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November 03, 1999

In Maine, voters approved legalizing marijuana for some medicinal purposes and rejected another measure that would bar a late-term abortion procedure. Mississippi defeated a constitutional amendment limiting legislators to two consecutive states. In Washington State, voters rejected a ban on most commercial fishing nets.

In San Francisco, voters passed a referendum that bans ATM fees despite a $400,000 campaign by banks opposing the measure. Bankers have promised a court fight.

Four referendums around the country included measures on whether to build stadiums using tax dollars. Voters in St. Paul, Minnesota, rejected a proposal to increase sales tax to help fund a new baseball stadium for the Minnesota Twins, and voters in Houston rejected another proposal to spend $80 million for a new basketball and hockey arena. But two other stadium-related measures were approved–San Antonio accepted increasing car rental and hotel prices in order to fund a new basketball arena for the San Antonio Spurs, and in Scottsdale, Arizona, voters agreed to let developers of a new arena for the National Hockey League’s Phoenix Coyotes recover sales taxes from the arena for the next five years.

Guests:

• Aaron Glantz, Reporter with Pacifica station KPFA in Berkeley, California.
• John Golinger, Consumer Program Director of the California Public Interest Research Group. Speaking from San Francisco.
• Galen Nelson, Director of the Ballot Initiatives Strategies Center. Speaking from Boston.
• Andrew Zimbalist, Professor of Economics at Smith College and co-author of the book "Sports, Jobs and Taxes: The Economic Impact of Sports Teams and Stadiums." He also wrote "Baseball and Billions: A Probing Look at the Big Business of our National Pastime." Speaking from Northampton, Massachusetts.