June 28, 2000 - MPR’s Dan Gunderson reports on the second day of Governor Jesse Ventura’s bus tour through northwest Minnesota. The Governor has been drawing big, enthusiastic crowds at every stop. His focus has been partly on recent flooding in the Red River Valley, but he's also been outlining his vision for the future of rural Minnesota.
July 5, 2000 - MPR’s Stephanie Hemphill catches up with a small band of environmental crusaders starting a planned walk around Lake Superior to bring attention to the need to protect the greatest of the Great Lakes. The walk is fulfillment of an the idea from Walter Bresette, a prominent Ojibwe activist.
July 27, 2000 - MPR’s Tom Scheck reports on Minnesotans with disabilities are marking the 10th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. In South Minneapolis, nearly a thousand people visited the Anne Sullivan School to take part in a day long celebration of the signing of the legislation. Disability rights activists say the ADA literally opened doors and businesses to millions of Americans, but they say more needs to be done.
August 3, 2000 - Mainstreet Radio's Cara Hetland reports that farmers in Day County in northeastern South Dakota have spent the past eight years watching their farm fields become lakes. Day County is in an area known as the “prairie pot hole.” There's no drainage system for the sloughs now filled with water. Landowners who once grazed hundreds of head of cattle now see a new sight on their pastureland…fishing boats.
August 15, 2000 - One of the great unanswerable questions of U.S. geography is: exactly where does "the west" begin? On the South Dakota border there's a lake that could be used to make a case for Minnesota as the gateway to the west. Mainstreet Radio's Mark Steil profiles Salt Lake, which has more in common with the land of cowboys and cattle than any of Minnesota's 10,000+ other lakes.
August 17, 2000 - MPR’s Annie Feidt reports on a local team of adventure-enthusiasts competing in the Eco-Challenge held in Sabah, Malaysia. The four members of team Northstar have spent months preparing to endure the 300-mile race that will test their skills in jungle trekking, river paddling, sailing, scuba diving, caving and mountain biking.
September 4, 2000 - Mainstreet Radio's Tim Post profiles The Minnesota Fishing Museum in Little Falls, Minnesota. In the land of 10,000 lakes, a few things are sacred. And here, where rods and reels can become almost a personal appendage, there's a shrine to the past time. The museum boasts antique rods, reels, lures and boats along with generations of fish stories. But the museum founders Al Baert and Morry Sauve say this is not a typical museum, it's focus is on the people.
September 14, 2000 - MPR’s Annie Feidt reports that the University of Minnesota men's swimming team will be well represented at the summer Olympics. No U of M swimmers made the United States Olympic team, but five members of the gopher's squad from four nations will represent their home countries in the pool in Sydney.
September 20, 2000 - Famed classical pianist Fou Ts'ong visits the Minnesota Public Radio studios to play and to talk to MPR Classical Music Host Tom Crann. Fou Ts'ong discusses his touring program, entitled "Chinese Poetry, Western Music," and the connection between music and words in his work.
September 27, 2000 - Mainstreet Radio's Tim Post reports that Governor Jesse Ventura spent the day in St Cloud, talking with students at St. Cloud Tech High School about the importance of voting. Ventura says it's part of his effort to increase turn out at the polls this November. He will also raise money for the Independence Party's U.S. Senate candidate, Jim Gibson.