Star Tribune from Minneapolis, Minnesota • Page 1

Sports (entucky rallies second half, Weather High: 7 Low: ii Sunrise: 5:56 7V Sunset: 6:39 90th day; 275 until '99 B8 Clapton gives RiverCentre's final concert B5 Business Neighborly j-jJS approach Is D5ya bank's trademark 1 Arl MMMMMIIMPIIIinMMaMMaMHMHMPlI i claims NCAA title CI mmr ray Tuesday MARCH 31, 1998 NEWSPAPER OF THE TWIN CITIES COMFREY: 75 percent ST. PETER: One death; 90 LE CENTER: 25 mobile destroyed; scores of people percent of 2,500 houses homes lost other homeless, 16 injured and 125 businesses dam- damaged aged Mike Ludewige, Comfrey tornado survivor Minneapolis Edition 3 Sen. John McCain called it "tough medicine for a tough problem," but the industry and health officials disagreed. Senate bill on tobacco takes hits from all sides New York Times WASHINGTON, D.C. With bipartisan support, Sen.

John McCain on Monday offered a comprehensive tobacco bill that could form the basis of monumental legislation reducing the number of Americans who smoke. The measure, containing no restrictions on private lawsuits, faced attacks from the cigarette manufacturers on one side and public health authorities on the other. But McCain, who heads the Commerce Committee, said he hoped he'd found middle ground that could win broad support. "It's tough medicine for a tough problem," he said at a news conference. The measure would raise the price of a pack of cigarettes by $1.10 over the next five years, penalize the tobacco companies if the number of teenage smokers did not fall to specified levels, impose strict limits on cigarette advertising and give the Food and Drug Administration broad authority to regulate tobacco.

Turn to TOBACCO on A8 Also on B3: More tobacco trial testimony. Twins will play bail today in N. Carolina against backdrop of Triad stadium battle By Jay Welner Star Tribune Staff Writer WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. The zip codes have switched, the accents are more lilting and cherry blossoms dot the landscape, but the Twins stadium saga, in all its familiarity, lives on in the Piedmont Triad. A business group is pushing for a new ballpark, opponents are squawking about "welfare for the wealthy," a stadium commission is poised to announce plans for a $210 million structure i The 1998 Legislature The Stadium debate that most citizens seem to oppose and another "deadline" looms.

The Twins stadium debate, ostensibly dormant in the Twin Cities, will pick up a notch today in GreensboroWinston-Sa-lemHigh Point. Turn to STADIUM on A9 7" 7 the few remaining walls. Sunday's storm killed two gs 1. Star Trbune photo by Cheryl A. Meyer and injured at least 38 in south-central Minnesota.

Inside: In small town of Comfrey everyone was touched. A10 A desperate attempt to save a 6-year-old boy failed despite a frantic effort. A12 Farms hit hard, destroying houses and outbuildings and killing animals. A13 Disaster aid appeared to be moving quickly. A13 More color photos.

A16 Re-envisioning Lake St They call it Midtown now, but they'll need more than that to revitalize a long section of East Lake Street in Minneapolis. That's why neighborhoods and businesses in the area are organized for the long haul. In recent years they've turned their attention to what once was a first-rate retail stretch and have formed Lake Street Partners. There have been setbacks, but there have been successes, too. Turn to BL nu i mm.

On Marlene Witty's street In St Peter, the wind blew Monday through gaps in Amid destruction, there is grief, relief By Bob von Sternberg, Richard Meryhew and Pat Doyle Star Tribune Staff Writers It was over in less than two hours. That was all the time it took for Sunday's tornadoes to ruin the lives of thousands of Minnesotans, who spent Monday picking through the wreckage. Along a 60-mile swath, hundreds of houses, churches, schools, silos, factories and barns were blasted into rubble and kindling. The tiny town of Comfrey was nearly destroyed. Most of the buildings in the larger city of St.

Peter were wrecked. Power still was out in both towns. Lesser devastation occurred in Le Center and a few other small communities. And uncounted farms and rural homes in three counties were damaged. In all, at least 700 houses and apartments were destroyed or battered to the point where they are uninhabitable; another 1,800 sustained damage.

Thousands of residents were banished to makeshift shelters and the homes of friends and relatives. More than 100 businesses were damaged, more than half of them destroyed. For all the immense destruction in an area where about 15,000 people live, the human toll could have been worse: Two people died, and at least 38 people were injured badly enough to be hospitalized. Turn to STORMS on All INSIDE Inthe tornadoes' wake Ruth Koscielak Please mm read -f and XXV recycle ADM named in lawsuit Archer Daniels Midland Milling Co. and In-.

dustrial Fumigants Inc. have been named in a lawsuit filed by nine people who claim that they were illegally exposed to the toxic fumi-gant methyl bromide. Artist Santos Fernandez, whose Minneapolis studio was near the milling company, died of methyl bromide poisoning. The nine include a police officer and two fire- -fighters who say they were exposed while investigating Fernandez's case. Turn to BL WCCO fires Koscielak Ruth Koscielak, an on-air personality at WCCO Radio (830 AM) for 17 years, was fired 1 Monday, just hours before she was scheduled to start her 12:30 p.m.

show. She said the station's general manager and operations manager told her that she was "unsuitable." Midmorning host Tim Russell will take the p.m. portion of Koscielak's airtime, and afternoon-drive host Moose Miller will pick, up the 2-to-3 p.m. portion. Turn to Bl General information Classifieds 673-7000 Circulation 673-4343 or 1-800-775-4344 Tuesday, March 31, 1998 Copyright 1998 Star Tribune Volume XVINo.

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