NewsNight Minnesota; 3188; NewsNight Minnesota Episode from 07/29/1996; SD-Base

Tonight on NEWSNIGHT federal mediators released their plan to settle disputes over the boundary waters and voyagers National Park. We'll look ahead to the next step the merger between the U of M hospital and Fairview gets the green light from university regents. We'll talk about what it will mean for medical research and education. And we'll also learn why it's paying off for Minnesota farmers to make hay while the sun shines. Those stories and views and commentary all coming up next on NEWSNIGHT Minnesota. Tonight's broadcast of NEWSNIGHT Minnesota is presented in part by Norwest banks contributing to the growth of the Twin Cities through support and community service. BEMIS company a major supplier of Flexible Packaging and specialty coated products since 1858 and by the attorneys of Briggs and Morgan providing a broad range of legal services to businesses individuals and government entities. Thanks for joining us we will waste no time in bringing you up to speed on the day's top stories. Here's Lou Hartman. Thanks Kathy I won't waste time either Today federal mediators named their teams for discussion of the Boundary

Waters Canoe Area and voyagers National Park. Twenty one people will discuss the BW CA and another 14 will focus on Voyagers. Now the two groups will discuss the various points of contention surrounding both areas and then make recommendations to the state's congressional delegation. With all of that here to explain more about the process it's got back involved a lead mediator for the project Scott thanks for coming down first I want to ask you just how do you start out and figure out who is going to speak at this. Well I think largely it's a process of self selection. We took the good initial over 200 contacts. We interviewed well over 100 people some of those interviews lasting up to two hours. We try and figure out what the viewpoints are and then actually ask people who might best represent their viewpoints. Now in trying to balance all of that I know there are a couple of at least a couple of organizations up annealing who didn't want to take part in this entire process. Does that make it hard for you to make this whole thing fair go certainly I'm sure you would want to have heard from them. Yes and clearly we had contacts with those those groups. We

certainly don't begrudge them their decision but at the outset we identified in this new process of negotiations we're talking about instituting a most important part is that the points of view that they address and speak to be represented at the table so that was really the task to ensure that those points of view that they've publicly stated have representation at the table as opposed to an individual or an organisation. Now when this whole thing started up I know Paul Stone why don't the whole mediation process since then. There are a couple of things in Congress pending that's all kind of in number right now how does that affect everything you're doing at this point. We have always viewed We understand different people have different perspectives but federal mediation has always viewed this as as separate from the legislative process and not an impediment or replacement for the legislative process. We frequently when we're working disputes are working in laboratory conditions. What is your normal What is your background I know you normally get into these types of issues. Yes and prior to becoming the director of mediation services for the Midwest Upper Midwestern

region I was the alternative dispute resolution coordinator So yes it's got the language uses federal mediation it's not just labor anymore. I guess. So how much is listening to people and how much is that next process. What does this turn out to be in the end are we just going to hear recommendations are you going to commit to anything there. Well that to largely be determined by the parties to the negotiation that the encouraging thing for us is the groups that we have currently committed at the table have expressed a desire and a willingness to try and find solutions to these problems. We don't make the decisions for those parties. They'll guide that process will help them with it it's our job to keep them on task and to give them a process that hopefully gives them an opportunity to succeed and that's really what we're all about. I've been in the process are you feeling a lot of pressure from many of the organisations you know have been anybody in particular with him. No but clearly a lot of organizations and a lot of individuals feel very strongly about these issues I think the one thing that's gone throughout the convening and throughout our process is that

people really want to see these issues resolved. They'd like some sense of closure. And they want to be and the vast majority of people I think want to be involved in the solutions. All right final question what's your calendar look like now what actually happens. OK on August 12th and 13th the negotiations committee will actually convene now even though we have recommended separate negotiations for the Boundary Waters in Voyagers for the initial two days which is essentially a training ground rule development they will determine the frequency of the meetings and their locations and things like that at this first meeting and again that will take place in the 12th and 13th of August. All right Scott back in Vani to say good luck you're going to have your hands full for the next few months we'll see. All right thanks. All right. Egan based a research filed a complaint today against Japanese competitor in the sea supercomputer manufacturer Cray claims that any sea will take a 65 million dollar loss and selling for weather forecasting computers to the U.S. government. The complaint alleges that any See underbid the project in an

effort to gain market share in the U.S. The Commerce Department must now rule on the validity of Cray's complaint. Better news for maple wood based 3M today the company reported record second quarter sales and earnings. Earnings are up over 10 percent from the same quarter a year ago and sales were up about 7 percent. If you figure in for international exchange rates. And finally Minneapolis Police have released a composite sketch of an alleged serial killer whose victims were all found in Theodore Wirth park. Now experts said over the weekend that the cases point towards some sort of a sexual deviant and probably someone who had been abused at some point. All three of the victims were allegedly involved in prostitution and each of their bodies was found burned. Now persons with any information on a possible suspect are asked to call a special hotline. The number is 5 9 3 1 2 6 7. Again it is 5 9 3 1 2 6 7 and Kathy those that headlines we're going to send it back to you.

All right thank you Lou. This morning at a special meeting the University of Minnesota's Board of Regents gave the go ahead for a merger between the university hospital and Fairview health system. Now under the current timeline the merger would take effect the first of next year. We're going to talk with officials from the EU and Fairview in just a moment. But first here's NEWSNIGHT time question it with a quick refresher on what's at stake. As of January 1st the University of Minnesota hospital will no longer exist. A new health facility will take its place on by Fairview health systems. But with campuses both at the current ew hospital site and across the Mississippi at the already existing Fairview Riverside Hospital this new merged facility will be called the Fairview University Medical Center and have annual revenues of about five hundred fifty million dollars. You have in regions raised several concerns at this morning's meeting. Despite their almost unanimous approval of the sale. Those concerns include how the EU will make certain that its 800 med students and twelve hundred residents can be assured of

getting enough access to have adequate training in a hospital setting. The EU is only one of two schools of produces doctors in Minnesota. Also of concern is how many university jobs might be cut and how many union jobs will be preserved. About 50 percent of Fairview as jobs are union 30 percent of the U.S jobs are. And the two hospitals do not share any unions in common negotiations up to this point have produced no agreements and two big questions remain. How will you spend the 70 million dollar windfall. That's the amount of money expects to collect in all the merger bills and buyouts have been paid off. And two why does Fairview health systems want to buy a hospital by its own admission would be several hundred million dollars in debt within the next decade. For NEWSNIGHT Minnesota I'm Tom coachmen. And joining us from Fairview Dr. Gordon Alexander he's senior vice president of medical affairs for the Fairview health system. And from the U of M We have Peter rapping general director of the U of M hospitals and clinic. Welcome to both of you gentlemen. Dr. Alexander first question for you.

Now it's no secret that the U of M was having problems getting patients they had a high debt load what's in it for Fairview to get involved with the U of M. Several things first of all we've had a long history of collaboration and support of the university. University requested a response to their needs and we responded as we would. We see it as an area of expanded services services we don't normally or currently provide expanded quaternary and tertiary services. Additionally the mission is to provide patient care and is very very consistent with that is support of Education Research Education Research today. He equates to better patient care in the future. Let me ask you before we go on to talking about medical education and research will patients see increased costs in the Fairview system because of this merger because Fairview is obviously paying a lot of money for this. No we don't believe that at all we think that the partly because of the university's desire to segregate education research from the patient care

component in what they're doing is outsourcing to Fairview help with the. Maintenance of the patient care component. That's something we're very used to doing and we're doing in a market sensitive way. We think that the market will continue to define the cost and we will respond to those or find the prices and will respond to those prices. Peter rep research clearly medical research or medical education have to be very expensive things as you know how do they fit though into a managed care model. Well this is one of the problems of course that the university has been wrestling with for a number of years and as you know we're not unique in that problem there are academic medical centers around the country that are wrestling with this and seeking different kinds of models. The managed care environment generally is a price driven marketplace within which to operate and so the margins that traditionally supported education and research in the past have have disappeared and made it very difficult and forced academic medical center leaders to seek different

alternatives just as we have here in the Twin Cities. But is there room for medical research and education in a mission such as what Fairview happens to have which is different from the U of that. Well I think the important conclusion here is that this does not solve completely for the Academic Health Center. Funding for education and research in the long term what this solves is one part of the problem we think. Associated with this and that is that the Academic Health Center has relied on patient care income streams in addition to other sources in order to fund education and research. And what happens with this partnership with Fairview is we have a much more stable position in the marketplace as it relates to the patient care activities to fit with the other sources of income that will have to be developed in the future with from the legislature from federal sources from Continued success on the research side. All of which have been revenue streams that the university has relied on and will need to continue to rely on in the future. Well Dr. Alexander do we see physicians who do research at the U of M possibly maybe spending more time looking for funding sources say

grants and the like. Or spend more time on patient care than actually getting to do their research. Unfortunately I think that pressure has been present in the research community for several years the research funding sources are becoming harder and harder to access through the federal government or pharmaceuticals and and whatnot the pressures in health care in general are tougher. I don't think that that that's going to be easier in the future I don't see anyone standing up and waving lots of money and saying I'll do do more and more research. But we do think it's going to be clear and we definitely are supportive of that research ongoing and don't necessarily plan on supporting it ourselves in total. But certainly in part and what we're looking forward to is finding other partners in the community such as industry health plans payers any people that speak for patients I think have to step up to the fact that education research costs money and they benefit from that education research so how to appropriately

match the payment to the benefit I think is that is going to be the magic that's required in the future. Talk about maybe an example of the University of Pennsylvania academic medical center which is highly successful its lured away Art Caplan medical ethicist from the U of them. I'm wondering with this merger Peter rap would you have difficulty in recruiting researchers and the cream of medical students. Well I think there are lots of questions to be answered but I think the important recognition here is that what we're bringing as an element of financial stability for the Academic Health Center the absence of which would make it impossible to recruit and retain the best. And so what I think we've done is solve just the reverse part of the problem is bring it bring a dimension that allows the best and the brightest of our faculty to stay to focus on the research and education as well as patient care. And that's what attracts students is a high school seems to be a question as to who pays for this research and education.

Listening to Dr. Alexander And it will require multiple players to solve that problem. We've solved one piece of that we think so far. You know the other thing about that is that this problem isn't just Minnesota's This is the United States in general has a problem of who's going to pay for education research. I would suggest that in many ways Minneapolis and Minnesota are ahead of the of the game in that they've hit the managed care wall sooner than say is Harvard Johns Hopkins and so forth. Those or those institutions are now having the same problems that University of Minnesota had in years past so perhaps we have a leg up in can solve this problem quickly and then be the most attractive. It's still a lot of questions remain answered No. Absolutely. Good luck to you both. Thank you. The hardest thing is learning to work regionally. That's one thing to learn how to work as this automaton when all of a sudden I have to say yeah but we have to we're going to have to work with. Marshall on money and grammar and all the towns around here and. You know do we want to help them develop

or not you bet we do. Today an entourage descended on western Minnesota the likes of which one doesn't often see in places like Granite Falls politicians big business leaders and various hangers on made the trip west to celebrate a yet to be built plant that could turn into a gold mine for area farmers. The plant is an example of how farmers are looking to their crops as sources of more than just food. As NEWSNIGHT producer Kevin Hansen found out it's called value added agriculture. By early next century some of your electricity will come from these fields 700000 tons of the alfalfa grown here in western Minnesota will be turned into a gas that will then be burned to generate electricity. That's its naturally grown it's a renewable resource. John you alone has been in the alfalfa business for more than a decade. It's not only you have a power source or a protein source but it also improves the soil reduces leaching reduces the runoff into the rivers your loan manages a factory

in Priam that already turns alfalfa leaves into livestock feed. These plant will be modified to separate the alfalfa stems from the leaves. When we do the one that we do the process we will try and strip the stem. And in this manner. And then it will be the leaf portion the top portion here that will be utilized. If you took and script that off manually you would take this and that's what that's what would go on to the high protein commodity. This is what would go into the power generation system. Eventually it will be for more plants like this one. The leaves will be turned into cattle feed in the form of pellets the stems meanwhile will be shipped to Granite Falls where a new power generating plant will be built in the industrial park underneath the NSP power grid. Between livestock feed and power generation farmers will grow enough alfalfa every year to fill the Metrodome three quarters full. Two hundred fifty farmers in western Minnesota have joined a co-op known as

the Minnesota Valley alfalfa producers. We felt that this plant was going to give us more stability in our places. More certainties. Of. Income. It also has some potential of. Of being able to process some slightly damaged or slightly re not Hey that does not make high quality dairy feed. And. That of that a place where we weren't giving it away. We know that alfalfa is a clean crop forced to raise We know that it's it's a crop that is good for our soil. It's a problem that has four three four five year long devotee. It gives us opportunities to be involved in a plant that can ship worldwide. And. That of course expands your market. To places we can. Get to at least two dozen western Minnesota counties agree that it's a win win project.

But basically we've had such good support. We have. We have a progressive city council our county boards have been been involved and been progressive. I mean we're talking everybody's going to have to put out some money to do this really need some new roads we're going to need you know quite a few things. And. Everybody is really behind it. Working together you just can't beat that. That's what saves a lot of small towns. And speaking of working together today's celebration in Granite Falls marked an announcement that NSP plans to purchase 75 megawatts of alfalfa power from the co-op. Last week that was also awarded a four million dollar federal grant to develop the project so nontraditional crop projects like these are getting a lot of attention. Here to talk more about why is Neil Martin he's an agronomist with the University of Minnesota extension service. And Mark McAfee works for the agricultural utilization research institute. Welcome both to NEWSNIGHT. Mark let's talk about this alfalfa plant briefly in

Granite Falls. When folks look at the Alfalfa plant they say it's a great example of value added agriculture. What does that mean. Value added agriculture is when you take a raw egg or cultural product further process it and then sell it basically for more than the value of the raw product. It's the customer that really sets a value by further processing it. A farmer or other groups can add value. All right. Now Neal why should farmers be turning to this especially in an era when we have high corn prices high and high commodity high commodity prices in general. Why are they looking at this. I think there's there's definitely an opportunity for another profitable crop. We have even though we have good prices right now we've come through a lot of years of low prices for crops. We have an area like western Minnesota that needs a legume in their rotation and alfalfa traditionally hasn't had a high market value. And so I think this offers a higher market value for Alfalfa. It offers an opportunity for agriculture to

share with society and developing a product like electricity which is going to go to all of our homes. Now another example of value added would be ethanol correct. When you take corn needs in you make ethanol out of the corn. But I'm wondering you still have I know hopes when you start talking about value added agriculture is for stability for farmers. But you still are dealing with a crop that has price swings year by year how do you see that out. Even We're talking about value added egg. Well one way you can do it Kathy is to have different types of products. In the case of alfalfa we can use a leaf for livestock feed there's also the possibility of higher value products fiber pharmaceuticals for human use. So if you can diversify the markets for the product then you can help whether those sorts of swings. Yeah. Yes and I would just add to that alfalfa is in direct value at a crop right now because dairy and livestock producers use it turn

value into their their milk and our meat products. Now we're looking at another opportunity to generate electricity from that product and also make a CO product and I think the reason that biomass really deserves some attention is it offers us an opportunity to not deplete our coal supply. It offers us an opportunity not to add CO2 to the air which is what cold as anybody mass crop will use up the CO2 so we will be providing the net balance to CO2. So I really think is a win win for a lot of part a lot of people. Now Mark when we talk about the alfalfa plant that's obviously a very big project but really when we talk about value added agriculture products most of them are pretty small though aren't they some of the ideas that come from. Well that's that's exactly right and in this particular case the Minnesota Valley the producers the Co-operative the industry partners behind this. They raise chairs body feed plan a pelletized planned in prime just right

near Wilmer. And this is this will be a profit center for them which will provide stability it's a much smaller plant size. You know the energy plant. But you do a lot of them you do start small That's exactly right. I'm wondering if farmers are on the cutting edge of a lot of these different projects that we that we hear about and in the example of a co-op you're also spending a lot of money what happens if that's this goes belly up. Well we see farmers going to business because they're getting involved in some of these rather speculative new projects. Well I think this is one of the reasons that you have things like the Department of Energy you have many partners involved in this. This is the first effort of a plant this size. So that's why I say society will share part of that to get to plan and to see if in fact it is going to flow economically. Alfalfa is the best biomass crop that any crops they've looked at because by separating stands the leaves and making a high

value crop with the leaf meal that offers us an opportunity to give the farmers a high enough value crop to make it profitable going to their rotation. Also operate offers the opportunity to add enough more mechanization more custom operations to some of the laborious things that you might have be experienced to or anybody that you've talked to that used to be on a dairy farm. Bale hay and all those little laborious things that we're used to having from from Lowe's those kinds of activities. You know what I we've run out of time. I appreciate you both joining us thank you very much. Thank you. Well in tonight's other voices we hear again from one of our regulars John Kalac he has offered commentaries on a wide range of topics the last time he was on he was jogging at the Metrodome. But since then things have changed for John. In May I join 200000 other Americans dealing with spinal injuries after surgery to remove a tumor from my spinal cord. My left side was totally paralyzed and I lost all feeling of pain and temperature in my right side. All summer I've worked

to regain movement in my left arm and leg coordination balance and strength. Eventually I learned to stand upright and took my first steps again using a leg brace and cane. My road to recovery I've had to accept and work with physical limitations and inaccessible world I found myself referred to in the third person assumed to be totally helpless pushed aside as shoppers filled elevators sit in the back corners of theaters caught in inaccessible bathrooms avoided by frightened children and met with open mouth pity. In therapy I worked alongside stroke brain in spinal patients and noticed how different generations were treated injuries to patients in their 20s were considered tragic. Recovering patients in their 40s were referred to as heroic and the elders were quietly dismissed as unfortunate. I've also learned a great deal about grace and generosity through the unwavering support of my

partner and all those who helped with the emotional and functional challenges of living with physical disability. Another opportunity has been to reconsider priorities in life as I focus on such ordinary tasks. As learning to walk again. Clarity of action and intention have new meaning for me now. Next time you encounter someone differently abled don't look away. Treat us like everyone else. You can show you concern by working to make this world more accessible and friendly place for all of us. John looks forward to returning to work later this week as a curator at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis and we hope you'll take a moment out from your busy day to offer your thoughts on our program. Give us a jingle if you would please at 6 1 2 2 2 9 1 4 3 0 we have an army of answering machines on the other end just waiting with open ears or whatever it is that answering machines here with. We meanwhile will

keep our eyes on the sky in order to bring you the most up to date weather forecasts possible. Well actually we leave it up to the weather service. But as far as we can tell there are at least as accurate as any other video or ologist in town for tomorrow they predict partly cloudy skies across Minnesota with highs in the 70s and there's a chance for thunderstorms as you move northeast. So Duluth bring an umbrella along on your daily constitutional. That's our program for the See evening we hope to see you here again tomorrow night. Good night. NEWSNIGHT Minnesota is made possible by the contributors to the power of two campaigns program funded with major grants from the Blendon Foundation and the McKnight foundation. Tonight's broad guest of NEWSNIGHT Minnesota is presented in part by Norwest banks

contributing to the growth of the Twin Cities through support and community service. BEMIS company a major supplier of Flexible Packaging and specialty coated products since 1858. And by the attorneys of Briggs and Morgan providing a broad range of legal services to businesses individuals and government entities.