his 25 years as a Bishop, Lucker has taken controversial positions on a number of issues, including advocating the ordination of married men. I asked Lucker why he became a priest:
November 21, 2000 - University of Minnesota astronomy professor Rebecca Humphreys has an added incentive to study the solar system these days -- keeping track of her namesake. A former student of Humphreys named astroid number 1-oh-1-7-2 after her last week. Asteroid Humphreys is three to eight miles in diameter and orbits the sun in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. I asked her what it was like to get the news:
November 20, 2000 - Former Timberwolves player Joe Smith today signed a 2-point-25 million dollar contract with the Detroit Pistons. Smith was declared a free agent last month, after NBA commisoner David Stern voided his contract with the Timberwolves because it violated league salary cap rules. Brit Robson covers the timberwolves for City Pages. He says the Piston's deal was too good for Smith to pass up:
November 20, 2000 - Northwest Airlines appeared in federal court in Minneapolis this afternoon, asking a judge to grant a temporary restraining order to prevent the mechanics union from conducting an alleged illegal work slowdown. The airline says a large number of flights were cancelled or delayed last weekend -- as a result, it says, of union mechanics' refusal to work according to their contract. Northwest and the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association which represents more than ten thousand Northwest workers ... have been holding negotiations on a new contract. The National Mediation Board recently recessed those talks, and both sides have been using some pretty inflammatory language. Northwest CEO John Dasburg called the AMFA wage demands quote bizarre unquote, and AMFA last week sued the airline for its alleged failure to negotiate in good faith. In court lawyers for Northwest told the court a very high number of flights were delayed or cancelled last weekend. MPR's Andrew Haeg is covering the story. Has the judge made a decision yet?
November 17, 2000 - The Minnesota Wild face off against the Sabres tonight in Buffalo, New York. The expansion team currently sits at the bottom of their division. But the Wild's poor record hasn't kept fans from packing the team's downtown St. Paul arena. Fans have been especially good to the team's Minnesota Players, including center Darby Hendrickson. Hendrickson was a star at Richfield High School and the University of Minnesota before moving on to play professional hockey in Toronto and Vancouver. I met up with him at a team practice at Parade Stadium in Minneapolis. He says Candada was great, but he's much happier playing for his hometown: