Minnesota Nurses Strike Fifteen-hundred registered nurses have gone on strike at two hospitals in the Twin Cities, and nurses at four other hospitals are demanding a recount of votes on their new contract. Lawmakers Back at the Capitol Key lawmakers return to the Capitol for a second week beyond when the regular session ended. Gas Prices Senator Mark Dayton says he plans to introduce legislation aimed at increasing the use of biodiesel, a renewable fuel often made from soybeans. The first of the tax refund checks will be in the mail next month. A government study finds a sharp racial divide in life expectancy for people with Down syndrome.
Whites live twice as long as blacks.
Often under fire from unhappy consumers, the airline industry has moved to increase legal protections for the flying public. Labor Secretary Elaine Chao has set three dates for hearings on work-related injuries. Only hours after a federal judge declined to stop construction of the World War Two Memorial, a contract to begin work has been signed. What's left of Tropical Storm Allison has been dropping a second dose of heavy rains on flood-weary southeast Texas. Trial A request by jurors to see a copy of the Koran has been denied, in the penalty phase of the embassy bombing trial in New York.