St. Louis County will soon be introducing a prescription discount card program to help consumers cope with the high price of prescriptions. The county has signed a contract to make free prescription discount cards available under a program sponsored by the National Association of Counties (NACo) that offers average savings of 22 percent off the retail price of commonly prescribed drugs.

The cards, which will be available on May 1, may be used by all county residents, regardless of age, income, or existing health coverage. There are over 50 pharmacies in the county that will accept the NACo card, and a national network of more than 60,000 participating retail pharmacies also will honor it.

"The NACo prescription discount card will offer significant savings for the uninsured and underinsured residents of our county, and even those fortunate to have prescription coverage may use the card to save money on drugs that are not covered by their health plan," said county board chair Steve Raukar (right). "Residents do not have to be Medicare beneficiaries to be eligible for this program."

There will be no cost to county taxpayers for NACo and St. Louis County to make these money-saving cards available to residents. A future announcement will specify how and when the program is launched and how residents can obtain the cards. Cards will easily be available via the Internet and through various county locations.

"Using the NACo prescription discount card is easy," said Raukar. "A cardholder will simply present it at a participating pharmacy. There is no enrollment form, no membership fee, and no restrictions or limits on frequency of use. Cardholders and their family members may use the card any time their prescriptions are not covered by insurance."

The program is administered by CVS Caremark.

TODAY IN DULUTH

. Minnesota Airports Conference, through Friday at the DECC and the Inn on Lake Superior. Hosts are the Minnesota Council of Airports and the Minnesota Department of Transportation Office of Aeronautics. Speakers: Thomas K. Sorel, Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Transportation, and Duluth Mayor Don Ness, right (noon today); Jeff Hamiel, Executive Director of the Metropolitan Airports Commission in Minneapolis and Jim Grothous of the Minnesota Center for Transportation Studies (10:30 a.m. Thursday); Dan McElroy, Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (noon Thursday); Bill King, Cirrus Design (4 p.m. Thursday); Bill Swelbar, Massachussets Institute of Technology Aeronautics and Astronautics Department (9:30 a.m. Friday); and Barry Cooper, Federal Aviation Administration Regional Administrator for the Great Lakes Region (10:30 a.m. Friday).

WEDNESDAY SPORTS NOTEBOOK

No. 14-ranked St. Scholastica swept Northland College 9-3 and 15-6 in the Saints' 2010 baseball home opener Tuesday at historic Wade Stadium in Duluth.

Jeff Adams (upper right) allowed two unearned runs and fanned six in five innings to nab the win in the opener.

Sophomore catcher Kyle Moody (right) of Maple Grove stole the show offensively, going 5-for-8 with 10 RBI in the double-dipper.

The Saints improved to 22-3.

. Duluth Central and Duluth Denfeld posted baseball wins Tuesday, with the Trojans edging Virginia 2-1 and Denfeld blasting Superior 10-0 in five innings. Jon Kusch scattered five hits and fanned seven to pick up the pitching victory for the Trojans. Trevor Cotter had a game-winning, two-run home run for Duluth Central.

Mitch Svihel twirled a one-hitter, Jordan Buetow had two RBI and Blaine Midthun scored three times to lead the Hunters (2-1). Josh Benson and Tony Klass added doubles for Duluth Denfeld.

. Former Duluth East and Gophers basketball star Rick Rickert probably won't return to the New Zealand Breakers in 2010-11, but will continue to seek New Zealand residency and play for the Tall Blacks, according to a news report. Rickert is also considering leagues in Asia and Europe.

. Duluth East edged Duluth Central 4-3 Tuesday in boy's tennis. Ethan Meyers of the Trojans and Dan Farley, Greg Peckham and Peder Norr of the Greyhounds won singles matches. Doubles winners: Caleb Reder-Matt Beaulieu and Andrew Fredrickson-Matt Stukel of Duluth Central, and Ben Gilbertson-Zack Graves of Duluth East.

. Duluth Denfeld finished second at the Lake Superior Conference Quad track meet in Hermantown. Hermantown finished first with 93.5 points, followed by Duluth Denfeld (86.5), Duluth Marshall (46) and Cloquet (30).

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