March 5, 2002 - Cosmos does not have laws on the books to regulate an adult business.
February 19, 2002 - MPR’s Jeff Horwich reports how the use of technology is helping to make planting crops a precise science. Instead of kicking back during the winter, many farmers are now keeping busy…at the computer. They’re using global positioning systems to do what’s called "precision agriculture," which uses satellite coordinates to help map their fields.
February 12, 2002 - The president of St. Cloud State University will meet today the EEOC released the findings of an investigation into antisemitism and racial bias at St. Cloud State. University officials say the report acknowledges the school suffers mainly from an image problem, and is already making important changes. Those who've been complaining say it highlights systemic problems the school is still doing very little to fix. Mainstreet Radio's Jeff Horwich reports.
February 5, 2002 - The future of Minnetonka-based Fingerhut is still up in the air. Fingerhut's parent company announced three weeks ago it would sell or liquidate the catalogue retailer. But many Fingerhut workers are already out hunting for new places to work. In St. Cloud today , a student career fair opened its doors for the first time to the general public. It was an invitation to the 27-hundred workers at Fingerhut's St. Cloud distribution center. Mainstreet Radio's Jeff Horwich reports some workers did make their way to campus, feeling out what may be a tough job market ahead.
February 5, 2002 -
January 17, 2002 - Democratic Senator Paul Wellstone joined local officials for a closed meeting in St. Cloud this afternoon (THURSDAY), one day after the city's second-largest employer announced it was probably going out of business. The parent company of Minnetonka-based Fingerhut announced it eliminate the catalog and internet retailer if a buyer cannot be found. It would be the biggest one-time job loss in Minnesota history. And it would be a major economic shock for St. Cloud, home to almost half of Fingerhut's workforce. Mainstreet Radio's Jeff Horwich reports St. Cloud is already bracing for the impact.
December 27, 2001 - FOR USE THURS 12/27 ME The University of Minnesota Extension Service plans almost five million dollars of budget cuts over the next three years. Money from state and federal sources did not increase enough this year to support the current organization, and officials expect to phase out dozens of jobs around the state. The current financial reserves of the service have dwindled to less than one month's operating expenses. In the midst of forced belt-tightening it's a surprise to hear Extension officials using words like "excited" and "optimistic." But they say they're using the budget crunch to streamline and update the service, making some of the biggest changes in decades. Details from Mainstreet Radio's Jeff Horwich.
December 19, 2001 - After East Grand Forks and Breckinridge were decimated by the floods of 1997, government buyouts moved hundreds of homes and businesses to higher ground. This past spring, floods along the Red, Mississippi, and Minnesota rivers fell just short of 1997 levels. After facing the rushing waters once again, at least one more town has decided enough is enough. The buyout effort in Granite Falls will be smaller, but no less significant for a city so closely tied to its river. Mainstreet Radio's Jeff Horwich reports.
December 17, 2001 - People in the tiny town of Priam in Kandiyohi County have banded together to take on the town's only business. The Minnesota Valley Alfalfa Producers co-op turns hay from 380 area farmers into food pellets for livestock. The plant shrouds homes across the street in a thick, stale cloud of alfalfa dust, and residents have complained for years. The Co-op has been a tough case for the Pollution Control Agency. But Mainstreet Radio's Jeff Horwich reports the plant may be on the verge of cleaning up its act.
December 12, 2001 - As part of Mainstreet Radio’s “Our Town” project, MPR’s Jeff Horwich profiles the Stearns county town of St. Anthony, in the which mainstreet is a church, a bar, and not much else. Horwich visits both…and finds a community.