May 5, 1998 - MPR’s William Wilcoxen reports on RADIO REY, a Spanish-language radio service that broadcasts more than thirty hours a week from a grocery store on Concord Street in St. Paul’s West Side.
May 8, 1998 - MPR’s Chris Roberts profiles Twin Cities' most eclectic radio station as it celebrates its 20th birthday. "KFAI", also known as "Fresh Air Radio", is a non-commercial throwback to the days of "freeform radio", when the format changed from song to song. Its news and public affairs programming is unabashedly liberal, even left-wing.
May 14, 1998 - MPR’s Tim Pugmire reports on the testing challenges of public schools in Minneapolis and St. Paul see more immigrants and refugees each year…with few speaking English. That makes passing exams, including the 8th grade basic skills tests in reading and math, extremely difficult. The state provides money to educate these students, but in many cases the immigration is outpacing the funding.
May 14, 1998 - MPR’s Perry Finelli looks at Minnesota cropland. While not an endangered commodity, some contend it's being lost too quickly in places where farming has been a way of life. The United States Agriculture Department says even though urban areas are growing, Minnesota's cropland has not been reduced. That's because the urban landscape is still only a tiny fraction of the state's total amount of land.
June 1, 1998 - MPR’s Laura McCallum reports on severe storms that rolled through the state the night of May 30th. The storms dumped hail in central Minnesota and roared through the Twin Cities, snapping trees in half and downing power lines. One particularly hard-hit area was South Saint Paul, with 80 mph winds measured.
June 1, 1998 - Mainstreet Radio’s Leif Enger reports on Aitkin County farmers experimentation in establishing cranberry bogs for harvesting. Cranberries take deep pockets and sturdy patience; but now, after three years and hundreds of thousands of dollars, the Aitkin County bogs are ready to produce.
June 2, 1998 - MPR’s William Wilcoxen visits St. Paul’s Highland Park neighborhood, where the clean up along the Highland Parkway is taking place after a windstorm downed much of the tree canopy in area. Along with trees, homes and cars were left damaged or destroyed.
June 3, 1998 - Migrant workers are arriving in southeast Minnesota to work in canning and packing plants. Many come from the Eagle Pass area of Texas, along the Mexican border. They used to travel to the Red River Valley to work on the sugar beet harvest but mechanization and better farm chemicals mean sugar beet farmers don't need as much labor. In the first report in an occasional series on migrants in Minnesota, Minnesota Public Radio's Brent Wolfe introduces us to one migrant family and what they leave behind.
June 8, 1998 - A coalition of Hmong agencies and Ramsey County have announced a 10-year plan to curb violence in the Hmong community. While the plan is more a call to action than a series of concrete recommendation, organziers say it is historic because it represents the first time the Hmong community has acknowledged violence is a problem. MPR’s Chris Roberts talks with some of those involved with plan.
June 29, 1998 - MPR’s Laura McCallum reports on another round of June thunderstorms pounding the Twin Cities. Storms rumbled through the state on June 27th and 28th, damaging homes, trees, and power lines. The Saturday storm brought down trees in St. Paul’s historic Summit neighborhood.