AP Top News at 4:40 p.m. EDT

Clinton Outlines Domestic Agenda

 WASHINGTON (AP) -- Turning from war in the Balkans to battles in Congress, President Clinton today urged Republican lawmakers to ``keep pushing forward on our challenges at home.'' In a news conference, his first since March 19, and a speech at Georgetown University, the president called for action on Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, education, child care and campaign finance. ``We will be judged on what we do with this opportunity, whether we seize it or squander it,'' Clinton said.

Clinton Readies Medicare Drug Plan

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House is floating a Medicare prescription benefit that could pay roughly half the cost of drugs up to a limit of perhaps $3,000 to $5,000 a year, in return for higher premiums paid by beneficiaries, officials said today. Prescription drugs are the ``greatest growing need'' of senior citizens, President Clinton said at a speech today at Georgetown University. The president said that next week he will unveil his long-anticipated plan to offer retirees government assistance paying for prescriptions.

Ethnic Violence Remains in Kosovo

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (AP) -- Both sides of Kosovo's ethnic divide ignored NATO pleas for restraint today as revenge attacks prompted more Serbs to flee the province and ethnic Albanian refugees flooded home in numbers that startled aid officials. About 48,000 ethnic Albanians returned yesterday, a spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, with 300,000 the number who have streamed back into the province in the past 10 days. Panicky Serbs are fleeing the province, accusing ethnic Albanians of forcing them out. There were 14 killings in Pristina yesterday, NATO spokesmen said. There was no immediate breakdown on victims, but most incidents were connected to ethnic tensions, they said.

Israeli Strikes Black Out Beirut

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) -- Hopes for peace in the Middle East are looking dimmer after Israeli jets bombed Lebanese power stations and bridges late last night and early today in Israel's strongest attacks in three years. Outgoing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the airstrikes and only informed his successor, Ehud Barak, once the planes were already en route to their targets. Barak has pledged to withdraw Israeli troops from Lebanon within a year. The attacks have killed nine Lebanese and two Israelis. Israel and the Shiite Muslim Hezbollah guerrillas they have been battling in southern Lebanon have held their fire most of today since the bombing ended.

House OKs Aid for Aging Foster Kids

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The House voted today to double federal spending on ``independent living'' programs for aging foster children who now are dropped from state care at age 18. The legislation, which still requires Senate approval, also would permit states to continue Medicaid coverage for these youngsters through the age of 21. House lawmakers voted 380-6 in favor of the bill, which also has the Clinton administration's backing.

Jury Convicts `Sleepwalking' Husband

PHOENIX (AP) -- A man who claimed he was sleepwalking when he stabbed his wife 44 times and held her head under water was convicted today of first-degree murder. Scott Falater stared straight ahead and did not react as the verdict was read in a Maricopa County Superior Court. Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty. Falater admitted to stabbing his wife, dragging her body to the backyard swimming pool and holding her head under water, but claimed he had no memory of the events.

Germans Approve Holocaust Memorial

BERLIN (AP) -- Germany's parliament approved the building of a national Holocaust memorial in Berlin today and selected a design by New York architect Peter Eisenman envisioning a field of tombstone-like pillars. After nearly a decade of indecision over how to remember the 6 million Jews killed by the Nazis, the decision is a crucial step toward realizing the project. Construction is expected to begin in early 2000.

Stocks Mixed; Dow Ends 17.73 Higher

NEW YORK (AP) -- Stock prices were mixed today as investor optimism about second-quarter earnings gave way to nagging concerns about interest rates. The Dow Jones industrial average ended up 17.73 at 10,552.56 after having risen more than 115 points earlier in the session. Advancing issues on the New York Stock Exchange led decliners 1,491-1,456. The Nasdaq was down 1.34 at 2,552.65.

Haskins To Leave Minn. Coaching Job

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Clem Haskins, under pressure from allegations of academic fraud in the University of Minnesota basketball program, agreed today to a $1.5 million buyout, the university announced. Haskins will step down June 30. Haskins' contract had been scheduled to run through June 30, 2002. An investigation began after the Saint Paul Pioneer Press reported in March that Jan Gangelhoff, a former office manager in the academic counseling unit, said she did more than 400 pieces of course work for at least 20 basketball players from 1993 to 1998.

AP NewsBrief By BRADLEY BROOKS

The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

Restructuring: Piper Jaffray's Month of Layoffs, Merging, and Realignment.

In an ongoing restructuring that has left some public finance professionals without a job, Minneapolis-based U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray has realigned its fixed-income division, blending its tax-exempt and taxable businesses together, company officials said in an interview yesterday.
February was a busy month for the broker-dealer's parent. On Tuesday, U.S. Bancorp completed its $23 billion merger with Firstar Corp. The timing of the deal's completion also coincided with a round of layoffs in the firm's asset management, individual investor services, and fixed-income divisions.
Public finance falls under the firm's fixed-income section, and its managers said the layoffs included investment banking, sales, and trading professionals in several of the firm's 15 public finance offices. Company representatives declined to comment on the overall number of employees laid off, but sources said they included a handful of bankers.
Several professionals were cut in the firm's Chicago office, which was bolstered in staff following U.S. Bancorp's 1999 acquisition of John Nuveen Co.'s municipal group. No managing directors or senior vice presidents were cut from the Minneapolis headquarters.
The layoffs were made as part of a restructuring of the division and are aimed at strengthening the municipal group's business in its three core sectors -- health care, housing, and higher education, according to Frank Fairman, the head of public finance investment banking, and David MacLennan, head of fixed-income capital markets.
The cuts were made in the wake of a difficult year for the parent bank, which also took certain restructuring steps and implemented a hiring freeze in an effort to boost its sagging earnings. Despite the bank's difficult year, the public finance group's rankings remained strong. In 2000, the broker-dealer maintained its ranking as the 10th busiest senior manager, according to rankings released by Thomson Financial Securities Data.
The combination of the cuts and the merger with another major bank -- a situation that sometimes results in a firm's public finance business being overlooked in favor of the more profitable business areas -- has raised questions among Midwestern market participants as to U.S. Bancorp's commitment to municipals.
Fairman and MacLennan stressed that the firm's goal is to grow and noted that Piper Jaffray Co.'s public finance sector was bolstered significantly on a national level, not hurt, after it was acquired by U.S. Bancorp in 1998. "The layoffs and restructuring are an integral part of the strategy to strengthen our business," Fairman said. "In no way are we backing off from our commitment to fixed income."
The remaining public finance group is no stranger to restructuring. It was just last summer that several key positions were changed. At that time, William Henderson moved into a newly created position of head of the tax-exempt public finance group. His position was created after Thomas E. Stanberry stepped down as head of fixed income to return to investment banking.
Henderson's counterpart on the taxable side was Joseph Tessmer. Fairman shared the management of public finance investment banking with Nuveen's Clifton Fenton. Last summer, Fenton was cut and Fairman took over the job alone.
In September, the firm hired MacLennan from Cargill Inc. to serve as head of fixed-income capital markets, and earlier this year he decided to make structural changes that blended the taxable and tax-exempt sectors under one umbrella. "The goal is to improve communication and teamwork ... and management," he said.

Tessmer and Henderson's positions were eliminated and they moved elsewhere in the firm. Fairman continues in his position and Barry Nordstrand moved from another position at the firm to become head of institutional sales and trading. Both report to MacLennan.

Brown road salt may have a sweet future.

   

Several metro cities will try a pricey new brown salt on icy streets this winter.

The promise is that it will melt snow and ice at lower temperatures than straight salt - and that less of it will be needed to do the job.
Minneapolis, St. Paul, Burnsville, Savage, Lakeville and possibly Edina plan to test the product, which is made by Cargill Deicing Technology at a plant in Savage.
"It's easy to listen to a salesman tell you how wonderful it is, but we want to see for ourselves," said Gary Erichson, St. Paul street maintenance engineer.
Cargill says its salt has been treated with magnesium chloride to make it melt ice at lower temperatures than regular salt.
It also is coated with brown sugar cane molasses to help it stick to the pavement. Regular rock salt has a tendency to bounce and blow on the road.
Maintenance officials estimate that the treated salt costs about $45 per ton, compared to about $30 for a ton of regular salt.
"It's more expensive, so it's going to have to work," Erichson said.
Cargill contends that although the treated salt costs more than regular salt, less of it is needed. Moreover, fuel and labor savings keep the overall cost about the same.
Indianapolis found that to be true in a test conducted during last year's mild winter. Officials there found they needed about one-third less of the Cargill brown salt to do the same job performed by regular salt, said Steve Pruitt, acting operations manager of the Indianapolis Department of Public Works.
"The one-third savings that they say that you get, we did achieve that," Pruitt said.
The savings resulted from the fact that the treated salt did not clump in the back of the truck like regular salt, making it easier for operators to control its flow from the truck and use less, Pruitt said.
One truckload of the brown salt could be used to finish a route, while drivers with regular salt had to return and reload, Pruitt said.
He also found that the brown salt had a lasting, residual melting effect that was reactivated by subsequent snowfalls. Streets treated with the brown salt looked wet when it snowed and the streets treated with regular salt looked snow-dusted, he said.
"We had a hard time convincing people that we were still putting salt down because they didn't see white streets," he said.
Once residents adjusted, Pruitt said, "We had excellent reviews on it. We had fewer calls about tracking salt into the house."
Pruitt also noticed less corrosion on the trucks from the product and less grass kill along streets where it was tested because it did not bounce onto the curb.
How low can it go?
But the Indiana weather never turned cold enough to test Cargill's claim that the brown salt melted ice at low temperatures. Cargill says the product melts ice down to 5 degrees.
Minneapolis is especially interested in its low-temperature melting capabilities, said Mike Kennedy, director of field services for the city's Public Works Department.
"Occasionally we will get conditions where it never gets above 5 degrees. Perhaps that's a time when this product will be a benefit," Kennedy said.
To market the product in the metro area, Cargill sent salespeople to talk it up with maintenance officials and invited them to a briefing at the Savage plant.
The cost has kept Edina on the fence about using it, said public works coordinator Steve Johnson.
Doug Hartman, street supervisor for Burnsville, said he decided to try the product because the City Council wants to get more aggressive with snow and ice removal.
"Last year we lowered our plow threshold" from two inches to one inch of snow, Hartman said.
Big new park-and-ride
opens in Blaine
The metro area's newest park-and-ride lot opened this month in Blaine with 800 parking spaces.
At the intersection of Interstate Hwy. 35W and 95th Av., the new lot can be seen from the freeway, situated right at the point where southbound traffic stacks up in the morning, said Metro Transit planner Cyndi Harper.
That visibility could be why the lot is filling up quickly. Since its opening on Dec. 9, roughly half the parking spots have been occupied, said Bob Gibbons, customer services director for Metro Transit.
The $3.5 million lot was built by the Minnesota Department of Transportation and will be operated by Metro Transit. Former Transportation Commissioner Elwyn Tinklenberg said he initiated the project and is gratified by the quick response from commuters.
This lot is the northernmost park-and-ride operated by Metro Transit. Similar outlying park-and-ride lots should be located all around the metro area to reduce freeway congestion, Tinklenberg said.
Next month, residents living along I-35W north of the lot will receive fliers announcing the service and offering a free ride coupon, Gibbons said.
Before the lot was built, commuter demand swamped a 50-space parking lot at the same location and more than 150 cars spilled onto side streets. Commuters were moved in March to a temporary park-and-ride at a nearby Home Depot so the new lot could be built.
Feeling pressure to get commuters back to the original location after nine months of displacement, Metro Transit opened the new lot with two shelters (one heated). A more elaborate indoor waiting station is in the works for next fall, Harper said.
The lot provides a direct connection to I-35W for southbound buses. Once on the freeway, the buses get around traffic by taking shoulder lanes most of the way, Gibbons said.
Using a federal grant, Metro Transit has doubled bus service for commuters using the new lot since it opened. There are now a total of 26 trips southbound each morning to downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul.
YOUR VIEW
METERS NEED SOME TWEAKING
I support the ramp meter program if it works properly. During the past month, the meters at Rockford Road east and Hwy. 169 south were changed from switching on at 6:30 a.m. to about 6:20 a.m. This was not a problem. However, the cycle time has consistently been around 15 seconds no matter how much traffic is southbound on Hwy. 169. The traffic does back up at this ramp at 6:30 a.m., causing unnecessary delays. Once I am on Hwy. 169, the traffic is moving at a steady 55 mph. What is the problem?
With traffic moving at the speed limit and with less traffic than in the middle of the day, there should be almost no waiting at this light.
I've also noted a problem with the ramp from Interstate Hwy. 394 west to Hwy. 169 north in evening rush hour. Often this light is cycling so rapidly that there's no waiting traffic, but Hwy. 169 is at a standstill.
I think [the state] still has some more adjustments to make on some of these lights.
- Raymond E. Beauchamp, Plymouth
- We'd like to hear your tales from the road, comments and questions. Send e-mail to Getting
there@startribune.com or write to Getting There, Star Tribune, 425 Portland Av. S., Minneapolis, MN 55488. You may also leave a comment at 612-673-9016. On all messages, please give your name, city and daytime phone.
DO YOU KNOW ...
WHAT ROAD SIGN COLORS MEAN?
The background color of road signs indicates their purpose.
Red is used to prohibit and command.
White is used to regulate.
Yellow is used for warnings.
Yellow-green is used to control pedestrian and bicycle crossings.
Orange is used to control construction zones.
Green is used to guide and inform.
Blue announces services for motorists.
Brown directs motorists to historic, cultural or recreation sites.
Source: Minnesota Department of Public Safety 

    

SUNS TAKE ADVANTAGE OF SHORT-HANDED ROCKETS AFTER CLYDE GETS THE GATE

    Charles Barkley had the flu and Kevin Johnson was coming off a hamstring pull.
That was nothing compared with what happened to Houston's Clyde Drexler. He got tossed in the first game of the Rockets-Phoenix Suns Western Conference semifinal series Tuesday night, and it demoralized his team.
"We let the incident get us out of our game," Rockets guard Kenny Smith said after the Suns set a franchise record with 43 points in the second quarter -- when Drexler was ejected -- and raced to a 130-108 win. "Everyone was out of it mentally."
"It was a perfect game as far as the way it went. As far as I didn't have to play a lot of minutes," said Barkley, who threw up in the morning and took intravenous fluids during the afternoon.
The Suns shot 60 percent while momentarily turning the tables on the defending champions, who knocked them out in last year's semifinal round. They outrebounded the Rockets, 48-29.
Game 2 of the best-of-7 series is Thursday night in Phoenix.
Barkley had 26 points and 11 rebounds, and Johnson had 21 points and 13 assists for the Suns. A.C. Green hit 8 of 12 shots for a career playoff high 25 points and had 15 rebounds.
"I think we are very hungry right now," Green said. "We're desperately trying to do what it takes to win."
Which means taking advantage of a short-handed Houston team that had even more problems when Drexler was ejected.
"It was just like a nightmare," said Robert Horry, who matched up with Green at small forward. "Everything that happened this game won't happen next game. After a while, we didn't even try to win. 'Dream' sat on the bench the whole fourth quarter. It's one of those things that, you just let it go."
Sam Cassell scored 31 points for the Rockets and Hakeem Olajuwon had just 18, only four rebounds and one block.
"We look at this as a game to throw away," Cassell said. "That wasn't us out there."
The Suns bolted to 20-point leads over the dispirited Rockets in the second quarter and led 75-57 at halftime. They were up 106-81 after the third quarter.
Drexler picked up two technical fouls and was ejected with 10:12 left in the second quarter. Both came for his strident complaints after he fouled Dan Majerle.
After calling the first technical, referee Jake O'Donnell walked away, but Drexler kept talking, and O'Donnell ejected him.
Drexler, who had nine points in the first quarter, went ballistic and charged O'Donnell, but Tomjanovich and Mario Elie held him back.
"It was a tough situation, and I know exactly how he felt," said Olajuwon, who picked up three fouls in the first 13:23 of play. "From the beginning of the game, I could see what the referees were doing."
Johnson made both technical free throws, and Majerle made one of two foul shots, increasing the Phoenix lead to 43-30.
The three points were part of a 22-5 run by the Suns, who were up 54-35 when the spurt ended with a 3-pointer by Danny Ainge with eight minutes remaining.
Michael mum for second straight day
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Apparently Michael Jordan will let his next performance do his talking.
The unlikely goat of Game One of Chicago's playoff series with Orlando slipped out of practice without speaking to reporters for the second straight day Tuesday. However, his silence hardly had the Bulls and Magic guessing about what's on his mind.
Game Two of the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal is tonight (8:00, TNT), and Orlando's Nick Anderson expects Jordan to show up determined to redeem himself for mistakes that cost Chicago the opener.
"He'll come out and try to take the game over from start to finish," said Anderson, who held the Bulls superstar to 19 points on 8-for-22 shooting in Game One.
"That might make a difference if I didn't know what to expect. But I do, and I've got to try to find a way to stop it."
There was a time when Anderson wouldn't have been as confident of his chances of at least slowing down Jordan, who declined to use a sore right wrist as an excuse for a sub-par performance in Sunday's 94-91 loss.
The Magic, however, is 2-0 against Chicago since Jordan ended his retirement in March and Anderson has done a good job of containing him each time. In a seven-point, regular-season loss to the Magic, Jordan went 7 for 23 and scored 21 points.
Anderson chased down Jordan and forced a turnover that sets up Orlando's go-ahead basket in Game One, then watched in disbelief when the Bulls guard passed up a potential winning shot only to turn the ball over again with 1.5 seconds left.
Anderson said Jordan clearly is not the same player who left the sport after the Bulls won their third consecutive NBA title in 1993.
"No. 45 doesn't explode like No. 23 used to," Anderson said.
McHale gets Wolves job
MINNEAPOLIS -- Kevin McHale is expected to officially take over basketball operations of the Minnesota Timberwolves Thursday.
The team has called a news conference at which McHale, former Boston Celtics teammate Jerry Sichting and former University of Minnesota teammate Phil Saunders are to attend.
McHale, the Wolves' assistant general manager, has been making most of the team's basketball decisions the last six weeks.
He will replace retiring general manager Jack McCloskey. It is uncertain what title McHale will hold, although it has been widely speculated he will be vice president of basketball operations.
Sichting, who played with McHale on Boston's last championship team in 1986, did radio commentary with the Celtics last season. He is expected to replace Stan Novac as Minnesota's scouting director.

The winter that was; A clean sweep in Minneapolis; St. Paul trucks tow up a storm.

With snow and bitter cold making their first appearance of the winter over the New Year's holiday, Minneapolis' snowplowing pooh-bahs decided to cut everybody some slack, including themselves:
They waited a day to declare a snow emergency.
It didn't set them back, they say. But it did allow them to wait until all 8.2 inches of snow fell over the city. That permitted a clean sweep the first time through, and, as an extra bonus, it saved countless holiday travelers the horror of coming home Sunday night to find their curbs bereft of snow - and their cars.
"It's going wonderfully," said Brian Lokkesmoe, the Public Works official who directs Minneapolis snowplowing. "It was nice to have the extra time."
As it was, more than 1,000 cars were towed Sunday night and Monday in Minneapolis. Police wrote 2,100 tickets for cars illegally parked in the way of plows.
Meanwhile, a record 807 cars were towed (and 3,610 tickets issued) over the weekend in St. Paul, whose snow emergency started at 9 p.m. on Saturday, 24 hours ahead of Minneapolis.'
That's twice as many towed cars during a single snow emergency than at any time in the city's history, eclipsing the 1998 record of 405 towed cars. Among the reasons: A new towing contract that divides the city into three zones, enabling at least 36 tow trucks to be on the streets at the same time. Officials also noted that more tow trucks were available in St. Paul because Minneapolis didn't declare a snow emergency as quickly.
St. Paul officials had tried to raise public awareness last winter by sounding civil defense sirens to signal snow emergencies. That experimental program was not continued this winter.
The snowfall in the wake of the New Year's holiday also might have caught people off guard or out of town.
"I wish we could schedule the snow around holidays, but our policy is to plow whenever it snows 3 inches," said Gary Erichson, a St. Paul street maintenance engineer who declares snow emergencies. "I would be lynched and criticized for not being responsive if I said: `Let's wait until the holiday weekend is over and just plow next week.' "
While the cities' differing schedules might have confused residents on both sides of the Mississippi River, Minneapolis officials said differences in geography and plowing systems should be sufficient to answer all excuses being heard in the lines at the cities' two impound lots.
Speaking for Minneapolis, Lokkesmoe explained that the decision to hold off on declaring a snow emergency was made at about 2 p.m. Saturday, when only 2.5 inches of snow had accumulated, with more predicted for the next day.
"We thought it was better to wait until it was done snowing," Lokkesmoe said. "Waiting allows us to do a better job."
Minneapolis' normal snow emergency threshold is 4 inches of new snow; St. Paul has a 3-inch threshold. At 2 p.m. Saturday, the appointed hour for making a decision in Minneapolis, St. Paul Public Works officials hadn't made a call yet in their city, further encouraging Minneapolis to hold off for a day.
According to Lokkesmoe, nothing was lost. Work on main roads, alleys and center cuts on residential streets commenced Friday night. "A snow emergency is just to get cars out of their parking spots," he said. That part of the job was ready to go Monday morning.
The marginal snow accumulations also allowed Minneapolis Public Works officials to take into account an additional factor in the snow-emergency calculus: holiday travel. "It entered into the decision just a little bit," Lokkesmoe said. "We want what works best for people. We don't like towing cars. We'd rather get compliance."
Cars impounded
Even so, compliance was less than total in some pockets of the city, such as the 2600 block of 1st Avenue S., where most the cars on the block were towed, according to resident Kamesha Jennings.
Jennings, standing in line Monday at the impound lot near downtown Minneapolis, expressed a common lament: She hadn't heard about the snow emergency declaration on Sunday. "I was just hearing about it this morning," she said.
Also caught unawares - until her car was at the impound lot - was Monique Manning, of south Minneapolis. "This was bad timing, right after Christmas," she said. "A single-parent family needs all its dollars."
While the experience was novel to Jennings and Manning, it's apparently not too unusual for many other impound lot visitors. "I've never been able to figure it out," said retiring Minneapolis transportation director Mike Monahan, who's been with the city for 30 years. "It's the same people, snow emergency after snow emergency."
The lines at the St. Paul impound lot at 1660 Como Av. south of the State Fairgrounds were finally dwindling Monday, but the anger level was not. Someone even had scrawled: City of St. Paul, City of Thieves on the counter at the impound lot.
Elisabeth Monsma-Heron was married Friday and looked out her window near the St. Paul Cathedral the next night to see her car being towed.
"He had one strap on my wheel and said he'd take it off for $65 in cash," she said. "I only had $40 in cash and the whole thing made me cry."
She stopped at the lot Sunday, where she was told she would have to wait up to four hours for her car.
"The people were nice and said I could go home and call them every hour to see if my number was getting close," Monsma-Heron said. "I told them, `That's nice, but how can I go home without my car?' "
So she came back Monday, losing another $12 in overnight storage fees, for a total towing bill of $129.70.
Jennifer Trastek, a junior at the University of St. Thomas, moved her compact car off Grand Avenue Saturday night, only to be towed off a side street Sunday morning.
"I thought I was being smart," she said, before forking out $129.70 and heading to the airport for a month of studying theater in London. "But I guess I learned a valuable lesson, a very valuable lesson."
1/3
Snow emergency towing and tagging charges #
Minneapolis: $100
- Towing charges $70
- Parking ticket $30
St. Paul: $157.70
- Towing charges $117.70
- Parking ticket $40

# does not include daily storage fees of $10 in Minneapolis and $12 in St. Paul. The fees kick in after a car has been impounded 24 hours or more. In St. Paul, a $3 fee is assessed to those paying by check. 

Stratasys First to Offer Monthly Lease for Complete 3D Printing Package.

Package Includes New Special Edition uPrint
At $290, monthly lease price is less expensive than average outsourced job
MINNEAPOLIS -- (NASDAQ:SSYS) Stratasys said it will begin leasing bundled 3D-printer packages that include new special edition uPrint 3D printers.
Stratasys is the first company to lease complete 3D printing packages. The 3D Print Packs include a new, special edition uPrint 3D printer. (Photo: Business Wire)
The uPrint SE 3D Print Pack and the uPrint SE Plus 3D Print Pack are complete 3D-printing packages that include the 3D printer and everything needed to print 3D models. Besides the printer, the 3D Print Packs include startup supplies, a support-removal system, and cleaning agent. Monthly lease packages are USD $290 for uPrint SE and USD $380 for uPrint SE Plus. The monthly lease price is lower than the average cost of a single outsourced model.
Non-lease Print Pack purchase prices are USD $15,900 for the uPrint SE and USD $20,900 for the uPrint SE Plus.
"With the bundled package, engineers, designers, teachers and others can purchase a complete professional 3D-printing system," says Stratasys Product Manager Mary Stanley. "This makes it as simple as possible to purchase and get your machine up and running with no surprises."
The uPrint SE and SE Plus machines replace the original uPrint and uPrint Plus. The new machines are available without the bundled package, and they are priced at USD $13,900 and $18,900 respectively.
The new uPrint special edition machines offer a substantially increased material capacity, with 40 percent more material per spool than the original uPrint series. Material spools contain 42 cubic inches of material instead of the 30 cubic inches previously available. This allows longer unattended print runs than previously possible and requires less frequent spool change.
Both 3D printers use SR-30 soluble support material, which enables faster support removal and therefore faster part production than previously possible. The material dissolves up to 50 percent faster than the previous support material in an agitation tank.
Designed for office use, the SE edition maintains the basic features of the previous uPrint models, including:
* Industrial thermoplastic: produces strong ABS plastic parts
* Affordability: one of the lowest prices for a professional-quality 3D printer
* Ease of use: no dedicated operator necessary
* Small footprint: requires only a 25-by-26-inch space
The uPrint SE and uPrint SE Plus 3D Print Packs are available through authorized sales representatives.
Stratasys Inc., Minneapolis, is a maker of additive-manufacturing machines for prototyping and producing plastic parts. The company markets under the brands Dimension 3D Printers and Fortus Production 3D Printers. The company also operates RedEye On Demand, a digital-manufacturing service for prototypes and production parts. Stratasys manufactures 3D printers for Hewlett Packard, which it sells under the brand Designjet3D. In 2011 Stratasys acquired 3D printer maker Solidscape Inc. According to Wohlers Report 2011, Stratasys had a 41 percent market share in 2010, and has been the unit market leader for the ninth consecutive year. Stratasys patented and owns the Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM([R])) process. The process creates functional prototypes and manufactured goods directly from any 3D CAD program, using high-performance industrial thermoplastics. The company holds more than 285 granted or pending additive-manufacturing patents globally. Stratasys products are used in the aerospace, defense, automotive, medical, business and industrial equipment, education, architecture, and consumer-product industries. Online at: www.Stratasys.com.
3D Print Pack, uPrint SE and uPrint SE Plus are trademarks of Stratasys Inc.
uPrint, Dimension, FDM and Stratasys are registered trademarks of Stratasys Inc.
Attention Editors: If you wish to publish reader-contact information, please use: info@stratasys.com, 1-888-480-3548, www.Stratasys.com.
Forward Looking Statements
All statements herein that are not historical facts or that include such words as "expects," "anticipates," "projects," "estimates," "vision," "could," "potential," "planning", "intends", "desires", "assume" or "believes" or similar words constitute forward-looking statements covered by the safe harbor protection of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Except for the historical information herein, the matters discussed in this news release are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. These include statements regarding projected revenue and income in future quarters; the size of the 3D printing market; our objectives for the marketing and sale of our Dimension(R) and uPrint(R) 3D Printers; our support removal systems; and our Fortus(R) 3D Production Systems, particularly for use in direct digital manufacturing (DDM); the demand for our proprietary consumables; the expansion of our paid parts service; and our beliefs with respect to the growth in the demand for our products. Other risks and uncertainties that may affect our business include our ability to penetrate the 3D printing market; the success of our distribution agreement with HP; our ability to achieve the growth rates experienced in preceding quarters; our ability to introduce, produce and market consumable materials, and the market acceptance of these materials; the impact of competitive products and pricing; our timely development of new products and materials and market acceptance of those products and materials; the success of our recent R&D initiative to expand the DDM capabilities of our core FDM technology; and the success of our RedEyeOnDemand(TM) and other paid parts services. They also include statements about future financial and operating results of our company after the acquisition of Solidscape and anticipated benefits of the acquisition. Actual results may differ from those expressed or implied in our forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements involve and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, which may cause our actual results to differ materially from those discussed in a forward-looking statement. Such risk factors include our ability to successfully integrate and market Solidscape products, our ability to retain management and our ability to protect and defend intellectual property. These statements represent beliefs and expectations only as of the date they were made. We may elect to update forward-looking statements, but we expressly disclaim any obligation to do so, even if our beliefs and expectations change. In addition to the statements described above, such forward-looking statements are subject to the risks and uncertainties described more fully in our current report on Form 8-K filed in connection with the completion of our acquisition of Solidscape and in our reports filed or to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our annual reports on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q.

More evidence sought in probe of police officials

Bloomington prosecutors asked for one more piece of evidence Tuesday before deciding whether to charge three Minneapolis police officers suspended pending a criminal probe.
Bloomington City Attorney Dave Ornstein said he and Associate City Attorney Ann Kaul met for about an hour Tuesday with Superintendent Tim O'Malley of the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
"There's one further piece of evidence I want to look at that they're looking into," Ornstein said. He declined to characterize the evidence further.
The two attorneys will decide whether to press charges against Minneapolis Deputy Chief Lucy Gerold, Capt. Mike Martin and Lt. Mike Carlson.
After less than two weeks on the job, Minneapolis Police Chief Bill McManus put the three high-ranking officers on leave with pay Feb. 26 during a criminal probe into a memo about the city's investigation of the 2003 shooting of officer Duy Ngo.
At issue is a memo written by Carlson raising concerns about how the Ngo investigation was handled. Investigators are looking at whether the memo was ordered quashed or destroyed. The officers have either personally or through their attorneys denied wrongdoing.
Ornstein said he expects to get the new information soon and complete the investigation by next Tuesday or Wednesday.
"I'm not going to be sitting on this," Ornstein said. "We're going to be doing whatever is necessary to come to a conclusion."
Ornstein said the investigation is complicated because "the potential criminal charge is not something that gets charged out very often. The statute that might be used is one that is rarely used - certainly not in Bloomington." He declined to say which statute was involved.
Meanwhile, the Minneapolis City Council will meet in a closed-door session with its lawyers Thursday to discuss Ngo's federal civil rights lawsuit against the city, the officer who shot him and the officer's supervisors. Ngo claimed the officer who shot him improperly used deadly force.
An unidentified man shot Ngo on Feb. 25, 2003, while Ngo was assigned to the Minnesota Gang Strike Force and was conducting plainclothes surveillance in south Minneapolis. The bullets did not penetrate his protective vest. Ngo gave chase and radioed for help, but then collapsed.
Officer Charles Storlie shot Ngo with an MP-5 submachine gun, believing he was the suspect, according to police accounts. Investigators are still pursuing leads about who initially shot Ngo.
Peter Ginder, the acting deputy city attorney for Minneapolis, said city attorneys will be asking the council on Thursday for guidance in the Ngo lawsuit. The attorneys will meet with Ngo's attorney in a settlement conference April 7. Legal settlements involving the city need council approval.
Robert Bennett, Ngo's attorney, wouldn't comment on specific settlement figures he and his client are seeking.
"You can't write a check for any amount of money to substitute for his physical and mental well-being," Bennett said. "But that's all that can happen right now."
Meanwhile, McManus scheduled meetings with some City Council members for this morning but declined to tell them the subject of the meetings.
Council Member Dean Zimmermann has one such meeting scheduled. "I think it's probably a good thing for someone who's been accused of not involving others in decision-making," Zimmermann said of the chief's plans.
McManus would not confirm the meetings and said he had no knowledge on the BCA probe.
Gerold's attorney, David Lillehaug, said, "The investigators have told us they need nothing more from Lucy Gerold." Attorneys for Martin and Carlson declined to comment Tuesday. 

Snyder & Snyder, P.A.: Seagate Employment Case Headed for Jury Trial.

Minneapolis Attorneys Seeks Justice for Employee Who Moved Family for Nonexistent Job
MINNEAPOLIS, July 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Induced by promises from disk-drive manufacturer Seagate, Chandramouli Vaidyanathan, PhD, uprooted his family and career at Texas Instruments to move to Minnesota for a job that did not exist. Within nine months of arriving at Seagate's operations in Bloomington, MN, Dr. Vaidyanathan (pronounced "Why-de-ah-NOT-an") was out the door.
Today, U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank denied Seagate's motion to dismiss, and ordered the case alleging false representations by Seagate to proceed to a jury trial in Federal Court.
The basis for this case is a little known Minnesota statute that makes it illegal to induce "any person to change from any place in any state, territory or country to any place in this state to work in any branch of labor through or by means of knowingly false representations...." A person induced to change a place of employment can recover damages and attorney's fees under the statute.
In his order denying Seagate's motion, Judge Frank noted that Dr. Vaidyanathan claimed:
"Seagate knowingly made false representations concerning the kind or character of the position it offered to him, inducing him to give up his job at Texas Instruments to take the job with Seagate. Specifically Vaidyanathan alleges that Seagate represented that he would be hired to do yield engineering when Seagate actually did not need a yield engineer."
Judge Frank stated that "the Court finds that there are genuine factual disputes with respect to whether Seagate made false representations regarding the position."
Dr. Vaidyanathan is represented by the Minneapolis law firm Snyder & Snyder. That firm has won $15 million in employment-related lawsuits for its clients since it was founded three years ago by Brent and Stephen Snyder. Previously, Stephen had recovered more than $100 million for clients in employment cases as a partner at other law firms.
In this case, Dr. Vaidyanathan alleges that he quit his lucrative position at Texas Instruments in Dallas, TX and moved his wife and two school-aged children to Minnesota to take a position with Seagate as a Yield Engineer in semiconductors. However, when he arrived at Seagate, there was no such position. Nine months later, he was laid off.
In his order, Judge Frank quoted an internal Seagate document that Dr. Vaidyanathan "was hired to lead a yield/product engineering/team" but "this charter never came to fruition."
Judge Frank set the trial for November 8, 2010, in St Paul, MN.
In a similar case, on May 26, 2010, a Minnesota jury awarded $1.2 million to James Williams, finding University of Minnesota basketball coach "Tubby" Smith had falsely represented that he had final authority to hire assistant basketball coaches.

speeding train kills 12 people walking across tracks in spain.

The group crossed the tracks above ground rather than using a designated tunnel underneath, said Jose Ramon Mora, head of the Civil Protection Department for Catalonia regional government.
Michigan
former mayor faces more charges
Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, already in prison for probation violations, was indicted Wednesday on federal fraud and tax charges, accused of a turning a charity into a personal slush fund for cash, travel, yoga, summer camp and even anti-bugging equipment.
The indictment was the latest blow for Kilpatrick, who in May was sent to state prison for at least 14 months for violating probation in a 2008 criminal case tied to sexually explicit text messages and an affair with a top aide.
California
welfare cards can be used at casinos
SACRAMENTO | California welfare recipients are able to use state-issued debit cards to withdraw cash on gaming floors in more than half of the casinos in the state, a Los Angeles Times review of records found.
The cards, provided by the Department of Social Services to help recipients feed and clothe their families, work in ATMs at 32 of 58 tribal casinos and 47 of 90 state-licensed poker rooms, the review found.
State officials said Wednesday they were working to determine how much money had been withdrawn from casino ATMs by people using the welfare debit cards.
Administration officials said the social services agency hadn't noticed that the taxpayer money was being withdrawn at gambling establishments.
Australia
nation gets its first female premier
CANBERRA | Australia got its first female prime minister today after the ruling party dumped Kevin Rudd and installed his deputy as leader.
Julia Gillard will lead the government to elections due within months.
Minnesota
pastor in report likely will keep job
MINNEAPOLIS | A Lutheran pastor critical of allowing gays into the clergy is on leave from his Minneapolis church after a gay magazine reported his attendance at a support group for men struggling with same-sex attraction.
Church officials, however, said Wednesday that the Rev. Tom Brock likely will return to the pulpit at Hope Lutheran Church because he acted in accordance with his faith by attending the group. 

Minneapolis police honored for year's work

More than 70 members of the Minneapolis Police Department were honored Thursday afternoon with awards for work ranging from helping Hurricane Katrina survivors to subduing armed suspects.
"Many of them risked their own lives to save other lives," Chief William McManus said.
Officer Mark Beaupre received the Medal of Honor, the department's highest recognition. Beaupre shot and killed Benjamin G. DeCoteau, 21, last January after DeCoteau fired random shots from a car window and declared he would kill a police officer.
When DeCoteau got out of the car and began shooting at Beaupre, the officer returned fire and killed DeCoteau.
"It's nice to be recognized, but I didn't take the job to get any medals," said Beaupre, a 15-year veteran who works in the Fourth Precinct.
Other officers were recognized for spearheading the Stop On Red program, reducing gang activity and saving the lives of accident victims, among other accomplishments.
"This is a risky job," Minneapolis City Council President Barbara Johnson said. "We really value all of you every day for your hard work."
More than a dozen members of the community also received recognition for work including National Night Out and crime prevention.

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