Almanac Highlights April 18, 2008

The Weekly Monologue
Sheletta Brundidge is scratching her head over a study this week by the U of M.

Minnesota Earthquake History
Today residents in SE Minnesota felt an earthquake that was centered in Illinois.  How rare are earthquakes here?  Val Chandler with the U.S. Geological Survey is our guest.

Big Stone II
That's the name of a proposed power plant in South Dakota that many environments fear will harm the Minnesota River.  Soon Minnesota regulators will vote on whether to allow the power plant to go ahead.  We hear from Mark Rolfes, the project manager of Big Stone II... and from Duane Ninneman with the environmental group CURE.

Did You Know?
Did you know that there's a minor tiff at the capitol involving the Governor's published schedule?

AIDS in Minnesota
The number of new AIDS cases in our state jumped to the highest levels since the mid 1990s.  What's going on?  Peter Carr from the Minnesota Department of Health joins us. 

Close The Gap
We present a clip from the Minnesota Channel series "Close the Gap" which takes a critical look at disparities --economic, racial and geographical-- in the Twin Cities region.  Catch the series Saturday at 8 on tpt17.

Live Music!
The Laras are a Latin American folkloric group that will be performing as part of the Hennepin County Library's Children's Day/Book Day festivities that kick off this weekend.  For more info go to www.hclib.org

The Legislative Week in Review
Legislative Leaders met with the governor to talk budget... and the proposed Northwest/Delta merger made waves too.  Get the latest from Mary Lahammer.

Former Lawmakers Grapple
The Northwest/Delta merger is one of the topics on the minds of our panel of former Republican and Democratic legislators. Fritz Knaak, Phil Krinkie, Wes Skoglund and Ember Reichgott Junge sit on the couch.

The Wrapup
Minnesota history... your thoughts about Paul Douglas... and another tune from The Laras.