The complaint here is that WCCO-TV was unfair in its story about mold in school walls by singling out Ken Walijarvi, the architect of several of the schools highlighted, and portraying him as a wrongdoer, especially since the story itself stated that the design Walijarvi used was considered the state of the art at the time.
On March 15, 2002, the Star Tribune published a news story about Department of Administration officials who questioned MnDOT’s legal and ethical behavior in awarding contracts for work on the intersection of Hwys. 55 and 62, associated with the light-rail project. An Administration official, Kent Allin, was quoted as saying, “The culture of MnDOT is to act the bully, throw one’s weight around, villainize anybody who stands in your way and not worry about wasting tax dollars.”
James Keating was city treasurer in Grant, MN when $120,000 worth of assessment checks went missing. The Pioneer Press ran a story on November 15, 2001, when the Grant City Council instituted a deadline for finding the checks. The story stated that Keating would pick up the checks or have them delivered. It also quoted a City Council member saying that Keating was instructed to turn over deposit slips to the clerk, but he didn’t. Keating thought that the article should have explained that the acting city clerk, who was supposed to give him the checks, was an untrained temporary employee who never delivered them. The reporter did not contact Keating for that story. Another story ran on November 17th. For this story the reporter tried to contact Keating at his home, leaving a message with her pager number on his home machine. She said she thought he was out of the office looking for the checks, and so did not try to contact him there. Keating didn’t get back to the reporter, thinking it was too late.
The Ely City Council held a closed meeting in April to discuss its ongoing negotiations with the EPA over violations for which city was being fined. The City Council closed the meeting citing the need for a discussion of potential litigation strategy, currently an exception under Minnesota’s open meeting law. The City Council said it was protecting the concerns of the citizens by keeping the discussion of strategy confidential. The Ely Echo, one of the two newspaper’s in town, published an account of the meeting in the following week’s paper. The paper declined to respond to the city’s inquiry about the source of the article. The paper also said it was protecting the taxpayers’ interests by keeping them informed about the actions of the City Council.
Participants included the spokesman for the complainants, Larry Miller, a manufacturing quality manager from Big Lake, and Bruce Gordon, director of communications for the Department of Commerce (DOC), as a witness for the complainants. Gary Meyer, editor and publisher of The West Sherburne Tribune, submitted a written response to the complaint, but did not attend the hearing. The hearing took place at the Ramsey County Library in Roseville.
Participants included the complainant, Dr. Philip Sallberg, a dentist who lives in the Klema Addition, and Jodi Driscoll, the publisher/editor of the Roseau Times-Region. The hearing took place via video-conference, with the complainant, respondent and News Council executive director at the Roseau courthouse and Council members meeting at Piek Hall at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis campus. This was the Council’s first video conference.
Participants included the complainant, Dave Bredenberg, administrator of St. Therese Nursing Home, and Jim Williams, Director of Communication for the Minnesota Health & Housing Alliance. WCCO-TV chose not to attend the hearing, but sent a written response to the complaint.
Participants included the complainant, candidate Roy Carlson, and his campaign adviser, Doug Friedline, and responding for the Savage Pacer, Laurie Hartmann, publisher, and Nancy Huddleston, editor.
Participants included the complainant, Nancy Barsness and editor/general manager of the Morris Sun/Tribune, Jim Morrison.
Participants for the DNR included Rod Sando, Commissioner; Ron Nargang, Deputy Commissioner; Marcy Dowse, communications manager, and Scott Pengelly, information officer. KSTP declined to participate in the hearing, but forwarded to the Council a copy of its response to the DNR.