Daily news budget

Here's the plan from our 6 a.m. news huddle...if some of this is cryptic, just watch for the stories online shortly:

ROCHESTER 1A

18 flooded fields (Gossman, 15 inches, w pic) - As if the cold, wet spring and late planting season wasn’t stressful enough, flooding has drowned crops and left debris in many fields throughout southeastern Minnesota.
University of Minnesota Extension Office educator Jerry Tesmer, who works in both Fillmore and Houston counties said most of the damage done to crop land was along the Root River.
When the floodwater receded, they left behind fallen trees and sandbars. In some areas, erosion caused large chunks of farm land to wash down stream.
Farm Service Agency director Kevin Elton said about 40 farmers, mostly those with land in flood plains, were affected in Houston County.

18 Rochesterfest Precede (Doty, 14 inches - file photo?) - It’s that time of year again. A time for parades, fried-food, street dances and Lumberjack Championships, during a celebration we know as Rochesterfest.
Mark your calendar, the nine-day celebration, will kick-off on Saturday.
This year, Executive Director Carole Brown is excited about several new events taking place.
On June 21, a co-ed volleyball tournament will raise money for Susan G. Komen three-day breast cancer walk. June 26-28 will welcome the Minnesota Quilters to the Mayo Civic Center where they will have more than 500 quilts and 100 vendors for the “Quilted Jewels, A 30th Celebration.”

18 swastika vandalism (Russell, 14 inches, w pic) - Unpleasant memories came to Northern Hills Golf Course superintendent Joe Fischer on Sunday morning when workers called him with the news.
Vandals hit the northwest Rochester course Saturday night, leaving a trail of damage that included a 10-foot swastika  etched in a corner of the fifth green. The swastika reminded Fischer of two years earlier, when vandals spray-painted swastikas at the course’s pro shop, restaurant, and on all 20 golf carts.
“It’s sickening,” said Fischer, who thinks the same people might be responsible for both incidents at the city-owned course.

ROCHESTER 1B

MOVED/18 ham radios (Gossman, 16 inches, w pic) - When floods ravaged Fillmore, Winona and Houston counties last August,  local telephone lines were knocked down and cell phone service was jammed.
During the first 24 to 48 hours, ham radio operators stepped forward and became the primary source of communication.
“Ham radio operators are often the first ones to set up an communicate after disasters,” Bob Wiles said. “A lot of times they’re there before Red Cross and they’ll shadow the town mayor and work closely with police and fire departments.”

MOVED/18 water testing fillmore (Weiss, 13 inches, w pic) - PRESTON — Larry Mikkelson wasn't worried about nitrates or bacteria in his water, though his basement did get a few feet of water in it in last week’s floods.
Still, the Henrytown man came into the Fillmore County Health Department Tuesday morning "just to be safe" and carried with him a sample from his drinking water and that of his father, Mel Mikkelson who lives about six miles away. The county is offering free screening for nitrates to any county resident this week. Those who had water covering their well, or within 50 feet of their well will get free kits that they can use to test for bacteria.

MOVED/Koski column

MOVED/18 briefs

FOR BUSINESS:

Ben Stein speaking to bankers association annual meeting Tuesday - w pic? - Kiger

Northwest cuts- wire

ROCHESTER INSIDE

WILD ART:

——————————————

STORIES:

18 writing GRAD test numbers fall in Roch, Aust (Mann, 16 inches) - The number of Rochester ninth-graders able to pass Minnesota’s standardized writing test fell slightly this year, as about 87 percent achieved passing marks. In 2007, 89 percent of Rochester students succeeded.
Statewide, 89.5 percent of students passed the writing test this year, down from 90.1 percent, according to results reported Tuesday by the Minnesota Department of Education.

MOVED/18 plaza (Pieters, 12 inches) - Outdoor dining will play a big part on Rochester’s renovated and expanded downtown Peace Plaza.
As part of that, the city council on Monday took steps to allow people to carry alcoholic drinks in “to-go” cups throughout the plaza on Thursdays.

MOVED/18youtube (Hansel, 14 inches w/ pic) - Mayo Clinic has gone YouTube.
“Mayo Clinic’s YouTube channel was quietly launched about a month ago, and has typically been in the top 30-40 channels among non-profits,” said Lee Aase, Mayo’s manager for syndication and social media.

MOVED/18hospice massage therapist (Grossfield, 41 inches, w pic) - As a massage therapist for Seasons Hospice, Paddy Hurley uses her skills to comfort terminally ill people in area nursing homes, group homes, private residences and at the Seasons Hospice home in southwest Rochester.

MOVED/18 kiyonentersplea, 7 inches

MOVED/18 flood resources, 8 inches

MOVED/18 crossroads Selco, 3 inches

MOVED/18metal thieves -- 3 inches --

MOVED/18jackson sentence --5 inches --

Harley Flathers column??

UPDATING THE NEWS:
MOVED/18 walz debt (Felker, 23 inches) - WASHINGTON _ Freshman Democratic Rep. Tim Walz of Mankato continued to carry substantial personal credit card balances at the end of 2007, stemming from debts he accumulated while he ran full time for Congress in 2006.

MOVED/18 school board cools on geothermal (Mann, 14 inches) - Citing estimates that would have exceeded the construction budget, the Rochester school board Tuesday night cooled on plans to include geothermal heating in a new elementary school.

MOVED/18theater sign (Pieters, 16 inches w/ pic) Is Jan Daly confident she’ll succeed with plans to develop a new performing arts center on a corner of South Broadway and Fourth Street in Rochester?
Read the sign.
Posted late last week, the prominent placard tags the building, at 405 S. Broadway, as the future home of the Rosie Belle Performing Arts Theater. (The building name is a combination of two names in Daly’s extended family.)

MOVED/18austin flood ROCH (Ruzek, 17 inches) Austin city officials estimate that Thursday’s flood caused up to $1.2 million in damage to roads, bridges and sewer systems.

18 zabel - short wire story on investigation update, with Wire photo of memorial to murder victim, formerly of Austin, at his home in Phillie, w short  also surveillance video available for web

AUSTIN    
1A
18 zabel - short wire story on investigation update, with Wire photo of memorial to murder victim, formerly of Austin, at his home in Philly, w short  also surveillance video available for web

18 flood stats AUST (Ruzek, 13 inches) - At least 66 homes in Austin were directly affected by flooding or related sewer backups but that figure is increasing, a local American Red Cross officials said Tuesday.

18 guitar hero winner AUST (Colbenson, 14 inches, w contrib. pics, update in a.m.) - Ryan Gebhardt isn’t a famous rock star and he doesn’t have a recording contract with a major music label, but his fast-finger guitar skills are helping him rake in some major cash. On June 7, the 19-year-old man from Waltham, Minn. won $10,000 at the “Rock the Lake” Guitar Hero III tournament at Mystic Lake Casino Hotel in Prior Lake, Minn.

18 writing GRAD numbers AUST (Mann,  14 inches) - The number of Austin public schools ninth-graders able to pass Minnesota’s standardized writing test fell  from 91 percent last year to 84 percent this year.
INSIDE
MOVED/18 cocaine leader sentenced AUST (Ruzek, 18 inches) - A 28-year-old man accused of leading a cocaine-trafficking group in Austin got more than nine years in federal prison Tuesday.

18hormel home (Ruzek, 12 inches, w historic pics of home) - Austin’s Hormel Historic Home is getting a tan.

• WILD ART annual memorial track event offered for free to kids age 3 and older in Austin, Howard

MOVED/18 assistant fire chief AUST, (Ruzek, 10 inches) - Austin soon will have an assistant fire chief to help with supervisory duties.

18 dobbins creek proojects AUST (Ruzek, 15 inches, finish in a.m.) - Local leaders hope to snag state bonding funds next year to finance projects in the Cedar River watershed aimed at reducing flooding severity in Austin.

MOVED/18 railyard development (Ruzek, 12 inches) - A former rail yard site surrounded by homes and businesses in southeast Austin is moving toward partial development.

MOVED/18 ecoblitz precede AUST (12 inches) - Families can choose to endure an Ecoblitz on Saturday at Austin’s nature center.

MOVED/18 flood worship service AUST, 5 inches
MOVED/18 bike accident AUST, 4 inches
MOVED/18 deer attacks hormel AUST, 6 inches
MOVED/18 author visit AUST, 3 inches
————————————————————
State Wire
DOUBLE HOMICIDE MINNEAPOLIS — Katricia Daniels was stabbed and cut more than 100 times by two teenagers she knew, who chased her around her house and also killed her 10-year-old son by smashing a television over his head, prosecutors alleged.
DENALI PARK SEARCH ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Denali National Park and Preserve officials are trying to solve a mystery of how two women could vanish on a one-night ba
— MISSING MAN — A search is on for an autistic man from Shoreview, Minn., who disappeared from a camp in the Grantsburg area of western Wisconsin on Sunday night.
NORTHWEST CUTS - MINNEAPOLIS — Northwest Airlines said on Tuesday it will cut its capacity later this year by 3 percent to 4 percent because of high fuel prices.
CHIEF JUSTICE-ELECTIONS DULUTH — Minne sota’s new chief justice, Eric J. Magnuson, says he favors a system of judges’ elections that would avoid manipulation by wealthy special interests. And he wants Minnesota lawyers to lobby for more funding for the state court system.
— FLOODS-PAWLENTY — Gov. Tim Pawlenty has asked President Bush for a federal disaster declaration for four counties hit hard by flooding in southeastern Minnesota.
— IRAQ-TALABANI — Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has arrived at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester for medical treatment.