Digitization made possible by the State of Minnesota Legacy Amendment’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, approved by voters in 2008.
June 4, 1997 - The country's top sail plane pilots are in Albert Lea this week. The southern Minnesota town is the site for the 15-meter National Soaring Championship. Winners in Albert Lea will represent the United States in the World Soaring competition. Minnesota Public Radio's Art Hughes reports.
June 4, 1997 - DFL legislative leaders, along with school officials at St. Paul's Central High School, stayed on course with their message for the governor to support the K-12 Education Bill that passed the legislative session. Carlson vetoed the bill yesterday setting the stage for a special session. As Minnesota Public Radio's Karen-Louise Boothe reports, both legislative leaders and the governor are trying to drum up support for their own positions on the bill.
June 5, 1997 - MPR's Laura McCallum reports on the efforts underway in the small north-central Minnesota community of Staples to restore a hidden theater. Built in 1908, Batcher's Opera House is located above a department store-turned-antique shop. History buffs say it provides a rare glimpse into theater in the early 20th century.
June 5, 1997 - Governor Arne Carlson has signed a bill nearly doubling state funding for the Arts over the next two years. The 12-million dollars in new money will expand arts programs across the entire state, and allow twin cities based artists to take their talents on the road. Minnesota Public Radio's Karen-Louise Boothe reports: The Governor signed the bill during a ceremony on Peavy Plaza, outside of Orchestra Hall downtown Minneapolis. He was surrounded by artists, and arts administrators from Minnesota and across the country gathered here for a meeting by the group, "Americans for the Arts." Carlson told the crowd, art is the soul of a community, and THIS bill will provide money to regional arts councils, and allow for m
June 5, 1997 - The Broadway music show "Rent" opens tonight at the Ordway in St. Paul. Tickets for the show have been going fast, but the best seats in the house are still up for grabs. "Rent" producers have set aside 28 seats in the front two rows and they're selling them cheap. As Minnesota Public Radio's Lorna Benson reports, the catch is you have to buy them the old fashion way, by standing in line.
June 5, 1997 - When the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks abruptly canceled the remaining weeks of spring semester because of flooding... some of the l4 hundred seniors felt it was an early graduation present. They could proceed directly to the job market without taking finals or turning in papers. But it hasnt been as easy for others ..........especially those facing state examinations in the medical field and a tight local job market. Rachel Reabe of our Mainstreet Radio team has the story. Jennifer Bry was in the home stretch of nursing school. Finishing up four years of classes and practicums, she was looking forward to graduating from the University of North Dakota with a nursing degree. She had a surgical nursing job lined up at United Hospital in Grand Forks. After passing the state n
June 6, 1997 - Midday presents the MPR/Soundprint documentary Working Nights. MPR’s Stephen Smith looks at health and science behind the experience of people who work nights.
June 6, 1997 - The annual Twin Cities Juneteenth film festival opens tonite with Charles Burnett's "Nightjohn". Burnett is the independent filmmaker behind "To Sleep With Anger" and "The Glass Shield", but for his newest feature he signed up with the giant Disney to make a TV movie, but one shot with the big screen in mind. "Nightjohn" is about a slave who escapes to the North, lives as a free man, but returns to the South, and slavery, because he wants to teach slaves how to read and write. "Nightjohn" meets a remarkable young black girl who learns to read with his inspiration, but Burnett says the knowledge doesn't provide the typical Hollywood happy ending for her, it just helps her perspective.
June 6, 1997 - The political standoff over education tax credits has put school districts around the state in a bind. Earlier this week the governor vetoed the K-12 spending bill because it didn't contain credits for families' non-public school expenditures. The issue is expected to get resolved sometime this summer during a special legislative session, but in the meantime school administrators are having trouble planning for the 97-98 school year. Minnesota Public Radio's Holly Nelson reports.
June 6, 1997 - Take a stroll in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden and you may or may not notice a chorus of crickets....chirping in broad daylight. This aural celebration of summer is actually a sound installation by electronic composer Ron Kuivila (KWEE-vi-la), whom the Walker Art Center describes as a pioneer in creating computerized sonic environments. Minnesota Public Radio's Chris Roberts visited the installation and found an artist who's primary goal is making people pay attention.