June 4, 1997 - Farm drainage ditches help keep thousands of acres of Minnesota cropland dry enough to produce crops each year. Some say the ditches do their job too well and are such efficient water movers they contribute to downstream flooding. During this year's floods one county engineer said ditches became "raging rivers", with their own distinct flood plains. Economic gain versus environmental damage....that's the arguement behind a dispute between two southwest Minnesota counties over the reconstruction of a farm drainage ditch. Mark Steil of Mainstreet Radio reports: The farmland water Yellow Medicine and Lyon
May 13, 1997 - Thousands of businesses in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota hurt by flooding have applied for government disaster loans. For many, the weeks after the flood have been spent analyzing whether they can stay in business. Mark Steil of Mainstreet Radio reports: The flooding Chippewa River left a big hole in the ground near a convenience store/gas station in Montevideo. Standing on the lip of the pit, six feet deep....bordered by twisted, broken pipes; station operator Jeff Knutson says it once contained gasoline storage tanks:
May 1, 1997 - FEMA PHONE NUMBER = 1-800-462-9029 As homeowners return to flooded homes....they face some complex financial decisions on repairing the damage. It's likely that even those with flood insurance will find that not all their losses are covered. Some will fix their homes...others may decide its not worth the money. Mark Steil of Mainstreet Radio reports:
April 22, 1997 - Mainstreet Radio’s Mark Steil reports that the Minnesota legislature is considering a measure which changes how rights of way are managed. Utilities can run their cables and pipes under our roads because they're part of the right of way. Some city officials say the companies leave a mess when they're through. A compromise before the legislature gives cities more control over rights of way but leaves a major issue unsettled…rent.
March 20, 1997 - On this first day of spring, Mainstreet Radio’s Mark Steil presents some stories from the winter of '97…and shares words from winter's past in the works of Laura Ingalls Wilder and O.E. Rolvaag.
February 12, 1997 - Mainstreet Radio's Mark Steil reports that there's a chance deep snows of the 96-97’ winter are only "part one" of a weather disaster. The spring flood potential may lie in a secret hidden within the snow…the water amount it contains.
February 5, 1997 - Mainstreet Radio’s Mark Steil reports that county governments in Minnesota are in a financial squeeze as state and federal grants decline. They must either cut services or find new revenue sources. In southwest Minnesota, a bookmobile with a roadrunner painted on its side is directly in the path of the funding dilemma. People who use it say it's foolish to cut a service which enriches minds.
January 29, 1997 - Mainstreet Radio’s Mark Steil looks at turnover issues at meatpacking plants in Minnesota. The average worker in the meatpacking industry only stays on the job for a few months. The job is so difficult, dangerous and some might argue downright nasty that many plants hire the equivalent of a new work force each year. That creates problems for towns which host a meatpacking factory, with school enrollments changing constantly and short term housing stretched to the limit.
June 17, 1996 - As U.S. farmers are getting older and the high price of starting an agricultural operation increases, Mainstreet Radio’s Mark Steil reports on a Minnesota program based in Granite Falls that is making efforts to get young farmers in the business. The hope is that by matching beginning farmers with established farmers, farm ownership can gradually be transferred to a new generation.
May 1, 1996 - The era of genetic engineering begins this spring for Minnesota's largest cash crop. Some farmers will plant corn that contains a built-in pesticide, a gene deadly to the european corn borer. The new corn is expected to account for about 1% of the nations crop this year... buts thats expected to grow rapidly in coming years. Insects are very resilient, and researchers worry the borer will develop a resistance to the new corn...possibly in as little as five years. If that happens it would destroy years of research into one of the most effective tools ever developed to fight the pest.