Habitat Funding and Conflicts of Interest in the MN Legislature

by Scott Hall
The Minneapolis Star-Tribune had a report Sunday on the close ties between Republican and DFL legislators and conservation groups like Ducks Unlimited and Pheasants Forever. The story raised a good question about the ethics and personal and political conflicts surrounding legislators appropriating public money for projects the conservation groups support.

There is plenty of opportunity to debate the ethics of these deals, but I like two things about them. One is the transparency of the legislators and groups involved. It's actually refreshing to see the deal go down in plain view and legislators owning up to their support. Secondly, we can hold the projects up to the standards and purpose of the source of funding. A portion of the the Legacy money is intended to be used for worthy habitat restoration projects. After more than a hundred years of draining swamps and opening the prairies to agriculture, restoration is needed and going to take a long time. Long before the Legacy amendment passed, the DNR proposed a 50 year plan for wetland habitat restoration. Everyone knew that plan would go nowhere without sustained funding and the political will to back it up. The legacy money gives DNR and conservation organizations a chance to work together on some of these goals.

It's fair to argue over what makes one project more worthy than others, and, in that debate, the political influence of a group like Ducks Unlimited could make a difference. To me, the most worthy projects must create benefits beyond the interests of the groups that support them. For example, improving duck habitat should create positive environmental outcomes beyond what's good for ducks and duck hunters - like better water quality and habitat for other wildlife.

Realgoodfood

by Heidi Holtan

This week is the debut of the audio documentary I put together in the last few months as part of the class some of the staff at KAXE participated in put on by Milt and Jamie Lee. I was honored to participate in this workshop and learned some amazing things about telling a story through radio.  Thanks to the MN Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund as well as the Blandin Foundation for making this possible.

So what is Realgoodfood all about then?  Sometime last year, I started thinking more about food....finding interesting, good food when you live in a rural, northern place.  Food coops have been expanding throughout northern Minnesota - farmer's markets are growing in popularity -more and more people are subscribing to CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture).  All of this interested me, but I didn't know what story I wanted to tell.

So I grabbed the recording kit and got in my car and visited a farm in Bovey, Virginia (Natural Harvest Food Coop), Bemidji (Harmony Natural Food Coop)  and Brainerd (Crow Wing Food Coop) in search of people making and selling good food.  Hope you enjoy my audio story!

Made Possible by the MN Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund

by Doug MacRostie

A cool thing happened a couple weeks ago. Centerstage MN, KAXE's program showcasing the talents of MN musicians, was added to the regular Saturday night line-up of KSRQ, Pioneer 90.1 in Thief River Falls (at the peak tune-in time of 11pm). This is exciting news and a big deal for the artist and musicians who are featured. The purpose of the show is to highlight the talent of local musicians - with this expansion, these voices are now reaching a broader audience of ears. And other pieces like interviews on RealGoodWords and commentary by Aaron Brown and Michael Goldberg have also been picked up and aired on other stations including KVSC in St. Cloud and WTIP in Grand Marais. This explosion of shared content was not by accident...

In a previous blog, I made reference to an email conversation with Todd Melby as a "Statewide Organization." I found out he actually reads my blogs when he sent me an email that said, "I'm really just one guy, in a tiny office, in south Minneapolis." To fill in the story a little bit, Todd Melby works for the AMPERS Network, 12 small independent radio stations that do specific programming that focuses on the communities they serve. KAXE, along with the rest of AMPERS, are NOT affiliated with Minesota Puplic Rdio (they don't even bother to try to be as hyper-local as we are every day :D).

Maybe I should back up a little further...

Remember the Clean Water, Land, and Legacy Amendment, approved by voters in November 2008, which added a provision to Minnesota’s constitution that provides for an increase in the sales tax to support outdoor heritage, clean water, parks and trails, as well as arts, history and cultural heritage. KAXE and the other stations of AMPERS are part of the "arts, history and culture" side of that amendment - and it has had a big impact. Part of the deal is creating a place for stations to share content, and direct result of that is the previously mentioned airing of Centerstage MN on KSRQ. There have been over 40 pieces shared between AMPERS already.

Other than the excitement of other stations carrying the content we produce at Northern Community Radio, KAXE has also benefited by receiving content: regular nature pieces from WTIP have been used on the Morning Show and as part of Phenology Plus. Same with Native programming. We got an hour long special from KBEM, "Battle of the Big Bands" featuring local (Twin Cities) musicians playing original material...for 'free' thanks to the MN Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. The best thing about this is it's all locally produced and enhances the experience for our listeners. And, we are still in the very early stages!

Which brings me back to that one guy in a tiny office in south Minneapolis... Todd I think his name is. His job is to get all us proudly independent stations (like, WAY proudly independent) to work together by saying, "Please get your content loaded, damn it. And air content from other stations, damn it. Thanks for all your work!" (I'm paraphrasing months of emails...it's w/o the "damn it" - it IS public radio, after all). Hopefully, Centerstage MN will get picked up by more stations because it is a great way to further enhance and celebrate the countless talented MN musicians - and it's made possible with support from the MN Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund!

A perfect example of this is Sela Oveson, an amazing and unique singer/songwriter from Orr, MN who was a wonderful surprise when I had her in-studio. That interview was then also aired on KFAI in the Twin Cities and KSRQ in Thief River Falls. She is one of the brightest stars discovered on Centerstage MN, and it's great to have her talent shared all over Minnesota...just watch this video and you'll see what I mean:

AMPERS receives $2,650,000 from MN Legacy Amendment

by Maggie Montgomery

The 12 Independent Public Radio/AMPERS stations of Minnesota received news on May 19, 2008 that they were allocated $2,650,000 for the first two years of Minnesota’s Clean Water, Land and Legacy funding. The funding comes from a constitutional amendment, approved by voters last fall, that implements an added sales tax to pay for arts and cultural heritage activities (in addition to improving Minnesota’s natural environment).

The funds have to be used to “create, produce, acquire, or distribute programs that educate, enhance, or promote local, regional, or statewide items of artistic, cultural, or historic significance.” The money is specifically for creation of noncommercial radio programs that are broadcast. Stations must also archive the programs produced with these funds and make them available to other broadcasters and public educational institutions.

How AMPERS will handle and distribute the funds will be a big topic at the association’s annual meeting in June. Obviously, the available money opens many options for all the stations, including KAXE, because it will add to their capacity to produce arts and cultural programming for their listeners and communities of service. Do you have ideas for arts and cultural programming you’d like to hear on KAXE? If so, let us know. We’re just beginning to consider the possibilities!